MARCH / APRIL 2015 Contributors John Hairston, Jr. Ellen Gurley Michael K Earle Martin Barry Brandon Lunsford Grant Baldwin Cover Illustrator Columnist, Sales, Owner, Columnist “The Clown” Columnist Photojournalist Editor Columnist Alex Barnette Tonya Russ Price Kat Sweet Mandi English Kathleen James Lee Webmaster Photojournalist, Sales, Designer Columnist Johnson Walker II Columnist Columnist Columnist 22 years experience in Charlotte Real Estate * NoDa * Midwood * Chantilly * Wilmore * Southend * Uptown * Belmont * Villa Heights * *Commonwealth * Elizabeth * Country Club * Wesley Heights * Sedgefield * Dilworth * CHECK OUT STASH CONTENTS PAD 2 TINTYPE PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF HOWLETT p11 ELLEN GURLEY photo by Ellen Gurley 4 MICRO MONSTERS MARTIN BARRY 5 HICKORY BEER ELLEN GURLEY 7 LINDA MARTINEZ: STYLE MAVEN MANDI ENGLISH 9 DIDJA KNOW, CHARLOTTE? ELLEN GURLEY CHEERS! HICKORY 10 ASK THE CLOWN BEER MARTIN BARRY p5 11 STASH PAD photo by ELLEN GURLEY Carter Short 13 MARtin “thE CLown” barrY AND THE ROLLER GIRLS ELLEN GURLEY 14 EVENTS IN YOUR CITY Hi Charlotte, Spring has sprung. Get out there and enjoy some festivals or shows. Our event listing is in the back. In this issue we catch up with Martin “the Clown” Barry as he and the Charlotte Roller Girls gear up to start their 2015 season. He also throws in another comic strip and follows up with his advice column. We also get to know Linda Martinez of StyleNow! as our resident fashionista, Mandi English, interviews her. We also take a stroll through new Charlotte store, the Stash Pad, enjoy a few beers in Hickory and admire tintype photography by Jeff Howlett. And as always, we have the “didja know” section containing interesting things you might not have known were happening in your area. Don’t forget to view the venue list online for a complete guide to local farmers markets. ‘Tis the season. Enjoy today and every day, Ellen Gurley and the other My City Magazine personalities www.MyCityMagazine.net P.O. Box 5606 Charlotte, NC 28299 704.575.6611 twitter: @mycitycharlotte like us on Facebook Cover illustrations are always by: John Hairston, Jr. ([email protected]) Hire him for your next commission or event (he does live art!) Media kits with advertising information can be obtained by contacting [email protected] Letter from the Editor Letter from TINTYPE photography by JEFF HOWLETT BY ELLEN GURLEY 2 You all know what a tintype reasons why they didn’t smile in said old- Rock Hill’s Jeff Howlett has a photograph is. Some people call it timey photographs. Most of them were studio completely dedicated to capture old-timey and many have gone to an taken of people at war time or at times tintypes and developing them in the old- amusement park and had a digital image of poverty - no reason to smile there. timey technique of lacquer on metal. It’s taken and it was modified to look black Some were taken of important people wonderful. I had a family tintype done and grey or brown and black. Either way, (writers, mathematicians, explorers) who myself. Having apprenticed under an you’ve seen the modern rip-off , even if didn’t want to go down in history with that Ellen Susan, Jeff has been doing tintypes you haven’t seen a real tintype yourself. one photograph - that one chance - as a for two years now. He’s an IT professional clown. Some people used to think that as his 9 to 5 but still manages to book If you google the term, you will smiling wasn’t civil. But I know when I upwards of fifty shoots a week. see many images of people not smiling in heard we had someone in our area doing tintype pictures. It’s an interesting thing - actual tintype photograph, that gave me “Filmmaking and photography not to smile- as we all remember growing reason to smile. are my passionate core, however being up being urged to do so. There are many a single father I have to balance finances 3 with my art. I produce images when I am not spending time with my children. I have a wonderful relationship with my children’s mother, so we are able to balance family time fairly.” In this wet tintype photograph process, Jeff uses a collodion emulsion with silver that literally ends up making your image. The process is fascinating and Jeff is dedicated to helping his client obtain a timeless image of themselves or with their families. The most popular size he shoots is a 4X5 and that runs you $40.00. You can hire him for an event (who wouldn’t want to leave your wedding with their own tintype) or you can book an appointment to see him in the studio. You’ll be glad that you did. _______________________________ Contact Jeff to set something up: [email protected] 803.265.5523 See more of his work: www.HowlermanoPhotography.com www.Howlermano.com Instagram & Twitter: @howlermano Facebook.com/JeffHowlett Facebook.com/HowlermanoPhotography BY MARTIN “ThE CLOWN” BarrY 4 HICKORY BEER BY ELLEN GURLEY I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Charlotte has a lot of wonderful breweries and we don’t have to travel out of town for beer anymore… but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t. Hickory isn’t too far Charlotte has a lot away and Olde Hickory Brewery is nothing to scoff at. With three locations in downtown Hickory alone, over of“ wonderful breweries twenty years of experience and a presence in over thirty restaurants and taprooms in the Charlotte area, I’m impressed. Enough so to and we don’t have to venture down and often visit their taproom. And as a bonus I get to enjoy the Blue Ridge Mountains. travel out of town for Oh, and their beer festivals! Not to scoff at our beer festivals, but Hickory puts ours to shame with over sixty regional breweries, bottled water, peanut can or pretzel necklaces and live beer anymore...but music. Here we are lucky to have access to bathrooms and the ability to taste ten beers. I even get to leave with a collectible glass that doesn’t mean we glass. Not a dixie cup or the run of the mill BPA-leaking plastic thingy thing. A real glass. You can expect to see some of their most popular brews; Hickory Stick Stout, Oak Aged Redeemer, Seven shouldn’t. Devils, Death by Hops and Daniel Boone. This year it is on Saturday, April 25th at Olde Hickory ” Station in Hickory. It’s called the www.HickoryHops.com Beer Fest. There will be live music by Baby Black Orchestra and it will feature 5 beers from Asheville Brew., Aviator, Bearwaters, Beer Army Combat, Birdsong, Blind Squirrel, Boone Brew./Blowing Rock Brew., Brevard Brew., Bull City, Carolina Brew., Catawba Brew., Deep River, Duck- Rabbit, Foothills, French Broad, Frog Level, Front Street, Fullsteam, Gizmo, Green Man, Heinzelmannchan, Heist, Highland, Howard, Huske Hardware House, Lexington Ave., Liberty, LoneRider, Mash House, Mother Earth, Mystery, Nantahala, Natty Greene’s, New South, Olde Hickory, Oskar Blues, Outer Banks, Oyster House, Pisgah, RJ Rockers, Raleigh Brew., Red Brick/Atlanta Brew., Sierra Nevada, SweetWater, Thomas Creek, Tipping Point, Top of the Hill, Triangle, Triple C., Trophy and Wicked Weed. If you’re lucky, you’ll get yelled at by a religious sign-toting zealot (warning you of the dangers of hop consumption) as you enter the festival, but you’re sure to been presented with way more beer than you can physically try (trust me, I attempted). So … no kids, no dogs and no amateurs (at the festival). Take that drive. Brewer: Steven Lylery Photography by Ellen Gurley _________________________________________________ www.OldeHickoryTaproom.com 222 Union Square, Hickory, NC 28601 828.322.1962 www.AmosHowards.com 2828 US Hwy. 70 SW, Hickory, 28602 828.323.8753 www.OldeHickoryStation.com 232 Government Ave., SW, Hickory, 28602 828.322.2356 6 LINDA MARTINEZ: STYLE MAVEN BY MANDI ENGLISH You can’t miss this lady as her personality is as big as the room. I personally met Linda Martinez over twenty years ago at the legendary Mythos. If you don’t know the name, Mythos was a popular nightclub many years ago and you could always expect to see Linda there dressed to the nines and truly fabulous. Of course, like so many Charlotte A-listers, there is a story there. Originally from Atlanta, this Cuban-blooded, rolling stone has been all over and back again on her journey. Linda lives here in Charlotte and runs a fashion blog called StyledNow! while working as the store director and jewelry buyer for Sloan Boutique in Dilworth. This fashion guru got her start at fourteen while working at a place in the Virgin Islands. Jolly Rogers was a jewelry shop owned by family friends. At such a young age, she wasn’t even allowed to ring up people, but she was allowed to show and present the jewelry. There’s where her obsession began. Her mom is from NC, so for college Linda attended Brevard. She majored in criminal justice and got her paralegal certificate, but her passion is fashion and that is what she chose to follow. “The ‘glamorous’ world of fashion is not what it once was back in the day”. Linda remembers that “years ago, every store had sales people that built relationships with their customers. Your salesperson knew you, your style, the colors you loved most and how to match your accessories just and so.” Like her fashion icons, Garbo, Hepburn and Kelly, Linda knows how to “do” classic styling and beauty. This skill was born from the art of knowing your customer.