Mountain Xpress 08.19.15

OUR 21ST YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 22 NO. 4 AUGUST 19-25, 2015

A feast of food philosophies

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MOUNTAIN BIZWORKS REINVENTS ITSELF

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BREWERS & LAW ENFORCEMENT TALK MORE, FIGHT LESS

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OKEH RECORDS始 ASHEVILLE SESSIONS REVISITED

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Many flavors Asheville is well-known as a small city with a big food scene, but our community’s diverse eating habits are hard to pin down. In this issue, Xpress examines how a smorgasbord of food philosophies — paleo, vegan, downhome Southern, locavore, gluten-free and more — come together at one table to define our Foodtopia. cover design Alane Mason

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10 staying the course Mountain BizWorks restructures, launches new programs

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14 craft brewing comes of age

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How the evolving landscape and culture of the brewing industry relates to state alcohol regulations

28 the green Queen Meet Asheville’s new chief sustainability officer

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FOOD

20 community calendar 22 conscious party 38 gimme your tots Local eateries put their own spin on a potato classic

24 news of the weird 25 wellness 28 green scene

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39 small bites 40 historic record Celebrating the 1925 Okeh sessions in Asheville

46 state of the arts 48 smart bets 51 clubland

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60 screen scene 42 the indomitable optimist John Crutchfield debuts new play at The Magnetic Theatre

61 classifieds 62 freewill astrology 63 ny times crossword

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Short-term rentals provide meaningful tourism Asheville has been a popular tourist town for many decades. Over the years, Asheville tourism has taken a turn for the worse — accommodating only the entitled to visit. With hotel prices skyrocketing, oftentimes well over $200 per night, it affords only a certain type of visitor to come, thereby eliminating the very diversity that makes Asheville unique in its visitors. Asheville should be welcoming those very same sort of people that make up our population — artisans, young people and world wanderers.

Often they cannot, and will not, spend that sort of money on accommodations and may choose to bypass Asheville altogether as a vacation option if they are priced out of the market. These tourists look to experience the community during their stay.

Giving tourists another option other than hotels is a wonderful way to share our community.

Websites that act as liaisons to these tourists, and locals who wish to host them, like Airbnb, VRBO, HomeAway, etc., offer accommodations to those who are wishing for a more homefelt experience, rather than a sterile

hotel. Hotels cater to a different crowd in general [who] want a more disconnected experience.

Vacation-rental tourism supports the local mom-and-pop or out-of-the-way business locations that make Asheville truly unique. Supporting these businesses helps our community thrive. Furthermore, the money hotels earn from visitors doesn’t stay in Asheville or get spent in Asheville. Large hotels are nationwide chains, and that money leaves town. What happened to “keeping it local”?

Tourists paying less for their accommodations often have more spending money to spend at our local restaurants, cafes, breweries, etc.

According to Wolfstreet.com (a business and financial website), a recent study showed Airbnb guests spent 2.3 times more money than those of hotel guests. Vacation-rental tourists ask specifically for “where the locals go.”

They will likely be going to places like Waking Life café, High Five Coffee Bar or Nine Mile. Since their lodging can cost considerably less, it makes sense they can spend more. It also opens up vacations to those who could normally not afford a nice vacation out of town. Hosts of these short-term rentals love to help facilitate this.

Creating meaningful tourism creates closeness with the visitors and a

contributing editors: Peter Gregutt, Rob Mikulak, Margaret Williams regular contributors: Able Allen, Jonathan Ammons, Edwin Arnaudin, Pat Barcas, Jacqui Castle, George Etheredge, Dorothy Foltz-Gray, Jordan Foltz, Doug Gibson, Steph Guinan, Daniel Hall, Cameron Huntley, Rachel Ingram, Cindy Kunst, Lea McLellan, Clarke Morrison, Emily Nichols, Josh O’Conner, Thom O’Hearn, Kyle Petersen, Rich Rennicks, Tim Robison, Aiyanna SezakBlatt, Kyle Sherard, Toni Sherwood, Justin Souther, Sarah Whelan & Krista White

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opinion

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connection to the community visitors would otherwise miss out on. Hotel customers often aren’t looking for this experience, and luckily, Asheville is home to a lot of hotels — with more coming! The short-term rental market caters to an entirely different clientele. Economically, a major upside is the income gained from these tourists seeking a more meaningful vacation is [that] their visits directly impact the hosts of these homes. Their dollars are spent locally. It doesn’t get any more local than that.

— Cat Smith Asheville

Many support City Council’s exotic-animals ban

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I would like to address those of you who may want to criticize City Council’s approval of a citywide ban on exotic animals. Please do not think that they were simply caving in to a small group of animal-loving radicals. Asheville Voice for Animals currently has over 250 members, tripling in just the past year. In addition, we have the endorsement of the leadership of all of the major animal shelters and animal welfare organizations locally, with a combined membership of over 10,000 individuals. This is hardly a small group of people! This process took over 18 months, and all City Council meetings are open to the public.

City Council was educated to the fact that exotic-animal circuses constantly abuse their animals, the extent of which (including death) is a well-kept secret and not known by the general public. They were also told that Ringling Bros. has been fined many times, including a record $270,000 by the USDA for their horrific abuse of animals. They were also made aware of the 60 municipalities in 19 states that have enacted exotic-animal bans, of which Chapel Hill is one. Also, 28 municipalities in Canada, and nine large countries, including Great Britain and Mexico, have enacted similar bans.

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So there is quite a bit more to it, most of which many of you were not aware of. I’m glad that City Council took to heart what was presented to them by the representatives of Asheville Voice for Animals and the many other groups and individuals.

If you want to see exotic animals, visit an Association of Zoos and Aquariumsaccredited zoo, and if you want the thrill of a circus, there are many, such as Cirque du Soleil, that do not use exotic animals. These are much better options to seeing an exotic-animal circus for a couple of hours once a year at a cost to the animals you see of living their entire lives in a cage or a box car, always confined and brutally “taught” to do unnatural and sometimes painful tricks.

— Donald Kendall Asheville

City partly to blame for affordable housing crisis I’m curious about these local “experts” [“Collision Course,” July 29, part of Xpress’ affordable housing essay series]. Has anyone been interviewed who has been royally screwed by City Council’s collectivist legislation responsible for driving rental rates sky high?

Years ago, Xpress covered the onset of my saga, regarding how the city initially forced me to kick out from my eightbedroom, historic Victorian home of 26 years three renters in order to comply with the “no boardinghouse” rule of the Unified Development Ordinance, without allowing for “grandfathering,” for which I was entitled. This forced me to raise my rents from $400 to $600 in order to try and make my mortgage payments.

What Xpress has not known about is that my saga continued to be dragged out until just this spring, making it about a five-year painstaking ordeal with Wells Fargo. As with so many other Americans who have been screwed by the banks as a result of the Bush-Obama “bailouts,” I was told by [Wells Fargo] that I would have to be at least a couple months in mortgage default before it could help me with a refinancing resultant of the “bailouts.”

However, [Wells Fargo] apparently had no intention whatsoever to refinance my mortgage, and as typical, dragged out the re-fi process until it could attempt to foreclose.

I wound up having to enter into bankruptcy to stop the foreclosure,

which destroyed my excellent credit score and then had to sell my house “short” in order to ultimately prevent foreclosure.

A 25-year-long affordable and green living situation in Montford was totally destroyed by the city of Asheville, which simultaneously violated my property and privacy rights to boot. This, along with Asheville’s high tax rates comparable to large cities, combined with low-paying jobs, has far more to do with the affordable housing problem than so-called “greedy landlords.” Yet ignorant locals are now suggesting “rent controls” — will people here never learn?

I’m certainly not the only landlord who was screwed by the city of Asheville. Others like me are the real experts who have suffered great financial and emotional damages resultant from this city’s collectivist social engineering, and these are the people who need to be interviewed in order to reach the truth of the matter.

— Bernard Baruch Carman Asheville

Asheville’s population growth is slow, manageable Your piece on “Big Little City Blues: Asheville’s Growing Housing Crisis” [Aug. 5, Xpress] cited the sharply spiking population. I looked it up. The city population has increased 15,000 in 15 years, or 1,000 people per year, a rate of slightly over 1 percent per year.

I would call that a slow rise and certainly manageable in terms of city finance, housing and infrastructure. In fact, all of the 10 largest cities in North Carolina (Asheville is No. 11) are growing faster than Asheville.

You also cited Asheville as “bursting at the seams.” In fact, seven of the 10 largest cities in North Carolina are more densely populated than Asheville. Even High Point and Greenville, N.C., are more dense. Your characterizations are undermined by the facts.

— Paul Kelman Asheville editor’s note: Xpress reporter Hayley Benton responds: “By saying that Asheville is ‘bursting at the seams,’ I didn’t mean to imply that Asheville is growing at a much faster rate than other cities in the state — but that it doesn’t

CAR T O O N B Y B R E N T B R O W N have the space or infrastructure for the growth it’s already endured. From 2000 to 2015, Asheville gained 20,682 people, according to Census Burea data from 2000 and Bowen National’s current population estimate, increasing 30 percent over the last 15 years. I also reported that Charlotte’s and Raleigh’s growth rates outstrips Asheville’s.

All of my data comes from the city of Asheville’s Housing Needs Assessment, its Consolidated Strategic Housing and Community Development Plan and Mosaic Community Lifestyle Realty’s home sale data from the last 15 years.”

How can we prevent Yellow Pages waste?

There must be some way to prevent the waste of paper from the [Yellow Pages] books that are periodically delivered to every driveway in town. I’m thinking most of them go to the recycle bin just like mine.

Takes a lot of trees to produce these mainly useless books.

How about an opt-out option? Or an unsubscribe? Or have folks contact the company if they want one. Something.

We need the trees!

— Fran Burton Asheville

Best of WNC has gotten too big Years ago, I remember actually looking forward with anticipation to the annual Mountain Xpress Best of WNC awards. First, voting for my favorite restaurant, bar, etc., and then weeks later, reading the published winners.

However, it seems like each year, more and more categories are added.

What was once a slightly larger edition of Mountain Xpress has become a bloated two-edition cornucopia of awards with every conceivable business category available and way too many tie places to be believable.

I understand the desire to make all the local business owners (and perhaps current and/or future advertisers) happy, but jeesh — enough is enough! It has become painfully boring to read and has lost all validity and relevance. Who wants to find out who was tied for second place in the new (less than a year old) coffee shops that are open late and serve pastries category, or who got third place for local pet store (Asheville) with the cutest puppies and nicest aquarium displays category?

I jest — sort of. But really, why not just an award for the best coffee shop or the

best slice of pizza? In short, keep it short and sweet. If you really want your annual awards to mean something again, cut it way down and please no tie places!

— Chris Power Hendersonville editor’s note: Yes, Best of WNC is big.

We expanded the number of categories a few years ago with the goal of better honoring the area’s extraordinary range of excellence, entrepreneurship and activism. It seemed the right to do then, and it still seems like a well-deserved celebration to us.

Asheville’s growth is not inevitable In the period spanning 2012-13, 6,000 people migrated to Asheville.

The law of supply and demand — not so much a law as a comment on how few developers and homeowners would accept anything less then maximum profit from the sale of their homes — dictates that housing prices will go up. The solutions to this problem put forth in Mountain Xpress’ three-part series on affordable housing range from a living

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wage to increased density to student labor. That Asheville will grow is undisputed.

In reality, growth is not inevitable. There are many ways to limit growth while simultaneously creating and preserving affordable housing.

Zoning to limit development, while requiring developers to include a minimum percentage of affordable units is one possibility.

An article in the Jan. 30, 2015, Asheville Citizen-Times, using Census Bureau data, put Buncombe County’s population at 300,000 by 2030. Just how big do we want Asheville to get?

— Steve Rosenthal Asheville

Climate-change deniers lack scientific authority [Regarding the] letter “CO2’s Effect on Climate Is Debatable,” [Aug. 5, Xpress]: No, it’s not. Every scientific body of national or international standing, like the National Academy of Sciences, disagrees with what this Aug. 5 letter says. NASA has a full list of all 230 of them on its website.

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The Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, which the Aug. 5 letter cites as its authority, is not on NASA’s list. That’s because it’s not a scientific organization. It’s a front for the fossil-fuel industry’s multimilliondollar climate-denial operation. NIPCC gets its funding clandestinely from ExxonMobil and the fossil-fuel billionaire Koch brothers (the DeSmogBlog, one of Time’s Top 10 Blogs, and Scientific American, “Dark Money”).

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So does Tom Harris’ impressivesounding International Climate Science Coalition. Anyone can set up a website and call themselves anything they want. Harris is not a scientist, much less a climate scientist. You can read about Harris and see the documentation about where his paychecks come from on the DeSmogBlog.

Harris claims there are lots of peerreviewed climate science papers disputing AGW, but he cites none. That’s because, in the past two years, only one (published in Russia) out of 9,136 peer-reviewed climate science papers questioned AGW (DeSmogBlog).

What Harris and [others] don’t want you to know is that phasing out coal and other fossil fuels will save 13,000 U.S. lives each year, otherwise lost to carbon-pollution (World Health Organization). Carbon pollution also costs Americans over $866.5 billion annually in associated medical costs (Forbes).

Clean energy will create millions of U.S. jobs and increase our GDP by tens of billions annually (REMI) with a plan that’s been successful for seven years in British Columbia (The Economist). See the volunteer Citizens Climate Lobby website for details.

— Pete Kuntz Lancaster, Pa.

CORRECTIONS City Council candidate Joe Grady's dog was inaccurately identified in our Aug. 12 news story, "4x4: Four Weeks, Three Candidates?"

The therapy dog is a golden retriever.

A photo caption with the article “Wearing Your Green on your Sleeve: Upcycled Fashion Creates an Eco-friendly and Uniquely Asheville Look” misspelled the name of model Camille Reid.

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The art of butchery Killing to eat is a bloody business

BY JOHN NATION I grew up on a small family ranch on the prairies of southern Oklahoma. We kept about 25 range cows, and every fall we sold the excess on the cattle market. The animals were what today would be called “grass-fed beef” — a term we never heard of. The cattle received supplemental feedings of alfalfa hay in the winter. Not one ever got a shot of antibiotics or growth hormones.

Each year, we’d keep one of the market steers for ourselves. It would come back to us as about 200 pounds of beef wrapped in white paper, labeled either “HB” (for hamburger) or “Stake” in black grease pencil — the local butcher couldn’t spell.

Together with potatoes and other vegetables from the garden and an occasional chicken dinner from my grandmother’s flock of 20 or so birds, this was mainly what my family had to eat. We couldn’t eat the prairie grass, but our cattle could. It was a classic case of life feeding on life.

I left the prairies in my early 30s, exchanging my range pony for a sailboat that I lived on for the next 20 years, cruising the Atlantic Seaboard and the Bahamas. The “stake” in my diet changed to fish. I didn’t have much money, but I soon discovered that a 20-pound bag of rice costs about $4 the world over.

Fish and rice made as fine a meal as one could want. But the discovery of rice — cowboys don’t eat it, except in rice pudding — began an adventure into new ways of cooking and eating.

Came a day that, just as I’d left the prairie more than two decades before, I now moved to the mountains of Western North Carolina.

There I fell in with a family of vegetarians. It was tough at first, and I kept a can of Hormel chili under my bed for emergencies. But as time went on, I found that my desire for meat was fading, and today I don’t willingly eat, or feel the desire to eat, meat of any kind.

Part of this came from meeting my new sweetie, who was on the same path away from meat that I was.

because he puts his hands and feet to words -

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www.BalanceForAsheville.com

Contributed photo We never made an issue of it; we never called ourselves “vegetarians.” People staying with us were free to bring meat into the house and cook it. We also understood that when we accepted friends’ dinner invitations, it would likely involve eating meat.

But both my friend and I like to cook, and we soon began experimenting with foods, primarily nonmeat dishes from around the world. It was, well, a “new world” of flavors, textures, colors.

Seven months into 2015, I’ve eaten four servings of meat — and none at home.

I’ve read that “life’s a journey,” and I’m still pondering the fact that my own journey began as a cowboy on the prairies raising market cattle, yet, within five decades, I’ve traveled far enough that now, I never even peer into the local market’s meat department. Knowing what I know about how pieces of dead animals end up in those refrigerated cases, I’d rather just walk on by.

So when I read an article on “craft butchery” and “artisan meat cutting,”

I think, “Well, this is Asheville, and Asheville is trendy.” Next, I suppose, we’ll get “craft concentration camps” and “artisanal prisons.”

This is how the human mind works; it can move quickly and easily from killing animals to killing people. Killing to eat is a bloody business: Anyone who enjoys it is not mentally well.

Meat eating isn’t natural to primates. Anthropologists tell us, though, that there was a time in prehistory when our fruit-loving ancestors had to become carnivores or perish. That time has now passed, however: Today, in most instances, eating meat is simply laziness or habit.

So all you cows out there, all you piggy-wigs and chickens, listen up: You don’t have to fear me anymore.

Do whatever you want to do. Lead your lives according to your nature, and I’ll do the same.

Self-described “half-assed vegetarian and former Oklahoma cowboy” John Nation is based in Asheville.

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neWs

Staying the courSe Mountain BizWorks restructures, launches new programs with 15 to 20 clients at a time, giving them the tools and support needed to create sustainable enterprises.

The nonprofit’s client list includes such iconic Asheville brands as LaZoom Tours, The Organic Mechanic, FLS Energy and French Broad Chocolates, among many others. But in the fall of 2013, Wimsett didn’t know if Mountain BizWorks would be around long enough to help him take his business to the next level. a painful restructuring

COMMUNITY INVESTMENTS: Keith Wimsett (right), owner of Inspire Personal Fitness in the River Arts District, goes over the numbers with coach Barry Gupton of Mountain BizWorks. Two years after a funding crisis, the nonprofit has reorganized and now focuses on two key areas: coaching and lending. Photo by Virginia Daffron

BY vIRGINIA DAFFRON vdaffron@gmail.com Two years ago, Keith wimsett felt stuck. The personal trainer and gym owner had 28 monthly clients on the roster — enough to survive day to day, but not enough to sustain his 2,500-square-foot Riverside Drive facility over the long haul.

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“I’m passionate about fitness, not about business,” says Wimsett, who enjoys working one on one with clients and developing individualized plans for them.

But that approach made Mountain BizWorks a natural fit for Wimsett.

After assessing his 6-year-old business’ strengths and weaknesses, Wimsett’s coach at the nonprofit helped him create a plan for rebranding his services.

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In January, Wimsett rolled out his new business name — Inspire Personal Fitness — along with a new logo and website. He’s now up to 75 clients, and he’s back at Mountain BizWorks for more coaching, this time to figure out how to manage his recent growth.

“Keith is very eager to learn,” says barry gupton, Wimsett’s current coach.

The business finance specialist works

That year, a sudden funding crisis threw the long-running nonprofit into a tailspin. An expected grant failed to come through, and just like that, the organization found itself struggling to survive. CEO shaw canale resigned, half the staff was laid off, programs were cut and, in July 2014, patrick fitzsimmons took over as Mountain BizWorks’ executive director.

A former regional director for the American Red Cross, Fitzsimmons was no stranger to disaster, but what he confronted now was different from a flood or fire; he led an additional belt-tightening effort that he calls “so painful.”

Longtime board member bill carrington, who works as a regional director at the Self-Help Credit Union, says the months following that restructuring were hard. “Many board members went way above and beyond what would usually be expected” to help the organization hang on, recalls Carrington, who took over as board chair in June.

But trimming expenses could go only so far. The real root of the crisis was an overreliance on grant funding, notes retired financial professional fred waldkoetter, who joined the board in June 2014 to help with the restructuring. In the nonprofit world, he explains, self-sufficiency refers to the amount of revenue derived from earned income — in this case, the interest and fees from the loans Mountain BizWorks makes. At the time of the crisis, the organization was relying on grants for almost 80 percent of its revenue.

One of the casualties of the restructuring was the popular Foundations business planning course. Rather than shut it down entirely, however, Mountain BizWorks contracted with former staffer annie price’s firm, Birds Eye Business Planning & Consulting, to revamp and run the program. Price zeroed in on the most critical topics for new business owners, shortening the course from eight weekly sessions to six.

Demand for the classes, held at Mountain BizWorks’ South Lexington Avenue offices, has been strong. With 15 participants, the current session is at capacity; two concurrent sessions are planned for this fall. the secret sauce Having handed off its flagship group education component, Mountain BizWorks now focuses on two key areas: coaching and lending.

Fitzsimmons calls coaching the “secret sauce” his organization uses to help create jobs and economic opportunity. Coaches get to know clients and their businesses well, so when one of them applies for a loan, the nonprofit is well-positioned to gauge both their readiness and the appropriate amount of funding.

“We provide a level of hand-holding that larger banks aren’t set up to offer,” notes Fitzsimmons, who credits that kind of personalized guidance with limiting the institution’s 2014 loan loss rate to just 1 percent (2.2 percent over the last three years).

Coaching is free for clients who meet certain criteria; others pay a fee based on their business’ size. eric seiler, a Rolfing and yoga therapist, says the fees are “very affordable” for a small business. He chose coach Bob Perlstein from Mountain BizWorks’ list of two dozen specialists, all of whom are entrepreneurs themselves.

Loans, meanwhile, provide capital to people seeking to start or expand a small business. The money comes from various sources: the U.S. Small Business Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program, foundation grants, donations, local investors and returns on its existing loan portfolio.

“We live by our funding,” says Carrington. Accordingly, the nonprofit is trying to diversify its sources. “We’re getting better, but we’re not out of the woods yet,” he reports. Applying for grants is a complex process, and funders’ decision-making criteria can be opaque, notes Carrington, adding

that it’s still not clear precisely why the organization failed to secure the grant that triggered the 2013 crisis.

So far this year, Mountain BizWorks has lent local entrepreneurs $1 million in Small Business Administration funds. In April, the SBA approved an additional $1.25 million allotment, and the nonprofit is waiting on Congress to release that money.

Meanwhile, Mountain BizWorks receives about three dozen loan inquiries per month, Fitzsimmons reports.

This spring was especially busy, with 54 inquiries in April and 50 more in May. The nonprofit generally makes about 10 loans per month.

Businesses turned down for loans may be offered coaching or steered toward group education. “‘No’ doesn’t mean ‘never,’” says Fitzsimmons; some businesses aren’t ready yet, but his organization can help them address what’s lacking to improve their chances of accessing capital. new blood As Mountain BizWorks celebrates its 25th year of creating economic opportunity in the region, AdvantageWest, a state-funded economic development entity, is winding down after a 21-year run. The latter organization “received 60 to 80 percent of its operating funds from the state of North Carolina,” explains matt raker, the agency’s former vice president of entrepreneurship. When those funds were cut off, he says, AdvantageWest had no choice but to close.

In July, Raker joined Mountain BizWorks as director of community investments. He brought with him two programs in need of a new home: the Advantage Opportunity Fund and ScaleUp WNC. Mountain BizWorks was already servicing loans and supplying administrative support for the Advantage Opportunity Fund, making the transition seamless, says Raker. The fund offers startup or early-stage capital to companies that have the potential for rapid growth and job creation, particularly those in rural counties.

Now completing its first year, ScaleUp WNC is funded by a five-year, $1.2 million SBA grant — one of only eight such awards nationwide. Each year, ScaleUp will provide instruction, mentoring and support for 30 small businesses.

Those clients, notes Raker, “need a focused, quick, intensive program they

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news advantage many care providers haven’t had.

Ford, meanwhile, says the new course will cover a range of business topics while connecting participants with coaches who can provide ongoing mentoring and training.

For her part, Winslow says she loves her line of work, despite the challenges and isolation. “It’s truly amazing to do this. If a child feels really loved in those early years, it lays the foundation for success later on.”

Ford couldn’t agree more. “The first 2,000 days of human life are critical,” she notes. “Supporting child care providers with business training and counseling is an investment that will pay dividends throughout the community.”

Keeping it local

NO STRANGER TO DISASTER: Mountain BizWorks Executive Director Patrick Fitzsimmons heads up a course at the nonprofit. After a restructuring, Mountain BizWorks now relies less on grant funding and more on earned income.

Photo by Virginia Daffron can access while continuing to run their businesses.”

Participants attend eight classes, prepare a strategic business plan and receive individual mentoring. The program culminates in a multimedia presentation showcasing each business to a community audience. The most recent presentations were held at The Orange Peel on May 26.

Raker sees a tremendous need to continue these programs. “Over the last several years, there’s been less and less capital available for small businesses,” he points out.

Fitzsimmons, meanwhile, says the programs Raker brought with him are a great fit with Mountain BizWorks’ mission and focus. Like the nonprofit’s other programs, he continues, these latest additions receive no state funding. And in light of what happened to AdvantageWest, Fitzsimmons considers that “a very good thing.” investing in community On Aug. 15, Mountain BizWorks launched its newest initiative, Childcare Business Training, in partnership with the Self-Help Credit Union and Smart Start of Buncombe County.

Although Smart Start trains providers in child care and child development, business training has been lacking, says ariel ford, director of child care resources and referrals at Smart Start. The new program uses

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a curriculum developed by the credit union specifically for owners of child care businesses. jane hatley, a regional director at Self-Help, trained six Mountain BizWorks coaches in the curriculum.

“This course is part of a holistic effort to bring more attention to the importance of a strong child care network as a driver of economic growth,” Ford explains.

“Businesses benefit when their employees have access to high-quality, affordable child care.” wanda winslow has operated Wanda’s Childcare Home in Kenilworth for 15 years; she’s taking the course to stay current. “In this fast-paced world, everything seems to be changing,” she says. “I need to know about things like the Affordable Care Act and how to market my business on the Internet.”

Winslow, whose business is licensed to care for five infants or toddlers and three school-age children, says she has little opportunity to network with other care providers. Her facility is open 50 hours a week, and she has no assistant. “I’m out here on my own, so it’s good to hear what others are doing,” she says.

The eight half-day Saturday sessions are being held at Mountain BizWorks, and two participants haven’t launched their businesses yet.

“If a new child care business can make it for three years,” says Winslow, “then they can keep it going.” In the past, she received counseling through the SCORE program — an

Fitzsimmons believes Asheville’s entrepreneurial businesses are the bedrock of the city’s unique character. “We are not like every other town in America,” he says, and Mountain BizWorks has been an important force in supporting the businesses that have shaped this city’s identity. In last year’s Mountain Xpress Best of WNC readers’ poll, he points out, 83 of the winners were Mountain BizWorks alumni.

In 2013, 93 were current or former Mountain BizWorks clients.

Last year, the nonprofit originated 61 new loans totaling $1.1 million. At the end of 2014, its portfolio comprised 166 loans with a combined value of $3.3 million. The interest and fees on those loans provided 47 percent of the organization’s operating revenue, with federal, state and city grants, plus foundation and individual support, making up the rest.

The bottom line? Mountain BizWorks ended 2014 in the black, with a net income of $109,309. But that’s only the beginning, says Fitzsimmons: 320 existing jobs were retained, and 142 new ones created; 96 businesses were sustained, while 45 new ones came into being as a result of Mountain BizWorks programs; and 312 clients received business coaching.

Meanwhile, the nonprofit’s individual investor program offers community members a way to support local businesses. The risk is low, because the investors contribute to Mountain BizWorks’ total loan portfolio, rather than funding a particular business. Participants choose a fixed, below-market interest rate and term for their investment, and many decline to take even the maximum available return, notes Raker, so that more of their money can help loan recipients.

Part of Raker’s job is developing new ways to attract community investors. One possibility, he says, would be putting together funds that focused on a particular business sector, such as food or tourism, instead of simply having investors support the overall portfolio. brighter days ahead Throughout its ups and downs,

Mountain BizWorks has been a source of support for local businesses that no other lender would touch, says Fitzsimmons.

Even during the crisis, remembers Wimsett, the organization reassured clients that it would be around for the long haul.

But though both staff and board aim to ensure a sustainable future for the organization, the perpetual uncertainty concerning

funding makes that “a lofty goal,” says Carrington.

If the future is always somewhat dicey, however, he believes the organization now has the staff it needs to do the job. The current team, notes Carrington, “has expanded our knowledge of grant sources and sharpened our skills for applying.

We’ve also gone back to some funders that passed us over a year or two ago; they’ve been open to receiving new

grant applications from us.”And in the meantime, he continues, “The proof is in the numbers, and they get better every month.”

Waldkoetter, who now works pro bono as the organization’s chief financial officer, agrees. These days, he says, “We are much less reliant on grant funding for our liquidity.

From that standpoint, we’re a much stronger organization.” X

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news

by Max Hunt

mhunt@mountainx.com

growing painS: craft brewing comeS of age Recent altercations between brewers and law enforcement prompts increased communications

BREWPUBS TO BIG BUSINESS: Over the past decade, craft breweries have taken North Carolina by storm, pulling in nearly $800 million in 2014 alone. However, with bigger profit margins comes more scrutiny from state alcohol regulators and a stricter adherence to N.C. statutes. Photo by Max Hunt. INSET: Attorney Derek Allen, who represents many breweries across the country, says that craft brewing’s popularity and success in recent years has shone the spotlight on the industry.

Inset Photo by Cindy Kunst.

North Carolina has always had a complicated relationship with alcohol. The Tar Heel State was one of the first to enact Prohibition in 1909 and one of the last states to repeal it. However, alcohol has consistently been an economic driver in North Carolina, as it still is, with 130 craft breweries as of 2014 – the most of any Southern state. Craft breweries often use local products, benefiting agricultural businesses and bringing in tourists from across the country for a variety of festivals throughout the year.

What’s often lost amid the discussion is the evolving landscape and culture of the brewing industry and how it relates to state alcohol provisions. Many of the laws regulating the industry are complex, according to members of the craft brewing community, and as the craft brewing industry in the region grows into a multimillion-dollar business, the desire to review the statutes and

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improve communication with state officials has come to the forefront.

To that end, state regulatory officials say they are working in cooperation with the local brewing industry to facilitate a responsible relationship that aids the future expansion of craft brewing in the mountains. business a-brewin’ The origins of craft beer in the mountains can be traced to the basement of Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria in downtown Asheville. It was there that Oscar Wong and John McDermott founded Highland Brewing Co. in 1994, which they say was the first craft brewery in the region since the end of Prohibition.

Since that time, Western North Carolina has seen a veritable explosion in the craft brewing industry. “We were playing catch-up for a while,” says erik myers, head brewer at Mystery Brewing Co. in Hillsborough, North Carolina, and president of the North

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Carolina Craft Brewers Guild. He notes that North Carolina now has one of the fastest rates of new brewery openings in the country.

WNC’s craft brewing industry has since ballooned to more than 20 independent brewers of all sizes and specialties, facilitated by the “Pop the Cap” law, which in 2005 raised the maximum alcohol-by-volume allowed in beer from 6 percent to 15 percent, and Asheville’s revitalization as a tourist mecca.

“We bring thousands of people to [Black Mountain],” says dave Quinn, co-founder of Pisgah Brewing Co. “When we have a sold-out show, we increase the population of Black Mountain by 20 percent. Every hotel in Black Mountain is sold out, all the places to eat are full.”

Quinn adds that a significant amount of their concert attendees come from outside Buncombe County, and about 5 percent travel from out of state.

The success of Highland, Pisgah and others has led to Asheville being

dubbed “Beer City, USA” from 200912 by charlie papazian’s popular national poll and caught the attention of nationally known brewers like Sierra Nevada, Oskar Blues and New Belgium, which have all built East Coast facilities in the region.

In 2014 alone, the North Carolina craft brewing industry produced 372,473 barrels of beer and brought about $800 million into the state, according to statistics provided by the N.C. Brewers Guild. And more than 45 additional breweries across the state are expected to open in the next several years. law and order However, with increased exposure and revenue comes increased regulatory attention, as has been demonstrated over the past few months.

“The number of brewers in North Carolina has grown at an incredibly rapid pace over the last several years,” says stacy cox, special agent in charge of the Western District of N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement.

Along with seven other ALE agents, Cox oversees more than 1,100 outlets spanning 16 counties in the Western North Carolina. She says that the recent ALE activity can be attributed to the “numerous laws and rules that need to be adhered to,” which often “takes time to learn and understand.”

“I think a lot of brewers get into the business of making beer because they love beer and they want to share their recipes with the public,” says hayley wells, whose law firm represents brewing interests across the country.

“Then all of the sudden, they’re running a manufacturing business and they may not learn all of those rules before they open the door.”

One recent instance of this misunderstanding of the rules came in May during Asheville’s Beer City Festival, where ALE agents cited several brewers for violations, including allegations of brewery employees drinking while serving at the event (a prohibition the Cox says ensures workers can determine the age and sobriety of customers) and servers exceeding the sample size limits allowed under state law, which stands at 2 ounces per free sample.

The Race to the Taps series, hosted by several local breweries and businesses over the course of the spring and summer, also ran into legal complications surrounding cooperative advertising regulations. North Carolina civil statutes set parameters for “sponsorships of festivals, concerts, fundraisers or special events” involving brewers, nonalcohol-related businesses and retailers.

“Essentially, when a retailer and a brewery sponsor an event, the brewery must get approval for the promotion of the event from the North Carolina ABC Commission,” says Attorney derek allen, who represents a host of brewing interests across the country. “Race to the Taps had retail sponsors and brewery sponsors, [and] until industry approval was obtained,

promotion of the event ran afoul of the regulations.”

In the case of Race to the Taps, none of the breweries involved were officially cited, after discussions between brewers and ALE agents clarified marketing discrepancies, a legal area that Allen, who works alongside Wells at the law firm Ward and Smith, calls “not terribly intuitive. One tiny fact-changing can make something go from illegal to legal.”

Allen adds that the increased profile of state regulators around the craft brewing industry is simply a byproduct of its success. “The industry has grown to the point where it can no longer be looked at as a rogue, upstart business,” he notes.

“You can’t have multimillion-dollar companies producing 600,000 barrels a year and still be the underdog.”

Perhaps the highest-profile case of miscommunication came at Oskar Blues’ Burning Can Festival on the weekend of July 17-18, when several out-of-state and local brewers were informed by ALE agents that they had not received the proper permits to allow them to pour beer at the event.

“I personally learned about the event Wednesday evening [before the festival],” Cox says of the incident, adding that ALE was acting under guidance from the N.C. ABC Commission Legal Division. “We tried to come up with

solutions, but with such short notice, we were limited.”

While Oskar Blues has taken full responsibility for the miscommunication, other brewers present at the event have expressed reservations about the way ALE agents approached the issue. Quinn suggests that ALE could have helped expedite permits instead of threatening citations. “It’s not like [the state] was missing taxes, because this was all donated product anyway,” Quinn says. corey reid, sales manager for Sly Fox Brewing Co. in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, has a similar impression of ALE’s involvement. “We were told that we would be in violation of North Carolina law giving away free samples and could be fined,” he says, adding that ALE’s message also stated that the citation “would jeopardize our ability to register our beer for sale in North Carolina when we decide we are prepared to open that market.”

This varied from last year’s Burning Can event, says Reid, when “the topic wasn’t ever discussed.” He adds that “creating a financial burden to such a respectable company and limiting the funds that a few nonprofit foundations desperately need made me question the motivation of the ALE.”

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Cox asserts there was no malicious intent to harm charities. “Please understand, we did not criminally charge anyone or submit any violation reports to NCABCC in reference to Burning Can,” she states. “If we had learned about it sooner, we could have possibly remedied some of the problems ahead of time.”

She explains that the festival was covered by a “Special One Time (SOT) permit” issued to Can’d Aid, a charitable foundation operated by Oskar Blues. In addition to the SOT permit, each brewer was required to obtain a malt beverage special-event permit.

Those traveling from out of state also needed a nonresident malt beverage vendor permit.

There are some exceptions. Outof-state breweries whose products have been approved for sale in North Carolina, but do not have a nonresident malt beverage vendor permit, are allowed on-site at such events on the condition that their products are served by volunteers not on a company’s payroll, according to Cox. The same goes for those who obtained a permit but whose products are not approved for sale in the state.

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And where is the line that distinguishes a homebrewer trying out his latest batch from entities that fall under state regulations? ABC’s retail guide states anyone possessing more than 80 liters of a malt beverage (about nine 24-packs and some change) must have a proper ABC permit (the rules are slightly different for beer contained in kegs). In regard to samples given out at festival events, vendors must obtain a special-event permit from their local ABC board in order to provide free tastings, according to the ABC retail guide.

Allen explains that the specific issues involved with Burning Can are indicative of a broader misunderstanding of what the law requires at festival-type events, especially when there are multiple breweries with different levels of legal standing involved.

“There’s definitely a disconnect between the ABC’s interpretation of the regulations, how the ALE may enforce it, how the industry may interpret it,” he says, noting that many of the recently enforced statutes “have been on the books forever” even if they come across as new. “It’s really just the enforcement of something that’s been there for a long time.”

Others involved in the industry are more ambivalent. Most breweries contacted for this article chose not to comment publicly on the recent enforcement actions, a reluctance that Pisgah’s Quinn attributes to a “culture where people want to try and keep their heads down, and if you don’t get noticed, you won’t get in trouble.”

He says that Pisgah is in compliance with the laws, has a good relationship with local police and has had many pleasant interactions with ALE officers in the past, but several recent run-ins with new agents have left a bad taste in his mouth.

“They show up in the middle of some of our events, [during] commerce hours, throwing around their weight and citations, and spooking the customers,” he says. “We’re not criminals, and I feel like sometimes we get treated that way.”

In response, Cox says her department was alerted to some safety concerns at a recent show at Pisgah, but no citations or violations were issued. “Wherever alcohol is sold, there are going to be issues from time to time,” she notes. “Pisgah is a good business and brings a lot of money and tourism into the area.”

Cox adds that “[her department] doesn’t want this to become an ’us

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versus them’ situation” and that her office is working to build “good relationships with the brewing industry” while “ensuring the safety of the public.” worKing together In an effort to address confusion over the law, state officials sat down with the Asheville Brewers Alliance and head brewers in July for an unprecedented meeting.

“That is the first time I’ve ever heard of in this state where you have the ABC, ALE and the local industry members all sit down in the same room and talk about it,” says Allen, who attended the meeting.

Cox is optimistic about the results of the meeting. “It was an open question-and-answer forum and was quite productive,” she said, adding that both the ALE and ABC Commission offer free training on North Carolina rules and regulations for new breweries and “will help any permitted business to achieve compliance.”

Despite the initial complications at Burning Can, the outcome of the altercation – turning the festival into a “private party,” which legally satisfied state regulations and allowed the event to proceed at no expense to the attendee – suggest that communication can lead to clarity among the various groups involved.

Allen makes sure to credit the state ABC Commission and ALE for working with brewers to resolve the issues. “They were available at 8:30 in the morning on Saturday at the highest levels, and they worked with us to come up with something that made some sense for everyone.”

A similar event held on the same weekend as Burning Can, meanwhile, displayed the potential of the brewing industry and state officials to learn from past incidents.

Wicked Weed’s Funk Asheville Beer Festival featured some of the same out-of-state breweries that were on hand at the Oskar Blues event.

Despite initial suspicions otherwise, Cox says that Wicked Weed and its legal representation made sure that each brewer in attendance was in compliance with the law.

Wells confirms this, saying that Wicked Weed obtained the proper permits before the event.

Allen adds, “The ALE and the ABC have both made it clear to us that their piece is not so much doing the ‘gotcha’ thing’ than it is educating this industry so people get it right.”

new rules for new realities Among the issues to emerge from the meeting between regulators and brewers was how laws may change moving forward as craft brewing continues to become an economic focal point in the region.

In an effort to update the regulations to reflect the changes in this industry, the NCABCC is launching a review of the current North Carolina statutes governing everything from alcohol content of particular beers to the amount of beer served in a flight, marketing collaborations, permitting for beer coming from other states, quality assurances, and the way breweries and state officials communicate and interact.

Agnes Stevens, spokesperson for the state ABC Commission, says the ABC statutes are regularly reviewed and updated. Cox agrees, adding that the commission solicits the brewing industry’s input on revisions and works on updating the laws with tourism and the craft beer industry specifically in mind.

But with hundreds of pages of legalese to peruse and discuss, providing a sensible and comprehensive

revision of alcohol regulations will take time.

N.C. Craft Brewers Guild President Myers declines to comment specifically on the laws the guild is working to update and change but says that it is interested in “modernization” and would like to see future laws reflect existing industry, rather than “the industry of 30 to 100 years ago.” can’t we all just get along?

In the meantime, the hope is that continued open communication between the industry and state regulatory bodies will go a long way toward reducing future legal problems.

“Breweries don’t make their money or their living on the corners in the seedy part of town,” says Allen. “They want to do the right thing, [and] getting consistency in application is very important to them. That’s where we’re headed.”

“We’re all learning about [the laws],” says Quinn. “And I hope that once they have enough interactions with us, where we’re friendly and open, they’ll back off.”

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Cox says she is pleased with how her department’s relationship with brewers has evolved over the summer.

“Communication and collaboration has increased, and our relationships are growing every day,” she notes, adding that the amount of inquiries her office receives has tripled since March. “I look forward to continuing the cultivation of our relationships.”

And any trepidations felt by brewers currently will not make much of an impact on the future growth of the industry, according to pretty much everyone spoken to.

“We’re still growing in leaps and bounds, and I don’t see us slowing down anytime soon,” says Myers.

“The North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild, the Asheville Brewers Alliance and many others will be heavily involved in the public review process to make sure that we all have responsible and sensible laws for this incredible and growing industry in the state, so that we’re all successful, responsible and prosperous.” X

august 19 - august 25, 2015

17

by Hayley Benton

hbenton@mountainx.com

neWs

Stirring the local political pot Over the last few weeks, it seems as though a number of Asheville and Buncombe politicians are moving pieces in a political puzzle.

From a retirement to a withdrawal to bids to switch offices or positions — along with 15 candidates running for Asheville City Council, a lot is happening these days in local politics. holly jones runs for lieutenant governor Buncombe County Commissioner holly jones announced her candidacy for lieutenant governor last Wednesday morning, Aug. 12.

“As many of you know, I’ve spent 14 years serving this wonderful community as an elected official — what an honor, what a privilege to represent these citizens,” Jones said during a packed press conference later that day. “I would have been content to continue to serve this wonderful community, except for what Republicans are doing to our state.”

The room erupted in applause, and when it settled down, Jones continued: “They’re doing longterm damage, and we’ve seen it firsthand. In 2011, our community

was ground zero for the Legislature’s assault on local government. They meddled in our airport business; they redistricted our county. One year, they created a recreational authority, and the next year they dissolved it. They even tried to seize our multimillion-dollar water system.

“It’s the heavy hand of big government, from the party that says they’re about small government. It’s hypocrisy, and it’s harmful.”

Jones went on to say the problems don’t stop in Buncombe County. Other counties and municipalities around the state are feeling these same pressures, she said, “and they’ve done it against the wishes of local officials and without the support of the citizens who are affected by their actions.

“These Republicans are more interested in power than they are in governing,” she continued. “They’ve caused uncertainty and instability just because they can. And as one Republican legislator stated, and I quote, ‘Municipalities and cities are subdivisions of a state, and a state can play with their property if they feel like it.’”

Growing up in North Carolina, Jones said, “I know the value of public education. I know the value because of the opportunities they afforded me. And as a mother of a teenager, it makes me

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angry and dismayed that she and her peers may not have the same opportunities that I did because of these republican legislators.

“For most of my life, North Carolina was a leader in the South,” Jones explained. “I was proud of that. The GOP has made us a laughing stock and left the rest of the country wondering, ‘What happened to North Carolina?’ … While the rest of the Southern states were taking down Confederate flags, our Legislature was protecting Confederate monuments.”

Jones ended her speech by saying North Carolina needs to “get back on the right track.” gantt retires, newman to run for chair In late July, long-serving Buncombe County Commissioner and Chairman david gantt notified the public that he would not seek re-election at the end of his term in late 2016.

“We’ve done some things that are mighty good,” Gantt said of the county’s accomplishments over the last 20 years.

“I say ‘we’ because one commissioner can’t do a thing.”

Two weeks later, fellow Commissioner brownie newman announced his intention to run to fill Gantt’s spot as chair.

Newman was elected to the Board of Commissioners in 2012 after serving two terms on City Council.

“I want to let my friends and community know that I plan to run for county commission chair in 2016,” Newman wrote on his Facebook page. “I truly enjoy serving on the commission and have found it to be a place where we can make a difference.

“During the time I have served,” he continues, “we have made major new investments to rebuild our public schools. We are creating a Family Justice Center to confront domestic violence. We have committed to reduce the county’s carbon footprint and are taking immediate steps to move down that path. We rewrote our personnel policies to assure all our public employees are treated equally, regardless of who they love. Our land conservation initiative has permanently protected thousands of acres of family farmland and natural areas.”

As chair, “I want to build on these successful initiatives and take on the big challenges facing our community,” he

says. “Are people who work full-time (along with senior citizens and people with disabilities) going to be able to afford to live here? Are we going to protect the natural beauty and ecological integrity of our mountains, even as the community grows?”

— Able Allen contributed to this report bothwell announces goal of switching from council to commission With Gantt leaving and Jones running for state office, there will be a couple vacancies in 2016 for the county Board.

Shortly after Jones announced her intent to run for lieutenant governor, City Councilman cecil bothwell announced his intention of running for the Board.

Bothwell, now in his second term on the Asheville City Council, will run for a District 1 position, the district currently represented by both Jones and Newman. District 1 covers all of Asheville and a few nearby outlying areas.

“I intend to bring the same environmental awareness and civic concern to service on our county commission that I have delivered for my constituents for the past six years,” Bothwell writes in a press release.

Bothwell has been named the Best Local Politician in the Mountain Xpress reader poll every year since he was first elected and has been tapped Best Local Hero in five of those polls — though, this year (and in 2013), he also placed third as Best Local Villain. “He challenged Rep. Heath Shuler in the 2012 Democratic Party primary and began his political career in the 2008 Buncombe Commission race, when he lost to 20-year incumbent Bill Stanley by 0.8 percent of the ballots cast,” the release reads.

“A 35-year resident of Buncombe County,” the release adds, “Bothwell is best known for his advocacy of sustainable energy solutions, defense of civil liberties and advocacy for forward-looking transportation and transit planning.”

If Bothwell wins a seat on the county Board, it will open up yet another position on City Council in 2017. X

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community calendar July 3 - July 11, 2014

CAlENDAR GUIDElINES In order to qualify for a free listing, an event must benefit or be sponsored by a nonprofit or noncommercial community group. In the spirit of Xpress’ commitment to support the work of grassroots community organizations, we will also list events our staff consider to be of value or interest to the public, including local theater performances and art exhibits even if hosted by a for-profit group or business.

All events must cost no more than $40 to attend in order to qualify for free listings, with the one exception of events that benefit nonprofits. Commercial endeavors and promotional events do not qualify for free listings.

Free listings will be edited by Xpress staff to conform to our style guidelines and length. Free listings appear in the publication covering the date range in which the event occurs.

Events may be submitted via email to calendar@ mountainx.com or through our online submission form at mountainx.com/calendar. The deadline for free listings is the Wednesday one week prior to publication at 5 p.m.

For a full list of community calendar guidelines, please visit mountainx.com/calendar. For questions about free listings, call 251-1333, ext. 110. For questions about paid calendar listings, please call 251-1333, ext. 320.

BeneFits BARn RAisin’ conceRt 230-6982, appalachianbarns.org • SU (8/23), 3pm - Tickets to this concert featuring Susi Gott & Marty Lewis, Matthew Curry & The Carolina Two, Peter Gott and The Sons of Ralph benefit the appalachian Barn alliance. $25/$20 advance. Held at Ebbs Chapel Performing Arts Center, 271 Laurel Valley Road, Mars Hill BLAsting FoR Hope BeneFit 712-2716, castingforhope.org • SA (8/22), 8:30am - Tickets to this clay shooting competition and lunch benefit Casting for Hope. $100/$10 lunch for noncompeting guests. Registration required. Held at Fowler Farms Sporting Clays, 490 Fowler Farm Road, Hot Springs expeRience MUsic ’geAR RAiseR’ 230-4510, experiencemusicavl.com • SA (8/22), 1-4pm - Donations of musical instruments and funds at this event featuring members of Phuncle Sam, Hustle Souls, the Experience Music youth band, and Girls Rock Asheville

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READING CHANGES LIvES: Read 2 Succeed Asheville will be holding an information session for those interested in volunteering as literacy tutors for low-income Asheville elementary students. The session will give details about how volunteers can help students short-term as a reading buddy or longer term as a reading coach. The session will take place on Saturday, Aug. 22, at 9:30 a.m., at the Asheville Housing Authority. (p. 23)

youth band benefit Girls rock Asheville and scholarships for after school music classes for North Asheville students. Free to attend. Held at Experience Studios, 339 Merrimon Ave. goLDen coURAge DinneR FUnDRAiseR • SA (8/22), 5:30pm - Tickets to this farm-to-table dinner hosted by Gaia Herbs benefit Golden Courage International. $175/$1000 per table of six. Held at Gaia Herbs, 101 Gaia Herbs Drive, Brevard.

LAMpLigHteRs BAnqUet 505-0746, chabadasheville.org • SU (8/23), 6pm - Tickets to this kosher banquet featuring The Atlanta Kol Darom Band benefit The Chabad House. $100. Held at DoubleTree by Hilton, 115 Hendersonville Road

BUsiness & tecHnoLogY A-B tecH sMALL BUsiness centeR 398-7950, abtech.edu/sbc

august 19 - august 25, 2015

mountainx.com

Registration required. Free unless otherwise noted.

Held at A-B Tech Enka Campus, 1459 Sand Hill Road, Candler • TU (8/25), 10am - “SBA: Programs and Services For Your Small Business” seminar.

• TH (8/27), 6pm - “Increasing Cash Flow in Your Business,” seminar.

AsHeviLLe MUsic pRoFessionALs facebook.com/ashevillemusicprofessionals • TU (8/25), 6-8pm - Panel discussion workshop on the best practices of marketing for musicians.

Free. Held at Grey Eagle Music Hall & Tavern, 185 Clingman Ave. g&w investMent cLUB klcount@aol.com • 3rd WEDNESDAYS, 11:45am General meeting. Free to attend.

Held at Black Forest Restaurant, 2155 Hendersonville Road, Arden wnc nAtURAL HeALtH & weLLness meetup.com/WNC-NaturalHealth-Wellness • 3rd WEDNESDAYS, 3pm Networking event for natural health & wellness practitioners. Free to attend. Held at

Western North Carolina School of Massage, 131 McDowell St. Suite 302

cLAsses, Meetings & events ABoUt tHe tRAnscenDentAL MeDitAtion tecHniqUe: FRee intRoDUctoRY LectURe (pd.) The most effortless meditation technique is also the most effective. Learn how TM is different from other practices (including common “mantra” methods). An evidence-based technique for going beyond the active mind to access deep inner reserves of energy, creativity and bliss — dissolving stress, awakening your highest self. The only meditation recommended for hypertension by the American Heart Association. NIH-sponsored research shows decreased anxiety, improved brain functioning, heightened well-being.

Reduces insomnia, ADHD, PTSD. Personalized training, certified instructors, free follow-up classes.

Thursday, 6:30-7:30pm, Asheville

TM Center, 165 E. Chestnut.

828-254-4350 or TM.org or MeditationAsheville.org FRencH conveRsAtion cLAss (pd.) Study French language, culture and wine with Asheville French School and Metro Wines!

8 weeks, Thursdays Sept. 17-Nov 5. Level I: 4:-5:15 & Level II: 5:306:45. $225. Register before 8/31 for $180 ashevillefrenchschool. com oRgAnic gRoweRs scHooL’s 2nD AnnUAL HARvest conFeRence (pd.) SA 9/12 at AB Tech Asheville. 25+ classes on fall & winter growing, preservation, fermentation, homesteading & self reliance. $50.

Organicgrowersschool.org AsHeviLLe coMMUnitY tHeAtRe 35 E. Walnut St., 254-1320, ashevilletheatre.org • WE (8/26), 4pm - Annual meeting. Free.

AsHeviLLe poLice DepARtMent 259-5881, ashevillenc.gov/ Departments/Police • SA (8/22), 8am - “Coffee with

the Chief,” community question and answer session with Asheville Police Chief, Tammy Hooper. Free to attend. Held at JK’s Kitchen, 6 Long Shoals Road, Arden Big ivY coMMUnitY centeR 540 Dillingham Road, Barnardsville, 626-3438 • 4th MONDAYS, 7pm Community center board meeting. Free.

BUncoMBe coUntY pUBLic LiBRARies buncombecounty.org/governing/ depts/library Free unless otherwise noted.

• WE (8/19), 5pm - Swannanoa Knitters, knitting and needlework group for all skill levels. Held at Swannanoa Library, 101 West Charleston St., Swannanoa • TU (8/25), 7pm - “First Lady Feminists,” presentation. Held at Weaverville Public Library, 41 N. Main St., Weaverville • TH (8/27), 6pm - Missing History at Pack Library: “The Family Store,” panel discussion on the history of Jewish businesses in Asheville. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St.

BUncoMBe coUntY sHeRiFF’s oFFice 255-5000 • TH (8/20), 6pm - Community discussion on the use of force by law enforcement. Free. Held at Owen High School, 99 Lake Eden Road, Black Mountain coMMUnitY FoUnDAtion oF HenDeRson coUntY 697-6224, cfhcforever.org • WE (8/26), noon “Philanthropy Making Us Stronger Together,” annual luncheon. $35/Patron tickets also available. Held at Kenmure Country Club, 100 Clubhouse Drive, Flat Rock noRtH cARoLinA peAce Action 505-9425, ncpeaceaction.org • Through SU (8/30) - The Spirit of Hiroshima 1945, exhibit commemorating the bombing of Hiroshima. Held at First Congregational UCC of Asheville, 20 Oak St. ontRAck wnc 50 S. French Broad Ave., 2555166, ontrackwnc.org Registration required. Free unless otherwise noted.

• TH (8/20), noon - “Going to College Without Going Broke,” seminar.

• FR (8/21), noon “Understanding Credit. Get it.

Keep it. Improve it.” Seminar.

• SA (8/22) and SA (8/29), 9am - “Manage Your Money,” workshop series on budgeting and tracking spending.

• MO (8/24), 5:30pm - “Going to College Without Going Broke,” seminar.

• WE (8/26), noon - “Raising a Money Smart Child,” seminar.

• WE (8/26), 5:30pm “Understanding Credit. Get it.

Keep it. Improve it.” Seminar.

RoAD sHow AMAteUR RADio cLUB 367-1830, theroadshowarc.com • THURSDAYS through (8/20), 6-9pm - Introductory class on ham radio licensing. Free. Held at Skyland Fire Department, 9 Miller Road, Skyland YoUtH oUtRigHt 772-1912, youthoutright.org • SU (8/23), 4pm - Regular meeting with discussion about financial literacy. Free. Held at First Congregational UCC of Asheville, 20 Oak St.

DAnce AsHeviLLe MoveMent coLLective ashevillemovementcollective.org • FRIDAYS, 7:30pm - Noninstructional, free-form dances within community. $7-$15.

Held at Asheville Ballet Studio, 4 Weaverville Road, Woodfin • SUNDAYS, 9am & 11am- Noninstructional, free-form dance within community. $7-$15. Held at Asheville Masonic Temple, 80 Broadway

eco AsHeviLLe gReen DRinks ashevillegreendrinks.com Free to attend. Held at Green Sage Cafe Downtown, 5 Broadway • WE (8/19), 6pm - Presentation by the director of the Creation Care Alliance.

• WE (8/26), 6pm - “US Drone Warfare Program,” presentation.

BUncoMBe coUntY pUBLic LiBRARies buncombecounty.org/governing/ depts/library Free unless otherwise noted.

• WE (8/25), 6:30pm - “The Science and Theology of Climate Change”, presentation. Held at Swannanoa Library, 101 West Charleston St., Swannanoa

ncsU DepARtMent oF HoRticULtURAL science 828-684-3562 ext 257, ces.ncsu. edu/fletcher/programs/herbs • TH (8/20), 8:30am-12:30pm - Tour of current organic and specialty crop research projects.

Free. Held at Mountain Research Station, 265 Test Farm Road, Waynesville

FestivALs MoUntAintRUe MoUntAin BRew Fest mountainbrewfest.com • SA (8/22), 3-7pm - Festival highlights craft brewers, music, and food trucks. $35. Held in Downtown Hendersonville.

FooD & BeeR HenDeRson coUntY coopeRAtive extension oFFice 100 Jackson Park Road, Hendersonville, 697-4891, henderson.ces.ncsu.edu • TH (8/27), 2pm & 6pm Workshop on canning tomatoes. $15.

goveRnMent & poLitics HenDeRson coUntY DeMocRAtic pARtY

FARM & gARDen MUsHRooMs oF tHe soUtHeR AppALAcHiAn MoUntAins - HAnDs on FoRAging Saturdays, 8/22-9/5, 10am-1:30pm - Explore local forests in search of edible, medicinal and regional mushrooms with fungal forager Mateo Ryall. $25 per class. Info: herbandroots.com, livinroots@ gmail.com or 413-636-4401.

BUncoMBe coUntY MAsteR gARDeneRs 255-5522, buncombemastergardener.org • TH (8/20), 10am - Master Gardener presentation on growing a cool season vegetable garden.

Free. Held at Buncombe County Cooperative Extension Office, 94 Coxe Ave. Living weB FARMs 891-4497, livingwebfarms.org • TH (8/20), 12:30-2pm - Chip-Bud grafting for home orchardists. $10. Held at Hendersonville Community Co-op, 715 S. Grove St., Hendersonville

905 S. Greenville Highway, Hendersonville, 692-6424, myhcdp.com • WE (8/19), noon - Senior Democrats social and BYO lunch.

Free to attend.

kiDs BAND • PIANO • LESSONS • tUtoRing (pd.) Children • BeginnersAdvanced. Professional licensed music teacher. Your home or my studio. • Affordable. 25 years+ experience. • Multi-child discounts.

• Call Georgia Slater, B.M.E. (828) 484-9233.

CREATIVE PEACEMAKERS • enRoLL now! (pd.) TU/TH 2:30-5:30 PM. Creative expression (art, music, dance, poetry + more!) & cooperative play. For ages 5-9. $125/ month. Reduced fees available. 1 School Rd., West Asheville. 828258-0211. creativepeacemakers.com,

mountainx.com

august 19 - august 25, 2015

21

coMMU n it Y cA L e n D AR

by Abigail Griffin

Send your event listings to calendar@mountainx.com

CONCIOUS PARTY fun fundraisers

By Kat McReynolds | kmcreynolds@mountainx.com

speLLBoUnD cHiLDRen’s BooksHop 50 N. Merrimon Ave., 7087570, spellboundchildrensbookshop.com • FR (8/21), 6pm - Teen Book Club: Graceling by Kristin Cashore. Free to attend.

• SATURDAYS, 11am Storytime for ages 3-7. Free to attend.

oUtDooRs BLUe RiDge nAtURAList netwoRk https://www.facebook.com/ groups/BRNNmembers, brnnetwork2013@gmail.com • SA (8/22), 10am - Back country wilderness hike along the West Fork River towards Shining Rock. $15 annual fee.

Held at Camp Daniel Boone, 3647 Little East Fork Road, Canton

UP AND STRUMMING: Infinite Vortex, a youth band that formed during Experience Music’s inaugural course, will perform during the organization’s gear-raising event. Photo courtesy of the band

Musical instrument drive to support young players Admit it: You’ve dreamed of being in a band. For dozens of local elementary school students, that fantasy will become a reality thanks to a new music education organization.

Experience Music founder Chuck Lee is hosting a “gear-raiser” to stock up on instruments and other equipment, which his band camp students will then use during a 10-week course on sonic creativity and collaboration.

“We’re really aiming the programs at beginners,” Lee says of the after-school program. “If they’ve never played music, that’s great. We want those types of kids.”

Founded in March 2015, Lee’s lessons alternate between private sessions alongside professionals (like mentoring artists from Phuncle Sam and Hustle Souls) and collaborative jams with other novices.

“Our goal, ultimately, is to get these kids playing together,” Lee explains.

“Also, we’re really focusing on the creative aspect, so the kids that come through here, we want them to create original music.”

Although the for-profit organization’s programming is not free, Lee says it’s extremely affordable. To keep costs low, he’s reaching out to the community for spare instruments and financial support. He’ll share donations with Girls

22

august 19 - august 25, 2015

Rock Asheville (a similar institution empowering young females to hop on stage), based on the number of students enrolled in each program. In total, the studio can handle about 30 kids per cycle.

During the gear-raiser, supporters can tour Lee’s Merrimon Avenue studio and enjoy refreshments, including pizza donated by Del Vecchio’s. Infinite Vortex — a youth band founded through Experience Music — will perform along with an act from Girls Rock Asheville’s program and members of Hustle Souls and Phuncle Sam. Lee’s hope is that the influx of instruments will assuage parents who are wary of investing in a potentially fleeting hobby, while also allowing students to experiment with various pieces of equipment. Donations of any kind are welcome, he says, as the curious scholars aren’t choosy.

“It’s not like we have a $10,000 Gibson Les Paul on the wall,” he says. “We have used, beat up instruments — but that’s fine.”

Experience Music’s gear-raiser is at 339 Merrimon Ave. (parking available at Merrimon Avenue Baptist Church) on Saturday, Aug. 22, from 1-4 p.m.

For more information or to make a donation on a different date, visit experiencemusicavl.com. X

mountainx.com

BLUe RiDge pARkwAY Hikes 298-5330, nps.gov • TH (8/20), 7pm - “Tracking 101,” easy ranger led hike to learn about tracking animals.

Free. Meets at MP 388.8.

• FR (8/21), 10am - “The Birds and the Bees,” 3 mile easy/ moderate ranger led hike to learn about wildflowers and pollinators. Free. Meets at MP 420.

BLUe RiDge pARkwAY RAngeR pRogRAMs 295-3782, ggapio@gmail.com Free unless otherwise noted.

• SA (8/22), 7pm - “Coat of Many Colors,” presentation about foxes. Held at Julian Price Campground Ampitheater, MP 296.

• SA (8/22), 7pm - “Wilderness Skills: Navigating through the woods,” presentation about methods of wilderness navigation. Free. Held at Crabtree Falls Campground Amphitheater, MP 340 powDeR cReek tRADitionAL ARcHeRs 100 Old Turnpike Road, Horseshoe, 891-3332, lfbrittain@hotmail.com • SA (8/22), 8am-3pm and SU (8/23), 8am-2pm - Recurve, longbow, and primitive equipment bowshoot. All skill levels. $8-12 for the weekend.

YMcA oF wnc 210-2265, ymcawnc.org Meets at YMCA - Woodfin, 30 Woodfin St • WE (8/19), 8:45am - Easy hike to Wintergreen Falls.

Free/optional $5 carpool.

• SU (8/23), 8:45am -

Moderate 8 mile hike at Cataloochee. Free/optional $5 carpool. .

spiRitUALitY 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, 29 Ravenscroft Dr, Suite 200, (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.

AwAkening wisDoM (pd.) For optimal psychospiritual health. Guidance and training in Zen influenced meditation, mindfulness, and teachings in a completely contemporary context. Unlocking the secret of non-duality consciousness for a more authentic, wise, compassionate and sane life. Individual, group and telephone sessions available with consciousness teacher and columnist Bill Walz. Very affordable. For info contact healing@billwalz.com, (828) 258-3241. Visit www. billwalz.com cRYstAL visions Books AnD event centeR (pd.) New and Used Metaphysical Books • Music • Crystals • Jewelry • Gifts.

Event Space, Labyrinth and Garden. 828-687-1193. For events, Intuitive Readers and Vibrational Healing providers: www.crystalvisionsbooks. com open HeARt MeDitAtion (pd.) Experience and deepen the spiritual connection to your heart, the beauty and deep peace of the Divine within you. Increase your natural joy and gratitude while releasing negative emotions. Love Offering 7-8pm Tuesdays, 5 Covington St. 296-0017 heartsanctuary.org AsHeviLLe centeR FoR tRAnscenDentAL MeDitAtion 165 E. Chestnut, 254-4350, meditationasheville.org

• THURSDAYS, 6:30pm - “An Introduction to the Transcendental Meditation Technique.” Free.

BetteR Living centeR 606-6834 • THURSDAYS through (9/24), 6:30pm - Creationist health seminar. Free. Held at Leicester Community Center, 2979 New Leicester Highway, Leicester tHe wAY oF Love coMMUnitY gRoUp thepowerofpassionatepresence.com • WEDNESDAYS, 7pm - Modern mind meditation class. Free. Held at Angle Cottage, 50 Woodlawn Ave. tiBetAn BUDDHist pRActice gRoUp 512-289-248 • MONDAYS through FRIDAYS, noon - Lunchtime meditation practice. Free.

Held at KTC Asheville, 2 Wall St. Suite 112

spoken & wRitten woRD 35BeLow 35 E. Walnut St., 254-1320, ashevilletheatre.org • TH (8/27), 7:30pm - “Listen to This,” stories and original songs from locals. $15.

BUncoMBe coUntY pUBLic LiBRARies buncombecounty.org/governing/depts/library Free unless otherwise noted.

• TH (8/20), 6pm - Swannanoa Book Club: A Confederacy of Dunces by Peter Kennedy Toole. Held at Swannanoa Library, 101 West Charleston St., Swannanoa • TH (8/20), 2:30pm - Book Club: The Grass is Singing

by Doris Lessing. Held at Skyland/South Buncombe Library, 260 Overlook Road HenDo stoRY sLAM avl.mx/0wj • WE (8/26), 8-10pm - Open mic storytelling night with “travelogue” theme. Free to attend. Held at Black Bear Coffee Co., 318 N. Main St., Hendersonville MALApRop’s BookstoRe AnD cAFe 55 Haywood St., 254-6734, malaprops.com Free unless otherwise noted.

• WE (8/19), 5pm - Messages to the Heart Salon: Art and passages from Elise & Phil Okrend’s Messages to the

Heart are disscussed to encourage personal growth.

• SU (8/23), 3pm - John Sheffield discusses his book Roseland’s Secret.

• MO (8/24), 7pm - Pam Durban discusses her story Soon.

• WE (8/26), 7pm - I Am Enough Salon: Ongoing discussion of Brene Brown’s I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t).

• TH (8/27), 7pm - Works in Translation Book Club: Discussion of Granma Nineteen and the Soviet’s Secret by Ondjaki. oLLi At UncA 251-6140, olliasheville.com • TH (8/20), 7pm - Storytelling event on the theme of courage.

Free. Held at the Reuter Center. sYneRgY stoRY sLAM avl.mx/0gd

• WE (8/19), 8pm - Storytelling open mic night on the theme “Idiot Abroad.” Free to attend.

Held at Odditorium, 1045 Haywood Road

voLUnteeRing Big BRotHeRs Big sisteRs oF wnc 253-1470, bbbswnc.org • TH (8/27), noon - Information session for volunteers ages 18 and older interested in mentoring young people from singleparent homes. Held at United Way of Asheville & Buncombe, 50 S. French Broad Ave. HAnDs on AsHeviLLeBUncoMBe 2-1-1, handsonasheville.org Registration required.

• TH (8/27), 4pm - Volunteers needed to assist with packing and pricing merchandise. Held at Ten Thousand Villages, 10 College St. • TH (8/27), 11am - Volunteers needed for “Shake and Bake,” cooking lunch for veterans. Location given on registration.

ReAD 2 sUcceeD AsHeviLLe r2sasheville.org • SA (8/22), 9:30am Information session for those interested in being literacy tutors for low income students. Held at Asheville Housing Authority, 165 S. French Broad Ave. For more volunteering opportunities visit mountainx.com/ volunteering

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Snakes! And Pets!

WNC has 2 types of venomous snakes, the copperhead and the timber rattlesnake. The most common symptoms of snake envenomation include swelling, pain, redness and oozing from the location of the bite. Snakebites can range from mild to life threatening.

R.E.A.C.H. is here to help!

FREE Listings for lawn & garden goods

mountainx.com/classifieds

Check out our website www.reachvet.com

ASTONISHING FINDS...

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QUALITY CARE WITH COMPASSION

ESTATE TAG SALE!

24 hours/day • 7 days/week

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 20 SATURDAY, AUGUST 22 9AM - 5PM EACH DAY

Proceeds benefit CarePartners Foundation and CarePartners Hospice

Hospice Thrift Store has special deals every Thurs - Sat

105 Fairview Rd • Below the Screen Door in Biltmore cpestatesales.org for sale times, dates & special offers

677 Brevard Road, Asheville 828-665-4399 See all we do:

www.reachvet.com mountainx.com

august 19 - august 25, 2015

23

neWs oF the Weird

by Chuck Shepherd

THE SUN

IS SETT I NG ON

SUM M E R !

Asheville (828) 232 -1883 • Valle Crucis • Boone • Waynesville • Hendersonville Winston-Salem, NC • Knoxville, TN • Greenville • Columbia, SC • MastStore.com

24

august 19 - august 25, 2015

mountainx.com

lead story — pets of the 1 percent

to close, and children were to remain indoors (and quiet).

"The worshipful treatment of pets may be the thing that unites all Americans," wrote an Atlantic Magazine blogger in July, describing the luxury terminal for animals under construction at New York's JFK airport. The ARK will offer shower stalls for traveling horses, "conjugal stations" for ever-horny penguins, and housing for nearly 200 cows (that might produce 5,000 pounds of manure every day) — and passengers traveling with dogs or cats can book the Paradise 4 Paws pet-pampering resort. The ARK is a for-profit venture. Said one industry source, quoted in a July Crain's New York Business report, "You hear stories about the crazy money that rich people spend on their (animals) ... they're mostly true."

police report

government in action • Officially, now, it is "unreasonable" for a federal agency (the Bureau of Land Management, in this instance) to fail to say yes or no for 29 years to a drilling permit application. (Before July's federal court decision, BLM had been arguing that 29 years was not too long.) A company had requested to drill just one exploratory well in Montana for natural gas in 1985, but the bureau had delayed the proceeding six times since then. The judge ordered the bureau to set a deadline for deciding.

• Georgia, one of six states that make taxpayers shell out huge fees to access its databases of public records, tries so relentlessly to control its archive that, recently, in a federal lawsuit, it said opposition to its policy was basically "terrorism."

Activists (Public.Resource.org) have been establishing workarounds to free up some databases for citizen use, and Georgia demands that they stop. Georgia even claims "copyright" protection for one category of important legal documents that were initially drafted by state bureaucrats, audaciously calling them "original" and "creative" works.

• Mandatory Inaction: In July, the mayor of the town of Ador, Spain (pop. 1,400), officially enacted into law what had merely been custom — a required afternoon siesta from 2 to 5 p.m. Businesses were ordered

• At a traffic stop in Rockingham, Vermont, on July 26, both driver and passenger were charged with DUI. Erik Polite, 35, was the driver (clocked at 106 mph on Interstate 91 and, according to police, with drugs in the car), and while he was being screened for intoxication, passenger Leeshawn Baker, 34, jumped behind the wheel and peeled off in reverse across the highway, nearly hitting the trooper, who arrested him.

• Nathaniel Harrison, 38, was arrested in July in a Phoenix suburb on several charges, including possession of a deadly weapon during a felony, but he escaped an even more serious charge when a second "deadly weapon" failed to engage. Harrison reportedly intended to retaliate against a "snitch" and arrived at the man's home carrying a rattlesnake, which he supposedly pointed at the man, hoping it would bite him. However, the snake balked, and Harrison's attempted payback failed.

• Lame Defenses in Lake County, Florida: (1) Daniel Baker, 40, and Robert Richardson, 19, were arrested in Altoona, Florida, in August after getting caught loading appliances from a vacant house. According to the arrest report, both men appeared incredulous to learn that items in a vacant house aren't just "free." (2) Six days earlier about 20 miles away in Tavares, Florida, Corey Ramsey, 23, was arrested for burglary when a police officer caught him sitting on a toilet in a vacant, for-sale house attending to a need. Ramsey's extensive petty-crime rap sheet belied his explanation for being there — that he was contemplating buying the $299,000 house and wanted to try it out first. still more "intelligent design"?

Zoologists at the University of Basel in Switzerland, publishing recently in a prestigious British journal, reported on how a certain flatworm species overcomes the frustration of not finding a mating partner in its lifetime. The scientists believe the flatworm exploits its hermaphroditic qualities and injects its sperm into its own head, from which the sperm sometimes migrates to its reproductive facilities. (Flatworm researchers are aided on their projects by the species' transparent bodies, facilitating the tracking of the sperm.) X

Wellness

StorieS lead to the heart of healing sometimes in devastating ways. So Hecate grabs us — meaning our own internal wisdom is saying, ‘You need to take some time to look at this.’”

The women each choose three issues to explore. In a circle of mutual support, they move toward clarity, vitality and a renewed sense of purpose. “It’s healing to go inward in this way, to re-collect and remember ourselves,” says Duckett.

She observes that, as women descend into their core wisdom and return into creative community, they generate a self-affirming, culturerenewing myth of Persephone.

They each create a mythic guide to their own wellness. They each realize: I am the myth-maker.

BY LISA SARASOHN lisa@loveyourbelly.com When you get restless in body and mind, and nothing seems to soothe, what do you do? You could turn to something different — stories.

Myths, narrative therapy and fairy tales might be unusual remedies, but they each pack healing power of stories. Incorporating tension and release, conflict and resolution, stories can show the way from separation to integration, from distress to transformation. Placing character and action parallel to the drama of our daily lives, stories tell the tale of being human.

The longing for story likely coincides with the origin of human consciousness. How long can you stay away from movies, TV shows, novels, a country song — or a good gossip?

But Kim duckett, merri beacon, and gordon smith are three Asheville practitioners who know there’s more to story than random entertainment: Story carries the possibility for deep healing.

fairy tales and remedies

mythic journeys “Myths are big stories, passed down from generation to generation,” says Duckett. Holding a doctorate in transpersonal psychology, she teaches the Sacred Mystery School for Women, a three-year course in women’s spirituality. She’s also co-founder of Our Voice, the rape crisis center that’s been serving Buncombe County for more than 40 years.

Duckett asserts, as famed mythologist Joseph Campbell did, that myths validate a culture’s moral order.

“Myths are teaching stories,” says Duckett. And myths must change to keep pace with changing times.

“So it’s important to ask: What are they teaching?”

In the first year of Mystery School, women explore the ancient Greek myth of Persephone’s descent to the underworld. In doing so, Duckett says, participants empower their own health and healing.

Initially, she presents the conventional version of the tale: Hades

real-liFe Fairy tales: Merri Beacon’s stories feature guardian turtlebats — magical creatures hailing from a land of love and acceptance. Paintings by Merri Beacon. Photo by Lisa Sarasohn

snatches the maiden Persephone, rapes her and imprisons her in his underworld realm.

Applying insights of transpersonal psychology, Duckett guides women to update the myth and make it personally relevant. With dance, poemmaking and playwriting, they create a contemporary version: Persephone chooses to descend, to journey inward.

Her dark underworld is a womblike place for rest, renewal and ripening.

In this place, Duckett explains, she

meets not Hades but Hecate — the wise woman within.

One session in the yearlong process is Deep Calls to Deep. In circle, women acknowledge that, like Persephone, they need to deepen, to be with their inner wisdom. “If we don’t do this voluntarily,” says Duckett, “Hecate will grab us.”

She elaborates: “If there’s been abuse or any kind of harm, or there’s a conflict we’re not dealing with, sooner or later it’s going to affect our lives,

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Stressed, stuck in the mental fallout of traumatic events, Merri Beacon heard herself saying, “I feel like I’m in a fairy tale.”

She began writing fairy tales to soothe her mind, starting with the story of a woman who let others take advantage of her kindness. This tale led to many more and served as selfhealing remedies to resolve anxiety and depression. They’ve released her from pain, Beacon says.

“The process is buoyant — fun, creative, enriching,” she says. “I tell my story in the third person, giving myself a new name. I rename the person who’s been abusive. That character often becomes a composite of several antagonists.”

She continues: “Placing events in a different time and place, a magical realm, I create safety. Distancing myself from difficult memories, I avoid retriggering trauma and, at the same time, I’m in the story as it unfolds.”

Beacon reaches beyond trauma for source material. Her theme can be any issue — a tangled relationship, a disappointment, a desire. Even if she doesn’t know how to reach it, she knows the resolution she’s seeking. And she knows how to focus her body awareness as sensations translate into insight-rich visual images.

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Penning the words “once upon a time,” Beacon lets characters arrive as needed: orphans, wizards, sages, pirates and the like. Together, they enact the issue’s intrinsic conflict.

If action stalls, Beacon keeps the story moving by changing locations, introducing a new character or adding an element of surprise.

Inevitably, the story traces the protagonist’s discovery of, and developing trust in, her inner wise self.

Beacon’s tales have yet to include any elves or brownies, but they do feature turtlebats.

The first one appeared as Beacon noted a sensation in her solar plexus that felt like flexible armor. Then her dogs took up barking at a huge turtle in her neighbor’s yard. Beacon’s subsequent doodling yielded a turtle with batwings — a shielded creature capable of flight.

Turtlebats now enter Beacon’s stories as guardians, messengers, rescuers and steeds. Physically and emotionally, they transport the protagonist to safety and well-being.

“They’re loving,” says Beacon, “in a reptilian way.”

To share the feelings of freedom, choice and self-worth they evoke, Beacon posts her stories on her website, fairytalemedicine.com.

A visitor to the site, taking inspiration from Beacon’s tales, might write her own story — in which a queen, with magical help, rescues herself by descending to meet her inner wisdom. narrative therapy and changing tales Narrative therapy is one of several treatment modalities that Gordon Smith, licensed professional counselor, offers to the children and adults he sees in his West Asheville office. (Smith also serves on Asheville’s City Council.)

The premise of narrative therapy is challenging, says Smith, posing “the simple idea that you are telling yourself a story that’s defining your reality.” The approach is helpful, he says, when people identify themselves too closely with a problem such as depression, anxiety, anger or difficulty in a relationship.

As he listens to and reflects a client’s story, Smith creates space between person and problem. “In that space,” says Smith, “you can examine the beliefs structuring the problem in the light of your own values. You can pull away from limiting social, cultural and family constructs and build your own story — not live someone else’s.”

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Finding exceptions to the client’s story-as-usual is key, Smith says.

“The exception undermines the story. It redefines what happened in the past. It opens up new possibilities for the present and future.”

Take, for example, the monsters in a child’s bedroom closet.

As the young client tells him about the monsters, Smith notes that she says “scary” several times.

He asks, “What’s stronger than scary?

What beats scary in a fight?”

A crocodile, she replies.

After discussing possibilities with Smith, the child takes a toy crocodile to bed with her. The monsters don’t budge. She puts a poster of crocodiles on the wall. Monsters remain.

Her parents get the child pajamas that double as a crocodile costume and she wears them to bed.

Suddenly, the closet is monster-free, and the child sleeps soundly through the night.

Later, Smith asks her: “How did you do that?” The story the child tells herself changes: She doesn’t need to be afraid of monsters because there’s something stronger. Soon, the croc pajamas go to Goodwill. The girl herself can disappear fear.

An adult’s monster-in-the-closet might be the supervisor in the front office, the loan officer at the bank or the in-laws moving next door.

For adults, there’s “a redefinition,” Smith says. “Rather than believing ‘I am fearful,’ they realize ‘I’m someone who can overcome fear.’”

Narrative therapy derives from evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy, which the National Institute of Mental Health considers an effective treatment for depression and other disorders.

Studies cited by the National Alliance on Mental Illness have shown that CBT changes brain activity, which suggests improvement in brain function. The implication for narrative therapy? Change your story, change your brain — and change your life.

In relational terms, the process asks clients to take responsibility for what they believe to be true.

They each come to understand: I am the storyteller.

When you know you’re the one telling the story of your life — whether through myth, fairy tale or narrative therapy — you’ve got what it takes to authorize your own well-being. X

MORE INFO Kim duckett A Year and A Day Sacred Mystery School for Women followheartkd@gmail.com merri beacon fairytalemedicine.com gordon smith gordonsmithasheville.com

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the city is looking to increase its waste-reduction efforts, aiming to reduce its waste stream by 50 percent by 2035. how will the city accomplish this goal?

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In 2014, Asheville’s City Council passed Resolution No. 14-27 establishing a waste-reduction goal and benchmarks for the city. The longterm waste-reduction goal of 50 percent by 2035 will require several waste-reduction strategies. When addressing waste-reduction efforts and “zero waste,” it’s critical to understand the waste stream, ensuring there are the right avenues in place to divert organics and recyclables from the landfill.

The city will be exploring multifamily housing, business, residential and community recycling opportunities to have something to offer everyone. It’s a big goal, and I know this community can achieve it.

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you mentioned increased recycling efforts in multifamily housing, but recycling is not offered in every public housing community. will expanding recycling programs to pisgah view, dearview and Klondyke be part of this effort? the new chief: Amber Weaver previously served as energy and environmental project manager for the DeKalb County Government in Georgia and director of Keep DeKalb Beautiful. Photo by Carrie Eidson

BY CARRIE EIDSON Send your sustainability news to ceidson@mountainx.com

The city of Asheville has announced its new chief sustainability officer. amber weaver, who previously served as energy and environmental project manager for the DeKalb County government in Georgia and director of Keep DeKalb Beautiful, joined the city in July. Asheville’s first chief sustainability officer, maggie ullman, was hired in 2008 and stepped down last November.

Weaver spoke with Xpress about her work in environmental efforts in

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Georgia and her plans for sustainability efforts in Asheville. xpress: tell us more about your background as an energy and environmental project manager for deKalb county. weaver: During my tenure with DeKalb, I worked directly with the citizens on environmental education efforts from backyard home composting to rain barrels, as well as creating policy for DeKalb County government that included energy efficiency and conservation, sustainable procurement, air quality, alternative work schedules and sustainable landscaping.

The city of Asheville has partnered with the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville in order to develop a public housing recycling pilot project, to be implemented in the 280 units of the Erskine, Walton and Livingston Street communities.

The residents of these communities will be able to utilize “Big Blue” recycling roll carts just like other Asheville residents, which will greatly enhance their ability to recycle and reduce waste.

The pilot project will run from October 2015 through June 2016.

The city has been awarded a Community Waste Reduction and Recycling grant from the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources in order to help fund this pilot project.

Once we have gathered the results of the pilot program and shared them

Responsible Automotive Service & Repair with NCDENR, the city’s intentions are to expand the program to all the residents within the public housing community based on the success of the pilot program. the city has previously discussed the possibility of a “pay-as-youthrow” initiative for solid waste. should we expect to see any developments there in the near future?

At the beginning of 2015, the Sustainability Advisory Committee on Energy & the Environment proposed that city council approve a "pay-as-you-throw" waste-management system in light of city council’s stated goal of accomplishing 50 percent waste reduction by 2035. To date, city staff has been working with a consultant to explore components of PAYT and gather the public’s opinion on such a system.

The Sustainability Office, Sanitation Division and the Communication and Public Engagement Office are gathering data to create a project page that is specifically designed for residents to view and interact with. The pub-

lic can expect to see the city’s Zero Waste AVL project page very soon. the 2004 pedestrian plan update identifies a need for 108 more miles of sidewalk in the city, but since 2006 only 18 miles have been constructed. does the sustainability office have any plans to expedite this effort?

The city’s capital budget has planned $30 million in multimodal transportation investments in the next five years, including more than $10 million in sidewalks. That includes sidewalks on Hendersonville Road and New Leicester Highway, which are funded in part with federal grants awarded by the French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization, $1.7 million in the new neighborhood sidewalk program, and sidewalks on Riverside Drive and Lyman Street that are part of the River Arts District transportation improvement project.

The city is also investing in greenways. In the same five-year period, the budget anticipates constructing the Town Branch Greenway,

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French Broad River West Greenway, Clingman Forest Greenway and a greenway along the east bank of the French Broad River as part of the River Arts District transportation improvement project.

In addition, the city is kicking off a pedestrian and bicyclist safety campaign. Watch for Me NC is a campaign developed by N.C. Department of Transportation to partner with local communities to make walking and bicycling safer and more comfortable. The Watch for Me NC program involves two key elements, safety and educational messages directed toward drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists; and enforcement of associated laws. The kickoff was National Night Out on Aug. 4, and the campaign will run through November.

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as a community, asheville is often criticized for not being as inclusive as it could be, particularly in the environmental movement. how do you think diversity relates to sustainability, and does the city have any plans to contribute to environmental equality?

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Balancing environmental stewardship, economic growth and social responsibility includes every citizen in Asheville. Presently, the city is working diligently to address affordable housing and equitable development within Asheville’s city limits.

The city received a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities, to address equitable growth and development.

Additionally, the city is preparing for the 2035 Comprehensive Plan, which will allow the citizens of Asheville opportunities to participate in envisioning future goals and aspirations for their city. The process will allow the city to converge areas of equitability into the Comprehensive Plan, such as walkability, transportation, green affordable housing and greenways.

This interview has been condensed for length, but you can read our full conversation with Weaver at mountainx.com.

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Food

You are whaT You eaT The many faces of Foodtopia and defines us. Here’s a look at some of the many faces of Foodtopia. primal paleo

PHILOSOPHY BUFFET: What we eat speaks volumes about who we are, and accordingly, Asheville’s dietary preferences are as diverse as its population. Pictured clockwise from lower left: raw vegan cacao and avocado pie at Elements Real Food; a paleo lunch of grass-fed beef, hardboiled eggs, avocado and cucumber-watermelon salad; vegetarian biscuits and gravy at the Early Girl Café; forager Alan Muskat cooks up wild lobster mushrooms. Photos by Carla Seidl

By carla seidl

carla.seidl@gmail.com A woman at Earth Fare spots a vegan friend from yoga class and, hurriedly draping her shawl over the $21 organic, free-range chicken in her cart, quickly makes up a story that she’s buying the chicken for her dog.

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Two young cyclists whisk butter and coconut oil into their coffee, hoping it will give them sustained energy and help them lose weight.

Meanwhile, across town, a roomful of folks wait their turn at a food pantry, wondering, “Will there be any meat today?”

Every day, Asheville residents manifest their values, beliefs and priorities

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through what they choose to eat. And while many delight in our remarkable food scene, others go hungry.

When it comes to food, passions can run high, because so much more gets embedded in our choice of breakfast, lunch or dinner than what’s actually on the plate. And amid all the often contradictory dietary advice, one thing seems certain: Food matters; it shapes

Squatting in perfect primal posture, heels on the floor, mo goldstein sets out his lunch of grass-fed beef, avocado, hard-boiled eggs and cucumber-and-watermelon salad.

Goldstein is the founder of the Paleo Asheville Facebook group, which boasts 573 “likes.” A massage therapist, trainer and movement coach, Goldstein helps people heal physical ailments that can result from our modern lifestyle.

Essentially, he says, the paleo diet entails eating as much meat and vegetables as you want, plus moderate amounts of fruit and nuts. Rejecting much of what we’ve learned about saturated fat, Goldstein says he consumes over a pound of butter a week.

To him, paleo is more template than diet. “I think the term paleo has become kind of loaded,” notes Goldstein. Instead, he sees it as a lens through which to look at food and health, a way to consider “what our body is genetically designed to do.”

Dr. daniel stickler, Goldstein’s co-worker at Synchronicity Wellness, first met him through the Facebook group. Stickler, a former weight-loss surgeon, says paleo seemed to be the diet that worked for most people.

Using that as a base, he says he now offers more personalized recommendations. The biggest single point is avoiding grains.

“We existed for 100,000 years without grains in the diet,” says Stickler, and over the centuries, we’ve altered those grains dramatically. Ironically, he considers the organic wholewheat bread that some health-conscious consumers buy to be “made from one of the most highly modified foods there is.”

Philosophically, though, both men see common ground among a lot of Asheville’s dietary trends. “I know some people say that paleos and vegans are against each other, and I

think it’s ridiculous,” says Goldstein.

“We fully agree about food quality, sustainability and those kind of things.”

Meanwhile, he says, paleo contin-

MO GOLDSTEIN “I know some people say that paleos and vegans are against each other, and I think it’s ridiculous,” says Mo Goldstein, founder of the Paleo Asheville Facebook group. “We fully agree about food quality, sustainability and those kind of things.” ues both to grow in popularity and to evolve. Originally, it was mostly about losing fat and getting lean.

Now, he says, it’s more about holistic, long-term health and food-supply sustainability. plant-based frank contreras says he once owned the best burger joint in Phoenix. These days, he sports a wallet made from recycled bicycle tires and an Asheville Vegan Society T-shirt. After 35 years in the restaurant industry, Contreras spends much of his time trying to promote a vegan — or, as he and others now prefer to call it — plant-based diet and lifestyle.

A single film triggered the switch.

Five years ago, Contreras watched “Earthlings,” dubbed by some “the vegan maker”; the next day, he stopped eating meat. “If these animals were going through what they were going through,” he says, “there was something I was going to do about that.”

After more research, Contreras concluded that the dairy and egg industries were also torturous, and he stopped eating animal byproducts as well as animal flesh.

Compassion was the foremost motivation for Contreras’ turn to veganism; concerns about his health and the planet, he says, were tied for second and third. A lot of folks don’t want to know it, he notes, but in 2010, the United Nations cited animal agriculture as the leading contributor to climate change — more than all forms of transport combined. “Asheville is such a supposedly conscientious environment,” says Contreras, “but I see a lot of people still not getting it.”

Nonetheless, Asheville is a great place to be vegan, he maintains.

Besides the many grocery store options, there are plenty of veganfriendly restaurants: vegetarian fixtures like the Laughing Seed and Rosetta’s Kitchen and completely vegan eateries like Plant, Bean Vegan Cuisine, Elements Real Food and the recently reopened Firestorm Cafe.

Longtime vegan cam macQueen agrees. “I feel like there’s just a tsunami of veganism coming this way,” she says, citing The Asheville Vegan Society’s 900-plus members.

MacQueen, who’s about to open The Block off biltmore, an “eco-vegan solidarity bar” and community gathering space, sums up veganism this way: “It’s about peace to all beings. It’s about a compassionate way of living. It’s about helping preserve the planet, and the notion that we’re all interconnected.”

But hearing Goldstein’s assertion that paleo and vegan diets are philosophically similar, both MacQueen and Contreras laugh in disbelief. “That’s the furthest thing from reality,” says Contreras. “We can talk about humane farming practices,” MacQueen concedes, but “the animals are still slaughtered for their flesh. We can’t get away from that piece of it, no matter how we want to package that and make it sound better.”

MacQueen does acknowledge the abundance of confusing dietary information, but she likes to point folks to research by biochemist T. Colin Campbell of Cornell University and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn at the Cleveland Cinic, whose findings about the connection between a plant-based diet and health were showcased in the 2011 documentary film “Forks Over Knives.” With 100 years of combined experience in the field, notes MacQueen, “I’m going to listen to those guys. I think they’re the experts.”

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When julie and john stehling opened the Early Girl Eatery in 2001, one of the first dishes at their “farm-to-table, Southern comfort food” restaurant was a cream-andherb biscuit and gravy aimed at the city’s large vegetarian population.

“We’re like the hippie South,” Julie says about Asheville. “So, definitely, more vegetarian and vegan items will be popular here that won’t play as well in other towns.”

Vegetarians, too, avoid eating animal flesh, but they do consume some animal byproducts.

Pescetarians, who also consider themselves vegetarian, abstain from all flesh except fish, and flexitarians eat meat only occasionally. sage turner, finance and project manager for the French Broad Food Co-op, shifted from veganism to vegetarianism 14 years ago when she became pregnant and started craving proteins like cheese and eggs. Turner says she went vegan out of compassion for animals; that same ethical impulse explains why she’s still vegetarian.

A former textiles major, Turner says that having worked with fiber animals, she couldn’t “take care of them, and shear them, and reap the rewards of their fur, and then turn around and eat them. It just didn’t seem balanced.”

Turner considers factory dairy farming “grotesque” and “way out of line with what’s normal.” But in terms of animal byproducts such as milk, she believes that if it’s done the right way, “You can have a little bit without really harming the life of the animal or their kids.” going glutenless It’s hard not to notice the growing number of gluten-free products in local grocery stores and on restaurant menus. In 2011, the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness named Asheville a “gluten-free, celiac-free destination,” and the website findmeglutenfree.com lists 65 “gluten-free friendly” food establishments within 3 miles of Asheville.

For the uninitiated, gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. Celiac disease, which affects about 1 percent of the population, is an immune reaction to eating this protein. There are also those who don’t have celiac disease but say they feel better when avoiding gluten — a phenomenon known as “nonceliac gluten sensitivity.”

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Local yoga teacher camber giberson, who has celiac disease, says, “I sort of understand why people who don’t have a specific gluten sensitivity are going gluten-free. But if I didn’t have this disease, I think I’d still be eating pasta.” lola lafey is one of the growing number of folks in Asheville and across the country who follow a gluten-free diet out of general health concerns.

“The way our grains are mostly manufactured, I feel like it’s healthier to cut the gluten out. It feels like it glues up your insides,” says LaFey, a cashier at the French Broad Co-op. After making the shift, she says, she noticed “a little bit lighter and freer feeling — not something that overt.”

Two recent best-selling books have largely fueled the gluten-free movement: Wheat Belly by cardiologist William Davis and Grain Brain by neurologist David Perlmutter. There is some debate, though, over whether this is a fad or a judicious reaction to a serious health concern.

Professor Timothy Caulfield of the University of Alberta, for example, is a staunch critic of what is sometimes called “the war on wheat.” For many people who don’t have celiac disease, going gluten-free is mostly a form of self-expression, the public health specialist believes. In a February interview on the Canadian investigative news series “The Fifth Estate,” Caulfield poked fun at those folks, saying, “I drive my Prius; I recycle; I’m gluten-free.”

Like the ubiquitous bumper sticker “Namaste, y’all,” which pithily expresses Asheville’s unique blend of Southern tradition and conscious living, how many local dietary choices represent, at least to some extent, a desire to belong, to latch onto a particular community identity? in the raw Katharine clark, a registered nurse, says there’s a reason wheat is called the staff of life. At the Hippocrates Health Institute, she points out, wheatgrass is considered the foundation of healing; the plant is also one of the food crops requiring the least water.

Clark, the organizer of the 822-member Asheville Real Food Meetup group, has been a health coach for 30 years. Raw foods, she says, are one of the biggest dietary trends in Asheville right now.

When food is heated to over 118 degrees Fahrenheit, beneficial enzymes are destroyed, says Clark, who’s studied with some of the movement’s leading advocates. Ingesting

KATHARINE CLARK Registered nurse Katharine Clark became a raw-fooder for spiritual reasons. “Even if you’re an agnostic,” she says, “it still makes sense to me to respect and to care for our environment and ourselves in the best way we can.” cooked food has also been shown to trigger leukocytosis, an increase in white blood cells, which are part of the body’s defense against invaders. Drs. Francis Pottenger Jr., Weston Price and Edward Howell, says Clark, all linked cooked food to chronic and degenerative diseases.

At Elements Real Food on South Liberty Street, co-owner jenni squires sets down slices of two raw vegan pies: a blueberry, coconut, cashew and date “cheesecake” with blueberry vanilla frosting and blueberry sauce, and an avocado-andraw-cacao pie with vanilla and beet juice frosting. Both are remarkably rich and satisfying. The recently opened café, which began as the food truck Roaming in the Raw, specializes in juices, smoothies, nut milks and raw vegan food.

Clark says she ate completely raw for nine years and experienced extraordinary health benefits, but professional pressures led her to start consuming some cooked food.

“We all know the way to do business is, ‘I’ll have what you’re having,’” Clark explains, adding that she now eats about 80 percent raw and 20 percent cooked food.

Clark became a raw-fooder for spiritual reasons. “Even if you’re an agnostic,” she says, “it still makes sense to me to respect and to care for our environment and ourselves in the best way we can.” Beyond that, she continues, “I think our fundamental belief that we can improve on nature, because we’re separate from nature — it’s the ultimate sin!”

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locally wild alan muskat, aka “The Mushroom Man,” is a fixture on the Asheville food scene. After selling wild edibles to local restaurants for many years, Muskat, who believes in the power of whole, living food, now teaches children and adults how to identify and harvest such plants themselves.

Asheville, he says, is a fantastic place for foraging, because “Biologically, we have the greatest diversity found anywhere in the world.”

For Muskat, it’s not cooking per se that’s bad, but rather agriculture in general. “To me, as a novelty, there’s a place for the plants that we’ve developed. But to say it in the extreme, it’s not that wild food is so good for you: It’s that anything else isn’t.”

As evidence, Muskat cites Jo Robinson’s recent book Eating on the Wild Side, which describes a dramatic loss of nutrition in the agriculturally bred and produced foods we eat today.

Muskat says he’s glad to see the farmto-table movement embrace wild edibles, but he challenges locavores to go further in their thinking. “When people choose to go local, it seems obviously better, but when you look a little more closely, it can be worse.” Just because something is grown here, he notes, doesn’t mean it would naturally do so. Muskat likens it to building a golf course in the middle of a rain forest. If you lived in the area, it would be local to go golfing there, but it wouldn’t be sustainable or good for the environment.

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ALAN MUSKAT Foraging educator Alan Muskat says eating wild foods makes sense in Asheville, because “Biologically, we have the greatest diversity found anywhere in the world.” southern comfort Amid abundant criticism of modern food practices and systems, there are plenty of Ashevilleans who focus on celebrating and preserving our food heritage. elizabeth sims, past president of the Southern Foodways Alliance, worked at Biltmore Estate for 18 years and has written two cookbooks for the Tupelo Honey Cafe. She names a number of Asheville-based chefs — john fleer of Rhubarb, william dissen of The Market Place, jason sellers at Plant and john stehling of the Early Girl and King Daddy’s Chicken & Waffle — as culinary artists who understand and highlight regional traditions.

John Stehling describes traditional Appalachian cuisine as frugal. “Plenty was not a word used very often in those days,” he says. “They made use of everything, and that’s kind of what we do.” A lot of Stehling’s dishes feature Southern staples such as beans, corn, squash, sweet potatoes, collard greens and pork (which fits well with the paleo trend). The offerings at King Daddy’s include seasoned pork cracklings and fried chicken livers. “We’ll order from Hickory Nut Gap Farm and different purveyors, buy cuts of meat that aren’t going to the higher-end restaurants,” says Stehling. “Everyone wants the loins and strips and fillets, but there are a lot of other cuts to go around, so we try to focus on that.”

Traditionally, of course, comfort food was served at home, not in restaurants, and Kathey avery and jewana grier-mceachin are closely monitoring the area’s home-cooked soul food.

Both women work for the Asheville Buncombe Institute of Parity Achievement, Avery as a nurse and Grier-McEachin as executive director. They also host the “Body and Soul” radio show on WRES-FM. In the African-American community, notes Avery, if someone’s known as “a good cook,” it could mean fried chicken, a cake with 20 eggs, biscuits with lots of lard, fatback in the green beans and collards. “It really tastes good, but it’s probably going to kill you,” she says. “I’ve gone to places that have had six kinds of starch at one sitting: biscuits, cornbread, mac ’n’ cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy.

There may not be a green vegetable in sight, except maybe some green beans in the fatback.”

To combat that mindset, ABIPA staff goes door to door and partners with local churches, teaching people about a healthy diet. “You think people have the same information,” says Avery, “and then you find out sometimes they just don’t know.”

As a result, “People are dying in their 50s and early 60s, and that just makes me really sad.”

A lot of those dietary practices trace back to slavery, Avery explains.

“They had the scraps from the table and had to season that stuff to make it taste good. They did a lot of sugar, a lot of lard and a lot of salt. Well, fast-forward, and that’s your lifestyle.” At the same time, she continues, “Southern cooking and soul food go hand in hand: They have a lot of the same history, same reasoning. … But it also makes you have a lot of diabetes and heart disease.”

To encourage healthier habits and help community members live longer, ABIPA sponsors weekly pop-up markets, giving away fresh produce to those in need and advising them on how to use unfamiliar foods.

Changing a culture isn’t easy, but they’re seeing some positive results.

Church spreads now offer baked as well as fried chicken, water instead of soda, even fruit and salads with kale. At home, folks are using turkey necks and liquid smoke in their collard greens instead of ham hocks.

“I’ve been real impressed all the way around,” says Avery. hungry people mellie hawthorne (not her real name) is a middle-aged white woman who’s HIV-positive. Homeless for nine years, she now lives in a mixeduse, experimental apartment complex downtown.

Every week, Hawthorne gets a box of food from Loving Food Resources, a pantry serving people with HIV or AIDS and those in home hospice care.

Even though there are numerous food pantries in Asheville, notes Hawthorne, “There are a lot of hungry people. And it’s kind of hidden, because people who are hungry aren’t always thin.”

When she lived on the street, Hawthorne would panhandle for morning coffee and use any leftover change to get a boat of fries for lunch. Prosperous young people, she says, would buy plates of food at restaurants and leave them out on the street for folks like her to find.

And after moving to a family care home, Hawthorne says she was fed large portions of poor-quality food.

“I really wasn’t getting the right kind of nutrition at all,” she recalls.

“That’s why I’m overweight now.”

Even with disability payments and food stamps, notes Hawthorne, getting groceries can be hard if you don’t have a car. City bus drivers, she says, have refused to let her on with her groceries, because the bags would take up an extra seat.

City transit system spokesperson lashawn meadows says, “As long as they’re able to have the groceries on their lap, they can bring them on the bus.” Due to concerns about safety and overcrowding, however, passengers aren’t allowed to put items on the floor or on another seat. A committee, says Meadows, is considering making an exception to this rule for groceries.

Hawthorne, meanwhile, relies on a Loving Food Resources volunteer to transport her weekly box. bacK to basics Clearly, not everyone here experiences Asheville as Foodtopia.

Depending on where you live, say the women at ABIPA, this city can seem like either a food oasis or a food desert. Public housing residents with limited transportation, they say, often have no place to buy groceries, though there’s always at least one service station nearby selling junk food.

And amid the dizzying array of diets and self-help books, GrierMcEachin maintains, “It goes back to the beginning: fruits and vegetables, nuts and grains, and everything else in moderation.”

Simplification, she believes, is key.

“When you make things complicated, the people that are really in need of the advice or the support get disenfranchised, because there are so many things to choose from.”

Asheville’s food scene, however, is anything but simple, and that has its advantages, too.

“I think we’re experiencing a boom time with cuisine,” says Sims. “I mean, we’ve got everything from Indian street food to French food to Korean. ... The food trucks have brought an added layer of really creative interest.”

Some of that diversity, notes Goldstein, is health-related. “Asheville is one of those communities, like Boulder or Austin, that tends to attract people who are very invested in their own health and happiness,” he says.

“I think anytime you take on any diet that’s out of standard, it’s people who are trying to make a positive change.”

But beyond that, says Sims, it comes down to making informed decisions about what we eat. “I think it will always be important that we honor our food — know where it comes from and how it’s prepared, and that it’s good for us.” X

W h AT I S Y O U R fOOD PhIlOSOPhY? Speak out, Asheville: What are your diet choices? Are you a cleaneating paleo? A dedicated vegan? An old-school Southerner? Or something completely different? Take part in an online survey posted at mountainx.com. The results will be shared in September.

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august 19 - august 25, 2015

37

FooD

by Krista L. White

kristawhitewrites@yahoo.com

gimme your totS

Local chefs put a new spin on an old classic

PHILOSOPHY BUFFET: What we eat speaks volumes about who we are, and accordingly, Asheville’s dietary preferences are as diverse as its population. Pictured clockwise from lower left: raw vegan cacao and avocado pie at Elements Real Food; a paleo lunch of grass-fed beef, hardboiled eggs, avocado and cucumber-watermelon salad; vegetarian biscuits and gravy at the Early Girl Café; forager Alan Muskat cooks up wild lobster mushrooms. Photos by Carla Seidl

BIG DEAL: Appalachian Chic Food Truck owners Chris and Stephanie Cogswell take the humble tater tot to a new level with their supersized, scratch-made version of the Ore-Ida classic. Each of their Truck Made Tots weighs in at 4 ounces. Photo by Krista White

It was once the highlight of school cafeteria trays across the U.S., the crème de la crème of TV dinner sides and a hurried mom’s saving grace for getting food on the table fast — the tater tot. Originally created in the 1950s by the founders of Ore-Ida, the little tot combined minced potato pieces with deep frying to create finger-friendly goodness.

Now some local chefs are bringing their own versions to Asheville, using preparation methods and flavors that reflect the area’s eclectic palate. Appalachian Chic Food Truck, for instance, is serving up tots bigger than the palm of your hand. Executive Chef and co-owner Chris Cogswell says he was looking for something a little different to feature when he began planning the menu for the truck, which officially launched in June.

“Typically tots are generally little bite-size things, but we make hockey-puck-size tots,” he says.

“People are drawn to tots probably because nostalgia. When you are a kid and you get tots, it’s a fun and exciting snack. We put a fun new twist on that by making them gigantic.”

The tots weight 4 ounces each, and a full order comes with three

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for $2.50. Customers choose the flavor profile they want with the tots: salt and pepper, a dry BBQ seasoning or salt and vinegar. In addition to the tots coming as a stand-alone order, Appalachian Chic customers can also get them as a side dish with their entrees.

“We talked about doing hand-cut chips, but there are a lot of trucks around town doing them, so we wanted to do something different,” says Cogswell. “My wife and I cook tots at home and love them, so we decided to go with them.”

Cogswell, who has been in the food industry for 20 years (he and his wife, stephanie, also run Perfect Occasions Catering), says that he wants to change the perception of the tater tot from a second-class food to one that will grace the plates of even the pickiest gourmets.

“We get the freshest ingredients and make them from scratch, so that it takes that cafeteria food and steps it up a notch,” he says. “Ten years ago, pork belly was a trash food, and now everybody is doing it. If you just put a little more care and effort into food that is considered poverty or cafeteria food, you can make it something special.”

Each tot is shaped by hand and cooked fresh upon ordering. The tots are fried because “you can’t bake a tot.

It will fall apart,” says Cogswell.

“And, it’s sacrilege not to fry them,” he added jokingly.

The Barleycorn Pub in West Asheville also serves up homemade tots with a twist. Owner greg campbell says he “wanted to connect with the comfort food feeling,

and the tater tot fell into that category.” Plus, he adds, tots are a trendy food option.

Campbell understands the kitsch fascination that people have with the tater tot, saying they “bring back memories of my generation and my kids’ generation. It’s a nostalgia thing.”

Barleycorn has chosen to stay true to the standard tater tot size and cylindrical shape, but its version differs in texture from most other recipes. “We make a tot that is based off a gnocchi recipe, which is a smooth tater tot versus the shredded type,” he says. That decision has paid off. “We sell a lot of them,” he says. Patrons can order a dish of the house tater tots with horseradish sauce for $5.

Folks looking for an even more gussied-up tot experience can find it downtown at Rhubarb.

The restaurant, which prides itself on a farm-to-table dining experience, offers Tot-Tine, a rotating tater-tot dish, on its late-night menu.

Sous-chef travis shultz calls it “an approachable bar food based on the classic poutine that lets us (the chefs) get creative with sauces and showcase local cheeses. Plus, who doesn’t love tots?”

Patrons can visit the restaurant Thursdays through Saturdays from 10 p.m. to midnight to get a taste. A dish of Tot-Tine costs around $9.50 and the selections change frequently based on seasonal ingredients. X

MORE INfO To track down Appalachian Chic and its Truck Made Tots, visit Appalachian Chic Food Truck on Facebook to find the truck’s weekly locations.

For more on The Barleycorn and its tots, visit thebarleycornpub.com.

For details on Tot-Tine and when to look for it on Rhubarb’s menu, visit rhubarbasheville.com or call 785-1503.

small Bites gsmith@mountainx.com The menu remains the same, offering pork, brisket, turkey and ribs with a selection of six sauces: Eastern North Carolina-style vinegar, sweet, spicy, sweet-and-spicy, South Carolina-style mustard and a white Alabama-style sauce, which Kurtz says is made for poultry but goes well with brisket also. Chicken and ribs are available on Fridays only.

Webo’s BBQ is in River Ridge shopping center, 800 Fairview Road. Hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday.

Closed Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

To view the menu, visit webosbbq.com. asheville wine & food festival

NEW DIGS: Wendell and Bonnie Kurtz recently moved their business, Webo’s BBQ, to a larger space to accommodate their growing clientele. Photo by Cindy Kunst

Webo’s BBQ moves to River Ridge After four years of operating quietly out of a 460-square-foot kitchen in a Shell Station on Swannanoa River Road, Webo’s BBQ has stepped up its game. Last week, the family-owned business brought its selection of slow-cooked, hickorysmoked barbecue to a much larger location in the River Ridge shopping center, adding another sitdown restaurant option to the East Asheville scene.

Owner wendell Kurtz, who operates the restaurant with his wife of 40 years, bonnie, (hence the name Webo’s) says the new space, which is next to Hamrick’s in the shopping center on Fairview Road, totals 3,300 square feet, with 1,000 square feet of that dedicated to the kitchen. The expansion, says Kurtz, will allow

Webo’s to better serve its steadily growing clientele.

“I got into it because I like people liking what I do,” says Kurtz, who is a Kansas City Barbecue Societycertified judge and competed for nearly a decade in KCBS barbecue competitions. “I don’t think there’s been a day in the four years we’ve been open that we haven’t had somebody say, ‘It’s the best barbecue we’ve had,’ or ‘It’s my favorite barbecue place,’ or that type of thing.”

Webo’s gas station locale had no indoor dining space — only a few outdoor picnic tables. However, the new storefront offers room for a total of 97 customers both indoors and on its covered patio. For the time being, however, the Kurtzes are keeping it simple with 30 seats inside and six picnic tables on the patio.

The Asheville Wine & Food Festival brings its carnival of food and drink downtown for its seventh year with the Elixir, Sweet and Grand Tasting events Thursday-Saturday, Aug. 20-22. The three-day celebration kicks off with cocktails with the Elixir mixology competition Thursday, Aug. 20, when 2014 champion courtney foster of The Junction will defend her title against seven local challengers. The Sweet dessert, wine and cocktail tasting follows on the evening of Friday, Aug. 21, and the event culminates with the Grand Tasting, which pretty much takes over the entire U.S. Cellular Center on the afternoon of Saturday, Aug. 22. Highlights of the Grand Tasting are the festival’s annual regional wine competition judged by the French Broad Vignerons, plus the annual Chef’s Challenge culinary competition, which this year will feature local chefs steven goff, hollie west of Marshall’s Sweet Monkey Café, joe mitchell of Chestnut and Corner Kitchen and ryan Kline of Buffalo Nickel. In addition, there will be culinary and mixology demonstrations, blind wine and beer tastings, cookbook signings, not to mention hundreds of booths featuring artisan food producers, restaurants, wineries, distilleries and breweries from Asheville and across the U.S. Elixir is 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 20, at the Morris Hellenic Cultural Center, 227 Cumberland Ave. Sweet is 8-10 p.m. Friday, Aug. 21, at the Grove Arcade, 1 Page Ave. The Grand Tasting starts at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 22. VIP entry starts at 1 p.m. For the full schedule of events, ticket prices and to order tickets online, visit ashevillewineandfood.com.

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mela brings indian food to unca UNC Asheville kicked off its fall semester with a new food offering on campus as Mela Indian Restaurant debuted its new Mela Eats location in UNCA’s Highsmith University Union on Aug. 14. The new restaurant offers Mela’s traditional curries, chutneys, breads and salads to students as part of the campus meal plan, and meals will be available to staff and visitors as well. Vegan, vegetarian and chicken options are available daily. The new venture marks the second downtown restaurant to open a location on the UNCA campus — Rosetta’s Kitchen opened Rosetta’s Kitchenette in the university’s Sherrill Center more than two years ago.

Mela Eats is open to the public, students and university staff 11 a.m.-10 p.m. weekdays and 4-10 p.m. weekends at UNC Asheville, 1 University Heights. hatch chile fest The Fresh Market will celebrate the annual harvest of New Mexico’s famous Hatch chile peppers with a Hatch Chile Fest on Saturday, Aug. 22. The flavorful peppers, which are only available fresh from late July to early September each year, will be highlighted during the event with a Hatch chile roasting and free culinary demonstrations. Shoppers can also preorder roasted Hatch chiles through Sept. 5 for pickup at local locations of The Fresh Market.

Hatch Chile Fest happens 1-5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 22, at The Fresh Market locations in Asheville (1378 Hendersonville Road and 944 Merrimon Ave.) and in Hendersonville (223 Greenville Highway). To preorder roasted Hatch chiles, visit thefreshmarket.com/in-store-pickup/hatch-chiles. tomato preservation worKshop Cooperative Extension family consumer sciences agent renay Knapp will offer hands-on workshops on how to preserve tomatoes on Thursday, Aug. 27. The classes are for all ages and skill levels. Cost is $15, and participants get a jar of tomatoes to take home.

Sessions are at 2 and 6 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 27, at the Henderson County Cooperative Extension Office, 455 Research Drive, Mills River. To register, call 697-4891. X

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a r t s & e n t e r ta i n m e n t

historic record

celebrating the 1925 okeh sessions in asheville

Atlanta even, Asheville held the promise of ‘hill country’ talent. For one, [artist and recording director ralph] peer had a reliable informant in bascom lamar lunsford, a Leicester song-catcher who practiced law,” Priestly wrote. “Peer wasn’t guided by any notions of historic preservation. He wasn’t a folklorist, and had no particular interest in the rustic arts. He’d come to Asheville in hopes of nosing out talent that would make his company money.”

Among those who recorded during the Okeh sessions were: ernest v. stoneman, an autoharp player and ballad singer from Galax, Va.; West Asheville-based half-Cherokee multi-instrumentalist ernest helton; and fiddler j.d. harris, who was living near Asheville at the time.

But even though fiddles were prevalent and banjos even more so — and at a time that predated the popularity of clawhammer style — there were some surprises among the recordings. “When you listen to fisher hendley, it’s one of the most archaic things,” Hunt says of an artist performing a minstrel song with a particularly racist-sounding title. “But he’s singing from the black man’s perspective.

It’s not a hateful thing. It’s a weird mix of different things he’d gleaned over the years and played in his own way.”

song catcher: 78 collector Brody Hunt, second from right, with his band, The Carolina Cud Chewers, has been tracking down the songs pressed during an Okeh Records session held in Asheville 90 years ago. Photo by John Zara

BY ALLI MARSHALL amarshall@mountainx.com Local country musician brody hunt is a lot of things — a recovering hobo, a butterfly rancher and a dedicated collector of 78-rpm recordings. “Every collector gets their own niche,” Hunt says. His is pre-World War II country blues, including hobo songs and artists associated with Asheville. “It’s a rabbit hole,” he says. “You go through it and you find all these gems that nobody knows about, and there comes a time when you want to share them.”

Through collecting and research, Hunt discovered the Okeh Record sessions that took place in Asheville nearly 100 years ago. The New Yorkbased label, in a bid to discover lesser-known Southern musicians, took

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trips to various locations where, with a portable studio, its engineers pressed wax test records. The Asheville session, held the last week of August in 1925, attracted musicians and vocalists from around the region, with styles ranging from jazz and minstrel offerings to gospel and country. A total of 60 records were cut in a makeshift studio on the rooftop of the Vanderbilt Hotel. All are exceedingly rare because, soon after they were made, electric microphones replaced acoustic.

Even if the technology was outdated, says Hunt, many of the songs captured during the sessions were wildly innovative. To celebrate the 90th anniversary of those recordings, he’s planned a celebration — part listening party, part history talk, part concert — on Friday, Aug. 28, at White Horse Black Mountain.

Former Xpress writer Kent priestly recounted the 1925 sessions in a 2008 story, found at avl.mx/1dx. “More than

mountainx.com

“Sticks and stones will break my bones / I know you’re gonna talk about me when I’m gone,” goes the song. Hunt points out, “It’s like gangster rap. ... It’s the archetypal traveling man [song]. It’s sheer unadulterated freedom.”

And then there was the FoorRobinson Carolina Club Orchestra, the house band at the Vanderbilt Hotel, which cut the last track of the local Okeh session. That song, the decadent “Rose of the Nile,” is the only known 1920s-era Ashevillebased jazz recording.

Beyond the songs captured on those August days in 1925, Hunt has also compiled material on jimmie rodgers, aka “The Singing Brakeman,” and minstrel performer emmett miller. Hunt’s collection includes “a few beautiful ads announcing the triumphant 1929 return of Jimmie Rodgers to Asheville, a town he had struggled in, living ‘on the bum’ for the six months prior to his first recordings and subsequent superstardom,” as he wrote in a letter to Xpress in 2011. Hunt’s research is archived in the North Carolina Room of Pack Memorial Library.

local star: Ernest Helton, left, a West Asheville-based musician of Native American heritage, performed “Royal Clog” for Okeh Records. He and his brother Osey, also seen in this circa-1940 photo, were often featured at the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival. Photo courtesy of John Pace The local musician and historian plans to digitize his collection and create a program than can be shared with schools and other interested groups, and the White Horse Black Mountain celebration will offer a sort of preview of that presentation. Along with Hunt’s talk, during which he’ll play recorded selections — expect a good show; he also DJs for at the Burger Bar’s weekly Honky Tonk Ladies Night and has been part of Double Cown’s Country Classics — local musicians david holt, adam tanner, rayna gellert and Hunt’s band, The Carolina Cud Chewers (with antone costa, rachel meirs and john james tourville), will perform.

Though Hunt says that part of the heartbreak of his research has been discovering great (if obscure) WNCbased artists, only to learn they’d recently passed away, by sharing this music he hopes to give it new life. It’s also possible that the living relatives of some of the Asheville Okeh session musicians will be at the White Horse event. “The main thing is to show the vast variety of music that was here,” says Hunt.

“Asheville in the ’20s was a hot town — there were Hawaiian bands, there were rooftop dances, there were killer jazz bands.”

He adds, “There were the Okeh sessions, but what was happening here on a regular basis ... that’s just something people don’t know about, and I want to paint that picture.” X

what Celebration of the 1925 Okeh recording sessions in Asheville, with David Holt, Adam Tanner, Rayna Gellert, Brody Hunt and the Carolina Cud Chewers where White Horse Black Mountain, whitehorseblackmountain.com when Friday, Aug. 28, 7:30 p.m. $12 advance/$15 at the door

mountainx.com

august 19 - august 25, 2015

41

A&e

by Edwin Arnaudin

edwinarnaudin@gmail.com

the indomitable optimist John Crutchfield debuts new play at The Magnetic Theatre Certain artists can be cagey when asked about their creative process, becoming protective of their approach lest they lose an edge in an already competitive field. john crutchfield is not one of these people. To peek into the playwright/ actor/director’s mind, one only need visit his website, where he reveals that what moves him to write is “invariably a question (usually connected to a particular experience) that [he has] to solve before it destroys [his] sanity.”

For his one-man play, The Jacob Higginbotham Show — which

what The Jacob Higginbotham Show where The Magnetic Theatre themagnetictheatre.org when Thursdays-Saturdays Aug. 20 to Sept. 12, at 7:30 p.m. $18 advance/$21 at the door

premieres on Thursday, Aug. 20, and runs Thursdays to Saturdays through Sept. 12 at The Magnetic Theatre — inspiration struck circa 2006 when Crutchfield first moved to Asheville after the end of what he calls “an emotionally disastrous relationship.”

“I felt quite helpless and irrelevant and old — and I suppose Jacob Higginbotham became a kind of alter ego for me,” Crutchfield says.

“He’s an indomitable optimist, full of romantic longings and an almost Kierkegaardian faith that things will work out. He chooses to see the beauty in the very midst of life’s absurdity and hopelessness, and he believes that his view of things —

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KEEPING THEATER REAL: Whether in Asheville or his current home Berlin, John Crutchfield says that his new play, The Jacob Higginbotham Show, “will affect individual audience members in a variety of ways, maybe even self-contradictory ways. And I like that.” Photo courtesy of the artist however naive it may be — actually matters, or will matter, someday, to someone. In short, the question he poses for me is the reality of love.”

Following Higginbotham as he goes around making spontaneous marriage proposals, Crutchfield’s latest play is built upon a small selection from a much larger unpublished work in prose called The Intimate Journals of Jacob Higginbotham. The book comprises a series of short, somewhat improvisational texts in the voice of the titular character, whom Crutchfield first performed as at N.C. Stage Company’s former open-mic event, No Shame Theater. Crutchfield recalls getting an especially enthusiastic response to his efforts, which encouraged him to continue experimenting. Subsequent bits and pieces were presented at the

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Juniper Bends literary reading series at Downtown Books and News, the Men’s Dance Festival at Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre, the Asheville Fringe Arts Festival and The Magnetic Theatre’s open-mic event, Magnetic Midnight.

“But these were all short pieces, maybe five minutes each, essentially staged readings,” Crutchfield says.

“Although I had a sort of costume I usually wore, and I often memorized the texts and improvised some choreography to go along with them.”

The main task for creating an actual play based on the Higginbotham material was to find a plot or through-line that Crutchfield hoped would sustain audience interest for a full-length show. The goal was to accomplish that without compromising what he calls

“the bizarreness of the character and his world, the nonsequiturs and digressions, the convolutions, the cul-de-sacs.” Crutchfield transformed essentially literary elements into theatrical ones, which he says has “been perhaps the most interesting challenge of the project.”

What’s remained constant is the play’s Asheville setting — or at least a version of Asheville. The city is both the geographical setting, a specificity that extends to street names, and also what Crutchfield refers to as the play’s “spiritual milieu,” a combination that makes it nearly impossible for him to imagine Higginbotham in any other place.

“He’s an eccentric, but he’s in a place where he can still almost pass for normal, where his naïveté and his

dreams can live and even flourish,” Crutchfield says. “In a smaller, more conservative place, he would simply be an outcast. In a larger place, like New York (or Berlin for that matter), he would be eaten alive.”

No throwaway reference, the German capital has been Crutchfield’s home for nearly two years. There, he and his stageactress wife raise their daughter in a bilingual household. When he’s not writing, doing translation work or playing music, he has a part-time position teaching creative writing and theater and, appropriately, researching artistic processes at the Institute for English Language and Literature at the Freie Universität Berlin.

While working on The Jacob Higginbotham Show, the alien environment and feeling of exile helped Crutchfield focus and taught him important things about himself — in particular what he calls his “American-ness” and “Southern Appalachian-ness.” Meanwhile, Berlin’s extraordinary theater radically expanded his conception of what’s possible onstage.

This broadened mindset manifests itself throughout the play, but from the very beginning Crutchfield knew he wanted to have a DJ onstage to score the show in real time. During the performance, local composer and performer mary Zogzas will be fully visible to the audience and interacting with Crutchfield. Zogzas doubles as sound designer and expands the show’s sonic possibilities. Rounding out the team is jason williams, whose role as lighting designer is fairly straightforward but whose numerous past collaborations with Crutchfield give the star immense confidence in realizing his directorial vision.

Though his family’s long-term plan is to move back to Asheville, which Crutchfield says “really is home,” he’ll return to Berlin following the play’s run. There, he’s considering remounting the production this fall (most likely without Zogzas) and thinks that, despite the mountain-specific setting, foreign audiences would still get something just as meaningful out of the material. X

WIN FREE ITEMS ALL OVER ASHEVILLE! Weekly Facebook Giveaways! www.ashevilleboard.com • www.facebook.com/ashevilleboard

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by Corbie Hill

afraidofthebear@gmail.com

out of the woodS Aligning Minds’ early years in rural Maryland led to a genre-busting approach

nature vs. nurture: Aligning Minds’ Daniel Merrill, left, moved to Baltimore in 2005, and Mike Folk to Washington, D.C., in 2008 (he now lives in Asheville). It was this rural pair’s first experiences with healthy dance and electronic music scenes, and they soon found their nontraditional path to this music gave them rare access. Photo by Shane Miller

In May 2002, daniel merrill was at an outdoor music festival in Terra Alta, W. Va. Having grown

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up in the hills of western Maryland, it was his first such event, and the music he found there changed his

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life. It wasn’t one of the headliners, though, or even a genre represented at the jam-oriented fest. Rather, he found himself drawn to the progressive house music drifting out of someone’s car at 4 or 5 a.m.

“I had never heard anything that was purely that way,” Merrill says. “It ended up being this Global Underground Sasha stuff. I just sat in the car for probably six or seven hours with this guy.” When he got home, he introduced the music to his friend mike folk, who was just as hooked. They had no idea how this music was made, but they were going to figure it out.

Thirteen years later, Merrill and Folk are better known as Aligning Minds, a long-standing electronica duo that headlines The Orange Peel on Friday, Aug. 21. This latest installation in the group’s Waveforms showcase series features a live drummer and dancer as well as sets by Freddy Todd and Chronicles of the Landsquid. In September, Merrill and Folk embark on a 15-date tour with British dub producer Ott. Suffice it to say, these two have done more than simply figure out how this music was made — they’ve mastered it.

With the launch of Aligning Minds’ eponymous label, the duo’s third bit of news, Merrill and Folk display confidence to match. They haven’t taken the expected path to electronic music, so why start now? “We came to this conclusion of, ‘why are we constantly trying to worry about where we’re gonna fit in?’” Merrill says. “We’d like to create a home for other people who don’t feel like they fit in, either.”

He and Folk grew up a few miles from each other, just outside Grantsville, Md. As guitar-playing teens in the late ’90s, they gravitated towards metal. In their corner of rural Appalachia, they didn’t know anyone else with the same interests.

When Merrill grew bored with traditional instrumentation, he delved into industrial music, finding its focus on synths and effects processing appealing. Still, it was largely a closed circuit — two friends feeding each other’s musical curiosities.

“We were out in the middle of the woods,” Folk says. The Internet of the late ’90s was a slower, clumsier beast than today. Music and video streaming? Forget it. And Wikipedia was years in the future.

They researched new music as best they could, but it was slow going.

Then Merrill came home from Terra Alta with this hypnotically wonderful new form of music that was what he and Folk had been looking for. Soon Merrill was reading computer and synthesizer manuals and scouring Internet forums. “We had never gone to a rave or an electronic music festival, but we were fascinated by the sounds and how they were created and what to do with them,” he says. In late 2003, during a walk in the woods, the Aligning Minds idea came to them. It was meant to be a collective, a sort of revolving door for like-minded musicians. This idea, at the genesis of their duo, remains as a core concept of the new label.

Merrill moved to Baltimore in 2005, and Folk to Washington, D.C., in 2008. It was this rural pair’s first experiences with healthy dance and electronic music scenes, and they soon found their nontraditional path to this music gave them rare access.

Unlike many production teams, they had never identified with any specific genre. Merrill cites an early love of IDM artists like Boards of Canada, Plaid and Aphex Twin, but also an affinity for progressive house and drum and bass. “We would play posh nightclubs in D.C., and then we’d play dirty warehouse raves in

Baltimore, and then we’d play psychedelic psy-trance festivals way out in the woods of upstate New York,” he says.

Merrill and Folk are comfortable bridging disparate worlds.

There’s been less genre-fragmentation within electronica in the past four or five years, Merrill says, and he’s glad for it. He and Folk see the music they love as existing under one big umbrella, and their new label zeroes in on emotive, personal music, rather than anything fitting a genre-specific formula. In fact, Folk’s 2010 move to Asheville (Merrill still lives north of Baltimore) brought Aligning Minds full circle. If formative years in rural Appalachia resulted in this duo’s sonic diversity, it’s logical they’d land where they started.

“The reason I love it down here is the mesh of culture with the woods,” Folk says. “It gives me what I love about living in a city, as well as the comfortable components of what I grew up in.” X

who Aligning Minds presents Waveforms 2.0 with Freddy Todd and Chronicles of the Landsquid where The Orange Peel theorangepeel.net when Friday, Aug. 21, 9 p.m. $12 advance/$15 day of show

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s tat e o F t h e a r t s

By Rena Lindstrom | renalindstrom@gmail.com

neighborhood art

horse sense: “NC Equestrian Statue,” the Terrain Biennial installation by local artist Nora Hartlaub, hijacks the traditional rider-on-horseback statue as a totem of imperial power often installed on the lawns of public institutions. Photo by Tim Robison The 2nd Terrain Biennial brings art to the people, literally where they live, in the front yards of neighborhoods. In this case, it’s in West Asheville, where a neighbor walking the dog can be surprised, challenged and delighted by nora hartlaub’s oversized equestrian statue at 1 Mountain Terrace, beginning Sunday, Aug. 23.

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The Terrain Biennial originated in 2011 with sabina ott, an artist, curator and professor of art at Columbia College Chicago. Ott was looking for a fun way to actively engage the local artistic community. She was aware of the growing proliferation of the artistrun exhibition spaces. “I’m intrigued by accidental audiences,” she says,

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“and want art to be more accessible.”

Ott curated the first exhibitions in front yards of artists in her Oak Park neighborhood. By 2013, she initiated the first Biennial.

“It’s real art,” Ott says. “It sits in a place it’s not supposed to be and has a conversation with house, street, neighbor. The atmosphere is

not mediated by the traditional gallery setting, which can be chilly and inhospitable.”

Ott asked colleague ron laboray, an artist and assistant professor of painting and drawing at Western Carolina University, to curate and host a portion of the 2015 event in Asheville. Laboray turned to Hartlaub, who recently received her MFA at WCU under Laboray’s mentorship.

Hartlaub’s work builds upon her experience growing up in the world of horses, riding and caring for them.

In a recent piece, “The Collection,” the artist encased her childhood model horse collection in abstracted Crayola-colored forms. “It’s my ongoing investigation into how nostalgia influences our perception and how that is reflected in our basic social structure,” she says. “The Collection” represents the miniaturized, intimate and personalized relationship between the self and the concepts of gender, power, memory and nostalgia. “I’m working on the question and the answer at the same time,” says Hartlaub.

“NC Equestrian Statue” hijacks the traditional rider-on-horseback statue as a totem of imperial power often installed on the lawns of public institutions. Hartlaub throws that assumption of innate masculine power out of balance by encasing the cultural symbol in an abstracted, undulating globular mass made of carved foamboard and fiberglass — an alien body that appears to be consuming hero and horse. “This abstracted form is an echo of an actual male body, as well as a representation of the abstract nature of power,” Hartlaub says.

“I’m softening the image of the supermasculine rider, turning it into a blob. It’s subversive.”

The installation is not, however, about a woman artist claiming her space in the malecentric art world. Rather, it is about rigid state power, specifically that of current North Carolina legislators who have abstracted the actual bodies of the women whose health and safety they claim to want to protect. This perceived duty, says Hartlaub, is inspired by a nostalgic attachment to women as homemaker, the center of the family, isolated and privatized and sanitized.

“There is no connection to the very real manifestation of their lawmaking as it affects the real body of women —

POWERFUL ASHEVILLE LEADERS the messy, viscous, sticky, reproducing body women live in all day every day,” says Hartlaub. “My body.”

“The biennial project shows the potential of art to connect us where we live,” Laboray says.

“Hartlaub begins with heavy concepts and moves into the form.

The subversive form addresses the ideas with humor. She is working with very elemental ideas reflective of our shared experience and values. She is engaging the community with her characteristic original, thoughtful, witty take on the subject.”

Talking about the movement of the Terrain Biennial beyond Chicago, Ott says, “Every individual place is connected to other individual places.

It’s a kind of rhizome model. The pinpoint is already set.” This shared communication sparks on a single day across the world as this year’s event opens in 12 settings — including Milwauke and Los Angeles; Viborg, Denmark and Phnom Penh, Cambodia — on Aug. 23.

According to Hartlaub, the invitation to participate in the 2015 Terrain Biennial comes at a pivotal time in her career. “It’s really excit-

what 2nd Terrain Biennial where Local installation at 1 Mountain Terrace West Asheville when Saturday, Aug. 23, to Wednesday, Sept. 30 After the exhibit closes, projects can be seen at terrainexhibition.tumblr.com

ing to have this opportunity,” she says. “I can take the work to a new level, to expand my exploration of the visual nature of these concepts of gender, power, memory and nostalgia from the personal and intimate to the monumental, public and collective.”

As Laboray puts it, “This exhibition is just the beginning for the Terrain Biennial in Asheville.” X

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Marcel Anton presents:

BLUES LEGEND JIMMY THACKERY! Live at Tressa’s Downtown Jazz & Blues Club Thursday August 20th 2 shows 8:00pm & 9:30pm.

A benefit concert for Animal Rescue Groups including BROTHER WOLF!

Our music video series with Sherwood’s Music continues this week on mountainx.com. Look for a new video on Friday featuring a second performance by hillbilly rockers Krekle and Whoa.

Free gourmet catering

by Strada for all.

VIP (including premium table and complimentary champagne) $40 and GA tickets $20 available in advance at tressas.com

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smart Bets Send your arts news to ae@mountainx.com

The Wilhelm Brothers “Music is a powerful messenger,” write the Wilhelm Brothers on the duo’s website. “We are aware of that, so our music aims to inspire and spread a positive, peaceful, healing message.” On new album The Sea of the Unwritten, cellist Cristof Ensslin and guitarist Chris Wilhelm deliver these optimistic meditations with an unassuming tone, ushering listeners through subduing ballads and more energetic folk rock numbers alike — both styles benefiting from the local musicians’ friendly vocal harmonies.

Asher Leigh, Kim Smith, and Mark Goldthwaite and Tom Kirschbaum open at the band’s CD release show, which includes an open invitation for listeners to partake in the potluck of small bites planned among performers. The celebration takes place at the Paintbox’s new stage on Thursday, Aug. 20, at 6 p.m. Free, donations accepted. facebook.com/ paintboxproject. Photo courtesy of the artists

Love Right Many local musicians play in more than one band (with a number of talented artists lending their skills to lots of projects across a number of genres). Singer-songwriter and guitarist Silas Durocher not only appears in various groups but has worked it out so that his two main projects — funk-rockers The Get Right Band and folkrockers Lovestruck Suckers — can share a stage. Twice. The shows include a set by Lovestruck Suckers (complete with strings section), one by The Get Right band and then a third set with both bands merged into Love Right (that’s violin, viola, cello, guitar, bass, percussion and vocals in one happy extended family). Catch the musical metamorphosis at Isis Restaurant & Music Hall on Thursday, Aug. 20, at 8:30 p.m. $8/$10, isisasheville.com. And at 185 King Street in Brevard on Friday, Aug. 21, at 8:30 p.m. $12.18. http://avl.mx/1dm. Photo courtesy of The Get Right Band

Barn Raisin’ Concert Although the Appalachian Barn Alliance exists to preserve Madison County’s historic barns through photography, stories and architecture, an upcoming benefit for the nonprofit calls upon the area’s musical heritage for entertainment.

Local acts The Sons of Ralph (bluegrass), Peter Gott (’60s-inspired banjo and guitar) and Matthew Curry and The Carolina Two (country honky-tonk) all play live sets before a duo performance by award-winning fiddler Susi Gott and guitarist Marty Lewis. The two songwriters will draw heavily from their Madison County-inspired catalog, and special guests will be invited onstage for even more collaboration. The concert kicks off at the Ebbs Chapel Performing Arts Center in Mars Hill on Sunday, Aug. 23, at 3 p.m. $20/$25. appalachianbarns.org.

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Beach Burnout II With a full day of sea-inspired tunes, boat drinks, Jell-O shots, snow cones (free for kids), ample burgers and the perfect outdoor space, the second Beach Burnout event at Ben’s Tune-Up is only missing waves and sand. The party’s live music lineup includes The Nude Party, The Jokes, Ouroboros Boys, Wahyas, The Krektones and BOYTOY, in addition to DJ sets by Sailors Delight. Plus, effortlessly stylish surf-rock outfit La Luz is stopping in for a headlining set in support of the Seattle band’s new album, Weirdo Shrine. Appropriate beach attire — flip-flops, mesh garments and maybe even a floatie or two — is strongly suggested. Ben’s Tune-Up hosts the free bash on Sunday, Aug. 23, from noon to 10 p.m. avl. mx/prrb. Photo of La Luz by Andrew Imanaka mountainx.com

Low monthly “Trial Purchase Plan”

for beginning band instruments starting at $35.00 per month.

(828) 299-3000 • Mon.–Fri. 10 a.m.–6 p.m. • Sat. 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

800 Fairview Rd. (at River Ridge Marketplace)

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by Abigail Griffin

Send your event listings to calendar@mountainx.com Challenge,” panel-style game show with local personalities. $10.

AsHeviLLe coMMUnitY tHeAtRe 35 E. Walnut St., 254-1320, ashevilletheatre.org • FRIDAYS, SATURDAYS and SUNDAYS (8/21) through (8/30) - Not Now, Darling. $22/$19 seniors & students/$15 under 17.

Fri. & Sat.: 7:30pm. Sun.: 2:30pm.

BLAck MoUntAin centeR FoR tHe ARts 225 W. State St., Black Mountain, 669-0930, blackmountainarts.org • TU (8/19) and SA (8/22), 10am - Open auditions for The Fantasticks. Contact for guidelines. Free.

MODERN ART NOvEAU: Local artist Heather Shirin’s newest series of paintings, “Adieu,” are showing at The Asheville Area Arts Council through Sep. 19. Shirin’s work features mixed media and gold leaf modern art nouveau portraits of women.

According to her artist’s statement, her work captures “the vulnerability, strength and romance that women share when together — using materials that define their beauty and presence.” Image “She Dreams of Freedom,” courtesy of the artist (p. 50) MUsic

ARt AsHeviLLe AReA ARts coUnciL 1 Page Ave., 258-0710, ashevillearts.com • WE (8/19), 5pm - “Grassroots Subgrant Info Session” for Buncombe County non-profit organizations who promote cultural arts. Free.

• Through MO (8/24) - Submissions accepted for the “Grassroots Subgrant Application” for non-profits that promote cultural arts programming in Buncombe County.

Contact for guidelines. Free. cLoUD cottAge

AFRicAn DRUM Lessons At skinnY BeAts DRUM sHop (pd.) Sundays 2pm, Wednesdays 6pm. Billy Zanski teaches a fun approach to connecting with your inner rhythm. No experience necessary. Drums provided. $12/class. (828) 768-2826. www.skinnybeatsdrums.com MUsic At UncA 251-6432, unca.edu • WE (8/19) and WE (8/26), 7pm - Blue Ridge Orchestra open rehearsal. Free. Held in the Reuter Center. noRtH MAin MUsic & ARt DeMonstRAtion 692-6335 Free to attend. Art Demo starts at noon; Music starts at 4:30pm.

• SA (8/22) - Music by Evalina Everidge & Marty Balash, Jazz/ Pop. Held at Green Room Cafe & Coffeehouse, 536 N. Main St., Hendersonville

219 Old Toll Circle, Black Mountain, 669-6000, cloudcottage.org • MONDAYS and THURSDAYS through (7/31), 1-4pm - Open studio intensive with puppet maker Judith Toy. Admission by donation.

oLLi At UncA 251-6140, olliasheville.com • FR (8/21), 3pm - “Opera Talks” guided by industry professionals. Free. Held in the Reuter Center.

AUDitions & cALL to ARtists AsHeviLLe coMMUnitY cHiLDRen’s cHoRUs

open UkeLeLe JAM • MONDAYS, 6-8pm - All skill levels and stringed instruments welcome. Free. Held at Montford Recreation Center, 34 Pearson Drive

andrewhiler76@gmail.com • Through SA (9/5) - Open call auditions for children ages 9-14. Contact for guidelines and location. Free.

AsHeviLLe coMMUnitY YoUtH cHoRUs 230-5778, singasheville.org • TH (8/27), 5pm - Open auditions for grades 2 through high school. Contact for guidelines. Free to attend. Held at First Congregational UCC of Asheville, 20 Oak St. cARoLinA conceRt cHoiR 607-351-2585, carolinaconcertchoir.org, ldoebler@ithaca.edu • Through MO (8/31) - Open call auditions. Contact for location and guidelines. Free to attend.

RHYtHM & BRews conceRt seRies 233-3216, facebook.com/rhythmandbrewshendersonville • TH (8/20), 7pm - Local food, beer and music by Big Muddy, blues. Free to attend. Held in Downtown Hendersonville. sHinDig on tHe gReen 258-6101 x345, folkheritage.org • SATURDAYS until (9/5), 7pm - Traditional old-time music and dance. Free. Held at Pack Square Park, 121 College St. sUMMeR tRAcks conceRt seRies 290-4316, summertracks.com • FR (8/21), 7pm - The Honeycutters, Americana. Free. Held at Rogers Park, 55 W. Howard St., Tryon

gRAnD BoHeMiAn gALLeRY 11 Boston Way, 877-274-1242, bohemianhotelasheville.com • Through MO (8/31) - Entries accepted for the annual signature holiday ornament. Contact for guidelines. Free.

tHeAteR

tHe wRiteRs’ woRksHop 254-8111, twwoa.org • Through SU (8/30) - Submissions will be accepted for the Literary Fiction Contest. Contact for guidelines. $25.

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35BeLow 35 E. Walnut St., 254-1320, ashevilletheatre.org • WE (8/19), 7:30pm - “Olde Virden’s Super Happy Trivia

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FLAt Rock pLAYHoUse Downtown 125 S. Main St., Hendersonville, 693-0731, flatrockplayhouse.org • WEDNESDAYS through SUNDAYS, (8/20) until (9/6) - Crimes of the Heart. $15-$40. Wed. - Sat.: 8pm. Thu., Sat. & Sun.: 2pm.

HenDeRsonviLLe LittLe tHeAtRe 229 S. Washington St., Hendersonville, 692-1082, hendersonvillelittletheater.org • THURSDAYS through SUNDAYS (8/21) until (9/5), - The Crucible. $20/$15 students/$10 children. Thu. - Sat.: 7:30pm.

Sun.: 2pm.

MontFoRD pARk pLAYeRs 254-5146, montfordparkplayers.org • WEDNESDAYS through SUNDAYS until (8/29), 7:30pm Richard III. Free. Held at Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre, 92 Gay St. tHe MAgnetic tHeAtRe 375 Depot St., 279-4155 • THURSDAYS through SATURDAYS (8/20) until (9/12), 7:30pm - The Jacob Higginbotham Show, one-man lyric-drama. $21/$18 advance.

g AL L eRY D i R ecto RY 5 wALnUt wine BAR 5 Walnut St., 253-2593 • Through MO (8/31) - The Night’s Thoughts Considered, paintings by Suzanne Saunders and Terri Owen.

AMeRicAn FoLk ARt AnD FRAMing 64 Biltmore Ave., 281-2134, amerifolk.com • Through WE (8/26) - Natural Affinity, paintings by Ellen Langford and pottery by Shawn Ireland.

ARt At UncA art.unca.edu • FR (8/21) through TH (9/17) - Unfathomable, silverpoint and mixed media by Carol Prusa. Held in S. Tucker Cooke Gallery. Opening reception: Aug. 21, 5pm.

AsHeviLLe gALLeRY oF ARt 16 College St., 251-5796, ashevillegallery-of-art.com • Through MO (8/31) - Watercolor paintings by Elinor Bowman.

AsHeviLLe LoFt 52 Broadway St., 782-8833, theashevilleloft.com • Through MO (9/7) - To The Harbormaster, paintings

by Amanda Seckington.

BencHspAce gALLeRY & woRksHop 67 Broadway, 785-1357, craftcreativitydesign.org • Through (8/22) - “The Mend-Smith Project” with metalsmith Nick Dong.

BLAck MoUntAin centeR FoR tHe ARts 225 W. State St., Black Mountain, 669-0930, blackmountainarts.org • Through FR (9/4) - Works by glass artist John Almaguer.

BURnsviLLe tRAc gALLeRY 102 W. Main St., Burnsville, 682-7215, toeriverarts.org/facilities/burnsville-gallery • Through SA (9/26) - Local authors’ books are showcased. Free to attend.

McDoweLL ARts coUnciL AssociAtion 50 S. Main St., Marion, 652-8610, mcdowellarts.net • Through MO (8/31) - Blue Ridge Series, paintings by Kasey Moran.

MoUntAin HeRitAge centeR Located in Hunter Library on the campus of WCU, 2277129, mhc.wcu.edu • Through (12/11) - Exhibit: The Photography of Lewis Hine: Exposing Child Labor in North Carolina, 1908-1918.

Roots + wings cReAtive cAMpUs 573 Fairview Road, rootsandwingsarts.com • SA (8/22) through FR (8/28) - exCHANGE, works by students in Arts For Life and Roots + Wings programs. spRUce pine tRAc gALLeRY 269 Oak Ave., Spruce Pine, 765-0520, toeriverarts.org/facilities/spruce-pine-gallery • Through SA (9/19) - Wax, featuring work of nine artists who include wax in their creative process. swAnnAnoA vALLeY Fine ARts LeAgUe svfalarts.org • Through TU (9/8) - Annual member’s juried art exhibition. Held at Red House Studios and Gallery, 310 W. State St., Black Mountain

ARts coUnciL oF HenDeRson coUntY 693-8504, acofhc.org • Through FR (8/28) - Bring Us Your Best, all-media juried exhibit. Held in the TEDC building at Blue Ridge Community College.

tHe Design gALLeRY

AsHeviLLe AReA ARts coUnciL 1 Page Ave., 258-0710, ashevillearts.com • Through SA (9/5) - Contemporary Muralism in Context: Street Art, Public Art, and Graffiti.

• Through (9/19) - Adieu, original paintings on wood by Heather Shirin.

UpstAiRs ARtspAce

AsHeviLLe ARt MUseUM 2 N. Pack Square, 253-3227, ashevilleart.org • Through SU (10/11) - Heritage and Home: Photographs of Hickory Nut Gap Farm, photography by Ken Abbot.

• SA (8/22) through SU (1/24) - Cubism and Other-isms, the work of William Wegman. Opening reception: Aug. 23, 3-5pm.

7 South Main St., Burnsville, 678-9869, the-design-gallery.com • Through MO (8/31) - The Renaissance of the Family Farm, works by the Blue Ridge Fine Arts Guild.

49 S. Trade St., Tryon, 859-2828, upstairsartspace.org • Through FR (9/11) - Soul to Sole, gospel portraits by Steve Mann.

• Through FR (9/11) - Endless Night, photography by Rimas Zailskas.

ZApow!

21 Battery Park Suite 101, 575-2024, zapow.net • Through SU (10/11), Heroes and Villains!, a member artist group show.

Contact the galleries for admission hours and fees.

cluBland tHURsDAY, AUgUst 20

weDnesDAY, AUgUst 19

185 king stReet John Trufant w/ Derrick Gardner & Issac Wells (Americana, folk), 8pm

185 king stReet Movie night, 8pm 5 wALnUt wine BAR Wine Tasting w/ Dave Desmelik (acoustic), 5pm Juan Benavides Trio (Flamenco), 8pm

5 wALnUt wine BAR Pleasure Chest (blues, rock, soul), 8pm ALtAMont tHeAtRe Reasonably Priced Babies (improv comedy), 8pm

ALtAMont tHeAtRe Easter, Wolf, Wright (jazz, rock, blues), 7:30pm Ben’s tUne-Up Asheville Country Music Review w/ Town Mountain, The Honeycutters & John Stickley Trio, 5pm

BARLeY’s tApRooM AMC Jazz Jam, 9pm

BLAck MoUntAin ALe HoUse Play To Win Game Night, 7:30pm

BLAck MoUntAin ALe HoUse Bluegrass Jam w/ The Big Deal Band (bluegrass), 8pm

BLUe MoUntAin piZZA & BRew pUB Open Mic, 7pm

BLUe MoUntAin piZZA & BRew pUB Patrick Fitzsimons (blues, folk), 7pm

DiRtY soUtH LoUnge Disclaimer Stand-Up Lounge (comedy open mic), 9pm

cLUB eLeven on gRove Swing lessons & dance w/ Swing Asheville, 6:30pm Tango lessons & practilonga w/ Tango Gypsies, 7pm

DoUBLe cRown Classic Country w/ DJs Greg Cartwright, David Gay, Brody Hunt, 10pm

cReeksiDe tApHoUse Station Underground (reggae), 8pm

FoggY MoUntAin BRewpUB Bobby Miller and special guests (folk), 9pm

cRow & qUiLL Carolina Catskins (ragtime jazz), 9pm

FUnkAtoRiUM John Hartford Jam (folk, bluegrass), 6:30pm gReY eAgLe MUsic HALL & tAveRn Rock ’n’ roll Wednesdays w/ Rock Academy of Asheville, 7pm

DoUBLe cRown 33 and 1/3 Thursdays w/ DJs Devyn & Oakley, 10pm

no tears: Fast-rising Charleston indie band Brave Baby just released its second album Electric Friends last week. After the band’s initial release, Brave Baby gained recognition down South “as local pop darlings,” and the album “launched a touring schedule that [logged] countless miles on the road, playing over 150 shows to audiences across the U.S.” Brave Baby will be performing at the Altamont Theatre on Saturday, Aug. 22, at 7:30 p.m.

eLAine’s DUeLing piAno BAR Dueling Pianos, 9pm

JAck oF tHe wooD pUB Old-time session, 5pm Hearts Gone South (country, honky-tonk), 9pm

nAtive kitcHen & sociAL pUB Ryan O’Keefe (folk), 6:30pm

soL BAR new MoUntAin World Wednesdays, 8pm

LAZY DiAMonD Killer Karaoke w/ KJ Tim O, 10pm

noBLe kAvA Open mic w/ Caleb Beissert, 9pm

tALLgARY’s At FoUR coLLege Open mic & jam, 7pm

gReY eAgLe MUsic HALL & tAveRn On the patio w/ Mimi Bell (acoustic, singersongwriter), 6pm

Lex 18 Patrick Lopez Experience (modern and Latin jazz), 7pm

o.HenRY’s/tHe UnDeRgRoUnD “Take the Cake” Karaoke, 10pm

tHe Joint next DooR Bluegrass jam, 8pm

LoBsteR tRAp Ben Hovey (dub-jazz, trumpet), 6:30pm

oDDitoRiUM Love Moon w/ Smut, Crystal Brawl, Future West (sludge, punk, psychedelic), 9pm

tHe MiLLRooM South Slope Boogie (country, line dance), 7pm

MoUntAin MoJo coFFeeHoUse Open mic, 6:30pm

oFF tHe wAgon Piano show, 9pm

gRinD cAFe Trivia night, 7pm HigHLAnD BRewing coMpAnY Woody Wood Wednesdays (rock, soul), 5:30pm iRon HoRse stAtion Kevin Reese (Americana), 6pm

To qualify for a free listing, a venue must be predominately dedicated to the performing arts. Bookstores and cafés with regular open mics and musical events are also allowed / To limit confusion, events must be submitted by the venue owner or a representative of that venue / Events must be submitted in written form by e-mail (clubland@mountainx.com), fax, snail mail or hand-delivered to the Clubland Editor Hayley Benton at 2 Wall St., Room 209, Asheville, NC 28801. Events submitted to other staff members are not assured of inclusion in Clubland / Clubs must hold at least TWO events per week to qualify for listing space. Any venue that is inactive in Clubland for one month will be removed / The Clubland Editor reserves the right to edit or exclude events or venues / Deadline is by noon on Monday for that Wednesday’s publication. this is a firm deadline.

oLive oR twist Intermediate swing dance lessons w/ Bobby Wood, 7pm Beginning swing dance lesson w/ Bobby Wood, 7:30pm 3 Cool Cats (vintage rock), 8pm one stop DeLi & BAR Lip sync karaoke, 10pm one woRLD BRewing Billy Litz (Americana, singer-songwriter), 8pm pisgAH BRewing coMpAnY Cameron Stack (blues, rock), 6pm poUR tApRooM Karaoke, 8pm ReJAvAnAtion cAFe Open mic night, 6pm

tHe MotHLigHt Danny Kroha w/ Jake Xerxes Fussell, Don Howland, Sally Anne Morgan & Sarah Louise (folk, blues, gospel), 9:30pm tHe pHoenix Jazz night, 8pm

FoggY MoUntAin BRewpUB Hot Point Trio (jazz), 9pm FRencH BRoAD BReweRY Up Jumped Three (jazz), 6pm gooD stUFF Nate Hall (rock), 8pm

isis RestAURAnt AnD MUsic HALL On the patio: Laid Back Thursdays, 7pm Hope Griffin (singer-songwriter, blues), 7pm Lovestruck Suckers w/ The Get Right Band (Americana, classical, rock ’n’ roll), 8:30pm JAck oF tHe wooD pUB Bluegrass jam, 7pm LAZY DiAMonD Breanna Barbara w/ Pierce Edens and The Dirty Work (wild occult blues, heavy country), 10pm Lex 18 Ray Biscoglia Duo (jazz standards), 7pm

tHe sociAL Marc Keller, 6pm Karaoke, 9:30pm

LoBsteR tRAp Hank Bones (“The man of 1,000 songs”), 6:30pm

tHe soUtHeRn Disclaimer Comedy open mic, 9pm tigeR MoUntAin Flux (’80s & ’90s dance party), 10pm tiMo’s HoUse Spectrum AVL w/ rotating DJs, 9pm town pUMp Open mic w/ Parker Brooks, 9pm

RooM ix Fuego: Latin night, 9pm

tRAiLHeAD RestAURAnt AnD BAR Acoustic jam w/ Kevin Scanlon (bluegrass, old-time, folk), 6pm

Root BAR no. 1 Lionlimb (avant-rock), 9pm

tRessA’s Downtown JAZZ AnD BLUes Blues & soul jam w/ Al Coffee & Da Grind, 8:30pm

scULLY’s Sons of Ralph (bluegrass), 6pm

wHite HoRse BLAck MoUntAin Wednesday Waltz, 7pm

sLY gRog LoUnge Word Night (trivia-ish), 8pm Cards Against Humanity Game Night, 10pm

wiLD wing cAFe soUtH Skinny Wednesdays w/ J Luke, 7pm

MARket pLAce Ben Hovey (dub jazz, beats), 7pm o.HenRY’s/tHe UnDeRgRoUnD Game Night w/ Xandrea Foxx, 9pm SINgularly sordid w/ Del Shores (comedy), 9pm oDDitoRiUM Lunar Creature w/ The Growth, Compulsion Analysis, Andre Chomondeley & Alfonso Graceffo (noise), 9pm oFF tHe wAgon Dueling pianos, 9pm oLive oR twist Dance lesson w/ Ian & Karen, 8pm DJ (oldies, Latin, line dance), 8:30pm one stop DeLi & BAR Phish ’n’ Chips (Phish covers), 6pm An evening w/ Glostik Willy (jam, rock), 10pm one woRLD BRewing

mountainx.com

august 19 - august 25, 2015

51

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52

august 19 - august 25, 2015

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Send your listings to clubland@mountainx.com

Emma’s Lounge (Americana), 8pm oskAR BLUes BReweRY Dana & Sue Robinson (folk, singer-songwriter, Americana), 6pm

“Almost” Almost Acoustic (Jerry Garcia Band tribute), 8pm AsHeviLLe MUsic HALL Two Fresh (hip-hop, electronic), 10pm

pAck’s tAveRn Steve Mosely Duo (classic hits, bluegrass), 9pm

AtHenA’s cLUB Dave Blair (folk, funk, acoustic), 7pm

pisgAH BRewing coMpAnY The Alarm Clock Conspiracy (indie, rock), 8pm

Ben’s tUne-Up Woody Wood (acoustic, folk, rock), 5pm

pULp Slice of life comedy open mic, 9pm

BLUe MoUntAin piZZA & BRew pUB Acoustic Swing, 7pm

pURpLe onion cAFe Darlyne Cain (singer-songwriter, jazz, blues), 7:30pm

BYwAteR Max Gross Weight (rock), 8pm

RenAissAnce AsHeviLLe HoteL Chris Rhodes (jazz, blues, R&B), 6:30pm

cLAssic wineseLLeR Mike Pilgrim & Don Mercz (gypsy jazz), 7pm

RooM ix Throwback Thursdays (all vinyl set), 9pm

coRk & keg Buddy Davis & the Session Players (honky-tonk, country), 8:30pm

scAnDALs nigHtcLUB DJ dance party & drag show, 10pm

cRow & qUiLL Homeward Sound (indie-folk), 9pm

sLY gRog LoUnge Open mic (musicians, poets, comedians & more welcome), 8pm

DoUBLe cRown DJ Greg Cartwright (garage & soul obscurities), 10pm

soL BAR new MoUntAin Songwriter Thursdays w/ Caine McDonald, 8pm

eLAine’s DUeLing piAno BAR Dueling Pianos, 9pm

spRing cReek tAveRn Open Mic, 6pm

FoggY MoUntAin BRewpUB George Mandlekorn Trio (jazz, funk), 10pm

tALLgARY’s At FoUR coLLege Gentle Jones Band (classic rock mix), 7pm

FRencH BRoAD BReweRY The Low Counts (rock), 6pm

tHe MotHLigHt Amanda X w/ Spirit of the Beehive, Sisterwives & Chester and the Nuts (alternative, post-punk, rock), 9:30pm

gooD stUFF Easy Street Apothecary (New Orleans jazz, southern rock, folk), 8:30pm

tHe pHoenix Bradford Carson (modern mountain music), 8pm

gReY eAgLe MUsic HALL & tAveRn Blue Wheel Drive (bluegrass), 8pm

tHe sociAL Jordan Okrend (pop, rock, soul), 6pm

HigHLAnD BRewing coMpAnY The Corbitt Brothers (Southern rock, outlaw country, blues), 7pm

tHe soUtHeRn Throwdown Thursday w/ Jim Raves & Nex Millen (DJ, dance party), 10pm

iRon HoRse stAtion Barb Turner (R&B), 7pm

tHe vALLeY MUsic & cookHoUse Karaoke w/ Adam Scully, 8pm tiMo’s HoUse Dance Party w/ DJ Franco Nino, 10pm town pUMp Someday Rumble (garage rock), 9pm tRAiLHeAD RestAURAnt AnD BAR Cajun & western swing jam w/ Steve Burnside, 7pm tRessA’s Downtown JAZZ AnD BLUes Jimmy Thackery (blues), 8pm twisteD LAUReL Karaoke, 8pm

advertise@mountainx.com

Wed • August 19 Woody Wood

JeRUsALeM gARDen Middle Eastern music & bellydancing, 7pm

7:00-9:00

Thu • August 20 Mike & Amy 5:30-7:30

The Corbitt Brothers

Sat • August 22

LAZY DiAMonD Sonic Satan Stew w/ DJ Alien Brain, 10pm

wiLD wing cAFe soUtH Joey Wilton (acoustic), 6pm Live DJ, 9pm

MARket pLAce The Sean Mason Trio (groove, jazz, funk), 7pm

ALtAMont tHeAtRe

38 N FRENCH BROAD AVENUE ASHEVILLE, NC 28801

Fri • August 21

LoBsteR tRAp Riyen Roots & Kenny Dore (blues), 6:30pm

5 wALnUt wine BAR What It Is (jazz, funk), 9pm

AFTER PARTIES IN ALL THREE ROOMS! (FREE WITH HWA TICKET!) THEATER : RED HONEY AND FREEWAY REVIVAL BLUE RIDGE ROOM : MIKE RHODES FELLOWSHIP + UNIVERSAL SIGH SOL BAR : AUTUMN ATTICS FT. MEMBERS OF PGROOVE & DRIVE BY TRUCKERS, W/ MARADEEN

JAck oF tHe wooD pUB Magpie Thief (folk), 2pm Newbridge (bluegrass), 9pm

wiLD wing cAFe Throwin’ Down Thursday w/ DJ Ramin, 5pm

185 king stReet Lovestruck Suckers & The Get Right Band (singersongwriter, folk-rock), 8pm

HARD WORKING AMERICANS

5:30-7:30

wHite HoRse BLAck MoUntAin R.L. Thomas Group (instrumental, jazz), 7:30pm

FRiDAY, AUgUst 21

8.21

AMPHITHEATRE

isis RestAURAnt AnD MUsic HALL Concert on the lawn w/ Omnitet (soul, funk, jazz), 6:30pm An evening w/ Michael Reno Harrell (singer-songwriter, folk, storyteller), 7pm Snake Oil Medicine Show (jazz, bluegrass, swing), 9pm

Lex 18 Michael John Jazz (classic jazz), 4pm HotPoint Trio (Gypsy swing), 6:30pm Shelia Gordon (love songs), 10pm

wxYZ LoUnge At ALoFt HoteL Stevie Lee Combs (ragtime, folk, Americana), 7:30pm

FRIDAY

Banjopalooza

(Check Website for Tickets)

Meadow is Open with DJ Bear King 7:00-9:00

Sun • August 23

MetRo wines Slice of Life storytelling w/ Connie Regan-Blake, 7:30pm

Dennis “Chalwa” Berndt Roots Reggae Trio

nAtive kitcHen & sociAL pUB Blue Wheel Drive (bluegrass), 7:30pm

1:00-4:00

new MoUntAin tHeAteR/AMpHitHeAteR Hard Working Americans w/ Todd Snider, Dave Schools, Neal Casal, Duane Trucks, Chad Staehly, Jesse Aycock & Elizabeth Cook (rock), 6:45pm Mike Rhodes Fellowship w/ Woody Wood, Mike Barnes, Zach Page & Universal Sigh (variety), 10pm Autumn Attics w/ Maradeen (rock), 10pm Red Honey w/ Freeway Revival (vintage surf punk, country, blues), 10pm

mountainx.com

BE

ST OF

HALL OF F FAME WNC 2014

august 19 - august 25, 2015

53

JACK OF THE

WOOD PUB

Dinner Menu till 10pm Late Night Menu till

Tues-Sun

5pm–12am

Full Bar

12am

SAT 8.22 SUN 8.23 MON 8.24

SMARTS) EARLY AFTERNOON SET 2 p.m. Free (Donations Encouraged) NEWBRIDGE (BLUEGRASS BAND FROM 9 p.m. $5 ASHEVILLE)

THE BIG EZS (NEW ORLEANS RAGTIME PARTY JAZZ) EARLY AFTERNOON SET

9 p.m. $5

PAGEANT (FOLK ROCK)

9 p.m. Free (Donations Encouraged)

JOE FIRSTMAN (CALIFORNIA TROUBADOUR)

9 p.m. Free (Donations Encouraged)

OPEN AT NOON DAILY

SATURDAY Parker & Smith (old-fashioned blues), 2-4pm SUNDAY Celtic Irish session 3-9pm MONDAY Quizzo! 7:30-9pm • WEDNESDAY Old-Time 5pm SINGER SONGWRITERS 1st & 3rd Tuesdays THURSDAY Scottie Parker (old-fashioned blues) 2-4pm, Bluegrass Jam 7pm FRIDAY The Low Counts (blues) w/ Todd Cecil & Back South A Dirty Dance Party

95 PATTON at COXE • Downtown Asheville

252.5445 • jackofthewood.com

COMING SOON THU 8/20 7:00 PM – MUSIC ON THE PATIO W/

RAM AND FRIENDS 7:00 PM – AN EVENING W/

ANNE DECHANT & HOPE GRIFFIN 8:30 PM – LOVESTRUCK SUCKERS W/ THE GET RIGHT BAND

FRI 8/21 6:30 PM – CONCERT ON THE LAWN W/ OMNITET 7:00 PM – AN EVENING W/ MICHAEL RENO HARRELL 9:00 PM – SNAKE OIL MEDICINE SHOW

REUNION & CD RELEASE SAT 8/22

7:00 PM – AN EVENING W/ AMY STEINBERG 8:30 PM – ALEX

KRUG COMBO

EP RELEASE CONCERT WED 8/26

5:00-7:00 PM – ALL YOU CAN EAT SNOW CRAB LEGS $35 7:00 PM – MUSIC ON THE PATIO W/

FLAWLESS AND RAW 7:00 PM – AN EVENING W/ ME AND MOLLY THU 8/27 7:00 PM – MUSIC ON THE PATIO W/

MAGENTA SUNSHINE FRI 8/28

7:00 PM – AN EVENING W/ BLUE EYED BETTYS

8:30 PM – FREE PLANET RADIO & THE OPAL STRING RELEASE CONCERT SAT 8/29 9:00 PM –TODD NANCE (DRUMMER OF WIDESPREAD PANIC) & FRIENDS Every Tuesday

7:30pm–midnite

BLUEGRASS SESSIONS

Every Sunday

6pm–11pm

JAZZ SHOWCASE

743 HAYWOOD RD 828-575-2737 ISISASHEVILLE.COM 54

august 19 - august 25, 2015

o.HenRY’s/tHe UnDeRgRoUnD Drag Show, 9pm Cherry Bomb (dance party), 10pm

oFF tHe wAgon Dueling pianos, 9pm

WED HEARTS GONE SOUTH (KICK ASS TONK BAND) HONKY TONK / COUNTRY DANCE 8.19 & HONKY PARTY EVERY WEDNESDAY NIGHT IN THE SUMMER) 8.26 9 p.m. Free (Donations Encouraged) FRI 8.21

Send your listings to clubland@mountainx.com

oDDitoRiUM Poverty Bomb w/ Minor Accident & Snack Champion (punk), 9pm

#1 Pub Grub #2 Bar for Live Music

MAGPIE THIEF (FOLK MUSIC WITH STREET

cLU B LA nD

mountainx.com

wxYZ LoUnge At ALoFt HoteL Ben Hovey (jazztronica), 8pm ZAMBRA Zambra Jazz Trio, 8pm

sAtURDAY, AUgUst 22

oLive oR twist Westsound (Motown), 8pm

185 king stReet Riverbank Ramblers (punk, funk, country), 8pm

one stop DeLi & BAR Free Dead Fridays w/ members of Phuncle Sam (jam), 5pm Soul Mechanic (funk, soul), 10pm

5 wALnUt wine BAR Duo of Dreams & Splendor (vintage jazz), 6pm Resonant Rogues (Gypsy jazz, folk, old-time), 9pm

oRAnge peeL Waveforms 2.0 (IDM), 9pm

ALtAMont tHeAtRe Brave Baby (rock ’n’ roll), 7:30pm

oskAR BLUes BReweRY The Dawn Osborne Band (Americana), 6pm

AsHeviLLe MUsic HALL Our House w/ Charles Feelgood, Aligning Minds, In Plain Sign & Chad Howell (house, EDM), 10pm

pAck’s tAveRn DJ MoTo (dance, hits), 9pm

AtHenA’s cLUB Dave Blair (folk, funk, acoustic), 7pm

pisgAH BRewing coMpAnY The Screaming J’s (boogie-woogie, swing), 8pm

Ben’s tUne-Up Gypsy Guitars, 2pm

RiveRwAtcH BAR & gRiLL Ellen Trnka (blues, singer-songwriter), 7pm Root BAR no. 1 Magpie Thief (indie folk), 9pm scAnDALs nigHtcLUB DJ dance party & drag show, 10pm scULLY’s DJ, 10pm sLY gRog LoUnge The Asound w/ Temptations Wings, Solaire & Boar (metal), 8pm soUtHeRn AppALAcHiAn BReweRY Jonny Monster Band (rock, blues), 8pm

BLAck MoUntAin ALe HoUse Alarm Clock Conspiracy (indie rock), 9pm BLUe MoUntAin piZZA & BRew pUB Erin Kinard, 7pm BYwAteR Station Underground (roots, reggae), 8:30pm cLAssic wineseLLeR Angela Easterling (Americana, country), 7pm coRk & keg The Paint Bug (art lessons & beer/wine), 2pm Old-time jam (experienced musicians only), 5pm cRow & qUiLL Low-Down Sires (swing, jazz), 9pm

tALLgARY’s At FoUR coLLege Apple Blue Horse (country), 9:30pm

DoUBLe cRown Rock ’n’ Soul w/ DJs Lil Lorruh or Rebecca & Dave, 10pm

tHe ADMiRAL Hip Hop dance party w/ DJ Warf, 11pm

eLAine’s DUeLing piAno BAR Dueling Pianos, 9pm

tHe MotHLigHt Drums Like Machine Guns w/ Heavy Medical (punk, grind, thrash), 9:30pm

FoggY MoUntAin BRewpUB Family Portraits (folk), 9pm

tHe pHoenix Porcelain (indie-folk), 9pm tHe sociAL Steve Moseley (acoustic), 6pm Get Vocal Karaoke, 9:30pm tHe vALLeY MUsic & cookHoUse Kolkata Band (Grateful Dead covers, jam), 8pm tigeR MoUntAin Dark dance rituals w/ DJ Cliffypoo, 10pm tiMo’s HoUse Full Blast Tour w/ B1G BEN (hip-hop, trap), 10pm town pUMp Paul Edelman & The Jangling Sparrows (soul, roots, rock), 9pm

FRencH BRoAD BReweRY Riverside Drive (Southern rock), 6pm gooD stUFF Rad Lou (rock, soul, punk), 9pm gReY eAgLe MUsic HALL & tAveRn Wham Bam Bowie Band (David Bowie tribute), 9pm HigHLAnD BRewing coMpAnY BanjoPalooza! w/ Sheila Kay Adams, David Ray Johnson, Eric Ellis & Laura Boosinger (bluegrass, old-time), 6:30pm iRon HoRse stAtion Dana and Susan Robinson (folk, singer-songwriter, old-time), 7pm

tRAiLHeAD RestAURAnt AnD BAR Jay Brown (blues, jazz, swing), 7pm

isis RestAURAnt AnD MUsic HALL An evening w/ Amy Steinberg (singer-songwriter, blues, storyteller), 7pm Alex Krug Combo w/ Indigo De Souza (rock, Americana, jazz), 8:30pm

tRessA’s Downtown JAZZ AnD BLUes Filmore East w/Lenny Pettinelli (piano), 10pm

JAck oF tHe wooD pUB The Big EZs (ragtime, party jazz), 9pm

twisteD LAUReL Live DJ, 11pm

JeRUsALeM gARDen Middle Eastern music & bellydancing, 7pm

wHite HoRse BLAck MoUntAin Cabaret Jazz, 8pm

LAZY DiAMonD Unknown Pleasures w/ DJ Greg Cartwright, 10pm

wiLD wing cAFe Scott Raines and Laura Michaels (acoustic), 6pm

Lex 18 Michael John Jazz (classic jazz), 4pm Ray Biscoglia Duo (jazz standards), 6:30pm

wiLD wing cAFe soUtH A Social Function (acoustic), 9:30pm

LoBsteR tRAp Hot Point Trio (Gypsy jazz), 6:30pm

pURpLe onion cAFe The Lonetones (mountain indie, folk, pop), 8pm RiveRwAtcH BAR & gRiLL Riyen Roots & Kenny Dore (blues), 7pm RooM ix Open dance night, 9pm Root BAR no. 1 Linda Mitchell (blues, jazz), 9pm scAnDALs nigHtcLUB DJ dance party & drag show, 10pm scULLY’s DJ, 10pm sLY gRog LoUnge The High Court (classic rock, country, blues), 8pm soUtHeRn AppALAcHiAn BReweRY King Possum (blues, Americana), 8pm spRing cReek tAveRn The Blue Ribbon Healers (old-time, Gypsy jazz), 9pm tALLgARY’s At FoUR coLLege Picasso Facelift (classic rock), 9:30pm tHe ADMiRAL Soul night w/ DJ Dr. Filth, 11pm tHe MiLLRooM A.J. Finney (comedy), 8pm tHe MotHLigHt Wham! Bam! Puppet Slam! (puppetry), 8pm tHe pHoenix David Desmelik (singer-songwriter), 12pm Waist Management Trio (jazz-fusion), 9pm tHe sociAL Get Vocal Karaoke, 9:30pm

BYwAteR Jason Daniello (singer-songwriter), 5pm cRow & qUiLL Resonant Rogues (Balkan, gypsy, old-time), 9pm DoUBLe cRown Karaoke w/ Tim O, 9pm HigHLAnD BRewing coMpAnY Dennis Berndt (reggae), 1pm iRon HoRse stAtion Mark Shane (R&B), 6pm

8/27 thu single lash w/ future

museums, ellipser, kangarot

8/28 fri hearts gone south w

buddy davis & the session players

S

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6 P

D M

S 6 P

M

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7P

D

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8P

SD

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8/ 2 8

An Evening with

D E LLA M A E + J O N S T IC K L E Y T R IO

8/ 2 9

NI K K I T A L L E Y B I R T B A S H W / T H E M U L L I G A T NH B E R R O S

8/29 sat diarrhea planet

w/ the blots, electric phantom

JAck oF tHe wooD pUB Irish session, 5pm Pageant w/ Scott Wesley (folk rock), 9pm

TAVERN

LAZY DiAMonD Tiki Night w/ DJ or band (Hawaiian, surf, exotica), 10pm

Downtown on the Park

Lex 18 Michael John Jazz (classic jazz), 7pm Lenny Pettinelli (pop, jazz), 9pm

Eclectic Menu • Over 30 Taps • Patio 13 TV’s • Sports Room • 110” Projector Event Space • Shuffleboard Open 7 Days 11am - Late Night

LoBsteR tRAp Lyndsay Pruett & John Stineman (old-time), 6:30pm

Try Our New Wo Pizza and G od-Fired rinders!

new MoUntAin tHeAteR/AMpHitHeAteR Game Of Thrones burlesque show, 8pm oDDitoRiUM Malokio w/ Scuzz, Neutron Rats & Hellship Mutiny (punk), 9pm

THU. 8/20

oFF tHe wAgon Piano show, 9pm

Steve Mosely Duo (classic hits, bluegrass)

oLive oR twist DJ (oldies rock, swing), 8pm

FRI. 8/21

one stop DeLi & BAR Bluegrass brunch w/ Woody Wood, 11am Reggae Sundays, 7pm oRAnge peeL Teatro del Gusto w/ The Resonant Rogues (circus cabaret), 7:30pm

town pUMp Hustle Souls (funk, jam), 9pm

poUR tApRooM Open mic, 8pm

tRAiLHeAD RestAURAnt AnD BAR The Bluebirds (old-time, Americana), 8pm

RiveRwAtcH BAR & gRiLL Hope Griffin (singer-songwriter), 6pm

tRessA’s Downtown JAZZ AnD BLUes The King Zeros (blues), 7pm The Nightcrawlers (funk), 10pm

scAnDALs nigHtcLUB DJ dance party & drag show, 10pm

DJ MoTo

(pop, dance hits)

SAT. 8/22 A Social Function

(classic covers, rock&roll)

sociAL LoUnge & tApAs In the Biz Networking Night w/ Patrick Lopez (acoustic, piano, pop, open to everyone), 8pm

20 S. Spruce St. • 225.6944 PacksTavern.com mountainx.com

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8P

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isis RestAURAnt AnD MUsic HALL Sunday Classical Brunch, 11am Sunday jazz showcase, 6pm

tiMo’s HoUse Dance Party w/ DJ Franco Nino (top 40), 10pm

twisteD LAUReL Live DJ, 11pm

w/ ashley heath, ben phan

8/ 2 D 7A

The Grey Eagle Comedy Series Presents:

8P

BLUe MoUntAin piZZA & BRew pUB Billy Litz (Americana, singer-songwriter), 7pm

R

8/24 mon free mothlight monday millie palmer

8P

U T U

BLAck MoUntAin ALe HoUse Sunday Jazz Brunch w/ James Hammel, 12pm

0 An Evening with B1 l u e eWe l h D r i v e An Evening with W2 H A M B A M B WO I E B A ND An Evening with 5S E R Y N The Grey Eagle Taqueria Patio Series E M I M I B E F R LE L

S D

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8/22 sat wham! bam! puppet slam!

2 2 2 2

S D

pisgAH BRewing coMpAnY Phuncle Sam (Grateful Dead tribute), 9pm

BARLeY’s tApRooM Skylark (vintage jazz, swing), 7:30pm

5 wALnUt wine BAR Pamela Jones Trio (jazz), 7pm

8/ 8/ 8/ 8/

M

pAck’s tAveRn A Social Function (classic covers, rock ’n’ roll), 9pm

8/21 fri drums like machine guns & nest egg w/ heavy medical

I T H

oskAR BLUes BReweRY The Gravelys (roots, rock), 6pm

w/ spirit of the beehive, sisterwives, chester and the nuts

F R

oRAnge peeL Asheville Barnaroo pre-jam w/ Asheville Music School Band, Demon Waffle & Andrew Scotchie (ska, funk, punk), 8pm

amanda x

T

oLive oR twist 42nd Street Band (big band jazz), 8pm Dance party (hip-hop, rap), 11pm

sUnDAY, AUgUst 23

8/20

A

oFF tHe wAgon Dueling pianos, 9pm

ZAMBRA Zambra Jazz Trio, 8pm

thu

S

oDDitoRiUM Gutterfest 4 (rock, metal), 9pm

fussell,, sally anne morgan, sarah louise

R

wxYZ LoUnge At ALoFt HoteL The Digz (funk, soul, jazz), 8pm

E F R E

W I T H C KR O A C A D E M P R C O E E D B S E T N EO F IT T H E C RK O A C A D E M

8P

o.HenRY’s/tHe UnDeRgRoUnD Drag Show, 9pm Yeah, Nah (dance party), 10pm

8/ 1 9

Rock N’ Roll Wednesdays

D

wiLD wing cAFe soUtH Trial by Fire (Journey tribute), 6pm

E D

new MoUntAin tHeAteR/AMpHitHeAteR Nick Moss Band (blues, rock, soul), 9pm

8/19 wed danny kroha (the gories) w/ jake xerxes

U W

wiLD wing cAFe Karaoke, 8pm

IT H

MoJo kitcHen & LoUnge Dine ’n’ Disco (funk, soul, hip-hop), 5:30pm

T F R

wHite HoRse BLAck MoUntAin The Belfast Boys (traditional Irish music), 8pm

A

MARket pLAce DJs (funk, R&B), 7pm

august 19 - august 25, 2015

55

THANK YOU FOR VOTING US AS ONE OF THE BEST IN THESE CATAGORIES...

cLU B LA n D

Send your listings to clubland@mountainx.com

soUtHeRn AppALAcHiAn BReweRY Ellen Trnka & Carrie Morrison (folk, Americana), 5pm tALLgARY’s At FoUR coLLege Jason Brazzel (acoustic), 6pm tHe oMni gRove pARk inn Bob Zullo (pop, rock, blues), 7pm Lou Mowad (classical guitar), 10pm tHe pHoenix Howie, Ellen & Woody (acoustic blues), 12pm

BAR WITH GAMES (COME PLAY!) LOCAL BEER SELECTION & UNUSUAL BEER SELECTION

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tHe sociAL Get Vocal Karaoke, 9:30pm tHe soUtHeRn Yacht Rock Brunch w/ DJ Kipper, 12pm tiMo’s HoUse Asheville Drum ’n’ Bass Collective, 10pm weDge BRewing co.

Vollie McKenzie & Hank Bones (acoustic jazz-swing), 6pm

tHe soUtHeRn Speakeasy Mondays w/ The Low-Down Sires & friends (hot jazz, swing), 9:30pm

tiMo’s HoUse Movie night, 7pm

wiLD wing cAFe soUtH Party On The Patio w/ Crocs Duo, 5pm

town pUMp Ratsmouth (indie, alt-rock), 9pm

BYwAteR Open mic w/ Taylor Martin, 8pm coURtYARD gALLeRY Open mic (music, poetry, comedy, etc.), 8pm cRow & qUiLL Los Abrojitos (Argentine tango), 9pm DoUBLe cRown Punk ’n’ roll w/ DJs Dave & Rebecca, 10pm gooD stUFF Open mic w/ Laura Thurston, 7pm

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tHe sociAL Ashli Rose (singer-songwriter), 7pm Salsa Night, 9pm

wiLD wing cAFe Bluegrass Afternoons, 3pm

BLAck MoUntAin ALe HoUse Acoustic jam w/ Hunter, Charlie & Friends, 7:30pm

august 19 - august 25, 2015

tHe pHoenix CarolinaBound (Americana, country, folk), 8pm

tigeR MoUntAin Service industry night (rock ’n’ roll), 9pm

ALtAMont BRewing coMpAnY Old-time jam w/ Mitch McConnell, 6:30pm

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tHe oMni gRove pARk inn Bob Zullo (pop, rock, blues), 7pm

wickeD weeD Mrs. Dubfire (reggae), 3pm

5 wALnUt wine BAR Eleanor Underhill & Friends (Americana, soul), 8pm

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tHe MotHLigHt Millie Palmer w/ Ashley Heath & Ben Phan (Americana, folk), 9pm

tHe vALLeY MUsic & cookHoUse Monday Pickin’ Parlour (open jam & storytelling), 8pm

185 king stReet Open mic night, 7pm

space guarantee 09.09.15

soveReign ReMeDies Stevie Lee Combs (acoustic), 8pm

wHite HoRse BLAck MoUntAin Montreat Battle of the Bands, 7:30pm

MonDAY, AUgUst 24

publishes 09.23.15

sociAL LoUnge & tApAs In the Biz Networking Night w/ Patrick Lopez (acoustic, piano, pop, open to everyone), 8pm

gReY eAgLe MUsic HALL & tAveRn Contra dance (lessons, 7:30pm), 8pm JAck oF tHe wooD pUB Quizzo, 7pm Joe Firstman (rock, acoustic, Americana), 9pm

URBAn oRcHARD Old-time music, 7pm wiLD wing cAFe soUtH Monday Bike Nights, 6pm

tUesDAY, AUgUst 25 5 wALnUt wine BAR The John Henrys (hot jazz), 8pm ALtAMont BRewing coMpAnY Open mic w/ Chris O’Neill, 8:30pm ALtAMont tHeAtRe “Appetites” (sexy storytelling), 8pm AsHeviLLe MUsic HALL Tuesday Night Funk Jam, 11pm Ben’s tUne-Up Eleanor Underhill (acoustic), 5pm BLAck MoUntAin ALe HoUse Trivia, 7pm BLUe MoUntAin piZZA & BRew pUB Mark Bumgarner (Americana), 7pm BUFFALo nickeL Trivia, 7pm BYwAteR Fire spinning night, 8:30pm

LAZY DiAMonD Heavy Night w/ DJ Butch, 10pm

coRk & keg Honky-tonk Jamboree w/ Tom Pittman, 6:30pm

Lexington Ave BReweRY (LAB) Kipper’s “Totally Rad” Trivia night, 8pm

DoUBLe cRown DJ Brody Hunt (honky-tonk, Cajun, Western), 10pm

LoBsteR tRAp Bobby Miller & Friends (bluegrass), 6:30pm

gooD stUFF Old time-y night, 6:30pm

new MoUntAin tHeAteR/AMpHitHeAteR Planet of the Abts (neo-classic rock), 8pm

gReY eAgLe MUsic HALL & tAveRn Seryn (progressive folk), 9pm

o.HenRY’s/tHe UnDeRgRoUnD Geeks Who Drink trivia, 7pm

iRon HoRse stAtion Open mic, 6pm

oLive oR twist 2 Breeze Band (Motown), 6pm

isis RestAURAnt AnD MUsic HALL Tuesday bluegrass sessions, 7:30pm

one woRLD BRewing Beats & Brews w/ DJ Whistleblower, 8pm

JAck oF tHe wooD pUB Jonny Monster Band (R&B), 9pm

oskAR BLUes BReweRY Mountain Music Mondays (open jam), 6pm

LAZY DiAMonD Punk ’n’ Roll w/ DJ Leo Delightful, 10pm

movies

CRANkY HANkE REVIEWS & LISTINGS

by Ken HanKe & Justin soutHer

|

HHHHH = PICk Of ThE WEEk

Nina Hoss and Ronald Zehrfeld in Christian Petzold’s richly complex neo-noir postWWII drama Phoenix

Phoenix HHHHS DIRECTOR: Christian Petzold PLAYERS: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf, Trystan Putter. Michael Maertens NEO-NOIR DRAMA RATED PG-13 THE STORY: In post-WWII Berlin, a Jewish woman, who was shot in the face and left for dead by the Nazis returns with a reconstructed face and agrees to “pose” as herself — in an attempt to get at her inheritance — for the husband who no longer recognizes her and thinks she’s dead.

THE LOWDOWN: Richly compelling — despite its unlikely story — neo-

noir drama of unusual emotional and psychological complexity. Another best-of-the-year contender.

Christian Petzold is a filmmaker whose work has escaped me — which translates into saying that German movies still don’t much make it to the provinces. If Phoenix is any barometer of his work, that’s a great pity for us, because this film at least belongs on the list of best films of 2015 to date. I know a lot of people who will take one look at the film’s premise and shy away from it as “another Holocaust movie,” and, yes, that’s part of the story — the basis in fact — but Phoenix is a

C o n ta C t at p r e s s m o v i e s @ a o l . C o m m a x r at i n g

much more than you might expect.

It’s a kind of post-war neo-noir with elements of Billy Wilder’s A Foreign Affair, Carol Reed’s The Third Man, and Hitchcock’s Vertigo — without ever leaning too heavily on any of these, owing to the themes of the story.

Oddly, Vertigo — which would seem to have the least connection — is thematically its closest antecedent.

Nina Hoss (in her sixth film for Petzold) stars as Nelly Lenz, a Jewish nightclub singer, who was shot in the face and left for dead by the Nazis. (The specifics of this only become clear over the course of the film.) However, she wasn’t dead and she has been given a theoretical new lease on life by a plastic surgeon, who — at Nelly’s insistence and against his advice — reconstructs her face to an approximation of her old self. But it’s only that — an approximation — and it does nothing to restore Nelly’s sense of self. Her friend Lene (Nina Kunzendorf) is adamant that Nelly put her old life behind her and move to a modern apartment in Haifa, making a complete break with Europe and the past. But Nelly is less certain of this plan, not in the least because she’s haunted by the idea of her missing husband, Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld) — despite Lene’s insistence that Johnny is the one who turned her over to the Nazis.

At night, Nelly prowls the ruins of Berlin searching for Johnny, who she finds working in a nightclub called Phoenix in the American sector. The changes in Nelly are enough to make her unrecognizable to him. However, Johnny sees just enough of Nelly in this woman that he thinks he can transform her into a reasonable copy of his dead (he believes) wife — reasonable enough that he can palm her off as Nelly and collect her inheritance. Rather than tell him she really is his wife, she opts to go ahead with his scheme in the belief — never openly voiced, like many things in the film — that somewhere along the way Johnny will realize who she is.

The premise may be both a little far-fetched and pushed beyond its limits. It certainly falls into the realm of twisted romantic melodrama. But that’s only surface — and it only holds

mountainx.com

tH e Ate R L istin gs Friday, august 21thursday, august 28 Due to possible scheduling changes, moviegoers may want to confirm showtimes with theaters.

Asheville Pizza & Brewing Co. (254-1281) Avengers: Age of Ultron (pg-13) 7:00, 10:00 Max (pg) 1:00, 4:00

Carolina Cinemas (274-9500) America Ultra (R) 11:00, 1:00, 3:15, 5:30, 7:45, 10:05 the end of the tour (R) 12:00, 2:25, 4:45, 7:10, 9:45 Fantastic Four (pg-13) 12:20, 2:40, 5:05, 7:30, 9:55 the gift (R) 11:50, 2:15, 4:45, 7:20, 9:50 Hitman: Agent 47 (R) 12:05, 2:35, 5:00, 7:25, 9:40 kahlil gibran’s the prophet (pg) 11:45, 1:50, 4:00, 6:05, 8:10, 10:10 the Man from U.n.c.L.e. (pg-13) 11:15, 2:05, 4:40, 7:20, 10:00 Mission: impossible -- Rogue nation (pg-13) 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 10:15 Mr. Holmes (pg) 11:10, 1:55, 4:25, 6:55, 9:35 Ricki and the Flash (pg-13) 11:55, 2:15, 4:35, 7:05, 9:25 sinister 2 (R) 12:10, 2:45, 5:20, 7:55, 10:10 straight outta compton (R) 12:15, 3:35, 7:00, 10:20 trainwreck (R) 11:20, 2:00, 4:55, 7:40, 10:25 vacation (R) 11:05, 1:20, 3:40, 6:00, 8:15, 10:30

Co-ed Cinema Brevard (883-2200) the gift (R) 1:00, 4:00, 7:00 the end of the tour (R) 4:20, 7:20, Late show Fri-sat 9:30 irrational Man (R) 1:20 phoenix (pg-13) 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, Late show Fri-sat 9:20

Flatrock Cinema (697-2463) Ricki and the Flash (pg-13) 4:00, 7:00 (closed Mon.)

august 19 - august 25, 2015

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Movies

by Ken Hanke & Justin Souther

up to negative scrutiny if you don’t realize that Nelly is both learning to be Nelly all over again and trying to be Johnny’s idea of Nelly — and trying to get Johnny to see she really is his wife, but without being too obvious. It’s emotionally complex and an amazing accomplishment on both acting and filmmaking levels. The film’s structure as a kind of mystery concerning when Johnny will realize who this Nelly is, whether or not he really

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did turn her in — and perhaps most of all, when Nelly will see Johnny and herself for what each is — drives the film with compelling urgency.

The film’s atmosphere is wonderfully achieved. The aura of the grimness of post-war Berlin is almost tangible, as is the sense of characters who are terrified to look at the past, stranded in the present and incapable of imagining the future. The decision to build the film musically — and in a sense dramatically — around the Kurt Weill-Ogden Nash song “Speak Low” verges on genius, and sets the stage for one of the bleakest (yet ambiguous) climaxes in living memory. Altogether a first-rate film that should be seen. Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements and brief suggestive material.

Starts Friday at Fine Arts Theatre. reviewed by Ken Hanke khanke@ mountainx.com

Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet HHH

DIRECTOR: Roger Allers and others PLAYERS: (Voices) Salma Hayek, Liam Neeson, John Krasinski, Alfred Molina, Quvenzhané Wallis, Frank Langella ANIMATED FANTASY DRAMA RATED PG THE STORY: A poet-philosopher under house arrest is being deported to his homeland, but stops along the way to dispense advice and blessings — much to the displeasure of the authorities.

THE LOWDOWN: A clearly wellintentioned attempt at translating Gibran’s book to film that may play well enough to adherents, but may be a puzzling slog to newcomers.

I won’t say that Salma Hayek’s passion project of Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet is bad, but I will say that it’s strictly for the faithful. For me, it mostly tended to confirm my suspicion

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mountainx.com

HHHHH = max rating that all those kids toting the book around in high school and college probably had Rod McKuen posters on their walls.

I’m assuming there are those who find Gibran’s prose poetry on the human condition profound. It struck me — at least as presented here — as prolonged selfhelp bumperstickerese. Sound-bite philosophy 101. The movie reduces things to eight sermonettes wrapped in a framing story that is sort of taken from the book, but with, it seems, added melodrama and undercooked ideas about revolution.

Something is almost certainly lost in the transition. Even so, I’m not even slightly tempted to see what might have been lost.

Part of the problem here lies with Liam Neeson, who is giving voice to Mustafa the prophet. Neeson plays the whole film like a man suffering from a severe lack of bran in his diet — as well as one who only saw the script at the recording session.

Granted, it’s a pretty impossible role, since it mostly consists of him walking to a ship and being asked along the way to spout words of wisdom every time he runs into a new group of people — like some sort of penny-in-the-slot fortune-telling machine.

It’s not much of a role, but even when the film turns into rather poorly developed political drama, Neeson never departs from his strained monotone. Then again, I’m not sure this is any worse than casting the home-grown, corn-fed John Krasinski as someone named Halim.

The film’s central idea is to turn the story over to eight very diverse animators for the individual depictions of Mustafa’s musings on matters various and sundry — freedom, marriage, death etc. This, as you may well imagine, results in a film of almost constant shifts in tone and style, more or less held together by the framing story, which has a pleasantly watercolor look. Less fortunately, it also has a strong Disney-like adherence to broad slapstick that seems more calculated to add some action to a fairly turgid movie than to actually incite laughter. Frenetic is not the same as funny. And there’s only so much mileage to be milked out of a small girl constantly running away from angry adults and knocking over fruit stands.

The only alternative to this is lovesick stumblebum Halim falling down — a lot.

Still, I do suspect that The Prophet will appeal to lovers of the source book, which I presume is the primary target audience here. But as an introduction to Gibran’s famous book, I think it falls short. As presented here, Mustafa seems less profound than profoundly annoying. That cannot have been the idea the film was meant to convey. Rated PG for thematic elements including some violence and sensual images.

Starts Friday at Carolina Cinemas. reviewed by Ken Hanke khanke@mountainx.com

Straight Outta Compton HHHS

DIRECTOR: F. Gary Gray (Be Cool) PLAYERS: O’Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jr., Aldis Hodge, Marlon Yates Jr., Paul Giamatti MUSIC BIOPIC RATED R THE STORY: The rise and fall of hip hop supergroup N.W.A. THE LOWDOWN: A solid biopic that overstays its welcome slightly but will still appeal to fans and outsiders alike.

Around the time I started driving, many of my friends were listening to a lot of hip hop. These same friends consistently refused to ride with me because they knew my music collection consisted almost entirely of Slayer and before-theysucked Metallica. This is to say that I entered Straight Outta Compton with low expectations and only a passing familiarity with the personages and events the film dramatizes. I was therefore understandably surprised at how much I enjoyed the show.

As a biopic, Compton performs admirably, if somewhat predictably.

The story of N.W.A.’s evolution from a ghetto novelty to one of the most influential musical acts of the 20th century is inherently compelling — and following Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) as the narrative’s protagonist was a particularly smart angle, given his tragic demise and the natural stopping point that provides for the script.

This is not the only good decision made by the production, as casting relative unknowns in the lead roles (including Ice Cube’s son playing his dad) gives the story and the characters room to breathe without the weight of audience preconceptions that would accompany bigger names.

The cast is more than up to the challenge, with Mitchell’s performance being a standout. In fact, the film’s only notable name, Paul Giamatti as record manufacturer turned mana-

SPECIAL SC REENINGS gerial Svengali Jerry Heller, might be one of its weakest links. Friday director F. Gary Gray’s work is competent if not always confident, including some particularly effective use of stock footage to lend the story temporal context (yes, Matt Lauer once had hair). Strong performances and excellent pacing, at least for the first hour, allow the constituent pieces of the film a real chance at cohering into something great, although that never quite happens.

While Compton is indeed very good, it is not without its shortcomings. Excessive moralizing leaves protracted segments of the film feeling like an after-school special and, while Gray’s instincts for comedy and action seem sound, his direction seems to falter in scenes with big emotional beats. Character development is accomplished effectively, but there is palpable sense of sanitization at play here.

Likely a result of placating the giant egos involved (Dr. Dre and Ice Cube both produce), one is left with the sense that these characters are being portrayed not as they actually were, but as they might’ve been described by their mothers — the roughest edges being smoothed out in the process.

As a whole, the film feels far too fond of itself, occasionally drifting into the rocky waters of tongue-in-cheek self-referentialism. It is a clever film in many respects, but not nearly so clever as it seems to believe. Most damning, however, is the 147-minute running time. The movie drags painfully in the second act, only to rush through the third to an abrupt conclusion. Mercifully, I will be spared the three-and-one-half-hour (!) director’s cut that has been promised. And yet the film generally works, using its period backdrop to explore issues of race, financial disparity and police brutality, which are, sadly, still topical nearly 30 years after the eponymous album’s release. Fun, poignant, and compelling, Straight Outta Compton doesn’t quite achieve its full potential, but deserves the box-office success and critical praise it’s currently enjoying.

Rated R for language, violence, nudity, and drug use.

Now playing at Carmike 10, Carolina Cinemas, Epic of Hendersonville, Regal Biltmore reviewed by Scott Douglas jsdouglas22@gmail.com

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. HHHHS

DIRECTOR: Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes) PLAYERS: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Hugh Grant, Jared Harris, Elizabeth Debicki SPY ACTION COMEDY RATED PG-13 THE STORY: Prequel that sets up the basics of the 1960s TV series.

THE LOWDOWN: It’s a little calmer than most Guy Ritchie movies, but it’s just right for the material. Terrific to look at, brisk, stylish, funny (but just serious enough) and beautifully cast.

Before getting down to the pluses and minuses of Guy Ritchie’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E., I find myself wonder-

Harold and Maude HHHHH

Director: Hal Ashby (Being There) Players: Bud Cort, Ruth Gordon, Vivian Pickles, Cyril Cusack, Charles Tyner, Ellen Geer CULT COMEDY ROMANCE Rated PG Four years ago, the Asheville Film Society ran Hal Ashby’s Harold and Maude (1971) as part of ActionFest. Back then, Paramount advised running it from the DVD (which was nothing to brag about) because the available prints were in such bad shape. Much has changed in four years. Now the film is available in a new 4K restoration DCP — meaning it looks as good as it did in 1971 and maybe better. The film itself wears its years effortlessly. It feels as cheeky and fresh now as it did when it first appeared, and that’s pretty remarkable when you consider that the film is every inch a product of that counter-culture era. It has all the elements of its time in its anti-war, anti-establishment sensibility, yet it feels just as relevant now as it ever did. Even its all-Cat Stevens soundtrack retains its freshness. I think it comes down to the fact that true irreverence never really grows old — and the even greater fact that its generation-spanning romance between young Harold (Bud Cort) and elderly Maude (Ruth Gordon) also spans the years, because it remains true. It also remains a little bit shocking in the way it forces the viewer to rethink conventional notions of what is or isn’t an “acceptable” romance. Of course, the additional fact that the story is a very quirky, biting, dark comedy plays a part, too. And still, it’s really the film’s emotional resonance that sold it 44 years ago and sells it today, keeping it a living classic work. The Asheville Film Society is showing Harold and Maude on Wednesday, Aug. 26, at 8:00 p.m. at The Carolina Asheville as part of the Budget Big Screen series. Admission is $6 for AFS members and $8 for the general public. Xpress movie critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther will introduce the film.

The Kid from Spain HHHHS

Director: Leo McCarey (Duck Soup) Players: Eddie Cantor. Lyda Roberti, Robert Young, Ruth Hall, John Miljan, Noah Beery, Robert Emmett O’Connor, The Goldwyn Girls MUSICAL COMEDY Rated NR The Asheville Film Society had a large — and enthusiastic — turn-out for Eddie Cantor’s first talkie, Whoopee! (1930), a couple of years ago, so Cantor is being brought back in Leo McCarey’s The Kid from Spain (1932). While it lacks the antique charm of Whoopee! — along with that film’s early Technicolor and time-capsule value of preserving a 1920s Broadway show — it’s very much cut from the same cloth and very nearly as much fun. The premise has Eddie and his pal Ricardo (Robert Young as Mexican!) being kicked out of college, and Eddie getting innocently mixed up with some bank robbers, which sends him on the run to join Ricardo south of the border. However, there’s a cop (Robert Emmett O’Connor) in pursuit, so Eddie has to be palmed off as Don Sebastian, a famous bullfighter from Spain. It’s mostly an excuse for pre-Code comedy, some catchy songs, a couple of big Busby Berkeley production numbers (and, yes, one of them has Eddie in blackface — hiding from some gangsters), and, of course, a comic bullfight. Plus, the always delightful Lyda Roberti made one of Cantor’s best romantic interests. The Asheville Film Society will screen The Kid from Spain Tuesday, Aug. 25, at 8 p.m. in Theater Six at The Carolina Asheville and will be hosted by Xpress movie critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther.

The Ninth Gate HHHHS

Director: Roman Polanski Players: Johnny Depp, Frank Langella, Lena Olin, Emmanuelle Seigner, Barbara Jefford HORROR Rated R High on the list of underrated — perhaps even misunderstood — Roman Polanski films is his 1999 diabolical thriller, The Ninth Gate. When it appeared 16 years ago, most critics seemed to want to dismiss the film out of hand with the typical (and wrongheaded) outcry of it being inferior to his Rosemary’s Baby (1968). In other cases, it was decried as being less successful than its source novel. Note, if you will, that neither assessment actually addresses the film on its own merits, which are considerable — even remarkable. The Ninth Gate is the story of a not wholly scrupulous dealer in rare books, Dean Corso (Johnny Depp), who is hired by the enigmatic, sinister and filthy rich Boris Balkan (Frank Langella) to discover which of three copies of a book from 1666 (of course) is real. The book was supposedly virtually co-authored by Satan himself — and, it’s said, can be used to summon the old boy. Balkan has just acquired one of the copies; the other two are in Europe. It is there that he sends Corso, but not before strange things start happening in the States. The Thursday Horror Picture Show will screen The Ninth Gate Thursday, Aug. 20 at 8 p.m. in Theater Six at The Carolina Asheville and will be hosted by Xpress movie critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther.

The Seventh Seal HHHHH

Director: Ingmar Bergman Players: Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow, Bengt Ekerot, Nils Poppe, Bibi Andersson ALLEGORICAL DRAMA Rated NR The Seventh Seal is probably the single biggest old warhorse of art-house cinema. But there’s a reason it achieved that status: It’s so damned good. When it first appeared in 1957, it was not at all like anything else that had come before it. It wasn’t even like Bergman. Oh, sure, there had been movies in which Death was personified, and Karloff and Lugosi had played a life-and-death chess game in Edgar G. Ulmer’s The Black Cat way back in 1934. (You can take the idea at least as far back as Mr. Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” where the lady in the “naked hulk” shoots craps with Death.) But none of these — however connected — is quite like Bergman’s dark fantasy, where a knight (Max von Sydow) returning from the Crusades buys time on his journey through the plague-ravaged countryside by challenging Death (Bengt Ekerot) to a chess game. Reduced to its simplest level, that’s the essence of the film, but because the game is played out in a series of sessions along the journey, it takes on the Knight’s spiritual quest in the process. The results are startling, a little disturbing, iconic and magical — all the more so (especially in light of the way “important” films tend toward bloat) for being a trim 96-minutes long and containing a good amount of dark comedy. It is also one of those rare films that seems to offer something new every time you see it. Classic World Cinema by Courtyard Gallery will present The Seventh Seal Friday, Aug. 21 at 8 p.m. at Phil Mechanic Studios, 109 Roberts St., River Arts District (upstairs in the Railroad Library). Info: 273-3332, www.ashevillecourtyard.com mountainx.com

august 19 - august 25, 2015

59

M ovies

Local film news

by Edwin Amaudin

SCREEN SCENE

CINEMATIC: Kevin Peer interviews Acharya Shunya Mathur for the film The Spirit of Vedika. Photo by by Ananta Ripa Ajmera The Asheville area continues to attract top filmmaking talent, the latest of whom is documentarian Kevin peer.

Over his nearly 35-year career, Peer has worked for the National Park Service in the filmmaking unit of the division of audiovisual arts, as a producer/director/ cameraman for “National Geographic Explorer” and in directing and lensing national and regional television commercials in Los Angeles and Ojai, Calif.

Subsequent professorial work at the Naropa University-West campus in San Francisco allowed Peer to develop and refine an approach and a collection of techniques for effectively conveying the realm of the sacred through the documentary medium. Teaching these principles to future generations of aspiring filmmakers is his current passion and is the focus of his weekend workshop, “From Home Videos to National Geographic: Tools and Trade Secrets of Documentary Filmmaking,” which will take place Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 22-23, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in room 107 of Marshall High Studios.

“No equipment or prior experience is necessary to attend, just a desire to learn essential approaches and strategies for making compelling documentary films,” says Peer, who has used this approach on films ranging from Zen archery to Navajo sandpainting and from the Wodabbe tribe of Niger, Africa, to the pigeon fliers of Brooklyn.

Many of Peer’s past students have reported that they fulfilled their goals by

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being in his workshops. These success stories include a devoted grandfather who went on to create high-quality videos of the life of his children and grandchildren for a family legacy archive; a talent manager specializing in Native American music who created several promotional films for his clients; a journalist/photographer/poet who produced two short films about her journey to document mountaintop removal coal mining in eastern Kentucky; and a writer who wasn’t certain what she wanted to do with her new filmmaking knowledge, but a few years later went on to produce several renowned films about Nepal for National Geographic.

A native of Illinois, Peer first fell in love with Western North Carolina at age 11 when his family took a summer vacation to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. On a 2002 visit to Asheville, his fondness for “the sincerity of the people, the great food and art and other offerings while still being a small city” made him determined to one day relocate to the area. In February, he and his wife purchased and moved into a house outside Marshall “amongst the deer and bears and hawks and coyotes,” where he says he feels “deeply and fundamentally at home.”

The cost of the workshop is $275. To sign up or learn about Peer’s upcoming one-day experiential workshops, visit wiseoakproductions.com.

Send your local film news to ae@ mountainx.com X

mountainx.com

ing about the fairly common complaint (even in its good reviews) that the film lacks “substance.” Excuse me, but we are talking about The Man from U.N.C.L.E., aren’t we?

Now, I don’t remember all that much about the TV series — other than a show with popsicles that functioned as hand grenades when the stick was pulled out, and another episode that involved Napoleon Solo imperiled by a pit-and-thependulum device — but I do not recall it ever being accused of substance. Have we become so inundated with self-serious comic book movies and increasingly gloomy James Bond pictures purporting to be somehow important, that there’s no room for a stylish 1960s-style spy picture with no pretense to anything but entertainment? What, for that matter, would a Man from U.N.C.L.E. of “substance” be? And why would we want it?

What Ritchie and co-writer Lionel Wigram (Sherlock Holmes) give us is really less a version of the TV series than a ’60s spy movie that lays the groundwork for that series — an origins story, if you insist. But it differs greatly from most origin stories in that there are no winks at what this will become, unless you count the lead-in to a sequel, at the film’s end. The film merely channels an era — both in time and in film — and an overall style of filmmaking.

It exists before the TV series and refers to it not at all. Even the most easily identifiable markers — like the best-remembered theme music and the scenes being connected by swish-pans — are absent from the film. Whether or not this was wise from a box office standpoint, it is certainly a valid choice from an artistic standpoint. That the movie opened to tepid box office may suggest it wasn’t such a hot idea, but the question arises as to whether or not there was that much of market for a big screen version of the 50-year-old TV show to begin with.

How (to use a term I detest) relevant is that show today?

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. finds Henry Cavill as Napoleon Solo — here presented as a master thief who has been blackmailed into working for the C.I.A. to avoid prison — and Armie Hammer as Russian agent Illya Kuryakin. At the beginning, they are on opposite sides. Solo is charged with getting Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander) — whose father is being forced to create a portable atom bomb by some left-over Nazis — out of East Berlin. Kuryakin is

supposed to prevent that, leading to the film’s first major action scene.

And it’s a scene that establishes Guy Ritchie as the right man to make this film. It is, in fact, the best action scene I’ve encountered all year. It’s clever, stylish, coherent, amusing and exciting. It is sufficiently over the top to capture the flavor of the 1960s spy picture without becoming too ridiculous. That said, Ritchie fans (and I am one) may be a little disappointed by the fact that Ritchie has restrained some of his trademark “Ritchieness,” but it’s what the film needed.

All this is merely set-up, of course, to the antagonistic teaming of Solo and Kuryakin. Again, this takes advantage of being preseries and allows the movie to present our heroes in greater depth (sort of) than the show allowed.

Yes, there’s the decided homoerotic undercurrent of the bickering married couple and one-upsmanship variety, but what do you expect in a film where Solo’s nasty boss (Jared Harris) introduces him to the idea of the partnership with Kuryakin (in a public lavatory, no less) by telling him, “What I’m going to feed you might be bitter, but you’ll just have to swallow it”? Naturally, this leads to a knockdown, drag-out fight between Solo and Kuryakin before they form an uneasy alliance. (It might be noted that Kuryakin ends up in a similar brawl with Gaby by way of a “romantic” encounter a little later.)

What follows is appropriately preposterous with its sexy, elegantly evil villainess (Elizabeth Debicki) and its parade of clever set-pieces.

It isn’t as wild a ride as this year’s Kingsman: The Secret Service (which actually referenced the TV show), but it may just be more intelligent. (That may not be in its favor at the box office.) This is a film where two of the funniest and most outrageous scenes — including the death of a torture-crazed Nazi, whose penchant for old-fashioned equipment is his undoing — play out in the background. This may not be subtle exactly, but its brilliant use of the language of film is refreshing. That pretty neatly sums up the whole movie. Rated PG-13 for action violence, some suggestive content, and partial nudity.

Playing at Carmike 10, Carolina Cinemas, Epic of Hendersonville, Regal Biltmore Grande. reviewed by Ken Hanke khanke@ mountainx.com

marketPlace REA L E S TAT E | R E N TA L S | R O O M M ATES | SERvICES | JOB S | A N N OU N CEMENTS | M I ND, BO DY, SPI R I T CLAS S E S & W OR K S HOP S | M U S IC IA N S’ SERv ICES | PETS | A U TOMOTIvE | 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

R e A L e s tAte RentALs

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Wooded surroundings. • Nice kitchen, WD, storage. • Covered porches.

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HoMes FoR Rent BeautiFul east asheville home For lease: 5 minutes to downtown, 3bd/2ba Sunroom, Laundry room, Master Suite, 2 Car Garage, built in vacuum.

Dog considered. $1850/ mo includes lawn & garden care 828-335-8126 photos on Zillow

coMMeRciAL/ BUsiness RentALs 2400 SQFT +/- • DOWNtoWn Waynesville, nc • Could be office/storage/ workspace/crafters.

Charming decor would support craft-oriented use, distributor or low-traffic store. Negotiable. Call (828) 216-6066. goacherints34@gmail.com oFFice suites centrally located Office suites in multi-office building. Various layouts and sizes. Utilities and internet included; free parking, handicap accessible, alarm system, break room, copy room, private entrance available.

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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

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social media. 25-30 Hours per week. Email resume to finance@anniesbread.com.

No Phone calls.

geneRAL gray line trolley seeks diesel mechanic Opening for experienced diesel mechanic; minimum 5 years verifiable experience; certifications a plus; must have own tools; parttime, possible full-time.

Jonathan@GrayLineAsheville.com; 828-251-8687; www.GrayLineAsheville. com seeking A RewARDing JoB? Mountain Xpress employment Classifieds are effective at pairing local employers with qualified candidates. Visit our desktop or mobile site at mountainx.com/classifieds to browse additional online-only job listings OR post a personalized “Jobs Wanted” ad for extra exposure during your search.

Check our jobs page often, and be the first to apply! mountainx.com/classifieds

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FURNITURE APPRENTICE Entry Level Position for a small, busy custom furniture shop.

Incredible Opportunity for the career oriented person. Please be: CREATIVE ENERGETIC OPTIMISTIC CONFIDENT You have to be a Self Motivated, Clean and have a Professional, Strong Work Ethic. Looking for a person that recognizes attention to fine detail. Knowledge of various methods of joinery helpful. Top Compensation/Benefits for the right person. Please reply with a letter of intent and to schedule an interview. rob@earthinhome.com

ADMinistRAtive/ oFFice annie’s Bakery: customer service/account manager Responsible for acting as liaison between customers and company.

Assistant to Sales Team, handling account questions, errors, billing and all inquiries. QuickBooks required. Contribute to team effort working with sales, finance, production and drivers. Friendly, energetic, positive, strong communication and interpersonal skills, detail oriented, effective multi-tasker and able to work in a fast paced environment. Assist with

BookkeepeR-HR/ oFFice ADMinistRAtoR neeDeD Job responsibilities: (1) maintain and reconcile financial and accounting records, (2) process payroll, (3) file taxes, (4) manage personnel records and benefits programs, (5) maintain advertising-sales records, accounts, invoicing & collections, and (6) provide front office support. Qualified applicants must have an associate’s degree or higher in HR and/or accounting (or demonstrate equivalent business experience) and at least two years’ successful experience in an office environment in the relevant fields.

Must be mature, with extremely high ethics and good judgment, and able to communicate effectively with employees, supervisors, clients and the public.

Must be computer-savvy, Macintosh preferred.

Knowledge of MYOB accounting application and Excel are plusses. We are a small, community-minded, media outlet. If you want a meaningful job with a company that serves the community in a calm and respectful environment, send your resume and cover letter outlining your experience, your goals, and why you think you would fit in with Xpress.

Please respond by email to xpressjob@mountainx.com gReen oppoRtUnities seeking ADMinistRAtive AssistAnt/HR MAnAgeR GO is seeking an Administrative Assistant/HR Manager. See full job description to www. greenopportunities.org & send resume & CL to apply@greenopportunities.org.

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AccoUnt Rep neeDeD Mountain Xpress salespeople are unusual — and we need another one. Are you super-gregarious, ambitious, self-organized, and deadline-driven?

We're team-spirited, and we work hard for salaries rather than commissions. Coldcalling must thrill you. We want a great listener and someone who wants to

Jo Bs build relationships. Additionally, we need someone who can effectively close deals, collect payments, perform extensive and detailed contract entry. We adhere to strict sales guidelines for our quality product. Some experience in outside print sales and/ or marketing will be helpful, but not required. This is a full time, fully salaried, outside sales position. If you are a high energy, positive, cooperative person who wants a stable team environment with predictable income and meaningful work, please send a resume and cover letter about why you are a good fit for Mountain Xpress to: xpressjob@mountainx.com

RestAURAnt/ FooD trailhead restaurant in Black mountain hiring Front & Back oF house staFF Hiring Experienced Front & Back of House Staff. Host, Bar, & Waitstaff. Weekends a must. Back of house line cooks. Cooking, cleaning, prep, and dish ; mike@ thetrailheadrestaurantandbar.com 828-357-5656

Wild Wing caFÉ south noW hiring servers and cooks Please apply in person weekdays between 2 and 4pm for an immediate interview located at 65 Longshoals Road.

Some experience is ideal, but not required.

DRiveRs/ DeLiveRY annie’s Bakery: route driver We are looking for an experienced route driver for a Full-Time position.

Applicant should have experience with boxtrucks, customer relations and expect to work Monday through Saturday.

Email resume to finance@ anniesbread.com.

No Phone calls.

MeDicAL/ HeALtH cARe certiFied medical assistant or lPn needed Family Practice has an immediate opening for a full-time Certified MA or LPN. Must be able to

multi-task, have great customer service skills and be proficient with a computer.

Minimum of 2yrs experience working in a medical office setting. E-mail your resume to info@cannonfamilyhealth.com

HUMAn seRvices $750 Bonus! - F/t child out Patient theraPist Seeking licensed or provisionally licensed clinician for Marion, NC office.

Must have experience with the child and adolescent mental health population.

Selected candidate will receive a $750.00 sign-on BONUS after 90 days of employment. $750 Bonus! - iihs team leader Seeking licensed or provisionally licensed clinician. Must have one year of documented experience with the child mental health population.

Selected candidate will receive a $750.00 sign-on BONUS after 90 days of employment. Visit www. caringalternative.com for other positions avaliable!

AVAILABLE POSITIONS • meridian Behavioral health Jackson County psychiatric nurse - Assertive Community Treatment Team – (ACTT) Seeking a psychiatric nurse with 2 years of psychiatric nursing experience to join our Jackson County Assertive Community Treatment Team (ACTT) in the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina.

Come experience the satisfaction of providing recovery-oriented services within the context of a strong wraparound model. If you are not familiar with ACTT, this position will provide you with an opportunity to experience a service that really works! clinician Assertive Community Treatment Team – (ACTT) Seeking an energetic and passionate individual to join the Assertive Community Treatment Team in the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina.

Come experience the satisfaction of providing recovery-oriented services within the context of a strong team wraparound model. If you are not familiar with ACTT, this position will provide you with an opportunity to experience an enhanced service that really works! Must have a Master’s degree and be

licensed/license-eligible. certified Medical Assistant (cMA) – Jackson/ Macon Graduate of an accredited Certified Medical Assistant program and CMA certification with AAMA or AMT required.

Two years of related experience preferred, preferably in an outpatient medical office setting. clinician – offender services Meridian is seeking a therapist to be a member of a multi-disciplinary treatment team, providing assessment, individual and group therapy services to sex offenders and their non-offending partners within a structured Sexual Abuse Intervention Program (SAIP) and to domestic violence abusers and their families within a structured Domestic Violence Intervention Program (DVIP). Prior clinical experience working with sexual offenders and an understanding of the dynamics of sexual deviance strongly preferred as well as familiarity with relevant research literature, clinical assessments, procedures and methods, particularly those designed for sexual offenders. Demonstrated interpersonal skills and the ability to establish rapport and maintain objectivity with a criminal or forensic population is a necessity.

Masters Degree in a human services field and licensure as a Professional Counselor or Clinical Social Worker or Psychological Associate is required. At least on year of supervised clinical experience is required, preferably in a community mental health center setting. Services provided in Haywood, Jackson, and Cherokee County.

Haywood county clinician, Team Leader - Assertive Community Treatment Team – (ACTT) We are seeking a passionate, values-driven and dynamic professional to oversee our Assertive Community Treatment Team (ACTT), which serving Jackson, Macon and Swain counties. ACTT is an evidence-based, multi-disciplinary, community-based service which supports individuals with severe psychiatric disorders in remaining in the community and experiencing mental health recovery. We have a deep commitment to our ACTT services because, over the years, we have seen that is a service that truly makes a difference in the lives of the people that struggle the most with mental health challenges.

Our ACTT staff have been known to describe the work as the “hardest job that you will ever love”.

Come be part of our rural team and experience it for yourself! Master’s Degree in Human Services Required, One Year Experience with Adults with Mental Health, Substance Abuse or Development Disability Required. Macon county clinician - Recovery Education Center (REC) Seeking passionate, values-driven and dynamic professional to join our Macon County Recovery Education Center. This program reflects a unique design which integrates educational, clinical and peer support components in a center-based milieu.

To be considered, an applicant should be familiar with the recovery paradigm of mental health and substance abuse services. A Master’s degree and license eligibility are also required. transylvania county clinician – Child and Family Services Seeking Licensed/Associate Licensed Therapist for an exciting opportunity to serve youth and their families through individual and group therapy, working primarily out of the local schools. certified Medical Assistant (cMA) Graduate of an accredited Certified Medical Assistant program and CMA certification with AAMA or AMT required.

Two years of related experience preferred, preferably in an outpatient medical office setting. AgencY-wiDe employment support professional (esp) The ESP functions as part of a team that implements employment services based on the SE-IPS model. The team’s goal is to support individuals who have had challenges with obtaining and/or maintaining employment in the past and to obtain and maintain competitive employment moving forward. The ESP is responsible for engaging clients and establishing trusting, collaborative relationships that result in the creation of completion of individualized employment goals. The ESP will support the client through the whole employment process and provide a variety of services at each state to support the individual in achieving their employment goals. peer support specialist - Peers Assisting in Community Engagement (PACE) 2 Full Time Positions Being a Peer Support Specialist provides an opportunity for individuals to transform their own personal lived experience with mental health and/or addiction challenges into a tool for inspiring hope for recovery in others. Applicants must demonstrate

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maturity in their own recovery process, have a valid driver’s license, reliable transportation and have moderate computer skills. clinician – peers Assisting in community engagement (pAce) Clinician will be providing ongoing therapy with individuals and clinical support to the peer support team.

The position will involve travel and communitybased work in multiple counties.

A Master’s degree and license eligibility are required. PACE provides structured and scheduled activities for adults age 18 and older with a diagnosis of Mental Health and Substance Use disorders.

For further information and to complete an application, visit our website: www.meridianbhs.org liBerty corner enterPrises Are you looking for a job that will leave you feeling fulfilled? Do you want to work for a company that will value you and the unique strengths and talents you have to offer? If so, then Liberty Corner Enterprises wants to meet with you! We are actively recruiting individuals to work with adults who have developmental and intellectual differences.

So, what does it take to be a member of our team?

Applicants must have a high school diploma or GED, valid driver’s license, proof of vehicle insurance and a reliable vehicle. To apply visit www.libertycornerent.com and click on job opportunities, or visit our main office at 723 Fairview Road in Asheville. We offer top notch benefits and competitive starting pay based on experience.

Call 828-254-9917 for more information!

ProFessional/ management controller nonProFit Controller for regional environmental non-profit based in Boone, NC. Solid accounting skills and extensive experience required. Must be proficient with QuickBooks, Excel, very detailoriented and self-motivated. Non-profit experience preferred. Full-time with potential option of part-time. Send resume and cover letter to shay@ appvoices.org. See appalachianvoices.org for job description. gReen oppoRtUnities seeking DeveLopMent DiRectoR GO is seeking a Development Director. Please see greenopportunities.org for a full

august 19 - august 25, 2015

61

fREEWIll ASTROlOGY

by Rob Brezny

ARIES (March 21-April 19): You'd probably prefer to stay in the romantic, carefree state of mind. But from what I can tell, you're ripe for a new phase of your long-term cycle. Your freestyle rambles and jaunty adventures should now make way for careful introspection and thoughtful adjustments.

Instead of restless star-gazing, I suggest patient earth-gazing. Despite how it may initially appear, it's not a comedown. In fact, I see it as an unusual reward that will satisfy you in unexpected ways.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): "The greatest and most important problems of life are all in a certain sense insoluble," said psychologist Carl Jung.

"They can never be solved, but only outgrown." I subscribe to that model of dealing with dilemmas, and I hope you will consider it, too — especially in light of the fact that from now until July 2016 you will have more power than ever before to outgrow two of your biggest problems. I don't guarantee that you will transcend them completely, but I'm confident you can render them at least 60 percent less pressing, less imposing, and less restricting. And 80 percent is quite possible.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In accordance with the current astrological omens, I recommend the following activities: Sing a love song at least once a day. Seek a message from an ancestor in a reverie or dream. Revisit your three favorite childhood memories. Give a gift or blessing to the wildest part of you. Swim naked in a river, stream, or lake.

Change something about your home to make it more sacred and mysterious. Obtain a symbolic object or work of art that stimulates your courage to be true to yourself. Find relaxation and renewal in the deep darkness. Ruminate in unbridled detail about how you will someday fulfill a daring fantasy.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The ancient Greek epic poem the Iliad is one of the foundation works of Western literature. Written in the eighth century BCE, it tells the story of the 10-year-long Trojan War. The cause of the conflict was the kidnap of Helen of Troy, reputed to be the world's most beautiful woman.

And yet nowhere in the Iliad is there a description of Helen's beauty. We hear no details about why she deserves to be at the center of the legendary saga.

Don't be like the Iliad in the coming weeks, Gemini.

Know everything you can about the goal at the center of your life. Be very clear and specific and precise about what you're fighting for and working towards.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The comedian puppets known as the Muppets have made eight movies. In The Great Muppet Caper, the muppets Kermit and Fozzie play brothers, even though one is a green frog and the other a brown bear. At one point in the story, we see a photo of their father, who has the coloring and eyes of Kermit, but a bear-like face. I bring up their unexpected relationship, Cancerian, because I suspect that a similar anomaly might be coming your way: a bond with a seemingly improbable ally. To prepare, stretch your ideas about what influences you might want to connect with.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): English author Barbara Cartland published her first novel at age 21. By the time she died 77 years later, she had written more than 700 other books. Some sources say she sold 750 million copies, while others put the estimate at two billion. In 1983 alone, she churned out 23 novels. I foresee a Barbara Cartland-type period for you in the coming months, Leo. Between now and your birthday in 2016, I expect you to be as fruitful in your own field as you have ever been. And here's the weird thing: One of the secrets of your productivity will be an enhanced ability to chill out.

"Relaxed intensity" will be your calming battle cry.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): ''On or about December 1910, human character changed,'' wrote English author Virginia Woolf in 1924. What prompted her to draw that conclusion? The rapidly increasing availability of electricity, cars, and indoor plumbing?

The rise of the women's suffrage movement? Labor unrest and the death of the King? The growing prominence of experimental art by Cezanne, Gauguin, Matisse, and Picasso? The answer might be all of the above, plus the beginning of a breakdown in the British class system. Inspired by the current astrological omens, I'll borrow her brash spirit and make a new prediction: During the last 19 weeks of 2015, the destiny of the Virgo tribe will undergo a fundamental shift. Ten years from now, I bet you will look back at this time and say, "That was when everything got realigned, redeemed, and renewed."

62

august 19 - august 25, 2015

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Hundreds of years ago, Hawaiians celebrated an annual holiday called Makahiki. It began in early November and lasted four months. No one worked very much for the duration.

There were nonstop feasts and games and religious ceremonies. Community-building was a featured theme, and one taboo was strictly enforced: no war or bloodshed. I encourage you Scorpios to enjoy a similar break from your daily fuss. Now is an especially propitious time to ban conflict, contempt, revenge, and sabotage as you cultivate solidarity in the groups that are important for your future. You may not be able to make your own personal Makahiki last for four months, but could you at least manage three weeks?

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Museum of Failed Products is a warehouse full of consumer goods that companies created but no one wanted to buy. It includes caffeinated beer, yogurt shampoo, fortune cookies for dogs, and breath mints that resemble vials of crack cocaine. The most frequent visitors to the museum are executives seeking to educate themselves about what errors to avoid in their own companies' future product development. I encourage you to be inspired by this place, Sagittarius. Take an inventory of the wrong turns you've made in the past. Use what you learn to create a revised master plan.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." Virtually all of us have been guilty of embodying that well-worn adage. And according to my analysis of the astrological omens, quite a few of you Capricorns are currently embroiled in this behavior pattern. But I am happy to report that the coming weeks will be a favorable time to quit your insanity cold turkey. In fact, the actions you take to escape this bad habit could empower you to be done with it forever. Are you ready to make a heroic effort? Here's a good way to begin: Undo your perverse attraction to the stressful provocation that has such a seductive hold on your imagination.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): "Everything I've ever let go of has claw marks on it," confessed the late, great author David Foster Wallace. Does that describe your experience, too? If so, events in the coming months will help you break the pattern.

More than at any other time in the last ten years, you will have the power to liberate yourself through surrender. You will understand how to release yourself from overwrought attachment through love and grace rather than through stress and force.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): "Most people love in order to lose themselves," wrote Hermann Hesse in his novel Demian. But there are a few, he implied, who actually find themselves through love. In the coming months, Pisces, you are more likely to be one of those rare ones. In fact, I don't think it will even be possible for you to use love as a crutch. You won't allow it to sap your power or make you forget who you are. That's good news, right? Here's the caveat: You must be ready and willing to discover much more about the true nature of your deepest desires — some of which may be hidden from you right now.

mountainx.com

job description and send resume and cover letter to apply@greenopportunities.org. gReen oppoRtUnities seeking FinAnce DiRectoR GO is seeking a Finance Director. See www.greenopportunities. org for a full job description and send a resume and cover letter to apply@ greenopportunities.org. gReen oppoRtUnities seeking gRAnt ADMinistRAtoR GO is seeking a Grant Administrator. See www.greenopportunities. org for a full job description and send a resume and cover letter to apply@ greenopportunities.org. gReen oppoRtUnities seeking stUDent DeveLopMent DiRectoR GO is seeking a Student Development Director. See the full job listing at www.greenopportunities.org and send resume and cover letter to apply@ greenopportunities.org. peRsonAL insURAnce AccoUnt MAnAgeRBAnkeRs insURAnce We are looking for an experienced Personal Insurance AM to join our Asheville Team. Check out our company and learn more about the position at http://bankersinsurance. net/employment-2/. EOE

teAcHing/ eDUcAtion

A-B TECH • TRANSPORtation technologies instructor Seeking a full-time Transportation Technologies Instructor to teach automotive systems technology, heavy equipment and transport technology. To view full posting and apply online: www.abtech.edu/jobs availaBle teaching Positions Full-time and Part-time.

Non-exempt.

Application Deadline: 8/24/15. Verner Center for Early Learning, located in a beautiful, natural setting outside of Asheville, NC, is a state of the art learning environment providing the highest quality early care and education and so much more! Using Reggio Emilia as our curriculum and the Paley Story-telling Approach, our teachers foster learning through play and develop lesson plans based on the interests of the children. As one of only 6 SHAPE NC natural outdoor environment demo sites in North Carolina, Teachers at Verner spend as much time as weather permits with children outside in engaged play on beautiful playgrounds.

Inside, Teachers and children are nourished with healthy, nutritious meals and snacks made on site by our Rainbow in My Tummy kitchen. Professional Development Plans are designed for each Teacher using Reflective Practice to ensure that our professionals are working toward their own personal goals within the field of Early Childhood Education.

Continuing

educational opportunities are provided through staff development trainings and to qualifying teachers based on availability of funds to ensure that our professionals are constantly growing and learning in their professions.

• Verner currently seeks teaching professionals who are nurturing, skilled in supporting the development of very young children, and can be an asset to our model, progressive program. Teachers work in classroom teams of two to three, therefore, all candidates applying should be energized by and work well in a team environment. Qualified candidates for Early Head Start classrooms must have a minimum of an Associate's degree in Early Childhood Education, a CDA, or an Infant/Toddler Certificate, in addition to current SIDS certification and experience working with children ages 0-5. Individuals with a related degree and at least 18 semester hours in infant/toddler coursework will be considered.

• Candidates for non-Early Head Start classroom Teaching positions must have completed EDU 119, the Early Childhood credential course, and have previous professional experience working with children ages 0-5 years old. • Verner is an EEOE. Apply online at www. vernerearlylearning.org/ jobs

craFt Beverage institute oF the southeast (cBi) laB manager Maintains all aspects of the Craft Beverage Institute (CBI) labs, as they relate to faculty, staff, students, equipment, and will assist in the management of department supplies and equipment. • A.A.S. in Brewing, Distillation and Fermentation or A.S. in a STEM related degree. • Part-time regular position.

• One year brewing/fermentation work experience within the beverage industry. $14.85-$16.70. • Click on the hyperlink to complete the online application: https://abtcc.peopleadmin.com/postings/3306

mathematics teacher Wanted The Academy at Trails Carolina, a year-round experiential and adventure based therapeutic boarding school for boys grades 9-12 based in Henderson County North Carolina, is seeking a Licensed Mathematics Teacher to join its faculty. Interested applicants should email copies of their resume, NC teaching license, 3 letters of reference, and any pertinent wilderness certifications (WFR, CPR, etc.) to nduncan@trailsacademy.com www.trailsacademy.com

navitat canoPy adventures-hiring canoPy guides Seeking qualified candidates for the Canopy Guide position for the 2015 season.

Learn more at www.navitat.com. Attach your current resume, references, and letter of interest for email to avlemployment@ navitat.com. NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE.

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cAReeR tRAining airline careers Begin here Get started by training as a FAA certified Aviation Technician.

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WeBmaster/ develoPer Mountain Xpress is seeking the right person to continue the evolution of our online presence.

You must have: 1) Excellent web development skills (PHP, MySQL, HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, RWD) with at least 2 years of professional experience; 2) Strong problem solving skills with the ability to work independently; 3) Ability to manage inhouse and outsourced projects; 4) Willingness to be a team player; 5) Commitment to a locally focused, social-mediaengaged outlet. The ideal candidate will have WordPress development experience (templating, custom post types, taxonomies, widgets, hooks & actions), the ability to write custom

database queries, as well as modify existing custom PHP applications. You will also need experience managing a LAMP infrastructure with high-availability principles. Salary based on experience and skill, with benefits package. Send cover letter (that demonstrates your passions, how those passions would fit with Mountain Xpress' mission and needs, and why you'd like to work with us) and resume to: web-coordinator@mountainx.com. No phone calls please.

JoBs wAnteD stRAtegic MARketing pRoFessionAL FoR HiRe Seven years of experience; UNC business school grad. Strengths include brand strategy, marketing communications planning, digital and social media strategy.

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county oF lexington docket no.: 2015-dr-321843 notice oF adoPtion Proceedings to the deFendant: “John doe,” Birth Father you are hereBy given the FolloWing notice: 1.

That an adoption proceeding was filed in the Family Court of Lexington County on July 22, 2015, and in this Complaint you are alleged to be the father of a Caucasian/South American Indian male child born in Asheville, North Carolina, on July 8, 2015. 2. That the Plaintiffs in the above captioned Notice are not named for the purpose of confidentiality; however, the Court knows the true identity of the Plaintiffs and in responding to this notice, you are required to use the caption and the number 2015-DR-32-1843.

3. That if Notice to Contest, Intervene or otherwise Respond is filed by you with the Court within thirty (30) days of the receipt of this Notice of Adoption Proceedings, you will be given an opportunity to appear and be heard on the merits of the adoption. To file notice to Contest, Intervene or otherwise Respond in this action, you must notify the above named Court at Lexington County Courthouse, Clerk of Court at 139 East Main Street, Lexington, South Carolina 29072, in writing of your intention to Contest, Intervene or otherwise Respond. The above named Court must be informed of your current address and any changes of your address during the adoption proceedings. 4.

That your failure to respond within thirty (30) days of receipt of this Notice of Adoption Proceedings constitutes your consent to the adoption and forfeiture of all of your rights and obligations to the above identified child. It is further alleged that your consent to this adoption is not required under S.C. Code Ann. Section 63-9-310 and that your parental rights should be terminated pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. Section 63-7-2570 (7). This notice is given pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. Section 63-9-730 (E).

Raymond W. Godwin, Esq. (SC Bar #2162) 1527 Wade Hampton Blvd. Greenville, SC 29609 PH (864) 2412883 FAX: (864) 255-4342 ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFFS Date: July 30, 2015

state oF south carolina in the Family court oF the eleventh Judicial circuit

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