Queen City Nerve Vol 2 _Issue 2

VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 2 | DECEMBER 18 - DECEMBER 31, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

Pg. 2 Dec. 18 - Dec, 31, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

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N OV E M B E R 2 9 – J A N UA RY 5

Charlotte’s Cultural Pulse

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6 Let Them Speak by Liz Logan Speak Up Magazine provides platform for the homeless 5 Editor’s Note by Ryan Pitkin 8 The Suffragist by Rhiannon Fionn 9 The Scanner by Ryan Pitkin

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18 Don’t Die Empty by Ryan Pitkin Near-death experience inspires new Jah Freedom project 20 Soundwave

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22 A Vegan Tsunami by Pat Moran New TV network is plant-based and Charlotte-based 23 The Newbie Foodie by Darrell Horwitz 24 The Buzz

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OUT LIKE A LION The last month of the year is giving us plenty to think about

BY RYAN PITKIN

THIS YEAR WILL NOT GO QUIETLY. One would hope that there could be some sort of pause to the craziness that’s been 2019, if only so we can take a breath and prepare for a 2020 that surely going to be a wild one both locally and nationally, but no such luck.

Already this month, we’ve seen the number of homicides on our city’s streets climb past 100, including the heartbreaking news that Brooks’ Sandwich House co-owner Scott Brooks was gunned down while trying to prepare his business to open on what I’m sure he thought would be an uneventful Monday.

Scott’s killing rocked so many in the Charlotte community, not only because of the popularity of his “All the Way” burger but his willingness to act as a connector between the “two Charlottes” we hear so much about. At Brooks’ you would see bankers, artists, working class folks and any other demographic you could think of, sometimes sharing a picnic table while enjoying their lunch.

Scott’s murder hasn’t just been getting attention because he’s a white guy in NoDa, and we all know murders aren’t supposed to happen to white guys in NoDa, but because of his refusal to stay in his bubble and keep making his money. Over the summer, when he and his brother David donated land that they owned so that Habitat for Humanity could build affordable housing there, they proved that they were willing to put their money where their mouth is, as so many others continue to hold panel discussions and talk the topic to death.

As I wrote in a recent Nerve newsletter, Scott’s death was number 104 of the year, and so many of those victims have gone unnoticed to anyone who didn’t know them. It feels wrong to value anyone’s life over another because it is. Scott’s life isn’t worth any more than anyone else’s, and so many of this year’s victims have been by every measure imaginable good people, but all I can hope for is that when a whole community feels the heartbreak of a loss the way they have after Scott’s murder, that it wakes everyone up to start discussing actual solutions to the violence our city has seen this year; solutions that look deeper than hiring more police or lengthening jail terms, but confront the causes of

violence rather than the effects. That’s the only way I can imagine that Scott wouldn’t have died in vain.

In other news — news that will become official by the time this paper gets delivered — Charlotte will almost certainly be home to Major League Soccer’s 30th franchise. I’m writing this column on the night before Mayor Vi Lyles, Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper and MLS commissioner Don Garber hold a press conference in Uptown to announce what everyone already knows. Although, I suppose they could be just letting us know what’s going into that old Dairy Queen spot.

That being said, if earlier communication between Garber and Lyles stands true, they will soon be announcing some big development news related to the incoming MLS team just a little further down Central Avenue. According to Lyles, the city plans to build a practice facility and offices for the new team at the former Eastland Mall site, which has sat abandoned for nearly a decade.

I’ve got mixed feelings about this. After all, it’s what folks in that area have been asking for for years.

New facilities and team offices will create a wide range of accessible jobs ranging from janitorial staff to corporate gigs with the team. I hope that people in the east Charlotte area get a first go at those jobs.

However, it will almost be sad to see the site developed. There’s a skateboard park that’s been built up organically over multiple years at the site, and the city has let it stay as long as nothing else is happening there. There’s also the Charlotte Open Air Market, held on the site every Saturday and Sunday, providing local business vendors an opportunity to sell their wares on a weekly basis. Both events are a symbol of the tenacity of Charlotte’s DIY scene, and the Open Air Market is a great way to browse food and other retail from the residents of Charlotte’s most culturally diverse area.

In an ideal world, these folks would all have opportunities to thrive in the newly developed site, but I can’t help but think that’s just a pipe dream.

As business development continues inside the Eastland Mall site, I hope measures are taken to be inclusive of the existing community around the site, not only offering jobs but preparing for the inevitable rise in housing prices.

RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

Speak Up Magazine vendors (from left) Earleen Mingo, Josh Caldwell and Ruth Hsieh.

ALL PHOTOS BY GRANT BALDWIN

LET THEM SPEAK

& OPINION

Speak Up Magazine provides platform for Charlotte’s homeless

BY LIZ LOGAN

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W

ALKING INTO EARL’S GROCERY on my way to pick up the best vegan brownie in town, ready to sit and do some writing of my own, I come across Ruth. She and I haven’t met, but even from a distance, I know what she’s there for.

As Ruth stands behind a folding table, covered not with cloth or banners but with various editions of a magazine she both writes for and helps sell, she stops me and asks if I’d like to take a look at some of the works in front of her.

Aside from a full-color glossy version of the magazine itself were a handful of smaller ‘zines — some featuring art, one a coloring book depicting homeless people in Charlotte and another written entirely by Ruth herself.

Her personal publication is all about the cats she’s had over the years.

A Taiwanese immigrant, Ruth Hsieh is somewhat new to the publishing world, and she’s found a niche, a voice and an opportunity with Speak Up Magazine.

I first heard about Speak Up in 2011, right as Matt Shaw and his wife, Lana, were preparing to

launch the magazine.

We’d met at the Free Store, a currency-free, donation-based store previously located in Area 15 on East 15th and North Davidson streets. Here, the homeless, financially challenged or everyday-anticonsumerist could drop off unused belongings and/ or shop for free, following the store’s tagline: “Give what you want, take what you need.” This was the exact demographic Shaw was looking to connect with.

Shaw had a vision: not just to be a voice for the voiceless, but to find those people who aren’t being heard and give them their own platform.

Over the past eight years, he has worked tirelessly to produce, fund, print and distribute Speak Up, a magazine written and distributed primarily by homeless residents of Charlotte.

After living in Chicago, Shaw was inspired both

by Streetwise Magazine and his parent’s similar project in the Philippines.

The premise is simple: publish a magazine written by the homeless and sold by the homeless, allowing them the dignity of creating art and starting their own entrepreneurial endeavors.

Shaw’s work is largely done in quiet, his

name known primarily in his own community, empowering people forgotten in the proliferation of shiny new development that Charlotte has seen, lost amid massive growth and the pummeling of those the world sees as less-than.

Aside from outside inspiration, the name Speak Up and the idea itself were inspired by a Bible verse that Shaw paraphrases as saying, “Speak up for those who can’t speak for themselves.”

Speak Up writers aren’t beating readers over the head with tales of woe related to living on the streets.

By allowing people struggling with homelessness to tell their own stories, the magazine serves to humanize those who write stories and allow readers to see what they have in common with each story’s author.

Stories range from puff pieces — quite literally in the case of Ruth and her cats — to dark stories about depression or desperation, plus everything in between.

Ruth writes about happy times with her feline friends, but also about losing a cat that was like family to her and the grief that she still feels about it today.

When we meet in front of Earl’s, she can’t help but talk to me about her cat, showing me the cover of her ‘zine with its photo, her headshot and the tagline “Cats are my best friends.”

Vince Shumate, another writer and vendor, writes about his near demise: the night he almost took his own life. Wandering around the streets of Asheville, drunk, cold and alone at 5 a.m., he found a knife stashed outside the courthouse that he assumed was left behind by someone entering. He picked it up and thought long and hard. He wrote about deciding then and there what he wanted: life or death.

“When that knife was in my hand, I wasn’t seeing the knife. I was looking Death in the eyes,” Shumate writes.

After being hospitalized and choosing to get clean, he wrote an award-winning journal documenting his life on the streets over a week, complete with photos.

Then there are people like Edward Smalls, who in his short work slowly and succinctly walks the reader through what it was like to lose his son to gun violence.

Even with his poignant words, it’s hard to truly

imagine the pain of his loss, or the endurance necessary to look past that and continue in his daily life on the streets.

In our own respective daily grind, noticing and diverting eye contact with vendors on the streets asking for a moment of our time and a few dollars in exchange for their story, these voices are often the last we want to hear.

Sheila, a poet and vendor for Speak Up, sees this reluctance on an almost-daily basis. While she has repeat customers, eagerly anticipating each edition, she’s run into her share of annoyed and sometimes indignant people.

“People get confused,” Sheila says. “We’re not bums. We’re not panhandling. We’re selling our work. We are being given a way to get what we want, as opposed to just getting what’s given in the shelters.”

She goes on to talk about what she’s learned from Shaw, who sits with vendors week in and week out over lunch and in his Hawthorne Lane office.

“Matt tells us we owe people respect and that, really, they owe us nothing,” Sheila says.

Shaw is helping guide his vendors, who have become his friends, teaching a lesson in treating

others how you wish to be treated, not with the same level of indignation with which they may be treating you.

Earleen Mingo, another writer and vendor, sells magazines in Plaza Midwood, where she and Sheila jokingly have turf wars. After leaving her job to care for her ailing mother, Mingo’s resources slowly waned until she was left without a place to rest her head.

When selling her magazines, she says she “asks one and if they say no, I move on.”

Like Sheila, she emphasizes that this is a legitimate profession, that she’s not begging for anything. Like any other business, she’s helping to produce a good and then selling it.

In front of Earl’s Grocery, as the September sun bears down on our shoulders, Ruth sells me on both her work as well as that of Smalls, generously giving me a 2-for-1 deal that I tried to talk her out of, apologizing profusely for not having any cash (a curse of the times).

She hushes me with her hand and pulls out a card reader and attaches it to her phone, breaking down any barriers there may be to her earning her living.

Ruth, like other vendors, got her start with

Speak Up by selling 20 issues given to her for free. She then took to the streets, selling these magazines at $5 each. Once those were sold, she was able to return and purchase more magazines for $1 each, a nominal fee that covers printing, puts a little toward the nonprofit itself and allows the vendor a financial investment, thus dignity in their own endeavor.

Vendors then return to the street to sell the magazines for a $4 profit.

The model works. Really well, actually.

“One guy earned $264 in a single day, which got him off the streets for a week,” Shaw says. “Another lady sold magazines for a weekend, earned enough to get her commercial driver’s license, and she now drives semi-trucks for a living. The best stories are the ones where a homeless person turns the little Speak Up seed into a flourishing future.”

He tells of a man who started selling magazines in January and was earning enough to get an apartment by February. By April, he owned a car, and a month later had saved enough to start his own power-washing business.”

Dignity, purpose, voice. Basic human needs we all crave and often take for granted. Many of us are able to work for them on a daily basis, speaking up

for ourselves when need be and working towards goals we’ve easily set.

And thanks to Speak Up, these vendors can, too.

The beauty of this model is that vendors are not employed by Speak Up, but work for themselves, able to make their own decisions about work hours, financial investment and other choices — a dignity that the systems in place rarely afford the working class.

“Unlike some of the scam-like organizations where homeless people are set out to collect money for a ‘ministry,’ our homeless partners never collect money for Speak Up,” Shaw says. “When you buy a magazine from one of them, you are purchasing something they already own — and therefore they keep the money and decide what to do with it.”

So next time you see a Speak Up vendor in NoDa, Plaza Midwood, Uptown, know that to support them means supporting local at the root level.

Not to mention that, as an alt media publication ourselves, we’re always down to hear more oftignored voices get amplified in Charlotte.

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

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Join Queen City Nerve in discussions about local news topics over cocktails with featured guests on the Queen City Podcast Network.

www.queencitypodcastnetwork.com/noozehounds

THE SUFFRAGIST BRIDGING THE GAP The suffrage movement isn’t over, but who cares?

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BY RHIANNON FIONN

AS A (*AHEM* YOUNG) GEN X’ER, I must admit to feeling a bit dumb when it comes to the history of women’s suffrage. I don’t remember the topic ever being a big deal in history class, not in high school or college. Neither do I recall a time when my mother, aunts, grandmothers or great-grandmothers ever said a word about our hard-earned right to vote, nor did they mention that one of our distant relatives participated in the movement.

Now, I’m asking myself why I and my female friends don’t know more about women’s suffrage as we approach the 100th anniversary of gaining our right to vote. And how can we educate ourselves and pass on what we know to younger generations?

It wasn’t until I was researching another ancestor, Levi Coffin, that I first ran across the name of his cousin, Lucretia Mott. Then the information I found became confusing, as I learned men, including Quakers who’ve been preaching about equality between races and sexes since the 1600s, refused to allow women into the World Anti-Slavery Convention held in London in the 1840s.

Being excluded from abolitionist meetings didn’t sit well with women like Mott who, along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others, held their own meeting in New York, the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. And thus, the fight for women’s suffrage began.

Now, I’m sure it’ll come as no surprise that Southerners were not giving any damns about either of those meetings. Tracing the timeline of history, we first must go through the Civil War, Reconstruction and the Panic of 1893 before women below the Mason-Dixon Line get involved in the push for women’s suffrage. Even then, most women in Charlotte still weren’t into the idea of pushing for their own rights.

It wasn’t until wealthy wives of local business men and those women who were trying to create professional careers for themselves — like Charlotte’s Julia Alexander — began to care that area Suffragists held their first meeting here in the Queen City, and that was in 1913, a full 65 years after the movement got its start.

Meanwhile, in 1893, New Zealand became the first country to allow women to vote and several

U.S. states — Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Idaho — afforded women the right to vote in the 1890s, too. (Note that it wasn’t until 1924 when Native American women were recognized as citizens and allowed to vote. Asian-American women could vote by 1952, too, but African American women did not effectively obtain the right to vote until the Civil Rights Act of 1964.)

At the Seneca Falls Meeting, the new Suffragists created a list of grievances based on the Declaration of Independence, denouncing inequities not only in the voting booth but in regard to property rights, education, employment, religion, marriage and family.

For a sense of what they were complaining about, watch Little Women, a post-Civil War era film hitting theaters on Christmas Day. I saw a clip in which a character explained women were essentially considered property.

Women: the original property, along with goats and shiny rocks — something to be controlled, perhaps fought over, traded and sold but definitely not persons to be taken seriously or given rights.

We all know that’s bullshit. And to that end it’s an easy argument to make that we women should be grateful to the Suffragists who fought for decades to secure our right to vote so that we could avoid “taxation without representation,” and the like.

So, I ask again: Why don’t we younger generations know more about the Suffrage Movement, since its success so clearly affects our daily lives?

Recently, a fellow League of Women Voters member opined in passing that the lack of generational continuity on this topic is akin to mother-daughter friction, insinuating younger generations don’t care about the sacrifices of the older generations. She pointed out it was the “Flappers” of the 1920s, the free-spirited, Prohibition-disobeying young women in their short skirts and short hair that were the generation that followed the Suffragist Movement and that, to them, the Suffragists were the old ladies of the time who, like most old ladies throughout history, went largely ignored.

But even the “old ladies” weren’t clamoring

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to become League members in the 1920s. Maybe that’s because people were distracted by World War I, followed by the Great Depression, World War II and the 1950s housewife ethos. Maybe it’s because young women felt the battle had been won, though clearly it had not, since only white women enjoyed any extra freedom once the 19th Amendment was ratified. Maybe it’s the reality that protesters and political advocates are marginalized as radicals, often depicted in pop culture as hysterical.

Whatever the reason, it’s clear the Suffragist Movement still has a public education problem and a lack of young volunteers. Today, local membership is firmly rooted in the Boomer Generation; one glance at the PDF newsletter and the bi-monthly luncheon schedule screams that fact. Beyond that, I’ve witnessed ageism (local college students, adults, being referred to as “kids” at meetings) and experienced condescension as a young-ish women attempting to help.

Even still, the volunteers of the non-partisan League — both locally and nationally — continue to do the good work of registering new voters even as it pushes for action on modern-day issues like climate change, transportation planning, healthcare reform, human trafficking, education

issues, the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (introduced in 1923) and fair elections.

These are issues that Gen Xers, Millennials and those of the horribly named Gen Z generation care about. So, is the lack of interest a signal that large swaths of our population don’t understand that women are still struggling for equality?

Maybe. As John Oliver, host of HBO’s Last Week Tonight, pointed out regarding the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), “According to advocates, 80% of us think it’s already in the Constitution. It’s one of those things that’s so obvious you assume we already have it … [and then] you realize, fuck, women still aren’t guaranteed equal rights under the Constitution.”

While 37 states have ratified the ERA, most Southern states – including ours – have not.

I don’t know how to bridge the generational divide when it comes to women’s history, though I do know Winston Churchill’s famous quote: “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.”

This monthly column written as a gift for the Charlotte League of Women Voters in honor of its 100th anniversary.

SCANNER

BY RYAN PITKIN

NO FEAR It’s usually Panthers fans who make an embarrassment of themselves by starting fights and taking part in other hooliganism at Bank of America Stadium, but on Dec. 7, it was a Clemson fan who said, “Hold my beer.”

According to the report, one Clemson fan was either too angry or too drunk to care about the presence of a police officer when he attacked a Virginia fan. One officer who was working security at the game in full uniform wrote that just after 10 p.m., “I witnessed an assault occur directly in front of me. The suspect ran up behind the victim and struck him in the back of the head.”

The victim, a Salem, Virginia, resident in town for the game, was hospitalized with a minor injury.

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BRANCHING OUT A 34-year-old man filed a police report after he was also attacked without warning while walking near his home on East W.T. Harris Boulevard.

The man told police that it was around 10:30 p.m. when he was suddenly attacked by “a suspect wielding a tree branch,” who struck him with the branch and stole his wallet, his phone and $80 in cash. The victim was hospitalized with minor injuries.

ROAD TRIP A 23-year-old man had a terrifying experience on a recent morning in South End, but was luckily able to escape before things got worse for him. The man told police that he was standing outside of the bars near the Bland Street light rail station at around 12:30 a.m. when four men he had never met before suddenly started beating him up, then threw him into the trunk of a car.

The men then drove him around the city for nearly four hours until he was able to escape the trunk and run away to call police at around 4 a.m.

He suffered minor injuries and was able to get treatment from Medics who responded to the call.

DO THE DEW There was apparently no love lost between management and a former employee at a Pizza Hut in northwest Charlotte. According to a police report, the ex-employee walked into the restaurant on Mount Holly-Huntersville Road and stole a $2 bottle of Mountain Dew, walking right out of the store with it.

Management wouldn’t stand for that, and filed a report for larceny, proving that when you leave Pizza Hut, the perks are over!

LET ME THROUGH A 51-year-old woman in the Plaza Midwood recently had a run-in with an enraged driver in front of her home, or maybe it would be more accurate to say the driver had a runin with her.

According to the report, at 7 a.m. on a Sunday morning, the suspect intentionally damaged her gate by climbing on it and jumping around. That apparently didn’t do the trick, though, as the suspect then got into his car and began ramming the woman’s gate, also doing damage to a nearby fence belonging to Nova’s Bakery.

Then, the man allegedly realigned his car so as to get back to damaging the woman’s property that he was targeting, backing into it and continuing on his early morning spree of vandalism. The man then drove away, though the entire incident was caught on tape, meaning he will thankfully need to answer for his idiocy as soon as they track him down.

8838 Arbor Creek Dr 28269

I’M THE BOMB A woman at Charlotte Douglas International Airport knew just how to get the attention she craved while visiting the airport on a recent evening.

According to police, the woman told an airline worker that she had an explosive device while she was in the airport at around 5 p.m. on a Friday.

According to the report, “The statement was not in the cards for him. proved false,” but that certainly gave the workers Police responded to a QuikTrip on Eastway something to talk about for the evening.

Drive recently in response to a call about a man who walked out of the store with a cup of coffee, BRASS TAX You just can’t trust anyone anymore. a cheeseburger and a piece of cake that he hadn’t A 30-year-old man living in the Belmont paid for. neighborhood can’t even leave his hose outside By the time officers found the man, he had without people trying to strip it for parts. already eaten the burger and drank the coffee, but The man filed a police report recently after a officers were able to recover the slice of banana known suspect allegedly came to his house at 3 cake from his pocket before he could enjoy it. a.m. to steal the brass coupler off the hose sitting outside his home. Perhaps more inexplicable than TAKING OUT THE GARBAGE Another thief also the fact that the thief wanted the coupler was the stole some burgers on a recent morning, though fact that he was unsuccessful in stealing it. they’ll have to cook the products they made off with.

THREE-COURSE MEAL A shoplifter in east Charlotte According to the report, the thief broke into The was able to get most of his meal down before police Garbage Truck, a local food truck that specializes in arrested him on a recent morning, but dessert was

@thecornerclt serving the “Trash Plate” made famous in Rochester, New York. The hamburglar stole $150 worth of burger patties and bacon, plus a tool bag full of ratchets and wrenches.

FALSE ALARM Homicide detectives brought a CSI team out to a wooded area in the Derita neighborhood of north Charlotte after someone discovered a grave stone that they feared maybe marking human remains. They dug up the grave only to find to everyone’s relief that the grave site was for someone’s pet dog.

All Scanner entries are pulled from CMPD reports.

Suspects are innocent until proven guilty.

The Resident Residency (from left): Janelle Dunlap, MyLoan Dinh, Dammit Wesley, Hnin Nie, Helms Jarrell and Marlon Morrison.

& CULTURE

KEEP IT RESIDENTIAL

New McColl residency centers on all things local

BY RYAN PITKIN

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M

ANY CHARLOTTEANS are familiar with British general Charles Cornwallis’s famous remarks during the Revolutionary War in 1780, in which he called our city “a hornet’s nest of rebellion.” The statement has never been conclusively confirmed, but the metaphor stuck regardless, inspiring the name of a northwest Charlotte park and our NBA team, among many other things.

Local artist Janelle Dunlap, however, tends to view the city as more of a beehive than a hornet’s nest.

When Dunlap thinks about her role in Charlotte’s art scene, she looks back on her past job as a beekeeper here.

“In each hive there are bees that forage. They’re the ones that go out, they take all the risk, they pollinate the plants and the flowers, and they bring back that pollen — that resource — to the hive for the nourishment and development and sustainability of the entire hive,” Dunlap told Queen City Nerve. “I like to think that that practice is bleeding over into my organizational practice; how I navigate systems in order to bring resources back to my hive.”

In her latest role with the McColl Center for Art + Innovation, that meant helping to create a residency that would center on Charlotte artists who work in social practice art, a term that refers to artwork that uses social engagement as a primary medium. At a recent artist talk at McColl, Dunlap introduced the five artists of the newly created Resident Residency, all of whom will premiere new work from the residency at an opening reception on Jan. 10.

The artists were selected by a panel that included McColl staff and current and former artistsin-residence, as well as including feedback from

PHOTO BY LAURA THOMAS/MCCOLL CENTER

other local institutions involved with the EmcArts New Pathways program, which helped fund the residency. That program includes organizations such as Charlotte Symphony, Blumenthal Arts and the Mint Museum.

Similar to the forager bee, Dunlap’s role was to be the outsider looking in, bringing feedback to the museum from out in the community and helping to shape how this residency could be different from others that McColl has hosted in its 20-year history as a residency program for artists from Charlotte and around the world.

Dunlap met with McColl president and CEO Alli Celebron-Brown many times over six months to take what she called “a macroscopic look” at the McColl Center’s residency programs, discussing how people from the community view the McColl Center and what could be done to engage more on a local level.

Over that time, Dunlap and other panelists decided to highlight social practice artists within Charlotte. As Dunlap pointed out at the artist discussion, however, the tendency to label artists who engage in that work as activists can sometimes hurt the message and perpetuate mislabeling of

both artists and activists. Therefore, one goal of the new residency is to address that dynamic.

“I was thinking back to the Keith Lamont Scott, Justin Carr shootings, and how violently the city responded against protesters, and not just with force, but also with a dialogue that was not very democratic,” Dunlap said, expanding on her point after the artist talk. “We took the concept of protesting and we turned it into riots, and then from riots, we had to call it an ‘uprising,’ and I was like, ‘It was protesting.’ The act of protest is associated with activism, so if we can start to think about art as another form of protest, but not label the artists as activists, maybe that’s a way of protecting the actual protests.”

The first Resident Residency will include new works from mixed media artists Dammit Wesley, MyLoan Dinh and Helms Jarrell, painter HNin Nie and filmmaker Marlon Morrison. The artists will explore themes including racism, gun violence, sex trafficking and immigration, with overlapping themes like displacement running like threads through some of the projects.

For example, Nie and Dammit Wesley are collaborating on a work called Post-Racial Feels

that brings Nie’s Negative Nancy character into Dammit Wesley’s world of racial iconography and branding, including the minstrel character Sambo that he used in his recent Exciting Times series. “[Negative Nancy] is a self-portrait of me, and it is a very fantasy world that Nancy is in, but since she’s me, she is an Asian woman and it is me creating from my own experiences as an Asian woman,” Nie explained. “So when Wesley approached me with the idea that we do a show together, we came up with the idea of an amusement park, the amusement park being America, and two characters that we created being thrown into an America that wasn’t made for us.”

For Wesley, the collaboration was a natural fit, as it allows the two artists to explore their respective experiences for similarities and differences in how they move in an arts scene that is most often lead and curated by white people.

“Me and HNin had several conversations about the idea of African-Americans being like the model deviants and Asian people being the model citizens for a society when it comes to different ethnic groups and races and how those two stereotypes stunted our growth, and they’re both extremely

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negative,” Wesley said. “Even the idea of being like the model citizen puts an unreasonable amount of pressure and stereotypes on them that don’t exist.

So just being a black man, being connected with people of color, both of us in the arts in Charlotte, [the scene is] very small for us, there’s not a lot of wiggle room.”

Dinh will also explore racial aspects of immigration and displacement, as she has in the past, with her new work for McColl focusing specifically on how gun violence plays into those themes.

Dinh said she was shocked to learn that, as Mexico struggles with escalating gun violence within its own borders, which serves as a motivating factor for much of the immigration that’s coming into America, more than 70% of the guns confiscated from gangs and cartels inside the country can be traced back to America.

Dinh’s past work has included pieces made with discarded quilts, which she said are symbolic in that they were once handmade with love and used for warmth but have since been thrown out or given away. In one quilt piece that she called “Courage,” the image of a family fleeing that’s known to represent that “Refugees are welcome” is hand-embroidered into a discarded quilt.

“It takes a lot of courage to leave everything you know behind — your family, friends, your home, your belongings — to seek safety,” she said. “And it also takes courage for the host country to accept them, so it goes both ways.”

Though Dinh will be creating new work for the residency, her quilt pieces are indicative of a theme that runs through much of the work of the resident artists. “What I see at the intersection of all of our work is that we’re trying to address how we value each other, how society values us,” Dinh said at the artist talk. “My work is about addressing how we value people who are not like us — the ‘others,’ who come from other countries, because of my own experience of being an immigrant myself and how oftentimes immigrants are seen as disposable.”

In her Reliquary series, which she’ll show for the first time at the Jan. 10 reception, Jarrell also explores themes around people who are often thought of as disposable: those suffering displacement in Enderly Park, where she lives.

In one installation, titled “Reliquary: Evicted 3115 Morson Street Psalm 51: 10 & 1,”Jarrell included a sink taken from the front yard of a home that was being renovated to be flipped in her neighborhood.

Sinks have come to symbolize displacement to Jarrell, who often sees them in the yards of Enderly Park homes from which people have recently been evicted. The piece is rounded out by other discarded property that the evicted residents left in their yard to be thrown away, including a mirror, a collection of church music and a dove created out of discarded Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. posters.

At the artist talk, Jarrell was asked about how she addresses her own complicity or participation in oppressive systems as a white woman whose work as an artist and co-founder of the nonprofit Q.C. Family Tree is focused on gentrification and displacement.

“All of American space is white space, and we’re not only talking about interpersonal relationships, we’re also talking about systems: the systems of governance, the systems of positioning policy, who owns land ... all these things are not interpersonal relationships, they’re bigger than that,” Jarrell said.

“And so, in a gentrifying neighborhood ... systems were put into place to keep folks from being able to own property, and also systems were put into place for people to be displaced to the current divested brown neighborhoods, and now systems are being put into place to displace those people even further outside the center of the city.

“Those systems were put into place by white folk, and clearly I’m white, so my work is to try to dismantle that within my interpersonal relationships. But that’s not enough for me, so to also try to figure out how to dismantle those systems of oppression within the ways in which I lead my organization, the ways in which I’m thinking about the systems that I have access to and power within and privilege within,” she continued.

Morrison, who makes fictional films with area youth about real issues ranging from gang violence to homophobia to depression, will be focusing his residency on another group of people who may be better described as forgotten than disposable.

Inspired by recent in-depth conversations with Tammy Harris of Charlotte-based anti-humantrafficking organization The Ursus Institute, Morrison wanted to confront the oft-ignored issue of sex trafficking in a city that is seen as an “artery” for the crime.

According to another Charlotte organization called Lily Pad Haven, it’s estimated that 1,700 girls are trafficked in North Carolina each year, with

DR E S S

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RESIDENT RESIDENCY OPENING RECEPTION Jan. 10, 6-9 p.m.; Free; McColl Center for Art + Innovation, 721 N. Tryon St.; mccollcenter.orgs

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Charlotte being the top location for it in the state.

In one clip from Morrison’s new film, a young woman walks by multiple missing posters depicting her peers, but doesn’t notice them, giving the viewer that feeling that’s familiar in the other residents’ work: that the girls on the poster are disposable. In the scene, the young woman is distracted by what’s playing on her headphones, symbolizing most people’s unwillingness to have important conversations about sex trafficking in Charlotte the way they do about affordable housing and other issues.

“I don’t want people to see it as an isolated incident, like this is only happening on the west side,” Morrison said, “because this could be happening in Ballantyne. This could be happening in Myers Park. My thing is to make people aware.”

Morrison’s topic, like all of those being addressed by the Resident residents, is a heavy one; there’s a reason many folks aren’t comfortable having the important discussions about it.

That’s why Morrison hopes to reach more people with his fictional, dramatic films, rather than a documentary that might turn people off with its depressing subject matter and overwhelming stats.

It is perhaps the most important part of each of the resident’s work; making difficult discussions easier to swallow.

As Dammit Wesley pointed out, it is the job of the social practice artist — although Wesley himself is not a fan of the term — to make heavy subjects more palatable.

“A lot of times when you’re talking about very heavy, weighted subjects — things that deal with sex trafficking, racism, immigration — that’s heavy subject matter to gestate and deal with, and a lot of times things are easier if you’re able to slide in subliminal messages, or if you’re trying to code your work in ways that are a little more subtle,” Wesley said. “We as people are a little more receptive to things that aren’t as direct, because truth hurts. A lot of us don’t have the ego necessary to gestate and deal with the idea that, ‘I could be wrong, my actions could be problematic,’ so using art as a vehicle to introduce heavy topics, not necessarily in lighter ways, but ways that are a little more fun to dissect, it’s just easier to talk about.”

These artists have already done that work for us, now let’s talk about it.

RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 18TH PARIS MONSTER

What: Drummer/vocalist Josh Dion and bassist/synth player Geoff Kraly multitask on multiple instruments like Adderalladdled chefs let loose in a musical kitchen, yet their songs are uncluttered and emotionally direct. Single “Andalusia” couples zombie stomping beats and jazzy vocals with buzzing cicada electronics in a soulful synthpop confection.

More: Free; 8 p.m.; Heist Brewery 2909 N. Davidson St.; parismonster.com

THURSDAY, DEC. 19TH

TYLER CHILDERS

What: Drawing on the outlaw country of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, and the bone-deep bluegrass of his native Kentucky, Tyler Childers tells stories with cinematic sweep and a painter’s eye for detail. “House Fire,” off his 2019 album Country Squire, rides skirling fiddle and buckboard banjo to a conclusion that’s both fireside comfy and apocalyptic.

More: $42.50; 8 p.m.; Fillmore, 820 Hamilton St.; fillmorenc.com

FRIDAY, DEC. 20TH

LIFELINE

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DEC. 18TH - DEC. 24TH

SOULFUL NOEL

What: For the On Q ensemble, the reason for the season is R&B, gospel, funk and soul. Now in its 7th year, Soulful Noel weaves a tapestry of music, dance and spoken word. OnQ Productions founder Quentin Talley devised this novel musical revue to celebrate Christmas through the lens of the African-American experience.

More: $25; Dec. 20-21, times vary; McGlohon Theater, 345 N. College St.; blumenthalarts.org

SATURDAY, DEC. 21ST

SCHOOL OF ROCK BRIGHT NIGHT HOLIDAY PARTY

What: Leave it to the kids to step up and give back. Join the School of Rock team for their annual holiday party, this year collecting items for Bright Blessings, a local organization that supports homeless children. The CLT School of Rock house band will perform, with an open mic for students to show off whatever they’re vibing with that evening.

More: Free; 5-8 p.m.; School of Rock, 1105 Greenwood Cliff; charlotte.schoolofrock.com

SUNDAY, DEC. 22ND SEAN MASON TRIO

What: A Charlotte native and All-Star Jazz Youth Ensemble alumnus, pianist Sean Mason now resides in New York City where he studies at Julliard and jams with Wynton Marsalis. With bassist Butler Knowles and drummer Malcolm Charles, Mason plays the entire Charlie Brown Christmas album, evoking the melancholy magic of the holiday popularized by Vince Guaraldi.

More: $17-$20; Dec. 22, 6 p.m., 8:15 p.m.; Middle C Jazz, 300 S. Brevard St.; middlecjazz.com

MONDAY, DEC. 23RD VHS POTLUCK CHRISTMAS EDITION DOUBLE FEATURE

What: Everyone brings in a Christmas-themed VHS tape, the wierder and dumber the better. A host picks one tape out at random. If anyone in the building has seen it, it’s out. They’ll keep going until they find one nobody’s seen. Then, the audience votes on what to watch for the second feature.

More: Free; 7:30 p.m.; VisArt Video, 3104 Eastway Drive; tinyurl.com/ChristmasVHSPotluck

TUESDAY, DEC. 24TH CAROLINA COUNTRY REVUE

What: The Carolina Hot Snakes is a six-piece shit-hot country band comprised of some of Charlotte’s finest down-home, Americana and rock musicians. They debuted their country showcase at Snug back in August and have since been hosting a monthly revue featuring foot-stompin’, boot scootin’ and barstool surfin’ favorites, so you can cry in your beer or kick up your heels.

More: $3; 8 p.m; Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St.; snugrock.com

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WEDNESDAY, DEC. 25TH BONE SNUGS ‘N’ HARMONY CHRISTMAS KARAOKE

What: Every Sunday night, Bryan Pierce hosts this karaoke party aimed at squeezing the last bit of fun out of the weekend, but Pierce has agreed to move things to Christmas night for a special edition. Not enough Mariah covers? Walk down the street for more karaoke at Petra’s.

More: Free; 9 p.m.; Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St.; snugrock.com

THURSDAY, DEC. 26TH

SINBAD

What: In the ’90s, Sinbad sat with Cher, Sting, Prince and Bono at the table of icons who needed but one name. Since then, he has pursued a second career as a funk musician while struggling through health issues and bankruptcy, but his storytelling style remains strong on the standup stage.

More: $25-$40; Dec. 26-28, times vary; Comedy Zone, 900 NC Music Factory Blvd.; cltcomedyzone.com

FRIDAY, DEC. 27TH

LIFELINE

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DEC. 25TH -DEC. 31ST

GENESIS

What: Sultry and soulful R&B diva Genesis first made her mark in gospel. A collaboration with producer Bruce Robinson Jr., her 2014 debut EP, From My Heart to Yours, featured her dusky vocals entwining with spiraling guitars and shuffling beats.

Last July, Genesis rebranded herself as a secular artist with emerGENce, revealing a powerful confidence and swagger.

More: $10; 10:30 p.m; Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St.; eveningmuse.com

SATURDAY, DEC. 28TH CIRQUE DU NOEL

What: We’re crazy for circus arts. We picked a cirque theme for our anniversary issue, and we’ll drop everything to catch the controversial shows local ensemble Nouveau Sud conjures for our amazement. If you prefer your aerialists, acrobats and feats of derring-do shorn of social commentary, however, this cirque and Charlotte Symphony collaboration is for you.

More: $75 and up; 7:30 p.m; Belk Theater, 130 N.Tryon St.; blumenthalarts.org

SUNDAY, DEC. 29TH

SCARFACE

What: Houston rapper Scarface of the Geto Boys once sat alone in his four-cornered room staring at candles, but now he’s got plenty of friends. One of the best rappers of all time is currently touring with a full band. After all, the crack-dealerturned-rapper-turned-city-council-candidate has never been known to let himself remain stagnant.

More: $27.50-$38; 7 p.m.; Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St.; neighborhoodtheatre.com

MONDAY, DEC. 30TH

NEW YEAR’S YVIE EVE

What: Reigning RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Yvie Oddly stops in Charlotte on the eve of New Year’s Eve to help ring in 2020 24 hours early, and she’ll be joined by friends like Erica Chanel, Misster, Skylar Michele-Monet, Vegas Van Dank and special guests from Charlotte’s Next Drag SuperMonster Crystal Violet Van Dank and Sincere Lee. More: Free; 9 p.m.; Chasers, 3217 The Plaza; facebook.com/chaserscharlottenoda

TUESDAY, DEC. 31ST BELK BOWL

What: The former Continental Bowl and Meineke Car Care Bowl has been the Belk Bowl since 2011, but this year’s the last one under that name, as Virginia Tech and University of Kentucky come to town for the ACC-SEC matchup. After that, we’ll continue to speculate over what new sponsor will buy the naming rights. Queen City Nerve Bowl, anyone?

More: $35 and up; Noon; Bank of America Stadium, 800 S. Mint St.; belkbowl.com

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NEW YEAR’S GUIDE 2019

Let’s leave this decade all the way behind.

KYLE DILLS BAND AT MAC’S

NEW YEAR’S EVE 2020 AT ROOFTOP210

What: Country four-piece The Kyle Dills Band, nicknamed “the best little band in the Carolinas,” rings in the new year in the land of beer, bikes and BBQ. More: Free; 9 p.m.; Mac’s Speed Shop, 2511 South Blvd.; macspeedshop.com

What: The uppermost Epicentre bar will feature hors d’oeuvres early in the evening with a view of the city from heated, clear-top tents.

More: $70 and up; 9 p.m.; Rooftop 210, 210 E. Trade St.; rooftop210.com

4TH ANNUAL SEABOARD NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY

What: The biggest New Year’s party in Matthews features a champagne toast, hors d’oeuvres, party favors and a commemorative glass.

More: Free; 9 p.m.; Seaboard Brewing, Tap Room & Wine Bar, 213 N. Trade St., Matthews; seaboardbrewing.com LENNY BOY NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY

What: Lenny Boy’s starting things early with live music from Thirsty Horses at 5 and Aarodynamics at 10. Plus, a photo booth, balloon drop and food and drink specials.

More: Free; 2 p.m.; Lenny Boy Brewing Co., 3000 S. Tryon St.; discoverlennyboy.com

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NEW YEAR’S EVE BASH WITH MICHAEL TRACY BAND

What: You don’t have to be in Charlotte to see some good Charlotte-based rock music from Michael Tracy and the crew.

More: Free; 9 p.m.; Big Al’s Pub & Grubberia, 9306 Albemarle Road; bigalspubandgrubberia.com NEW YEAR’S EVE 2020 AT HOWL AT THE MOON CHARLOTTE

What: A variety of packages includes Just Dance for $40, which includes guaranteed entry with no line, two house drinks and a champagne toast.

More: $40-$115; 9 p.m.; Howl at the Moon, 210 E. Trade St.; howlatthemoon.com/nye-cha

NYE W/ SINNERS & SAINTS, PULLOVER, LXS ORTIZ, DJ PARTY DAD

What: A legendary local lineup to end the decade with all the right vibes.

More: $5; 8 p.m.; Petra’s, 1919 Commonwealth Ave.; petrasbar.com with COLORS Worldwide, you might just win the costume contest. DJ Glory spins.

What: Coyote has shared the stage with The Allman More: $30; 8:30 p.m.; Underground, 820 Hamilton Brothers Band, Dave Matthews Band, Widespread St.; biggest90s.com/charlotte Panic, The String Cheese Incident, The Radiators and HIPPIE SABOTAGE Kansas just to name a few.

What: Brothers Kevin and Jeff Saurer were ranked More: $25; 8 p.m.; Visulite Theatre, 1615 Elizabeth No. 1 on Billboard’s Next Big Sound chart, so if you Ave.; visulite.com don’t know them now, you will soon.

More: $31-$42; 9 p.m.; The Fillmore, 820 Hamilton BLACK FLAG What: Celebrate with the iconic punk band formed St.; fillmorenc.com NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY W/ JUPITER COYOTE

in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California, by guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member Greg Ginn.

More: $30-$35; 7:30 p.m.; Amos’ Southend, 1423 S. Tryon St.; amossouthend.com

NEW YEAR’S EVE WITH THE CHARLOTTE SYMPHONY

What: Experience an evening of exquisite music, topped off with George Gershwin’s vibrant “Rhapsody in Blue,” which captures the soul of the Roaring Twenties with a cocktail of jazz, ragtime, HORNETS VS. CELTICS What: This isn’t a New Year’s party per se, more and classical. a way to cry into our beers while we look back on More: $109-$231; 9 p.m.; Belk Theater, 130 N. Tryon St.; blumenthalarts.org what we lost in 2019 — namely, Kemba Walker.

More: $18 and up; 3 p.m.; Spectrum Center, 333 E. NEW YEAR’S EVE WITH MATT RIFE Trade St.; nba.com/hornets What: Formerly one of the hosts of MTV’s TRL reboot, Matt Rife is currently in the final rounds of THE BIGGEST ‘90S PARTY EVER What: Dress in ’90s attire as we roll into the ’20s NBC’s comedy competition show Bring The Funny.

Laugh your way out of 2019 with dessert packages available.

More: $25-$37, 8 p.m. and 10:15 p.m.; Comedy Zone, 900 NC Music Factory Blvd.; cltcomedyzone. com NEW YEAR’S EVE SLEEPOVER

What: All these parties have toasts, but none of them have apple cider toasts on horseback at midnight, plus riding games throughout the night, dinner, snacks, breakfast and more.

More: $75; 6 p.m.; Lenux Stables, 10610 Kerns Road, Huntersville; email info@lenuxstables.com NEW YEAR’S EVE AROUND THE WORLD

What: General admission includes one drink ticket, hors d’oeuvres, dessert station and midnight champagne toast, plus music from DJ Soden.

More: $75; 9 p.m.; Nuvole Rooftop Twenty Two, 220 E. Trade St., Suite 2200; nuvole22.com SPARKLE & GLOW NEW YEAR’S EVE

What: Celebrate New Year’s Eve with this early, familyfriendly event featuring crafts and activities for kids, and all that Holidays at the Garden has to offer.

THE LARGEST NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY IN CHARLOTTE

NEW YEAR’S EVE 2020 @ TEQUILA HOUSE

What: We can’t confirm or endorse the claim made in the title, but we do know there is $1,200 in cash giveaways and live music from Out of the Blue.

More: $12; 7 p.m.; Coyote Joe’s, 4621 Wilkinson Blvd.; coyote-joes.com

What: There’s not a ton of specifics in the description for this one but we assume there will be plenty of tequila.

More: $20 and up; 9 p.m.; Tequila House Night Club, 116 W. 5th St.; www.tequilahousenightclub. com

NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY

LAID BACK NEW YEAR’S EVE

What: This dive bar is a buried gem of northwest Charlotte. Play some pool, listen to the DJ and enjoy a champagne toast at midnight.

More: Free; 10 p.m.; The Fat Parrots, 5416 Mount Holly-Hntersville Road; facebook.com/Fatparrots

What: Keep things lowkey with with live music, food trucks, special beer releases, Bubs seltzer and no dress code.

More: Free; 4-11 p.m.; Sycamore Brewing, 2161 Hawkins St.; sycamorebrew.com

NEW YEAR’S AT NOON

More: $8-$15; 5-9 p.m.; Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, 6500 S. New Hope Road, Belmont; dsbg.org ROCKIN’ INTO THE 20S

What: Spend the afternoon rocking with Revelry Soul from 3:30-6:30 p.m. or go at night for dueling DJs Ricky SPinz and Jump Cut, a champagne toast, buffet, balloon drop, all that shit.

More: $40 and up; 8 p.m.; Tin Roof, 220 E. Trade St.; tinroofcharlotte.com

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COME AS YOU ARE NYE BASH

What: Always a great kick-back atmosphere with a DJ, an ice luge, and a midnight toast with those insufferably cute mini Miller High Life bottles.

More: Free; 9 p.m.; Hattie’s Tap & Tavern, 2918 The Plaza; hattiescharlotte.com PAINTING WITH A TWIST: PARTY LLAMA

What: A family-friendly event for earlier in the day, alcohol-free (it’s the morning anyway, alkie), and just a good chance to paint a llama.

More: $25 per canvas; 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; Painting with a Twist, 4724 Sharon Road, Suite J; paintingwithatwist.com/studio/charlotte/

GC AND THE CUBAN COWBOYS

What: Teacher and Latin jazz artist Gino Castillo has showcased his talents internationally, and now he’s back in Charlotte with his lowcountry band.

More: $40; 10 p.m.; Middle C Jazz, 300 S. Brevard St.; middlecjazz.com CHARLIE WILSON: A NEW’S YEAR EVE CELEBRATION

What: Charlie Wilson, aka Uncle Charlie, is known for his time as front man of the Gap Band, and has 13 Grammy nominations under his belt.

More: $81 and up; 7 p.m.; Ovens Auditorium, 2700 E. Independence Blvd.; boplex.com NYE 2020 THE GROWN EDITION

What: Grown energy all night with hip-hop legend DJ “Fatman Scoop” performing live.

More: $50 and up; 9 p.m.; Harvey B. Gantt Center, 551 S. Tryon St.; nyegrownedition.com NYE 2020

What: Drink specials, a dance floor “and so much more,” according to the promo. We hope so.

More: Free; 8 p.m.; Corkscrew on 5th, 412 W. 5th St.; corkscrewwinepub.com

What: Never leave your elders out of a guide. The 55-years-old-and-up crowd will celebrate the last day of the year with lunch, music, games and fanfare.

More: Free; 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; Bette Rae Thomas Rec Center, 2921 Tuckaseegee Road; tinyurl.com/BetteRae HINDSIGHT 2020 NEWS YEAR EVE PARTY

What: Bring your dancing shoes and fabulous attire — decade-themed costumes encouraged — as Single Barrel welcomes 2020 with a spectacular drag show.

More: $30; 8 p.m.; Single Barrel Room, 1221 The Plaza; whiskeywarehouse.com/single-barrelroom/ END OF A DECADE

What: This nail boutique transforms into a lounge with an open bar, go-go dancers, a video DJ streaming from Chicago for some reason and lots more.

More: $100 and up; 8:30 p.m.; Cachet Nail Boutique, 4620 Piedmont Row Drive, Suite 160; tinyurl.com/CachetNewYears

NEW YEAR’S EVE TRAIL RACE

What: Set your resolutions, turn on your headlamp and hit the trails just before the ball drops so you can be the only one who immediately feels good about yourself next year.

More: $32-$42; 11:45 p.m.; U.S. National Whitewater Center, 5000 Whitewater Center Pkwy.; usnwc.org CRAWL TIL THE BALL FALLS

What: This Uptown crawl begins at The Local and hits spots like Rí Rá and Mortimers Cafe and Pub. More: $15-$45; 6 p.m.; The Local, 105 E. 5th St.; tinyurl.com/NYEUptownCrawl NEW YEAR’S CELEBRATION

What: An intimate gathering of just 70 guests with heavy hors d’ oeuvres, two drink tickets and a champagne toast at midnight.

More: $72; 8 p.m.; The Artisan’s Palate, 1218-A E. 36th St.; www.theartisanpalate.com NYE W/ PAINT FUMES, TOWARD SPACE, WINE PRIDE, PROBABLY WILL

What: It’s an indie rock, power pop, house music festival of great acts to end the year.

More: $5; 10 p.m.; Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St.; snugrock.com

NEW YEAR’S EVE SPECTACULAR

PHIL LEE AND THE MANNISH BOYS

What: Here’s another “roaring in the ’20s” party, but this one will presumably have more desserts and hookah.

More: $250-$500; 5 p.m.; Crave Dessert Bar, 500 W. 5th St.; cravedessertbar.com

What: The Mannish Boys were inspired by ‘60s American garage rock, early ‘60s R&B and the vibrant music scene of early ‘60’s London. Sixties, got it?

More: Free; 9 p.m.; The Tipsy Burro Saloon & Cantina, 2711 Monroe Road

NEW YEAR’S PARTY @ CASWELL STATION

What: There’s a DJ downstairs, but the real inviting part of this ticket is the open bar and the 1 a.m. breakfast buffet.

More: $60; 7 p.m.; Caswell Station, 366 N. Caswell Road; caswellstation.com/

2020 NEW YEAR’S EVE CELEBRATION

NEW YEAR’S EVE, EN NOIR CLT 2020

2ND ANNUAL HOPPIN’ NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY

What: Why would you not go to a club called 321 for a holiday built around a countdown? Presented

by DJ Kato, DJ Atomix & Paul Prince.

More: $25 and up; 9 p.m.; 321 Bar & Lounge, 321 N. Caldwell St.; tinyurl.com/EnNoirCLT NYE 2020 WITH JINAL PANDYA

What: The beautiful Miss India finalist and actress Jinal Pandya on visits for an all-inclusive event featuring music by DJ Money.

More: $79 and up; 9 p.m.; Dakshin Indian Grill, 16640 Hawfield Way, Suite 103; tinyurl.com/ DakshinJinal

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NEW YEAR’S EVE PREGAME PARTY!

What: Unknown can be your first stop among many, featuring a DJ, food specials, drink specials and games.

More: Free; 5-10 p.m.; The Unknown Brewing Company, 1327 S. Mint St.; unknownbrewing.com A PINHOUSE GREAT GATSBY NEW YEAR’S EVE EVENT

What: This party includes $1 beer, wine and prosecco, and of course, duckpin bowling.

More: $50; 8 p.m.; Pinhouse, 2306 Central Ave.; facebook.com/pinhouseclt

What: Ultra Entertainment presents a party featuring DJ WillDC and we’re not really sure what else.

More: Free-$10; 10 p.m.; Rosemont Bar, 1714 South Blvd.; tinyurl.com/RosemontUltra

What: A ticket gets you $1 pints of beer from 62 taps or six-ounce bottles of wine or proseccos, plus appetizers, a DJ, party favors, champagne toast and a photo booth.

More: $60, 8 p.m.; Hoppin’, 1402 Winnifred St.; CONFETTI REIGN 2020 NYE hoppinclt.com What: The first two floors feature different hiphop eras and styles, while the third includes a NEW YEAR’S EVE 2020: ROARING 20’S champagne lux loft with hors d’oeuvres, bottomless PARTY champagne and a bird’s eye view of the dance floor.

What: It’s another Roaring ‘20s party. That’s literally More: Free-$300; 9 p.m.; Brooklyn Nightclub all we know. and Lounge, 225 N. Caldwell St.; tinyurl.com/ More: $30 and up; 8 p.m.; Whisky River, 210 E. ConfettiReign Trade St., #A-208; dalejrswhiskyriver.com SEOUL FOOD NYE MASQUERADE PARTY

DANCE INTO THE NEW YEAR

What: Created for dancers by dancers, it’s simple, What: Dress in your best cocktail attire and wear they just want to ring in the new year dancing and a show-stopping mask to indulge in buffet-style surrounded by their people. food, an open bar, a photo booth and two DJs. More: $20; 10 p.m.; Rumbao Latin Dance Company, More: $100, 8 p.m.; Seoul Food Meat Company, 2424 N. Davidson St.; rumbaolatindance.com 1400 S. Church St.; seoulfoodmeatco.com NYE 2020: 1 PRICE. 2 VENUES. 1 GIANT PARTY

NEW YEAR’S EVE 2020 AT 204 NORTH

What: Three three-course dinner seatings on the What: Hop between two N.C. Music Factory venues hour beginning at 6 p.m., followed by a DJ dance for great beer, a buffet, free karaoke, party favors and party at 10 p.m.

More: $10 and up; 6 p.m.; 204 North Kitchen & a champagne toast.

More: $75; 9 p.m.; VBGB Beer Hall & Garden and 8.2.0. Cocktails, 204 N. Tryon St.; 204north.com Pizzeria & Bar, 820 Hamilton St.; vbgbuptown.com

NYE “PARTY OF THE DECADES”

What: Dress to impress, meaning no sandals, hats or hoodies you fucking bums.

More: $75-$120; $9; Wine Loft at South End, 2201 South Blvd.; wineloftcharlotte.com 2020 NYE BASH

What: Music, dancing, balloon drops and more.

What do they think this is, St. Patrick’s Day? More: $65 and up; 8 p.m.; Tyber Creek Pub, 1933 South Blvd.; tybercreek.com LOUIE’S ROARING ‘20S PARTY

What: Formal attire is not required, but 1920’s attire encouraged.

More: Free and up; 8 p.m.; Bar Louie, 8760 JM Keynes Drive; tinyurl.com/LouiesRoaring20s NEW YEAR’S EVE 2020 AT TILT ON TRADE

What: A DJ dance party, a champagne toast and party favors. This one starts earlier than usual, so get tilted.

More: $10; 4 p.m.; Tilt on Trade, 127 W. Trade St.; tiltontradenc.com

3RD ANNUAL RETRO NEW YEAR’S EVE

What: Follow the call of the disco ball with music from DJ R WONZ playing hits from the disco era to yesterday.

More: $15 and up; 9 p.m.; Queen Park Social, 4125 Yancey Road; queenparksocial.com ANNUAL UPSCALE NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY

What: It’s located right behind Morris Costumes, but you have to dress to impress. What a tease.

More: $20-$30; 10 p.m.; Yendi’s Events, 4300 Monroe Road, Suite B; tinyurl.com/UpscaleNYE CELEBRATE NYE BIG BEN PUB STYLE

What: The Spongetones kick off a night of live music with an acoustic set at 5 p.m., with a British New Year celebration at 7 p.m., followed by the real one.

More: Free; 5 p.m.; Big Ben British Restaurant & Pub, 2000 South Blvd., Suite 530; bigbenpub.com VIDA CARNIVAL

Pg. 17 Dec. 18 - Dec. 31, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

What: Vida is ringing in the new year with Carnivalthemed performances, a DJ, party favors, drink specials and more.

More: $20 and up; 9 p.m.; Vida Vida, 210 E. Trade St.; charlotte.vidacantina.com/

NEW YEAR’S EVE AT INISHMORE

What: This limited-seating event includes an open bar, scratch-made hors d’oeuvres, champagne toast, specialty cocktail selection, live entertainment and a chance at big prizes.

THE SUMMIT DOES NEW YEAR’S More: $60; 9 p.m.; Inishmore, 1315 East Blvd.; What: The Summit’s doing a Mount Hollywood inishmorecharlotte.com theme, and apparently there’s a guy next door LA REVO NEW YEAR’S EVE 2020 named Dave that you can get your attire from.

What: Besos at midnight. Baliando con todos.

More: $20; 8 p.m.; The Summit Beer Shop, 122 S. High-End Latino Experiences at its finest, in one of Main St.; Mount Holly; summitbeershop.com our favorite eateries in Charlotte.

ROARING TWENTIES NEW YEAR’S EVE More: $5; 10 p.m.; La Revolucion Tacos, Mexicology, DINNER and Good Times, 900 NC Music Factory Blvd.; tinyurl.

What: Kick off New Year’s Eve with a four-course com/LaRevoNYE dinner that includes cocktail pairings and a glass of NEW YEAR’S EVE 2020 champagne with dessert.

More: $150; 5:30-8 p.m.; Dot Dot Dot, 4237 Park What: Southern Style Band will be in the house and they’re bringing some friends, plus an open bar Road, Unit B; tinyurl.com/DotDotDotDinner with unlimited beer, wine and cider.

More: $60; 9 p.m.; Ghostface Brewing, 225 S. Broad St., Mooresville; tinyurl.com/GhostfaceNYE

More: $10; 9 p.m.; The Woodshed Bar, 3935 Queen City Drive; thewoodshedbar.com

NEW YEAR’S EVE

HOGMANAY/SCOTTISH NEW YEAR

What: A casual New Year’s Eve with party favors, a photo booth and $3 goblets all day.

More: Free; 2 p.m.; Pilot Brewing, 1331 Central Ave.; pilotbrewing.us

What: It’s the “First Footin’” for those who party too hard at one of the above-listed parties or just want to start the year off with a walk around the farm and a stone soup blessing, whatever the hell that is.

More: Free; Jan. 1, 10 a.m.; Rural Hill, 4431 Neck Road, Huntersville; tinyurl.com/HogmanayRuralHill

NEW YEAR’S EVE BASH

What: DJ BBQ Sauce will be spinning at this party.

Why would you ever turn down a chance to see DJ BBQ Sauce?

More: $10; 9 p.m.; Carolina Ale House, 201 S. College St., #100; tinyurl.com/CarolinaAleEve BEARS & BOOZE: NYE AT THE SHED

What: Bears, booze and banging beats with DJ Majick Mike.

NEW YEAR’S DAY 5K

What: Get 2020 off to a running start. Oh God we even rolled our eyes at ourselves with that one.

More: $35; Jan. 1, 10 a.m.; J.W. Clay Boulevard lightrail station; cltnewyearsday5k.org/

“IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU WANT TO SHARE WITH THE WORLD, DO IT. YOU MAY NOT BE HERE TOMORROW.”

Jah Freedom

PHOTO BY BRIAN TWITTY

DON’T DIE EMPTY

Pg. 18 Dec. 18 - Dec. 31, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

Near-death experience inspires new Jah Freedom project

U

BY RYAN PITKIN

NSURE OF HOW LONG he had left on this earth, Geoffrey Edwards was forced to look back on his life and everything that he had accomplished to that point. He didn’t like what he saw.

Over the summer, Edwards had been constantly trekking up and down I-85 between Greensboro and Charlotte, recording music, performing and hosting events in both cities.

He had been feeling under the weather for months, but tried his best to push through it.

Finally, as July approached, a friend convinced him to check into a hospital. His diagnosis wasn’t good: double pneumonia.

His doctor told him he had been suffering for months and should have been admitted long ago.

“Basically, my body had shut down,” Edwards recalls now, shaking his head.

He remained in the hospital for a month, not sure at first if he would recover.

“I was just down. I was really depressed,” he says. “[I was telling myself,] ‘I’m going to die.

What’s life mean? There’s no meaning.’ All this crazy stuff.”

One night, as he lay in his hospital bed wallowing in despair, a nurse told him something that would act as a first step in

shaking him from his sorrow.

“It was about 3 o’clock in the morning, I’ll never forget it,” he recalls. “She said, ‘You know, everything has an expiration date ... All the bad stuff that’s happening to you right now, it’s going to end, and all the good stuff that’s happened to you, that’s going to end, too. So take every day and enjoy it.”

Edwards was able to find inspiration from that statement, and right there in the hospital room, Jah Freedom took over.

A musician since childhood, Edwards has performed as Jah Freedom for 20 years. He’s a DJ, producer, writer, performing artist and

multi-instrumentalist. He’s played in bands, toured the East Coast competing in beat battles, produced music for a slew of major TV shows and worked to connect creatives of all different mediums here in Charlotte.

Even before he got sick, however, Edwards says he had lost his inspiration musically. After his discussion with the nurse, he began to find himself again, and that process was helped along greatly by Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Edwards has long been a fan of Basquiat, the Neo-expressionist painter and graffiti artist who rose to fame in the ‘80s as a collaborator and friend to Andy Warhol. Though he died of a speedball overdose in 1988, Basquiat has been one of the highest selling artists of this decade.

His role as true muse for Edwards began in the hospital room, the same morning he spoke with the nurse.

Edwards remembers waking up that morning and studying “Dustheads,” Basquiat’s painting of two frenzied figures apparently high on PCP. He grabbed the keyboard he had in his hospital room and got to work.

“I just started playing in the hospital …

Playing the piano with these weird, dissonant chords,” he says, “and it made me feel better. I was looking at the painting while I’m [playing], and you can tell; it’s just really chaotic and there’s angst and anger in it, and it helped me get that out, and so after I did the first one, I’m like…”

He exhales deeply.

That exhale was “Dustheads,” one of seven tracks on Jah Freedom’s new project, Basquiat Vol. 1: SAMO Suite, a mostly instrumental record that explores the binaries of hip-hop and jazz, with each track taking the name of the Basquiat painting that inspired it.

While “Dustheads” is as disjointed and angsty as the painting it pays homage to, a track like “Tuxedo,” for example, is the epitome of chill, emanating Friday night vibes and an untouchable confidence.

The record also includes appearances from Bay Area poet Azeem and Charlotte’s own Bluz.

As with Basquiat, Jah Freedom’s work lives in the gray area between binaries — hip-hop and jazz, lyrical and instrumental, rhythmic and abstract.

Pg. 19 Dec. 18 - Dec. 31, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

KIL RIPKIN X JAH FREEDOM: PRE-MEDICATED — THE LISTENING Feat. Jah-Monte; $5; 9 p.m.-Midnight; Petra’s, 1919 Commonwealth Ave.; petrasbar.com

“I didn’t set in to make hip-hop, I didn’t set in to make jazz, I didn’t set in to make anything, I was just getting something out,” he tells me.

“There’s a freedom in it, because a lot of people just know me from doing hip-hop, some people know me from doing licensing stuff, some people know me from not doing music at all. I just had a freedom in doing this. I just had to start somewhere and where does it end? If the song’s a minute or if the song’s 10 minutes, it doesn’t matter, I stop it when it feels it needs to be stopped.”

While he says he knew when to wrap Basquiat, Jah Freedom is far from answering his own question about where it all ends. He’s already begun similar projects based on the works of famed Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, South Carolina street artist Cedric Umoja, photographer Kat Goduco and illustrator Pedro Bell, who passed away in August.

The rapid pace of his work is a result of a new axiom that he’s lived by ever since his conversation with the nurse, and has turned into a mantra of sorts: Don’t die empty.

“It’s that there’s no reason for me to hold on to anything that I have,” Edwards says of the expression. “If you have an idea or if you have a thought or if you have something you want to share with the world, do it. You may not be here tomorrow, because I wasn’t going to be here tomorrow.”

Edwards was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. The son of a minister, he was inspired by the many traveling gospel groups that would visit, but also the Ohio Valley funk bands that rose to prominence in that area — bands like The Ohio Players, Bootsy’s Rubber Band, Dayton and Zapp.

“We could sneak in and see those bands at these little chitlin circuit places when we were kids, so that music has always been an influence,” he says.

As he grew, he would also be heavily influenced by the advent of hip-hop and music videos.

“I’m old enough to remember when MTV played videos, and that influenced me a lot, just seeing different types of music all at one time,” he says. “I grew up in that era when on the radio you’d hear Genesis and burgeoning hip-hop, and all these things on the same radio station at the same time. You’d hear Huey Lewis and the News and then you’d hear Afrika Bambaataa right next to it.”

Following the breakup of one of his bands, Edwards moved to Charlotte on a whim in 2008 and befriended local DJ That Guy Smitty. He got his first DJ gig at the now-closed Club Myxx, then picked up a monthly night at the alsonow-closed Tutto Mondo, where he eventually became musical director.

His style quickly gained recognition around the city. Bluz met Jah Freedom at a Sounds N Sixteens, a regular hip-hop jam session the poet hosted for rappers, producers, poets and whoever had something to share.

Jah produced some music for the event, and Bluz was enraptured by the “soulfulness” of his work.

“He knows music to a point where it affects emotion, affects politics, affects your line of thinking about how you think, about how you take in the perspective of a city, the perspective of an era, the perspective of a lot of things; he can attach a sound to that,” Bluz says. “The dude is deep in what he does.”

Jah stepped back from the local nightlife gigs upon getting married, but continued to produce licensed music for VH1, MTV, EA Sports and the Winter Olympics, among others.

He’s no longer married, and in recent years has returned to Charlotte nightlife, hosting regular events like the dance party ONDA do Brasil at Petra’s and Blow Your Head with Scott Scagle at Snug Harbor.

Perhaps his most notable addition to the arts scene is Freaquency360, a monthly session at Tip Top Daily Market that brings creatives of all ilks together to learn from one another through longform discussions.

Featured guests include locals like Bunny Gregory and Perry Fowler, with nationally known guests like De La Soul’s Maseo sometimes dropping by.

While passing on wisdom is one of the goals

Local poet Bluz performs at a listening party for Jah Freedom’s ‘Basquiat Vol. 1.’

at Freaquency, the idea was born of Edwards’ observations of Charlotte’s creative scenes, which he says tend to form silos rather than encourage networking with one another.

He longs to see artists not only crossing musical genres, but creative mediums.

Musicians, visual artists, chefs and business owners have all been featured Freaquency guests.

“There’s a ton of talent here in Charlotte, I think one of the things that they lack is cohesion amongst themselves,” he says in his raspy cadence. “People say, ‘Well, it’s the venues and it’s the city,’ but sometimes you have to take accountability for yourself. We like to point fingers at everything else besides ourselves, and people don’t network with each other.”

There is perhaps no one better than Jah Freedom to lead the charge in bringing people together, as he moves effortlessly between scenes.

For example, when we meet with him on the patio of Petra’s, he’s preparing his Basquiat

PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN

listening party, at which he places blank papers and markers on the table for listeners to express themselves while local artist Josh Henderson live paints in the corner.

The vibe is completely different than can be expected at his Dec. 26 listening party for Self Medicated, an album he’s finishing with hardcore Brooklyn rapper Kil Ripkin at which Charlotte rapper Jah-Monte will perform.

“I’ll be at a super-hood hip-hop show one day and then I’ll be somewhere listening to house music, or I might be listening to jazz or go to the opera,” he says. “I don’t see a differentiation, because for me, music is an expression, so I don’t limit myself. I saw a lot of people being really niche-y and really cliquey, so I said, ‘Well, I’m going to start putting all these disparate groups into a room and see what happens.’”

Because a room only dies when it’s empty, but for a creative mind, that’s not an option.

RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

SOUNDWAVE

DECEMBER 18 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

December Residency: Brut Beat, The Straightjackets, Sangre Cabrona (Snug Harbor) Morbid Angel, Watain, Incantation (Underground) Cheem, Dogleg, Origami Angel, Ol’ Sport, Dollhands(The Milestone)

Shana Blake& Friends(Smokey Joe’s) Underground Owls (Comet Grill) Jukebox Rehab(Tin Roof) Alex Butler (Tin Roof)

sNattyBoh(Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Underground Owls (Smokey Joe’s)

Tried! (The Milestone)

Cardfall (Tin Roof)

Bone Snugs-N-Harmony (Snug Harbor)

Open Mic: Barry & Kat Finnigan (Tommy’s Pub)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

ROOTS/BLUES/INTERNATIONAL

Nathan Angelo (Evening Muse) Kelby Costner (Neighborhood Theatre)

Sam Tayloe, Mike Ramsey (Evening Muse) DJ/ELECTRONIC

Eli Young Band, Ryan Trotti,Niko Moon (Fillmore) Jonathan Parker & the Bloody Creek Boys (Evening Muse) Dane Page, Clint Roberts, David Taylor & The Tallboys (Petra’s) Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill) The Hashbrown Belly Boys, Jason Moss and The Hosses, Vaden Landers, Dammit Man String Band, Wes Hamilton, Dixie Dave

Open Mic/Open Jam (Comet Grill)

Le Bang(Snug Harbor)

Allen, Taylor Trew (Tommy’s Pub)

DECEMBER 20

DJ/ELECTRONIC

A Skrittmas Miracle: The Phantom Friends (Snug Harbor) Moose Kick, The Holdouts (Visulite)

Freaky, Irewl, Jordan Castle, Zac, Funktavious and Mac (SERJ)

Find Your Muse Open Mic: Raina Dawn (Evening Muse)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

RAP/HIP-HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

Snoop Dogg, Trae the Truth, Warren G (Fillmore)

DECEMBER 19 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

True Lilith, Izar Estelle, Wilma (Skylark Social Club) Daniel Johnston Tribute: Meara Moue, Jeremy Davis, Sweat Transfer, Evan V.K., Mitchell Franklin, Dylan Gilbert, Phil Pucci, Jordan Hoban, Bince, Family Friend, Jacob Taylor, Cicada Love, Lindsey Miller (Petra’s)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

The Vegabonds, 87 Nights (Neighborhood Theatre) Tyler Childers (Fillmore)

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Cassette Rewind, Southside Watt (Visulite Theatre) Bask, Hectorina, Hungry Girl, Nerve Endings (The Milestone) Doom Flamingo, Schema (Neighborhood Theatre) Will Wood, Indigo, The Wiltz (Skylark Social Club) Sunset Cassette, Kelsey Ryan & The Handymen, Nic Pugh & The Bad News (Snug Harbor) Foxfire Run, Victoria Victoria(Evening Muse)

Follow our Spotify Playlist PREVIEW YOUR LOCAL CHARLOTTE SOUNDWAVE ARTISTS HERE

1. OPEN SPOTIFY ON YOUR SMARTPHONE 2. TAP THE SEARCH BAR 3. CLICK THE CAMERA ICON IN THE TOP RIGHT CORNER 4. POINT CAMERA AT THE CODE BELOW

Bluegrass Open Jam: Greg Clarke & Friends (Tommy’s Pub) JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

Bill Hannah’s Jazz Session (Petra’s)

DECEMBER 23 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

RAP/HIP-HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

RAP/HIP-HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

A Soulful Noel (McGlohon Theater)

Jazz Jam (Crown Station)

DECEMBER 21

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

ANTiSEEN, South Side Punx, Asbestos Boys, Sub Madonna (The Milestone) Jake HaldenVang, Falling Through April, The Walbournes (Underground) The Electronic Park, The Situationals, Hardcore Lounge (Petra’s) Nick Hickman (Tin Roof) Negulators, Something Went Wrong, The Flight Risks, Deadlock NCHC (Tommy’s Pub)

Country Music Monday (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) DJ/ELECTRONIC

Knocturnal (Brooklyn Lounge)

DECEMBER 24 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Smokin’ Js Open Jam Band & Friends (Smokey Joe’s) Musician Open Mic (Crown Station) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Red Rockin’ Chair (Comet Grill)

The Bill Miller Band (Smokey Joe’s) Acoustic Syndicate (Visulite) Karla Davis, Lacy Green (Evening Muse) Thomas Fountain (Evening Muse) Blue Dogs, Dillon Fence (Neighborhood Theatre) Jeremy Mohr, Barnaby Keller (Primal Brewery) Courtney Lynn & Quinn (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern)

DJ/ELECTRONIC

Mike Strauss Band (Comet Grill)

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RAP/HIP-HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

RAP/HIP-HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

A Soulful Noel (McGlohon Theater) Oh Snap: DJ SPK, Sativa Slcts, 2 Slices (Snug Harbor) Eric Roberson (Amos’ Southend) AfroPop! Charlotte: The Dynamic DJ Kato, DJ Steel Wheel (Crown Station) JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

Alexander Zonjic& Friends (Middle C Jazz) DJ/ELECTRONIC

Lost Cargo: Yule-Tiki Edition (Petra’s)

DECEMBER 25

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Open Mic/Open Jam (Comet Grill) Josh Daniel, Jeremy Shaw (Smokey Joe’s)

DECEMBER 26 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Shana Blake& Friends(Smokey Joe’s) Kris Atoms (Comet Grill) Jay Taylor (Tin Roof) Towne (Evening Muse) DJ/ELECTRONIC

Techno Syndicate 007: Micke, Doctor Blasphemous, DJCKOLE (Skylark Social Club)

#LocalOnly Saturday with DJ Teddy & Mike Boyer (The Milestone)

Le Bang(Snug Harbor)

VCTRE, MindsetMusic, Houman Beats, Bass Canviss (SERJ)

Dwan Bosman Quartet (Middle C Jazz)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

DECEMBER 22

DECEMBER 27

Omari & the Hellhounds (Comet Grill) Mr. Genius and the Robot Inventors, My Blue Hope, Mama

Toubab Krewe (Neighborhood Theatre) Black Powder (The Milestone) Chew, Futurists, Lofidels (Snug Harbor)

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS WITH THE GLORIOUS SOUNDS OF

VINYL

Gran Torino (Visulite Theatre) The Purple Madness: Tribute to Prince (Fillmore) Audacity Brass Band (Evening Muse) Sickman: Alice In Chains Tribute, Harbor Faeght: Tool Tribute, Peace Sell$: Megadeth Tribute (Amos’ Southend) Pauline Simone (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Elliott Humphries (Primal Brewery) Chase Killough, Paul Agee, James Brock (Smokey Joe’s) The Armory (Tin Roof) Longshot Odds, Van Huskins, The Commonwealth, Billy Riot (Tommy’s Pub) My Blue Hope, No More People, True Lilith (Crown Station) Dilemma Fest II: Ol Sport, Pet Bug, The Weak Days, Yes Chef!,Farseek, Jordyn Zaino (Resident Culture Brewing) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

New Potato Caboose, Maj Deeka (Neighborhood Theatre) Silerwings (Comet Grill)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

Dwan Bosman Quartet (Middle C Jazz) Charlotte Symphony: Cirque De Noel (Belk Theater) DJ/ELECTRONIC

LOTS OF CDS, TAPES, & TURNTABLES TOO tons of new & used vinyl needles, sleeves, frames, boxes, cleaners, all of your record needs shop local!

#LocalOnly Saturday with DJ Teddy & Mike Boyer (The Milestone) Electrohex: DJ Price (The Milestone) Phase One (SERJ)

DECEMBER 29 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Omari & the Hellhounds (Comet Grill) Funk You (Visulite Theatre) 5 Second Rule (Tin Roof) David Childers (Tommy’s Pub) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

thanks for voting us best record store!

lunchboxrecords.com 825 CENTRAL AVE. CHARLOTTE, NC 704-331-0788

Lisa De Novo (Free Range Brewing) RAP/HIP-HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

Bone Snugs-N-Harmony (Snug Harbor) ROOTS/BLUES/INTERNATIONAL

Bluegrass Open Jam: Greg Clarke & Friends (Tommy’s Pub) Jamie Laval’s Celtic Christmas (Booth Theater) JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

Bill Hannah’s Jazz Session (Petra’s)

DECEMBER 30 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Pg. 21 Dec. 18 - Dec. 31, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

Kairos., Proxima, Voraflux, Noxus (Amos’ Southend) Life in General, Whiskey Foxtrot(Evening Muse)

Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band, April B & The Cool (Neighborhood Theatre) Find Your Muse Open Mic: The Skipping Stones(Evening Muse) Willie Douglas Band (Smokey Joe’s) The 9th Street Stompers, The Hellfire Choir (Tommy’s Pub)

Wayne Harper(Tin Roof)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Country Music Monday (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern)

Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill) Carolina Gator Gumbo (Tommy’s Pub) DJ/ELECTRONIC

RAP/HIP-HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

Jazz Jam (Crown Station) DJ/ELECTRONIC

Keith MacKenzie, Josh B, Mizzo, Aaron Sigmon,PhatRabbit,

Knocturnal (Brooklyn Lounge)

Madmonk, Alexander John (SERJ)

Shake: Elevator Jay, Ahuf (Snug Harbor)

RAP/HIP-HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

Genesis Album Release (Evening Muse) JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

DECEMBER 31

Dwan Bosman Quartet (Middle C Jazz)

DECEMBER 28 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Check our New Year’s Guide on Page 12!

A VEGAN TSUNAMI

New TV network is plant-based and Charlotte-based

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L

BY PAT MORAN

AST SUMMER, RONNIE “TSUNAMI” GANDIZA switched on the Food Network and saw the same damn thing he’d seen for the past four years.

“It was all barbeque contests [and] a lot of meat, dairy and drug commercials,” Gandiza says. “I was constantly cringing.”

A convert to a plant-based diet since 2015, Gandiza did more than simply flip the channel, he started an entirely new one.

Launched on World Vegan Day, Nov. 1, the Plant-Based Network (PBN) caters to an exploding demographic: people seeking encouragement and support for embracing a healthy, environmentally friendly and cruelty-free lifestyle.

Viewers ranging from staunch vegans to the vegetarian-curious can access the burgeoning Charlotte-based network online or through streaming services like Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire to catch established shows like The Vegan Roadie, EatMoveRest and Vegan Mashup, as well as new, in-house productions, all free of charge.

As PBN’s CEO, Gandiza says he and network co-founders Joanna Gustafson, Paul DeBellis and Steven Littlefield plan to add new programs and categories including a talk show and a travel show in the coming year.

The team draws on input from an advisory committee comprised of doctors Joel Kahn and Michael Greger, entrepreneur Miyoko Schinner, equality advocate Milton Mills, athlete Luke Tan and musician Gerardo Velez.

Plant-Based Network launched on World Vegan Day, November 1.

“It’s lifestyle and entertainment,” Gandiza says of the new network, “based on positivity, inclusivity, compassion and fun.”

As the “Tsunami” nickname suggests, 49-yearold Gandiza is a force of nature — a tidal wave of energy and expertise coupled with a can-do attitude. The Honolulu, Hawaii, native says the “Tsunami” moniker was introduced and ingrained by his experiences working for the United States government. After serving in the U.S. Air Force as an information technology specialist, Gandiza moved to the Pentagon as the lead network engineer for the Secretary of Defense.

“Years ago, one of the colonels said that whenever something got washed away or wasn’t meant to be, it was like a tsunami,” Gandiza remembers. “My friends picked up on that because I’m from Hawaii.”

After he left the Pentagon to become a tech expert and public speaker, the nickname stuck, and Gandiza officially adopted the moniker as lead singer, songwriter and keyboardist for his tropical rock band, the Tsunami Wave Riders.

Up to that point, the husband and father of five had enjoyed a richly varied career, a whirlwind of specializations including IT expert, engineer, trainer, educator and speaker with certifications in IT and project management, and a master’s degree in Theology from Holos University Graduate Seminary. As a Hawaiian, he was also a heavy meat eater, loading up on chicken, pork and seafood. But in 2014, that all screeched to a halt.

PHOTO COURTESY OF RONNIE GANDIZA

“I got very sick,” Gandiza says. “A couple things happened all at the same time. I could barely walk [and] my eyes started shaking, causing vertigo every three minutes.”

Gandiza’s vertigo made him feel like he was falling off a cliff, and soon he was reduced to walking with a cane. He remembers consulting several doctors and none of them could help. By 2015, he was bedridden. It was then that one of his two daughters and his wife, both of whom had already adopted the plant-based lifestyle, gave Gandiza a couple documentaries to watch.

“My daughter shared Cowspiracy, [which] taught me the impact of animal agriculture on our environment,” he continues.

On May 22, his wife shared Forks Over Knives, which details the science behind a whole food and plant-based (WFPB) diet.

“I learned how plant-based nutrition helps chronic conditions, and I thought what have I got to lose?”

On May 23, 2015, Gandiza went completely plant-based. Four weeks later he could walk without a cane. Two weeks after that, his eyes stopped shaking. By July, Gandiza was back on his feet and had starting working again as chief information officer for PlantPure Nation, a North Carolina company that offers a line of products and services promoting the WFPB lifestyle.

Gandiza left the company last year to free up his schedule for more speaking engagements, but he credits his stint with PlantPure Nation for teaching

him why the American public doesn’t hear more about plant-based nutrition.

“That was where everything became a tsunami for me in terms of jumping into the plant-based movement,” he says.

As Gandiza was managing his transition to a plant-based lifestyle, he began to wonder how other people might be facing the obstacles he encountered.

The number one challenge for people transitioning to plant-based living is being alone, he maintains, especially if they don’t have plant-based family or friends to help them on their journey.

Last July, Gandiza started working on a video project with financier Steven A. Littlefield, who owns a video production company in San Diego.

Gandiza mentioned the preponderance of meat, dairy and drug commercials he saw on the Food Network to Littlefield, and wondered why no one had launched a vegan or plant-based food network.

Littlefield asked Gandiza why he didn’t do something about it, and just like that, the fuse was sparked for PBN. “That conversation was on July 29,” Gandiza remembers. “By August 1, we put up a Facebook page, and on November 1, we launched.”

With Littlefield as director of business development, Gustafson as content manager and TV producer Bellis on board, the four partners got to work. The team agreed to shy away from the harrowing videos of animal abuse and North Carolina manure lagoons that can be found on YouTube, preferring an approach based on positivity.

Gandiza believes exposés serve a purpose in promoting awareness of the unethical practices and environmental dangers posed by animal-based agriculture, but he wants PBN to further its mission with a lighter touch, by helping people improve their health and creating a more sustainable planet with a lineup of TV shows focused on topics like plant-based/vegan cooking, travel, health, fitness, kids, comedy, music, sustainability, compassion and shopping.

The network is anything but a hard sell for the plant-based lifestyle, he maintains.

“You get people to learn by letting them connect the dots,” Gandiza says, citing research showing that 60% of Americans want more plant-based food options.

He’s not daunted that government bodies like the North Carolina General Assembly have tried to curb the plant-based wave by passing Ag Gag laws that punish whistleblowers for reporting animal abuse and health and environmental violations.

Pg. 23 Dec. 18 - Dec.31, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

Nor does he worry about food labeling laws like a recent Missouri statute that seeks to ban vegetarian products from using the word “meat.”

Change may be getting pushback from the top, he says, but change will still come from below because people want it.

“It’s not a matter of if the country is becoming more plant-based. It’s a matter of when we hit that tipping point,” he says.

And that tipping point couldn’t be closer, he continues, pointing to the rising popularity and mainstream acceptance of products like Beyond Meat and the Impossible Burger as proof.

Skeptics once insisted that plant-based consumers would not go to a Burger King for a veggie meal, he recalls.

“We now know that 95% of the people that buy this plant-based burger, this quote ‘fake burger,’ are non-vegans,” Gandiza points out, connecting that to news that Kentucky Fried Chicken launched a special vegan chicken in Atlanta that sold out in five hours, and that McDonald’s now has a PLT — or plant, lettuce and tomato sandwich.

People are demanding healthier options, and businesses are responding, Gandiza says.

Given his own experience with transitioning to the WFPB lifestyle, Gandiza prefers the term “plantbased” over “vegan.” With vegan, you either are or you’re not, he explains, there is no in-between. But you can be 50% plant-based, or 80% plant-based, and that’s okay.

“We want to be more inclusive regardless of where people are on their journey,” Gandiza says. “People move at different speeds. Let’s not discourage them by nitpicking.”

Despite all the growth and improved acceptance, there’s still a stigma about veganism, he says. A lot of people think it’s a religious movement or that it’s infringing on people’s rights, he says. That’s why he and his partners have created a friendly, positive and inclusive TV network with programming that talks about the benefits of eating more plants.

Given the rapidly growing reach of the new venture, it’s somewhat surprising that PBN has no offices or studios here in Charlotte.

“Everything is virtual for us,” Gandiza says.

That said, the network fields a local film crew that shoots footage throughout the city and state, hitting events like Vegfest in Charlotte or the Vegetarian Thanksgiving Feast hosted by the Triangle Vegetarian Society in Durham — one of the largest events of its kind in the country.

With added input from volunteers and film crews from all over the world, Gandiza says he and

THE NEWBIE FOODIE LOVE, PEACE AND AVOCADOS

Flower Child is health food with a hippie vibe

BY DARRELL HORWITZ

RONNIE ‘TSUNAMI’ GANDIZA

Photo courtesy of Ronnie Gandiza

his partners are running a global TV network from their homes.

When PBN first launched, industry insiders said there weren’t enough advertisers to support plantbased programming, but Gandiza and his partners have proven them wrong; seven of the current top 15 companies in the world to invest in are plantbased companies, he maintains.

“We initially thought that women over the age of 40 would be most attracted to us because we have a health and environment focus,” Gandiza remembers.

But soon after launch they discovered they were reaching viewers across the board. Equal parts millennials, middle-agers and seniors are loving the PBN’s shows, Gandiza says. Viewership, which splits at 55% male and 45% female, goes beyond the U.S. to include Asia and South America.

“We’re reaching about 1,000 people a day on our Facebook page alone,” he says.

For Gandiza, this is more than mere validation of a business dream. The plant-based lifestyle saved his life, he believes, and that is why he’s so passionate about delivering the network’s message.

There’s a lot at stake here, Gandiza says, but problems like climate change and the American health crises can be successfully addressed with a plant-based lifestyle, an approach that fosters reverence for all living things.

“The plant-based tsunami is not coming,” Gandiza says. “It’s here.”

PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM

WHEN I HEAR THE TERM flower child, I picture a young hippie girl with torn jeans, sandals on her feet, and her thumb out hitching a ride. Her destination would probably be the restaurant of the same name.

An offshoot of a healthy food concept that started in Phoenix in 2014, the local Flower Child landed in South End in midsummer of this year. I normally wouldn’t be writing about a chain, but this doesn’t feel like one. It seems like it popped up out of the ground … like a flower.

With an open, bright design and a funky atmosphere, Flower Child looks like it would fit right into the late ’60s Haight-Asbury district of San Francisco. The words “Happiness around every corner” are painted on one of the walls, with the obligatory peace sign painted on the facade of the building.

Upon entrance, customers are greeted by a welcoming face who will answer any questions they may have about the menu -- and you probably will have some as there are a lot of choices. Selections include salads, bowls, entrees and wraps, along with plenty of sides.

The restaurant called out to me after all the unhealthy food I consumed before leaving Chicago, but I wasn’t expecting to be overwhelmed with flavor from a health-food restaurant. I was wrong on that point.

On my first visit, I ordered the spicy coconut curry. After just a few bites, I wrote, “Heaven in a bowl.” The curry was addicting and the thai herbs added some nice heat. There was also perfectly cooked eggplant, zucchini, grilled pineapple, yellow onion and organic brown rice. A splash of lime added some tartness. Protein options include tofu, chicken, steak, shrimp and salmon at an additional charge from $2.95 to $6.50.

My wife ordered the turkey avocado salad. It was crunchy and flavorful with the creamy avocado ranch as the perfect accompaniment. It was filled to the brim with romaine, arugula, cucumber, tomato, corn, white cheddar and pistachio. She enjoyed it and brought home leftovers.

On our next visit, I opted for the Vietnamese Crunch, which included savoy cabbage, quinoa, tomato, peppadew, pineapple, avocado, cashews,

thai basil, cilantro and mint in a spicy lemongrass vinaigrette. My first thoughts were good fresh flavors, though the vinaigrette was more sweet than spicy.

My wife went with the Flying avocado that included smoked turkey, gouda, romaine, tomato, avocado and hummus. She enjoyed it and the avocado hummus brought a surprising amount of flavor.

On my most recent visit, I decided to pick an entree with two sides. Protein choices are the same as listed above, beginning with tofu at $11.95, going up in price from chicken to steak to shrimp, with salmon being the priciest item on the menu at $15.50. I chose the shrimp, sauteed with teriyaki. There were seven on the plate along with my sides of brussel sprouts and sugar snaps with spicy eggplant.

The shrimp were not the biggest I’ve ever had and the flavor was just okay. On the other hand, the brussel sprouts were great. They may have been too charred for some, but if your mom fed you these as a kid, you would always have eaten your vegetables.

The second side gave a nice complement of sweet with the snaps and spicy with the eggplant. My dish set me back $14.95.

My wife ordered the turkey and avocado cobb salad for $12.50. She liked her salad and mentioned how the almonds enhanced the taste. Her only complaint was she would have liked more avocado.

There is wine, beer, sangria, lemonade, cold brew, hot and iced tea along with a daily fresh juice to wash down the food.

My one issue with Flower Child is with the portions. I left hungry on each of my visits. A solution would be to offer bread. It seems like it would be the perfect spot to bake a daily loaf and include a few slices with each meal.

Flower Child is a beacon for vegetarians, vegans and those with gluten-free diets, but it’s good for anyone that likes good food. I wish there had been one in Chicago before I left, as I often got stuck settling for less than tasty fare at places that could accommodate my vegan buddy on our Tuesday lunches.

I rate Flower Child 3 bites out of 4. Good food and nice people, I just wish the portions were bigger.

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Monday: 20-oz. draft for 16-oz. price Tuesday: $5 specialty cocktails Wednesday: $3.50 local drafts Saturday-Sunday: $5 mimosas & bloody marys

Pg. 24 Dec. 18 - Dec. 31, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

DILWORTH NEIGHBORHOOD GRILLE

Monday: $4 Crown & Down Tuesday: $4 drafts, $12 pitchers, $5 flights of North Carolina drafts Wednesday: 1/2 off wine bottles and martinis Thursday: $12 domestic buckets, $18 import buckets Friday: $3 craft drafts, $5 flavored vodka Saturday: $5 mason jar cocktails SUMMIT ROOM

Tuesday: $4 drafts Wednesday: 1/2 off glasses of wine Thursday: $7 Summit cocktails

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Monday: 1/2 off select pints Tuesday: Free beer tasting 5-7 p.m.

Wednesday: $2 off select pints, wine tasting 5-7 p.m.

BIG BEN PUB

Monday: $6 beer cocktails, $2 off vodka Tuesday: $8 mules, 1/2 off gin Wednesday: $6 you-call-it, 1/2 off wine bottles Thursday: $4 wells, 1/2 off specialty cocktails Friday: $5.50 Guinness and Crispin, $6 vodka Red Bull Saturday-Sunday: $4 bloody marys and mimosas, $15 mimosa carafes MAC’S SPEED SHOP

Monday: $3 pints, $5 Tito’s Tuesday: 1/2 price wine, $3 mystery draft Wednesday: $4 tall boys, $5 Lunazul Blanco Thursday: $3 mystery cans and bottles, $4 Jim Beam Saturday: $1 off North Carolina pints Sunday: $4 mimosas & bloody marys GIN MILL

Monday: $5 Tito’s and New Amsterdam Tuesday: 1/2 price wine Wednesday: $4 draft beer Thursday: $2.50 PBR, $5 Jack Daniels and Tito’s

UPTOWN THE LOCAL

Monday: $7 Casamigos, $2 Natty Boh and Miller High Life, $5 Jager Tuesday: $3 Modelo, $5 house margaritas, $5 Don Julio Wednesday: $5 Crown & Down, $3 Southern Tier Thursday: $5 Captain Morgan, $7 craft mules, $16 Bud Light buckets Friday: $3 Jell-O shots, $4 drafts, $5 wells Saturday: $3 PBR, $5 Jager Sunday: $7 loaded mimosa, $7 Grey Goose bloody mary, $16 Bud Light buckets THE DAILY TAVERN

Wednesday: $5 whiskey Thursday: $4 pint night Sunday: $4 Miller Lite, $6 bloody marys DANDELION MARKET

Monday: $3 select drafts Tuesday: $15 select bottles of wines Saturday-Sunday: Bloody mary bar ROXBURY

Friday: $5 flavored vodka drinks, $5 fire shots, $3 bottles Saturday: $5 fire shots, $4 ZIMA, $3 bottles

Thursday: $2 Bartender Bottles, $6 Crown Royal Sunday: $3 Birdsong, $3 Tall or Call

Monday: $2 off North Carolina drafts and spirits Tuesday: 25 percent off bottles and cans, $5 mules Wednesday: 1/2-priced wine, wheats and sangrias Thursday: $4 old school, $4 well, $4 signature shots Friday-Saturday: $3 shot of the week Sunday: $2 mimosas, $3 bloody marys & beermosas

Monday: $4 Ketel One Lemon Drop, $4 well liquor, $5 Camerena Tuesday: $6 seasonal cocktails, $6 Jameson, $4 Grape Gatorade Wednesday: $5 Green Tea Shot, $6 Blue Balls Thursday: $5 Jagermeister, $6 vodka Redbull, $6 Oxley Gin Cocktail Friday: $5 Fireball, $6 vodka Red Bull, $6 Jameson Saturday: $5 Fireball, $6 vodka Red Bull Sunday: $5 Deep Eddy Flavors, $1 off tequila, $5 White Gummy Bear shots

WORLD OF BEER

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Tuesday: 1/2 off everything Wednesday: $3 drafts Thursday: $2 PBR, $6 vodka Red Bull Friday-Saturday: $4 call-its

NODA

CABO FISH TACO

Monday: $5 El Cheapo margarita Tuesday: $3.50 Tecate and Tecate Light, $5 Altos silver tequila Wednesday: $7 Absolut Lime Moscow mule Thursday: $1 off neighborhood beers on draft Friday-Saturday: $8 margarita special Sunday: $5 mimosas, $6 Absolut Peppar bloody mary, $7 Absolut Lime Moscow mule JACKBEAGLE’S

Monday: $5 Cuervo margaritas Tuesday: $3 drafts, $5 vodka Red Bull Wednesday: $1 off whiskey Thursday: $6 Deep Eddy’s vodka Red Bull Friday: $5 Fun-Dip shots, $5 Crown Black Saturday: $5 Gummy Bear shots, $5 big mimosa, $6.50 double bloody mary Sunday: $5 big mimosa, $6.50 double bloody mary SANCTUARY PUB

Monday: $7 Bulleit and Bulleit Rye, $3 Yuengling and PBR APA Tuesday: $6 Tuaca, $6 Tullamore Dew Wednesday: $3 Birdsong beers, $5 Sauza,

NODA 101

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Monday: $1 off moonshine, $3 domestics Tuesday: $1 off all drafts, $7 Jameson Wednesday: $1 off bottles and cans Thursday: $4.50 wells Friday: $5 Fireball, $1 off local bottles and cans Saturday: $4 mimosas $5 Brunch Punch, Sunday: $4 mimosas, $5 Brunch Punch, $5 Fireball, $10 champagne bottles

PLAZA MIDWOOD HATTIE’S TAP & TAVERN

Monday: $6 Pabst & Paddy’s Tuesday: $5 Fireball Wednesday: $3 mystery craft beers Thursday: $6 margaritas Friday-Saturday: $5 well drinks Sunday: $10 domestic buckets INTERMEZZO

Monday: $4 Makers Mark, $2 domestic bottles Tuesday: $4 margaritas, $7 Tito’s mules, $3 Blanche de Bruxelles, $3 OMB Copper Wednesday: 1/2 price wine bottles, $2 off bourbon of the week Thursday: $6.50 Ketel One Botanical Series, $4 Stoli Friday: $4 20-oz. Birdsong LazyBird Brown Ale and Birdsong Jalapeño Ale Saturday: 1/2 price martinis Sunday: $3 drafts

M-F: 5PM - 2AM SAT & SUN: 12PM - 2AM

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THE ART OF LETTING GO What are you holding on to?

Pg. 26 Dec. 18 - Dec. 31, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

BY KATIE GRANT

ONE OF THE MORE commonly heard phrases I come across — from yoga studios to exercise apparel to Pinterest and beyond — is “Let it go.” As a yoga teacher, I find myself suggesting this short burst of words from time to time, mostly without thinking, as a default script. It’s not like I was trained to regurgitate cheesy one-liners, but when teachers hear it and read it everywhere, it becomes all too easy to parrot the cliche.

And yet when I stop to consider what these words actually mean, I wonder if letting go is really all that easy. Two short answers come to mind: One, it’s complicated, and two, most likely not — otherwise we wouldn’t need the constant reminder.

Popularized by the theme song from Disney’s 2013 animated musical Frozen, the ambiguous concept of “Let It Go” has infiltrated pop culture.

The song has garnered approximately 180 million views on YouTube, won Best Original Song at the 86th Academy Awards, and was the first song from a Disney animated musical to reach the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100 since 1995.

Beyond that, the theme has dominated athletic apparel. You’ve probably seen “Let It Go” handlettered millennial style across countless tank tops, or at least some variation of it — Let it Flow, Let That Shit Go, you get the idea. You may even own one. No judgement here, I probably have the same one.

As a mental break from the looming holidays, I recently explored a three-hour workshop dedicated to “the art of letting go”, lead by Adam Whiting (eRYT-500, YACEP, 1 Giant Mind Certified Meditation Teacher) and hosted by VIBE5 Fitness & Yoga in SouthPark. Whiting has practiced and trained in various styles of yoga, including tantra, Ashtanga, Anusara and Vinyasa. In doing my research on Whiting, I repeatedly read about his infectious laugh. More laughter in my life couldn’t hurt, so

naturally this character description piqued my interest.

With a balance between modern science and ancient wisdom, the workshop description seemed tailored to tapping into my letting-go skills, with the goal being to release dead weight that may be holding me back. From what, I wasn’t quite sure, but I booked the class anyway. I checked in with eyes wide, hoping to learn how to break free from the gravitational pull of my past. I’ve learned that I am willling to pay any amount of money to help me stop thinking about the past. Sometimes I feel like a whipped dog, beaten by thoughts of regret, what I could have done better or differently. All things I can’t change but keep coming back to for more.

Shame is literally killing my vibe.

Once settled into the space and onto my mat, Adam greeted us warmly. He even made himself giggle, a lot. I now understand why the initial review I read mentioned this trait. My presence felt as welcomed and appreciated as a childhood friend.

It was quite endearing, actually.

To open the discussion, prana was the first topic.

In short, prana is the spark of animation that fuels each and every cell in the body. Pranayama, or breath control, is the key to maximizing our energy and is a large component of yoga; it’s the fourth limb of spiritual advancement as laid out in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. According to Whiting, we are all “leaky vessels”. Curious to learn more, I pursued further reading on this leaky vessel theory. According to Yoga for Transformation: Ancient Teachings and Practices for Healing the Body, Mind,and Heart by Gary Kraftsow, “The leaky vessel is unable to hold whatever is put into it. It symbolizes those who are unable to sustain practice and to build energy in their systems. This condition may be the result of an unstable mind, too many distractions, and/or an unhealthy lifestyle.”

Too many distractions, you say? This anecdote ties perfectly into Whiteside’s comment about us losing most of our prana through our eyes, vis-à-vis our phones. Now let’s go a step further and marry this concept with a study by global tech company Asurion, which found that the average person struggles to go barely 10 minutes without checking their phones. I’ve never claimed to be a prana mathematician but damn, that’s a lot of energy wasted on empty calorie distractions that just don’t matter.

Next on the nebulous topic forum before a brief flow and meditation: dharma. According to Tibetan Buddhist scholar Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, “The Dharma is whatever leads us toward happiness

and away from suffering ... Only by renouncing the causes of suffering, such as attachment ... can we truly liberate ourselves.”

While attachment causes suffering, nonattachment doesn’t necessarily mean indifference, which has taken me years to understand. To me,

it means moving through life fluidly. Not allowing objects, people or their judgements to sway my decisions. If to effectively detach means “let it go”, I now understand the semantics of labeling it as an art form. It takes a lifetime to master.

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FAMOUS FOODIES

Pg. 27 Dec. 18 - Dec. 31, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

ACROSS

1 Withdraw 7 Second-rate 13 Mexican meat dishes 20 Pro speaker 21 Start of a pirate chant 22 Minimal cash 23 Actor Kevin from Quebec?

25 Marsh gas, mainly 26 William who created Shrek 27 Lettuce type 28 Fierce wind 30 At any point 31 Willed gift 33 Astronaut Alan clearing hurdles?

36 It’s scanned in a store, for short 39 “Blasted!”

40 Discontinued iPods 41 Restitution 42 “The Taking of -- One Two Three” (1974 film) 44 Tie-ons for messy food 45 See 64-Across 46 Irate novelist Anne?

49 Lull comedian John to sleep?

55 Vast span 56 Per piece 57 City on Interstate 80 58 Original “Star Trek” captain 59 French artist Jean 60 Rye husk 62 Kagan on the Supreme Court 64 With 45-Across, the 1980s, politically 66 Gene stuff 67 Bewilder justice Warren?

70 Med. service 71 Sniff out 73 French artist Dufy 74 Healing balm 75 Fancy shooting marble 76 Slips a cog 77 Outfielder Ty 78 Author Sarah -- Jewett 80 Key on a PC

81 Honor essayist Charles with jesting insults?

84 Singer Fiona behaving very badly?

88 Pilfer from 89 Fruit such as a pear 90 Enthusiastic French assent 91 Long, thin cigar 95 Even trades 97 Blast noise 99 Airer of “Conan” 100 Newswoman Ann being a coward?

102 Special Arctic light 104 One-named “Smooth Operator” singer 105 Met highlight 106 “It’s --!” (“That’s evil!”)

107 Take on the role of 111 Thick-skinned fruits 114 Baseballer Mike with chicken pox?

117 Turned-up facial feature 118 United, with “up” 119 South Dakota city 120 Form-fitting swimwear 121 Litters about 122 Pants part

47 Heedless 48 Fled 49 Contact lens care brand 50 Sounding off 51 Alias letters 52 Disco, e.g.

53 School theater group 54 “Catch my drift?”

57 Flowers again 59 Deadly viper 60 U.K. media giant 61 Tire catcher 63 “-- Grant” 64 Classic auto 65 ‘Fore 68 Common rhyme scheme 69 Exultant joy 72 -ette relative 77 Hack’s auto 79 Blvd., e.g.

80 Prefix with dermis 82 Small band 83 MGM mogul Marcus 84 Long, strong and fibrous

DOWN

1 Birds of fable 2 Part of QED 3 Support stick 4 Virtual sales 5 Longtime pickup model 6 “-- tu” (Verdi 105-Across) 7 Jaded sorts 8 Foyer 9 Moby Dick’s hunter 10 Pt. of SPCA 11 Japanese chiefs of old 12 Longtime cleanser brand 13 Actress Marisa 14 Hex ender?

15 Ran into 16 “Arrow of God” novelist Chinua -17 Yeast, e.g.

18 Set of nine 19 Boat backs 24 Blind as -29 Old hi-fi buys 32 Tennis unit 33 Be in sync 34 Stoolie, to Brits 35 Former car-financing co.

36 Happy times 37 Grammy-winning jazz/pop pianist 38 Nile queen 40 Heineken alternative 43 Solo in sci-fi 44 Paper Mate alternative 45 Prefix with chic

SOLUTION ON PAGE 30

85 Taboo 86 Baked with a cheese topping 87 “-- for Evidence” (Sue Grafton book) 89 Rampart part 91 PC admin people 92 Get misty-eyed 93 “Ripe” period 94 Actress Headly 95 South, in Lima 96 Bracelet holders 97 Assembles 98 Composer Thomas 101 Cartons 102 Cockeyed 103 Ranch units 106 Tiptop 108 Ripped 109 Halo, for one 110 Flower part 112 Ares, for one 113 That, in Lima 115 Spike of corn 116 Print quality abbr.

DECEMBER 18 - DECEMBER 24

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Make your holiday preparations one step at a time in order to avoid being overwhelmed and leaving things undone.

That confusing family situation continues to work itself out.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Ease this year’s holiday money pressures by letting your thrifty side guide you as you look for those perfect gifts that typically reflect your good taste and love of beauty.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) You’ll have a good handle on potential holiday problems if you delegate tasks to family members, friends or coworkers -- most of whom will be more than happy to help out.

Pg. 28 Dec. 18 - Dec. 31, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Right now you are especially vulnerable to holiday scams that seek to take advantage of your generosity. Best advice: Check them out before you send out your checks.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) The upcoming holiday season gives the Big Cat much to purr about.

Relationships grow stronger, and new opportunities loom on the horizon, just waiting to be pounced on.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) A changing situation brings conflicting advice about how to go forward with your holiday plans. Your best bet: Make the decision you feel most comfortable with.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Holiday plans get back on track after some confusion about

DECEMBER 25 - DECEMBER 31

the direction you expected to take. A potentially ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Your love of the holidays troublesome money matter needs your immediate creates a special bond between you and the people in your life. Use this as a way of building stronger attention. relationships that will carry over well beyond this time.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Your holiday preparations are on track. But you need to confront TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) A new approach a personal situation while you can still keep it from could go a long way toward resolving a painful estrangement, especially at this holiday time. And overwhelming everything else. since your aspects favor friendship this week, why SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Tight not go ahead and try it? financial matters ease a bit during this holiday season. But the sagacious Sagittarian is well- GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Your positives continue advised to keep a tight hold on the reins while to dominate, and any negative factors that squeeze in can be dealt with easily. The secret is to tackle them at shopping for gifts. once and not allow them to benefit by your neglect.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Don’t put off making decisions about this year’s holiday CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Good news: A colleague’s celebrations, despite the negative comments you’ve remarks could help you move toward ultimately resolving that persistent workplace situation. been getting from several quarters. Do it NOW! Meanwhile, enjoy the holidays with loved ones.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) The holidays will bring new friends and new opportunities. LEO (July 23 to August 22) No one reflects the bright Meanwhile, be careful to use your energy wisely as holiday more than all you Leos and Leonas who love the shimmer and glimmer of the season. P.S.: There you go about making holiday preparations. just might be a very special something from Santa.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) There’s good news coming from a most unlikely source. And it could VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Celebrate turn out to be one of the best holiday gifts you have the holidays by being more receptive to new experiences. Overriding the Virgo reluctance to had in years. Remember to stay positive. try new things could be the best gift you’ve given BORN THIS WEEK: You are respected for your honesty yourself in a long while. and loyalty. You make friends slowly -- but with rare LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Good news exceptions, they’re in your life forever about a loved one makes the holidays even more festive. Expect some unexpected gifts, so be

prepared with a few nicely wrapped packages of goodies to offer in return.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) The holiday season provides an opportunity to meet new people, some of whom you might even consider “worthy” enough to join the Scorpio’s select group of friends.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) You always bring your own wonderful sparkle and light to the holidays, and don’t be surprised if this year someone special reaches out to respond to your warmth in kind.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Togetherness is the dominant theme for the Goat’s holiday celebrations this year. That means reaching out to bring everyone you care for into your very own special circle of light.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) A reminder of a very special moment from the past makes the holidays more memorable for the romantic Aquarian. New friendships hold the promise of a romantic future.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Getting into the swim of things for all you party-loving Pisceans is easy enough this holiday season. And, of course, you can expect to impress people wherever you go.

BORN THIS WEEK: Your dedication brings you the success you strive for, and your generosity impels you to reach out and help others on their way up.

2019 KING FEATURES SYND., INC.

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BLOODY BUSINESS A talk about hematospermia

BY DAN SAVAGE

I am a 60-year-old heterosexual man, and I am being told that I’m normal. I have been to several urologists, and they say I have no medical issues. But I’m having a hard time buying it, because for the last six months, my ejaculate has been extremely bloody. This is embarrassing, especially since oral sex — giving and receiving — has always been my favorite.

The urologists’ explanation is that as you get older, there are blood vessels within the penis that can break during an erection.

They gave me some pills to ensure there was no infection, but then they told me that I’ll probably have to use condoms for the rest of my life.

My partner doesn’t need contraceptives, so we haven’t used condoms for decades. If I were bleeding out of any other orifice, there would be a team of doctors helping me. Is there really no hope?

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TELL ME IT AIN’T SO

“Hematospermia — blood in the ejaculate — is usually not considered a big deal, in the sense that the vast majority of the time it’s not a sign of cancer,” said Dr. Ashley Winter, a board-certified urologist, the cohost of The Full Release podcast, and my goto expert on all blood-in-spunk-related matters. “I’d want to know how much he’s actually bleeding and what they’ve done to check him out. But that said, sometimes a guy with a large prostate will bleed with orgasm.”

For everyone out there panicking because they saw blood in their semen one time a decade ago, Dr. Winter says a one-off bloody load isn’t something to

worry about.

But if you saw blood in your semen that one time and you have health insurance and you’re a hypochondriac like me, Dr. Winter recommends a visit to a doc for a short consultation and a quick physical exam.

“But in a case like TMIAS’s, where the issue is ongoing and the subject is over 55,” said Dr. Winter, “a typical evaluation would include a PSA blood test (a prostate cancer screening test), as well as testing for STIs (such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, and herpes), along with a urinalysis to check for blood in the urine and urinary infections. If those tests were not revealing, I would consider doing an ultrasound or MRI of the prostate and surrounding organs, as well as putting a camera up the urethra (called cystoscopy) to check out the plumbing.”

Assuming you’ve had all those tests, and your prostate was present on photo day, and the doctors found no sign of cancer or infection, TMIAS, then what the hell is going on?

“Typically, the cause would be something such as dilated blood vessels along the ejaculate exit route,” aka the urethra.

Quickly: The urethra is a tube that connects the outside world (and all those piss bottoms) to your bladder; it’s the tube we all piss through. In males, the urethra pulls double duty, men also ejaculate through it (and some women do, too!) — it runs through the prostate gland, a gland that produces about a third of the seminal fluid.

An enlarged prostate squeezes the urethra, which can make urination difficult and uncomfortable, and can also result in — you guessed it — blood in the semen.

One possible “fix” for an enlarged prostate is a transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), which basically amounts to “a ‘roto-rootering’ of the prostate,” as Dr. Winter so vividly put it. A doctor shoves something called a resectoscope up your urethra and slices away chunks of prostate tissue.

“The problem with these procedures is that they can cause a person to stop ejaculating at all,” said Dr. Winter. “So if TMIAS has already had a fairly robust evaluation, then either using condoms or just having his sex partner adapt to the presence of blood may be the best solution. And in the absence of an infection, shooting a bloody load into your partner is not dangerous. Couples have intercourse during menstruation without harm, and plenty of F-F couples have sex during menstruation as well.”

But hold on and back up and wait just a goddamned minute: Didn’t your doctors say everything looked normal? Doesn’t that mean your

likely your normal, and there’s nothing your doctor — or a team of them — can do about it.

“Sometimes a lack of a ‘fix’ is not dismissiveness, prostate isn’t enlarged? it’s just an admittance that a lot of things medical “A ‘normal’ prostate generally means that it is folks do/offer aren’t perfect,” said Dr. Winter. not cancerous and normal in size for your age,” said Dr. Winter.

Follow Dr. Ashley Winter on Twitter @AshleyGWinter, “As you get older, your prostate gets bigger. So and check out The Full Release podcast, which it’s highly probable that what TMIAS has is a big- she cohosts with comedian Mo Mandel, at ass-but-normal-for-his-age prostate. And bigger thefullreleasepod.com. prostates tend to have larger blood vessels lining the urethra and are therefore more likely to bleed when he experiences those lovely contractions associated with orgasm.

On the Lovecast, Erika Moen’s sex toy gift recs! Listen “When TMIAS was told that ‘there are blood at savagelovecast.com; mail@savagelove.net; Follow vessels within the penis that can break,’ I suspect his Dan on Twitter @fakedansavage; ITMFA.org doc was referring to this and was trying to simplify the explanation.”

And while the presence of blood in your INFO@QCNERVE.COM ejaculate may not be normal or ideal, TMIAS, it’s

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