YES! Weekly - August 25, 2021

CRAFT STORE SITCOM

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AUGUST 25 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 VOLUME 17, NUMBER 34

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12 August 27 | 6-9PM The Tams

Some moms get together to talk about their kids and drink coffee. Some moms get together to discuss the last book they’ve read or television series they’ve binged, and not talk about their families. These moms get together to TALK ABOUT MURDER. What started as a reason to get together for wine, snacks, and true crime turned into a successful hobby.

5500 Adams Farm Lane Suite 204 Greensboro, NC 27407 Office 336-316-1231 Fax 336-316-1930 Publisher CHARLES A. WOMACK III publisher@yesweekly.com EDITORIAL Editor CHANEL DAVIS chanel@yesweekly.com YES! Writers IAN MCDOWELL MARK BURGER KATEI CRANFORD

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JIM LONGWORTH NAIMA SAID PRODUCTION Graphic Designers ALEX FARMER designer@yesweekly.com AUSTIN KINDLEY artdirector@yesweekly.com

ParticiPate in research Dr. Blair Wisco, a clinical psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, is currently recruiting participants for a research study. This research study examines emotional and physical reactions to memories of extremely stressful or traumatic experiences. In order to participate, you must be 18 years old or older and must be able to read and write in English. If you are interested in participating, first you will be asked to complete screening questions online or over the phone to see whether or not you are eligible for the study. If you are eligible, you will be invited to participate in the study, which involves five visits to Dr. Wisco’s lab on UNCG’s campus within two weeks. During the first lab visit (3 hours), you will be asked to complete an interview and fill out questionnaires about your emotions and life experiences. You will then wear a portable cardiac monitor under your clothes and to complete questionnaires on a tablet computer outside the lab on three separate days (30-minute set-up per day, plus time spent completing questionnaires). In the last lab visit (2 hours), you will be hooked up to a similar monitor in the lab and be asked to listen to audio-recorded scripts describing personal past experiences. If you participate in these procedures, you will be compensated $150 for your time. If you are interested in this research participation opportunity, please email copelab@uncg.edu to learn more and receive the screening questionnaire.

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CRAFT STORE SITCOM: The Play is the first theatrical collaboration of A.J. Schraeder, Bob Beshere, and Rankin Willard.

“After countless hours performing improv comedy together at The Idiot Box Comedy Club in Greensboro, we decided to turn our skills to a slightly more permanent art form,” said Schraeder.

6 A pair of third-year students from the School of Design and Production at the UNCSA School of the Arts have been awarded industry-funded SCHOLARSHIPS supporting designers from underrepresented populations.

8 It’s human nature to blame someone or something else when we screw up. We all do it, but only up to a point. On the other hand, there are some folks who carry THE BLAME GAME to an absurd and often offensive level. In 2015, the man who murdered several students at an Oregon community college blamed his crime on the fact that he was a frustrated virgin.

9 FUNHOUSE, a gore-soaked send-up of reality game shows, sees eight strangers, each one a celebrity of sorts, gathered together in a state-of-the-art studio to

participate in the online reality series Furcas’ House of Fun. 10 Metro News reported on Aug. 15 that authorities in the village of Wonersh in Surrey, England, are stumped by a SERIAL BAKED BEAN BANDIT who is pouring the savory legumes on doorsteps, cars and into mail slots.

14 At the beginning of Tuesday’s night’s meeting of the Greensboro City Council, Mayor Nancy Vaughan read aloud an email from At-Large representative MICHELLE KENNEDY stating “I submit my resignation from council effective today.” Kennedy was not present at the meeting and there was no further discussion of the matter.

20 Those who feel a bummer at the end of summer are in luck as a LITANY OF FESTIVALS are scheduled to keep the fun flowing around the state. The NC Comedy Festival looks to keep the laughs coming from more than 300 national and local comics gracing a handful of stages from Sept. 3-12. Featuring an array of improv, standup, and sketch comedy, the festival will feature local acts like Trouble With Shapes.

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DISTRIBUTION JANICE GANTT ANDREW WOMACK We at YES! Weekly realize that the interest of our readers goes well beyond the boundaries of the Piedmont Triad. Therefore we are dedicated to informing and entertaining with thought-provoking, debate-spurring, in-depth investigative news stories and features of local, national and international scope, and opinion grounded in reason, as well as providing the most comprehensive entertainment and arts coverage in the Triad. YES! Weekly welcomes submissions of all kinds. Efforts will be made to return those with a self-addressed stamped envelope; however YES! Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited submissions. YES! Weekly is published every Wednesday by Womack Newspapers, Inc. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. First copy is free, all additional copies are $1.00. Copyright 2021 Womack Newspapers, Inc.

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visions

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Sitcom meets the stage in a week of laughter

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raft Store Sitcom: The Play is the first theatrical collaboration of A.J. Schraeder, Bob Beshere, and Rankin Willard. “After countless hours performNaima Said ing improv comedy together at The Idiot Box Comedy Club Contributor in Greensboro, we decided to turn our skills to a slightly more permanent art form,” said SchraedYES! WEEKLY

AUGUST 25 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

er. With Schraeder’s extensive sketch comedy experience, Beshere’s doctorate in Shakespearean literature, and Willard’s visual art background, they set out to create a unique live theatre experience that drew on their combined strengths.

“I am a big fan of television in general, especially sitcoms. People often say in a direct way, sitcoms are just plays that are filmed,” said Willard.

The play is a six-episode sitcom presented before a live theatre audience.

Over the course of two hours, the store employees navigate six crafting holidays and more than a few hijinks. “It’s like bingeing a quick-witted, sometimes-tender, craft-nerdy TV show with a big group

of your friends,” Beshere said.

Craft Store Sitcom: The Play is a finalist for the Carlo Annoni Playwriting Prize, an international award for LGBTQ+ inclusion in theatre where 959 plays from 33 countries were submitted for the yearly Italian prize. The play is currently one of the top 11 finalists and in the running to win when the award is announced this September.

A sneak preview performance of the first episode of Craft Store Sitcom: The Play will premiere as part of the North Carolina Comedy Festival at The Idiot Box Comedy Club in downtown Greensboro on Friday, September 3rd at 7 p.m.

The N.C. Comedy Festival is one of the

largest comedy festivals in the country.

Executive producer and owner of the Idiot Box, Jennie Stencel, alongside producer Steve Lesser, organize and run the event. The festival aims to be the biggest and best festival in the Southeast, bringing in a diverse group of improv, sketch, and stand-up comedians to help further the N.C. comedy scene in a variety of venues, including special shows at breweries (Four Saints, Little Brother), Bottle Shops (Brewer’s Kettle-High Point, Next Door), Movie Theaters (Marketplace Cinemas), Comic Book Shops (The Comic Dimension), and Vintage Boutiques (Vintage to Vogue). Performance dates for the comedy festival run from Sep-

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“Due to Covid, the festival was canceled last year, so when we found out it was up and running this year, we continued putting our play together. Our only worry was that it was going to be a bit challenging for casting. Thankfully, we have a network of people in comedy that we have worked with for years or more recently that we feel fit well in our vision since this type of comedy work is particular in how it’s executed,” said Willard. “This is not a satire, it is legitimately a sitcom play, except you get the entire season in one sitting with no commercials. In the end, like most sitcoms, it comes back to a familiar point, with a few changes to indicate a season two if that is something we decide to do.”

In October 2019, Willard, who has been part of the Idiot Box Comedy Club for WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

Patrick

nine years, approached Schraeder, who has been a part of the club for 18 years, and Beshere, who has been a part of the club for 17 years, with the idea to write the play.

“I’ve never done something this long or complex before but knew some incredibly funny, incredibly talented individuals, so I drafted them into the process by telling them just enough for them to agree to do this,” said Willard. “When will they get here?” said Beshere, jokingly. !

FAMILY FRIENDLY Food trucks and refreshments available for purchase.

NAIMA SAID is a 22 year old UNCG theatre graduate and host of Heeere’sNeeNee Horror Movie Podcast.

WANNA

go?

Check out their website at http://www.craftstoresitcom.com/ and http://nccomedyfestival. com/ for tickets.

AUGUST 25 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

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UNCSA students receive industry scholarships A pair of thirdyear students from the School of Design and Production at the UNCSA School of the Arts have been awarded industry-funded scholarships supporting designers Mark Burger from under-represented populations.

Camryn Banks, Contributor who hails from Atlanta, and Taylor Gordon from Keller, TX, both of whom study lighting design, are recipients of the third annual Pat MacKay Diversity in Design Scholarships.

The scholarships are funded by Live Design International (LDI) and presented in partnership with the leading trade organizations Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association (TSDCA) and the United States Institute for Theater Technology (USITT).

The scholarships, which were introduced in 2019, are named for the former publisher of Theatre Crafts and Lighting Dimensions magazines, and the founder of the LDI Trade Show and Conference.

Throughout his career, MacKay was renowned as a mentor for multiple generations of professionals in the industry.

Banks first became enamored of theater technology — particularly lighting design — while participating in a high-school magnet program. “Lighting had always been a mystery because of the complexity, so I never had the opportunity to try it out,” she disclosed in an interview with LiveDesign, the LDI magazine. “Then, I attended one of my school’s dance concerts, where the lighting design created a spark in me. I thought it was the coolest thing I had

Taylor Gordon (left) and Camryn Banks (right) ever seen, and I was willing to do anything to be able to learn how to create art in that way. Once I found out that I could make a career out of it, I knew that it was what I was always meant to do!”

Banks added that the industry needs to ensure that under-represented communities have the proper access to resources and opportunities. As she told LiveDesign: “Minority communities are out there, but they may not have the wherewithal to be able to do everything that they aspire to for several reasons: lack of knowledge, money, and exposure.

We have to give these communities a chance because I am 100% certain that their raw talent would be a shock to many. Live entertainment needs to welcome minority communities so that those who are under-represented will see individuals in this industry who look like them and are doing what they aspire to do! Without that, there will never be any change.”

Gordon feels likewise, as she indicated in her own interview with LiveDesign.

“I think we can push this even further,” she said. “I would love for anyone and everyone to feel that they are welcome to share their ideas or art without any hesitation.”

The COVID-19 pandemic reinforced for her the importance of sharing art with a live audience while also providing expanded opportunities. “Seeing art in person is a much more fulfilling experience than seeing it through a screen,” she said. “I also think there were some very amazing things we, as an industry, learned to do during the pandemic. My program at UNCSA integrated learning how to light a design through a camera lens into our production classes this past year, and I think adding this integral skill during a time when this was becoming imperative in our industry is truly remarkable!”

“The School of Design and Produc-

tion is preparing students to enter a global arts and entertainment industry that is becoming wonderfully diverse,” said Michael J. Kelly, dean of the School of Design and Production (as well as an alumnus). “We strive for a learning environment that reflects the industry in every way. We’re grateful to our leading trade organizations for their recognition and support of two of our most promising lighting designers. Congratulations to Taylor and Camryn for winning these important scholarships.”

In addition to these scholarships, the UNCSA School of Filmmaking was also recently selected by The Hollywood Reporter in its annual round-up of the best film schools in America, ranking 11th out of 25.

The official UNCSA website is https:// www.uncsa.edu/. !

See MARK BURGER’s reviews of current movies on Burgervideo.com. © 2021, Mark Burger.

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voices

Racial slurs and the blame game

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t’s human nature to blame someone or something else when we screw up. We all do it, but only up to a point.

On the other hand, there are some folks who carry the blame Jim Longworth game to an absurd and often offensive level. In 2015, the Longworth man who murdered at Large several students at an Oregon community college blamed his crime on the fact that he was a frustrated virgin. In 2017, an Ohio man who slaughtered two people said that pain pills made him do it. Every year we hear of a young mother who kills her baby and blames it on post-partum depression. And then there are the husbands who get caught cheating and blame a sex addiction for their bad behavior. Speaking of bad behavior, how about New York Governor Andrew Cuomo?

During his resignation speech, Cuomo said he wasn’t aware that groping women was wrong, and blamed his ignorance on a generational and gender divide.

In almost every instance of the blame game, whether it involves groping or murder, offenders like to say, “That’s not who I am.” But the truth is, that’s exactly who they are, and nowhere is that more evident than in cases in which someone has gotten caught using a racial or ethnic slur. For example, in 2006, actor Mel Gibson was pulled over for driving drunk and then preceded to lambast the arresting officer with a string of anti-Semitic slurs. Later, Gibson blamed his behavior on alcohol.

In 2018, Roseanne Barr went on a latenight Twitter rant in which she claimed that Valerie Jarrett (Barack Obama’s former Chief of Staff) was the product of a marriage between the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes. At the time, Roseanne was riding high with “The Connors,” a revival of her former ratings winner, “Roseanne.” But the racial slur got her fired from her own show. When making a public apology, Barr claimed she didn’t know that Jarrett was Black, and blamed the sleep aid Ambien for the slur.

In 2020, while competing in a virtual race, NASCAR driver Kyle Larson cut loose with the “N” word, and later said, “I wasn’t raised that way.” Earlier this year when he thought his microphone was switched off, an announcer for an Oklahoma high school football game also uttered the “N” word.

The next day he blamed his behavior on low blood sugar. And recently, country music star Morgan Wallen got caught (again) using the “N” word in public, then blamed his utterance on being sleep deprived.

Let’s be clear. Alcohol, Ambien, virginity, low blood sugar, and lack of sleep do not make White people say the “N” word. You either have that word in your vocabulary or you don’t. Put another way, if someone gets caught using the “N” word, you can bet they’ve used it before. And if you’re that comfortable using a racist slur, then you are a racist. Just once I’d like for one of these high-profile offenders to admit that they are racist, instead of saying, “That’s not who I am” and then blaming their prejudice on something else. I’d much rather deal with a racist than a liar. !

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).

Speak your mind!

ter to Send us your thoughts in a let .com the editor at chanel@yesweekly

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flicks

A grisly game of death plays out in Funhouse

F

unhouse, a goresoaked send-up of reality game shows, sees eight strangers, each one a celebrity of sorts, gathered together Mark Burger in a state-of-the-art studio to participate in the online reality Contributor series Furcas’ House of Fun. There, with their every move broadcast to a worldwide audience, they will compete for a $5 million prize, their status determined by voting from the viewing public. The contestant who receives the least votes in a given interval will be eliminated from the game — permanently.

The rapidly diminishing ensemble cast includes Valter Skarsgard (son of Stellan), Khamisa Wilsher, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Christopher Gerard, Mathias Retamal, Dayleigh Nelson, and newcomers Amanda Howells and Karolina Benefield. Presiding over

these dire proceedings is the quintessentially smarmy host, one Nero Alexander (Jerome Velinsky), who appears in the guise of an animated panda bear, one of the film’s few amusing conceits.

Undeniably stylish but far too silly, the ostensibly relevant Funhouse is a jumbled conglomeration of bits and pieces from Agatha Christie (And Then There Were None), Richard Connell (The Most Dangerous Game), the Purge films, and, given its lethal contraptions, the Saw franchise. For undemanding genre fans, blood and guts may be enough. Others need not apply or compete.

If nothing else — and, indeed, there isn’t much else — Funhouse is a remarkably good-looking film. The end result not-

Locked In: A generic exercise in suspense Surprise is an element sorely lacking in Locked In, a predictable and pedestrian thriller that marks the feature debut of writer/producer/director Carlos V. Gutierrez.

For the fledgling filmmaker, the first time is not a charm. Better luck next time.

Mena Suvari stars as Maggie, a single mother barely eking out a living working at a storage facility. Late one night, she and rebellious teenaged daughter Tarin (Jasper Polish) happen to be there when they witness Maggie’s boss, Lee (Bruno Bichir), brutally murdered by grizzled bad guys Mel (Jeff Fahey) and Ross (Manny Perez).

It seems that Lee’s in possession of stolen diamonds, and Mel and Ross decide to cut him out of his cut — literally. Thus commences a confined, claustrophobic battle of wits between Maggie and the killers, with Tarin caught in the middle. Even the arrival of equally grizzled cop Harris (Costas Mandylor) is cause for concern because Harris has his own (nefarious) agenda. Who’d have WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

guessed? (Most everyone, perhaps?)

Locked In holds no surprises. Characters are bashed, battered, chased, and terrorized throughout, yet it all ends pretty much as expected. It just takes 90 minutes to get there. This isn’t so much a time-killer as a time-waster, and there’s not much the actors can do with one-dimensional characters saddled with a one-note narrative, although Fahey and Perez appear to have a little fun playing it down and dirty.

B-movie buffs may note that Perez and Mandylor recently appeared in the equally dismal thriller Night of the Sicario — released by the same company, no less — in which they basically played the same roles they do here, replete with the same fates.

Oh, well — work’s work.

— Locked In is available on digital, on-demand, and on DVD ($19.98 retail) from Saban Films/Paramount Home Entertainment. !

See MARK BURGER’s reviews of current movies on Burgervideo.com. © 2021, Mark Burger.

withstanding, Shawn Seifert’s cinematography and Heather Lidberg’s production design are first-rate.

To a lesser extent, the same might be said of the actors, some of whom work very hard to add some depth to their sketchy characters.

Skarsgard and Wilsher fare best, perhaps because they play the most likable characters.

From time to time, there’s a moral debate about the proceedings, both from the standpoint of the contestants and the voting viewers, but these are quickly discarded, and undermined, in favor of simple-minded exploitation. That the authorities are unable to pinpoint where the game is being held or where the broadcast signal emanates from is indicative of the film’s laziness.

It’s almost as if a good movie is trying to emerge from Funhouse, but the filmmakers — specifically writer/director/ co-producer/editor/story writer/co-star Jason William Lee — repeatedly thwarts his own efforts to that end by falling back on violence and ham-fisted black comedy.

Last year’s sleeper The Hunt had a similar storyline, yet balanced its visceral thrills with fairly sharp satire. It was, pardon the pun, a cut above. Funhouse is a cut below.

It may aspire to be something more, but doesn’t make enough of an effort.

There are two climatic plot twists in Funhouse. The first is fairly interesting, the second is not. Those who get that far can decide for themselves which is which, although it shouldn’t be too difficult.

There’s a potentially entertaining, if not altogether original concept here, but too often the filmmakers go for the gut(s).

Game over.

— Funhouse is available on DVD ($26.98 retail) from Magnet Releasing/Magnolia Home Entertainment, as well as on Apple TV, Prime Video, Google Play, FandangoNOW, DirecTV, and more. Visit http:// www.magnetreleasing.com/funhouse/. !

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[NEWS OF THE WEIRD] INEXPLICABLE

Chuck Shepherd

Metro News reported on Aug. 15 that authorities in the village of Wonersh in Surrey, England, are stumped by a serial baked bean bandit who is pouring the savory legumes on doorsteps, cars and

into mail slots. Officers have promised to step up patrols in the area, but residents are seeing the lighter side: “What halfbaked idiots would do this? I hope they get thrown in the can!” and “Absolutely Heinzous crime.”

REPEAT OFFENDER

A Davenport, Iowa, man was arrested on Aug. 12 after nonchalantly entering a home and rummaging for children’s dirty underwear, then sitting down next

to a juvenile on the couch. The QuadCity Times reported that Brock Joseph Beert, 30, was led out the back door and waited for police while sitting on a fence.

Beert was charged with second-degree burglary and will face the court for those charges after a sentencing hearing on Aug. 19 for another burglary earlier this year.

FINE POINTS OF THE LAW

Paul Flores, 44, of San Pedro, California, is facing the court for the 1996 disappearance and murder of Kristin Smart, Yahoo News reported. On Aug. 11, Bob Sanger, Flores’ attorney, filed a motion requesting a hearing to recuse the entire district attorney’s office. Sanger argued that prosecutors have a conflict of interest because they’ve been wearing purple clothing during the hearing, which was Smart’s favorite color. He also said the victim witness coordinator has been sending a “prejudicial message” to witnesses that the DA’s office is on Smart’s side. Specifically, Sanger said, Detective Clint Cole had worn a purple tie every day of the hearing. Sanger’s motion will be heard on Aug. 25.

BRIGHT IDEA

New York City subway motorman Terrell Harris is in trouble with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority after letting his girlfriend take a train for a joyride on Aug. 13. According to NBC New York, the couple posted photos to social media showing them in the cab, with her operating the controls through several stops. Interim NYC Transit President Craig Cipriano called the incident an “egregious violation of public trust. Something that I haven’t seen in my 32 years here.” Harris has been “taken out of service.”

PUPPY LE PEW

A Nylabone dog treat plant in Neptune City, New Jersey, has neighbors holding their noses after the company consolidated its manufacturing at the site recently. “It’s nauseating,” Linda Williamson, who lives nearby, told NBC New York.

“Instant headaches.” Nylabone President Glen Axelrod said the company has spent more than $2 million on odor abatement, charcoal filters and other fixes. “If it were a bakery, you’d be smelling baked food; if we were a steakhouse, you’d be smelling steak,” he said. But ... it’s not.

“You can’t enjoy your own yard in this beautiful neighborhood,” complained Linda Colucci. While neighbors consult with lawyers about their next moves, Axelrod said the company will continue to explore solutions to the noxious odors.

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AUGUST 25 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

RUBBISH

— In Bathside, Harwich, England, resident Irene Slater, 59, has been “gobsmacked” by the theft of garbage bags from outside her home — four times! She keeps the full bags outside because of the smell, but someone obviously appreciates the bouquet, according to the Harwich and Manningtree Standard, sneaking up in the dark of night to take them away. Slater and her neighbors are concerned that the thieves are looking to steal their identities. “It’s just so strange — why would you steal a bin bag?” Slater asked. “It’s certainly not as bad as being burgled, but it still makes you think.”

— Freddie Gillium-Webb, 29, from Hampshire, England, was tasked in August with a cleaning job he won’t soon forget, the Daily Mail reported. After a tenant was removed for not paying rent, Gillium-Webb went in to clean the apartment and found a pile of approximately 8,000 beer cans several feet deep, but that wasn’t the worst of it. “The smell was terrible. The kitchen was full of food waste and in the living room there were half-eaten kebabs and moldy loaves of bread all over the floor,” Gillium-Webb said. “The toilet was piled high with toilet paper and feces, it was disgusting. He’d never flushed it by the looks of it.” He said he vomited three times during the cleanup and used 100 large trash bags and 10 bottles of bleach. Still, Gillium-Webb was empathetic: “The tenant might have had depression and he probably had a drinking problem, based on the amount of cans. You need help sometimes, but you can’t live like that.”

THAT WAS FAST

Steven James Jordan, 31, launched a Twitter account on Aug. 8 and tweeted 186 times within three hours. His account was suspended on Aug. 9, and by Aug. 12, Law & Crime reported, Jordan was booked into the Pinellas County (Florida) jail for threatening tweets. Sheriff ’s spokesperson Deputy Amanda Sinni said Jordan targeted Activision Games in reference to video games and said he was going to blow up Disney executives’ homes, even tagging the company in the tweets. Jordan admitted to writing the tweets but said he posted “stupid things” and didn’t want to be arrested. He has a previous conviction for threatening to open fire at a Masonic lodge in Clearwater, Florida. !

© 2021 Chuck Shepherd. Universal Press Syndicate.

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

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Ford dud Like a poetic lament Reggae land Mucho Sailing event Warded off Game in which groups of items are named Game utilizing five dice Liver spread Part of TGIF “That’s show —!”

Singer Elliot Game of bluffing and trivia Enraged Tax doc. pro Filled cookies Autumn mo.

Game involving picking fruit from trees Boomers’ children Seal herd Part of TGIF Glimpse Atop, in poetry Game having a crossshaped playing area Suggest Catch sight of Big arteries Sports squad Writer Calvino Mensa figs.

Brunch, e.g.

TV host Kelly Game containing 100 tiles Apt word for this puzzle’s theme, found by using the three letters that appear nowhere else in this entire puzzle’s grid

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game time

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feature

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Killers at the Kitchen Table: Moms create True Crime podcast

S

ome moms get together to talk about their kids and drink coffee.

Some moms get together to discuss the last book they’ve read or television series they’ve binged, Chanel Davis and not talk about their families.

These moms get Editor together to talk about murder.

What started as a reason to get together for wine, snacks, and true crime turned into a successful hobby.

“One day there was a conversation about starting a podcast. We kind of laughed about it at first but none of us had ever done a podcast. We started thinking about it and thought the one thing that wasn’t out there is a podcast that focuses on a specific state and what was going on there,” said Christina Hurley. “One thing we noticed was that a lot of the podcasts out there were very sensationalized. There wasn’t a lot of information about the victim but there was a lot of gore and information about the details of the death.

We thought there was an opportunity to give the victim a voice and a story.”

Hurley, who has a background in marketing and project development, said the women then researched the logistics of developing and running a successful podcast.

This resulted in the five-person True Crime Mamas Podcast composed of Hurley, Heidi Anderson, Lindsay Gray, Amber McDowell, and Ginny Beeson and was launched in September 2020. It was designed to shed light on the many tragic homicides and missing person cases across that state without sensationalism. Since that time they’ve released 14 episodes with new episodes coming out every other Tuesday.

“I think we’re kinda unique in that usually it’s two podcasters or one podcaster but there are five of us,” Anderson said.

“It’s become this little podcast family. We work so well together.

It’s great.”

The podcast can be heard on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher platforms. While the women seem to have found their footing, Hurley said they have become better with time and are grateful to their supporters for bearing with them through the learning curve.

“We’ve probably made more mistakes than anything but it’s just been something that we’ve learned as we’ve gone.

Initially, our sound was horrible. We’ve learned how to do sound and better production. We have a very gracious listener base,” Hurley said. “We started a discus-

sion group before we ever launched the podcast and have 1,000 members in the group, so we had a lot of support from people who knew us, who are true crime fans, and people who just wanted to see something like this happen.”

The group typically tracks cases they would like to look into with a podcast tracker on Google Docs, but they’ve also had referrals from victim’s families. They then go through that list and decide which cases would be the best to cover and can be told differently. There is also

a space on the website for listeners to submit cases based in North Carolina.

“A lot of times we’ll see something on the news and say ‘hey, we should monitor this case and see what happens. We actually have had a victim’s mom, we did a case on her son a few episodes ago, introduce us to another victim’s mom and ask if we would consider covering that case as well,” Hurley said. “It’s really important to us that we can offer something new. We don’t want to regurgitate what somebody else has already done. We want to offer a fresh perspective and not be sensationalistic.”

The first case that the True Crime Mamas tackled was the case of Jason Corbett, who was killed in 2015 in Davidson County. His wife, Molly, and father-in-law

Amber McDowell

Christina Hurley

Ginny Beeson

Heidi Anderson

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AUGUST 25 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

Amber & Heidi Recording

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Tom Martens were initially convicted in 2017 of second-degree murder, but that conviction was overturned. Hurley said that the group had to re-record after that conviction.

“We’ve actually had to do an update on the case because once we recorded the case Molly and her father had been let out of jail and there is going to be a retrial,” she said. “That was our first case and it was very interesting.”

Hurley said that the group’s most popular podcast was “Stolen: The Life of Brittany Lynn Locklear,” a case where a member of the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation’s Cold Case Division joined them.

On January 7, 1998, Locklear was abducted from outside her home while waiting at the bus stop in Hoke County.

The next day, the 5-year-old’s body was found in a drainage ditch three miles away.

The case is still open and there is a $20,000 reward for information leading to her killer.

“That one had a huge audience. We were kind of surprised at the response to it but it’s one of the older cold cases in North Carolina,” Hurley said. “A lot of her family members listened and commented or were just really excited that it was out there. We were really blown away by the response.”

The success of Hurley reaching out to the SBI has led to future partnerships with the division because they felt the podcast was a good vehicle to get the word out about cold cases, which the group is excited about.

“It’s a bit crazy for us to talk to the SBI in the first place but to have them reach back out and appreciate what we’re doing and want to continue doing it is really wild,” Anderson said. “For True Crime nerds like us, the SBI is celebrity status.”

Hurley says she believes the success of the show has a lot to do with the make of the show.

“We’ve had really amazing opportunities that I don’t think any of us would’ve ever dreamed of with being more focused on the victim,” she said. “One thing that we started doing very early on in the podcast was reaching out to victim families and asking permission to tell the stories of their loved ones and to prove to them that we’ve going to be good stewards of the story.”

That extra step has paid off, according to Hurley, who says that they are often met with gratitude from the victim’s families after covering a case.

“We had requested an interview and we were told no and we completely respected it. They asked if we could still tell the story and we did. We were really nervous about what the family would think,” Hurley said. “We ended up getting a very long Facebook message from the victim’s sister telling us that she was really nervous

Lindsay Gray

Courtney Jones

Jessica Lee

Amber & Christina Recording

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about how we were going to present the information but we had done so in such a beautiful way that it really paid tribute to her sister. From then on, that was really our barometer to know that we were doing the right thing.”

A “thing” that they are working to expand. The group will return to doing their True Crime Thursdays, where they go live on Facebook for roughly 30 minutes discussing a case and interacting with fans. There are often a few giveaways and chances for people to ask questions.

“They can actually see our faces and decide whose voice is whom,” Anderson said.

There are also plans to host a community event where community members can learn from a local CSI unit, create a Missing Kit (an opportunity for people to document information about themselves), learn self-defense techniques, and get IdentiKid cards for children. The event is something that Hurley and Gray brainstormed after participating in the Greensboro Police Department’s Citizens Police Academy last spring.

“We were just blown away by all of the information that was available to us at our fingertips,” she said.

Anderson invites everyone to give the show a listen, noting that the group is all-inclusive.

“We want our listeners to feel like no matter who they are they can listen and connect with us,” she said. “You can even be a True Crime Dad or True Crime pet parent or friend.”

For more information on the podcast, visit www.truecrimemamapodcast.com. !

CHANEL DAVIS is the current editor of YES! Weekly and graduated from N.C. A&T S.U. in 2011 with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications. She’s worked at daily and weekly newspapers in the Triad region.

AUGUST 25 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

YES! WEEKLY

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Kennedy resigns from City Council & IRC to become Greensboro Director of Neighborhood Development

Ian McDowell

Contributor

At the beginning of last week’s meeting of the Greensboro City Council, Mayor Nancy Vaughan read aloud an email from at-large representative Michelle Kennedy stating “I submit my resignation from council effective today.”

Kennedy was not present at the meeting and there was no further discussion of

the matter.

On Thursday morning, the Interactive Resource Center (IRC), the Greensboro day campus offering resources and critical services for people experiencing homelessness, released a letter from Kennedy announcing her resignation from that organization, on which she has served as Executive Director since 2014.

“I am not leaving this work; I am simply transitioning to a new role,” wrote Kennedy. “I will be joining the City of Greensboro as the Director of Neighborhood Development, continuing the work of ending homelessness and advancing safe, decent, affordable housing. As many of you know, the IRC has worked in tandem with the city on critical issues to address homelessness for years. I look forward to continuing that partnership.”

The letter stated that the IRC’s Associate Director Kristina Singleton will succeed Kennedy as Executive Director.

“She has been my thought partner, our operational director, and a constant champion of our mission,” wrote Kennedy, calling Singleton “the exact right person to lead the IRC through its next phase.”

In a Thursday interview with YES! Weekly, Kennedy called the transition “the right fit for me in terms of where I’m best positioned to support the community” and said that her priorities will include improving housing, particularly for people with low incomes or who are experiencing financial difficulties.

“One of the things that the city has worked hard on is code enforcement, and I’m excited to make sure we are moving forward in that area and in ensuring that our housing is safe and decent and meets housing code regulations. I want to move the needle on eliminating substandard housing. Neighborhood development YES! WEEKLY

oversees homeless services, housing services, and code enforcement, so it’s still the same kind of framework that I’ve always worked in.”

Hours before Mayor Vaughan’s announcement at the Aug. 18 council meeting, news of Kennedy’s resignation and hiring was leaked by John Hammer, freelance editor and reporter for The Rhino Times. In follow-up reports, Hammer alleged that applying for a job with the city while serving on the city council might be a breach of ethics.

On Thursday, Hammer reported that Tony Wilkins, former chair of the Guilford County Republican Party and currently running for Tammi Thurm’s District 5 seat on City Council, forwarded Hammer’s previous article to State House Majority Whip and District 59 Rep. Jon Hardister. In that email, Wilkins requested that Hardister investigate “the legality of a sitting city councilmember applying for a job with an

August 25 - september 1, 2021

interim city manager who reports directly to the city council.” Hardister reportedly replied that “the legislature might decide to clarify the existing state law to prevent city councilmembers from applying for jobs in the municipality they govern in the future.”

Regardless of any such decision, it is not currently illegal and this is not the first time it has happened. In 2015, Zack Matheny, who had served as District 3 Rep. since 2007, applied for the position of CEO of Downtown Greensboro Incorporated and resigned from council once he was hired for that position.

Upon Matheny’s resignation, Council appointed Justin Outling as his replacement. Outling is currently running against Nancy Vaughan for Mayor.

Since Kennedy successfully ran for her at-large position in 2017, she has been both celebrated and condemned as the most progressive council member.

Outling, who like the rest of the council is a Democrat, has received favorable press coverage from conservative pundit Hammer. He is also the council member with whom Kennedy has most often publicly clashed. At a particularly volatile meeting in Dec. 2019, Kennedy told Outling “maybe it’s time to show up and do the work.”

On Friday, this writer called Outling for comment on Kennedy’s resignation and subsequent hiring.

“Honestly, I’m disappointed with the lack of transparency in the situation,” said Outling. “With the announcement of the resignation, to not have an explanation where there’s is one and the city is aware of it, the community deserves better than that.”

I then asked if he thought it unethical for a city council member to be hired by the city.

“I understand the question, but for me, the most fundamental issue is the trans-

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parency, so that you know you have a question that you may want to ask. If the General Assembly feels it’s wrong, they can pass a law to prohibit something that is currently permitted, but regardless, you need to have that transparency.”

As multiple sources have alleged that Outling was the one who leaked advance word of Kennedy’s resignation to Hammer, I asked him if that was true “I got a call even before Hammer’s thing from a candidate asking me about it on Saturday. I believe that candidate then talked to Hammer. I’d become aware of it last week, as a lot of others did. With something like this, the community is going to get the information.”

When asked for a comment, Kennedy texted me the following: “If this is something that the General Assembly wants to take up in order to explore elected officials entering future processes, I certainly respect their right to do that.”

In a phone conversation, Kennedy pointed out that less than 48 hours passed between her announcing her resignation from council and stating why she resigned, and that neither she nor council could publicly announce her reasons for resigning until her hiring was formalized.

In another Thursday phone conversation, Interim City Manager Chris Wilson said that Kennedy assuming the directorship vacated in May by Stan Wilson was a major win for Greensboro.

“Some people may be surprised that a councilperson wants to come work for the city, but for me, it makes all the sense in the world. Michelle worked with us before she was a council member. She actually helped us develop quite a bit.

She helped us start working on things like our winter sheltering plan. Before that, there was a huge gap in services. Shelters were reaching capacity, and a lot of them were churches and things. But Michelle ended up developing our process and our policy around it so that we had a better program. There have been so many other things over the years that we have done with her, particularly as it relates to people getting into homes for the first time, or getting back into a home after not having had one for many years.”

Wilson explained that the hiring process was handled by the recruitment firm Development Associates.

“They handle the recruitment of most of our directors. What they give you are the finalists, who then go through a rigorous assessment process, in which the candidate has to perform in a series of things that are applicable to the job to measure their skills and ability. In this particular case, there were assessors who scored her, and all those assessors were WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

people from outside of Greensboro, but still related to this type of work. When we got the information back, it was very clear who the top candidate was.”

Wilson praised Kennedy’s “true passion for this type of work” and said he looked forward to Kennedy’s new role with the city. “We’ve got so many things ahead of us. I don’t know that I’ve seen so much funding for housing initiatives. We are still working on this permanent support of housing model that she first brought to us a year or two ago. We’re not ready to bring it to council just yet, but we’re really close.”

Wilson denied any potential conflict in the city hiring a council member.

“You can go to our application site, and it clearly says we do not prohibit anyone from applying for a position. We encourage that. We want all people to apply with us. It’s an open process, to which anyone can apply, and the merits of the person’s performance through the process is what gets them along. In this particular case, I can honestly say that I have very little to do with the process because it was a recruitment firm.

In the end, it was my decision to hire, but I make those hiring decisions based on the merits of those processes.”

Mayor Vaughan also told YES! Weekly that she looks forward to working with Kennedy, particularly when it comes to issues of code infractions and alleged slumlords (the mayor did not use that term). “Michelle has a lot of experience with minimum housing and a lot of good suggestions. I’ve enjoyed working with her on this issue, and look forward to seeing real improvement.”

As previously reported, Kennedy has been the only member of city council to break ranks and publicly discuss the ongoing Federal Civil Rights lawsuit brought against the city by the family of Marcus Smith, the African-American man fatally hogtied by eight GPD officers during the 2018 North Carolina Folk Festival. Both past city attorney Tom Carruthers and present one Chuck Watts have advised council against speaking publicly of the matter.

Kennedy has not only done that but has criticized Watts. In April, she told the press that council had been informed by Watts that Plaintiffs had been offered a $3 million settlement, a claim which Plaintiff attorneys have vehemently denied. She also opined that former Greensboro police chief Wayne Scott should have been fired for authorizing an inaccurate press release about Smith’s death that both Kennedy and Mayor Vaughan called a “lie.” While Vaughan quickly walked back that rebuke, Kennedy did not.

In April of 2019, Kennedy called for an

independent investigation into Smith’s death. Council voted to do, but then tabled it, stating that no investigation could proceed while the matter was under litigation.

In an April 20 2021 council meeting, Kennedy stated “sitting here and taking a stance of silence, while what we know is an incredibly broken and racist system continues to exist, makes me complicit, not just in the death of Marcus Smith, but in the death of every Black man at the hands of that system.” She then repeated her 2019 call for the city to open an independent investigation. At Mayor Vaughan’s suggestion, this was modified into an agreement to discuss the matter in open session, which the council then voted unanimously to do.

Ultimately, that didn’t happen. Instead, at the June 1 meeting, Council went into a closed session. When they came back into open session, Mayor Vaughan announced that Kennedy would be making a statement. Kennedy, who was not present in the chamber, appeared on Zoom and grimly read aloud a statement prepared for her by attorney Watts that “Council has decided not to pursue any such investigation at this time.” Kennedy later stated that she objected to her proposal being withdrawn in closed meeting with-

out public debate or vote.

Kennedy told YES! Weekly that her ongoing disagreements with Council and the City Attorney had nothing to do with her decision to resign.

“One has nothing to do with the other.

This, for me, is really about my career and professional work that I’ve been doing for more than fifteen years. It has nothing to do with any decisions that were made as a council member, any conversations, discussions, or anything else.”

Kennedy was elected as an At-Large Council representative in November of 2017, with her term set to expire in 2022.

According to a posting on the city’s website, online applications for her vacant seat will be accepted through Thursday, September 9 at 11:59 pm. Another city posting states that choosing who will serve as Kennedy’s replacement until the March 2021 election “will be a discussion item on an upcoming City Council agenda.” !

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.

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HEAR IT!

Summer’s Swan Song in the stacked September Festival Season

T

hose who feel a bummer at the end of summer are in luck as a litany of festivals are scheduled to keep the fun flowing around the state.

The NC Comedy Katei Cranford Festival looks to keep the laughs coming from more than Contributor 300 national and local comics gracing a handful of stages from Sept. 3-12.

Featuring an array of improv, standup, and sketch comedy, the festival will feature local acts like Trouble With Shapes. As well as national standup from the likes of Emmy-award winner Brian Kelly (head monologue writer for Conan O’Brien). And Handsome Naked, a comedy hip-hop group from Chicago.

Centered around the festival’s home base at the Idiot Box in Greensboro, other venues expand around the Triad, including breweries (Four Saints in Asheboro and Little Brother in Greensboro), bottle shops (Brewer’s Kettle-High Point and Next Door in Greensboro), bookstores and boutiques (The Comic Dimension Vintage to Vogue in Greensboro) and Marketplace Cinemas in Winston-Salem.

As hosts of the “North Carolina Festival of Psychedelia,” Monstercade will get back to the music on Aug. 28 with The Veldt, The Mystery Plan, Candy Coffins, Pretty Odd, and Lazaris Pit ripping up the Winston weirdo den.

Jazz-heads will descend on High Point over Labor Day weekend for the John Coltrane International Jazz and Blues Festival, running Sept. 4 and 5 at Oak Hollow Festival Park. The lineup features the Coltrane All-Star Band, Galactic, Chris Botti, Kenny Lattimore, and many more artists celebrating the festival’s 10th year.

The Hopscotch Music Festival will hit downtown Raleigh a bit differently as it also celebrates its 10th birthday over Sept.

9-11, with two outdoor stages in lieu of its standard sprawling-venue footprint.

Winston-Salem hip hop artist Sonny Miles will grace the City Plaza Stage; and Greensboro punkers Totally Slow, and the Sam Fribush Organ Trio will rep the Triad during affiliated day-parties at the Pour House.

The NC Folk Festival will run through downtown Greensboro the same weekYES! WEEKLY

end, from Sept. 10-12. The free, outdoor event will feature The Lorena Guillen Tango Ensemble, winners of the inaugural “Not Your Average Folk” contest, amongst a few dozen international artists.

Other new programming endeavors include a special showcase, presented by the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society, featuring Tad Walters, Lightnin’ Wells, and Bob Margolin paying tribute to John Dee Holeman and Algia Mae Hinton.

And the “North Carolina HipHop: Rap is Folk” showcase curated

by Greensboro hip hop artist Demeanor will feature Antion Scales, Lovey The Don and Chris Meadows, and GateCityCraig.

“We Out Here” the sixth annual WinstonSalem Rap Round Robin will go down outdoors at Mostercade on Sept. 11. Featuring six acts in a circle over three stages, encircling the audience, with two MCs at each, the 2021 edition is presented in partnership with the Steady Hyperactive collective.

Scheduled artists include OG Spliff, Flower in Bloom, Samurai Yola, Hollow Creeper, Emceein Eye, and MC Homeless (who’ll be celebrating the new 7” split release with The Emotron).

Getting back into tradition, MerleFest will roll down the hills of Wilkesboro from Sept. 16-19. Melissa Etheridge, LeAnn Rimes, Sturgill Simpson, and Margo Price are among the bill packed with major stars, underground hitters, and pickers and grinners from all over—including Triad acts like Smitty and the Jumpstarters and the Jeff Little Trio (fronted by the former chair of the Entertainment Technology Department at GTCC).

“Earth Girls from all walks of life” will be celebrated at the first-ever Earth Girls Festival, on Sept. 18, at Culture Lounge in Greensboro. The Madluv experience, presented by Manifest All Dreams, aims to provide an outlet for expression and collaboration while directly supporting women within the community. Scheduled artists include Capra Harris, Chelsea Simone, and Honey Coated Music.

AUGUST 25 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

Likewise launching its inaugural year is the Carolina Indie Fest in downtown Sanford. Running Sept. 18 and 19, the festival will feature 45 acts over three stages, with headliners including The Accidentals, Paleface, the Gasoline Gypsies, and Willow Hill.

Down in Salisbury, the Spin Doctors will headline the 2021 Cheerwine Festival on Sept. 18. The Lauren Light Trio, Tsunami Wave Riders, and 9daytrip are among the scheduled artists celebrating the “Uniquely Southern” beverage.

Lovers of ‘90s alternative rock will also enjoy the 2021 Gears and Guitars Festival, Sept. 24-26, at Bailey Park in WinstonSalem. Presented in conjunction with the Winston-Salem Cycling Classic, the threeday event features Grace Potter, Hannah Wicklund, Gov’t Mule, Devon Gilfillian, Ida Mae, The Smithereens, Fastball, and Magnolia Green.

Things will be a bit more jammy in Greensboro for “Groove Jam X” at Doodad Farm on Sept. 25. A fundraiser for Greensboro Urban Ministry, the festival has raised nearly $90,000 and collected more than 13,000 lbs of food over its ten-year run.

The 2021 lineup includes Rich Lerner and the Groove, Gooseberry Jam, Wristband, Blind-Dog Gatewood, Laura Jane Vincent, William Nesmith, Jeff Wall, and more. “Any

day that I can do a little good in this world with my guitar in my hands is a good day for me,” Lerner said. “So Groove Jam is always a good day for me, even if it rains.”

A good time doing good is a theme amongst festivals announced for October.

“Rumble at the Depot,” a car and bike show with music, will support the “Big Bikes 4 Vets organization” on Oct. 2 at Bull City Ciderworks in Lexington. The lineup (curated by the Rockingham Company) features Seth Williams, Brad Cardille, Chuck Mountain, and Wristband—amongst the various forms of hogs to be found. The Lexington BBQ Festival, proper, will run on Oct. 23.

FemFest will carry on, with the eighth edition announced for Oct. 9 in WinstonSalem. The annual festival, started by the late Bryn Hermansen, will continue serving Family Services of Forsyth County; and raising awareness for issues surrounding domestic violence and sexual assault through femme-focused bands and artists.

Over in Greensboro, Little Brother Brewing will present SCRAPFest, a sustainabilityfocused music festival benefitting the Piedmont Land Conservancy.

While the season of pumpkin spice looms, summer-lovers can rejoice in a swan song of the stacked September festival season. !

KATEI CRANFORD Is a Triad music nerd who hosts “Katei’s Thursday Tour Report” on WUAG 103.1fm.

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1000 NC Music Factory Blvd | 704.916.8970 www.livenation.com aug 25: Bryce Vine Sep 8: girls gotta Eat Sep 9: watsky Sep 9: theory of a Deadman

PnC MuSiC PaVilion

707 Pavilion Blvd | 704.549.1292 www.livenation.com aug 27: Chris tomlin, Kari jobe, & Bethel Music aug 28: Brad Paisley

SPECtruM CEntEr

333 E Trade St | 704.688.9000 www.spectrumcentercharlotte.com Sep 11: Marc anthony Sep 25: lit aF tour hosted by Martin lawrence Sep 30-oct 3: Disney on ice oct 14: MercyMe

ClEmmOnS

VillagE SquarE taP houSE

6000 Meadowbrook Mall Ct | 336.448.5330 www.vstaphouse.com | www.facebook. com/vstaphouse aug 20: Dueling Pianos aug 21: Simerson hill aug 28: honky tonk outlaws Sep 11: american hair Band www.yesweekly.com

duRHAm

Carolina thEatrE

309 W Morgan St | 919.560.3030 www.carolinatheatre.org Sep 2: Mallaremé Chamber Players w/ hank, Pattie & the Current Sep 10: nurse Black

DPaC

123 Vivian St | 919.680.2787 www.dpacnc.com aug 21: Brit Floyd aug 24: harry Connick, jr Sep 4-5: StoMP

ElKIn

rEEVES thEatEr

129 W Main St | 336.258.8240 www.reevestheater.com Fourth thursdays: old-time jam aug 19-oct 21: the Martha Bassett Show aug 28: Camel City Yacht Club

gREEnSBORO

CoMEDY zonE

PiEDMont hall

1126 S Holden Rd | 336.333.1034 www.thecomedyzone.com aug 26: Bubba Dub aug 27-29: Benji Brown Sep 3-4: Mike Paramore

2411 W Gate City Blvd | 336.373.7400 www.greensborocoliseum.com Sep 18: Big head tood and the Monsters

South EnD BrEwing Co.

ConE DEniM

5105 Michaux Road | 336.282.0950 www.southendbrewing.com tuesdays: trivia night wednesdays: Music Bingo aug 26: Kris atom aug 27: idle hands aug 28: retro Vinyl aug 29: Matthew armstrong & Corby Brooke

117 S Elm St | 336.378.9646 www.cdecgreensboro.com aug 28: Black Stone Cherry Sep 10: Drake white w/ Kasey tyndall

grEEnSBoro ColiSEuM 1921 W Gate City Blvd | 336.373.7400 www.greensborocoliseum.com Sep 3: Kane Brown Sep 5: Kevin gates

thE iDiot Box CoMEDY CluB 503 N. Greene St | 336.274.2699 www.idiotboxers.com aug 28: Saturday night laughs!

Sep 3-12: north Carolina Comedy Festival Sep 11: Brian Kiley Sep 18: Everlasting improvers!

littlE BrothEr BrEwing

348 South Elm St | 336.510.9678 www.facebook.com/littlebrotherbrew aug 28: Bradley wik Sep 9: nC Comedy Festival

arizona PEtE’S

2900 Patterson St #A | 336.632.9889 www.arizonapetes.com Sep 14: ice nine Kills w/ Escape the Fate, Currents & Fame on Fire

Barn DinnEr thEatrE 120 Stage Coach Tr. | 336.292.2211 www.barndinner.com aug 7-Sep 25: the Color Purple

BaxtEr’S taVErn

536 Farragut St | 336.808.5837 www.baxterstavern.com Fridays: Karaoke aug 28: huckleberry Shyne aug 29: Cat5 Band

thE BlinD tigEr

1819 Spring Garden St | 336.272.9888 www.theblindtiger.com aug 25: Citizen Cope aug 26: the grass is Dead aug 28: Strawberry girls w/ andrés & amarionette aug 29: Kash’d out Sep 2: hellzapoppin Circus Sideshow

Carolina thEatrE

310 S. Greene Street | 336.333.2605 www.carolinatheatre.com Sep 3: alexa rose & libby rodenbough

@coalpitlive

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WhitE Oak ampithEatrE

1921 W Gate City Blvd | 336.373.7400 www.greensborocoliseum.com aug 29: Soultrii Sep 24: trevor Noah Sep 28: Counting Crows Sep 29: Earth, Wind & Fire

high point

aFtEr hOurS tavErN

1614 N Main St | 336.883.4113 www.facebook.com/AfterHoursTavernHighPoint aug 28: Chasin aldean

ham’S palladium 5840 Samet Dr | 336.887.2434 www.hamsrestaurants.com aug 27: Jax On Jill aug 28: Fire Bone

high pOiNt thEatrE

220 E Commerce Ave | 336.883.3401 www.highpointtheatre.com aug 28: Billy “Crash” Craddock Sep 25: mike Super

plaNk StrEEt tavErN 138 Church Ave | 336.991.5016 www.facebook.com/plankstreettavern Sep 11: acoustic Fusion

jamestown

thE dECk

118 E Main St | 336.207.1999 www.thedeckatrivertwist.com aug 26: danny Skeel aug 27: vinyl tap aug 28: the plaids Sep 2: laren myers Sep 9: renae paige Cooke duo Sep 16: Jamie pruitt Sep 23: Sean kaye Sep 30: Songs by Carey leigh

kernersville

BrEathE COCktail lOuNgE

221 N Main St. | 336.497.4822 www.facebook.com/BreatheCocktailLounge aug 27: dJ mike lawson aug28: dJ mike lawson

lewisville

Old NiCk’S puB

191 Lowes Foods Dr | 336.747.3059 www.OldNicksPubNC.com Fridays: karaoke aug 28: the dylan Jackson Band Sep 18: hawthorne Curve

liberty

thE liBErtY ShOWCaSE thEatEr

101 S. Fayetteville St | 336.622.3844 www.TheLibertyShowcase.com aug 28: the Oak ridge Boys Sep 10: Jimmy Fortune Sep 11: the drifters review ft.

Nature-Blu Sep 18: Exile Sep 25: the kentucky headhunters

raleigh

CCu muSiC park at WalNut CrEEk

3801 Rock Quarry Rd | 919.821.4111 www.livenation.com aug 27: Brad paisley aug 28: kiSS Sep 10: lil Baby w/ lil durk

liNCOlN thEatrE

126 E. Cabarrus St | 919.831.6400 www.lincolntheatre.com aug 26: Boogie t w/ Space Wizard aug 27: Nantucket aug 28: trey lewis Sep 3: todd Snider w/ aaron lee tasjan

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August 25 - september 1, 2021

rEd hat amphithEatEr 500 S McDowell St | 919.996.8800 www.redhatamphitheater.com aug 27: Brothers Osborne Sep 4: primuS Sep 5: rod Wave Sep 12: lord huron w/ allison ponthier

pNC arENa

1400 Edwards Mill Rd | 919.861.2300 www.thepncarena.com Sep 10-11: luke Combs Sep 17: katt Williams

winston-salem

Bull’S tavErN

408 West 4th St | 336.331.3431 www.bullswsnc.com Wednesdays: karaoke

BurkE StrEEt puB 1110 Burke St | 336.750.0097 www.burkestreetpub.com tuesdays: trivia aug 27: audioclypse

Earl’S

121 West 9th Street | 336.448.0018 www.earlsws.com aug 27: lisa & the Saints aug 28: Billy Creason Band Sep 3: anna leigh Band

FiddliN’ FiSh BrEWiNg COmpaNY 772 Trade St | 336.999.8945 www.fiddlinfish.com aug 27: WristBand Sep 3: marvelous Funkshun

FOOthillS BrEWiNg

638 W 4th St | 336.777.3348 www.foothillsbrewing.com mondays: trivia in the tasting room tuesdays: trivia at Footnote! aug 27: heavy peace Sep 1: hazy ridge

midWaY muSiC hall

11141 Old US Hwy 52, Suite 10 | 336.793.4218 www.facebook.com/midwaymusichallandeventcenter Wednesdays: line dancing w/ denise Sep 8: Brett tolley and Friends

thE ramkat

170 W 9th St | 336.754.9714 www.theramkat.com aug 26: doug davis & azure rain aug 28: victoria victoria & tyler meacham Sep 1: todd Snider & aaron lee tasjan

www.yesweekly.comw

last call

[THE ADVICE GODDESS] love • sex • dating • marriage • questions

LIAR DRILL

I’m a guy, and a female friend asked me to objectively rate her looks on a scale of 1 to 10.

She has a very high opinion of her looks, but she insisted she wanted the truth, Amy Alkon so I told her I’d put her at a 5.5 or 6.

Advice Afterward, she sent me a text about Goddess boundaries and said she’s cutting me out of her life — for being honest like she asked me to! —Burned If there were a class in “how to be a heterosexual man,” lesson one would be how to answer a woman’s questions about her appearance. She’ll insist you give an honest answer to the classic gotcha question: “Do I look fat in this dress?” Always lie. Well, unless you are held at gunpoint or threatened with disemboweling with a steak knife or rusty pliers. In which case, also lie.

Admittedly, this advice is at odds with the black-and-white notions of honesty and deception drilled into us from an early age: Honesty, good! Lying, evil! If we lie, terrible things will happen to us — such as cancer of the nose (as seen in that lie-arrhea-prone puppet, Pinocchio) or pants that spontaneously explode into flame.

“For centuries, philosophers and ethicists have railed against deception,” note business school professors and researchers Joseph Gaspar and Maurice

Schweitzer. The belief that deception is always evil and harmful was preached by the Christian bishop St. Augustine, “who claimed that ‘every lie is a sin.’” Philosopher Immanuel Kant “argued that ‘The greatest violation ... is lying.’” These beliefs are baked into our culture and “permeate modern thinking.”

Gaspar and Schweitzer define deception as “the transmission of information that intentionally misleads others.” That sounds pretty awful. However, they suggest, “Think about what you should do when your grandmother asks if you enjoyed her meatloaf” or “your friend asks if you enjoyed her wedding reception.”

In situations like these, lying “might be the exactly right thing to do” (tempting as it might be to tell your friend you wish you’d been given a choice: attending the reception or or being repeatedly electrocuted via a car battery attached to your nipples).

These feelings-preserving falsehoods are “prosocial lies.” “Prosocial” is psych professor-ese for “intended to help other people.” Prosocial lies mislead but also benefit the person we’re lying to, explain Gaspar and Schweitzer. It’s basically benevolent deception: deception in service of kindness and even respect. For example, when a friend fails to show up at your party, “they might (respectfully) cite an illness” instead of admitting that they stayed home to binge-watch season seven of “Bosch.”

Reflecting on the merits of prosocial lying, they argue that “deception has been unfairly disparaged” because “scholars have conflated deception with the pursuit of self-interest.” Schweitzer, in “Friend & Foe” (co-authored with fel-

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ably believed she was seeking an honest review, and it’s reasonable that you took her at her word. However, she was probably fishing not for the truth but for reassurance that she’s pretty.

Judicious honesty is the right amount of honesty at the right time. For a personal example, I’m pretty slim, but there is no pair of skinny jeans in which I do not look like a redhead stuffed into a sausage casing. There’s a time to gently hint that I might put a pair of skinny jeans out to pasture, and it’s not moments after I strut into a party all Alkonwursty but in the cold light of several days afterward.

You’ll be doing your sworn job as my friend, looking after my interests, but in a way that allows me to enjoy myself at the party instead of hiding under a parked car with the cat till it’s over. !

low B-school professor Adam Galinsky), advocates that the truth be judiciously told — or withheld. The bottom line: “Is it ethical to tell prosocial lies? Our answer is yes. And we’d even take this claim a step further.” Instead of telling our kids never to lie, “we should teach them the guiding principle of benevolence” and advise them to make “careful — and deliberate — choices when they face a conflict between telling the truth and being kind.”

“For tasks that really matter for future success, honesty may be the best route to take,” advise Schweitzer and Galinsky.

For example, taking a junior colleague aside and being gently but painfully honest — telling them how their performance fell short — can be prosocial, helping them in the long run by alerting them to corrections they need to make.

“But when a task really doesn’t make much difference — like your grandmother’s meatloaf — prosocial lies can be just the right thing.”

The same goes for situations that no amount of honesty can change. Take your friend asking you where she lands on the 1-to-10 hotitude scale. She prob-

GOT A PROBLEM? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave., #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405, or email AdviceAmy@ aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com). Follow her on Twitter @amyalkon. Order her latest “science-help” book, Unf*ckology: A Field Guide to Living with Guts and Confidence. ©2021 Amy Alkon. Distributed by Creators.Com.

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