Asheville Daily Planet February 2014

Worker-owned café to close, relocate

‘Flimflammers’ on right decried

— See Story, Pg. A3

Firestorm Café

Stars of “Duck Dynasty”

— See Bothwell Column, Pg. A11

Band salutes The Eagles Hotel California band

— See Review, Pg. B8

ILLE V E H AS ASHEVILLEʼS GREATEST NEWSPAPER

February 2014

Vol. 10, No. 3

An Independent Newspaper Serving Greater Asheville www.ashevilledailyplanet.com

Jazz-inpired Western swing

The Austin, Texas-based Hot Club of Cowtown drew a large crowd for its Jan. 10 concert at The Grey Eagle Music Hall in Asheville. The trio plays an old-fashioned mixture of Western swing and hot jazz.

Cowtown’s sound reportedly is inspired by its namesakes “Hot Club,” from the

The Advice Goddess Amy Alkon

Eat, pray, barf

Q: -- My girlfriend and I just got back from vacationing in India, where we lived in an ashram (essentially a yoga camp) and she studied yoga and meditation for a month.

Since we’ve been back, she’s been wearing a sari everywhere, which stands out completely here, and she greets everyone by bowing and saying “namaste” (an Indian greeting).

She talks constantly to people about spirituality and energy and, to be honest, comes off as totally pretentious. This is all starting to wear on me. Is it shallow of me to be bothered by her new look and attitude when she’s feeling so enlightened?

— Downcast Dog

Want to know the answer?

See ADVICE GODDESS, Page A14

hot jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli’s Hot Club of France; and “Cowtown,” from the Western swing influence of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. Above, the band is shown — similar to how it appeared in Asheville — at a recent concert in another city.

FREE

I-26 link?

Maybe 2020 for start up, official says

By LESLEE KULBA and JOHN NORTH news@AshevilleDailyPlanet.com Six lanes or eight lanes for the Interstate 26 connector through Asheville? The question has pushed back highway upgrades for the congested road system for more than two decades.

Some interests, including the North Carolina Department of Transportation, have tried to do something about an antiquated stretch of highway that now ranks as the worst in the state for number of automobile wrecks. Others have accused the NCDOT of habitually overbuilding and favoring the automobile over what they claim are more sustainable modes of transportation.

At an update session, about 40 members of the Council of Independent Business Owners were told Jan 10 that the I-26 connector project might get started sooner than previously announced.

See I-26, Page A5

UNCA chancellor to retire July 31 From Staff Reports

“National issues in higher education and board service call to me at this time in my life. I’d like the flexibility to be able to respond in a meaningUNC Asheville Chancellor Anne Ponder ful way. I will always be a Bulldog, and I can announced Jan. 16 that she plans to retire from leave knowing that students for generations to university service on July 31. come will continue to benefit from the good work By that time, she will have served in this role of everyone here.” for nine years, longer than any UNCA chancelPonder became the sixth chancellor of UNCA lor since the university’s first chancellor, William in October 2005, and despite a Highsmith. Ponder’s career particularly challenging budget in higher education spans 37 “Anne Ponder has been climate, encouraged the univeryears, 19 of those as chancela phenomenal leader for sity to become stronger and more lor or president.

UNC Asheville” focused on its unique mission, to “UNC Asheville has — UNC President Tom Ross improve its visibility throughout made enormous progress in the state and nation, and to sigrecent years, and is poised nificantly increase its contributions to and collaborafor additional exciting steps,” Ponder said, tions with greater Asheville and across the state.

“I’m so proud of what we have built together “Anne Ponder has been a phenomenal leader here, and I have confidence that this successful for UNC Asheville,” said UNC President Ross. trajectory will continue, but it is time to make room for the next generation in higher education “She knows and loves the region; she has always fully embraced UNC Asheville’s unique role as leadership. As I said at my installation in 2006, ‘What we need is here.’ It was true then, and it is North Carolina’s public liberal arts university; and she understands its vast potential for even even more true now.” greater service to the state.”

Ponder made the announcement at the ChanDuring a difficult time for higher education, cellor’s Briefing, a regular gathering of faculty UNCA benefitted from a comprehensive strategic and staff, after informing UNC President Tom planning process implemented by Ponder shortly Ross and the UNCA Board of Trustees of her after her installation, education officials have said. decision earlier in the week.

During the campus meeting, Ponder said, See CHANCELLOR, Page A2

Special Photo by Matt Rose

UNCA Chancellor Anne Ponder

A2 —February 2014 - Asheville Daily Planet

Chancellor

Continued from Page A1 A nationally known expert in strategic planning, Ponder led a campuswide collaborative project to create multi-year plan that included measurable goals with an emphasis on quality and sustainability. With this focus, UNCA made major strides as a national leader in the liberal arts, and has become one of the top choices for students seeking a rigorous and multi-faceted educational experience.

During Ponder’s tenure, the academic profile and diversity of the student body, as well as the proportion of students living on campus, increased to their highest levels ever.

The university received its 10-year re-affirmation of accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 2012 with high praise UNCA Chancellor Anne Ponder from the assessment committee. In 2009 the university was chosen as the first national headquarters for the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges.

During her time at UNCA, Ponder was known for her commitment to strengthening the university’s outreach and partnerships with Western North Carolina communities and businesses, as well as with sister UNC institutions.

She encouraged innovative collaborations that resulted in a UNC-Chapel Hill Eshelman School of Pharmacy satellite program in Asheville. New partnerships with local governments, scientific agencies and nonprofit organizations have resulted in joint projects with Mission Health System, the

TO REPORT AN ERROR

The Asheville Daily Planet strives to be accurate in all articles published. Contact the News Department at news@ashevilledailyplanet.com, (828) 252-6565, or P.O. Box 8490, Asheville, N.C. 28814-8490.

Because of a production error, an item listed in January’s Calendar of Events in the Daily Planet incorrectly listed the author and book that was to be presented.

It should have said Roger Hutchison, author of “The Painting Table: A Journal of Loss and Joy,” would hold a reading and book-signing at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café in downtown Asheville.

• Because of reporting errors, several misstatements were made in a review of Warren Haynes’ 25th Christmas Jam in January’s Daily Planet.

Contrary to what was reported, the review should have said the following: • The Allman Brothers Band is NOT dormant. It has played many dates in the recent years.

• Warren Haynes did not just tour with the Allman Brothers Band; he was a bonafide member of the band from 1989, then quit in 1997 to concentrate on his own band Government Mule, but rejoined the Allman Brothers Band in 2000. He just recently announced that he is leaving the band at the end of 2014 (along with another prominent band member since 2001, Derek Trucks, nephew of Butch Trucks, one of the original six ABB members).

• Given than Duane Allman died on Oct. 29, 1971, the song “Melissa” was written in 1967, about four years before his passing. Duane and Gregg Allman recorded the song in one of the bands they were in together before the Allman Brothers Band. The song “Midnight Rider” was written in 1970, also before Duane died.

City of Asheville, the Renaissance Computing Institute and sponsored events, meetings receptions and dinners, and others for enhanced learning and research opportunities for also is the Chancellor’s residence. The building, required students and faculty. of all UNC campuses, was funded by private donations.

This emphasis on collaboration also led to the cultivaPonder is widely recognized as a national leader in tion, with other campus and community leaders, of some higher education garnering accolades for administrative of the largest multi-million dollar donations in the univerand academic leadership and for her commitment to sucAdvertiser Have Contact sity’s history. An Economic Impact Study completed forFun, Burn Fat cessful athletic administration. Address 736-C Tunnel Road, Asheville 2012 revealed that UNCA’s economic impact Phone on the region In 2013, she received the inaugural # 828-505-7080 Alt. Phone E:mail Van Ummersen Presiwas $268 million annually. dential Leadership Award from the National Association of Fax #past nine Pub. I.D.# Joe Jakubielski _ 28 Cust. Acct. # 115 IDCY# HAVE2841 Academic improvements were made during the Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators, in recognition years, including several new majors from anthropology to Rev. Date 10/21/2013 Locations AN/AS leadership and promotion Designer ofKimwomen’s of her demonstrated Arana religious studies, art history to jazz and contemporary music. opportunities in athletics administration and coaching.

A record number of applications for admission were received AD DESIGN PROOF All corrections must be clearly marked. Hometown Value Guide is not responsible for errors not marked on this proof. Y In 2012, Ponder was named a fellow by the National during the past several years, and the university’sPlease well-known review carefully MUST check the following as you review your ad.

Collegiate Honors Council, a national professional associaundergraduate research program significantly expanded. The Company Nametion Address Tel. Number and Fax Number Email Website Hours Map Credit Cards of colleges universities with honors programs. quality of UNCA’s educational experience became much betDisclaimerof the Exp. Date Other She is a pastOffer/s president organization, and she founded ter known both across North Carolina and the nation.

Elon University’s Honors Program during her The university expanded its campus boundaries OK as isun- OK w/corrections and Senddirected new proof Advertiser Signature Title Date first faculty appointment.

She isPrintaNameformer faculty member der Ponder’s leadership. With assistance from the UNC of Harvard Institutes for Higher Education, is past presiAsheville Foundation, the university purchased several dent of the Southern University Conference, and wrote the nearby properties including the 10-acre Rhoades property T. 828-335-3553 | Email joe@hometownvalueguide.com | Website www.HometownValueGuide.com in 2008, 118 W.T. Weaver Boulevard which now houses chapter on strategic planning in the American Council on Student Health and Counseling Services, and a nine-acre Education’s book Leading America’s Branch Campuses. parcel adjacent to campus on Broadway Avenue; purchase See CHANCELLOR, Page A4 of an adjoining 6-acre parcel is expected to be finalized later this month.

Advertiser Have Fun, Burn Fat Con Ponder also oversaw the largest building program in Phone # Alt. 828-505-7080 UNCA’s history – including the $41 million Wilma M. Fax # Pub Sherrill Center, which opened in 2011. The Sherrill Center Rev. Date 10/21/2013 Loc The Fire Personal Training studio has been accused of is a multi-purpose facility that houses academic and outphoto-shopping the pictures of our successful clients!

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Asheville Daily Planet — February 2014 - A3

Firestorm to close; reopen in new space

From Staff Reports

Firestorm Café & Books recently announced that it will be closing March 1 at its 48 Commerce St. location in downtown Asheville, but plans to reopen in an as-yet undetermined location.

The nearly 6-year-old collective business with employee owners plan to continue the community-building concept somewhere.

The staff of three owners and two interns

will host a community conversation on relocation possibilities at 7 p.m. Feb. 12 at the the current location.

Firestorm’s website noted that “we’ll discuss our plans, suggest some ways that folks can lend us a hand, solicit feedback on our draft anti-oppression statement and, most importantly, create space to hear your ideas, concerns and desires for a new Firestorm.”

The self-managed business, which opened in May 2008, has become the home for a

wide variety of events, ranging from the political to puppetry.

Perhaps most notably, Firestorm served as the host to the Asheville branch of the National Occupy movement, an international protest against social and economic inequality, and organized against the Business Improvement District in Asheville.

It has hosted zombie film screenings and singer-songwriters, offered offbeat, underground and independently published litera-

ture by organizations, such as AK Press, PM Press and Chelsea Green Publishing.

The café serves paninis and vegan soups to community group meetings, including the Asheville Homeless Network and the Asheville Anime Club.

In 2011, Firestorm won national recognition from Zagat, as one of the 10 Coolest Independent Coffee Shops Across the U.S. In 2010, it won the No. 2 Slow Money Business in America from the Slow Money Alliance.

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A4 —February 2014 - Asheville Daily Planet

Odyssey school to sell Zillicoa property to UNCA From Staff Reports

Odyssey Community School on Jan. 9 announced plans to sell its 90 Zillicoa Street campus to the UNC Asheville Foundation.

So as not to disrupt the educational environment for its 120 K-12 students, Odyssey will rent the school back from the foundation for the duration of the school year.

Meanwhile, the search is on for a more affordable location, within the city limits, for the 2014-2015 school year.

According to Bill Loose, chair of Odyssey’s board of directors, financial issues motivated the sale. In a letter to the Odyssey Community, he said the seven-year, $2.1 million loan secured for the school’s purchase had become due. The school lacked the resources to pay, and its representatives had been unable to negotiate acceptable refinancing terms with the lender, Home Trust Bank.

Trying to keep the school “sustainable”

in light of its financial pressures, the board concluded the Odyssey Community would be best-served by keeping the people and the culture together, but on a less expensive piece of real estate. According to Loose, “Odyssey is its great and insightful teachers, staff, parents and children. It is not the physical location of the school, but the people who constitute its community.”

UNCA will be picking up a valuable parcel of property. According to Loose, “We have been very fortunate to find a buyer for the property that will allow Odyssey to pay off the enormous debt associated with the property. UNCA Foundation has the intention to purchase the property at its real estate appraised value. This solves the majority of the debts owed by Odyssey.”

The tract adjoins the 9-acre parcel the UNCA Foundation picked up through a gift and sale in 2011, after the Health Adventure’s Momentum project went bankrupt. The inter-

active children’s museum had plans for a $25 million science center at 525 Broadway St. that never lifted off. The university acquired the property after it had been sold to TD Bank in a foreclosure auction.

Speaking of the first acquisition, UNCA’s Chancellor Anne Ponder announced, “Because it is so very rare for a piece of property of this size adjacent to campus to come on the market, the University has been investigating how we might be able to acquire it, even in these difficult economic times.”

Ponder expanded on the university’s interest in acquiring property at a 2011 Leadership Asheville Forum. “Even though we don’t know precisely how we might use property in the future, we are not confident it will be available,” she said. “We think the university could and should do what it can to acquire it.”

Both Ponder and Michael Andry, chairman of the board for the UNCA Foundation, have indicated the purposing of the proper-

ties will be sorted out in a master planning process. In a recent press release, Andry referred to the acquisition simply as “an opportunity to facilitate the long-term growth of UNCA.” The 6-acre tract had been a bragging point for Odyssey. The school’s web site describes a “wooded six-acre campus... nestled in a natural sanctuary in the heart of a vibrant city.”

In 2007, the property was acquired through loans to open the Odyssey Community School, a 501(c)(3) organization.

HOT OFF THE PRESS!

“The Painting Table: A Journal of Loss and Joy”

By Roger Hutchison

A graduate of Warren Wilson College, Roger Hutchison is the Canon for Children’s Ministries at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Columbia, S.C. His new book, “The Painting Table: A Journal of Loss and Joy,” shares his experiences and guides readers in using art to come together, create healing, and manifest joy.

UNCA makes Princeton Review ‘Best Value College’ list

For the eighth year in a row, UNC Asheville was selected as one of the “Best Value” public colleges in the nation by The Princeton Review.

Best Value Colleges: 2014 Edition, profiling the top 75 public colleges and top 75 private colleges, was published this month; the rankings were also reported in the Jan. 28 edition of USA Today.

UNCA is a “school that promotes the growth of its students with an emphasis on a personal approach to undergraduate education,” said a student quoted in the Best Value Colleges guidebook.

Students surveyed said the “opportunity for undergraduate research on campus is immense, and in any department.” UNC Asheville’s smaller class sizes make for “more diverse interactions and more vibrant class discussions,” according to students surveyed by The Princeton Review.

The Princeton Review noted that the availability of many forms of financial aid can lower UNCA’s “already low in-state tuition … More than half of students receive some form of aid. In the past year, 79 percent of students’ financial need was met.”

Additionally, the university’s prestigious merit-based scholarship, the Laurels Scholarship, also provides a variety of awards, including full tuition and fees. The scholarship, which is funded by the generosity of donors, is awarded to entering freshmen who demonstrate high academic achievements.

The Princeton Review selected the top 150 institutions from among a larger pool of 650 colleges selected for academic excellence. Its rankings are based on institutional data from some 2,000 undergraduate institutions, surveys of university administrators and students concerning academics, cost and financial aid.

Ponder

Continued from Page A2 Prior to her service at UNCA, Ponder was president of Colby-Sawyer College in New London, N.H. She earned her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in English from UNC Chapel Hill. She was the first woman and first pre-tenure professor at Elon University to receive the Daniels-Danieley Award for Excellence in Teaching.

In addition to serving UNCA, Ponder is a member of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the Mission Health System Board of Directors. She also is a member of the Asheville Children’s Welfare League.

A native of Asheville, Ponder is the daughter of the late Eleanor and Herschel Ponder, both of whom traced their Asheville family roots to the 1780s. She is married to award-winning writer and publisher Christopher Brookhouse.

UNC President Ross and UNCA Board of Trustees Chair King Prather will determine the next steps in the search for the university’s next chancellor.

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Asheville Daily Planet — February 2014 - A5

The Buncombe County Republican Party will be conducting 2014 Countywide Precinct meetings as follows: Joint Precinct Meetings are open to all/any Republicans registered at least 30 days before a meeting Daily Planet Staff Photo

“In my office, I can look out at least four times a week and see the traffic backed up to the Merrimon Avenue ramp because there’s been some accident in that area,” David Brown (at lectern) of the N.C. Board of Transportation told the CIBO audience.

I-26

Continued from Page A1 Ricky Tipton, a construction engineer working for the NCDOT, told the CIBO gathering that work could begin on the I-26 connector as soon as 2020.

I-26 runs between Charleston, S.C., and Kingsport, Tenn., and many of the challenging interchanges in the Asheville area are not compliant with modern standards for interstates. Other concerns are that interstate traffic is routed through the busy business district on West Asheville’s Patton Avenue/ Smoky Park Highway, and over the aging Jeff Bowen Bridge.

Not only is the wear and tear shortening the life of the bridge, excess congestion on lanes heading into the sun during rush hour have made the stretch of highway home to many traffic collisions.

Speaking before Tipton, David Brown, representing the N.C. Board of Transportation, told the audience, “In my office, I can look out at least four times a week and see the traffic backed up to the Merrimon Avenue ramp because there’s been some accident in that area.”

Addressing the need for change, CIBO member Mac Swicegood asked, “We have a bridge carrying 110,000 cars per day. If anything happens to that bridge, where do those 110,000 cars go?”

To this, Tipton replied, “All you have to do is go out there when there’s a wreck . . . and see what happens.”

Tipton, who began working with the NCDOT in 1991, says he has spent almost his entire career working on the I-26 connector project. Back in 1989, the study commenced with the ungainly name, “The Asheville Urban Area Corridor Reservation Pilot Project.”

Tipton was assigned to the project in 1995.

Since that time, the DOT and numerous other organizations have hosted a number of public input sessions. By 2006, the NCDOT was presenting the public with five options for making traffic flow more efficient and safer. Unlike old interstate projects, these would not plow through established neighborhoods. The worst of them would only take out a few homes, but those homes matter to the people who live there. Beyond that, the NCDOT even had to consider how animals would get from one side of the road to the other on the northern stretches.

Out of concern for air quality, local environmental interests did not like any of the options. They continued to protest, effectively introducing delays in the project’s schedule which repeatedly caused state funds to be repurposed for more shovelready projects.

In 2006, Asheville City Council pushed the date further back by commissioning its own traffic study of Alternative 4B. This plan was the brainchild of public input received and

integrated by planners and designers at the Asheville Design Center. Council was acting under its belief that the traffic models used by the NCDOT were flawed, and new software showed eight lanes would be overkill.

Currently, the NCDOT is considering Alternative 4B. Brown told the group, “The two alternatives we’re looking at is No. 3 in Section B, and that’s $251 million. And Alternative 4B is $322 million.”

Locally, the project is divided into three parts. Section A, running from the Brevard Road to the Haywood Road exits, would be widened at a cost of $150 million. Section B would address snarls around the Bowen Bridge. Section C includes the I-40, I-26, and I-240 interchanges in Douth Asheville, which would be streamlined at a cost of around $100 million.

“Of course,” said Brown, “this project is statewide. We will be competing for funds with Greensboro, Charlotte” and other cities.

Brown explained projects are prioritized according to a point system. Two factors weighing heavily are the cost-benefit ratio and congestion.

“Congestion weighed at 30 percent . . . We definitely have that. The bridge has 110,000 cars daily on it. That’s definitely way over capacity,” said Brown. The New Belgium Brewery is expected to compound the problem. For the third year in a row, Asheville has led the state in urban automobile accidents.

Addressing the cost-benefit ratio, which was weighted at another 30 percent of the project’s assessment, Swicegood observed, “You mean if you took down the cost of those bridges, the higher it will score.”

Asked how political the scoring was, Brown replied, “It’s 100 percent data-driven.

No politics involved, strictly by the numbers, on statewide numbers.”

Tipton added, “Going forward, we have statewide projects, division projects” and others. “If a project doesn’t necessarily make the statewide cut, it could make it as a regional or divisional project, which is funded by a separate pot of money. Some of the projects might be funded at a lower tier to keep it moving forward.”

State Rep. Nathan Ramsey, R-Farview, interjected, “On the local component, the community has the possibility to put local dollars into these projects. . . . For instance, Buncombe County has the authority to enact sales tax to raise the score. What we’re told from Raleigh is this will score pretty well, but we won’t know ‘til the scores are released.”

The NCDOT will be hosting an informal workshop for the public within a few months, CIBO members were told. At the end of 2014, NCDOT will be hosting a more formal public hearing. The Environmental Impact Study should be completed in 2016, and construction should start in 2020.

IMPORTANT DATES

February 8th

East Buncombe Republican Team 6 Joint Precincts Meeting Bee Tree Fire Dept., 510 Bee Tree Rd, Swannanoa Time: 1:00 pm Contact: Team Director Janet Burhoe-Jones, 828-337-4718

February 10

East Buncombe Republican Team 6 Joint Precincts Meeting Lake Tomahawk Conference Center, Black Mountain Time: 6:00 pm Contact: Team Director Janet Burhoe Jones, 828-337-4718

February 12th

West Asheville Republican Team 4 Joint Precincts Meeting West Asheville Library, 942 Haywood Road, Asheville Time: 6:00 pm Contact: Team Director Mary Jean Burgin, 828-279-2140

February 22nd

West Buncombe Republican Team 8 Joint Precincts Meeting Leicester Fire Department, 2852 New Leicester Hwy, Leicester Time: 10:00 am Contact: Team Director Betty Hudson, 828-683-7780

February 22nd

February 25th

South Buncombe Republican Team 5 Joint Precincts Meeting Skyland Fire Department, 9 Miller Road, Asheville Time: 2:00 pm Contact: Team Director Laura McCue, 828-777-1068 North Buncombe Republican Team 7 Joint Precincts Meeting Woddland Hills Church, 50 Woodland Hills Drive, Asheville Time: 7:00 pm Contact: Team Director Jerry Lemonds, 828-645-8004

March 1st

Hominy Valley Republican Team 9 Joint Precincts Meeting Enka Library, 1404 Sand Hill Road, Candler Time: 10:00 am Contact: Team Director Bob Penland, 828-778-5226

March 1st

Fairview Republican Team 3 Joint Precincts Meeting Angelo’s Restaurant, 1226 Charlotte Highway, Fairview Time: 2:00 PM Contact: Team Director Marie Yates, 828-777-8426

March 3rd

North Asheville Republican Team 2 Joint Precincts Meeting North Asheville Library, 1030 Merrimon Avenue, Asheville Time: 6:30 pm Contact: Team Director Glenda Weinert, 828-230-1444

March 4th

Downtown Republican Team 1 Joint Precincts Meeting 90 Patton Ave. #204 (downtown Asheville) Time: 6:30 pm Contact: Team Director Shelia Surrett, 828-279-2562

2014 BCGOP COUNTY CONVENTION

Sat., March 29th, 2014 A-B Tech, Ferguson Auditorium, Asheville

8:30 am — County Precinct Meetings Reconvene 9:30 am — County Convention Please refer to BCGOP website: Buncombegop.org

A6 — February 2014 - Asheville Daily Planet

Youth Speaks founder uses poetry, rhythm to honor MLK

By LESLEE KULBA and JOHN NORTH

news@AshevilleDailyPlanet.com

Using a blend of poetry and rhythm, Marc Bamuthi Joseph provided the keynote address during UNC Asheville’s weeklong celebration of the life and accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr., drawing a sizable crowd on a chilly Jan. 23 night to Lipinsky Auditorium.

Joseph founded Youth Speaks and coMarc Bamuthi Joseph founded Life Is Living, a “series of festival designed to activate under-resourced parks “Racism” was, among other things, and affirm peaceful urbal life through hip-hop described as something that black folks arts and environmental action.” cannot be, and “capitalism” conjured imHe now serves as the director of perages of the devil USA, the freak market, foming arts at Yerba Buena Center in San consumption, black markets, the 1 percent Francisco while working on projects for the and the 99 percent, and Philadelphia Opera and trickle-down economics.

South Coast Repertory.

Having warmed up “The way I personally The winner of numerthe audience, the poet think about social jusous awards, Joseph is introduced himself. “I’m billed as one of America’s tice has everything to a brown boy’s first and vital voices in perfordo with environment. I worst enemy. I am the mance, arts education, (N-word) mentality. I live think the environmenand artistic curation. In in a box. My ancestral tal movement is the 2007, he made the cover run begins with hate;. . . of Smithsonian magazine movement of the 21st They had a baby named as one of America’s Top century.” ignorance. Ignorance fell Young Innovators in the in love with hate.

— Marc Bamuthi Joseph Arts and Sciences.

“Nothing was safe till He is the artistic director capitalism stepped into of the seven-part HBO documentary “Russell the frame. Capitalism was a hooker for Simmons Presents Brave New Voices” and racism. First, of all racism, we’re going to an inaugural recipient of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship, which annual pretend like you don’t exist. Shortly thererecognizes 50 of the country’s “greatest living after, they had my brother, slavery. A few years later, along came me. . . . artists.”

“All this light got me twisted. . . . I don’t Following loud applause that simmered want to be in the dark. I don’t want to be to finger-snapping, Joseph’s presentation dark. I don’t want to be in the dark. I don’t began with a request for definitions of want to be dark. I don’t even want to be. . . certain negative words. . That’s all my N-word mentality.”

“Hate” evoked thoughts of disapproval, Following more applause, Joseph turned lack of acceptance, fear, anger, and patholto dance. He described it as a release from ogy. traditional stereotypes. American slaves, “Greed” prompted concepts like shame, he said, were forbidden to use musical hunger, instant gratification, selfishness, fear of not having enough, and — one instruments, so they expressed themselves student even suggested “ Walmart.” through tap dancing.

Bellamy touts MLK’s faith in talk at Mars Hill University MARS HILL — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made great strides for equality and justice because he believed in the ideals espoused in the founding documents of the United States, and he believed in the Holy Bible, according to former mayor of Asheville Terry Bellamy.

Bellamy was the speaker for Mars Hill University’s first Martin Luther King Jr. Luncheon, held Jan. 20 on the cam- Terry Bellamy, former pus. She shared mayor of Asheville, her thoughts speaks at MHU’s on the accom- Martin Luther King Jr. plishments and Luncheon. motivations of Dr. King before a group of about 50 faculty, staff, students and community people.

“Dr. King was motivated by faith in the

American dream and by faith in the God of love and peace,” Bellamy said.

Bellamy cited scriptural admonitions against favoritism in Galatians 2 and 3, saying King believed in these concepts.

He also believed that the protections afforded in the Bill of Rights should apply to all Americans, regardless of race, Bellamy said.

She used portions of King’s famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” as she discussed King’s distinction between just and unjust laws, and his insistence that unjust laws could be resisted without violence.

Bellamy also cited her experience as a political figure with constituents who were unwilling to personally be involved with issues of importance, yet enjoyed giving advice on things she “should have” done to carry the banner of justice. In reality, she said, the work of a just world belongs to everyone.

“What are you doing about equality?”

Are you a ‘you shoulda’ or are you a changemaker?” she asked.

The MLK luncheon was sponsored at MHU by by the office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs.

As he tap-danced, Joseph spoke of his family. He closed that portion of his presentation by my mentioning his concerns for his son. “There is a race to be run and our side is losing. Son, do you know who you are? An ascendant descendant from stars. . . . Cry rivers of tears.”

Joseph then moved on to speak about King. He said he believes it was King’s outspokenness on economic disparity between the races that caused him to be martyred.

“The way I personally think about social justice has everything to do with the environment,” Joseph said. “I think the environmental movement is the movement of the 21st century.”

The movement, he noted, began “a little superficial, and a little segregated.”

Continuing in verse, he spoke, “See Brother Brown and Mother Black, see how dark the day becomes if you bury the sun?

If you’re brown, you can’t grow green.”

After what sounded like an ad for living. org, Joseph encouraged members of the audience to blossom where they were planted.

“So I want to encourage us all to think of all of these things. Not just the magnanimous words, the lofty intellect, but also the heroic . . . to be invested in your community. The value implicit of staying close to those you love.”

In closing, Joseph waxed poetic with a tribute to King. “For whom America the beautiful? Spacious skies merely mock the blackbird with crippled wing. We slice the blackbird’s throat and ask her why she does not sing. No one remembers there was no head start, no exposure to art.

“We ask the blackbird why she cannot fly while the law is walking off with her wings. So savage we only see equality in 63 black-and-white dreams. Is it so savage to dream in Technicolor prisms tinged in right to be? Is it so savage to dream — at last free?

“To dream at last free. Dream at last free.

To dream at last. Free. Free at last. Free at last.”

Following snaps that crescendoed to applause, Joseph fielded a few questions.

“Do you have any advice for a young man in need of motivation?” a student in the crowd queried.

“Risk,” Joseph replied. “Risk failure. Everything you value — every piece of technology — that was someone failing, at first. Not fearing to risk — nothing happens without a leap of faith...

“Everything that you value... all the technology... that was a lot of people failing at first and not being afraid to risk. Nelson Mandela said our deepest fear isn’t our conditions, but the possibilities.”

Another person asked about the dichotomy between the prosperity preached in black churches and the evils of consumerism and capitalism.

In response, Joseph said prosperity was not necessarily bad. “I think prosperity, success, preaching that, is fine. I think we can have a more balanced relationship between individual success and collective prosperity.”

Asked for advice for starving artists, he replied, “I’m math-smart, I could be rich, I’m convinced. But that’s not the kind of life I planned. So, choose your wealth.”

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News

Commentary

Contrary to story elsewhere, Newman to seek re-election both major political parties to Buncombe commission losing members to ‘unaffiliated’

Political roundup

Brownie Newman announced Jan. 21 that he will seek re-election to the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners.

Newman, a Democrat, was elected to represent District 1 in 2012. A Newman press release, noted that he “quickly made a difference on the commission by enacting policies to advance clean energy, build new public schools, create living wage jobs and assure equal right for all public employees.”

Further, Newman stated, “It has been an honor to serve on the Buncombe County Commission for the past year. I am excited about the progress we have made in making Buncombe County a national leader for clean energy, supporting equal rights for all our public employees and making historic investments improve our public schools, including a new Isaac Dickson Elementary School and Asheville Middle School.”

Newman is a partner at FLS Energy, a local solar energy company. During his time at FLS, the company has grown from seven employees to more than forty and is now one of the leading solar energy companies in the country. Newman grew up on a working farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

“I feel fortunate to have been able to grow up in these beautiful mountains, and I want to make sure this remains a great place to live. I am committed to protecting our mountain environment, creating living wage jobs and assuring equal rights for all.”

As a county commissioner, Newman sponsored an Energy Independence proposal that commits the County to reduce its carbon footprint by 80 percent and to implementing energy efficiency measures that are projected to save taxpayers more than $1 million over the next ten years.

Newman noted that he also supported a proposal to assure equal workplace rights to all county employees regardless of sexual orientation. Before adoption of this policy, he said, “LGBT employees were denied basic benefits, such as health insurance for their partners, that were provided to all other employees.”

Newman added, “I am proud that Buncombe County has taken a stand in support of equality for all our public employees.

I want Buncombe County to be a safe, welcoming and inclusive community.”

The Buncombe County Commission Brownie Newman consists of six members elected by district as well as a chair that is elected countywide. Newman represents District 1, which includes most of Asheville as well as parts of Woodfin and Swannanoa.

Newman holds a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa. He served two terms on Asheville City Council from 2003 to 2011. He lives with his wife, Beth, and two children, Tess and Lizzy, in the Montford neighborhood.

Trey Gowdy to give talk at Lincoln-Reagan Dinner

U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., will be special guest and keynote speaker at the annual Lincoln-Reagan Dinner 2014, the Buncombe County Republican Party announced on Jan. 30.

The dinner will be held at 6:30 p.m.

April 12 at Renaissance Downtown Asheville at 31 Woodfin St. A reception will precede the dinner at Rep. Trey Gowdy 5 p.m.

Tickets will go on sale, beginning the first week of February.

UNA voter numbers continue to rise in Buncombe County The aforementioned would serve as a more accurate headline for a recent Asheville Citizen-Tmes article regarding voter registration trends in Buncombe County.

Chairman , BCGOP The article implies that Republicans are disappearing at a greater rate than Democrats. The truth is that both major political them able to vote for the side that best suits parties are seeing declines in their registra- their principles.

Successful Republican candidates in tion totals while unaffiliated are rising at North Carolina have always understood the double digit rates.

It is the belief of the BCGOP, while this de- need to appeal to unaffiliated voters as well cline is based on more than one issue, there is as moderate Democrats. We are out numfrustration among voters, in both parties, with bered based purely on registrations, and we must have those votes to win. the hyper-partisan nature of our government.

Under Democratic leadership, our great Policies and agendas originating from the extreme Left, seen as taking America in a di- state acquired the dubious distinctions of rection opposite of what makes us an excep- having one of the highest unemployment tional nation, is not an agenda more center rates in the nation, the highest taxes in the leaning voters from either party can support. South, and billions of dollars of debt. Voters These actions leave us with the appearance want better than that and know NC can, and of dysfunction and no middle ground, mov- should, do better than that.

Republicans will motivate UNA voters ing moderate voters to the UNA designation.

Buncombe County also reflects this prem- with good policy, which inspires and rewards ise. It is not as simple as Democrats vs. Re- the hard earned success and efforts of our publicans. It is, more accurately, a far left citizens, as well as reflecting their concerns progressive agenda vs. traditional conserva- of government’s role in their lives. This will tive values. While conservatives and moder- serve as the backbone of the plan to motivate ates in each party may not agree on every- all North Carolina voters. While attempts will thing, there are a lot of them that no longer continue to divide us, citizens who care about care, or vote, their affiliation, but cast their good policy and government that serves the ballot based on their conservative principles. people will be what unite us — no matter We are seeing this trend throughout North the letter on your registration.

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Asheville Daily Planet — February 2014 — A9 Rhododendron Building, A-B Tech, 340 Victoria Rd., Asheville. American Buddhist nun Gen Kelang Nyema will lead a one-day class, “How to Get Unstuck: A Guide to Finding Notivation and Building Better Habits.”

Attendees will learn how to muster the motivation to make changes, including meditation, a talk and discussion. The fee is $20 for adults, and $15 for students or seniors. Refreshments will be served. To register, call 668-2241, or visit www.meditationinasheville.org.

Faith Notes Send us your faith notes

Please submit items to the Faith Notes by noon on the third Wednesday of each month, via email, at spirituality@ashevilledailyplanet.com, or fax to 252-6567, or mail c/o The Daily Planet, P.O. Box 8490, Asheville, N.C. 28814-8490. Submissions will be accepted and printed at the discretion of the editor, space permitting. To place an ad for a faith event, call 252-6565.

Sunday, Feb. 23

CONCERT, 4 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place, Asheville. The Ciompi String Quartet will perform in concert. For tickets, which are $35, visit www.ashevillechambermusic.org, or call 575-7427.

Friday, Jan. 31

Sunday, March 9

FILM, 6:30 p.m., Fellowship Hall, Kenilworth Presbyterian Church, 123 Kenilworth Rd., Asheville. The movie “Inequality for All” will be screened by the Land of the Sky United Church of Christ. A love offering will be taken to support Pisgah Legal Services.

MOUNTAIN SPIRIT COFFEEHOUSE CONCERT, 7 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place, Asheville. No Fuss & Feathers Roadshow will perform during the monthly Mountain Spirit Coffeehouse Concert.

Saturday, Feb. 1

MLK PRAYER BREAKFAST, 9-11 a.m., Camp Dorothy Walls, Black Mountain. The Rev. Michael J.S. Carter will be the keynote speaker for the 24th annual Swannanoa Valley Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. prayer breakfast. His speech is titled “Dreamer.”

Carter is minister of the Unitiarian Universalist Congregation of the Swannanoa Valley in Black Mountain. All are welcome. Tickets to the breakfast are $12, while patron tickets are $35, with $23 of that amount going to the scholarship fund. For tickets, call Archie Pertiller at 669-1281.

CAREGIVER’S SEMINAR, 9:45 a.m.-2:15 p.m., Grace Lutheran Church, 1245 Sixth Ave. W., Hendersonville. The adult ministry program will offer a one-day caregiver’s seminar. Attendees will learn about caregiving responsibilities, resources, legal matters, memory care, advance directives, palliative care and more — and share their experiences. For advance registration, which is required, call 693-4890, ext. 304.

Sunday, Feb. 2

DIABETES FORUM, 9:15 a.m., First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1735 Fifth Ave. West at White Pine Drive, Hendersonville. The free weekly adult forum will feature “Diabetes: How to Be Helpful Without Becoming the Food Police,” presented by Melissa Melum, a registered nurse.

CONCERT, 4 p.m., First Alliance Church, 1821 Windsor Dr., Hendersonville. The Wissman Family will perform a blend of gospel and bluegrass music in concert.

The group is from the Midwest and has been performing before audiences nationwide for about 10 years.

OVERCOMING NEGATIVITY CLASS, 7-8:30 p.m., Omega Room, Rainbow Community School, 574 Haywood Rd., Asheville. Buddhist teacher Sharon Lovich will lead a class, “Freedom From Negativity: How to Overcome Negative States of Mind.” The class will run from Feb. 2 to March 23. Attendees will learn to identify and overcome states of mind that interfere with inner peace. The class will include guided meditation, a talk and discussion. Drop-in classes are $8 for adults, or $5 for students or seniors. To register, call 668-2241, or visit www.meditationinasheville.org.

Tuesday, Feb. 4

PUB CHAT, 6 p.m., Mezzaluna restaurant, 226 N. Main St., downtown Hendersonville. The Unity Center in Mills River will hold “Truth on Tap,” a pub chat with the Rev. Chad O’Shea on matters spiritual and otherwise. A love offering will be taken.

Saturday, Feb. 8

MIND-BODY-SPIRIT DAY, ,11 a.m.-5 p.m., Light Center, 2190 N.C. 9, Black Mountain. Mind-Body-Spirit Day will feature crystal bowls, a Reiki circle, toning for peace and healing. Admission is by donation. To register, visit www.URLight.org, or call 669-6845.

Sunday, Feb. 9

MARRIAGE WORKSHOP, 4-6 p.m., Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts, 1028 Georgia Rd., Franklin. A marriage workshop, “Love Worth Fighting For,” will be led by Kirk Cameron and Warren Barfield based on the theme of “There is no better example of the unconditional love God has for us than what we are instructed to have for our spouse and children.” For tickets, which are $22.50, call (866) 273-4615 or visit greatmountainmusic.com.

MOUNTAIN SPIRIT COFFEEHOUSE CONCERT, 7

The Ciompi String Quartet will perform at 4 p.m. Feb. 23 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville at 1 Edwin Place in North Asheville. p.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place, Asheville. Dana and Susan Robinson will perform during the Mountain Spirit Coffeehouse Concert.

Wednesday, Feb. 12

CHOCOLATE MEDITATION, 7 p.m., Unity Center, 2041 Old Fanning Bridge Rd., Mills River. A chocolate meditation, Unity’s traditional Valentine’s Day chocolate experience, is billed as featuring “the full, rich, dark, sensual experience of chocolate.”

Thursday, Feb. 13

CONCERT/DINNER, 5:30 p.m., The Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove, 1 Porters Cove Road, Asheville. “An Evening at The Cove With David Phelps” will feature a concert and buffet dinner. For tickets,

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Friday, Feb. 14

SOCIAL JUSTICE FILM, 7-9 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place, Asheville. The UU will screen its monthly Social Justice Film “Specieism: The Movie.” The film makes the case that modern farms are struggling to keep a secret — that most of the animals used for food in the United States are raised in giant, bizarre factories, hidden deep in remote areas of the countryside. There is no charge for the film, but donations will be accepted.

Saturday, Feb. 15

GETTING UNSTUCK CLASS, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., 351

Tuesday, March 18

BILLY GRAHAM’S GRANDSON’S SPEECH, 6:30 p.m., TD Convention Center, Greenville, S.C. Bestselling author and evangelist Billy Graham’s grandson, Tullian Tchividjian, will be the keynote speaker at a fundraiser for Miracle Hill Ministries. The agency provides emergency shelter services for individuals throughout South Carolina. Tchividjian is the author of “One Way Love: God’s Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World,” released in October, as well as “Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free” and “Jesus + Nothing = Everything.” To register, contact Sandy Furnell at (864) 631-0137, or visit www.MiracleHill.org/banquet.

Sunday, March 30

MOUNTAIN SPIRIT COFFEEHOUSE CONCERT, 7 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place, Asheville. Legends of the Celtic Harp will perform during the monthly Mountain Spirit Coffeehouse Concert.

Covenant Reformed

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A10 - February 2014 - Asheville Daily Planet

The Daily Planet’s Opinion

UNCA chancellor leaves lasting legacy

We will be sad to see the departure of UNC Asheville Chancellor Anne Ponder, who will leave large shoes to fill.

Ponder announced to faculty and staff in mid-January her intention to step down as leader of UNCA, effective July 31, after nine years as chancellor — the longest tenure of any leader in the institution’s history since its first,William Highsmith. She is UNCA’s sixth chancellor.

The Asheville native, the daughter of the late Eleanor and Herschel Ponder, has local roots traced to the 1780s. She is married to writer and publisher Christopher Brookhouse.

Ponder managed dramatic improvements to the school that bills itself as “the state’s liberal arts university.”

Among her most notable accom-

plishments are the following: • Guided UNCA successfully through financially turbulent times.

• Played a pivotal role in not only maintaining but improving the quality of academics, as evidenced by continued recognition by ratings agencies.

• Strengthened community relations with new partnerships with Mission

Health System, among others.

• Oversaw the largest construction boom in UNCA history, most notably the Sherrill Center.... and added vital strategic acreage for future expansion.

We wish Ponder the best in her future endeavors and feel that UNCA and the surrounding community are better places as a result of her admirable ability to turn her forwardthinking ideas into reality.

N.C. civil rights pioneer left legacy CHAPEL HILL — When Franklin McCain died in early January, I remembered how often his acts and his words inspired me.

McCain was one of the four North Carolina A&T State University students who first sat down in 1960 at the Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro and quietly asked to be served, sparking a wave of sitins across the country.

I remembered his talk in 1998 at an event marking the 38th anniversary of those sit-ins. I expected a fiery oration, one that was totally critical of our country’s record on civil rights. But what I heard, at the beginning, was more like a Fourth of July speech.

“Our country,” he began, “it is, on balance, the best country in the world.”

He continued, making the following points to his mostly African-American audience on the campus of A&T in Greensboro: • “Not only can you now sit down and eat in any restaurant, you can own it.”

• Blacks have pulled themselves up into the middle class — and established a power base in politics and the economy.

• Henry Frye is on the North Carolina Supreme Court.

• Blacks are anchorpersons on our TV stations.

• A&T is much better funded than it was 38 years ago (still not adequately so, he emphasized, when the years of under-funding are taken into account).

“What is happening?” I thought to myself. Is Franklin McCain ready to declare victory and celebrate the successful conclusion of the struggle for equality?

No. McCain was not doing anything of the sort.

Many things, McCain said, were keeping him very concerned, including: • The rise of racist groups: Aryan Nation.

Weathermen. KKK. And “right wing jerks who parade as ministers of the gospel.” All these are a part of the mood of the country.

• The resurgence of the politics of meanness.

• At the same time as the Congress was considering renaming Washington’s airport after Ronald Reagan, McCain said that he was still angry with the former president because he undercut the progress of minorities.

• McCain was just as mad at those people who were active in the 1960s — but today

D.G. Martin “sit back and do nothing.”

• “I am upset,” he said, “with those who say that ‘race doesn’t matter.’ Race doesn’t matter — if you are white. If you look like me, race matters.”

• “God help those who say, ‘I made it on my own.’”

Now McCain was giving the fiery speech that I had expected.

“We have allowed our adversaries to define the issues of the day. He who controls the language and the rules will win the debate. ‘Affirmative action’ now means ‘reverse discrimination.’ ‘Neighborhoods schools’ means ‘keep those black kids close to their own homes and out of our schools.’

‘Inner city’ is a code word for ‘us.’ “‘Welfare queen’ is just a term to paint a black face on welfare — when it is really the young white mother with two children who is the typical welfare recipient.

“What is welfare, anyway?” he asked.

Federal highways, FHA loans, college loans, and deductions for depreciation, sugar subsidies, and grazing on government lands. If you take those, aren’t you on welfare?

“I don’t mind my tax dollars going to feed hungry kids, but I do mind cows grazing on our lands for 50 cents an acre.”

McCain gave the tough and emotional speech that I expected--and I had to listen to it and reflect on it. As a legend and hero in the civil rights movement, he deserved that attention.

As someone who loved his country and gave it credit for being the best in the world, he commanded respect when he told us we had not come nearly far enough.

For years to come, his words will command respect and his example will inspire us.

• D.G. Martin hosts “North Carolina Bookwatch,” which airs Fridays at 9:30 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m. on UNC-TV.

Letters to the Editor

Correcting a few errors in Christmas jam review ....

I am writing regarding several errors in the story on Warren Haynes’ 25th Christmas Jam. I am only going to be commenting on the two paragraphs that pertain to Gregg Allman’s participation in the event, as those two small paragraphs are laden with errors.

“Allman is the heart and soul of the still existent but dormant Allman Brothers Band. Although he is best known for his work on the B-3 Hammond organ, Allman played an acoustic guitar, accompanied by Haynes. The two had toured with the Allman Brothers in the late 1980s.

“Allman’s half-hour set included Jackson Browne’s “These Days,” Muddy Waters’ “Can’t Be Satisfied,” and Neil Young’s “The Needle and the Damage Done;” as well as Allman classics like “Midnight Rider” and “Melissa.” The latter was written by Allman in memory of his brother, guitarist extraordinaire Duane, who died in a motorcycle crash in 1970.”

Fact #1: The Allman Brothers Band is NOT dormant. They have played many dates in the recent past years, including their annual residency in March at the Beacon Theater in NYC, with at least 10 shows there this coming March. From the Beacon Theater’s own website: “The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees and live music stalwarts have performed at the 2,800-seat Beacon over 220 times since they began the tradition in 1989.” They play many

other dates aside from the Beacon run each year. Many of the band members have their own bands and tour with them as well.

Fact #2: Warren Haynes did not just tour with the Allman Brothers Band, he was a bonafide member of the band from 1989, then quit in 1997 to concentrate on his own band, Government Mule, but rejoined the Allman Brothers Band in 2000. He just recently announced that he is leaving the band at the end of 2014 (along with another prominent band member since 2001, Derek Trucks, nephew of Butch Trucks, one of the original 6 ABB).

Fact #3: Duane Allman passed away on Oct. 29, 1971.

Fact #4: “Melissa” was written in 1967, some four years before Duane passed away.

Duane and Gregg recorded the song in one of the bands they were in together before the Allman Brothers Band. If the writer was referring to “Midnight Rider” — well, that was written in 1970, again before Duane passed away.

So as not to dwell only on the errors, the writer did get some facts correct: Gregg does play the Hammond B3 organ and guitar, and Duane Allman was, indeed, a guitarist extraordinaire.

BETTY MODERNO Weaverville EDITOR’S NOTE: Corrections of the Christmas Jam review appears on Page A2. A story on the impending departures of Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks from the Allman Brothers Band, along with their separate statements, appears on Page B1.

See LETTERS, Page A13

The Candid Conservative

‘DADT’ repeal? It’s not a sanction of homosexuality

It’s been a little over a year since the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” fiasco was put to rest in the military. It may surprise some to hear that this was a conservative outcome.

Per its title, “DADT” was a childish exercise from day one. Performance, not gender, should have been the military’s focus all along. Unfortunately, the left’s pattern of celebrating and marketing homosexuality fed the right’s urge to react on emotion and resist on habit. Conservatism has its roots in the word “conserve” which means to “manage wisely.” Per the more persisting forces of nature, women are a far more disruptive sexual influence in the military than homosexuals, yet we are successfully handling the feminine gender’s integration into all branches of the service.

A third gender is doable too and it is not a matter of advocacy. Israel offers a model of success and sexual harassment, regardless of gender source, remains a punishable military offense. The left continues to spin their own web of deceit around this issue.

The Bible persistently defines homosexual misbehavior as a sin – just like it identifies heterosexual misbehavior as a sin. One need not buy into this value system, but it is dishonest to pretend it doesn’t exist.

“DADT” repeal was not a moral surrender to a homosexual cult movement. It was a mature surrender to reason.

Spending addicts need enablers

America’s economy remains at risk. Our politicians have not only spent tomorrow’s entitlement and defense dollars, but they’ve also added a mountain of debt that cannot realistically be repaid. It takes 32 years just

Carl Mumpower to count to a trillion. Through the mixed blessing of the dollar as the world’s currency, the U.S. has had the temporary luxury of printing real and electronic money as a way out. That formula works only if no one notices and foreign creditors retain faith in the value and security of the dollar. Both illusions are vulnerable. A review of world financial flows reveals that countries like China are being spooked. Sure, they have their own forms of economic mischief, but ascending economies do not suffer the same risks that developed countries do. We have less room to grow ourselves out of mistakes. Our leaders are doing what they know will keep them in office – please the majority by postponing accountability for another day. We should thus all be ashamed of our part in this unethical mismanagement of our economy. Natural law assures a day of reckoning no matter how sophisticated our denial system.

See CANDID CONSERVATIVE, Page A13

TO REPORT AN ERROR

The Asheville Daily Planet strives to be accurate in all articles published. Contact the News Department at news@ashevilledailyplanet.com, (828) 252-6565, or P.O. Box 8490, Asheville, N.C. 28814-8490.

Asheville Daily Planet —February 2014 — A11

Commentary You may recall a simple children’s game known as “Duck, Duck, Goose.”

Participating youngsters sit in a circle.

The “ducker” walks the perimeter tapping players’ heads. “Duck, duck, duck ...” until finally pronouncing one a “goose.”

The goose jumps and attempts to tag the ducker before the ducker is able to assume the goose’s former place. A successful tag means resumption by the ducker, failure makes the goose ...

Am I over-explaining? Basically, a variation on “Tag, you’re it.”

Why “goose?” The game’s origin is lost in nursery school fog, but “silly goose” has been an English language expression since 1547. Naming the tappee a goose is traditional humorous mockery.

Which brings us to “Duck Dynasty.”

Now that Bill Maher and others have exposed the flimflam, heated debates attending an actor’s temporary exile from the network is revealed as vacant lunacy. It’s reasonably certain that the actor’s mouthing off, firing and rehiring were as orchestrated as the show itself, fake beards and all.

If anything, one supposes the audience has grown; that loyal fans have waxed more faithful. That’s entertainment!

But, of course, it isn’t just entertainment and it’s symptomatic of a much more serious phenomena in modern American society. Flimflam is the norm, most particularly on the far right. The gullible geese among us are completely at sea (to mix aquatic metaphors.)

Before you conservative readers get all knee-jerky, note that I am on the record criticizing liars on both the left and right,

On the left

Silly geese

particularly liars posing as public servants.

There are liars, however, and then there are enormously wealthy, manipulative, self-serving bastards who don’t much care if America goes down in flames as long as they profit.

Tea partiers, right-wing libertarians, and working-class conservatives have been artfully played for the past few decades by frauds as venal as the “Dynasty” actors, but with far more ominous repercussions.

Starting in the early 1980s, billionaire arch-conservative Peter G. Peterson began pushing his economic vision: aimed at collapsing Social Security and other public support systems, cutting taxes for the rich, crushing the poor, and generally returning America to that glorious gilded age when old and infirm proles were simply allowed to suffer in squalor and die.

Boy, has he succeeded!

Politicians pretending to be friends of we workers have stolen our pasts and present and are well on track to close-out our futures.

Unions, the organizations that enabled many workers to climb out of poverty and achieve “middle-class” status, have been vilified and crushed, resulting in wage stagnation for most bluecollar employees. Since the 1970s, average wages have increased a few percent and productivity has soared by 90 percent or more, with the profit landing in the pockets of the ultra-rich.

Taxes have increased at the bottom and been slashed at the top.

Education has been defunded so the low-cost public universities of 1960 now charge tuitions that leave graduates mired in debt. Meanwhile, graduates of our public high schools are falling behind the rest of the modern world with dollars shunted to private academies via vouchers — vouchers which help the rich while good schools remain out of reach for the poor.

Most successfully the right wing has managed to entirely subvert our news media. Even the most objective news organs label Obama as liberal, when he is at least

Cecil Bothwell

somewhat to the right of Richard Nixon.

Obamacare is painted as a liberal reform when it was invented by a right-wing think tank and explicitly benefits the insurance and pharmaceutical and medical specialty industries, not to mention banks.

The idea that our national debt is out of control is treated as a realistic assumption, when in fact it has fallen rapidly and never presented a serious threat to our economy.

Falling numbers of undocumented immigrants are reported as an escalating crisis.

This, mind you, is in the mainstream media. The FOX (and friend) fringes take it all much further with wild-eyed fear mongering that bears no relationship to the real world. They wear their populist beards, and say all the right populist words, they smile for the cameras and all the while know exactly what they are about.

“Duck, duck, duck ....” If you find you’re running in Teabag circles ... you’re it!

• Cecil Bothwell, author of nine books, including “She Walks On Water: A novel” (Brave Ulysses Books, 2013), is a member of Asheville City Council.

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A12 - February 2014 - Asheville Daily Planet

Commentary

‘C.C.’ termed a new light on Republican Raleigh I don’t read the Daily Planet’s “Candid Conservative” for self-improvement. The world he wants is not mine. When I read the column, it’s to try and put some kind of meaning into what the Republicans are doing to us in Raleigh.

The C.C.’s a fine source because he’s on the board of directors of the John Locke Foundation, a think-tank funded by Art Pope. Who is Art Pope? He’s the superwonk of conservative right-wing theory in North Carolina, our governor’s brain. The C.C. drinks deep at the fountain of what’s happening.

Most C.C. columns are predictable reruns of last season’s shows. Occasionally there’s new light on Republican Raleigh, like in the most recent offering. The subject was gun control, but C.C. strayed off into places I think he’d have corrected if he’d indulged in editing.

Where is that? Into the loonies.

Here’s one quote: “Behind the guise of public safety, the mission of removing guns from private ownership is a defined platform of socialistic power brokers who apparently fear a well armed [sic] citizenry.”

(A “power broker” of course is someone who influences others, not someone who holds power himself. But let’s give him

Lee Ballard slack on that. He’d have caught the flub if he’d edited.)

In broad overview, the quote tells us what we already know about GOP election strategy: they misinform voters who don’t make the effort to educate themselves.

Here the misinformation is about “removing guns from private ownership.”

Elsewhere in the column he uses “disarm the populace” and “disarming America.”

We can understand why. There’s a lot more punch in “disarming America” than in “regulating gun ownership,” the actual Democratic policy proposal.

Saying that “removing guns from private ownership” is a “defined platform” is a lie, and they know it’s a lie. If you read the Democratic Party platform on guns, you’ll find statements like, “Rights to own firearms are subject to reasonable regulation.” Regulation, not disarming. Check it out: http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/

democratic_party_gun_control.htm.

I believe this kind of twisted propaganda is intentional. It’s the same kind of political cynicism we get in our mailboxes just before every election.

By contrast, the “socialistic power brokers” part is something different. It’s insanity – somewhere between paranoia and fantasy prone personality (FPP).

Assuming C.C. intends “socialist” as equivalent to “liberal” – food stamps, universal healthcare, etc. – think about it, folks. Liberals have led every campaign through history to EXPAND rights of the people: women’s voting rights, civil rights, workers’ rights, on and on. Liberals don’t take advantage of weakness; they want the people ever more empowered.

The world’s strongest democracies are countries far more liberal than America: Scandinavian countries, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands.

And when it comes to suppression of the people’s rights, which group is famous for that, left or right? We got our voter suppression laws in North Carolina from extreme-right Republicans. It’s the right, not the left, who use tricks to hold power.

Liberals work to maximize democracy.

So “disarming America” is intended to

deceive gullible voters. It’s part of the GOP election strategy of Boobeyman Liberal. It’s an old-time GOP strategy, one that even otherwise devout Christian Republicans embrace because ends justify means.

“Socialist power broker” on the other hand, is more symptom than strategy. It says Republicans are irrational. They see liberals everywhere. Their mission as a party is to counter, to reverse liberalism.

Public schools and universities are seen as liberal, so they must be cut down to size, privatized, reoriented into conservative philosophy. They see liberals sneaking about everywhere, as in gun control, seeking advantage, grabbing more power. Again, this ain’t liberalism, in theory, practice or history.

(It’s possible the C.C. is using “socialist” more like Rush Limbaugh’s technical definition: “governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.” If so, the C.C. is even farther out. This is totalitarianism – coincidentally the topic of my next column, North Carolina totalitarianism.)

• Lee Ballard lives in Mars Hill.

Time to end inequality between men, women

The inequality between men and women hurts our society.

There was a time when the societal norm was for men to work and women to stay home and raise the children. The difference in the function of the sexes was evident.

Each had a role and both seemed to be content in these positions.

These strict roles have changed over time, due to both a need and a desire. The majority of people, regardless of sex, function in the workplace and at home in the same capacity. The roles and responsibilities of the sexes have become equal. This equality should be reflected in all areas of our lives and the imbalance in the treatment of the sexes should cease to exist. This inequality exists in many areas of our daily lives, including the lack of control that women have over their bodies.

Birth control for both sexes should be approached with the same philosophy.

Currently, contraception for men is readily available at any drugstore or grocery store, while women’s contraception is an issue.

Condoms have never come under attack by religious groups, while the preventative essential benefits of the Affordable Care Act may be altered to exclude contraception for any woman working with a religious affiliated group. This would put the control of birth on men alone. Since women are the bearers of children, and at times, the sole supporters of those children, they should be the ones determining whether a pregnancy ought to occur.

Ironically, Viagra is covered by insurance, while the availability to contraception for women seems to be up for constant debate.

Why is the accessibility to contraception for women a question for religious groups, while the only non-surgical form of contraception for men remains available in most stores?

Why shouldn’t women have autonomy over their bodies?

Nancy Hedge

Guest Columnist Why do we put so much emphasis on men and their sexual stamina and pleasure, but little on the outcome of that same stamina and pleasure?

This focus carries over to the courts.

Rape continues in this country and the justice system still holds the victims accountable for the actions of their rapist.

In Montana, a 14-year-old girl was raped by her teacher, who received a 30-day sentence by Judge G. Todd Baugh who stated that the child “seemed older than her chronological age” and was “as much in control of the situation” as the teacher.

Since that ruling, the 14-year-old girl

has taken her own life. What is happening here? Why are we promoting a society where women cannot find vindication?

Why aren’t more men willing to join women in the fight against this type of gender-based violence?

State Sen. Richard Black of Virginia feels that spousal rape is not a crime. (He is running for Congress, by the way). He believes if you are “sleeping in the same bed” and “she’s in a nightie,” then she’s free game.

Are we still unwilling to hold men accountable for their actions and to adhere to the idea that they have no control over their behavior — that when it comes to sex, they can not differentiate between right and wrong?

When a woman says NO, it means NO. It doesn’t matter how sexually excited the male is or whether there is a marriage certificate in close proximity. He must control himself. We are not animals, after all.

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equal number of women and men occupy the workforce, however women only earn $0.77 to every dollar earned by a man.

Why do we continue to dispute whether women deserve the same pay as men?

Why are we content with women and children living in poverty, although women are providing for themselves and their children? How is this acceptable to any gender, or any political party?

Women are an equally contributing part of society. It is time they are treated as such.

• Nancy Hedge, who claims to be the “master of all I survey,” is a computer programmer who lives in Asheville.

Asheville Daily Planet —February 2014 — A13

Letters to the Editor

Continued from Page A10

Error in allowing America’s drift into police state? Unforgiveable

Dante Alighieri: “... at this high moment, ability failed my capacity to describe,” Paradiso (the 3rd and final part of Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” XXXIII, 142).

Candid Conservative Continued from Page A10

Celebrating Western civilization

Though it’s popular to criticize Western civilization, celebration should be the mission. Our Judeo-Christian foundation, with the values, humanity, and work ethic it contains, has propelled mankind to unprecedented heights. It’s not racism, but realism that points to western civilization’s superiority over most alternatives. Former Minnesota professor Vishal Mangalwadi was born and raised in India. He’s not a gentleman you’d expect to champion western civilization and Christianity, but that’s precisely his assignment and he does it with fascinating clarity.

Dr. Mangalwadi notes that western civilization has flourished through an exceptional dedication to human dignity — a value that begins with a God who created man in his own image. No spiritual faith in the world has a more credible track record of uplifting the common man that Christianity. Yesterday’s western civilization produced DaVinci, Michelangelo, and Bach. Today’s indifference to western social, moral, and spiritual values has produced Hugh Hefner, Curt Cobain, and Paris Hilton. We would all do well to celebrate our traditional western cultural heritage — even better to preserve it.

The books “Fortress America: On the Frontlines of Homeland Security — An Inside Look at the Coming Surveillance State” (by Matthew Brzezinski) and “A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State” provide irrefutable proof that America is in the final stage of transformation from a constitutional republic and free and open democratic society with representative government, into a Big Brother police state — and you people fiddle while Rome burns!

And the books “Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill” and “Brain Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry” offer uncontestable proof that America’s psychiatrists are mad doctors, practicing mad medicine conjured up by equally mad scientists, practicing mad science, who

ill advised foreign entanglements, and tremendous expansion of government.

None of these priorities had anything to do with honest conservative thinking, but the propaganda of the left and insincerity of Republican power brokers secured the association. The failure of this make believe conservatism demoralized the right and invigorated the left. The selective application of principle brought on an even darker reality – the election of the most liberal presidential administration on record.

Extremes breed extremes and the political pendulum responded with full and misguided enthusiasm as it careened from a fantasy right to a very real socialist left.

Left-minded despots pretending to be rescuers took full advantage of the fuzzy politics of the Bush years and economic fears to recapture the presidency and Congress.

Conservatives became alarmed – about eight years late.

We are witness to the greatest makeover of government in America’s history. With a knack for bureaucracy and regulatory heaviness, expenses are exceeding revenues by thirty percent. As this American Debt grows bigger, the American Dream grows smaller.

One would assume such a reality would stimulate a conservative call to action. The best response to descending darkness is turning on the lights, but that’s not happening.

Ture conservatives, by principle and dedication, are exceedingly bright. These days there is not a lot of light out of the right.

America continues to struggle at an unprecedented crossroads. Never in our history have the numbers of those seeking something for nothing been so great. Ex-

America at the Crossroads

Recent decades have brought us two particularly dark moments. First came the Bush-Cheney administration and Republican dominance. Those years were characterized by borrow and spend policies,

perience in other countries has persistently demonstrated that when the ratio of feeders to producers exceeds a certain threshold, societies sacrifice their real liberties for fantasy securities.

If we are to sustain our country’s beacon as the true land of liberty, opportunity, and responsibility, conservatives must find their backbone and get back in the fight. It is not too late for America to recover its heritage and challenge liberal absurdities. It’s amazing how men who will face a loaded gun to fight for their country will studiously avoid the wrath of a liberal with a frown. For conservative thinkers, a frustrated opposition represents progress.

• Carl Mumpower, a former member of Asheville City Council, may be contacted at drmumpower@aol.com

Asheville, Hendersonville & Waynesville have been DESTROYED!

Normalcy can be dangerous

Odds are you’ve never heard the psychological term “normalcy bias.” It has to do with denying danger when it’s staring us in the face. Those two words explain many of the mixed signals on America’s financial situation. Remember the irrational frenzy on tech stocks just before the dot com collapse? How about the “buy and hold” recommendations just before the 2008 market collapse? Remember all the articles saying that gold at two hundred fifty dollars an ounce was a sucker’s bet? It’s now at twelve hundred and fifty dollars and the same people are saying the same thing. Financial prognosticators, including the ones working for government, are in the comfort and entertainment business. They have a built in normalcy bias and consequently speak most often to what we want to hear or what others want us to hear. There are no easy ways to separate financial fact from fiction, but the saying “don’t wee-wee on me and pretend it’s raining” has application. We are not living in normal times and rosy economic predictions may predict just the opposite.

are in the pocket of money-mad drug companies.

And what do you people do with this information?

The same thing you did with the indisputable evidence that America is an emergent Big Brother police state: nothing!

Some day you’ll answer for your inaction when you face eternity because as Dante (a major Italian poet of the Middle Ages) points out in his “Divine Comedy:” “The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in time of great national or moral crisis, practice neutrality.”

For sitting back and allowing your country, America, to become a Big Brother police state is an unforgiveable sin ... as is doing nothing while mad doctors practice mad medicine and prescribe mad medicines to naive psychiatric patients who are innocent and trusting because they have been brainwashed by drug company myths and drug commercials on television.

RICHARD D. POPE Hendersonville

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A14 — February 2014 — Asheville Daily Planet

Advice Goddess

Continued from Page A1 A: When your girlfriend bows and says “namaste” to the bag guy at the supermarket, you have to wonder, are there two yogis in India fist-bumping and greeting each other, “Wassup, home slice?” and “Nuthin, dawg. What’s crackalackin with you?”

It’s understandable that you feel guilty about being annoyed that your girlfriend has gone Suddenly Swami.

If she’d come back from Paris and started marching around in a beret and an Hermes scarf and speaking French to the grocery bagger, you’d probably deem her an obnoxious phony and suspect she has a superiority complex (a shrink term for covering up feelings of inferiority by acting superior).

The problem is, we’re told we have to “respect” people’s spiritual beliefs and practices. We should respect their right to have them, providing they don’t involve baby-eating or witch burnings, but there’s been what British philosopher Simon Blackburn calls “respect creep,” the expectation of “more substantial respect” — admiration, approval and deference.

Well, these things are earned; they can’t be expected or demanded, and it’s no more wrong to have critical thoughts about somebody’s spiritual beliefs and expression than about their politics or choice of pizza toppings.

So, getting back to your girlfriend, no, she isn’t exempt from being considered a pretentious jerk when she signs her credit card slip in Sanskrit.

It also isn’t “shallow” to feel that the new her doesn’t work for the relatively unchanged you. (As a flamboyant bigmouth, I

The Advice Goddess

Amy Alkon

can tell you that flamboyant bigmouth girls aren’t for just any guy.) But you might give this some time. This might just be the yoga ’n’ meditation version of somebody excited about losing weight on a new diet and wanting to spread the word, and she may become less affected, preachy and annoying in a month or two.

To help speed the process, you could gently ask her to consider whether her clothes and talk might be creating distance between her and other people. A person shows their spiritual growth and attracts others to their path through how they act and treat people. (The saying is “Be the change you want to see in the world,” not “Dress as the change.”)

Sure, Buddha dressed like an Asian monk, but it isn’t the monk suit that made the man. (If Buddha were from Milwaukee, he’d be sitting cross-legged in Levi’s and a trucker hat.)

A ruse by any other name

I am 23 and like this really cute guy who lives in my building. I think he likes me, too, because he flirts back a bit when I flirt with him, so I’ve been trying to send stronger signals that I want him to

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ask me out. I friended him on Facebook and started posting cute photos of myself, and if I’m at the store, I’ll buy him something and knock on his door and say, “Hey, I got an extra box of cookies; thought you could use them.” I’m thinking of throwing a party and inviting him, but I’ll feel dumb if he doesn’t come and I threw the party for nothing.

— Impatient Unfortunately, men are more complicated than cats. You can’t just tie a beer and a bag of Doritos to the end of a string.

A guy takes note of your existence because your legs give him whiplash, not because you deliver snacks or slip a coupon under his door for a free carwash with every date.

You should flirt to let a guy know you’re open to being asked out — and stop at that.

What makes you attractive, in addition to the physical stuff, is your being a little out of reach, not inserting yourself into his life at every possible social or social media opportunity.

The ploys you’ve been engaging in may not be so overt and aggressive as asking a guy out, but especially in combination, they cross over from indicating interest to screaming desperation. Because a guy can’t unhear that scream, your best bet is forgetting this guy, chalking this up to a learning experience, and moving on.

And no, that doesn’t mean moving on to the plan of covering a big pit with leaves and luring him over to it with some Fig Newtons.

The flirt locker

My boyfriend of two months doesn’t seem insecure. But last week, after we left a party, he said it was humiliating that I was flirting with this good-looking guy

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If you go to a party with your new boyfriend and spend a half-hour mesmerized by another guy, it helps if the guy’s wearing a feather boa and size 15 women’s shoes.

Assuming your boyfriend isn’t insecure and you aren’t covertly on the prowl, it’s the optics that are the problem. A guy’s buddies are both supportive and competitive — sometimes looking out for him and sometimes looking for his Achilles’ heel so they can poke it with a sharp stick.

So, what to you is a totally platonic conversation, to the guys standing across the room with your boyfriend, comes off like you’re sitting in some dude’s lap and licking his earlobe.

The good news is the optics can also be the solution. Engaging in sporadic touchyfeely with your boyfriend — hugging him, kissing or stroking his cheek — can be a sort of ad for “I’m with him, and I plan to continue that.”

It’s bad to let a boyfriend curtail who you are, but it helps to be sensitive to how even innocent extraversion can come off to an audience, especially in the early stages of a relationship.

No guy wants to bring around his hot new car and then watch as some other guy gets his fingerprints all over the hood.

• (c.) 2013, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved.

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A16 — February 2014 — Asheville Daily Planet

The Daily Planet is everywhere!

Downtown Asheville

Izzy’s Coffehouse Downtown Books Dobra Tea Voltage Records Pack Library (newspaper row) Asheville Civic Center Haywood Hotel/Haywood Street Haywood Hotel/Battery Park Avenue Parking Garage/Battery Park Avenue Federal Courthouse Wall Street Climbing Wall AT&T Building Tupelo Honey Cox Avenue Post Office City Bakery Fine Arts Theatre Hannah Flannagan’s Pack Square Buncombe County Courthouse Over Easy Café Magnolia’s Lawyer’s Building, 29 N. Market St.

North Asheville

Greenlife Grocery/Merrimon Ave. Bob Lawrence Power Equip./Broadway Five Points Restaurant/Broadway St. Eblen Short Stop-Citgo/Broadway St. Citgo/Beaver Lake/Merrimon Ave. Marco’s Pizza/Merrimon Ave. El Chapala/Merrimon Ave. Rite Aid/Merrimon Ave. Ace Hardware/Merrimon Ave. Subway/Merrimon Ave. Urban Burrito/Merrimon Ave. Luella’s BBQ/Merrimon Ave.

Brugger’s Bagels/Merrimon Ave. Express Lanes/Charlotte St.

Montford Reader’s Corner

UNC Asheville Health & Wellness Ctr. Reuter Center New Hall Carmichael Hall Dining Hall Highsmith University Union Rhoades-Robinson Hall Ramsey Library Lipinsky Hall Karpen Hall

River Arts District 12 Bones Restaurant

Weaverville/Woodfin Poppy’s Restaurant El Chapala restaurant IHOP Well-Bred Bakery Laundromat (downtown) General Equipment Rental Bellagio restaurant Nick’s Restaurant

Mars Hill Wagon Wheel Restaurant Original Papa Nick’s Pizza Mars Hill Exxon

West Asheville

East Asheville

Ice Service Station/Haywood Rd. Laundromat near Ingles/Haywood Rd. Isis Restaurant and Music Hall La Piedrita/Haywood Rd. Go Grocery/New Leicester Hwy. El Mariachi restaurant/New Lcstr. Hwy. Leicester Post Office/New Lcstr. Hwy. Miles BP/Patton Ave. Mr. Suave conv. store/Smoky Park Hwy. Yao restaurant/Smoky Park Hwy. El Chapala/Smoky Park Hwy. BP Station, Brevard Rd.

Mr. K’s Used Books River Ridge Shell/Swannanoa Rd. Tobacco Outlet/Tunnel Rd. Oteen Post Office Go Grocery/Tunnel Rd.

Enka/Candler Shell Station Enka Post Office

AVL Hospital District Mission Hospital

Biltmore Village Reza’s Café Katuah Market Ash Pantry Brugger’s Bagels

South Asheville South Forest Post Office Earth Fare Skyland Post Office French Fryz BedTyme Stories Arden Post Office

Swannanoa/Black Mtn. Swanannoa Post Office Amazing Savings/Swannanoa Cherry Street (newspaper row)/Blck Mtn. Kiwanis Thrift Shop/Black Mtn.

Fairview/Reynolds Dickie’s Foods/Fairview Fairview Post Office Kounty Line/Reynolds

Hendersonville/Fletcher Fletcher Post Office Park Ridge Hospital Papas & Beer Hot Dog World

Flat Rock Flat Rock Post Office Hodge’s Tire Service

Waynesville Carolina Readiness Supply

Clyde Old Grouch’s Military Surplus

Calendar of Events and Concert Reviews

Special Section PULLOUT

B1

Asheville Daily Planet — February 2014

Rousing Sinatra salute delights

By JOHN NORTH

john@AshevilleDailyPlanet.com

Baby, it’s cold outside, but it was comfortably warm inside — and standing-room only — at Isis Restaurant and Music Hall in West Asheville on Jan. 19 for a rousing tribute show, “Frank Sinatra: The Capitol Years.”

The show saluted arguably the best-ever male pop singer in world history during what is widely regarded as his era of best vocal performances — on Capitol Records from 1953 to 1961.

Singer-actor Timothy O’Keefe, backed by Russ Wilson and his 17-piece big band, gave a two-hour 20-minute show, split by a 30-minute intermission. Among the highlights were O’Keefe’s lively, heartfelt renditions of “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “Come Fly With Me,” “Night and Day,” “Luck Be a Lady” and “Witchcraft.”

More than 250 people attended the show, according to Isis Manager Scott Woodie.

Perhaps nervous at the debut of his concert, which he was having videotaped, O’Keefe tripped over the lyrics at the beginning of three songs, each of which he promptly asked the band to do restarts.

These included “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “All of Me” and “My Way.” On the bright side, O’Keefe, likely buoyed by his acting experience, appeared to be nonplussed by the false starts, refusing to let the snafus bother him.

O’Keefe showed mastery In the first set of the of many of Sinatra’s unique show, O’Keefe had vocal techniques, including difficulties in obtainphrasing and breath control. ing a bottle of water

and then, as a tall man in a suit, having to bend over in front of the audience to get it from the stage floor. It would have been ideal to have the bottled water awaiting him on a table.

On several occasions, O’Keefe seemed out of synch with Wilson and his band, as O’Keefe variously remarked — good-naturedly — to Wilson, “Whenever you’re ready, Russ....”

Also, at times, O’Keefe rifled through his show notes on a lectern, and occasionally could not find the references he was looking for — and winged it, resulting — at Special photos by Scott Woodie least once —­in his starting to sing the same song twice. Timothy O’Keefe performs in a show in Asheville that salutes Frank Sinatra’s hits during what many of his fans consider his musical peak ­— his years The aforementioned flaws (1953-61) with Capitol Records. O’Keefe was backed by Director Russell in the otherwise highly enterWilson (seated because of a foot injury) and Wilson’s 17-piece big band. taining performance, however, were minor, and upon Wilson, who came on stage first, welcomed everyone finishing with Sinatra’s favorite closer, “My Way,” O’Keefe and and noted that he had a torn meniscus in his left knee and Wilson’s band received a standing ovation from the large contherefore would be sitting on a stool, instead of standing, tingent of the crowd that stayed to the end of the lengthy show. as he directed the band.

Between singing Sinatra hits, O’Keefe told interesting Wilson also said he and his band would be playing six details of Sinatra’s life, with a focus on “Old Blue Eyes’” comeback from his collapse in popularity with Columbia shows at Isis in 2014, noting that his big band “finally has Records to his self-reinvention as the embodiment of the found a home for our music.” Besides the Sinatra salute, hipster/swinger era. However, O’Keefe may have gone a tad Wilson said his band would present tributes to Benny overboard on Sinatra trivia, at the expense of the show’s pace. Goodman, Bob Willis and the Texas Playboys, and others.

O’Keefe, who relocated to Western North Carolina Upon being introduced by Wilson as “a marvelous singer about eight years ago, was a regular on the soap operas and a fine gentleman,” O’Keefe, clad in a black vested suit “The Young and Restless” and “Days of Our Lives.” He and a white shirt, bounded onto the stage and launched into also appeared in such shows as “Battlestar Galactica,” “The Lady Is a Tramp.”

“Fantasy Island” and “Quincy.” However, O’Keefe now He finished the song and following the crowd’s applause, has a CD with the same title as the show, “Frank Sinatra: O’Keefe said, “Hello, Asheville! Hey, this is really a neat The Capitol Years,” and is planning to perform the same place. I like it up here... This is a very special show I’ve show with Wilson and his big band at Diana Wortham been working on for a long time....”

Theatre in downtown Asheville this summer.

Asheville’s Haynes, Trucks leaving Allman Brothers Band Band to break up at end of 2014; Greg Allman: ‘45 years is enough’ From Staff Reports

Following Warren Haynes’ and Derek Trucks’ Jan. 8 announcement that they would be leaving the Allman Brothers Band at the end of the year, founding member Gregg Allman said that his namesake band will retire from touring at the end of 2014.

“This is it — this is the end of it,” Allman said Jan. 28 in an interview with Relix magazine. “Forty-five years is enough and I want to do something else, anyway. Everyone has their own real good perspective bands.”

Allman was referring to Haynes’ solo work as well as his gig with Gov’t Mule, while Trucks also plays with both the Derek Trucks Band and his group with Susan Tedeschi, Tedeschi Trucks Band. Allman has a side project of his own ­— the Gregg Allman Band, which recently added fellow ABB member Marc Quiñones.

However, Allman did not rule out future possibilities for the Allman Brothers Band. “We may get together every five years and just do one play at a time,” he said. As of now, though, their annual run at New York’s Beacon Theatre, their 10th annual Wanee Festival, and a few other gigs are the remnants of band’s touring legacy.

Derek Trucks (left) and Warren Haynes perform in a recent concert.

Following are separate statements issued by Haynes and Trucks regarding their respective departures from ABB:

Warren Haynes’ full statement

“I joined the Allman Brothers Band in 1989, at age 28, for a reunion tour with no promise or expectations of it going any further. Based on the success of the tour and the

uncanny chemistry between the original members and the new members, we decided to continue and see where it all led. Now, here we are, 25 years later, and it has been an amazing experience.

“I’ve always said that if I were to join a band that I grew up listening to, the ABB would be at the top of that list.

The original version of the band was a huge influence on me and I’m sure that the countless hours I spent listening to and studying that music helped shape me as a musician. As proud as I am of being a member of such a legendary band, I’m even more proud of the music that we’ve made together and of being a part of carrying their original vision into the future.

“As someone who’s been fortunate enough to juggle a lot of musical projects and opportunities I look forward to maintaining a vigorous schedule which will include many more years of touring and recording with Gov’t Mule in addition to my solo projects and to enjoying more family time as well.

“Being part of the ABB has opened a lot of doors for me and that’s something I don’t take for granted nor do I take for granted the friendship and musical relationships I have with each of the members. The 45th Anniversary of the ABB is a milestone amidst too many highlights to count and I’m looking forward to an amazing year creating music that only the Allman Brothers Band can create.”

See ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND, Page B3

B2 - February 2014 - Asheville Daily Planet

The venerable American rock band REO Speedwagon will perform at 8 p.m. Feb. 14 in the Event Center at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino in Cherokee.

Calendar

of

Events

Send us your calendar items

Please submit items to the Calendar of Events by noon on the third Wednesday of each month, via e-mail, at calendar@ashevilledailyplanet. com, or fax to 252-6567, or mail c/o The Daily Planet, P.O. Box 8490, Asheville, N.C. 288148490. Submissions will be accepted and printed at the discretion of the editor, space permitting.

To place an ad for an event, call 252-6565.

Saturday, Feb. 1

MLK PRAYER BREAKFAST, 9-11 a.m., Camp Dorothy Walls, Black Mountain. The Rev. Michael J.S. Carter will be the keynote speaker for the 24th annual Swannanoa Valley Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. prayer breakfast. His speech is titled “Dreamer.”

Carter is minister of the Unitiarian Universalist Congregation of the Swannanoa Valley in Black Mountain. All are welcome. Tickets to the breakfast are $12, while patron tickets are $35, with $23 of that amount going to the scholarship fund. For tickets, call Archie Pertiller at 669-1281.

CONCERT, 6-11 p.m., Tryon Fine Arts Center, 34 Melrose Ave., Tryon. The 3rd Annual Chase Away the Blues benfit concert will feature nonstop music.

Nikki Hill will be the headliner. For tickets, which are $25 for general admission and $75 VIP, visit www. tryonarts.org, or call 859-8322.

LORETTA LYNN TRIBUTE SHOW, 7 p.m., The Foundation Performing Arts Center, Isothermal Community College, Spindale. Teri Fryar of Thomasville will perform a tribute to country music singer extraordinaire, Loretta Lynn. For tickets, which are $17 for adults and $12 for children under 12, call 286-9990.

AUTHOR’S READING, 7 p.m., Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café, 55 Haywood St., downtown Asheville.

Wendy Webb, billed as “a Midwest indie bookstore darling,” will read from her new novel, “The Vanishing,” a supernatural thriller. Admission is free.

CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., The Performing Arts Center, 507 Chestnut St., Highlands. Red June, an acoustic trio from Asheville, will perform in concert to launch the New Artists Series. For tickets, which are $20, call 526-9047.

CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., Niswonger Performing Arts Center, Greeneville, Tenn. Broadway actress and singer Laura Bell Bundy will perform in concert. For tickets, which are $15 and $25, visit www.

NPACgreeneville.com, or call (423) 638-1679.

Monday, Feb. 3

LECTURE, 11:25 a.m., Lipinsky Auditorium, UNC Asheville. A lecture, “Ancient Israel,” will be presented by Dennis Lundblad, a UNCA adjunct instructor of humanities. Admission is free and open to the public.

LECTURE, 11:25 a.m., Humanities Lecture Hall, UNC Asheville. A lecture, “African Cultural Spheres,” will be presented by John Wood, UNCA professor of sociology, and Agya Boakye-Boaten, UNCA director and assisant professor of Africana studies. Admission is free and open to the public.

LECTURE, 4-6:30 p.m., Reuter Center, UNC Asheville. Dr. Amy Lanou will present “Sifting Through the Hype: Miracle Meal or Dietary Disaster?” The lecture is free and open to the public.

x

CONCERT, 7:15 p.m., The Haen Gallery, 52 Biltmore Ave., Asheville. Pan Harmonia will perform the music of Maurice Ravel, Joseph Haydn and Jilary Tann. Performers will include Jamie Laval, violin; Franklin Keel, cello; and Kate Steinbeck. A meet-the-artists reception will be held at 6:30 p.m.

For tickets, which are $22 in advance, or $24 for adults and $8 for students at the door, call 2547123 or visit www.pan-harmonia.org.

Tuesday, Feb. 4

“LINCOLN” FILM SCREENING, 6 p.m., Highsmith University Union, UNC Asheville. The film “Lincoln” will be screened and discussed in celebration of National Freedom Day, which honors the signing by Abraham Lincoln of a joint House and Senate resolution that outlawed slavery.

Admission is free and open to the public.

OBAMACARE INFORMATION SERIES, 6-7:30 p.m., Black Mountain Library, 104 N. Dougherty St., Black Mountain. The Council on Aging of Buncombe County is hosting free, nonpolitical information sessions on the Affordable Care Act for those interested in learning how to purchase health insurance through the marketplace. Each session will explain parts of the ACA and how to apply for coverage as well as answer questions. The CoA is a designated Navigator agency offering information on the marketplace.

FILM, 6:30-8 p.m., Highsmith University Union, UNC Asheville. The school will screen its Black History month film “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross,” episode one. Admisson is free and open to the public.

ENNEAGRAM SERIES, 7 p.m., Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café, 55 Haywood St., downtown Asheville.

The Enneagram Series with Sandra Smith will address “Type 6 and Type 9.” Admission is free.

GREAT DECISIONS LECTURE, 7:30 p.m., Manheimer Room, Reuter Center, UNC Asheville. A lecture on “Economic Statecraft and Trade” will be presented by Dr. Debra Sabia of Georgia Southern University.

Wednesday, Feb. 5

OBAMACARE INFORMATION SERIES, 2-3:30 p.m., Swannanoa Library, 101 W. Charleston Ave., Swannanoa. See Feb. 4 listing for details.

OPEN REHEARSAL, 7 p.m., Reuter Center, UNC Asheville. The Blue Ridge Orchestra will hold an open rehearsal. The community orchestra is directed by Milton Crotts. Open rehearsals also will be held Feb. 12, 19 and 26. Admission is free and open to the public.

Thursday, Feb. 6

LECTURE, 12:30-1:30 p.m., 231 Carmichael Hall, UNC Asheville. Elizabeth Pasco will address “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Effects of Discrimination on Health.” Admission is free.

OBAMACARE INFORMATION SERIES, 4-5:30 p.m., South Buncombe Library, 260 Overlook Rd., Asheville. See Feb. 4 listing for details.

AUTHOR’S PRESENTATION, 7 p.m., Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café, 55 Haywood St., downtown Asheville. John Pritchard, author of “Sailing to Alluvium” will read from his work and sign books.

See CALENDAR, Page B3

Asheville Daily Planet — February 2014 — B3

Horoscope

By MARYANNE MORRIS Special to the Daily Planet

Aries (March 21-April 19) Walking on the highest mountain wouldn’t just make anyone happy. Find out what makes you happy in your day to day life.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You might think this isn’t the month for love for you. Don’t worry things will turn around for you in the love department soon.

The Spinners, active for more than 50 years and with a long run of classic hits especially during the 1970s, will perform in concert at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15 at The Foundation Performing Arts Center at Isothermal Community College in Spindale.

Calendar of Events Continued from Page B2

Friday, Feb. 7

LECTURE, 11:25 a.m., Lipinsky Auditorium, UNC Asheville. A lecture, “1848 and Romantic Ethos,” will be presented by John McClain, UNCA humanities lecturer. Admission is free and open to the public.

LECTURE, 11:25 a.m., Humanities Lecture Hall, UNC Asheville. A lecture, “Poverty and Plenty,” will be presented by Dwight Mullen, UNCA professor of political science. Admission is free and open to the public.

ADULT IMMUNIZATION TALK, 11:30 a.m., Reuter Center, UNC Asheville. A Fab Friday talk on “Adult Immunizations” will be presented by Dr. David McClain of Asheville Infectious Disease Consultants. He will explain the importance of vaccination for older adults. Brown bags are welcome and lunch will be available in the Reuter Center Café. Admission is free and open to the public.

SYMPHONY TALK, 3 p.m., Reuter Center, UNC Asheville. “Symphony Talk With Daniel Meyer” will be held. Meyer, director of the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, will discuss the ASO’s next concert. Admission is free and open to the public.

OPENING RECEPTION, 5 p.m., Intercultural Center, Highsmith University Union, UNC Asheville. An opening reception will be held to the exhibit “Slave Deeds of Buncombe County.”

The show includes an original bound book of bills of sale for enslaved people, wills from the clerk of courts and recorded reading station of the testimony of Sarah Gudger taken from the Federal Writer’s Project Slave Narratives through the Library of Congress. The exhibit, which will continue through Feb. 28, is free and open to the public.

AUTHOR’S PRESENTATION, 7 p.m., Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café, 55 Haywood St., downtown Asheville. Phillip Mayer, author of “The Son” will read from his work and sign books.

MERLE HAGGARD CONCERT, 9 p.m., Event Center, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, Cherokee.

Merle Haggard will perform in concert.

Saturday, Feb. 8

AUTHOR’S PRESENTATION, noon, Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café, 55 Haywood St., downtown Asheville. Edward Kelsey Moore, author of “The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat” will read from his work and sign books.

AUTHORS’ PRESENTATION, 7 p.m., Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café, 55 Haywood St., downtown Asheville. Colin Melroy and Carson Ellis, authors of “Wildwood Imperium: The Wildwood Chronicles, Book III,” will read from their work and sign books.

CONCERT, 7 p.m., Masonic Temple, 80 Broadway St., Asheville. Classical guitarist Peter Fletcher will perform in concert. Tickets are $12 for the general public and $8 for seniors and students.

CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts, 1028 Georgia Rd., Franklin. The Martins will perform. For tickets, which are $14 and $18, call 524-1598.

CONCERT, 8 p.m., Diana Wortham Theatre, Pack Place, 2 S. Pack Square, downtown Asheville.

Grammy Award winners Sutton, Holt and Coleman will strive to plumb the depths of North Carolina’s musical culture with a variety of traditional instruments, three-part harmonies and traditional and original songs. For tickets, which are $30 for the public, $25 for students and $15 for ages 12 and younger, call 257-4530, or visit www.dwtheatre.com.

SYMPHONY CONCERT, 8 p.m., Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, downtown Asheville. The Asheville Symphony Orchestra will perform “Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake” with violinist Elena Urioste, along with works

by Golijov, Barber and Ravel.

Sunday, Feb. 9

NORM LEWIS SHOW, 4 p.m., Diana Wortham Theatre, Pack Place, downtown Asheville. Norm Lewis will perform in a special benefit evening for DWT. A Tony-nominated leading man, smooth baritone and star of ABC’s hit series “Scandal,” Lewis is billed as one of today’s foremost actor vocalists. For VIP ticket-buyers, the show will include a post-performance sparkling wine reception and meet-and-greet with Lewis.

1964 BEATLES TRIBUTE SHOW, 5 p.m., Bardo Performing Arts Center, Western Carolina University, N.C 107, Cullowhee. The band 1964 The Tribute will perform as The Beatles looked and sounded in 1964. For tickets, which are $20 for the public $15 for WCU faculty and staff, $5 for students and children, call 227-2479 or www.bardoartscenter. wcu.edu.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) Gemini: Roll up your sleeves, it’s time to clean up a big mess. It might not be your mess, but it could be someone that is close to you.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) Don’t pick up the phone and call your exlover. It’s time for a new experience. This will bring much happiness.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) Don’t worry too much this month. Everything will work out for you in many ways.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) It’s time to put on your dancing shoes and let

loose this month.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) It’s time to learn how to juggle things you have to do and be more organized.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) It’s time to rethink an important plan you have for yourself this month.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Your luck is on the rise this month. It’s time to gamble on something new for yourself.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You tend to dream big. Scale it down for the month of February.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) This month you will meet a new friend that will add fun to your life. Embrace fun.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) You have been working too hard to meet your goals for yourself. It’s time to relax and realize it isn’t a race.

Allman Brothers Band Continued from Page B1

Derek Trucks’ full statement

“I got the call to join the Allman Brothers while on tour with my own band at the age of 19. It was out of the blue and felt surreal. I leapt at the chance. This was the music that I had cut my teeth on and it was the distinctive sound of Duane’s guitar that inspired me to pick up the instrument in the first place.

“When I started with ABB, I didn’t know how long it would last, only that I would let the music lead me and teach me. Amazingly, that led me past the band’s 40th anniversary, to the band’s 45th, and now my 15th year as a member of this incredible band. Five years ago, the 45th seemed like a lofty goal but I thought if we could make it to that milestone it would be a logical time to move on.

“While I’ve shared many magical moments on stage with the Allman Brothers Band in the last decade plus, I feel that my solo project and the Tedeschi Trucks Band is where my future and creative energy lies.

The Tedeschi Trucks Band tour schedule keeps growing, and I feel the time has finally come to focus on a single project, which will allow me to spend that rare time off the road with my family and children.

It’s a difficult decision to make, and I don’t make it lightly.

“I’m proud to have made a small contribution to the masterful music they have created over the past forty years, and will continue to create. Now seems like a good time to go out on a high note with a great 45th anniversary in 2014, and the mutual respect and friendship of the other six members of ABB.”

Monday, Feb. 10

LECTURE, 11:25 a.m., Lipinsky Auditorium, UNC Asheville. A lecture, “China,” will be presented

by Jinhua Li, a UNCA lecturer in Chinese studies .

Admission is free and open to the public.

LECTURE, 11:25 a.m., Humanities Lecture Hall, UNC Asheville. A lecture, “Community and Authority in the Medieval West,” will be presented by Bill Spellman, executive director of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. Admission is free and open to the public.

OBAMACARE INFORMATION SERIES, 4-5:30 p.m.,Enka-Candler Library, 14014 Sand Hill Rd., Candler. See Feb. 4 listing for details.

FOOD POLICY MEETING, 4-6:30 p.m., Kimmel Arena, Sherrill Center, UNC Asheville. The AshevilleBuncombe Food Policy Council Meeting of the Whole will be held. The public is invited to attend.

Tuesday, Feb. 11

PRESENTATION, 12:30 p.m., Intercultural Center, Highsmith University Union, UNC Asheville. A “lunch ‘n’ learn” will feature a presentation titled “Ain’t I a Woman: Women of Color and Reality TV.” OBAMACARE INFORMATION SERIES, 6-7:30 p.m.,Weaverville Library, 41 N. Main St., Weaverville. See Feb. 4 listing for details.

FILM, 6:30-8 p.m., Highsmith University Union, UNC Asheville. The school will screen its Black History month film “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross,” episode two. Admisson is free and open to the public.

See CALENDAR, Page B4

Way beyond hip and trendy

Asheville Daily Planet

B4 - February 2014 - Asheville Daily Planet

Calendar

of

Events

of religious studies. Admission is free and open to the public.

LECTURE, 11:25 a.m., Humanities Lecture Hall, UNC Asheville. A lecture, “Gender and Sexuality in Medieval Europe” will be presented by Sophie Mills, UNCA’s National Endwoment for the Humanities Distinguished Professor of Classics. Admission is free and open to the public.

Tuesday, Feb. 18

PRESENTATION, 12:30 p.m., Intercultural Center, Highsmith University Union, UNC Asheville. A “lunch ‘n’ learn” will feature a presentation titled “My Brother’s Keeper: Understanding the Voice of UNCA’s Black Males.”

FILM, 6:30-8 p.m., Highsmith University Union, UNC Asheville. The school will screen its Black History month film “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross,” episode four. Admisson is free and open to the public.

GREAT DECISIONS LECTURE, 7:30 p.m., Manheimer Room, Reuter Center, UNC Asheville. A lecture on “Food Security and Climate Change” will be presented by Dr. Amy Knisley, Warren Wilson College.

Thursday, Feb. 20 GREEN DRINKS TALK, 6 p.m., Green Sage Coffeehouse and Café, 5

Broadway St., downtown Asheville.

Asheville Green Drinks will feature a presentation by automotive engineeer Dave Erb on “Powering Forward: Four Commandments, Four Heresies, Three Comments.”

FILM, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Grotto, Highsmith University Union, UNC Asheville.

The Black History Month film “Watch ‘n’ Learn: Four Little Girls” will be screened. The document, directed by Spike Lee, tells of the notorious racial terrorist bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a historic African American church in Birmingham, Ala., during the civil rights movement. The film is free and open to the public.

Friday, Feb. 21

LECTURE, 11:25 a.m., Lipinsky Auditorium, UNC Asheville. A lecture, “The Second Scientific Revolution and the 19th Century,” will be presented

by George Heard, UNCA associate professor of chemistry. Admission is free and open to the public.

LECTURE, 11:25 a.m., Humanities Lecture Hall, UNC Asheville. A lecture, “Women and Inequality,” will be presented by Lyndi Hewitt, UNCA assistant professor of sociology.. Admission is free and open to the public.

See CALENDAR, Page B5

Darius Rucker, the former frontman for Hootie & The Blowfish, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 22 at the U.S. Cellular Center in downtown Asheville.

Continued from Page B3

GOP WOMEN’S DINNER/MEETING, 6 p.m., Renaissance Asheville Hotel, 31 Woodfin St., Asheville. The Blue Ridge Republican Women’s Club will gather for a buffet dinner at 6 p.m., followed by a meeting at 6:30. The buffet cost is $18, payable to the hotel. Anyone may attend.

FILM, 6:30-8 p.m., Highsmith University Union, UNC Asheville. The school will screen its Black History month film “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross,” episode three. Admisson is free and open to the public.

and lunch may be purchased from the Reuter Center Café. Admission is free and open to the public.

BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL, 1-5 p.m. and 7 p.m.-midnight, Crowne Plaza Resort Asheville, 1 Resort Dr., Asheville. Bluegrass First Class, a bluegrass music festival will be held at the same times Feb. 14 and 15. For tickets, wich are $49 Feb. 14 and $49 Saturday, or $98 for both days, visit www.bluegrassfirstclass.com, or visit 254-3211.

OLDIES CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts, 1028 Georgia Rd., Franklin. Bennie Anderson & The Drifters, and The Sock Hops, will perform in concert. For tickets, which are $15 and $20, call 524-1598.

“STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE” PLAY, 7:30 p.m., Hendersonville Little Theatre, 229 S. Washington St., downtown Hendersonville. The HLT will present Tennessee William’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “A Streetcar Named Desire” on Feb. 14-16, Feb. 20-23 and Feb. 27-March 2. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. For tickets, which are $20 for sdults, $15 for ages 18-25 and $10 for students under age 18, call 692-1082 or visit www. hendersonvillelittletheater.org.

REO SPEEDWAGON CONCERT, 8 p.m., Event Center, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, Cherokee. The band REO Speedwagon will perform in concert.

LECTURE, 11:25 a.m., Lipinsky Auditorium, UNC Asheville. A lecture, “The Congagion of Freedom: Anti-Slavery, Women’s Rights and Economic Justice” will be presented by Sarah Judson, a UNCA associate professor of history.

Admission is free and open to the public.

LECTURE, 11:25 a.m., Humanities Lecture Hall, UNC Asheville. A lecture, “Incareration Nation,” will be presented

by Scott Walters, a UNCA professor of drama. Admission is free and open to the public.

PRESIDENTS’ SWEETHEARTS TALK, 11:30 a.m., Reuter Center, UNC Asheville. The Fab Fridays series will feature “The Presidents’ Sweethearts,” presented by Melinda Stuart, museum historian and educator. She will present a fond look at some love stories covering the 214 years that presidents and their sweethearts have called the White House home. Brown bags are welcome

PLAY, 5-10 p.m., Humanities Lecture Hall, UNC Asheville. The annual Valentine’s Weekend performance of “The Vagina Monologues” will be presented. Tickets are $5 for students and $7 for community members.

SPINNERS CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., The Foundation Center Performing Arts Center, Isothermal Community College, Spindale. The Spinners will perform in concert. The Spinners are billed as “the greatest soul group of the early ‘70s, creating a body of work that defined the lush, seductive sound of Philly soul.

Ironically, the band’s roots lay in Detroit, where they formed as a doo wop group during the late ‘50s.” For tickets, which are $29 and $34 for adults and $8 for youths, call 286-9990 or visit www.Foundationshows.org.

NELSON RIDDLE ORCHESTRA CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., Niswonger Performing Arts Center, Greeneville, Tenn. The

Tuesday, Feb. 11

LIBERTARIAN MEETING, 7 p.m., Oakleaf Furniture, 130 Miller St., Waynesville. The Haywood County Libertarian Party, which meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays, meets for open discussion, with debate encouraged. All perspectives and persuasions are welcome, regardless of political or religious affiliation. For more information, call Windy McKinney at windymckinney@yahoo.com.

GREAT DECISIONS LECTURE, 7:30 p.m., Manheimer Room, Reuter Center, UNC Asheville. A lecture on “Defense and the Rise of New Technologies” will be presented by Maj. Gen. Rick Devereaux, Ret. USAF and currently working as a consultant.

Thursday, Feb. 13

Friday, Feb. 14

Nelson Riddle Orchestra will perform in concert. For tickets, which are $35 and $45, visit www.NPACgreeneville.com, or call (423) 638-1679.

eekend w g n i v r Now se

$2 Tuesdays

Breakfast Club-Brunch menu served until noon on Sundays before shows.

Continued from Page B4

Events

Friday, Feb. 21

SLEEP PROBLEMS PROGRAM, 11:30 a.m., Reuter Center, UNC Asehville. A health program, “Overview of Sleep Medicine: From Insomnia to Snoring” will be presented by Dr. Jim McCarrick of Asheville Pulmonary and Critical Care Associates. Brown bags are welcome and lunches may be purchase from the Reuter Center Café.

OPERA DISCUSSION, 4 p.m., Reuter Center, UNC Asheville. The Opera Talks series will feature a presentation on “The Voice” and how it operates. Admission is free and open to the public.

ENVIRONMENTAL LECTURE SERIES, 3-5 p.m., RiverLink offices, 170 Lyman St, River Arts District, Asheville. Dr. Frank Kalinowski will address “How Supreme Court Shapes Policy: Governmental Power, Civil Libertis and Civil Rights.” This will be the second of five monthly lectures in RiverLink’s Friday Salon series in which Kalinowski will offer what is billed as “a riveting discussion about the Founding Fathers and their lasting impact on modern environmental policy.” Kalinowski is a retired professor from Warren Willson College. Admission is free.

DANCE SHOW, 7:30 p.m., Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts, 1028 Georgia Rd., Franklin. Rhythm of the Dance will perform.

For tickets, call 524-1598.

DERVISH CONCERT, 8 p.m., Diana Wortham Theatre, Pack Place, downtown Asheville.

Dervish, billed as “one of the all-time great Irish bands,” will feature its energy and charismatic singer Cathy Jordan. The group will strive to transport the audience to the spirited pubs and wild beauty of the west of Ireland.

FARMING CONFERENCE, 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa. ASAP’s annual Business of Farming Conference will return early for the 2014 growning season. The pro-

LECTURE, 11:25 a.m., Lipinsky Auditorium, UNC Asheville. A lecture, “India and Hinduism” will be presented

by Katherine Zubko, assistant professor

$2 domestic draft Wednesdays

of

Saturday, Feb. 22

Monday, Feb. 17

Saturday, Feb. 15

Calendar

brunch

Asheville Daily Planet — February 2014 — B5

Robin Thicke will perform at 8 p.m. Feb. 25 in the Event Center at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino in Cherokee. gram focuses on the business side of farming, covering recordkeeping to marketing. As usual, it will include workshops for both beginning and veteran farmers. For new or prospective farmers, popular offerings will include “Beginning QuickBooks” and “Selling More at a Farmers Market.”

For long-time farmers, the hottest offerings will be “Building Community Capital Through Farms” and “Advanced QuickBooks.” To register, which costs $50 per person by Jan. 31 and $60 beginning Feb. 1, visit www.asapconnections.org/ conference.

DARIUS RUCKER CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., U.S. Cellular Center, downtown Asheville. Darius Rucker will perform in his True Believers Tour, with special guest David Nail. For tickets, visit ticketmaster.com or call (800) 745-3000.

See CALENDAR, Page B6

B6 - February 2014 - Asheville Daily Planet

Calendar Continued from Page B5

Sunday, Feb. 23

CONCERT, 4 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place, Asheville. The Ciompi String Quartet will perform in concert. For tickets, which are $35, visit www.ashevillechambermusic.org, or call 575-7427.

CONCERT, 4 p.m., Lipinsky Auditorium, UNC Asheville. The University Singers and Studio 18 Jazz Ensemble will perform in concert under the direction of Melodie Galloway. Admission is $5.

Monday, Feb. 24

LECTURE, 11:25 a.m., Lipinsky Auditorium, UNC Asheville. A lecture, “Buddhism and Jainism” will be presented by Katherine Zubko, assistant professor of religious studies. Admission is free and open to the public.

LECTURE, 11:25 a.m., Humanities Lecture Hall, UNC Asheville. A lecture, “Medieval India” will be presented by Keya Maitra, chair and associate professor of philosophy. Admission is free and open to the public.

Tuesday, Feb. 25

Arooj Aftab will perform in concert at 7 p.m. Feb. 27 at UNCA’s Lipinsky Auditorium.

FILM, 6:30-8 p.m., Highsmith University Union, UNC Asheville. The school will screen its Black History month film “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross,” episode five. Admisson is free and open to the public.

GREAT DECISIONS LECTURE, 7:30 p.m., Manheimer Room, Reuter Center, UNC Asheville.

A lecture on “China’s Foreign Policy” will be presented by Dr. Jim Lenburg, Mars Hill University (emeritus) and board chair of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

ROBIN THICKE CONCERT, 8 p.m., Event Center, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, Cherokee. Robin Thicke with Jessie J will perform in concert.

UNC Asheville. The school will screen its Black History month film “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross,” episode six. Admisson is free and open to the public.

AROOJ AFTAB CONCERT, 7 p.m., Lipinsky Auditorium, UNC Asheville. Pakistani soul singersongwriter Arooj Aftab will perform in concert. Her “dynamic voice transcends borders that imprison bodies, minds and spirits,” UNCA noted. “Originally from Pakistan, she created Rebuild Pakistan to promote a vision of peace and healing. Aftab skilfully reimagines indigenous soul with signature cool by playing homage to classical Pakistani, Sufi, neo-soul and jazz and contemporary music.” For tickets, which are $5 for UNCA students, $7 for area students, $12 for the campus community and $20 for the general public, visit uncatickets.com.

FILM, 6:30-8 p.m., Highsmith University Union,

See CALENDAR, PAGE B7

Thursday, Feb. 27

Asheville Daily Planet — February 2014 — B7

Gary Puckett and The Union Gap (pictured above at its musical height in the late 1960s) will perform at 7:30 p.m. March 8 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

Calendar

Continued from Page B6

Friday, Feb. 28

LECTURE, 11:25 a.m., Lipinsky Auditorium, UNC Asheville. A lecture, “Islam and the Modern World,” will be presented by Rodger Payne, chair and associate professor of religious studies at UNCA. Admission is free and open to the public.

LECTURE, 11:25 a.m., Humanities Lecture Hall, UNC Asheville. A lecture, “Sexuality, Gender and Identity: Contemporary Discourses,” will be presented by Lorena Russell, UNCA associate proessor of literature. Admission is free and open to the public.

Saturday, March 8

CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts, 1028 Georgia Rd., Franklin. Gary Puckett & The Union Gap will perform in concert. For tickets, which are $18, $23 and $28, call 524-1598.

Saturday, March 15

DON WILLIAMS CONCERT, 7:30 p.m., Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts, 1028 Georgia Rd., Franklin. Country music standout Don Williams will perform in concert. For tickets which are $35, $40 and $45, call 524-1598.

Saturday, March 22

GABRIEL IGLESIAS CONCERT, 7 p.m., Event Center, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, Cherokee.

Gabriel Iglesias will perform in concert.

BLUES BROTHERS REVUE, 7:30 p.m., The Foundation Center Performing Arts Center, Isothermal Community College, Spindale. The “Official Blues Brothers Revue” will perform in concert.

The Blues Brothers (or, more formally, The Blues Brothers’ Show Band and Revue) are an American rhythm and blues revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedy actors Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on “Saturday Night Live.”

For tickets, which are $19 and $24 for adults and $8 for youths, call 286-9990 or visit www.Foundationshows.org.

Saturday, March 29

JARS OF CLAY CONCERT, 7:30 p.m.,Niswonger Performing Arts Center, Greeneville, Tenn. Jars of Clay will perform in concert.

For tickets, visit www.NPACgreeneville.com, or call (423) 638-1679.

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The Blues Brothers Revue will perform at 7:30 p.m. March 22 at The Foundation Performing Arts Center at Isothermal Community College in Spindale.

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B8 - February 2014 - Asheville Daily Planet

Concert Review

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The original Eagles tribute show, Hotel California, drew about 800 people to a Jan. 25 concert at The Foundation Performing Arts Center at Isothermal Community College in Spindale.

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Eagles tribute show takes it to the limit

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Hotel California charms audience

By JOHN NORTH

john@AshevilleDailyPlanet.com

SPINDALE — The Eagles tribute band Hotel California proved, as the song claims, “You can check out anytime you like... but you can never leave,” as the magic of its faithful renditions of the 1970s’ supergroup’s music triggered a demand for an encore Jan. 25 at The Foundation Performing Arts Center at Isothermal Community College.

After playing two 50-minute sets, with a 20-minute intermission, the group finished the regular show with “Heartache Tonight” and left the stage, prompting a standing ovation from the enthused crowd and cries for an encore.

Few in the audience departed and the clapping for an encore continued, so the band — most notable for its exquisite harmony ­— returned to the stage and performed for 10 more minutes.

The theater lights were dimmed as the group launched into “Desperado” and encouraged the audience to wave their lighted cellphones in the air and sway to the music.

The encore finale was an always-rousing “Life in the Fast Lane,” preceded by a tactful-but-firm announcement from the band that that would be the last song of the night.

The audience did not seem to want the show to end, but relented when the last chord was struck. At that point, the band left the stage and the house lights were turned on.

Despite a frigid night, around 800 people turned out for the tribute concert that celebrated the iconic American countryrock band that sold more records than any other musical entity in the world in the 1970s — and remains popular today.

The four-member Hotel California, based in Ontario, Canada, bills itself as the original Eagles tribute. To more closely mirror The

Eagles, they could have benefited from a fifth member — for the sake of authentic harmony and to give a fuller musical sound.

There are several competing Hotel California Eagles tribute bands performing around the United States, but this one was formed 27 years ago. It features Dean Young, lead vocalist-drummer; Rick Spyder, lead guitarist-backup vocalist; Mike Dimpulas, rhythm guitar-keyboards-backup vocalist; and Andy Lapointe, bassistbackup vocalist.

Young is the closest thing Hotel California has to The Eagles. If audience members had closed their eyes, it would have been hard for them to distinguish his voice and drum-work from that of the originals.

Spyder was not only an excellent guitarist, including his slide work, but was the true showman of the band, with his ability to play guitar in many positions, his general lively stage choreography and even comedic efforts.

The band opened on a strong note with “Witchy Woman” and “The Long Run,” with Young singing lead on both songs.

Other memorable songs in the first set included “Take It to the Limit,” “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and “Lyin’ Eyes.”

However, Young’s rendition of “One of These Nights” was clearly the high point of the first set, as the group sounded note perfect, tight and enthusiastic.

The sound system was cranked up even louder in the second set and, to the band’s credit, there was even more life and vitality.

Among the second set standouts were “Tequila Sunrise,” “Take It Easy, “Already Gone” and “Heartache Tonight.”

The second set’s highlight was a haunting rendition of — arguably — The Eagles’ best song, “Hotel California.” The crowd gave the 1977 mega-hit a standing — and sustained — ovation.

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