Mountain Xpress 03.28.18

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MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

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C ONT ENTS

PAGE 34 PAST PRESENT The annual {Re}HAPPENING aims to shrink the distance in time between Black Mountain College’s 1933–57 lifespan and the present day. On the cover: Jean Varda’s Trojan Horse at Black Mountain College Summer Art Institute, 1946.

COVER PHOTO Beaumont Newhall, courtesy of the Western Regional Archives and the Beaumont and Nancy Newhall Estate COVER DESIGN Scott Southwick

CON TA CT U S

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NEWS WELLNESS

22 NO COUNTRY FOR YOUNG MEN Support groups help retired men find new purpose

GREEN

25 FIELD DAY Asheville Arts and Science Festival combines two disciplines at Salvage Station

FOOD

32 BEER SCOUT Former Burial Beer Co. brewers strike out on their own with a new downtown project

A&E

36 HED OVER HEELS Three-day festival celebrates a fictional pop icon’s off-Broadway debut

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8 A SOCIAL DISEASE CTS contamination has poisoned more than drinking water

38 THE FIRE AIN’T GONE OUT Billy Edd Wheeler celebrates a new memoir

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4 LETTERS 4 CARTOON: MOLTON 6 CARTOON: BRENT BROWN 7 COMMENTARY 15 ASHEVILLE ARCHIVES 16 COMMUNITY CALENDAR 18 CONSCIOUS PARTY 22 WELLNESS 25 GREEN SCENE 26 FARM & GARDEN 28 FOOD 30 SMALL BITES 32 BEER SCOUT 34 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 40 SMART BETS 41 THEATER REVIEW 45 CLUBLAND 51 MOVIES 52 SCREEN SCENE 54 FREEWILL ASTROLOGY 54 CLASSIFIEDS 55 NY TIMES CROSSWORD

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MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

3

OPINION

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

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C A RT O O N B Y R A N DY M O LT O N

CLUBLAND EDITORS: Abigail Griffin, Max Hunt MOVIE REVIEWERS:

Asheville needs stricter litter laws

Where are the safe spaces for lesbians?

I appreciated Sherrie Mirsky’s note to the editor [“Keep Asheville Clean,” March 14, Xpress].

I wanted to say that there is definitely a serious litter problem in Asheville. I have lived in Asheville since 1980 and have recently seen in the last year how much litter is filling up so many areas of the city and its outskirts.

Asheville needs stricter litter laws and policies put in place.

If Asheville can begin to institute a policy for litter that incorporates the first offense of a fine of $250; second offense, a fine for $1,000; and the third offense is 30 days of community service — that may be a place to start. South Carolina has a strict litter policy, and I see almost no litter when I visit there.

I recently contacted Asheville GreenWorks to ask for their help in cleaning up Old County Home Road off of Leicester Highway near [The Meadows apartments]. They came out with a crew on March 8 and did a terrific job. I am deeply grateful for their willingness to help clean up our city.

If Asheville keeps promoting tourism, at some point, without stricter litter laws, people will stop coming here, seeing so much trash all around the city.

Let’s get something done about this issue.

— Sarah Brownlee

Asheville

[Partly in reference to “The Drag Show Must Go On: Celeste Starr Moves to O.Henry’s after More Than 20 Years Performing at Scandals,” March 7, Xpress]: Here it is — I was 18 when my sister ... took me to my first drag show at a club called Club Hairspray, which has now since closed. She even sneaked me in underage to a place called Gypsy Moon, which was recently called Scully’s and now some other bar I can’t remember the name of.

I’m turning 34 ... I’ve come out of the closet. I’ve embraced Asheville as my home and where I’ve found all of my three great loves of my life, all being women.

Also at gay bars that just don’t exist anymore — where are they? Where is my safe space that was so easy to find when I didn’t even know I needed it? But now that I do, it’s gone? Except for Scandals or O.Henrys? Which is predominantly just gay men? No offense to gay men — I just am speaking as a lesbian, and I kind of like a good mixture of both sexes, ha ha.

For being a town mostly known for being heavy on the gay more than straight ratio — where are our safe places? Why hasn’t someone with a large amount of money opened a place that I remember so vividly 18 years ago? Where are you? We miss you, we need you, we hope you’re coming back.

— Kelly McArdle

Asheville

MOUNTAINX.COM

Scott Douglas, Francis X. Friel, Justin Souther CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Peter Gregutt, Rob Mikulak REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Jonathan Ammons, Leslie Boyd, Liz Carey, Jacqui Castle, Cathy Cleary, Kim Dinan, Scott Douglas, Jonathan Esslinger, Tony Kiss, Bill Kopp, Cindy Kunst, Jeff Messer, Joe Pellegrino, Shawndra Russell, Monroe Spivey, Lauren Stepp, Daniel Walton ADVERTISING, ART & DESIGN MANAGER: Susan Hutchinson GRAPHIC DESIGNERS: Norn Cutson, Scott Southwick, Olivia Urban MARKETING ASSOCIATES: Christina Bailey, Sara Brecht, Bryant Cooper, Karl Knight, Tim Navaille, Brian Palmieri, Heather Taylor INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES & WEB: Bowman Kelley, DJ Taylor BOOKKEEPER: Amie Fowler-Tanner ADMINISTRATION, BILLING, HR: Able Allen, Lauren Andrews DISTRIBUTION MANAGER: Jeff Tallman ASST. DISTRIBUTION MANAGER: Denise Montgomery DISTRIBUTION: Gary Alston, Russell Badger, Frank D’Andrea, Jemima Cook Fliss, Adrian Hipps, Autumn Hipps, Clyde Hipps, Jennifer Hipps, Joan Jordan, Desiree Mitchell, Laura Stinson, Thomas Young

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

Woodsmall proposes solution for gun violence On May 8, I’ve decided to support Steve Woodsmall to be the Democratic nominee for U.S. House of Representatives, District 11. Three good men are running. But I’ve decided to vote for Steve because he knows a lot.

He knows that a complex problem like gun violence is not solved by solely allowing guns to be carried in our schools and concealed in our pocketbooks and waistbands. Rather, this Navy veteran and Second Amendment advocate proposes a multipronged, common-sense solution that includes: • Adequately funding school resource officers and other security measures.

• Tighter background checks.

• Increasing the legal age to purchase a firearm.

• Creating a gun violence restraining order (“red flag law”) that allows judges to temporarily confiscate guns from those deemed a danger to themselves or others. If guns don’t kill people, people kill people, let’s at least remove guns from those prone to kill others.

• A ban on the civilian sale of semiautomatic weaponry.

He knows that a healthy society is an economically productive society and that we should provide affordable health care to all our citizens. Every other democracy does this. Why not us?

He knows that as important as jobs are, they’re only part of the income inequality solution. Wage stagnation must be addressed if our

economy — and middle class — is to be healthy again.

I feel like Steve Woodsmall knows me, shares my values and vows to work to restore those values to North Carolina.

That’s why I’m voting for him in the Democratic primary on May 8. Probably sooner, as early voting begins April 19.

If you share these values, please consider joining me in supporting Steve Woodsmall for U.S. representative, District 11.

Isn’t it time we got our democracy back?

— Stephen Advokat

Asheville

Asheville Archives offer rich background I am greatly enjoying reading the feature “Asheville Archives.” I think it is a great addition to the Xpress.

The articles offer rich background on the history of our town. Thank you!

— Anne Craig

Asheville

We want to hear from you!

Please send your letters to: Editor, Mountain Xpress, 2 Wall St., Asheville, NC 28801 or by email to letters@mountainx.com.

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MOUNTAINX.COM

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

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OPINION

C A RT O O N B Y B R E NT B R O W N

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MOUNTAINX.COM

Little miracles

BY TAL GALTON One of Earth’s great spectacles is coming soon to a patch of woods near you. For the past 10 months, multitudes of tubers and bulblets have been patiently hiding in the rich soil of our Appalachian forests.

In February and March, they are awakened by increasing sunlight and warmth. In April, a lush carpet of green emerges from the forest floor, and an astonishing array of flowers opens to the bright sunshine.

But unlike, say a thundering herd of caribou, this upwelling of spring ephemerals is a subtle display of nature’s wealth. If your eyes are not honed to pick out the particulars from the forest’s profusion of undergrowth, ask a knowledgeable friend or guide to point out the little miracles at your feet. These diverse plants contain contradictions: They are common, but great displays can be hard to see; they are ephemeral yet long-lived perennials.

Not all Appalachian forests are equal when it comes to the spring ephemeral show. Many of our valleys and slopes are covered in acid cove forests, dominated by thickets of mountain laurel and rhododendron. The floor of an acid cove is relatively dark and barren; the soil is nutrient-poor, and the laurels cast shade year-round. These forests host a sparsely distributed assortment of orchids, pipsissewa, ground cedar and other hemiparasitic plants that have low photosynthetic and nutritional needs.

By contrast, the floor of a rich cove is seasonally dense with bright green undergrowth. The canopy of rich cove forests are marked by basswoods, buckeyes and critically threatened white ash trees. Few evergreen shrubs shade the forest floor of a rich cove, and come April, the ground springs to life with herbaceous plants.

Dozens of species inhabit these woods: Bellworts nod their shaggy yellow blossoms, and the purple larkspur and trillium catch eyes with their taller stature and brightly colored flowers. But there are many less conspicuous flowers, too. For instance, the Dicentra cousins, Dutchman’s breeches and squirrel corn — with their lacy foliage and tiny but evocative flowers — are some of the strongest indicators of rich cove habitat but are easily overlooked. Their

TAL GALTON bloom period is early, barely a week long, and not to be missed.

Ecological niches are framed in dimensions of both space and time. The when of an organism’s activity (spring/ fall or day/night) is as relevant as the where (forest/desert or acid cove/rich cove). The niche the ephemerals fill is as much a temporal one as a geographic one. The truest ephemerals — trout lilies, the Dicentra cousins, spring beauties and a few others — do all of their aboveground business in an exceedingly short time frame.

More sunlight reaches the floor of a deciduous forest in March and April than any other time of year. To take advantage of this apogee of light, they begin to emerge in March. During April, they unfurl their foliage, bloom and go to seed. Via the alchemy of photosynthesis, they hastily make as much sugar as they can from thin air and sunshine.

These carbohydrates power the fruiting process, and surplus is stashed in the tuber for future springs.

The plants tread a thin border between thriving and nonexistence. If a spring is too cold or too dry, they need to save enough calories underground to try again the following year. Many don’t realize that ramps, one of the mountains’ most popular wild foods, are one of these long-lived spring ephemerals — important information as we develop a sustainable harvest strategy.

Ephemerals also have fascinating sex lives. They flirt with bumblebee queens, the only hive member that

Look now for spring ephemeral wildflowers overwinters. The ephemerals’ pollen and nectar are an important source of energy for the queens as they strive to rebuild their summer colony. After pollination, the ephemerals hastily set seed. Many of the earliest flowers grow a tiny fatty appendage called an eliaosome on each seed.

Hungry ants, emerging from hibernation, race for these lipid nuggets.

Out of convenience, they bring the entire seed back to the colony, fortuitously planting it in a patch of newly aerated soil. The ephemerals have other methods of reproducing, but this is one of the more compelling examples of propagation.

In May, the deciduous canopy closes.

A mere six weeks after the ephemerals leaf out, their aboveground parts wither into yellow stalks, leaving hardly a trace to the casual observer. For the ephemerals, life is a race through these bright but fickle months. When the hardwood canopy closes, they regress to underground bulblets or tubers for the next 46 weeks of dormancy.

Despite their apparent fleeting nature, these diminutive plants are actually long-lived perennials — some individuals may, in fact, be as old as the trees that tower overhead. The age of trees is often self-evident; wizened ones with massive trunks and majestic

COMING TO A RICH COVE NEAR YOU: Dicentra cucullaria (aka Dutchman’s breeches) is one of the spring ephemeral wildflowers that blossom this time of year in WNC. Photo by Tal Galton MOUNTAINX.COM

limbs are old. To our eyes, the tender flowers of ephemerals appear young and fresh. Their mature parts are hidden underground as gnarled roots and rhizomes. Their tubers often have marks for each year of growth, but the oldest parts have decayed away. This makes it difficult to discern the age of these plants; it is likely that many are decades old — perhaps much older.

In order to see the ephemerals’ wonderful forms and stages, you need to act quickly and walk in the woods with regularity. Though not necessarily in their ideal rich cove habitat, representatives of many of these species can be found at The Botanical Gardens at Asheville. When you visit them, take a moment to marvel at how these exquisite little flowers are a small part of the whole picture.

Burnsville resident Tal Galton is a naturalist who loves introducing people to wild places. He runs Snakeroot Ecotours in Yancey County. X

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7

NEWS

A SOCIAL DISEASE

CTS contamination has poisoned more than drinking water

A SORE SUBJECT: For more than three decades, the CTS of Asheville Superfund site on Mills Gap Road has been a source of physical and social toxicity for the surrounding community.

Photo courtesy of Katie Damien

BY MAX HUNT mhunt@mountainx.com Three-letter acronyms are commonplace in modern English parlance, signifying anything from an airport destination to a sports team or a figure of speech.

But for folks living near Mills Gap Road in South Asheville, the letters “CTS” might evoke any number of things: grief, frustration, suspicion or even hope.

For the better part of three decades, neighbors, activists, local media, scientists and government officials have been embroiled in a heated debate over what to do about the dangerous levels of trichloroethylene, or TCE, emanating from the CTS of Asheville Superfund site — and who’s to blame for letting it go unaddressed for so long. Although the EPA recognizes TCE as “carcinogenic to humans,” it hasn’t been specifically proved that exposure to the toxic chemical caused the many health problems experienced by residents in the area.

In one sense, the community’s ongoing struggle is a model of grassroots civic engagement, as residents with varied backgrounds banded together to push 8

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for cleanup and accountability. Yet it’s also a cautionary tale of how a toxic mix of hazardous chemicals, government bureaucracy and differing priorities can tear a neighborhood apart.

With the Environmental Protection Agency finally taking steps aimed at eventually eradicating the source of the contamination, some key players hope the deep social divisions created by the CTS saga can finally begin to heal. Others, however, say the scars left by this divisive history will remain until justice is served for those who have suffered the most.

“What do you do as a citizen when you’ve said you’re worried about this thing and someone comes out, tests it and says, ‘You’re fine.’ You’ve already gone to the federal government — who else are you supposed to turn to?”

MOUNTAINX.COM

— Katie Damien

“SOMETHING WASN’T RIGHT” It began with a phone call. In 1990, Dave Ogren noticed that his friend and neighbor Larry Rice Sr. had missed several meetings of a community zoning committee they both served on.

“I ran into [Larry] one morning at the gas station,” Ogren recalled in a 2016 interview with Xpress. “He said he’d been sick, that something wasn’t right.

He said he thought it was their water, but he had no idea.”

Ogren’s concern deepened when, soon afterward, he was having some work done at Arden Electroplating (which operated out of the former CTS facility) and glanced out the back door.

“There were all these barrels — countless barrels — and this big pond that was blue-green in color and shimmering, no weeds growing through it,” remembered Ogren. “I got to the edge, where there was a fence between CTS and the property down the hill, and said, ‘By God, that’s Larry’s house down there.’ That was his problem!”

Ogren did what any concerned citizen might do: He called county, state and federal environmental authorities.

“I knew the place was for sale at the time and wanted to make sure that the old owner or somebody was going to clean it up before it got sold, and that would fix up Larry,” Ogren explained. “I thought, OK, problem solved: Everybody will show up and clean it up.”

POISONING THE WELL Most of the 57-acre site had been sold to a local partnership several years earlier. But despite Ogren’s efforts and subsequent tests that showed dangerously high levels of TCE and other contaminants in and around the CTS property, neither the EPA nor the state notified the Rices or other nearby residents about the contaminants they were consuming, bathing in and letting their children play in.

Fast-forward to 1999, when the Rices called the EPA to report a foul smell emanating from the spring that supplied their drinking water. Testing revealed TCE concentrations of 21,000 parts per billion — thousands of times higher than the limit considered safe.

Becky Robinson, a neighbor, tells a similar story. “The way it came to our attention was EPA came by, knocked on our door and told us they needed to sample our well,” she recalls. “They came back a couple days later and told us that our water was contaminated, that we couldn’t use it for bathing, drinking, washing clothes or anything.

They had found the contamination years before but just assumed everybody in this area was on city water.”

While the two families were quickly hooked up to city water lines, nothing was done to address the contaminants seeping from the former CTS property into the groundwater. And meanwhile, the local partnership had sold about 45 acres in 1997 to a developer who built the Southside Village subdivision.

WATERSHED MOMENT For years after that, little was done to address the groundwater contamination. The EPA did install a vapor extraction system in 2006, but it only addressed pollutants near the soil surface. The following year, however, Larry Rice’s cousin, Weaverville resident John Payne, reached out to a neighbor for help.

“He knew I had a chemistry background, so he asked me to go check out where his cousin lived,” says Barry Durand, a central figure in the early community response to CTS. Durand took several samples from surrounding streams to the Environmental Quality Institute at UNC Asheville for testing; 10 different known or suspected carcinogens were found, including TCE. Like Ogren before him, Durand sought help from the State Bureau of Investigation, but the SBI’s interest in the case quickly waned.

“Basically, they said they couldn’t do anything, because the statute of limitations had probably gone too far,” says Durand. SBI investigators did have a suggestion, however: “It was their recommendation that I get it published somewhere.”

So, in the spring of 2007, Durand contacted Mountain Xpress and began working with reporter Rebecca Bowe.

In July, Xpress published a lengthy story titled “Fail-Safe?” that explored the contamination issues around the site, the lack of government oversight and the subsequent development of Southside Village.

Durand calls the article a “watershed moment” in the long-running fight, galvanizing the community and sending environmental regulators scurrying to address the problem.

HERE COMES THE CAVALRY: Alerted to the Rice family’s predicament by his neighbor, John Payne, Weaverville resident and chemist Barry Durand, above, began taking samples from the waters flowing from the CTS site, which ultimately tested positive for 10 different contaminants, including TCE. Durand subsequently contacted the SBI and Mountain Xpress about his findings in 2007. Photo courtesy of Barry Durand E PLURIBUS UNUM

THE POLITICS OF ACTION

Despite the EPA’s continuing assurances that the situation was under control, Durand and others say little was being done to address groundwater contamination or hold CTS accountable for the mess. So in 2007, frustrated community members came together to begin monitoring the federal agency’s activities and demand a cleanup.

It was a heterogeneous group. Aaron Penland’s family had worked at the CTS plant for years prior to its closing in 1986; many of them later suffered from cancers he believes are linked to TCE exposure. Bob and Judy Selz, homeowners in Southside Estates (another nearby development), were appalled by the lack of information available about the contamination issues. Tate MacQueen, who would subsequently become a driving force in the group’s efforts, found out about the issue via a flyer left in his mailbox.

“We had a diverse background,” MacQueen recalls. “We had staunch conservatives who care about the environment; we had aggressive progressives; we had males and females, old and young.”

The common bond, adds Durand, was simple: “We’re all interested in our neighbors’ well-being.”

The community’s calls for action and frustration with the EPA’s slow response soon caught the ears of legislators across the political spectrum, from the local level all the way to Washington.

“We’ve had consistent involvement from Sen. [Richard] Burr, [Rep.] Heath Shuler’s office; [Sen.] Kay Hagan’s office, [Rep.] Mark Meadows,” says MacQueen, rattling off the names of past and present lawmakers like items on a dinner menu.

Pressuring elected officials is a key strategy for communities trying to get hazardous waste sites cleaned up, says hydrologist Frank Anastasi, who’s served as a technical adviser/community liaison for a host of Superfund sites, including CTS. “It takes citizens almost embarrassing elected officials into seeing that the bureaucrats aren’t doing what they’re supposed to,” Anastasi maintains. “When

“I almost want to tell somebody who’s new to this not to get involved. It’s too convoluted; it’s too intense.”

— Dr. Jeff Wilcox MOUNTAINX.COM

elected officials see that their constituents aren’t being treated or protected like they’re supposed to, they make the bureaucrats shape up.”

For former state Rep. and former Buncombe County Commissioner Tim Moffitt, the CTS issue literally hit close to home. “I’m in the 1-mile perimeter of the site,” says Moffitt, who, along with other former county commissioners and former county manager Wanda Greene, was instrumental in getting Buncombe County to install city water lines for residents within a mile of the CTS property, despite opposition from EPA officials, CTS and even some community members, who favored installing water filtration systems.

Alongside state Rep. Susan Fisher, a Democrat, the Republican Moffitt also spearheaded a select committee to investigate federal and state agencies’ handling of the site, catching the attention of national media outlets and further publicizing the issue.

By 2012, the EPA had officially added CTS of Asheville to its list of the most contaminated hazardous waste sites in the country. Moffitt credits community members with bringing the issue to the forefront, saying, “I was pleased to play a role in that, but it was a community effort, by far.”

SHINING A SPOTLIGHT Local media have also played a crucial role by providing consistent coverage of the issue, notes MacQueen.

In addition to reports by Xpress, the Asheville Citizen-Times and WLOS, the CTS site was the subject of the 2014 documentary My Toxic Backyard, by local filmmaker Katie Damien. But it was the residents, she stresses, who “just never quit. They never stopped trying to get the word out, trying to get people talking and thinking about it.”

Former WLOS investigative reporter Mike Mason, who produced an hourlong special in 2013 titled Buried Secrets, says the story was “one of the most important and troubling” of his 18-year career.

“This issue was like the movie Erin Brockovich on a smaller scale, but with the added government-corruption angle,” he says. As part of its investigation, WLOS leveraged the Freedom of Information Act to obtain 62,922 pages of documents, which Mason says “exposed major issues” in the EPA’s handling of the site.

The combination of well-timed media reports and dogged activism also prevented the site from being placed in the brownfields program, notes

CONTINUES ON PAGE 10 MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

9

N EWS

TAKING A STAND: As evidence of the extent and severity of the CTS of Asheville contamination issue continued to come to light, residents from the surrounding community, supported by friends and activists, increasingly called on the EPA to expedite cleanup efforts and hold CTS accountable. Photo courtesy of Katie Damien Durand, which would have capped the total amount that all responsible parties could be required to spend on a cleanup at $5 million. In addition, the move would have indemnified those companies from responsibility for any future issues related to the contamination.

“CTS’ name would be disconnected,” he says. “It’d be this nondescript Mills Gap Groundwater Contamination site,” and the responsibility for further remediation “would be put on the neighbors next door. But the original site wouldn’t be cleaned up, and we’d still be breathing this stuff.”

WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN? MacQueen, Durand and others see the EPA’s defensiveness and lack of transparency as nothing less than a criminal attempt to cover up past misdeeds.

“They have not held anyone accountable,” says MacQueen. “No demotions, no firings, no accountability or criminal charges. At the end of the day, this is an environmental justice issue: It’s part of what we fought for, and that remains without conclusion.”

Damien, meanwhile, says that while making her film, she saw an agency hamstrung by fiscal constraints and other legislative obstacles. Until 1995, the Superfund program was financed by taxes on petroleum products, hazardous chemicals and corporations that produced waste, according to the EPA’s website. Those moneys were used to remediate sites and go after polluters in court.

But in 1996, Congress rescinded the tax, choosing to support the program through allocations from the general revenue fund. The EPA has repeatedly asked Congress to reinstate the Superfund tax, but lobbyists for industrial interests have vehemently opposed the idea.

And whatever the reasons for the EPA’s lack of response, it fostered deep 10

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mistrust among residents, says Damien.

“What do you do as a citizen when you’ve said you’re worried about this thing and someone comes out, tests it and says, ‘You’re fine.’ You’ve already gone to the federal government — who else are you supposed to turn to?”

“Communities can be affected; I think we’re the model for it. Yes, you have interpersonal things that happen, but you have to work around them.”

— Barry Durand A FRACTURED FRONT Meanwhile, even as official investigations into the handling of the site were underway and residents were gearing up to battle CTS in court, cracks were beginning to show in the community’s united front.

“The vibe several years ago was tense,” remembers Mason, the former WLOS reporter. “The two [community action groups] were at odds. ... Most Southside Village residents wanted to hear nothing negative. Many residents felt like they had entered a rabbit hole that was 6 feet deep.”

According to MacQueen, “There were two fractures that left three pieces. The first fracture was instigated and implemented by the EPA talking to the [Southside Village] residents about what would happen to their property values if they were folded into the Superfund site.” Up until then, says MacQueen, those residents had mostly sided with the Mills Gap Road activists. Since then, they’ve tended to take a more hands-off approach, citing a 2015 letter from Region 4 Superfund Director Franklin Hill and periodic

MOUNTAINX.COM

test results to bolster their contention that their neighborhood is safe and property values are holding steady.

The second fracture, several residents say, occurred when members of the original community advisory group split off and formed a separate entity called Protecting Our Water and Environmental Resources.

Durand maintains that POWER’s softer stance toward the EPA weakened the original group’s ability to hold the federal agency’s feet to the fire.

POWER co-founder Lee Ann Smith says her group was formed in order to approach the CTS issues with a fresh outlook that has paid dividends on a number of fronts.

Jeff Wilcox, an associate professor of hydrology at UNCA who began regularly taking his classes out to study the CTS site in 2008, says he initially viewed the creation of a second group optimistically. “I thought, What’s the problem with the two groups trying two different tactics? Let’s surround them!”

But that optimism quickly dissipated.

“It ended up — because of the personality conflicts between the two groups and, maybe, the tactics used by both sides — becoming a pretty toxic thing in itself,” says Wilcox, who serves as a technical adviser to the residents, regardless of which group they’re affiliated with.

their ability to question the EPA’s actions. POWER, however, used the TAG money to hire Anastasi, who, like countless others involved with the CTS site, was puzzled by the EPA’s lack of action to address contaminants.

“We were told that we can’t push CTS too hard, because we only have a limited amount of money, and if we push them too hard, they might not agree to do anything,” Anastasi recalls.

“When we looked and said, ‘What are they actually doing that you’re afraid they’ll stop doing?’ there wasn’t a very good answer.”

Still, Anastasi says he was surprised by the depth of animosity between the two community groups.

“This is the only community I’m aware of where you had two sets of people that are kind of pitted against each other,” he says. “It’s almost like the Hatfields and McCoys. I understand it at CTS, though: It’s not a great situation for anybody.”

For his part, Anastasi says he’s here to help residents, regardless of which group they’re affiliated with.

“I don’t have a personal stake — I’m not a Hatfield or a McCoy. Anyone who wants to contact me and ask me anything about the site, I’ll be glad to give them my perspective and try to answer their questions.”

TAG OR GAG?

SIMMERING TENSIONS

A persistent sore spot between the two groups has been POWER’s acceptance of a $50,000 EPA technical assistance grant. Funded by what the agency calls “potentially responsible parties,” these grants enable communities to get help with interpreting site data and communicating with agency officials.

Members of the original community group say they turned down the technical assistance grant because of clauses that would have restricted

Relations among the various community factions have remained strained at best, fueled at times by outside instigation and sniping by community members.

“I think that everybody who’s been involved, including me, would do some things differently if given a chance,” says Wilcox. “It’s not been helpful to have a community group splinter and attack each other.”

In the ensuing years, the two groups have clashed over various issues, rang-

ing from personal grievances to differing interpretations of the EPA’s remediation proposals. In 2013, the acrimony had become so bitter that MacQueen and Smith resorted to a legal agreement that prohibits communication between them or any members of their respective families.

Both sides declined to discuss the issue, saying they have moved on.

Last winter, however, tensions bubbled to the surface when the North Carolina Wildlife Federation honored Smith with its Water Conservationist of the Year award. In its initial press release, the federation credited Smith with discovering the contamination and conducting the research on the site, with no mention of the work other community members had done.

Smith says she didn’t know she was getting an award, had nothing to do with the press release, and acknowledged in her acceptance speech that it was a community effort. The federation has since amended its description of Smith’s involvement, but Wilcox says the initial misattribution revived old grudges and distracted community members from the deeper issues they should be focusing on.

“Rather than ‘Hey, there’s finally going to be a cleanup; we just need to hash out access agreements,’ all anybody could talk about was this damn award,” says Wilcox. “I almost want to tell somebody who’s new to this not to get involved. It’s too convoluted; it’s too intense.”

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS Despite continuing community dissension, cleanup efforts have proceeded since the EPA and CTS agreed on an interim remedial strategy in 2016.

Contractors are currently installing an electrical resistance heating system that, beginning in May, will treat a roughly 1-acre area identified as the

source of the contamination. Treatment is expected to take 90-120 days. Next year, the EPA will employ a different technology — in situ chemical oxidation — on an additional 1.9 acres at the site (see “In Situ Remediation Could Revitalize Hazardous Waste Sites,” Feb. 23, 2017, Xpress).

EPA officials say the scope of the current cleanup efforts and the safeguards being put in place reflect community concerns and feedback. “Specifically, [that] hand-held vapor meters will be used to screen the air for volatile organic compounds, including TCE, around the drill rigs and the soil roll-off bins, as well as around an outer perimeter of the work zone, during installation ... and operation of the system,” Davina Marraccini, EPA public affairs specialist for Region 4 said in an email to Xpress.

Once these interim strategies have been completed and further testing is conducted, the EPA will explore a full remedial plan to address TCE that has leached into the fractured bedrock, agency officials say.

But however successful those efforts prove to be, residents suffering from serious health issues say the damage has already been done. Larry Rice Sr. has a brain tumor; his wife, Dot, their children and grandchildren have all dealt with various cancers and other maladies, as have members of the Robinson family and other community members (see “Toxic Legacy: CTS Site Breeds Heartache For Residents,” June 1, 2016, Xpress).

Despite residents’ suspicions that these health maladies were caused by exposure to the CTS site contamination, “proving such causality is extremely difficult,” wrote Lenny Siegel, Executive Director of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight, in a 2009 report on the CTS of Asheville site.

“It’s awesome that they’re going to pull out or mitigate the contamination that’s sitting above that bedrock, but there’s nothing they’re ever going to be able to do to bring back what’s been released,”

says MacQueen. “It’s like saying, after a football game, ‘We lost, but we gained four yards! Go, team.’”

LESSONS LEARNED What lessons have community members drawn from this long, complicated history? As with so much else surrounding the CTS site, the answer depends on whom you ask.

The EPA says its experiences with the site informed revisions to the agency’s public-engagement policies. “These guidelines have greatly improved EPA’s communication with property owners/tenants throughout the Southeast whose homes are sampled as part of the Superfund investigation process,” Marraccini wrote.

Over the years, there have been several investigations by the EPA’s Office of Inspector General that criticized the agency’s handling of the case, cited progress in some areas and pointed out where improvement was still needed.

According to MacQueen, the inspector general launched a criminal investigation in April 2012 that was still ongoing when he met with investigators in 2013 and again in 2015. Asked about the current status, Jennifer Kaplan, deputy assistant inspector general for congressional and public affairs, said the investigation was officially closed in March 2017. She was unable to provide any further information.

Durand sees the battle over the site as emblematic of a bigger issue: the need for communities to actively demand a cleanup rather than just trusting that government agencies will take care of things. “Communities can be affected; I think we’re the model for it,” he says. “Yes, you have interpersonal things that happen, but you have to work around them.”

Smith, meanwhile, says she hopes CTS of Asheville will serve as a warning to other communities “so one day

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pollution will cease, and no one will get sick from drinking their water or playing in their own backyard.”

And despite all the setbacks, infighting and frustrations, stresses MacQueen, one key factor has remained central to his group’s continuing struggle. “The victims who are actually impacted have been the source of our inspiration, our strength, our energy and dedication,” he points out. “With Dot Rice and her family, and now Becky and her family — we’ve been there for each other.” X

Stay informed Resources for those interested in learning more about the CTS of Asheville Superfund site, as well as updates on remediation activities, include: EPA REGION 4 SITE PROFILE http://avl.mx/4t3

INFORMATIONAL WEBSITE MAINTAINED BY CTS CORP. ctsofasheville.com

COMMUNITY ADVISORY GROUP RESOURCES CTS Citizen’s Monitoring Council Contact Glen Horecky at geh4@msn.com POWER Action Group poweractiongroup.org facebook.com/pg/CTSAsheville/

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

11

B U N C O M B E B E AT

Council boots city manager, announces police reforms

CHANGE-UP: After announcing it would replace longtime city manager Gary Jackson, City Council discussed a list of police reforms during a work session on March 20. Photo by David Floyd After nearly 13 years occupying the city manager’s office on the second floor of Asheville City Hall — with only a wall separating his domain from Council Chambers — Gary Jackson is abruptly out of a job. That unexpected announcement came at the start of a City Council work session on March 20.

“We appreciate the many successes Gary has brought to the city in his 13 years here,” said Mayor Esther Manheimer in a prepared statement, “but we believe that making this change now is in the city’s and his best interest.”

Assistant City Manager Cathy Ball assumed Jackson’s role as of March 21. Vice Mayor Gwen Wisler will lead the transition planning for a new city manager, a task she will perform for free in addition to her regular duties on Council, for which she earns a part-time salary.

The decision comes about three weeks after leaked body camera footage showed a former Asheville police officer, Chris Hickman (who is white), beating a black city resident, Johnnie Rush, and almost a week after Jackson announced several changes to management assignments within city government.

Jackson left his post about nine months earlier than expected, having announced on Feb. 13 his intent to retire at the end of 2018. In a statement to local media on the morning after the Council work session, Manheimer reiterated that the decision was in the city’s best interest and pointed to a state statute that makes clear the city manager serves at City Council’s pleasure. Jackson’s 12

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

contract requires that he be paid salary and benefits for 180 days after termination unless he starts working for another employer.

MAKING CHANGES The announcement was a stunning preamble to an afternoon work session during which Council approved several steps that aim to improve police accountability in Asheville.

Council pledged to enhance efforts to recruit minority officers for the Asheville Police Department and voted to move forward with a thirdparty review of the agency. “The concept here is to have an outside entity come in and do a review around the incident involving Mr. Rush and former officer Hickman and to give us a set of recommendations … about what we’re not doing, what we need to be doing to help us as a body work to help make our police department a better department,” Manheimer said.

Manheimer said the U.S. Department of Justice is scrutinizing the incident. Since the city doesn’t know the precise scope of the DOJ investigation, the mayor said, it’s possible that a third-party review will be more useful for the city’s purposes.

Assistant City Attorney John Maddux said the day after the work session that the DOJ is investigating whether Hickman deprived Rush of his rights “under the color of law,” which is a federal crime.

Historically, added Council member Julie Mayfield, there’s been a disconnect between policy that City Council sets and policy the Asheville

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Police Department implements. “I think that’s been a point of frustration for a number of us, so I would encourage that … either we look at that separately or that this third party could maybe share with us some ways that other cities have handled that,” Mayfield said.

According to Manheimer, the city has already implemented several changes since the incident came to light. All excessive use-of-force complaints must now be investigated criminally from the outset, she said, and Council has also asked for a change in administrative procedures to ensure that elected officials are notified of any excessive use-of-force occurrence. Council wants the police department to come up with a procedure to notify the district attorney and N.C. State Bureau of Investigation of these incidents.

FORCING THE ISSUE On the recommendation of the Blue Ribbon Committee, which was created in June 2017 to advise Council on the creation of a new advisory board focused on human relations, the city is pushing forward to create a Human Relations Commission. Wisler said the commission could start meeting as early as June. Council discussed having the HRC or a subcommittee of the HRC review all APD use-of-force incidents.

Manheimer said there’s already a system in place at the APD in which use-of-force incidents must be reported and reviewed by a superior officer. This new commission, however, would act as an extra set of eyes.

“The number of use-of-force incidents in APD has dropped dramatically, but this would be a way to have an external check on the number — how often, what the circumstances are, that kind of thing,” Manheimer said.

State law would prevent the HRC from reviewing body camera footage, but Manheimer said commission members would hear a summary of the incident with the names redacted.

STAFFING UP The city is looking at adding more staff to address its equity goals.

According to Dawa Hitch, director of communications and public engagement, the city’s equity and inclusion department consists of a manager and the efforts of other employees spread out across city departments. Officials have suggested empowering equity and inclusion staff to review APD body camera footage, but it’s unclear whether this would be allowed under state law.

Council tasked city staff with exploring the possibility of funding an outside legal position to advocate for those who bring complaints against law enforcement.

“Right now you can walk into the police department and file a complaint against law enforcement, but it can be a complicated process for a complainant,” Manheimer said.

“Especially with the body cam laws layered on top of it.”

Manheimer said she has talked to Brownie Newman, chair of

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the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, about funding the position in cooperation with the county, a proposal Council member Vijay Kapoor endorsed.

“I think this makes a whole lot of sense to go in with the county on this,” Kapoor said. “We heard from them at our joint meeting. … I doubt that they would want to be on the receiving end of something that we

were on. So I would assume that the county, particularly those folks who were critical of the city’s responses here, would be willing to do this.”

Council asked staff to review the city’s personnel policies, as well as the rules that govern Asheville’s Civil Service Board, a five-member committee with the power to reinstate city employees, including police officers, who have been fired.

“What we’re trying to do is find that space of protecting employees so that they’re not being unfairly disciplined or terminated or whatever,” Wisler said, “but also making sure that the management group can take definitive action in a timely manner to protect the interests of our citizens.”

— David Floyd X

Asheville seeks ways to close budget gap

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The city will need to budget enough money for employee salaries, Whitehorn said, to ensure that the city remains an “employer of choice.”

“We’ve resolved many of the issues we had,” Whitehorn said, “but we did for several years have significant turnover in a number of departments as the economy got better and suddenly we couldn’t compete with private employers anymore.”

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LOOKING FORWARD: City expenditures are projected to outpace revenues over the next five years. Graphic courtesy of the city of Asheville With city expenditures projected to outstrip revenues over the next few years, Asheville is looking to plug a $3.2 million gap in its fiscal year 2018-19 budget.

In the second part of its March 20 work session, City Council heard a presentation from Chief Financial Officer Barbara Whitehorn on the 2018-19 budget, which will go into effect July 1.

Whitehorn said the city has been able to balance its budget in previous years despite being stuck in a constant catch-up cycle — regularly cutting expenditures to match revenues.

She showed Council a forecast that demonstrated how the gap between funds coming in and money going out is expected to widen over the next five years. “I don’t think these are numbers that should alarm anyone in the long term,” she reassured Council. “This is a very normal city thing, and it’s a little bit more accentuated in Asheville because we have more limited revenue streams than some other cities.”

MONEY IN, MONEY OUT Asheville has seen a 3 percent increase in property tax revenues —

which Whitehorn said comes from actual growth, not property revaluation — a 6 percent increase in revenues from sales and other taxes, and a 10 percent decrease in revenue from licenses and permits, which Whitehorn said is caused by permit revenue leveling off. “We had some major, major projects that brought in tremendous amounts of money with big fees, but you reach a tipping point where you can’t continue to have the big projects, but we’re still seeing growth,” she said.

Before factoring in about $2.7 million in cuts that have been identified by city staff, which come in part from one-time savings and cuts identified in specific departments after analyzing spending trends, Whitehorn said Asheville has a gap of about $5.8 million.

Some of the projected FY18-19 spending that would cause expenditures to grow include restoring onetime reductions that were made to balance previous budgets, a full year of expenses for the new downtown policing unit, an increased contribution by the city to employee health insurance, and added benefits for law enforcement to retain officers that are trained in Asheville.

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Vice Mayor Gwen Wisler added that the shortfall Council was looking at didn’t include any of the enhancements Council members suggested during their Feb. 15-16 planning retreat (See “Future Focus,” Feb. 28, Xpress). “$3.2 (million) is not the end of the story,” she said.

Council member Keith Young also pointed out that the budget could have an impact on the additional policing policies Council considered during the first part of the work session (See “Council boots city manager, announces police reforms”).

Council members also asked Whitehorn about the city’s fund balance, a portion of the city’s revenue held in reserve for unanticipated expenses or revenue shortfalls. As a policy, she said, the city keeps its fund balance at or above 15 percent of its operating budget. Whitehorn estimated the current fund balance at 16.5 percent. Whitehorn warned that spending a varying amount from the fund balance every year could have an impact on the ratings given by agencies like Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, both of which recently gave the city triple A ratings.

“The challenge is not to have [the fund balance] go 16, 17, 15; 16, 17, 15,” Whitehorn said. “They just kind of see that as you’re funding your operations with your one-time money

CONTINUES ON PAGE 14

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N EWS …. That really says you’re not aligning your revenue with your expenditures. You’re just hoping your savings account will cover it.”

Whitehorn acknowledged that $3.2 million seems like a large number but said that the quantity is relatively small in the context of the city budget, which she estimated at $175 million to $180 million.

“This is our hurdle this year,” Whitehorn said.

Although dates are subject to change, City Council hopes to hold another budget work session on Tuesday, April 10, before making final decisions for the proposed budget on Friday, April 20. The proposed budget will be presented at the Tuesday, May 15 Council meeting, followed by a public hearing on Tuesday, May 22. The budget is scheduled to be adopted at a Council meeting on Tuesday, June 12.

— David Floyd X

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: Organized by A.C. Reynolds High School seniors Aryelle Jacobsen and Jessica Villatoro (holding megaphone), Asheville’s March for Our Lives brought thousands downtown to remember victims of the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Lakeland, Fla., and to call for increased gun control. The March 24 event was one of many across the United States. Photo by Emma Grace Moon

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by Max Hunt | mhunt@mountainx.com BUILDING OUR CITY SPEAKER SERIES RETURNS APRIL 3 The Asheville Downtown Association’s Building Our City Speaker Series will present its next installment, on Tuesday, April 3, at the Center For Craft, Creativity & Design, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

The event will feature a presentation by Hunter Franks from the League of Creative Interventionists.

Franks will discuss how LCI works with communities to support public art and cultural programs that help tell the story of communities, establish inclusive spaces and help develop new leaders.

The event will also feature information on the Asheville Design Center’s work with the Center for Craft to facilitate a visioning process for the city block encompassing part of Broadway, North Lexington Avenue, Walnut Street and Woodfin Street in Asheville, ahead of a special meeting on May 5.

The April 3 event is free to attend. Registration is required.

Registration & more info: avl.mx/4sy HEARING LOSS ASSOCIATION HOSTS SPEECH THERAPY PRESENTATION The Asheville Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America will host a meeting centered on the role of speech therapy in dealing with hearing loss on Wednesday, April 4, beginning at 10:15 a.m. at the Seymour Auditorium, 68 Sweeten Creek Road, Asheville.

Sharon Everett from Asheville Speech Therapy will speak on how speech therapy can help those dealing with a loss of hearing. Information and connection to community resources will also be available.

The event is free and open to the public. The event will be canceled in the case of inclement weather.

More info: nchearingloss. org/asheville.htm or email Akarson57@gmail.com EVERGREEN PAPER MILL, BAXTER HEALTHCARE CITED FOR POLLUTANT RELEASES Canton’s Evergreen Paper Mill and Marion’s Baxter Healthcare Corp. are among North Carolina companies cited for repeatedly exceeding permitted pollutant release limits into nearby water ways in a new report by the Frontier Group and the Environment North Carolina Research and Policy Center.

The report, titled “Troubled Waters,” documents the number of times industrial operations across the United States violated permit limits for releasing pollutants into nearby water ways between January 2016 and September 2017.

According to the report, Evergreen was cited on six different occasions for exceeding its permit release limits of pollutants into the Pigeon River.

Baxter Healthcare, meanwhile, was cited five separate times for its excessive releases into the North Fork of the Catawba River, including three instances where it exceeded its limits by 500 percent.

More info: avl.mx/4sz JB MEDIA GROUP BECOMES CERTIFIED B CORP. Local digital marketing agency JB Media Group has become a certified B Corporation.

The company, which specializes in marketing strategies, SEO, content writing, public relations and related marketing endeavors, was recog-

nized by the nonprofit B Lab for its commitment to fair business practices, accountability and transparency.

JB Media is the seventh certified B Corp in Asheville and one of 42 certified companies in North Carolina. Certified B Corps are legally required to consider the impacts of business decisions on all stakeholders, including employees, suppliers and the communities they serve.

More info: avl.mx/4t0 ASHEVILLE CITY SCHOOLS REDUCE ECONOMIC, RACIAL SEGREGATION A recently released report from the N.C. Justice Center indicates that Asheville City Schools have reduced segregation within the system over the past decade.

The report, which ranges between 2007 and 2017, notes that the Asheville system went from one racially isolated school (75 percent or more students identified as people of color) and two economically isolated schools (75 percent of students qualify for free or reduced lunch) to none.

Buncombe County Schools, meanwhile, reported no racially isolated schools, but saw economically isolated schools increase from three to four over the same time period.

Statewide, the report notes an increase of racially and economically isolated schools. The report notes that demographic shifts, residential segregation, changing political attitudes and the rise of charter schools have contributed to the increase in school segregation.

More info: avl. mx/4t1 X

Spring 2018

ASHEVILLE ARCHIVES

Nonprofit issue

by Thomas Calder | tcalder@mountainx.com

Books from New Zealand The Asheville library opens, 1879

MEMBERS ONLY: Asheville’s first library opened in 1879 on the third floor of the former courthouse on Public Square (present-day Pack Square). The library was membershipbased, with an annual fee of $1.50. Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Collection, Pack Memorial Public Library, Asheville

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plan. It involved an annual membership fee of $1.50. Hardy wrote, “Thus every annual member will have the opportunity to read, during the year, as many books as he may desire, for about the price he would pay for one volume at a retail bookstore.”

In his appeal, Hardy went on to implore residents to donate books, periodicals and money to the institution. He also promoted the free reading room in connection with the library, located on the third floor of the courthouse. In addition to these points, Hardy highlighted the benefits libraries had brought to other parts of the country: “The association finds ample reason for encouragement in the history of similar undertakings elsewhere. Free town libraries, supported by municipal taxation, have, as a class, existed in this country only during the last twenty-five or thirty years. They are, generally speaking, the outgrowth of such libraries as it is proposed now to inaugurate, and it is a very significant act, shown by an official investigation, that in towns where such free libraries exist, public opinion is almost unanimous — in a large majority of the towns perfectly unanimous — in their favor. No instance appears of a town, once having undertaken the support of such an institution, ceasing to do so.”

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In 1899, professor J.D. Eggleston Jr., the superintendent of the city schools of Asheville, wrote a brief history of the community’s library. The article first ran in the April edition of the North Carolina Journal of Education.

That same month, The Asheville Daily Citizen republished the piece in its April 22 issue. Eggleston’s chronology began: “The Asheville library, now handsomely endowed and open to the white people of the city, had its small beginning as far back as January, 1879, when Asheville was a mountain village of not more than 2500 inhabitants. The idea of founding the library originated with a reading club, or circle, and as is almost always necessary, most of the labor of canvassing and devising ways of raising money for buying books and paying running expenses was borne by a few enthusiastic friends of the cause.

Misses Anna Aston, Fannie L. Patton and Anna Chunn, all known in Asheville and throughout North Carolina for their interest and leadership in many noble enterprises, were the leading spirits.”

Advocacy remained strong throughout the library’s inaugural year. On Feb. 20, 1879, the North Carolina Citizen included an appeal to the public, written by J.G. Hardy, president of the Asheville Library Association.

In it, Hardy outlined several points, including the institution’s financial

Three months later, Asheville’s first library opened on the third floor of the courthouse. The May 8 issue of the North Carolina Citizen reported that “[s]peeches, songs and refreshments” were in order for the May 9 opening night celebration. The article went on to state that roughly 700 volumes lined its shelves. “Pretty good, we say, for the first four months effort,” the paper added.

Throughout the year, the North Carolina Citizen kept readers updated on new additions to the library’s collection. Donors were locally, regionally and, in one case, internationally based. J. Evan Brown contributed to this final category. According to the newspaper’s Oct. 23, 1879, publication, the former Asheville resident had relocated to New Zealand where “[h]e has acquired … a fortune, and has occupied for a long time in that English colony an enviable position in social and political life.”

The article included a recent letter

by Brown, sent to the library’s president. In it, Brown wrote: “Dear Sir: — On perusing a late number of the North Carolina Citizen I was gratified to learn that a free Library Association was established at Asheville and under the impression that not a few of the frequenters of the library would be likely to take some interest in the far distant New Zealand, I have taken the liberty of forwarding to yourself, as president of the Association, a series of Geological Reports and catalogues of New Zealand crustacea, land and marine molusca, fishes, echinordermata and birds; also the Handbook of the Colony.”

On Dec. 11, 1879, the North Carolina Citizen reported on the library’s ongoing success. It stated: “The rapidity with which this institution has become established in our midst is a matter of congratulation to its many friends, and a matter of just pride to those who have had it in charge, and who have engineered it from its infancy to its present substantial footing. With less than a year’s effort, there is now in the Library more than 1000 volumes. …

The first year of the Association will end in January. Let a-many of our people as can take a membership during 1880, in order that those having the matter in charge may be enabled to add materially to the value of the Library during 1880.”

Editor’s note: Peculiarities of spelling and punctuation are preserved from the original documents. X

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Held at The Mothlight, 701 Haywood Road LLOYD’S LARGE TIME thelloydjohnsonfoundation.org • TH (3/29), 8pm Proceeds from this live music event featuring Jim Lauderdale and other local musicians benefit the Lloyd Johnson Foundation.

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LENOIR RHYNE CENTER FOR GRADUATE STUDIES 36 Montford Ave., 828-778-1874 • WE (3/28), 3-6pm "Career Fest 2018," job fair featuing 50 local businesses in a variety of fields. Free.

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CLASSES AT VILLAGERS (PD.) • Harvesting Water: Springs, Wells, Rain Barrels, etc, Wednesday, April 4. 6:30-8pm. $1530. • Old Fashioned Milk Paint. Sunday, April 8.

5:30-8:30pm. $20-35.

Registration/information: www.forvillagers.com COUGHING, SNEEZING AND WHEEZING? (PD.) Want an Allergy-Busting, Anti-Inflammatory Detox? No more sinus pain, irritated eyes, runny nose! Join the Spring Essential Cleanse, April 3rd.

828-620-1188, www.

WhiteWillowWellness. com.

EMPYREAN ARTS CLASSES (PD.) Intro to Sultry Pole on Sundays 6:15pm. Beginning Pole on Sundays 3:30pm, Mondays 5:15pm, and Thursdays 8:00pm. Floor Theory Dance on Wednesdays 7:30pm.

Aerial Conditioning on Thursdays 1:00pm.

Flexibility on Tuesdays 7:30pm and Thursdays 2:15pm.

EMPYREANARTS.ORG. 828.782.3321.

ASHEVILLE ROTARY CLUB rotaryasheville.org • THURSDAYS, noon1:30pm - General meeting. Free. Held at Renaissance Asheville Hotel, 31 Woodfin St. Asheville

MOUNTAINX.COM

NORTH ASHEVILLE RECREATION CENTER 37 E. Larchmont Road • TUESDAYS until (5/15), 7-8pm - Peace Education Program, ten-week course of self-discovery based on work by Prem Rawat.

Free.

HAPPY 17: Tranzmission celebrates 17 years of education, advocacy and support to improve the lives of transgender, gender-variant, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming individuals with a pair of weekend events. On Saturday, March 31, at 7 p.m., art by local transgender, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming artists will be showcased at the Tranzmission offices in the WNC Community Center. The exhibit’s final night coincides with the ninth International Transgender Day of Visibility. $5-25 suggested donation to benefit the artists — and Tranzmission at the artists’ discretion — but no one will be turned away. (p. 42) The festivities continue the following night at 6 at the Crow & Quill with Trans Monologues, in which community storytellers will share prepared pieces about their journeys and experiences.

Donations will be accepted at the door. For more information, visit tranzmission.org. (p. 17) ASHEVILLE SUBMARINE VETERANS ussashevillebase.com, ecipox@charter.net • 1st TUESDAYS, 6-7pm - Social meeting for U.S. Navy submarine veterans.

Free to attend. Held at Ryan's Steakhouse, 1000 Brevard Road BLUE RIDGE TOASTMASTERS CLUB blueridgetoastmasters. com/membersarea/, fearless@ blueridgetoastmasters.org • MONDAYS, 12:151:30pm - Learn-by-doing workshop in which participants hone their speaking and leadership skills in a supportive atmosphere.

Free. Held at Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, 36 Montford Ave. BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • Through TU (4/17), 10am-4pm - Free tax preparation for taxpayers with low and moderate income.

Mondays & Wednesdays at Pack Memorial Library. Tuesdays at West Asheville Library.

Thursdays at Weaverville Library. Free.

• MO (4/2), 10am-noon - Itch to Stitch, casual knitting and needlework group for all skill levels.

Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. • TUESDAYS (4/3) until (4/24) - Computer class series for beginners.

Registration required.

Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. EVENTS AT MARS HILL UNIVERSITY mhu.edu • Through SU (5/27) Understanding our Past, Shaping our Future, interactive exhibition featuring words, text and artifacts regarding Cherokee language and culture.

Free to attend. Held at Rural Heritage Museum at Mars Hill, 100 Athletic St., Mars Hill GROVEWOOD VILLAGE 111 Grovewood Road, 828-253-7651, grovewood.com • WE (4/4) through SA (4/7), 1pm - Guided tours of historic Grovewood Village, weaving and woodworking complex.

Free to attend.

HENDERSONVILLE HISTORIC COURTHOUSE SQUARE 1 Historic Courthouse Square, Hendersonville, 828-697-4809 • FR (3/30), 7pm - “Vigil for Hope,” event sponsored by HopeRX to remember those lost and to honor anyone who may be impacted by substance abuse or addiction. Candles provided and participants can bring photos of their loved ones. Free.

LAUREL CHAPTER OF THE EMBROIDERERS' GUILD OF AMERICA 828-686-8298, egacarolinas.org • TH (4/5), 10am - General meeting and class to learn how to make a biscornu pin cushion. Free. Held at Cummings United Methodist Church, 3 Banner Farm Road, Horse Shoe N.C. ARBORETUM 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way, 828-665-2492, ncarboretum.org • Through SU (5/6) Roots of Wisdom: Native Knowledge, Shared Wisdom, exhibition showcasing the relationship between indigenous peoples and cutting-edge

TRANZMISSION PRISON PROJECT tranzmissionprisonproject.yolasite.com • Fourth THURSDAYS, 6-9pm - Monthly meeting to prepare packages of books and zines for mailing to prisons across the U.S. Free to attend. Held at Firestorm Cafe and Books, 610 Haywood Road

ONTRACK WNC 50 S. French Broad Ave., 828-255-5166, ontrackwnc.org • MO (4/2), noon1:30pm - "Introduction to Homebuying," class.

Free.

• MO (4/2), 5:30-7pm "Budgeting and Debt," class. Registration required. Free.

• THURSDAYS (4/5) through (6/14), noon1:30pm - Six-part "Women's Money Club," class series.

Free.

VETERANS FOR PEACE 828-490-1872, VFP099.org • TUESDAYS, 5pm Weekly peace vigil.

Free. Held at Vance Monument, 1 Pack Square

SHOWING UP FOR RACIAL JUSTICE showingupforracialjustice.org • TUESDAYS, 10amnoon - Educating and organizing white people for racial justice.

Free to attend. Held at Firestorm Cafe and Books, 610 Haywood Road

ASHEVILLE DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION 828-251-9973, ashevilledowntown. org • SA (3/31), 2-5pm “Easter on the Green,” age-specific Easter egg hunts, bouncy houses and family-friendly activities. See website for full schedule. Free to attend. Held at Pack Square Park, 121 College St.

THE CENTER FOR CRAFT, CREATIVITY AND DESIGN 67 Broadway, 828-785-1357, craftcreativitydesign. org/ • TU (4/3), 5:307pm - "Building our City," artist Hunter Franks shares how the League of Creative Interventionists works with communities to create public art and cultural programs, empathetic spaces and leaders. Free.

TRANZMISSION Tranzmission.org, Info@Tranzmission.org • SU (4/1), 6pm "Trans Monologues," Tranzmission anniversary storytelling event.

Admission by donation.

Held at Crow & Quill, 106 N. Lexington Ave.

DANCE For dance related events see our dance section in the A&E calendar on p. 42

EASTER EVENTS

BIG IVY COMMUNITY CENTER 540 Dillingham Road, Barnardsville, 828-626-3438 • SA (3/31), 10am Easter egg hunt for kids. Free.

CARRY YOUR CROSS 5K RUN OR WALK carryyourcross5k.org • SA (3/31), 9am Proceeds from the Carry Your Cross 5k Run or Walk benefit Western Carolina Rescue Ministries. $30/$25 advance. Held at Pole Creek Baptist Church, 96 Snow Hill Church Road, Candler CHIMNEY ROCK STATE PARK 431 Main St., Chimney Rock, 828-625-9611, chimneyrockpark.com

• SU (4/1), 6am - Easter sunrise non-denominational service with song, scripture and spiritual music.

Must arrive before 6am.

Guests can stay in the park all day. Free.

EASTER HAT PARADE • SA (3/31), 10am-3pm - Easter hat parade with face painting, Easter egg hunts and family-friendly activities. Parade at 2pm.

Free. Held in Downtown Dillsboro EDGEWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH 61 Moody Ave., Candler • SA (3/31), noon - Easter egg hunt and hot dog cookout. Free.

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UCC OF HENDERSONVILLE 1735 5th Ave. W., Hendersonville,

828-692-8630, fcchendersonville.org • TH (3/29), 7pm - Maundy Thursday, Tennebrae shared worship and communion service. Free.

• SU (4/1), 7am - Easter sunrise service with Henderson county churches united. Free. Carpool at 6:30am from First Congregational Church.

Held at Jump Off Rock,

433 Laurel Park Highway, Laurel Park

event with crafts and games. Free.

GROCE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 954 Tunnel Road, 828-298-6195, groceumc.org • TH (3/29), 5-6:15pm “Living Last Supper,” free community meal with the Welcome Table. Free.

• SA (3/31), 2-4pm - Easter egg hunt and spring fling

LAKE JUNALUSKA CONFERENCE & RETREAT CENTER 91 North Lakeshore Drive Lake Junaluska, 828-452-2881, lakejunaluska.com • SU (4/1), 7am - Easter sunrise Christian service. Free. Held at the Amphitheater near the cross.

• SA (3/31), 11:30am12:30pm - Easter egg hunt for children ages 12 and under. Free. Held outdoors near Stuart Auditorium.

RAINBOW COMMUNITY CENTER 60 State St. • SA (3/31), 10:30am-noon - West Asheville Easter egg hunt and activities for children. Registration required at 10:30am. Free.

UNITY OF THE BLUE RIDGE • SU (4/1), 7am - Outdoor Easter sunrise service.

Free. Held at the French Broad Overlook, Blue Ridge Parkway, off Brevard Road by the Arboretum WESTERN CAROLINA RESCUE MINISTRIES 225 Patton Ave. • FR (3/30), 4-5:30pm Easter banquet for those in need. Free.

MOUNTAINX.COM

FOOD & BEER ASHEVILLE GREEN OPPORTUNITIES 828-398-4158, greenopportunities.org • FR (3/30), 5:30-8pm "Kitchen Ready Showcase Meal," three-course seated meal featuring middle eastern-inspired dishes prepared by students in the Kitchen Ready program. $10. Held at Arthur

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

17

C O N S C I O U S PA R T Y

by Edwin Arnaudin | earnaudin@mountainx.com

Lloyd’s Large Time

COM M U N I TY CA LEN DA R

R. Edington Education and Career Center, 133 Livingston St.

FESTIVALS ARTS & SCIENCE FESTIVAL artsandsciencefestival. com • SA (3/31), noon-6pm Asheville Arts and Science Festival, family-friendly indoor and outdoor event with activities focused on the arts and science.

Event includes live music, puppets, art and craft activities, and booths from local art and science organizations. Free to attend. Held at Salvage Station, 468 Riverside Drive

GOVERNMENT & POLITICS

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: The late Lloyd Johnson, left, was a beloved figure in the local music scene and inspired his son Steve, right, to pursue a career in the industry. The Lloyd Johnson Foundation carries on its namesake’s legacy and holds a benefit concert March 29 at Isis Music Hall. Photo by Garrett Woodward WHAT: A concert to benefit the Lloyd Johnson Foundation WHEN: Thursday, March 29, 8 p.m.

WHERE: Isis Music Hall, 701 Haywood Rd. WHY: Buncombe County native Lloyd Johnson performed in multiple bluegrass bands, including the Dixie Grass Band, but it was his passionate support of fellow musicians that set him apart in the community.

“My dad was a bit of character on the music scene in Western North Carolina,” says Steve Johnson. “He was close friends with many of the musicians in our area.”

Lloyd’s love of bluegrass also took him across the country and allowed him to forge lasting bonds with legends like Wayne Lewis, Bill Monroe and Don Reno. After Lloyd’s death in June 2017, the Lloyd Johnson Foundation was established “to provide education and career advancement opportunities to grow and nurture the musical spirit of Western North Carolina.”

On Thursday, March 29, at Isis Music Hall, the foundation presents Lloyd’s Large Time, a fundraiser to achieve those goals. Americana stalwart Jim Lauderdale will lead the event and share the stage with Sarah Burton, Si Kahn, Mark Bumgarner & Friends and 18

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, as well as some surprise special guests.

The artist relations manager for Wilkes Community College/MerleFest, a co-host of MerleFest Radio Hour and a musician himself, Steve says his father “loved going to concerts at the Isis” and hopes the local music community will come out to support Lloyd’s legacy.

One of the fledgling nonprofit’s first endeavors will be serving as the primary sponsor of the band competition at MerleFest 2018, which Lloyd enjoyed attending each year and and where he looked forward to discovering new bands. The contest highlights local, national and international artists, and the winner earns a prime-time performance slot. The foundation is also establishing a memorial scholarship fund to help local artists further their education.

“My father introduced me to several different bluegrass musicians as I was growing up and that really sparked my interest in music,” Steve says. “We hope that this foundation can continue that same tradition of supporting people who are interested in pursuing a formal career in the music industry.”

Lloyd’s Large Time takes place Thursday, March 29, at 8 p.m. at Isis Music Hall. $20 advance/$25 day of show. isisasheville.com X

MOUNTAINX.COM

ASHEVILLE ANARCHIST RAD FAIR facebook.com/ AvlRadFair, avlradfair@riseup.net • SU (4/1), noon-3pm Monthly gathering with grassroots activists and organizations working towards liberation on the basis of mutual aid, horizontalism, direct action and autonomy. Free.

Held at Carrier Park, 220 Amboy Road CITY OF ASHEVILLE 828-251-1122, ashevillenc.gov • 1st WEDNESDAYS, 5pm - Citizens-Police Advisory Committee, meeting. Free. Meets in the 1st Floor Conference Room at Public Works Building, 161 S. Charlotte St. HENDERSON COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY 828-692-6424, myhcdp.com/ • SA (3/31), 10am-1pm - Henderson county democratic county convention with speech

by NC Supreme Court Judge Michael Morgan.

Registration at 9am.

Free. Held at West Henderson High School, 3600 Haywood Road, Mountain Home HENDERSON COUNTY LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS lwvhcnc.org

• TH (3/29), 11:30am1pm - Lunch & Learn: "Education Matters," presentation and discussion led by Dr. Jan King, assistant superintendent for Henderson County Public Schools, and Rick Wood, vice-chair of the Henderson County Board of Education. Bring your own lunch or purchase one. Free to attend.

Held at Hendersonville Community Co-Op, 60 S Charleston Lane, Hendersonville INDIVISIBLE COMMON GROUND-WNC Indivisible-sylva.com • 1st WEDNESDAYS, 6:30-8pm -General meeting. Free. Held at St. David's Episcopal Church, 286 Forest Hills Road, Sylva

KIDS For Easter related events see the Easter section on p. 17 APPLE VALLEY MODEL RAILROAD & MUSEUM 650 Maple St, Hendersonville, AVMRC.com • WEDNESDAYS, 1-3pm & SATURDAYS, 10am2pm - Open house featuring operating model trains and historic memorabilia. Free.

ASHEVILLE YOUTHSAILING CLUB ashevilleyouthsailing.org • Through SU (4/15) Applications accepted for the Asheville Youth Sailing Club. See website for full guidelines.

BARNES AND NOBLE BOOKSELLERS ASHEVILLE MALL 3 S. Tunnel Road, 828-296-7335 • SA (3/31), 11am - Story time featuring the book, Duckling Gets a Cookie.

For ages 3-8. Free to attend.

BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • LAST WEDNESDAYS - Teen Dungeons and Dragons for ages 12 and up. Registration required: 828-250-4720. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. • MO (4/2) through MO (4/30) - "Story Book Characters on

by Abigail Griffin

Parade," exhibition of handmade dolls inspired by children's book characters. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. • MONDAYS, 10:30am - "Mother Goose Time," storytime for 4-18 month olds. Free. Held at Skyland/South Buncombe Library, 260 Overlook Road • WE (4/4), 4-5pm "Art After School," art activities for children in kindergarten through 5th grade. Free. Held at East Asheville Library, 902 Tunnel Road • WE (4/4), 4pm "Intro to Botany," class.

Free. Held at Swannanoa Library, 101 West Charleston St., Swannanoa CAMP CEDAR CLIFF 5 Porters Cove Road • MO (7/30) through FR (8/3) - Open registration for Camp Cedar Cliff "Week of Joy" for children who have been touched by cancer.

Sponsored by Mission Hospital. Registration: 929-450-3331. Free.

DIANA WORTHAM THEATRE 18 Biltmore Ave., 828-257-4530, dwtheatre.com • WE (3/28) & TH (3/29), 10am & noon - Matinee Series for Students and Families: Lightwire Theater presents, Moon Mouse: A Space Odyssey. Tickets required: 828-257-4530. $8.50/$7.50 for groups of 11 or more.

HANDS ON! A CHILDREN'S GALLERY 318 N. Main St., Hendersonville, 828-697-8333 • WE (3/28), 4-5pm "Science on Wheels," science activities for children. Registration required: 828-6974725. Free. Held at Hendersonville Public Library, 301 N Washington St., Hendersonville • TU (4/3), 11-11:30am - “Mad Scientists Lab: Edible Gummy Worms,” kids activities for ages 3 and up. Registration required. Admission fees apply.

• WE (4/4), 4-5pm "Science on Wheels," science activities for kids.

Registration required: 828-890-1850. Free. Held at Mills River Library, 124 Town Center Drive Suite 1. Mills River • TH (4/5), 10:30-11am "Healthy Kids Club: Eat a Rainbow," activities for ages 3 and up. Admission fees apply. Held at Hands On! A Children's Gallery, 318 N. Main St., Hendersonville HENDERSON COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 301 N. Washington St., Hendersonville, 828-697-4725 • WE (4/4), 3-5pm - "I Love My Library" event with informational tables about library services and a special children's program. Free.

HOT WORKS FINE ART SHOW ASHEVILLE hotworks.org/ artistapplications • Through TU (5/1) Submissions accepted for the 2018 youth art competition. For ages 5-13.

LAKE JAMES STATE PARK 6883 N.C. Highway 126, Nebo, 828-584-7728 • WE (4/4), 1pm - "NC Science Festival MiniBlitz," event to identify, count and record animal species. Free.

MALAPROP'S BOOKSTORE AND CAFE 55 Haywood St., 828-254-6734, malaprops.com • SA (3/31), 11am - Betsy Coffeen, Samantha Smith and Ginger Seehafer present their picture book, Cate's Magic Garden. Free to attend.

PARDEE HOSPITAL 800 N Justice St, Hendersonville • Through MO (4/16) - Volunteers accepted for the Junior Volunteer Program. Apply online: pardeehospital.org/ about-us/volunteer/. Free.

WHOLE FOODS MARKET 4 S. Tunnel Road • MONDAYS, 9-10am "Playdates," family fun activities. Free to attend.

Send your event listings to calendar@mountainx.com

OUTDOORS CHIMNEY ROCK STATE PARK (PD.) Join a Park Naturalist at 2pm, Friday, March 30 Sunday, April 8 for Spring Break Family Fun, where your family will love meeting some of our wilder teammates! chimneyrockpark.com NORTH AND SOUTH MILLS RIVER COMMUNITY CENTER 596 S Mills River Road, Mills River • SA (3/31), 4pm - Marci Spencer presents her book, Pisgah National Forest: A History. Free.

PUBLIC LECTURES BLUE RIDGE COMMUNITY COLLEGE 180 W Campus Drive, Flat Rock, 828-412-5488, phoenixrisinghealing.com • TH (3/29), 6:30-9pm Presentation by author Sam Quinones, author of Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic, on the importance of community response to the opioid epidemic. Sponsored by Hope RX. $5.

BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • TU (4/3), 6pm - "What's it like to walk in local immigrants' shoes?" presentation by English as a second language teacher, Geri Solomon. Free. Held at North Asheville Library, 1030 Merrimon Ave. HABITAT TAVERN & COMMONS 174 Broadway, habitatbrewing.com • WE (3/28), 5:30pm - Center for the Study of the American South presentation. Registration: bit.ly/2DvPRmm. $25/$40 couple.

PUBLIC EVENTS AT WCU 828-227-7397, bardoartscenter.edu • TH (4/5), 7:30pm Astronomy for Everyone: "Planets, Jumbo-sized: The Outer Solar System," presentation. $15. Held at WCU at Biltmore Park, 28 Schenck Parkway, Suite 300

PUBLIC LECTURES AT UNCA unca.edu • TH (3/29), "The Samaritans: True Keepers of the Ancient Israeli Law or Heretical Jewish Sect?"

Lecture by Stefan Schorch, professor of Bible studies at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany. Free. Held at UNC Asheville - Karpen Hall, 1 University Heights TRANSYLVANIA COUNTY LIBRARY 212 S. Gaston St., Brevard, 828-884-3151 • TH (4/5), 6:30pm “Land Conservation in Transylvania County: Protecting Agriculture & Natural Heritage,” presentation by Torry Nergart.

Free.

SENIORS BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/governing/depts/library • WEDNESDAYS (4/4), (4/11) & (5/9), 1pm - Chair yoga class series for seniors. Free. Held at North Asheville Library, 1030 Merrimon Ave. COUNCIL ON AGING OF BUNCOMBE COUNTY, INC. 828-277-8288, coabc.org • TH (3/29), 2-4pm "Medicare Choices Made Easy," workshop.

Registration required.

Free. Held at Blue Ridge Community Health Services, 2579 Chimney Rock Road, Hendersonville • FR (3/30), 2-4pm "Medicare Choices Made Easy," workshop.

Registration required.

Free. Held at UNCAsheville Reuter Center, 1 Campus View Road SENIOR OPPORTUNITY CENTER 36 Grove St. • MO (12/4), 2-3pm Bingo for seniors and older adults. .75 per card.

SPIRITUALITY For Easter related events see the Easter section on p. 17

ABOUT THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION TECHNIQUE • FREE INTRODUCTORY TALK (PD.) Meditation is fully effective when it allows you to transcend—to effortlessly settle inward, beyond the busy or agitated mind, to the deepest, most blissful and expanded state of awareness. TM is a tool for personal healing and social transformation that anyone can use to access that field of unbounded creativity, intelligence, and wellbeing that resides within everyone. NIH research shows deep revitalizing rest, reduced stress and anxiety, improved brain functioning and heightened mental performance.

Thursday, 6:30-7:30pm, Asheville TM Center, 165 E. Chestnut.

828-254-4350. TM.org ASHEVILLE INSIGHT MEDITATION (PD.) Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation.

Learn how to get a Mindfulness Meditation practice started.

1st & 3rd Mondays.

7pm – 8:30. Asheville Insight Meditation, 175 Weaverville Road, Suite H, ASHEVILLE, NC, (828) 808-4444, www.ashevillemeditation. com.

ASTRO-COUNSELING (PD.) Licensed counselor and accredited professional astrologer uses your chart when counseling for additional insight into yourself, your relationships and life directions. Readings also available. Christy Gunther, MA, LPC. (828) 258-3229.

GROUP MEDITATION (PD.) Enjoy this supportive meditation community.

Mindfulness meditation instruction and Buddhist teachings at Asheville Insight. Thursday evenings at 7pm and Sunday mornings at 10am. www. ashevillemeditation.com.

CENTER FOR ART & SPIRIT AT ST. GEORGE 1 School Road, 828-258-0211 • 1st & 3rd THURSDAYS, 2pm - Intentional meditation. Admission by donation.

JUBILEE! COMMUNITY CHURCH 46 Wall St., jubileecommunity.org • THURSDAYS until (4/19), 6:30-8:15pm - "Spirituality and the Unconscious," five-part series with Lawson Sachter and Sunya Kjolhede. Admission by donation.

LAKE JUNALUSKA CONFERENCE & RETREAT CENTER 91 North Lakeshore Drive Lake Junaluska, 828-452-2881, lakejunaluska.com • TH (4/5), 10:30am "Labyrinth Walking as Transformative Practice," workshop and dedication ceremony for the newly renovated labyrinth. Free.

SHAMBHALA MEDITATION CENTER 60 N Merrimon Ave., #113, 828-200-5120, asheville.shambhala.org • THURSDAYS, 7-8:30pm & SUNDAYS, 10amnoon - Meditation and community. Admission by donation.

VOTE FOR US!

• 1st & 3rd THURSDAYS, 10amnoon - Workshop to teach how to make sleeping mats for the homeless out of plastic shopping bags. Information: 828-707-7203 or cappyt@att.net.

Free.

SWANNANOA VALLEY MUSEUM 223 W State St., Black Mountain, 828-669-9566, history.swannanoavalleymuseum. org • TH (3/29), 10:30-11:30am Orientation session to to become a volunteer docent serving 3.5 hour shifts during business hours. Refreshments provided.

For more volunteering information visit mountainx.com/ volunteering

BREVARD :

Mountain Xpress

33 Times Arcade Alley | 828.884.6172

X AWARDS 2018 Vote at

mountainx.com/ bestofwnc

until April 28 and enter to win prizes

VOLUNTEERING TUTOR ADULTS IN NEED WITH THE LITERACY COUNCIL (PD.) Spend two hours a week helping an immigrant who wants to learn English or a native English-speaking adult who wants to learn to read. Visit our website or call us to sign up for volunteer orientation on Tue (4/17) 9am or Thurs (4/19) 5:30pm.

828-254-3442 volunteers@litcouncil.com. www.litcouncil.com 12 BASKETS CAFE 610 Haywood Road, 828231-4169, ashevillepovertyinitiative. org • TUESDAYS 10:30am Volunteer orientation.

CASTING FOR HOPE castingforhope.org • Through WE (4/11) Sign up to volunteer for the Casting for Hope fly fishing competition that benefits Casting for Hope.

HAYWOOD STREET CONGREGATION 297 Haywood St., 828-246-4250

MOUNTAINX.COM

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

19

BEST OF WNC

2018 Ballot Categories

Get ready to vote your knowledge and your passion!

This year’s Best of WNC reader ballot is awesome!

We’ve trimmed and refined last year’s categories, cutting some questions and adding a few others. The goal is a poll that

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Music Events & Venues • • • •

Local Music Festival Place To Hear Live Music Outdoor Music Venue Listening Room

Arts & Crafts

• Art/Crafts Fair Or Event • Studio Stroll/Driving Tour • Craft School Or Place To Learn A Craft • Local Art Gallery • Craft-Oriented Gallery • Nonprofit That Serves The Arts

Film, Stage, Dance & Writing

• Movie Theater • Outdoor Movie Series (Or Host Site) • Local Filmmaker • Theater Company • Actor (Male Or Female) • Comedy Troupe Or Series • Local Comedy Show/ Night/Event • Vaudeville Troupe (Burlesque, Aerial Arts, Jugglers, etc.)

• Performance Dance Company • Place To Dance • Place To Take Dance Classes Or Lessons • Open-Mic Night Venue • Local Author • Local Poet • Trivia Night Emcee

• • • • •

Music-Related

• Music-Related Nonprofit • Music Instrument Maker • Music Instrument Repair Company • Recording Studio • Music Engineer Or Producer

Artists, Crafters • • • • • • •

Fiber Artist Jewelry Artist/Designer Metal Artist Or Metalworker Mural Artist Painter/Illustrator Photographer Potter/Ceramic Artist • Woodworker

• Burger Burrito • Catering Company • Cheesemaker/Cheese Dairy • ChefDiner/Home-Style • Doughnuts • Food Truck • French Fries • Fried Chicken • Green/Sustainability-Friendly Restaurant • Healthiest Restaurant • Hot Bar • Hot Dogs • Kid-Friendly Restaurant • Late-Night Restaurant

EATS • Favorite Restaurant • Barbecue • Best Value • Biscuits • Breakfast • Brunch

Musicians & Bands • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Lyricist Singer-Songwriter Composer Vocalist Musician/Band Who Gives Back To The Community

lets voters honor the area’s unique creativity and excellence. The ballot is designed to capture the insights of thousands of people who know and care about Western North Carolina.

All-Round Favorite Band Acoustic/Folk Americana/Country Blues DJ (Non-Radio) Funk Hip-Hop Artist/Group Jazz Old-Time/Bluegrass R&B/Soul Rock World Music Busker/Street Group

At mountainx.com/ bestofwnc

• Restaurant To Take Out-Of-Towners To • New Restaurant (Opened In The Last 12 Months) • Restaurant Still Needed In Asheville • Restaurant That Gives Back To The Community • Restaurant That Best Represents The Spirit Of Asheville • Romantic Dining • Restaurant Wine List • Salad • Seafood • Service • Southern • Special Diet Options (Gluten-Free, Lactose-Free, etc.)

• Splurge Restaurant • Sub Shop/Deli/Sandwiches • Taco • Take-Out • Vegetarian

Ethnic

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Local-Food Emphasis Lunch Restaurant Business Lunch Outdoor Dining Pasta People-Watching Restaurant Pizza Pub Grub Quick Meal Ribs Restaurant In Downtown Restaurant In The River Arts District Restaurant In West Asheville Restaurant In North Asheville Restaurant In East Asheville Restaurant In South Asheville

• • • • • • • • • •

Chinese European Greek Indian Italian Japanese Latin American Mexican Sushi Thai

Dessert • Ice Cream • Frozen Yogurt/Custard • Chocolate

Bakeries • Bakery (Sweets/Desserts) • Bakery (Bread)

Miscellaneous • Local Food/Drink Product • Nonprofit Helping With Hunger Issues • Pastry Chef • Butcher Shop • Local Food Festival Or Event • Pop-Up Dining Event

The Best of WNC ballot is easy to navigate.

You can move freely through the ballot, in whatever order you choose. You can take a break from voting anytime and return later.

Polls close on April 28 at midnight.

So don’t procrastinate!

DRINKS Bars

• Bar That Best Represents The Spirit Of Asheville • Bar For Live Music • Bar With A View • Bar With Bar Games • Dive Bar • Gay-Friendly Bar • Hotel Bar • Sports Bar • Upscale Bar • Wine Bar • Family-Friendly Bar Or Brewery • Taproom With Options for Grown-Ups Only • Bar Or Brewery That Gives Back To The Communty • Neighborhood Bar - Downtown • Neighborhood Bar - East • Neighborhood Bar - North • Neighborhood Bar - South • Neighborhood Bar - West • Bartender

Beer, Cider & Breweries

• Bar: Unusual Beer Selection • Bar: Local Beer Selection • Local All-Round Brewery (for its beers) • Brewery (for its taproom & atmosphere) • Creative, Experimental Brewery • Favorite Local Beer Event • Brewmaster • Local Beer (Any Style) • Local Dark Beer • Local IPA • Local Lager • Local Sour Beer • Beer Store • Cidery • Homebrewing/ Winemaking Supplies

Cocktails & Wine • • • •

Local Winery Wine Store Bloody Mary Cocktails

Coffee, Tea & Smoothies

• Coffee House • Establishment With The Best Coffee • Coffee/Tea House In Which To Read A Book • Coffee Roaster • Place To Drink Tea • Smoothies/Juices

OUTDOORS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Bicycle Club Or Group Hiking Club Or Group Running Club Or Group Day Hike Backpacking Trail / Overnight Hike Spot To Camp Place To Car Camp Picnic Spot Fishing Spot Place To Rock Climb Place To Go Bouldering Whitewater Paddling Section Swimming Hole Mountain Bike Trail Waterfall Skate Park Rafting Company Running Event/Race — Road Or Trail Bike Event/Race — Mountain Or Road Outdoor Event WNC Needs Canopy/Zip-Line Tour Ski Resort Outdoor Gear And Apparel Shop Environmental Or Conservation Nonprofit

SHOPPING Fashion

• Clothing: Dress-Up/ Stylin’ (Women’s) • Clothing: Dress-Up/ Stylin’ (Men’s) • Clothing: Office (Women’s) • Clothing: Office (Men’s) • Asheville-Style Clothes • Clothing: Used Or Vintage (for-profit store)

Register online to win prizes!

20

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

MOUNTAINX.COM

mountainx.com/ @ Vote now! bestofwnc • Clothing: Used Or Vintage (nonprofit store) • Shoe Store • Jewelry Store

Food • • • • •

All-Round Grocery Store Budget-Friendly Grocery Store Health Food Store Import/Ethnic Food Store Convenience/Corner Store

Home

• New Furniture Store • Used Furniture Store (for-profit store) • Used Furniture Store (nonprofit store) • Bed And Mattress Store • Antique Store • Picture Framer

General & Miscellaneous

• Auto Dealer - New And/Or Used • Automobile Tire Store • Bike Shop • Bookstore - New • Bookstore - Used • Florist • Gift Shop • Head Shop • Adult Toys, Lingerie & Naughty Things Store • Musical Instrument Store • Record/CD Store • Pawn Shop • Print Shop • Skateboard Store • Ski/Winter Sports Shop • Tobacco Shop • Vape Shop • Store That Best Represents The Spirit Of Asheville

PROFESSIONAL & HOME SERVICES • Accountant/CPA Firm • Place To Get Your Taxes Prepared • Alt Energy Sales And Installation • Architectural Firm • Bike Repair • Car Repair

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Carpenter Handyman (Or Woman) Computer Repair Dry Cleaner Electrical/Electrician Company Environmental Consultant Estate Planner Financial Adviser Green Builder Heating/Cooling Company Home Cleaning Service House Painters Law Firm Moving Company Pest Control Service Plumbing Company Roofers Real Estate Agent Real Estate Company Web Development Firm

KIDS Activities, Eating & Entertainment • • • • • • • • • •

After-School Program Day Trip For Kids Kids Entertainer Recreation Center For Kids Museum Playground Place For Birthday Parties Place To Make Art Parents Night Out Program Volunteer Opportunity

Learning • • • • •

Daycare Preschool School (Pre-College) Music Teacher (Classroom) Art Education Program

Services & Shopping • • • • • •

Dance Studio For Kids Gymnastics Program Martial Arts Program Youth Sports Program Kids’ Clothes Toy Store

Camps & Outdoors • • • •

Day Camp Arts Camp Academic/Science Camp Nature Camp

FAQs When does voting start and end?

Voting officially begins March 27 through April 28.

How many categories does a voter have to vote in?

Each ballot must have at least 30 completed votes to be counted.

Medical

• Pediatric Practice - General • Pediatric Alternative Medicine Practice • Pediatric Dentistry Practice • Child/Adolescent Therapist

HEALTH & WELLNESS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Physician (General Practice) Pediatrician Chiropractor Acupuncturist Hospital Place To Get Medical Care When Under- Or Uninsured Eye Care Specialist/Service Hearing Care Specialist/Service Dentist Orthodontist Physical Therapist Massage Therapist Family Medical Practice Women’s Health Center Maternity Care/Service Midwifery/Birthing Services Alternative Healing Center Acupuncture Clinic Psychologist/Counselor Hospice Mortuary/Funeral Services Yoga Studio Yoga Teacher Meditation/Retreat Center Place To Center Yourself Physical Trainer Gym Or Place To Work Out Fitness Studio With Classes Pilates Studio/Center/Classes Martial Arts Studio Dietitian Place To Buy Supplements, Vitamins and Herbs

PETS • Veterinary Services • Alternative Pet HealthCare Provider • Pet Supply Store • Pet Kennel • Pet Daycare Facility • Pet-Sitting Service • Grooming Service • Trainer/Training Center • Animal Shelter/Rescue Organization

How do I get a category added or changed?

The categories are set for this year, but to suggest a change for next year email: bestofwnc@mountainx.com How are the votes counted?

Mountain Xpress tallies the votes by hand, taking great care to understand each voter’s intent. We reserve the right to reject any ballot with inappropriate responses.

PERSONAL SERVICES

• Outdoor Place To Take Your Dog • Pet-Friendly Bar • Pet-Friendly Restaurant •

MEDIA • Local Radio Station (commercial) • Local Radio Station (noncommercial) • Free Publication Other Than Xpress • Local Website Other Than mountainx.com • Local Podcast • Local Blog • Most Important Local News Story • Most Over-Reported Story • Most Under-Reported Story • Local Print Reporter • Local Radio Personality • Local TV Personality/ Announcer • Favorite Feature In Xpress • Least Favorite Feature In Xpress

WORK & BUSINESS • Business That Best Represents The Spirit Of Asheville • New Business (Opened In The Last 12 Months) • Innovative Or Entrepreneurial Business • Support Organization That Promotes New Businesses & Healthy Local Economy • Business That Gives Back To The Community • Business With EarthFriendly Practices • Business With Best Customer Service • Minority-Owned Business • Woman-Owned Business • Bank • Credit Union • Bank Services For Small Business • Employment Sector To Work In • Co-Op/WorkerOwned Business • Mobile Business (but not a food truck)

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Hair Salon Hair Stylist Barber Shop Esthetician Nail Salon Nail Technician Make-Up Artist Spa Tattoo Parlor Tattoo Artist Piercing Studio Life Coach Local Body Products Maker Tailor/Alterations

FARM, YARD & GARDEN • Tailgate/Farmers Market • Community Garden • Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farm • U-Pick Farm • Nonprofit Supporting Farms/ Farmland Preservation • Farm To Visit For Events • Roadside Farm Stand • Orchard • Garden Supply Store • Mulch Supplier • Landscape/Grading Service • Tree Service • Yard Service • Nursery (Trees, Shrubs)

UNIQUELY ASHEVILLE • Neighborhood • Activist Group For Civic/ Political Action • Best Thing To Happen To Asheville In The Last 12 Months • Worst Thing To Happen To Asheville In The Last 12 Months • Local Asheville Attraction • Historic/Interesting Building • Local Fundraising Event • Bumper Sticker Or Slogan About Asheville • Biggest Threat To Asheville’s Uniqueness • Biggest Opportunity For Asheville’s Uniqueness • Holiday Event • Local Hero

Why do voters have to vote for 30 categories?

We want meaningful results from people who are invested in and knowledgeable about the Asheville area.

How do you prevent voter fraud?

Each ballot is examined for telltale signs of voter fraud.

While we encourage you to ask your patrons to vote on your behalf, do not attempt to stuff the

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Local Villain Local Politician Street For A Stroll Project You’d Like To See Local Government Do Thing Downtown Asheville Needs Thing West Asheville Needs Thing North Asheville Needs Thing South Asheville Needs Thing East Asheville Needs Thing The River Arts District Needs Nonprofit That Improves Asheville Nonprofit That Serves The Underprivileged Local City Tour Place To Connect With Nature Within Asheville City Limits Place To Get Married Place To Celebrate/ Honor A Friend Place To Take Your Eccentric Friends Hotel B&B Or Small Boutique Hotel

REGIONAL Question for the following regions: Brevard Hendersonville/Flat Rock Swannanoa/Black Mountain Weaverville/Woodfin Marshall/Mars Hill Hot Springs Burnsville Waynesville Cullowhee/Sylvia • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Breakfast Restaurant Lunch Restaurant Dinner Restaurant Coffee & Sweets Local Bar/Brewery/ Watering Hole Music/Entertainment Venue Art Gallery Retail Store Business That Best Represents The Spirit Of Your Town Cultural Or Arts Event Cultural Or Historical Landmark Best Thing To Happen To Your Town In The Last 12 Months Local Place To Enjoy The Outdoors Local Cause To Support

ballot box. We watch carefully and will disqualify ballots that appear to be fraudulent.

I hope my business wins, how do I get voting promotional materials?

Call us at 251-1333 or come

by Mountain Xpress offices at 2 Wall Street and we can get you a packet, or contact your sales representative for information.

MOUNTAINX.COM

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

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NO COUNTRY FOR YOUNG MEN Support groups help retired men find new purpose

BY SAMMY FELDBLUM sfeldblum@gmail.com Chuck Fink is living an enviable life in retirement. Between performing standup comedy, storytelling and acting gigs, along with regular get-togethers with a close group of friends, his dance card has few blank spaces.

But when Fink retired from Cincinnati to Asheville in 2008, he says, he had two plans at best: “to sulk and to mope.” His wife, Cindy, who had worked in academia, had a to-do list of 36 items and she began checking them off one by one.

Chuck, meanwhile, was listless.

“I went into depression,” he says, “which meant for a man that you just kind of sit on a computer all day, which led me further into depression.”

Fink attended a presentation by thenAARP Vice President Rick Moody at the UNC Asheville chapter of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, which organizes educational and recreational opportunities for retired people. He recalls that the speaker described his pattern as common for retired men but added that women, while experiencing similar pressures upon retirement, tend to handle those pressures better, thanks to more robust social networks and greater ease with personal disclosure.

Men, especially older men, tend to bottle things up.

“The problem with most men when we retire — and women are experiencing this too as they grow in corporate, organizational America — we establish our meaning through our work,” says Fink. “And when our work goes, if you’re not prepared, it hits you like a wall of bricks.”

For Fink, that night at the talk, something clicked. He reached out to a few acquaintances from OLLI and wrangled them into getting together to discuss their travails as retired men. At the first meeting, “Eight of the nine others said, ‘I’m only here because Chuck made me come,’” Fink says. “One guy nailed it. He said, ‘I’m only here because I didn’t want Chuck to be alone.’”

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WELLNESS

But the group turned out to be more of a boon than any of them had guessed.

The retirees discovered that much of

MOUNTAINX.COM

LIVING LIFE: Chuck Fink started Men’s Wisdom Works, a support group for older men at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Photo courtesy of Chuck Fink what was on their minds — changing relationships with spouses, with kids, with themselves — was common, and the support group became a social group as well.

“It’s been a real anchor; it’s been really important to me, because these guys are my friends,” says Ron Scheinman, who joined the initial group after retiring to Asheville from New Jersey. “Not everyone equally, but I trust them.

That’s the most important facet, that I can feel free to say anything that I might not say to some other person who’s not a member of this group.”

“If I didn’t have the group,” Scheinman says, “I would be still looking for the kinds of relationships that I have with them.”

The model was so successful that Fink replicated it — and then replicated it many times over. Now there are 15 such groups in Asheville: 14 Men’s Wisdom Works groups at OLLI and the “Givens Guys Group” based at Givens Estates, a retirement commu-

nity in South Asheville. Men interested in signing up for MWW are put on a waiting list by OLLI and then placed in a group when the list reaches a critical mass. At Givens, walk-ins are welcome.

Catherine Frank, executive director of the Asheville OLLI, recalls that at the outset people said a men’s group wouldn’t work. “And then you see it become the sacred time in their weeks,” she says. “It’s one of those things where you may not know you need it until you actually participate and see the effect it can have on your life.” Now, she attributes her chapter’s relatively high proportion of men to the presence of MWW. PEER TO PEER NETWORK Details about what happens in the meetings are hard to come by.

Members of MWW groups do not discuss what happens inside. But for the most part, Fink says, the groups meet

officially every couple of weeks, with regular breakfasts, lunches or, in certain cases, happy hours in between.

At meetings, each man updates the group on what’s been happening since the last meeting. Then the group’s facilitator — a position that in most groups rotates every year — invites members to delve deeper into their updates, which gives them the space to explore issues that might be especially pressing.

But, says Fink, “We do not practice psychology. Personally, being Jewish, I love to give advice. Oy! My job [in business consulting] was to give advice. So for me it was tough. We do not give advice unless it’s asked for.

“Everything we talk about has to deal with an experience that we had — a shared experience or an individual experience,” Fink continues. “We don’t talk about philosophical topics.

We try to avoid religion and politics,” although he notes these topics occasionally slip in, as when a retired doctor brought up the Affordable Care Act after its passage in 2010.

MWW also offers a space to “learn about each other’s cultures,” says Fink. He chuckles recalling a gay man who joined to “see what it was like to hang out with a bunch of straight guys.” The man taught Fink that when straight men hug one another, they tend to pat one another on the back three times gruffly, each pat one word of a message: “I’m. Not. Gay.” As Givens Guys Group member Larry Fincher explains, different groups put the meetups to divergent uses. Fincher’s group is mostly older men, ages 70 and above, so most have already gone through the identity crisis that can come when work life winds down.

But there are other challenges that the Givens Guys Group helps with, Fincher explains. His group mates offered sage words, he says, when his wife began experiencing mild cognitive impairment. “At this age, you never know from day to day what’s going to pop up — prostate cancer, hip replacement, a whole list. Your identity goes from robust and doing things to ‘Oh, I can’t do this anymore.’

That’s tough to handle for some people. And friends die off when you’re in the senior years. The last meeting we had, one of the fellows had been to a funeral of a friend he had for 50 years.”

major emphasis on volunteering. “The [number of] volunteers emanating from MWW is extraordinary,” says Fink. “We just give so much of ourselves. And we get meaning from that, because we find out it’s about helping, it’s about supporting, it’s about sharing that part of us that we can share.”

The model is soon to expand beyond Asheville — new MWW groups are set to open through OLLI chapters at Eastern Carolina University and the University of Georgia. And retired women in Asheville, noting the program’s successes, have started a handful of similar support groups: some through OLLI and others as independent groups formed by wives of MWW members.

Frank cautions that making these groups work “takes some tenacity. If you want to start something like this, you need to find a Chuck wherever you are.”

But the opportunity is out there.

“Retirement is so different now,” says Fink. “When my parents retired, it was lonely, it was sad; men, especially, typically died shortly after retiring. But now we have new vistas; we don’t just lollygag and mope about the past. We try different stuff.

“The focus is on living life, not winding it down. The focus is on regenerating new passions. And it works.” X

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Do you Have Type 2 Diabetes?

MORE INFO

Mountain Diabetes & Endocrine Center is currently enrolling participants into a new study for Type 2 Diabetes (T2D). The study is evaluating investigational tablets compared to placebo that may help manage blood glucose levels in type 2 diabetics when combined with diet and exercise.

Men’s Wisdom Works mwwasheville.com

Qualified participants will receive study medication, or placebo, Lantus insulin and care from an Endocrinologist and Certified Diabetes Educator at no cost for the study duration. Compensation may be provided for participation and travel to those who qualify.

Contact: Catherine Frank olli@unca.edu, 251-6140 Chuck Fink chuck@mwwasheville.com 713-2112

You may be eligible to participate if you: • • • • •

Have been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes Are 18 years of age or older Have HbA1c levels between 7.5-10.5% Are taking long-acting insulin alone or with up to two oral anti-diabetes medications Additional eligibility criteria also apply

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WELL-CONNECTED MWW encourages building newer connections as a bulwark against the loss of old ones. Aside from socializing within the group, MWW places MOUNTAINX.COM

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23

WELLN ESS CA LEN DA R

WELLNESS

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ments. • Donation suggested. At Skinny Beats Sound Shop, 4 Eagle Street. www. skinnybeatsdrums.com BLUE RIDGE COMMUNITY COLLEGE 180 W Campus Drive, Flat Rock, 828-412-5488, phoenixrisinghealing. com • TH (3/29), 6:30pm - Author and journalist Sam Quinones speaks about the importance of community response to the opioid epidemic.

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LOVE YOUR LOCAL

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HARRIS REGIONAL HOSPITAL 68 Hospital Road, Sylva • WE (3/28), noon-1pm - Educational event on rotator cuff injury and repair. Registration: 844-414-3627. Free.

HAYWOOD REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER 262 Leroy George Drive, Clyde, myhaywoodregional. com/ • TH (3/29), 5-6pm Tired leg and varicose vein educational seminar and dinner led by Dr. Al Mina and Dr. Joshua Rudd. Registration required: 828-452-8346.

Free.

LEICESTER COMMUNITY CENTER 2979 New Leicester Highway, Leicester, 828-774-3000, facebook.com/Leicester.

Community.Center

• MONDAYS, 5:156:15pm - Zumba Gold exercise class. $5.

• MONDAYS, 6:15-7pm - Zumba classes. $5.

• MONDAYS, 7:15-8pm - Gentle Flow Yoga. $5.

SENIOR OPPORTUNITY CENTER 36 Grove St. • THURSDAYS, 2:303:30pm - "Slow Flow Yoga," yoga class adapted for all ages and abilities. Free.

URBAN DHARMA 77 Walnut St., 828-225-6422, udharmanc.com/ • TUESDAYS, 7:308:30pm - Guided, non-religious sitting and walking meditation.

Admission by donation.

WESTERN CAROLINA RESCUE MINISTRIES 225 Patton Ave. • FR (3/30), 1-3pm “Good Friday Foot Care Clinic," event to help homeless individuals who are in need of new shoes and socks. Free.

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MOUNTAINX.COM

GREEN SCENE

FIELD DAY

Asheville Arts and Science Festival combines two disciplines at Salvage Station

BY DANIEL WALTON danielwwalton@live.com Taking science outside of the white-coat lab and classroom environment isn’t a new idea for Jason York, lead organizer of the Asheville Arts and Science Festival. A consulting biologist for agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service, his day-to-day practice of the discipline tends to be a bit more hands-on.

“If I’m doing forestry work, the reality of that is me in the woods with a chain saw and boots on, covered in sweat,” York says. “But those sorts of jobs require a general understanding of biology and ecology to be performed properly.”

Through the new festival, which comes to Salvage Station on Saturday, March 31, noon-6 p.m., York and his fellow organizers hope to raise awareness about what science looks like in the real world.

And by incorporating a healthy dose of art, the family-friendly event also aims to hook visitors with the beauty that science can inspire.

BETTER TOGETHER York describes the Asheville Arts and Science Festival as a reinvention of the traditional science fair, widening its focus in much the same way that music festivals have evolved to include visual art and social activism. Groups such as the Asheville Museum of Science and the Highlands Biological Station will rub shoulders with participants from outside the scientific world.

On the musical side, those artistic additions include local songwriter Pierce Edens, DJ Chrome C. and the UNC Asheville X-Tet modern jazz group. Visual contributions come from printmaker Jackie Rubino, landscape painter and mandala artist Tom Cornish and Weaverville puppeteer Hobey Ford, who will be performing a piece called Animalia.

Ford’s work, says York, is a perfect example of how art and science can inform the same educational experience. “His show is all about various animals. It combines performance art, the craftiness of creating all of his own puppets and the subject matter, which is basically biological,” he explains. “Art and science

EBB AND FLOW: One of many interactive science activities that will be featured at the inaugural Asheville Arts and Science Festival, the enviroscape table shows how water flows through a watershed. Event exhibitor Mariah Hughes explains, “Ivy River Partners facilitates partnerships to get solutions on the ground that reduce pollutants from runoff. The watershed model can be used to demonstrate how those solutions work.” Photo courtesy of Ivy River Partners are connected because they are both ways that people use to try and make sense of the world around them.”

York also mentions the Asheville Astronomy Club as a festival participant creating an environment that joins learning with aesthetic appreciation. The club will bring its telescopes and special filters allowing for daytime observation of the sun.

“Kids love looking into telescopes — astronomy is a gateway science,” York says. “Not every kid is going to be an astrophysicist, but if the experience gets them interested in science, maybe they’ll pursue a related field that still requires the same type of critical thinking and problem-solving.”

for the Penland School of Crafts and the director of the AS IF Center in Bakersville, a self-described hybrid between a biological field station and an artist community, she sees great value in restoring the unity of the two fields.

“Artists and scientists both invent new tools and techniques, work collaboratively and often stumble upon new ways of looking at the world,” Lowe says. “When we remember that critical thinking and creative innovation are both available to us if we just practice them, when we treat ourselves as both rational and intuitive, we are able to be fully human.”

Christopher Nicolay, professor of biology at UNCA and another festival organizer, points out that it is particularly important to keep the simultaneous exploration of art and science alive among younger generations. “Children naturally possess a love of things that are weird, beautiful, exciting and unexpected,” he says. “We all start unafraid to learn and willing to try anything without self-imposed limitations.”

Nicolay’s colleague at UNCA, Jonathan Horton, admits that the academic world can often regard artists and scientists as isolated groups. But he adds that the vigor of both disciplines in Asheville, a city that hosts both the River Arts District and the National Centers for Environmental Information, makes him optimistic about building connection.

“My hope is that people learn more about the local communities of artists and scientists as both professionals and as real people,” Horton says. “I also hope to foster more discussion and cross-dissemination of ideas between the art and science communities.”

CONTINUES ON PAGE 26

PARALLEL LINES One of York’s fellow organizers, Nancy Lowe, says that the separation of art from science is a relatively recent occurrence. As a grant writer MOUNTAINX.COM

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

25

FARM & GARDEN

G REEN SC E N E FARTHER AFIELD The festival’s organizers see their first happening as just the beginning of a broader campaign to spread an integrated approach to arts and science education. York hopes to transition the Salvage Station celebration into an annual event, secure nonprofit funding for the currently all-volunteer effort and provide similar offerings to schools throughout the region.

“We’d like to bring this programming to the kids instead of having the kids talk their parents into going or vice versa,” York says. “I look at it as an entertaining way to supplement their education. There’s something that anyone can learn and enjoy, and there’s no test at the end.”

Expanding this work would also help York address what he sees as worrying trends in the larger cultural conversation. “A lot of what drives me is supporting the inherent value of the arts and sciences,” he says. “When funding gets cut, it’s usually the arts that get cut first, and then science is right behind.”

“There’s a lot of skepticism of science going on in society right now,”

York continues. “Skepticism is great, but that’s what scientists do — we prove ourselves wrong and then try to do it again. Rather than just preaching, the discipline is subject to its own rigor.”

And a society facing the growing problems of climate change and overpopulation, Lowe adds, can’t afford to misunderstand its greatest tools for developing solutions. “We are heating up a crowded planet with limited resources,” she says. "Figuring out how to live together here is going to take innovative thinking, both analytical and intuitive. It requires that we use all of ourselves.” X

WHAT Asheville Arts and Science Festival artsandsciencefestival.com WHERE Salvage Station 468 Riverside Drive salvagestation.com WHEN Saturday, March 31, noon-6 p.m.

Free; $5 suggested donation.

Do you want a clean, bright future for Buncombe County? We do.

BUG OFF Beneficial insects fight recalcitrant garden pests

BY VIRGINIA DAFFRON vdaffron@mountainx.com Local agriculture expert Patryk Battle likes to tell farmers that 90 percent of all pest problems can be solved by strategies he calls “farmscaping” — that is, creating an environment that encourages naturally occurring predators of common farm pests to move in, set up housekeeping and start a family.

But what about the remaining 10 percent? The ones Battle calls “recalcitrant pest and disease problems”?

Solving those challenges, Battle says, takes an extra effort, one that may involve purchasing predator insects or biological agents.

While common local insect foes like the bean and squash beetles still pose a threat, Boone-based agricultural entomologist Richard McDonald of Symbiont Biological Pest Management says, “We have a totally different pest

ECO

Our demand for energy demands action.

Get involved with programs that help your home or business become more energy-efficient at

bluehorizonsproject.com

26

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

MOUNTAINX.COM

FARM & GARDEN

GREENFEST AT UNCA sustainability.unca.edu • Through SA (3/31) - UNC Asheville Greenfest, weeklong event featuring lectures, on and offcampus workdays, film screenings and workshops on permaculture and impact investing.

Free to attend.

ASHEVILLE GARDEN CLUB 828-550-3459 • WE (4/4), 10am - General meeting with presentation on bird friendly gardening by Tom Tribble of the Elisha Mitchell Audubon Society of Asheville. Free. Held at All Souls Cathedral, 9 Swan St.

WNC SIERRA CLUB 828-251-8289, wenoca.org • TH (4/5), 7-9pm - “A Pathway to a Cleaner Energy Future for North Carolina,” presentation by Dave Rogers regarding the Sierra Club’s report. Free. Held at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place

CITY OF HENDERSONVILLE cityofhendersonville. org • THURSDAYS, FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS until (5/13) - Seasonal mulch and composted leaves giveaway. Thurs. & Fri.: 3:30-7pm. Sat.: 8am-noon. Free. Held at the old Waste Water Treatment Plant, 80 Balfour Road, Hendersonville

LITTLE STINKERS: The brown marmorated stink bug is one of an increasing number of non-native insects that have invaded Western North Carolina. Lacking natural predators, the slow-moving, malodorous bugs present problems for homeowners and farmers. In Living Web Farms’ March 31 workshop, organic farmers will learn how to deploy purchased beneficial insects and biological agents to address infestations that aren’t readily controlled by other strategies.

DR. JOHN WILSON COMMUNITY GARDEN 99 White Pine Drive Black Mountain • TUESDAYS through (4/24) - Organic gardening class series on all aspects of growing: planning, planting, production and pests.

Taught by Diana Schmitt McCall at a different location every week. Registration required. $35 per pair of classes/$90 for the series.

JEWEL OF THE BLUE RIDGE 828-606-3130, jeweloftheblueridge. com • TH (4/5), 10am-2pm - Workshop to learn how to properly prune muscadines (spur pruning) and regular grapes (cane pruning).

Register for location. $45 includes lunch.

LIVING WEB FARMS 176 Kimzey Road, Mills River, 828-505-1660, livingwebfarms.org • SA (3/31), 8am-5pm - “Operational Biology in the Landscape: Beneficial Organisms for Pest & Disease Control,” workshop, with Dr. Richard McDonald and Patryk Battle. Registration required. $15.

MEN’S GARDEN CLUB OF ASHEVILLE 828-683-1673, mensgardenclubofasheville.org • TU (4/3), 12:451:45pm - “Growing Perennials in the Mountains,” presentation by Cristine Dzielak of Landmark Landscapes. Optional lunch at 11:45am for $11. Free. Held at First Baptist Church of Asheville, 5 Oak St.

spectrum than we had 10 years ago.” Non-native insects such as the brown marmorated stink bug, spotted wing drosophila and kudzu bug — many of which ended up in the United States after hitching a ride on cargo ships from Asia or Africa — have few natural predators in this country, and the unwelcome newcomers are causing significant damage to crops.

Battle and McDonald (aka Dr. McBug) will share strategies for natural pest control at a daylong educational session on Saturday, March 31, at Living Web Farms in Mills River. Workshop participants will learn how beneficial pests work and how to create the conditions to maximize their effectiveness.

Biological agents that combat vegetable diseases will also be covered.

“As we learn to deal with an ongoing cascade of problems, often resulting from global trade and climate disruptions, our default first line of defense will always be maximum biodiversity,” Battle says.

But while patience is a virtue when it comes to implementing farmscaping principles, he continues, growers must sometimes “make the decision [to intervene] rather than dither for one more year and suffer the consequences of an intractable insect problem.”

Costs for purchasing the critters and agents covered in the upcoming workshop vary widely, Battle says. Collaborating with neigh-

bors to purchase beneficial insects or other interventions can lower the financial burden and lead to better outcomes, he points out. One practical tip: When ordering live insects through the mail, be sure you’ll be present to receive them. Battle still mourns the shipment a delivery driver left in a sunny spot on a summer’s day. By the time the farmer found his package, the tiny warriors within had already lost the fight. X

WHAT Workshop to help organic growers recognize when to purchase biological agents to fight persistent pest and disease problems. The first 90 minutes of the session will cover the basics of nurturing biodiversity on the farm; the “buying biology” portion of the workshop begins at 9:30 a.m.

WHEN Saturday, March 31, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

WHERE Living Web Farms 176 Kimzey Road Mills River COST Sliding scale; suggested donation $15 INFO 828-891-4497 or livingwebfarms.org

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27

FOOD

SCHOOL LUNCH GOES LOCAL WNC districts and farmers connect to freshen up cafeteria offerings

The

Sustainability Series

CELEBRATING EARTH DAY 2018

Every week in April

EVERYBODY WINS: Gabriel Noard, left, of Pangaea Plants is pictured with Kim Buckner of the Buncombe County Schools Nutrition Inventory Office. In 2015, the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project connected Noard with BCS when his organic watermelons were rejected by a retail grocer for cosmetic reasons. BCS bought the melons and served them to students in all of the system’s cafeterias. Photo courtesy of ASAP

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The subject of school lunch often conjures visions of rectangular pizza, miniature milk cartons and soggy veggies from industrial-sized cans. But in recent years, a growing interest in wholesome eating along with policy changes, such as the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, have encouraged school districts in Western North Carolina and nationwide to gradually add more farm-fresh local foods to those cafeteria trays.

In addition to providing area children with consistent access to tasty, nutritious meals, this trend’s focus on local has the potential to benefit WNC’s farmers. But fostering connections between schools and farms can be a hard row to hoe.

School nutrition directors can’t just head out to the nearest tailgate market to stock their schools’ kitchens.

Strict budgets that depend primarily on reimbursements from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National

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School Lunch and School Breakfast Program, along with logistics and countless other considerations, make accessing local food systems a complex web for schools to navigate. Yet WNC school systems are increasingly rising to meet that challenge.

MAKING CONNECTIONS Fortunately, schools don’t have to go it alone. Many area school districts and independent education facilities participate in the N.C. Department of Agriculture’s Farm to School program, which encourages access to North Carolina-grown produce. And bringing it closer to home, many also tap into the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project’s Farm to School program.

ASAP’s initiative, which launched in Haywood County in 2002, was one of the first of its kind in the U.S. Its director, Emily Jackson, notes that the program plays myriad roles: assisting schools with finding and purchasing local foods, providing educational materials and les-

son plans, supporting cafeteria staff, facilitating taste tests and cooking activities with students and supporting edible garden efforts.

“Our goal is to make this as easy as possible without us doing it for the schools and teachers, so they’ll have ownership,” says Jackson. The program also works to help farmers expand their business opportunities by directing them to potential partnerships with schools and the distributors who service them.

Jackson mentions Old Fort grower Gabriel Noard of Pangaea Plants, who had a load of organic watermelons rejected by a retail grocery chain a couple of seasons ago because the produce didn’t meet cosmetic specifications. “So this farmer was either going to have to dispose of these melons or donate them to a food bank,” she recalls.

When ASAP heard about the conundrum, the staff contacted Buncombe County Schools child nutrition director Lisa Payne, who was happy to step in and buy the melons. The farmer didn’t lose money on his crop, and students at all of the

system’s more than 40 schools got an organic, locally grown treat in their cafeteria meals.

ASAP pays particular attention to opportunities like that. In general, direct partnerships between schools and farms are not common, Jackson says. Schools are required by their dependence on federal reimbursements to take the lowest bid for the food they procure, but ASAP’s goal is to help growers locate the most profitable options.

“It sometimes makes us a little hesitant to push farmers toward the school market, just because in the Asheville area, they have access to more lucrative markets,” she says.

BRIDGING THE GAP Yet, direct relationships are forming, in spite of that dynamic. Payne points to a new partnership between Brasstown Beef and BCS that brings Brasstown’s antibiotic-free, pastured beef into each of the district’s schools on a regular basis in the form of a special meatloaf lunch.

The effort has been popular with BCS diners, says Payne. “Our students love the concept,” she says. “Steve Whitmire, [owner] of Brasstown Beef, came to A.C. Reynolds High, and the positive response from the students interested in farming was huge.”

But Brasstown is a large operation, Jackson notes. It was already supplying thousands of pounds of ground beef every week to school systems in upstate South Carolina when it rolled out its products in BCS cafeterias this year.

Plus, the farm maintains USDA Good Agricultural Practices certification, a gold standard that many school districts require of their farm partners, but one that can be daunting for small operations to achieve. If Pangaea Plants had not been GAPcertified at the time of Noard’s melon dilemma, his fortuitous partnership with BCS would not have happened.

Although Asheville City Schools nutrition director Janette Broda has been active and successful at putting local foods on the menu in the district’s nine schools, she reckons that GAP certification is one reason ACS currently has no direct relationships with local farmers. Before joining ACS two years ago, she encountered this problem during her tenure as nutrition director at Cherokee Central Schools, which has a strong local food focus.

Many farmers there, she says, decided that because of the GAP requirement, school partnerships were not

financially beneficial. “It’s costly.

There’s an annual fee,” says Broda.

“They have to go through a course and write a plan, and sometimes they’re just not equipped to do that.”

Alison Francis, director of nutrition services for Haywood County Schools, nurtures a few direct farm partnerships, which she’s established with ASAP’s help. But she agrees with Broda that GAP certification — which HCS requires of farm suppliers in addition to $2 million in liability insurance — is a major hurdle to expanding that network of local providers.

“There are not very many farmers in Haywood that are GAP-certified,” Francis says. “It’s a lot of extra work and money for them.”

The first farmer Francis worked with directly was Skipper Russell of Seasonal Produce Farm in Canton because he was the first one she found in Haywood County who was GAP-certified. From him she has been able to source lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and other mainstay produce.

And this school year, HCS started sourcing apples directly from KT’s Orchard and Apiary in Canton, which got its GAP certification last year.

“Usually, when we order apples from a produce supplier, it’s pretty much your Golden Delicious and Red Delicious and sometimes Granny Smith,” says Francis. “But [with KT’s] we were able to get Fuji and Pink Lady and Roma and Gala and all kinds of different apples. So it was kind of neat to let the kids see that there is more than just Red and Golden Delicious.”

And she has been pleasantly surprised that she gets a sweet deal on these local products. “I think with Skipper we were paying half the price for tomatoes that we were paying the regular distributor,” she says. “And I think we were paying a couple of dollars less for apples than we were paying before.”

THE MIDDLEMAN But even districts that are making great strides in forming local farm relationships still have to rely largely on distributors. “ASAP realized a long time ago that there are not many farmers who have the capacity to distribute products to 45 schools like there are in Buncombe County Schools, but these produce companies, that’s what they’re in business to do,” says Jackson. So ASAP works to connect smaller growers with the wholesalers that serve area schools. This ends up serving both the farms and WNC students.

At ACS, Broda has worked with her current distributor, Carolina Produce, to make sure order forms identify products from farms that are within the district’s three-tiered definition of “local” — within Asheville, within a 100-mile radius or within North Carolina. She reports that roughly 8 percent of the produce ACS purchased in the 2016-17 school year was locally grown, and the goal is to increase that as much as possible.

Payne says BCS does not allocate a specific percentage of its $12.5 million annual food budget to local products.

But its produce company, Marvin’s Produce, always fills orders with locally grown items based on availability.

BCS spent a total of $480,000 on fresh fruits and vegetables last school year.

Mountain Food Products owner Ron Ainspan, a farmer in WNC since the early 1980s, says selling through distributors makes sense for local growers. Although he eschews the bureaucracy involved with bidding for public school contracts, he currently works with a few Ashevillearea preschools and colleges, including UNC Asheville.

“We probably buy from 200-250 farmers in a season, so it’s a good outlet for them to come through here,” he says. “I think there’s plenty of opportunity for farmers, particularly with local wholesalers.”

And he supports Francis’ observation that choosing locally grown produce can save schools money. “When we’re in our main season, say in June or July, or even starting next month with local strawberries, pricing is competitive and really shouldn’t be an impediment.”

Opportunities for supplying WNC schools should only continue to grow.

Payne says BCS is always looking to ASAP for new ways to partner with area farms.

And Broda reports that the overall goal at ACS is to reduce the amount of ready-to-eat foods and do more fromscratch, batch cooking, which requires more produce. And as she seeks bids from potential suppliers this year, she is being specific about her focus on local sourcing.

She also hopes to eventually bring in volunteers from FoodCorps of North Carolina to help expand local-food programming, an approach she says costs money, but was extremely successful for Cherokee Central Schools.

“It was very exciting, and we want it here, but it’s baby steps,” she says. X

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SMALL BITES

FOOD

by Thomas Calder | tcalder@mountainx.com

Cycling for food security Last year marked a first for Patrick O’Cain. The Gan Shan Station owner and chef spent three days in Santa Rosa, Calif., with nearly 250 members of the country’s culinary community, traveling 300 miles on a bike for the annual Chefs Cycle fundraising event. In its first three years, the gathering has raised $3 million for No Kid Hungry, a national campaign launched in 2010 by the nonprofit Share Our Strength. This financial contribution has resulted in 300 million meals served to children in need.

O’Cain now has his sights set on participating in the 2018 fundraiser, which runs May 15-17. But this time around he’s bringing along a friend: Jacob Sessoms, the James Beardnominated chef and owner of Table restaurant, The Imperial Life bar and Tod’s Tasties. The two advocates and cycling enthusiasts will host a series of local dinner gatherings leading up

to the adventure with all proceeds benefiting No Kid Hungry.

Tod’s Tasties will host the first event, a cookout on Friday, March 30, when Sessoms says he and O’Cain will be stationed behind a grill slinging traditional barbecue. “The flavors will be a meeting of my cooking and Patrick’s, so you’ll probably see some East and West flavors,” he explains.

Exact menu items were unavailable at press time, but Sessoms says steaks, trout and handmade sausages will be among the selections. Plates will be $20 per person.

Two other fundraisers are scheduled for April at Gan Shan Station’s two locations — an Israeli Cookout Under the Lights on Sunday, April 8, at Gan Shan West, and Tacos, Sangria & Sunshine on the Lawn on Sunday, April 22, at the Charlotte Street restaurant. Details for these are yet to be decided.

CHEFS ON THE GO: Gan Shan Station owner and chef Patrick O’Cain, left, and Table chef and owner Jacob Sessoms will head west to Santa Rosa, Calif., this May to participate in Chefs Cycle, a fundraiser for the No Kid Hungry campaign. Photo courtesy of Gan Shan Station

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“Last year’s ride was one of the most rewarding experiences I have had in this industry,” says O’Cain. In addition to helping raise awareness and funds for the nonprofit, he says the benefit created a unique setting for “some of the brightest culinary and restaurant minds in the country” to come together and exchange ideas. “My outlook on this industry shifted,” he continues. “It is no longer a place where people work to drink and party. Owners, chefs and managers are focused on building a new culture with more sustainable lifestyle practices, high levels of accountability and emphasis on personal and professional growth.”

The gathering also opened his eyes to the issues of food insecurity, which affects one in six children in the country (one in four in Western North Carolina). “Kids leave school in the afternoon and sometimes won’t eat until school breakfast the next day,” he says. “For someone who is around food all day every day, to be able to provide assistance to these children that simply don’t have access to quality food has become hugely important to me.”

Sessoms echoes O’Cain’s sentiment. After 25 years in the food industry, Sessoms says he’s reached a point in his career where he no longer needs to be behind the stove

every day. “The best thing for me to do is to spend time both growing my business, but also growing my impact on the broader community.”

Classic Cookout with Jacob and Patrick on the Grill begins at 6 p.m.

Friday, March 30, at Tod’s Tasties, 102 Montford Ave. For details, visit avl.mx/4si. Israeli Cookout Under the Lights happens Sunday, April 8, at Gan Shan West, 285 Haywood Road.

Tacos, Sangria & Sunshine on the Lawn is set for Sunday, April 22, at Gan Shan Station, 143 Charlotte St. For updates on times, menus and prices, check the Facebook pages for Gan Shan Station and Gan Shan West.

WELL PLAYED BOARD GAME CAFÉ’S FIRST ANNIVERSARY On Friday, March 30, Well Played Board Game Café will host a party to celebrate its first year in business.

The festivities will include Foothills Meats hot dogs grilled on the front patio for $3, plus the release of Drafta-Dragon, a new game designed by Well Played’s head gamemaster, Tanner Johnson. “We’re so thankful for the overwhelming support we’ve received from the Asheville community in our first year of business, and we couldn’t be more excited for the future,” says co-owner Cortland Mercer.

The celebration starts at 7 p.m.

Friday, March 30, at Well Played Board Game Café, 58 Wall St. For more information, visit wellplayedasheville.com.

DISTRICT WINE BAR OPENS IN THE RAD “We wanted to create a space where you can bring your friends, relax and enjoy a wide variety of wines, a rotation of local art, little bites and even watch the trains go

by,” says District Wine Bar co-owner Lauri Nichols in a recent press release. The venue offers boutique wines from around the world as well as European beers, and there are plans to add breads and spreads, cheese boards and charcuterie to its menu. Nichols, an Asheville native, opened the space with her husband, Barrett, on March 10.

District Wine Bar is at 37 Paynes Way, Suite 009. For more information, visit avl.mx/4sk.

NINE MILE EXPANSION Nine Mile’s Montford location recently reopened after closing for renovations on Feb. 19. The opportunity to enlarge the restaurant’s footprint came when former neighbor Harmony Interiors relocated.

“We were able to knock out the wall and expand the bar,” says owner Nate Ray. The new space will function as a lounge and merchandise area. In the coming weeks, the restaurant will also increase its draft beer selection from four to 14 taps.

Nile Mile is at 233 Montford Ave. and 751 Haywood Road. For more information, visit avl.mx/4sj.

PASSING OF LITTLE PIGS BAR-B-Q FOUNDER Little Pigs Bar-B-Q announced the passing of its founder Joseph Swicegood on Thursday, March 22.

Details were not available at press time, but according to the restaurant’s Facebook page, Swicegood was 91-years-old. The announcement on the social media platform received hundreds of reactions and shares. Swicegood opened Little Pigs in 1963. The restaurant’s marquee reads: “We will miss you Joe.” X

plant Half-price wine bottle Wednesdays, classic cocktail Fridays, & vegan verve all the time 165 merrimon avenue | 828.258.7500 | www.plantisfood.com MOUNTAINX.COM

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31

BEER SCOUT

FOOD

by Scott Douglas | jsdouglas22@gmail.com

Familiar faces launch DSSØLVR The newest brewery on Asheville’s horizon will be led by some familiar faces. JT Murrett and Vince Tursi, former brewers at Burial Beer Co., have struck out on their own with the help of a third partner, Mike Semenec, to open a new brewery called DSSØLVR at 63 N. Lexington Ave. DSSØLVR is slated to open in early 2019, with brewing operations to begin later this year.

The space will house a threevessel, 15-barrel brewhouse from Premier Stainless Systems as well as a two-vessel, 3-barrel pilot system, both obtained from The Veil Brewing Co. of Richmond, Va. Wort brewed on these systems will find its way into 3-, 7-, 15- and 30-barrel fermenters, allowing DSSØLVR to create a wide variety of beer styles in varying quantities.

“I’d love to brew 30 barrels of English mild, but that’s not going to sell,” says Tursi. “So that’s a 3-barrel batch. But double IPA? That’s a 30-barrel. We

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POST-BURIAL PLANS: Former Burial Beer Co. brewers Vince Tursi, left, and JT Murrett are set to open their own brewery, DSSØLVR, with partner Mike Semenec (not pictured) on North Lexington Avenue in early 2019. The name refers to how the the extensive experiences of the three partners have been combined and distilled into this one business. Photo

by Scott Douglas can half batch or double batch; we’re not locked into anything.”

DSSØLVR will have three main focus areas. “The first area is a lot of what we want to drink, very lager-focused, traditional German styles and some English ales for Vince — pub stuff, getting brewing back to its roots,” explains Murrett.

“Those aren’t necessarily big sellers in the market right now, so we have the other two areas: very wood-heavy, barrelfermented and barrel-aged sours and foeder beers, and then new-school stuff like pastry stouts and hazy IPAs.” Tursi notes with excitement that some of the lagers and pub ales will be openfermented in wood as well and that there are plans in place for a beer engine for pouring from casks. The brewery will also open with a canning line in place, allowing for immediate distribution of packaged product in 16-ounce cans as well as 750-milliliter and 500-milliliter bottles.

DSSØLVR has already begun collaborating with other breweries around the country, starting with Hoof Hearted Brewing of Marengo, Ohio, and intends to release gypsy-brewed collabs on a monthly basis before opening. Future collaboration beers will be announced on the brewery’s Instagram page.

The brewery has also started cultivating and isolating proprietary yeast strains and bacterial cultures for its beers, bank-

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ing them with Nashville-based Bootleg Biology. On the subject of possible infection issues arising from producing clean beer and wild fermented ales in the same facility, Tursi and Murrett revealed details of the brewery’s floor plan. Sour beer production will happen on the second floor in an area separated from the space planned for clean beer production.

They also cite extensive experience working with both clean and sour beers, a result of their diverse and impressive curricula vitae. Tursi began homebrewing in Boston after a friend bet him $50 that he couldn’t produce a beer better than a Samuel Adams seasonal he was drinking.

He spent $200 on homebrew equipment and still lost the bet. This failure led to him to question what went wrong, and the years of homebrewing that followed resulted in a job at Night Shift Brewing in Everett, Mass. After growing Night Shift’s barrel program from a handful of barrels to over 250 and moving operations from a 1,700-square-foot facility to one 10 times that size, he was offered the opportunity to open Lord Hobo Brewing in Woburn, Mass., where he served as the lone brewer on a four-vessel, 40-barrel system.

Murrett similarly started his career as an avid homebrewer, but after his job as a commercial property manager in Boston fell through, he decided to pursue his passion for brewing profession-

ally. Taking a sales job at Blue Hills Brewery in Canton, Mass., allowed him to volunteer in the brewhouse, and his experience there led to a job at brewpub chain Boston Beer Works, where he was able to shadow staff on brew days. After attending brewing school at the American Brewers Guild in Vermont, he spent six months brewing at Lagunitas Brewing Co. in California before returning as assistant head brewer to Boston Beer Works, where he learned to brew on three completely different systems.

The background both Tursi and Murrett have developed in the industry has allowed them to learn every aspect of beer production, from building out a facility to brewing and packaging.

While DSSØLVR plans to hire locally in the future, the early years will see Tursi and Murrett handling the vast majority of the necessary work.

“We would never ask somebody to do something we wouldn’t do, but we would also never trust somebody to do something where we could just do it.

There aren’t a lot of breweries where the owners can walk in and handle absolutely anything,” says Tursi.

Though Tursi and Murrett lived and worked within blocks of each other in Boston and even attended the same college, the two didn’t meet until they joined Burial and helped to build the Forestry Camp production facility. Semenec, a former co-worker and roommate of Tursi’s with a background in graphic design and advertising, had long expressed an interest in opening a brewery, and with that, the pieces were in place for the inception of DSSØLVR. Semenec, who has developed marketing materials and short films for companies ranging from New Balance to Otis Spunkmeyer, offers some thoughts on the brewery’s brand identity. “The DSSØLVR brand is our blend of great people, great beer and the pursuit of the surreal,” he says.

“Following that ethos allows us to be experimental and creative as f***. As a brand, we want to ooze with awesomeness every damn place you see it. Or something like that.”

“We care immensely about the liquid we’re producing,” adds Murrett. “A huge thing that we also care about, second only to that, is not taking ourselves too seriously.” X

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A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T

PAST PRESENT

Eighth {Re}HAPPENING manifests the history of Black Mountain College

BY DANIEL WALTON danielwwalton@live.com {Re}HAPPENING, the annual art event and fundraiser for the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, is defined by the simultaneous. In the legacy of John Cage’s “Theater Piece No. 1,” a multimedia extravaganza that took over Black Mountain College’s Lake Eden campus in 1952, {Re}HAPPENING presents a dizzying variety of artists, musicians and installations in tandem, and it delights in the unexpected synchronicities that arise among them.

From a broader perspective, explains museum Executive Director Jeff Arnal, the event aims to shrink the distance in time between BMC’s 1933-57 lifespan and the present day.

“We like to look at the history and legacy of the college and connect that past work with contemporary practice,” he says. Attendees can experience this philosophy in action at the

WORK IT OUT: As part of the extensive {Re}HAPPENING lineup, local dancer and choreographer Kathy Leiner, pictured, presents “Firewall.”

The multimedia performance is “created collaboratively by dancers and the audience [and] uses choice and chance to explore barriers, vulnerability and to question how our exposure or anonymity affects our actions.” Photo courtesy of Leiner college’s former grounds, now Camp Rockmont, on Saturday, March 31.

Arnal mentions headliners Roomful of Teeth as an example of how {Re} HAPPENING’s lineup is shaped through consideration of the BMC ethos. The Massachusetts-based ensemble blends vocal techniques from around the globe, such as Tuvan throat singing, Alpine yodeling and death metal growls, into dynamic performances that defy easy classification.

“They very much reflect what BMC did. It was a crossroads, a cosmopolitan place with people from all over the world,” says Arnal. “The college looked to find these innovators, the very best artists anywhere, to come and exchange ideas here in Western North Carolina.”

The event draws other featured artists from considerably closer to home.

The Media Arts Project and REVOLVE, based in Asheville’s RAMP studios, 34

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is producing the “John Cage Room,” a multimedia installation that combines live coding, sound, performance and visuals. Bassist and UNC Asheville graduate Frank Meadows performs “Tribute to James Tenny” by Alvin Lucier, while Asheville experimental sound collective Mystery Meat debuts three new audio dioramas, each meant to envelop a single listener at a time.

And local writer and Xpress staffer Alli Marshall will perform “Sleeping on Rooftops,” a poetry cycle inspired by mythologist Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey, in collaboration with dancers Coco Palmer Dolce and Sharon Cooper and cellist Melissa Hyman.

Perhaps borrowing most directly from the BMC legacy is “Time Is No Object: Jean Varda’s Trojan Horse.”

Designed by Warren Wilson College art professors Jacob Brault, Julie Caro and Anna Helgeson in conjunction with their students, this installation

and performance piece bring back to life a legendary celebration that took place at the college’s summer institute in 1946.

As Caro was conducting research for an upcoming BMCM+AC exhibit on painter Jacob Lawrence, she came across a photo of a giant, elaborate wooden horse on the lawn outside the college dining hall. Contemporary letters and oral history interviews with institute attendees revealed that the horse was just the most visible element of a Greek costume party that had consumed the entire campus.

At the root of the festivities was the free-spirited painter Jean Varda.

“He was always dressed in superbright colors and drove around in this vividly painted pink and yellow convertible,” recounts Helgeson. “The sculptor Leo Lionni actually came to the party dressed as Varda because his style was so distinctive and eccentric.”

What made the event more than just another college blowout, Helgeson explains, was its timing. “This was right after the end of World War II, and there was a sort of somber mood in the air,” she says. “Varda brought a sense of playfulness, this invitation back to life. In the writing of some of the folks from the summer institute, what comes through is how much of a relief it was to just have fun again.”

The Warren Wilson instructors sought a way to give people a deeper sense of the party’s impact than would be possible through merely presenting the old photos and letters, a process Helgeson calls activating the archives.

“A really powerful method for that is performance — you’re taking your own body and reimagining it in a different time and place,” she says. “It’s a profound way to dive into history.”

To that end, Helgeson’s performance art class at Warren Wilson is developing interpretations that both re-enact accounts of the party and use the archives as a jumping-off point for their own imaginations. Brault’s sculpture students are constructing the wooden horse that will provide the stage for the performance, and Caro is continuing her historical research to inform the overall effort.

How exactly “Time Is No Object” will play out is yet to be determined; the students will be finalizing their performance plans right up until the Trojan horse’s debut at Camp Rockmont. That joyous spontaneity may be their finest tribute to the spirit of Jean Varda and the happenings of BMC. “The very foundation of our reality right now is built on the past.

Time is not necessarily simple, and it’s not necessarily simply linear,” Helgeson says. “There’s a way in which the past is always coming into the present again.” X

WHAT {Re}HAPPENING rehappening.com WHERE Camp Rockmont 375 Lake Eden Road Black Mountain WHEN Saturday, March 31, 3-10 p.m. $20 advance/$25 adults/$15 students and youths ages 10 and older

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Sustainability Series

by Lauren Stepp

lstepp98@gmail.com

HED OVER HEELS Three-day festival celebrates a fictional pop icon’s off-Broadway debut

CELEBRATING EARTH DAY 2017

Every week in April GLITZ & GLAM: New to Asheville’s arts scene, HedFest celebrates Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a 1998 musical about sexuality, gender identity, rock ’n’ roll and radical self-love. Photo by Patrice Kennedy and Jennifer Bennet Asheville-based performer Iggy Ingler admits that Hedwig Robinson — a gender-bending musician and protagonist of the 1998 musical and 2001 film Hedwig and the Angry Inch — is an unlikely underdog. She is, after all, a German rock ’n’ roller who underwent gender reassignment surgery to escape the perils of communism and marry her American GI boyfriend. Still, Ingler thinks there is something “deeply human” in Hedwig’s narrative.

“I’ve heard people say, ‘What am I going to have in common with this woman from East Berlin who is a woman by sex change?’ Then they walk out of the theater having everything in common,” notes Ingler, a director, singer and cabaretier from New Orleans.

Ingler is partnering with Owly Cat Productions to stage his iteration of Hedwig and the Angry Inch (in which he plays the lead role) at The Grey Eagle, Friday-Sunday, March 30-April 1.

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The performance anchors HedFest, a three-day jubilee celebrating the 20th anniversary of the musical’s offBroadway debut at the Jane Street Theatre in Manhattan. Besides nightly showings, festivities run the gamut from glitter-infused dance parties to family-friendly Easter egg hunts.

Friday will also see the Hed Bangers Ball — a rowdy gathering emceed by drag superstar Ida Carolina. Wigs or bunny ears are required, and you must be 18 or older to attend.

Ten percent of Friday’s and Sunday’s proceeds will be shared between Youth OUTright and Tranzmission, both local organizations that support the LGBTQIA community. All proceeds from Saturday’s show, plus 20 percent of money collected from the Hed Bangers Ball, will also benefit Tranzmission in honor of Transgender Day of Visibility on Saturday, March 31.

“The pain and often violent prejudice against trans women goes far, far,

far beyond anything that could possibly be represented by Hedwig’s story,” Ingler says when asked about the festival’s philanthropic bent. “Even as heartbreaking as her story is.”

The script’s harrowing realism has attracted a cult following, earning an Obie Award in its first year off Broadway. Its subsequent movie version was directed by writer and actor John Cameron Mitchell. Local directors took note, too. N.C. Stage Company mounted productions in 2002 and 2011 (the latter starring Michael Sheldon, aka the late Cookie laRue), and The Synthesis Experiment offered its adaptation at the Toy Boat Community Arts Space last October.

A die-hard fan, Ingler has been itching to fill Hedwig’s shoes — which are “some intense shoes to be wearing,” he says — for many years now. “The story just resonates with me,” says Ingler. “As a performer, it’s always been something I’ve wanted to tackle.”

Be warned, though: This is not a story for the fainthearted and, as such, parental discretion is advised.

Set at a rock ’n’ roll gig, the play follows Hedwig as she divulges intimacies with her quick wit and sharp tongue. Searching for her “other half” as a young, queer boy named Hanschel, the protagonist reluctantly undergoes a sex change operation in order to wed a lusty soldier. But the operation goes awry, leaving the would-be pop star with the titular angry inch. Though made light of in the original script, Ingler will address the issue of medical malpractice head on.

“Part of what makes Hedwig a topic of debate in the transgender community is that when gender reassignment surgery goes wrong, it doesn’t leave the victim in a physical or mental condition to be singing about it onstage a year later,” he explains.

Accompanied by a band, also called The Angry Inch, and a backup singer named Yitzhak (played by local musician Polly Panic),

HedFest schedule

Hedwig will spin music-infused monologues, describing her tenure in a Kansas trailer park, how her marriage fell apart, and her mentoring of fictional rock star Tommy Gnosis.

Full of “camp comedy, dark humor and a heavy veneer of glam,” the production is a wild ride, says Ingler.

It makes people laugh, cry and feel.

(Ingler still gets teary-eyed when performing “The Origin of Love,” a song about finding soulmates.)

But Hedwig and The Angry Inch also makes people talk.

“This play inherently starts a conversation on these very human things,” Ingler says, referring to gender and sexuality. Her situation does call attention to the gender binary. Feeling neither completely masculine nor completely feminine, she exists between several polarities: man and woman, loved and loveless, famous and forgotten. It can be uncomfortable at times, agonizing even. But at curtain call, the key takeaway is clear: “There is more to being a person than these polar ideas,” says Ingler. “No matter what your identity is, at the end of the day, we have more in common than we have not in common.” X

All events are at The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave. Information at hedwigavl.com.

Friday, March 30 • Hedwig and the Angry Inch, 7 p.m. $30 general/$45 includes ticket to any night plus entry to the Hed Bangers Ball • Hed Bangers Ball, 9 p.m. $20 Saturday, March 31 • Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Cassandra Complex, featuring local trans-fem vocalist Kristi Seahorse, opens at 7:30 p.m.

Musical at 9 p.m. $30 Sunday, April 1 • All-Day HedFest: Bazaar, Beer and Tacos, 11 a.m. Free • Easter egg hunt for children of LGBTQIA families and allies, 1 p.m. Free • Hedwig and the Angry Inch, 5 p.m. $30

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A&E

by Bill Kopp

bill@musoscribe.com

THE FIRE AIN’T GONE OUT Swannanoa songwriter, poet, artist and dramatist Billy Edd Wheeler celebrates a new memoir Billy Edd Wheeler is a West Virginia-born American troubadour, an important part of the Appalachian storytelling tradition. He’s written songs made famous by Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers and Richie Havens, but songwriting is only part of his impressive body of work. The latest from the pen of the prolific Wheeler — a pillar of the Western North Carolina arts community and a longtime Swannanoa resident — is his memoir, Hotter Than a Pepper Sprout. Warren Wilson College, Wheeler’s alma mater, hosts a reading event on Saturday, April 7.

The book’s title is taken from one of many memorable lines in Wheeler’s best-known tune, “Jackson.” That song won a 1967 Grammy Award for Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash.

“Johnny learned it from a folk album that I put out,” Wheeler says, referring to 1963’s A New Bag of Songs.

Even though four years passed between Wheeler’s original and the hit cover, the composer says he had the Cashes in mind when he wrote it.

“And I was lucky that that song landed in their hands,” he says, “because nobody could do it any better than they did.”

Wheeler has recorded more than 15 albums himself but is better known as a composer than as a performer. “I always thought I would be known as a songwriter,” he says. But that label is insufficient to describe Wheeler and his work.

He has painted extensively, written books of poetry, composed the story and music for eight plays and musi-

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DANCIN’ ON A PONY KEG: After a lifetime writing hit and classic songs, plays, poems and musicals, Swannanoa-based Renaissance man Billy Edd Wheeler (shown here, onstage in 1992) has written the lively memoir, Hotter Than a Pepper Sprout. Photo courtesy of BMG cals, and authored several outdoor dramas, including Hatfields & McCoys.

Wheeler recalls being contacted in 1968 by Ewell Cornett, then the director of Theatre West Virginia, with a request to write a play about the famous feuding clans. “I told him, ‘I’m not sure I want to write about the Hatfields and McCoys. Too many times West Virginians are looked upon as inbred and ignorant, and I don’t want to promote that stereotype.’”

Cornett encouraged Wheeler to research the facts of the feud. Once he did, Wheeler discovered that a love story lay at the heart of the oft-told tale. “I instantly thought of Romeo and Juliet,” he says. “So I called Ewell and said, ‘Yeah, I want to write that drama, and I want you to help me. And I get an advance, don’t I?’” Wheeler received $10,000. “That was a lot of money back then,” he says with a laugh. He and Cornett did additional research and wrote the musical drama.

The play premiered in 1970 and ran for 45 years in Beckley, W.Va. That achievement would be but one in a long list. Wheeler moved around a lot in his younger years, attending Warren Wilson College in his teens while spending summers in Detroit and his rural West Virginia mining hometown. And once he made it as a songwriter, he trav-

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eled extensively. But by the 1980s, he settled in Swannanoa.

“I had a little bit of stardom, but not much,” he explains with genuine humility. “I started getting tapes in the mail from people wanting me to criticize their songs.” But those budding songwriters expected Wheeler to critique for free and even pay the return postage. “I thought, ‘This ain’t working,’” he says. So Wheeler established the Great Smokies Song Chase, held at Warren Wilson.

After a successful four-year run, Wheeler was ready to end the Song Chase. But Doug Orr, then the president of the college, wanted a good thing to continue, and so Wheeler stayed on one more year while the Great Smokies Song Chase evolved into a new event, the Swannanoa Gathering.

Wheeler believes that the creative technique of songwriting can be taught.

“Now, you have to have a kernel of talent to begin with,” he cautions, “but I don’t know anybody who didn’t benefit from good criticism.” He says that the schooling he got early on from Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller (composers of “Hound Dog,” “Kansas City,” “Young Blood,” “Searchin’,” “Jailhouse Rock” and nearly 70 other hits) was a key to his own success.

He also got some early advice from Thornton Wilder, author of Our Town. “He said, ‘Billy, if you’re going to write, take time to ponder. It’s important. And by the way, if you ever decide to study playwriting, I suggest Yale.’”

Wheeler recalls looking at the famed playwright in astonishment. “He knew what I was thinking,” Wheeler says. “‘Oh, they give scholarships, Billy.’ He knew I couldn’t afford Yale.” Wheeler would go on to earn a scholarship and study at the prestigious university.

Today, at age 85, Wheeler shows little sign of slowing down. Hotter Than a Pepper Sprout is a highly enjoyable chronicle, following a young boy in Boone County, W.Va., through a fascinating lifetime, rubbing elbows with Elvis, Chet Atkins and countless other musical peers. And he’s not done yet. With co-writer Randy Poe, Wheeler is working on a sprawling Western novel. “I stole the plot from Captains Courageous,” he says with a chuckle, then goes on to describe a wonderfully original variation of Rudyard Kipling’s 1897 work.

Wheeler now knows that he’s part of a long Scots-Irish Appalachian oral tradition but admits, “I really didn’t have any idea where I came from.” When, as a young boy, he was told that the folk songs he loved had come from England and Scotland, his eyes were opened. “I thought, ‘Wow. There’s a big part of the world out there that I don’t know anything about.’” He would spend the rest of his life learning. X

WHAT Book launch for Hotter Than a Pepper Sprout

by Billy Edd Wheeler WHERE Kittredge Theatre 701 Warren Wilson Road Swannanoa warren-wilson.edu WHEN Saturday, April 7, 4 p.m.

Suggested contribution $10-$25

by Alli Marshall

amarshall@mountainx.com

INSPIRING READERS AND WRITERS

Schedule Monday, April 2 • Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poets Series featuring Pat RiviereSeel and student poets Donna Glee Williams, Karen Jackson, Victoria Tran and Morgan Guynn, noon

WCU’s Spring Literary Festival returns

Although Western Carolina University’s annual Spring Literary Festival spans several weekday afternoons and evenings (convenient for students; not so much for working professionals making the drive from other parts of the region), the lineup makes a road trip to the Cullowhee campus worthwhile. This year’s events, which take place Monday-Thursday, April 2-5, include writers of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, and culminates in an event with Pulitzer, Emmy and Obie (among others) award-winning playwright Tony Kushner.

Kushner, who authored the Broadway play Angels in America and the screenplay for the Steven Spielberg drama Lincoln, among many other projects, will be interviewed onstage by Beth Huber, a WCU associate professor of writing, rhetoric and critical studies. Huber “spent 13 years writing and acting for theater companies in Kansas City and throughout Europe for the USO,” according to a press release.

“The mission of the festival is to foster reading, cultivate the arts and enrich our community through the best humanities education possible,” adds the press release. Beyond Kushner’s contribution, burgeoning writers can take inspiration from a Tuesday presentation by poets Crystal Wilkinson, Frank X Walker and Ricardo Nazario-Colon. The trio of literary luminaries are founding members of The Affrilachian Poets, a group of artists of color who, since 1991, have been “writing together, defying the persistent stereotype of a racially homogenized rural region,” according to the collective’s website.

On Monday, Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle — a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians — will discuss her work. Her novel Going to Water received the Morning Star Award for Creative Writing and was a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction.

Lorraine Lopez, another PEN finalist (her collection Homicide Survivors Picnic and Other Stories was in con-

• Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle (fiction), 4 p.m.

• Glenn Taylor (fiction), 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, April 3 • Fiction writers Dana Wildsmith and Jim Minick (fiction), 4 p.m.

• Affrilachian writers Crystal Wilkinson, Frank X Walker and Ricardo Nazario-Colon, 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, April 4 • Jessie van Eerden and Jesse Donaldson (fiction and nonfiction), 4 p.m.

• Lorraine Lopez (fiction), 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, April 5 • Rose McLarney (poet) and Michael McFee (poet and nonfiction), 4 p.m.

• An evening with playwright Tony Kushner at the Bardo Arts Center performance hall, 7:30 p.m. $25 general/$20 WCU and SCC faculty and staff/$5 WCU and SCC students. 828-227-2787 or arts.wcu.edu/tony-kushner

DO THE WRITE THING: Western Carolina University’s Spring Literary Festival includes presentations by, clockwise from top left, Affrilachian poet Crystal Wilkinson, novelists Lorraine Lopez and Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, and playwright Tony Kushner.

Photos courtesy of the university tention for the PEN/Faulkner Prize), will speak on Wednesday. Lopez’s most recent novel, The Darling, is “a story about a woman trying to break free of traditional expectations of women through literature and exploration,”

according to her bio. It’s an apt subject for a literary festival.

Events take place at the university’s A.K. Hinds University Center and are free unless otherwise noted. Information at arts.wcu.edu. X MOUNTAINX.COM

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SMART BETS

A&E

by Edwin Arnaudin | Send your arts news to ae@mountainx.com

Alash Hailing from Tuva on the southern edge of Siberia, the trio Alash combines Western influences with its country’s traditional music — including throat singing, the practice of one voice singing multiple pitches simultaneously. The group begins its three-day residency at UNC Asheville with a free master class in the Humanities Lecture Hall. The Wednesday, March 28, 9:30-10:45 a.m. offering looks at Tuvan art, and there’s a Thursday, March 29, concert at 7 p.m. in Lipinsky Auditorium with an opening set by the UNCA student vocal ensemble The Asheville Singers. $15 general admission/$10 UNCA alumni and OLLI members/free for UNCA students/$5 all other students and UNCA employees. unca.edu. Photo courtesy of UNC Asheville

Nimbus True to its cloud-inspired name, Nimbus freely explores the globe in search of new musical inspirations. The project allows Asheville-based musician Patrick Fitzsimons to blend his interests in electronic and world music as well as his dual backgrounds as a guitarist and percussionist. A member of local African fusion groups Zansa and Mande Foly, Fitzsimons employs a MIDI guitar and drum pad for much of Nimbus’ debut four-track EP Ascension, which he recorded, mixed and mastered using Ableton Live and a mobile laptop setup. Among many the EP’s influences, the songs incorporate Cuban rhythms and traditional Zimbabwean melodies along with frequent dub delays.

Fitzsimons presents his eclectic creations in a live setting Saturday, March 31, at Pillar, 7-10 p.m. Free. pillaravl.com. Photo courtesy of Fitzsimons

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Sister Ivy Asheville trio Sister Ivy describes its music as “surrealistic soul-jazz” — an apt description for a band that cites Erykah Badu, Pink Floyd and Radiohead as key inspirations. The melting pot of soundscapes is grounded in the writing of vocalist/ keyboardist Rachel Waterhouse, who began wholeheartedly pursuing her artistic dreams in summer 2015. Various collaborators have helped her hone her skills and flesh out her ambitions, which eventually landed her in Black Mountain’s El Rancho Morbido Studios last summer, where the EP Plecia was recorded. Flanked by bassist Asher Hill and drummer Paul Gladstone, plus numerous guest spots from friends old and new, Waterhouse will perform the collection and other works Friday, March 30, at 9 p.m. at Isis Music Hall. Asheville-based jazz group Ghost Pipe Trio opens. $10 advance/$12 day of show. isisasheville.com. Photo by Libby Gamble

Jon Michael Riley The 2009 hijacking of the MV Maersk Alabama — dramatized in Paul Greengrass’ 2013 film Captain Phillips and starring Tom Hanks — piqued Western North Carolina author Jon Michael Riley’s interest in 2010. His subsequent research of Somali pirates deepened that curiosity and provided the spark for Photo Shoot, the second installment in his Channey Moran action/thriller series. In it, the renowned New York photographer stages a fashion shoot in the Indian Ocean as a ruse to rescue two American couples taken hostage a day’s sail east of the Seychelles Islands. Riley, a career photographer before turning to fiction, will read from his new novel at Malaprop’s on Thursday, March 29, at 6 p.m. Free to attend. malaprops.com. Author photo courtesy of Riley

T H E AT E R R E V I E W

by Jeff Messer | upstge@yahoo.com

‘Luna Gale’ at The Magnetic Theatre As the interim head of The Magnetic Theatre, Andrew Gall hasn’t wasted any time choosing strong works by women writers to fill the stage this year. Moving away from exclusively locally sourced playwrights, Gall chose to direct the powerful drama Luna Gale

by Rebecca Gillman. It is the regional debut of this relatively new play by a powerful voice in contemporary theater. The show runs through Saturday, March 31.

It has been a long time since I’ve seen a play this unflinching in its depiction of deep social issues, from drug addiction and religious zealotry to the struggles of social services workers trying to do their jobs against seemingly impossible pressures and odds.

A meth-addicted couple have taken their sick baby to the hospital where Child Protective Services takes custody of the endangered child, the titular Luna. This starts a spiral of conflicts that propels the play along an often harrowing path. As the overworked and underappreciated caseworker Caroline, Kay Galvin is the center of the tempestuous tale. She finds herself wanting to redeem the parents and reunite them with their baby, and proves she is willing to go to great lengths to accomplish that goal.

Karen Covington-Yow turns in a great performance as Cindy, Luna’s grandmother. Her intentions seem pure, but Caroline finds Cindy’s evangelical leanings to be at odds with her own beliefs, introducing a bias to the proceedings. Covington-Yow’s real-life husband Mike Yow plays a smoothly measured pastor who begins to insert himself as an advocate for Cindy’s planned adoption.

Caroline’s boss, with whom she is often at odds, is played by Jon Stockdale. His own views on religion reveal that he is inclined to support Cindy’s bid for the baby, and he shows a willingness to rubber-stamp the whole process.

As the young couple, Emma Heisey and Lee Wilson give us a decidedly unsavory and unsympathetic look at drug addiction. Heisey, in particular, is disturbingly on point in her perfor-

HARD CHOICES: Kay Galvin plays an overburdened social worker in The Magnetic Theatre’s production of Luna Gale. Photo by Rodney Smith/Tempus Fugit mance as Karlie. It is hard to watch as she disappears into a role that frustrates the audience who wants to root for her. It is exceptional work.

As Peter, Wilson is the more sympathetic of the two, and he shows signs of a willingness to follow the rules and get clean so he and Karlie can get Luna back.

His journey is the most hopeful, and Wilson gives an inspiring performance.

Rounding out the cast is Carrie Kimbrell Kimzey as Lourdes, a girl Caroline helped through the foster care system since she was a baby. Lourdes appears to be a success story that Caroline clings to — perhaps too firmly — as she faces doubts about her effectiveness at her job.

Dark secrets are revealed, and ghosts of sins past rear their heads. There are no heroes, despite heroic efforts, strong convictions and actions that are often questionable. The script can be a little

heavy-handed at times, laboring the message of how direly understaffed social workers are, as well as the emotional toll it takes on them, but it is also one of the most compelling and moving experiences I’ve had at the theater in a long time. X

WHAT Luna Gale WHERE The Magnetic Theatre 375 Depot St. themagnetictheatre.org WHEN Through Saturday, March 31.

Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. $16

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A &E CA LEN DA R

by Abigail Griffin

BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • TU (4/3), 6pm "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain," drawing workshop for ages 14 and up. Registration required. Free. Held at Skyland/South Buncombe Library, 260 Overlook Road MOUNTAIN MADE ART GALLERY 1 Page Ave., Suite 123 • SA (3/31), noon-3pm - Photographer Ruthie Rosauer presents her photography book, These Trees. Free to attend.

THE CENTER FOR CRAFT, CREATIVITY AND DESIGN 67 Broadway, 828-785-1357, craftcreativitydesign. org/ • TH (3/29), 6:307:30pm - Scale Up, artist talk by Ani Geragosian, project grant recipient and Windgate Fellow.

Registration required.

Free.

• TU (4/3), 2-4pm - "Scale Up Family Program," family-friendly exploration of the Scale Up exhibition. For ages 9 and up. $10.

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY VISTAS: Asheville photographer and author Tim Barnwell has 35 years of exploring Southern Appalachia to his name, experiences that have yielded plenty of memorable images and stories. On Thursday, March 29, at 10:30 a.m., he’ll share standout moments in a presentation at the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center. The talk is in conjunction with the release of the second edition of Barnwell’s book, Blue Ridge Parkway Vistas. The updated volume includes 16 bonus pages with new overlooks, additional full-page nature photographs and an article on waterfall hikes along the parkway. Free.

For more information, visit www.blueridgeheritage.com. Photo courtesy of Blue Ridge Heritage Area (p. 42) ART ARTS AT UNCA arts.unca.edu • TH (4/5), 7-8pm “The People’s Water: Stewardship Through Art,” presentation by artist and environmental advocate Betsy Damon.

Held at UNC Asheville Sherrill Center, Mountain View Room, 1 University Heights ASHEVILLE AREA ARTS COUNCIL 828-258-0710, ashevillearts.com • MONDAYS through (4/30), 10am-1pm "Explorative Fibers," fiber workshop for veterans.

Registration required: 828-258-0710. Free. Held

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at Local Cloth, 207 Coxe Ave. BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY VISITOR CENTER MP 384, Blue Ridge Parkway • TH (3/29), 10am-noon - Tim Barnwell photography presentation on his three photography books. Free.

BULLINGTON GARDENS 95 Upper Red Oak Trail Hendersonville, 828-698-6104, bullingtongardens.org • WE (4/4), 2pm "Poemscapes: These Trees," slide show of tree photographs by Ruthie Rosauer paired with music and poems by Kate Stockman and Annelinde Metzner. Free.

THE GALLERY AT FLAT ROCK 702-A Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, 828-698-7000, galleryflatrock.com/ • THURSDAYS through SUNDAYS until (3/31) Artist demonstrations.

Thurs.-Sat.: 1-5pm. Sun.: 1-3pm. Free to attend.

TRANZMISSION Tranzmission.org, Info@Tranzmission.org • SA (3/31), 7pm - Proceeds from the International Transgender Day of Visibility art showcase featuring local artists benefit Tranzmission. $5-$25. Held at WNC Community Center, 417 Biltmore Ave., #4a {RE}HAPPENING rehappening.com • SA (3/31), 3-10pm - Art event based upon the original Black Mountain College "Happening." Featuring installations, new media, music, food trucks and performance projects. $25/$15 youth/Free for children under 10/$5 parking. Held at Camp Rockmont, 375 Lake Eden Road, Black Mountain

AUDITIONS & CALL TO ARTISTS ASHEVILLE AREA ARTS COUNCIL 828-258-0710, ashevillearts.com

• Through MO (5/7), 5pm - Applications accepted from nonprofit organizations for North Carolina Arts Council Grassroots Arts Program sub-grants.

See website for full guidelines.

ASHEVILLE ART MUSEUM 828-253-3227, ashevilleart.org • Through SA (3/31) Submissions accepted for Appalachia Now! An Interdisciplinary Survey of Contemporary Art in Southern Appalachia, exhibition. See website for full guidelines.

ASHEVILLE COMMUNITY THEATRE • Through FR (4/5) Submissions accepted for designers for the 2018 Costume Drama.

See website for full guidelines.

FLETCHER AREA ART FAIR director@ fletcherartsheritage. com, 828-691-1255 • Through SA (3/31) Vendors accepted for the Fletcher Area Art Fair taking place on Saturday, April 7.

DANCE 6 WEEK NIGHTCLUBTWO DANCE CLASS (PD.) Wednesdays starting April 4, 7-8pm, Asheville Ballroom. 828-333-0715, naturalrichard@mac. com •$75, $65 Early Bird by March 28. www.DanceForLife.net EXPERIENCE ECSTATIC DANCE! (PD.) Dance waves hosted

by Asheville Movement Collective. Fun and personal/community transformation. • Fridays, 7pm, Terpsicorps Studios, 1501 Patton Avenue. • Sundays, 8:30am and 10:30am, JCC, 236 Charlotte Street. Sliding scale fee.

Information: ashevillemovementcollective.org ASHEVILLE BUTOH COLLECTIVE ashevillebutoh.com • MONDAYS, 6:308:30pm - "Aspects of Butoh," butoh dance practice. $15-$20. Held at 7 Chicken Alley HABITAT TAVERN & COMMONS 174 Broadway, habitatbrewing.com • 1st MONDAYS, 7-8:30pm - "Salsa Dancing for the Soul," open levels salsa dance.

Free to attend.

MUSIC AFRICAN DRUM LESSONS AT SKINNY BEATS DRUM SHOP (PD.) Saturdays 5pm, Wednesdays 6pm. Billy Zanski teaches a fun approach to connecting with your inner rhythm.

Drop-ins welcome. • Drums provided. $15/ class. (828) 768-2826. www.skinnybeatsdrums. com A CAPPELLA ALIVE facebook.com/ acappellaalive, wbellnc@yahoo.com • THURSDAYS, 7-9pm A Cappella Alive! womens choral group practice.

Free. Held at Givens Gerber Park, 40 Gerber Road BREVARD MUSIC CENTER 828-862-2105, brevardmusic.org • MO (4/2), 12:30pm The Giannini Quartet, concert. Free. Held in the Porter Center at Brevard College, 1 Brevard College Drive Brevard • TU (4/3), 12:30pm The Giannini Quartet, concert. Free. Held at First United Methodist Church of Hendersonville, 204 6th Ave. W., Hendersonville BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • TH (3/29), 6pm - Michael Jeffrey Stevens & Friends, all ages jazz concert. Free.

Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. DIANA WORTHAM THEATRE 18 Biltmore Ave., 828-257-4530, dwtheatre.com • SA (3/31), 8pm - Lee Ann Womack, country/soul/ gospel concert. $38.

FLAT ROCK PLAYHOUSE 2661 Highway 225, Flat Rock, 828-693-0731, flatrockplayhouse.org • THURSDAY through SUNDAY (4/5) until (4/8) "The Music of Bob Seger," concert featuring tribute artist Steve Kelly. Thurs.: 7:30pm. Fri. & Sat.: 8pm.

Sun.: 2pm. $35.

MUSIC AT MARS HILL mhu.edu • WE (4/4), 7:30pm Clarinet and voice recital featuring Denise Gainey and Kristine HurstWajszczuk. Free. Held at Broyhill Chapel, 338 Cascade St, Mars Hill MUSIC AT UNCA 828-251-6432, unca.edu • TH (3/29), 7pm - Alash, Tuvan “throat singing” concert. $15/$5 students. Held at Lipinsky Auditorium at UNC Asheville, 300 Library Lane

• SA (3/31), noon-11pm - "Echofest," live music festival with over 25 bands on multiple stages. Free.

Held in the UNC Asheville quad MUSIC AT WCU 828-227-2479, bardoartscenter.wcu.edu • TH (4/5), 7pm - Old-Time and Bluegrass Series: Charleston Township, bluegrass concert. Public open jam at 8pm. Free.

Held at H.F. Robinson Administration Building, Cullowhee TRYON FINE ARTS CENTER 34 Melrose Ave., Tryon, 828-859-8322, tryonarts.org • TH (3/29), 8pm Windsync, chamber music concert.

SPOKEN & WRITTEN WORD 35BELOW 35 E. Walnut St., 828-254-1320, ashevilletheatre.org • TH (3/29), 7:30pm "Listen to This" storytelling series hosted by Tom Chalmers and featuring stories and original songs from locals. $15.

ASHEVILLE TOASTMASTERS CLUB 914-424-7347, ashevilletoastmasters.com • THURSDAYS, 6:157:45pm - General meeting to develop leadership, communication and speaking skills within community. Free. Held at YMI Cultural Center, 39 South Market St. ASHEVILLE WRITERS' SOCIAL allimarshall@bellsouth.net • 1st WEDNESDAYS, 6-7:30pm - N.C. Writer's Network group meeting and networking. Free to attend. Held at Battery Park Book Exchange, 1 Page Ave., #101 BLUE RIDGE BOOKS 428 Hazelwood Ave., Waynesville • SA (3/31), 2-4pm - Darryl Bollinger presents their medical thriller, The Cure.

Free to attend.

BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • TU (4/3), 7pm - Book discussion of Option B by Sheryl Sandberg. Free.

Held at Weaverville Public Library, 41 N. Main St., Weaverville • TU (4/3), 7pm- EnkaCandler Book Club: Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich. Free. Held at Enka-Candler Library, 1404 Sandhill Road, Candler • WE (4/4), 3pm - Book discussion of Untamed by Will Harlan. Free. Held at Weaverville Public Library, 41 N. Main St., Weaverville

FIRESTORM CAFE AND BOOKS 610 Haywood Road, 828-255-8115 • TH (3/29), 6-8pm WUSSY Mag and Queer Appalachia present a night of southern and queer media, readings and a clothing drive. Free to attend.

• First SUNDAYS, 5pm - Political prisoners letter writing. Free to attend.

FLOOD GALLERY FINE ART CENTER 2160 US Highway 70, Swannanoa, 828-273-3332, floodgallery.org/ • SUNDAYS, 2-5pm - Halcyone Literary Magazine meeting for writers, reviewers, poets and artists interested in helping with the formation of the magazine. Free.

HENDERSON COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 301 N. Washington St., Hendersonville, 828-697-4725 • WE (4/4), 3-5pm - "I Love My Library" event with informational tables about library services and a special children's program. Free.

HENDERSONVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY 301 N Washington St., Hendersonville, 828-697-4725 • TU (4/3), 5:30-7pm - Ann B. Ross presents her book series, Miss Julia. Free.

LITERARY EVENTS AT UNCA unca.edu • MO (4/2), 7pm Presentation by poets Kerri French and Stephanie Rogers. Free.

Held at UNC Asheville Karpen Hall, 1 University Heights • TU (4/3), 7pm Department of English Visiting Writer Series: Readings by authors Donald Morrill and Lisa Birnbaum. Free. Held at UNC Asheville - Karpen Hall, 1 University Heights MALAPROP'S BOOKSTORE AND CAFE 55 Haywood St., 828-254-6734, malaprops.com • WE (3/28), 6pm - Scott Paly presents his book, Get it Together: Cultural and Practical Tips to be a Successful Adult. Free to attend.

• TH (3/29), 6pm - Jon Michael Riley presents his book, Photo Shoot. Free to attend.

• TH (3/29), 7pm - Works in Translation Book Club: The First Anthology of Science Fiction to Have Emerged from Iraq, edited

by Hassan Blasim with multiple translators. Free to attend.

• MO (4/2), 6pm Elisabeth Rosenthal presents her book, An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You

Can Take It Back. Free to attend.

• TU (4/3), 6pm - Victoria Price presents her book, The Way of Being Lost: A Road Trip to My Truest Self. Free to attend.

• WE (4/4), 6pm - Peter Loewer presents his book, Loves Me, Loves me Not: The Hidden Language of Flowers. Free to attend.

• TH (4/5), 6pm - John Kessel presents his book, Pride and Prometheus.

Free to attend.

LOVE YOUR LOCAL

advertise@mountainx.com

Thank you for voting us #1!

frugalframer

custom picture framing since 1975

NEW DIMENSIONS TOASTMASTERS 828-329-4190 • THURSDAYS, noon1pm - General meeting.

Information: 828-329-4190.

Free to attend.

Held at Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity, 33 Meadow Road THE WRITER'S WORKSHOP 387 Beaucatcher Road, 828-254-8111, twwoa.org • FR (3/30), 6-8:30pm Potluck dinner and writers' group. Bring a dish and piece of writing to share.

Registration required: writersw@gmail.com. Free.

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THEATER AT WCU 828-227-2479, bardoartscenter.wcu.edu • TH (4/5), 7:30pm - Live, onstage interview with playwright and author Tony Kushner. $25/$5 students. Held at The WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Drive

THEATER MAGNETIC 375 375 Depot St., themagnetictheatre.org • THURSDAY through SATURDAYS until (3/31), 7:30pm - Luna Gale. $16.

NC STAGE COMPANY 15 Stage Lane, 828-239-0263 • WEDNESDAYS through SUNDAYS until (4/8) - Other Desert Cities.

Wed.-Sat.: 7:30pm. Sun.: 2pm. Additional matinees: Saturday, March 31 & April 7, 2pm. $16-$34.

THE AUTUMN PLAYERS 828-686-1380, www.ashevilletheatre.org, caroldec25@gmail.com • FR (3/30) & SA (3/31), 2:30pm - The Dresser, readers theatre performance. $7. Held at 35below, 35 E. Walnut St. • SU (4/1), 2:30pm - The Dresser, readers theatre performance. $7. Held at UNC-Asheville Reuter Center, 1 Campus View Road

MOUNTAINX.COM

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

43

GALLERY DIRECTORY 310 ART 191 Lyman St., #310, 828-776-2716, 310art.com • Through SA (3/31) - Art Heroes Celebrating Woman's History Month, group exhibition.

AMERICAN FOLK ART AND FRAMING 64 Biltmore Ave., 828-281-2134, amerifolk.com • TH (4/5) through TH (4/19) - Face Jug Show, exhibition of ceramic jugs from local potters. Reception: Friday, April 6, 5-8pm.

ART AT MARS HILL UNIVERSITY mhu.edu • WE (3/28) through TH (4/19) Student art exhibition. Reception: Wednesday, March 28, 6pm. Held at Mars Hill University, Weizenblatt Gallery, 79 Cascade St., Mars Hill ART AT UNCA art.unca.edu • Through FR (3/30) - Spheres of Influence, exhibition of abstract paintings by Linda Gritta. Held at UNC Asheville - Ramsey Library, 1 University Heights • Through FR (3/30) - Celebrating Middle School Success, exhibition of works of art by middle school students from four Buncombe County schools. Held at UNC Asheville Sherrill Center, 227 Campus Drive • Through FR (4/27) - One Gold Song, an exhibition of abstract paintings by Celia Gray using traditional folk rag rug hooking. Reception: Friday, March 30, 6-8pm. Held at UNC Asheville - Owen Hall, 1 University Heights • FR (3/30) through TU (4/10) Everyone Meets Their End Eventually, BFA senior exhibition by student Lily Furniss. Reception: Friday, March 30, 6-8pm. Held at UNC Asheville Owen Hall, 1 University Heights ART IN THE AIRPORT 61 Terminal Drive Fletcher • Through (4/22) - Exhibition of artwork from kindergarten through 12th grade students in five western North Carolina counties.

ASHEVILLE ART MUSEUM ON THE SLOPE 175 Biltmore Ave., ashevilleart.org • Through SA (5/12) - Crafting Abstraction, exhibition exploring fluidity between the fine arts and craft media. Reception: Friday, April 6, 5-8pm.

ASHEVILLE GALLERY OF ART 82 Patton Ave., 828-251-5796, ashevillegallery-of-art.com • SU (4/1) through MO (4/30) Memory Makers, exhibition featuring the landscapes and still lifes of Johnnie Stanfield. Reception: Friday, April 6, 5-8pm.

AURORA STUDIO & GALLERY 828-335-1038, aurorastudio-gallery.com • Through SA (3/31) - Exhibition of works by artists who have been impacted by mental health issues, addiction or homelessness. Held at Trackside Studios, 375 Depot St. BASCOM CENTER FOR THE ARTS 323 Franklin Road, Highlands, 828-526-4949, thebascom.org • Through SU (6/10) - Spring group exhibition.

BLUE SPIRAL 1 38 Biltmore Ave., 828-251-0202, bluespiral1.com

44

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

MOUNTAINX.COM

UNCONVENTIONAL USES: The Penland Gallery in Mitchell County holds an opening reception for the exhibition I dwell in Possibility on Saturday, March 31, 4:30-6:30 p.m. Named after an Emily Dickinson poem, the show includes unconventional works in ceramic, glass, metal, painting, photography, printmaking and wood with a significant mixing of mediums. All 15 featured artists will be teaching workshops at Penland School of Crafts in 2018. The show runs through May 13. For more information, visit penland. org/gallery. Photo of Mediation by Tom Shields courtesy of John Michael Kohler Arts Center • Through FR (4/27) - Still Life, group exhibition featuring works in glass, sculpture and paint.

• Through FR (4/27) - Exhibition of new works by Dana Brown.

DISTRICT WINE BAR 37 Paynes Way, Suite 9 • Through MO (4/30) - Exhibition of paintings by Asya Zahia Colie.

FLOOD GALLERY FINE ART CENTER 2160 US Highway 70, Swannanoa, 828-273-3332, floodgallery.org/ • Through SA (4/7), Recent Paintings, exhibition of works by David Hopes.

HABITAT TAVERN & COMMONS 174 Broadway, habitatbrewing.com • Through SA (4/7) - Exhibition of paintings

by Sheri Cross.

HAYWOOD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL 86 N Main St., Waynesville, 828-452-0593, haywoodarts.org/ • Through SA (4/28) - Watercolor & Wax, group painting exhibition.

MOMENTUM GALLERY 24 North Lexington Ave. • Through SA (4/28) - Hall/Sykes and Burchard/Galloway, exhibitions featuring printmaking works of Bill hall paired with graphic works of Maltby Sykes and landscape paintings of Drew Galloway paired with wood sculpture by Christian Burchard.

PENLAND SCHOOL OF CRAFTS 67 Doras Trail, Bakersville, 828-765-2359, penland.org • SA (3/31) through SU (5/13) - I Dwell in Possibility, group show featuring 15 artists working in ceramics, glass, metal, painting, photography, printmaking, wood and mixed media. Reception: Saturday, March 31, 4:306:30pm.

POSANA CAFE 1 Biltmore Ave., 828-505-3969 • Through TH (5/31) - Storms, group art exhibition.

PUSH SKATE SHOP & GALLERY 25 Patton Ave., 828-225-5509, pushtoyproject.com • Through FR (4/13) - Garden Party, exhibition of new art works by Alli Good, Hannah Dansie and Maxx Feist.

THE ASHEVILLE SCHOOL 360 Asheville School Road, 828-254-6345, ashevilleschool.org • Through TH (4/19) - Alumni and Friends, group exhibition.

TOE RIVER ARTS COUNCIL 269 Oak Ave, Spruce Pine, 828-682-7215, toeriverarts.org • SA (3/31) through SA (4/28) - Annual Blacksmith Exhibit, group metal work exhibition. Reception: Friday, April 27, 5-7pm.

TRANSYLVANIA COMMUNITY ARTS COUNCIL 349 S. Caldwell St., Brevard, 828-884-2787, tcarts.org

• Through FR (3/30) - Men of the Mountains, invitational exhibition.

UPSTAIRS ARTSPACE 49 S. Trade St., Tryon, 828-859-2828, upstairsartspace.org • Through FR (4/27) - Guided Light: Masters of Contemporary Photography, exhibition curated by Ben Nixon featuring nine prominent photographers of the past half century.

• Through FR (4/27) - junk & disorderly, exhibition featuring mixed media assemblages

by Bobbie Polizzi.

• Through FR (4/27) - Perceptions and Reflections, exhibition featuring abstract painting by Joel Edwards and Ani Magai, drawing by Christopher Charles Curtis and papier collage by Mark S. Holland.

WEDGE FOUNDATION 5 Foundy St., wedgebrewing.com/ location-wedge-foundation/ • Through SU (4/1) - Exhibition of works by mother and daughter Bee Sieburg and Molly Courcelle.

• MO (4/2) through MO (4/30) - Natural Elements, group exhibition featuring the paintings of Elise Okrend, Tessa Lang and Jen Gordon. Reception: Wednesday, April 11, 5:30-7:30pm.

ZAPOW! 150 Coxe Ave., Suite 101, 828-575-2024, zapow.net • Through SA (4/28) - Wizarding World; All Things Harry Potter in Parody and Tribute, group exhibition.

Contact the galleries for admission hours and fees

CLUBLAND

SISTERS IN SYNC: Their boots have graced the stages of the Grand Ole Opry, Carnegie Hall and the Country Music Hall of Fame, but on Friday March 30th, The Hall Sisters are bringing their smooth, soulful country gems back to their home state of North Carolina. This countrypop quartet has combined their rustic musicality and talents, practicing their entire lives, and turning that hive mindset into seasoned harmonies and soulful melodies that are reminiscent of early Lady Antebellum with their own earthy, rousing sentiments. Let this foursome make you nostalgic for that band you and kid sister started in the car way back in the day, when the Hall Sisters bring their the sister synergy to White Horse Black Mountain on Friday March 30 at 8 pm. Photo courtesy of White Horse Black Mountain WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28 185 KING STREET Vinyl Night, 6:00PM 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Les Amis (African folk), 8:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Brad Hodge & friends, 7:30PM BLUE MOUNTAIN PIZZA & BREW PUB Open mic w/ Billy Owens, 7:00PM CARMEL'S KITCHEN AND BAR Adi the Monk (jazz), 5:30PM DOUBLE CROWN Western Wednesdays, 9:00PM FUNKATORIUM John Hartford Jam w/ Saylor Bros (bluegrass), 6:30PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Woody Wood Wednesdays (rock, soul, funk), 5:30PM

ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Marbin, 8:30PM

ONE WORLD BREWING Kind Clean Gentlemen (rock, blues, soul), 9:00PM

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Old Time Open Jam Session, 5:00PM

ORANGE PEEL Between the Buried & Me w/ The Dear Hunter & Leprous, 7:30PM

LAZY DIAMOND Killer Karaoke w/ KJ Tim O, 10:00PM

SANCTUARY BREWING COMPANY French Broad Mountain Valley Acoustic Jam, 6:30PM

LOBSTER TRAP Cigar Brothers, 6:30PM MG ROAD Salsa Night w/ DJ El Mexicano Isaac, 8:00PM MAGNETIC 375 Downward Dog Comedy Showcase, 8:00PM NOBLE KAVA Open Mic (sign-up at 7:30 p.m.), 8:00PM ODDITORIUM OurVoice Benefit, 9:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Evil Note Lab (ableton push jam), 9:00PM

SLY GROG LOUNGE Weird Wednesday Jam, 8:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Woke Wednesday w/ Cynde Allen & Cortina Jenelle (spoken word, open mic), 7:00PM Woke Wednesday afterparty w/ DJ Phantom Pantone, 10:00PM THE GREY EAGLE Nathan Stanley w/ Bluegrass Outlaws, 8:00PM THE IMPERIAL LIFE The Berlyn Jazz Trio , 9:00PM THE JOINT NEXT DOOR Bingo Night w/ Bag O' Tricks, 7:00PM

MOUNTAINX.COM

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

45

CLU B LA N D

3/28 wed

agent orange

w/ the atom age, pleasures of the ultraviolent

3/29 thu 3/30

caroline rose COMING SOON WED 3/28

loamlands

8:30PM–MARBIN

w/ nana grizol

3/31

sat

THU 3/29

6PM–DREW GIBSON

brie capone

w/ the maggie valley band

4/3

tue

mewithoutyou

8PM–LLOYD’S LARGE TIME

A BENEFIT FOR THE LLOYD JOHNSON FOUNDATION FRI 3/30

w/ museum mouth

7PM–“THE OPERATIC CELLO”

Yoga at the Mothlight

Tuesdays and Thursdays- 11:30am Details for all shows can be found at

themothlight.com

9PM–SISTER IVY EP RELEASE W/ GUEST GHOST PIPE TRIO SAT 3/31

7PM–SARAH POTENZA

9PM–JEN HARTSWICK & NICK CASSATION SUN 4/1

5:30PM–DWIGHT & NICOLE

TAVERN

TUE 4/3

Downtown on the Park Eclectic Menu • Over 30 Taps • Patio 14 TV’s • Sports Room • 110” Projector Event Space • Shuffleboard Open 7 Days 11am - Late Night

Over 35 Beer s on Tap !

7:30PM–TUESDAY BLUEGRASS SESSIONS WED 4/4

7PM–CLINT ALPHIN AND MARY BETH KOPLIN THU 4/5

7PM–THE ROAMIES FRI 4/6

FRI. 3/30 DJ MoTo

7PM–THE NOVEL IDEAS

8:30PM–THE MATT FASSAS TRIO AND KEVIN DANIEL

(dance hits, pop)

SAT. 3/31 A Social Function (classic hits, rock ‘n roll)

SAT 4/7

7PM–THE END OF AMERICA 9PM–JACKIE VENSON SUN 4/8

5:30PM–LANCE AND LEA ISISASHEVILLE.COM DINNER MENU TIL 9:30PM LATE NIGHT MENU TIL 12AM

20 S. Spruce St. • 225.6944 packStavern.com 46

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Roots & friends open jam (blues, rock, roots), 6:30PM

TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES Jesse Barry & The Jam (blues, dance), 9:00PM

THE PHOENIX & THE FOX Jazz Night w/ Jason DeCristofaro, 7:00PM

ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Drew Gibson, 6:00PM Lloyd’s Large Time (benefit for Lloyd Johnson Foundation), 8:00PM

UPCOUNTRY BREWING COMPANY Dave Desmelik Songwriter Series, 7:00PM Quetzal w/ Leigh Glass, 7:00PM

THE SOUTHERN Disclaimer Comedy Open Mic, 9:00PM

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB The Clydes pre-jam, 7:00PM Bluegrass Open Jam Session, 9:00PM

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Andy Cohen & Ash Devine, 7:30PM

TIMO'S HOUSE Open Mic w/ JJ Smash & Genetix, 8:00PM

LAZY DIAMOND Heavy Night w/ DJ Bootch, 10:00PM

TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES JJ Kitchen All Star Jam (blues, soul), 9:00PM

LOBSTER TRAP Hank Bones, 6:30PM

THE SOCIAL LOUNGE The Gravyhouse Storytellers, 9:30PM

w/ wasi fri

THE MOTHLIGHT Agent Orange w/ The Atom Age & Pleasures of the Ultraviolent , 9:00PM

TUES-SUN 5PM-until 743 HAYWOOD RD 828-575-2737

MOUNTAINX.COM

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Postmodern Jukebox Meets Green Eggs & Nan (jazz), 7:30PM WILD WING CAFE Paint Night, 7:00PM

THURSDAY, MARCH 29 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Pleasure Chest (blues, rock, soul), 8:00PM AMBROSE WEST Betaplane & Slugly (post-rock, indie-rock), 7:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Weekend Cafe, 10:30AM Will Ray & The Space Cooties, 7:30PM ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Fruition, 8:00PM BANKS AVE Bass Jumpin, 9:00PM BLACK MOUNTAIN ALE HOUSE Bluegrass Jam w/ The Big Deal Band, 8:00PM BLUE MOUNTAIN PIZZA & BREW PUB Ben Phan, 7:00PM CAPELLA ON 9@THE AC HOTEL Capella on 9 w/ Jordan Okrend, 8:00PM CROW & QUILL Carolina Catskins (gritty ragtime jazz), 9:00PM DOUBLE CROWN Sonic Stew w/ DJ Alien Brain, 10:00PM FLEETWOOD'S Heart of Ghost w/ MANAS, 9:00PM FOGGY MOUNTAIN BREWPUB Back South (blues, soul), 9:00PM FRENCH BROAD BREWERY Rob Williams (Americana), 6:00PM GOOD STUFF Jim Hampton & friends perform "Eclectic Country" (jam), 7:00PM

ODDITORIUM Secret Shame, Decide Today, Beyond the Borders & VVitvhboy (goth) , 9:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Mitch's Totally Rad Trivia, 7:00PM The Freeway Revival w/ Crooked Coast, 10:00PM ONE WORLD BREWING Purple (pop, funk, soul fusion), 9:00PM OSKAR BLUES BREWERY Sinners & Saints (Americana), 6:00PM PULP Slice of Life Comedy Open Mic w/ Cody Hughes, 9:00PM PISGAH BREWING COMPANY The Paper Crowns Band, 6:30PM PURPLE ONION CAFE Sufi Brothers, 7:30PM

WILD WING CAFE SOUTH Acoustic karaoke, 9:00PM WXYZ LOUNGE AT ALOFT HOTEL WXYZ unplugged w/ Lincoln McDonald, 8:00PM

FRIDAY, MARCH 30 185 KING STREET Cody Siniard, 8:00PM 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Old North State (Southern pop rock), 9:00PM AMBROSE WEST Liquid Sirens Dance Party, 8:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR AGB Band Friday Dance Party, 7:30PM ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL CharlestheFirst, Goopsteppa, Supertask & Potions, 9:00PM BEN'S TUNE UP Vinyl Dance Party w/ DJ Kilby, 10:00PM BLUE MOUNTAIN PIZZA & BREW PUB Acoustic Swing, 7:00PM

SANCTUARY BREWING COMPANY Daniel Sage, 7:00PM

BYWATER Stumpwater Bluegrass Band (progressive bluegrass), 8:00PM

SLY GROG LOUNGE Viva Le Vox & Matchstick Johnny w/ Brooke & Nick, 8:00PM

CAPELLA ON 9@THE AC HOTEL Capella on 9 w/ DJ Abu Disarray, 9:00PM

STRAIGHTAWAY CAFE Open Mic, 7:00PM

CORK & KEG Dennis Stroughmatt, 8:30PM

SUMMIT COFFEE ASHEVILLE Open Mic w/ Dylan Moses, 6:00PM

CROW & QUILL Firecracker Jazz Band (New Orleans style jazz), 9:00PM

THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Live Latin Dance Party w/ Liley Arauz, 9:00PM THE BARRELHOUSE Trivia, 7:00PM THE GREY EAGLE Brent Cobb w/ Savannah Conley (country), 9:00PM THE IMPERIAL LIFE The Burger Kings, 9:00PM THE MOTHLIGHT Caroline Rose w/ Wasi, 9:00PM THE SOCIAL LOUNGE Mama Danger, 9:30PM TIMO'S HOUSE Secret_NC & friends, 8:00PM TOWN PUMP Root Cellar, 9:00PM

DOUBLE CROWN Rock 'n' Soul Obscurities w/ DJ Greg Cartwright, 10:00PM FLOOD GALLERY FINE ART CENTER Classic World Cinema, 8:00PM FOGGY MOUNTAIN BREWPUB Unaka Prong w/ Cosmic Shift (jam, fusion), 10:00PM FRENCH BROAD BREWERY Wintervals (indie folk), 6:00PM FUNKATORIUM Big Sound Harbor, 8:00PM GINGER'S REVENGE Patrick Lochridge, 7:30PM HABITAT TAVERN & COMMONS Andrew Massey, 7:00PM

WED

NATHAN STANLEY

THU

SCOTT SHARRARD

THU

BRENT COBB & THEM

FRI

MERLE HAGGARD TRIBUTE

SAT

THE COLLECTION

SUN

BALSAM RANGE, DAVID HOLT, ALICE GERRARD

28 HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Winter Drum Circle, 6:00PM Eleanor Underhill & friends, 7:00PM IRON HORSE STATION Cynthia McDermott, 7:00PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 "The Operatic Cello" w/ AmiciMusic, 7:00PM Sister Ivy (EP release) w/ Ghost Pipe Trio, 9:00PM JACK OF THE WOOD PUB West King String Band, 9:00PM LAZY DIAMOND Hot n' Nasty w/ DJ Jasper & DJ Chrissy (rock 'n' soul vinyl), 10:00PM MG ROAD Late Night Dance Party, 10:00PM MOE'S ORIGINAL BBQ WOODFIN Dave Desmelik, 6:00PM NOBLE KAVA Noble Pursuits w/ Jason Moore, 9:00PM ODDITORIUM Asheville After Dark Presents: Perversions (kink), 9:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Free Dead Fridays w/ members of Phuncle Sam, 5:30PM Buddhagraph Spaceship w/ The Kind Thieves, 10:00PM ORANGE PEEL Who's Bad (Michael Jackson tribute), 9:00PM OSKAR BLUES BREWERY Brother Oliver (psychic folk rock), 6:00PM PACK'S TAVERN DJ MoTo (dance hits, pop), 9:30PM PISGAH BREWING COMPANY The Dirty Grass Players (bluegrass), 8:00PM SALVAGE STATION Runaway Gin (Phish tribute), 8:00PM SANCTUARY BREWING COMPANY Chris Jamison's Ghost, 8:00PM

SLY GROG LOUNGE Queer Community benefit show w/ Crooked Ghost, The Power & FurVur, 9:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Alive Poets' Society Reading, 7:00PM 3 Degrees of Dead (Grateful Dead tribute), 9:30PM THE BARRELHOUSE Sarah Tucker, 9:00PM THE GREY EAGLE HedFest Weekend kickoff show (benefit, midnight dance party), 7:00PM THE IMPERIAL LIFE Select DJ sets, 9:00PM THE MOTHLIGHT Loamlands w/ Nana Grizol, 9:30PM THE WINE & OYSTER Jesse Barry w/ Kelly Jones, 6:00PM TOWN PUMP Prestige Worldwide, 9:00PM TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES Pam Jones & Alex Taub (live music), 7:30PM Peggy Ratusz & Daddy Longlegs (blues, soul, dance), 10:00PM UPCOUNTRY BREWING COMPANY Adrian & Meredith (rock 'n' roll, folk, jazz manouche), 8:00PM WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN The Hall Sisters, 8:00PM WILD WING CAFE Steven Poteat (alternative), 9:00PM WILD WING CAFE SOUTH A Social Function! (80's, 90's and today), 10:00PM WXYZ LOUNGE AT ALOFT HOTEL WXYZ electric w/ Captain EZ, 8:00PM

SATURDAY, MARCH 31 185 KING STREET The Get Right Band, 8:00PM

5 WALNUT WINE BAR Matt Walsh (blues, rock), 9:00PM

29

AMBROSE WEST Country & Soul Revue w/ Deep River & Bill Mattocks Band, 8:00PM

FRI – SUN

ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Weekend Cafe, 10:30AM Chris Wilhelm Band, 8:00PM ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Emma's Lounge w/ The Groove Orient, 10:00PM BLACK MOUNTAIN ALE HOUSE Kevin Williams (Americana), 7:30PM

HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH

7

THREE NIGHTS!

2

OPEN MIC NIGHT

WED

KHRUANGBIN

4

6

W/ SAVANNAH CONLEY

30-1 MON

5

(GRANDSON OF DR. RALPH STANLEY) W/ BLUEGRASS OUTLAWS

8

MON

9

W/ THE MATTSON 2

GUITARIST FOR THE GREG ALLMAN BAND

FT. BRODY HUNT & THE HANDFULLS, ROBERT GREER, AMANDA ANNE PLATT + MORE!

W/ THE REMARKS, WILLIAM HINSON

OPEN MIC NIGHT

Asheville’s longest running live music venue • 185 Clingman Ave TICKETS AVAILABLE AT HARVEST RECORDS & THEGREYEAGLE.COM

BLUE MOUNTAIN PIZZA & BREW PUB Mark Bumgarner, 7:00PM BYWATER The Pimps of Pompe, 9:00PM CAPELLA ON 9@THE AC HOTEL Capella on 9 w/ Peggy Ratusz, 9:00PM CHESTNUT Jazz Brunch, 11:00AM CORK & KEG One Leg Up, 8:30PM CROW & QUILL Hot Club of Asheville (gypsy jazz), 9:00PM DIANA WORTHAM THEATRE Lee Ann Womack (country, soul, blues), 8:00PM DOUBLE CROWN Soul Motion Dance Party! w/ DJ Dr. Filth, 10:00PM FOGGY MOUNTAIN BREWPUB Fwuit (retro soul), 10:00PM FRENCH BROAD BREWERY Trail of the Lonesome (folk rock), 6:00PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Easter Egg Hunt, 11:00AM Scoundrel's Lounge (rock, soul), 7:00PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 An evening w/ Sarah Potenza (blues, rock), 7:00PM Jen Hartswick & Nick Cassarino (jam), 9:00PM

THIS WEEK AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL

THIS WEEK AT THE ONE STOP:

THU 3/29 FRI 3/30 SAT 3/31

DO CA$

NA H TI

ON Freeway Revival w/ Crooked Coast - [ROCK] $ Buddhagraph Spaceship w/ The Kind Thieves [JAM/ROCK/AMERICANA] The Knotty Gs w/ Upland Drive - [SOUL/ROOTS/ROCK]

UPCOMING SHOWS - ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL:

4/5 4/6

Envisioned Arts Presents:

FRUITION

wsg. Daniel Edward Rodriguez (of Elephant Revival) THU 3/29 - S HOW : 8 pm (D OORS : 7pm) - T ICKETS : $15

CHARLESTHEFIRST, SUPATASK, POTIONS AND GOOPSTEPPA FRI 3/30 S HOW/D OORS : 9 pm -

adv.

$15

EMMA’S LOUNGE w/ The Groove Orient

SAT 3/31 S HOW : 10 pm (D OORS : 9 pm) adv. $8

Russ Liquid Test w/ Modern Measure & Soul Candy Ashley Heath Album Release w/ Sanctum Sully & Christy Lynn Band 4/7 Jazz is PHSH w/ The Southern Belles 4/12 Amasa Hines 4/13 Funk You w/ Empire Strikes Brass Horns & Supatight

Tickets available at ashevillemusichall.com @avlmusichall MOUNTAINX.COM

@OneStopAVL

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

47

CLU B LA N D JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Folk Faces (folk, jazz, blues), 9:00PM LAZY DIAMOND Sonic Stew w/ DJ Alien Brain, 10:00PM

WNC Solidarity Concert Series

benefitting Girls Rock Asheville Music by Jason Decristofaro, An Ya & Jesse Barry Saturday, 3/31, 2-4pm • $10

39 S. Market St. • theblockoffbiltmore.com

Featuring Largest Selection of Craft Beer on Tap 8 Wines

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LOBSTER TRAP Sean Mason Trio, 6:30PM MG ROAD Late Night Dance Party w/ DJ Lil Meow Meow, 10:00PM NOBLE KAVA Shane Parish, 9:00PM ODDITORIUM Hellrad, Earth Collider & Reverend Reach Around (metal), 9:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL The Knotty G's w/ Upland Drive, 10:00PM ONE WORLD BREWING Copernicus (bluegrass), 9:00PM ORANGE PEEL Rainbow Kitten Surprise w/ Sensation Of Falling, 9:00PM OSKAR BLUES BREWERY Steel String Regulators (guitar duo), 6:00PM PACK'S TAVERN A Social Function (classic hits, rock n' roll), 9:30PM PILLAR ROOFTOP BAR Nimbus, 7:00PM

PISGAH BREWING COMPANY Chalwa (rock, reggae), 8:00PM PURPLE ONION CAFE Eleanor Underhill & Friends (Americana soul), 8:00PM SALVAGE STATION Lupe Fiasco, 9:00PM SANCTUARY BREWING COMPANY Another country, 8:00PM SLY GROG LOUNGE Root w/ Forest Frequency, 9:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE WNC Solidarity Concert Series w/ Jason DeCristofaro An Ya & Jesse Barry (benefit for Girls Rock Asheville), 2:00PM Salsa Dance Lesson, 8:00PM Saturday Salsa & Latin Dance Party w/ Ms. DJ Motta, 9:30PM THE BARRELHOUSE Christina Chandler, 9:00PM THE GREY EAGLE HedFest Day Two, 7:30PM THE MOTHLIGHT Brie Capone w/ The Maggie Valley Band (singer-songwriter), 9:00PM THE SOUTHERN Petey's Playhouse: Jim Tews, 9:00PM

THE WINE & OYSTER Comfortable Covers w/ Jason Whitaker, 6:00PM TIMO'S HOUSE Saturday Night Throwdown w/ DJ Deacon, 8:00PM TOWN PUMP Brandon Fulson Band (outlaw country, Southern blues), 9:00PM TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES Josh Singleton & Patrick Dodd (blues, country), 7:30PM Ruby Mayfield & Saxplay (live music, blues, soul), 10:00PM UPCOUNTRY BREWING COMPANY Moonlight Street Folk, 8:30PM WINE DOWN ON MAIN The Dubber, 7:00PM WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Aaron Price , 3:00PM Pierce Pettis, 8:00PM WILD WING CAFE Karaoke, 9:00PM WXYZ LOUNGE AT ALOFT HOTEL WXYZ live w/ Tom Waits For No Man, 8:00PM

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THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Burlesque Brunch & Bubbles, 1:00PM "In Bloom" w/ Tarah Singh, Hillary Fry, M. Rathsack & Cindy Kunst, 6:00PM Manifest Your Month w/ DJ Infinitec, 8:00PM THE BARRELHOUSE Open Mic w/ Billy Litz, 6:00PM THE GREY EAGLE Hedwig & The Angry Itch (day 3), 5:00PM THE IMPERIAL LIFE Select DJ sets, 9:00PM THE OMNI GROVE PARK INN Bob Zullo (pop, rock, jazz, blues), 7:00PM

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FLEETWOOD'S Jeff Beam w/ Benjamin Hatch & Jaeger Wells, 9:00PM FLOOD GALLERY FINE ART CENTER True Home Open Mic (5 p.m. sign-up), 5:30PM FUNKATORIUM Gypsy Jazz Sunday Brunch, 11:00AM GOOD STUFF Open Mic w/ Fox Black & friends, 6:00PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Reggae Sunday w/ Chalwa, 1:00PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 An evening w/ Dwight & Nicole (blues, R&B, soul), 5:30PM JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Traditional Celtic Jam, 3:00PM JARGON Sunday Blunch w/ Mark Guest & Mary Pearson (jazz), 11:00AM LAZY DIAMOND Punk Night w/ DJ Chubberbird & Frens (killer punk vinyl), 10:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Phil Alley, 6:30PM ODDITORIUM Odditorium 6th Birthday Bash (variety show), 8:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Bluegrass Brunch, 10:30AM OSKAR BLUES BREWERY Trivia Night, 5:00PM PISGAH BREWING COMPANY Sunday Travers Jam, 6:30PM SLY GROG LOUNGE Sly Grog Open Mic, 7:00PM

MONDAY, APRIL 2 185 KING STREET Open Mic Night, 6:00PM 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Siamese Sound Club (R&B, soul, jazz), 8:00PM

THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Cafe Mortal Film Nite: Zen & The Art of Dying (film screening), 7:00PM THE GREY EAGLE Open Mic Night, 6:00PM THE IMPERIAL LIFE Ghost Pipe Trio, 9:00PM THE OMNI GROVE PARK INN Bob Zullo (pop, rock, jazz, blues), 7:00PM TOWN PUMP Rush Morgan (singer, songwriter), 9:00PM TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES Ryan Barber's RnB Jam Night (r&b, jam), 9:00PM WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Jay Brown & The Ladybirds, 7:00PM

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GOOD STUFF Old time-y night, 6:30PM HABITAT TAVERN & COMMONS Pints & Professors, 7:00PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Dr. Brown's Team Trivia, 6:00PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Tuesday Bluegrass Sessions w/ The Robert Mabe Band, 7:30PM LAZY DIAMOND Rock & Metal Karaoke w/ DJ Paddy, 10:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Jay Brown, 6:30PM ODDITORIUM Free Open Mic Comedy w/ Tom Peters, 9:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Turntable Tuesday, 10:00PM SANCTUARY BREWING COMPANY Taco and Trivia Tuesday, 6:00PM SLY GROG LOUNGE David Gwaltney & Will Stewart, 8:00PM

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PISGAH BREWING COMPANY Sons Of Pitches (country, swing, honky tonk), 6:00PM SLY GROG LOUNGE Weird Wednesday Jam, 8:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE DJ Phantom Pantone, 10:00PM THE GREY EAGLE Khruangbin w/ The Mattson 2, 9:00PM THE IMPERIAL LIFE Rotating jazz bands, 9:00PM The Berlyn Jazz Trio, 9:00PM THE MOTHLIGHT 27th Annual Literacy Council Spelling Bee, 6:00PM THE SOUTHERN Disclaimer Comedy Open Mic, 9:00PM TOWN PUMP Open Jam w/ Billy Presnell, 9:00PM TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES JJ Kitchen All Star Jam (blues, soul), 9:00PM WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Richard Shulman & Friends (jazz), 7:30PM WILD WING CAFE SOUTH J-Luke, 8:30PM

MOVIES

REVIEWS & LISTINGS

BY SCOTT DOUGLAS, FRANCIS X. FRIEL & JUSTIN SOUTHER

HHHHH = H PICK OF THE WEEK H

Documentarian Thomas Riedelsheimer revisits the artist in his transfixing, contemplative profile, Leaning Into the Wind: Andy Goldsworthy.

Leaning Into the Wind: Andy Goldsworthy HHHH DIRECTOR: Thomas Riedelsheimer PLAYERS: Andy Goldsworthy, Tina Fiske, Holly Goldsworthy DOCUMENTARY RATED PG THE STORY: Artist Andy Goldsworthy creates breathtaking art installations from natural materials.

THE LOWDOWN: A beautifully meditative look at a captivating artist that examines how time has changed both the man and his work.

There’s an inherent problem at the core of documentaries about artists, namely, the fact that the films themselves are seldom as beautiful as the work they’re documenting. A rare exception to this rule is director Thomas Riedelsheimer’s Leaning Into the Wind, a follow-up to his 2002 film

examining the art and philosophy of Andy Goldsworthy, Rivers and Tides. A sculptor who works with natural materials in their native setting to produce stunning works of impermanent sculpture, Goldsworthy is a magnetic screen presence whose installations are as beautiful as they are intriguing.

Much of what made Rivers and Tides so captivating 16 years ago remains intact in the work depicted in Leaning Into the Wind. Goldsworthy is still primarily working in nature, although he’s now included urban landscapes into his definition of the “natural” world. Riedelsheimer’s camera work is still drop-dead gorgeous, although he’s moved from shooting 35 mm to digital. Both men have now incorporated their adult children into their work, with Goldsworthy bringing on his daughter Holly as a collaborator and Riedelsheimer

employing his son Felix as assistant camera operator. But at its core, Leaning Into the Wind possesses the same meditative, quasi-pagan spiritual quality that made Rivers and Tides such a surprising cult hit nearly two decades ago.

Goldsworthy’s work, largely based near his pastoral home in the Scottish countryside, typically consists of manipulating natural materials, such as leaves and stones, fallen trees and mud or snow, into thought-provoking studies in color and form. But his late-career work has become more ambitious, spanning the globe from Scotland to Brazil to San Fransisco to Gabon. The artist seems to place the same importance on creating massive networks of interwoven stone arches as he does lying on a sidewalk during a rain shower to create silhouettes that vanish almost as soon as he gets up.

It’s a fascinating dichotomy driven by a creativity that’s almost childlike in its innocence but deceptively sophisticated and one that Riedelsheimer films with impressive empathy and intimacy.

Photography is critical to documenting Goldsworthy’s more ephemeral works, as their very transience is central to the ideas and themes he employs. While the artist typically photographs his own work, Riedelsheimer’s camera provides a perfect foil, utilizing time-lapse to capture the entropy that inevitably reclaims all of Goldsworthy’s pieces. It’s impossible not to share the artist’s frustration as the wind blows away leaves that he has meticulously placed on the flat surface of some wet rocks, but that very sense of uncontrollability is at the heart of his work. And while the transition to digital has stripped Leaning of some of the lush quality that distinguished Rivers, it also allows formal innovations — such as an impressive drone shot following a path cut lengthwise through the center of a rock wall — that would’ve been impossible in a less nimble format.

Leaning Into the Wind is a worthy successor to Rivers and Tides, not only because of Riedelsheimer’s exceptional camera work or Goldsworthy’s undeniably brilliant artistic style and technique but also because of the general impression of contemplative calm that the film evokes.

It’s a gentle, meandering work that leaves the viewer feeling cleansed in a sense not unlike Goldsworthy supplicating himself to the rain. This is not a film about the process of artistic creation, but about the effect

M A X R AT I N G Xpress reviews virtually all upcoming movies, with two or three of the most noteworthy appearing in print.

You can find our online reviews at mountainx.com/movies/reviews. This week, they include: LEANING INTO THE WIND (PICK OF THE WEEK) HHHH

H PACIFIC RIM 2 HH MIDNIGHT SUN

SHERLOCK GNOMES UNSANE

HS

HHHS

and affect of creating art. It’s not common, in my experience, for a documentary to record a feeling rather than an action, but that’s about as close as I can get to defining the inexorable allure of Leaning Into the Wind — and that also constitutes an unequivocal recommendation.

Rated PG for brief language.

Now Playing at Grail Moviehouse.

REVIEWED BY SCOTT DOUGLAS JSDOUGLAS22@GMAIL.COM

Unsane

HHHS DIRECTOR: Steven Soderbergh PLAYERS: Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard, Jay Pharoah, Juno Temple, Aimee Mullins, Amy Irving THRILLER RATED R THE STORY: A young woman involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility is convinced that a violent stalker has infiltrated the staff to torment her, but her assertions are disregarded as the ravings of a lunatic.

THE LOWDOWN: A Sam Fuller sendup shot on a cellphone, Soderbergh’s latest is a shockingly effective piece of pulp exploitation cinema.

Steven Soderbergh has always been distinctly hit or miss for me — for every

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Out of Sight or Confesions of a Dangerous Mind there’s a spate of Ocean’s movies to contend with — but as problematic as his films can be, there can be no doubt that he’s never been afraid to take risks. Soderbergh’s latest is a massive affront to conventional wisdom, a down-and-dirty piece of tabloid cinema that surprisingly works more often than it doesn’t. Unsane is effectively Shock Corridor shot on a shoestring budget with an iPhone camera, and while I love low-budget horror films, I never would have pegged a style-over-substance filmmaker like Soderbergh as someone who could pull off anything even slightly Sam Fuller-adjacent. Consider me pleasantly surprised.

Don’t get me wrong, Unsane is an ugly little movie, both aesthetically and thematically. But it’s supposed to be — it’s a throwback to the grimy days of ’70s grindhouse cinema, as well as the morally turbid world of ’40s and ’50s film noir. It’s a psychological thriller with the emphasis on the psychological, and Soderbergh manages it with a deft touch in spite of the gimmick-driven nature of his cellphone cinematography. While I was prepared to hate the amateurish nature that such

FILM FILM AT UNCA 828-251-6585, unca.edu • TH (3/29), 7pm Documentary about the life and activism of Jaha Dukureh, Gambian antifemale genital mutilation campaigner. Followed

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a conceit implies — and the film unquestionably looks like a grad student’s thesis short — I was shocked at how quickly my mind acclimated to the lo-fi look and became engrossed in the narrative.

The story follows a young woman, Sawyer Valentini (Claire Foy), adapting to a new job and a new town while struggling with an unspecified mental illness that seems to be rooted in her interactions with men. We learn quickly that her difficulties and her abrupt relocation stem from an incident with a stalker that has left her plagued by symptoms resembling PTSD, most notably paranoid delusions.

We discover this fact after Sawyer is involuntarily committed to a psych ward as part of an insurance scam, and things only get worse from there as she comes to believe that one of the nurses administering her meds (Joshua Leonard) is, in fact, her stalker. Is it really him, or is she really nuts? Soderbergh plays it down the middle for a while, but he makes the rules of the game obvious in short order.

If Soderbergh’s script, penned by Jonathan Bernstein and James Greer, isn’t particularly interested in carefully crafted twists, that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty here to startle, specifically the level of violence and macabre sensibilities the director conjures. If you had told me when I reviewed Logan Lucky last summer that Soderbergh’s next film would be anything remotely resembling Unsane, I would have scoffed incredulously at the very least. But if you were to take the big-name director’s involvement entirely off the table, Unsane would still be a twisted, creepy thrill ride with a ridiculously dynamic star turn from Claire Foy, a film that panders to the baser sensibilities while never thinking it’s more significant than it is. If Soderbergh keeps going down this road in the future, maybe I’ll finally be able to forgive him for Solaris. Rated R for disturbing behavior, violence, language and sex references.

Now Playing at AMC Classic River Hills 10, Carolina Cinemark, Regal Biltmore Grande, Epic of Hendersonville.

REVIEWED BY SCOTT DOUGLAS JSDOUGLAS22@GMAIL.COM

by Q&A with Naima Dido, Seed Programs International’s Program Director. Free. Held in Highsmith Student Union, Room HIG 143

828-273-3332, floodgallery.org/ • FR (3/30), 8-10pm Classic World Cinema: Film screening of La Femme Nikita by Luc Besson. Free to attend.

FLOOD GALLERY FINE ART CENTER

REVOLVE 122 Riverside Drive • TH (3/29), 7pm - In Pursuit of Silence, film

2160 US Highway 70, Swannanoa,

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screening. Registration required. Free.

TRYON FINE ARTS CENTER 34 Melrose Ave., Tryon, 828-859-8322, tryonarts.org • TU (4/3), 7pm - Film Series: To Catch a Thief, film screening. $6.

by Edwin Arnaudin | edwinarnaudin@gmail.com

CLAWS OUT: From left, Cat Fly Indie Film Festival co-founders Catherine Wityk, Brittany Jackson, volunteer Ashton Helton and co-founder Madeleine Richardson pause during the organization’s one-day Halloween film festival at UpCountry Brewing Co. last October. Cat Fly returns April 6-8 with screenings and workshops at various Asheville venues. Photo by Michelle Graston • The Blue Ridge Electric Vehicle Club and UNC Asheville, 1 University Heights, present a screening of EVOLVE: Driving a Clean Future in Coal Country.

The event takes place in the campus’ Rhoades/Robinson Hall, Room 125, on Thursday, March 29, at 7 p.m. The documentary chronicles the grassroots efforts of Kentucky’s electric vehicle group, EVolve KY, to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles as a viable form of clean, personal transportation and the initiatives to create a sustainable energy future throughout Appalachia. A discussion and vegan snacks will follow the film. Free. unca.edu • Asheville Pizza & Brewing Co., 675 Merrimon Ave., celebrates Comedy Month each Wednesday at 7 p.m. throughout April with a classic funny film each week. The schedule consists of Animal House (April 4); National Lampoon’s Vacation (April 11); Coming to America (April 18); and The Big Lebowski (April 25). The brewery will also create a new beer for each movie. Tickets are $3 and available online and at the brewpub’s main bar. ashevillebrewing.com • The Cat Fly Indie Film Festival returns for its second year with three days of screenings at a trio of local venues. A red carpet opening reception Friday, April 6, at 7 p.m. at the Asheville Masonic Temple, 80 Broadway, is followed by a screening of regionally produced short films. The Mothlight,

701 Haywood Road, plays host to Community Night on Saturday, April 7, at 7 p.m., featuring experimental short works. The festival concludes Sunday, April 8, at 7 p.m. at Grail Moviehouse, 45 S. French Broad Ave., with a slate of adventure films and documentaries set in extraordinary locations.

Cat Fly also offers a pair of workshops, starting with a filmmaker-composer collaboration panel April 7, noon-1:30 p.m., at THE BLOCK off biltmore, 39 S. Market St. The panel is hosted by filmmaker Kira Bursky and composer Robert Gowan and includes other local creatives. Then, on April 8, 2-3 p.m., at Asheville School of Film, 45 S. French Broad Ave., filmmaker MJ Slide will discuss embracing failure in art, centering on the experience of making her first feature film, Sightlines.

The festival was created in 2017 by Asheville-based filmmakers Madeleine Richardson, Catherine Wityk and Brittany Jackson. The festival’s submissions for 2018 were nearly double that of last year’s total and the selected films champion diversity.

“Stories that highlight women, people of color and gender minorities are particularly important to us at Cat Fly, because those stories deserve to be told and will only create a greater sense of empathy and connection when they are shared,” Richardson says. Single-day tickets and weekend passes are available online.

Workshops are free with a suggested donation of $5. catflyfilmfest.com X

STA RTI NG F RI DAY

Acrimony

Thriller written and directed by Tyler Perry, starring Taraji P. Henson. According to the studio: “A faithful wife (Henson) tired of standing by her devious husband (Lyriq Bent) is enraged when it becomes clear she has been betrayed.” No early reviews. (R)

Ready Player One

Nostalgia-driven blockbuster directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the bestselling novel by Ernest Kline. Early reviews positive. (PG-13)

COMING 5/23!

2018

BEER WEEK

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PULL-OUT GUIDE

SP E CI AL SCREENI NGS

La Femme Nikita HHHH

DIRECTOR: Luc Besson PLAYERS: Anne Parillaud, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Jeanne Moreau, Jean Reno ACTION THRILLER Rated R I’m not one to go in for ’90s nostalgia, but thinking back to a time when I didn’t have to hear about Donald Trump’s illicit affairs with porn stars does have its appeal. The ’90s were also a time when I still thought Luc Besson was cool — instead of a talentless, plagiarizing pervert with a thing for young girls — and La Femme Nikita (1990) was a big part of the reason why. Pygmalion with a pistol, Nikita was a supercool spy thriller with all of the hallmarks of ’90s chic, from the casual violence that would catapult Tarantino to fame and fortune and the bizarre dynamic between sex and death that would define what is potentially Besson’s best work, Leon, just a few years later. If you disregard the fact that the original script for Leon had a sex scene between its title character and his 13-year-old love interest, or that Besson ripped off almost the entirety of The Fifth Element from Jodorowsky’s The Incal, or everything about Valerian, you can probably still enjoy Nikita on its own terms. Classic World Cinema by Courtyard Gallery will present La Femme Nikita on Friday, March 30, at 8 p.m. at Flood Gallery Fine Art Center, 2160 U.S. 70, Swannanoa.

Scarlet Street HHHHS

DIRECTOR: Fritz Lang PLAYERS: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea, Margaret Lindsay, Jess Barker FILM NOIR Rated NR A remake of Jean Renoir’s La Chienne (1931) — itself based on a play of the same name by Georges de la Fouchardiere, which was based on the book by André Mouezy-Eon — is easily the darkest and most psychologically bleak of Fritz Lang’s American output, which, almost by default, places it high on the list of the darkest and most psychologically bleak films ever made. After the success of The Woman in the Window, Lang reunited Edward G. Robinson, Dan Duryea and Joan Bennett for another round of moral ambiguity and nihilistic social commentary. Even though Lang managed to narrowly skirt the production code censorship board with his careful depiction of Duryea and Bennett’s prostitute-pimp relationship in the film, it was still widely banned for its salacious setup. While that reaction may seem quaint by modern standards, it was definitely not without some justification in the context of its time. Come see what all the fuss was about, and judge this classic noir high-water mark for yourself. The Asheville Film Society will screen Scarlet Street on Tuesday, April 3, at 7:00 p.m. at The Grail Moviehouse, hosted by Xpress movie critic Scott Douglas.

Tetsuo: The Iron Man HHHH

DIRECTOR: Shinya Tsukamoto PLAYERS: Tomoro Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, Nobu Kanaoka, Renji Ishibashi, Naomasa Musaka, Shinya Tsukamoto HORROR Rated R The Thursday Horror Picture Show makes its triumphant return this week at The Black Cloud in West Asheville with a film as polarizing as it is traumatic: Shinya Tsukamoto’s seminal classic of Japanese cyberpunk body horror, Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989).

Playing something like early Lynch by way of Cronenberg with a dose of Aronofsky on speed, Tetsuo may well be one of the most challenging and uncomfortable films ever made. Add to that its breakneck punk-rock pacing and heavy industrial score, and you have a film that brutalizes as much as it entertains. What’s the story about? It’s almost irrelevant. Be forewarned — this one is not for the faint of heart. Also be forewarned that The Black Cloud is a bar and not a theater, although the screening amenities are top-notch. Come celebrate the rebirth of the THPS, an Asheville institution that stubbornly refuses to stay dead! The Thursday Horror Picture Show will screen Tetsuo: The Iron Man on Thursday, March 29, at 8:00 p.m. at The Black Cloud, located on the lower level at 723 Haywood Road, with an introduction by Xpress movie critic Scott Douglas.

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FREEWILL ASTROLOGY ARIES (March 21-April 19): A few years ago, a New Zealander named Bruce Simpson announced plans to build a cruise missile at his home using parts he bought legally from eBay and other online stores. In accordance with current astrological omens, I suggest you initiate a comparable project. For example, you could arrange a do-it-yourself space flight by tying a thousand helium balloons to your lawn chair. APRIL FOOL! I lied. Please don’t try lunatic schemes like the helium balloon space flight. Here’s the truth: Now is a favorable time to initiate big, bold projects, but not foolish, big, bold projects. The point is to be both visionary and practical.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The Finnish word kalsarikännit means getting drunk at home alone in your underwear and bingeing on guilty pleasures. It’s a perfect time for you to do just that. The Fates are whispering, “Chill out. Vegetate. Be ambitionless.”

APRIL FOOL! I told a half-truth. In fact, now is a perfect time to excuse yourself from trying too hard and doing too much. You can accomplish wonders and marvels by staying home and bingeing on guilty pleasures in your underwear. But there’s no need to get drunk.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Actor Gary Busey is very sure there are no mirrors in heaven. He has other specific ideas about the place, as well. This became a problem when he was filming the movie Quigley, in which his character Archie visits heaven. Busey was so enraged at the director’s mistaken rendering of paradise that he got into a fist fight with another actor. I hope you will show an equally feisty fussiness in the coming weeks, Gemini. APRIL FOOL! I lied, sort of. On the one hand, I do hope you’ll be forceful as you insist on expressing your high standards. Don’t back down! But on the other hand, refrain from pummeling anyone who asks you to compromise.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In the Scots language still spoken in parts of Scotland, eedle-doddles are people who can’t summon initiative when it’s crunch time.

They are so consumed in trivial or irrelevant concerns that they lose all instinct for being in the right place at the right time. I regret to inform you that you are now at risk of being an eedle-doddle. APRIL FOOL! I lied. In fact, the truth is just the opposite. I have rarely seen you so well-primed to respond vigorously and bravely to Big Magic Moments. For the foreseeable future, you are King or Queen of Carpe Diem.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Paul McCartney likes to periodically act like a regular person who’s not a famous musician. He goes grocery shopping without bodyguards. He rides on public transportation and strikes up conversations with random strangers. I think you may need to engage in similar behavior yourself, Leo. You’ve become a bit too enamored with your own beauty and magnificence. You really do need to come down to earth and hang out more with us little people. APRIL FOOL! I lied. The truth is, now is prime time to hone your power and glory; to indulge your urge to shine and dazzle; to be as conspicuously marvelous as you dare to be.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The coming days will be an excellent time to concoct an alchemical potion that will heal your oldest wounds. For best results, mix and sip a gallon of potion using the following magic ingredients: absinthe, chocolate syrup, cough medicine, dandelion tea, cobra venom and worm’s blood. APRIL FOOL! I mixed a lie in with a truth. It is a fact that now is a fine time to seek remedies for your ancient wounds. But the potion I recommended is bogus. Go on a quest for the real cure.

54

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I expect you will soon receive a wealth of exotic and expensive gifts. For example, a benefactor may finance your vacation to a gorgeous sacred site or give you the deed to an enchanted waterfall. I won’t be surprised if you’re blessed with a solid gold bathtub or a year’s supply of luxury cupcakes. It’s even possible that a sugar daddy or sugar momma will fork over $500,000 to rent an auditorium for a party in your honor. APRIL FOOL! I distorted the truth. I do suspect you’ll get more goodies than usual in the coming weeks, but they’re likely to come in the form of love and appreciation, not flashy material goods. (For best results, don’t just wait around for the goodies to stream in; ask for them!)

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): There’s a narrow waterway between Asia and Europe. In the fifth century B.C., Persian King Xerxes had two bridges built across it so he could invade Greece with his army. But a great storm swept through and smashed his handiwork. Xerxes was royally peeved. He ordered his men to whip the uncooperative sea and brand it with hot irons, all the while shouting curses at it, like “You are a turbid and briny river.” I recommend that you do something similar, Scorpio. Has Nature done anything to inconvenience you? Show it who’s the Supreme Boss! APRIL FOOL! I lied. The truth is, now is an excellent time for you to become more attuned and in love with a Higher Power, however you define that. What’s greater than you and bigger than your life and wilder than you can imagine? Refine your practice of the art of surrender.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Fifteenth-century Italian painter Filippo Lippi was such a lustful womanizer that he sometimes found it tough to focus on making art. At one point, his wealthy and politically powerful patron Cosimo de’ Medici, frustrated by his extracurricular activities, imprisoned him in his studio to ensure he wouldn’t get diverted. Judging from your current astrological omens, Sagittarius, I suspect you need similar constraints. APRIL FOOL! I fibbed a little. I am indeed worried you’ll get so caught up in the pursuit of pleasure that you’ll neglect your duties. But I won’t go so far as to suggest you should be locked up for your own good.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Now is a favorable time to slap a lawsuit on your mom in an effort to make her pay for the mistakes she made while raising you.

You could also post an exposé on social media in which you reveal her shortcomings, or organize a protest rally outside her house with your friends holding signs demanding she apologize for how she messed you up.

APRIL FOOL! Everything I just said was ridiculous and false. The truth is, now is a perfect moment to meditate on the gifts and blessings your mother gave you. If she is still alive, express your gratitude to her. If she has passed on, do a ritual to honor and celebrate her.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian author Alice Walker won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel The Color Purple. She has also published 33 other books and built a large audience. But some of her ideas are not exactly mainstream. For example, she says that one of her favorite authors is David Icke, who asserts that intelligent extraterrestrial reptiles have disguised themselves as humans and taken control of our planet’s governments. I bring this to your attention, because I think it’s time that you, too, reveal the full extent of how crazy you really are. APRIL FOOL! I half-lied. While it’s true that now is a favorable time to show more of your unconventional and eccentric sides, I don’t advise you to go full-on whacko.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Warning! Danger!

You are at risk of contracting a virulent case of cherophobia! And what exactly is cherophobia? It’s a fear of happiness. It’s an inclination to dodge and shun joyful experiences because of the suspicion that they will disappoint you or cause bad luck. Please do something to stop this insidious development. APRIL FOOL! I lied. The truth is that you are currently more receptive to positive emotions and delightful events than you’ve been in a log time. There’s less than a one-percent chance you will fall victim to cherophobia.

MOUNTAINX.COM

MARKETPLACE

BY ROB BREZSNY

REA L ESTATE | REN TA L S | R O O M M ATES | SER VI C ES JOB S | A N N OU N CEM ENTS | M I ND, BO DY, SPI R I T CL A SSES & WORKSH OPS | M USI C I ANS’ SER VI C ES PETS | A U TOMOTI VE | X C HANG E | ADULT Want to advertise in Marketplace? 828-251-1333 x111 tnavaille@mountainx.com • mountainx.com/classifieds If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Remember the Russian proverb: “Doveryai, no proveryai,” trust but verify. When answering classified ads, always err on the side of caution. Especially beware of any party asking you to give them financial or identification information. The Mountain Xpress cannot be responsible for ensuring that each advertising client is legitimate. Please report scams to ads@mountainx.com RENTALS COMMERCIAL/ BUSINESS RENTALS DOWNTOWN ASHEVILLE OFFICE Charming three room office at 2 Wall Street. Two windows that allow for advertising your business in a high traffic area. Hardwood floors and high ceilings. A gem of an office. $1200/month. (828) 242-5456. mrsmawest@yahoo.com

TROLLEY TOUR GUIDES If you are a "people person," love Asheville, have a valid Commercial Driver's License (CDL) and clean driving record you could be a great Tour Guide. Full-time and seasonal part-time positions available. Training provided.

Contact us today! 828 251-8687.

Info@GrayLineAsheville.com www.GrayLineAsheville.com

MOVIE THEATRE FOR RENT Vintage Event Space for Rent, 1947 Movie Theatre perfect for private Movie Screenings, Corporate Events, Birthdays and Anniversaries. Complete Sound System, Video and Facebook Live Broadcasting. 828-273-8250. shelleyhughes@gmail.com www.marshillradiotheatre.org.

WANTED: PEOPLE WHO ARE HUMBLE, HUNGRY FOR SUCCESS AND PEOPLE SMART If you have passion and heart, are willing to work hard and long, a desire to learn more about business, and either want direct experience running a small business or (have direct operating experience running a small business), then you may be the protege I'm looking for. For more details and to apply, please call 828-351-3000, listen to the message and follow the directions.

SHORT-TERM RENTALS

SKILLED LABOR/ TRADES

10 MINUTES TO ASHEVILLE Separate entrance apartment vacation/short term rental in Weaverville, pets allowed/pet deposit. Complete with everything including internet. $100/ day (2 day minimum, $650/week, $1500/month. duffwhazzup@ gmail.com 15 MINUTES TO ASHEVILLE Guest house, vacation/short term rental in beautiful country setting. • Complete with everything including cable and internet. • $150/day (2-day minimum), $650/week, $1500/ month. Weaverville area. • No pets please. (828) 658-9145. mhcinc58@yahoo.com ROOM FOR RENT • KENILWORTH Room in peaceful home, just minutes from downtown. Comfortable, furnished, sunny bedroom, kitchen, wi-fi, piano, large garden. $75/ night (3 night minimum), $375/ week, $725/month. Contact writersw@gmail.com

ROOMS FOR RENT ROOM FOR RENT • KENILWORTH Room in peaceful home, just minutes from downtown. Comfortable, furnished, sunny bedroom, kitchen, wi-fi, piano, large garden. $545/ month plus utilities. Contact writersw@gmail.com

EMPLOYMENT GENERAL J. CREW WAREHOUSE JOBS Join us at the J.Crew Warehouse in Arden, packing, loading and unloading trucks and ticketing. Positions on 1st/$10.50 or 2nd shift- $11/hour. Call us at 828-687-6423 or visit https://jobs.jcrew.com/ Karen.Cale@jcrew.com

GROUNDSKEEPER A-B Tech is currently taking applications for a full-time position Groundskeeper. For more details and to apply: abtcc.peopleadmin.com/ postings/4762 LOOKING FOR LEAD CARPENTER TO HELP US GROW! Looking for skilled, team-oriented, experienced leader to join a fast growing residential remodeling company. Call Semper Fi Custom Homes at (828)436-2600 and follow the prompt instructions. Come grow with us!

LOUDSPEAKER BUILDER Quality Musical Systems is a manufacturer of professional loudspeaker systems located in Candler, NC. We are recruiting hard working, motivated Builders. Hours are 7am-3:30pm, with some overtime. QMS pays competitive wages with Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance, Paid Holidays, and Vacations. • Requirements: Candidates must be minimum 18 years of age, possess a high school diploma or equivalent GED certificate. Moderate lifting may be required. Training provided in house. Come fill out an application at 204 Dogwood Road, Candler, NC 28715 Office Hours Monday-Friday, 9am-3pm.

(828) 667-5719. (828) 667-5719.

ADMINISTRATIVE/ OFFICE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT • OFFICE MANAGER Manage a busy, one-person consulting office and provide support to owner. Conduct all business, financial & admin functions.

Strong computer skills, with

attention to detail for quality document production; with proficiency in Word, Excel, Quick Books & Database (ACT! preferred). Good verbal & written communication skills; organized & detail-oriented. Able to function both independently and within established structures.

Prior experience required. 20-30 hrs/wk, salary based on experience. Send resume and cover letter to askall@askier.com OFFICE ASSISTANT - SEASONAL Our busy season is right around the corner and SUWS of the Carolinas is currently hiring for a seasonal Office Assistant.

Applicants must be proficient in Microsoft Office, including Word and Excel. Knowledge in Publisher a plus. Must possess ability to maintain confidentially with protected health information and be extremely organized. Past work in a therapeutic setting and customer service is a plus. This is a full time seasonal position that runs approximately mid-April through August depending on need. The schedule is Monday through Friday 9 am to 5 pm. Duties include: answering phones and directing calls appropriately, uploading files to website, printing letters for students, creating and updating Excel spreadsheets, filing, greeting guests and other duties as assigned. Must pass a pre-employment drug screen and background check. Apply at www.suwscarolinas.com/ on our Career page.

OFFICE COORDINATOR FOR TLC SCHOOL Three+ years office experience with bookkeeping; managing schedules, appointments, correspondence.

General support for activities; managing school records, accounts; organize efficient systems. Experience with school software a plus. Strong work ethic, stamina for fast-paced environment. Proficient with Google docs, forms. Interested applicants should send a resume and cover letter to employment@ thelearningcommunity.org.

SALES/ MARKETING JEWELRY SALESPERSON: FULL TIME Looking for an energetic, professional, full-time sales person to join our team at Jewels That Dance. 40 hours a week, including Saturdays Must have sales experience-jewelry sales preferred. Salary based on experience, benefits, paid parking Send resume to or drop off at 63 Haywood St., Asheville.

RESTAURANT/ FOOD LINE COOK Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.’s Taproom & Restaurant has an opening for an experienced full-time Line Cook.

TO APPLY: Please visit our website at www.sierranevada.com/ careers.

MEDICAL/ HEALTH CARE PARAPROFESSIONAL NEEDED Paraprofessional needed afternoons, M-F from 3:45pm until 5:45pm in West Asheville area. Client training provided.

Must pass a background check, have insurance and drivers license. Please call 828-778-0260.

HUMAN SERVICES ASSESSMENT COUNSELORS Make a difference in the life of a child! Assessment Counselors work in a residential setting to implement direct care services to motivate at-risk youth.

Qualified candidates are at least 21 years old and have a valid driver's license. Training provided. Competitive pay. Excellent benefits. Rewarding work environment. Apply online at mhfc.applicantpool.com/jobs http://www.mhfc.org.

INDEPENDENT LIVING SPECIALIST Full-time (non-exempt).

The Independent Living Specialist is a strong voice for disability rights and independent living, working to assist consumers in maintaining their lives independently in the community. Promotes Disability Partners in the seven county service area and collaborates with community agencies to best assist the consumer to reach goals for independent living. The Independent Living Specialist will provide general information and referral for consumers and the community as requested and core services.

• Application packets can be picked up at the Disability Partners office at 108 New Leicester Hwy, Asheville 28806 or requested via email at krodriguez@ disabilitypartners.org • No Phone Calls Please.

WILDERNESS FIELD INSTRUCTOR - SEASONAL SUWS of the Carolinas is hiring for Seasonal Wilderness Field Instructors for the Summer Season.

We are a wilderness therapy company that operates in the Pisgah National Forest, 30 minutes east of Asheville, NC, and serves youth and adolescents ages 10-17. This is an eight days on and six days off shift schedule. Duties and responsibilities include; safety and supervision of students, assists field therapist with therapeutic outcomes, lead backpacking expeditions with students and co-staff, teach student curriculum, leave no trace ethics and primitive skills to students. Must be able to

hike in strenuous terrain with a backpack. Applicants must be at least 21 years of age. If you are selected as a qualified candidate, you will receive an invite to an Informational Seminar. This is a 3-day pre-hire evaluation period, which imparts crucial information about the Instructor role and allows for a thorough evaluation of your skills, while you explore the SUWS program. Must pass a background check and drug screen. Apply at www.suwscarolinas.com/ on our Career page.

TEACHING/ EDUCATION 6TH GRADE MATH AND SCIENCE TEACHER ArtSpace Charter School, a K-8 public school located near Asheville, North Carolina is seeking a full-time 6th grade Math and Science Teacher beginning August, 2018. Applicants Must have a current North Carolina teaching license in Elementary Education or Middle School Certification in Math. Previous experience as a lead teacher is highly preferred. Candidate must be willing to work in a collaborative, integrated, experiential environment. Knowledge of the arts and arts integration strategies is preferred, but not required. Please send resumes and cover letters to: resumes@ artspacecharter.org with the subject heading “6th grade Math/Science Teacher”.

LEAD AND ASSISTANT COUNSELOR AT NATURE ADVENTURES SUMMER CAMP Asheville's twist on traditional summer camp. Through imaginative, hands-on outdoor education, kids improve in self-confidence and inner discipline while learning valuable lessons about the natural world. Please email resume: info@budomountain.com MIDDLE GRADES MATH & SCIENCE TEACHER Grades 5-8 full-time lead math/science teacher will hold Bachelor’s degree in education + three years experience in middle school; lead hands-on lessons; teach with a combination of inquiry and direct instruction in science, 5/6 math, Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, II, and Geometry and have a passion for outdoor education. Interested applicants should send a resume and cover letter to employment@ thelearningcommunity.org.

POLICE LIEUTENANT A-B Tech is currently taking applications for a full-time position Police Lieutenant. For more details and to apply: abtcc.peopleadmin.com/ postings/4758

ARTS/MEDIA

ADJUNCT INSTRUCTOR A-B Tech is currently taking applications for a position Adjunct Instructor, Medical Laboratory Technology Blood Bank. For more details and to apply: abtcc.peopleadmin.com/ postings/4731 ELEMENTARY TEACHER FULL-TIME ArtSpace Charter School, a K-8 public school located in Asheville, North Carolina is seeking a full-time Elementary Teacher beginning August, 2018. Applicants must have a current North Carolina teaching license in Elementary Education. Previous experience as a lead teacher is highly preferred. Candidate must be willing to work in a collaborative, integrated, experiential environment. Knowledge of the arts and arts integration strategies is preferred, but not required. Please send resumes and cover letters to: resumes@ artspacecharter.org with the subject heading “Elementary Teacher”.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ArtSpace Charter School in Swannanoa, NC seeks an Executive Director who will advance the school’s vision as a national benchmark in educational excellence through an integrated K-8 curriculum utilizing the visual and performing arts. • The Executive Director will shape and strengthen ArtSpace’s culture of collaboration among staff, faculty, students, parents, board, and surrounding community. • Apply by April 15, 2018. For application requirements please visit http://www. artspacecharter.org/engage/ employment/ FULL-TIME MATH TEACHER Asheville Academy for Girls hiring full-time math teacher for grades 5-9. Position to be filled as soon as possible. Temporary long-term substitute teaching also an option for the spring quarter. Please send resume and cover letter to bchamberlain@ ashevilleacademy.com www.ashevilleacademy.com

NEWS REPORTER Mountain Xpress is seeking an experienced reporter who is committed to the values of fair, balanced and multi-sourced reporting, has a passion for locally focused journalism and loves good writing. Candidates should have a demonstrated ability to handle tight deadlines and should be comfortable writing stories ranging from government meetings to long-form features. You must be able to craft stories that respect the perspectives of all sides, engage readers and empower them to think critically, take part in meaningful civic dialogue and effect change at the local level. Ideally, applicants will bring to the position a deep knowledge of the local community and its history. And they must be willing to educate themselves in ways that will strengthen their ability to place current events in perspective. A solid grounding in AP Style, or a willingness to learn it, is essential. Photography, web-posting and editing experience are plusses. This is a staff position based in our Asheville office. Email cover letter, resume and clips to employment@mountainx.com

T H E NE W Y OR K TI M ES CR OSSWOR D PU ZZLE

ACROSS

1 Damage beyond repair 6 Talk trash about 10 Cheerleader’s handful 14 Jong who wrote “Fear of Flying” 15 Amy Winehouse, vocally 16 Obama’s stepfather ___ Soetoro 17 Ice cream parlor orders 18 Marx with a curly wig 19 Still competitive 20 Belch fumes, say 22 “Holy smokes!”

23 Genius Bar staffer 24 Ultraliberals, to ultraconservatives 27 Ian McKellen’s role in “X-Men” movies 30 Instagram upload, for short 31 Busy hosp. sites 32 Soviet labor camp 35 Game fish that can breathe air 39 Place to board a bus or train 41 Certain mailing address, for short … or a hint to 14 squares in this puzzle

PART-TIME ARTWORK DIGITIZER Plum Print is hiring a digitizer to photograph and scan children’s artwork. This job requires extreme attention to detail and great organizational skills. Must have Photoshop, Bridge and photography skills. jobs@plumprint.com

DOWN

1 Something to keep in a band?

SALON/ SPA

ENTERTAINMENT

HIRING FULL/PART TIME NAIL TECH Sensibilities Day Spa is now hiring full/part time nail techs. You can still apply even if recently graduated. NC license is required. We offer a set schedule and a commissionbased income with great earning potential. Please bring resume to either location.

DISH NETWORK-SATELLITE TELEVISION SERVICES Now over 190 channels for only $49.99/month! HBO-Free for one year, Free Installation, Free Streaming, Free HD. Add Internet for $14.95 a month. 1-800373-6508. (AAN CAN)

XCHANGE FURNITURE MID-CENTURY FURNITURE Bedroom set, coffee tables, slat coffee table. Witco art, pyrex.

Some antiques. Odds and ends.

Thursday-Saturday, 3740 West Market St., Johnson City, TN. (423) 737-2683.

BUSINESSES FOR SALE FREELANCE THEATER REVIEW WRITER Xpress is seeking freelance theater review writers. Previous reviewing and arts writing experience is a plus, as is a knowledge of AP Style. Familiarity with the local theater scene is necessary. Must be able to meet tight deadlines.

Interested candidates should send a cover letter, resume and links to three published theater- or arts-related clips to employment@mountainx.com.

43 “___ Means I Love You” (1968 top 10 hit by the Delfonics) 44 Underworld boss?

46 Places for channel surfers 48 Long of “Alfie,” 2004 49 Underworld boss 51 Mixed martial arts cage shape 53 One doing a locker room interview 58 ___ Clooney, human rights lawyer 59 Survey 60 Marsupial with a grasping tail 64 Barely ahead 65 Bird in Egyptian hieroglyphics 67 It may be at the end of one’s rope 68 Fizzling fireworks 69 Explorer Hernando de ___ 70 Atlas close-up 71 Goddess with cow’s horns 72 Merino mothers 73 Pre-1917 autocrats

RETAIL, CASH-FLOW POSITIVE SPECIALTY STORE FOR SALE The Tennis Professor is for sale! Profitable North Asheville location with established clientele. $150,000 includes inventory.

Owner relocating. Please call 828-335-1880. thetennisprofessor@gmail.com

SERVICES

LEGAL DENIED CREDIT? Work to repair your credit report with the trusted leader in credit repair. Call Lexington Law for a Free credit report summary and credit repair consultation. 855620-9426. John C. Heath, Attorney at Law, PLLC, dba Lexington Law Firm. (AAN CAN)

HOME IMPROVEMENT HANDY MAN HIRE A HUSBAND • HANDYMAN SERVICES Since 1993.

Multiple skill sets. Reliable, trustworthy, quality results. Insured.

References and estimates available. Stephen Houpis, (828) 280-2254.

HEATING & COOLING

2 Taken in tablet form, say 3 Work with a plow 4 Do something about 5 End of a relay race 6 Scroogian exclamation 7 Alternative to Dollar or Budget 8 Leave in financial difficulty 9 Dr. Seuss book that introduces phonics 10 Like cartoons on the editorial page 11 Claude who painted water lilies 12 Coppers 13 Clothes closet pests 21 “Dig in!”

25 Hershey’s caramel candies 26 Take a load off 27 Rx items 28 Geometry calculation 29 Woman’s erogenous zone 33 Blood-typing letters 34 Like a lot 36 Summoned, as a butler 37 Salk vaccine target 38 Tandoor-baked bread 40 Like boorish behavior 42 Craft knife brand

MAKE THE CALL TO START GETTING CLEAN TODAY Free 24/7 Helpline for alcohol & drug addiction treatment. Get help! It is time to take your life back! Call Now: 855-732-4139. (AAN CAN) NEW LOCAL BUSINESS: LOCAL ONLINE MARKETING SERVICES BY RŌSYNTHORN Online marketing lead generation funnels and sales funnels that decrease user distractions and increase user focus on your offers, products, and brand!

Contact Gavin Griffin, (814) 2278876 or gavinbgriffin@gmail. com

MIND, BODY, SPIRIT BODYWORK $60 TWO-HOUR MASSAGE AT YOUR HOME Please check out my FaceBook page [Transformational Massage Therapy through Frank Solomon Connelly: LMBT#10886] for information.

Practicing professionally since December 2003. (828) 707-2983.

Creator_of_Joy@Hotmail.com.

SPIRITUAL

MAYBERRY HEATING AND COOLING Oil and Gas Furnaces • Heat Pumps and AC • • Radiant Floor Heating • • Solar Hot Water • Sales • Service • Installation. • Visa • MC • Discover. Call (828) 658-9145.

COMPUTER HUGHESNET SATELLITE INTERNET 25mbps starting at $49.99/month! Fast download speeds. WiFi built in! Free Standard Installation for lease customers! Limited time. Call 1-800490-4140. (AAN CAN)

ANNOUNCEMENTS ANNOUNCEMENTS 2 TVs 150 CHANNELS With locals. $44.84/month. Call now 704-405-8949 or 336-378-5070. $200 Visa gift card.

edited by Will Shortz

No. 0221

PUZZLE BY ORI BRIAN AND ZACHARY SPITZ

45 “Street Dreams” rapper 47 “Hurry up!”

50 Relative of a dolphin 52 Firebugs’ felonies 53 Mecca native

FOR MUSICIANS

54 Self-important, as an ass 55 “Amazing” magician 56 Nudge rudely 57 Always saying “please,” say

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS NY TIMES PUZZLE

MUSICAL SERVICES MUSICIANS HEARING PROTECTION We offer custom fitted earplugs that enable you to hear while playing, yet filters harmful decibals. Lots of color and style options! (828) 713-0767. thehearingguync@gmail.com

PETS LOST PETS FOUND DOG Small brown and white mixed breed dog found 3/2 at Montreat. Dog is in care of finder, but please call Asheville Humane Society if you are the owner. 828-250-6430.

AUTOMOTIVE AUTOMOTIVE SERVICES WE'LL FIX IT AUTOMOTIVE • Honda and Acura repair. Half price repair and service. ASE and factory trained. Located in the Weaverville area, off exit 15. Please call (828) 275-6063 for appointment. wellfixitautomotive.com

ADULT ADULT

IF YOU CAN SEE THE FUTURE... ...you can change it!

Call Julie King, licensed Minister, Teacher and intuitive Healer. A gifted psychic for 35 years, internationally known on TV and radio. Mentoring and Courses available.

(831) 601-9005. www.AcuPsychic.com

61 Baseball’s Slammin’ Sammy 62 ___-friendly 63 “Miracle” team of 1969 66 Call to the Coast Guard

LIVELINKS Chat Lines. Flirt, chat and date! Talk to sexy real singles in your area. Call now!

1-844-359-5773 (AAN CAN).

PENIS ENLARGEMENT PUMP Get stronger and harder erections immediately. Gain 1-3 inches permanently and safely. Guaranteed results. FDA Licensed.

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MOUNTAINX.COM

Paul Caron

Furniture Magician • Cabinet Refacing • Furniture Repair • Seat Caning • Antique Restoration • Custom Furniture & Cabinetry (828) 669-4625

• Black Mountain

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

55

Mountain Xpress

i n w p o rizes! t r e t En 56

Vote at mountainx.com/bestofwnc until April 28

MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018

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