YES! Weekly - December 7, 2022

HOLIDAY LIGHTS IN THE TRIAD

O A G T H R

Looking for some Holiday fun? There are several events and venues across the Triad to entertain those ranging in age from 4 to 94 this Holiday season. Below we highlight some popular sites in the Triad.

The original LIBERTY OAK restaurant was located on Battleground Avenue.

4

Parkway, Winston-Salem.

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A Guilford County Commissioner, Greensboro official, and Winston-Salem drag show producer believe SATURDAY’S ATTACKS ON MOORE COUNTY power stations were aimed at the “Downtown Divas” show held in Southern Pines as a fundraiser for Sandhills Pride. Despite the blackout, the fundraiser continued by the light of patrons’ cellphones.

8 High Point University’s Student Government Association and other HPU students shared the holiday spirit with senior citizens in the community by filling 1,000 STOCKINGS for the Stuff a Stocking Campaign at the Salvation Army of High Point.

11 Over the past year, I had the unenviable task of writing a number of obituary columns about celebrity friends of mine who had passed away. Now, during this season of celebration, it is only fitting that we celebrate their REMARKABLE LIVES and careers. What follows are excerpts from those columns.

12 They’re young. They’re in love. And THEY EAT PEOPLE. That, in a nutshell, describes Bones and All.

18 YES! Weekly asked Christine Grider, who in August became the new Artist Director of Greensboro Ballet, about keeping such a perennial fresh and creative.

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The RiverRun International Film Festival celebrates the Christmas season with a FREE SCREENING of the awardwinning 2003 comedy Elf, which will take place at 3 p.m. Saturday, December 17th at Marketplace Cinemas, 2095 Peters Creek

“ THE NUTCRACKER has, of course, gone on for many generations, and the music is so lovely and wonderful, but a lot of times it’s done in the same old format.”

20 Triad musicians and venues are in the spirit of hosting benefit shows and charity drives to share GOOD TUNES, GOOD WILL, AND HOLIDAY CHEER.

Chow Down with John Batchelor at Liberty Oak

BY JOHN BATCHELOR

This restaurant is named after a historic tree, formerly located near the intersection of New Garden Road and Lawndale Drive. It was reputed to be central to Nathanael Greene’s headquarters during the Revolutionary War. The tree died in 1986, then fell a couple of years later. A retired Asheboro textile owner gathered wood from the tree and made commemorative clocks from it.

The original Liberty Oak restaurant was located on Battleground Avenue. It was relocated by its former owners to the current location, in the oldest commercial building downtown, originally constructed in 1883. In addition to the main dining room, seating is available on a patio and in the bar, plus a loft area for private events.

From walls that climb to high ceilings, photos of Greensboro scenes look down on old plank floors. The kitchen is open to view. A cozy banquette off to one side provides particularly attractive seating. You can actually carry on a conversation here.

Kristofer Reid became Executive Chef, then owner, in 2017. He formerly cooked at Finnigan’s Wake in WinstonSalem and worked in management for Aramark food services at High Point University.

My wife and I started one evening with Dynamite Shrimp. Deveined and tender large shrimp are tossed in sweetish Thai chili aioli and served with Asian-style carrot and red cabbage

slaw. This type of treatment appears frequently on area menus; I consider this one of the better renditions.

Smoked Gouda Crab Dip Flatbread is a novel interpretation of another perennially popular dish. Instead of separate dip and pita wedges, a blend of crabmeat and gouda cheese is spread over a pita disc, baked, then sliced for presentation. A few lumps of crabmeat were evident; rich gouda cheese flavor predominates, followed by what tasted like backfin.

More, larger lumps of crabmeat appear in a Crab Cakes entrée, as appropriate. These are pan-seared and served over warm succotash — corn and blackeye peas, aka “Texas caviar,” a Creole Remoulade laced over the top.

Salmon is lightly dusted with blackening spices, then topped with lump crabmeat and a cherry pepper vinaigrette, served over saffron rice and an applewood smoked bacon succotash. This kitchen knows how to cook salmon — it arrives slightly crusty, but with a soft, moist interior, hot throughout.

Grilled Chicken provides two half breasts, topped with a barbecue sauce made in-house, plus melted white cheddar cheese and strips of applewood bacon. Cheese and tomato flavors are predominant.

Steak Risotto is another novel treatment of a popular dish. You get two 4-ounce Certified Angus Beef medallions, presented over a richly flavored risotto, interspersed with sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach leaves, and smoked Gouda cheese. This is a

generous portion, enough to share or maybe take home for another night.

The Oak Burger is one of this restaurant’s staples. A large patty of Black Angus ground beef is dressed in homemade barbecue sauce, with melted New York white cheddar cheese, applewood smoked bacon, and crisp onion straws, served on a toasted challah roll. The roll yields an extra dimension of flavor in a complex concoction. I would rank this in the upper echelon of area burgers.

Most entrées come with a choice of one side. I found the homemade chips

commendable for crisp texture and real potato flavor, features I assume would be repeated in the hand-cut fries. I also liked the pesto pasta. Other choices (not tasted on these visits) are fresh fruit, vegetable medley, garlic mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, saffron rice, or sautéed Brussel sprouts. Crab and bacon succotash or three cheese Mac-nCheese cost a little extra.

My wife wanted a lighter meal one night, so she ordered Fried Goat Cheese Salad. Balls of Goat Lady goat cheese — one of the best — are sesame

Oak Burger

Steak Risotto

Salmon

crusted and lemon infused, the coating fried crisp. These are served on organic greens with walnuts and bourbonsoaked cherries, dressed in fresh herb vinaigrette.

Chef-Proprietor Reid has focused this menu on dishes that are easily recognized, likely with an already-existing following, but in original interpretations that make them unique to Liberty Oak. If you count back to its original incarnation, this is one of the longest-running success stories among Triad restaurants, a legacy that is likely to be sustained. !

JOHN BATCHELOR has been writing about eating and drinking since 1981. Over a thousand of his articles have been published. He is also author of two travel/cookbooks: Chefs of the Coast: Restaurants and Recipes from the North Carolina Coast, and Chefs of the Mountains: Restaurants and Recipes from Western North Carolina. Contact him at john.e.batchelor@ gmail.com or see his blog, johnbatchelordiningandtravel.blogspot.com.

presented by

Grilled Chicken

Crabcakes

Dynamite Shrimp

O cials, performer allege Moore County attack aimed at drag show

Aand I know why.” She then posted a photo of the “Downtown Divas!” marquee of the blacked-out theater and wrote, “God will not be mocked.” Her next post stated “The Moore County Sheri ’s O ce just checked in” and described her alleged conversation with them.

Ian McDowell

Contributor

Guilford County Commissioner, Greensboro o cial, and Winston-Salem drag show producer believe Saturday’s attacks on Moore County power stations were aimed at the “Downtown Divas” show held in Southern Pines as a fundraiser for Sandhills Pride. Despite the blackout, the fundraiser continued by the light of patrons’ cellphones.

Regardless of who shot out the substations, the three condemned demonization of drag performers as “groomers” by extremists who also resisted pandemic protocols and joined the 2020 assault on the nation’s capital.

“It seems too coincidental to ignore,” said District 4 Commissioner Mary Beth Murphy when asked if she thinks the substation attacks are connected to protests organized by former army psychological operations o cer Emily Grace Rainey, a January 6 insurgent and anti-vaccination activist who resigned her commission after what CBS news called a “career-ending” reprimand for 2020 protests. On Monday’s episode of Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, Rainey called supporters and patrons of the “Downtown Divas” fundraiser “demonic” and “blasphemers.”

“I believe that was a coordinated act of domestic terrorism and I’ve been frustrated by so many in the news media using the word vandalism,” said Murphy to YES! Weekly on Monday. “That makes it sound like someone climbed the fence and toiletpapered the substations.”

From 5 until 7 p.m. on Saturday, Rainey and her self-characterized group of “smalltown Christian conservatives” engaged in verbal exchanges with pro-LGBTQ counterprotesters near the theater. Shortly after 7 p.m., someone opened fire on Duke Energy substations in Carthage, NC, cutting power to approximately 40,000 homes across the county, as well as downtown Southern Pines.

Shortly after the lights went out at the Sunrise Theater, Rainey posted to Facebook that “power is out in Moore County

“I told them that God works in mysterious ways and is responsible for the outage.” She also stated she told them “God is chastising Moore County.”

Moore County Sheri Ronnie Fields acknowledged this conversation at a Sunday press conference, at which he said “the individual that done this, it was targeted, it wasn’t random” but “we’ve not been able to tie anything back to the drag show.”

When a reporter asked about Rainey’s Facebook posts, Fields responded “I can say that there’s an individual that put some information on Facebook that was false” and “we had to go and interview this young lady, and have a word of prayer with her, but it turned out to be nothing.”

When asked why Moore County was targeted, Fields said “this is God’s country, I don’t have a clue.” When another reporter asked how he determined that Rainey had no involvement, he said “We, uh, good law enforcement [sic].” The press conference then ended.

A photo posted on October 18, 2020, to the Moore County Facebook page “Back the Red, White, and Blue” appears to depict Fields standing beside Rainey with his arm around her at a conservative rally.

At around 3 p.m. on Sunday, Rainey posted “I stand by everything I have said. God will not be mocked. Because of lukewarm Christians and public displays of blasphemy and immorality in Moore County many innocent people are su ering.” She also stated, “my name has been o cially cleared.”

On Monday, Commissioner Murphy told YES! Weekly “I think the nature of the attack absolutely deserves the kind of national attention it’s getting, and it needs to be investigated by more than just possibly hometown friends who might be cozy with people who have made clear their disdain for not just the drag show, but pandemic protocols.”

In 2020, Rainey was charged with injury to personal property after she posted a video that showed her pulling down caution tape at a playground that was closed under North Carolina’s COVID-19 restrictions.

Murphy said that, regardless of whether Rainey or her allies were involved in the power station attack, she found Rainey’s statements claiming the power outage was because “God is chastising Moore County” to be “absurd and blasphemous,” and the anti-LGBTQ rhetoric of Rainey and her allies “disheartening, heartbreaking and enraging.”

Murphy also called the controversy a cautionary tale for Guilford County.

“This is an indication of ratcheting up of not only intolerance but willingness to do whatever it is necessary to declare that intolerance. It’s scary, to be honest, and reveals vulnerabilities in our infrastructure.”

City of Greensboro Human Development Director Michelle Kennedy, whose family lives in Moore County, expressed similar concerns. “I’m disgusted by the actions of those who shot out the electrical infrastructure for tens of thousands of people (including nursing homes and hospitals) as a response to a drag show in a community theater,” wrote Kennedy in a public Facebook post on Sunday.

In a Monday phone conversation, Kennedy said she just returned from visiting her father, who was discharged from a Moore County hospital the morning before the power station attack. She said the attack has brought the community together. “When you grow up someplace, you know the ins and outs, and I know a lot of people who are far from Democrats, but think this was just as appalling as progressives do.”

She also warned that such things can happen here. “Greensboro received a perfect score on the Equality Index as it related to LGBTQ issues this year. When you’re pressing for issues of equity and inclusion, that can sometimes put a target on you as a community.”

Similar sentiments were expressed in a Sunday night phone conversation with Ellis D, a Drag King performer and co-producer of Underground Events, who stages the popular Freaky Friday show at Monstercade in Winston-Salem.

Ellis, whose preferred pronouns are he/him, said he previously encountered Emily Rainey and her allies at an October drag brunch at Hugger Mugger Brewing Company in Sanford. As reported by Raw Story’s Jordan Green and photographed by Elon University professor Tony Crider, and confirmed by Rainey in Facebook posts, Rainey was ejected for livestreaming videos

of audience members who brought their children to the all-ages event. On the street outside, she was photographed by Crider taking selfies and high-fiving with Proud Boys in full colors and tactical regalia. These and other of her allies shouted “groomer” and “pedophile” at patrons entering the venue.

Ellis said previous drag shows he emceed had “a few protesters,” but that this one “became scary after Libs of TikTok started sharing the event and Proud Boys showed up.” According to the Anti-Defamation League, “Libs of TikTok is a popular antiLGBTQ+ Twitter account operated by former real estate agent Chaya Raichik.”

“They saw our event and shared it,” said Ellis, “which got the attention of the Proud Boys, which got the attention of Emily, although I never got the pleasure of meeting her myself, but she did sneak into the event we were producing, and took pictures of people’s children and guests at the show. Outside, she took her costume o and started posing with the Proud Boys.”

Ellis said that militant anti-LGBTQ activists “need to be held accountable for spreading this kind of rhetoric because people are dying.” He referred to the November 19 shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where Anderson Lee Aldrich killed five people and injured at least 19 others. But he praised the Winston-Salem community and Monstercade for “making sure we are protected in our city.”

“Right after the Sanford protest, we had rumors Proud Boys might show up at Monstercade, and we upped our security. We have great communications with both people in our community and other organizations to make sure we are all protected and looked after.

Ellis concluded by urging LGBTQ allies to attend Monstercade’s last Freaky Friday event until next year, hosted by himself and co-producer Hysteria Cole, which begins at 9 p.m. on December 9th. “We’re doing a ra e to benefit the families of the Club Q victims.” Admission to the 21+ show is $10. !

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

HPU Students Stu 1,000 Stockings for Salvation Army

The stockings will be distributed to nine assisted living facilities and retirement communities

High Point University’s Student Government Association and other HPU students shared the holiday spirit with senior citizens in the community by filling 1,000 stockings for the Stu a Stocking Campaign at the Salvation Army of High Point.

To make the donation possible, SGA held a holiday gathering and assemblystyle stu ng event on December 2. Any student was welcome to help SGA members stu stockings. Dozens of students packed two or more stockings simultaneously.

The stockings will be distributed to nine assisted living facilities and retirement communities. Each stocking was filled with winter weather necessities such as socks, gloves, toboggans, chapstick, and lotion, as well as activities like crossword puzzle books, playing cards, magnifying glasses, notebooks and colored pencils. Students also wrote messages on cards for each person.

This is the 11th year HPU students have supported the Stu a Stocking Campaign during the Christmas season.

“It’s always one of our most special traditions,” said Lizzy Eisenhardt, SGA

president. “Around this time of year, it’s important to give back to your community. A lot of people are struggling, and we want to make sure everyone enjoys the holidays. Every year, we try to do more and give back as much as possible. This year, we filled 1,000 stockings, the most SGA has ever donated.”

“I think we are going to be able to make a big impact,” said Halle Nichols, a junior from Blanco, Texas, who is the SGA vice president of service and philanthropy.

“A lot of people who are receiving these stockings aren’t going to be getting any other Christmas presents so it’s good to be able to give back and make sure that they’ll be able to feel special and appreciated this season.”

Capt. Lars Ljungholm of the Salvation Army of High Point and Corps Mission Associate Glen Andress said they are grateful for the students’ e orts, which make a big di erence for elderly people in assisted living facilities and other senior living sites.

“This is just a wonderful partnership with the university,” said Ljungholm. “The Salvation Army could never do what it does without having good partners in the community. We’re doing the most good together.” !

BY ERIK SALZWEDEL

This year, Moravaian Music Foundation will present ChristmasFest: a Moravian Advent and Christmas Festival on December 16-17. ChristmasFest is an opportunity for you and your whole family to enjoy Salem, experience Christmas tastes and sounds, and immerse yourself in German and Moravian Christmas traditions. Modeled after the everpopular Christkindlmärkte celebrated around the world, the weekend will feature a variety of music, artists and craftspersons, gifts and items for sale, Tannenbäume (Christmas trees), food and drink vendors, activities for children and Weihnachtsmann (Santa). Santa is scheduled from 5-7 p.m. Friday, and 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday.

FOOD AND FUN!

A fun part of ChristmasFest is enjoying mulled wine (Glühwein — non-alcoholic) and hot chocolate (Trinkschokolade) as you stroll the grounds. To enjoy these items, guests will purchase the souvenir ChristmasFest Mug. You may pre-order mugs at buy.stripe.com/5kA9EDcQt4BlfE46or ($15 adult) and buy.stripe. com/00g9EDbMp4Bl9fG6oq ($5 child).

Food vendors will include pretzels, doughnuts, noodles, nuts, baked goods, and southern home cookin’; enjoy full meals or just a snack. Vendor details on the website: Wutyasay The Southern Noodle Struggle Bus co ee Patriot Pretzel DonutNV and more!

MUSIC!

Built upon a unique blend of ancient hymnody, traditional German hymn texts, and Classical music, Moravian Christmas music delivers a heartfelt message of hope and joy in the holiday season. At ChristmasFest, you will enjoy choirs, bands, brass groups and other musical groups singing and playing a variety of Christmas carols (Weihnachtslieder) and other holiday music. Details of musicians and their schedules will be listed on the website and will include: Stratford Brass; Salem Band Tuba Quartet; Advent Brass Ensemble; South

Nestled in the historic town of Salem, NC, the Moravian Music Foundation is a modern archival repository of musical treasures written and collected by Moravians for centuries. Tours of the vault, to see some unique historical musical treasures, will be available.

Also, next door, you may visit the historic and magnificent Cedarhyrst home for their Open House, fully decorated! Built in 1893, the home now houses the o ces of the Moravian Church, Southern Province, and other agencies.

SAVE THE DATE!

What: ChristmasFest: a Moravian Advent and Christmas Festival

When: Friday, Dec. 16, 2022; 5-9 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022; 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where: Archie K Davis Center (home of the Moravian Archives and Moravian Music Foundation) located at 457 S. Church Street in Winston-Salem.

Parking: The easiest parking is in Salem College’s Elberson Fine Arts Center/God’s Acre parking lot (to find the entrance, use 500 E. Salem Ave.).

Cost: Admission is free; there will be items for sale.

Sponsored by Arts Council of Winston Salem & Forsyth County and Butler & Burke, LLP.

Please bring non-perishable food donations to benefit Sunnyside Ministry sunnysideministry.org.

ARTS COUNCIL is the chief advocate of the arts and cultural sector in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. Our goal is to serve as a leader in lifting up, creating awareness and providing support to grow and sustain artistic, cultural and creative o erings throughout our region We acknowledge that it takes every voice, every talent, and every story to make our community a great place to live, work, and play. Arts Council is committed to serving as a facilitator, organizer, and promoter of conversations that are authentic, inclusive, and forward-thinking. There are over 800,000 art experiences taking place in WinstonSalem and Forsyth County annually. To learn more about upcoming arts and culture events happening in our community please visit www.cityofthearts.com.

Stokes High School Band; West Stokes High School Choir; the Salem Trombone Choir, and more.

PRESS RELEASE

Filet Mignon w. Blue Cheese Crust, Mushroom Ragout & Whipped Garlic Potatoes

Pan Roasted

Salmon Fillet & Shrimp Risotto, Lemon Hollandaise Foam

Grandmother's Chicken Pot Pie w. Smoked Gouda Potato Crust

Champagne

Chicken & Jumbo Lump Crab Cake, Candied Sweet Potatoes

Filet Mignon w. Blue Cheese Crust, Mushroom Ragout & Whipped Garlic Potatoes

Champagne

Chicken & Jumbo Lump Crab Cake, Candied Sweet Potatoes

Twin Lobster Tails w. Lemon Garlic Butter, Low Country inspired Red Rice

Seafood Fettuccine w. Lobster, Shrimp & Scallops, Parmesan Cream Sauce

Pan Roasted Salmon Fillet & Shrimp Risotto, Lemon Hollandaise Foam

Seafood Fettuccine w. Lobster, Shrimp & Scallops, Parmesan Cream Sauce

Prime Ribs of Beef, Loaded Baked Potato

Prime Ribs of Beef, Loaded Baked Potato

The RiverRun International Film Festival celebrates the Christmas season with a free screening of the award-winning 2003 comedy Elf, which will take place at 3 p.m. Saturday, December 17th at Marketplace Cinemas, 2095 Peters Creek Parkway, Winston-Salem. The requested admission is two cans of food for Samaritan Ministries, thus the event is being called the “Holiday Can Film Festival.” Tickets are required and can be obtained here: https://riverrunfilm.com/.

Will Ferrell heads an all-star cast as

Buddy, a human raised by the elves who run Santa’s Christmas operation at the North Pole. When he learns that he’s not really an elf — he’s several feet taller than the others, for starters — he embarks on a journey to meet his father, Walter Hobbs (James Caan), a quintessential curmudgeon who publishes children’s books in New York City. Buddy takes the Big Apple by storm, spreading holiday cheer — and a fair bit of slapstick calamity — wherever he goes.

The PG-rated film, directed by Jon Favreau (who also appears), also stars Bob Newhart, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Peter Dinklage, Faizon Love, Michael Lerner, Amy Sedaris, Andy Richter, Kyle Gass, Artie Lange, and Edward Asner as Santa Claus. Elf was a box-o ce smash, grossing over $200 million worldwide and becoming a holiday perennial.

The screening will be preceded by holiday music performed live by the Summit Strings Quartet and will feature an introduction by Wade Wilson, a faculty member of the School of Design & Production at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), who served as the sound designer for Elf

According to RiverRun executive director Rob Davis, “we had been thinking about a ‘Can Film Festival’ when the pandemic put those plans on hold, so we’re delighted to finally move forward with this. We would certainly like to make it an annual event. The holidays bring out everyone’s generosity, and RiverRun is thrilled to partner with Samaritan Ministries for our ‘Holiday Can Film Festival’! We’re delighted to be able to help stock their food pantry while o ering a rare opportunity to see the holiday classic Elf on the big screen.

“This is a rare opportunity to see Elf on the big screen while supporting a very worthwhile cause — the food bank at Samaritan Ministries. The afternoon promises to be unique with Elf’s sound designer, Wade Wilson, as our special guest and holiday music from 2:15 to 3 p.m. from Summit Strings.”

Tickets are also on sale for the RiverRun International Film Festival’s 25th birthday party, which is titled A Silver Celebration: RiverRun @ 25, which will be held 6:30 - 9 p.m. on January 21st, 2023, at the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts, 251 N. Spruce St., Winston-Salem. Tickets are currently on sale at https://riverrunfilm.com/

“We are so excited to be teaming up with our friends at RiverRun for a Christmas to benefit Samaritan Ministries for the ‘Can Film Festival,’” said Zack Fox, general manager of Marketplace Cinemas.

“Elf is a wonderful family movie. I remember seeing an advance screening in 2003 at ShowEast introduced by Jon Favreau himself, and it’s been a must-watch Christmas movie for me ever since. It will be great for fans to see it on the big screen again, or for the very first time. I’ve been teased with some of the fun stories that special guest Wade Wilson will be sharing during his introduction — it’ll be a great and charming time!”

In October, the festival presented a pair of events at Marketplace Cinemas — a retrospective screening of Beetlejuice (1988) during which cinematographer (and UNCSA School of Filmmaking faculty member) Tom Ackerman was presented with the Master of Cinema award, and a centennial screening of F.W. Murnau’s silent classic Nosferatu (1922) — and both were well attended.

“We were very encouraged that each of our Halloween Retro screenings had over 100 in attendance,” said Davis. “It seems audiences are happy to get back to inperson screenings.”

“Beetlejuice was a raging success,” Fox concurred. “We, unfortunately, had to turn many away as the event was sold out to the max. Everyone loved Tom Ackerman’s Q&A with Rob Davis, and Nosferatu was another near-sold-out hit!” !

See MARK BURGER’s reviews of current movies on Burgervideo.com. © 2022, Mark Burger.

WANNA go?

The 25th annual RiverRun International Film Festival is scheduled for April 13-22, 2023. For more information, call (336) 724-1502 or visit https://riverrunfilm.com/.

Mark Burger

Contributor

Celebrity Friends Who Passed Away in 2022

ver the past year, I had the unenviable task of writing a number of obituary columns about celebrity friends of mine who had passed away. Now, during this season of celebration, it is only fitting that we celebrate their remarkable lives and careers. What follows are excerpts from those columns.

PETER BOGDANOVICH

It is both surprising and shameful that Peter Bogdanovich doesn’t have a star along Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. Perhaps that’s because it would take about a dozen stars to do him justice. He was, after all, a writer, director, producer, actor, author, documentarian, film historian, editor, voice-over talent, casting agent, film preservationist, and cinematographer.

I caught up with Peter the Great back in 2011 when he was an artist in residence at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. My main reason for doing the interview was to talk about the 40th anniversary of The Last Picture Show, but we also touched on his 1968 cult film Targets, about a young guy who goes on a shooting spree.

“I thought it would raise a little bit of controversy, but it didn’t raise much,” Peter told me. “The thing that’s awful about the film is that it’s not dated, a story where a guy buys a gun and starts killing people. That’s still very much alive.”

The genius filmmaker died on January 6. Peter Bogdanovich was 82.

TONY DOW

Most of us have a special place in our homes where we display pictures of our immediate family. For me, that special place is a credenza on top of which are framed photos of my wife Pam, our parents, my sister, and my two make-believe brothers, Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers.

From 1957 to 1963, Jerry and Tony played brothers Theodore and Wally Cleaver on Leave it to Beaver, a sitcom about the adventures of two siblings growing up in Middle America. I first met the famous duo when they participated in an event that

OI was moderating in Los Angeles back in 2008, and we stayed in touch ever since.

Though Tony was best known for playing a big brother on TV, his real passion was sculpting, which he did masterfully. In fact, his burlwood sculptures were shown and sold all over the world, and once were even on display in the Louvre. Tony was a quiet, unassuming man who preferred the solitude of his workshop to the glitz of Hollywood, so it took some doing for me to coax him to my event. Once there, he and Jerry received the longest-standing ovation I’ve ever witnessed. Tony seemed surprised by the warm reception. That’s because he never realized what he meant to so many millions of fans. I was proud to have that humble man as my makebelieve big brother. Tony Dow passed away on July 27. He was 77.

CLU GULAGER

Clu Gulager was one of America’s greatest character actors, perhaps best known for his work in TV Westerns. But unlike most actors who have merely pretended to be a cowboy, Clue actually was one.

“I was a cowboy in Oklahoma where we raised white-face cattle. I used to have to ride the fences and when I saw a break in the fence, I had to get down o my pony take some wire and fix that break. The thing I’m most proud of in my whole life is that, on my watch, not one white-face cow got away.”

Glu is also famous for being the only TV actor to be thrown out of work by Congress. It happened while he was portraying

Billy the Kid on the NBC series The Tall Man.

“Congress debated the fact that Billy the Kid was a killer, and that I was playing him as a hero on television, which they thought wasn’t good for children. So, they pressured NBC to take ‘The Tall Man’ o the air.”

But Congress couldn’t kill Clu’s career. He was constantly in demand as a guest star in movies and television. I first met Clu at the 2013 Western Film Festival, and I will always remember his wry sense of humor and cowboy charisma. Clu Gulager died on August 5th. He was 93.

ANGELA LANSBURY

Geo rey Rush referred to Dame Angela Lansbury as “The Living Definition of Range.” It’s an appropriate description for a woman who could play anything from a teapot to a communist conspirator. Angela was nominated for her first Oscar at age 17, and went on to win a slew of Tony awards for smash Broadway hits like Gypsy and Mame. But she will best be remembered as a middle-aged author

turned sleuth in the long-running CBS series, Murder She Wrote.

I first met Angela at an event, which I produced and moderated for the Television Academy back in 2006. She wanted me to call her Angie, but I refused. I told her it wouldn’t be dignified. She laughed. At one point I asked her what impact her portrayal of Jessica Fletcher had on women of her generation.

“I started Murder She Wrote when I was 59 years old, coming up to 60, and I was lucky to fall into an extraordinary role, a role model for women of my age. Women had never been represented in the way Jessica Fletcher approached her middle age, and for the first time, those women really counted for something. They became fascinated by what was possible for women of our age to attain.”

Dame Angela Lansbury died on October 11. She was 96 years old. !

JIM LONGWORTH is the host of Triad Today, airing on Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. on ABC45 (cable channel 7) and Sundays at 11 a.m. on WMYV (cable channel 15).

Jim Longworth

Longworth at Large

Bones and All: A harrowing parable of love, loss, and hunger

of humor but not humanity.

They’re young. They’re in love. And they eat people.

That, in a nutshell, describes Bones and All , producer/ director Luca Guaganino’s striking adaptation of the best-selling novel by Camille DeAngelis. It’s a coming-of-age tale with a unique — and uncomfortable — twist. The Menu (reviewed last week) is not for all tastes, but it’s a black comedy. Bones and All is not. It’s presently strictly in dramatic terms, utterly devoid

Taylor Russell stars as Maren, a teenager in the 1980s who lives with her divorced father (André Holland). But when she commits an act of cannibalistic violence, he leaves her to her own devices, prompting her to embark on a journey of self-discovery — one that Guaganino and screenwriter/producer David Kajganich (who previously collaborated in 2018’s Suspiria remake) depict in absorbing terms.

During her cross-country jaunt to seek out her birth mother, Maren encounters Lee (Timothée Chalamet), a fellow “eater” who shows her the ropes of the nomadic lifestyle they must pursue. According to the film, there’s an entire sub-culture of cannibals at large in the heartland of America. They don’t need to eat human flesh for sustenance but are unable to control their urge for long periods of time. The camaraderie they share is unmistakable, to say nothing of uncomfortable.

The remarkable thing is that no matter how heinous Maren and Lee’s crimes are — or how vividly they are depicted (the squeamish are forewarned) — the actors manage to muster a certain amount of empathy for these tortured characters. The filmmakers treat their condition in matter-of-fact, even indifferent terms, as if it were an addiction

(possibly hereditary) that they can’t suppress.

Augmented by Arseni Khachaturan’s sweeping cinematography and an appropriately mournful score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Bones and All succeeds as a psychological thriller, a twisted character study, and even as a love story. Yet at the end, the narrative feels not so much ambiguous as incomplete. The final shot, suggesting that the memory of love trumps all, doesn’t quite ring true.

The leads are impeccable. Chalamet, reuniting with Guaganino after Call Me by Your Name (2017) and doubling as a producer, has repeatedly proven himself an actor willing to take chances, and he does so again here, expertly combining Lee’s vulnerability with a lethal charm. Russell, in a breakout performance, basically holds the film together with a poignant portrayal of adolescence in turmoil, afraid to love and trust because she knows what she’s capable of. They’re a dangerous and dynamic duo.

Also on hand are Jessica Harper, Chloe Sevigny, an unrecognizable Michael Stuhlbarg, noted filmmaker and UNCSA School of Filmmaking David Gordon Green (amusingly clad in a Dokken T-shirt), and Mark Rylance, as reliable as any actor working today, offering perhaps his most chilling screen performance as Sully, a fellow cannibal who sniffs Maren out and becomes increasingly, desperately obsessed with her. Bones and All may not work on every level, but it again demonstrates Guaganino’s penchant for tackling difficult, multi-layered material. This certainly qualifies, for those who can take it. !

Mark Burger

Contributor

ALIENOID (Well Go USA Entertainment): Writer/director Choi Dong-hoon’s science-fiction epic (originally titled Oegy+in 1bu) stars Ryu Jun-Yeol as a bumbling 14th-century magician whose quest for a mystical sword propels him into a head-spinning odyssey through time where he confronts a potential alien invasion while contending with the trappings of the contemporary world. The first in a proposed franchise, the second film is currently in post-production. In Korean with English subtitles, available on DVD ($19.99 retail) and Blu-ray ($29.98 retail), each replete with bonus features.

THE BALLAD OF THE SAD CAFÉ (Cohen Media Group/Kino Lorber): The Blu-ray bow ($29.95 retail) of actor Simon Callow’s only directorial e ort, a 1991 adaptation of the Carson McCullers novella and subsequent Edward Albee play, detailing the simmering tensions in a Depression-era Southern town where exconvict Keith Carradine arrives to marry reclusive spinster Vanessa Redgrave, with Rod Steiger, Cork Hubbert, Austin Pendleton, Anne Pitoniak, and Earl Hindman in support. Well-meaning and well-mounted but talky and melodramatic. Still, it does have its admirers. Bonus features include audio commentary and trailers. Rated PG-13.

THE BLOOD BEAST TERROR (Kino Lorber Studio Classics): The Blu-ray bow ($24.95 retail) of director Vernon Sewell’s lackluster 1968 shocker (released stateside as The Vampire-Beast Craves Blood), starring Peter Cushing as a police inspector investigating a series of bizarre murders seemingly committed by a giant death’s-head moth, which leads to an encounter with reclusive scientist Robert Flemyng (who replaced the late Basil Rathbone) and enigmatic daughter Wanda Ventham (Benedict Cumberbatch’s real-life mother). Cushing is always worth watching, but even he considered this his worst film — and he’s not far from the truth. Bonus features include audio commentary and theatrical trailer. Originally rated G (!).

BLUE ISLAND (dGenerate Films/Icarus Films Home Video): Writer/director Tze Woon Chan’s documentary feature profiles several political activists of di erent ages and experiences in Hong Kong, and the circumstances leading up to their activism, as well as the consequences they’ve faced — as many are imprisoned and/or awaiting trial. Distracting reenactments interrupt the film’s momen-

VAULT]

BY MARK BURGER

DVD PICK OF THE WEEK: DRESSED TO KILL (Kino Lorber Studio Classics)

Mind over matter. Style over substance. Murder most foul.

With his unabashedly Hitchcockian 1980 thriller Dressed to Kill, Brian De Palma not only scored both a critical and financial hit, but managed to rouse the ire of both women’s groups and what would now be called LGBTQ+ groups, the resulting controversy only serving to boost its profile. Never a stranger to controversy, De Palma always seemed to revel in the attention his films were receiving, as the subsequent Scarface (1983) and Body Double (1984) indicated.

Angie Dickinson stars as the attractive, a uent, sexually unfulfilled Kate Miller, a patient of trendy Manhattan psychiatrist Dr. Robert Elliott (Michael Caine). Following an unexpected, adulterous tryst with a handsome stranger, Kate is slashed to death in an elevator by a razor-wielding killer, the only witness being elegant call girl Liz Blake (Nancy Allen). Fearing that she could be next, Liz pairs with Kate’s teenaged son Peter (Keith Gordon), an electronics wiz whose expertise exceeds even that of the police, to track down the killer.

Elliott is convinced that the culprit is “Bobbi,” a transvestite patient who has pilfered his straight razor, and he shares his concerns with colleague Dr. Levy (David Margulies), while gum-chewing cop Detective Marino (a hilarious Dennis Franz) does his best — and worst — to antagonize Liz. For Caine, who had endured a share of duds (The Swarm, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, The Island), the success of Dressed to Kill restored his box-o ce luster. It also boosted the profile of Dickinson as an enduring sex symbol — and a talented actress — and it proved that Allen (then married to DePalma) could essentially carry a film, which she does.

Bolstered by Pino Donaggio’s florid score (appropriately echoing Bernard Herrmann) and Ralf Bode’s sleek cinematography, the film is perhaps the most stylish of all the “slasher” films that proliferated at that time, and it prefigures the flashy panache that would become commonplace during the MTV era. The mystery angle is perhaps the weakest touch, because the identity of the killer no surprise to anyone paying attention. But it hardly matters in the grand — and grandly entertaining — scheme of things.

The 4K Ultra HD combo ($39.95 retail) includes audio commentary, retrospective and vintage interviews, vintage documentary, theatrical trailer, and more. Rated R.

tum, but the final, silent scene is utterly devastating — and speaks volumes about global politics. In Cantonese and Mandarin with English subtitles, available on DVD ($29.98 retail).

THE COUNTERFEIT TRAITOR (Kino Lorber Studio Classics): The Blu-ray bow ($24.95 retail) of director/screenwriter George Seaton’s absorbing, suspenseful 1962 adaptation of Alexander Klein’s nonfiction best-seller, starring William Holden as a Swedish oil trader coerced by British Intelligence to act as a double agent during World War II. Refreshingly mature and vastly underrated, this boasts one of Holden’s best performances of the 1960s and equally fine turns by Lilli Palmer (luminous and heartbreaking) as his

contact-turned-lover and Hugh Gri th as the crafty British operative who “recruits” him, with Ernst Schroder, Wolfgang Preiss, Eva Dahlbeck, Werner Peters, and Klaus Kinski on hand. A first-rate espionage thriller perennially ripe for rediscovery. Bonus features include audio commentary and trailers.

“CREEPSHOW”: SEASON 3 (RLJE Films): Executive producer (and sometime writer/director) Greg Nicotero created this horror anthology series, aired on Shudder, based on the 1982 George A. Romero/Stephen King film inspired by classic EC Comics, featuring a star-studded cast including Mark Hamill, James Remar, Ethan Embry, Danielle Harris, Ron Livingston, Jonathan Schaech, Michael

Rooker and many others. All six episodes from the 2021 season — plus bonus features — are available on DVD and Blu-ray (each $34.97 retail).

“A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES”: SEASON 3 (RLJE Films): Teresa Palmer returns as Diana Bishop, an academic and witch attempting to learn the secrets of her craft and to seek out the Book of Life with the assistance of fellow academic and vampire Matthew Clairmont (Matthew Goode) in Elizabethan England, with series regulars Alex Kingston, Trevor Eve, Lindsay Duncan, Owen Teale, and Aiysha Hart on hand for all seven episodes from the 2022 (and final) season of the AMC series based on the best-selling “All Souls” trilogy by executive producer Deborah Harkness, available on DVD and Blu-ray (each $34.99 retail), each boasting bonus features. RLJE Films has also released the self-explanatory “A Discovery of Witches: The Complete Trilogy,” which includes all 25 episodes — plus bonus features — from the entire 2018-’22 series run, available on DVD and Blu-ray (each $79.99 retail).

HOLD ME TIGHT (Kino Lorber): Actorturned-screenwriter/director Mathieu Amalric’s drama (originally titled Serre moi fort), based on Claudine Galea’s play Je reviens de loin) stars Vicki Krieps as a woman who inexplicably walks out on her husband and children, and how the resulting fall-out a ects them. In French with English subtitles, available on DVD ($19.95 retail) and Blu-ray ($29.95 retail), each boasting audio commentary, Q&A and interview session, theatrical trailer, and more.

A KNIFE IN THE HEAD (Cohen Media Group/Kino Lorber): Bruno Ganz headlines director Reinhard Hau ’s awardwinning 1978 political thriller (originally titled Messer im Kopf) as a scientist who survives being shot in the head during a police raid, only to awaken from his coma to a firestorm of controversy with the police claiming he was engaged in terrorist activities and the political revolutionaries celebrating him as an innocent victim of police brutality. Still relevant and resonant, with Ganz in top form as the conflicted, contemplative protagonist and solid support from Hans Christian Blech and Angela Winkler. In German with English subtitles, available on Blu-ray ($29.95 retail), featuring retrospective interviews.

!

See MARK BURGER’s reviews of current movies on Burgervideo.com. © 2022. Mark Burger.

leisure

NOT FIT FOR OFFICE

Bud May, 37, of Kyle, South Dakota, lost his bid for a state House of Representatives seat in 2022 — and it may have been a good thing. On Nov. 13, May was arrested and charged with second-degree rape after an alleged assault on a woman in a bar bathroom stall, the Argus Leader reported. When he was asked in court whether the interaction was consensual, he replied, “I’m 6-foot-8, it’s all consensual.” Police reported that when they found the victim, she was cowering behind the bar and had dirt and blood on her, which she said was May’s because he was in an earlier altercation. May appeared in court on Nov. 14 for a separate incident, and he has three outstanding warrants from the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety from September and October. [Argus Leader, 11/16/2022]

LEAST COMPETENT CRIMINAL

When alleged thief Jonathan James Frazier, 35, snatched a surveillance camera from the backyard of a home in Tullahoma, Tennessee, the camera’s owner received a motion alert and watched on his cellphone as Frazier stashed it in his backpack, then pulled it out and sold it “to a male subject that police were able to identify,” the Tullahoma News reported. The live feed continued at the purchaser’s home, where o cers caught up with the loot; the purchaser told them where they could find Frazier, and Frazier confessed to the larceny. [Tullahoma News, 11/28/2022]

IN (NOT SO) HOT WATER

— About 200 ice-fishing enthusiasts had to be evacuated from Upper Red Lake, Minnesota, on Nov. 28 after a large chunk of ice broke free from the main shoreline, stranding them about 30 yards away, WDIO-TV reported. The Beltrami County Sheri ’s o ce received a 911 call around 11:30 a.m.; employing a drone to assess the situation, o cers used a temporary bridge to reach the fishers, along with airboats and water rescue boats. All anglers were returned to safety. [WDIO, 11/28/2022]

— On Nov. 28, as the oil and chemical tanker Alithini II pulled into Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, it also carried three stowaways — riding the ship’s rudder at the stern, just feet above the water line. The Guardian reported that the three men had survived an 11-day journey from Nigeria — more than 2,700 nautical miles

— and were su ering from hypothermia and dehydration. The Spanish coast guard rescued them. [Guardian, 11/28/2022]

IT’S A MYSTERY

Volusia County (Florida) o cials are ba ed by an object that has been unearthed at Dayton Beach Sands, clickorlando.com reported. In the aftermath of hurricanes Ian and Nicole, the 80- to 100-foot-long structure appeared, partially buried in the sand, said Volusia Beach Safety Deputy Chief Tammy Malphurs. “We’re not sure what it is,” she said, adding that she’d been on the beach for 25 years and had never seen it before. The storms caused unprecedented beach erosion. An archaeological team from the state is expected to visit soon to study the object. [clickorlando.com, 11/29/2022]

PICKY, PICKY

The Cowboy State Daily reported on Nov. 27 that Vern and Shireen Liebl are hoping to make a move to Wyoming, with one very particular criterion dictating which city they choose: the public library. The Liebls have been traversing Wyoming, visiting libraries, for the last 3 1/2 months, hoping to see each one the state has to o er. There have been a few standouts along the way, they report: In Glenrock, Vern said, “They have these skylights up there, and it’s like blonde wood, and it just feels so light and airy.” He also loved the name of the library in Ranchester: the Tongue River Library. His infatuation with libraries also extends to bookstores: “I think that one of the finest smells in the world is to go into an old bookstore ... and just inhale the essence of the paper,” Vern said. [Cowboy State Daily, 11/27/2022]

OUR LITIGIOUS SOCIETY

Amanda Ramirez of Hialeah, Florida, filed a class-action lawsuit against Kraft Heinz Foods Co. on Nov. 18, seeking $5 million. Her complaint? Velveeta’s microwavable Shells & Cheese instructions indicate the dish is ready in 3 1/2 minutes, but Ramirez says that is “false and misleading because the product takes longer than the 3 1/2 minutes to prepare for consumption.” The suit goes on to say that the 3 1/2 minutes are merely the time needed for microwaving the product, which is just one of several steps. Kraft Heinz told Fox Business that the suit is “frivolous” and that they will “strongly defend against the allegations in the complaint.” [Fox Business, 11/27/2022] !

©2022 Andrews McMeel Universal

BY THE EDITORS AT ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

Verifiable

No longer practicing: Abbr.

Marcos of the Philippines

Texas city

Poet Wylie or novelist Glyn

Double cluck of reproach

Some till bills

Sweetie

LP player of old

Uganda’s Idi

Donator of services

Old TV clown

“Fer —!” (“Like, totally!”)

Take responsibility for something

Easter flower

Spot’s jingler

Tennis player Edberg 96 Fava —

Catch sight of 98 Dressed for a ball

Serve, as at a restaurant 101 Concluding musical parts 104 “You, over there ...” 105 Dayton locale 107 Horse foot 108 — Reader (eclectic quarterly) 110 “Oh, sure!” 111 Part of a vase 113 Alaska city 114 Revise text 115 “ER” folks 117 Marshall Plan prez 118 Swallowed 119 Big success 120 Overly

HOLIDAY LIGHTS IN THE TRIAD O A G T H R

Looking for some Holiday fun?

There are several events and venues across the Triad to entertain those ranging in age from 4 to 94 this Holiday season. Below we highlight some popular sites in the Triad.

CYPRESS TRAILS

In Elkin, Cypress Trails Events will host its annual lights display on more than five acres of land for families looking for a stroll under the stars. A staple in the Triad area, Cypress Trials o ers themed lights throughout the year, including Halloween Light Show, a Christmas Light Show, a

Spring Light Show, and its annual Wine Festival.

This year’s Holiday Light Show features twinkling trails, a bonfire, plenty of photo opportunities, and animated displays, with your choice of hot chocolate, beer, or wine to keep you warm while you visit the site.

The venue features three trails that start and end around a bonfire with plenty of lights to guide your footsteps. Together, the trails total out to approximately a half mile. Each trail has its own theme with displays, lights, and music. Attendees are welcome to stay as long as they’d like. Tickets range from $7.50

to $11.50 and parking is included in the ticket price. For a schedule and to purchase tickets, visit www.cypresstrailsevents.com.

FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS TANGLEWOOD PARK

Down in Clemmons, you can catch a regional staple with Forsyth County’s Tanglewood Park’s 31st season of the Festival of Lights. Presented by Lowes Foods, Festival of Lights spans more than five miles with more than a million lights.

For more than two decades, attendees have lined up to drive through (sometimes waiting up to two hours) more than 80 displays on the winding countryside. There are festive tunes to go along with the lights and interactive musical displays. Some songs are original compositions by students at the local University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

Halfway through your ride, you can do some holiday shopping at that Red Barn’s Gift Shop. As in years past, there will be an o ering of holiday crafts, foods, and handmade gifts by local artists. Tanglewood Stables will o er horse-drawn carriage rides and tractor-pulled hayrides, but they must be scheduled in advance. Lowes Foods will be o ering up treats with S’moresville in Gift Village. They will be selling roasting sticks with either marshmallows or s’mores to o er up a sweet time.

Prices range from $20 to $120, depend-

ing on the vehicle you are riding in. The show will run until January 1, 2023. For more information, visit www.forsyth.cc/ Parks/Tanglewood.

GREENSBORO SCIENCE CENTER WINTER WONDERLIGHTS

Hosted by local community leaders and businesses, Greensboro Science Center’s Winter Wonderlights 2022 will showcase the center in a more festive spirit.

The center has been broken down into walkable Holiday-themed sites and winter wonderland events. Attendees will be able to catch light shows and movies in the Sweet Celebrations table area, watch the Dancing Fountains and catch the lights at the Polar Pond. Along the Starry Night, Wild Walk and Forest of Light trails, visitors can take in hundreds of lights.

For those seeking to do more than watch the lights, they can find them at the museum’s Festive Fun Zone, amongst the Treehouse Lights, and at the Dino Disco.

The carousel will be open to rides, and there will be photo opportunities available at the decorative wreath, ornament, and Gingerbread house.

For more information, visit www. greensboroscience.org/winterwonderlights.

Tanglewood Festival of Lights

HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY CHRISTMAS DRIVE

High Point University will host its annual Christmas Drive celebration until January 1. The event, which is free and open to the public, is a way for families and High Point residents to enjoy a myriad of festive lights and activities. Once a full-blown walk on through campus, the Drive allows families to still enjoy more than 100,000 Christmas lights, more than 200 nutcrackers, and several elaborate decorated Christmas trees.

Guests will enter campus at the University Parkway entrance and exit at Panther Drive onto Lexington Avenue by the Nido and Mariana Qubein Arena and Conference Center.

There will be a life-size Nativity scene with animals and shepherds, holiday decorations, and 10 feet tall ornaments.

“Every year, we look forward to welcoming thousands of families and friends to our campus for the Christmas Drive,” said HPU President Dr. Nido Qubein in a media release. “This is one of many ways we celebrate the Christmas season and bring people together for joy and fellowship.”

For more information, visit https:// www.highpoint.edu/community/christmas/.

KERSEY VALLEY CHRISTMAS

In its second season, Kersey Valley Adventures in Archdale will host its Kersey Valley Christmas event Lights, Santa Action!

This year’s event will feature a Candy Cane Lane walk-through light show, a wagon, and a train ride around the light show. The kid-friendly event will o er a new adventure playground, Santa’s Workshop, and Reindeer Stalls.

“This year, we’re inviting everyone to get out of the stu y car and long lines for other light shows that leave the kids— and adults—falling asleep before the fun

begins,” said Tony Wohlgemuth, who coowns Kersey Valley Attractions with his wife Donna, said in a media release. “At Kersey Valley Christmas, the fun starts on the midway and continues throughout the entire property. Our goal is to expand the show each year and make it bigger and better than before, giving everyone something new to come back and experience every year.”

With more than one million LED lights, a Snow Blizzard featuring 5-foot snowflakes falling from 45 feet in the air, holiday music, and magical sets, including some that are custom and unique only to Kersey Valley, visitors can expect a winter wonderland experience. Children can download a letter to drop in Santa’s mailbox and get a photo with the big guy himself as well as The Grinch.

Admission is $30 for ages four and up and $20 for seniors 65 and up. For more information, visit wwww.kerseyvalleychrismas.com.

MCLAURIN FARMS CHRISTMAS

Mclaurin Farms in Greensboro has become one of the Triad’s top holiday attractions drawing in thousands to visit the light show, the same way it does for its Halloween Woods of Terror.

The farm is decked out in roughly a million lights, o ering a ride-through light show along with a walking trail.

Attendees can catch a hayride through the lights, there’s a letter station for letters to Santa and a place to make ornaments. This year, there is also a jump pad and playground available.

Santa, The Grinch and more will be available for photos and there will be a space for concessions including donuts, s’mores, hot chocolate, and apple cider.

It is still a farm, so there will be opportunities to see di erent animals and the Grain Train.

For more information, visit https:// mclaurinfarms.com/winter. !

Greensboro Science Center Winter Wonderlights

High Point University Christmas Drive

Cypress Trails

Greensboro Ballet’s new artistic director brings change and charm to The Nutcracker

Pyotr Ily-

Tchaikovsky in an interview published by the newspaper Odessa Leaflet ( Одесский лиситок ) in January of 1893.

The great 19thcentury Russian composer was referring to one of his last, and eventually, most beloved works, The Nutcracker ( Щелкунчик ), a fairy tale ballet in two acts, for which he composed and orchestrated the music between February 1891 and April 1892, and which had its underwhelming Saint Petersburg premiere in December 1892.

By the time it opened, eight numbers from the score, previously published as The Nutcracker Suite , were both popular and acclaimed, but it took longer for the ballet to become beloved. After attending the premiere, music critic and historian Alexandre Benois called the choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev

Ivanov clumsy and confusing. Another critic mocked Antonietta Dell’Era, who played the Sugarplum Fairy, as “corpulent.”

The ballet was not performed in Moscow until 1919, London until 1934, and New York until 1940. None of these productions were particularly successful.

But The Nutcracker’s fortunes changed in 1954, when George Balanchine staged it for the New York City Ballet, where the Sugarplum Fairy was performed by Maria Tallchief, the revolutionary Osage Nation dancer now considered America’s first major Prima Ballerina. The ballet that had been considered not nearly as good as its score became both a worldwide sensation and an annual tradition.

It’s now the most popular ballet in the world. Writing about competing productions for the New York Times in 2009, Daniel J Watkins observed that most American ballet companies generate around 40% of their annual ticket revenues from performances of The Nutcracker . For American ballet companies, it’s become as much a seasonal tradition as Amahl and the Night Visitors is for opera companies and A Christmas Carol is for community theaters.

YES! Weekly asked Christine Grider, who in August became the new Artist Director of Greensboro Ballet, about keeping such a perennial fresh and creative.

“I think this year we’re particularly doing that, because we’re approaching it in a different way. The Nutcracker has, of course, gone on for many generations, and the music is so lovely and wonderful, but a lot of times it’s done in the same old format. One of the exciting things was trying to imagine the visuals to accompany that music, and to look past what it was originally composed for, which was the Russian Imperial Court. I had to find a new way to interpret that musical score, and find a way to relate it to audiences nowadays.”

Part of doing that involved ditching some cultural stereotypes. As early as the 1930s, some critics had harsh words for the “Chinese” and “Arabian” dances and characters in the second act, when the Nutcracker takes Clara to a fairyland of living dolls, but also one in which white dancers representing “Coffee” and “Tea” wore makeup that would now be

called “yellowface” and “brownface.”

“Our fresh take,” said Grider, “is getting away from that type of imperialist imagery and reimagining the story in a different way. In the original tale, when the Nutcracker takes Clara to the land of the dolls, the dolls are based on stereotyped nationalities. I’m trying to stay away from that, and gear it more towards the fact that they are dolls rather than European caricatures of other cultures, and to reimagine those dolls.”

Grider has been with Greensboro Ballet for a little over three months. Like most creators and performers, she’d had a variety of jobs in her field.

“I was administrative director of the Raleigh School of Ballet for a number of years, and before that, artistic director of the Triangle Youth Ballet in Chapel Hill. Going further back, I had a very short professional career, dancing with Ballet Memphis and in Pittsburgh, before I fell in love with teaching and retired from the stage when I was 25.”

A big part of the Artistic Director’s job is choreography.

“Most of it is that, especially in this case. This is an entirely new choreographed production and it’s straight out of my head onto the stage. I think that’s a huge part of what an artistic director does. But another part is to promote other artists, and to give other choreographers a chance to find their voice on the stage.”

Grider has particular praise for DomSebastian Alexis, artistic director of TheBBoyBallet, who, as in previous years, plays the crucial role of Drosselmeyer, the mysterious and magical toymaker.

“He’s danced that role for a number of years, but I approached him this year and asked him to jump on it again, and he very gladly did. He’s been amazing to work with and brings his own fun and wonderful style to ballet. His form of dance, hip-hop, is not within the classical restraints of the ballet, but with anything in theater, you’re sometimes asked to try to suspend reality, and just enjoy what you’re seeing at the moment, and he brings this wonderful

“It seemed to me that the public did not like it,” said

ich

Ian McDowell

Contributor

Alicia Mae Holloway

Taylor Ayotte

PHOTO BY NIGEL ARMES

COURTESY OF DANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM

creative energy and atmosphere to it, and it’s been a pleasure working with him. He has a totally different take on Drosselmeyer, but he does it with such enthusiasm and passion that it really works. I’ve sometimes made suggestions, usually very gentle ones, but my process has been one of letting him find the way that moves from point A to point B on his own.”

One reason why Tchaikovsky may not have been hugely fond of the original 1892 ballet is that the composer greatly admired the stories of the German writer E. T. A Hoffman, whose dark and fantastic tales for children and adults have been compared to those of the Brothers Grimm and Edgar Allan Poe. While Drosselmeyer, the Nutcracker, Clara (originally called Maria), the seven-headed Mouse King and his invading rodent army, and the Kingdom of Dolls all originated in Hoffmann’s 1816 story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” ( Nussknacker und Mausekönig ), the ballet’s libretto is not directly based on Hoffman’s tale, but on “The History of a Nutcracker,” a lighter adaptation by the prolific French writer Alexander Dumas, who removed Hoffman’s deeply strange chapter “The Hard Nut,” made Maria/Clara’s family life much happier, and deleted Hoffman’s hints that her magical experience was not only real but changed her greatly.

Since the 1980s, some productions of The Nutcracker , including one designed by Maurice Sendak, have restored darker elements from the original source, sometimes adding undercurrents about adolescence and sexual awakening to productions in which Clara is played by an adult. Grider said she took a more innocent approach to the material, especially since the two dancers she cast as Clara are both 10 years old.

“I know and I understand all the undercurrents that have come to be associated with The Nutcracker via some other productions, especially through Act 1, but wanted to keep it a fairy tale in the first act, and to definitely portray Clara as a child. That’s why I used younger performers. Not to reveal spoilers, but that’s why we end with her coming out of a dream. There’s something very nice and innocent about it that I wanted to keep.”

But she stressed that portraying that innocence required difficult and dedicated work.

“The kids were there for long hours at the beginning. I kept saying to them, we’re about to run a marathon, we have to train for it, and this is what we do. And while it was hard at first, as the choreography came to fruition, and

things became more solidified in their heads about what we were doing, all that hard work paid off completely. Before giving them off for Thanksgiving, I said, we’re ready to run that marathon now. And they were so happy. That’s one of the things I love about teaching, being able to nurture a child and say ‘I know it’s really hard for you right now, but you can do this,’ and then seeing the realization in their faces, that after all that rehearsal, they’ve got this.”

The young dancers who portray Clara are Camille Muse and Ella Ibe, both of whom Grider praised highly. She also said that audiences should expect some major professional talent.

“Besides Dom, we have a number of fabulous guest artists. Our first weekend of shows, Saturday, December 10 and Sunday, December 11, we have two dancers from the Carolina Ballet. I have a longstanding relationship with Carolina Ballet, so they’re sending over Taylor Ayotte and Pierson Hall, who will be performing the first weekend with us. Taylor will be portraying the Sugar Plum Fairy and Pierson, the Cavalier.”

“Then on Friday, December 16 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, December 18, at 3 p.m., we’re going to have Alicia Mae Holloway as the Sugarplum Fairy. She’s from the Dance Theater of Harlem and just fabulous. At 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday, December 17, Megan LeCrone will dance the Sugarplum Fairy. She’s an alumna with us who is currently a soloist with New York City Ballet, and who reached out to us this year and said she’d love to come back to Greensboro and guest.”

There’s another significant reunion.

“My former student George Sanders, whom I taught when he was so little, and who grew up and was with Ballet Memphis for a long time, just finished up a performance with Twyla Tharp in New York, and he’s going to the Cavalier on December 16, 17 and 18. I’m really excited about all this because it feels like I’m bringing a little bit of New York City down to Greensboro. But one of the best reasons to see the show will be the joy on all the performer’s faces.” !

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

WANNA go?

Tickets are available at the box o ce of the Carolina Theatre of Greensboro, where the ballet will be performed, from noon to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Tickets can also be purchased online at CarolinaTheatre.com.

Pierson Hall

Megan LeCrone

COURTESY OF NEW YORK CITY BALLET

Katei Cranford

Triad musicians and venues are in the spirit of hosting benefit shows and charity drives to share good tunes, good will, and holiday cheer.

Good Tunes and Good Will

peer-support, life skills training and harm reduction practices over 65 chapters in 23 states — two of which are in the Triad area, with chapters in Asheboro and Greensboro (with an on-campus program at N.C. A&T).

Shalom Project works to “serve the underserved” with a free medical clinic, pharmacy, food pantry, closet, diaper bank, and other support programs. “The Shalom Project runs programs that challenge the cycle of poverty in our community with a spirit of inclusion, compassion, and justice,” said Foster, who’s also a Program Manager at TSP.

Cli Greason in the lineup as the Arrows. “If folks are anything like me they have some extra jackets lying around,” he said of suggested donations. “New or gentlyused winter hats, gloves, and blankets are always appreciated as well.”

In the spirit of the classic Christmas album, musician and producer TJ George has released “Christmas Smooth,” featuring artists like the Pointer Sisters, Al Jarreau, and Climax Blues Band, to raise funds for Young People in Recovery, a national nonprofit agency that supports young people recovering from substance abuse through

Contributor

Extending the importance of mental health services among the musician community, the “Be Good to Yourself ” project, with its accompanying album and concert series, continues raising funds to o er musicians and their families access to counseling and care providers. The 2021 album featured a few dozen notable North Carolinian musicians — including Je rey Dean Foster, who’ll perform with his band, The Arrows, at Gas Hill Drinking Room on December 15 for a special “Warm for the Holidays” winter coat drive and fundraiser for the Shalom Project.

A Winston-Salem non-profit, The

“I just make sure the programs happen every week with the help of many, many volunteers,” he added, noting a steady rise in clients and TSP’s current search for a new building to house their services under one roof (while also working to help build a ordable housing in the Winston-Salem area).

As a musician, Foster is making sure to put on a solid rock-n-roll show — with Crenshaw Pentecostal rounding the bill — and Sam Frazier, Chris Micca, and

In Greensboro, Antion Scales, Demeanor, and Chris Meadows hope to help share the warmth — and throw a Christmas party folks will “still be talking about next year” — with the “Under the Mistletoe” pajama party and coat drive at the Flat Iron on December 18. DJ Dlinkwent will be on deck, with donations being collected for the annual “Give a Kid a Coat” program.

Meanwhile, the WHOA: Working Class & Houseless Organizing Alliance has partnered with Greensboro venues as drop sites for their annual sleeping bag drive, in memory of Marcus Smith, running

throughout the winter. Collections are accepted at etc.GSO, College Hill Sundries, Common Grounds, Elsewhere Museum, and the Green Bean. Requested items include: sleeping bags, blankets, tents and tarps, warm socks, coats, jackets, shoes, and boots. An o cial list and more information can be found on their website: linktr.ee/whoagso

From keeping folks warm to warming the hearts of children, toy drives are in full swing. The Brewer’s Kettle in Kernersville has a Toys for Tots drop box through December 16. And Monstercade is partnering with the folks from “Hope House, shows for Hope,” for a fundraiser and toy drive on December 10. Donations will be accepted in lieu of a cover, with All My Circuits, Seneca Burns, Condado, Forever Yours, Home For The Day, and Fifty Flies filling the showbill.

Over at the Ramkat, the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society will host its annual “Spirit of Giving Toy Drive and Fundraiser” at Gas Hill Drinking Room on December 13. Serving as a pre-show party for the Tab Benoit & Dirty Dozen Brass Band concert that evening. Attendees can exchange unwrapped toy donations or cash gifts to PBPS for a $5 discount on admission to the Benoit show. The “Spirit of Giving” event will also feature performances by winners of the 2022 PBPS Road to Memphis Blues Challenge (who’ll head to the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN come January).

From warm hearts to full bellies, the “FOX8 & Old Dominion Holiday Concert” series returns to the stage — with Triad performances at the Greensboro Coliseum on December 16 and at the LJVM Coliseum in Winston-Salem on December 17. “As always, admission to the in-person symphony concerts will be free of charge with a canned food donation,” organizers explained. “Attendees are encouraged to bring a minimum of five cans per person.”

Hosted by Katie Nordeen and Neill McNeill, the Greensboro concert will feature the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, along with vocalist Victor Solomon, Latingrass duo Larry & Joe, the Summit Figure Skating Club, and even a visit from Santa. In Winston-Salem, Laurelyn Dossett will join the Winston-Salem Symphony, along with Wendy and DaShawn Hickman, to lead a “coliseum full of folks” in a big ‘ol carol sing.

For movie bu s in the spirit, RiverRun Film Festival organizers have partnered with Marketplace Cinemas for a food drive and special screening of “Elf” on December 17, to benefit the Samaritan Ministries Food Bank. Festivities include a live Q&A with sound designer Wade Wilson and a pre-show concert from the Summit

Strings Quartet. Admission is two canned goods per ticket.

Meanwhile, a/perture cinema is hosting the “Bah Humbugember Holiday Film Fest,” screening “The Man Who Invented Christmas,” December 10-11, and “The Muppet Christmas Carol,” December 17-18. Admission goes directly to the SECU Family House, and donations of paper goods (toilet paper, paper towels, plates, bowls, and napkins) are also requested.

While SECU Family House helps folks and families traveling to Forsyth County for medical care, the Triad Health Project o ers medical case management along with food and transport assistance for those living with HIV in Guilford County. With a mission to “see a future free from HIV,” THP also o ers outreach, advocacy, and free HIV/STI testing across the community. In celebration and support of that mission, Westerwood Tavern will host a chili cook-o fundraiser and clothing drive for THP on December 18.

Extending the holiday spirit to man’s best friend, SPCA of the Triad is hosting a Holiday Donation Drive, accepting an array of dog-friendly items at various Triad businesses (including brewery venues like Joymongers and South End Brewing in Greensboro). And in Winston-Salem, the “2022 Jingle Jog 5K and Santa Strut” o ers charity runs benefitting Ru Love Rescue, with a post-race party at Radar Brewing on December 17. Interested participants can get paired with canine running partners available for adoption. Leashed pets are also welcome — with registered pups receiving their own racing bib.

Whether it’s helping folks stay healthy and warm or putting a smile on their face, Triad musicians and venues extend good will this holiday season. !

KATEI CRANFORD is a Triad music nerd who spotlights area artists and events.

WANNA go?

For more information on mentioned local agencies, visit:

https://youngpeopleinrecovery.org/ https://demand-impact.org/albums/2/ https://begoodtoyourselfmusic.com/ https://theshalomprojectnc.org/ https://linktr.ee/whoagso https://www.facebook.com/houseshowsforhope/ https://www.samaritanforsyth.org/ https://www.familyhousews.org/ https://www.triadhealthproject.org https://www.triadspca.org/ https://www.ru overescue.com/ https://www.jinglejog5k.com/

ARCHDALE

FIREHOUSE TAPROOM

10146 N Main St | 336.804.9441 www.facebook.com/firehousetaproom/

Dec 9: Dylan Smith & Angel Paez

Dec 10: Vinyl Tap Band

Dec 11: Warren Phillips Band

Dec 16: The Fabulous Flashbacks

Dec 17: Red House Band

Dec 18: Cory Luetjen & The Traveling Blues Band

ASHEBORO

FOUR SAInTS BREWIng

218 South Fayetteville St. | 336.610.3722

www.foursaintsbrewing.com

Thursdays: Taproom Trivia

Fridays: Music Bingo

Dec 17: Eck McCanless

Dec 18: Honky Tonk Jam w/ Mark Dillion & Friends

Jan 1: Randolph Jazz Band

Jan 7: graymatter

Jan 15: Honky Tonk Jam w/ Mark DIllion & Friends

Jan 28: High Cotton

Feb 5: Randolph Jazz Band

CARBORRO

CAT ’S CRADLE

300 E Main St | 919.967.9053 www.catscradle.com

Dec 7: Lightning Bolt

Dec 8: Jump, Little Children

Dec 9: Kelsey Waldon

Dec 10: The greeting Committee

Dec 10: Southern Culture on the Skids

Dec 12: Special Interest

Dec 13: The Happy Fits

Dec 13: Baked Shrimp

Dec 14: Mclusky

Dec 15: Turnover

Dec 15-16: Eliza McLamb

Jan 6: Billy Prine & The Prine Time Band

Jan 7: The Kingsby Manx, nathan Bowles & Joe O’Connell

Jan 14: Victoria Victoria

Jan 14: Magic City Hippies

Jan 20: Town Mountain

Jan 20: Chuck Prophet Trio

Jan 24: night Moves

Jan 25: John Craigie

Jan 27: Rubblebucket

Jan 27: Matt Heckler

Feb 1: Suki Waterhouse

Feb 2: MJ Lenderman

Feb 3: flipturn

Feb 6: Patty griffin

Feb 7: Durry

CHARLOttE

BOJAngLES COLISEUM

2700 E Independence Blvd | 704.372.3600 www.boplex.com

Dec 10: Southern Soul Music Festival

Dec 16: nutcracker! Magic of Christmas Ballet

Dec 31: The Avett Brothers

Jan 13: Stephen Sharer

Jan 29: Asphalt Meadows w/ Momma

Feb 3: Fantasia w/ special guest Joe

home grown mu S ic S cene | c ompiled by Shane h art

Feb 4: Viva Chuhuahua

Feb 8: John Mellencamp

Feb 25: 2023 Blues Alright Tour

THE FILLMORE

1000 NC Music Factory Blvd | 704.916.8970 www.livenation.com

Dec 7: Jinjer

Dec 8: Machine Head

Dec 15: From Ashes To new

Dec 18: ‘Twas the Drag Show Before Christmas

Dec 20: Destroy Lonely

Dec 31: Peekaboo

Jan 20: giggly Squid

Jan 21: gregory Alan Isakov

Jan 25: Babytron

Jan 26: We Came As Romans

Jan 27: noel Miller

Jan 27: gloRilla

Jan 29: Steel Panther

Feb 1: Token

Feb 5: Big gigantic

Feb 13: Lil Darkie

Feb 14: STRFKR

Feb 15: Parkway Drive

Feb 16: Russel Dickerson

Feb 18: Adam Melchor

Feb 19: Danny Ocean

Feb 21: Colony House

Feb 24: Big Head Todd And The Monsters

Feb 25: Subtronics

Feb 25: Eric Bellinger

Feb 27: Ari Lennox

Feb 28: DVSn

SPECTRUM CEnTER

333 E Trade St | 704.688.9000 www.spectrumcentercharlotte.com

Dec 10: Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Dec 15: Charlotte R&B Music Experience

Jan 21: Barry Manilow: Hits 2023

Feb 8: Carrie Underwood

Feb 17: Impractical Jokers

Feb 26: Winter Jam 2023

CLEmmOnS

VILLAgE

DuRHAm

CAROLInA THEATRE

309 W Morgan St | 919.560.3030 www.carolinatheatre.org

Dec 7: Herb Alpert and Lani Hall

Jan 30: Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band

Feb 11: Angel Olsen

Feb 18: Shana Tucker, ChamberSoul Cello & Songs

DPAC

123 Vivian St | 919.680.2787 www.dpacnc.com

Dec 7: Allman Family Revival

Dec 22: Fantasia

Dec 23: The Hip Hop nutcracker

Jan 3 -8: TInA -The Tina Turner Musical

Jan 14: Stephen Sharer

Jan 18-22: Come From Away

Jan 31- Feb 5: Cats

Feb 8: Dancing with the Stars: Live! Feb 24-26: Riverdance

ELKIn

REEVES THEATER

129 W Main St | 336.258.8240 www.reevestheater.com

Wednesdays: Reeves Open Mic Fourth Thursdays: Old-Time Jam Dec 9: Donna the Buffalo

Dec 10: Drifters Revue

Dec 16: The Music of John Prime Dec 17: Holiday Magic Jan 14: Blue Ridge Opry

gREEnSBORO

BARn DInnER THEATRE

120 Stage Coach Tr. | 336.292.2211 www.barndinner.com

nov 26 - Dec 18: Black nativity

CAROLInA THEATRE

310 S. Greene Street | 336.333.2605 www.carolinatheatre.com

Dec 16: greensboro Ballet: The nutcracker

Dec 17: Chad Eby and Ariel Pocock quartet

Jan 6: Bill and the Belles

Jan 7: Will McBride

Feb 11: Rouge: A Cirque & Dance Cabaret

CHAR BAR NO. 7

3724 Lawndale Dr. | 336.545.5555 www.charbar7.com

Dec 8: The Good Watts

Dec 9: Adam Church

Dec 10: Stone Dolls

Dec 15: James Vincent Carroll

Dec 16: Isaac and Adele

Dec 22: Michael Chaney

Dec 23: Dustin Curlee

Dec 29: Whiskey Pines

Dec 30: Savannah Harmon

COMEDY ZONE

1126 S Holden Rd | 336.333.1034 www.thecomedyzone.com

Dec 9-10: Gianmarco Soresi

Dec 14: Charleston White

Dec 16-17: Mutzie

Dec 30: Bodacious

Jan 6-7: Shaun Jones

Jan 12: Emma Willmann

Jan 27-28: Big Jay Oakerson

COMMON GROUNDS

602 S Elm Ave | 336.698.388 www.facebook.com/CommonGroundsGreensboro

CONE DENIM

117 S Elm St | 336.378.9646 www.cdecgreensboro.com

GARAGE TAVERN

5211 A West Market St | 336.763.2020 www.facebook.com/GarageTavernGreensboro

Dec 8: Patrick Rock

Dec 9: Borther Pearl

Dec 10: Huckleberry Shyne

Dec 15: Aaron Carter

Dec 16: Cory Luetjen

Dec 17: Megan Doss & Friends

Dec 22: Bradley Steele Dec 23: DJ Todd

Dec 29: Renae Paige

Dec 30:

StEvEn tangEr CEntEr

300 N Elm Street | 336.333.6500

www.tangercenter.com

Dec 13: Bela Fleck

Dec 14: Hip Hop nutcracker

Dec 17: Heather McMahan

Dec 18: Worship Live Holiday tour

Dec 31: the Kruger Brothers

Jan 8: Styx

Jan 13: george Lopez

Jan 18: Shen Yun

Jan 21: James Ehnes

Jan 24-29: Cats

Feb 1: Jason Isbell + the 400 Unit

Feb 7-9: rIverdance

tHE IDIot Box CoMEDY CLUB

503 N. Greene St | 336.274.2699 www.idiotboxers.com thursdays: open Mic

Dec 9: David goolsby

Dec 10: Kenyon adamcik

Dec 17: Carter Deems

Jan 13: Eric Brown & Juice adkins

Jan 21: Drew Davis Feb 3-4: robert Baril

WInEStYLES

3326 W Friendly Ave Suite 141 | 336.299.4505 www.facebook.com/winestylesgreens boro277

Dec 10: Stewart

high point

1614 DMB

1614 N Main St | 336.883.4113 https://www.1614drinksmusicbilliards.com/

Dec 2: Slightly Emotional

Dec 3: retro vInyl

Dec 10: Wesley Bryan

Dec 16: nirvani

Dec 17: Black glass

Dec 31: Bending Fate

HIgH PoInt tHEatrE

220 E Commerce Ave | 336.883.3401 www.highpointtheatre.com

Dec 9-11: a Christmas Carol: the Musical

Jan 7: the songs of John Prine

Jan 13: Mario the Maker Magician

Feb 9: new York rockabilly rockets

jamestown

tHE DECK

118 E Main St | 336.207.1999 www.thedeckatrivertwist.com

Friday & Saturday: Live Bands

Dec 8: renae Paige

Dec 9: Second glance

Dec 10: radio revolver

Dec 15: Bradley Steele

Dec 16: audio Clypse

Dec 17: Stereo Doll

Dec 22: Ethan Smith Dec 23: DJ tJ Dec 29: DJ Jen Dec 31: Hampton Drive

kernersville

BrEatHE

CoCKtaIL LoUngE

221 N Main St. | 336.497.4822 www.facebook.com/BreatheCocktail Lounge

Wednesdays: Karaoke

Jan 14: Sprocket

KErnErSvILLE

BrEWIng CoMPanY

221 N Main St. | 336.816.7283 www.facebook.com/kernersvillebrewing thursdays:

liberty

tHE

LIBErtY

SHoWCaSE tHEatEr

101 S. Fayetteville St | 336.622.3844 www.TheLibertyShowcase.com

Dec 9: Jerry allison & Friends

Dec 10: Jimmy Fortune

Jan 7: the Embers Band

Jan 14: ricky Skaggs

Jan 20: the Isaacs

Jan 28: Stephen Freeman and Echoes of a Legend Show Band

Feb 3: twitty & Lynn: a tribute to Conway & Loretta

Feb 4: Lonesome river Band

Feb 11: Wonderwall: a Beatles tribute

Feb 25: Wade Hayes w/ Dewey Brown

raleigh

CCU MUSIC ParK at WaLnUt CrEEK

3801 Rock Quarry Rd | 919.821.4111 www.livenation.com

Dec 30: Magic of Lights: Drivethrough Holiday Lights Experience

LInCoLn tHEatrE

126 E. Cabarrus St | 919.831.6400 www.lincolntheatre.com

Dec 7: Delta rae

Dec 9: the Connells w/ the Whom

Dec 10: the Dune Dogs

Dec 14: andy Frasco & the U.n. W/ Little Stranger

Dec 15: the vegabonds

Dec 16: arrested Development W/ terminator x

Dec 17: neighbor

Dec 18: Scotty Mccreery, george Birge, Kylie Morgan

Dec 22: Jump, Little Children w/ Frances Cone

Dec 23: Smell the glove

Dec 29: Cris Jacons

Dec 20: Into the Fog

Dec 31: red Panda

Jan 12: By george, Harvey Street Company, Late notice

Jan 13: adam Knight’s Buried alivea tribute to Phish

Jan 15: Shot thru the Heart - Bon Jovi tribute w/ Bullet the Blue Sky

Jan 18: Spafford

Jan 21: Weekend Excursion w/ runaway Cab

Feb 1: neal Francis w/ Danielle Ponder

Feb 9: Big gigantic

Feb 9: the Stews w/ Easy Honey

Feb 10: Far too Jones w/ Lauren nicole

Feb 19: Cory Wong ft. victor Wooten

& Special Guests Trousdale

Feb 19: Blanke w/ Crystal Skies, Vndetta

Feb 22: Lotus

Feb 24: Boogie T w/ THe Widdler, Khiva, Notixx, Skelltyn

PNC ArENA

1400 Edwards Mill Rd | 919.861.2300 www.thepncarena.com

Dec 14: Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Jan 21: CINCH World’s Toughest rodeo

Jan 28: Cody Johnson

Randleman

KAmIKAzE’S TAVErN

5701 Randleman Rd | 336.908.6144 www.facebook.com/kamikazestavern

Karaoke Every Tuesday & Thursday

Dec 7: Josh Jennings

Dec 9: Jason Duggins Band

Dec 10: NEON & FAIr Warning

Dec 16: Second Wind Band

Dec 17: mayy Dylan & The Honky Tonk Outlaws

Dec 28: Josh Jennings

Dec 30: Travis Grubb & The Stoned rangers

winston-salem

EArL’S

121 West 9th Street | 336.448.0018 www.earlsws.com

mondays: Open mic

Thursdays: Will Jones

Dec 9: Billy Creason Band

Dec 10: Jason moss and the Hosses

Dec 14: Thousand Dollar Quartet

Dec 16: Hollirockets Elvis Christmas

Dec 17: The J.D. Simo Trio w/ Patrick Sweany

Dec 23: Sam robinson Band

Dec 24: Christmas Eve with Will Jones

Dec 30: The mighty Fairlanes

Dec 31: The megan Doss Band

FIDDLIN’ FISH

BrEWING COmPANY

772 Trade St | 336.999.8945 www.fiddlinfish.com

Tuesdays: Trivia

Dec 9: red Umber

Dec 16: Kris Atom

FOOTHILLS BrEWING

638 W 4th St | 336.777.3348 www.foothillsbrewing.com

Sundays: Sunday Jazz

Thursdays: Trivia

Dec 7: Colin Cutler

Dec 11: Caleb Wolfe

Dec 14: Terra String

Dec 16: ryan Johnson

Dec 18: Brown mountain Lightning

Bugs

Dec 21: Terra String

Dec 28: Banjo Earth

Dec 30: The Sun Dried Tomatoes

Jan 1: James Vincent Carroll

Jan 8: Jon montgomery

Jan 13: Andrew Wakefield

Jan 15: Eddie Clayton & Friends

Jan 20: Camel City Blues

Jan 22: David Childers

Jan 27: Patrick rock

Jan 29: Dana Bearror

Feb 5: Heather rogers

Feb 5: megan Doss

mIDWAY mUSIC HALL

11141 Old US Hwy 52, Suite 10 | 336.793.4218 www.facebook.com/midwaymusichal landeventcenter

mondays: Line Dancing Dec 10: JS, And the Footlights Dec 31: Jimmy Shirley Jr.

mUDDY CrEEK CAFE & mUSIC HALL 137 West St | 336.201.5182 www.facebook.com/MuddyCreekCafe

Dec 9: Dropkick mullet Dec 10: Big Daddy Love Dec 17: The Blue ridge Girls Dec 17: The Kody Norris Show Dec 29: Eddie 9V

Jan 21: Led Head: Led zeppelin Experience

THE

Natalie Garcia

PRESENTS

hot pour

[BARTENDER OF THE WEEK | BY NATALIE GARCIA]

Check out videos on our Facebook!

BARTENDER: Christianna Mock

BAR: Firehouse Taproom in Archdale

AGE: 26

WHERE ARE YOU FROM? Norfolk, VA

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN BARTENDING?

I’ve been bartending for 5 years.

HOW DID YOU BECOME A BARTENDER?

I worked for outback for a few years as a server then trained as a bartender.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY ABOUT BARTENDING?

I love being around everyone and meeting new people. I love pouring drinks, it’s a creative gig. You learn how to concoct the best cocktails and serve them to everyone as they enjoy their night. I absolutely love when people tell me they like my drinks and have 20 more people behind them ready to order the same thing.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE DRINK TO MAKE?

My favorite drink to make would definitely be one that is on fire. You need a certain type of liquor to get di erent flames and if you sprinkle a little cinnamon over the fire it looks like star dust dancing over the drink.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE DRINK TO DRINK?

My favorite drink to drink would be a regular old Corona. I’m not a big cocktail drinker.

WHAT WOULD YOU RECOMMEND AS AN AFTER-DINNER DRINK?

A great after dinner drink in my opinion would be a Pumpkin Spice White Russian. Instead of using half and half or cream you substitute that with pumpkin spice cream and it tastes like a dessert. A wonderful way to end a meal. You can change up White Russians any way you would like, just pick your favorite creamer, vodka, and Kahlua. Always remember if you run out of cream or creamer then you can always use whipped cream!

WHAT’S THE CRAZIEST THING YOU’VE SEEN WHILE BARTENDING?

I’ve seen my fair share of crazy things while bartending, but I think the craziest thing would have to be the dance battles. They never fail to amaze me and probably the most entertaining.

WHAT’S THE BEST TIP YOU’VE EVER GOTTEN?

The best tip I’ve ever gotten was not money. I mean the money is great, but when you meet people from all walks of life, they usually come with the best life advice. I’ve learned everything from how to buy my first house to how to do my nails. It’s literally the best job ever.

by Fifi Rodriguez

STATES: Which state’s motto is “Excelsior!”? [10. HISTORY: How many people signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence?

1. A house. 2. Led Zeppelin. 3. India and Pakistan. 4. “The Golden Girls.” 5. 1924. Clarence Birdseye invented the quick freezing process. 6. Pocahontas. 7. The liver. 8. Cobs and pens. 9. New York (“Ever upward!”). 10. 56. © 2022 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

[SALOME’S STARS]

Week of December 12, 2022

[ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Restless Rams and Ewes might want to let others finish a current project while they start something new. But if you do, you could risk losing out on a future opportunity.

[TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) The Bovine’s creative forces start revving up as you plan for the upcoming holidays. Some practical aspects also emerge, especially where money is involved.

[GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Moments of doubt disrupt your otherwise clear sense of purpose. Don’t ignore them. They could be telling you not to rush into anything until you know more about it.

[CANCER (June 21 to July 22) A planned trip might have to be delayed. Plan to use this new free time to update your skills and your resume so you’ll be ready when a new job opportunity opens.

[LEO (July 23 to August 22) A flood of holiday party bids from business contacts allows you to mix work and pleasure. Your knowledge, plus your Leonine charm, wins you a new slew of admirers.

[VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) An unexpected act by a colleague complicates an agreement, causing delays in implementing it. Check out the motive for this move: It’s not what you might suspect.

[LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) You might want to cut ties with an ingrate who seems to have forgotten your past generosity. But there might be a reason for this behavior that you should be in the know about. Ask.

[SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Be careful not to set things in stone. Much could happen over the next several days that will make you rethink some decisions, and maybe change them.

[SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Your plans to help provide holiday cheer for the less fortunate inspire others to follow your generous example. Expect welcome news by week’s end.

[CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) You’re in your glory as you start planning for the holiday season ahead.

The Sportscenter Athletic Club is a private membership club dedicated to providing the ultimate athletic and recreational facilities for our members of all ages. Conveniently located in High Point, we provide a wide variety of activities for our members. We’re designed to incorporate the total fitness concept for maximum benefits and total enjoyment. We cordially invite all of you to be a part of our athletic facility, while enjoying the membership savings we offer our established corporate accounts.