About the Author

Derek moved to Charlotte in 2012 when nobody was talking about Charlotte. Now everybody's moving here and he's mildly annoyed about the traffic but honestly still thinks it's a good thing for the music scene. He covers nightlife for AllEvents—the venues in NoDa that were cool before NoDa was a thing, the comedy clubs that keep multiplying, the live music spots in Plaza Midwood, the food festivals that take over Uptown, the parties in South End where half the crowd just moved here from somewhere else. Charlotte's changing fast. Derek documents it. He came from Raleigh originally, did a few years writing for alt-weeklies that don't exist anymore, and landed here because the scene was growing and needed someone paying attention. Thirteen years later, he knows every venue owner, every promoter, every bartender who's been around long enough to remember when this was a banking town that happened to have some bars. Derek lives in Villa Heights, drives because Charlotte transit is aspirational at best, and writes guides that cover the whole city—not just the neighborhoods that get all the attention. The scene's grown up. His coverage has too.