Mountain Xpress 09.14.22

OU R 29TH Y E A R OF W E E K LY I N DE PE N DE N T N E W S, A RTS & E V E N TS FOR W E STE R N NORTH CA ROL I NA VOL . 29 NO. 7 SE P T. 14 -20, 2022

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CAMPUS LOCKDOWNS Nearby shooting causes perimeter lockdowns at three ACS schools

10 PRINTING MONEY How local candidates put donations to use

12 GREEN ROUNDUP Woodfin Greenway & Blueway gets $5.9M TDA boost

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24 IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE Peer support specialists offer experience, strength and hope

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28 THE ART OF POLITICS NC House candidates participate in AAAC’s Arts AVL Town Hall

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LETTERS

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CARTOON: BRENT BROWN

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COMMENTARY

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14 BUNCOMBE BEAT

23 SNAPSHOT 24 WELLNESS 26 ARTS & CULTURE

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38 FREEWILL ASTROLOGY 30 SPIRITUAL DILEMMAS Poet Luke Hankins on the role and power of poetry

38 CLASSIFIEDS 39 NY TIMES CROSSWORD

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O PINION

Send your letters to the editor to letters@mountainx.com.

See the connections between housing and climate crises I was perplexed to hear that Asheville’s Sustainability Advisory Committee on Energy and the Environment is “frustrated” because of City Council’s focus on “equity” and “housing” [“Resilience Road Map: Asheville Prepares Municipal Climate Action Plan,” Aug. 31, Xpress]. The issues facing our city aren’t at odds; they couldn’t be more compatible.

Building more housing — in places where communities, jobs, transit, infrastructure and amenities already exist — is by consensus a key component of the fight against the climate crisis. It means shortening and eliminating car trips, which contribute enormously to greenhouse gas emissions.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change proposed that climate solutions include “targeted infilling ... [to] achieve compact urban form” and using “density” to promote walking, biking and transit.

The Green Party’s 2020 platform aims to “promote urban infill with affordable housing, mass transit ... [and] bicycle and walking paths.”

The national Sierra Club’s 2021 smart growth and urban infill guidance statement suggests that density in housing can “dramatically cut our climate emissions while creating more convenient and equitable neighborhoods” and simultaneously make “housing accessible to all.”

And the recent White House Housing Supply Action Plan pushes for “location-efficient, modest density that can ... reduce greenhouse gas emissions — particularly when paired with state and local policies that remove barriers to where these kinds of housing can be located.”

Maggie has the experience to make these things happen, having worked for six years as the city’s first sustainability officer and having run her own climate-focused consulting service since then.

Clearly, all three of these things are of high importance to Asheville.

Maggie has the experience, values and drive to make these things happen. Vote for her on Nov. 8!

— Dane Barrager Asheville Editor’s note: Barrager reports serving as a campaign volunteer for the candidate.

Beach-Ferrara and Beasley will help seniors and more C A RT O O N B Y R AN DY M O L T O N That last phrase is key. The barriers that the White House is referring to are municipal codes, including lot-size minimums and single-family-home requirements, that add up to “exclusionary zoning.” These codes prevent cities from building where homes are needed the most.

They privilege the desires of well-todo property owners over the needs of both the climate and the housing insecure.

MountainTrue and Asheville for All are just a couple of local organizations that already see the connections between the housing crisis and the climate catastrophe. I hope that Sunrise Asheville and the local Sierra Club, both of whom were mentioned in the above-cited article, will join with them and that the city will join, too, to see their interests and struggles as aligned.

— Andrew Paul Asheville

Berthiaume will address citizens’ priorities Maggie Ullman Berthiaume is clearly the best candidate for City Council to address the highest priorities for Asheville citizens.

In the Mountain Xpress dated Aug. 31, there is a section titled “Uniquely Asheville,” and in that section, each neighborhood has a list of things that are needed in that area.

Every neighborhood ranked “Affordable Housing” as No. 1 or 2. This is clearly a high priority for every neighborhood in Asheville.

Maggie Ullman is the best candidate running for City Council to make this happen. Her priorities, listed on her website Maggie4Avl. com, are as follows: 1. Housing.

2. Climate.

3. Core city services.

Chuck Edwards is the Republican candidate to replace the current Republican representative, Madison Cawthorn. As Cawthorn and all of the other North Carolina Republican congressional representatives did, Chuck Edwards probably would have also voted against the Inflation Reduction Act. Edwards has told us in a campaign ad that he’s only interested in everything liberals can’t stand.

The Inflation Reduction Act is now law, no thanks to the Republicans.

This Democratic-sponsored law will lower health care and prescription drug costs, lower energy costs, reduce the federal deficit, help combat climate change and make large corporations pay their share of taxes — things “liberal” Democrats know North Carolina folks want, but Republicans don’t want.

Let’s elect representatives like Jasmine Beach-Ferrara and Cheri Beasley, who will vote for opportunities to help our senior citizens with inflated prescription drug costs, help protect our beautiful mountains, and make wealthy cor-

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SEPT. 14-20, 2022

3

OPINION

Send your letters to the editor to letters@mountainx.com.

porations and individuals protected

by Republicans to finally pay their share of taxes.

— John H. Fisher Hendersonville

A local Montessori school worth considering My awesome ADHD kid goes to Black Mountain Montessori and needs more friends in their class (first-third grade). We are totally in love with the school and staff and how progressive and warm their environment and community are. We are a two-mom household and feel supported and welcome. Very rich environment for our neurodivergent child. It is nonprofit and accepts the N.C. Opportunity Scholarship.

Buncombe County has few offerings for Montessori elementary school levels (first-third; fourthsixth grades). One that we do have — Black Mountain Montessori — is well-prepared to have full elementary classrooms, along with their Children’s House (ages 3-6 years) and new Stepping Stones classroom (2-plus years).

It provides a range of learning opportunities for its elementary students, such as field trips and volunteer opportunities, cooking and baking in the fully prepped school kitchen, self-led science and research projects, and individualized learning for every student.

Children learn at their own pace, allowing for the exploration of their interests.

Lead teacher Chandra Gilmore has 20-plus years of experience teaching and accommodating children who are dyslexic, ADHD or autistic. Chandra holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and is Montessori and Orton-Gillingham trained. The OG method is a well-regarded approach to teaching kids with reading difficulties. It introduces the idea of breaking reading and spelling down into smaller skills involving letters and sounds, and then building on these skills over time. Chandra can assess and meet children where they are in academics and emotional maturity with many strategies in her toolbox.

If your child has learning differences, needs a calming/nonoverstimulating environment, or has

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special interests they want to more freely explore, contact the school through its website: bmtmont. org. Black Mountain Montessori is located at 101 Carver St., Black Mountain.

— Hannah Ellison Old Fort

Celebrating the power of peace in Asheville Former Asheville activist John Penley in 2016 sent a letter to the Mountain Xpress. The purpose of his letter was to comment on an NPR report concerning Russians preparing for a nuclear strike from the U.S. [avl.mx/bzo]. He wrote that he had called Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer’s office to inquire about our city’s readiness in case of a nuclear strike. Her aide laughed. “I could tell he thought I was nuts,” Penley wrote.

When I contacted the mayor recently, I shared a video (“What if We Nuke a City?” on YouTube) showing what one nuclear bomb would do to a major city. The mayor sent the following response: “Asheville has already joined many U.S. cities in the call for the U.S.’ support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.”

Anti-war activists, like Peacemaker Anne Craig of Asheville, were responsible for getting the city’s support for this treaty many years ago before Manheimer was mayor. Today, we as a city can’t let up on our pressure to make this ban a reality, meaning getting the U.S. to actually sign the treaty, along with other countries with The Bomb.

For decades, peacemakers, including Penley, now living in Las Vegas, have put their lives on the line to show there are better ways of solving disagreements — local or global — other than mutually assured destruction.

They’ve danced to a different beat, not the drumbeat of war, but one of diplomacy.

WNC peacemakers and those around the world often use nonviolent civil resistance to get their message to decision-makers, going as far as risking prison and injury to show the importance of diplomacy instead of weapons. Without the resources war-makers have, anti-war activists have to resort to civil resistance.

My journey to peacemaking started on a snowy spring day back in 2008. I drove over the mountains from Kingsport, Tenn., to join local peacemakers here. To me,

CARTOON BY BRENT BROWN they were modern-day prophets.

I still think that. Since 2003, on every Tuesday, you can see WNC Veterans for Peace challenging residents to “make peace, not war” at Pack Square. Asheville is truly the place to start and learn from the pros. A few such teachers for peace are on our new honor roll, including Jim Brown, Lew Patrie and Gerry Werhan of Asheville and Ellen Thomas of Tryon.

WNC peacemakers will read their own 2022 WNC Declaration of Peace at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, in the Elder and Sage Community Garden on Page Street.

Musicians Rhoda Weaver and Caesar Williams will entertain and inspire us with song.

The theme for Peace Day 2022 is “End Racism. Build Peace.” We hold up those who remind us that there is no peace without justice.

BeLoved Asheville’s Ponkho Bermejo is our 2022 Peacemaker. Ponkho is a strong activist and Indigenous/Latinx community organizer who is brilliant at innovation and is also BeLoved’s media expert.

Last year, we honored Reject Raytheon Asheville, which grew out of citizens’ anger over the siting of Raytheon’s Pratt & Whitney facility on property along the French Broad River.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.”

Asheville peace activists are guided by MLK and many others who were often threatened and imprisoned for their acts of civil resistance. Their words ring true for all who continue to confront injustice and violence through civil resistance.

Watch for more information about the power of peace in the days ahead on social media and chalked peace messages contributed by Trinity Episcopal Church’s youths on sidewalks around town.

And may WNC activists’ civil resistance lead to a world where no one worries about the bomb ever again.

— Rachael Bliss Asheville Editor’s note: A longer version of this letter will appear at mountainx. com.

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SEPT. 14-20, 2022

5

OPINION

Direct action Earth Day 8 walk away with a win

BY KEN JONES We planned for the direct action, then we planned for the trial. The first came off great; the second didn’t come off at all. Which was also great — all charges were dismissed. We won, twice.

Back on Earth Day, April 22, eight of us from the Reject Raytheon citizens coalition had stopped traffic on a dirt construction entrance to the Pratt & Whitney plant, a division of Raytheon Technologies. We were mostly elders, ages 65 or older. The plan was to shut down the steamrolling operation getting the new military-industrial factory up and running, if only momentarily and symbolically. But we ended up blocking the way for two whole hours! It was a moment to savor.

We had done our nonviolent direct-action preparation, and it was a good thing because quickly confronting us were some mighty irritated truckers, private security officers and management types from Biltmore Farms and Pratt & Whitney. Mostly, we just stood silently with our banner and signs through it all.

Our friends, 20-30 of them, were accompanying us from the bridge above, waving, taking pictures and singing. It felt like being in an extended, slow-motion timeout in a field contest of David vs. Goliath. It got hot out there in the sun, but we couldn’t have been more delighted to be left standing there, surrounded by the stalled forces of a land baron, war corporation and associated security and police groups.

HOPING FOR A TRIAL Why didn’t they just immediately arrest us and take us away?

Apparently, we had chosen to stand in the very spot in the road that was not owned by Biltmore Farms or deeded over to Pratt & Whitney. We were in the National Park Service buffer zone that exists on both sides of the Blue Ridge Parkway. That road into the plant goes under the parkway bridge that spans the French Broad River, and we were right in the shadow of that bridge. We had chosen that spot because it was easy to get to unobserved, and it provided a good photo op from above.

None of the authorities converging on us seemed to know who had juris6

SEPT. 14-20, 2022

diction there. It took them a while to figure it out, with lots of comings and goings and phone calls.

Eventually, the National Park Service asked the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department to take charge, or so we were told later. A Buncombe County sheriff’s captain arrived and very politely offered the eight of us options: We could each just walk away with no charge; walk away with a citation for criminal trespass; or get cuffed and go to jail and get the same charge. We decided to take the citation, not the free pass, because we hoped to get a trial. We were prepared to go to jail, but when offered the option, we thought, nah, we don’t need that kind of abuse.

And so we hung around with the friendly sheriff’s deputies, while three of them wrote out our tickets. It was a little surreal, this all being treated so lightly, as if it were a scene out of the movie Alice’s Restaurant. Soon, we happily walked away, escorted by the captain, through some pretty sullen truck drivers, to the welcoming arms and water of our friends and supporters up on the bridge.

MAKING A NECESSITY DEFENSE We had gone into this action agreeing, as many activists do, to see this through to a trial. The point was to extend the action as much as possible in order to shed more light on the issue through the added publicity of a trial. In the trial, we would plead not guilty on the grounds of what is called a necessity defense. This defense argues that, when faced with a greater evil, people have a responsibility to take action, even if that action violates some lesser law.

It’s like breaking into a neighbor’s burning house to save the people inside. Indeed, with wars and fossil fuels burning up people and planet, this is exactly how we felt. The Pratt & Whitney plant would be one more profit-making enterprise pushing us all over an existential cliff.

We were prepared to mount such a necessity defense. We sincerely felt that we had no other recourse than to commit this act of civil resistance because of the secrecy and complicity of elected officials and the business community in making this deal. It was a done deal before we ever knew it was happening. The system is corrupt; there is no process for any

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KEN JONES meaningful public engagement that resembles democracy.

In particular, we planned to explain the twofold greater evil of this Pratt & Whitney plant to a judge and jury: (1) Likely half of the engine components produced at this plant will go into fighter jets used in illegal and immoral U.S.-supported wars; (2) All of the engine components produced will contribute greatly to the climate emergency we are facing, despite company claims that these engines will be more energy-efficient.

The messaging on our signs, banner and even our shirts was to stop the war industry and to build wind turbines, not war machines. This was in sync with that of a national movement led by the War Industry Resisters Network to convert the war economy through a peaceful, just and green transition.

It was this prophetic call that we wanted to bring to the judicial system. While the prosecution would undoubtedly be focused on the immediate question of whether we trespassed, we wanted to defend ourselves by saying our violation was trivial compared to Raytheon’s effects on people and the planet. We would flip the script, putting Raytheon on trial. But alas, we didn’t get to do that when our charges were dismissed. An assistant district attorney called and told our attorney by phone on Aug. 23. No reason was given.

BEARING WITNESS Still, we count this as a victory.

The system didn’t want to have the trial, and that in itself is telling.

Who knows why? Maybe the district attorney’s office looked at the juris-

dictional issue and decided it was too messy to deal with.

Or maybe they looked at our preparations for a real trial and decided it wasn’t worth it. We believe and it is our opinion that Raytheon has engaged in war profiteering and is guided by an ecocidal business plan.

Furthermore, we had four expert witnesses lined up who were planning to testify that, in their expert views, the company’s actions are illegal under international law. And two of us were also going to take the stand to testify as to the necessity, in fact, the moral imperative, to intervene.

Or maybe Jack Cecil and Biltmore Farms didn’t want the bad publicity for its ongoing plan to replace another 1,000 acres of trees with what we conclude will be an aerospace industrial park. As we know, Pratt & Whitney is just the start, the anchor for further development devoted to military-industrial businesses. The Chamber of Commerce and Buncombe County commissioners are pushing this agenda, too, so there is a lot of power invested in keeping the news positive, all about jobs and such.

Or maybe we just got a “lucky” draw of the cards in an overcrowded and under-resourced court system.

Whatever the case, we may not have gotten all we wanted in this action, but we do feel successful. As planned, we bore witness and raised awareness about Raytheon, a company that racks up huge profits from selling weapons of war. And walked away unscathed.

Nice win this time. It’s almost enough to want to do it again.

Ken Jones is a retired professor of education living in Swannanoa. X

MOUNTAINX.COM

SEPT. 14-20, 2022

7

NEWS

Campus lockdowns

Nearby shooting causes perimeter lockdowns at three ACS schools

BY JESSICA WAKEMAN jwakeman@mountainx.com Some thought there was a bear on campus. Others heard there had been a shooting at a bus stop. Some said as many as four people were injured.

Sept. 1 was the fourth day of school for the Asheville City Schools district, but before classes began that morning, an email from ACS announced a perimeter lockdown at Asheville High School and the School of Inquiry and Life Sciences at Asheville.

“The high school campus has been placed on a perimeter lockdown,” an email sent at 8:18 a.m. from ACS public information officer Dillon Huffman said. “That means no one is allowed inside or out of the building. This is a precaution due to an incident that has happened in the community.” (A perimeter lockdown also was placed at Asheville Middle School.)

Back-to-school time is already filled with jitters about classes and

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TAKING ACTION: Asheville Police Department Lt. Brian Griffin speaks to employees of Asheville City Schools’ central office Aug. 1 about how to make decisions if a school has an active shooter. Photo by Jessica Wakeman homework. But the continual threat of school violence after the murder of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24 has compelled schools across the country to tighten safety precautions.

The Asheville Police Department, Buncombe County’s Sheriff’s Office, ACS and Buncombe County Schools are upgrading security features in the schools. Nevertheless, parents of children who attend AHS, SILSA and AMS tell Xpress the experience of a perimeter lockdown Sept. 1 was rattling, and assessment of that response was mixed.

14-YEAR-OLD FEMALE SHOT As happens during any breaking news incident, people exchanged information via phone calls, texts and social media. Much of the initial information about the shooting shared between students and parents would turn out to be rumors.

Amy Ray, a candidate for the ACS Board of Education, says bears have caused perimeter lockdowns in the past at her daughter’s schools. A perimeter lockdown does not allow anyone to enter or exit a building, but they can move through the building; during a full lockdown, students remain in their classrooms.

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Ray says her daughter, a sixth grader at AMS, “believed the lockdown to be related to bears and so was not particularly alarmed.” (All candidates for the ACS Board of Education were given the opportunity by Xpress to comment via email for this article.)

Another rumor alleged the shooting occurred at a bus stop, although whether it belonged to the Asheville Rides Transit city bus system or ACS Transportation Department was unclear.

Both ACS and APD released information updates throughout the day Sept. 1. An APD media release sent at 8:58 a.m. stated officers were dispatched to Erskine Avenue at 8:01 a.m. after a juvenile was shot.

“The victim has been transported to Mission Hospital with serious injuries, but in stable condition,” it read.

“Nearby schools are in lockdown as a precaution.”

ACS lifted the perimeter lockdown at 9:45 a.m., according to an email sent at 10:03 to parents by April Dockery, executive director of operations for ACS. That email explained the procedure of a perimeter lockdown and said, “Our lockdown plan worked exactly as anticipated.”

Dockery’s email said ACS would work with the Asheville Police Department to investigate the incident. “We will keep you informed as we are able,” Dockery wrote.

“There was an isolated incident that occurred near our campus. Please know that there is a lot of misinformation around this incident. We can confirm that the victim is in stable condition.”

ACS sent another email to parents at 4:16 p.m. that day, reiterating the victim was in stable condition, and stating, “This incident DID NOT happen on ANY Asheville City Schools campus or at a bus stop.”

On Sept. 2, APD issued a media release that explained the incident “appears to be an accidental shooting.” (APD spokesperson Bill Davis declined to elaborate, citing the need for further investigation.) The release continued, “Further investigation revealed the juvenile was shot inside of a residence in the Erskine area.

The juvenile, a 14-year-old female, was treated and released from Mission Hospital.”

When asked over email who decides when and how to notify parents about lockdowns, Huffman responded Sept.

7, “ACS district and school administration works with the Asheville Police Department on a case-by-case basis. We work as a team to make sure families are informed.”

POLICE PRESENCE Some parents say ACS did a great job notifying parents during the

“Two hours — we were freaking out for two hours.”

— Vicki Catalano, mother of a 14-year-old freshman at SILSA perimeter lockdown. Other parents expressed confusion and frustration with the timeliness of the communications and felt police presence at the three schools on lockdown was jarring, despite it being a safety measure.

When Amy Hurlston and her husband received emails about the shooting, she immediately texted her 14-year-old daughter, a freshman at SILSA. Her daughter shared what she had heard about the shooting. “I got all of that information from my daughter, not from any email I got from school,” she says.

Hurlston’s daughter had arrived at SILSA that morning and saw ambulances in the school’s neighborhood.

On campus, “there were police officers telling us to go straight to class,” her daughter told Hurlston.

“I understand that they don’t want to cause pandemonium and mass hysteria,” Hurlston says of ACS. But she says she wishes the early morning notification from the district had stressed the shooting “happened in the surrounding neighborhood and … that it wasn’t on campus.” (The initial email referred to “an incident that has happened in the community.”)

However, police presence at schools is not necessarily unusual.

Both AHS/SILSA and AMS have one school resource officer, which is an APD officer working in the school system. And in a Sept. 7 email to Xpress, Huffman said APD was assisting AHS/SILSA during the first week of school with morning drop-offs.

APD remained at AHS/SILSA and AMS Sept. 1 after the lockdown was lifted, spokesperson Davis says. ACS has not requested additional police presence at any school since the incident, Huffman adds.

CONTACTING PARENTS Vicki Catalano, a marketing associate at Xpress and mother of a 14-year-old freshman at SILSA, felt frustrated that ACS sent its first email during a time many working parents are midcommute. As a result, “I heard about it from my daughter in a locked classroom,” she says. Catalano tells Xpress she wishes the first notification about the perimeter lockdown had been a robocall, which would have reached her more directly than an email. (Parents received a robocall from ACS after 10 a.m. when, simultaneously, spokesperson Dockery sent a second email to parents.)

Catalano also feels frustration that there wasn’t communication from ACS to parents between the first email at 8:18 a.m. and the second email and robocall after 10 a.m. “Two hours — we were freaking out for two hours,” she says. Like some other parents interviewed by Xpress, she describes refreshing the webpage for WLOS, a local TV news station, looking for any additional details.

Another AHS parent, Amanda Edwards, is vice chair of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners and wife of Derek Edwards, the principal of AHS. Speaking with Xpress on Sept. 1, Amanda Edwards said she hadn’t contacted her spouse. ‘“I will not be reaching out to him because his priority right now is 1,600 students in his school building,” she said. “I would not want a school administrator to take their eyes off the safety of our children” to communicate with parents.

“We have to trust that we’ve got professionals in our schools that are taking care of our children,” she added.

Parent Pepi Acebo, who is running for the ACS board, tells Xpress he saw AHS Principal Edwards and several APD police officers in front of the school when he dropped off his child around 8:20 a.m. “They had things under control [as] they received kids during the perimeter lockdown,” he recalls. Acebo hadn’t seen the first email from ACS when he dropped off his child and thought the police presence was unusual.

“Even though I would have rather have gotten a robocall to let me know what was going on earlier, I think that the school system handled things well,” Acebo says. “And we did have good information get out to parents by 10 [a.m.].” Overall, he says he thought ACS “did a good job.”

Rebecca Strimer, another candidate for the ACS board, has daughters in sixth and eighth grades at AMS. When notified about the perimeter lockdown, Strimer says she tried not to “jump to any conclusions. …

It’s already scary enough.”

Strimer says there’s no correct answer for “how much is the right amount of information [to provide] in the moment. There’s no threading that needle.”

She adds, “I think that very often there’s information people are yearning for and it’s just not available. And it’s hard — it’s really hard to sit in that discomfort.” X MOUNTAINX.COM

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How local candidates put donations to use 2 22 02 2 20

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PAPER CHASE: Asheville City Council candidate Allison Scott, right, works the campaign trail with Sandra Patterson. Printed materials like the one Patterson holds have made up the bulk of Scott’s campaign spending to date.

Photo courtesy of Scott

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com When you donate money to a political campaign, where do your dollars actually go?

For local candidates, the answer for the bulk of donations is almost unanimous: mailers. And for the past 20-plus years, many individuals running for office have turned to Ernie Thurston, owner of the Asheville-based Meda Corp., to get the job done.

“I believe in [mailers] and I’ve seen it be effective enough that I think it’s worth it,” Thurston says. “Especially in a primary, postcards may be a better use of your money than in a general election, where it’s worth more to put money into TV [advertisements]. Because with postcards, you can target the people who vote regularly in primaries.”

When candidates contact Thurston, he asks what they’re running for and what political affiliations they want to target. Based on their answers, he generates a list of everyone meeting that description who voted in the

May primary, plus people who didn’t vote in the primary but cast ballots in at least two of the last three general elections.

“That’ll be everybody who’s got about an 80% or greater likelihood of voting,” Thurston says. Then comes design work, printing, postage and addressing. Average costs for most campaigns come to about 50 cents per postcard, Thurston says, with a minimum order of 5,000.

When former Asheville City Council candidate Rich Lee has had enough campaign funds to afford it, he’s hired Thurston. Other times, he’s created lists and sent mailers himself.

“By far, they were my biggest expenses every time, the thing you’re saving up months for,” Lee says.

“Mail is going to reach more people than you’re going to be able to reach by phone or in person or online. But you’re going to pay for it.”

Citing Re:Power, a progressive training organization founded by the family of former Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone, Lee says the average campaign mailer gets about three seconds of attention from a

voter — enough time to register the candidate’s name, read the next largest line of text and see a picture.

“I wouldn’t say any mailer I ever sent persuaded a voter; that’s not the point. The hope is seeing it coupled with an online ad, seeing you at an event, seeing a voter guide, hearing about you from a friend, that all those combine to get you across the line,” Lee says. “But it’s all just incremental, fractions of a percent, as far as effectiveness anyway. Then again, in races that come down to a few percent, maybe that’s your margin of victory or defeat.”

CANDID CANDIDATES Among Thurston’s clients this year is Asheville mayoral candidate Kim Roney. According to public records available via the N.C. State Board of Elections, Roney’s campaign spent $9,956.75 on April 16 for Meda Corp.’s services, which she says came to just over 74% of her campaign’s expenditures for the primary. Remaining funds went toward office supplies, food, gas and other incidental expenses.

“The biggest challenge this year has been printing on post-consumer, recycled paper, which has been difficult to source through supply shortages,” Roney says. “It’s important to me to extend an authentic invitation that shares my values and commitment.”

Though she says that “it shouldn’t be unique that [she’s] requesting recycled paper for printed materials,” Roney has made doing so a priority to help “shift the culture of campaigning” and raise awareness about its environmental impact to create change in and beyond Asheville. That commitment extends to her other campaign materials, such as signs built from repurposed materials.

City Council candidate Allison Scott used Asheville-based printer Allegra for her mailers. She set a working budget for her campaign and says the actual expenditures are “very close” to what she planned to spend.

Her $13,300 estimate included $6,500 for printed advertising and postage, $2,000 for digital advertising, $2,000 for software and subscription services, and $1,000 for campaign staff and professional services.

(According to campaign finance reports, Scott’s campaign took in $15,790 though mid-July and had spent $12,265.)

“I make it clear to people that if they make a donation, I’ll spend it on my expenses,” Scott says. “The largest expense is mailings, and most people completely understand that.

With political campaigns, there’s not a lot of places for that money to go. It’s either going to go into mailings or a staff member or someone I hired, like the photographer I paid for pictures.”

But even with setting a budget and sticking to it, Scott says she experiences “internal angst” about the amount of money it takes to run a successful campaign, as well as the amount of waste it almost certainly produces.

“When I’m writing a check for mailings, I wonder how many are going straight in the trash. It’s so difficult, because I don’t want to do that,” she says. “I try not to be wasteful, but it’s tough with temporary things like printed material.

Unfortunately, that’s how you run a campaign and how our political system is set up to run.”

profit The Collider. He has donated $3,500, the largest contribution by an individual in a Council race yet reported this cycle, to Maggie Ullman Berthiaume’s City Council campaign. (He also gave the same amount to Esther Manheimer’s mayoral reelection campaign.)

Having long been involved with politics, Pearsall says he “know[s] what it costs to run.” Based on his work with Berthiaume, who served as Asheville’s first sustainability officer, on environmental matters, he

felt confident committing $1,500 to help her start her campaign. After she earned the most votes in the May primary, Berthiaume called Pearsall, requested additional support and received $2,000 more in early June.

“I don’t give to candidates; I invest in them,” Pearsall says. “I’m not looking for anything out of them other than an exhibition of an informed, diligent, good judgment.

That’s all I’m interested in, and that’s the reason I support her.” X

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DONATION STATION Scott speaks with everyone who donates to her campaign and says she treats them all equally, regardless of the amount they give. That approach appealed to Asheville resident Sally Sparks, who has given $160 to Scott’s campaign. Sparks says that amount felt like a meaningful sign of support.

“I know advertising and social media presence is critical for successful campaigns,” Sparks says. “I hope my contribution helps get her message out.”

Over in West Asheville, Lara Lustig gave $500 to Roney’s campaign — more than she’s ever given to any political candidate. Though she’s never before felt moved to give that much money, she happened to have “a little more than expected” and wanted to put it toward a cause that’s important to her.

“I really believe in Kim and the way she brings her full self to public office.

She’s one of the only public officials who’s responded to every email I’ve sent, and that’s really meaningful to me,” Lustig says. “I really want that kind of leadership, transparency, warmth and humanness.”

Lustig doesn’t expect Roney to use her contributions for any particular thing. But based on the candidate making her signs “out of scrap wood,” Lustig has complete faith that the funds will be put to good use.

“I definitely want her to reach as many people as possible with her message and help get the word out,” Lustig says. “I also want her to feel supported by the community and let her know we’re behind her.”

The biggest donor in Asheville’s elections is Fairview-based Mack Pearsall, a businessman and founder of climate science non-

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GREEN ROUNDUP

Woodfin Greenway & Blueway gets $5.9M TDA boost On Aug. 31, the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority board unanimously voted to award $5.9 million from its Tourism Product Development Fund to the Woodfin Greenway & Blueway. The funding represents the final amount needed for the $30 million project, which has been under development since 2011.

The money will go toward constructing 5 miles of greenway along the French Broad River and Beaverdam Creek, as well as park facilities and a wave feature for whitewater enthusiasts. Other support for the work has come from Woodfin town bonds, the N.C. Department of Transportation and Buncombe County government appropriations.

(The TDA previously granted $2.25 million to the project in 2017.)

“The Woodfin Greenway & Blueway will create another riverfront amenity in northern Buncombe County that lessens impact on other areas and [creates] opportunities for visitor dispersal,” said Vic Isley, Explore Asheville president and CEO, in a press release announcing the grant. “It will also add four river access sites for all types of watercraft for residents.”

At more than $8.1 million, the TDA’s overall allocation to the project is its largest yet from the TPDF, which represents the 33% of occupancy tax revenues that state law requires to be spent on capital projects that increase overnight visits to Buncombe County.

That distinction had previously been held by the city of Asheville’s River Arts District Transportation Improvement Project; the collection of greenway and riverfront projects received roughly $7.1 million.

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DOWN BY THE RIVER: Riverside Park and a whitewater wave will be key elements of the $30 million Woodfin Greenway & Blueway project. Graphic courtesy of the town of Woodfin

Asheville climate justice program makes little impact When former Asheville Chief Sustainability Officer Amber Weaver presented the results of the city’s Climate Justice Initiative in January, City Manager Debra Campbell called it “extremely, extremely important to all that we do.” Yet public records recently obtained by Xpress show that city staffers have made minimal use of the main tool to emerge from that effort.

The initiative, which kicked off in April 2020 after the city signed a $29,500 contract with Asheville-

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based Tepeyac Consulting, had culminated in a “Climate Justice Screening Tool.” According to an accompanying guide published by the city Office of Sustainability, the tool should be employed consistently across government operations “to identify, make and explain policy choices that build climate resilience” in minority communities.

However, the city provided just two documents when asked for all instances the tool had been used since February. Both had been filed by Vaidila Satvika, a member of Asheville’s Planning Design Department, regarding a redesign of Patton Avenue and a housing study.

“Since [January], efforts have focused on education, building capacity for technical assistance within the organization and identifying strategies for implementation,” wrote Asheville Sustainability Director Bridget Herring, in response to an Xpress request for comment. “We expect utilization of this resource to increase during the fiscal year.”

New plans under development support the city’s intent to use the tool more broadly moving forward.

A draft framework for Asheville’s Municipal Climate Action Plan, released in late July, flags expanding and implementing the tool as “high-impact activities” for achieving climate and sustainability goals.

Community kudos • Buncombe County’s Soil and Water Conservation District preserved over 156 acres of county farmland through conservation easements finalized this summer. The four properties, spread across Barnardsville, Fairview and Weaverville, include both pasture land and diverse forest ecosystems.

• The Polk County Community Foundation pledged $250,000 toward completion of the Saluda Grade Trail. The grant represents the first major gift for the estimated $60 million project, which aims to convert 31 miles of inactive railway into a mixed-use trail between Inman, S.C., and Zirconia.

• MountainTrue launched a new website to provide real-time estimate of E. coli levels in the French Broad River. The site calculates bacterial contamination based on measures of turbidity, which is tied to stormwater runoff, at Asheville’s Pearson Bridge. More information is available at avl.mx/bzi.

• WNC Communities inducted two local leaders into the WNC Agricultural Hall of Fame. Greg Hoyt, a longtime faculty member at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in Mills River, was honored for his work on soil conservation and sustainable agriculture. Dennis Niemeyer, a nursery owner and

farmer, was recognized for his horticultural industry advocacy and promotion of native plants.

• The Southern Highlands Reserve in Lake Toxaway was selected by the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to lead red spruce restoration efforts throughout the Southern Appalachians. The nonprofit will raise 50,000 spruce saplings from seed to be planted on public lands throughout the region.

• Local N.C. Department of Transportation staff members earned praise for their decorative plantings on area highways in the 2021 Wildflower Awards, sponsored by the Garden Club of North Carolina. NCDOT Division 13, which covers Buncombe County, was recognized for having the best overall division wildflower program, while the flower beds near exit 4A on Interstate 240 earned the first-place William D. Johnson Daylily Award. I-26 in Henderson County received second place for best regional wildflower planting in the Western Region.

Making moves • Mountain BizWorks hired Amy Allison as partnership director for its WNC: MADE X MTNS initiative. Allison, who most recently served as director of the N.C. Outdoor Recreation Industry Office, will help develop the region’s outdoor economy by supporting rural community leaders and encouraging outdoor-focused businesses to relocate in WNC. • Tracy Calla has been appointed as the new education director of Bullington Gardens. Formerly the senior manager of school and family programs at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota,

OUTSTANDING IN THEIR FIELD: The flower beds near exit 4A on Interstate 240, maintained by local N.C. Department of Transportation staff, earned the William D. Johnson Daylily Award from the Garden Club of North Carolina.

Photo courtesy of NCDOT Fla., Calla replaces John Murphy, who retired after 23 years with the Hendersonville nonprofit.

• Local horticulturalist Greta Dietrich has opened Woodswise Botanicals in Mills River. The nursery focuses on native plants, with particular emphasis on medicinal herbs and pollinator-supporting species. Hours are Fridays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., and Wednesday-Thursday by appointment. More information is available at WoodswiseBotanicals. com.

tion and registration are available at avl.mx/bzd.

• The Friends of DuPont Forest hosts the DuPont Forest Festival Saturday, Sept. 24, in the forest’s Guion Farm parking area.

Activities at the free event include a kids bike clinic, a nature scavenger hunt and guided hikes.

More information is available at avl.mx/bzh.

• Conserving Carolina begins a series of five guided hikes at locations throughout WNC Friday, Sept. 30, with a 6-mile trek at Mount Mitchell State Park. Other options include a 6.5-mile loop hike in the Pisgah National Forest Friday, Oct. 14, and an out-andback excursion to Waterrock Knob Friday, Oct. 28. More information and registration is available at avl.mx/9sa.

• The WNC Sierra Club hosts its political committee chair, Ken Brame, for a Zoom program on the fall’s elections Thursday, Oct. 6. Brame will focus on state-level races and their potential impacts on the environment. Registration is available at avl.mx/bzf.

• The Organic Growers School has scheduled its spring conference for Friday-Sunday, Feb. 24-26, at Mars Hill University. The Asheville-based nonprofit is seeking recommendations for conference speakers and topics, with an online feedback form available at avl.mx/bt5.

— Daniel Walton X

Save the date • Young anglers have the chance to show their skills during a kids fishing tournament at Lake Julian Park Saturday, Sept. 17, 8 a.m.noon. Prizes will be awarded in multiple age groups for longest fish, shortest fish and most fish caught, with a grand prize for overall longest fish. More informa-

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BUNCOMBE BEAT

Buncombe considers parking solutions for low-income workers Both on the streets and in the chambers of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, members of Asheville Food and Beverage United showed up Sept. 6 to advocate for affordable parking. The group of local food service employees held a rally outside the county courthouse prior to making their case before the board during public comment.

Jen Hampton, the campaign’s lead organizer, presented commissioners with a petition signed by over 2,100 people in support of free or low-cost parking for downtown workers. “We’ve been talking to workers about our Fair Deal campaign, which is fighting for living wages, paid sick days and better scheduling practices,” she explained. “And in doing that, talking to workers, we discovered that while those issues are super important, they’re also very upset about the parking issue.”

Four supporters of the petition, including Michael Schlotz, spoke about their personal experiences parking and working downtown.

Over the past year, he said, parking fees have cost his household between 7% and 10% of its gross annual income. Other commenters brought up the time it takes to find parking and safety concerns for those who park outside downtown and walk in to work to avoid fees.

During a briefing of the board earlier Sept. 6, Tim Love, Buncombe’s director of economic development and governmental relations, presented a recommendation to address those workers’ concerns. The county may offer reduced monthly parking passes in its Coxe Avenue parking deck, cutting the monthly cost to rent a space in that garage from $85 to $40 for employees who work within about a mile of Pack Square.

The Coxe deck has a total of 664 spaces, 185 of which are currently leased monthly at the $85 rate. Love proposed making 150 additional spaces available at the reduced rate to downtown employees earning less than 80% of the area median income ($45,000 per year for a one-person household or $64,250 for a family of four). While the lower rates would only be available at the Coxe deck to start, he said, a 14

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DRIVEN TO PARK: Michael Schlotz, a member of Asheville Food and Beverage United, shares his struggles with parking as a downtown worker during a meeting of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners. Screen capture courtesy of Buncombe County similar plan could be extended to additional decks in the future.

The passes would be managed

by Preferred Parking, the vendor that currently oversees parking garage operations for the county.

Employees or employers would be able to purchase monthly passes through an online application process. Applicants would need to provide proof of downtown employment and income and would need to recertify every 12 months. Love said the program could be implemented as early as the fall.

Buncombe currently loses money on the Coxe deck, Love added: The county pays about $1.27 million per year in debt service on the garage but only brings in around $400,000 in revenue. He said the affordable parking program could boost annual revenue by up to $72,000 due to the increased number of monthly leases available.

“If you’re thinking about strategies for how to increase utilization, one strategy is rightfully to lower the rate. That’s a natural supply-and-demand approach,” Love said. “It makes sense from that standpoint — from a utilization perspective — or if you’re looking to benefit those that are low in income.”

Board Chair Brownie Newman, while in favor of reduced-rate parking, said he would like to explore other options as well. He suggested

offering lower rates for parking in the upper and middle levels of the parking deck to both reduce the cost for downtown employees and keep spaces on the lower levels accessible for short-term parking.

He advocated for hearing more community input before voting on the rate change.

“We are hearing from the community loud and clear that that’s a need,” said Newman of affordable parking. “We think that there’s some very good ideas coming forward, but we would really like to hear from those who are directly affected by this before we make final decisions.”

In a statement provided to Xpress after the meeting, Asheville Food and Beverage United described the proposal as “an important step in our fight for better parking.”

However, the group still has some concerns about the exact amount of the price reduction and what workers would be able to purchase a reduced-price pass.

“The commissioners listened to [our] stories, and their willingness to come to the table with a policy proposal so quickly is encouraging,” the group’s statement read.

“It’s proof that when workers in Asheville organize to demand change, people in power have to listen.”

— Nikki Gensert X

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BUNCOMBE BEAT During the small group Xpress observed, as well as in an informal poll of all attendees taken at the end of summit, stormwater management was a key concern.

Heavy rainfall can wash unwanted debris into waterways, and Eric Bradford, director of operations at Asheville GreenWorks, said most of the fecal coliform in the French Broad comes from farmland runoff.

“Cattle in bottom properties that cannot be developed, right there next to the river … that’s actually a huge amount that we’re receiving,” he told a small group.

Accordingly, working with “farmers, forestry and cattle people to improve practices,” led the informal poll on how the city can better address water quality issues.

Groups also talked about incentivizing “climate-friendly development” to encourage developers to build more sustainably.

“This is the beginning,” Keller said. “This is just the first conversation to try to get people interested in and aware of some of the challenges and needs and start talking about how we can do better.”

Riverfront commission hosts special session on water quality “The [French Broad] River belongs to no one in particular, so it belongs to all of us. We’re all responsible for what’s happening, good or bad.”

That’s how Anne Keller, a member of the Asheville Area Riverfront Redevelopment Commission, set the stage for the River Improvement and Protection Summit held Sept.

8. About 100 people attended the special event — the first of its kind hosted by the AARRC — at New Belgium Brewing Co. The gathering had been prompted by two reports released earlier this year. The first was a study, commissioned by the French Broad River Partnership and led by economist Steve Ha of Western Carolina University, that placed an annual value of $3.8 billion on the French Broad. The river, Keller explained, attracts tourists and residents, provides recreation opportunities, hosts endangered species and supports more than 35,000 jobs. But its quality and cleanliness can impact each of those benefits.

The second report, released by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, added 19 miles of the French Broad from Long Shoals to Craggy Dam to its list of “impaired” waterways. High levels of fecal coliform bacteria, organisms found in the intestines and feces of humans and animals, were detected in the river. Hominy Creek, Cane Creek, Town Branch and much of the Swannanoa were also on the list.

The high levels of bacteria, combined with “increased development and impacts of climate change,” are cause for concern, Keller said. She cited data indicating a 27% increase in regional “extreme rainfall” between 1958 and 2016 and a 13% population increase for Asheville and Buncombe County over the past decade.

“If we don’t address some of the challenges and protect our river now, it’s not going to get better,” Keller told the summit.

LEADING CHANGE The 14-member AARRC provides recommendations to City Council for “the continued development

FLOW’S STATE: Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer addresses the River Improvement and Protection Summit at New Belgium Brewing Co. Sept. 8. Photo by Carmela Caruso and sustainability of the regional riverfront” and “for effective management of the public resources.”

By convening a diverse group of community members at the summit, including small-business owners, nonprofit leaders, lawyers, real estate agents and Council members, the commission hoped to identify the most pressing issues affecting area waterways and begin to strategize solutions.

“Our ultimate goal is to galvanize stakeholders so that we can all contribute to making things better through the development of a coordinated plan,” said AARRC Chair Darren Green.

The AARRC meeting comes at a pivotal time for the region’s longterm policymaking. Buncombe County Commissioner Parker Sloan told summit attendees that the county intends to finish its Comprehensive Plan 2043 by the end of the year. At that point, he said, “I and the rest of my colleagues on the commission will spend all next year thinking about and rewriting and developing and adjusting every zoning and land use regulation that Buncombe County has.”

— Carmela Caruso X

Sloan told the crowd that the board’s Environmental and Energy Stewardship Subcommittee, of which he is a member, will be developing water quality goals by January. He encouraged community members to reach out to their commissioners and share feedback over the coming months.

Mayor Esther Manheimer was also at the meeting, along with Council members Sage Turner and Kim Roney. “I know all of us collectively are concerned about water quality in our community and in our region,” Manheimer told the audience. “This is going to require a lot of work and collaboration with one another, and the city is excited to continue to collaborate and partner with all of you to make a lot of these things come true that you’re going to be talking about today.”

STORM’S A BREWIN’ The bulk of the summit consisted of roundtable discussions between AARRC commissioners and groups of about 10 attendees. The groups spent an hour discussing issues affecting water quality, how to best address those challenges and “roadblocks” to creating change.

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BUNCOMBE BEAT

Buncombe County Commission candidates talk policy, vision at CIBO forum 2 22 02 2 20

This year’s election for Buncombe County Board of Commissioners will come down to a battle between incumbents and newcomers. In District 2, Democrat and attorney Martin Moore will try to unseat Robert Pressley, the board’s only registered Republican; in District 1, incumbent Democrat Al Whitesides will face Republican and former Commissioner Anthony Penland; and in District 3, Democrat Amanda Edwards will face conservative activist Don Yelton.

At a Sept. 9 forum hosted by the Council of Independent Business Owners, all six candidates staked out their positions on a range of issues central to Buncombe County residents.

BONDS ON THE BALLOT Candidates were split on the two bond referendums that will appear on the Nov. 8 ballot. The first would authorize the county to raise $30 million for spending on farmland and open-space conservation initiatives, as well as greenways.

The second would allow the board to raise $40 million for affordable housing projects. Together, the bonds are projected to increase the median homeowner’s annual taxes by $32 dollars for the next 20 years.

Several candidates saw the bonds as worthy long-term community investments.

“I support the affordable housing bond referendum,” Edwards said, adding that, “as an inaugural member of the Affordable Housing Subcommittee, I have seen firsthand just how dire the situation is in our community for affordable housing. It is dire. And we do need this, on referendum, to address the

EQUITY AND INCLUSION

MAKE YOUR CASE: All six candidates running for the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners participated in a forum hosted by the Council of Independent Business Owners Sept. 9. Photo by Brooke Randle issues of affordability and livability in our community.”

“It will give us the shot in the arm we need,” Whitesides said, “hopefully, to get affordable housing off the ground and to do more to help the citizens of the town.”

Other candidates pointed out that the bonds will lay an unnecessary burden on taxpayers who are already grappling with property tax increases.

“Do I support affordable housing? Absolutely. We all do. How we get there is where we’re going to differ,” Penland said. “A typical household right now is going to pay $32 [a year]. … We cannot continue to burden the taxpayers.

Thirty-two dollars to some may not be much. But to others, $32 is may be all they got.”

Pressley said, “I don’t think it’s my opinion to approve or disapprove of this bond. My job is to explain to everyone what it really

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million, and that’s what it should be taxed at.”

Edwards said, “One thing that I have supported … will continue to support is affordable homeowners initiatives, where people who do qualify can apply for a grant to help offset the cost of their increased property taxes. It’s a first step and not the only step to helping support local county residents.”

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means. … We could go up on taxes [immediately] or we could do the bond. Either way, we’re paying for it.”

TAXES AND REAPPRAISAL The candidates were asked to evaluate the county’s property tax appraisal process, which some consider unfair to low income residents and communities of color. All of the candidates agreed that the process needs an update but differed on how to address the issue.

“We need to focus on two primary populations,” Moore said. First, those who are retiring and, second, “our historic neighborhoods, the folks who have lived here who might have been low income. A lot of historic Black neighborhoods are a good example of that. Let’s put some programs in place that will actually support that, put real money behind it, so we don’t create further evictions and homelessness problems.”

Pressley focused on keeping assessments accurate. “If we have a house valued at $700,000 but it sells for $1 million. [A]fter it’s sold, it goes back to being taxed on $700,000. Why can we not just raise [taxes on] that house? It sold for a

Buncombe County has taken specific actions on equity and inclusion over the last several years, including declaring racism a public health and safety crisis in 2020 and passing a nondiscrimination ordinance in 2021 that prohibits discrimination in employment, businesses and institutions that are open to the public. Without specifically mentioning those efforts, candidates offered varied views regarding the county’s role in promoting equity and inclusion.

“I am a firm believer that we all are created in God’s image and I will treat you as such,” Penland said. “I don’t look at people’s skin color to make a decision. And it should never be that way. If we have programs in place that are doing that, it needs to stop now.”

“When you start talking about equity, you’re already forcing something that is not equitable,” Yelton said. “You’re [already] looking at the situation and designing specific programs for specific people; that is not equity.”

For Moore and Whitesides, who are Black, equity and inclusion at the county level means fair access to opportunities and resources, particularly when it comes to education and workforce development.

“We want diverse workforces,” Moore said. “Let’s make sure that people have the skill set they need to be contributing members of the workforce. And then when the time comes, we’ll look at fair access and fair opportunity, making sure that everyone has an equal chance to be hired and considered for the jobs that we have.”

“For me, equity and inclusion has been a lifelong struggle,” Whitesides said, adding, “But I’ve found now that it starts with education. You’ve got to be educated in order to take advantage of a capitalistic society.”

— Brooke Randle X

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COMMUNITY CALENDAR SEPTEMBER 14 - 21, 2022

Saturday.

Transylvania Heritage Museum, 189 W Main St, Brevard

For a full list of community calendar guidelines, please visit mountainx.com/calendar. For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, opt. 4. For questions about paid calendar listings, please call 828-251-1333, opt. 1.

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Pop Up Art Show Local artists, every Thursday.

TH (9/15), 7pm, Alley Cat Social Club, 797 Haywood Rd

Online-only events More info, pages 32-33 More info, pages 34-35

WELLNESS Monkeypox Vaccination Clinic In partnership with 103.3 Asheville FM and its LGBTQIA Talk Show, Sweet Tea, The Getaway and Buncombe County Health and Human Services.

WE (9/14), 6pm, The Getaway River Bar, 790 Riverside Dr 5Rhythms Sweat Your Prayers Let it in, let it out, let it go. Hosted by Karen weekly.

WE (9/14, 21), 5:15pm, Homewood, 19 Zillicoa St Hula Hooping with Mere Learn and share hula hoop fitness and dance basics.

WE (9/14), 6pm, Burton Street Community Center, 134 Burton St Blue Ghost Blood Drive All donors will receive a $20 Blue Ghost gift card. In partnership with The Blood Connection.

FR (9/16), 2pm, Blue Ghost Brewing Company, 125 Underwood Rd, Fletcher Waves on the Edge: 5Rhythms LGBTQ Sweat Your Prayers Follow the maps created by Gabrielle Roth. First time dancers $10. Hosted by Karen every Saturday.

SA (9/17), 9:30am, Haw Creek Commons, 315 Old Haw Creek Rd

NCGC Pumpkin Patch Glassblowers will be filling D Space gallery with glass pumpkins in an array of colors, styles and sizes. Purchases support the nonprofit glass center. Open 10am, closed Tuesday.

Through Oct. 31.

North Carolina Glass Center, 140 Roberts St, Ste B

Goat Yoga SA (9/17), 11am, Whistle Hop Brewing Co., 1288 Charlotte Hwy, Fairview

A Walk in the Woods Five guest artists approach the Carolina woodlands through their personal perspectives, revealing Appalachia through a fresh lens, inspired by fall. Open daily 10am, through Oct. 30.

Marquee Asheville, 36 Foundy St

Sound Healing Saturdays Reset and ground through the vibrational frequencies of nature and sound healing.

SA (9/17), 5pm, Inner Wolf Retreat Space, 2854 Puncheon Fork Rd, Mars Hill Wild Souls Authentic Movement Class A conscious movement experience in a 100-year old building with a community of like-minded women at all life stages.

SU (9/18), 9:30am, Dunn’s Rock Community Center, 461 Connestee Rd, Brevard Monday Morning Meditation Group Silent meditation to set the mood for the week.

Registration required.

MO (9/19), 8:15am, Asia House, 119 Coxe Ave Monday Run Club All ages and levels welcome, including walkers. In partnership with Mountain Running Co. MO (9/19), 6pm, Catawba Brewing Biltmore, 63 Brook St Men's Cancer Support Group Safely meet in a large conference room and stay socially distant while wearing masks.

RSVP to Will, (412)9130272 or acwein123@

GREEN ACRES: The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project is holding its annual Farm Tour on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 17 and 18, noon-5 p.m., showcasing 19 working farms in four counties in Western North Carolina. The self-guided tour, which costs $35 in advance, includes Canton’s Sustainabillies/Two Trees Farm, pictured. Photo courtesy of ASAP gmail.com.

WE (9/21), 6pm, Woodfin YMCA, 40 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 101

ART We Will Not be Silenced: Standing for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women A series of photographs and sculptures that bring voice to the international Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement through the lens of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Com anche Nation, Lumbee, and other

Native American artists.

Open 10am Tuesday through Friday.

WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Dr, Cullowhee A Clear Choice Abstract sculptures by internationally recognized master glass artist Karsten Oaks, through Sept. 25. Open 10am daily, 12pm on Sunday.

Bender Gallery, 29 Biltmore Ave Border Cantos | Sonic Border A collaboration between American photographer Richard Misrach and Mexican American

sculptor and composer Guillermo Galindo, using the power of art to explore and humanize the complex issues surrounding the Mexican-American border through a transformative and multi-sensory experience. Open 11 am, closed Tuesday.

Through Oct. 24.

Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square We Built This: Profiles of Black Architects and Builders in NC From Preservation North Carolina, this exhibit is part of a multi-faceted educational program about the history and legacy

of Black builders in our state. Through Oct. 10. Closed Sunday and Monday.

Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St Mountain Legacies: Exploring Appalachian Culture This exhibit shows how early settlers made their way into the Appalachian Mountains and made them their home, dispelling the myth of an uncultured people and reveal lives rich with customs and traditions, including herbal medicines, handicrafts, and bluegrass music. Open 12pm Thursday through

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Cultivating Collections: Glass In this year’s exhibition, student researchers tell the stories of the museum’s glass collection, which includes a range of artists who have made significant contributions to the Studio Glass Movement in WNC. Open Tuesday through Friday, 10am.

WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Dr, Cullowhee The Way I'm Wired: Artist Reflections on Neurodiversity This exhibition invites artists to share their lived experiences with neurodiversity and how these experiences have impacted their work as an artist. Open Tuesday through Friday, 10am.

WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Dr, Cullowhee When Was the Last Time You Saw a Miracle? Prints by Corita Kent Shaped by her experiences as an artist,

teacher, and Catholic nun, the artist used her art to bring people together and ignite social change. Open Tuesday through Friday, 10am.

WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Dr, Cullowhee The Observers Opening Reception Showcasing art from the Theories of Atlantis camp. Through Oct. 23. A collaboration Theories/PUSH/Brainstorm skateboard deck will be released at the reception. Refreshments provided by New Belgium.

FR (9/16), 6pm, Push Skate Shop & Gallery, 25 Patton Ave Full Circle Featuring oil painter Anne Marie Brown.

TH (9/22), 11am, Asheville Gallery of Art, 82 Patton Ave

COMMUNITY MUSIC Dance Night in Fines Creek Clogging, line dancing, two step, swing and mountain dancing with traditional country and rock band Running Wolfe and the Renegades. With a cake walk and raffle, with 100% of proceeds going to FCCA in supporting scholarships, community needs, and Manna Foodbank.

SA (9/17), 6pm, Fines Creek Community Center, 190 Fines Creek Rd, Clyde Masterworks 1: McGill & Mozart The opening of the 2022-23 season, Montgomery captures the energy of young virtuosos with Starburst, Mozart spotlights the range of the clarinet with the first concerto written for the instrument, and Brahms takes on his idol, Beethoven, with his first symphony.

SA (9/17), 8pm, $25-75, Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, 87 Haywood St

Yiassou!

Drive-thru only!

Limited Menu.

Family Folk Dance A dance leader will teach each dance contra, squares, circles and other formations in the American folk tradition - as a live band plays. All ages welcome, no experience necessary. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

SU (9/18), 3pm, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

LITERARY Dark Poets Society: Poetry Night Monthly event.

Outdoors, weather permitting.

TH (9/15), 6pm, The Low Down, 204 Black Mountain Ave, Black Mountain Program & Book Signing with Bob Plott The award-winning author and MSMHC GM discusses his fifth book, Plott Hound Tales — People and Places that Made the Plott Breed Famous, followed by a book signing and BBQ dinner, culminating with acoustic music by Mike Ogletree and friends.

SA (9/17), 4pm, Free-$10, Meadowlark Smoky Mountain Heritage Center, 2878 Soco Rd, Maggie Valley The Moonshiner Popcorn Sutton Author event and history talk with Neal Hutcheson and David Joy. see p35 SU (9/18), 1pm, City Lights Bookstore, 3 E. Jackson St, Sylva Asheville Storytelling Circle Monthly meeting. Also available via Zoom. Visit avl.mx/bzv MO (9/19), 7pm, Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, 36 Montford Ave Faith in Arts: A Conversation with Rodger Kamenetz Award-winning poet, author and teacher, presented in conjunction with UNCA. TH (9/22), 1pm, avl.mx/c05

THEATER & FILM Blood of Carnage A comedy of manners, "without the manners." Part of The Black Box Series, where the audience and artists share the Leiman Mainstage in a theatre-in-the-round.

Various dates and times Sept. 15-Oct. 8.

Visit avl.mx/bzz Flat Rock Playhouse, 2661 Hwy 225, Flat Rock AVL Revue: On Air This month features some of Asheville’s arts-centric radio programs and pod-

casts, where each host is tasked with inviting an artist previously featured on their show to come perform a short piece.

FR (9/16), 7pm, $20-25, Story Parlor, 227 Haywood Rd Mike Wiley's One Noble Journey The story of Henry “Box” Brown, an African American born into slavery in 1816, demonstrating that the cruelty of slavery was as devastating to the heart as it could be on the body. FR (9/16) & SA (9/17), 7:30pm, SU (9/18) 2pm, $10-46, North Carolina Stage Company, 15 Stage Ln Blood Knot A play that asks us to dig beneath the surface of what makes us kin and what happens when we don’t like what we find there. Part of The Black Box Series, where the audience and artists share the Leiman Mainstage in a theatre-in-the-round.

Various dates and times Sept. 16 through Oct. 9. Visit avl.mx/c00 Flat Rock Playhouse, 2661 Hwy 225, Flat Rock Craft Cinema: Phantom Thread A screening of the 2017 Paul Thomas Anderson film, set in a 1950’s London. Complimentary beverages and popcorn courtesy of Bhramari Brewing Co. and Poppy Handcrafted are provided.

FR (9/16), 6pm, Center for Craft, 67 Broadway Cry it Out A comedy about two mothers in affluent Long Island, by Molly Smith Metzler. Also Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

FR (9/16), SA (9/17), 7:30pm, Attic Salt Theatre, The Mills at Riverside, 2002 Riverside Dr The Three Musketeers The action/adventure/ comedy, performed and produced by the Montford Park Players.

FR (9/16) & SA (9/17), 7:30pm, Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre, 92 Gay St This is the Last Dam Run of Likker I'll Ever Make Documentary screening with Emmy award winning filmmaker Neal Hutcheson. see p35 SU (9/18), 6pm, Lazy Hiker Brewing Sylva, 617 W Main St, Sylva

Raising Black: Joy, Pain, Sunshine & Rain A production that explores the complexities of emotions, experiences and stories of all people but in particular many who are the American offspring of the African diaspora.

This celebration and theatrical healing production is sealed together with music, poetry, storytelling and theatre. see p34 TU (9/20), 5:30pm, East Asheville Library, 3 Avon Rd

MEETINGS & PROGRAMS Swannanoa Valley Museum Walk through History: Tabernacle Cemetery South Side A guided walking tour of the South (lower) side of the cemetery, which dates back to the 1830s.

WE (9/14), 10:30am, $25-35, Swannanoa Valley Museum, 223 W State St, Black Mountain WNCHA Hikes with a Historian: Absalom Dillingham Walking Cemetery Tour One of a four party series that features local cemeteries, which

can provide glimpses of social and community history within an area, and can reveal interesting connections and patterns.

WE (9/14), 11am, Big Ivy Community Center, 540 Dillingham Rd, Barnardsville Introduction to Medicare: Understanding the Puzzle The class will explain how Medicare works, the enrollment process, how to avoid penalties, and ways to save money. To register, visit coabc.org or call the Council on Aging at (828)277-8288.

WE (9/14), 2pm, coabc. org Third Thirsty Thursday: WCC Social Western Carolinas Coaches' monthly social event. A subchapter of the International Coaching Federation, Charlotte.

TH (9/15), Highland Brewing Co, 12 Old Charlotte Hwy Hemlock Hike to Dobson Knob The Hemlock Restoration Initiative will lead a 3.2 mile educational hike in Pisgah National Forest, where hikers will see several Carolina hemlock bluffs, rock outcrops, and a view of

the North Fork of the Catawba River valley.

RSVP required: info@ savehemlocksnc.org or calling (828)252-4783.

FR (9/16), 10am, Dobson Knob Trailhead, Marion Fridays at the Folk Art Center: It's for What Ails You Join a Parkway ranger for an evening of odd illnesses and even odder remedies. From turpentine, to axes under the bed, we’ll examine how and why certain traditional medicines developed in the Southern Appalachians.

Bring a blanket or chair.

Outdoors, weather permitting.

FR (9/16), 7pm, Folk Art Center, MP 382, Blue Ridge Parkway September Star Gaze A public star gaze in Madison County, weather permitting. Visit avl.mx/c01 for more information. Hosted by the Asheville Astronomy Club.

FR (9/16), 7:35pm, Grassland Mountain Observatory, 2890 Grassland Parkway, Marshall Artists & Writers Coffee Inviting all artists: painters, sculptors, writers, performers and

more to a casual weekly drop-in gathering to share works in progress and chat about art and what’s happening in your community.

SA (9/17), 9am, Tryon Fine Arts Center, 34 Melrose Ave, Tryon Bullington Gardens Fall Plant Sale The sale features many hard-to-find perennials, shrubs, trees, native plant and dahlias.

All proceeds benefit Bullington’s mission to educate and inspire children and adults in horticulture.

FR (9/16), SA (9/17), 9am, Bullington Gardens, 95 Upper Red Oak Trail, Hendersonville National Clean-Up Day A litter pick-up on the French Broad River with an after-party in the taproom. Participants will receive a free Bold Rock product. In partnership with RiverLink.

SA (9/17), 9am, Bold Rock Asheville, 39 N Lexington Ave Family Discovery Day Explore the 25-acre forest, ninja course, pine play and chicken field.

SA (9/17), 10am, Asheville Farmstead School, 218 Morgan Cove Rd, Candler

NC Arboretum Fall Plant Sale An assortment of plants grown in the Production Greenhouse, as well as 20 local growers and businesses for a tailgate-style market offering annuals, perennials, natives, houseplants, and arts and crafts. With live music from The Roaring Lions. Outdoors in the parking lot.

FR (9/16), 12pm, SA (9/17), 10am, NC Arboretum, 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way Urban E-bike Tour Chris Joyell, MountainTrue's healthy communities director, will share his extensive knowledge about Asheville's urban core, including stories of how redlining has shaped our city and what the future could hold for Asheville.

In partnership with Flying Bikes Tours.

SA (9/17), 10am, $1020, Downtown Asheville Michael Checkhov Method Originally developed as a movement theater technique, Noreen Sullivan has adapted the method to be inclusive for all artists and creatives seeking to expand their craft through modes of

embodiment. Siding scale.

SA (9/17), 11am, $10-40, Center for Connection + Collaboration Project Fresh Start Free resume building and review, free shopping at an on-site professional clothing closets in a gender-inclusive settting, free professional headshots, free print-ready business card template and connections to existing career opportunities in Buncombe County.

SA (9/17), 11am, Arthur R. Edington Education and Career Center, 133 Livingston St Trap Trivia Answer questions about trap music.

SA (9/17), 6pm, Shiloh Community Center, 121 Shiloh Rd Breed Meet Up: Frenchies Dogs six months or older must show poof of vaccinations and be spayed/neutered. 21+ SU (9/18), 11am, Wagbar, 320 Merrimon Ave, Weaverville

Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022 • Pack Square Park • Asheville NC

11:00am to 7:00pm • 200+ Community Services, Businesses and Artists

Walk for Something We Aspire To ALL ARE WE LCOM E:

Families, Businesses, Organizations, Churches, Groups, Friends

• Performances by: McKinney, Mar and the Mermaladies, Fancy and the Gentlemen, Convict Julie, Asheville Gay Men’s Chorus, Rocky Horror Music Show, Lo Wolf ... and our famous DRAG Showcase

Learn more at blueridgepride.org

FREE • Register Today 10:00am to 11:00am (walkers gather at 9:00am)

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C OMMU N IT Y CA L EN D AR Pasta Making Demo All the basics of homemade pasta, from ingredients to kneading and shaping techniques, as she crafts several pasta forms, including tagliatelle, garganelli, farfalle and sorpresine. see p32 SU (9/18), 12pm, Metro Wines, 169 Charlotte St National Trail of Tears Conference & Symposium The symposium commemorates 184 years since the infamous Trail of Tears, which removed the majority of Cherokees in 1838-1839 to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma.

MO (9/19)-WE (9/21), Harrah's Cherokee Casino, 777 Casino Dr Cherokee Swannanoa Valley Museum History Café: Great Floods of the Swannanoa Valley and Western North Carolina

Anne Chesky Smith, director of the WNC Historical Association, and Swannanoa Valley Museum staff will discuss some of the largest flooding disasters in WNC's history.

MO (9/19), 6pm, Free$5, Swannanoa Valley Museum, 223 W State St, Black Mountain Game Designers of North Carolina (GDoNC) Meetup Meet local designers, give feedback, and discover your next favorite game.

TU (9/20), Free, Well Played Board Game Café, 162 Coxe Ave AARP Smart Driver This one-time, four hour course is the first course in the nation designed specifically for the over 50 driver.

TU (9/20), 8:45am, Silvermont Senior Center, 364 E Main St, Brevard Latin Cuisine with Martina Led by chef Martina Valdez, in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.

TU (9/20), 5pm, Burton Street Community Center, 134 Burton St WNCHA History Hour: Revisiting The Maya of Morganton In the 1990s, Morganton became the new home of several hundred Guatemalan and Mexican-born workers, and the site of their struggle for labor rights and unionization in a poultry processing plant. Their oral histories formed the basis for presenter Dr Leon Fink’s 2003 book – the winner of WNCHA’s Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award.

TU (9/20), 6pm, $10, avl.mx/c06

Bingo Night Doors open 4:30pm.

Up to $2500 in prizes, weekly.

TU (9/20), 7pm, $25, American Legion Post 70, 103 Reddick Rd Boy Scout Troop 91 Fall Kick Off For boys ages 11-18, free to attend first two meetings. Visit: avl.mx/bxq TU (9/20), 7pm, St. Pauls United Methodist Church, 223 Hillside St Help Save a Life Suicide Prevention Workshops In LivingWorks safeTALK you will learn how to reach out to someone thinking about suicide and help them keep safe by promptly connecting them to further support.

WE (9/21), 8:30am, Veterans Healing Farm, 38 Yale Rd, Hendersonville

WNCHA Hikes With a Historian: Hot Springs Cemeteries Walking Tour Hot Springs lies along the route of the former Buncombe Turnpike and later became a popular tourist resort as well.

Its cemeteries contain travelers, early settlers from the 1800s, enslaved and free African Americans, and German POWs who were later reinterred. These stories and more intertwine in the cemeteries on this outing exploring local history in a mountain town.

WE (9/21), 10am, Smith-McDowell House Museum, 283 Victoria Rd Spanish Club Spanish speakers of all ages and levels are welcome to join together for conversation to practice the language in a group setting.

WE (9/21), 6pm, Black Mountain Brewing, 131 NC-9, Black Mountain Circling A relational meditation and communication practice.

WE (9/21), 6:30pm, My Home, 17 Old U.S. 19-23, Candler Transformational Health: One Woman's Journey from Chronic Sickness to Vibrant Health Guest speaker Michelle Miller discusses how changing her diet and health regime led her to a life without pain, anxiety or depression.

WE (9/21), 7pm, avl.mx/8u5 ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) In LivingWorks ASIST you will learn how to help someone thinking about suicide develop a personalized SafePlan to keep safe-for-now and connect with further help.

TH (9/22), 8:30am, Veterans Healing Farm, 38 Yale Rd, Hendersonville Women's Fall Equinox Sacred Sound Immersion A deeply replenishing

$1,686 – $2,848

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and nurturing guided sound healing journey of Tibetan and Crystal bowls chimes tank drums and tuning forks, for women only. Advanced registration only.

TH (9/22), 2:30pm, $22, Bullington Gardens, 95 Upper Red Oak Trail, Hendersonville Tik Tok Made Me Cook It Quick and easy recipes from Tik Tok. TH (9/22), 6pm, Shiloh Community Center, 121 Shiloh Rd

LOCAL MARKETS Etowah Lions Club Farmers Market Fresh produce, meat, sweets, breads, arts, and more, through October 26.

WE (9/14, 21), 3pm, 447 Etowah School Rd, Hendersonville River Arts District (RAD) Farmers Market Located on the river with live music and over 30 local vendors.

Safely accessible via the greenway, plus ample parking.

WE (9/14, 21), 3pm, Smoky Park Supper Club, 350 Riverside Dr Wednesday Night Market: Vintage and Crafts Vintage and crafts from area-based vendors.

WE (9/14, 21), 4pm, Fleetwood’s, 496 Haywood Rd Enka-Candler Tailgate Market Fresh local produce and heritage crafts. Weekly.

TH (9/15, 22), 3pm, A-B Tech Small Business Center, 1465 Sand Hill Rd, Candler Flat Rock Tailgate Market A diverse group of local produce farmers, jam and jelly makers, bread bakers, wild crafters, and merrymakers.

TH (9/15, 22), 3pm, Pinecrest ARP Church, 1790 Greenville Hwy, Flat Rock

East Asheville Tailgate Market Local goods, every Friday.

FR (9/16), 3pm, 954 Tunnel Rd Weaverville Tailgate Market Local foodstuffs, alongside a small lineup of craft and artisan vendors.

FR (9/16), 3pm, 60 Lake Shore Dr, Weaverville Henderson County Tailgate Market One of the oldest open-air markets in Western North Carolina, this unique market has a festival feel, with local growers who operate small family farms in Henderson County.

SA (9/17), 8am, 100 N King St, Hendersonville Hendersonville Farmers Market Produce, meat, eggs, baked goods, coffee, crafts and more from 30+ local vendors. With live music, kids' activities and cooking demos weekly.

SA (9/17), 8am, Hendersonville Farmers Market, 650 Maple St, Hendersonville Mills River Farmers Market A producer-only market, selling products raised or produced within 50 miles of the market. With local musicians, a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs, and high-quality crafts.

SA (9/17), 8am, Mills River Elementary School, 94 Schoolhouse Rd, Mills River North Asheville Tailgate Market The oldest Saturday morning market in WNC. Over 60 rotating vendors.

SA (9/17), 8am, 3300 University Heights Asheville City Market Over 50 vendors and local food products, including fresh produce, meat, cheese, bread, pastries, and more.

SA (9/17), 9am, 52 N Market St

Black Mountain Tailgate Market Seasonal community market event featuring organic and sustainably grown produce, plants, cut flowers, herbs, locally raised meats, seafood, breads, pastries, cheeses, eggs and local arts and handcrafted items.

SA (9/17), 9am, 130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain Haywood's Historic Farmers Market Located at HART Theatre, weekly.

SA (9/17), 9am, 250 Pigeon St, Waynesville Transylvania Farmers Market Fifty vendors offering fresh, locally-grown produce, meat, poultry, eggs, honey, cheese, coffee, plants, herbs, cut flowers, baked goods, jams, jellies, relishes, prepared foods and handcrafted items.

SA (9/17), 9am, Downtown Brevard Madison Co. Farmers & Artisans Market Local goods and produce, weekly through October.

SA (9/17), 10am, Mars Hill University, Mars Hill Junk-O-Rama Saturday Vintage antiques market, every Saturday through October.

SA (9/17), 11am, Fleetwood's, 496 Haywood Rd Makers Market Each month will feature vendors and artisans selling housewares, vintage clothing, original art, handmade crafts, fair trade imports.

SA (9/17), 12pm, Atelier Maison & Co, 121 Sweeten Creek Rd Jackson Arts Market Makers & Music Festival Locally produced, foraged, sourced, mined and handcrafted goods. With live music from Clayton Justice on Saturday and an open mic on Sunday.

SA (9/17) & SU (9/18), 1pm, Downtown Sylva

SNAPSHOT Sun & Moon Makers Market Indoor/outdoor monthly market featuring a rotating lineup of local makers, with half the vendor fees going directly to nonprofit Helpmate.

SA (9/17), 1pm, plēb urban winery, 289 Lyman St Carolina Ground Pop-up Market There will be an array of baked goods made with Carolina Ground flour as well as flours, eggs, botanical dyed yards, books, and more from Hominy Farm, MIlkglass Pie, Beeswax + Butter and Bryson Homestead.

SU (9/18), 11am, Carolina Ground, 1237 Shipp St, Hendersonville West Asheville Tailgate Market Over 40 local vendors, every Tuesday.

TU (9/20), 3:30pm, 718 Haywood Rd

FESTIVALS & SPECIAL EVENTS Rhythm & Brews Concert Series The final installment of the summer series, with bluegrass band Unspoken Tradition and classic rock band The Greybirds. Outdoors.

TH (9/15), 5:30pm, Historic Downtown Hendersonville Artisanal Cheese Farm Tour Guided cheese tastings and education conducted by local cheesemakers are included as part of the tour by Edibe Asheville. see p32-33 FR (9/16), 10am, Multiple locations Downtown After 5 The last of the summer series, with live music from Who's Bad: The Ultimate Michael Jackson Experience and DJ Molly Parti. This month's non-profit partner is Asheville Music School.

Local beverages and

food trucks available for purchase.

FR (9/16), 5pm, 100 Block N Lexington Ave Kids Fishing Tournament Named one of the Best Kids Fishing Tournaments in the U.S., the tournament is open to anyone 15 years old or younger. Competitors will be divided into age groups with prizes in each for Longest Fish, Shortest Fish, and Most Fish Caught. The grand prize for Longest Fish is a kayak from Waterways and Feelfree Kayaks.

SA (9/17), 8am, Lake Julian Park, 37 Lake Julian Rd, Arden Art in Autumn Arts & Crafts Festival This event features over 100 juried artists and craftspeople, and live music performed by local artists.

SA (9/17), 10am, Main Street Weaverville 42nd Annual Heritage Day A celebration of Southern Appalachian culture on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This festival has old-time music and demonstrations of the crafts of yesteryear, and a World Gee Haw Whimmy Diddle Competition at 2.

SA (9/17), 10am, Folk Art Center, MP 382, Blue Ridge Parkway Pup Costume Party Dress up yourself and your dog and join a neighborhood parade.

Treats and prizes available.

SA (9/17), 11am, Burton Street Community Center, 134 Burton St Brevard's 2nd Annual Oktoberfest With in-town breweries including Brevard Brewing, Ecusta, Noblebräu, Oskar Blues and Upcountry and food trucks, games and live music from the Harrows and Mountain School of Strings students. A portion of the festival

proceeds go toward the school.

SA (9/17), 12pm, Brevard Lumberyard, 200 King St, Brevard Clawtoberfest An Oktoberfest-style party filled with music, food, games, and German-inspired small-batch beers. see p32 SA (9/17), 12pm, Highland Brewing Co, 12 Old Charlotte Hwy Asheville Mardi Gras Pool Party and Theme Reveal Learn more about AMG and find out next year's parade theme.

Family friendly, costumes encouraged.

SA (9/17), 1pm, Aloft Rooftop/Poolside, 51 Biltmore Ave 36th Annual Music in the Mountains In honor of Madison County’s Sheila Kay Adams, the seventh-generation bearer of her family’s two-hundred-year-old ballad-singing tradition and is the mother and teacher of the eighth generation. The line-up also includes Riggs and Ritter, the Boone Trail Band and Appalachian Heartstrings. see p35 SA (9/17), 5pm, Homeplace Beer Co., 6 South Main St, Burnsville Thanks to Henderson County Schools Back-toSchool Party With music and a singalong from local band Tuxedo Junction and remarks from the Master of Ceremonies former superintendent Dr. John Bryant. Food trucks and the Pepsi Wagon will also be onsite.

SA (9/17), 6pm, Historic Henderson County Courthouse, Hendersonville ASAP Farm Tour This annual family-friendly event is a chance to experience how food is grown and raised through guided tours, demonstrations, hands-on activities,

and tastings. All farms are located within an hour drive of Asheville and are arranged by cluster: Haywood, Leicester, McDowell and Henderson.

SA (9/17) & SU (9/18), $35, Multiple locations NC Mountain State Fair Opened in 1994, this family friendly stat e fair of the west showcases the many talents, cultures and traditions of WNC - with rides, food, vendors, agricultural education and exhibitions, arts and crafts, live entertainment and other regional traditions.

Sept. 9-18, WNC Agricultural Center, 1301 Fanning Bridge Rd Lenoir-Rhyne University Asheville Anniversary A ten year anniversary celebration with food and entertainment. To RSVP visit: avl.mx/bzg TH (9/22), 4pm, LenoirRhyne University, 36 Montford Ave Fall Equinox Garden Dinner Party Chefs Clarence Robinson, Gene Ettison, Shaniqua Simuel and other local vendors will prepare appetizers, entrees and desserts specially prepared using fresh garden ingredients.

With children’s activities, such as making seed bombs and potting plants, door prizes and cooking demonstrations. see p33 TH (9/22), 5pm, Shiloh Community Garden, 59 Hampton St

SPIRITUALITY Sufi Dances of Universal Peace An evening of simple melody and movement set to sacred phrases from a number of spiritual traditions. No experience needed, all dances and chants are taught.

SA (9/17), 7:30pm, $10, Haw Creek Commons, 315 Old Haw Creek Rd

CELEBRATING LOVED ONES: Local infant Harlow Tarrant and her mother, Heather, will appear as part of the annual National Down Syndrome Society Times Square video presentation. The one-hour video will feature about 500 photographs of infants, children, teens and adults with Down syndrome.

Harlow’s image was among 2,400 entries submitted. The presentation will be livestreamed on the NDSS Facebook page 9:30-10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 17. The yearly event aims to promote the value, acceptance and inclusion of people with Down syndrome. Photo by Molly Dockery Photography

BENEFITS & VOLUNTEERING Fairview Road Resilience Garden Work Day Volunteers are needed at the garden every Wednesday. All ages and skill levels are welcome to join us as we harvest, weed, plant, and build community.

WE (9/14, 21), 5:30pm, Fairview Resilience Garden, 461 Fairview Rd Under The Stars Fall Fundraiser Funds will go directly to providing free and discounted science education through exhibits, field trips,

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mobile learning, hands-on STEAM lab, or science camps.

TH (9/15), 6pm, Highland Brewing Company, 12 Old Charlotte Hwy

Dance! 50s, 60s and 70s A dance party to benefit local animal shelters.

FR (9/16), 7:30pm, Continuum, 147 Ste C, 1st Ave E, Hendersonville

Art and Wellness Auction This event, in celebration of Recovery Month, includes over 50 art and wellness items up for bid, music by Laura Blackley, hors d'oeuvres, and a menu of non-alcoholic drinks.

An online auction will be held in conjunction.

FR (9/16), 6pm, Ginger's Revenge, 829 Riverside Dr, Ste 100

50th Annual Hunger Walk All funds raised will be distributed to various food pantries, which receive funds by means of an application.

Choose between a one mile fun run Jackson Park or the five mile route downtown.

SA (9/17), 8am, Historic Downtown Hendersonville

SCAN FOR TICKETS

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Stithes of Love Asheville A group which creates a variety of handmade items for local charities.

MO (9/19), 3pm, Panera Bread, 1843 Hendersonville Rd Pups & Pints Local breweries, beer tastings, live music, pet caricatures, complimentary pet portraits and more for you and your pup.

TH (9/22), 5pm, Pack Square Parking Garage - Top Level, 26 Biltmore Ave

& 40+

SEPT. 14-20, 2022

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WELLNESS

It takes one to know one

Peer support specialists offer experience, strength and hope

BY LINDA RAY lindarayaccess@gmail.com Anton Sluder never thought he’d be excited about his future. “Who was going to help someone like me?” he says. With a felony record and a history of substance use, he had little hope. But when Sluder left prison in September 2021, he was assigned a peer support specialist through Investments Supporting Partnerships in Recovery Ecosystems, or INspire, a program that assists people facing certain barriers to employment.

“And look at me now,” he says.

Sluder is employed with a temp agency, acquired a driver’s license for the first time in years, has stable housing and continues in his recovery. He’s also a recent graduate of a peer support specialist training class; he can apply for a PSS job earning up to $20 an hour in Asheville and share with others the tools he’s learned According to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, a nonprofit that has trained peer supports since 2004, “a peer support specialist is a professional with lived mental health experience who is trained and certified to provide help and encouragement for others working their way toward wellness.” Personal experience might cover depression, addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, domestic violence or other issues.

PSS serve as front-line mental health workers for those dealing with substance abuse and homelessness; they work in hospitals, treatment centers, social service agencies and veterans’ organiza-

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THEY’VE BEEN THERE: From left, Philip Cooper, Jenna Woodman, Dillon Moss and Brandon Manson are part of the peer support specialist team in the Investments Supporting Partnerships in Recovery Ecosystems program at Land of Sky Regional Council. Photo by Linda Ray tions. Municipalities, first responder agencies and schools contract with PSS services.

The relationship between PSS and their peers is one of support and gentle guidance; peer supports serve as coaches, mentors, advocates and role models. The relationship typically lasts about six-12 months, says INspire coordinator Philip Cooper.

FINDING COMMON GROUND Lauren Garvie is a former IV drug user who has experienced incarceration and being unhoused.

Peer support “is a career path that gives a lot of us a chance when we don’t have many options,”

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says Garvie. After two years in a long-term recovery house, Garvie earned peer support certification in 2018 and works full time for Sunrise Community for Recovery and Wellness, a nonprofit run

by PSS. To be eligible for peer support certification, an individual must have a high school diploma or GED diploma and have lived through and currently manage their own challenges. During training, candidates learn how to find local resources, build community relationships and help peers with things such as obtaining a driver’s license, applying for assistance like food stamps, enrolling in training programs, finding housing and joining support groups.

Peer support grew as a field during the mid-2000s. DeDe Severino, section chief for addictions and operations team for N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, says the department began certifications here in 2007.

All PSS trainers in North Carolina must hold the PSS certification themselves, she adds, because the theory that it takes one to know one is true for teaching PSS skills, too. According to N.C. Certified Peer Support Specialist Program data, Buncombe County has 242 certified PSS as of 2022.

Peer support distinguishes itself from other mental health services

in that it can only be performed by someone who has lived through a mental health crisis. “The greatest gift we have is lived experience and the ability to listen,” says Michael Hayes, a PSS and founder and executive director of the Umoja Health, Wellness, and Justice Collective, which supports a range of mental health services in the Black and Latinx communities. His programs are “culturally specific, trauma-informed and resiliency-focused,” which are also important for PSS relatability, he says.

Bryan Creech is one of four PSS trainers for Vaya Health, a managed care organization that oversees Medicaid for mental health claims in North Carolina.

“My life was touched by mental illness and took me out of the workforce for about five years,” Creech says. He was assigned a PSS and then became one himself in 2012.

He adds that Vaya’s 40-hour, oneweek peer support training is one of the most affordable at $30. It covers the cost of the training book and also explains the class’s long waiting list.

Other peer support training courses, which must include 40 hours of instructions to be state-approved, can cost up to $375. The list of upcoming courses, many of which are held on weekends, is available at avl.mx/c08.

WHO’S PAYING? Peer support services are funded

by Medicaid, insurance for eligible low-income populations. Peer support may be provided as a one-onone service or in a group setting.

It’s a covered benefit when deemed medically necessary for Medicaid recipients with a mental health or substance abuse diagnosis.

Joe Yurchak is program director of certified community behavioral health clinics at Mountain Area Health Education Center, a WNC health care provider, which received a $4 million grant in 2020 from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration.

Some of the funding will be used to pay MAHEC’s seven full-time peer supports. (He says individuals who are not covered by Medicaid are also eligible for PSS services through the grant.)

INspire, the program Sluder attended, began in 2021 through NCWorks, the state’s workforce development system and the Mountain Area Workforce Development Board. Its WNC Recovery to Career program is funded through a $1 million grant paid for by Appalachian Regional Commission, an economic development agency, Vaya Health and Dogwood Health Trust.

“With the grant, we pay our staff PSS and also pay peers we work with to go through the 40-hour PSS training,” says Cooper. “Then

we have contracts to place them in good-paying jobs, such as MAHEC, RHA [Health Services, a mental health clinic], Buncombe County and Sunrise.” Sunrise and Umoja also rely on grants and donations to pay salaries, travel expenses and support services.

A future goal, says Severino, is to have peer support provided as a benefit in all mental health coverage: “I would love to see private insurance cover it.”

SUPPORTING THE PEER SUPPORTS While PSS must renew their certification every two years after participating in 20 continuing education hours, Severino says accountability is one of the areas that the growing PSS field needs to work on, in addition to funding and ongoing educational opportunities.

“There really is no oversight at this time,” says Severino, referring to the continued successful recovery of each PSS and the effectiveness of their work.

But Kevin Mahoney, a PSS who supervises the peer support program at MAHEC, disputes there is oversight of the peers. PSS are asked to self-report slip-ups with drug or alcohol use, or a mental health issue, and colleagues regularly check in with each other.

Mahoney adds that if individuals struggle with maintaining recovery, their employers may allow

a leave of absence to get back on track.

Cooper stresses that accountability is a priority for his PSS. “It’s mandatory they practice a strong recovery program to be able to help others and deal with the stress,” he says. “We’re not a regular workforce. We can’t model ourselves after other kinds of jobs, so we need to be able to hold each other accountable. What qualifies us as PSS professionals is our lived experience, which means we’re also vulnerable to using again if we don’t practice a program of recovery.”

In addition to regular 12-step meeting attendance, Jenna Woodman, an INspire PSS, says she hikes and attends regular church services. “Self-care is vital in this job,” she says.

Mahoney says he’s partnered with Sunrise to offer a PSS support group every two weeks. Garvie, one of 37 full-time PSS at Sunrise, says the support from her colleagues, volunteering at a women’s correctional facility and regular meeting attendance keep her grateful and balanced in her recovery. X

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ARTS & CULTURE

Deep-groove funkiness

Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band celebrates 20 years

BY BILL KOPP bill@musoscribe.com Twenty years is a long time, especially in the life of a band. But despite lineup changes, relocation and countless road mishaps, Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band has finally reached that milestone. To celebrate, the Asheville-based rock/funk ensemble is performing an anniversary show Friday, Sept. 16, at Salvage Station.

Xpress caught up with founder and guitarist John-Paul Miller to discuss the band’s origin, pivots and plans.

SPIN ON IT Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band got its start in Miller’s former basement in Boone. “The original concept was to [create] a fun party atmosphere with high-energy, danceable music,” the guitarist says. From its earliest days, the band’s lineup was a constantly shifting roster of topflight musicians.

“As of right now,” Miller notes, “I’m the only original member left.”

But across two decades of changes, the group’s vision has remained consistent. While covers have always figured into the band’s set list, Miller says that from the very beginning, the group was writing original material. And when they did play other artists’ music, the band showcased its versatility and inventiveness by recasting songs into its own style.

“We’ve covered everything from Fela Kuti to Rage Against the Machine,” he says. “We’ve had fullon throwback ’80s and ’90s hip-hop sets where we did anything from Snoop Dogg to Jay-Z. But everything we do, we put our own spin on it.”

TRADEMARK SOUND The group relocated to Asheville in 2006. Miller says that the band’s early sound reflected the songwriting skills of founding member Josh Phillips; when he left, Miller continues, members went through a brief period where they felt unmoored and “floating around.”

That changed when dynamic keyboardist Mary Frances and drummer Lee Allen — both of whom sing — joined the group in 2009. With the two on board, the band established its trademark sound.

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DUAL DECADE DOMINATION: Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band remains a favorite among locals music lovers, 20 years into its run. Photo by Josh Branstetter/Jabberpics “And that’s when we really started touring heavily,” Miller says, “going back and forth across the country.”

Amid tours and on records, Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band has regularly collaborated with guest musicians. “Some of the members of Dirty Dozen Brass Band have come onstage with us to perform their songs, done in our [style],” Miller says. And before his death in 2016, Parliament-Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell joined the group for a performance of his song “A Joyful Process,” during a show in Aspen, Colo.

Along the way, the ensemble has created a formidable catalog of recorded music. In addition to several live albums, the group has released four studio efforts under its own name — 2015’s Funk Life is the most recent — and has played on nearly every recording by kid-hop sensation Secret Agent 23 Skidoo. “He gave us the opportunity to write and record on a Grammy Award-winning album,” Miller says.

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THE JIMMY V RULE At the height of its touring days, Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band was on the road 200 days a year, playing 150-170 shows annually. “We made a lot of good friends,” Miller says. “And we played in every state except Hawaii, plus Jamaica.”

These days, the group stays closer to Asheville, the city that all its members call home. “After a while, the band needed a little bit of a break,” Miller says. “So we decided to step back from full-time touring.”

Miller admits that the Booty Band’s most daunting challenge is its size. “A lot of bands are just three or four people,” he notes. His ensemble, he continues, has featured seven musicians over much of its 20-year run. And when touring, the number grows with an additional three-person crew.

“When you’re traveling with 10 people on the road, it’s hard to even find places large enough for

the whole band to stay the night,” Miller explains.

Such impediments have limited where the band can travel. For example, Miller says the group has received offers to play in Europe, but the costs involved in bringing a large band overseas made it impossible.

As far as many of the other challenges Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band has faced, Miller and his bandmates laugh them off; they make for good stories, he says. “We’ve been stuck on top of mountains and behind avalanches,” he recalls.

“We’ve had our bus engine catch on fire.”

Other problems, he acknowledges, were of the band’s own making.

Around 15 years ago, the group was booked to play a set at the Jimmy V Celebrity Golf Classic, “a prestigious, black-tie event in Pinehurst, N.C.,” Miller recalls. “Not only were we late, but when we started playing, our singer decided we should perform a song that had the most swear words of any song that we played.”

After three songs, the band was told to stop. “They paid us and told us to leave,” he says with a laugh.

“It was the most money per minute we ever made!” The experience marked the implementation of what the group still calls the Jimmy V rule. “We’ve cleaned up a lot since then,” Miller says.

TALK OF NEW MUSIC In recent times, the lineup of Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band has stabilized. That, plus the fact the drummer Allen is a recording engineer, means new Booty Band music may be on the way. “Nobody wants to force a record out,” Miller observes, “because that never produces good results. But everybody [in the group] has been talking about recording some new music. When bands get their own studio, that’s when they start getting experimental and really have fun with it.”

And as the band approaches its 20-year anniversary show, the musicians see the hometown gig as an opportunity to look backward and forward at once.

“We’re doing a total throwback set of early material,” Miller says.

The Salvage Station performance will feature the current group, augmented by four members from the band’s original lineup: Phillips, saxophonist Greg Hollowell, guitarist Grady Gilbert and vocalist Suzanna Baum.

“We’ve curated a list of songs that were everybody’s favorite back in the early 2000s,” Miller says. “Songs that we haven’t played in a long time.”

And, of course, the current Booty Band lineup — Miller, Frances and Allen, plus Derrick Johnson on trombone, Jonathan Cole on saxophone, Ben Bjorlie on bass and trumpeter Alex Bradley — will be on hand to celebrate 20 years of deepgroove funkiness. X

WHO Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band WHERE Salvage Station, 466 Riverside Drive, avl.mx/bye WHEN Friday, Sept. 16, at 6:30 p.m. $20 $25 advance, $30 day of show; all ages are welcome

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SEPT. 14-20, 2022

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ART S & C U L T U R E

The art of politics

2 22 02 2 20

NC House candidates participate in AAAC’s Arts AVL Town Hall

CREATIVE SOLUTIONS: From left, N.C. General Assembly candidates Caleb Rudow, Lindsey Prather, Eric Ager and Everett Pittillo participate in the first Arts AVL Town Hall. Photo by Edwin Arnaudin

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com Caleb Rudow has a very particular set of skills that set him apart from his fellow legislators: As far as the House District 114 representative knows, he’s the only member of the N.C. General Assembly who’s also the lead singer in a David Bowie cover band.

This and other artistic revelations were shared on Sept. 7 during the first of three Arts AVL Town Halls that the Asheville Area Arts Council will host over the next month. Joining Rudow on the Diana Wortham Auditorium stage were candidates running for District 114 — Democrat Eric Ager and Republican Everett Pittillo — and Lindsey Prather, the Democratic candidate for District

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115. Rudow, who was appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper to replace Susan Fisher after her retirement, is running to represent District 116.

Warren Daniel (Republican, Senate District 46), John Anderson (Republican, Senate District 49), Julie Mayfield (Democrat, Senate District 49), Pratik Bhakta (Republican, House District 115) and Mollie Rose (Republican, House District 116) were also invited but did not participate.

Following an introduction by AAAC Executive Director Katie Cornell and an overview of the local creative sector’s economic impact, the four candidates were asked questions by AAAC Arts Coalition chairs Rae Geoffrey and Laura Mitchell that centered on arts funding at the state level.

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All except Prather — a Wake County native who stayed in Buncombe County after graduating from UNC Asheville — grew up in the Asheville area. But she and her fellow candidates commented throughout the hourlong event on the arts being a cornerstone of the city’s identity and one that merits additional financial support to grow that legacy.

“It’s the essence of Asheville. It generates revenue. It’s been here since I can remember — since I could walk,” Pittillo said. “So many people say, ‘Well, that’s just art.

They don’t need that money. They don’t need that help.’ But it’s what inspires imagination.”

Regarding the state’s role in the creative sector’s ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, Pittillo is in favor of tax breaks to bring film productions back to Western North Carolina and stimulate the economy.

Prather supports a third phase of the Business Recovery Grant — phase 2 recently concluded — and, referencing her years as a U.S. History teacher, noted that funding arts is part of the country’s traditions and history.

“All of our big federal funding programs included investments in the arts — the New Deal; the Great Society,” Prather said. “We’ve always recognized how important it is to invest in our arts, especially when we’re in times of recovery.”

Calling artists “essential workers” who helped others get through the hard times of the pandemic, Rudow

cited “big picture pieces” like affordable housing and Medicaid expansion so that creators don’t get priced out of Asheville.

Subsequent questions addressed the importance of arts education, including growing the number of the state’s A+ Schools, which use a whole-school transformation model that views the arts as fundamental to teaching and learning, and supporting Senate Bill 681, which requires all North Carolina high schoolers to complete one arts course before graduating.

“We’ve got to make sure that we maintain funding for those programs, even when resources are scarce,” Ager said. “It’s those students who get an artistic, creative education who are going to solve the world’s biggest challenges. They’re the ones who are going to solve the problems of engineering and architecture and medicine. It’s that outside-the-box thinking that art encourages.”

All four candidates are also in favor of increasing N.C. Arts Council grant funding, with Prather and Pittillo noting the importance of working with constituents to identify priority needs on a local level.

Every candidate also found common ground on investing in arts manufacturing within the region, with several participants pointing to its bipartisan appeal and the higher quality of locally made products, the purchase of which keeps revenue within the community.

The event’s final question concerned whether establishing a WNC Museum of History and Culture would be a good use of state funds.

All again agreed on such distribution, with Prather stressing that nonalcohol-centric cultural resources would encourage more families to relocate to the area; Rudow pointed out that the museum is a pet project of Ager’s father, John Ager, who is not seeking reelection for a fifth term representing District 115.

Audience questions were collected throughout the event via an online form, but while none of the candidates exceeded their allotted two minutes per answer, not enough time remained to incorporate attendee suggestions. Cornell noted that future series installments would be modified in order to make sufficient room for audience participation.

The Arts AVL Town continues Wednesday, Sept. 28, with Buncombe County commissioner candidates, and Wednesday, Oct. 12, with Asheville mayor and City Council candidates. Both events are free to attend, but registration is required.

To learn more, visit avl.mx/af1. X

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ARTS & C U L T U R E

Spiritual dilemmas

BY THOMAS CALDER tcalder@mountainx.com Local poet Luke Hankins isn’t short of literary credentials and publications.

While in graduate school at Indiana University, he held the Yusef Komunyakaa Fellowship in Poetry.

And his work has twice been shortlisted for the Montreal International Poetry Prize. But in the end, the poet says, “the only accomplishment any writer should worry about ... is remaining devoted to the craft and calling of writing.”

The founder of Orison Books, a local nonprofit literary press, Hankins is also the author of two poetry collections and the 2016 collection of essays, The Work of Creation: Selected Prose. His latest book of poems, Radiant Obstacles, came out in 2020.

Xpress recently spoke with Hankins about his writings, the power of metaphor and his interest in spiritual dilemmas. Along with the chat is his poem, “Even the River,” featured in Radiant Obstacles.

Xpress: Take us to the start — what inspired this poem?

Hankins: Like many of my poems, this one was inspired by a real-life event, a circumstantial separation from someone I cared about, but it became highly fictionalized. The actual event had nothing to do with guilt on anyone’s part, but the feeling of loss led me to imagine a character experiencing loss for which he did feel guilt and the way that sense of loss and guilt might overwhelm him to the point that he felt that the natural world around him was also grieving and accusing him of driving the person away. On one level, the poem is an exercise in an intentional “pathetic fallacy” — the projection of human feelings onto the nonhuman world. It’s not meant to reflect a material, objective truth, but a psychological one.

Let’s jump to the ending. Can you speak to the poem’s final image, which pulls readers away from the natural world?

That, to me, is part of the magic of metaphor — things can simultaneously be one thing and a quite different thing.

Even the River

by Luke Hankins In a constant murmur of leaves and branches the mountains have been speaking to me about how you left them, cardinals flashing in and out of branches signaling in red semaphore their grief at your departure. All of nature seems to address and blame me.

I walk around holding out my hands, palms upturned, in a gesture of bewilderment and surrender, suggesting my innocence but also my willingness to hold the guilt that finds no other place to rest.

I go out at midnight to comfort the river near the tracks where the trains pass in a slow, unrelenting fury all night, the spark of metal on metal winding through the dark, blaring their enormous questions that I don’t know how to answer.

And even the river resists my touch, like a small child who continues to feel slighted no matter how long her father sits by her bed stroking her hair and singing.

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Poet Luke Hankins on the role and power of poetry

ON THE SCENE: Originally from Louisiana, local poet Luke Hankins’ family relocated to Asheville the summer before his freshman year of high school. Today, he remains active within the city’s writing scene. “The poetry community in Asheville is not only supportive, but full of truly talented and passionate poets,” he says.

“For a town this size, we’re lucky in that regard.” Photo courtesy of Hankins The speaker doesn’t literally move inside, is still at the river, but through metaphor, a completely different scene is overlaid or, better, intertwined with the literal scene. Together, they become (I hope) more than either could be in isolation.

For readers less familiar with your work, what are some recurring themes and topics that you find yourself returning to as a poet, and what attracts you to them?

My poems tend to engage philosophical or spiritual dilemmas, often using the natural world as an occasion or a vehicle for the meditations. “Even the River” is actually sort of an outlier for me, though it does appear in a section of Radiant Obstacles focused on human interconnection and relationships more than is typical for me, and the poems in the section are on the more narrative side of the spectrum. So, I do have at least some range, I suppose!

How do you hope your poetry impacts readers?

I think that everyone who writes or makes art or music tries to make something that’s true to their own experience of what it means to be human.

So, I don’t set out to offer something that I think is outside the bourn of others’ experiences. There’s the old saying — overused, but still useful, I think — “The particular is the universal.”

I have faith that delving into my own experience of the world will resonate with others because humans share so

much in common despite all the superficial differences. The reason I fell in love with poetry as a teenager, in fact, was for that very reason — reading something written in a very different place and time, but which struck me as a profound expression of something I recognized, something I, too, had felt or thought. As John Keats wrote, poetry “should strike the reader as a wording of [their] own highest thoughts and appear almost a remembrance.”

That being said, not all poems will speak to all people in the same way or to the same degree. So, it’s a good thing there are so many poets. We can each find the work that speaks most deeply to us.

Is there a collection from a local poet that excites you and why?

Eric Tran just moved away from Asheville — but for the purpose of this question, I’m going to consider him a local. His second poetry collection, Mouth, Sugar, and Smoke, was recently released by Diode Editions. These powerful poems delve into grief over a former lover’s substance dependence and also celebrate queer eros.

Lastly, who are the four poets on your Mount Rushmore?

Can I cheat? I’m going to cheat.

Dead poets: George Herbert, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Emily Dickinson, Rainer Maria Rilke. Living poets: Jane Hirshfield, Jericho Brown, Christian Wiman, Li-Young Lee. X

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ARTS & C U L T U R E

FOOD ROUNDUP

What’s new in food Prost to fall at Highland Brewing Co.’s Clawtoberfest

As the crunchy leaves and crisp evening air of fall return, so, too, does the time to break out the lederhosen and raise a stein of mäerzen.

Oktoberfest is here again.

Highland Brewing Co. will kick off the season’s arrival Saturday, Sept.

17, noon-5 p.m. with Clawtoberfest, a new annual celebration of autumnal beer, food, fun and games.

“Clawhammer, our Oktoberfest beer, celebrates its 14th year as our fall seasonal,” says Nikki Mitchell, vice president of brand development. “It’s a fantastic beer that continues to resonate with lager fans.”

Several food trucks and pop-ups are expected to participate, featuring themed menus from Deli Volv and Root Down, as well as apple cider and pumpkin spice doughnuts from MunchOs Mini Donuts. Additionally, Eddy Schoeffmann, Blunt Pretzels’ co-founder and Munich native, will be making a special beer cheese using Highland’s Clawhammer to complement his pretzels.

“Our Clawtoberfest will blend lots of old and new traditions,” says Mitchell. “In addition to Clawhammer, our innovative brewers created three new Oktoberfestinspired small-batch beers.”

A number of traditional Oktoberfest games and competitions, including a keg roll, stein hoist, stein race and a mustache contest, will be held throughout the event, as will pickup volleyball, ax throwing from Axeville Throwing Club and interactive juggling demos from Asheville Aerial Arts.

Cold Mountain Winter Ale tickets will be offered as prizes for these games, and a portion of every Clawhammer pint poured will benefit the efforts of Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy. Lagerhosen, a Black Mountain-based band, will play traditional Oktoberfest music throughout the event.

Highland Brewing Co. is at 12 Old Charlotte Highway, Suite 200.

Visit avl.mx/xmasjbe for additional information.

A decade of nobility Noble Cider, the first cidery established in Asheville and the second in North Carolina, celebrates 10 years in business with a special event set for Saturday, Sept. 17, 2-9 p.m., at its taproom and production facility.

“A lot has changed over these 10 years in the cider world,” says Lief Stevens, co-founder and cider maker. “When we started, there were very few cideries in the U.S., so there wasn’t a template to follow.

We had to figure everything out ourselves, which was challenging but also exciting.”

Anniversary party festivities include the tapping of Wild Berry Knight, a new mixed berry cider made with whole fruit strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. This release is the first new addition to Noble Cider’s collection of flagship ciders in six years.

A special plum mead will also be released, and a firkin (small,

PROST!: Highland Brewing Co. welcomes the return of fall with its inaugural Clawtoberfest celebration Saturday, Sept. 17, noon-5 p.m. Photo courtesy of Highland Brewing Co. traditional cask) filled with a special conditioned cider will be tapped.

Live music, door prizes, cider specials, apples and produce from Bright Branch Farms and food from Cecilia’s Kitchen food truck round out the day’s offerings.

“We’ve gone from delivering kegs of cider from our cars to distributing in multiple states. It’s an incredible thing,” says Stevens.

The Cidery Taproom & Production facility is at 356 New Leicester Highway. Visit avl.mx/byy for more information.

Practice makes perfect (pasta) When it comes to pasta, there are those content with boxed noodles topped with sauce from a jar and those who yearn for something

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more. If you identify with the latter, mark your calendars and get ready to take your pasta game to the next level.

Ciao Asheville is teaming up with Metro Wines and Sarah Ubertaccio of q.b. cucina for a live pasta-making demonstration Sunday, Sept. 18, noon-2 p.m.

Ubertaccio will cover all the basics of homemade pasta, from ingredients to kneading and shaping techniques, as she crafts several pasta forms, including tagliatelle, garganelli, farfalle and sorpresine.

Metro Wines will offer wine tastings and light snacks during the demonstration, and various pasta-making tools and Italian wares will also be available for purchase at a special q.b. cucina pop-up shop taking place during the event.

Metro Wines is at 169 Charlotte St. Tickets are $30. Visit avl.mx/byr to register and for additional information.

Tour de fromage Cheese aficionados are encouraged to attend Edible Asheville’s Artisanal Cheese Farm Tour, the first taking place Friday, Sept. 16 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m., for an inside look at some of Asheville’s award-winning cheesemakers.

The tour will begin at Round Mountain Creamery, a working goat farm and farmstead cheesemaker, then progress to Blue Ridge Mountain Creamery, where guests will tour a hand-built cheese cave, before ending at Plēb Urban Winery for a special wine and cheese pairing.

Guided cheese tastings and education conducted by local cheesemakers are included as part of the tour, as is transportation from and to downtown Asheville via tour partners Van in Black.

“One of our primary goals at Edible Asheville is to help people cultivate a deeper appreciation of local food,” says Tenille Tracy Legler, publisher of Edible Asheville. “By taking folks directly to the farms, where the magic begins, we hope they can fall in love with our local food scene in a more authentic way.”

Tickets cost $112 per person. Visit avl.mx/byv for tickets and additional information.

Foot will use to support and host local nonprofit community partners.

“Many of our longtime partners are bars and breweries who are really eager to carry a craft beverage that’s nonalcoholic ... for special occasions,” says Ben Colvin, president of Devil’s Foot, in a company release. “Our new space will really allow us to meet the moment by tripling our production capacity.”

The Devil’s Foot Beverage Co.’s production facility and taproom is at 131 Sweeten Creek Road.

Visit avl.mx/ajm for additional information.

Garden grub

You’ve heard of the “walk and talk,” now get ready for the “sip and stroll.” The N.C. Beverage Museum and Asheville Free Walking Tours have announced a partnership that will culminate in a new experiential tour allowing participants to learn about and taste the history of North Carolina craft beverages.

The tours will take guests through various museum exhibits located at Plēb Urban Winery’s Aventine Wine Bar, 25 Page Ave., Suite 102; Cultivated Cocktails Distillery, 25 Page Ave., Suite 103; and Wedge Brewery’s newest taproom at the Grove Arcade, 1 Page Ave., Suite 152. Along each stop, tastings of local spirits, wine and beer will be provided and paired alongside shared insights on the origins and evolutions of the local beverage scene.

“The North Carolina Craft Beverage Museum is dedicated to preserving and interpreting our state’s craft beverage story and celebrates its role in building and defining our local, state and national community,” says Kimberly Floyd, N.C. Craft Beverage Museum board president, in a press release. “Come celebrate with us on this brand-new tour in downtown Asheville.”

Visit avl.mx/bys for more information on the tour and its schedule.

Bountiful Cities’ Community Garden Network will host a Fall Equinox Garden Dinner Party welcoming the new season at the Shiloh Community Garden on Thursday, Sept. 22, 5-8 p.m.

Chefs Clarence Robinson, Gene Ettison, Shaniqua Simuel and other local vendors will prepare appetizers, entrees and desserts specially prepared using fresh garden ingredients. Children’s activities, such as making seed bombs and potting plants, door prizes and cooking demonstrations will round out the evening’s events.

“We hope people take away an appreciation and awareness of the 30-plus community gardens in the Bountiful Cities Community Garden Network,” says Cathy Cleary, outreach coordinator for Bountiful Cities. “We want to acknowledge and celebrate the work that community garden leaders put in this season.”

The Shiloh Community Garden is at 59 Hampton St. Tickets are available on a sliding scale of suggested donations ranging from free to $15.

Visit avl.mx/byu for registration and additional information.

Kick it at The Mule Yet another new beverage option has landed on Sweeten Creek with the arrival of The Mule, a new taproom from Devil’s Foot Beverage Co. Connected to the beverage maker’s latest 14,400-square-foot production facility expansion, The Mule features a full-service bar showcasing cocktails and nonalcoholic mocktails made from Devil’s Foot’s farm-to-can craft sodas.

The new location also serves as a space for private events and community gatherings, which Devil’s

Experiential learning

No such thing as too many tacos Taco Boy, a Mexican cuisine-inspired eatery based in South Carolina, has announced plans to open two new Asheville locations by next spring.

The first new restaurant will open by the end of 2022 in the former Zia Taqueria location at 521 Haywood Road in West Asheville. An additional location in Biltmore Park Town Square at 2 Town Square Blvd., No. 130, will follow.

“I couldn’t be more excited to bring Taco Boy to Asheville,” says founder Karalee Nielsen Fallert in a press release announcing the expansion. “We believe that all good things are possible with the power of inclusivity, generosity, interconnectedness and tacos.”

For additional information on Taco Boy, visit avl.mx/byw.

New owners resurrect JK’s Kitchen JK’s Kitchen, a local eatery featuring fast and friendly country cooking, closed last month after over 15 years in business. Shortly after the closure was made public, it was announced that new owners have stepped in to take over and keep the restaurant alive.

The JK’s Kitchen name will remain, as will the menu’s breakfast and lunch staples with a few new additions soon to be announced.

JK’s Kitchen is at 6 Long Shoals Road, Arden. Visit avl.mx/byx for the menu and additional information.

NOW OPEN! Westgate Shopping Center

70 Westgate Pkwy. - Next to Earth Fare Asheville, NC 28806 www.gemelli.restaurant

— Blake Becker X

Ready for sunny days at the Supper Club SMOKYPARK.COM 350 RIVERSIDE DR. ASHEVILLE, NC 28801 828-350-0315

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ARTS & C U L T U R E

FOOD ROUNDUP

Around Town

Adolescents bring classic jazz to local venues Dave Brubeck, Art Blakey and George Benson are legends in the jazz world, but they’re not exactly household names to the typical high school student.

It’s safe to say Wilson Vest, Gabe Glasser and Espen Raustol are not typical high school students.

The trio of 17-year-old juniors recently formed the Altamont Jazz Project, which has secured weekly gigs at Finch Gourmet Market & Wine Bar in Biltmore Village and Skylaranna Hotel & Resort in Hendersonville.

Along with Brubeck, Blakey and Benson, the musicians cite Buddy Rich, Ryo Fukui, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass and Bill Evans as influences.

“By the time we decided to start the jazz trio, we had all seen, heard and experienced jazz in varied degrees and in different spaces and styles,” says guitarist Raustol, who

attends the School of Inquiry and Life Sciences at Asheville. “We try to branch out to play many varieties and many colors of jazz — fast, slow, happy, sad.”

The three started playing together in the sixth grade as part of a rock/ funk band called the Seven Lemonz, before shifting their focus to jazz.

Vest and Glasser attend Carolina Day School.

Vest plays drums and Glasser plays keyboard for the Altamont Jazz Project, which takes its moniker from Thomas Wolfe’s fictional name for Asheville in his classic novel Look Homeward, Angel. “We wanted something that referenced where we are from,” Raustol explains.

Finch owner Dema Badr hired the band after Vest and Raustol played as a jazz duo at her other business, Scout Boutique. The owners of Skylaranna Hotel, Kevin and Anna High, caught the trio

MUSIC MEN: From left, Gabe Glasser, Wilson Vest and Espen Raustol recently formed the Altamont Jazz Project. Photo by Michelle Baker during its first Finch show. “They approached us after we played and asked if we would like to play for their Sunday brunches,” says Michelle Baker, Vest’s mother and the group’s unofficial publicist. “Of course we said, ‘Yes.’” The Altamont Jazz Project will play Wednesday, Sept. 21 and Wednesday, Sept. 28 at Finch Gourmet Market & Wine Bar, 10 All Souls Crescent, 5-7 p.m. The Finch shows will move to Saturdays, 12:30-2:30 p.m., starting in October. The band plays Sunday brunch, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., at Skylaranna Hotel & Resort, 2075 N. Rugby Road, Hendersonville. For more information, go to avl.mx/prwv.

Raising hope After publishing several collections of poetry, Penny Meacham asked herself: Now what?

That’s when she decided to turn some of her poems into skits and monologues to be performed onstage. “I have been busy rousing a collection of good Black folk in Asheville to help me bring the material alive with singing, acting and dancing to bring the message across,” she says. “I consider what I’m doing to be Black poetry theater.”

The result is Raising Black: Joy, Pain, Sunshine & Rain, which will be performed in the East Asheville Public Library community room on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 5:30-7:30 p.m. In addition to poetry, skits and monologues, the free show will include gospel singing as well as music from the likes of B.B. King, James Brown and Michael Jackson.

“It is about reminding us of our resiliency and hope, to remind us that we have all been through ups and downs in life, and now is the time to take stock of how we survive 34

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during these difficult times,” says Meacham, who moved to Asheville during the pandemic. “Now is a time for all of us to reevaluate our connections to friends, family, community and/or faith before the next thing comes along.”

East Asheville Public Library is at 3 Avon Road. For more information, go to avl.mx/bz0. For additional information about Meacham’s poetry collections, visit avl.mx/bz1.

Don’t touch that dial What is radio art?

“It’s the creative use of airwaves, the wireless communication between people and things to communicate ideas,” says Kimberly English, outreach manager for Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center.

The organization recently selected the artists who will make up the second cohort of its BMC Radio Art program.

The program began last year as a collaboration among Ashevillebased modular synthesizer manufacturer Make Noise, radio station 103.3 Asheville FM and the center. The goal is to have artists investigate their own connections to the experimental and innovative spirit of Black Mountain College, to take creative risks and to share their work with the community, English explains.

“We are using ‘radio art’ in the broadest sense, meaning it doesn’t have to be music at all,” she says.

“Our open call invited applicants to submit sound recordings, cellphone recordings, field recordings, meditations, movement scores, text scores, sound collages, spoken words, audio art, experimental DJ work and more.”

This year’s participants, selected from more than 50 applicants, are:

• Casey Edwards, a local interdisciplinary academic who specializes in archives and special collections.

• Erika Funke, a senior arts producer at WVIA public radio/TV in Scranton, Pa. • Kamikaze Jones, an interdisciplinary artist who is working on a series of loops using found audio and sonic ephemera from queer pornography.

• Brett William Naucke, an experimental composer and visual artist who recently relocated to Asheville.

• Joo Won Park, who makes music with electronics, toys and other sources that he can record or synthesize.

• Jonah Rosenberg, a Brooklynbased composer, musician, sound and multimedia designer, and charles theonia, a poet and teacher from Brooklyn.

103.3 Asheville FM will begin broadcasting the selected pieces over the next few weeks.

For full artist bios and more information, go to avl.mx/byz.

Grab the Popcorn Maggie Valley native Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton got his colorful nickname after he attacked a faulty popcorn vending machine with a pool cue. But that fact is far down the list of most interesting things about the legendary moonshiner and bootlegger.

The remarkable life and death of the man called the “King of Moonshine” will be in the spotlight Sunday, Sept. 18, in Sylva.

At 1 p.m., Neal Hutcheson will discuss his 2021 book The Moonshiner Popcorn Sutton with novelist David Joy at City Lights Bookstore. At 6 p.m., Hutcheson will present a screening of his 2002 documentary This Is the Last Dam Run of Likker I’ll Ever Make at Lazy Hiker Brewing.

The scrawny, long-bearded Sutton rose to international recognition before his death in 2009 at the age of 62.

“Brazen and outspoken, his defiance of the law in deference to tradition won him a broad fan base that has multiplied exponentially since his death,” notes a press release from the events’ organizers.

In the book, Hutcheson recounts Sutton’s path to fame and attempts to sort fact from fiction, concluding that the numerous stories, songs, eulogies and tributes about the mountain man illustrate the

process through which folks become folklore.

City Lights Bookstore is at 3 E. Jackson St., Sylva. Lazy Hiker Brewing - Sylva Taproom is at 617 W. Main St. For more information, go to avl.mx/bzb.

The hills are alive The 36th annual Music in the Mountains Folk Festival takes place Saturday, Sept. 17, 5-8:30 p.m. at Homeplace Beer Co. and Hog Hollow Wood-Fired Pizza in Burnsville.

The festival, sponsored by Toe River Arts, will honor Madison County’s Sheila Kay Adams, a seventh-generation bearer of her family’s 200-year-old ballad-singing tradition.

The lineup also includes Riggs and Ritter, the Boone Trail Band and Appalachian Heartstrings.

Admission is free, but donations and T-shirt sales help fund the festival.

Homeplace Beer Co. and Hog Hollow Wood-Fired Pizza are at 321 W. Main St., Burnsville. For more information, visit avl.mx/bzc.

sponsor a train excursion on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad Saturday, Sept. 17.

The one-day trip will cover most of the operating tracks of the railroad. The track follows the route of the former Southern Railway’s Murphy Branch Line, established in 1891, with its 5% grade and many bridges.

“Our scenic rail excursion takes us from the historic depot in Bryson City through the beautiful countryside of Western North Carolina, into

the breathtaking Nantahala Gorge surrounded by the majestic Smoky Mountains and back to Bryson City,” states the historical society in a press release. Much of the route hugs the banks of the Little Tennessee and Nantahala rivers.

The train will board starting at 11 a.m. at the Bryson City Depot, 226 Everett St. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to avl.mx/bz7.

— Justin McGuire X

Asheville's only Mezcalleria DJ every night!

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All aboard The Watauga Valley Railroad Historical Society & Museum will

MOVIE REVIEWS Local reviewers’ critiques of new films include: SEE HOW THEY RUN: Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan make for a delightful detective duo in this twisty murder mystery centered on a production of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap in 1950s London. Director Tom George is clearly a Wes Anderson fan. Grade: B-plus — Edwin Arnaudin CLERKS III: Writer/director Kevin Smith’s painfully unfunny retread of his 1994 indie darling is as manipulative and sappy as filmmaking gets. How the mighty have fallen! Grade: D-minus — Edwin Arnaudin

Find full reviews and local film info at ashevillemovies.com patreon.com/ashevillemovies MOUNTAINX.COM

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CLUBLAND ASHEVILLE CLUB Classical Cello w/Patrick, 6pm

For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, opt. 4.

  

ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Mr Jimmy's Big City Blues, 8pm

Feature, page 26 More info, pages 32-33 More info, pages 34-35

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 12 BONES BREWERY Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Ashevillians: a local comedy showcase, 7pm BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING Jay Brown (classic country, jazz, ragtime), 6pm BOLD ROCK ASHEVILLE Survey Says: Family Feud Style Trivia, 7pm BOLD ROCK MILLS RIVER Trivia Night, 6pm CAMDEN'S COFFEE HOUSE Open Mic hosted by Kathryn O'Shea, 7pm CATAWBA BREWING BILTMORE Singo (musical bingo), 7pm CATAWBA BREWING SOUTH SLOPE Trivia w/Billy, 7pm DOUBLE CROWN Western Wednesday: Charles Latham and the Borrowed Band, 8pm HI-WIRE BREWING RAD BEER GARDEN Game Night, 6pm HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Well-Crafted Wednesdays w/Matt Smith, 6pm

BIG PILLOW BREWING Roy Hurley (Americana), 6pm BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING Stephen Evans (rock), 6pm

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Wild Wednesdays, 10pm

BREWSKIES Karaoke, 10pm BURNTSHIRT VINEYARDS Seth and Sara (Americana, country, pop), 3pm

RENDEZVOUS Albi (musique Francaise), 6pm

CEDAR MOUNTAIN CANTEEN Jason DeCristafaro (jazz), 2pm

SILVERADOS Wednesday Night Open Jam hosted by Hamza Vandehey, 6pm SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BREWERY Jazz Night w/Jason DeCristofaro, 6pm SOVEREIGN KAVA Poetry Open Mic w/Host Caleb Beissert, 8pm SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Witty Wednesday Trivia, 6:30pm THE FOUNDRY HOTEL Andrew Finn Magill (acoustic), 7pm THE POE HOUSE Team Trivia w/Wes Ganey, 7pm WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Traditional Irish Music Session, 7pm

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 185 KING STREET Tools on Stools (rock, jam), 7pm

FINGER PICKIN’ GOOD: Ashe County native Tray Wellington will play three-finger style banjo on Thursday, Sept. 22, at 7 p.m. at 185 King Street in Brevard. The musician is the recipient of the 2019 International Bluegrass Music Association’s Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year Award. Photo courtesy of 185 King Street BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING The Blushin' Roulettes' (Americana), 6pm BOLD ROCK ASHEVILLE Trivia Night w/Mindless Minutia, 7pm CAFE CANNA SpanGLISH Karaoke Patio Party, 9pm CATAWBA BREWING BILTMORE Thursday Trivia w/Billy, 6:30pm FLEETWOOD'S Punk/Indie Karaoke, 8pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Old Time Jam, 5pm

ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Blue Ridge Jazzway, 8pm

FRENCH BROAD BREWERY Jerry's Dead (Grateful Dead & JGB Tribute), 6pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Mountain Music Jam, 6pm

ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Sneezy (funk, rock, soul), 10pm

GIGI'S UNDERGROUND Mr Jimmy After Hours (blues), 10pm

GREEN MAN BREWERY Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm HIGHLAND DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Karen Clardy (singer-songwriter), 6pm ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 • Asheville Sessions ft Claire Hoke (folk, pop, blues), 7pm • Nefesh Mountain (bluegrass, Americana, folk), 8:30pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Bluegrass Jam w/Drew Matulich & Friends, 7pm LA TAPA LOUNGE AL Lyons “StumpWater” Music (acoustic, fok), 7pm

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Phirsty Phursdays w/ Lumpy Heads (Phish tribute), 9pm ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Thursday Residency w/ Ben Balmer (rootsy contemporary Americana), 7pm PISGAH BREWING COMPANY Spiro Nicolopoulos (blues, soul, Americana, jam), 4pm RABBIT RABBIT Ween (alt/indie), 7pm RENDEZVOUS Gin Mill Pickers (Americana, Piedmont blues, ragtime), 6pm SILVERADOS Line Dance Thursdays w/ DJ Razor, 9pm STATIC AGE RECORDS Rose Hotel, Perishes, Fleur Girl, VV light body (dream pop, indie), 9pm STORY PARLOR Skylar Gudasz, Kate Rhudy & Libby Rodenbough (Americana, singer-songwriter), 7:30pm THE FOUNDRY HOTEL The Foundry Collective ft Pimps of Pompe (jazz, acoustic), 7pm THE GETAWAY RIVER BAR Rum Punchlines Comedy Open Mic, 6pm THE IMPERIAL LIFE DJ Press Play (disco, funk and lo-fi house), 9pm

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 185 KING STREET Tyler Neal Band ft. Jeff Sipe (rock), 8pm

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CORK & KEG Siempre Puente (acoustic, folk), 8pm FLEETWOOD'S Jon Worthy and the Bends, Zillicoah & The Discs (rock'n'roll, pop punk), 8pm HIGHLAND BREWING CO. The Get Right Band (psychdelic indie rock), 7pm HIGHLAND DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Drag Music Bingo w/ Divine the Bearded Lady, 7pm ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 • Western Carolina Writers ft Joshua Singleton, Jon Edwards and Nick Mac (singer-songwriter), 7pm • Darren Nicholson Band (bluegrass), 8:30pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Sons of Ralph (bluegrass), 9pm MEADOWLARK MOTEL Friday Night Karaoke, 7pm MILLS RIVER BREWING The Knotty G's (soulful roots rock), 7pm ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Free Dead Friday w/ Generous Electric and Gus & Phriends, 6:15pm ONE WORLD BREWING 5j Barrow (folk rock), 8pm RABBIT RABBIT Jack White (rock), 7pm RIVERSIDE RHAPSODY Ionize Reggae, 6pm SALVAGE STATION Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band w/Josh Clark’s Visible Spectrum (funk), 6:30pm, see p26 THE BARRELHOUSE Guy Smith (blues, country, rock), 8pm THE GETAWAY RIVER BAR Getaway Comedy: Herbie Gill, 8pm

THE IMPERIAL LIFE DJ Lyric (90s & 2000s), 9pm

RIVERSIDE RHAPSODY Andrew Wakefield (singer-songwriter), 6pm

THE OMNI GROVE PARK INN Pianist Brian Turner, 7pm

SALVAGE STATION Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters w/ Cristina Vane (Americana), 8pm

THE ORANGE PEEL River Whyless (folk), 9pm

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 185 KING STREET Hearts Gone South w/ Kenny George Band (honky tonk, rock), 8pm 305 LOUNGE & EATERY Old Men of the Woods (folk, pop), 1pm ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Beauty Parlor Comedy: Gabe Pacheco, 7pm ASHEVILLE CLUB Mr Jimmy (blues), 8pm ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Pat Kelleher (traditional Irish folk), 8pm ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Mr. Carmack w/Jon Casey (edm), 10pm BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE Dinah's Daydream (Gypsy jazz), 5:30pm BIG PILLOW BREWING RJ Smith (country, Western swing, jazz), 6pm BOOJUM BREWING COMPANY Red Dress Army (blues, rock), 9pm BREWSKIES Pool Tournament Saturdays, 7pm CORK & KEG Soul Blue (soul, R&B), 8pm GIGI'S UNDERGROUND Don't Tell Comedy (Downtown Secret Show), 11pm HIGHLAND BREWING CO. The Feels (roots, soul, R&B), 6pm HIGHLAND DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Peggy Ratusz Trio (blues, jazz, soul), 7pm ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 • Hannah Bethel (alt-country, Americana), 7pm • Eduardo de Rosamarie’s Noche Flamenca, 8:30pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB • Nobody’s Darling String Band, 4pm • Old Sap (Appalachian Americana), 9pm MILLS RIVER BREWING • Gin Mill Pickers (Americana, Piedmont blues, ragtime), 2pm • Nick Mac & The Noise (blues rock), 7pm NOBLE CIDER Anniversary Party, 2pm, see p32 RABBIT RABBIT Father John Misty (alt/ indie), 7pm

SILVERADOS Dark City Rock Fest, 6pm SUNNY POINT CAFÉ Albi (fingerstyle guitar), 6pm THE IMPERIAL LIFE DJ Short Stop (soul, Latin, dance), 9pm THE OUTPOST Phuncle Sam (Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia tribute), 6pm URBAN ORCHARD CIDER CO. SOUTH SLOPE Coustin TL (throwback hip-hop dance party), 7pm WAGBAR Dave Desmelik (singer-songwriter), 5pm

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 ASHEVILLE CLUB Sunday Honky Tonk w/ Vaden Landers, 6pm ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Mark's House Jam and Beggar's Banquet, 3pm BENT CREEK BISTRO Old Men of the Woods (folk, pop), 1pm HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Chris Jamison's Ghost (singer songwriter), 2pm HIGHLAND BREWING DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Mr Jimmy Duo (blues), 1pm ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 • AmiciMusic presents “The Folk Cello”, 6pm • Moon Water w/The Grey Birds (Americana, soul), 7:30pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB • Bluegrass Brunch, 12pm • Traditional Irish Jam, 4pm PISGAH BREWING COMPANY Sunday Jam hosted by Spiro and Friends, 6pm SALVAGE STATION Brooks Nielsen (alt/ indie), 8pm SKYLARANNA HOTEL & RESORT Altamont Jazz Project, 11am, see p34 THE IMPERIAL LIFE DJ Ek Balam (lo-fi, electronic, soul, funk), 9pm THE ORANGE PEEL Demon Hunter (metal), 8pm

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Freshen Up Comedy Open Mic, 7pm BREWSKIES Open Jam w/Tall Paul, 7:30pm CASCADE LOUNGE Industry Night, 6pm GREEN MAN BREWERY Old Time Jam, 5:30pm HAYWOOD COUNTRY CLUB Open Mic w/Taylor Martin & Special Guest, 6:30pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Quizzo! Pub Trivia w/ Jason Mencer, 7:30pm ONE WORLD BREWING Open Mic w/Tony Willingham, 8pm SILVERADOS Bluegrass Jam Mondays w/Sam Wharton, 7pm THE IMPERIAL LIFE DJ Short Stop (soul, Latin, dance), 9pm THE JOINT NEXT DOOR Mr Jimmy at and Friends (blues), 7pm

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 185 KING STREET Dave Desmelik & Friends w/Mike Ashworth and Mike Guggino, 6:30pm 5 WALNUT WINE BAR The John Henrys (jazz, swing), 8pm ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL TUESDAY NIGHT FUNK JAM, 10PM BOTTLE RIOT Turntable Tuesday w/DJ Lil Meow Meow, 7pm CASCADE LOUNGE Tuesday Bluegrass Jam, 6pm CORK & KEG Swing Dance & Lesson w/Swing Asheville, 7pm FRENCH BROAD BREWERY Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

WAGBAR Tuesday Night Trivia With Your Dog, 6pm

THE GREY EAGLE The Afghan Whigs (alt rock), 8pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Open Mic Night, 7pm

THE FOUNDRY HOTEL Andrew Finn Magill (acoustic), 7pm

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 12 BONES BREWERY Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Beauty Parlor Comedy: Roman Fraden, 7pm BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING Jay Brown (classic country, jazz, ragtime), 6pm BLUE GHOST BREWING CO. Beer and Hymns, 6:30pm

PLĒB URBAN WINERY Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 4pm

THE IMPERIAL LIFE DJ Mad Mike: Music for the People, 9pm

BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING Allan Day (rock, R&B), 6pm

CAFE CANNA SpanGLISH Karaoke Patio Party, 9pm

CAMDEN'S COFFEE HOUSE Open Mic hosted by Kathryn O'Shea, 7pm

CATAWBA BREWING BILTMORE Thursday Trivia w/Billy, 6:30pm

CATAWBA BREWING BILTMORE Singo (musical bingo), 7pm

FLEETWOOD'S Lydia Lunch w/Tim Dahl (spoken word, punk), 8pm

GIGI'S UNDERGROUND Mr Jimmy After Hours (blues), 10pm GREEN MAN BREWERY Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Bluegrass Jam w/Drew Matulich & Friends, 7pm ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Phirsty Phursdays w/ Lumpy Heads (Phish tribute), 9pm RENDEVOUS Gin Mill Pickers (Americana, Piedmont blues, ragtime), 6pm SALVAGE STATION Shakey Graves w/The Ballroom Thieves (alt/ indie), 6pm SILVERADOS Struggle Jennings (rap), 7pm THE FOUNDRY HOTEL The Foundry Collective ft Pimps of Pompe (jazz, acoustic), 7pm THE GETAWAY RIVER BAR Rum Punchlines Comedy Open Mic, 6pm

CATAWBA BREWING SOUTH SLOPE Trivia w/Billy, 7pm FINCH GOURMET MARKET Altamont Jazz Project, 5pm, see p34 HI-WIRE BREWING RAD BEER GARDEN Game Night, 6pm HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Well-Crafted Wednesdays w/Matt Smith, 6pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Old Time Jam, 5pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Mountain Music Jam, 6pm ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Wild Wednesdays, 10pm

SALVAGE STATION Amy Ray Band & Katie Pruitt (folk, singer songwriter), 8pm

THE BURGER BAR C U Next Tuesday! Late Night Trivia w/Cervix-ALot, 9pm

ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR MGB (covers, singer-songwriter), 8pm

BOLD ROCK MILLS RIVER Trivia Night, 6pm

HIGHLAND DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Not Rocket Science Trivia, 6:30pm

ZILLICOAH BEER CO Sunday Bluegrass Jam Series, 4:30pm

185 KING STREET Tray Wellington Band (acoustic newgrass), 7pm

BOLD ROCK ASHEVILLE Trivia Night w/Mindless Minutia, 7pm

RENDEZVOUS Albi (musique Francaise), 6pm

SALVAGE STATION Steel Pulse (reggae), 8pm

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22

BOLD ROCK ASHEVILLE Survey Says: Family Feud Style Trivia, 7pm

HEMINGWAY'S CUBA Para Gozar (Cuban), 6pm

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Early Tuesday Jam (funk), 9pm

THE POE HOUSE Team Trivia w/Wes Ganey, 7pm

FRENCH BROAD BREWERY Jerry's Dead (Grateful Dead & JGB Tribute), 6pm

SILVERADOS Wednesday Night Open Jam hosted by Hamza Vandehey, 6pm SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BREWERY Jazz Night w/Jason DeCristofaro, 6pm SOVEREIGN KAVA Poetry Open Mic w/Host Caleb Beissert, 8pm SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Witty Wednesday Trivia, 6:30pm

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FREEWILL ASTROLOGY ARIES (March 21-April 19): My reader Monica Ballard has this advice for you Aries folks: “If you don’t vividly ask for and eagerly welcome the gifts the Universe has in store for you, you may have to settle for trinkets and baubles. So never settle.”

That’s always useful counsel for you Rams. And in the coming weeks, you will be wise to heed it with extra intensity. Here’s a good metaphor to spur you on: Don’t fill up on junk snacks or glitzy hors d’oeuvres. Instead, hold out for gourmet feasts featuring healthy, delectable entrées.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): According to Libran poet T. S. Eliot, “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”

Those are your guiding thoughts for the coming days, Libra. You’re almost ready to start fresh; you’re on the verge of being able to start planning your launch date or grand opening. Now all you have to do is create a big crisp emptiness where the next phase will have plenty of room to germinate. The best way to do that is to finish the old process as completely as possible.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I will remind you about a potential superpower that is your birthright to develop: You can help people to act in service to the deepest truths and strongest love. You can even teach them how to do it. Have you been ripening this talent in 2022? Have you been bringing it more to the forefront of your relationships? I hope so. The coming months will stir you to go further than ever before in expressing this gift. For best results, take a vow to nurture the deepest truths and strongest love in all your thoughts and dealings with others.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Now and then, you slip into phases when you’re poised on the brink of either self-damage or self-discovery.

You wobble and lurch on the borderline where self-undoing vies with self-creation. Whenever this situation arises, here are key questions to ask yourself: Is there a strategy you can implement to ensure that you glide into self-discovery and self-creation? Is there a homing thought that will lure you away from the perverse temptations of self-damage and self-undoing? The answers to these queries are always yes — if you regard love as your top priority and if you serve the cause of love over every other consideration.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Your mind is sometimes a lush and beautiful maze that you get lost in.

Is that a problem? Now and then it is, yes. But just as often, it’s an entertaining blessing. As you wander around amidst the lavish finery, not quite sure of where you are or where you’re going, you often make discoveries that rouse your half-dormant potentials. You luckily stumble into unforeseen insights you didn’t realize you needed to know. I believe the description I just articulated fits your current ramble through the amazing maze. My advice: Don’t be in a mad rush to escape. Allow this dizzying but dazzling expedition to offer you all its rich teachings.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Poetry is a life-cherishing force,” said Pulitzer Prize-winner Mary Oliver, who published 33 volumes of poetry and read hundreds of other poets. Her statement isn’t true for everyone, of course. To reach the point where reading poetry provides our souls with nourishment, we may have to work hard to learn how to appreciate it. Some of us don’t have the leisure or temperament to do so. In any case, Cancerian, what are your life-cherishing forces? What influences inspire you to know and feel all that’s most precious about your time on earth? Now would be an excellent time to ruminate on those treasures — and take steps to nurture them with tender ingenuity.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Please promise me you will respect and revere your glorious star power in the coming weeks. I feel it’s important, both to you and those whose lives you touch, that you exalt and exult in your access to your magnificence. For everyone’s benefit, you should play freely with the art of being majestic, regal and sovereign. To do this right, you must refrain from indulging in trivial wishes, passing fancies, and minor attractions. You must give yourself to what’s stellar. You must serve your holiest longings, your riveting dreams, and your thrilling hopes.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): It’s impossible to be perfect. It’s neither healthy nor productive to obsess on perfectionism. You know these things. You understand you can’t afford to get bogged down in overthinking, overreaching and overpolishing.

And when you are at your best, you sublimate such manic urges. You transform them into the elegant intention to clarify and refine and refresh.

With grace and care, you express useful beauty instead of aiming for hyper-immaculate precision.

I believe that in the coming weeks, dear Virgo, you will be a master of these services — skilled at performing them for yourself and others.

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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “Sometimes serendipity is just intention unmasked,” said Sagittarian author Elizabeth Berg. I suspect her theory will be true for you in the coming weeks.

You have done an adroit job of formulating your intentions and collecting the information you need to carry out your intentions. What may be best now is to relax your focus as you make room for life to respond to your diligent preparations.

“I’m a great believer in luck,” said my Uncle Ned. “I’ve found that the harder I work, the more luck I have.” He was correct, but it’s also true that luck sometimes surges your way when you’ve taken a break from your hard work.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Tips to get the most out of the next six weeks: 1. Be the cautiously optimistic voice of reason. Be the methodical motivator who prods and inspires. Organize as you uplift. Encourage others as you build efficiency. 2.

Don’t take other people’s apparent stupidity or rudeness as personal affronts. Try to understand how the suffering they have endured may have led to their behavior. 3. Be your own father.

Guide yourself as a wise and benevolent male elder would. 4. Seek new ways to experience euphoria and enchantment, with an emphasis on what pleasures will also make you healthier.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian author Richard Ford has advice for writers: “Find what causes a commotion in your heart. Find a way to write about that.” I will amend his counsel to apply to all of you non-writers, as well. By my reckoning, the coming weeks will be prime time to be gleefully honest as you identify what causes commotions in your heart. Why should you do that? Because it will lead you to the good decisions you need to make in the coming months. As you attend to this holy homework, I suggest you direct the following invitation to the universe: “Beguile me, mystify me, delight me, fascinate me, and rouse me to feel deep, delicious feelings.”

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “I am lonely, yet not everybody will do,” observed Piscean author Anaïs Nin. “Some people fill the gaps, and others emphasize my loneliness,” she concluded.

According to my reading of the astrological omens, Pisces, it’s your task right now to identify which people intensify your loneliness and which really do fill the gaps. And then devote yourself with extra care to cultivating your connections with the gap-fillers. Loneliness is sometimes a good thing — a state that helps you renew and deepen your communion with your deep self. But I don’t belief that’s your assignment these days. Instead, you’ll be wise to experience intimacy that enriches your sense of feeling at home in the world. You’ll thrive by consorting with allies who sweeten your love of life.

MOUNTAINX.COM

MARKETPLACE

BY ROB BREZSNY

REAL ESTATE & RENTALS | ROOMMATES | JOBS | SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENTS | CLASSES & WORKSHOPS | MIND, BODY, SPIRIT MUSICIANS’ SERVICES | PETS | AUTOMOTIVE | XCHANGE | ADULT Want to advertise in Marketplace? 828-251-1333 advertise@mountainx.com • mountainx.com/classifieds If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Remember the Russian proverb: “Doveryai, no proveryai,” trust but verify. When answering classified ads, always err on the side of caution. Especially beware of any party asking you to give them financial or identification information. The Mountain Xpress cannot be responsible for ensuring that each advertising client is legitimate. Please report scams to advertise@mountainx.com per week. Contact Richard @ 828-707-4620 or shampoodlessalon@gmail.com - www. shampoodlessalon.com

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UNCLAIMED FIREARMS The following is a list of unclaimed firearms currently in possession of the Asheville Police Department: Black/ Brown, Remington, 870, 12 ga; Black, Kel-Tec, P-32, 32 cal; Blue/Silver, Kel-Tec, P-11, 9mm; Black, Smith & Wesson, Bodyguard, 38 cal; Black, Smith & Wesson, Bodyguard, 38 cal; Black, Mossberg, 715T, 22 cal; Black, Mossberg, Maverick, 12 ga; Black/Silver, Ruger, P97DC, 45 cal; Brown, Glenfield, 25, 22 cal; Black/Brown, NEF, R92, 22 cal; Black/Brown, Kel-Tec, PF-9, 9mm; Black/Cream, Lorcin, L22, 22 cal; Black, MAB, A, 6.35 cal; Black/Silver, Taurus PT, 111 Pro, 9mm; Black/Silver,Ruger, SR9,

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edited by Will Shortz | No. 0810

ACROSS

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6 Wilts 10 Baby aardvark 13 Relaxed, as a vibe 15 Damage 16 Mined find 17 Tall, slender hound 19 Mature 20 Drink from a spring

ASTRO-COUNSELING Licensed counselor and accredited professional astrologer uses your chart when counseling for additional insight into yourself, your relationships and life directions. Stellar Counseling Services. Christy Gunther, MA, LCMHC. (828) 258-3229.

23 “You said it!”

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31 Soaking spots 35 It may be checked at check-in

66 Threw one’s hat in the ring

36 “Not so!”

67 Defer a decision, informally

37 “Morning on the Seine” painter

68 Junk ___

38 Not let go to waste 39 Singer who funded Central Park’s Strawberry Fields memorial 40 Best-selling video game series beginning in 1997, for short 42 “Get it?”

43 Curved lines on sheet music 45 Muscle 47 Had for lunch

69 First musician to have his first five albums debut at #1 70 Chooses 71 Construct

DOWN 1 Texting format, in brief 2 Iced ___ 3 First in line?

48 Promotional buzz

4 Reunion attendees

49 Queasy, perhaps

5 Asgard trickster

51 “Got it!”

6 High-minded guides?

53 “Dear” one 54 Fruity drinks 55 Nitpicker’s lead-in … or a response to 20-, 28- and 49-Across, if they were posed as questions 60 Big name in acne medication 61 It winds up on a fishing boat 62 Welty with a Pulitzer

7 Glow 8 Distinctive BMW feature 9 Some slowcooked meals 10 Nail polish layer 11 Hankering 12 Lead-in to bottle or batter 14 Goose vis-à-vis Maverick, in “Top Gun”

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46 Sports scores

22 Basic camera setting

49 How blackjack cards are dealt

23 Sneak attack

50 Sense of orientation?

24 Insultingly small 25 Approach gradually 29 Sci-fi conveyances

52 Production company that’s its founder’s name spelled backward 55 One of six in this clue

30 Crowns and scepters, collectively

56 Reason to cram 57 Wildcat with tufted ears

32 Merely implied 33 Ladybug, for one 34 Toughens 37 Grammy-winning Aimee 41 Played with, as a mustache 44 Not made up

58 Something to pitch 59 Entice 63 Carry a balance 64 Remote button 65 Coffee table book subject

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS NY TIMES PUZZLE

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L O S T P S E E WH A T O A R S O N T S T A R H Y G I T S T R A U H U R R A N D

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