Capital at Play April 2018

Young, Siniard, & Young Young Bat Company p.76

Leisure & Libation

Collectors & Collecting p.57

Western North Carolina's Free Spirit of Enterprise colu m n

Tax Time 2018

The top 15 questions about the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act p.34

PLANT@PLAY April Passcode

p. 40

Operation Simulation Virtual Realty is Better Than Unicorns

p.18

Volume VIII - Edition IV complimentary edition

capitalatplay.com

April 2018

Robin Boylan, CCIM, SIOR

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| April 2018

“Successful brokers love working at Beverly-Hanks.

Since 1976, our professional associates like Robin Boylan have positioned NAI Beverly-Hanks as the region’s most respected commercial real estate firm.”

- W. Neal Hanks Jr. -

Beverly-Hanks

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com

3

NAI Q&A with Robin Boylan WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS FOR SUCCESS IN THE COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY? Paramount to success is first understanding your client’s needs, followed by a firm grasp of market conditions. An exhaustive understanding of the available product, properties that have closed recently, and those that are coming to the market are essential to serving clients well.

CONSISTENTLY BEING A TOP PRODUCING AGENT SINCE 1988 IS QUITE A FEAT. WHAT DRIVES YOU TO ACHIEVE THAT LEVEL OF SUCCESS? It’s part of my work ethic. From a very early age, my parents instilled in me the value of hard work no matter the endeavor—“Be the best you can be!” At BeverlyHanks, our mantra has always been to be the best in the business. It’s never occurred to me that there was any other option than to drive toward success.

HOW HAS COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE IN ASHEVILLE CHANGED SINCE YOU BEGAN YOUR CAREER? The difference is night and day. Now, there is a great deal more competition, which naturally raises the bar for everyone. In the early days, most of our transactions were for small leases and sales. Now that Asheville is on everybody’s radar screen, the area is attracting national

developers interested in hospitality, multi-family, retail, and office development opportunities. Add the national interest in with the local activity going on in the River Arts District, the South Slope, and the CBD, and it is amazing how the Asheville CRE markets have changed.

HOW DOES BEVERLY-HANKS’ AFFILIATION WITH NAI GLOBAL HELP YOU SERVICE YOUR CLIENTS? Our affiliation with NAI Global has been extremely beneficial. It gives us the ability to market our properties globally to more than 7,000 brokers in 450 offices. With the greater Asheville area receiving national attention, this type of exposure for our clients ensures their properties are reaching the broadest possible audience.

Year in and year out, NAI Global is recognized as one of the top five commercial real estate firms in the country.

IT IS NOT UNUSUAL FOR TOP PRODUCING AGENTS TO CHANGE TEAMS. WHY HAVE YOU REMAINED AT BEVERLY-HANKS FOR OVER 30 YEARS? Loyalty has a lot to do with why I’ve remained with Beverly-Hanks. Early on, I developed a great friendship with both Neal Sr. and Neal Jr. Our relationship is just as strong today as it was 30 years ago. The bottom line is that this company, both management and staff, do everything possible to make you successful. And we have been number one in the market since I started in 1988—Why would you go anyplace else?

More About NAI Beverly-Hanks Owners, tenants, and investors all choose us for the resultsoriented service that has been our hallmark since 1976. Our strength lies in the ability to provide the services of highly trained local experts in our communities.

Whether you’re investing in Western North Carolina or around the world, we can help you through on a global basis. NAI Global’s 400 independent commercial real estate firms manage more than 425 million square feet of property. You want to be sure you choose the best for commercial real estate services, and in Western North Carolina that choice is NAI Beverly-Hanks.

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April 2018 | capitalatplay.com

5

Attorney Tips on Employee Law

Editor’s Thoughts

KEEP DOCUMENTS Keep copies of important documents, such as handbooks/policies, disciplinary actions, etc., at home. You may not have access to them if you are terminated.

IS THE NON-COMPETE AGREEMENT I SIGNED ENFORCEABLE? • It must be supported by valid consideration – did you get something of value for signing the agreement?

• The limitations must be reasonable as to scope, duration and geographical extent – the courts have helped define what is reasonable.

John C. Hunter Attorney at Law

Providing experienced employee representation for over 30 years One North Pack Square | Ste 421 Asheville, NC 28801 828.281.1940 | jchlawfirm.com

MY HANDBOOK STATES THAT I AM AN “AT-WILL” EMPLOYEE. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN ?

1. Most employment relationships in NC are ‘”at-will” 2. This means that you can be terminated for any reason as long as it's lawful 3. It is not lawful if the real reason for your termination is prohibited discrimination, a violation of the public policy of the State, or in retaliation for doing something that is protected by certain state or federal laws.

4.There are other exceptions to the “at-will” status.

WHEN SHOULD I CONTACT AN EMPLOYMENT ATTORNEY •You have concerns about how you are being treated in the workplace or whether your termination is lawful.

•You are not being paid your promised wages, including accrued vacation pay after your termination.

•You are being asked to sign an employment contract, a non-compete agreement or a severance agreement.

6

• You have been denied unemployment benefits. | April 2018

I

t was a small, but potentially telling, detail: In late January Facebook disclosed that for the first time in the social media behemoth’s history, daily-active user numbers declined in the United States and Canada.

This struck me as a metaphor for something that is bubbling under in the broader society: How our precious digital connections—and social media in particular—seem to be having the unintended consequence of pushing us apart and isolating us in like-minded micro-communities.

The Facebook stat suggests a small but growing percentage of social media users are realizing, not that “digital is evil,” but how insidiously easy it is to retreat into our digital cocoons and echo chambers, allowing our essential nature as social creatures to become eroded, one byte at a time. Somehow, people have come to believe that when we make online comments, register cute emojis, or post photos of that awesome platter of pollo motuleños we’re about to dig into, those count as meaningful interactions, when all we’re really doing is staring at our screens and waiting for that hit of dopamine when a “like” comes through.

How is this relevant to the April issue? Glad you asked. This time we have a report on a topic that’s particularly dear to my heart: Collectors & Collecting.

I’ve long maintained that the desire to collect artifacts and the associated behaviors—hunting those artifacts down, admiring and acquiring them, displaying them so others can also admire them, going into hock in order to afford them in the first place—are inherently human qualities that also dovetail directly into our social animal-ness. Your hobby and passion may be fine art; it may be stamps and coins; it may be baseball cards, autographed balls, and the jerseys of your favorite teams; it may be vinyl records, Fillmore posters, and other music memorabilia; it may be fad items like Beanie Babies, Cabbage Patch Kids, Pogs, or Shrinky Dinks (look it up; I had to). It doesn’t matter what you collect—well, let’s agree to draw the line at toenail clippings and serial killer art—as long as it gives you pleasure, and the side benefit is that there are other folks out there who also collect what you collect and who represent a potential peer group. One hears stories of people meeting up at a gathering of fellow collectors, falling in love, and getting married.

(And boosting the value of those two now-merged collections.)

Elsewhere in this issue we have profiles of a young man who runs a company that makes custom baseball bats and memorabilia, and an entrepreneur who started a Virtual Reality studio, plus a report on area greenhouses.

You might think those to be wildly divergent topics, but look closely and there’s a subtle connecting theme: They all represent hobbies that people are exceedingly passionate about, and as with collecting, there’s a significant social component to them.

So let me just close by saying that if you don’t have some type of hobby— did I mention that mine is collecting vinyl records and hanging out at record stores making friends with fellow record junkies?—try one sometime. If nothing else, it will at least get you out of the house. Make sure you post photos of your swag to Facebook so we can all admire it, okay?

Sincerely,

Fred Mills

ASHEVILLE:

Historic Biltmore Village 9 Kitchin Place 828-274-2630

STORE HOURS:

Mon. - Fri. 9:30am-7pm Sat. 9:30am-6pm Sun. 12pm-5pm

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com

7

Western North Carolina's Free Spirit of Enterprise

publisher THE INNOVATORS OF COMFORT™

As welcoming

as the morning itself, the Stresslsess Sunrise is one of our most popular recliners. With contours that are softly rounded, yet surprisingly sophisticated, the Sunrise offers plush seating for any room. Having a full 360° swivel feature coupled with our patented Glide® system, the Sunrise responds to, and works with the motion of your body to provide unparalleled comfort. To ensure that your Sunrise is a perfect fit, it is available in small, medium, and large sizes. And it comes in both fabrics and leathers in every color under the sun. Experience how comfortable a Sunrise can be.

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Oby Morgan associate publisher

Jeffrey Green managing editor

Fred Mills briefs and events editor

Leslee Kulba copy editors

Evan Anderson, Jason Gilmer, Rollin J. Groseclose, Benjamin C. Hamrick, Anthony Harden, Roger McCredie, Fred Mills, Shawndra Russell, Daniel Walton art director

Bonnie Roberson social media editor

Emily Glaser

Dasha O. Morgan, Brenda Murphy

Information & Inquiries Capital at Play is Western North Carolina’s business lifestyle magazine. It embodies the idea that capitalism thrives with creativity—that work requires an element of play. Exploring everything from local industry to the great outdoors, Capital at Play is inspiration for the modern entrepreneur.

In every edition we profile those who take the risk, those who share that risk, and those who support them—telling the untold story of how capitalists are driven by their ideas and passions.

We cater to those who see the world with curiosity, wonderment, and a thirst for knowledge.

We present information and entertainment that capitalists want, all in one location. We are the free spirit of enterprise.

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Capital at Play is a trademark of Capital At Play, Inc. Published by Capital At Play, Inc. PO Box 5615, Asheville, NC. 28813

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| April 2018

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Capital at Play has partnered with Bclip Productions to bring the pages of each edition to life, just for you. Featured at Capitalatplay.com and our Facebook page, we give you exclusive interviews and insider info on the people, places, and faces of Capital at Play has partnered with Bclip Productions to bring the pages of each edition to life, just for you. Featuring a new enterprise throughout Western North Carolina. Visit us on social media or at our website to see the latest 60 Seconds at Play.

second video every two weeks, we give you exclusive interviews and insider info on the people, places, and faces of enterp throughout Western North Carolina. Visit us on social media or at capitalatplay.com to see the latest 60 Seconds at Play NOVEMBER VIDEO

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At Bclip we do more than tell your story. Our business-first mentality and creativity set us apart from other video production companies. It’s our mis help our customers sell their products, train their staff, and entertain custo video. We strive to eat, sleep, and think like the wonderful companies we

thi s page : A YOUNG BAT COMPANY bat, being pulled from wood that will be used to craf t more bats. photo by Anthony Harden

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F E AT U R E D vol. viii

18

OPERATION SIMULATION BRETT MCCALL, JUSTIN HAMILTON, & JOHN KREISHER

ed. iv

76 BATTER UP!

THOMAS YOUNG, CODY SINIARD, & CHRIS YOUNG

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com

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C ON T E N T S a p r i l 2 018

USE THE PASSCODE at Painters Greenhouse to get 4" plants. See how on p. 41! photo by Anthony Harden

41

57 Things Worth Having l e i s u r e & l i b at i o n

lo c a l i n d u s t r y

Plant at Play

Local Greenhouses & Garden Supply Centers—The Capital at Play Co-Op

insight

colu m ns

14 C arol L. King &

34 Tax Time 2018

Associates, P.A. Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP

p e o p l e at p l ay

The top 15 questions about the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Written by Benjamin C. Hamrick & Rollin J. Groseclose

12

| April 2018

briefs

30 Carolina in the West 52 The Old North State 72 National & World News

events

88 OpenDoors Art Affair 2018 90 Art after Dark, Music art auction & gala benefit

The What, Where, and Why of Collectors & Collecting

Video Asheville, ArtScape Hendersonville—and much, much more.

g e t e xc l u s i v e r e a d e r o n ly ac c e s s w i t h

p. 40

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April 2018 | capitalatplay.com

13

nsight

CURRENT STAFF

CAROL L. KING

An Entrepreneur Disguised as a CPA The founder of wealth management firm Carol L. King & Associates, P.A., specializes in creative solutions to address the specific financial needs of her clients.

A

mong the many positives of the Western North Carolina business community is how rich our region is in female entrepreneurs and business owners. Many can be considered true pioneers—among them, Carol King who, not long after graduating in 1989 from UNC-Asheville with a degree in accounting, opened the first woman-owned CPA firm in Asheville. And to hear King tell it, the announcement about the opening that was sent out to area lawyers and CPAs was treated with a refreshing respect.

“What was really fabulous,” she says now, “and I think this tells you so much about Asheville, is that I got congratulation cards and flowers from so many other CPA firms, where the guys said, ‘We hope you do well.’ I scratched my head about that and thought, ‘Now, what does that mean in economic terms? That must mean they don’t feel that I will be competition. That there’s plenty of business out there and they’re happy to have another CPA here doing the work.’ I set up a budget of what I wanted for income for my first year, and by the end of tax season in April, I had already met that goal. I’m an entrepreneur disguised as a CPA!” King has certainly done her due diligence, career-wise, having worked her way through college as a library page, retail clerk, and bank teller, additionally working in dozens of businesses 14

| April 2018

ranging from an import company to a restaurant. She says that this type of real-world experience prepared her to be able to understand the wide range of businesses and individuals she’d eventually be working with at Carol L. King & Associates, P.A./ WNC Wealth Management. “When I became a CPA, I realized it was the perfect job for me because I would never get bored.

I could sit with one client doing one kind of business, and two hours later, I’d be sitting with another client doing another kind of business. And my job was to figure out all of those businesses; my mind is designed to figure out the business, not to run all those businesses.” She recalls being put to the test during the 2008-10 economic downturn when scores of clients went bankrupt: “At first we were busy getting them refunds of taxes, then there was no business to be had, and then we helped with the slow rebuilding process.”

King’s company is a full-service CPA firm, and she specializes in creative solutions to address the specific financial needs of her clients, including tax planning, investment strategies, and family financial planning. This includes helping families with wealth ($10 million plus) prepare their children for receiving their inheritance, and with financial advising services added in 2006, clients can be helped with savings and retirement, and

making tax-advantaged investments. (The advising practice “doubled the tool chest of services” that she can offer, says King.) Too, with deep expertise in all areas of real estate and taxation, King & Associates has a number of clients in construction, development, sales and exchange, and real estate investors. The firm advises in the small business development area, from micro- to multi-million dollar companies, along with strategic planning, analysis of profit, succession planning, and sale of small businesses.

King herself has also won numerous awards over the years, including UNCA’s Francine M. Delany Award for Service, the Mountain Microenterprise Leadership Award, and the Asheville Chamber of Commerce Athena Award for leadership. (King & Associates additionally was named Small Business of the Year

The firm advises in the small business development area, from micro- to multi-million dollar companies, along with strategic planning, analysis of profit, succession planning, and sale of small businesses. in 1998.) She notes that she highly values community service, having served on the Asheville Downtown Commission and as a member of the Grove Arcade Public Market Foundation, and led the push to see Pack Square become “a public space to serve as ‘Asheville’s living room,’ hosting events and providing space for fellowship and a space of beauty in the middle of town.”

She encourages her staff to be similarly active, and the firm participates annually each fall in CPA Day of Service, taking a day off from officework in order to volunteer at local nonprofits, among them MANNA FoodBank, Homeward Bound’s AHOPE Day Center, and ABCCM’s Steadfast House.

Going forward, King has at least one immediate, timesensitive goal: to guide clients and businesses through the maze of the recent, significant changes to our tax laws.

“We’ll be doing a lot of educational seminars around the area to help people determine how it will affect them and their businesses,” she explains. “We also plan to deepen our work helping families prepare their heirs to receive and manage their inheritance.”

parking available for our customers

Carol L. King & Associates, P.A., is located at 40 North French Broad Ave in Asheville. To learn more visit www.clkcpa.com.

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com

15

insight

THE ASHEVILLE OFFICE

Making An Impact The Asheville office of public accounting firm leader Dixon Hughes Goodman wants to be proactive in addressing the well-being of their employees as well as the local community.

N

ever underestimate longevity in business. And with nearly 60 years’ tenure, public accounting firm Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP (DHG) has earned its ranking as being among the top 20 such firms in the United States, having more than 2,000 professionals in 13 states and along the way gaining a reputation for helping its clients succeed. DHG is headquartered in Charlotte, having established itself in 1959 and steadily increased its national presence though both organic growth and strategic mergers. In October of 1979, the Asheville office was founded by Ken Hughes and it, too, has grown steadily, currently employing 106 employees.

Explains David Dills, a tax partner in DHG’s Asheville office, and also the market managing partner for the firm’s Western North Carolina and South Carolina market, “Growth is a significant part of DHG’s strategy as we go to market as an industry and services based firm from strategic geographic locations. We are extremely proud that our Asheville office is thriving on this core component of our firm strategy. First, Asheville’s location allows us to serve a wide variety of clients in Western North Carolina, Upstate South Carolina, and East Tennessee. The firm recently redesigned/renovated the Asheville office to help accommodate more staff and facilitate a much more collaborative work environment as we look to expand our

16

| April 2018

“Due to our depth of amazing staff, our service capabilities and our ideal location within the region, Asheville is well positioned to serve clients of all sizes and complexities.”

THE ASHEVILLE DIXON HUGHES GOODMAN TEAM

presence in this region. And we have local experts in almost all industries and service line offerings of DHG. Due to our depth of amazing staff, our service capabilities and our ideal location within the region, Asheville is well positioned to serve clients of all sizes and complexities.”

Additionally, the company operates DHG Wealth Advisors, a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor providing comprehensive wealth management and financial planning in order to help clients achieve their goals. The wealth management affiliate has over $2 billion in assets under advisement, 36 employees (including 24 investment professionals), and serving 25 offices in nine states.

As a full-service accounting firm, DHG specializes in working with the construction, dealerships, healthcare, manufacturing, and real estate industries. DHG is well-known for its top-notch professional staff and level of service, something CPAI Manager Angi West proudly acknowledges, saying, “Recruiting best-inclass professionals has been a unique hurdle and opportunity in Asheville. We draw those who want to live in an incredible place, but also desire to work in a high performing professional culture with clients from all over the country and world. There is a bit of the hometown in being in the Asheville office because the firm’s roots are here, but we also have a large contingent of firm-wide experts that sit in Asheville making it a hub of fascinating clients and projects. That mix of incredible resources as well as a culture that feels familial is unique and comforting.

“The Asheville office [also] strives to build a culture of putting our people first. We try to accomplish this in a variety of ways: flex working schedules, best-in-class training, challenging and rewarding work, a collaborative work environment including stand-up desks for all staff, employee perks during busy season lunches and dinners, coffee trucks, massages, car detail, RAVE recognitions, etcetera. We strive to continually improve in each of these areas.”

In addition to treating employees as family, DHG clearly regards Asheville itself in extended-family terms, with giving back

to the community long being a priority. For example, DHG is consistently one of the largest corporate donors for United Way, with the Asheville office partners and employees contributing over $100,000 each year to the annual United Way Capital Campaign.

DHG also hosts its yearly Count the Cans food drive, and last year DHG donated 773,741 pounds of food along with 880 volunteer service hours to help relief organizations in 13 states. In Asheville the food drive generates an average of over 35,000 canned good items for MANNA FoodBank each year. Other beneficiaries of DHG volunteerism include Brother Wolf, Eliada Homes, the Junior League of Asheville, the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, and Asheville Community Theatre.

In 2017 DHG underscored this commitment to philanthropy, launching DHG IMPACT. Explains Amanda Sterwerf, who chairs the Asheville office’s IMPACT committee, “Locally we are working towards developing a series of events and information sessions that incorporate each area of IMPACT: Health (promoting wellbeing for both our people and communities); Community (living our values through philanthropy and volunteerism), Financial (supporting the financial health of our people); Sustainability (working together to be more environmentally conscious); and Team (developing and encouraging inclusive and diverse teams at DHG and beyond).”

Sterwerf adds that in February DHG IMPACT celebrated Black History Month by having a “lunch-and-learn” focused on addressing diversity and inclusion in the both the workplace and our local community. Through DHG IMPACT the company is also partnering with Paws4People, which trains and places assistance dogs with children, veterans, military dependents, and people with disabilities.

The Dixon Hughes Goodman Asheville office is located at 500 Ridgefield Court. Visit them online at www.dhgllp.com/about/locations/north-carolina/asheville.

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com

17

Operation

Simulation written by daniel walton

|

photos by evan anderson

When they call their virtual reality company Better Than Unicorns, Brett McCall, Justin Hamilton, and John Kreisher aren’t exaggerating. “We can actually change our reality,” predicts McCall.

A

makeshift plywood sign stands as the sole indication that the future is underway within the River Arts Makers Place (RAMP) Studios on Riverside Drive in Asheville. The letters V and R, each printed on a separate sheet of paper, are taped above and below two bold black arrows that beckon the reader into the building. At the bottom of the sign sits the geometric logo of a horned horse and three lowercase words: better than unicorns.

Those who follow the arrows find themselves in a spartan corridor, a bare concrete floor flanked by cinderblock to the right and drywall to the left. The racket of power drills and circular saws echoes through the air, spillover from the contractors working on the French Broad Chocolates factory elsewhere in the building.

But at the end of the hallway, around a corner, 18

| April 2018

another printed Better Than Unicorns sign announces a different type of construction site.

It’s a room about the size of a racquetball court, dimly lit, with white walls and high wooden ceilings. The project isn’t visible, and the only sounds of work are the soft clattering of keyboards and clicking of mice. All the assembly is taking place inside a collection of desktop computer towers—Better Than Unicorns is creating virtual realities (VR).

“The impossibles and the what-ifs and the fantasy worlds: We want to be a part of making those come true,” says Better Than Unicorns CEO Brett McCall. Together with his cofounders, Justin Hamilton and John Kreisher, McCall hopes to build the company into Asheville’s vanguard of what he calls “the last mass medium.”

(L-R) Justin Hamilton, Brett McCall, and John Kreisher

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 19

Blueprint of the Future McCall vividly remembers the moment, a little over a year ago, when he first felt the true potential of VR. He was visiting his friend Jonathan Schenker, developer of the popular virtual archery game QuiVR, when Schenker encouraged him to try a climbing simulator called Climbey.

“I was jumping to reach a wall, and at first I missed it and fell to the ground. No big deal,” he recalls, of his virtual climb. “When I jumped again, I actually jumped over the wall, and as I was falling, I turned around and tried to grab hold. I missed it. My heart rate goes up, I break into sweat, my breath stops, and I realize that I just believed everything was absolutely real.”

That evocation of thrilling physical danger was tailor-made to resonate with McCall at the time. A top-level Ultimate Frisbee player—he won a world beach ultimate championship as part of the North American All-Star team in 2008 and served as the first head coach of the professional Charlotte Express franchise—he had broken his fibula and torn several ligaments while playing soccer in 2016.

The injury had an 18-month recovery period, and McCall was barely mobile when he experienced Climbey. But despite his real-life situation, VR had convinced his mind and body that he was an athlete in motion. “At that instant,” he says with a snap of his fingers, “I recognized that this medium has superpowers over any other medium that we’ve ever seen.”

McCall’s professional background also made him receptive to the virtual revelation. From 2011 through 2015, he worked as a futurist and trends researcher for Asheville’s Native Marketing, keeping abreast of innovations in pop culture, entertainment, and media. Based on his experience with divining the cultural impacts of technology, he predicted that VR was set to make massive waves.

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OCULUS RIF T controllers.

VIRTUAL REALIT Y (unlike most video games) gets your full body involved.

One can easily work up a sweat.

“It’s similar to what we saw with moving pictures when they first came out. People believed that what was happening on the other side of that screen was actually happening,” he explains. “That’s what is happening with VR, only it’s immersive and interactive.”

Gathering the Crew Although McCall briefly studied artificial intelligence and computer science at the University of Texas at Dallas, where he grew up, he had earned his bachelor’s degree in community leadership from Warren Wilson College after moving to the Asheville area in 1999. His background told him that he would need technical support if he planned to start a VR production company.

Luckily, he had a chief software developer in mind: Justin Hamilton, whom he’d met during a VR get-together at the home of Hamilton’s brother. Like McCall, Hamilton had also become interested in VR after a formative experience, but one much further back in the medium’s past.

“At the Mountain State Fair in 1994, they had this hanggliding VR setup where you were actually leaning on a bar,”

Hamilton remembers. “It was pretty primitive, and I did not land the hang glider very well, but I was blown away.”

Combined with another taste of early VR through a version of the classic shooter game Doom, the Mountain State Fair encounter led Hamilton to begin designing his own games.

He went to school for computer animation in 2003 and taught himself programming, all the while imagining what could be possible in the medium.

“I had this vision of somehow running around in laser-tag fashion in VR,” Hamilton says. As consumer systems such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive made their way onto the market a couple of years ago, he knew that the technology was finally coming to make his dream a reality. When McCall approached him in early 2017, he jumped at the chance to start Better Than Unicorns.

The final piece of the puzzle was fellow VR creative John Kreisher. He admits that his title within the company’s startup culture is difficult to pin down, but Kreisher is used to being flexible—in more ways than one. A practitioner of the human gymnastics technique acro-yoga, he first came to Asheville for a circus training program.

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com

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THE HEADSET covers the senses of sight and hearing, while the controllers handle touch.

UNC Asheville Family Business Forum

While Kreisher’s master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder gave him the technical chops in coding and 3D modeling needed to join Better Than Unicorns, he believes that his circus experience with Boulder’s theatrical dance/acrobatics/aerial arts troupe Fractal Tribe informs his VR design philosophy. “We’re in this realm of always pushing our boundaries,” he says. “I’m interested in game mechanics that make me more aware as a human being.”

McCall and Hamilton nod as Kreisher continues to flesh out his attitude toward the technology. “You can just change the rules of your reality in VR, experiment what it’s like to be in a world with different rules,” he explains. “I think that’s really valuable.”

Nuts and Bolts No matter the world being visited, every journey begins in the same place: one of Better Than Unicorn’s VR setups. The founders use the term “rig” to describe the complete package, which consists of a headset that totally envelops the eyes, a wireless controller for each hand, and a computer with enough processing capacity to handle the inputs and outputs.

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Step Into a Simulation With Your Smartphone Would you like to try out a Deltec simulation like the one mentioned in the article? Just follow these easy steps to see just a bit of what Better Than Unicorns can do.

VR’s taxing technical requirements demand top-of-the-line machines. To create the illusion of depth in a three-dimensional world, the headset displays a slightly different two-dimensional picture to each eye—much like an old-school View-Master reel. Therefore, the attached computer must render the same scene from two unique perspectives, then do it again 90 times per second to maintain the sense of motion. “It’s like a video game on steroids,” Hamilton says.

Further complicating matters, this perspective must respond to the motions of the headset in three-dimensional space. Like current smartphones that can detect tilt and movement, early VR systems used internal sensors for this purpose, such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers. The current generation, however, uses infrared tracking.

By emitting or receiving quick pulses of light below the human visible range, VR headsets communicate with base stations placed elsewhere in the room, giving the computer the raw data necessary to calculate position. The same technology is also used to track the rig’s handheld controllers, meaning that users can naturally reach to grab or poke objects in three-dimensional space. Gaming-style thumb sticks and buttons on the controllers provide additional control possibilities.

Better Than Unicorns currently uses rigs from both of the two main players in VR, HTC Corporation and Facebook-owned Oculus

To get the most out of the experience we recommend connecting to wi-fi or having very strong phone signal.

STEP 1 Use your smartphone to scan the QR code above. (Some phones may require a QR code reader, but many new phones have the technology already built in to the camera, so all you have to do is view the QR code through your camera app.)

STEP 2 Open the web page as prompted in the pop-up.

STEP 3 Now you can stand in one place and see a 360° view with your phone as your lens. Turn around to see the beach around you! You can also insert your phone into a VR headset if you have one.

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 23

THE VIEW of the Vive headset, shows a glimpse of the visuals inside.

VR. McCall predicts that, in contrast to the conflicts seen with other technology like the Betamax vs. VHS format wars, there’s room for multiple “flavors” of VR rigs.

“Each of them has different attributes, and we’re just going to have to get familiar with using different ones for different purposes,” McCall says. “Oculus focuses on publicly accessible, consumer-grade VR, while the Vive is aiming for more of the competitive and professional market. It’s like a Honda and a Porsche.”

Asheville-based builder known for its round house designs. The company contracted Better Than Unicorns to produce virtual walkthroughs that could introduce potential customers to its unconventional floorplans.

The result is the next best thing to actually touring a Deltec property. Through VR, users get an accurate sense of the home’s dimensions in relationship to their body and can walk around different rooms to imagine themselves living there.

They can peek into closets or teleport outside the building for a

“Producing VR is like film production, audio production, photography, interior design, and animation all rolled together and times five.”

Laying the Foundation For a user, all of the technological details take a back seat to the experience of the fantastic made real. Meditating on that core essence of VR led McCall to adopt his startup’s name— spurred by a hit of inspiration from his wife, Diana.

“The morning before I gave my Creative Mornings talk about VR, my wife was teaching yoga, and on the computer where she was checking people in was a sticker,” McCall explains. “It said, ‘You’re better than a unicorn because you’re real.’ Two weeks later, I needed a name for the company, and she suggested BTU.” With its name in place, McCall set out establishing a market for the new venture. He found his first client in Deltec Homes, an 24

| April 2018

breathtaking mountain view. The model even includes a soccer ball that users can bat around the house with their controllers.

McCall shares an example of the walkthrough’s power from a home expo where Better Than Unicorns recently showed off its technology. “A woman came up to me almost apologizing; she said she was interested in VR but had no interest in buying a cylindrical home,” he recalls. “After five minutes, she was blown away and wanted to get in touch with Deltec.”

Beyond driving sales, VR can provide those in the real estate business with valuable data about how potential customers respond to their properties. “We know where people are looking by tracking their headset,” explains Kreisher. “If

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they’re not drawn to the kitchen at all, for example, we can change something—and everybody always looks at the red pillow on the couch” he adds with a laugh.

Better Than Unicorns next produced a similar project for the University of North Carolina at Asheville, which hired the company to make a tour of their new apartments and existing residence halls. In partnership with Crunchy Bananas, an Asheville software development firm, they created a smartphone app that gave prospective students 360-degree views of their potential college digs.

Similar collaborations with other companies, McCall says, will be key to Better Than Unicorn’s continued growth. “Producing VR is like film production, audio production, photography, interior design, and animation all rolled together and times five,” he points out. “Our biggest challenge is going to be project management and leveraging all of our people and players to multiply their creativity.”

The company is growing its own ranks: Besides the founders, Better Than Unicorns has hired a number of part-time employees for specific projects and brought on three interns, with two more to come for marketing support. McCall anticipates that demand for their services will grow quickly, mentioning both regional players in the tourism industry who see VR as a way to build new business and global interests in VR gaming such as HTC and Epic Games.

Open House

MCCALL (L) engaged in a game of Sparc.

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Together with its outreach to the corporate world, Better Than Unicorns is also trying to build popular interest in VR throughout the Asheville area. For three hours every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday night, the startup’s RAMP Studios location transforms into a public VR arcade where curious users can experience the technology themselves.

While Asheville may not have the hi-tech cachet of larger cities such as San Francisco or Seattle, McCall feels that the area’s other qualities make it appropriate for building a VR movement.

“Asheville’s an adventure town, so people are willing to try new things in general,” he says. “And because Asheville is comparatively small, it’s possible for us to move new ideas into the community more rapidly or effectively than in larger areas.”

On a typical Saturday evening, a dozen or so people crowd into the Better Than Unicorns space and watch as a projector shines a public view of the in-game perspective, its light supplemented by pink Himalayan salt lamps and red Christmas bulbs. The room feels like a cross between a nightclub and the basement of the coolest nerd in town: Chill electronic and hip-hop beats play underneath the action as posters of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and R2D2 from Star Wars stare from the walls.

Most in attendance are waiting for their turn in a tournament of Sparc, a two-player game that moves like a cutting-edge cross between dodgeball and tennis. Players strive to strike each other with glowing balls of energy as they use a racket-like shield to protect their own bodies. When McCall dons a headset and controllers for his match, he seems transported back to his championship ultimate days, vigorously ducking balls and batting shots at his opponent.

Ready, Player? A Guided Tour Better Than Unicorns’ John Kreisher offers his sympathies when I tell him about my plan to share the experience of VR through writing. “A lot of our job is language, trying to describe VR to people who don’t know what it is,” he says.

“It’s so hard to do without actually putting them in it.”

Following my own immersion into an Oculus Rift rig at Better Than Unicorns, I have to admit that he’s right. VR produces an emergent experience, a sensation that arises unexpectedly from the sum of its par ts. The word Justin Hamilton supplies for the feeling is presence: a user’s instinctual awareness of occupying a completely different world.

The physical side of things is simple enough. Strapping on the headset, I feel like a snorkeler readying his goggles to gaze at the ocean floor; the equipment has some heft, but my head can still turn easily in all directions. I see two glowing blue gloves in front of me, and when I reach to grab them, my hands close around the pistol grips of the Oculus Touch controllers. I pull them back toward my body, and the onscreen gloves follow.

After a brief moment of darkness, my headset lights up with the cluttered workshop of First Contact, a demo experience that comes packaged with the Rift. The first thing I do is turn completely around, and I’m not disappointed— there’s realistic depth and detail over the full 360 degrees.

My perspective follows my body as I duck down to examine the floor or jump towards the ceiling. I’m aware that I’m playing a game, but the experience is triggering my deep human need to explore and interact.

I see a stout robot in front of me and a floating invitation to close a hatch on its head. Reaching out with my reallife hand, I extend a finger and press downward. I see my onscreen hand do exactly the same thing, and the robot comes to life. It retreats, then stares back at me with big green eyes and waves. Without even thinking, I wave back.

That moment encapsulates the power of the medium. Like the feathered puppets often used to feed wild baby birds,

VR obviously isn’t real. There’s no smell or taste, no way for in-world objects to touch you, and no movement beyond the limits of the headset’s tether to a base computer. But also, like one of those puppets, it replicates enough of actual reality’s key characteristics to evoke authentic emotional and behavioral responses.

As I continue to investigate First Contact, I’m amazed by how the vir tual world behaves like I expect it to. When pink butterflies appear, they land on my outstretched finger.

I shake a noisemaker around my face and hear how the sound fades in and out of the headphones with changes to its virtual position. A dart gun transfers the momentum of its projectiles to any object I shoot. By the end, I’m grinning from ear to ear, my disbelief absolutely suspended.

Kreisher then transitions me into one of his favorite VR experiences, Superhot. He sees it as a perfect example of how the medium can expand human consciousness. “If you stop moving in the game, time stops, and if you start moving, time starts again. I could feel it rewiring my brain,” he says.

“I’d be standing in the grocery store and freeze, and my brain would half expect everyone else to stop moving.”

Imagine Superhot like a constant stream of fight sequences from The Matrix: I stand amidst a crowd of assailants, dodging their bullets in slow motion and responding with my own attacks. Controlling time with the motion of my body, I start to regard each scenario as a four-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, with handguns and punches standing in for the pieces.

I notice myself constructing a mental map of each level, assigning landmarks in the vir tual space just like I would when touring an unfamiliar city. Yet again, VR is bringing out the same human instincts evolved over countless eons in the real world.

“There’s a look on people’s eyes when you pull off the headset,” Hamilton summarizes. “They’ve just been somewhere they’ve been paying attention to very well.”

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 27

As McCall competes, Hamilton notes that this sense of social interaction is critical for VR’s continued success. “A lot of people assume that VR is kind of isolating, that when you put the headset on, you’re cut off from the rest of the world,” he says. “But in my experience, it’s caused a lot of communication between people. You get to interact in new ways that you wouldn’t normally get to experience.”

He and Kreisher took socialization into account for PrizmPong, the most recent experience developed by Better Than Unicorns. Competitors in this VR update of arcade classic Pong occupy a playing space of the same size as their real-world room, so they can bump fists using their actual bodies and virtual avatars at the same time.

The company’s dream is to expand the arcade vibe into a larger arena in the River Arts District, roughly four times the size of the current location, that could accommodate up to 12 players simultaneously. While the move still has many hurdles to clear, such as the development of wireless headset technology and raising approximately $250,000 in funding, Better Than Unicorn’s founders agree that collaborative experiences are the next frontier in VR.

Room for Living Well Entertainment may be the driver of the planned new arena, but McCall emphasizes that the VR arcade is “very much the gateway drug into the medium.” The Better Than Unicorns team sees applications for their technology in fields far beyond gaming.

Consider medicine, as dramatized through a recent commercial for Samsung’s Gear VR headset. In the ad, a woman with a new prosthetic leg powers herself through physical therapy with a little virtual assistance: When she looks down, she sees two strong, real legs striding confidently along a beach.

Researchers with Duke University have already taken this concept a step beyond by using VR as a treatment to partially restore muscle movement and sensation in paraplegic patients.

VR could also play a role in psychological exposure therapy.

Kreisher points to Richie’s Plank Experience, an extremely convincing simulation of walking on a foot-wide board 80 stories above a busy city street. “We’ve had people fall off the plank before because they get so scared and close their eyes,” he says.

Under professional supervision, similar stressful experiences may help people overcome their fears.

McCall, who worked as an Outward Bound instructor in Florida before moving to the area, is particularly excited about

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VR’s ability to promote teambuilding. “I used to have people imagine they were in the water and that a wall was the edge of a boat they needed to climb into,” he offers as an example. “In VR you could actually see the boat and water with sharks coming at you.”

To that end, Better Than Unicorns hopes to build collaborative VR escape room puzzles for the new arena, akin to the real-world offerings of downtown Asheville’s Breakout Games and Conundrum. Hamilton and Kreisher say that few other developers are creating these types of experiences, leaving them ample room to explore group dynamics and the collective intelligence of players.

But perhaps the deepest application of VR, McCall proposes, is helping people realize that all reality is virtual. He mentions the Buddhist and Hindu concept of the “veil of Maya,” the idea that human sensory experience creates an illusion that hides the true nature of the universe.

“Taking the headset on and off, we start to realize that even without the technology, we’ve still got a headset on,” he says. “If I had no eyes, ears, or nose, I’d be swimming around in a dark pool of nothing—it’s just these inputs that give us a sense of lightness and beauty.

If we could figure out how to remove that, to put the lens on that we want to see, then we can actually change our reality.”

“Taking the headset on and off, we start to realize that even without the technology, we’ve still got a headset on.”

“Humans behave differently when there’s a catastrophe.

They drop all pretenses and start helping each other,” he continues. “I’ve always looked for a way to simulate something traumatic that could also be safe, some way to have that humanness come to life for long enough that we could then become better humans.”

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 29

CAROLINA in the

WEST [

news briefs

A Summit to Climb buncombe county

The State of North Carolina announced it would host the second ever Confluence Summit in Asheville this July; the first was hosted in Colorado. That state’s Outdoor Recreation Industry Office set up the ORec 8 last year to facilitate collaboration among the eight states with government outdoor recreation officers; and that led to the first Confluence Summit as a means of giving the states a nonpartisan, unified voice on outdoor recreation policy. In preparation for the summit, the state delegations began searching for common ground for policies affecting outdoor economic development, conservation and stewardship, education and workforce development, and public health and wellness. The best ideas are being folded into the Colorado Accords,

]

a collection for eventual ratification as a living document. But in the meantime, the meeting in Asheville will satisfy the Colorado office’s ambition to hold summits in a broad range of states. As the process unfolds, other states will be recruited. To help with transportation to the event, specialty outdoor retailer REI will be supporting travel stipends.

One hundred delegates attended the first Confluence Summit.

Warming Up to Summer

enough snow to last through the next thaw.

Beech Mountain’s coverage didn’t last. Even though some snow remained, Marketing Director Talia Freeman said it’s important to those who work at the resort to provide customers with a quality experience. Over the holidays the resort managed to maintain aisles of coverage between banks of mud and grass, but business still lagged.

That said, representatives of the resort, and local businesses that serve skiers, said the season was a success. Several actually earn more money from their summer season. In the winding-down days, the resort advertised a calendar of exciting March events and promised the traditional Totally ’80s Retro Ski Weekend was still on, its crazy events perhaps only being a little crazier. Appalachian Ski Mountain, while losing half its base by February 25, remained intent on staying open through the fourth weekend in March, a goal the resort has made nine out of ten years.

Sugar Mountain also remained open into March, while snow was reportedly thin, and the tubing park had closed.

watauga county

Beech Mountain Ski Resort had to close early, on February 24 this year, due to unseasonably warm weather. The sledding hills closed earlier on February 19.

When the weather gets cold, ski resorts in Southern states typically try to make

Crafty Business buncombe county

The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design (CCCD), Mountain BizWorks, and

A Unique and Independent Real Estate Company since 1979 30

23 Arlington Street Asheville, NC 28801 | 828. 255.7530 | www.appalachianrealty.com | April 2018

University of North Carolina Asheville have piloted a workshop series to help makers succeed in business. Topics for the first series of workshops were selected to address the needs of over 300 local crafters surveyed, and program organizers promised they would be valuable for beginning and established artists.

The first series of the Entrepreneur’s Workshop: Craft Your Commerce, with instructors selected for subject-matter expertise, began in March. The focus areas were market positioning, communicating through photography, and sustainable scaling. Single sessions cost $20-$40, but participants were encouraged to invest in passes for the entire program. (See our Events Calendar for details on the April 10 workshop.) Beginning on April 26, a five-week Mountain BizWorks Alpine program will help entrepreneurs apply the material from the workshops, while attendance at those workshops would not be prerequisite. The cost for this course is $375, but community scholarships from Mountain BizWorks will be made available. The workshops are hosted at CCCD.

Trust, but Verify watauga county

Federal agents will return $1.54 million recovered from an email scam to

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the old north state

national & world

Appalachian State University. It is only a portion of the $1.96 million lost. In 2016 the school entered into a contract with Rodgers Builders for constructing a new health science facility. The two parties then made the necessary arrangements for wire transfers and direct deposits. Then, a staffer at the university received an email from somebody posing as Doug McDowell, the controller at Rodgers Builders. It provided a new form for direct deposits and rerouting instructions. A week later, the university sent $1.96 million through the new channels. Later in the month, the real Doug McDowell contacted the university, asking why he had not been paid. It turned out, the email address of the fake McDowell was slightly different from that of the real McDowell. Authorities were contacted, and FBI agents immediately tracked down $961,000 in an account opened by a group calling itself Royce Hub Trading. A month later, another $600,000 was recovered through an obfuscating web of shell companies.

The university had fallen victim to a BEC (business email compromise) scam. Businesses frequently using wire transfers are typically targeted. Wire fraud and money laundering are among the crimes with which the conspirators have been charged.

carolina in the west

Unchained Melody buncombe county

Steve and Nan Klein have unchained their restaurant. In March last year, they opened a franchise of Virgola, a New Yorkbased bar that serves its own brand of wine, along with oysters and charcuterie.

While Virgola was popular at its Biltmore Village location, the franchisees, who are both locals, explained a big part of the Asheville brand is an independent spirit, and they were missing out. They wanted to be able to be more creative with the menu, to offer more selections, to have more fun in the kitchen, and to support local businesses growing fresh produce.

They have applied for a full liquor license to expand the bar to serve locally-distilled beverages. The Kleins wanted the flexibility not only to push the envelope and define local preferences, but to adapt and change with them. After a short run, the Kleins got permission from Virgola to unchain and open The Wine & Oyster.

With their newfound freedom, they will also be able to host weekly live music, a daily happy hour, and fundraisers for local charities. They are remaining in the same space, with only minor alterations to the interior. On Valentine’s Day, they hosted a rebranding bash to update their local following on what had happened.

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The mid-year meeting for the seventh annual Appalachian Energy Summit took place at the Wake Forest Biotech Place Conference Center in WinstonSalem. Students, faculty, and industry leaders convened to, in the words of Appalachian State University’s (ASU) Chief Sustainability Officer Dr. Lee Ball, “share best practices, frustrations, and accomplishments.” Highlights of the event included a presentation of a web portal for collaboration on university sustainability projects and a panel discussion on energy policy in North Carolina. ASU launched the meetings in 2012, working with the Rocky Mountain Institute. Through the years, ASU has continued to host collaborations of seven working groups across all 17 of the UNC system campuses, with summits, featuring big names in sustainability like Amory Lovins and David Orr. The summit works toward a more sustainable future by brainstorming ways to integrate environmental stewardship across college curricula, design efficiency into campus capital projects, and stimulate the economy by developing green business. Since the inaugural summit, the UNC system is estimated to have saved $499 million in utility costs and nine billion pounds in greenhouse gas emissions. The annual meeting will be held at the home base, ASU, from July 30-August 1.

What Could Possibly Come Next? burke county

April 27, 6 pm The Orange Peel ColorMeGoodwill.org 32

| April 2018

Troubles continue for the beleaguered construction of a new Broughton Ho s p it a l. T he Nor t h C a r ol i n a Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) Division of Water Resources issued a Notice Of Violation to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, Archer Western

The

arage Contractors, and The Vertex Company.

Vertex is the construction company hired to complete the project after it was taken over by its insurer, Travelers Casualty and Surety of America.

Following a February 9 inspection, the DEQ charged the organizations with violating wetland and stream standards, writing them up for the deposition of about 4” of sediment in an unnamed stream. That came on the heels of a notice issued by the NC Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources following a January inspection. That notice charged erosion control measures had been removed prematurely.

The offending entities were instructed to take immediate action and come up with plans with schedules for remediation signed off by licensed experts.

They also face penalties of $25,000 and $5,000 a day, respectively, for the violations. This is but the latest in a project riddled with construction delays and lawsuits. Construction began in 2012, and the initial completion date has since been revised six times.

Another for the “Routinely-Recognized” buncombe county

The Biltmore Company was named one of the 2017 Best and Brightest Companies to Work in the Nation. The award was among 437 bestowed by the National Association for Business Resources (NABR) this year. The NABR networks with businesses, through research and programming, to foster best practices in human resources. For the Best and Brightest competition, employees from about 2,000 businesses answered questions on topics like corporate culture, benefits programs, and opportunities for personal growth.

The businesses were then scored in categories including diversity, communication, employee education, work-life balance, recognition, and retention; and subsequently compared to similar-sized

businesses. The NABR looks for a combination of innovation and intentionality in companies. Standout features of the Biltmore Company included scholarships for employees’ children, corporate gifting in the community, and in-house green teams to promote sustainable stewardship. Biltmore’s Vice President of Human Resources Vicki Banks says the company honors founder George Vanderbilt’s quest for knowledge and excellence and commitment to lifelong learning by integrating those drivers into its corporate culture.

Exporting Products, Not Jobs buncombe county

Blue Ridge Chair Works was one of five companies to win a 2017 Governor’s Export Award. Founder Alan Davis, in turn, gives credit for his top small-business exporter award to the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC), which provided mentoring for growing his business overseas. Blue Ridge Chair has been manufacturing portable outdoor furniture—folding sling-back wooden chairs and matching tables—since 2000. Davis says he’s always been a tinkerer, and his first projects with wood were custom kayak paddles. His furniture business, which started as a hobby making high-end furniture for himself, affords him the opportunity “to do something my way.” The chairs are mostly made in-state. Quality hardwood from Michigan is sculpted by artisans in Davis’ employ, and other jobs, like sewing and manufacturing, are contracted out to operations within the region. Clients include hoteliers and individual campers, and now 52% of his business is overseas. The other four winners were Therafirm, Frontier Spinning Mills, Tri-Tech Forensics, and New Growth Designs. The EDPNC provided services to 559 companies last year.

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column

Tax Time 2018

The top 15 questions about the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

P

R E SIDE N T T RU M P SIGN ED

the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) into law on December 22, 2017. This is the single most significant change in tax law since 1986. While the TCJA does not replace the existing law, it does bring about many tax changes for both individuals and businesses.

This article could easily be devoted to one specific provision in this new law. We have selected the top 15 provisions that clients and business colleagues have asked about most recently.

B&R benjamin c . hamrick is

a Shareholder and rollin j . groseclose is Vice President of Taxation & a Shareholder at Johnson Price Sprinkle PA of Asheville.

Does the new law impact my 2017 tax return?

Generally, no. With a few exceptions, the law is effective beginning January 1, 2018. Items effective in 2017 include bonus depreciation and a lower threshold for deducting medical expenses.

Is this law permanent?

Most business provisions are permanent, but for individual taxpayers, most provisions expire after 2025.

For 2018, will my tax rate go down?

The top marginal individual rate has been reduced to 37% from 39.6%, and nearly all tax brackets have

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| April 2018

been expanded. Note that tax rates for long-term capital gains and qualified dividends remain the same at 0%, 15%, and 20% depending on income levels. Keep in mind, this law makes a lot of changes that will impact your tax liability, but generally the changes made to individual income tax rates and brackets will lower your tax.

Can I continue to deduct the mortgage on my home?

Yes; however, there are changes in this area.

For home purchases after December 15, 2017, you can deduct mortgage interest on acquisition indebtedness for up to $750,000 of mortgage debt. If your mortgage was in place before then, you are subject to the previous limitations which allowed you to deduct interest on up to $1 million of acquisition indebtedness. Keep in mind you only benefit from the mortgage interest deduction if you itemize your deductions.

B Like it or not, Budget (Cost) Revenue (Over 10 years)

Money is

POWER...

individual provisions

--------------------------------( All numbers in billions )

$(1,214.2)

Changes to Individual tax rates

$1,211.5 Elimination of personal exemptions

...and if as women you are in charge of what you earn, save and how you spend it, then everything else you want to achieve will come much easier. — Meridith Elliott Powell Business Growth Expert, Nationally Recognized Speaker

$(414.5) Pass-through entity deduction

$(1,126.6) Net individual cost

$(1,348.5)

Reduction to corporate tax rate

$(653.8) Net business

Meridith Elliott Powell & Laura Webb

Webb Investments is an independent wealth management practice dedicated to empowering successful individuals, particularly women, to take control and make intelligent decisions about their financial futures.

$324.4 Net international

$(1,456) Net total Information courtesy of Johnson Price Sprinkle PA

828.252.5132 | laurawebb.com | 82 Patton Avenue, Suite 610 | Asheville, NC 28801 Webb Investment Services is not a registered broker/dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Investment Advisory Services are offered though Raymond James Financial Services Advisors.

Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC. Raymond James is not affiliated with and does not endorse Meridith Elliott Powell.

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com

35

column

Celebrate An Appalachian Spring

corporate tax rates by country

Local Shopping, Dining & Essentials In a Uniquely Asheville Atmosphere

Colombia United States France India Brazil Japan Australia Germany Italy G20* Luxembourg Canada BRIC* OECD* Denmark Sweden Russia United Kingdom

0%

2017

5%

10%

15%

20% 25%

2010

30%

35% 40%

2018

*Simple Average

I have an equity line of credit on my home; can I continue to deduct that interest?

Maybe. While the TCJA seems to eliminate the home equity interest deduction after 2017, there are cases where this interest may be deductible. You should still be able to deduct the interest as long as you are within the $750,000 cap noted above, the loan is secured by a first or second home, and the proceeds from the equity line are used to purchase or improve that same home.

THE HISTORIC

GROVE ARCADE

What about property taxes?

Can I deduct them?

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Yes; subject to limitations, you may be able to deduct your property taxes. Previously, if you itemized your deductions you could deduct state and local taxes. Under the new law, you can deduct real estate, state, and local income (and possibly sales) tax totaling up to $10,000. Again, this deduction is available if you itemize your deductions.

B mfj tax rates MFJ-Married Filing Jointly

2017 Law

New Law

Income Range

Rate

Income Range

Rate

Up to $18,650

10%

Up to $19,050

10%

$18,650 - $75,900

15%

$19,050 - $77,400

12%

$75,900 - $153,100

25%

$77,400 - $165,000

22%

$153,100 - $233,350

28%

$165,000 - $315,000

24%

$233,350 - $416,700

33%

$315,000 - $400,000

32%

$416,700 - $470,700

35%

$400,000 - $600,000

35%

Over $470,700

39.6%

Over $600,000

37%

Facing page: Tax Rates Graph: School of Public Policy, University of Calgary

Anything new with charitable contributions?

Charitable contributions are still deductible as an itemized deduction. Cash contributions were previously limited to 50% of adjusted gross income. The new law allows for deductions of up to 60% of adjusted gross income.

There seems to be a lot of discussion about itemizing deductions. Has this changed?

Yes; this has changed in several ways. The total standard deduction has increased substantially. For married taxpayers filing jointly, the standard deduction has increased from $12,700 to $24,000. The amounts for all other filing status categories increased as well. Earlier, we mentioned the limitation on state and local taxes and mortgage interest. In addition, all miscellaneous itemized deductions have been eliminated. Therefore, there are fewer deductions and a greater threshold required to itemize. It is estimated that taxpayers itemizing deductions will drop from around 30% of all individual taxpayers to approximately 10%.

On a positive note, the phase-out of itemized deductions over certain income levels has been eliminated.

MFJ Graph courtesy of Johnson Price Sprinkle PA

I have a family of six: my husband and four children. Are there any breaks for my family?

This is a tough question to answer. While the standard deduction has increased, the personal exemptions for dependents was eliminated. The amount of the personal exemption was $4,050 for 2017. For a family of six, that is $24,300 of deductions that will not be available after 2017.

However, the child tax credit was expanded from $1,000 to $2,000 per child. This is a dollar for dollar reduction in tax, unlike a deduction. Also, the credit phase-out level increased, so more taxpayers will benefit from this increased credit.

Whether or not there will be a net savings depends on the family’s income and other factors.

Was the estate tax eliminated in the new law?

No; it did not go away, but the lifetime exemption per person increased from $5.49 million to $11.2 million. This allows a married couple to shelter over $22 million in assets from estate taxes. The annual gift exclusion also increased from $14,000 to $15,000.

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 37

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The individual tax rates decreased, but what about the corporate rates?

The tax rate for taxpaying corporations, referred to as C corporations, moved to a flat rate of 21% from the graduated rates of 15% to 35%. This applies to all C corporations, including Personal Service Corporations (physicians, lawyers, accountants, engineers, etc). Corporations with taxable income of less than around $90,000 will pay more tax, while those with higher taxable income will see a tax reduction. And the corporate alternative minimum tax (AMT) was eliminated.

Are there any tax breaks for small business?

Yes. There is one provision in the new law that could be very beneficial to owners of companies of all sizes, including small businesses. It is also one of the more complex areas of the new law. This provision applies to owners of passthrough entities (PTE). A PTE refers to a structure of doing business including a sole proprietorship, LLC, S corporation, or partnership. PTEs generally don’t pay tax on their taxable income; instead, the business income is passed through to the individual tax returns of the owners. The new deduction is generally 20% of the qualified business income from a trade or business of the PTE. For certain service trades or businesses, this deduction begins phasing out once certain taxable income levels are reached ($315,000 for married taxpayers filing jointly or $157,500 for all others).

Is it true that we can deduct the entire cost of machinery and equipment in the year of purchase?

Yes. Actually, several depreciation provisions were enhanced to allow for more favorable depreciation of assets. Bonus deprecation has been part of our tax systems for a number of years. Under the new law, a business can elect to deduct 100% of the cost of certain assets placed in service with no limitations on the total purchases for the year. Previously, this only applied to new equipment. Under the new law, it now also applies to the purchase of previously used assets.

This provision generally applies to assets with a recovery period of 20 years or less, which generally includes machinery, equipment, computers, furniture, and fixtures. The 100% deduction extends through 2022 and then phases out entirely over the following five years. An important note for 2017: This law applies to purchases after September 27, 2017.

Another popular provision is what is referred to as §179 expensing for certain assets. Previously, a business could expense up to $510,000 per year, and this amount was phased out when total purchases exceeded $1 million. Starting in

2018, the deduction amount is $1 million, and the phase-out starts at $2.5 million. This provision may now be used for a roof, HVAC, fire protection, alarm, and security systems.

Are there other business provisions I should be aware of?

There are a number of other provisions that impact businesses. For companies that produce, grow, extract, or manufacture there has been a Domestic Production Activities Deduction (DPAD) equal to 9% of business income. That provision was eliminated with the TCJA. Also, for companies with over $25 million in gross receipts, there is a limitation, on the deduction of interest expense.

The interest deduction is limited to 30% of adjusted taxable income, and the excess must be carried forward. Adjusted taxable income is essentially earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or EBITDA. This calculation changes after 2022. Certain businesses can elect out of this limitation but would have to contend with certain implications.

Losses from PTE businesses are now limited to $250,000 for a single taxpayer or $500,000 for those married and filing jointly. While there are many factors that must be considered when deducting business losses, this is a new provision on top of existing limitations. Any unused loss can be carried forward and deducted against future business income.

Deferring tax on like-kind exchanges is now limited to real estate. This means that, among other things, a business could realize taxable gain when trading in other assets such as vehicles.

Is there anything else I need to know about the new law?

There is a lot more to the law than is discussed here. We suggest that you talk with a tax professional about your specific situation and consider the impact on you and your business.

Benjamin C. Hamrick, CPA, ABV, CFF, CM&AA, CVA, CGMA is CEO & a Shareholder at Johnson Price Sprinkle PA, and Rollin J. Groseclose, CPA, CGMA is Vice President of Taxation & a Shareholder.

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PRESENTS THE

We are leveraging our extensive network of local businesses to give special access to our hyper-local readership!

How it works – Each month we will give out a new passcode (April is PLANT@PLAY, used verbally in store, or online when available) granting access to unique offerings and huge deals at businesses throughout Western NC. Each month’s passcode is available in each edition of the

magazine, in our once-a-month email newsletter, and on our Facebook and Instagram pages.

Bonus – We will also be giving away items from those businesses each month (three separate garden giveaways in April) in a special readers’ contest.

To make sure you get the passcode each month, keep reading the magazine, or follow us on social media, or sign up for our once-amonth e-newsletter. If you want to win one of the giveaway items, we will choose at random from our e-newsletter members. Sign up today!

For more information visit: capitalatplay.com/coop

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| April 2018

local industry

PLANT@PLAY April Passcode

PAINTERS GREENHOUSE, photo by Anthony Harden

Garden Centers written by shawndr a russell

163. That’s the number of combined years of experience behind four of the best locally owned garden centers, Reems Creek Nursery, B.B. Barns Garden Center & Landscaping Services, Painters Greenhouse, and Jesse Israel & Sons Nursery & Garden Center.

With this much combined expertise, locals can rest assured that the folks behind these nurseries can help anyone create their best yard or garden yet, while also supporting familyowned and -operated businesses that have become an important part of the Western North Carolina community.

For our April Capital Co-Op giveaway, some garden centers selected a plant or combination to help the winners beautify their home or lawn, and all readers can use the April passcode PLANT@PLAY to redeem to receive free seeds, succulents, or plants right in time for spring. And although we are lucky to be able to garden practically year-round in most parts of the Western North Carolina region, with spring coming, these garden centers are here to get you ready.

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 41

local industry

photos by Oby Morgan

42

| April 2018

PLANT@PLAY April Passcode

Reems Creek Nursery This nursery grew out of owners Bill and Wilma Penland’s front yard, where they installed a greenhouse around 1980 and sold larger nursery stock before moving to their current location in Weaverville in 1986. Wilma earned her horticulture degree at Haywood Community College the same year they started their shoestring operation. After obtaining a loan from his uncle to purchase nursery property, her husband, Bill, left his full-time job as an engineer for Square-D to head up landscaping operations. That leap of faith started a family of horticulturalists, as their children Susan and David both studied at NC State and now work at Reems. Susan believes part of the reason for their longevity, besides hard work, is “having generations of family involved in the business offers strength. Each day presents unique challenges, from weather to equipment breakdowns to economic downturns (or upturns), and we are blessed with the stamina to work long days and juggle multiple issues at the same time.” Together, the Penlands and their staff have more than 150 years of landscaping and gardening in the mountains.

Susan says the Penlands’ leap of faith paid off in part because “having a garden—both ornamental and vegetable—is a natural outcome in a community that loves the outdoors, loves local food, supports pollinator gardening, and is eco-conscious.” She adds that any of the annuals, perennials, vegetables, and fruit they sell grow on their family’s propagation farm in the Beech community, and they follow a zero-neonicotinoid pesticide policy by using IPM (integrated pest management) and beneficial insects.

Recently, they’ve noticed an uptick in people planting edible yards, especially fruit in part because fruit trees and bushes are “beautiful in their own right, like the lovely pink flowers on peach trees and the year-round interest that blueberries provide—red twigs in winter, spring flowers, summer fruit, and great fall color.” Reems Creek also makes sure to carry hard-to-find fruits like kiwis, elderberries, and pawpaws, the largest edible fruit trees in North America. But Susan points out there are more reasons to be a gardener than just enjoying the beauty and fruits of your labor. “Dirt actually contains certain microorganisms that make us feel happier; Modern Farmer even suggests that dirt may be the ‘new Prozac!’”

Use the passcode upon arrival & receive

a Pack of “Sow True Seed” seeds April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 43

local industry

photos courtesy Jesse Israel & Sons Nursery & Garden Center

Jesse Israel & Sons Nursery & Garden Center Jesse Israel & Sons is arguably the most visible garden center in Asheville due to its location adjacent to I-40 and the WNC Farmers Market, which stays open year-round. Like the Penlands, Jesse L. Israel, Jr.’s first foray into growing and selling plants started on his own property (which had been in the family dating back to the 1700s), designated a North Carolina Century Farm, in Candler. His three children also caught the gardening bug, and his sons, David and Lonnie, also studied horticulture at NC State just like the Penland children. Budding growers flock to this program since it has been on the cutting-edge of research for 130 years, and NC State currently ranks as the 14th best college for agricultural sciences in America.

44

| April 2018

Today, Lonnie’s son, Alan, manages the nursery his grandfather started in 1968, working alongside his mother, Gail, and his Aunt Diane. One of the ways they honor Jesse, who passed away in 2016 at 91 years old, is to share his growing techniques with customers. “Jesse did much of the growing at the farm,” says Gail, “practicing the old ways of planting by the signs of the moon, composting, and enriching his soil naturally. Now we like to pass this on to our customers as they grow and plant their own gardens so they can have the satisfaction of knowing that they did it themselves.” They also urge customers to have a soil test done by North Carolina Department of Agriculture to pinpoint what amendments your garden needs, so they offer boxes and instructions for getting your soil tested at their store.

For a successful growing season in 2018, Gail recommends putting in cool season crops now, such as lettuce, cabbage,

PLANT@PLAY April Passcode

and broccoli, as well as selecting seeds for your garden and starting them indoors. And for folks who don’t have a lot of room or time, Gail recommends container gardening, something they’ve seen a surge in recently “as more people have less time to spend in a large garden,” Gail explains, adding that container gardeners often like to spice up their container setups with “fairy garden figures, picks with birds to fly above the plants, garden flags, spinners, and other novelty items,” so they carry these items along with everything needed to create a water garden. “A pond or water feature with colorful koi lazily swimming around will relax you at the end of the day,” Gail promises.

Use the passcode upon arrival & receive

a 4” “Proven Winner” plant April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 45

local industry

Painters Greenhouse

photo courtesy Painters Greenhouse

Painters Greenhouse also started as a family affair when its original owners, Stephen and Susie Painter, began selling tomatoes out of their backyard. After 37 years in business, they sold the property to the Owens family in 2010.

Dana Stenger, daughter of Brad and Dennie Owen, says they have “continued to expand options, with a focus on native plants, environmentally-friendly practices, and more shrubs and trees.” Dana and her husband, Jerome, originally moved to Western North Carolina to help her parents operate the long-established business. Otherwise, the Painters might have closed the 100,000-sq.-ft. building located in Old Fort, much to the disappointment of their faithful customer following—some of whom drive from hours away for Painters’ sales.

To keep those loyal customers happy, the Owens family opted to stick to some of the Painters’ core business values: Grow the vast majority of their plants, maintain competitive pricing with the big box stores, and make sure that their employees, in Dana’s words, “are fairly paid, offered unique benefits, and treated as respected and beloved members of our ‘Painters’ Family.’” However, they have worked to reduce the business’ impact on the environment since taking the reins, including removing invasive plant species from their inventory and investing in biological controls. And in order to focus on their mission to grow more than 90 percent of the plants they sell. (Painters is only open from March 1 to July 1 each year.)

Like Reems Creek Nursery, Painters has also noticed a growing interest in edible plants, particularly among young families, as well as folks seeking to support pollinators. Succulents have also grown in popularity, and Dana shares that customers frequently rave that Painters has the best succulent selection in Western North Carolina. “We have a blast with combo design, and succulent combos are always a hit.

Plus, succulents are hard to kill—they thrive on neglect—and can be grown indoors in a sunny room.”

Use the passcode upon arrival & receive

a 4” potted plant

photo by Anthony Harden

46

| April 2018

PLANT@PLAY April Passcode photos courtesy Painters Greenhouse

photo by Anthony Harden April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 47

local industry

photos by Anthony Harden

B.B. Barns Garden Center & Landscaping Arden-based B.B. Barns did not start on owner Barney Bryant’s property. Instead, he went the traditional route of securing financing for his vision through a bank, but he gained more than just a loan. In fact, the banker he pitched, Ned Gibson, liked the idea so much he decided to join forces with Barney to open B.B. Barns in 1988. Today, Barney owns the retail division while Ned owns the landscape services division, and they “attribute their success to the experience the team provides for the guests” explains Business Development Director Therese Figura. During training, each employee learns about the B.B. Barns mission, which, according to Figura, is “to fulfill the needs of customers through relationship building. Selling product is not our goal.

Successful gardening with satisfied customers is.”

48

| April 2018

PLANT@PLAY April Passcode

To satisfy their customers, B.B. Barns has responded to people’s increased interest in clean eating by increasing their seed, plant starts, and fruit/berry trees and bushes. “We say, ‘Grow Your Food...Know Your Food’,” notes Figura. They’ve also expanded their list of services to help busy clientele with to-dos like Christmas decorating, on-site consultation for outdoor living spaces, and draining/ erosion control. This customer-centric business model has attracted customers from five states, including Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia. But the reality is that satisfied customers start with satisfied employees, and Figura praises Ned and Barney for creating a positive work environment.

“We feel it is a privilege to work with them, so we are happy to provide our highest and best every day.”

B.B. Barns operates year-round, Monday through Saturday, and the entire staff’s passion for the healing power of gardening is evident; one of the staffers, Cinthia Milner, also writes a regular quarterly gardening column for Capital at Play. “Gardening ties you to a very positive relationship with the Earth— many consider it therapy,” Figura says, adding, “It’s a process that builds relationships between people in a family, a neighborhood, a school, a church, a committee, or business that are trying to beautify a space, create a gift for someone, or grow food.”

Use the passcode upon arrival & receive

a 3” indoor succulent

FIGUR A PREPARING plants for their new homes.

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 49

local industry

Mention the April Passcode at these businesses: > >reems

creek nursery

Pack of “Sow True Seed” seeds.

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734 Roy Moore Rd, Old Fort paintersgreenhouse.com

828.645.3937 Mon-Sat 8AM-6PM

828.668.7225 Wed-Fri 10AM-6PM, Sat-Sun 9AM-4PM

> >jesse

isr ael & sons nursery & garden center

> >b . b .

4” “Proven Winner” plant

3" indoor succulent

barns garden center & l andscaping

570 Brevard Rd, Lot 16, Asheville jesseisraelandsons.com

3377 Sweeten Creek Rd, Arden bbbarns.com

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>> Reems Creek Nursery will give one fruit tree or shrub. >> B.B. Barns will give a Succulent Container Garden. >> Painters Greenhouse will give a combination of sun-loving succulents in a square pottery planter. photos by Oby Morgan

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THE OLD

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STATE [

member of 42 chambers of commerce, and it did not want to sour community relations. When the merger was first announced, Dominion proposed refunding $1.3 billion, or $1,000 per household, to customers of South Carolina Energy and Gas, another SCANA subsidiary, in return for their investment in the failed VC Summer nuclear project. Customers would, however, still be on the hook for project debt for the next 20 years, a sticking point for South Carolina authorities who must approve the deal.

but it is only being made available to single-family homes. Simple Recycling will begin by tying orange bags to customers’ curbside recycling bins.

A Simple Recycling truck will pick up the bags on the same schedule as the city’s recycling truck, replacing any used orange bags. Additional bags may be mailed upon request. Items up for recycling must be clean and dry. Clothing, shoes, accessories, and even teddy bears will be accepted; but large items like furniture will not be. Top-quality donated goods will be sold to thrift stores, mid-grade items will be shipped to markets overseas, and everything else will be processed for raw materials. It is estimated 85% of unwanted textiles in the country end up in landfills, making up 5-7% of the total waste stream. Simple Recycling is a for-profit company, so persons wishing to support local causes and/ or get a tax write-off are encouraged to continue their charitable contributions.

Clothes, but No Cigars

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raleigh

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The City of Raleigh has partnered with Simple Recycling of Ohio to recycle textiles. The service is free to customers,

The federal government pushed for the adoption of expensive certified electronic health record (EHR) systems as a

news briefs

Energy on the Move gastonia

Dominion Energy has proposed a merger with SCA NA, the parent company of PSNC Energy, which is headquartered in Gastonia. Dominion hopes to close on the deal later this year, but in the meantime, it held a community information meeting with corporate and civic leaders at the Gaston Country Club.

Representatives from Dominion assured the crowd the PSNC headquarters in Gastonia would continue to operate, and employee pay would be maintained at current levels through 2020; but it was too early to discuss any downsizing or benefits programs. Representatives also said Dominion would continue to be active in the community through cash and in-kind contributions for charity and economic development. PSNC is a

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cost-saving measure, but a recent paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found no evidence of cost reduction. Researchers from Duke University and Harvard Business School analyzed processing costs at a large institution operating a certified EHR. The organization was large enough to have a unit dedicated to bill processing, so it would not suffer inefficiencies present in smaller businesses. The researchers found the cost to process a single bill ranged from $20 for primary care to $215 for inpatient surgery, or up to 25% of provider income. By way of contrast, bill processing in Canada is closer to 12%, and credit card processing is only 2% of provider income. As costs of medical administration are rising much faster than expenses for overall healthcare, the researchers observed a large portion of the increases are due to forcing uniformity where it does not make sense and therefore adds no value for patients, employers, or providers.

Quantifying Qualities greensboro

VF Corporation was judged one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for the

30

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carolina in the west

national & world

year. The winners were selected by the Ethisphere Institute, which works to establish standards for ethical business practice. VF’s chair, CEO, and president, Steve Rendle, explained it was his belief that social responsibility was instrumental to business success. He attributed the distinction his company earned to the “integrity, commitment, and passion for doing the right thing” of its 65,000 employees. Ethisphere judges companies with an Ethics Quotient derived from standardized analysis of five core competencies: ethics and compliance; corporate citizenship and responsibility; culture of ethics; governance; and leadership, innovation, and reputation.

Priorities of the 135 businesses recognized this year included authentic leadership, transparency, diversity, and inclusion. Headquartered in Greensboro, VF is a manufacturer of lifestyle clothing and accessories; its brands include North Face, Timberland, Wrangler, and Lee.

the old north state

with demand from growing tech sectors.

Other investments the company is making in North Carolina to accommodate growing sales include expansions to existing facilities in Concord, WinstonSalem, and Hickory. Corning Optical Communications’ Executive Vice President Clark Kinlin said the Newton facility was, “commissioned in record time, a feat [made possible with] the support of state and local leaders here in North Carolina.” Corning, a materials company specializing in glass and ceramics, invented the first affordable optical fiber in 1970. Since then, it has sold over 600 million miles of optical fiber, and management aspires to reach a sales target of $5 billion annually by 2020. In its application for government incentives, Corning projected the Newton factory would invest $250 million in the local economy and create 200 jobs.

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Corning opened a new facility for manufacturing optical fiber Newton. The new plant will help the company keep pace

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heavy linen, and faux fur, with fabrics having a metallic sheen gaining popularity. Performance fabrics, however, are the real trendsetters, moving from the patio to the living room. Liam Waters of Culp Fabrics said his company’s Livesmart collection is experiencing “mega-growth.” He anticipated that “within five years, all fabrics will have a performance story.” While many textiles are now manufactured to be resistant to stains, fading, and wear and tear, optional treatments (namely, one called Atlas), can be applied to protect even luxury fabrics. The in-colors continue to be blues and grays, with top trends for bedrooms including browns, pale blush, and true black. Texture and Bohemian styles continue to be in-demand, but the popularity of green and sustainable products has been slow to transfer to the industry. Industry insiders are saying this is the year furniture sales will eventually catch up with consumer confidence in the construction industry.

Let the Sunshine In wilkesboro

Window World announced the sale of its 15 millionth window. The company, which bills itself as “America’s largest replacement window and exterior remodeling company,” has sold over one million windows in each of the last nine years. Window World also sells high-quality doors, vinyl siding, and a variety of exterior accents for homes. The company’s website now includes software for visualizing products and applying them to uploaded photos of a home’s exterior. Founded in Wilkesboro in 1995, the company has grown to include over 200 franchises nationwide, and it has been awarded the Good Housekeeping Seal in each of the last ten years. Chair and CEO Tammy Whitworth says sales show satisfied customers are coming back and recommending the company to friends.

She attributes customer referrals to attention to detail by knowledgeable 54

| April 2018

staff in material sourcing, manufacturing processes, delivery, and installation.

6-Ft, 7-Ft, 8-Ft Bunch! wilmington

The Port of Wilmington is expanding its ability to receive perishables, and it just received its first shipment of bananas. While the shipment originated in Guatemala, the brand and the distributor of the bananas are not being made public. The shipment was the first honoring an agreement to ship bananas weekly to the port for a year.

Celebrating the inaugural shipment, officials thanked United States Customs and Border Protection and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), among other government parties, for making the arrangement possible. The Port of Wilmington was also the first Atlantic port in the South to fully implement the USDA’s Southeast In-Transit Cold Treatment Pilot. The program allows chilled blueberries, citrus, grapes, apples, and pears from Peru, Uruguay, and Argentina to enter Southeastern ports instead of going to points north to clear customs and then be trucked south. Wilmington is a strategically-efficient location because of the number of grocery store headquarters and perishable distribution centers in the state. Both agreements will allow consumers to enjoy fresher fruit at lower prices.

A Military Raise fort bragg

According to the 2019 Department of Defense budget Congress is likely to pass, military installations in North Carolina would receive over $315 million for new construction. Fort Bragg would receive $42.3 million for a new dining facility and structures for special operations training at the nearby Aberdeen Training Facility.

The Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point would get over $133.9 million for an aircraft maintenance hangar for F-35s and another $106.8 million for general modernization. Lastly, the Marine Corps Air Station New River would receive $32.5 million for a new ambulatory care center and dental clinic. No funds were earmarked for any other military installations in the state.

The total proposed defense budget is $686.1 billion, with $8.1 billion dedicated to construction. Other funds will go toward hiring another 25,900 service members, increased training, a 2.6% pay increase, catching up with deferred maintenance, and modernization.

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A Fast Plane to China morrisville

The R a lei g h- D u rha m A i r p or t Authority hosted an invitation-only symposium for local and state dignitaries to discuss possibilities for offering nonstop service to China. Supporters described existing demand as strong and solid. Regular customers for the 14-15 hour, 7,000-mile flight over the Arctic would include Lenovo, which has headquarters in Morrisville and Beijing; Duke University, which now has a campus outside Shanghai; and smaller organizations like Smithfield Foods, which is now a subsidiary of WH Group of China. Thirteen airports in the continental United States already support nonstop flights to China. Most of those service large, metropolitan areas. A couple new destinations are Boston and San Jose, both considered to be, like the Research Triangle area, tech centers. The flights would not start for 3-7 years, one reason being the airport must first finish its new, $500 million, 11,500-ft. runway. Since the airport is not a regional hub, it would have to convince a Chinese carrier the route would be profitable. Federal approval would also be needed, since the two countries do not enjoy an open skies agreement.

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A COLLECTION being mounted and framed at Frugal Framers.

leisure & libation

Things Worth Having written by roger mccredie photos by anthony harden

The what, where, and why of collecting things (a/k/a, you might not be a hoarder if‌), and what it means to be a collector.

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 57

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There are multitudinous explanations for why humans collect stuff; even Sigmund Freud has famously weighed in on the topic, claiming it all goes back to childhood.

A

nd many of those explanations are so erudite that it becomes a chore to follow them, as in this excerpt from a 1988 consumer research report: Our self-definition is often highly dependent upon our possessions … The collection is especially implicated in the extended self because it is often visible and undeniably represents the collector’s judgments and taste … In addition, the time and effort spent in assembling a collection means that the collector has literally put a part of self into the collection … The notion that collections represent one’s extended self accounts for many of the self-enhancing motives given for collecting, such as seeking power, knowledge, reminders of one’s childhood, prestige, mastery, and control.

It’s a relief, then, to emerge from the thorny scrub growth of the English language into the pleasant glade of a brief 2017 commentary by Daniel Faris, writing on the website ZME Science. Faris, whose piece is titled “The Problem with Using Psychology to Explain Collecting,” says flatly, “Humans have been collecting things ever since we developed the ability to gather more trinkets than were actually required for basic survival… [but] the psychological community is still at a loss for a more specific answer.

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“It might be baseball cards, taxidermied squirrels, 1940s Romanian pinup posters, Arnold Schwarzenegger action figures, or whatever else tickles your fancy,” Faris adds. “The truth is, all collectors have reasons of their own.”

Indeed, research has shown that one in every three of us collects something or other, and Faris agrees with Freud to the extent of saying it probably started in childhood. “…that growing up, we all collected something we made into a hobby,” he says. “It could have begun with baseball cards, marbles, or stamps. Then it moved on… People actually collect bad poetry, barbed wire, knock-knock jokes, wax paper liners out of cereal boxes, swizzle sticks, string, mouse pads, phone books, type fonts, [and] clothing of famous people.”

Collecting, be it noted, is not to be confused with hoarding.

Nor are we speaking here of “hoarding” in the sense of squirrelling away cash or toilet paper. As it relates to this piece, hoarding is a sort of compulsive over-collecting. An article in Psychology Today makes this distinction: “Rather than having one category for yarn, the hoarder will see one category for the yellow yarn, one category for the pale yellow yarn, one category for the saffron yellow yarn, one category for the sunflower yellow yarn... etcetera, thus ending up with forty different categories each containing just one object.”

FAR LEF T: Comic books that were once 10 cents can now run hundreds of dollars and up, thanks to collectors.

LEF T: Jeff Herold wanted a place to store and display his motorcycle collection; thus The Greenhouse Moto Café, in Mills River, was born.

A key symptom of hoarding is that it can encroach on the routine of daily living and the space needed to do that—a distinction sometimes made by family members when the collection of, say, salt and pepper shakers has claimed nearly every horizontal surface in the house and is now threatening the rim of the bathtub.

Sometimes it’s all about completion, the drive to acquire each and every one of a set of things in existence. Or sometimes it’s all about the journey. (See sidebar, page 64) As psychologist Mark McKinley has said, “For some people, collecting is simply the quest, in some cases a life-long pursuit that is never complete. Additional collector motivations include psychological security, filling a void in a sense of self.”

There is, in other words, an element of immortality-wish in collecting things; as the collection is preserved, so too is the memory of the collector. If Lord Elgin hadn’t helped himself to those statues from the Parthenon, there would be no collection called the Elgin Marbles. (Whether they would just be known as “The Marbles” is open to debate.)

Collecting Fine Art

CL ASSIC CARS are a commonly seen collection, as car shows abound.

At the top of the list of things people collect, in terms of value and enduring fame, is acquiring works of art: drawings, paintings, and sculpture; objects the Cambridge Dictionary defines as works “that are admired for their beauty and have no practical use.” And at the top of that pyramid, in turn, are those objects that have been made so valuable by the twin consensuses of taste and history that only museums or galleries with huge purchasing power, or seriously rich individuals, can afford to acquire them. The “Mona Lisa” comes to mind, or Michelangelo’s “David,” or Picasso’s “Three Musicians.”

Music and literature round out the fine arts, the collectibles here being actual manuscripts—a few bars of something Mozart originally scratched out on a dinner napkin, or a browned and gossamer-thin page of notes written in a crabbed, vertical hand and signed “W. Shakspere.” The verdict of history is even more important in these areas, so that almost as valuable as the works themselves are contemporary commentaries on them and their authors, such as early written speculation as to whether “Mr. Shakespeare” was really Sir Francis Bacon—a matter about which nobody seems to have consulted Mrs. Shakespeare. But I digress. Here again, such important intellectual properties are generally only to be found in the libraries of large, wealthy libraries and museums.

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 59

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COLLECTOR SEARCHING for the per fect addition to their record collection.

leisure & libation

PREPARING A signed jersey for framing.

Picking Up the Tab for Art and Artists People who invest in the artists themselves, rather than or in addition to buying their work, are called patrons. They have been around since some Neanderthal got tired of looking at that blank space on the wall of his cave and invited Og the Doodler to draw stick figures on it. By underwriting and promoting emerging artists, patrons make it possible for them to concentrate on their work without missing too many meals and to help them gain footholds in the marketplace— artists being notoriously devoid of business sense.

Probably the best example of the arts patronage system was the one that existed in Florence during the late fifteenth century. During that time, the National Gallery of Art points out, “the city boasted 54 workshops for marble and stone; it employed 44 master gold- and silversmiths, and at least thirty master painters.” Significantly, Florence during the high Renaissance, “had more woodcarvers than butchers, suggesting that art, even more than meat, was a necessity of life.” The leading lights of Florentine patronage were, of course, the Medici family, whose bountiful support of painters and sculptors was said to be driven in part by a desire to put a patina of respectability on their wealth, which came from money-lending. (The three balls on the Medici coat of arms survives today as the emblem of pawnbrokers; the Medicis

themselves included Lorenzo the Magnificent and his lesser known cousin, Luigi of the Compound Interest.) Following the Medicis’ lead, other wealthy collectors started underwriting artists not merely to furnish sumptuous palaces, but also to establish public galleries and similar venues for display and performance.

Heads of state picked up on the benefactor idea, creating national collections and backing artistic institutions from libraries to theaters.

Henry VIII was a patron of the portraitist Hans Holbein, retaining him as court painter and even commissioning him to go to Germany and paint a miniature of Anne of Cleves so he could check out “a true lykeness” of his future wife.

Though not actually ugly, Anne was a little plain for Henry’s taste; upon seeing Holbein’s result, he asked “Seriously?” and the marriage was later annulled as having never been consummated.

Henry’s daughter, Elizabeth I, was a noted patron of Shakespeare, who, understanding what side his crumpet was buttered on, penned a whole series of plays (the “histories”) casting her ancestors in a highly favorable light, historical fact notwithstanding.

The big fine arts patrons are still out there, and some of them still limit themselves to filling out their private collections. Others, though, both individuals and corporations, tend to fund the arts through gifts or grants to arts endowments, schools and colleges, and arts-directed foundations.

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You, Too, Can Collect Art. Fortunately for civilization—and collectors—there is no shortage of artists, many of them good, and likely close at hand. They need to sell their work and you don’t need a degree to go shopping for it.

All you need is an idea of what you like and how to find it. Haunt local galleries. Look over the shoulders of local artists at work. Keep an eye on yard and garage sales. Don’t sweat a piece’s provenance; find something that speaks to you, buy it, take it home, and hang it up. Repeat process. You are now a collector.

If you want to go further, though—if you’ve discovered a common thread or a particular artist, or want to know what a piece is worth in terms of hard cash, then you should consult an appraiser. Terri Vano, a certified appraiser who hangs her hat at Asheville’s The Frugal Framer, says that’s not as esoteric a process as it sounds.

“The art market is like any other market,” she says. “It has big players and little players, and believe it or not there’s a record of just about any artist who has sold something at a showing or auction—the artist, the date, the place, and how much it sold

Keep an eye on yard and garage sales. Don’t sweat a piece’s provenance; find something that speaks to you, buy it, take it home, and hang it up. Repeat process. You are now a collector.

W. VANCE BROWN enjoying a Terlikowski in his collection.

for. There are several websites that have that information and it’s updated almost 24/7. Of course, you want to find out as much as you can about the artist—background, output, style, and so forth.

With a little homework, an appraiser can map trends, see whose work is up and coming, whose sales are stagnating, what a price range will be accordingly.”

Having invested in some artwork, you are going to want to know how to care for it, says Frugal Framer owner Jennifer Pearson. “You want to avoid hanging artwork where it will get direct sunlight, or on a wall that’s subject to dampness. If you’re framing it, you want to use materials that are acid-free. And you should actually have a picture taken out of its frame and cleaned about every five years. No matter how careful you are, materials and even living things can get into a frame. Bugs. Worms. Once I even found a little baby snake.”

Fortuitousness Sometimes art collections occur on their own, through fortuitous intersections of people, times, and places. That was what happened 62

ANOTHER TERLIKOWSKI piece | April 2018

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in the case of Asheville art dealer and collector W. Vance Brown. The seeds of his collection, and his avocation, were sown in 19th century Poland and in World War I France. It happened this way: In the year 1873, there was born, to a noble family living near Krakow, a certain Wladimir Terlikowski. An apparently rebellious youth, he ran away from home at age 11, returned (or was dragged back), and ran away again, managing this time to hop a barge that took him to Danzig. We don’t know at what point he had decided to devote his life to painting, but he did manage to study some at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. By 1891, when he was 18, he had made his way to Paris, which was just emerging as the epicenter of European art. He hung out in Paris, painting and trying to sell his work by day and swilling house red with his fellow artists at night (and sometimes reversing the process) until 1898, when he betook himself on a series of travels that took him across Mediterranean

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Walk on the Weird Side: Record Collectors Fred Mills - Editor of Capital at Play It started in February, 1966. My record collecting, that is.

I’m sure of the date because the first record I bought was the 45rpm single for “Listen People,” by British pop group Herman’s Hermits, and that’s the month it was released in the United States and subsequently stormed the charts.

I soon acquired a carrying case for that and the rest of my 45s—going price for singles in 1966 at Mack’s Record Rack, in my hometown of Wadesboro, North Carolina: 10 cents—and affixed a “1” sticker to the record label to signify my first purchase.

Since then, I’ve amassed a music collection that probably numbers in excess of 15,000 pieces. It includes plenty of CDs, a few cassettes, and even an 8-track tape or two. Still, it’s safe to say that wax is what truly rocks my world—vinyl LPs, 7”-ers, 12” extended play singles, all separated into genres (rock, jazz, blues, electronic, Americana, Afro-beat, etc.), and from there into sub- and micro-genres (currently in heavy rotation: bluesy Tuareg rock by nomadic musicians of Saharan Northern Africa), and, of course, meticulously alphabetized within each individual grouping.

Contrary to what you may have read in the media over the past few years, vinyl is not “back”; it was never “gone.” Granted, the CD boom of the ‘90s, followed by the digital revolution that kicked off in the early 2000s, meant that the bulkier vinyl format took its licks, in the process killing off a lot of the Mack’s Record Racks of the world. But throughout it all, vinyl enthusiasts like me continued to buy, sell, trade, and feed the monkey, er, stoke our passion. If vinyl has, in some sense, returned, it’s because we collectors, dealers, store owners, and organizers of the annual international event called Record Store Day kept the faith and gradually saw the format grow in popularity among a younger demographic as well as lapsed old-schoolers getting the bug again, to the point where it made fiscal sense for all music labels, and not just savvy independent operators, to start pressing vinyl again.

This is no small matter. Collecting records involves elements common to what Roger McCredie describes in the main story—the gathering of cultural trinkets, a fascination with the stories behind the ar tifacts, the intrinsic visual artistry (record sleeves have been in gallery showings and auction house catalogs), the objective value (certain records routinely sell in the thousands of dollars). Beyond that, collectors forge unique emotional bonds with their records because they represent a dual artform: the physical item itself, and the music it contains.

You might say, well, people are just as passionate about the music when listening to it on their smar tphones, 64

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but I defy you to gaze at an LP housed in expansive gatefold sleeve art and pressed on multi-color splatter vinyl worthy of a Pollack canvas and even try to claim there’s any comparison.

All my life I have hung around record collectors and dealers, at three different stages (1979-83, 1992-2001, 2012-2015) working in record stores and, along the way, frequently setting up as a dealer at flea markets and record shows (like the annual Vinyl Fetish Record Fair coming up in Asheville on May 19). I know the creature. Record collectors will obsess over the minutest of details, from whether a nearly imperceptible nick on a piece of vinyl downgrades it from Very Good Plus to Very Good, to the relative merits of a record being manufactured at Pressing Plant A versus Pressing Plant B (shades of the Mint A versus Mint B arguments in the coin collecting world).

Record collectors will debate endlessly over this or that band’s contributions (or lack thereof) to the culture, over whether the 1970 version of a band was superior to the 1973 version, or over someone’s assertion that a particular band’s marketplace value is vastly overrated at the moment and that prices are bound to drop soon. There used to be printed guides listing the values of individual titles, based on semi-objective criteria such as age, condition, and rarity, and most reputable dealers would use these guides to help price their wares. The internet changed all that to a kind of whatever-the-market-will-bear-on-steroids model— nowadays, if you check eBay, online record marketplace Discogs, or even at individual record shows, a record is basically worth what someone lists it at. Don’t want to pay 900 bucks for that limited edition Nirvana record?

Somebody somewhere will.

All that aside, record collectors also represent a fiercely loyal community of peers. Sure, there’s some territorial pissing that goes on from time to time, a kind of who’sgot-the-biggest-and-coolest-collection dynamic at play; it’s a good thing record collectors don’t have the nuclear codes.

But we still stick together, share information and tips, help one another out when we know somebody’s trying to track down something special, even assist fellow dealers at shows during the load-in and load-out.

And we also try to encourage aspiring young collectors when they get bitten by the bug. Having been doing this now for half a century, I’m still passionate about it, and I genuinely get a secret thrill when I see a couple of kids standing in front of a bin of LPs, flipping through them, excitedly pulling out titles and comparing notes. It makes me feel like it’s 1966 again, back at Mack’s Record Rack.

SCENES FROM the Fall 2017 Vinyl Fetish Record Fair in Asheville

Africa, back to Germany, on to Russia, back to Italy, and finally to Singapore.

While doing all this globe-hopping, Terlikowski had created enough work and acquired sufficient skill and patronage to mount a one-man show at Paris’ prestigious Galerie Bernheim-Jeune. Then he was off again, this time to Australia and New Zealand and from there back to London and Rome—creating all the way—until he returned to France in 1913, on the eve of World War I. That year he exhibited again at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, immediately following a showing by his crony Henri Matisse.

By now he was famous. Art critics were calling him “The Polish Master.” At war’s end, in 1918, he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor for artistic achievement. And in 1924 he married Jeanne Leygues Rockwell, a divorcee (see below) and the daughter of Georges Leygues, Prime Minister of France. The marriage catapulted Terlikowski into the world of aristocratic art patrons and sealed his fortune. He became the subject of biographies. The Legion of Honor promoted him to Commander. He died, full of days and honors, in 1951, of complications from Alzheimer’s, leaving behind a prodigious amount of work.

Which concisely sums up the life and work of Wladimir Terlikowsky, but has what, exactly, you ask, to do with this article. So glad you asked. The first husband of Terlikowski’s widow, Jeanne, was a dashing American French Legionnaire named Paul Rockwell, from Asheville, North Carolina. (Paul Rockwell’s brother was none other than Asheville icon Kiffin Y. Rockwell, member of the Lafayette Escadrille and first American fighter pilot to shoot down an enemy plane, who was himself killed in aerial combat in 1916.)

By her marriage to Paul Rockwell, Jeanne had a daughter, Loula. Loula grew up to marry Vance Jordan Brown, whose family founded Asheville Mica Company (now called Asheville-Schoonmaker Mica and headquartered in Newport News, Virginia.) And her son, W. Vance Brown, is an Asheville-based art collector and dealer, the backbone of whose collection and dealing is that huge inventory of works created by Wladimir Terlikowski, his step-grandfather.

“She made life pretty easy for him,” the present Vance Brown says, of Paul Rockwell and his brief marriage to Jeanne. “He could pretty well do as he pleased. He survived being hit by a shell—knocked him about fifty feet, but he lived out the war, married her, and became a journalist of sorts. Worked for the Chicago Tribune for a while, I believe.

“After Wladimir’s death, Jeanne devoted herself to taking care of his work. During [World War II], in fact, she had personally saved a lot of his paintings, moving from one place to another across France, one step ahead of the Nazis.” Brown has continued his grandmother’s work. First, April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 65

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1955 "DOUBLE STRUCK" Lincoln Penny

1861 CONFEDER ATE half dollar minted in New Orleans

1919 " WALKING Liber ty" Half Dollar "COPPER NICKEL" Jefferson nickel die mistakenly struck on copper penny planchette

together with his mother, Loula, who died in 2009, and since, on his own, he has tracked the paintings down by studying art catalogs, searching the internet, and reviewing upcoming auctions. On trips to Europe,he retrieved many of the paintings and brought them back to Asheville to sell or to include in his own collection.

MIS-STRUCK (off center) Jefferson nickel

corner of Asheville’s Grove Arcade. His showcases are lined with white cardboard squares whose clear plastic centers display hard money from around the world and across the centuries. On his outstretched palm rests one such package, containing a coin patinaed with age, with a noticeable crack running from edge to center.

“I think that’s the main reason people collect old coins.

This coin has a life of its own, its own biography. They all do. People want to connect with that. It’s fascinating.”

“The Bernheim-Jeune gallery held a major Terlikowski exhibit in 1974,” Brown says. “That was really the start of a major comeback for the market for his work, which had gotten a little inactive for a while. And in 1998 Bennard Perlman, who’s a very well-known art writer, did a definitive biography of him. That did wonders to boost his work, especially in France and Poland.

“Also,” he says, “just a couple of weeks ago we finished up a very successful exhibition at Gallery C, in Raleigh. We sold about one-third of the paintings we brought to sell at Gallery C. Very gratifying to get a response like that here at home.”

Money as Art: Collecting Coins “To me personally, the compelling thing about collecting coins is that you’re actually holding history in the palm of your hand,” Les Stevenson says.

Lots of history, then, passes every week through Stevenson’s shop, Stevenson Rare Coins & Jewelry, on the northwest

“This is a Confederate half dollar,” he says, “minted in New Orleans in 1861. The Confederate government took over the New Orleans mint in 1861; it was the only mint they were ever able to use. And they didn’t have the use of it for very long; Union troops captured New Orleans the next year. So”—he nods towards a shelf displaying rows of Confederate paper notes in plastic envelopes—“that’s why Confederate notes are fairly common, but Confederate coins are a rarity to begin with. And this one shows a crack that was in the die, which makes it unique.”

The coin’s obverse shows the seated Liberty figure that also appears on Confederate bills. “But check this out,” Stevenson says, turning the coin over to reveal a familiar-looking eagle.

“Yep,” he says, “that’s the U.S. eagle from the U.S. silver dollar.

Notice it even has the stars-and-stripes shield on its breast.

The Confederacy had to economize any way it could, including making coin dies.

“I’d put the market value of this at about $4,700,” he says, “but besides that, it’s a snapshot of American history.”

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“Of course,” he says, “a lot of people buy gold and silver coins, freshly minted ones, to hold as an investment, just like you’d buy some shares of stock. Here’s a new U.S. Silver Eagle,” he says, holding up a shiny, pristine. “It’s actually legal tender; you could buy a small Coke with it. But you wouldn’t want to do that. This is an ounce of .999 fine silver, and silver right this minute is”—he checks an app on his phone – “$16.33 an ounce. Retail, you’d pay about $18.00 for it and hold on to it, looking for the silver market to spike. If you had, say, a hundred of these, you could make some good money when that happens.” (According to Moneymetals.com, at the time this magazine was going to the printer, the price of an ounce of silver was $17.03.)

Then Stevenson makes a distinction that applies across the whole spectrum of collecting and collectibles: “People, though, who buy these types of coins are mostly doing it because they’re looking to sell them at a profit sometime in the future. They’re flat-out investors. People who are interested in owning something tangible from another time, or with some unusual feature, those are collectors. Maybe they’re looking to complete a set of Lincoln pennies from 1909, the year they were first issued, to the present. Maybe they want St. Gaudens $20 gold pieces from each different mint. Maybe just three-cent pieces or just half dimes. That’s the thing about coins: You can get as specialized as you like.”

What’s the most unusual piece in the store?

Stevenson doesn’t even have to think. “Not a coin at all,” he says. “Check this out.”

He lays a black display cloth on the counter; on it he places an irregularly-shaped object about the size of an ice cube. It’s 68

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FORREST JARRET T in front of a few of his collected letters and photos.

bronzish in color, except on some wear-exposed edges, which gleam a dull yellow.

“That’s a gold nugget,” he says. “Pure gold, 1.77 ounces. It was found over near Andrews, in Cherokee County. And look here.” Plainly visible under a jeweler’s loupe are two glassy pinpoints, one red, one green. “That’s a tiny ruby and a tiny emerald, embedded in the gold. The nugget came from the estate of a banker in Murphy,” he says. “My guess is, somebody used it as collateral for a loan and the banker acquired it for himself, as a keepsake.

“You know, the gold rush actually started in North Carolina,” Stevenson continues. (It’s true; a boy named Conrad Reed found a huge nugget in a Cabarrus County creek in 1799. That set off a wave of prospecting, and later mining, that yielded enough gold for Andrew Jackson, in 1835, to establish a new United States mint in Charlotte and another in Dahlonega, Georgia.)

“Most of the gold found in Western North Carolina was minted in Dahlonega,” Stevenson says.

“But these,” Stevenson says, turning to a narrow box filled with yet-to-be-displayed coins in their sleeves, “these are what fascinate me.” Here’s a buffalo nickel. Here’s a British gold guinea from George III’s time, so pristine that you can pick out the individual leaves on the laurel wreath the jowly monarch is

wearing. And here’s an 1870s half dollar worn as smooth as an old metal washer; Stevenson picks it up.

“Who knows where this has been?” he asks. “How many pockets has it been in, and whose? What was it used to buy? Food? Whiskey? Was it in a pile on a poker table out West, with cowboys fighting over it?

“To me that’s irresistible,” he says.

“I think that’s the main reason people collect old coins. This coin has a life of its own, its own biography. They all do. People want to connect with that.

It’s fascinating.”

Memorabilia: We Are Our Stuff There are people who themselves are living history, so that their personal memorabilia is not only intrinsically significant, but is made more so because that person saved it. Collected it.

Take for example Forrest Jarrett, to whom Capital at Play paid a memorable visit a few years ago. (See “A Visit to the Earl of Leicester,” in the August, 2014, issue.)

Forrest Jarrett comes from a family that has lived in Buncombe and Madison Counties approximately three years longer than dirt. (There was a Jarrett on the very first Asheville City Council.)

As a young man he was hired on as a deputy by legendary still-busting sheriff Jesse James Bailey and retired 37 years later as “just a pore ol’ wore-out railroad pistol-toter,” who, oh-by-the-way, was by then Chief of Railroad Police and head of security for Norfolk Southern.

Along the way he helped quell riots, stood down a mob of striking mine workers, and protected—and became friends with—the great and the good of business and politics.

In 1990 Jarrett and his wife, Alene, built a spacious brick home on a rise of ground on old Jarrett land near Leicester. There, all over the woodpaneled walls of a light and airy study, is displayed the collection of objects that chronicle Forrest Jarrett’s life in

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railroad policing, the history he both lived through and helped create.

The door to this man-cave is flanked by two highly polished engine bells salvaged from coal-burning locomotives. One is

politicos, plus framed letters, including a thank-you note on White House stationery from Bush 41. On another wall, a polished billy club with a scarlet braided cord bears an inscribed brass plate showing it’s a token of esteem from the Mayor of St. Louis. By itself, between a pair of bookends, is a fat document that Jarrett called “the thing I’m proudest of.” It’s a copy of the bill that established a federal railroad police commission. The bill, which had been stuck in the House of Representatives, literally for decades, created a uniform, cooperative law enforcement system among railroad police division heads, whose authority had previously ended at state lines. Jarrett, a networker if there ever was one, got the bill revived; it was signed into law the year he retired.

But that’s just one collection. Behind the main house is another, generations older but still intensely personal. And it’s housed inside a 180-year-old log cabin that was built by Jarrett’s great-grandfather, Obadiah, who, every so often, fought for the Confederacy. Painstakingly restored for use as a guest house, the cabin contains Obadiah’s and Polly O’Dell Jarrett’s marriage bed with its ancient and lovingly cared-for

We are told that we bring nothing into this world and assuredly will take nothing out of it, which leads us back to the beginning: Why, then, collect anything? emblazoned with an old Southern Railway logo. “I had ‘em put that logo on there,” Jarrett told me in 2014. “No telling how much that thing would be worth. I’ve got fifteen dollars in it.”

Inside the room, one wall displays the keys to at least two cities, plus three railroad-model wrist (not pocket) watches, hanging by their straps, just so. There are framed photographs of Jarrett with various railroad officials and

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patchwork quilt. Polly’s spinning wheel dominates one corner and generations-old family farming tools decorate the walls.

Since Jarrett himself is something of a national treasure, it’s doubtful that these extensions of himself will become fodder for flea markets anytime soon. More likely, those items that are not retained by the family will find their way into state or even national collections.

Just Tryin’ To Leave Somethin’ Behind But what about the rest of us? Each of us leaves a lifelong trail of breadcrumbs behind us that traces our progress through our time on Earth from cradle to grave. Sometimes we simply forget about the crumbs, leaving them behind for the kids to throw out or ponder over after we have shuffled off this mortal coil. I have a small black plastic box that stayed forever in a top drawer of my father’s dresser. Its contents are random and utterly commonplace: a golf ball, some tees, and a cleat wrench; a tiny screwdriver; a couple of mismatched cufflinks, a halfused book of matches from O’Donnell’s Sea Grill on G Street in Washington; a yellowing snapshot of my mother in a summer dress and sunglasses; a fountain pen; a calling card; a pair of dice; and a 1963 pocket calendar from Clement Lumber Company of

Spartanburg, South Carolina. It’s just normal detritus, nothing “collectible”. (True, I’ve spent some enjoyable hours speculating on how these objects came to be acquired and ended up with the others in this one place. But that’s a conundrum; after all, they belonged to the same man who kept his Bronze Star, his Distinguished Flying Cross, and his Air Medal in a drawer of the linen chest, under the Christmas napkins.)

Other times we decorate our living and work spaces with personal stuff because it’s comfortable and comforting. Hanging on the wall above me as I write this are, among other things, a photo of the callow and hungover Wofford College “G-E College Bowl” team of 1965, a framed New Yorker cartoon given to me by my spouse when we were courting, a fraternity paddle, and a poster of instructions on “How to Be an Artist.” But this doesn’t count as a collection; it’s of no significance to anyone but me.

We are told that we bring nothing into this world and assuredly will take nothing out of it, which leads us back to the beginning: Why, then, collect anything? Psychological insights aside, maybe the answer is as simple as this: because we can.

If we can find things that are interesting, or beautiful, or imbued with some meaning that speaks only to us, and hold onto them awhile, then we can make the time between our coming and the going more pleasing and more purposeful.

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UPDATES FOR

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NATIONAL WORLD [

news briefs

From Cereal to Kibble minneapolis , minnesota

Cereal giant G eneral Mills has acquired Blue Buffalo Pet Products for $8 billion, or $40 per share. It is not the first established food brand to push into the burgeoning animal wellness sector. Nestle now owns Purina, having shucked less profitable human food units, and candy-maker Mars recently acquired an animal hospital chain. The pet food sector has grown 33% over the last five years as people have become more willing to bring animal healthcare and prevention on a par with that of humans. Higher-priced specialty pet foods now account for more than half of the market. Blue Buffalo’s sales, for example, increased 11% last year. By way of contrast, General Mills’ sales have been falling for the last three years. The

]

company expects to finish flat this year and not see a turnaround until 2019.

General Mills leadership considers pet food a good fit for the business, noting a lot of its food processing technology will transfer easily.

A Bridge Not Too Far new york, new york

New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) has announced plans to close the mass-transit L-line for 15 months of repairs. While the MTA believes the system is capable of supporting the 225,000 affected passengers on other lines, commuters are skeptical.

That’s why Parker Shinn has launched a Kickstarter campaign to gauge community support for a pontoon bridge.

The idea is thousands of years old, and a pontoon bridge across the East River, connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan, could be built in eight months. Thirty 90-ft. barges could be assembled with modular steel assemblies from any number of suppliers offsite, floated into position, and anchored. The L-Ternative bridge would carry two bus lanes and two pedestrian/bicycle lanes. It would have an elevated portion for small vessel passage, and a turn-out gate for larger craft. The project has not gone out to bid, but it is estimated costs could be covered with a $1 toll. While the idea must still be approved by governing bodies and regulatory agencies, it is not as far-fetched as other proposed alternatives, like a skyway gondola or an inflatable tunnel.

Flawless Complexion edison, new jersey

“Strong potential” has been reported for a product developed by PolarityTE for “flawless healing” of burnt tissue. SkinTE grows a biopsy of a patient’s own skin to uniformly cover an area 500-1000 times its size, without scarring. The new skin matches the patient’s own and is fully functional, with the dermis, epidermis,

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and hair appendages. The process has fared well in experiments on animals; and the first test on a human, in which a 30-in scar was removed and replaced with SkinTE, was declared a success halfway through the healing process. The results of a case study should be available mid-year. PolarityTE estimates SkinTE could generate $600 million by 2023, with peak market penetration at 85,000 wounds. The company has other products for tissue regeneration that could boost its net worth to $1.7 billion. OsteoTE could be commercialized by the end of the year, and treatments for cartilage, heart muscle, and hair replacement are in various stages of study. On a sobering note, Seeking Alpha reports that, while PolarityTE has acquired the skin regeneration patent for $104.7 million, SkinTE is but the latest in a chain of products, including video games, to be offered by a company marked by failed investments.

Kano. The school is named for Africa’s richest man, inventor and business leader Aliko Dangote. Dangote contributed $3.5 million to the school to bring entrepreneurship education in the region up to international standards. The school is described as ultra-modern and one of the largest in sub-Saharan Africa.

It consists of a 650-seat auditorium, two theatres, four lecture halls, two libraries, and a business incubator. It is accredited by the National Universities Commission, and it is the first business school in Nigeria to offer a Ph.D. in business administration. School leaders would like to eventually forge a partnership with Harvard Business School in the United States. At the ceremony, luminaries lauded Dangote for not allowing his wealth to divert his attention from meaningful service, and they practically begged him to stay involved with the school in some educational capacity, if only on a sporadic basis.

Not Swayed by One’s Own Greatness

Changing Clothes

kano, nigeria

Nigerian dignitaries took part in the opening ceremonies of the Dangote Business School at Bayero University,

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Walmart is entering the fashion market. With the exception of a prior abortive attempt in 2011, the store has sold only staples in its clothing lines—jeans,

national & world

underwear, socks, and T-shirts. The move is calculated to prevent continued loss of market share to Amazon, and one way of doing this is to sell things Amazon can’t: house brands. Walmart will be retiring its Faded Glory, White Stag, and Just My Size brands; and replacing them with Time and Tru for women, Terra & Sky for larger women, Wonder Nation for children, and a remake/remodel of George for men. New offerings will be made of higher-quality and more diversified textiles. Half the clothing offerings will continue to be basics, 40% will be fashionable standards updated fairly regularly, and 10% will be trendy and updated every three months. Walmart executives hope to succeed in capturing market share from people who still prefer their clothes try-before-you-buy, as many bricks-and-mortar apparel retailers are struggling or closing. In Amazon’s favor, clothing constitutes a shrinking percentage of consumer spending.

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John Gedmark and Ryan McLinko are among many entrepreneurs interested

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April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 73

national & world news

in crossing the digital divide. A distinguishing characteristic is that their plans are less grandiose than others in the headlines. About four billion people in the world still don’t have internet.

Providers, to date, have not extended services to sparsely-populated, low-income parts of the world because cost-recovery for laying lines, building towers, or launching satellites has been impossible. Gedmark and McLinko, cofounders of Astranis, propose going the satellite route, but instead of providing service to the whole world, they just want to advance one low-income swath at a time. Their design uses software-defined radio to reduce analog payload. That allows their satellites to be the size of a classic office safe, whereas typical communications satellites are 25-ft. long. Their model would further keep costs down by, instead of launching arrays of satellites that orbit the earth every 90 minutes, they would launch a single geostationary satellite to service a dedicated area. Their efforts just received a boost of confidence with a $13.5 million investment led by Andreessen Horowitz.

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Spotify, the world’s leader in music streaming, released a 256-page financial disclosure before going public.

Spotify opted for a direct listing instead of the more common IPO, and it is expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange with a value of over $20 billion. Questions of to pay or not to pay and how much to whom have loomed large in the company’s brief history, but a nice balance appears to have been struck. The disclosure, called an F-1, showed Spotify paid more than $9.84 billion in royalties to artists, labels, and publishers since launching in 2006. (The streaming service remains a lightning rod for complaints from artists about its poor royalty rate structure.) The company earns 90% of 74

| April 2018

its income through subscriptions. Of its 159 million monthly users, almost half subscribe, and the rest have to listen to paid advertisements. Last year’s profit margins were shown to be 22%, up from 16% the year before, but analysts noticed much of the increase was from holding back payment on about $540 million in bills.

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Researchers at the University of Toronto Scarborough conducted a study on 13 volunteer adults, aged 18-27.

After screening for core competencies, each qualified subject had twelve electrodes placed on their head to prepare electroencephalograms (EEG) of their brain’s responses to images. Next, the volunteers were shown 140 pictures of faces, one at a time, on a computer screen. Some had smiling faces, and some had neutral expressions. The EEGs were then reverse-engineered using machine learning to reproduce images of the original faces. The images were somewhat hazy, but the processing did well in determining whether the image had been happy or neutral, indicating technological refinements could sharpen reproduction and lead, for example, to aids for criminal investigators or the speech-impaired. The study advances prior work that used magnetic resonance imaging, which, with a lower sampling rate, reproduced coarser images. Similar EEG processes have already read brainwaves to reconstruct words and open and close apps.

Lipped Out deerfield, illinois

An apparently simple idea was recognized by Packaging News as the patent of the month. First filed in 2012, the patent improved on former work, and it was only published last summer. The proprietor was Kraft Foods, and the

problem to be solved was snack food bags that burst when somebody tries to open them. It was decided the hanging hole at the top of the bag was largely to blame, as it redirected tear lines. The solution was to create a series of arcs of weakness around the hole to steer the tear away from it. The arcs would be in the crimped area, and they could be made by scoring or perforating a single layer. Weakening both layers could lead to the bag falling off the rack or its contents going stale. Patent GB2506200 is tedious, describing various arc configurations and styles of arcs. Even so, columnist Paul Foot commended Kraft for appreciating the importance behind continually registering every minor design improvement.

Weird Pitch coventry, united kingdom

Jaguar has released details about its first fully-electric vehicle, the I-Pace.

It is a luxury SUV that will market in Europe for $87,000 minus incentives.

Early ads are pitting it against Tesla’s Model X, and analysts are wondering why. The I-Pace is somewhat smaller.

Rated at 394 horsepower and 512 pound-feet of torque, the I-Pace has a range of 240 miles, which is slightly better than Tesla’s Model X 75D gets.

The I-Pace can go from 0-60mph in 4.5 seconds, which is slightly better than the 75D or 100D can do; but the Model X P100D has a range of 289 miles, and it can go from 0-60mph in 2.9 seconds.

It just costs around $140,000. One edge the Jaguar may have is its interior communications, including two interior infotainment touchscreens and windshield projections of useful information like directions and vehicle speed. Using machine learning, the car will eventually automatically set things up for the driver, it can be connected to Alexa, and it can receive wireless updates. Another selling point is the Model X’s growing backlog of orders.

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 75

JOHN FERGUSON sanding a Young bat.

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Batter Up!

The 2018 baseball season is finally here, and meanwhile, the folks behind Fletcher-based Young Bat Company have been knocking a few out of the park themselves.

written by jason gilmer

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photos by anthony harden

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 77

T

he swing frozen in time on the wall of the Young Bat Company is pure Barry Bonds.

Left shoulder high in the air. The stitched uniform lettering of the words “San Francisco” splayed across a ripped chest.

Eyes focused on a ball that has flown high into the air. Back foot up on the toe after he exploded his hips into the pitch.

And the perfect back swing, with both hands near the right shoulder, showing off the 35-inch bat in his hands. There, stamped on the bat just below the sweet spot, is the logo for Young Bat Company, a bat manufacturer based in Brevard from 1993 to 2005.

The poster with this image, which also includes a close-up of Bonds’ face with his well-known cross earring, now hangs on a wall in a cinder block building in Fletcher. It’s a DIY space where the employees of the newly resurrected Young Bat Company can see the company’s past collide, almost as hard as Bonds can swing, with its future.

Mismatched tables and chairs are in the small front space where rows of wooden bats, some black, others painted and a few naturally colored, hang on the wall. A large industrial shelving unit stands on the far side with some of the company’s newer products—gifts for baseball enthusiasts such as mugs made from the barrels of bats, bat bottle openers, and shot glasses made from bat handles—displayed. There’s also a cabinet of logo-themed T-shirts, a drying room, and a laser for engraving on a bat’s barrel in the small space.

This is where the online company, which began in November, has set up its operation, mere feet from company founder Chris Young’s home. His son, Thomas Young, has his laptop set up near the entrance and he stands behind it as he reaches out to commissioners of adult leagues, high school coaches, and other potential customers. It’s also where he corresponds with customers on bat colors, weights, logos, and other custom wishes.

Nearby is the work space for business partner Cody Siniard, a self-taught graphic designer, bat painter, and musician. The muffled sound that permeates from a back door is where the lathe is situated. It’s there, among the dust and noise, that products which have collected thousands of social media “likes” are produced. This operation isn’t nearly as big as what it once was, but it is growing.

“A love for baseball and wood is something that’s in my blood. It’s part of who I am and part of what makes Young Bat Company so special,” says the younger Young, who goes by Tom. “My father created this company because of his passion for wood and his love for the game of baseball. Now I’m able to carry the torch with my best friend as we move into the future.”

For Chris Young, now considered Young Bat Company’s CEO, it has been nice to see his business resurrected by two 78

| April 2018

BAT COMING off the lathe.

Cody Siniard CFO

u ng T homa s Yo O O C

youngsters who grew up around the company; his son, the company’s COO, and Siniard, the CFO, worked in the business back in its heyday. So far there are just five employees, including close friend Andrew Freeman, who is chief marketing officer, and John Ferguson, who oversees manufacturing.

While things have changed, many things remain the same. Large European Beech, White Ash and Hard Rock Maple logs are stacked on the property and a sawmill sits outside. Inside a second cinder block building are stacks of billets, the term for the 37-inch cylinder pieces of wood that are turned into bats, with weights written in black marker on each end. The process is exactly what Chris Young did for hundreds of major league players during his 12-year production run.

“I like taking a tree that nobody wants, or maybe they cut it for firewood or it got hit by lightning, and making something out of it,” Chris Young says. “There are very few companies who take the raw wood from the forest and turn it into a finished product. You cut it, dry it, mill it, and turn it. That’s a little more fun than someone who just buys wood and spins it. When you look at each piece and decide what you’re going to do with it, it’s more creative.”

Bringing Back The Family Business It was on a Sunday afternoon last year that the plan for reopening the business began. Tom and Siniard were

Chr is You ng C EO

over at Chris’ house playing music when the elder Young mentioned that the two should buy a sawmill and cut the wood on his property. Maybe you could earn some extra money, he told them. Then he mentioned the possibility of making a baseball bat out of a nice piece of wood.

That caught the younger guys’ attention.

“We’re entrepreneurs and were always thinking of ways to make more money,” Siniard says. “Before you know it, we were going to start the bat company again.”

Texting is commonplace to Tom Young’s life. When he began to pry information out of his father about how to run a bat company, he tried to be nonchalant about what he was after. He’d ask a question here or there and begin to text someone on his phone. Or so it appeared.

“I was typing everything he said,” Tom admits. Those notes became the crux of how he resurrected the family business. When the company first closed it was before Tom left for college, and for the previous four years he had been more focused on playing basketball than the goings-on of his father’s business.

Basketball was his favorite sport. He had the chance to start at shortstop as a high school freshman baseball player, but he averaged double digits that winter on the varsity basketball team and decided to focus his athletic energy on the hardwood and not the diamond.

He thought the bat company would be there whenever he was ready.

“I had thought that I would [take over the business], but my mom was always focused on getting an education and the experience from college,” he says. “I wanted to take over the company, but I wasn’t naive enough April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 79

PHOTOS AND SIGNATURES of players who enjoyed Young Bats in the past, including Mark McGwire and Chipper Jones.

to think at 18 years old I would know enough to do that.

I’m one of those people who would like to jump right in and learn a lot of things quickly. There’s so much that goes into it. Some people think you just turn a piece of wood on a lathe. They don’t realize the whole gambit of everything that is happening and all of the finishing that makes a high-end product. I was lucky enough to see the behind-the-scenes aspects of the business to know.”

Tom’s love of basketball goes beyond simply playing the game: For two years he was the junior varsity basketball coach at Brevard High School, and last year he decided to coach on the middle school level to help increase younger players’ skills. Meanwhile, as he rode home on the team bus from away games he would answer emails or make phone calls to potential Young Bat customers. He’d head over to the shop some nights after practice. Eventually though, he quit his job as a business teacher at Davidson River School, a school in Transylvania County for students who aren’t thriving in a traditional school environment, to focus on building bats.

“I Can Do That”

WEIGHTED BILLETS that will be turned into bats.

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It wouldn’t have been a surprise for a pint-sized Chris Young to sit down on a picnic bench, look to his left to find Mickey Mantle, and then look to his right to see Roger Maris.

His father, Jim, had moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, after he participated in spring training with the New York Yankees on a team that included Babe Ruth. Though Jim Young didn’t make the roster as a pitcher, he decided to stay and grow his family there.

“When I was 10 and 11, I worked at Al Lang Field where spring training was,” Chris recalls. “I picked up trash and cushions and whatever they wanted me to do, so I started to get baseball autographs there.”

The family lived near a golf course where players would do events during spring training; Chris would also attend those to grab autographs. He met a lot of the game’s great players, from Stan Musial to Roberto Clemente. As time passed Chris played baseball and basketball in high school and then entered the construction business after his school days ended. He had a basketball scholarship to the University of Florida in hand, but didn’t accept the offer. He has since spent more than four decades as a contractor and still runs a crew at the age of 68.

Over the years he continued to collect autographs from baseball players. “When [my father] would go to autograph shows I would go with him,” Tom says. “I just always felt that famous people were just another person. It was nice to meet the guys who were nice. Even as a kid I could tell who was a genuine, good person and wanted you to be a fan of theirs and who was just there to collect a paycheck or who wanted you to be in awe of them.”

It was an autograph that pushed the elder Young into baseball bat manufacturing. One day in the early ‘90s he walked around a memorabilia show and saw baseball bats on sale for professional players to autograph. He looked closer at the bats. “I can do that,” he thought to himself. He had a lathe at home and decided to make his own bats for players to sign.

That’s when Chris’ life took a slight turn.

“Over the years I had been introduced to some of the Atlanta Braves, so I started to make bats for them to sign,” he remembers. “They said that the wood was way too good to sign and that I need to get licensed by Major League Baseball to make bats. I went to MLB, got approved to make bats, and started making them.”

Chris admits the process then was much easier than today.

Now there’s a large fee and insurance costs involved and plenty of rules. All he had to do in the 1990s was send a couple of samples to Major League Baseball’s offices to be approved.

How, though, did a general contractor learn to produce a baseball bat? “I just did it. That’s the way I do stuff,” he says.

“It’s no different from making the other things I’ve made.”

Many of the Atlanta Braves, such as Hall of Fame third baseman Chipper Jones, outfielder Andruw Jones, catcher Javier Lopez, and Hall of Fame pitchers Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux used bats made in the Young Bat Brevard shop.

It wasn’t just Braves who liked the bats, as Hall of Famer members Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres and Mike Piazza of the Los Angeles Dodgers, as well as future Hall of Famer New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, plus many others, hit homers with Chris’ creations.

To attract top-tier clients, Chris frequently hopped into an old 16-seat passenger van dubbed The Green Machine (the BatMobile would also work for a name) and drove to April 2018 | capitalatplay.com

81

COATING A painted bat.

THE L ATHE trimming a billet into a bat.

Atlanta for home stands. He would carry a dozen bats onto the empty diamond and lean them against the batting cage, where players would grab one to swing during batting practice. There’s a photo posted on the company’s Facebook page that shows Chris Young, arms folded across his chest, watching batting practice while Chipper Jones leans on a black bat to the left of Young and former Braves first baseman Andrés Galarraga stands closer to the backstop.

The business grew tremendously over the years, to the point where Young Bat employed 17 others and made more than 100,000 bats a year. The company didn’t just make bats with the “Young Bat Company” logo, but also for others. For several years every Mizuno bat sold was actually made by Chris and his staff, ultimately doing private label work for 14 different bat companies.

“I knew it would come to that,” he says. “That’s the way businesses run—everything is private label. Companies just put their name on it. There’s only a few companies who are making things. If you make a good product, people want you to make it for them.”

From 1993 to 2005 he enjoyed being the manufacturer of baseball bats. Then one day, he didn’t anymore.

“I got bored,” Chris says. “Once I figured out how to make bats, then I figured out how to make barstools, and then I made other furniture out of bats, and then I made the 360 Woody composite bat and got it patented, and then I made machinery for the shop. After awhile I was ready to move on.”

“There’s only a few companies who are making things. If you make a good product, people want you to make it for them.”

“I worked out of the Atlanta Braves stadium,” explains Chris. “Every time there was a visiting team coming in, I’d go down there and take bats to let them try. I was there a couple of times a week. I’d see the Braves all the time.” He adds that he also visited other stadiums when he could.

“That was a time when I had full access. I could get on the field at every batting practice. I’d get in the locker rooms. I could go anywhere in the stadium. Those times have all changed.”

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Friends And Business Partners Cody Siniard and Tom Young were born one day apart in August and they celebrated many childhood birthdays at Atlanta Braves games. You’d think two kids from the South,

(L-R) CHRIS, CODY, & TOM April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 83

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in an area where baseball fans knew exactly which team would play after The Andy Griffith Show aired on TBS every summer evening, would cheer for America’s Team. Instead, they were Colorado Rockies’ fans.

They couldn’t, though, be there decked out in purple and black when everyone around then wore blue and red and did the Tomahawk Chop. Those memories, like so many others, can be rekindled quickly between the two as they work in close quarters.

“We’ve been best friends since I can remember,” Siniard says.

“We went to preschool together and played basketball together.”

Basketball became their sport. They played travel ball before travel ball was cool. They played against future NBA superstar Steph Curry and former Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Sidney Rice. They’d walk into a gym decked out in Mizuno gear because of Young Bat Company’s relationship with the sporting goods supplier. They starred at Brevard High School and then went separate ways for college — Siniard to Mars Hill and Young to the University of North Carolina Greensboro. They each lasted one year away from Brevard, before they transferred back to play for their hometown college along with Andrew Freeman, who works in the close quarters of the front room with his pals.

As seniors, Siniard and Young dressed in baseball uniforms to present a business class project about a bat company geared toward the international market. They earned an A-minus.

They’re still bitter. The two say they learned a lot while they attended Brevard College that they still use.

It was there that Siniard became a musician. After he injured his leg as a senior, he began to pluck the guitar and songwriting followed. He’s released three albums, including 2017’s Runnin’ Outta Songs, and continues to tour throughout the Western North Carolina region, even though he works seven days a week most weeks painting bats, designing logos, and using a laser to engrave mugs. He’ll toss his gear into the back of his old Chevy Silverado and play shows at area music venues, breweries, and coffee houses, and he’ll wear his Young Bat Company shirts or hat. (Before you ask, no, he doesn’t sip from a Young Bat Company bat mug in between songs.)

“It’s pretty hard,” Siniard says, of doing both jobs. “Since I began doing this I don’t have time to write music anymore or learn new covers. I’m going off what I’ve already learned on the guitar. This job is my first priority. It’s taken away from the creative side of my music because I have to be creative here all day. There’s only so much your brain can do. I get home and I just want to lay there.”

Siniard’s creativity stems from his own passion to do more in a job. After college he took a position at a UPS store in Brevard.

The company wanted to grow sales, so he began to push business cards, rack cards, and brochures to customers. Eventually sales grew to a point where his plans were implemented elsewhere and he was in charge of seven stores.

He taught himself graphic design while at UPS and learned web design for his music career. Now he does much of the website and social media for Young Bat.

PREPARING the design.

ENGR AVING THE design onto the bat.

PAINTING TO enhance the engraving.

FINISHED bat design.

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 85

TOM HOLDING a bat mug, with his father's face on it.

“It’s saving us a lot of money, and I like doing it. I’m getting better at it,” Siniard says. “Not many companies do what we’re doing.

Someone sent me a picture of a tiger the other day and wanted the tiger’s eyes on a bat. Knowing what the file has to look like so it will engrave properly on the bat and being able to do that is really rare. I’m sure there are other bat companies who can do it, but just don’t have the time or want to invest in someone to do that. It separates us from other companies, being able to do the custom work.”

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As plans for the company’s direction were bounced around, there was talk of opening a bar in Brevard, one that would tell of the company’s history. “Wouldn’t it be cool to drink from a bat?” someone said. That’s when the creative nature of the Youngs and Siniard began to dream. Some wood isn’t good for bats. Maybe there’s a nick in the bat or the wood isn’t top grade. There’s always some leftovers.

So one day they began drilling the barrel of a bat to see if it would hold liquid. “We looked at how deep you could go, knowing a billet,” Tom says. “We have to go seven inches tall to get 12 ounces in there. We went through and tried to make sure what we’d have to have to make the bat mug successful.”

always live like

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“I really love the bat mug,” says former professional player Justin Jackson, who starred at T.C. Roberson and used a Young bat when he was an aspiring player. He’s now in film school in Los Angeles and filmed an ad for the company that is posted online. “For anyone who is a baseball fan it’s a great talking piece to have in your collection. Plus, the fact you can actually drink out of it makes for a really cool thing to have and I’m so happy that they made me a custom ‘Lights, Camera, Jackson’ bat mug.”

The idea has been more successful than anticipated. A Canadian groom recently ordered some for his groomsmen. A company ordered 200 with their logo—which Siniard revamped—to give away. More orders like that are expected, Tom says. They made a mug for Colorado Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon that contained an etching of his “ChuckNazty” logo. Last Christmas was big for the personalized mugs and the company has put faces, logos, and names on mugs already.

The same can be said for bats, as Siniard has painted multicolor bats, bats with footprints, and, more and more, high-art work on wood. Their social media accounts are

filled with sharp images of bats that are splashed with color and design, such as a bat for Brevard High School’s softball coach that is painted blue and white horizontally with alternating colored lettering.

“We’re not going to make a lot of money on a bat like that, but indirectly we will. People will see it and think, ‘Man, that’s so cool,’ and they’ll look at the other things we do.”

“We make bats like that, not to sell a lot of, but to get a lot of ‘likes’ on social media. There’s a big difference,” Siniard says. “We’re not going to make a lot of money on a bat like that, but indirectly we will. People will see it and think, ‘Man, that’s so cool,’ and they’ll look at the other things we do.”

Young Bat Company does a lot and they are doing it well. Just like when Chris Young ran the company a decade ago.

106 Sutton Ave Black Mountain, NC 828.669.0075 towncountryfurniture.net

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S H O P LO C A L • FA M I LY O W N E D A N D O P E R AT E D B U S I N E S S April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 87

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1. Jasmine Middleton speaks to the crowd.

2. Swati Patel and Himanshu Karvir with Catty and Michael Andry.

3. Andrew Brunk with OpenDoors executive

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director Jen Ramming.

4. Kate Ancaya with Ross and Kristin Britton.

5. (L) Jennifer and Ted Hull and (R) Chris and Elizabeth Mailander flank Linda Wilkerson.

6. Body painter Raquel Mcinnis transforms Emma Dubin into the “elephant in the room.�

7. (L-R) Callie Hamrick, Joanne and Oby Morgan, and OpenDoors board chair Ben Hamrick.

OpenDoors Art Affair 2018

Annual Live & Silent Auction/Gala to Benefit OpenDoors of Asheville New Events Space, Highland Brewing | Asheville, NC | March 10, 2018 Photos by Reggie Tidwell 8

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8. Donating artists David Limmer and Lee Carlton.

9. Luiz Lionetti and Matthew Martin.

10. Marshall and Sherry Ney bid from the balcony.

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11. (L-R) Joan Best, Chris and Jen Eller, and Nathan Best.

12. (L-R) Dan Baechtold, Brenda Draper, Angie Baechtold, and Chris Lambrecht.

13. Amy Kawar celebrates her winning bid during the live art auction.

14. Jasmine Middleton showing artwork up for bid by donating artist Cindy Walton.

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events

april

EVENTS

The master potter will show how to develop visual interest on clay, using basic and elaborate surface treatments.

Demonstrations will include throwing, stamping, roping, slip application, wax resist, and painting.

>Tickets: $165 > 828-253-2424 > thevillagepotters.com

april 6

ArtScape Hendersonville Reception 5-7:30PM Art Mob/Art on 4th/Woodlands 4th and Main, Hendersonville, NC

> 828-243-0084 > artscapehvl.org

Spring Awakening: Pediatric Patients’ Exhibition

10AM-5:30PM (Mon-Sat), 11AM-5PM (Sun)

9AM-5PM Riverview Station Largest selection 191 Lyman St #180, Asheville, NC of upholstery

The installation will benefit Arts for Life, a local nonprofit that brings cheer to pediatric patients by providing opportunities for artistic creation. The reception, April 7, will run from 2-5 with ice cream from The Hop.

argest selection of upholstery fabric in WNC

> 828-253-7651 > grovewood.com

Fast, friendly service

Fast, fabric in WNC friendly service

Cradle of Forestry 11250 Pisgah Hwy, Pisgah Forest, NC

april 8

Grovewood Village 111 Grovewood Village, Asheville, NC

Fabric center

10AM-4PM

> Admission: Adult $6, Youth (0-12) $3 > 828-877-3130 > cradleofforestry.com

your complete april 7 your complete Village Potters Master Fabric center Series: Kyle Carpenter

Cradle of Forestry Opening Day

To open the new season in a big way, the heritage site will have live music and opportunities to try old-fashioned horse plowing, in addition to the normal hiking and opportunities to mingle with historically-dressed cultural interpreters.

april 7-23

Three galleries are hosting simultaneous receptions for artists whose work will be depicted on banners to be hung on the street. Visitors are welcome to sponsor an art banner, which will go up after last year’s banners are taken down and presented to their sponsors.

april 7

Hendersonville Chamber Music: Tesla Quartet 3-5PM

First Congregational Church 1735 5th Ave West, Hendersonville, NC Back by popular demand, the Juilliard graduates will perform works by Haydn, Brahms, and the winner of their new works competition.

>Tickets: $25 For The Love of Sewing:

Drapery material/lining | Comforter and bedspread material

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FABRIC • SEWING MACHINES

BERNINA • BABY LOCK • HORN 1378 Hendersonville Road, Asheville (next to Fresh Market) 828-277-4100 • Mon-Sat, 10a-5:30p

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> 828-808-2314 > hendersonvillechambermusic.org

will share poetry about climate and consciousness. Events also take place at UNC Asheville and Malaprops.

>Tickets: Single Event $5-$20, All Access $125 > 828-407-4263 > avlwordfest.com

april 10

Sustainable Growth Strategies

4-6PM Center for Craft, Creativity & Design 67 Broadway St, Asheville, NC

april 12

Sustainable Growth Strategies: Exploring Creative + Profitable Maker Pathways will be taught by the founders of Bloodroot Blades and East Fork Pottery. This stand-alone workshop, coaching artists for success in business, is the third in the Craft Your Commerce workshop series.

> Registration: $20 > 828-785-1357 > craftyourcommerce.com april 12-15

Asheville Wordfest 2018: Earth, People, Words Lenoir-Rhyne University 36 Montford Ave, Asheville, NC

Representatives from the Creek Nation, Mexico, Uganda, Scotland, and elsewhere

Arts after Dark

5-8PM Blue Ridge Community College (BRCC), Conference Hall 180 West Campus Dr, Flat Rock, NC The event showcases local artists. The BRCC Music Department, Carolina Concert Choir, Flat Rock Playhouse, Hendersonville Community Theatre, Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra, and Relevé Performing Arts Center will put on short performances. VIP tables may be reserved in advance for $250.

>Tickets: Advance $25, Door $30 > 828-692-1413 > hendersoncountychamber.org

april 13 -15 , 20 -22 , 27-29 The Diary of Anne Frank

7:30PM (Fri, Sat), 2:30PM (Sun) Asheville Community Theatre, Mainstage 35 East Walnut St, Asheville, NC

This autobiographical classic shows how the human spirit can find joy in love and life, even while hiding from Hitler’s police, day after day, in an attic.

>Tickets: Adult $26, Youth (0-17) $12 > 828-254-1320 > ashevilletheatre.org april 13

Haydini

8-9:30PM Diana Wortham Theatre 2 South Pack Square, Asheville, NC He’s a 23-year-old magician who got his start busking the streets of Charlotte. In a show with audience participation, he pulls hats out of rabbits and makes his girlfriend disappear.

>Tickets: Adult $30, Student/Child $24 > 828-257-4530 > dwtheatre.com

Gifts for your

Gifts For Your Special Someone!

special someone!

TEAS • SPICES • GIFTS SALTS • SUGARS The Spice & Tea Exchange® Of Asheville 46 Haywood St., #101 Asheville, NC 28801

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events

april 14

Valley History Explorer Hike #2: Leader’s Choice

9AM-1PM Swannanoa Valley Museum 223 West State St, Black Mountain, NC This 3-mile, moderate hike will take on Buckeye Cove, exploring the Moser family property with their permission. The family is versed in Appalachian tradition.

Back at the start, you can be among the first to see the new exhibit on the history of Black Mountain College.

> Registration: $35 > 828-669-9566 > history.swannanoavalleymuseum.org april 14

Masterworks 6: Patriots

8PM Thomas Wolfe Auditorium 87 Haywood St, Asheville, NC

St ret che d a rou nd t he t heme of nationalism, the program includes John Adams’ comedic “The Chairman Dances,” Manuel de Falla’s “Nights in the Gardens of Spain,” and Jan Sibelius’ ecstatic tribute to liberation, Symphony No. 2. Jayce Ogren will be this month’s auditioning conductor.

>Tickets: Adult $24-$69, Youth $11-$43 > 828-254-7046 > ashevillesymphony.org

april 17

M. Ward 8PM

Orange Peel 101 Biltmore Ave, Asheville, NC The artist, also ½ of She & Him with Zooey Deschanel, is acclaimed for his raw but polished, layered mix of folk and ’60s style guitar rock. In an understated

way, he finds the groove with the talented musicians in his small band.

> Advance Tickets: $25 > 828-398-1837 > theorangepeel.net april 19

Sound Effects Benefit Concert 2018

6-10PM Isis Music Hall 743 Haywood Rd, Asheville, NC

In what is fast becoming a tradition, st udent s a nd t eacher s f rom t he Asheville Music School will fundraise by performing yet another Beatles album: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Items donated by local businesses will be raffled or auctioned to benefit the school’s mission of helping kids make music.

>Tickets: Advance $15, Door $18, Youth (0-12) $7 > 828-252-6244 > ashevillemusicschool.org

april 20

Black Violin

7PM Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts 733 Rivers St, Boone, NC Wil Baptiste and Kev Marcus are back, with drummer Nat Stokes and DJ SPS. Their genre is a diversity of fugues.

Together since high school, they are widely acclaimed, and they’ve played with the best of them. Their wish is to bring people together with their music.

>Tickets: Adult $30, Student/Youth $15 > 800-841-2787 > theschaefercenter.org

april 20

Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas

7-8PM The Jones House 604 West King Street, Boone, NC They play Celtic music with Alasdair on fiddle and Natalie on cello. Both are considered authentic masters, and they have been playing together 18 years.

Organizers encourage advance purchase.

>Tickets: $20 > 828-268-6280 > joneshouse.org APRIL 21

Hendersonville Swing Band Concert

3-4:30PM Trinity Presbyterian Church 900 Blythe St, Hendersonville, NC Led by trombonist Jerry Zink, the HSB will play favorites from the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s to raise funds for the Medical Loan Closet, a supplier of reduced-cost durable medical equipment for persons in shortterm rehabilitation.

> Donation: $10 > 828-693-3081 > hendersonvilleswingband.org APRIL 21

Wet Your Whiskers Wine Tasting 5:30-8PM Haywood Arts Regional Theatre 250 Pigeon St, Waynesville, NC

Feline Urgent Rescue of WNC is hosting a wine and beer tasting event with an appetizer buffet in Fangmeyer Theater.

The double-task for attendees is to vote on their favorite (pre-qualified) cat photos. Categories are Diva Cat,

April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 93

events

Funniest Cat, Cutest Cat, Laziest Cat, Cat-ti-tude, and Cats & Friends.

> Admission: General $35, Sponsor $125 > 844-888-2287 > furofwnc.org april 21-22

ReptiDay: Asheville Reptile & Exotic Animal Show

10AM-5PM (Sat), 10AM-4PM (Sun) Western North Carolina Ag Center, Expo Building 1301 Fanning Bridge Rd, Fletcher, NC

Vendors will have nifty animals, their necessities, and accessories. Seminars and raffles will be held throughout the day.

> Admission: Adult $10, Youth (5-12) $5, Infant FREE > 863-268-4273 > repticon.com april 22

Hendersonville Chamber Music: The Asheville Clarinet Quartet 3-5PM First Congregational Church 1735 5th Ave West, Hendersonville, NC

A long and diversified program of favorites includes “Rhapsody in Blue,” Bach’s “Prelude and Fugue,” and “Take 5,” with about ten more traditional, classic, and colorful modern compositions.

>Tickets: $25 > 828-808-2314 > hendersonvillechambermusic.org april 23

Lenoir-Rhyne University’s Asheville Center Grand Reopening

4PM LRU’s Asheville Center 36 Montford Ave, Asheville, NC Visitors can tour the newly-renovated and expanded facility and learn more about courses offered from students, faculty, and staff. Light hors d’oeuvres will be served.

BMW of Asheville

FLATROCKPLAYHOUSE.ORG 828.693.0731 94

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> 828-231-1405 > lr.edu/asheville

april 25

11th Annual Music Video Asheville

5-10PM Diana Wortham Theatre, 18 Biltmore Ave, Asheville, NC

About 30 juried music videos by local artists will be screened.

The winner of the people’s choice will get $500 cash, and the panel pleaser will get an entire day free at Echo Mountain Recording’s studios.

>Tickets: Advance $18, Door $20, VIP $40 > 828-515-1081 > musicvideoavl.com april 26 -29

169 Charlotte Street Asheville, NC 28801

Creation Spirituality Community’s 2018 International Gathering

828-575-9525 metrowinesasheville.com

Jubilee! 46 Wall St, Asheville, NC

Participants are searching for connections in traditions and modern science, seeking their purpose in creation. People with all different ways of seeing are invited. The agenda consists of talks, workshops, and sharing circles; and it all culminates in a cosmic mass.

SMALL SHOP SERVICE *FREE & EASY PARKING*

LARGE SHOP SELECTION

> 877-422-1156 > creationspirituality.info april 26 -29

Merlefest

Wilkes Community College 1328 Collegiate Dr, Wilkesboro, NC The Steep Canyon Rangers headline with a dizzying list of diverse musicians including Kris Kristofferson, Bela Fleck, Mandolin Orange, Balsam Range, and David Holt. There will be lots to do, like talking and jamming with the pros, shopping, and even participating in a songwriting contest. Doc Watson’s famous fundraiser for the college goes back to 1988.

> 336-838-6260 > merlefest.org april 27-29, 4 - 6

The Gin Game 7:30PM (Fri, Sat), 2PM (Sun) Hendersonville Community Theatre, Second Stage 229 South Washington St, Hendersonville, NC What is it about human nature that degenerates to competition? Watch the drama unfold through a simple game of cards.

We are committed to conscious sexuality, body positivity & self-care!

57 Broadway St, in the Heart of Downtown Asheville VaVaVooom.com 828.254.6329 April 2018 | capitalatplay.com 95

events

>Tickets: $16 > 828-692-1082 > hendersonvilletheatre.org april 27

The Rosé Wine Dinner Returns

7PM The Farm at Old Edwards, 445 Main St, Highlands, NC The wines of the evening will be celebrated in a rustic-modern ambience with live music and five innovative dishes whipped up by Chef Chris Huerta.

It’s Our Business To Make You Look Good.

7 Convenient Locations!

> Reservations: $145 per person > 828-787-2635 > oldedwardsinn.com

Call (828) 253-3691 Or visit Online at swannanoacleaners.com

april 28

Historic Johnson Farm Spring Festival

10AM-4PM Historic Johnson Farm 3346 Haywood Rd, Hendersonville, NC

FEATHER YOUR NEST CONSIGNMENT SHOP Specializing in upscale one-of-a-kind furnishings, housewares, home decorative items and vintage & fine jewelry.

New items arriving daily!

Tuesday through Saturday | 10am to 4pm 1215A Greenville Hwy. Hendersonville, NC

828.693.3535

FEATHER YOUR NEST STAGING AND DESIGN SERVICES

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Just a chance for the whole family to kick back and enjoy life the way it used to be. This heritage education museum, has 10 historic structures to learn from and 15 acres of land.

> Admission: Adult $5, Student $3, Infant (0-4) FREE > 828-891-6585 > historicjohnsonfarm.org

april 28

“Seeds the Day”

9AM-2PM French Broad River Garden Club 1000 Hendersonville Rd, Asheville, NC The club’s annual spring plant sale’s theme this year is “The Importance of Heirloom Seeds,” with vendors and experts on hand to detail seed

differences, planting approaches, etc.

Check out the many locally-grown flowers, herbs, shrubs, and trees for purchase; proceeds go to the club’s scholarship fund for local students.

> 828-808-1381 > fbrgc.org april 28

Asheville Symphony Chorus

7:30PM Arden Presbyterian Church 2215 Hendersonville Rd, Arden, NC

Over 130 voices and the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, led by Dr. Michael Lancaster, will carry the audience from solemnity through fugue, with JS Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Part One: Kyrie & Gloria.

>Tickets: Adult $25, Youth $15 > 828-684-7221 > ashevillesymphonychorus.com april 29

Empty Bowls Event

5-7PM St. John in the Wilderness 895 Greenville Hwy, Hendersonville, NC

Raising awareness about community hunger, people enjoy a meal of soup, bread, and desserts. They eat the soup out of a handmade pottery bowl they select and get to keep. All profits benefit the Flat Rock Backpack Program, which sends food home with kids on the weekends.

>Tickets: Single $25, Family $50 > 828-693-9783 > stjohnflatrock.org If your organization has any local press releases for our briefs section, or events that you would like to see here, feel free to email us at events@capitalatplay.com.

Please submit your event at least six weeks in advance.

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