Queen City Nerve - October 21, 2020

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 24; OCTOBER 21 - NOVEMBER 3, 2020; WWW.QCNERVE.COM

by pat moran

NEWS: Who’s buried off Remount Road? pg. 6 MUSIC: Charlotte’s spookiest songs pg. 14

TABLE OF CONTENTS

NEWS& OPINION 8

4 EDITOR’S NOTE BY RYAN PITKIN 6 WHO’S BURIED OFF REMOUNT ROAD? BY RYAN PITKIN

New efforts to identify and recognize a longabandoned burial ground in South End

WHAT’S HAPPENING ON HALLOWEEN

BY KAYLA BERENSON Bars and restaurants hope to hold safe events during pandemic

9 SURVIVOR’S ACCOUNT BY LEA BEKELE Instagram network shares stories of abuse across North Carolina

ARTS&CULTURE 10

SPECTER DETECTORS BY PAT MORAN The Charlotte Area Paranormal Society goes ghost hunting

MUSIC

14 SONGS TO SPOOK BY BY PAT MORAN Seven local tracks that are perfect for All Hallow’s Eve 15 LIFEWAVE A dose of reality

16 INTO THE FIRE BY RYAN PITKIN Bardo team builds on momentum in uncertain times with VANA

LIFESTYLE

FOOD& DRINK

19 PUZZLES 20 AERIN IT OUT BY AERIN SPRUILL 21 HOROSCOPE 22 SAVAGE LOVE THANKS TO OUR CONTRIBUTORS:

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PAT MORAN, LEA BEKELE, KAYLA BERENSON,

GRANT

BALDWIN,

by pat moran

SARAH SITKIN, AERIN SPRUILL NEWS: Who’s buried off Remount Road? pg. 6 MUSIC: Charlotte’s spookiest songs pg. 14

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EDITOR’S NOTE

BEFORE WE GO Ghost stories and abandoned cemeteries

BY RYAN PITKIN

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This week’s issue has a spooky theme running through it, with it being Halloween and all, but in putting it together, I ended up learning a lot about Charlotte history. What are stories about haunted houses and abandoned cemeteries, anyway, if not history stories?

As the son of a genealogist, I was immediately interested when Jason Tapp first contacted me back in August about a new project he had taken up with Will Dalen regarding what was believed by many to be an abandoned cemetery for enslaved people.

The cemetery is located on Remount Road at the intersection of Youngblood Street, and many people walk by it every day without knowing what it is. I spent the next two months researching the abandoned graveyard, and with the help of local historian Tom Hanchett, was able to connect with a few descendants

of the Shumans, the family that once owned the land there and is believed to buried in the 16 or so plots.

The Shuman family were not slaveholders, and there is no evidence that enslaved people were buried at the cemetery in question. It was the process of finding all this out that was the fun part for me.

I was given access to years worth of emails between Shuman descendants, many of whom are dedicating their twilight years to tracing their family line back to the cemetery. I met with Tommy Beatty, whose 4x great-grandfather is believed to have owned the land before his daughter married a Shuman and they developed the family plot that now sits unnoticed.

Beatty is a lifelong Charlottean at 72 and as sweet a man as you can find — full of energy despite all his talk of his “impending death.” On Oct. 24 we‘ll start the long process that he has worked toward for years, to get proper recognition for the old graveyard that has sat abandoned for decades.

Another story was more straightforward in its spookiness, and yet hit even harder in the history that enwrapped it. For our cover story on the Charlotte Area Paranormal Society, I joined staff writer Pat Moran and photographer Grant Baldwin for a ghost investigation at Rosedale, an old plantation house sitting on a busy part of North Tryon Street.

I agree with those who hate the idea of folks

holding events at old plantations, turning sites of trauma into destinations and dollars. As is described in the story on page 12 however, CAPS founder Tina McSwain is vehemently against the idea of profiting in any way off of the work that her organization does.

She is not there to entertain folks; she takes her work seriously, and that Saturday night event was more educational than anything.

It irks me when educators at historical sites like Rosedale try to brush over the realities of racism. I remember visiting the 1774 Hezekiah Alexander house at Charlotte Museum of History — back before Adria Focht took the reins and made things more enlightened over there. I had to stop a tour guide who was praising the woman whose “job” it was to wake up and spend all day in the kitchen.

I asked if I was wrong in my assumption that this woman was not doing this out of devotion to the family or the kindness of her heart, but because she was an enslaved person and may very well have been killed or harmed if she hadn’t. The guide admitted that, yes, there were believed to be many slaves living on the property at the time.

There was no such effort to sweep slavery under the rug at Rosedale, as we were taught the names of the 33 enslaved people who lived there and told their stories.

It irked me, however, to hear Dr. David Caldwell

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described as “benevolent” for buying the rights to enslaved people who had family members at Rosedale so as to reunite them. Just minutes later, it was explained that an enslaved person named George was rumored to be Caldwell’s son. So much for benevolence (not that it ever existed in a slaveholder to begin with).

The two stories coincided for me during a walk through Old Settlers Cemetery in Uptown, where folks from the Caldwell and Davidson families that ran Rosedale are buried. Almost every marker that was bigger than your typical grave carried the name of some family with a Charlotte street named after them, etched into the annals of local history despite being slaveholders.

Then there was Jacob Shuman, in a plot on the corner with a barely decipherable marker at ground level that’s been cracked and washed out over the years. In another corner, a space believed to hold the formerly enslaved, who were not even named, their plots unmarked.

In the end, we all end up in the ground, or in an urn, or wherever it may be. It’s best we leave our mark while we’re still around, because history will sort the rest out eventually. And if that scares you, you’re doing it all wrong.

RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

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NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

Now a group of Charlotteans with no connection to the Beatties or Shumans are working to restore the site, raising money for a fence and hosting a community build day scheduled for Oct. 24.

They hope the event will be the first step in a more comprehensive process to locate every grave on the site and identify who is buried where.

Dalen’s efforts will begin with a starter fence — nothing dug into the ground as ownership of the property is still in question. Once those issues get cleared up, however, he and Beatty hope to see a more established effort to recognize the Shuman Cemetery.

“Regardless of who’s buried here, something should be done, and it would be easy to do New efforts to identify and ‘Cemeteries should have a certain something,” Dalen says. “In this area, all the old stuff gets torn down and then new stuff gets built, and recognize a long-abandoned amount of respect’ it just seems a little sad … So maybe it’s a little bit Inspired by February news reports that the land graveyard in South End nostalgia, a little bit of community engagement.” was home to a forgotten slave cemetery, Will Dalen and Jason Tapp began planning ways to rightfully

BY RYAN PITKIN Unverified Claims honor those who were buried there.

The first news report we could find calling Unbeknownst to them, Beatty, Treece and As we stand in front of the sunken burial plots, Shuman Cemetery an abandoned slave cemetery rectangular concrete outlines of graves partially Shuman had for years been researching the site, came in a Charlotte Observer article from 2008. In it, protruding from an otherwise unassuming field, compiling evidence that their ancestors once farmed the late Vernon Herron, retired minister and founder I ask Tommy Beatty why he

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WHO’S BURIED OFF REMOUNT ROAD?

got involved with efforts to identify the dozens of people believed to be buried on this small plot of land at the intersection of Remount Road and Youngblood Street. He looks me in the eye and tells me matter-of-factly, “My own impending death,” then lets out a big belly laugh.

To be clear, the 72-yearold Beatty seems by all accounts to be in great physical and mental health — with his sense of humor intact too — but whatever drove him to take up this pet cause, it has since become a calling. Over the past three years, the process has brought him in touch with relatives he never knew he had, with whom he’s since joined forces to identify the people buried at Shuman Cemetery, BURIAL PLOTS PROTRUDE FROM A FIELD ON REMOUNT ROAD. sometimes called Youngblood Cemetery. After many years of what look to be false the land around it and are now buried there.

There’s no evidence that either families held reports that to be a forgotten slave cemetery, the group of descendants have compiled the most slaves, nor is there reason to believe formerly detailed known account of who’s buried at the site. enslaved people are buried at the site, though Dalen Along with Margaret Shuman Treece and maintains that regardless of who’s buried there, the James Shuman, both of whom are also believed to cemetery should be preserved.

“Slaves or not, I feel like cemeteries should have be descendants of folks buried on the site, Beatty has traced the history of the Shuman and Beatty a certain amount of respect,” Dalen says during a families that once owned the land, identifying 15 recent visit to the site with Queen City Nerve and Beatty. people they believe to be buried there.

According to tradition, Herron’s body would have most likely been buried in his family cemetery, a site chosen by a former slave owner.

Acting on a tip from a man who found reference to “a nearby Negro graveyard” in a will from 1827, folks working with CGS came across the abandoned Remount Road burial plots in 2004 and believed them to be the long-lost Herron cemetery. In the article, Herron told of an emotional return to the land, but no confirmation was ever made.

The site would pop up in the news again every six years, it seems. In 2014, WSOC reported on new efforts to preserve the cemetery, saying thenSouthwest Service Area Code Leader Eugene Bradley “found evidence” that the cemetery held formerly enslaved people, while acknowledging that it was sometimes called the Shuman Cemetery.

In February 2020, WSOC reported on a group called Periwinkle 1619 that aimed to renew and preserve the cemetery, as they believed it held the bodies of formerly enslaved people. Queen City Nerve was unable reach anyone involved with Periwinkle 1619.

Who’s Buried at the Shuman Cemetery?

It was the 2014 report that grabbed the attention of Margaret Shuman Treece, who lives in Kansas City. Her father had spent years researching the Shuman family tree and believed his ancestors were buried there on Remount Road.

Margaret “inherited” his interest in the site back in the ’90s, she told Queen City Nerve, and she’s been working on identifying the folks buried there ever since.

Beatty, who lives in Matthews, didn’t get involved until 2017, as his interest in genealogy had grown PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN during retirement.

“I knew a fair amount about my mom’s family, but I didn’t know anything about my of Comprehensive Genealogical Services (CGS), said dad’s family,” he recalls. he found the site while searching for the burial plot Both grandparents on his father’s side died of his ancestor Richard Herron, believed to be born before he turned 1, and it took Beatty six months around 1810 and to have had 11 children, 10 in just to find out his great-grandfather’s name. As bondage. he kept digging, he eventually came to William C. After emancipation, Richard was believed to Beatty, his 4x great-grandfather, who owned about have farmed in the Steele Creek community, then 200 acres of land in the area, including where the died around 1895, though no record of his death cemetery is located. exists.

William’s daughter, Margaret Catherine, married

NEWS & OPINION FEATURE William Henry Shuman in 1858, and Tommy believes William Beatty bestowed a large portion of the land to them as a wedding gift.

Over the years, a large group of genealogists and familial descendants have put together a list of 15 people they believe to be buried at the site.

The list includes two children, Dumpie Shuman and Baby Frankie. The group believes a third child’s grave is at the site, as three child-sized graves are visible today, though who is in it remains a mystery.

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A Goal to Preserve

“Even once it started developing [that it wasn’t a slave cemetery], it’s still a burial ground, and if you were to go out there today, you would find bags of dog crap and litter,” Tapp says. “No one deserves to be treated that way.”

Current property records show the land listed simply as “grave yard” with no owner. No one has paid taxes on the land for many years.

Despite the fact that the site is for all intents and purposes abandoned, city officials say no real

that as some awareness-building, raise some money has been disturbed so as to find hidden burial plots.

There are only a select number of skelpers in the to do some further research,” Dalen says. “Doing a real investigation on this site to figure out who is United States, Bibby says, and the costs can run high.

That’s all in the future, however, and the Oct. 24 where is going to be expensive.” community fence-building event will simply serve as a first step, allowing some folks involved in the What Lay Ahead Any such efforts would most likely involve Bill effort to meet for the first time and discuss how to Bibby, cemetery supervisor for the city of Charlotte. move forward from there.

For Tapp, who’s long held a passion for history Much of Bibby’s job involves inspecting abandoned in a city that often gets a bad rap for tearing said cemeteries, of which he says, “There are a history down, getting involved in this effort in the lot more than what heart of a rapidly changing South End is symbolic.

“I feel like South End is almost the face of‘Charlotte people realize” in has no culture and no history,’” Tapp says. “So the fact Charlotte.

Bibby has been that in the heart of South End we are uncovering this working in Charlotte mystery of Charlotte history is a bit ironic.”

For Beatty, it’s personal. When I ask what it for five years, arriving well after the means to him that folks with no relation to the site Shuman Cemetery are working to get it some recognition after all these was discovered, so years, he gives thanks.

“I believe that my second-great grandmother he’s not especially and her parents, who would be my third-great familiar with it. grandparents, are here, so this just tickles me to He says the work death,” Beatty says. “I’ll be out here helping for as he’s seen from the Shuman descendants long as I’m alive.”

Maybe it’s just the sight of the graves that brings is convincing. all that death talk out of him.

“That’s usually a

Jason Tapp runs the popular SpookyCLT Instagram account, which focuses on a mix of lighthearted tales of local hauntings and bonafide Charlotte history. He joined with Dalen to help get some recognition for the cemetery after big part of my job to seeing reports on the find out what is and news and social media who is buried there,” about the Periwinkle 1619 Bibby says. “But I movement and a recent wasn’t here then. incident in which someone I’m not going to spray-painted “Slaves lived say there aren’t any here” on the sidewalk in slaves, but more or THE SHUMAN FAMILY AT THEIR HOME, CIRCA 1924. (TOP, FROM LEFT): T. FRANK, C. WEBER, MADGE. front of the cemetery. less it’s the Shuman (BOTTOM): LEWIS “BUDDY”, DORCAS, B. “TOOTS” ROSE, TOM AND LUCILLE. As he and Dalen did Cemetery.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARGARET TREECE more research, it became Bibby does clear that it was not a slave have experience cemetery, but a family cemetery that once sat on work can be done until someone goes through the with the processes that could be carried out on the Shuman Avenue, which became Remount Road at process of claiming it. Tommy Beatty has looked land once it’s finally claimed by someone. While the some point after the Shumans sold the land in the into doing just that, but says the costs of legal fees, Shuman descendants have backed up their research 1920s and ’30s. liability for past upkeep, property taxes and needed with plenty of evidence, the list is still not 100% The last Shuman thought to be buried there, maintenance — including removing a large tree confirmed by any means. The family is not sure of 27-year-old Madge Williams Shuman, passed away that looms over the graves and is believed to be exactly how many graves are even at the site. in 1934. dead — is too much for him.

In his past jobs, including as director of Allegheny Tapp learned the city has been aware of the Dalen figures a fence will do for now, as the Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Bibby has overseen many cemetery for some time. There’s a partial list of group continues to look into options for doing more grave-finding efforts. Options include LiDAR, people believed to be buried there on the Charlotte comprehensive work, including not only recognizing or Light Detection and Ranging, which he says Mecklenburg Library website, and Charlotte Center City the site as a known cemetery but potentially funding “isn’t 100% fool-proof,” and using a rod called a Partners has been doing basic upkeep on the property the scientific process that could confirm the years- penetrometer that’s driven into the ground. for some years with help from the maintenance crew at long genealogical efforts of the Shuman descendants.

He also described a more comprehensive process the nearby Silos South End apartment complex.

“Our plan is to keep it simple in the beginning, that he referred to as “skelping” in which an expert Tapp and Dalen wanted to do more. just build a simple fence here, and then maybe use removes 6-8 inches of topsoil to see where the dirt

RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

Known Burials in the Shuman Cemetery

The following list of people believed to be buried in the Shuman Cemetery on Remount Road and Youngblood Street was compiled by their descendants. It ranges 62 years, from 1872-1934.

1823 – April 28, 1872 – James W. Shuman 1852 – 1880 – Catherine (Katie) Shuman Stone 1842 – Oct. 5, 1883 – Margaret Catherine Beaty Shuman 1877 – March 3, 1885 – Eddie Shuman 1885 – Dumpie Shuman 1873 – Nov. 18, 1895 – Annie Stone 1852 – May 18, 1892 – Rebecca Adeline Little Stone 1838 – Jan. 26, 1899 – William H. Shuman 1899 – 1900 – Frank, buried as “Baby Frankie” 1821 – June 3, 1902 – Margaret Shuman Stauffer 1834 – Aug. 21, 1904 – Moses Augustus Stauffer 1861 – Jan. 5, 1904 – Franklin Washington Shuman 1907– April 14, 1934 – Madge Williams Shuman 1866 – Before 1880 – John Levi Shuman 1858 – abt. 1889 – Martha Jane Shuman Beaty ?? – Unknown child’s grave

Interested in helping at the site on Oct. 24?

Email cltcpooky@gmail.com.

NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

WHAT’S HAPPENING FOR HALLOWEEN?

Bars and restaurants hope to hold safe events during pandemic

BY KAYLA BERENSON

Bars, breweries and restaurants around the city are preparing for Halloween amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, just a few weeks after Oktoberfest events around Charlotte drew crowds of thousands.

The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery (OMB) faced backlash from Charlotte residents after at least five attendees to the brewery’s Mecktoberfest event on Sept. 25 tested positive for COVID-19 as a result of limited safety precautions at the event, which took place over the weekend of Sept. 25.

Videos from the three-day party showed large crowds, with some dancing arm in arm and socializing without masks despite the state’s mandate and the brewery’s claim to maintain social distancing throughout the event.

While the state was still in Phase 2 of reopening during Oktoberfest weekend, bars will now be added to the mix of events as North Carolina entered Phase 3 on Oct. 2.

But a weekend that would ordinarily consist of parties and events throughout Charlotte will be more scattered this year as businesses hold limited gatherings, participate in alternative celebrations or opt out of Halloween altogether.

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Celebrating with Caution

With a large taproom, patio, outdoor tents and a barrel room, Catawba Brewing plans to celebrate Halloween throughout the weekend of Oct. 30 with a liquor launch, specials and a costume contest.

Lindsay Hayes, who works as the marketing manager for Catawba Brewing, said the brewery is limited to 50% capacity with chairs and tables spaced at least 8 feet apart.

Masks are required for all guests when they are not seated, and plexiglass windows have been installed to limit contact between guests and bartenders.

Hayes said she was disappointed to see the events that unfolded at OMB’s Mecktoberfest.

“None of that will ever happen at Catawba with our staff,” Hayes said. “This is why we only do intimate music on Friday nights, and we never have a DJ or anything of that sort so people aren’t getting up to dance. If they do, we tell them to stop, and if they don’t listen, we ask them to leave.”

If guests choose to attend Catawba in a group at any point throughout the Halloween weekend, Hayes said they can make a reservation. The brewery will seat groups of 15 at separate tables next to each other, she said.

Earlier in the month, Catawba Brewing teamed up with The Jam: CLT to throw a “Masktoberfest” event, which went well and warranted no complaints, Hayes said, setting the tone for future events.

As the brewery prepares to hold more events, Hayes said their team plans to get creative.

“We’re trying to come up with cool ideas to have events with people staying at their tables,” Hayes said.

Piedmont Social House also plans to get creative with its Hallo-Week event, which starts Oct. 27.

The restaurant will have Halloween-themed drink specials throughout the week, a Halloween trivia night on Oct. 29 and live music on Friday and Saturday nights.

Event manager Jessica Paulson has paid attention to what has followed Mecktoberfest ahead of the restaurant’s Halloween celebration, but feels confident in the safety measures enforced at PSH. “We weren’t allowing crowds to begin with,” Paulson said. “It irritates us that something like that did happen because it puts us all five steps back.”

To mitigate potential crowds, Paulson said Piedmont Social House has a rule of no crowding or standing at the bar, and does not allow people to congregate outside of their group.

Paulson said the restaurant staff has spaced out tables 6 feet and strictly enforced masks. Staff is also required to wear masks and gloves, and get their temperatures checked daily.

“I feel like we’ve been doing a better job than most,” Paulson said. “We’re doing it safely, but people are still having a good time.”

Mechanical Co. have all chosen to not throw Halloween events this year and rather celebrate with other South End businesses instead. Those establishments, along with 11 other South End businesses, are participating in “Here Lies South End,” a three-day scavenger hunt put on by Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit throughout the Halloween weekend.

“We wanted to bring the neighborhood together, partner with neighboring businesses and support small businesses during a weekend where they probably would have had plans but may not anymore,” Tarah Boyleston, marketing director at Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit, said.

Boyleston said those participating in the scavenger hunt can pick up a “spell card” at Callie’s any time throughout the weekend and must visit at least seven of the participating businesses to be entered in a raffle to win $400 worth of prizes.

The event takes place over the course of three days, which Boyleston hopes will help with potential crowds.

“We want to avoid crowds and stop the spread of this virus, which is why we made the event three days long in hopes to spread out the number of people, rather than just making it Halloween,” Boyleston said.

Boyleston said QC Pour House will serve Halloween cocktails and air football games throughout the weekend, Pins Mechanical Co. will have a specialty Halloween cocktail and Sycamore Brewing is encouraging participants to stop by for a beer.

“All of these businesses all have regulations like [remaining] 6 feet apart in line and wearing a mask when you enter, so keeping those regulations in Bars and Breweries Find Other place is going to be pertinent,” Boyleston said.

QC Pour House declined to comment on its Options Halloween precautions and regulations. Pins While some have found safe ways to celebrate Mechanical Co. and Sycamore Brewing did not Halloween, other businesses in Charlotte have found respond to a request for a comment, but Sycamore other ways to celebrate without holding events. recently closed early as a result of overcrowding.

QC Pour House, Sycamore Brewing and Pins

Business as Usual

Some local establishments have chosen to exclude themselves from Halloween altogether, but still plan to continue enforcing safety precautions throughout the weekend.

Just down the street from OMB, Brewers at 4001 Yancey have been strictly following guidelines around reopening, according to manager Sharon Burgos.

The brewery has no plans for a Halloween event.

However, if crowds do arrive over the weekend, Burgos said they have precautions in place to avoid risks, including a check-in stand at the front to keep track of the number of people inside if it gets busy.

Burgos has also paid attention to what happened following Mecktoberfest, but it has not affected Brewers at 4001 Yancey.

“We’ve been really good since the beginning on following all the standards,” Burgos said. “They’re our neighbors, but we’ve been pretty conscious and pretty aware, so we haven’t changed what we’re doing.”

The Suffolk Punch also plans to operate on Halloween weekend under its current social distancing precautions. Manager Ben Galpert said no large gatherings will be allowed inside.

Galpert said the brewery will not hold any event.

“With what’s going on in the world, we take it very seriously,” Galpert said. “It’s not the right thing to do right now.”

Mecklenburg County Public Health’s Halloween Dos and Don’ts (tinyurl.com/MeckDosAndDonts) advise against attending crowded costume parties or events, and going to crowded bars and restaurants that are not adhering to COVID-19 guidelines. We recommend that you scope out the scene in person or on social media before attending any event you’re unsure about. Party at your own risk.

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

SURVIVOR’S ACCOUNT

Instagram network shares stories of abuse across North Carolina

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BY LEA BEKELE

Each Instagram post is a carousel of graphics, starting with one providing a trigger warning with whatever words can be used to describe the following traumatic account being shared anonymously: abusive relationship, sexual assault, child pornography are a few from recent posts.

Across multiple North Carolina Protection Alliance Instagram accounts, you’ll find detailed accounts ranging from the grooming of underage people to emotional, mental and sexual abuse or a combination of all three.

Queen City Nerve recently spoke with L.E. (for the safety of the women that run the Alliance accounts, we are referring to one by just their first name and the other by their initials), who launched the Raleigh chapter of the North Carolina Protection Alliance (NCPA) earlier this year.

Originally called the North Carolina Safety Alliance, the Instagram account gives sexual assault and abuse survivors a platform to share their stories anonymously (linktr.ee/ncpa).

When L.E.’s close friend, an eventual cofounder of the account, shared her story of abuse on her personal Instagram account, she mentioned her abuser by name, fully aware that some people may not take it well. More and more people followed suit by sharing their own stories of abuse and harassment, which led to the creation of the North Carolina Safety Alliance in July.

What started as a single account aiming to shed light on abuse in the Raleigh community grew into what is today a network of similar accounts sharing stories in Charlotte, Asheville, Durham, Chapel Hill and Wilmington. Each Instagram account shares the same mission of keeping communities safe through accountability. With the help of the volunteers that run the accounts, people are now coming forward about events that happened years ago that they were too frightened to share before. One story dates back to 1999.

Ashley, who runs the Charlotte account, told us that when stories came flooding in, she started

recognizing the names of the abusers. People that she’d known and befriended for years now seemed unrecognizable due to allegations against them.

As a survivor of assault herself, she couldn’t help but wonder if she should have known. She felt sad for being in the dark about people she considered friends and felt empowered with the knowledge that Charlotte Protection Alliance (@charlotte_ncpa) could save someone from future harm.

“People are on their phones and feeds most of the day anyways, and now we can try and help bring awareness about those posing a danger to our community,” says L.E.

Accountability in a Digital Landscape

Both account organizers have battled with the effects of the one-sided stories they share. According to L.E. and Ashley, few of the abusers mentioned in the posts have directly responded to allegations against them.

L.E. recalls that a Raleigh-based tattoo artist was fired after being featured in one of the accounts, despite the story being about an assault that he had already served time for. L.E. worried that sharing the post would only serve to punish someone that already dealt with the consequences of his behavior.

That thought quickly subsided as more messages flooded in, all of which describing eerily similar situations with the same artist.

After being called out by the Charlotte Protection Alliance, Alejandro Herrara, aka Alex DeLarge, a prominent member of Charlotte’s art community known for his murals around the city, made a statement on his personal Instagram regarding the allegation, which he has since deleted. Southern Tiger Collective, the group of local artists that he is a part of, also made a statement on his behalf that was subsequently deleted as well.

Both women agreed that their respective accounts receive a majority of messages from the partners of abusers. One account shared via the Raleigh chapter was removed due to harassment of the survivor from the family of the abusers.

When it comes to holding abusers accountable for their actions, the women that run the account have seen people lose their jobs, their businesses, their political appointments. They often receive messages asking, “Don’t you feel bad?”

And to that, they say, “We believe survivors.”

Navigating the Comment Section

The NCPA does not directly push for those facing allegations to be fired or charged with crimes.

The purpose of the network is to facilitate the

conversations that have long been silenced while empowering survivors to share their stories and their healing processes.

“There is always the small minority of people that try to bully, harass, or intimidate survivors and our page into silence, but we continue on,” L.E. says.

Like any other social media content about sensitive topics, the comment section can be a grab bag of supportive and empowering messages mixed with those that are just the opposite.

To protect the survivor, the North Carolina Protection Alliance moderators delete comments that invalidate the story or the survivors’ right to be believed.

After one of the alleged abusers threatened to take legal action against the organization, the women refused to back down. Instead, they registered the organization and its branches as an LLC under the name North Carolina Protection Alliance so as to protect themselves from being held personally liable in court.

“The community response has been overwhelming,” says L.E. L.E. and Ashley say it wouldn’t have been possible to reach the audience they have without a platform like Instagram. Both women believe social media offers another avenue to protect and support one another when it comes to recovering from abuse.

Along with the first-hand accounts, each chapter shares resources for survivors that want to take legal action, advice for friends of outed abusers and tips for navigating strenuous conversations.

The volunteers also use social media to facilitate discussions amongst survivors about reporting their assault, providing educational material set up for future survivors.

“It is important to remember that there are human beings behind this account that aren’t getting paid and have full-time commitments outside of running the page — but many of us are survivors ourselves and know what it is like to be silenced,” says L.E. “As long as the community still feels the need to speak out about abuse and Standing with Survivors Since the organization began in July, businesses harassment by those in our community, we will and community members have reached out to see if continue to post their stories.”

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CULTURE FEATURE

“So, we set up a camera there for several hours, and lo and behold, her cat was actually opening the doors with his paws and just leaving them open.”

Another client said their kitchen cabinets were being opened. The investigators came over, placed a level on the cabinets, and discovered they weren’t plumb. The cabinet doors were also loose, and The Charlotte Area consequently they swung open easily.

Paranormal Society is on the But often prosaic solutions can’t answer clients’ lookout for ghosts queries.

“We’ve gotten several cases where something

BY PAT MORAN is there,” McSwain says. “We have gotten ghost voices on [audio] recorders. Some things show up The old lady in pink shouldn’t have been there, on video or in pictures. We’ve had instruments react Tina McSwain remembers. to something that’s not there.”

It was 1989, and McSwain had dropped by her CAPS has a self-financed battery of equipment friend’s Myers Park home before going out to dinner. to detect specters. There are several cameras, The friend wasn’t ready yet, so McSwain made including the forward-looking infrared (FLIR) herself comfortable in the living room. She hadn’t thermal imaging camera, plus cameras specially been seated for five minutes designed to see all when she saw movement out spectrums of light, the corner of her eye. McSwain or cameras that turned and watched a little old can record images lady walk down the hallway from the ultraviolet straight up to her. spectrum.

The lady smiled and Te m p e r a t u r e waved, then turned around guns shoot a and started back up the laser that gives a hallway. temperature readout “She got maybe four or of the area it hits. five feet from me,” McSwain The guns are used says, “and just disappeared – to detect cold spots poof – into thin air.” and hot spots. Both The hair on the back of can be a sign that McSwain’s neck stood up, her there’s a spirit in the knees went weak, and she felt vicinity.

CHER LAMBETH OF CAPS LEANS INTO THE FUN OF GHOST-HUNTING WITH HER RIDE. a little sick to her stomach.

PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN EMF detectors Finally, McSwain’s friend came are used for into the room, and McSwain reported what she had two opposing sides,” she explains, the two sides detecting electromagnetic fields and fluctuations seen. McSwain’s friend casually mentioned that her being the living and the dead. within them. Flashing lights can mean that there’s deceased grandmother liked to ramble around the The nonprofit society accepts no payment for its a ghost nearby. house from time to time.

The Ovilus is designed to deliver words and services, McSwain maintains. Furthermore, she says McSwain had just seen her first ghost. It would no reputable practitioners in the field should charge messages from the spirit realm. The device measures not be her last. for their assistance, and CAPS strongly advises changes in the environmental energy fields Ghosts, spirits, spooks, specters, haunts against using anyone who busts ghosts for a buck. around it, and can modulate the energy changes and apparitions are all in a night’s work for the Sometimes the solutions to clients’ problems are into audible speech using a synthesizer chip, an Charlotte Area Paranormal Society (CAPS), the not supernatural at all. In those cases, CAPS looks extensive English word dictionary, and a function organization McSwain founded in 2005 to further at obvious mechanical issues. Do water pipes have that phonetically sounds out words. The Ovilus also the investigation of ghostly phenomena and air in them, making them bang and clatter? Is the spells the words out on a digital display. paranormal activity in and around the Queen City. heating and air system pinging and popping, so it McSwain, the society’s director and founder, sounds like footsteps?

Uncanny Energy employs scientific methods to investigate and McSwain recalls that one lady called CAPS There’s a reason these devices measure changes in research things that go bump in the night. Relying because the drawers in her bathroom were being temperature or fluctuations in electromagnetic fields. on site visits, client interviews, witness statements, opened.

It’s because ghosts are, in a word, energy, says McSwain. and historical, genealogical and geological research,

Pg. 10 OCT 21 - NOV 3, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM

SPECTER DETECTORS

she and her staff of 14 volunteers validate and document hair-raising and uncanny occurrences.

It often starts with an email or a phone call, McSwain says.

“Some people have questions which we can answer on the phone,” she offers.

Others request an investigation if only to prove they’re not crazy because they’ve seen objects moving or heard stairways creaking in the dead of night. Still other clients require no investigation.

“They are absolutely sure that they have something there and they want [us] to urge the spirit to move on, [and] to help [the client] regain control over their home or business,” McSwain says.

In fact, CAPS maintains a separate highly skilled Spirit Remediation Team with over 30 years’ experience in convincing spirits or entities to move on or vacate a premises, McSwain says.

“It’s almost like acting as mediators between

“It’s the energy that is left when the body dies,” she expounds.

Our bodies are like batteries, she explains.

Bodies require food that goes through a chemical synthesis to create energy for us to move about.

“It takes energy to fire synapses that cause your brain to flick a finger,” McSwain says. “We believe that once the body and the flesh die, there is a source of energy that remains, and this energy is what ghosts are. You can call them the spirits of dead people.”

Some of this energy is mindless but does have a direction. There is energy that seems to imprint on time, much like an old video that just keeps replaying, McSwain explains. There’s not necessarily a person associated with it.

An example would be a figure that walks down a specific staircase in an old home at cyclical intervals, she says.

“That event is imprinted on time, so every year on that day, whether there is somebody to witness this or not, it’s still going to happen.”

Those energies are non-intelligent or just a residual energies.

Then there are energies with agency, McSwain offers, intelligent hauntings that conform to our notions of a classic ghost. They were once people, and for whatever reason they still walk in the realm of the living.

“Intelligent haunts are those that are able to effect some change in the environment, move something, cause a cold spot, make a sound,” she says.

While energies and entities most often cling to a place, they can also become attached to objects.

“You can bring in an old antique clock, for example, and things start to happen once you get the clock in the house,” McSwain offers. “You could have some sort of spirit attachment to a piece of furniture, or a coin, or a doll.”

People can also have energy attachments, spirits that cling and follow them from place to place.

There are other types of hauntings as well.

“Poltergeist is German for noisy ghost,” McSwain maintains. “Usually it is associated with a young girl in the home, probably 10 to 13 years old.”

Without her knowledge, the young girl is creating kinetic energy that causes banging, noises and things rocking and moving in the home. There is no actual outside entity present.

McSwain has dealt with three poltergeists in a professional capacity, she says, and each time, a young girl was at the center of the kinetic energy maelstrom.

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CULTURE FEATURE

federal-style plantation house that was built on North Tryon Street in 1815. The house is strangely calm and peaceful, despite being mere yards away Although young boys can conceivably be from the traffic and noise of North Tryon. accountable for poltergeist activity, it’s rare.

Although Rosedale is currently a restored event McSwain believes poltergeist activity is more venue open to the public, it has been a private common with young girls because of the energy unleashed by puberty.

Although boys’ bodies change at that age, the changes probably don’t release as much energy as the changes girls experience, McSwain posits.

The most severe kind of supernatural encounter is a demonic haunting, McSwain says.

“It is [a haunting] in the true sense of religious beliefs,” she maintains. “It is some sort of demon that is trying to come in, run amok ROSEDALE WAS BUILT IN 1815.

PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN and cause all kinds of strife.

McSwain confirms that she has encountered demonic possession a dozen times residence for most of existence, home to the Frew, in her profession, and that she has performed Caldwell and Davidson families. exorcisms.

McSwain calls Rosewood the most haunted “These are rare, thank goodness, but they are building in Charlotte. Certainly, the house has very extreme,” she says. “It takes a lot of consultation witnessed tragedies. Archibald Frew, who built with the victim to see what their beliefs are.” the home, died mysteriously in 1823. His grave Even milder hauntings can unleash a lot of has never been found and it is conjectured that he energy, McSwain cautions. committed suicide.

She’s experienced something pulling at her In 1844, Dr. David Caldwell’s wife Harriet clothes. She’s seen her shirt go straight out like and three of the couple’s children died from somebody had grabbed it between their thumb and erysipelas, a virulent disease similar to strep forefinger and pulled it. throat. These occurrences could conceivably “I’ve had my hair pulled,” McSwain says. “I’ve contribute to the appearance of entities or been grabbed. I’ve been burned. The worst thing energies in the house. was I’ve been shoved down from a standing position “At Rosedale we’ve heard footsteps,” to the ground. [Ghosts] are energy so therefore they McSwain says. “I’ve heard someone speak can manipulate other energies. You’d be surprised at when no one was there. I’ve looked beside what they can do.” me and there was spirit standing there.”

With that caveat, Queen City Nerve accepts CAPS’ Soon after night falls, I descend the steps invitation to take part in one of the society’s public into Rosedale’s cellar. About 40 visitors have meet-ups. These are outings where McSwain and received a brief introduction and orientation her investigators bring members of the pubic along to tonight’s supernatural investigation to a haunted yet safe location, where lay people are from McSwain before splitting up into four allowed to work with some of CAPS’ equipment and groups. see what they may experience in a haunted locale.

Our group files into the long low-ceilinged (CAPS never brings members of the public to private cellar with two fireplaces. CAPS investigator, and homes or businesses where the society may conduct Rosedale staff assistant, Cheralyn Lambeth tells the investigations or remediation.) group that people have seen and heard apparitions

Members of our group start to a explore a small root cellar attached to the main room through a stereotypically creaky door.

Lambeth directs our attention to a bin filled with ghost-hunting equipment. She places an Ovilus on a long table in the center of the room, setting it up to spell out words.

Then Lambeth switches off the electricity, leaving the cellar bathed in the dim but warm glow of lantern light.

I start picking up surges on an EMF detector. They are consistently pulsing into the red like a hyperactive VU meter. Ryan says he’s also getting readings on his EMF detector.

Meanwhile, the Ovilus has turned into a chatterbox. By the time the main lights come back on, the device has spelled out a flurry of words: Akasha, Cellar, Dug, Pole, Ceiling, Justice, Assault. The words could be sequenced into several crime scene Madlibs, but the first word intrigues me. In Sanskrit, Akasha means “aethher,” the supposed universal etheric field in which a record of past events is imprinted for all eternity.

The group moves on to the garden where people have sighted and felt Louise Heagy Davidson, the young wife of Baxter Craighead Davidson, who came to the house in 1918. Miss Louise planted the garden and changed the name of the house from

IN THE CELLAR AT ROSEDALE PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN

its original moniker Frew’s Folly to the elegant and fitting Rosedale.

We head to “The Smithy,” or blacksmith’s building, situated north of the main house on the in the cellar. Some have even smelled bread baking, grounds.

The Haunting of Rosedale This is reportedly the haunted stomping grounds and have believed the aroma heralded the arrival Two nights later, I and Queen City Nerve editor- of Nancy, the ghost of an enslaved woman who of the ghosts of the enslaved Nat Caldwell and his in-chief Ryan Pitkin are at historic Rosedale, the worked for the Caldwell family. grandson George Caldwell, two Black men who

worked the blacksmith foundries on the property.

At a stop at the estate’s conference room, McSwain shares ghostly evidence CAPS has captured on the grounds. She shows slides of a series of thermal photographs taken by a FLIR camera of the house’s upper floor. Peering from the windows at the back of the house is the image of a woman, crouching and then moving from window to window.

McSwain also shows a picture taken in June 2018 which she says shows Louise Heagy Davidson out for an evening stroll.

As the crowd breaks up and heads home, I ask McSwain if any of the supernatural phenomena people witness throughout the world could be a thought form, an apparition created by the energy of the observers. According to this theory, a thought form is not only a case of seeing what you believe, you’re also creating what you expect to see.

McSwain allows that thought forms are possible, saying they could account for some of the apparitions witnessed by participants in the infamous Salem witch trials in 1692. “[Thought forms] are like mob mentality,” she says.

I wonder if that might be the case with some of the sightings at Rosedale, but does it really matter?

If ghostly visitations are residual energy, spirits of the dead, poltergeist projections, or the rippling effect of shared imagination, aren’t they all in a sense a haunting?

I say good night and head for my car, thinking about energy and the forms it might take. I’m not ashamed to admit that before leaving the parking lot, I check the back seat of my car, just to make sure nothing is there.

I can’t say for sure if there is or isn’t.

I’m reminded of the closing lines of perhaps the finest ghost story ever written, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House.

“Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”

Except, with the haunting of Rosedale, whatever walks upon the house and grounds of the centuriesold estate is warmly welcomed by CAPS and the legions of the living eager to extend a hand to the world beyond the veil of death.

PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM

MUSIC FEATURE

SONGS TO SPOOK BY

Seven local tracks that are perfect for All Hallow’s Eve

BY PAT MORAN

It’s that time of year again, when the chills running up your spine might not be caused by a deadly virus. We’ve put together a short list of seven songs from Charlotte musicians that will set the vibe right for Halloween night, whether you’re holding a Wolf Ceremony or a Basement Seance.

ANDY THE DOORBUM

PHOTO BY SARAH SITKIN

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Andy the Doorbum ‘Wolf Ceremony/The Howling’

Andy Fenstermaker’s bio reads like Queen City folklore. As Andy the Doorbum, he honed his eccentric hardscrabble song craft while working the door, and sleeping during the day, at Charlotte’s legendary music venue The Milestone.

Though Fenstermaker decamped for southern California in 2015, he retains close ties with Queen City musicians. Many of them play on his 2020 album Even When the Cat Comes, where he covers several songs by those same musicians.

“Wolf Ceremony/The Howling” is a suite comprised of two tunes by Charlottean Robert Childers’ dearly departed combo The Luciferian Agenda. In a menacing baritone pitched midway between the occult punk-blues of Nick Cave and a Gregorian chant, Fenstermaker spins a gory yarn about the werewolf within us all that carves a bloody furrow at the socio-economic edges of America.

With references to satanic rituals at an Autobell Car Wash, this stately song is both grisly and funny. It’s a parody of America’s all-consuming

consumerism that also evokes the dreadful feeling a stake to placate an imaginary monster, and then touchstones disintegrating. that all your relationships and life decisions are hunt one of their own, chanting, “Kill the pig!”

“This temple’s empty and its burning down/ leading you straight to hell.

“Esse quam videri,” a Latin phrase meaning “To Fingers pulling you into the flames” be, rather than to seem,” is the state motto of North As the song’s title suggest, what if the search for Carolina. That’s us, gathered around a fire watching meaning comes up empty and reveals nothing?

Dylan Gilbert flesh burn.

‘Boneyard’

“The flag’s always at half-mast now/I don’t know why.”

A whirring sound, like an electric drill punching through your molar punctuates a thudding zombie stomp. Then Dylan Gilbert’s slurred guttural street preacher vocals try to make sense of a world of unmarked right-wing militias, frenzied followers of incompetent fascists and school shootings so numerous they’ve become numbing.

The song plays like a cross between the Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion jacked up on methadone. In couplets ripped from real headlines, Gilbert seems bewildered by the onslaught of doom scrolling and bad news.

“I saw it on Facebook Live. Watching it in real time.”

It’s all accompanied by a music video that’s brilliant in its unsettling simplicity. Clad in an oversized blue suit, Gilbert steps slowly and unsteadily across cracked blacktop like a shellshocked man navigating a mine field. In the background, a limp American flag dangles from a flagpole like a bloodstained banner.

King Cackle ‘Pignose (Esse Quam Videri)’

King Cackle’s protean punk blues sound so elemental, it’s like its been unleashed rather than written and recorded like normal music. Queen City Nerve has described the band’s fuzzed-out guitars, jackhammer drums and growled vocals, to the result of the animatronic Pirates of the Caribbean getting shitfaced and raising a swampy stomping racket.

On “Pignose,” the swaggering, staggering quartet add North Carolina’s obsession with barbeque and twangy sling-blade Southern rock to their sirocco of sound.

“Keep that belly brushed all night/Keep that belly lookin’ prime/ Here’s to cookin’ with a blood red moon/And waitin’ for the sun to rise” Those lyrics suggest the unholy union of a down-home cookout and Lord of the Flies. In William Goldman’s psychological novel, a group of school kids are castaway on an uninhabited island where they devolve into superstition and brutality.

At the climax, they place a severed pig’s head on

Julian Calendar ‘Sounds Like Murder’

IIOIOIOII ‘Altar’

Christopher Gurney’s spacious and pensive synth-driven darkwave on his 2019 album Chroma is a far cry from the gruff Skinny Puppy-influenced industrial he ground out eight years ago, but it is no less unsettling.

As Gurney intones couplets about the deadly beauty of extremes of fire and ice, rumbling chords decay and resonate as if they’re emanating from a mausoleum.

“The ash began to fall like snow/conducting a dance in the shadows Losing touch and lost in the frost” The most striking image in the song is the vision of Hastur, a cruel and hideous cosmic entity, rising into view. Haster is part of macabre horror writer H.P. Lovecraft’s pantheon of elder gods, a race of malevolent beings from beyond the stars, the most well-known of which is Cthulhu.

Hastur’s appearance in horror fiction predates Lovecraft, appearing in Ambrose Bierce’s uncanny 1893 story “Haïta the Shepherd.” Hastur continues to appear in horror fiction long after Lovecraft’s death in 1937.

The best description of Hastur can be found in horror writer Joseph Payne Brennan’s story “The Den of Wolves Feaster from Afar,” where Hastur is described as a ‘Void’ black, shriveled, flying monstrosity with tentacles The fevered brainchild of brothers Tristen (lead tipped with razor-sharp talons that can pierce a vocalist/bass guitarist/backup vocalist) and Khalil victim’s skull and siphon out the brain. You can’t get England (lead and rhythm guitarist), Den of Wolves any creepier than that. is an outlier in the metalcore scene because all the band members are Black. But they’re also metal iconoclasts because they shake up their mix of harsh Dirty Art Club vocals, technical riffs and whiplash time signature ‘Basement Seance’ changes with jazz-loving drummer Savien Davis’s Electronic extraordinaire Dirty Art Club just impeccable sense of swing. dropped a new album called FMTI in October, and it’s Released in November 2018, “Void” remains the certainly worth checking out, but if you’re looking band’s bludgeoning gem. As the bass and rhythm for spooky songs, we suggest checking out his 2017 guitar play the root notes of a chord progression, the release, Basement Seance, for more haunting vibes lead guitar snaps and snakes with a whiplash curve like “Native’s Blood” and “Into the Spiritual.” that forms a riff-based melody.

It’s the title track, however, that really brings The supple drums throw a time-signature the list home, with it’s soothing, head-nodding but shifting curve at the thrash, so that the song recalls eerie, ghostly vibes. The basement is a good a place the sinister progressive rock of early 2000s King as any for a comedown.

Crimson.

PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM Meanwhile, Tristan sings about norms and Leave it to Julian Calendar, Charlotte’s coolest art-punk collective, to remind us that the best post punk walks an uneasy knife-edge balance between giddy risk and dread. Over pummeling clattery percussion and grinding spindly buzzsaw guitars, vocalists Jeff Jackson and Hannah Hundley trade an anxious call-and-response.

The vocal interplay recalls the beautiful loser duets of CBGB mainstays Patti Palladin and New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders, while the music evokes the abstract, shattered view of reality espoused by minimalist post punkers Wire.

“The way we pray at night/ It sounds like murder/The way we pledge allegiance/ It sounds like murder/The way we name our fears/ It sounds like murder” Like Jackson’s brilliant novel, Destroy all Monsters, “Sounds Like Murder” connects the dots between the transgressive thrill of live fast/ die young rock ‘n’ roll mythology and the stomach churning feeling that we’re living in a nonstop crime scene.

We’re kind of opening, kind of not, so not all of these are virtual events as we were highlighting at the beginning of the lockdown, but plenty are. COVID is still going strong, so party at your own risk.

A CONCERT FOR CHARLOTTE

What: The Charlotte Symphony, in partnership with the Charlotte Knights, presents “A Concert for Charlotte,” a special live performance for the community, conducted by music director Christopher Warren-Green and featuring Charlottebased mezzo-soprano Jennifer Wiggins. The concert is designed to celebrate Charlotte and bring our community back together through the power of music. Wiggins will open the program with the “Star Spangled Banner” and will perform “Che faro senza Euridice” from Orfeo ed Euridice. The program will also include Nkeiru Okoye’s “Charlotte Mecklenburg,” Rossini’s Overture to “L’Italiana in Algeri,” Jessie Montgomery’s “Starburst,” Barber’s “Adagio for Strings,” John Williams’s “Air and Simple Gifts,” and the final movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.

The hour-long concert will conclude with a fireworks display at around 8 p.m.

More: $10-20; Oct. 24, 7 p.m.; Truist Field, 324 S. Mint St.; charlottesymphony.org

MCCOLL CENTER BENEFIT ART SALE

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What: Support artists from Charlotte and beyond at the inaugural Benefit Art Sale featuring over 75 original works of art. Whether you’re a seasoned collector or just on a mission to dress up your Zoom wall, there’s a piece for everyone, starting around $250 and up. You’ll have the opportunity to make a connection with art pieces through an in-person art preview, then buy or bid virtually on your musthaves. As a perk for supporting McColl Center with your virtual admission, you’ll be entered to win a framed archival pigment print by Amy Cheng.

More: Virtual sale and auction; Oct. 26-29, 7 p.m.; mccollcenter.org

CHARLOTTE FILM SOCIETY’S VIRTUAL SCREENING ROOM

What: Based on the best-selling novel by Bonnie Jo Campbell, Once Upon a River is the story of Native American teenager Margo Crane in 1970s rural Michigan. After enduring a series of traumas and tragedies, Margo sets out on an odyssey on the Stark River in search of her estranged mother. On the water, Margo encounters friends, foes, wonders, and dangers. Navigating life on her own, she comes

to understand her potential, all while healing the wounds of her past. Set during a family gathering on Christmas Eve, horror film Hosts is a gut-wrenching, blood-spattered warning not to invite the neighbors over for dinner. As the couple next door mercilessly tortures and murders the family that invited them into their home, it becomes clear that something is wrong with the pair — besides their remorseless homicidal mania. For starters, why are their eyes glowing blue?

More: $6.99-12 for 72 hours; charlottefilmsociety.com

NIGHT OUT AT MINT MUSEUM

What: Plan Friday night at Mint Museum Uptown, complete with art, live music, and a cash bar.

Bradford Ray Bailey Duo will perform on the Van Allen terrace. The duo released its album Platorum in 2018. Featuring Bradford Ray Bailey playing bass and guitar on his custom eight-string hybrid bass/ guitar and Chris Garges on drums, the raw-sounding album was cut live on the studio floor.

More: Free; Oct. 23, 6 p.m.; Mint Museum Uptown, 500 S. Tryon St.; mintmuseum.org

#SHAPING CLT: SWARM THE POLLS

What: Over the past several years, early voting has become increasingly important — but never more important than this year. Voting rights advocates have long defended early voting as a safeguard against attempts to suppress the vote in many communities. In the midst of a pandemic, early voting may be one of the safest ways to vote, as well.

The Charlotte Hornets have opened their doors as an early voting site for the first time, while also engaging the community through their #SwarmThePolls initiative. Join a conversation with Charlotte Hornets’ head coach James Borrego; executive director of the Charlotte Hornets Foundation & Senior Director of Corporate Social Responsibility Betsy Mack; and historian, sport studies scholar, and professor at Colorado College, Dr. Jamal Ratchford as they discuss the historical intersection of sports, social justice, and civic engagement and its influence today. Ms. Jessica, “The Girl Next Door” co-host of the Morning Maddhouse WPEG Power 98, will moderate this timely conversation More: Free, RSVP required; Oct. 22, 7 p.m.; museumofthenewsouth.org

DROP IT AT THE DRIVE-IN: HALLOWEEN EDITION

Your donation helps the artists and Neighborhood Theatre.

More: $10 suggested donation; Nov. 2, 7 p.m.; What: Electronic dance duo Two Friends craft bright, neighborhoodtheatre.com upbeat anthems. Think the Chainsmokers with actual dynamics and not-so-repetitive melodies. As the project’s name suggests, the duo was launched DINO HUNT – ZOMBIFIED! by close compadres Eli Sones and Matthew Halper, What: Scientists posit that Velociraptors, equipped who began producing music together while still in with huge toe and finger claws, light bodies, and high school. Sones’ hip-hop DJ’ing is bolstered by strong legs, were probably able to leap into the air Halper’s background in music theory and his tasteful and slash with their hands and feet. It was kind of guitar playing. Costumes are encouraged. Official like the Karate Kid, except in this case the Karate merchandise and vendors GB Unique Creations & Kid is eviscerating their prey. Your kids, on the other Fest Express will be setup by the concessions area. hand, can tackle these deadly predators with NerfMore: $30-40; Oct, 30, 6 p.m.; Hounds Drive-In, 114 style guns. Okay, the dinosaurs aren’t real, but the Raven Circle, Kings Mountain; houndsdrivein.com Nerf-style guns are! Think of Dino Hunt as a Jurassic drive-through. Dakota and Friends set up their dinosaurs at the Rowan County Fairgrounds and LUTHER S. ALLISON QUARTET you get to drive through in your vehicle and see What: Hailing from Charlotte, Luther S. Allison is the dinosaurs. And yes, kids can hunt the dinosaurs a multi-instrumentalist specializing in piano and with their spongy projectile shooting weapons. It’s a drums. In 2017 Allison earned his BM in Studio Music safe way to have some fun, and did we mention the & Jazz from The University of Tennessee and his dinosaurs aren’t real?

MM in Jazz Studies from Michigan State University More: $20-$30 per carload at the gate; Oct. 30shortly thereafter. Allison is the featured pianist on Nov. 1, times vary; Rowan County Fairgrounds, 1560 Michael Dease’s Reaching Out, Becoming Quintet’s Julian Road, Salisbury; dinoparties.com One-Track Mind, and Diego Rivera’s Connections; and is the featured drummer on Michael Dease’s Father Figure, and Markus Howell’s Get Right. For this show, HALLOWEEN HEMP MAZE AND WAGMiddle C is offering socially distanced club shows ON RIDE plus online streaming concerts.

What: Kudos to Jody Mace and Charlotte on the More: $32 for club show, $5 suggested donation Cheap for tracking down seasonal, non-scary and for streaming show; October 24, 7 p.m., 9:15 p.m.; family-friendly activities throughout the region.

Middle C Jazz, 300 S. Brevard St.; middlecjazz.com There are so many good ones, but we have to limit it to one. Wise Acres Organic Farm offers an alternative to your standard corn maze with a sun hemp maze FEDOR & THE DENIM DENIM What: Fedor & The Denim Denim debuted in the to ramble through, a wagon ride through the woods, fall of 2019 at the Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion a wooded fall scavenger hunt and a sojourn in the Music Festival, held in a city that’s world-renowned pumpkin patch - plus playgrounds and animals to as the birthplace of country music. A fixture on the meet. Enjoy the barrel train and shop for mums, Americana music scene, Justin Fedor’s new sextet pumpkins, slushies and other organic products. Is places Fedor at the center of an alt-country band there a better way to celebrate the harvest festival that marries both the Appalachian Roots Revival Samhain? and Texas Outlaw Country sound with the honesty More: $5-8, reservations required; Oct. 29-Nov. 1; of a Carolina perspective. The band’s personnel Wise Acres Organic Farm, 4701 Hartis Rd, Indian Trail; boasts Charlotte music scene standouts including wiseacresorganic.com, charlotteonthecheap.com Wes Hamilton (pedal steel), Ian Pasquini (fiddle), Dave Holmes (guitar), and Patrick Bowden (drums).

The show is streaming on Facebook and Mandolin.

FOOD & DRINK FEATURE

INTO THE FIRE Bardo team builds on momentum in uncertain times with VANA

BY RYAN PITKIN

Pg. 16 OCT 21 - NOV 3, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM

When Jayson Whiteside moved to Charlotte in 2015, he and his friend Michael Noll, a chef from Chicago, wanted to hit the ground running by opening a new restaurant.

Whiteside was still in the corporate world, but his venture into opening a bar back in Phoenix had fallen through, so he was itching to get started. Noll had plenty of ideas for an open-kitchen concept that incorporated a tasting menu of small-plate items, but the duo couldn’t get anyone to bite.

“We got [to Charlotte], we started looking at properties, looking at things, but no one really gave us much of an opportunity just because they didn’t know me, our budget was tight, they didn’t know Mike at all,” Whiteside recalls now. “These things that we were saying they were just like, ‘There’s no way this is going to work.’”

Noll’s fine-dining plans were not a good fit for west Charlotte’s Wilmore neighborhood — or so investors thought — so the two tweaked their plans a bit and eventually opened Bardo on South Mint Street in May 2018.

Once they were actually allowed to hit the

JAYSON WHITESIDE

ground, they were certainly off and running, as Bardo quickly became one of the most popular eateries in the Uptown area. The concept earned

recognition and rewards in multiple publications, As great as the vibe is at VANA, folks are going to including Best Restaurant in Queen City Nerve’s need the food to be above par to continue showing 2019 Best in the Nest issue. up the way they have been. Whiteside says the In August of this year, Noll and Whiteside restaurant has been on a 20-30 minute wait every opened VANA, a sister restaurant to Bardo that weekend since opening, which he credits in large presents a more laid-back vibe in the heart of South part to COVID-19 restrictions that limit the capacity, End, trading out the small plates for large format but takes as a good sign regardless. food items like a 40-ounce tomahawk rib-eye As at Bardo, Noll has the last word on the menu. steak, roasted duck or a 16-ounce burger piled with He’s helped by William Underwood, chef de cuisine toppings. at both restaurants; and Matt Moore, a sous chef The kickback atmosphere was Whiteside’s vision; who runs day-to-day food operations at VANA. he has long wanted to open something a little more Mixologist Amanda Britton runs the bar program. attuned to the places where he’s always hung out.

“This was more of my project as far as the setting,” Whiteside says. “I don’t come from a fine-dining background, I don’t come from some of the places that Mike has worked … I come from environments that are just community — very community-driven, fun, light. It’s just a good group of people and we’re trying to get the same thing done; put the best food out that we can and just have fun along the way.”

Whiteside and the VANA team built much of the space out themselves using reclaimed wood and windows. That and the garage doors give the space a DIY vibe that calls back to some of the beloved businesses that once sat on the same block that VANA now calls home.

“We don’t have some of the resources that some of these corporate spaces have, so a lot of the work in here is just hands-on work that MIKE NOLL (RIGHT) PUTS IN WORK ON SOME DUCKS. we did,” Whiteside says. “So I think that, maybe not even on purpose, it creates a vibe and a feel Whiteside says the team aims to bring in a organically that we large lunch crowd once they’re able to fill the room, worked on the space though he sees the silver lining in the current every day to get it to restrictions, as the staff is still perfecting their work this spot. This place is on the wood-burning stove. just different. Maybe “I think it’s a blessing for us to have restrictions it does play off of what in right now because we’re still learning the fire,” he was here before and says. “It’s all wood fire. There’s no gas assistance or the old neighborhood. anything back there, which is a learning curve in We want to be the itself.” neighborhood. That’s So far the best sellers have been the flatbreads our goal at both at lunchtime, along with salads and cold plates. places. We want the Noll has also implemented some cross-utilization neighborhood to between Bardo and VANA, allowing him to build around what experiment with menu items you might not often PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN we’re doing. We want see at a laid-back lunch spot. VANA offers up pork to bring people to the cheek and lamb neck on the lunch menu, with neighborhood that vibe on what we’re doing. So you roasted bone marrow and bison options for dinner. don’t think about it while you’re building it out, but Whiteside points out that Noll has incorporated you definitely see it once you’re done.” the pork cheek onto the breakfast, lunch and dinner

menus, all in different dishes.

“Mike’s found a really creative and fun way to put that across our menu,” Whiteside says. “It’s a very nice, versatile cut of meat that gets overlooked sometimes, and that’s really the goal is finding those cuts that are delicious but maybe don’t get thought of like a pork chop does.”

It’s clear that Whiteside has found his comfort zone with VANA, a passion project that has been bubbling in his head since the day Bardo opened.

He’s happy there, but when I ask about being a Black restaurant owner in a city like Charlotte, opening in

PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN

the midst of not only a pandemic but racial unrest manifesting in protests that passed his doors multiple nights during the first week of business, it’s clear it’s something he contemplates often.

“While everything on the surface is great, it’s depressing; it’s sad that we’re in 2020 and this is a thing that we’re still going through,” he says. “I even get emotional talking about it because it’s just something that should be so far from people’s minds on a day-to-day basis and it’s just in our face every day.

“To be a part of a community that’s predominantly white and we’re succeeding, it means a lot, it really does,” he continues. “It means that you can fight through it, but at the same time you have to fight hard, and people that understand that get a sense that it is a struggle. It wasn’t easy, but it just makes you care about it more.”

RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

Pg. 17 OCT 21 - NOV 3, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM

www.littlemamasitalian.com

A bloody good reason to wake up

This is the most consequential election of our lifetime. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will help our community build back better -- stopping the virus, rebuilding the economy, and investing in education. They're the best choice for our community's future.

North Carolina State Senator, Jay Chaudhuri I served in the Obama-Biden administration as a White House economic adviser. I worked with Vice President Joe Biden to bring our national economy back from the brink after the Great Recession. Vice President Biden and Senator Harris are the leaders we need to build back better after this pandemic. That is why I proudly endorse their candidacy for President and Vice President of the United States.

North Carolina State Treasurer Candidate, Ronnie Chatterji Joe Biden and Kamala Harris American greatness and the American Dream will no longer be postponed if we elect Joe Biden to be the 46th President of the United States and Kamala Harris, the first Black and Indian Woman to serve as our next Vice President. They will bring back inspiration to the White House and will work hard to develop a vision for our nation, which is aspirational and uplifting for all Americans.

Steve.S.Rao Council Member At Large, Former Mayor Pro Tem Town of Morrisville, North Carolina Joe Biden is the only candidate with a concrete plan to rebuild an American economy that works for everyone. Whether it’s ensuring health care for millions of people, or solving the climate crisis, Joe Biden has a path forward. Any hope of building an America that works for everyone rests on a Joe Biden and Kamala Harris victory.

Pg. 18 OCT 21 - NOV 3, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM

Nida Allam, Durham, North Carolina, County Commissioner Candidate Senator Harris will be the first Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Vice-President of our country. Her leadership will serve as an inspiration to our youth and the next generation of leaders in our nation. This election is life or death for the soul of our country, the fabric that unites us as Americans.

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Councilman, Tai Huynh.

PAID FOR BY THE NC ASIAN AMERICANS PACIFIC ISLANDERS (AAPI) CAUCUS

Joe Biden stands firmly with our community and fights shoulder-to-shoulder with us against racism and xenophobia that we have seen from the current administration. As Joe Biden said, Asian Americans Pacific Islanders (AAPI) members of our community are a vital and valued part of the American story. We stand with him as he fights for us. I am very proud to support and urge you to vote for Joe Biden.

Cary, North Carolina Councilwoman, Ya Liu We need a President who will unite us, instead of dividing us for political gains; a President who believes in science and facts instead of alternative realities; a President who creates economic opportunity and prosperity for all Americans instead of just a few; a President who cares about our environment and the future generations. That's why I support Joe Biden for our next President.

Hongbin Gu, Chapel Hill, North Carolina Councilwoman We need an America where thousands are not dying every day, all people feel safe in their communities and a President who does not willfully endanger our democracy; we need Joe Biden.

Wake County Commissioner Candidate, Maria Cervania.

Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Senator Kamala Harris are who we need to move the needle for working families and the future of our great country. I am honored to join them on this vision and journey to Build back Better.

North Carolina State Senator, Mujtaba A. Mohammed We live in unprecedented times. Our democracy is at risk. Our healthcare is at risk. Our nation is fighting for its’ soul. Simply, stakes are too high. We must honor our duty. We must vote.

We must vote for Biden.

Dimple Ajmera, Councilmember - At Large, Charlotte, North Carolina In this historic election, we can't afford not to vote.

Springlake, North Carolina Mayor pro-tem, Taimoor Aziz

LIFESTYLE PUZZLES SUDOKU

TRIVIA TEST

BY FIFI RODRIGUEZ

BY LINDA THISTLE

PLACE A NUMBER IN THE EMPTY BOXES IN SUCH A WAY THAT EACH ROW ACROSS, EACH COLUMN DOWN AND EACH SMALL 9-BOX SQUARE CONTAINS ALL OF THE NUMBERS ONE TO NINE.

1. TELEVISION: What is Homer’s favorite beer brand on “The Simpsons”?

2. MEASUREMENTS: How much does a gallon of water weigh?

3. GEOMETRY: How many sides does a triskaidecagon have?

4. MOVIES: Who is the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the “Toy Stories” movies?

5. LITERATURE: What are the names of “The Three Musketeers”?

6. HISTORY: What was the first car that was mass-produced?

7. FOOD & DRINK: Which region of Italy produces Marsala wine?

8. ANIMAL KINGDOM: How do snakes smell?

9. SCIENCE: What is the study of sight and light called?

10. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: What was Twitter’s original character limit?

Pg. 19 OCT 21 - NOV 3, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM

©2020 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.

CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1 Wash with vigor 6 Not there 12 Melancholy 15 Aspirin, e.g.

19 “Petunia” star Birch 20 Many a Giotto work 21 “Woo- --!”

22 Wee amount 23 Suit fitter in a California city?

25 Holding the attention of 27 Seat winners 28 “Breezy” co-star Kay 29 Boys and men from an Oregon city?

31 Michigan city whose residents are a bit more eccentric?

36 Jacuzzi sigh 37 Swirly letters 38 Popular cookie 39 Hamm on a soccer field 41 Actor Hill of “Moneyball” 45 Denounce 48 Plundered an Ohio city?

51 Big lug 54 Judd of song 57 L-P middle 58 “Renegade” star Lamas 59 Hay bundle 61 Setting of “Anne of Green Gables” 63 Yang partner 64 Mouse-spotting cry 65 Painting exhibitor on wheels in a Maryland city?

70 Sphere 71 Sphere 72 Debt memo 73 Green shade

77 Pennsylvania city with a big population of forefathers?

83 Sussex loc.

86 Pale -87 One making a change 88 Palo -89 Piano relative 92 24-hr. cash convenience 93 Runoff conduit 95 Part of LAPD 96 Includes an Arizona city in the tally?

99 Noah’s Ark groupings 101 Military foe 102 Cleanup org.

103 Not distant 106 Electric car maker 110 Sprite 112 Speak badly of an Illinois city?

116 Off-Broadway awards whose winners hail from an Idaho city?

120 Film director Reiner 121 Thurman of “Jennifer 8” 122 Illumination 123 Warehouse vehicle produced in a Texas city?

128 First-aid gel 129 -- -di-dah 130 Negative battery poles 131 City close to Minneapolis 132 Antarctic explorer Richard 133 Perch 134 Compounds in explosives 135 Perch DOWN 1 Big step 2 Casual slacks 3 Scorches 4 Net address

5 Baseball club 6 In pursuit of 7 “The Chase” star Marlon 8 One nabbing something 9 Immigrant’s class, in brief 10 Sgt., e.g.

11 Body trunk 12 Collielike pooch 13 Top-grade 14 Firm belief 15 Do some excavating 16 Make turbid 17 With 105-Down, eclectic digest 18 Comics’ acts 24 Corrida cry 26 Three-sharp musical key 30 “We -- please!”

32 Actor Knight 33 “No man -- island” 34 Phone no.

35 Lodger 40 Impromptu 42 Goose of Hawaii 43 Timber-dressing tool 44 Boxing blow 46 Counterpart of “sir” 47 De -- (afresh) 49 Slanting 50 R&B’s Braxton 51 “SOS” group 52 Jack of early talk TV 53 Model Macpherson 55 Melancholy 56 Like argon 60 Smoky peak in Sicily 62 Rodents in research 63 Lionel Richie hit of 1983 66 Actor McShane 67 Lawn pests

Connect with free virtual arts, science, and history experiences for all ages.

CULTURE

BLOCKS

Find upcoming events at ArtsAndScience.org/CultureBlocks

CITY SCRAMBLE ©2020 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.

68 Mauna -69 “Lohengrin” heroine 74 “-- turn up eventually” 75 Executive “no” 76 Greek Cupid 78 Tigers, e.g.

79 Make glad 80 Biscotto nut 81 Creek critter 82 Work detail 83 Latin “Behold!”

84 Gas in signs 85 Pasting stuff 90 Snared 91 Surgical probe 92 Without -- (worry-free) 94 College military gp.

97 On edge 98 Modern, in Mannheim 100 Island locale 104 Consent (to) 105 See 17-Down 107 Atelier 108 Units of light 109 Noah’s Ark landing site 111 Thwarts 113 Lion of C.S. Lewis’“Narnia” tales 114 Metal waste 115 Em preceder 116 Blurt out the secret 117 Grease-filled 118 Monster film lab helper 119 -- B’rith 124 Songwriter DiFranco 125 “Baloney!”

126 Above, in odes 127 Bustle

LIFESTYLE COLUMN

AERIN IT OUT DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK

The hammer and the dance

Pg. 20 OCT 21 - NOV 3, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM

BY AERIN SPRUILL

A lot has changed since my last article. Namely, the introduction of Phase 3 in easing Gov. Cooper’s COVID-19 restrictions, allowing a bit more wiggle room for Charlotte businesses to start the process of opening back up. This new phase is set to extend (tentatively) until Oct. 24 at 5 p.m. and has loosened restrictions on many of our coveted bars, restaurants and clubs.

Some have returned to the scene gracefully and respectfully, following rules and regulations regarding capacity and social distancing measures. While others have taken a knee and closed, chosen to delay reopening, or have been served eviction papers leaving nightlife goers like myself wondering what the scene will look like if and when this pandemic ever ends. We’ve seen some who seem to have tumbled out of quarantine without any resemblance of a true safety plan while skirting the rules by partnering with food neighbors. And others have been subjected to patrons who just simply don’t care about following the rules.

Just just a couple of weeks ago, Queen City Nerve publisher Justin LaFrancois watched in astonishment as Charlotte City Council members straight up ignored the safety guidelines set at Hattie’s Tap & Tavern. Sadly, though the audacity blew many Twitter users away, many of us weren’t shocked. We know that businesses have been waiting patiently for the day they would be allowed to reopen. However, after seeing a chick suck on a tap at Hoppin’, our faith that we as patrons and humans would know how to behave fell by the wayside.

The level of comfortability I’ve noticed since returning to my favorite hangs and patios in the Queen City has often left me bewildered. Strangers blatantly disregard even the old definition of personal space even after being verbally asked to not touch or stand so close to someone. Karens who remove their mask to curse someone out or otherwise verbally accost a fellow patron about not wearing a mask!? Passersby

picking up and chugging unfinished drinks at tables that are no longer occupied. Individuals in the stalls next to me flushing the toilet and walking right out the door without washing their hands.

“I didn’t even bring my mask,” I overheard someone say in between uncontrollable laughter just days after my family buried my grandfather due to complications of COVID-19. (That’s right, COVID finally hit me at home, and let me tell you if you ever were spiraling down the conspiracy rabbit hole before, this pandemic is real.)

You may be wondering, “Well then why the hell are you out and about? Of all people, you should be staying at home.” I’ve asked myself the same thing.

It probably goes without saying, but the truth is I’m no different than everyone else even in the midst of loss. After being cooped up in the house for so many months, I was beyond ecstatic for the opportunity to connect and socialize again without a screen in front of me.

I’ll be the first to admit, while I approached with extreme caution at the outset of Phase 2, after a couple of beers, it becomes easy to let down your guard if you’re not vigilant. Hence, the 11 p.m. cutoff may be a new norm for those imbibing for the

unforeseeable future.

Nevertheless, the reality of the pandemic and the inevitable conversation around its impact on nightlife remains. Will we be forced to return to the confines of our homes if the correlation between easing restrictions and increases in COVID-19 cases continues? Will face masks be the new go-to accessory as we get ready for a night on the town in perpetuity? What other nightlife destinations will fail to return to the scene?

As announcements of reopening continue to trickle in, and hope is being restored that normalcy is on the horizon, I can’t help but hear LL Cool J in the back of my head saying, “Don’t call it a comeback!”

We are still a far cry from what was deemed “normal,” back in February, and the reality is this newfound freedom we’ve entered into can easily be taken away if we’re not careful. For bar and restaurant owners, this means remaining steadfast in enforcing safety and capacity measures. For patrons, we must remain vigilant when we’re stepping out into the city, doing our part, wearing our masks, and washing our damn hands so that we can keep one another safe and our favorites open rather than take them for granted.

What’s scarier? Halloween is the weekend after Phase 3 is set to end. What unruly festivities will come back to haunt us in the absence of the beloved Rich & Bennett’s Halloween crawl?

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

By Lucie Winborne • An armadillo’s shell is so hard that it can deflect a bullet, as a Texas man discovered to his chagrin when he took aim at one. The bullet ricocheted into his jaw and he had to be airlifted to a hospital, while the armadillo strolled away unscathed.

• “Pants” was considered a dirty word in Victorian England.

• Two conductors have died while conducting the second act of Wagner’s opera “Tristan und Isolde.” They collapsed from heart attacks at exactly the same point in the music due to its technical demands!

• Had Georgie Fletcher of Australia never signed on to play the mobile game “Words With Friends,” her husband, Simon, might be dead. Georgie struck up a friendship via the game’s chat feature with frequent opponent Beth Legler from Missouri. One day, Georgie told Beth that Simon hadn’t been feeling well. Beth relayed his symptoms to her husband Larry, a doctor, who insisted that the Fletchers go to the hospital immediately. A 99% blockage was discovered near his heart, which, left untreated, would have certainly been fatal.

• In 2015, Legoland became the first theme park to create its own currency.

• Writer Guy de Maupassant frequently lunched in a restaurant at the base of the Eiffel Tower. Why? It was the only place he could go where he didn’t have to look at it.

• The process of things being stretched out and torn apart as they enter a black hole is called spaghettification.

• Our senses of taste and smell are cut by 50% and 20%, respectively, during flights, which is why airplane food has never tasted so hot. (“That’s what I’ve been telling you!” said every airplane food chef, ever.) *** Thought for the Day: “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes © 2020 King Features Synd., Inc.

BESTINTHENEST.COM

LIFESTYLE

HOROSCOPE OCTOBER 21 - OCTOBER 27

OCTOBER 28 - NOVEMBER 3

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Some flashes of LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Be careful ARIES (March 21 to April 19) You might be growing LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) A newcomer

Aries ire might erupt as you confront an unusually bewildering situation. But you should be able to keep your temper under control as you work through it.

how you handle a workplace matter that seems out impatient with a situation that seems to resist of place in the schedule you’ve prepared. Before you efforts to resolve it. But staying with it raises the act, one way or another, find out who set it up and odds that you’ll find a way to a successful resolution. why.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) That marriage ‘twixt the arts and practicality that Taureans excel at once again highlights your enjoyment of much of the week. However, you need to watch any sudden urge to splurge.

SCORPIO

(October 23 to November 21) Your entertainment aspect is strong this week. Besides providing a wonderful break from everyday obligations, sharing fun times brings you closer to those you care for.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Even with all the SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21)

helps keep things moving. There might be some bumpy moments along the way, but at least you’re heading in the right direction. You win praise for your choices.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Travel and kinship are strong in the Bovine’s aspect this week. This SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) You could would be a good time to combine the two and take be pleasantly surprised by how a decision about one a trip to see family members for a pre-holiday get- thing opens up an unexpected new option. Also, assistance on a project could come from a surprising together. source.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) A colleague could

make a request you’re not comfortable with. If so, SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) say so. Better to disappoint someone by sticking With more information to work with, you might Having a weekend fun fest?

Your friend or relative plusses apparently outweighing the minuses, you with your principles than disappoint yourself if you now be able to start the process that could lead to a who’s down in the emotional dumps could perk up still might want to defer an important decision to if you find a way to include him or her in your plans. don’t. major change. Reserve the weekend for family and make sure you have all the facts you need. friends.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) One or two problems CAPRICORN

(December 22 to January 19) If CANCER (June 21 to July 22) The Moon Child’s you’re in one of those “the Goat knows best” periods, ability to adapt to life’s ebbs and flows helps you CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) This might threaten to derail otherwise smoothly running situations at work or at home. But a few you might want to ease up and try listening to what deal with the changes that you might confront at could be a good time to begin gathering information work or at home, or both. Things settle down by the that will help you turn that long-held idea into well-placed words should help get things back on others have to say. You could learn something. something substantive. A personal matter might week’s end. track quickly. need extra attention.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) That new challenge is getting closer, and you should be out LEO (July 23 to August 22) It’s a good week for Leos time for all you Leos and Leonas in the spotlight there now showing facts and figures to potential and Leonas to get some long-outstanding business AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) That to open your generous Lion’s hearts and share the allies to help persuade them to rally to your support. matters resolved. Then go ahead and plan a fun- new challenge might carry some surprises. But filled family getaway weekend with the mate and you should be able to handle them using what you glory with those who helped you accomplish so Good luck. the cubs. already know. That new supporter should be there much along the way. to lend assistance.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Getting a head

LEO (July 23 to August 22) This could be a good

start on holiday plans could help free up some time VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) A possible want to get advice from someone who’s been later to spend on other projects. Meanwhile, a workplace change seems promising. If you decide PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Someone there and knows these situations better than you colleague has some ideas that you might find worth to look into it, try not to form an opinion on just a might be trying to disguise his or her true motives. small part of the picture: Wait for the full image to But the perceptive and perspicacious Pisces should do, before investing time or money (or both) in a discussing. develop. have little or no problem finding the truth in all that questionable matter. foggy rhetoric.

Pg. 21 OCT 21 - NOV 3, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) You might

BORN THIS WEEK: You are always there for

BORN THIS WEEK: You can always rely on your

others, and sometimes you need to be reminded that you need to be there for yourself as well.

people skills to help you find solutions to problems others often give up on.

2020 KING FEATURES SYND., INC.

LIFESTYLE COLUMN

PG.19 PUZZLE ANSWERS

SAVAGE LOVE DON’T GIVE UP

Living a full life while you look

BY DAN SAVAGE

Borrowing Gen Z’s love for labelling everything, I’m a 46-year-old homoromantic asexual Canadian faggot. For me that means I’d like to love and be loved by another man but I’d hate having sex with him. To add a vexing complication, I also need some sort of power imbalance. Ideally, I would fall somewhere between being a man’s sub and being his slave. I’ve been searching for this since I came out in my early twenties. I’ve tried everything.

Online, bars, hobby groups, friends, hookups.

Vanilla relationships, single Masters, dominant couples, sex workers. I’ve spent thousands of dollars on both men and therapy, but here I am busted, miserable, and alone. The point is that no one — and I mean absolutely no one — wants what I want.

My dream dude doesn’t exist. It’s easy to tell someone to move on, that there are other fish in the sea, etc., but sometimes your sea is a puddle and you really are the only guppy. I’m considering ending my life before the end of the year. I can’t shake the deep sadness and disappointment and misery that I feel — and this isn’t even touching on my current unemployment or newly-chronic health issues. What would you do if you were in my shoes? How does one switch off the built-in romantic drive?

Pg. 22 OCT 21 - NOV 3, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM

SOUGHT A DOM ACCEPTING SAD SINGLEHOOD

I’m sorry you haven’t found your ideal man, SADASS, or the right dominant couple or a vanilla guy you could love and a dominant sex worker you could see on the side.

Not everyone finds their ideal mate/position/situation, despite our best efforts, which is why it’s important that we build lives for ourselves that are rich and rewarding while we look for our dream dude(s). Because then even if we’re unhappily single — or we find ourselves unhappily single again — we would still have meaning and pleasure in our lives. And that makes it easier for us to live in hope that, should all the planets align, it could still happen for us or happen for us again. (Please note: I’m qualifying “single” with “unhappy” here not because all single people are unhappy — which is absolutely untrue — but because this single person, SADASS, is unhappy.)

I have to assume it has happened for you once or

twice, SADASS. While none of your relationships with any of the vanilla guys, single Masters, dominant couples, or sex workers you’ve met along the way turned into longterm connections, there had to have been some good times and real — if not lasting — connections over the years.

Instead of seeing those relationships as a string of failures because they all ended, SADASS, you should see them as a long series of successful short-term relationships. And while you may regret that none lasted for years or decades, there’s nothing about being partnered that immunizes a person against regret. If you were still with one of those vanilla guys, you might always regret not meeting a Master; if you were with a Master or a dominant couple, you might regret — from time to time — not having a more egalitarian relationship.

Although you say you’re not interested in having sex, SADASS, your interests are erotically charged. If your erotic-if-not-sexual fantasies are causing you distress — if you want to switch off your built-in romantic/erotic drive — anti-depressants often lower and sometimes tank a person’s libido.

For most people that’s an unwelcome side effect, but you may find it a blessing — at least for now, SADASS, while you’re dealing with your health and employment issues. It’s an extreme move but it’s far less extreme than the one you’ve been contemplating, so it might be worth discussing with a sex-positive, kink-positive, realityaware therapist.

Finally, please don’t end your life. The world is a far more interesting place with you in it. And while finding a romantic partner is never the solution to our problems — it’s only the start of a whole new set of problems — I’ve heard from countless people over the years who found something close to what they were looking for in their fifties, sixties, and even seventies. But it can’t happen for you if you aren’t here for it.

Crisis Services Canada maintains a 24-hour suicideprevention hotline: 833-456-4566. In the United States please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800273-8255.

I’m bisexual man who works on a military base with so many hot men. But how the hell do I even get a quick cock to suck without getting fired for coming on to the wrong guy? Or beaten up? How do I approach someone who could be interested?

It’s been forever since I’ve had a guy! Don’t tell me to try Grindr. I already did and most of the guys on there are not my style and the two that were blew me off. I wish I was totally straight or totally gay cause the bisexual world is really depressing!

BASICALLY I’VE GOT UNFULFILLED YEARNINGS

TRIVIA ANSWERS: 1. Duff 2. 8.34 pounds 3. 13

4. Tim Allen 5. Athos, Porthos and Aramis 6. Ford Model T 7. Sicily

Totally gay guys get blown off on Grindr and Sniffies and Recon all the time. Totally straight guys get blown off on Tinder and Farmers Only and Christian Mingle all the time.

I’m not minimizing the unique challenges bisexuals face by bisexual men and women — biphobia is real — but everyone faces rejection, BIGUY. And while some gay guys don’t wanna date bi guys, you aren’t looking for a date. You’re looking for a dick to suck.

So get back on Grindr. When you see a hot guy on the street, on the subway, or your military base, quickly open Grindr — or Scruff or Sniffies or Recon or all of the above — and if they’re on there too, send ‘em a message.

If they’re interested, they’ll write back. If they aren’t, they won’t.

And if you’re worried a guy won’t let you suck his dick if you tell him you’re bisexual and you don’t mind blowing guys who might be biphobic, don’t disclose your bisexuality on your profile and stick to, “Sup?” and, “Looking?”, when you message them.

And you know … back when men picked each other up in bars … you had to make eye contact with a lotta guys before you locked eyes with the right guy. If you made eye contact with a guy who wasn’t interested — if you weren’t his style or his type — he wouldn’t make eye contact with you again.

That’s essentially what a guy is doing when he “blows you off” on Grindr: He’s taking a quick look, deciding you’re not for him, and looking away — the exact same thing you’re doing to guys who aren’t your style or type.

Guys who left the bar after two guys looked away never got to suck a dick, BIGUY, so don’t give up after a couple of guys blow you off on Grindr. Just keep looking around.

8. With their tongues 9. Optics 10. 140

I’m a 60-something straight woman. A few years ago, a longtime male friend and I, both in very unhappy relationships, did what I’d never done in my life: We cheated on our partners.

We both ended our other relationships and the resulting two years have been wonderful. My guy is smart and funny and the sex is very, very, VERY good. We don’t live together and see each other on weekends. Now for the problem: I think he voted for Trump. While he’s a political conservative, he’s not crazy and he has some reasonable viewpoints that I can tolerate even if I disagree. But not Trump. I don’t think a good person votes for Trump.

Practically speaking, it doesn’t matter, because we live in solid blue Washington state and all our electoral votes will go to Biden, but I’m not sure I can fuck someone who voted for Trump. But if I end things with him there’s a good chance I’ll never have sex again. I don’t think there are many opportunities for 65-year-old average-looking women, even ones with healthy libidos. Thoughts?

Update: Before I could even hit send on this email, Dan, I found out that, yes, he voted for Trump. I’m sickened that this person I care for voted for Trump! Do I end it?!?

OH FUCKING HELL

Yes you do, OFH, and you tell him why: Elections have consequences. Better a trusty vibrator than an unworthy Trump voter.

Follow Dan on Twitter @fakedansavage; this week on the Savage Lovecast, Andrew Gurza on sex with disabilities. www.savagelovecast.com; mail@savagelove.net

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