Queen City Nerve - June 28, 2023

VOLUME 5, ISSUE 16; JUNE 28 - JULY 11, 2023; WWW.QCNERVE.COM

@QUE E NCI T Y NE RV E W W W.QCNE RV E .COM PUBLISHER JUSTIN LAFRANCOIS jlafran co i s @ qc n e rve.c om

EDITOR - IN - CHIEF RYAN PITKIN

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DIGITAL EDITOR KARIE SIMMONS

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STAFF WRITER PAT MORAN

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AD SALES EXECUTIVE RENN WILSON

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TABLE OF CONTENTS NEWS & OPINION

3 The Coming Storm by Ryan Pitkin

Abortion providers anticipate the implementation of Senate Bill 20 in North Carolina 4 Lifeline: Ten Cool Things To Do in Two Weeks 6 Soundwave

MUSIC

7 A Hip-Hop Homecoming by Pat Moran

Bedroom popstar Tré Ahmad returns to the Neighborhood

ARTS & CULTURE

8 A Fresh Take by Dezanii Lewis

‘The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster’ puts a new lens on Mary Shelley’s famous tale

FOOD & DRINK

10 What Fresh Hell? by Timothy DePeugh

Tracing Charlotte’s obsession with the goddamned espresso martini

LIFESTYLE

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12 Horoscope 13 Puzzles 14 Savage Love

Thanks to our contributors: Grant Baldwin, Aerin Spruill, Timothy DePeugh, Dezanii Lewis, Lou Vacquie, Magen Marie, Amani Summer, Taylor Montalto, and Dan Savage.

NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

Data provided to Queen City Nerve by APWHC While a recent New Yorker article published shows just how this has played out at the company’s in May painted a picture of independent clinics Charlotte clinic. Through May, the clinic has seen a around the country feuding with the larger Planned 74% increase in customers compared to the same Parenthood organization, by all accounts that hasn’t time in 2022, before Roe v. Wade was overturned, been the case in North Carolina. thanks in large part to a more than 217% increase Hales says that, while she has had a contentious in out-of-state patients. relationship with Planned Parenthood chapters in “I think we’re all really exhausted,” said Hales. places like Georgia, where her company runs two Along with cutting back on which patients are clinics, she has enjoyed a continuing collaboration Abortion providers anticipate the implementation of eligible for treatment, Hales has increased staffing with PPSAT in North Carolina.

Senate Bill 20 in North Carolina at her North Carolina centers.

Because her clinic offers a specific type of

BY RYAN PITKIN Elsewhere in the country, Planned Parenthood abortion care as compared to Planned Parenthood’s has gone the opposite direction, announcing layoffs full spectrum of reproductive health care services, the in May that began early in June. two are often trading referrals and communicating Rivera said there have not yet been any layoffs about available grants, among other things.

Speaking over the phone from A Preferred despite a governor’s veto in May — officially takes at PPSAT thus far, however, as the team needs all “It is incredibly important that all health care Women’s Health Center (APWHC) on June 23, clinic effect. hands on deck in the South especially. providers work together in this movement and in owner Calla Hales still wasn’t sure where she’d be On top of restricting access to abortion for patients “The environment is incredibly volatile,” said this landscape, because just in the United States, the next day — the one-year anniversary of the past the first trimester of their pregnancy, the bill also Rivera. “It is a challenging time to be an abortion and especially in a state like North Carolina, people Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, implements stricter licensing requirements on clinics provider, but it has always been challenging to struggle to access basic health care, never mind ending federal protections for abortion across the statewide and stricter mandates on doctor visits be an abortion provider, especially in a state like reproductive health care,” Rivera said. “And so when country. She did know, however, that she would be before receiving an abortion.

North Carolina. This is not the first time we’ve you get to more specialized care like abortion care, wherever the vice president was.

Though Hales and her staff had already seen extreme restrictions on this care. It’s certainly the landscape is incredibly challenging.”

VP Kamala Harris was scheduled to fly into begun the slow process of scaling services back gotten worse than it has in maybe 50 years, but we She pointed out that there are only 14 abortion Charlotte on the morning of June 24 to address local to first-trimester patients before the bill was are accustomed to providing health care in a hostile clinics in all of North Carolina, concentrated in nine leaders in a speech about reproductive rights, and even introduced — a time-saving response to an environment. counties. as Hales waited to hear where exactly she would overwhelming increase in demand from out-of“That being said, the situation is incredibly “It’s an incredibly vulnerable ecosystem and the need to go to hear said speech, she didn’t harbor state patients whose health care options have been bleak,” she continued. “The restrictions are serious, only way to provide care to patients is by working much optimism for what would come from the next restricted in their home states — the bill will cut the penalties on health care providers are serious, together,” she continued, adding that PPSAT also morning’s events. her staff off from even seeing patients past that and even more cultural experiences like protesters works closely with the Carolina Abortion Fund to Having already convened with Harris about a point so they can help with referrals and other care. in front of clinics, that has only gotten worse.” help provide financial assistance to those who need month after the Supreme Court decision in 2022, According to Molly Rivera, spokesperson at Even for patients who fall into the narrow it.

Hales was having trouble envisioning any true Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT) — exceptions written into Senate Bill 20 for sexual “There is not one organization that can do this progress coming from another speech. which oversees Planned Parenthood services in assault survivors, incest, fetal abnormalities or folks on our own. I think the North Carolina coalition of “I recognize that I could never be a politician North Carolina as well as Virginia, West Virginia suffering from some life-threatening condition due health care providers and advocates are really tightand I don’t want to be, and it is a very hard job and South Carolina — while supporters of Senate to pregnancy, the implications of the new law could knit and strong. And we’ve been working in a hostile to manage all these different expectations and Bill 20 point to data showing that a vast majority of still be dire, Rivera warned. environment together for a long time. Call it shared different priorities — because I know where abortions already occur in the first 12 weeks, that Such patients must go to a hospital for such care trauma, perhaps.” mine are,” said Hales, who on top of her work as data is only available through 2021. It has not yet rather than a provider such as Planned Parenthood or Hales agreed. an independent owner of multiple abortion clinics been made available for 2022, so as to track the APWHC. Many rural counties do not have hospitals, “Some independent providers in the country do spread throughout North Carolina and Georgia has effects of Roe v. Wade’s overturning. or if they do, the hospitals do not provide abortion feel like Planned Parenthood is like the boogeyman been long active in public advocacy for reproductive “What we know about abortion bans and care. If they can find such care, the patient will likely out to get them out of business, that’s not a false rights. restrictions is that it pushes people further into their be burdened with a large medical bill, whereas statement,” she said. “But with [PPSAT] and North “But it’s definitely a very weird place to be pregnancy,” Rivera told Queen City Nerve. organizations like Planned Parenthood could have Carolina I do not feel that way. Here in Charlotte, because, for as much as you push and you try, there’s Bans or near-bans in surrounding states like offered them financial assistance. specifically, it’s been really, really, lovely. It’s a nice still that aspect of screaming into the void a little Georgia and West Virginia have led residents of “If the anti-abortion movement and anti- little thing to say because I quite frankly have never bit — not even a little bit, a lot,” Hales continued. those states to look elsewhere, creating longer wait abortion politicians continue in the way that they experienced that before.”

“Kind of being trotted out for photo ops and proof times in states such as North Carolina. have done over the last year, we actually know that It’s just the type of coalition building that, more that folks truly care about an issue, it’s a weird little “Because of all these additional barriers and this is just the beginning and things will get worse,” than any visit from a national dignitary, can give place to be. I’m not exactly the most hopeful human wait times at clinics, people are being delayed care Rivera said. someone who describes herself as “not a hopeful being anymore.” weeks from the time they make their decision,” That’s why it’s been important for folks in North human anymore” something to hold on to.

Hales wasn’t so concerned with the one-year Rivera said. “So we do anticipate that over the last Carolina’s reproductive health care industry to work RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM anniversary of Roe’s overturning as she was with year, people have been forced to get an abortion together in the years leading up to and following the another date: July 1, 2023. That’s when North later in pregnancy, not because they hadn’t made Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.

Carolina’s 12-week abortion ban — voted into law up their mind, but because of these barriers.”

THE COMING STORM

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THE WEEKS, JUNIOR ASTRONOMERS NORTH CAROLINA GREEK PICNIC

EMANUEL WYNTER Courtesy of Emanuel Wynter

7/6

FOCUS ON FOOD

Inside the Covers, the recent LP by swaggering Southern indie rockers The Weeks, ranges from a sledgehammer deconstruction of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Gimme Three Steps” to a slinky spy guitar trawl through Billie Eilish’s “bad guy.” Seventeen years into its career the raucous quartet does what it’s always done, bringing each song home with altrock populism, crackling authenticity and restless curiosity. Equally spirited and impassioned Charlotte legends Junior Astronomers continue to crank it up with melodic and groovy rockers that summon the spirits of Jawbreaker, The Strokes, and The Replacements into a crowded crystal ball.

More: $15-20; June 30, 8:30 p.m.; Visulite Theatre, 1615 Elizabeth Ave.; visulite.com

Part of a larger day of events centering nutrition and food insecurity, U.S. Rep. Alma Adams of North JORDYN ZAINO, Carolina’s 12th District hosts her colleague, U.S. GALLOWAY, MIDDLETOOTH Rep. Jim McGovern (MA-02) at Johnson C. Smith “I am my own ghost/haunting memories of what I University for this panel discussion featuring a loved most/I gave the wrong people the right pieces lineup of community leaders. “Every five years, of me...” Jordyn Zaino’s 2022 album who we weren’t Congress works on a Farm Bill that impacts is a live distillation of everything that makes the raw everything from agriculture to food benefits,” says Carolinas cabaret rocker so distinct and compelling.

Adams, a senior member of the House Agriculture Armed with her supple yet crunchy solo guitar Committee. “This event is an opportunity for 12th and vocals that range from shouted defiance to District constituents to hear from our experts and feathered free-flowing reflection, Zaino delivers voice your concerns about the Food Bill, especially stripped-down gems with the force of a slingshot. on issues like food security and hunger. No person in NC indie rockers Galloway craft melodic, pensive and the greatest country in the world should go hungry.” rhythmically complex pop. Columbia’s Middletooth More: June 30, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.; Truist Auditorium, strum and shout through propulsive start-and-stop Johnson C. Smith University, 100 Beatties Ford Road; single “Drop the Gloves.” tinyurl.com/FocusOnFoodJCSU More: $7; July 1, 8 p.m.; Petra’s,

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BLACK FOOD TRUCK FRIDAYS

If ever there was an opportunity for Charlotteans to embrace Black culture and fellowship around great food and support Black entrepreneurs all in one place, this would be it. Organized by Black Businesses Owners Corp. (BBOC), Black Food Truck Friday takes place in the Historic West End and features local merchants selling body products, jewelry, clothing and more, as well as a live DJ and, of course, an array of cuisine from seafood to soul food, desserts and everything in between.

More: Free; June 30, 4-9 p.m.; West Complex, 1600 W. Trade St.; tinyurl.com/BFTFCharlotte

Billed as “the biggest NC Greek Picnic to ever happen,” this weeklong event will bring together thousands of undergraduate and graduate D9 Greeks — meaning those who have pledged to one of the Divine Nine Black Greek fraternity/sorority organizations — at venues across the Charlotte area. Following Wednesday’s kickoff, Thursday brings a pitch competition and block party in Oakhurst, followed by multiple cookouts planned for Friday, and the big picnic event at Route 29 Pavilion in Concord on Saturday — preceded by a morning of community service and a can’t-miss afterparty that night.

More: Prices vary; July 5-8; Locations vary; ncgreekpicnic.com

Front Porch Sundays began as a dream of architect Terry Shook, who imagined turning his company’s property — located in the heart of South End with a wide front porch facing the Rail Trail — into a community commons on the weekends. In 2015, Charlotte Center City Partners partnered with Shook and other local businesses to test a series of events and pop-up markets on the site. It has since grown into a beloved open-air market that hosts more than 70 local vendors, food trucks and live music every first Sunday of the month.

More: Free; July 2, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; Rail Trail at Atherton Mill, 2104 South Blvd.; southendclt.org

7/1

THE FLAMINGO REVUE PRESENTS: EMANUEL WYNTER, ELORA DASH, THE SUMMER OF SIN The Flock at Flamingo Revue welcomes Bella Sin, SWANSGATE

Charlotte violinist Emanuel Wynter goes beyond his classical training, entwining virtuoso technique with jazz and blues grooves on his 2023 debut solo album These Past Two Years. As impressive as his playing is, Wynter makes his strongest impression as a singersongwriter on tunes like the limpid and swaying “Cosmos,” and the down-home “Get On,” in which uplifting neo-soul vocals entwine with playing that harkens to Stéphane Grappelli’s gypsy jazz bowing and Vassar Clements’ rapid-fire bluegrass fiddling.

With Raleigh’s feathered yet funky neo soul artist Elora Dash and Queen City progressive pop-soul outfit Swansgate.

More: $14.30; July 6, 9 p.m.; Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St.; snugrock.com

1919 Commonwealth Ave.; petrasbar.com

FRONT PORCH SUNDAYS

JORDYN ZAINO Courtesy of Bandsintown

NEBEL’S ALLEY NIGHT MARKET

What started in 2018 as a way to celebrate the reestablished Design Center in South End has now become a recurring event on the second Saturday of every month from April to November. On these nights, South End’s most charming alley comes to life for an evening of open-air shopping, tasting and entertainment. There’s magic around every corner as 30-plus local handmade and food vendors gather under the iconic Design Center water tower to show off their wares. Listen to live music and sip beer and wine as you meander the lantern-lit walkways, perusing and supporting small businesses.

More: Free; July 8, 4-9 p.m.; Design Center of the Carolinas, 101 W. Worthington Ave.; southendclt.org

ranked the No. 19 burlesque performer in the world in 21st Century Burlesque Magazine’s most recent Top 50 Burlesque rankings, to heat things up and kick off the summer at Visulite. But Bella won’t be alone, of course; she’ll be joined by an impressive list of local, regional and international performers.

Prepare to have your temperature raised, your breath taken and your mind blown by the decadent, the sultry, the hilarious, and the drop-dead sexiest acts imaginable.

More: $20-$25; July 8, 8 p.m.; Visulite Theatre, 1615 Visulite Theatre; visulite.com

HEY RICHARD, DOUBTING THOMAS

Celebrate two of Charlotte’s legendary feminist and LGBTQ supporting bands. With powerful vocals by We Rock Charlotte’s Krystle Baller, the all-women Hey RICHARD plays insanely catchy punk-rock anthems that are sing-alongs, confessionals and tirades all at the same time. Fronted by dual vocalists/instrumentalists Gina Stewart and Brenda Gambill, Doubting Thomas broke through Charlotte’s 1980s-’90s music scene barriers while supporting LGBTQ rights. The recently reunited band’s varied yet cohesive sound encompasses 1970s folk-inflected Laurel Canyon singer-songwriters, melodic new wave, country rock, swaggering honky tonk, poetic Southern alternative and even hard-rock protest tunes.

More: $5; July 8, 9 p.m.; Starlight on 22nd, 422 E. 22nd St.; starlighton22nd.com

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28

ROCK/PUNK/METAL Fake Eyes w/ Deadharrie, Swae, Navtec, Shrine (The Milestone) Bog Loaf w/ No Anger Control, Nerve Endings (Snug Harbor) POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ See Bird Go (Camp North End) Two Friends (Skyla Credit Union Amphitheatre) JAZZ/BLUES Memphis Lightning (Evening Muse) SATURDAY, JULY 1 ROCK/PUNK/METAL COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA Space Truck (Comet Grill) Shania Twain (PNC Music Pavilion) Pale Lungs w/ Swae (Evening Muse) SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC Bardown Breakfest 2: Day Two (The Milestone) Singer/Songwriter Show feat. Tracy Simpson He Is Legend w/ Greyhaven, For Your Health, VLVD (Starlight on 22nd) (Neighborhood Theatre) OPEN MIC Jordyn Zaino w/ Galloway, Middletooth (Petra’s) Singer/Songwriter Open Mic (The Rooster) Willingdon w/ Maggie Miles, Sofia Camille (Snug Harbor) JAZZ/BLUES THURSDAY, JUNE 29 The Joe Grandsen Quartet (Middle C Jazz) ROCK/PUNK/METAL COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA Todd Johnson (Comet Grill) NC Bluegrass Jam Night (Birdsong Bewing) The Kind Thieves w/ Thirsty Curses (Evening Muse) Lex Wade & Friends (Starlight on 22nd) Three Years Apart w/ Once Below Joy, Witch Motel POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ (The Milestone) Electric Feels (The Underground) The Thing w/ The Simplicity, Pleasure House (Snug Harbor) CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL JAZZ/BLUES Omari Dillard (Booth Playhouse) Java (Middle C Jazz) CHRISTIAN/RELIGIOUS/GOSPEL COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA Gable Price & Friends w/ Goldpark, Jude Moses Lauren Morrow w/ Joshua Headley (Neighborhood (Visulite Theatre) Theatre) COVER BANDS LATIN/WORLD/REGGAE Mostley Crüe (Motley Crüe tribute) w/ Flying High Peso Pluma (PNC Music Pavilion) Again (Ozzy tribute) (Amos’ Southend) Two Burnt (The Rooster) House of Hair (The Rooster)

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FRIDAY, JUNE 30

ROCK/PUNK/METAL Bardown Breakfest 2: Day One (The Milestone) Violence System w/ Subdivisions, Truth to Power (The Rooster) The Weeks w/ Junior Astronomers (Visulite Theatre) HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Jessica Macks (dupp&swatt) Larry June (The Fillmore) Tré Ahmad w/ Deep October, Te’Jani, Trent Domonic, Nia J, The Bleus (Neighborhood Theatre) RoyalCity LiF w/ Tony Casenova, LD Beats, TQWuditDu, Promise The Gahd (Petra’s) JAZZ/BLUES Rowan Big Band All Stars (Camp North End) The Lao Tizer Quartet feat. Karen Briggs (Middle C Jazz) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA The Piedmont Boys w/ Kyle Kelly and Barnyard Stompers (Amos’ Southend) POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ The Abbey Elmore Band w/ Deaf Andrews, Featherpocket (Snug Harbor) LATIN/WORLD/REGGAE Banda MS (Spectrum Center)

SUNDAY, JULY 2

ROCK/PUNK/METAL Lofidels w/ Ultra Deluxe, MIRRORxLAKE, raatma (The Milestone) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA OMG w/ H’aiasi Musiq (The Rooster) JAZZ/BLUES Julian Vaughn (Middle C Jazz) POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ Hazy Sunday (Petra’s) HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Alicia Keys (Spectrum Center) FAMILY Kidz Bop (PNC Music Pavilion) OPEN MIC Open Mic Night (Starlight on 22nd)

MONDAY, JULY 3

ROCK/PUNK/METAL Deadland w/ Whatsdysmorphia, Demon Teeth, Jealous Mind, Overturn (The Milestone) JAZZ/BLUES The Bill Hanna Legacy Jazz Session (Petra’s)

SATURDAY, JULY 8

TUESDAY, JULY 4

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Don Toliver (Skyla Credit Union Amphitheatre) OPEN MIC Say It! Open Mic (Cloudcheck)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 5 POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ See Bird Go (Camp North End) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA Willi Carlisle w/ the Resonant Rogues (Neighborhood Theatre) JAZZ/BLUES Menastree w/ MoonShaker, Educated Guess (Snug Harbor) OPEN MIC Singer/Songwriter Open Mic (The Rooster)

THURSDAY, JULY 6

JAZZ/BLUES Thomas Robinson (Middle C Jazz) LATIN/WORLD/REGGAE Santa Fe Klan w/ Snow Tha Product, Tornillo (Spectrum Center) ACOUSTIC/SINGER-SONGWRITER Paul Lover (Comet Grill) CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL Emanuel Wynter w/ Elora Dash, Swansgate (Snug Harbor)

FRIDAY, JULY 7

ROCK/PUNK/METAL Leilani Kilgore w/ Annie Dukes (Evening Muse) Remember the Name (The Fillmore) Dipstick w/ Jenny Besetzt, Quad (Snug Harbor) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA Charlotte Bluegrass Allstars w/ Ashes & Arrows (Neighborhood Theatre) Zack Brock & Good Intentions (The Rooster) JAZZ/BLUES Nicole Henry (Middle C Jazz) POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ Speak Now: Taylor Swift Dance Party (Amos’ Southend) DJ Fijiboi D-Lo (Camp North End) Peace, Love & Rage: A Divorved Dad Rock Dance Party (The Milestone) Ape Audio DMB Series (Starlight on 22nd)

ROCK/PUNK/METAL REdEFIND w/ Oblivion AD, Cut Throat Suzy, Cosmic Twynk (The Rooster) Abyssal Frost w/ Garbage People, Withered, Suppression (Snug Harbor) Hey RICHARD w/ Doubting Thomas (Starlight on 22nd) FUNK/JAM BANDS Dual Core w/ Mikal Khill, Tribe One, Sulfur, Autocorrect (The Milestone) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA The Night Tillers (Comet Grill) JAZZ/BLUES Nicole Henry (Middle C Jazz) CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL Geoff Westley (Booth Playhouse) ACOUSTIC/SINGER-SONGWRITER Elora Dash (Primal Brewery) COVER BANDS Sickman (Alice in Chains tribute) w/ Foo 4 You (Foo Fighters tribute) (Amos’ Southend)

SUNDAY, JULY 9

ROCK/PUNK/METAL Analepsy w/ Cognitive, Wormhole, Negroticgorebeast, Blaakhol (The Milestone) JAZZ/BLUES Justin Ray’s Big Band feat. Noah Freidline & Maria Howell (Middle C Jazz) Mac Arnold & Plate Full o’ Blues (The Rooster) SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC Ryan Hughes (Birdsong Brewing) OPEN MIC Bold Music Open Mic (Evening Muse) Open Mic Night (Starlight on 22nd)

MONDAY, JULY 10 ROCK/PUNK/METAL I Set My Friends on Fire (Neighborhood Theatre) OPEN MIC Find Your Muse Open Mic feat. John Brewster (Evening Muse)

TUESDAY, JULY 11

ROCK/PUNK/METAL Matchbox Twenty (PNC Music Pavilion) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA The Arcadian Wild (Neighborhood Theatre) OPEN MIC Say It! Open Mic (Cloudcheck)

VISIT QCNERVE.COM FOR THE FULL SOUNDWAVE LISTING.

MUSIC FEATURE

HIP-HOP HOMECOMING Bedroom popstar Tré Ahmad returns to the Neighborhood

BY PAT MORAN

TRÉ AHMAD

PHOTO BY LOU VACQUIE

coiling acoustic guitar threads through the track.

This too is linked with healing. Ahmad says medieval doctors once played guitars over bodies that were sick or inflamed.

“They had this theory that the vibrations from the music would [heal].”

On a more prosaic level, Ahmad has taken medication for their anxiety and depression, and continues to do so to this day.

psychiatric ward, Ahmad had a panic attack and could not bring themself to contact her. Awash in uncertainty, they plunged into learning French online. Not only did they gain facility with the language, Ahmad also gained confidence in taking control of their life. They made the fateful decision to take a hiatus in Europe.

Eventually meeting Mars in France, the couple took many trips across the continent, including to Geneva, which would become Ahmad’s favorite city.

“I want to make music whenever I go back [to Europe], and find a studio and a hotel to record out of,” Ahmad says.

Mars will be in town for the Charlotte homecoming show, and the couple is making plans for her to join Ahmad in Charlotte permanently.

Ahmad says they’re in a happy place and that it will be an interesting challenge to perform the traumaand doubt-stricken material from The Bedroom Popstar in their more peaceful state of mind.

That upbeat optimism is apparent on the EP Kttn, where Ahmad’s confident wordplay corkscrews around experimental production, beats and backing instrumentation on “L’avion Freestyle.” Entwining melodic hooks and staccato verses through a thicket of splashy hi-hats, Ahmad sounds jubilant on the Django Reinhardt-does-acid-jazz gem “Kindly.”

As for the Homecoming Festival, Ahmad says they and their talented friends hope to foster a family reunion atmosphere, or possibly recall the satisfaction you get when you’ve seen a great movie in a theater.

“I want the show as well to feel like you just walked out of one of the best movies you’ve ever seen,” Ahmad says. “You relate to it; it has a happy ending. It was a matinee and the sun is out, and you’re still thinking about that movie and the characters.”

PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM

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In 2022, Tré Ahmad Anderson-Davis was on top Rap therapy of the world. Following the intriguing three-song EP Growing up in Concord and Charlotte, Ahmad Blue in 2021 and melodic and soul-searching debut LP recalls getting into rap at age 5, dancing to JayThe Bedroom Popstar later that year, Anderson-Davis, Z’s “Dirt off Your Shoulder.” When they turned 12, who composes, produces and performs as Tré Ahmad, Ahmad became besotted with Lil Wayne’s 2009 was on a roll. The 26-year old artist was praised for mixtape No Ceilings, learning each line by heart. their nuanced tracks, and was touted as one of North Their most vivid memory of falling in love with Carolina’s most promising young hip-hop artists. rap, however, came when Ahmad was a freshman All they needed to consolidate their critical and in high school. Going by the moniker That Kid commercial foothold was to drop further powerful T.A.Z., they put out a mixtape imitating the style material and line up some local gigs to cement their of No Ceilings, freestyling over popular rap and R&B standing. Instead, they dropped everything and instrumentals. went to Europe.

Later, following the lead of Kendrick Lamar “I needed to take a break from going to the in crafting a more personal form of music that studio all the time and being around people all the told stories about their life, Ahmad changed his time,” Ahmad says. composing/performing name to Tré Ahmad. After a For the good of their mental health, a powerful year at Eastern Carolina University, Ahmad dropped theme that threads trough The Bedroom Popstar, out to pursue music.

Ahmad sought new vistas. Opting for a long stay They befriended fledgling producers and artists overseas, Ahmad immersed themselves in a new who would collaborate with them and contribute culture, learned the language and made friends. to their career — Té Jani, Nia J and Matthew “I found friends and love,” Ahmad says. “I met Square and Michael Louis (who together go by the my [current] partner, Mars, in Lyon.” moniker Mike Larry). Ahmad met The Blues when Ahmad’s aware that their happiness may have she contributed vocals to the song “yesterday’ on come with a price. Except for some production work and Ahmad’s first EP Cents in 2018. a one-off gig for a college audience in Geneva, Ahmad Hanging out at Té Jani’s dorm room at stayed away from recording during his European Queens University, Ahmad met producer/multisojourn. Nearly a year and a half passed between the instrumentalist Ike Byers, who would become a key release of The Bedroom Popstar in 2021 and the 2023 participant in the creation of The Bedroom Popstar. release of the playful three-song EP Kttn, with no new Ahmad can trace the origins of The Bedroom material from Ahmad during that time.

Popstar to the breakup of their first relationship.

“In my generation that’s like taking a decade “I was super confident that we were going to be off,” Ahmad says. together forever, [but] we ended up becoming …

Another five months of radio silence followed ghosts,” Ahmad says.

Kttn, but that comes to an end this month. Ahmad Soon after the relationship ended, Ahmad promises a flood of new material beginning this landed in a psychiatric hospital for a week. summer, and on June 30, they’ll headline the Tré Two years later, that experience, during which Ahmad Homecoming Festival at Neighborhood Ahmad was diagnosed with anxiety and depression, Theatre. In addition to Ahmad, the stellar hip-hop/ formed the basis of the punchy and powerful “Davis neo-soul bill includes Deep October, Té Jani, Trent Regional,” named after the institution where Ahmad Domonic, Nia J and The Bleus — all performers who was sent. know and/or have worked with Ahmad.

“How money buy happiness I’m bluer than these “I can call anybody that’s performing a friend,” bills/ Got my heart broke and would’ve thought that I Ahmad says. got killed...”

In 2018, the COVID pandemic and shutdowns

hit. Another relationship ended, with Ahmad’s Byers did far more on The Bedroom Popstar girlfriend moving across the country with her family. than play guitar. Ahmad credits Byers as executive “[In The Bedroom Popstar] I took a deep dive, producer on the collection for helping shape and talking about things that are hard to talk about in sharpen messages and songs. person, forcing myself to put them in songs,” Ahmad “He helped me along in the process of being says. “I just had to get what was on my mind out vulnerable and teaching me confidence. The album into a place where I could hear it and analyze my wouldn’t sound or be the same without his presence thoughts.” on it,” Ahmad says. “He was definitely my Yoda.”

Depression and mental illness threads through the melancholy “Therapy,” a manifesto for facing Vive la homecoming self-assessment: “Why am I so good at making love Another track on The Bedroom Popstar, had love lost/ Why am I so good at running from my “Cauchmars,” pointed the way ahead for Ahmad. The thoughts...” title means “nightmares” in French, and the track Here Ahmad stares down their false sense began to take shape as Ahmad’s last relationship came of confidence, and turns to self-healing as Byers’ to an end. When Ahmad’s girlfriend checked into a

ARTS FEATURE

A FRESH TAKE

‘The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster’ puts a new lens on Mary Shelley’s famous tale

BY DEZANII LEWIS

“Death is a disease,” Vicaria whispers. “If death is a disease then there’s a cure … And I’m going to find it.”

The line comes from the opening of The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster. Written and directed by Bomani J. Story, the film was shot in Charlotte and stars a number of local actors.

As one of countless reimaginations of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein — the famous American novel in which Dr. Frankenstein reanimates a corpse, creating Frankenstein’s monster — Story’s film is one of a kind, a fresh take that centers around a brilliant Black teen named Vicaria who tries to reanimate her brother following his violent death, instead creating a monster.

It opened in select theaters on June 9 to critical acclaim — it sits at 86% in both Audience Score and Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of this writing — including a run at Independent Picture House that included a panel discussion with some of the local stars and crew members who helped bring the film to fruition.

Following the event at Charlotte’s only art house theater, Queen City Nerve spoke with a couple of the actors about the film and the significance of its plot — injecting an old tale with new energy and social relevance — and location.

“I would say that it’s not a faithful 100% recreation of the source material, but that a lot of the themes and ideas that Mary Shelley planted in Frankenstein are still very relevant today,” said

Jeremy DeCarlos, who plays Curtis in the movie. “Especially the idea of kind of playing God, in a sense. And I think that Bomani ... very carefully picked and chose what he wanted to bring over from Mary Shelley.

“So I think that in the final products, it’s very interesting,” he continued. “It’s kind of a mix of staying faithful to the source material and being able to have enough mileage to reflect on some of the things that the African American community experiences today.”

The film offers viewers a chance to revisit Shelley’s story, but also experience how death affects community members who may be more familiar with violence than others.

“The story is definitely not just a twist because it’s set in the current day, but also because it’s set in the Black community,” said Tracie Frank, who plays Secoiya. “And so that adds, I think, even more TRACIE FRANK of a twist to it. Vicaria is not just Black, she’s a Black girl. So she’s got that intersectionality thing happening.”

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Bringing film back to Charlotte

BEHIND THE SCENES OF ‘THE ANGRY BLACK GIRL AND HER MONSTER.’

PHOTO BY AMANI SUMMER

Charlotte served as an East Coast hub for the film industry for years, with feature films ranging from The Color Purple (1985) and Nell (1995) to The Hunger Games (2012) and Talladega Nights (2006) shot in the Charlotte area. Production companies came to North Carolina thanks to generous incentives from the state government, a program that Republican Gov. Pat McCrory allowed to expire in 2014, diminishing the industry in our state.

“I think that there was a lot that was happening in Charlotte,” Frank said. “A lot of films were being shot in North Carolina and a lot of TV shows. And then the incentives died and went away and changed. And we had to watch a lot of our film and television industry sort of move four hours away.

And that was hard and depressing, not just for the actors around here, but for a lot of the people who

PHOTO BY MAGEN MARIE

lost work as crew and everything.”

“To put it politely, I do believe that there is a lack of belief in North Carolina’s ability to generate an industry of film,” DeCarlos said. “It was a privilege to be a part of a production like this [for] several reasons, the main of which is that it brought film back to North Carolina, that this particular production company was very adamant about shooting this project in Charlotte to get our Charlotte feel. So I’m very happy to have participated in that way.”

To be clear, there have been other big-name projects filmed in Charlotte recently. Released in January 2023, the film adaptation of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret starring Rachel McAdams was filmed in Charlotte in 2021. SNL comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy spent months in Charlotte in late2022 filming an as-yet-untitled movie produced by Judd Apatow, set to release on Peacock in November.

TV shows such as Showtime’s Homeland and the Oprah Winfrey Network’s Delilah have also shot in Charlotte, signaling a potential comeback for the

ARTS FEATURE

man bringing somebody back to life. Instead of, ‘Oh, what an intrepid pioneer,’ now it’s, ‘Well, how dare she? Don’t mess with it.’ Depends on who’s doing it, right? And I think that that’s kind of sad, but it’s an interesting truth.”

There are metaphors throughout the film all the way down to the title, which Frank wants people to consider and try to understand on their own terms after they’ve watched the movie as compared to how they felt about it coming in. Hopefully, she said, that will allow audiences to consider that we’re all dealing with our own monsters.

Queen City’s film industry.

The COVID pandemic, of course, slowed that progress, but DeCarlos and Frank both remain optimistic about the industry’s future in Charlotte.

“To see something as cool as this come back, it’s exciting and encouraging,” Frank said. “It’s really cool to have that to be part of something so cool right here in Charlotte. It feels sort of like revisiting some of the greatness that we know we’re capable of.”

“Not only do I believe that this area can and is absolutely capable of sustaining a film industry, I am wholeheartedly behind that,” DeCarlos said. “But if we do not put up competitive numbers to actively attract productions to this area, then we will not see those productions.”

The monster

The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster was released in select theaters on June 9 and is now available on various streaming platforms.

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The unique relationship between Shelley’s A PANEL DISCUSSION FOLLOWING THE SCREENING AT INDEPENDENT PICTURE HOUSE. original work and Story’s reimagination is an by people who couldn’t do it? For example, white the ‘hood with some stuff she found and her brain. interesting one. To portray the story in a community doctors with all the resources and everything that The story of bringing the dead back to life is really that often experiences trauma and a sense of they would need — the labs, all that kind of stuff cool. But add all of that to it, and what does it look helplessness is not something many might have — and they can’t do it with all of their resources like? What does it even mean? How is it going to attempted to explore, which was an intentional and with all of their shiny materials. But she did it in present itself? It’s a different story than if it’s a white departure from other adaptations, said DeCarlos.

“I think it allows for a more interesting transition into the African American community, as if we were to just do a historical recreation of Frankenstein,” he said. “A lot of people have seen that particular story, and I think the way that we have updated it for our particular time frame and the way that the story is kind of told from the African American perspective makes it something that a new audience would, I believe, find very interesting. So it’s a very fresh way to tell something very old.”

Frank similarly felt that the story’s design was meaningful and would force the audience to consider questions they may never have before.

“I love how it’s not just about some crazy doctor trying to bring someone back to life, but it’s a brilliant young girl who wants to bring someone back to life because she cares about that person,” she said. “It adds a whole different dimension to the story. It’s really cool to delve into the idea of what happens if you can reanimate a dead body, like, what could we do with that?

“But add to that that it happens in the ‘hood,” Come out and enjoy some of our sweet treats she continued. “It’s a little poor Black girl. Like poor Black people — Black people, period, but then in Uptown or at one of our other locations she’s poor, but then it’s a girl. We’re not supposed to be able to do anything, and she has literally done Carmel Commons Park Road Rock Hill NoDa the impossible. So how is that going to be taken 7715 Pineville-Matthews Rd. 157 E. Main St. 136 E. 36 St. 4321 Park Rd.

PHOTO BY TAYLOR MONTALTO

NOW OPEN IN UPTOWN

380 S. College St.

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FOOD & DRINK FEATURE

WHAT FRESH HELL Tracing Charlotte’s obsession with the goddamned espresso martini

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BY TIMOTHY DEPEUGH

Along one of the more hopping stretches of The Plaza, where aggressive traffic patterns and aggressively priced real estate zig-zag through rows of tattoo parlors, sacrosanct bodegas and smoke shops — all still safe (#blessed) from (oh em gee) The Latest Instagrammable Things just to the north or south — friends Larry Suggs and Andy Schools joined forces to resurrect a space in one of those new retail developments that, thanks to the pandemic, was a skeleton way before it ever had a chance to show the neighborhood what it could do.

Not that either of them had anything else to prove.

Humbug, their brief in-residence pop-up in the lobby of the Refuge Hotel, joined the pantheon of Great Queen City Cocktail Bars from the moment it opened. Now with its own permanent home, which officially opened on June 21, the two friends hope to ride that wave of popularity far off into the Fernethued sunset. From the early preview I was granted, I see nothing stopping them.

The venue itself is one thing — a dive bar ratcheted up three income brackets and crafted with a sort of dark, modern aesthetic confidence that is likely to make even the biggest bro go, “Bruh.”

The cocktail list, of course, is entirely another.

“No Mango For You!” — the opening menu’s most quaffable — uses matcha to make mango somehow taste more like mango, and the namesake “Humbug Martini” eschews olives in favor of a pickled tomato, which sends the citrus notes — here orange, instead of lemon — up into the stratosphere.

But there is one cocktail, not that either Larry or Andy had anything else to prove, that appears to be designed for the masses, by two men who have built reputations on deigning to pander, who nevertheless now pander. Its ingredients are simple, ranging from the obvious (vodka, espresso liqueur) and the obviously sourced (espresso from neighbors Summit Coffee), to the ones of the “always delicious, never pretentious” sort that Humbug calls its trademark — in this case salted coconut foam and,

in a stroke of genius that should surprise no one who follows upscale cocktail bars in Charlotte, Fernet Branca.

By now, dear readers, it should be clear to you what cocktail they have wrought, but the punchline to this very long setup is the best part: the drink’s A FEW ESPRESSO MARTINI OPTIONS AT SALTED MELON. name. Embossed beautifully albeit obscurely in the middle of the menu, it reads simply as: “The resident papa bear — growled when I asked about his take on the espresso martini’s takeover.

Goddamned Espresso Martini.”

“Oh God,” he roared. “Don’t ever make me make one of those things again.”

The espresso martini is not a crime Instead, he delegated the task to a protege ... is it? behind the bar whose last name has far too many My triggers are complicated, so I sought the letters to be real, so we shall call him, “Joe.” opinions of those far wiser than me.

Joe took the task seriously — as one should for a Kathleen Purvis — friend, mentor and Eternal drink that can account for 18% of Billy Sunday’s sales Sunshine Goddess of Southern Food Writing — on any given night — mixing, squirting, shaking wrote to me that, “Nothing good can come from and such. They call it “Mexi’Spressi” here, and one being that drunk and that wide awake.” If her view, can only assume it’s because it contains ancho chili. as clear as proper cocktail ice, were correct, then Even without being able to actually taste the chili, surely the police would have been involved at some the drink both drinks and looks cute, but therein was point. another one of this bitter old queen’s triggers.

To that end, over the past couple of years, how You see, I ate pie here once at Billy Sunday. On many drunk and disorderly arrests do you think have Thanksgiving. With drag queens. Would any drag been made in Charlotte where the contributing queen worth her weight in glitter and struggles be factors involved one too many espresso martinis? caught dead drinking an espresso martini, even if it It’s a trick question. were served in her grandmother’s wedding china?

I, of course, was too shy to call the CharlotteMaybe. But then again, this research was taking Mecklenburg Police Department myself, so I fobbed place during Pride Month, so give a girl a break. the research off onto my editor, who laughed or may Perhaps wisdom is just lost on this boy who have waited until he got off the phone. Unless I had grew up treating his TV like his only sibling. the name of a victim, he said, I would never be able Sex and the City informed my early cocktail to find out: espresso martinis, Hennessy, Cristal, or choices after I had turned 21, not once but many White Claw — all are equal in the eyes of Charlotte’s times before and after the actual event thanks to men in blue in that none is worthy of mention in a two guys in my college dorm and their laser-printed police report. fake IDs. And while at many points while doing research In fact, now that I think about it, whatever for this story I did actually feel like a victim, name actually happened to the Cosmopolitan? Lord Jesus, dropping myself would get me nowhere, especially I downed those things when I was a 20-something when it doesn’t even get me invited to restaurant twink. I felt cool, I felt alive. I was a Carrie! Living life openings or media events in this town. as a Miranda! While secretly a Samantha! Dressed Dejected, I went to Billy Sunday on a Monday. as a Charlotte! I was living in Tokyo at the time, and There, Brian DuBois — assistant manager and every time I ordered one, even the bartenders there

PHOTO BY TIMOTHY DEPEUGH

would roll their eyes.

Was (is!) the Cosmopolitan my generation’s espresso martini? I’m not that old, but nevertheless, I traveled to South End for perspective.

A history lesson

Amanda Britton is a lot of things, and at Lincoln Street Kitchen and The Green Room, that includes librarian.

Her cocktails, as have always been the case, have more wit and insight than anything found in The New Yorker, but this time around, they also have history.

On a recent afternoon pre-service, she both schooled and humored me, while in her own special way telling me to back off coming for the espresso martini.

“What you may not realize is,” she said, “this drink was created by someone who’s super well respected in the industry.”

Dick Bradsell, the late British cocktail legend who was a mixologist before that word became cringe, invented many a drink in his day that are now considered to be classics.

The Bramble was one, and another, according to Amanda, he created when a supermodel walked into his bar and asked for something that was going to “fuck her up and wake her up.”

“You’re talking about Kate Moss, aren’t you?” I asked.

This may have been the late ’80s, but instead of cocaine, Dick mixed vodka, coffee liqueur and espresso with ice in a tall Collins glass. The supermodel (“It’s Naomi Campbell, isn’t it?”) approved, thus forever making Dick to cocktails what Oppenheimer was to plutonium.

FOOD & DRINK FEATURE

Salted and sweet

Perhaps the Frappuccino and the espresso martini needed for the other to be around in order to exist. If astronomers keep claiming to have no existence of dark matter, despite the universe being composed mostly of it, then look no further than the drink the Frappuccino begot.

Or maybe it’s less complicated than the Big Bang, and in true Z-illennial fashion, the Frappuccino just needed to be validated. Yes, this is crass and condescending to Z-illennials, but then so are the espresso martinis at Salted Melon, where I went for more research.

What drew me into the bowels of South End right to the corner of Instagram and Ashleigh was

There were still three other choices of base spirit: two types of vodka and an orange liqueur.

After that, a choice of flavor and of topping, none

Last call

This isn’t the first time I’ve destroyed my liver for a story, and it won’t be the last. If my writing ever does serve as the basis for charging me with a crime, then let the facts clearly state that I first conceived of this conspiracy to make Charlotteans drink better espresso martinis at Idlewild in NoDA. The versions at Idlewild — all deliciously diverse — are heavily dependent on the person making the drink on the particular night one decides that ordering an espresso martini is the right thing to do in a place like this.

Bartender Amanda Wallace’s version came swirling with coffee and hints of chili and candied orange, tasting clean and invigorating, like the first deep breath outside on a cold winter morning. Bartender Tristan Hunt’s version was richer, creamier and tasted of egg nog. That both versions of the same superficial cocktail had such new and profound things to say told me that there still might be hope for the victims of things having gone just way too far.

But if and when a jury returns a verdict of not guilty on those charges due to reasonable doubt, I will point to Fin & Fino in Uptown as my savior. Bar manager Brittany Kellum, more than anyone else I had spoken to over the past few weeks, seemed at peace with the espresso martini when I asked her how she felt about it being a thing that is now forever a part of our lives.

Instead of pandering, upleveling or going off the deep end, her version owes itself to the technical prowess PHOTO BY TIMOTHY DEPEUGH on display in mixing spirits just so, and serving them at temperatures and upwardly mobile all somehow find their way, just so, that when I took my first sip and placed my appearances, more than anything else, mean hand on my suddenly palpitating heart, I finally everything. I have never truly believed that so many understood the ask behind that supermodel’s brief. people actually love dogs, for example.

She wasn’t trying to be difficult; she just wanted And as far as espresso martinis are concerned, something to fuck her up and wake her up, goddamn on those late crazy nights that end only a few hours it. And despite my mentor’s concerns, I suspected before church on Sunday, remember the drink that but would never admit out loud — I would only our forefathers sought out? A vodka Red Bull. write it all down here to you, dear readers, on the This is South End, friends, not a dive bar; silent page — that there might be a glimmer of those can stay in LoSo. In this version of Charlotte, something good coming from it, whether that be therefore, it could be that ordering a vodka Red Bull a trend that’s been a boon for bar business across has become unattractive or even gauche. But an Charlotte in these post-COVID times, or that it gets espresso martini? Take my new money! me an appointment with a cardiologist.

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The version Amanda created for Lincoln Street Kitchen may be zhuzhed up — the coffee liqueur is house-made, and the drink is served in a martini glass — but it is nevertheless a straightforward nod to the Bradsellian original.

The drink’s popularity would almost seem a given, but for the fact that it doesn’t even appear by name on the menu, a detail that Amanda left until the end in order to illustrate the espresso martini’s Cheers factor: in a bar, everyone knows it by name.

At The Green Room, though, Lincoln Street Kitchen’s bar-within-a-bar, Amanda strays gallantly from the straightforward, possibly to save herself from an early death by “Oh God, not again,”but really in order to keep things interesting with a more sophisticated point of view that will also challenge customers who might have by now taken the original for granted.

Called “Carojillo,” it’s an homage to a cocktail typically found in Latin countries that is mostly equal parts spirit and espresso, but the really clever upleveling here comes from Fernet Branca infused with cacao nibs.

“Now this is an espresso martini,” I told her. I may have in that instant even come close to forgiving it for almost wiping away entirely my precious memories of the Cosmopolitan.

“But you know what the reason for that is, right?” Amanda asked. TRISTAN HUNT MIXES UP AN ESPRESSO MARTINI AT IDELWILD. “You came of age right when Sex and the City was becoming a not the desire to see yet another market-cum-caféphenomenon. People today came of age after years cum-bar community space concept in this town, of Starbucks when Frappuccinos were becoming a but to instead work my way through their internetphenomenon.” famous “make your own” espresso martini menu.

I remained cool as I learned two years ago when Surely it couldn’t be as bad as it sounds?

I first met Amanda that I should always be ready for Right off the bat, Salted Melon assistant GM and sudden droppings of wisdom. bartender Lexi Davis had me figured out. She made Could the explanation really be as simple, though, a great show of apologizing that they had run out of as popular culture and the fickleness of human biscotti liqueur, and I made a great show of shaking nature? Maybe. I’m sure my grandparents missed the my fist at no one in particular in defiance of the cocaine when the makers took it out of the cola. amazing drink that might have been.

of which would look out of place scattered all over the counter at a Starbucks. I went all in because how could I not? Orange liqueur, hazelnut and a dusting of cocoa-flavored matcha powder.

While there are far worse things to drink and far healthier ways to come down with diabetes, I — Tim DePeugh, victim to things having now gone way too far — thought the whole thing really did belong in a police report, despite what my editor or CMPD thought. But only after I took the perfect aesthetic shot for the ‘Gram.

Only when I left did it occur to me that, while Amanda’s Frappucino theory clearly had merit, there might also be something more socioeconomic at play. There in South End, where Charlotte’s young

LIFESTYLE COLUMN

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HOROSCOPE

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JUN 28 - JUL 4

JULY 5 - JULY 11

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) You might have SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December ARIES (March 21 to April 19) You are self- VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Hiding to turn your Arian charm up a few degrees 21) Your quick wit helps you work through an reliant and rarely ask anyone for help. But your feelings might make you feel safer if you hope to persuade that persistent already difficult situation without creating this time, you might want someone you against rejection. But this could be the time pessimist to see the possibilities in your more problems. Creative aspects begin to trust to be there for you while you deal with when you’ll need to speak up or risk losing dominate by the week’s end. project. Whatever you do, don’t give up. a difficult matter. Cheer up. Things improve out on an important event in your life. soon.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) A “tip” about a CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Some co-worker’s “betrayal” might well raise the Be patient. You’ll soon receive news about TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Your patience co-workers might try to talk you out of Bovine’s rage levels. But before charging into a project that means a great deal to you. begins to pay off. Look for the first sign that accepting a promotion. But you need to a confrontation, let an unbiased colleague do Meanwhile, you might want to reconsider a your goals are in plain sight. Also, take time follow your own instincts -- and if you believe suggestion that you previously turned down. out from all your hard work for some fun with you’re right for the job, then take it. some fact-checking. someone special.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Although a AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) There SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Some relationship still seems to be moving too are still some aspects about a new job offer GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) There could changes are in order, as you come to realize slowly to suit your expectations, it’s best not that you need to resolve. In the meantime, be some lingering effects from a recent that you need to sort out several areas in to push it. Let it develop at its own pace. You’ll another possibility seems promising. Be sure setback. But it’s all for the best, as you’re your life. Your remarkable insight helps you to check it out as well. soon get news about a workplace change. now beginning to appreciate. Use the lessons make the right decisions. you’ve learned to start over.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) A continually PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Opening SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December changing personal situation makes you feel up your emotional floodgates could leave CANCER (June 21 to July 22) What seemed 21) It’s time to act on your own behalf as if you’re riding an emotional roller coaster. you vulnerable to being hurt later on. Watch to be a difficult goal to reach is now — or and separate yourself from those whose But hold on tight; stability starts to set in what you say in order to avoid having your soon will be — all yours. Congratulations. selfish needs threaten your personal and/or words come back to haunt you. early next week.

An unexpected travel opportunity holds an professional survival. intriguing new prospect.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) Believe it or not, BORN THIS WEEK: You’re usually the life CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) someone might dare to say “No!” to the Regal of the party, which gets you on everyone’s LEO (July 23 to August 22) A chilly reception Resist your tendency to close yourself off One’s suggestion. But instead of being miffed, invitation list. You also have a flair for politics. to your presentation shouldn’t cause you to from unpleasant situations. Instead, open use this rebuff to recheck the proposition abandon your ideas. Instead, do tweak up up to how things are so that you can help and, perhaps, make some changes. those weaker parts and then, once again, change them to what they could be. show them what you have.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) You AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) An might find it difficult to make a decision unspoken problem could be driving a deep about a family matter. But a delay can only wedge between you and that special person. lead to more problems. Seek out trusted Some honest talking between the two of you counsel and then make that important starts the healing process. decision.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) You might LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) feel you’ve been going around in everConcentrate your focus on what needs to be widening circles trying to deal with recent done and avoid frittering away your energies workplace problems. Lighten up. A successful on less important pursuits. There’ll be time end is finally in sight. later for fun and games.

BORN THIS WEEK: You’re authentic and SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) unafraid of using thr large emotions that Although the conflicts seem to be letting up, overtake your heart. Originality is your super you still need to be wary of being drawn into power. workplace intrigues. Plan a special weekend event for family and/or friends.

LIFESTYLE PUZZLES SUDOKU

BY LINDA THISTLE

TRIVIA TEST

BY FIFI RODRIGUEZ

1. GEOGRAPHY: What is the tallest building in the world?

2. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: What does HTTP stand for in a website address?

3. LITERATURE: Which kind of animals are featured in the novel “Watership Down”?

4. HISTORY: When was the first iPhone released?

5. MOVIES: What kind of fish is Nemo in “Finding Nemo”?

6. GAMES: What is the final course on Mario Kart video games?

7. ASTRONOMY: How many planets in our solar system have moons?

8. U.S. PRESIDENTS: Which president was licensed as a bartender?

9. MEDICAL: What is a more common term for somniloquy?

10. TELEVISION: How many castaways are on “Gilligan’s Island”?

CROSSWORD

PLACE A NUMBER IN THE EMPTY BOXES IN SUCH A WAY THAT EACH ROW ACROSS, EACH COLUMN DOWN AND EACH SMALL 9-BOX SQUARE CONTAINS ALL OF THE NUMBERS ONE TO NINE. ©2023 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.

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BE WITH YOU

©2023 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.

BY DAN SAVAGE

I’m a 41-year-old cis female and have experienced a significant amount of physical and emotional abuse in my relationships. I recently started dating again and met a really great guy who told me that he was interested in having a Dom/sub relationship. I thought that would be it and told him so — given my experiences, I wasn’t interested in being his sub — but it turns out he wants me to be his dom. The thought of being the one in control kind of fascinates me and it feels very sexy to think about. But I am so used to worrying about the very scary and very real repercussions of even having an opinion after everything I have experienced in the past that I’m finding it difficult to navigate this. His interest aren’t in the whipsand-chains wheelhouse; it’s more like wanting to please someone who is demanding and bossy. Do you have any tips, suggestions, or resources you would recommend for me to learn more and be the best Dom Goddess I can possibly be?

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WOMAN HAVING EXTREME EXCITEMENT

“Take it slow,” said Midori. “That’s always my first piece of advice: Take it slow. Then take small steps while remembering to center yourself and your joy first.”

An author, artist, educator, and public speaker on sexuality and kink for more than two decades, Midori created the ForteFemme Women’s Dominance Intensive (fortefemme.com) to help women explore domination thoughtfully and authentically.

“Everyone talks about new relationship energy, and NRE is real,” said Midori, “but new relationship dynamic energy — NRDE — is just as real. NRDE feels just like NRE in important ways. In both cases, enthusiasm can get the better of us. We find ourselves wanting to do all the things all at once. In our excitement we can bite off more than we can chew, and then wind up feeling queasy and upset after. Right now WHEE should allow the sweet spiciness of all the new and exciting things she’s thinking about to continue to percolate while building confidence in herself.”

Once you’re ready to get started — once you’re ready to experiment — take small steps.

“There’s a giant difference between Dominance and submissive play scenes and D/s relationships, even if the names imply they’re the same thing,” said Midori.

“I always refer to the latter as Consented Hierarchical Opted-In Relationships, or CHOIR for short — I know, too cute by half — but it’s helpful to make this distinction

between saying yes to a small scene and entering into a D/s relationship.”

Even if you ultimately want a D/s relationship, you should start with some simple play.

“Play is about your fun for tonight,” said Midori, “CHOIR is about structures of decision-making that can encompass ordinary daily life stuff as well as play time.

It’s common for folks to mix these up, which can lead to unnecessary pressure, confusion about boundaries, expectation conflict, and other decidedly un-fun feelings.

This confusion is so common that I have an online class called “So You Want D/s? Now What?” to help people figure out which is which and how to enjoy them both.”

And your first small step — that first playful scene — doesn’t have to look like BDSM porn. You don’t need gear, outfits, or a dedicated play space.

“WHEE should experiment with adding a power dynamic to her already existing sex life,” said Midori.

“It’s an exercise I call ‘Will You to You Will.’ Take all the hot vanilla sex stuff you’re already enjoying — the things you’re probably already asking for — and turn the ask into a directive. ‘Will you kiss me?’ becomes ‘You will kiss me.’ ‘Will you lick me?’ becomes ‘You will lick me.’ ‘Do you want to fuck me?’ becomes ‘We are going to fuck.’”

It’s about what you want.

“Think about what would please you,” said Midori.

“That’s what centering yourself and your joy is about.

Many of us have been conditioned to, in the course of our daily lives, think of others first and not check in on our own wants. A consensual, collaborative D/s play scene can be a lovely way to break down these self-erasing, destabilizing habits. But to do that — to go there — you have to honestly ask yourself, ‘What would please me right now?’ It might not be something thought of as kinky or sexual. Do you want your hair brushed? You can tell him to brush your hair. Do you want a story read to you? You can tell him to read to you. Do you want dinner cooked and served with him dressed or undressed in a pleasing manner? And then for him to do the dishes? As Westley says to Buttercup, ‘As you wish.’”

To learn more about Midori, to check out her art, and to buy her books, go to planetmidori.com. The next ForteFemme Women’s Dominance Intensive takes place July 7-9, and dates for the fall will be announced soon. To learn more or register, go to fortefemme.com.

SUCKER FOR DOM WOMEN

Sure.

How do furries happen? The kink just seems so random. And why are there so many furries now but no furries in ancient history?

FATHOMING UNUSUAL ROLES

Cartoons. Disney. Mascots.

While not everyone who gets off on dressing up in fursuits and/or animal mascot costumes has the same origin story, FUR, many furries trace their kink to — many credit their kink to — the anthropomorphized animal characters they were exposed to in childhood. Now, most kids who watch Disney movies don’t grow up to be furries, just as most kids who take a swim class don’t grow up to have speedo fetishes or rubber swim cap fetishes. But a certain tiny percentage of all three groups do. Since we can’t predict which random environmental stimuli a kid might fixate on — and therefore can’t predict whose childhood fixations will become adult sexual obsessions — there’s no controlling for kinks. Some people are gonna be kinky when they grow up, no one’s kinks are consciously chosen, and if they seem random, it’s because they kinda-sorta are random.

As for the ancients…

Anthropomorphized animal characters didn’t come to dominate childhood (mass media, imaginations) until the 20th century — Disney was founded in 1923, Looney Tunes was founded in 1930 — but there were adults running around out there with marionette fetishes acquired at puppet shows before Mickey and Bugs took over. (There are still marionette fetishists out there.) As for the actual ancients, the Roman emperor Nero (37-68 AD) used to dress up in animal skins and pretend to be a wild boar at orgies — according to historians who may have been Fourteen years ago, I fell for a woman who biased against him — and there are lots of examples of was into watching guy-on-guy oral sex. I indulged ancient people dressing up as animals for religious festivals her fetish on multiple occasions at play parties

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PUZZLE ANSWERS

Trivia Answers

Take it slow

5. Clownfish.

6. Rainbow Road.

7. Six of the eight planets.

8. Abraham Lincoln.

9. Talking in your sleep.

10. Seven.

TOPSIDE

and during pre-arranged hotel encounters with bisexual guys. While I only did this to please her, I enjoyed these MMF encounters because I got off on her getting off. At the time I thought maybe I was bisexual and had been in denial. But after we broke up, and after becoming more thoroughly educated on D/s dynamics, I’ve come to believe I am in fact not bi and instead straight. I can just be really subby for the right woman. Most people to whom I disclose my history insist that I’m not straight because of what I did for that one woman.

I even encounter this in the kink community, where the D/s perspective should be better understood.

My argument that I am straight and not bi is that I’ve never been romantically attracted to a man.

I’ve never gone down on a man without a woman telling me to — and it’s not as if there aren’t any opportunities for me to do so, as I live on the north side of Chicago. (You might be familiar with this neighborhood?) All that being said, do you think I’m straight?

1. Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

2. HyperText Transfer Protocol.

3. Rabbits.

4. 2007.

SAVAGE LOVE

LIFESTYLE COLUMN

and holidays; some of festivals included sacred sexual rites, but some of them were just fuck fests because people are — and have always been — kinky freaks.

Send your burning questions to mailbox@savage.love; podcasts, columns, merch and more at Savage.Love!

Pg. 15 JUNE 28 - JULY 11, 2023- QCNERVE.COM