Capital at Play October 2016

Crissa Requate

Mason Jar Media p.26

CA

Mark Capon & Matt Schnable

at ITAL

Harvest Records p.76

LAY

The Free Spirit Of Enterprise

video intervie w with mark capon & matt schnable

capital atpl ay. com

Keyword: Infrastructure p.18 Making a music scene thrive

Should we Talk about the Weather? p.39 Strengths & weaknesses of the local music scene: A Report

Fire On the Mountain p.58

Throwing the most badass party around

Volume VI - Edition X complimentary edition

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3

Editor’s Thoughts

W

hen people discuss the appeal of Western North Carolina, they invariably cite the natural beauty of the region—and the accompanying pleasures, such as hiking trails, water activities, even the annual autumn leaf-gazing ritual—first. The arts do get mentioned, of course, but sometimes it seems that if we didn’t have the mountains, we’d be considered just another series of exits on the interstate headed westward.

Allow me to propose, then, that one of the area’s so-called ancillary attractions deserves to be in a category all its own—the thriving, engaged, and altogether unique music scene here. Full disclosure: I’m not a disinterested bystander, having devoted a good chunk of my professional writing life to music journalism. And I’ve consistently touted the talents of local musicians and sung the praises of local venues to acquaintances, outsiders, and fellow writers. As the regional center of musical gravity, Asheville may not quite enjoy the stature of, say, an Athens, a Minneapolis, or a Seattle, but I don’t think it’s folly to hope that one day the city could produce its own R.E.M., Prince, or Pearl Jam. Knowing my background, not long after I came on board late last year, publisher Oby Morgan floated the idea of our doing a special music-themed issue. No-brainer for me, and it’s been particularly gratifying to put it together, from the profiles of a prominent local public relations person and the two guys behind what’s arguably one of the best record stores in the entire state, to our dissection of what each key component of the music scene brings to the table (both in terms of strengths and deficits—we’re supporters, but not mere cheerleaders) and my own, er, digression into a very memorable evening of rock, roll, and revelry earlier this year in Bat Cave.

I fully expect to hear from people complaining about how we omitted or overlooked so-and-so or such-and-such. Which is as it should be: This is a discussion starter, not a final analysis. Anyone with a vested interest in the music scene here knows that the way you support it and help it prosper is to keep talking, brainstorming, and doing, rather than just being a passive consumer. To all the smart, progressive-minded people who do make up the music community: You’ve been doing something right, so please keep doing it.

Don’t make me turn out to be a liar.

Sincerely,

Fred Mills

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| October 2016

October 2016 | capitalatplay.com

5

The Free Spirit Of Enterprise

publisher

Oby Morgan associate publisher

Jeffrey Green managing editor

Fred Mills briefs and events editor

Leslee Kulba

AVL - EWR

copy editors

Dasha O. Morgan, Brenda Murphy contributing writers & photogr aphers

NEW ALLEGIANT non-stop

Chall Gray, Anthony Harden, Jim Murphy, Jay Sanders, Dawn Starks

starts Nov. 17

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Bonnie Roberson marketing & advertising Roy Brock, David Morgan, Katrina Morgan, Pat Starnes

Information & Inquiries gener al advertising inquiries

e-mail advertising@capitalatplay.com or call 828.274.7305 for subscription information

subscribe online at www.capitalatplay.com or call 828.274.7305 for editorial inquiries

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Editorial content is selected and produced because of its interest to our readership. Editorial content is not for sale and cannot be bought. Capital M M ed ed is financially sustained At Play ia by advertisers who find value in exposure ia alongside our unique content and with the readers who follow it.

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The content found within this publication does not necessar ily ref lec t the views of Univer sal Media , Inc. and its companies. Univer sal Media , Inc. and its employees are not liable for any adver tising or editor ial content found in Capital At Play. The ar ticles, photogr aphy, and illus tr ations found in Capital at Play may not be reproduced or used in any fashion without express wr it ten consent by Univer sal Media , Inc.

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| October 2016

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| October 2016

John D. Kimberly

thi s page : Cassette tapes at Harvest Records, photo by Anthony Harden. on the cover : Record spinning on a turntable.

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C ON T EN T S

ODBYE STAFFIN AND HE 39 58 R NEW RT TEA o c t o b e r 2 016

BOWLING ALLEY in the Hickory Nut Gap Inn, photo by Anthony Harden

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

Should we Talk About the Weather?

Capital at Play’s local music scene report.

Venues, studios, promoters, & musicians!

colu m ns

insight

l e i s u r e & l i b at i o n

Fire On the Mountain How to throw the most badass party around, with Bo Trammell.

briefs

iltmore Sporting Clays 22 Carolina in the West 18 Keyword: Infrastructure 12 BDale Klug Making a music scene thrive.

Written by Fred Mills 54 The Old North State The Annual Sugar Mountain Oktoberfest 50 A re Entrepreneurs Born 72 National & World News or Made?

Carlton Gallery Written by Dawn Starks

p e o p l e at p l ay

CORRECTION :

In a news brief appearing in the August issue we reported that Highland Brewing Company produced 15,000 barrels annually. The correct figure is 47,500 barrels.

10

Toni Carlton

| October 2016

88 Historic Biltmore Village Farm To Village Dinner

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11

nsight

A Sense of History Since 2007, Biltmore Sporting Clays has attracted a passionate clientele.

W

hen most people hear the word “Biltmore” they inevitably think “Biltmore House,” but for a certain breed of sports enthusiast, “Biltmore Sporting Clays” possibly ranks even higher on the list. Sporting clays is a form of clay pigeon shooting (related to, but distinct from, trap and skeet shooting) and has a devoted international following. It’s a premiere attraction at the Biltmore estate, either for members of the private Biltmore Sporting Clays Club, who enjoy exclusive access to the estate’s historic west side, or for Biltmore’s annual passholders, daytime guests, and overnight guests in the form of sporting clays lessons at Biltmore’s Outdoor Adventure Center.

According to the Director of Explore Biltmore Estate, Dale Klug, the sporting clays course was originally built in 2007.

Since then, the course has moved and been redesigned. At that time, Biltmore contracted with N.L. Wilson to run the sporting clays instruction program. Sporting Clays lessons were brought in-house as a Biltmore program in 2009 and Klug, previously a fishing instructor on the estate, was hired by Biltmore to lead the program. There are now nine employees involved in both instruction and various aspects of the Sporting Clays Club.

“Our members talk all the time about Biltmore being an especially great place for sporting clays—it’s a beautiful setting.”

Says Klug, “We had a great track record of growth with lessons, and we identified a new opportunity: A number of people already knew how to shoot and did not want lessons. It was then that the idea of a club began to take shape for those people who wanted a place in the Asheville area to shoot, with the convenience of a club being close.”

A club also had a couple factors working in its favor that were important to Biltmore’s leadership. First of all, it was a historically accurate activity to add to the Biltmore’s menu of outdoor offerings, in that sport shooting was popular 12

| October 2016

DALE KLUG

photos courtesy The Biltmore Company.

in George Vanderbilt’s time at the turn of the century.

Secondly, as Klug notes, “We could pin a new clubhouse for the membership-based club to a restoration project. With the money earned from the Sporting Clays Club, we were able to undertake an important restoration project on the property.” On January 1, 2015, the clubhouse opened at the Jones House, one of two houses surviving on the west side of Biltmore that predate Vanderbilt’s ownership.

Biltmore Sporting Clays is unique among clubs in the Asheville area because, while most only offer sporting clays, Biltmore has clays, trap, skeet, and 5-stand shooting.

“Sporting clays,” says Klug, “has become very popular, and we’re seeing more and more female guests interested in the school and club. Our members talk all the time about Biltmore being an especially great place for sporting clays— it’s a beautiful setting, and there is a strong sense of history when you participate in activities on the Estate as well.

There were many outdoor sporting activities that George Vanderbilt participated in himself and when entertaining guests when he lived on the property.”

The club coordinates events with other departments at Biltmore at least once a quarter, and going forward, beginning in the spring, Biltmore will be organizing what Klug describes as “fun shoots” for the membership: “No real high stakes, just fun.”

Information on the School: Biltmore.com/visit/things-to-do/ outdoor-activities/sporting-clays The Club: Biltmore.com/biltmore-sporting-clays-club

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| October 2016

ith fall having fallen in Western North Carolina, traditions galore also unfold this month—including the annual Oktoberfest held at Sugar Mountain Resort, the immensely popular skiing destination located just outside Banner Elk. The second weekend of October typically brings the proverbial “autumn stage” of brilliant colors throughout the mountains, and for the past quarter-century, Sugar Mountain has positioned itself for an accompanying family-friendly celebration.

This year, during the weekend of October 8 and 9, the activities will begin each day at 10AM and run until 5PM. According to the organizers, there will be a children’s area in the ski school play yard, while craftspeople and food vendors will also be open at 10AM. Everyone will be able to sample traditional German fare such as knockwurst, bratwurst, German style potato salad, and apple strudel. (“Along with barrels and barrels of Spaten beer,” a press release advises.) Hot dogs and burgers, plus soft drinks and more, will be available, too, of course.

Notes Kimberley Jochl, Sugar Mountain Resort vice president and director of marketing and merchandising, “Sugar’s Oktoberfest has been around for 26 years. We are hands-on, constantly looking for ways to improve the existing

photos courtesy BushPhoto.com

services, making additions the consumer would enjoy, and implementing conveniences our guests will appreciate, but maintaining the focus that an Oktoberfest must remain as genuine as possible. That’s why we sell Bavarian beer— straight from Munich, Germany—only.”

This extends to the music as well, with the 15-piece Harbour Towne Fest Band returning to serve up the traditional oom-pah brass and percussions sounds: Expect yodeling, accordions, and alpenhorns, all “encouraging the dances and the celebration of the Bavarian heart.” Also, expect at least one rousing rendition of “Ein Prosit” (“I Salute You”). Harbour Towne will perform on the main stage from 12PM to 4PM each day.

Another annual tradition in recent years has been The Valle Crucis Middle School Band, which once again will be offering its own unique musical stylings that celebrate the spirit of the season.

Twenty-six years is a long time for any enterprise, successful or not, and Jochl quickly replies, “Weather!” when asked what challenges their Oktoberfest has had to overcome in the past. Poll any resident of the North

Carolina mountains and they’ll tell you that predicting the weather in the region in October is a fool’s game. When attending the Sugar Mountain event, then, it’s advisable to come as prepared as the postman might: for wind, or rain, or sleet, or snow. Don’t forget to pack the lederhosen.

Jochl adds, however, that no matter the weather, the tradeoffs are definitely worth it, in particular the view of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the middle of autumn that one will get when riding to the top of the mountain via the

“We are hands-on, constantly looking for ways to improve the existing services, maintaining the focus that Oktoberfest must remain as genuine as possible.” new high-speed, six-seat chairlift, the Summit Express.

That, plus “expanding to two days [and] growing the arts and crafts offerings,” says Jochl, helps make the Sugar Mountain Oktoberfest a must-attend event.

Details, along with special lodging discounts, at Oktoberfest.skisugar.com.

October 2016 | capitalatplay.com

15

insight

photo courtesy Toni Carlton

Into the Heart photo by Ellen Gwin

Banner Elk’s Carlton Gallery puts the emphasis on the art itself rather than just the sales.

A

rtists sometimes characterize their callings in terms of “an accidental career”—citing fate, providence, or even just dumb luck in how they were somehow able to forge a living while pursuing their passion. In similar fashion, you might describe High Country artist Toni Carlton as “an accidental gallery owner.” Her Carlton Gallery, after all, originated out of logistics: While studying art at Appalachian State University (ASU), she built a full-sized loom, only to realize that it was bigger than her apartment at the time could possibly accommodate. The only solution was to rent studio space, which led to her sharing that studio with some fellow artists, which in turn led to additional space needs, which in turn…

Cut to 2016, and Carlton Gallery, Carltongallery.com, occupies an expansive yet comfortable building just outside Banner Elk, displaying the efforts of more than 200 artists—hers included. (See the June 2014 issue of Capital at Play for a profile of Toni and her art.) “I’ve been celebrating 20 years, 25 years, 30 years, and now 34 years as a gallery owner, curator, and artist,” says Toni, “and enjoying long-standing relationships with many of the gallery’s artists, some being with me between 20 and 30 years!”

Toni’s first love was weaving, and she learned traditional patterns early on from her grandmother and an aunt. While earning an art degree in college, however, she found herself drawn more to the fine art side of weaving rather than functional pieces. “I saw myself as an artist,” she recalls, “creating art and having a space to sell it. My work later developed into large wall hangings, landscapes of the Blue Ridge Mountains, sculptural basketry, and a line of hand-woven clothing. I took many different studio classes at 16

| October 2016

ASU because I wanted to know how to do everything—pottery, woodworking, architectural drafting, photography, sculpture, fibers, painting, drawing. I loved creating all media and shortly started showing other artists’ work that did different media. I enjoyed having a working studio as well as a display area to sell the artwork.”

Toni emphasizes that Carlton Gallery operates differently from many art galleries, featuring both fine art and fine crafts from local, regional, and national artists. It also offers seasonal workshops in painting, mixed media, and expressive arts, providing hands-on, informative techniques in a calm and

“I concentrate more on the art, the displays, and the connection with the artists than the sales.” inviting atmosphere. “An open studio has always been an aspect of the gallery for the 34 years I have been in business,” she says. “I concentrate more on the art, the displays, and the connection with the artists than the sales. I love showing pieces in a way that someone might display them in their home, a feeling of comfort and casual elegance, I call it.”

There have been challenges and hurdles along the way, of course. It’s not necessarily an easy thing to maintain a balance between running a business— consider the economy’s ups and downs since 2008—and being an artist herself, which has led her to explore additional possibilities to exhibit her own work in other galleries.

Still, Toni says she can’t wait to mark her 35th milestone next year. Her longterm goal for the gallery? “Maintaining a creative and inspiring atmosphere for new artists and educating the community on contemporary art.”

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17

column

Keyword: Infrastructure

When it comes to developing and nurturing a robust local music scene, it takes a village.

F

M

fred mills

is managing editor of Capital at Play. As a music journalist he has also written for such publications as Spin, Stereophile, Harp, No Depression, and Blurt.

18

A K I N G M U S I C I S A N I N H E R E N T LY social activity. This assertion may seem mildly counterintuitive if you are a songwriter and/or a solo artist laboring at your craft well into the wee hours of the morning, all by your lonesome.

But with the exception of the stray eccentric genius, I’ve never met a musician who didn’t want to share his or her music with the public (and even those eccentric geniuses tend to crave some form of affirmation—see: “Wilson, Brian”). Plus, most artists would like to eventually earn a living at making music, and it’s logistically difficult to do that if you’re an audience of one.

Making music is also inherently local because artists need both the tools and the type of support system that will enable them to keep creating the music—growing their business and their brand, in a sense. (That band headlining Bonnaroo didn’t just beam down to the main stage from the Starship Enterprise; they had to work to get there.) This is true whether you are just starting out, have already developed a modest following, or are a YouTube sensation who has amassed a zillion views and gone viral. Somewhere along the way, you’re going to want to release an album, get it into stores and onto digital platforms, book

| October 2016

live performances, pitch your music to radio, and have it talked about in the media. Unless you are confident you can tackle all those tasks yourself, and do them efficiently, you’ll need to call upon the talents of those people who comprise different aspects of the local music infrastructure.

The importance of this cannot be overstated.

Those who can avail themselves of an infrastructure that is robust and time-tested unquestionably stand a better chance of “making it” than someone who is isolated and without much in the way of options. There’s also a snowball effect, because if one artist tapping that infrastructure starts to make progress, others take notice and will want to avail themselves of it as well, which breeds, in theory at least, even more success. A rising tide lifts all boats. (Or it at least keeps them afloat.)

This has been proven numerous times. Music pundits—yes, that actually is how we refer to ourselves, but only when in the company of each other and drinking heavily—have long observed

F how intertwined a thriving musicians’ community and the accompanying infrastructure tend to be. In each instance, the town had: (A) venues where bands could perform; (B) studios where they could record; (C) college—and sometimes even commercial—radio predisposed towards playing the music; (D) media outlets that could promote the bands; (E) record stores that could sell the bands’ music; and (F) individuals with the wherewithal and temperament to advise and assist—the managers, bookers, publicity agents, stage techs, music gear store personnel, etc. For extra credit, there might also be — (G) local record labels that have experience in getting the music manufactured and distributed; although this is really more icing-on-the-cake rather than a prerequisite, because nowadays plenty of artists self-release their music and have access to regional or national distributors.

IN 2016, UNLESS YOU’RE A BIEBER OR A BEYONCÉ WITH AN ENTOUR AGE TO RIVAL A SMALL ARMY, YOU’RE WELL ADVISED TO LEARN AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF THE MUSIC BUSINESS. Think of this as a small ecosystem—“eco” as in, “economic,” where all those roles needing to be filled represent potential jobs within the local economy. It’s nice to think of a musician as occupying a purely creative space, but such romanticism too conveniently sidesteps the realities of the marketplace.

Have I forgotten anyone? Oh yeah—the musicians themselves. There has to be a decent-sized pool of talent.

The good news, though, is that the type of people engaged in A-G above, and variations thereof, also tend to move in the same social circles as musicians. In some instances, they are musicians themselves, which is why you frequently encounter, say, a record store clerk, a radio deejay, or a bartender at the local punk dive who has his or her own band; their day jobs synch fairly seamlessly with their career aspirations. There’s also another snowball effect going on whereby one of those factors feeds into another, and vice versa; for example, the presence of a college radio station and an alternative newsweekly can help concert venues increase attendance and eventually hire more bands, who in turn will need the assistance of managers, bookers, and public relations personnel to help get them more gigs, from

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column

which they start to derive enough revenue to be able to book recording studio time…. You get the idea.

Now, none of this is to presume that an artist should concentrate strictly on the artistry, with everyone else similarly fulfilling their prescribed roles. In 2016, unless you’re a Bieber or a Beyoncé with an entourage to rival a small army, you’re well advised to learn as much as possible about the business of the music business; wearing more than one hat (or at least testing the fit) can not only help prevent your being taken advantage of, at times it can save you some money. I’ve had plenty of musicians inform me how at certain points in their careers they felt that for both practical and fiscal reasons they had no choice but to bring some of the managerial, booking, and promotional elements in-house.

In that regard, today’s working musician is part-artist and part-entrepreneur: The aforementioned marketplace is more crowded than ever, and consumers (i.e., potential fans) have a baffling number of entertainment choices staring them in the face, so you’re deluded if you think that by simply putting your latest and greatest brain blip out there, it’ll be heard, or that people will pay money to hear you perform. As any successful entrepreneur will tell you, you have to get up early, get off your ass, and get to work.

In thinking about all this, I was trying to come up with one solid example to support my thesis. It’s a recurring topic in music journalism, something that has been discussed and dissected ad nauseum at music industry conferences like the

EACH MUSIC SCENE HAS ITS OWN UNIQUE STORY, OF COURSE, AND WE SHOULDN’ T DISCOUNT THE RIGHT TIME/ RIGHT PLACE ELEMENT WHEN TR ACING THE EVENTS AND FACTORS THAT CAUSE A PLACE TO BLOW UP. annual South By Southwest (SXSW) gathering each March in Austin. I’ve attended numerous SXSW panels at which the panelists attempt to answer the perennial “what’s in the water there?” question regarding the latest geographical

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| October 2016

buzz-bin where some newcomer is making critical waves and others are following strategically in its wake. Nirvana/ Seattle and R.E.M./Athens tend to be the gold standards, of course, although over the years other locales have also enjoyed their moments in the sun. Minneapolis in the mid ‘80s, for example, saw the emergence of now-legendary rock bands like the Replacements and Husker Du, not to mention a certain single-name, purple-hued, musical polyglot, since deceased. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was a musical nexus in the early ‘90s, with scores of bands, bolstered by the sudden prominence of alt-punks Superchunk and homegrown label Merge Records, releasing records and touring nationally.

Similar things happened a few years later with the Chicago indie rock scene after Tortoise achieved international acclaim for its hybrid brand of rock, jazz, electronica, and worldbeat.

More recently, after Canadian indie rock upstarts Arcade Fire won a Grammy for 2010’s The Suburbs album, the media and more than a few record labels descended upon Montreal to find out, indeed, what was in the water there.

Each music scene has its own unique story, of course, and we shouldn’t discount the right time/right place element when tracing the events and factors that cause a place to blow up.

R.E.M., for example, arguably would have never happened if

it hadn’t been for the national network of small venues and punk clubs, many of them located in towns with an innovative college radio station, that had been gradually coalescing since the late ‘70s—something guitarist Peter Buck himself told me in 1985 when I spent a week on the road with R.E.M. for a magazine profile. “We have been extremely lucky,” he admitted, observing that had all the pieces not been in place when his band started out, “I’d still be stuck behind the counter at Wuxtry.” (Wuxtry was the Athens record store— aha!—that Buck worked at prior to forming R.E.M.) But the point remains: A music scene doesn’t just happen out of the blue, but via the convergence of the not-so-disparate factors outlined above. (Elsewhere in this issue you’ll read how, in Asheville, those factors are also currently in play.)

It also requires the presence of passionate, highly motivated people who understand that music—art—is to be nurtured and shared. To achieve that, everyone needs to work towards a common goal, and understand that it’s not a horse race they are in where there can be only one winner. In this sport, when one person is awarded a medal, the whole village gets to stand up there on the podium.

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CAROLINA in the

WEST [

news briefs

Rail on a Run Out buncombe county

The North Carolina Attorney General’s Office filed a complaint with the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission against WLOS News 13’s parent company, Sinclair Broadcast Group. It is the latest in a series of filings attempting to shut down or bring into compliance a mountainside rail line servicing infrastructure used by broadcast companies and government agencies. The state’s Labor Department has put Sinclair on notice for running a funicular with unsafe working conditions that never received state authorization to operate. By filing, Associate Attorney General Rory Agan supported the latest order, that Sinclair pay $56,000 in fines following the stranding of a telecommunications engineer during a winter storm. His rescue involved 50 emergency

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]

responders in 14 vehicles and, finally, a National Guard helicopter. Sinclair’s attorney, Adam Hirtz, challenged the orders, saying they ignored site-specific challenges and did not take into consideration public risk exposure from disabling the line. The railway services communications towers for seventeen companies, as well as the National Weather Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Secret Service. While rescuing the engineer was costly, Sinclair maintains nobody has ever been injured as a result of running the funicular.

Plight of the Bumblebee transylvania county

The Transylvania County Beekeeping Club organized the first Honey and Bee Expo to take place at the Brevard Little

Theater near the downtown farmers’ market. The festival was intended to engage the community in supporting pollinators. Since the species became endangered, interest has grown in domesticated apiary management, in both rural and urban settings, as a hobby and a business. For kids and novices, a real hive was on display, as well as a fake one that showed the architecture in cutaway. Of course there were a lot of honey and honey products. Tulip poplar, blackberry, and sourwood are favorites for the area. Presentations included one on rearing queen bees by Tim Burrell of Rabbit Hill Bee Company in Franklin and another on regulatory concerns by the Department of Agriculture’s Western North Carolina apiary inspector, Lewis Cauble. Vendors like Bee Cool Bee Supply sold hive components, bee food, protective clothing, honey extractors, and other supplies of the trade. Representatives from Colonial Acres Nursery and Master Gardeners were on hand with free tips and pollinator-friendly plants for sale.

Waiting for a Phone Call swain county

Swain County commissioners recently discussed complaints they had received

that telephone lines are not being extended to remote rural areas. Customers are either giving up or waiting months before a line is freed up by another customer relinquishing the line. It has always been expensive to run lines long distances for just a few customers, but the trend toward broadband is making traditional landlines even less worthwhile. In fact, the conversion to broadband is consuming Frontier Communications’ entire capital budget, and Frontier is the only service provider in the area. Regulators like the North Carolina Utilities Commission and the Federal Communications Commission say there is little they can do to make Frontier extend lines. Typically, utilities are required to provide service to anybody in their area who requests it, but exceptions have always been made for remote rural areas, where extending lines could cost millions of dollars. Sometimes, however, deals are struck where the customer receiving the service helps pay for improvements. Frontier says it would invest in the old infrastructure for new developments with enough customers to justify the expense. Compounding the problem: Due to the mountainous topography, a number of the affected parties have either spotty or no cell phone connectivity.

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the old north state

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I’m a Dreamer, Montreal?

carolina in the west

a 6,000-seat outdoor arena, a 5,000-seat indoor arena, a cross-country course, and multiple VIP areas.

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Tryon Equestrian Partners (TEP), in conjunction with the United States Equestrian Federation, has put in a bid to host the 2018 FEI (Federation Equestre Internationale) World Equestrian Games. The bid looks promising, since event organizers are hoping to keep the games in North America. In July the FEI announced its intention to cancel its contract with the organizing committee that had been hosting the games out of Bromont, Quebec, due to financial difficulties. A study of the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games conducted by the Kentucky Tourism, Arts & Heritage Cabinet leads promoters to believe the games could bring 1,200 riders from 70 countries and 500,000 spectators. The two-week event is estimated to bring in a $23 million boost in state and local taxes. With their signature project, the Tryon International Equestrian Center hopes to demonstrate it has the venue, experience, and resources worthy of the games. Over the last two years, the center has invested $125 million in their “premier equestrian lifestyle destination and resort.” Selling points include 1,200 permanent stalls, 12 competition arenas,

Gexit haywood county

Thomas Morgan of Waynesville is retiring after 44 years. He was the founder and owner of Mountain Energy, the largest gas station/convenience store chain in Western North Carolina. Morgan said he enjoyed the work, but he wanted to try something else, along with his accountant wife, while still in his prime. The chain of 20 stores, plus Mountain Tank Lines, Mountain Energy Home Heat, and Morgan’s real estate company, were sold to First Coast Energy. Headquartered in Jacksonville, First Coast operates over 170 stores in Florida, most of which sell Shell gas under the Daily’s brand. The transaction was all-cash, and the amount was not made public. All but three of Mountain Energy’s 239 employees were offered jobs with the new company. The three held now-redundant central office positions.

Morgan began his career while working in a gas station in Michigan. One of his higher-ups suggested he lease a station, and he soon was running seven stores. A native of Western North Carolina, Morgan

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returned in 1985 and purchased a Shell station in Dillsboro. He grew the business to include 45 stores at one point, but industry changes made it more profitable to focus on fewer, larger stores.

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Local historian Carol Bryson has published the second volume of Glenville and Cashiers: From the Records. The first volume came out in 2014 and focused primarily on Glenville because the amount of material was too ungainly for a single volume. The second volume focuses on Cashiers, with attention also given to Georgetown, Fairfield, Toxaway, Sapphire, Whiteside Cove, and Horse Cove. Bryson is a professional cartographer, who hand-drew a number of maps while working out of Cashiers for Baldwin and Cranston.

Later, while working for her husband David’s surveying firm, her trips to the courthouse for deed research turned her on to local history. She fell in love with Glenville and its residents, who had so warmly received her family, and so the project was in part paying it forward and giving it back. In writing the book, Bryson consulted land grants, surveying records, deeds, and newspaper microfilm. She took several trips to Raleigh where she was allowed to handle some fragile original North Carolina land grants for photocopying. The volumes identify the first European settlers in the respective regions and tell where they came from, where they lived, what they did, and what impact they had on the community.

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The estate of Bud Phillips donated a wrecking derrick, known as the Waycross Crane, to the North Carolina Transportation Museum. The 389,200pound relic was used to clear train

WE SELL wrecks and get derailed cars back on track. Railroads used to house one derrick for every 75-100 miles of track. Now it is much less expensive to contract with local companies when needed, so only a few of the self-propelled rail vehicles remain in use for serious cleanups and remote access. The derrick in question can lift up to 250 tons, and it was deployed to replace bridges in addition to clearing tracks. It got its name from its former home, Waycross, Georgia, having originally been commissioned in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, in 1946. At first, it was steam-operated and made use of two hooks. In 1968 it was upgraded to a diesel, 3-hook model. Phillips, a railroad hobbyist, purchased the Waycross Crane in the early 1980s and stored it on the grounds of the former Mitchell Lumber Company in Spruce Pine. Minor repairs were made to its brakes and third (stinger) hook, and a CSX crew inspected it before hauling it to Marion and handing it off to Norfolk Southern to take it to its new home in Spencer, North Carolina.

Cherokees Get Fair Treatment cherokee county

The Eastern Band of Cherokee may soon upgrade the Cherokee Indian Fairgrounds. Ideas were first taken seriously more than 5 years ago. Then, 2 years ago, a request for funding was submitted, but plans got lost with the change in tribal leadership. In renewed negotiations, Principal Chief Patrick Lambert has shown support for the project. The existing exhibit hall was built in 1980, and food booths were added in 1995. The food areas are no longer code-compliant, needing more equipment and space to put it. There is also interest in expanding indoor space to allow the tribe to host more than one event at a time during winter months.

Another change would be providing pavement to make it more accessible. Grassy areas would be widened to accommodate games like stickball. Lambert put Tonya Carroll, manager of the EBCI Destination

Marketing Program, in touch with Studio 15, a Tribal Employment Rights Ordinance certified interior design company. Studio 15 drew up preliminary plans of the above, plus a new main gate and ticketing area and expanded parking. The tribe held 2 meetings to collect community feedback. The preliminary plans were prepared free of charge to the EBCI; construction costs have yet to be considered, as they are secondary to cultural and historical preservation.

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Appalachian State University’s (ASU) Walker College of Business hosted its second annual Business for Good event.

Professor Heather Dixon-Fowler introduced the concept saying that Walker “no longer uses the term ‘vendor,’ which is transactional, but prefers ‘community partners.’” Business leaders stressed sustainability and supporting the local economy. Don Cox, founder of Bald Guy Brew Coffee Roasting Co. (profiled in the March 2016 issue of Capital at Play), asked, “If you aren’t doing business for good, why are you doing business?” He said all the buzz words for eco-sustainability have been used and messed up by people seeking only profit. He looks forward to businesses sourcing materials ethically and labor being compensated justly. Local entrepreneurs then shared strategies. Danny Bock of Coyote Kitchen hires students from ASU and encourages them to spend their paychecks with the next 5 years in mind. Zak Ammar, founder of waste removal service Vixster, plows profits back into projects that will reduce the amount of garbage going to landfills.

Sean Piegelman, CEO of Appalachian Mountain Brewery, integrates triedand-true green technologies into his business whenever possible and gives back to the community through many venues. Dan Fogel, author of Strategic Sustainability, counseled faculty on how it was their “obligation to teach people how to talk about things.”

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Crissa Requate, of Mason Jar Media, handles public relations for huge music festivals and internationally known bands, as well as smaller regional events and up-and-coming local musicians. It’s a business constantly in flux—and one that’s deeply gratifying, too.

JAR OF JAM

written by jim murphy

|

photos by anthony harden

EIGHTY THOUSAND FANS TURN A SLEEPY PASTURE INTO A SUMMER music festival. A new album release draws strong positive media coverage. A band sells out its entire 18-city tour.

And a small company in Asheville takes a modest bow.

Working behind the unassuming name Mason Jar Media, Crissa Requate and her team consistently rack up successful promotions for about two dozen music clients a year.

Crissa started Mason Jar only five years ago as a one-woman operation with two clients, working out of a small room in a downtown Asheville recording studio, Echo Mountain Recording. As Requate recalls, she had been working at a local publicity agency “and then I realized that I wanted to have more control over what clients I worked with and how many I worked with at a time. So I decided to go out on my own.” Now she leads a team of four professionals in a building on the edge of downtown Asheville that she bought last year.

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CRISSA REQUATE

October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 27

The Mason Jar headquarters is exactly the opposite of what one would imagine a publicity agency to look like. A one-story, quiet gray exterior sits at the back of a small parking area on a side street adjacent to downtown Asheville, not far from Echo Mountain. No colorful sign hangs outside to announce the headquarters of Something Big. No elaborate entryway impresses the visitor that this is an Important Place. And the doorway doesn’t even have a bell. A visitor must knock.

Once inside, the visitor might have trouble identifying what this Mason Jar company does. There is no music playing; the walls are painted in quiet earth tones; no one is yelling into a phone. It is as quiet as a library. Indeed, the drums that beat here in the office are heard only out where the media and the fans are listening. In here the sound of publicity is no longer the sound of a marching band, but the click of the send button.

Crissa sits in a comfortable leather chair at her tempered glass desk with two computer screens “so I can see two things at the same time.” She lets out a breezy laugh as she takes another nibble at her lunch. “I order lunch every day from Roman’s Deli. It’s the best.” Today’s lunch is a salad and a giant chocolate cookie. Armed with a ready grin and an easy way with a conversation, she’s a thirty-something mother of a three-year-old daughter, with another child due in December.

Her husband, Billy Jack, is an architect.

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Her professional family includes a database—what in a simpler age was called a Rolodex—that she estimates at 9,000 names. She quickly explains how some of them overlap. “I might have three or four contacts at the same radio station.”

Good contacts are the life blood of a publicist, but the job also requires creativity, persistence, and, perhaps above all, an ability to deal with rejection. Crissa offers a story to illustrate those two character traits.

“We were promoting the Shaky Knees music festival in Atlanta. It draws about 25,000 people, so it’s a pretty big deal. Well, I had been pursuing the music editor of an Atlanta alternative weekly for weeks. I sent him email after email and never even got a response. It was driving me crazy. It got to the point where I emailed him, ‘Chad, I’m coming to meet you and I’m coming from Asheville and I’m bringing some craft beer.

Let me know what time to show up.’ He emailed me back right away and said, ‘Four o’clock sounds fine.’ That’s all it took.

Shaky Knees got the cover of his paper that year.”

Rejection. Persistence. And a bit of creativity.

Taking The Leap Crissa’s career reflects those three traits as well as a fourth: The willingness to take a chance. She attended the Berklee

POSTERS from various festivals Mason Jar Media has worked

College of Music in Boston, starting as a voice major, but soon made change number one. “I realized when I got there that wasn’t the lifestyle I wanted to live. Being in clubs and on the road is just not in tune with my nature. So I still was taking voice lessons, but I began to concentrate on the music business. I went through all the jobs and realized publicity seemed the most natural path for me.”

She stops to take a bite of the cookie and continues reminiscing. “When I graduated, I went to New York,” she explains, adding that after a couple of false starts she landed a job at the William Morris Agency. The job didn’t last long; change number two. “I quit my job at William Morris after three weeks because I didn’t like the way my boss told me I had to answer the phone.”

Her voice takes on an indignant tone as she recalls the details. “He wrote me a script, and the next day he came back to me and changed it. I thought, I can answer a phone. This is not for me.

So I quit. I left a really good job, but it didn’t feel right, so I quit and I waited tables for a few months until I got the job at Putumayo.”

She joined the sales staff of Putumayo, a respected world music publisher that sells CDs nationally. “That job was

where I got a really strong foundation in world music. I was there from 2003 to 2008.” She began on the sales staff, but after a couple of years, there was an opening for a publicist.

Another change. “I went to the boss and said, ‘I want this job. I can do this job.’ I didn’t have any experience, didn’t have a database. So I put together a packet saying what I would do with one of the albums. It took some convincing, but they gave me the job.”

“New York has an energy, but it never felt like people were able to enjoy themselves fully. I went to a show in Asheville and people were dancing and singing along.”

Meanwhile, she also notched a personal achievement.

“I was working in Astor Place and living in Brooklyn. I wanted to live in New York ever since I was a kid and I did it.” Her grin grows wider at the recollection of an early mission accomplished.

October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 29

MAT THIEU RODRIGUEZ

SHELLEY REED

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MOLLY KUMMERLE | October 2016

Making The Move If her early career indicated a willingness to take a big chance, the story of how she came to Asheville makes her other moves seem like child’s play.

“I was on a road trip in 2006. I drove through Asheville, and I had never been anywhere like it. I just fell in love with the town. Then, the next year, I was driving to Atlanta for Thanksgiving with my family. I stopped to see a friend here and fell in love all over again. New York has an energy, but it never felt like people were able to enjoy themselves fully.

I’d go to a concert, and they’d be leaning against a wall with their hand in their pocket. I went to a show in Asheville and

Crissa arrived in Asheville in January of 2007, and for the next 18 months she continued working for Putumayo, promoting its albums while telecommuting from her new home. Along the way she met Jennifer Pickering, the founder and executive director of the LEAF Festival in Black Mountain. They became friends, and later, Mason Jar would go on to consult with the festival’s in-house publicist on ways to promote the semi-annual gala.

Jennifer has high praise for Crissa and her work. “Whenever you’re able to talk to someone who has been doing that work for 10 years, it’s extraordinary. Crissa has been quite generous in helping us understand the constantly changing landscape of social media.

She has also helped us understand how to get a better balance in the visual impact of our printed and digital materials.”

people were dancing and singing along. They were free and feeling the music.

“And there was such a strong arts scene here. And the Christmas parade! I had never seen a small town Christmas parade. It was incredible. I went for Thanksgiving with the family and came back the following weekend.”

She takes a long pause, knowing the impact of what she’s about to say and knowing how to milk it for maximum effect.

“And I bought a house.”

She produces her biggest grin and goes on with the tale.

“It was a little two-bedroom, one-bath bungalow right outside Fairview. I bought it so that I would have to move here because I knew if I went back to New York, I’d say, ‘I want to go, I need to move,’ but I would always find an excuse not to.” She lets out a long, joyous laugh and shakes her head at the audacity of it all, finally summing up the experience: “I know it’s crazy.”

Recalling projects the two worked on together, Jennifer sums up her opinion of Crissa. “Her passion and dedication for the artists and events she represents are what sets her apart. She is authentic and enthusiastic, and her energy really elevates performers and events to new opportunities. Crissa is one of a kind.”

The appreciation is mutual. Crissa recalls that Jennifer “started introducing me to people in Asheville, and one of them was Sean O’Connell, who hired me to start his publicity department at Music Allies.” (Music Allies is a local marketing company, founded by O’Connell in 2003, that works with music festivals, record labels, and independent artists.)

“Festivals.” The answer comes quickly and forcefully when she is asked what she learned at Music Allies. “How to work publicity in advance and onsite, which is a large part of our business right now,” she says. “We do a lot of advance promotion October 2016 | capitalatplay.com

31

for festivals. Most festivals draw people from multiple states, and in some cases, all over the world.”

She pauses, glances at her computer screen, and continues with a story that illustrates the power of creative promotion.

“One of the very first festivals I worked was the Hangout Music Fest in Gulf Shores, Alabama. [O’Connell of Music Allies is also the Hangout director.] The year it started was the year the British Petroleum oil spill happened.

Beyond trying to get music outlets to do advance stories, it now became crisis PR. We flipped the story and worked with the local convention and visitors bureau to put out the word that in coming to the festival people would be supporting the local economic community. The pitch was, when you come here, you’re eating in their restaurants, staying in their hotels, shopping in their stores. You’re supporting the local economy. We got hits on the CBS Morning News and Geraldo Rivera came down to do a piece. It was a big campaign.”

Molly Kummerle confirms the growth of festivals in the Mason Jar portfolio. Molly began working at Mason Jar part-time shortly after Crissa opened the doors. Now, five years later, she’s director of radio promotions, and says the biggest change she’s seen is “when we started doing a lot more festivals. Now we have at least six of them.”

Molly continues to promote tours and albums for the company’s bands. “I’ll send the station a copy of the album when a band is coming through, and I’ll ask if the band can come in and do a studio session.” But the bulk of her time is spent on festivals. “There really isn’t an off-season anymore,” she says. “It slows down a bit in August and September, but as soon as October hits, I’ll be back on calls for the summer festivals.”

When she’s not promoting, Molly is spinning. Working as DJ Molly Parti, she says she does a couple of deejaying gigs just about every weekend. She’s also well-known locally as frontwoman for trip-hoppers Paper Tiger. Her outside work leads her to mention one of the benefits of working for Crissa. “She’s pretty understanding if we have other things to do.” Molly also credits the small, boutique flavor of Mason Jar. “We’re a really tight-knit group. If I need help brainstorming, I can draw on the creativity of my coworkers. And we really only take on the clients that we’re super passionate about. That’s a big benefit.”

Molly goes back almost to the beginning of Mason Jar Media, which was a hectic time in Crissa’s life. It was two months before her wedding when she decided to go out on her own. “My husband was scared. He was like, ‘What are you doing?’ But you notice in my history I’ve never been very nervous or worried about what’s going to happen because I’ve always felt that if it’s not going right, I’ll just change it.”

LOGO PAINTING

by 32 Adam Strange

| October 2016

CRISSA REQUATE at Shaky Boots Festival 2015 photo by Perry Julien

Shaping The Message Mason Jar Media recently marked its fifth anniversary, and—in addition to the festivals—the biggest changes have been the addition of some heavyweight clients along with three more staff members to handle the workload, plus the purchase of the building for the offices. In the day-to-day reality of the job, music publicists work with bands on a project basis, promoting the release of a new album. Crissa counts about 25 clients a year, working with as many as 10 to 12 at a time.

contact and word-of-mouth. “There are certain clients that when you have those names on your roster, it identifies you,” she says. “It’s very beneficial for your reputation.”

Her projects for an album release generally last six months. “Prior to the release of an album, I’ve been working on it for three months. If I want a review to come out in a magazine with a long lead time, I have to pitch it three months in advance.

“I’ll send an editor a link to Soundcloud so they can stream it without having to download it into their computer. I’ll also send them a Dropbox download, and then I’ll send them a link to an e-p-k (electronic press kit) so they can download all the press material. That will include pictures and copy—bios, album notes, a video, and press releases about the band.”

Once the album is released, her efforts then turn to promoting the band’s tour. Her team pursues radio interviews in the cities where the band will be playing, as well as newspaper and digital coverage. “You’re chasing the editor or writer to write the story, then working to schedule the interview with the band, and keeping track to make sure that happens—to make sure the story comes out. And then you take the finished product to promote that out further on social media. That’s a real big element of any project.”

Shelley Reed specializes in promoting Mason Jar’s touring bands. She contacts newspapers, websites, and radio stations to spread the word that a band will soon be in their area. “I try to creatively structure a message that’s concise, but also enticing and would encourage people to

“Communication is very different now.

Twelve years ago a lot of communication happened by phone. Nobody calls anymore. It’s obsolete. Nowadays, it’s all email. I must get between 100 and 150 emails a day. I send 70 to a hundred.”

Her client list includes major festivals, such as Bonnaroo and Shaky Knees, and the aforementioned heavyweights, nationally known artists like psychedelic/punk jam-band Slightly Stoopid and funk/blues-rockers G Love and Special Sauce. She has built the roster on the strength of personal

October 2016 | capitalatplay.com

33

have interest in the band,” she says. “The best part of the job is the satisfaction of knowing that you’re directly influencing the careers of your artists.”

But she shares a major frustration with Crissa. “It’s so frustrating when you’ve tried all the angles you can and no one is picking the story up.”

Shelley has been at Mason Jar a year and a half, and in that time she has developed a strong respect for Crissa. When asked to describe her boss in a single word, she takes a long pause and finally decides: “Powerful. She gets things done.” Shelly offers an example. “Like The Hip Abduction. She really believes in them, and she took them from playing small rooms with a capacity of maybe 80 people, to big places like Brooklyn Bowl. And she got them on SiriusXM. She put their career on fast forward. And she did it without neglecting any of our other clients.”

Whether for festivals or bands, Crissa says 75 percent of Mason Jar’s efforts are for digital placements, and she rattles off a roster of sites that they target: Consequence of Sound, Pitchfork, Stereogum, Live for Live Music, JamBase, Relix, and NPR. “NPR is really important. You really want a song on there.”

Most of that 75 percent comes from the computer of Matthieu Rodriguez, Mason Jar’s digital wizard. His job description includes maintaining the company website, digital marketing, and social media, but his own description of what he does is quite a bit more complicated.

He grins as he begins to run down the list. “My job includes content management, graphic design, photography, SEO, brand management, website design, and probably a few other things that I’m not remembering right now.”

SEO? “Search engine optimization,” he says, and realizes he’ll have to explain. “It’s the verbal map on your website that allows search providers such as Google or Yahoo to find your website. The more times you can include your key search words, the better your chance of getting a higher listing on the search page.” Sitting in his darkened office, with his monitors providing most of the light, he tries to sum up the contribution his technical savvy brings to Mason Jar. “It’s really about doing things in a way that looks aesthetically pleasing; however, there’s a lot of work on the back end that we can do to put our clients in position to do better than they expected.”

The digital aspect manifests itself in a number of ways.

Crissa has been a publicist long enough that she can recall the “good old days” as little as ten years ago.

“When I first started, I remember faxing press releases. You would turn the fax on at night and it would cycle all night.

You’d come in the next morning and you’d be facing a stack of faxes that had come in overnight. By 2005 it was all digital.”

Warming to her topic, she leans forward, brow furrowed, voice growing intense.

“Communication is very different now. Twelve years ago a lot of communication happened by phone. Nobody calls anymore.

BAND SUPPORT

Considering the variety of support functions that go into the release of an album and the tour that follows, bands function almost as mini industries, providing work for professionals, assistants, tecchies, and laborers. Mason Jar Media gave us a rundown on who’s who behind the scenes.

PUBLICIST

MANAGER “Your manager guides your career and hires everyone on your team,” says Requate.

“He or she is your main point person for every decision and opportunity that comes along to further your career.”

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BOOKING AGENT

TOUR MANAGER

“The booking agent secures your dates for your tour—placement in festivals and clubs. He negotiates how much you get paid at each show.

A good booking agent is imperative for your career.”

“The tour manager handles the day-to-day details of your tour. He takes care of everything from making sure you show up for radio interviews, to the set-up in the green room, to placement of the microphones on stage.”

“The publicist promotes the release of a new album and the tour that follows it. She makes sure the newspapers are writing about you coming to town and finds online platforms for you to spread the word about your music. She is also responsible for helping book you and your band for late night TV appearances.

Basically, your publicist is helping to make sure people know about your music or event.”

“

“

For an artist to really take off, it all has to work together in perfect synchronicity. Your song’s being played on the radio; you’re on tour; people are coming to your shows; your publicist is getting you interviews and coverage locally and nationally; and all the other pieces are doing their part to get you seen and heard.”

RADIO PROMOTER SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER “The social media manager is in charge of translating your digital presence to hits on Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat, and all the others. Social media has become very important to the success of any band or album.”

DISTRIBUTOR “The distributor makes sure your album is available both online and in brick-and-mortar stores. He must have contacts with Amazon, iTunes, and the retail outlets.”

“A radio promoter comes into play when you have a new album coming out, and there is a stand-out single on it that can be sent to radio stations for airplay consideration. The home run for a radio promoter is when he gets your song added to playlists all over the country, and the song begins to chart. The more and more airplay a song receives, compounded with online streaming plays from platforms like Pandora and Spotify, determine a song’s chart status.”

The phenomenon of independent management and promotion began within the past 10 years.

There was a big shift that happened. Bands used to exclusively sign with a record label where everything was included.

The label made the decisions of where to spend money on promotion and publicity, which could eat up most of the profits. After a while, musicians started asking, ‘Why am I paying the record label all this money when I can build this team myself?’ Now, it’s not uncommon to find very successful bands and musicians calling all the shots and hiring their own teams independently.”

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It’s obsolete. Text? That’s an invasion of privacy. A text is really rare. Nowadays, it’s all email. I must get between 100 and 150 emails a day. And I send 70 to a hundred.”

Does she have time to do anything else? The grin comes back, and she breaks into a laugh, shaking her head. “No!” For all that effort, all those emails, the process can become a deflating experience. “It’s incredibly disappointing,” she admits, “when we work with a client that we believe in and we are doing the footwork to help that client become known in the media, and the media doesn’t latch on to it. You feel like you’re writing something, and it’s going into the ether and no one’s going to read it.”

Her grin has faded, and she leans back, considering missed opportunities. “There’s a lot of sweat equity and blood, sweat, and tears that goes into that client. But there is a lot of noise out there. There are a lot of bands, a lot of events.”

Aside from the day-to-day frustrations, Crissa recalled what she considers the worst day in her company’s short history.

“The worst day was when a music festival that we had grown from its beginning, that we had spent years promoting, that we had gotten in Forbes, Rolling Stone, and Billboard, that we had done on-site publicity, dealing with regional writers and photographers, became big enough that the promoter sold it to a major producer.” Her voice

“Now I explain to bands that their album is like a business card. You’re presenting to the audience what you sound like so they’ll come to your tour.” has become quiet and her pace halting as she revisits the pain of a distressing situation. “They thanked us for all our work and moved the publicity to their in-house staff and we were out of a job.” She takes a long pause, staring into the middle distance at images that are now a year old.

“That was the worst day.”

But Mason Jar recovered. Crissa and her team continue to promote festivals, artists, and albums, but she offers

24/7/365 24/7/ 365 Service Available

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a surprising lesson on the economics of the music business.

“People don’t buy albums anymore,” she says. “Which is why I tell my bands it’s more important to tour than to release an album.” She grins at the apparent paradox of her statement, and then pursues the thought. “Now I explain to bands that their album is like a business card. You’re presenting to the audience what you sound like so they’ll come to your tour.” She takes it a step further. “I’m not opposed to a band putting an album out there for free as long as people are coming to your show and buying a ticket and buying a T-shirt and buying a poster or a hat or a jacket.”

Building The Brand After five years, Mason Jar Media has established itself as a successful agency with a strong track record and a solid roster of clients. But, as her personal history shows, Crissa is not one to sit still. So what might the next five years look like? Might she want to branch out, perhaps become a manager?

“I am a manager!” she says, unable to contain a hearty laugh. “I manage The Hip Abduction [St. Petersburg, Florida, world music/roots-rock collective]. I manage only one band because it’s very time consuming, very involved. There’s a lot

of communication that takes place with the band constantly.”

But is that a secret ambition? To evolve Mason Jar from a promotional agency to management? She pauses for a minute, thinking it over. “I’m not sure,” she says. “I love managing The Hip Abduction, and if that’s where the path goes—if I find another band that I love, that I believe in, that I think I can make a real difference to their career, then I’ll take them on. It would be a lot of fun. It’s really exciting to be directly responsible for a band’s success.”

Her imagination was percolating, and she shifted to another possibility, one that would stretch Mason Jar all the way to Beer Can. “I would love to work with the breweries in town. If we aligned with a brewery or two, I think we could provide them with marketing and publicity campaigns for beer releases similar to how our bands release albums. That’s especially true, social media-wise. We could build fan bases for a brewery and brand recognition and loyalty, letting people know when a certain beer is coming out and also promoting events that are happening at a brewery and things of that nature.”

After five years, Mason Jar Media is sitting pretty. But when you listen to Crissa Requate, you realize it’s definitely not sitting still.

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Should we Talk About the Weather?

local industry

written by chall gr ay

Or, what we talk about when we are actually talking about the local music industry.

A primer in venues, tourists, studios, promoters, musicians—and what may or may not be missing.

ECHO MOUNTAIN Recording studio, photo by Stewart O’Shields

October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 39

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THERE’S A QUOTE ABOUT THE MUSIC industry, often attributed to Hunter S. Thompson, that goes thusly:

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”

Even though Thompson never actually said that, considering that two different people we spoke with in the music world used this quote as their email signature, it certainly holds at least some truth in it.

The city of Asheville has, for many decades, dominated the musical skyline of Western North Carolina, its home-grown music scene holding a central place in the mystique of the Land of the Sky. From the old-time music that has been in these hills for as long as anyone can remember, to the bluegrass that was popularized in the middle of the last century by local native Wade Mainer, among many others, and to the drum circles and indie rock bands that can be easily found downtown now, Asheville is definitely a locale that has always loved music.

Yet it’s also a city in which music has never quite been at the forefront, often overshadowed by something else that seemed to make more sense for Asheville to be known for, such as craft beer, the Biltmore Estate, outdoor adventure, or yoga and alternative healing.

With that in mind, the Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) has recently made Asheville’s music industry the focus of their newest tourism initiative and is putting a major push behind it. But where is the music industry in Asheville, really? Has the scene developed and grown in the last five to seven years, or is it in pretty much in the same place? Capital at Play decided to try and figure it out, by talking to a large number of people from all over the industry. Here’s what they had to say.

The Venue Perspective

Like most cities, Asheville has seen a great many music venues come and go over the years. Locals wax rhapsodic about their favorite rooms of yesteryear; rock club Be Here Now and the more punk/experimental-leaning Vincent’s Ear are two prominent examples, but the list could go on to include any number of others. Venues come and go because it’s a tough business. Booking an act typically means agreeing to their guarantee, whether the room is full or empty, and touring acts with name recognition often require such a large guarantee that ticket sales need to be brisk in order to make the artist 40

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photo by Stewart O’Shields

LICHT Y GUITARS,

photo by Anthony Harden

ANDREW SCOTCHIE, photo by Jim Donohoo

ECHO MOUNTAIN booth, photo by Stewart O’Shields

fee back, leaving the venue to rely on bar sales to turn a profit.

Asheville is fortunate in that there are many great places to hear music—from intimate, almost living-room style venues, to listening rooms and theatre venues with good acoustics, all the way up to mid-size and large clubs and a couple of large auditoriums. One thing that nearly everyone we spoke to agreed on was that there are definitely more venues now than a half-decade ago. But does that mean attendance is stronger? Or is the competition making it more difficult?

Former owner of the Grey Eagle, Jeff Whitworth, currently operating his own booking firm Worthwhile Sounds (which does all of the booking for the Grey Eagle, as well as Downtown After 5, among others), said that while he hasn’t seen a dramatic difference, things are “trending in the right direction.” Whitworth also noted the impact of Asheville’s recent attention as a beer destination.

“Where there is beer there is music, and as the beer scene has grown, our music scene has grown as well. Off nights, [such as] Tuesdays, have become easier than they were ten, or even five years ago.”

Amanda Hency, co-owner of The Mothlight with her husband, Jon, was even more emphatic. “In the almost three years since The Mothlight opened, there seems to have been a big boom.” She also noted that booking styles have begun to change.

“There have been some ambitious bookings happening in this town in the last few years, bringing touring groups that didn’t have Asheville on the radar not too long ago. [But] I think once bands play here, they are eager to get back.”

The Tourism Push

Now that Asheville has been established as Foodtopia and Beer City USA, the local tourism folks are seeing many similarities to those past trends.

“Music industry growth has been very similar to the culinary growth we saw,” Marla Tambellini, vice president of marketing and deputy director at the Asheville Convention & Visitors Bureau, said recently. “We’re trying to provide visitors with the tools to have a great music experience, and also to make it [the music scene] more sustainable,” she continued. She noted that they had followed some of the examples of Nashville and the way they’d grown their tourism through music.

The Economic Development Coalition (EDC), an arm of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce like the CVB, has also been working on a study of the October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 41

local industry

economic impact the music business has locally. Heidi Reiber, the director of research for the EDC, elaborated: “We are looking not just at music, but also at connections to other industries, and trying to get a broader view of what those jobs support. The purpose is to try to estimate the gross regional product related to music.”

Is that even possible, we wondered, in a business that has a notoriously high amount of cash transactions on nearly every level? Reiber claimed that it was. “With specialized software, we can take what we know through our analysis of the industries and model a ‘change.’ It would not be possible to capture everything, but we can make estimates based on what we do find. The model will give us an estimate of contribution, or impact, in the local economy based on the change we have created.”

While their study isn’t complete yet (it’s due to be released soon), Reiber said that they’ve measured tremendous growth in numerous categories, and that each segment of the music industry they measure has “a more concentrated employment presence than the national average.”

Even if the infrastructure as an industry is stronger, and with the concerted marketing push underway to increase traffic for our music, is the scene ready for that? Does it have the depth, the talent, the breadth to support more traffic?

photo courtesy Mothlight and Wilson Architects

WNCW ’S Joe Kendrick with World Cafe’s David Dye , photo by Dennis Jones Photo

The Recording Studios & Industry Group Perspective

photo courtesy the Grey Eagle

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If there’s one name from Asheville that is most likely to be recognized across the country to industry insiders, it is Echo Mountain Recording. Located in fairly unassuming building at the western end of downtown’s stretch of Patton Avenue, the studio has recorded dozens of stars, including the Avett Brothers (several times), Band of Horses, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, and Smashing Pumpkins, among hundreds of others.

Echo Mountain has grown to include two large buildings, a former church and the Salvation Army building, both overseen by Jessica Tomasin, one of the most well-known and universally liked people in Asheville’s music world.

Tomasin has also spearheaded the development of the Asheville Music Professionals, a group dedicated to helping musicians better understand the business side of the industry and establish a standard for good business practices, while also being a common voice for the local industry.

She definitely sees the last few years as a transition period. “Music is more of a focus now, and we have more of an industry in Asheville than we’ve ever had before.” Like many people we spoke to, she has seen a lot of changes, but also recognizes that those changes haven’t necessarily made it easier for musicians. “The music business is a bit like the Wild West now, and it has been since the digital age really took over. The good news is that the playing field

has been leveled, and the bad news is that the playing field has been leveled.”

New Song Music is an independent artist organization run by Gar Ragland, who founded the company 15 years ago. Among other initiatives, they have a boutique record label, a national songwriting contest, and a series of concerts and festivals, all overseen by Ragland from an office he rents in the Echo Mountain facility. Ragland moved to Asheville four years ago from Brooklyn, and has seen changes during that time. “Just in the last few years there has been a little bit of national attention focused on Asheville, and I think the scene here is just starting to capitalize on that.” He also noted the advantages present over other markets. “Echo Mountain has things to offer over L.A. or New York. There’s a quality of life that comes with living or working here that those other places don’t have.”

PRODUCER GAR R AGL AND at Echo Mountain, photo by Will Hornaday

The Publicists & Promoters Perspective

The music business has long been peopled with larger-than-life characters, hucksters, and swindlers, as well as the genuinely good guys and those who are in it because they love it. If there’s anyone that has historically gotten a bad rap, it is the publicists and promoters. The most common image that comes to mind is of the iconic manager/promoter Colonel Tom Parker, whose omnipresent cigar would leave his mouth only often enough to ensure that his star client, Elvis Presley, was getting the right attention. But in truth, these background folks are the ones who make sure the music of lesser-known bands gets into the hands of radio deejays, bloggers, and magazine writers.

As recently as a decade ago, this segment of the industry was nearly nonexistent in Asheville, and while still small, there are now a handful of flourishing Asheville-based publicists. Erin Scholze, owner of Dreamspider Publicity & Events, started her business in 2008 and found there wasn’t really a precedent for it around Asheville. “I had worked for a few bands in different ways, and when I decided to turn this into a business I talked to the editor of [Asheville weekly] Mountain Xpress and told her I was going to focus on this and asked what I could do better,” she recalled. The response was that she didn’t need to change a thing about her approach. Now, eight years later, she has dozens of clients, including some of Western North Carolina’s best-known bands, such as Town Mountain and The Honeycutters, and national acts like Donna the Buffalo. Still, she finds it advantageous to be based here. “Everyone knows everyone and sees everyone here, so it’s a lot easier to connect as a community, and that has increased over the last few years.”

Mason Jar Media CEO Crissa Requate is another local mainstay, and she, too, has seen marked growth. “The local music scene [has] come together as a unified front,” she said, crediting a lot of that to the Asheville Music Professionals (AMP). “With the recent development of the Asheville Music Professionals group, there has been noticeable growth in the local music industry. It was really exciting to see the music industry

microcosm that was somewhat hidden within the community.

Entertainment lawyers, music producers, recording studio engineers, music publicists, promoters, bookers, club and venue owners, music journalists, band managers, etc. There is a significant force of creative folks working in the music and entertainment sector in Asheville, but until AMP started, I don’t think anyone realized just how many of us there were.” (Go to page 26 in this issue for our profile of Mason Jar’s Requate.)

The Musician Perspective

While music has never been at the cultural forefront, it has nevertheless always played a key role locally, from the weekly old-time jams that could (and in some places still can) be found at various places around the area, to the many stars who have vacationed, lived, and played in Asheville at one time or another. Marian Anderson played on Depot St. in the thirties.

The blues great Rev. Gary Davis lived in Asheville in the teens; a pill-popping Elvis accidentally shot his personal doctor, George Nichopoulos, in a room in the Grove Park Inn in the seventies; the list could go on and on. These anecdotes have also always been complemented by a vibrant local musician presence, coupled with a small but ardent assemblage of concertgoers.

October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 43

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MERLEFEST with (L-R) Jeb Puryear (Donna the Buffalo), Erin Scholze (Dreamspider PR), Amanda Platt (Honeycutters), Tara Nevins (Donna the Buffalo) photo courtesy Amos Perrine/No Depression

“Asheville values original music, which isn’t always the case,” explained Silas Durocher, a local staple and the lead singer of the Get Right Band. “But it’s still a small town in that there isn’t a lot of national industry representation.”

Many people we spoke to noted how the local makeup has

Andrew Scotchie, one of the leading local up-and-comers with his band Andrew Scotchie & the River Rats, agreed: “With the number of really talented bands moving here, it has forced the rest of us to really up our game, which is a good thing; it’s refreshing.”

Scotchie also noted the increased opportunities for collaboration. “One of the great things about the Asheville Music Professionals meetings has been how many new things have come out of it. New weekly jams, more networking opportunities, new collaborations, new events. I also feel like musicians here are more welcoming to people from other genres.”

Every musician we spoke to for this story—and in fact, every person we spoke to—mentioned how vital the Asheville Music Professionals group has been and continues to be to the growth of the local industry.

But, even with the vastly increased number of venues, many feel that that hasn’t made it easier. “Ten years ago there was more demand than supply for musicians. Even

NPR music program World Café, which WNCW airs, recently devoted an entire weeklong series focusing on Asheville. changed significantly with the arrival of new bands. “There are lots of bands moving here, as a band, and that’s a sign, right or wrong, that they [bands in other markets] are beginning to see Asheville as a hub for music.”

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photo courtesy the Grey Eagle

PORT CIT Y AMPS, photo by Anthony Harden

BOB MOOG photo courtesy Bob Moog Foundation

with all of the new venues, there are so many new artists here, that from an economic perspective it’s harder now to make a living as a working musician just playing in Asheville,” said Jay Sanders, longtime bassist for Acoustic Syndicate and a resident of Asheville since the mid-‘90s. (Sanders is also a contributor to this magazine.) “There is also more ambivalence in general now from local audiences,” he added, “but I think that’s partly due to how the overall demographics here are changing.”

What’s the Frequency, Asheville?

As with many things related to music (and a great many other things in general), Asheville has more radio stations than one might find in many similarly sized small southern cities. But despite the number, there aren’t many stations that have both a large listening audience and a focus on a wide range of local music.

AshevilleFM, a primarily volunteer-based organization based on Haywood Road in West Asheville, broadcasts at 103.3 FM. “I’m proud that we highlight local music, and also focus on

when bands like Floating Action or the Ahleuchatistas make it onto a national chart,” says Kim Roney, a deejay and longtime volunteer at the station. WPVM, located in downtown Asheville, also consistently plays local music slightly up the dial at 103.7, but the listenership remains small for both stations due to their signals having a fairly limited range. Both stations command a great deal of respect in the community, but neither has been able to develop into a broader force in the local and regional music community, much less beyond.

There are a number of nationally owned stations in Asheville, with locally topical names like The River, The Brew, The Mountain, and a handful of others. Some of them have shows that focus on local music, but they are typically relegated to the Sunday evening time slot. Western North Carolina has always been able to boast a strong public radio presence, with downtown Asheville’s WCQS (88.1) and WNCW (88.7), located just over an hour away in Spindale. But both of those stations are primarily focused on a single genre or style, classical and Americana, respectively.

October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 45

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SACRED MUSIC: Main recording studio at Echo Mountain, photo by Stewart O’Shields

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Joe Kendrick, director of programming and operations at WNCW, has definitely seen a lot of growth across the spectrum.“As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats. It feels like everything has been accelerating [in recent years] with the local scene.” He noted that the nationally syndicated weeknight NPR music program World Café, which WNCW airs, recently devoted an entire weeklong series focusing on Asheville, in the process spotlighting River Whyless, the Honeycutters, Jon Stickley Trio, Tyler Ramsey, the Steep Canyon Rangers, Rising Appalachia, and the Get Right Band.

Also aired that week were Kendrick’s own local picks: the Marcus King Band, the Broadcast, Unspoken Tradition, the Hermit Kings, and Floating Action. In fact, it wouldn’t be unfair to say that WNCW does the most for the local music scene as a whole, but it is still constrained by the fact that numerous genres only find their way onto niche shows on the station (if at all). It also should be mentioned that there are many parts of Buncombe County, such as pretty much everything north of downtown, where the reception is somewhere between barely perceptible or nonexistent.

All in all, Asheville is a place that has a plethora of radio stations, which run the gamut from the cookie cutter commercial stations that can be found anywhere that has the demographics to support them, to public radio, to upstarts fueled by passionate volunteers. But they are all constrained in one way or another, whether by their owners, their mission, their genre, or limited signal strength, from helping catapult the local music scene forward to the next level.

What’s Missing?

With all of these things going on, what isn’t happening that needs to? What are the things that are holding Asheville back?

Why hasn’t the music scene ever gotten to the level of fame that, for instance, the relatively nearby Athens, Georgia, has enjoyed?

Of course, there isn’t one simple answer. Publicist Scholze said that having a prominent conference or music festival in Asheville that encompassed many genres would have a big impact; the twice-annual LEAF music and arts festival, held in Black Mountain, consistently sells out and has become a regional institution, but its focus tends to be more on roots, folk, and world music. The short-lived Moogfest, which primarily presented electronic music, began in 2010 to great acclaim, but subsequently moved to Durham after several years in Asheville, amid dissension between organizers. Capital at Play managing editor Fred Mills, who has also worked extensively as a music journalist, pointed out that, along with the annual Warren Haynes Christmas Jam, Moogfest “probably did more to help put Asheville on the radar of the national and international music media than anything else in recent years.”

When asked what Asheville needs to get to that next level, Jay Sanders succinctly stated, “A successful band.” Numerous other people pointed to the fact that no current Asheville

ECHO MOUNTAIN mixing desk photo by Stewart O’Shields October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 47

local industry

rock band has been able to break out and scale nationally. The Grammy-winning Steep Canyon Rangers are arguably the closest to fitting that bill, but their name recognition doesn’t extend too far beyond the bluegrass and roots music audiences. Rock/ blues/R&B outfit The Broadcast is presently making waves with sophomore album From the Horizon and is touring extensively behind it, including an upcoming six-week tour of Europe, but it’s too early to tell what the group’s lasting impact will be.

Folk/indie rock singer Angel Olsen may turn out to be the proverbial puts-the-city-on-the-map artist, having notched considerable international acclaim to date; her fourth fulllength, My Woman, has been selling extremely well since its early September release on Indiana-based label Jagjaguwar.

Still, for some observers Olsen, as a relatively recent Asheville transplant, is most closely identified with the Chicago scene, where she initially came to the public’s attention.

Gar Ragland observed that breaking a band on a national level would have the biggest effect, but was quick to add, “We as an industry need to help and facilitate that, and provide the infrastructure for it to happen.” In a similar vein, and with an eye toward the overall ecosystem of the industry and making sure all genres are represented, Echo Mountain’s Tomasin

worries that there aren’t enough outlets for urban music, whether live on the radio, or in terms of print coverage.

In addition to the lack of a nationally prominent local band or a large, multi-day music festival capable of regularly drawing attendees from beyond the immediate region, another fundamental piece that’s missing is a record label. There are several in-house boutique labels, such as Harvest (an imprint of West Asheville record and CD store Harvest Records; go to page 76 in this issue for our profile) and Make Noise Records (part of electronic synthesizer company Make Noise Music); and scores of area musicians self-release their own music on a regular basis, but there do not appear to be any standalone labels boasting a consistent national presence. “If there was a local record label that had physical distribution, that would do a lot,” said Andrew Scotchie.

With the profusion of new acts and the lack of an infrastructure that would allow them to easily grow beyond Asheville, it’s increasingly harder for bands and solo performers to differentiate themselves, as several people noted. “In a way it’s like, anything you do, there will be ten thousand other people doing the same thing. There are new opportunities, but there are a lot more people vying for them, so it’s a double-edged sword,” Durocher of the Get Right Band observed.

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What Does It All Add Up To?

“You can see live music seven nights a week in Asheville,” Jessica Tomasin said. And it’s certainly true that your choices on those nights are much broader than they were even just a few years ago. If you scan the club listings, you’ll see more bands, and more and more types of music as well, each one with an array of new and different tools and opportunities that they can utilize as they strive to achieve their goals—not to mention scores of other talented individuals striving for the same goals, using the same tools and opportunities.

Asheville remains one of the most beautiful places to live in the country—if just spending some time in the city doesn’t prove that, there are dozens upon dozens of best-of lists that include Asheville. “To be involved in music and be based here is a mutually beneficial proposition,” Gar Ragland said. And it is. Will it become even more mutually

beneficial? Will the CVB succeed in bringing new tourists to Asheville? Will someone local finally break out and make it on a national level?

Only time will tell. But know that there are lots of people working, right now, at this moment, trying to make it happen, and if you want to buy some music by a local

“In a way it’s like, anything you do, there will be ten thousand other people doing the same thing. There are new opportunities, but there are a lot more people vying for them, so it’s a double-edged sword.” band and listen to it, or go out tonight and see live music, you can. And chances are you’ll be able to find something interesting, something new, something different. Maybe they’ll even be the next big thing someday.

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column

Are Entrepreneurs

Born or Made?

The nature/nurture debate aside, learning to be self-sufficient and enterprising will serve you well, regardless of what field you choose.

W D dawn starks

Certified Financial Planner™ practitioner and financial advisor at Starks Financial Group.

Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA/ SIPC.

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E ALL KNOW PEOPLE WHO, EARLY IN LIFE, made their marks as entrepreneurs—those kids who were always working the angle, the ones who valued independence and called their own shots. But I am curious—are all entrepreneurs just wired that way from birth, or does their environment while growing up form them?

Take me, for example. Twenty years ago, after completing my MBA degree, I did not have the idea to become an entrepreneur. I loved all my courses in graduate school, and I had no clear career path in mind. But I loved math and helping people, and I started with a list of pros and cons, the sort of things I would like to do or not do with my life.

Through that exercise, I determined a career that ended up really being the perfect choice for me. But I didn’t immediately set out to do it on my own; I didn’t really have that entrepreneurial spirit. That came about eight or ten months into my career, when I started plotting how to get out of doing what other people wanted me to do and make my own decisions instead. Calling my own shots became almost imperative to me. Now, I’ve been doing my own thing for seventeen years.

But where did this urge to be the boss come from?

Looking back, I suppose there were signs. When I

| October 2016

was about age five, at my grandparents’ cottage on Bass Lake in Indiana, my sister and I would spend our summers water skiing, playing outside all day, and reading—basically a dream childhood summer.

This was in the 1970s, and virtually everyone in my extended family smoked cigarettes. One day, my Papa (my grandfather) offered me a penny for each cigarette butt I collected off the grounds. Disgusting, I know. But I gamely took on the challenge, and, armed with an empty coffee can, I started the hunt. Around the picnic table and near the beach were major score areas, and when my can was at least half full, Papa would have me empty it on the sidewalk and count all the butts (math practice) to collect my pay.

Where is the entrepreneur there, you might ask? Sounds like a job “working for the man,” and it was. However, at some point, I determined that if I ventured into the parking area, I could

D

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EXPERT HANDS open everyone’s car and empty out the ashtrays to increase my profits for considerably less effort. Extra disgusting, I know. But it was effective, and I had the Barbie doll that I ultimately bought with my money to prove it.

A few years later, I can remember setting up a lemonade stand with my sister that was adjacent to the garage sale that my parents were conducting.

In the hot Florida sun, we figured, people would get thirsty from all that shopping. We upped the ante by also baking a cake and selling pieces of cake along with lemonade. I don’t recall how we managed, profit-wise, but I do recall it being a fulfilling experience.

SO WAS IT NATURE OR NURTURE THAT BROUGHT ME TO WHERE I AM? BASED ONLY ON MY OWN EXPERIENCE, I WOULD SAY BOTH.

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When I was a little older, I was a Girl Scout. Of course I sold cookies. The Girl Scouts organization really wants girls to develop business skills, so the push is not just to sell cookies to raise funds, but also to learn how to run a business. So that was the third foray into entrepreneurism that I can recall from my childhood.

In general, however, I would not have said for a minute that I was destined to be an entrepreneur. As a child, I can remember wanting to be an astronaut!

Later I got into music, and my plan was to try to get a position with a major orchestra. That is definitely not a “boss” sort of job, but rather quite the opposite. I did, however, assume that I would support myself by giving private music lessons, and that was certainly self-employment.

October 2016 | capitalatplay.com

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I greatly admired my flute teacher in high school. She controlled her own schedule, had a booming studio with dozens of students—and she had a pool at her house. I computed that she must make a pretty good living, given her hourly rate. That seemed like a worthy goal, to be honest. I assumed I would marry my high school sweetheart, settle down to a nice life teaching lessons, and one day I might have a pool!

College changed my trajectory, both in the marriage department and the career department. Giving lessons would be the means to an end, supporting myself while waiting for an orchestral gig to come along. I worked really hard in college, holding four jobs most of the way through my four years. I worked in the music library, as a stagehand, and as the recording technician for all concerts and recitals, and, of course, I also taught some lessons. Other than the lessons, none of those positions were what I would consider entrepreneurial.

Between undergraduate and graduate school, a bout with Bell’s Palsy threw me a curve ball. In a nutshell, in a matter of weeks, I had to reconsider my whole future. At the time, I was working for a woman entrepreneur to earn money for graduate school. I loved the work, and I got to do a little of everything—marketing, finance, sales, administration. I

admired this woman greatly, and I appreciated the freedom she had to run her business the way she wanted to. So when my music career derailed, it was a natural fit for me to head to business graduate school instead of music graduate school.

I would never in a million years have predicted I would be good at business. As I said, I loved all my courses, and I applied myself like a crazy person in grad school. But still, I did not have being my own boss on my mind.

So was it nature or nurture that brought me to where I am?

Based only on my own experience, I would say both. Growing up, I certainly had guidance from my businessman father. He always encouraged us to be whatever we wanted to be, and he introduced me to the likes of personal-success author Napoleon Hill. I listened to many hours of self-help tapes growing up. Dad was never pushy about it, he just offered them, and I really found them helpful. While my dad wasn’t an entrepreneur, he was a manager of people and a savvy businessman. So role models have definitely played a part for me.

As a mother of an eight-year-old, I have taken to encouraging my daughter, Rowan, in a similar manner. She has been a Girl Scout for three years, and each year she has devised good strategies to sell more cookies. She has set up countless other

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little “businesses,” where she creates goods and then tries to can she best get the message across about the item’s value sell them to her family and friends. I talk to her about business and usefulness. skills, and she spends a great deal of time at my office getting When her efforts fail, I will ask her to think of reasons why, to see me in action. and how could it be different in the At the end of the day, however, future. I don’t mean this to sound being an entrepreneur is tough. like I am grilling my child. But MY ADVICE FOR PARENTS I would certainly not push my instead of just saying, “Oh that is daughter, or anyone, into being nice, honey. Hope you sell a lot!”

WOULD BE TO ENCOURAGE self-employed. But I figure that life I am trying to encourage her to THE ENTREPRENEURIAL skills are life skills, and learning to think her process through. And on SPIRIT IN YOUR CHILD. be self-sufficient and enterprising her part, she has learned that she SUPPORT THEM WITH will serve her well, regardless of can come to me for guidance, but I what field she chooses. absolutely won’t do the work for her.

THEIR BUSINESS IDEAS, My advice for parents would be Life skills, remember!

BUT ALSO, DON’T HESITATE to encourage the entrepreneurial So, parents, I would suggest that TO LET THEM FAIL. spirit in your child. Support them we all encourage without pushing. with their business ideas, but also, We can also look for opportunities don’t hesitate to let them fail. where our children can gain some Rowan has cooked up some pretty whacky ideas for things entrepreneurial skills because, whether or not they actually she wants to sell, and I will often spend some time querying grow up to be self-employed, I believe these skills can be both her about her “target market.” Asking her who would want career- and life-enhancing. this particular item, what would they do with it, and how

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THE OLD

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treatments for dermatological conditions like acne, warts, toenail fungus, and psoriasis. None of the company’s products have hit the market, but 3 are currently in clinical trials. One product, a nitricoxide-based treatment for acne vulgaris, is claimed to have potential for disrupting the $28 billion dermatology market, which has relied on antibiotics and retinoids with no significant advances for over 30 years. Novan was founded in 2006 as a spinoff from research at UNC-Chapel Hill conducted by chemistry professor Mark Schoenfisch and grad student Nathan Stasko, who is now president and CEO. In spite of a board staffed by high-profile executives and biotech experts, the company has recorded eight-digit losses the past 3 years.

STATE [

news briefs

Less of a Family matthews

Dollar Tree, Incorporated, announced it will be laying off 270 and eliminating 100 vacant positions from its support center in Matthews. The cuts are to reduce redundancy caused by the recent $9.1 billion acquisition of Family Dollar

by Dollar Tree. The cuts are expected to save Dollar Tree $300 million a year after a three-year transition period. An estimated $6 million will be spent on servicing severance. The center was headquarters for Family Dollar prior to its purchase. Approximately 1,100 people will continue working out of the Matthews offices, about 300 having already left of their own volition since 2014. Many cited uncertainties of the company’s future while Dollar Tree and Dollar General were competing for the buyout. Others

]

attributed their disaffection to loss of the family atmosphere and poor communications following the resignation of Family Dollar’s CEO, Howard Levine.

Meanwhile, Dollar Tree is expanding its Chesapeake, Virginia, headquarters. It is proceeding with the development of 70 acres, which was halted during merger negotiations, and it is anticipated about 100 jobs will be added per year over the next 6 years.

As the FDA Gets Around to It

Just Say NO to Pimples

holly springs

A s the body’s immune system deteriorates with age, the risk of influenza-triggered complications affecting the heart, kidney, and liver increases.

Consequently, adults 65 and over account for more than half of influenza hospitalizations and 90% of mortalities.

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To address this, Seqirus has begun shipping FLUAD™ for the 2016-2017 flu season. FLUAD™ is a flu vaccine with adjuvants to boost the body’s immune response. The chemical in question is MF59®, which is derived from squalene, a natural body oil. FLUAD™ was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration last November following testing on more than 7,000 seniors.

Researchers evaluated the drug for safety, tolerance, and immune response, and it performed no worse than approved vaccines for the 3 strains tested. FLUAD™ is the first and only adjuvated seasonal flu vaccine approved for distribution in the United States. It was first licensed in Italy in 1997 and is now used in over 30 countries, with 81 million doses having been distributed.

Never Good at Good-Byes goldsboro

J o h n s t o n A mb u l a n c e S e r v ic e announced it would shut down August 31, laying off 400 part and full-time employees. Johnston was founded in 1971 and grew to run 70 trucks available 24/7, with offices in 10 cities, and an EMS training center in Goldsboro. The service area

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carolina in the west

national & world

the old north state

spanned a swath of the state about 150 miles long, running from west of Durham down to the coast in Jacksonville. It was the largest private ambulance service in the state and the fourth based in Eastern North Carolina to shutter this year.

Owner Maynard Price said he postponed the decision as long as possible, but he could no longer afford to keep the trucks rolling. He blamed changes to healthcare regulation for leaving him with a pile of invoices that were not going to be paid.

Having to administer a state workers’ compensation claim was the final straw.

Price was devastated over having to let his employees go without severance and even more concerned about the patients they would no longer be able to transport.

Emergency response times will not be affected, as Johnston only transported non-emergency patients.

challenging multiple-system operator Charter Communications. In addition to television, Windstream will offer higher-speed fiber to the home and very-high-bit-rate digital subscriber lines with vectoring for cross-talk cancellation.

Windstream’s Ericsson Mediaroom platform will provide customers with wireless set-top boxes, Whole-Home DVR watch capable of recording 4 shows at once, HD, video-on-demand, Instant Channel Change, and Kinetic on the Go for viewing TV programs anywhere from portable devices. North Carolina will be the fourth market for Windstream’s Kinetic IPTV, the others being Lincoln, Nebraska, Lexington, Kentucky, and Sugar Land, Texas. Windstream is making available its hotter selling services to an expanded customer base to offset declining broadband subscriptions.

Un-Chartered Airwaves

Something for Mom

the piedmont

nags head

Windstream has filed a bid for a cable TV franchise with the North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State. Windstream would bring Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) to over 50,000 homes in 13 communities,

An Outer Banks Island is for sale for only $3.2 million, only 75% of fair market value. It is among many properties being liquidated by the owner. In a flyer, listing agent Gerry Fiks of Real Estate Services of North Carolina suggests, “Create your

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the old north state

own private island club!” One of the Carolina Cays Islands, the property is located less than half a mile south of the US 64 bridge crossing Roanoke Sound. It has grown from dredge spoil depositing, while neighboring islands have been eroded. Now 256 acres, about one-fifth of the island is upland, subdivided and recorded as 24 lots zoned for limited development. Each is described as grassy beach waterfront, and some parcels have been perk-tested for four-bedroom homes. Commercial or recreational structures of up to 10,000-sq.-ft. would be allowed. The remainder of the island is tidal marshes providing biodiverse wildlife habitat. The average elevation of the lots is 12 feet above sea level. The water is deep enough for boating, and the island could accommodate a marina.

What If She’d Said, “Take a Hike?” holden beach

Last year, 10 year-old Mason Marshall was instructed by his mother, Melissa, to find a way to give back to the community. With some thought, he identified an untapped local market in popcorn.

He started by hauling bags in eight flavors to Lighthouse Gifts on Fridays and Saturdays. Each variety is carefully crafted through extensive trial and error and test-marketed on his parents.

The Pina Colada flavor totally flopped, his mom describing it as “all kinds of horrible.” During his first season, Mason earned enough to buy Christmas toys for 20 kids in Brunswick County. “He’s learning about how poor the communities are around here in some spots,” said his dad, Tony. Business has now grown to offer over 30 flavors that include Pink Lemonade, Smoky Barbecue, Birthday Cake, Southern Butter Pecan, and Ranch. He stocks his stand with 50 bags at a time and also takes orders off his Facebook page, Mason’s Market.

This year’s goal is to be able to buy Christmas gifts for 40 children. With 56

| October 2016

school starting, his stand will be going back to a Saturday-only schedule.

And Spread Paper All over the Sea wrightsville beach

A cash drop went bad, and social media app company Likeli has issued an apology. Likeli hired High Tide Helicopters to f ly over the U NC – Wrightsville’s back-to-school Beach Blast event and drop $1,000 in cash and promotional materials along the seashore. The apology from George Taylor III of Likeli read, in part, “The ‘stunt’ did not go as planned and we ended up dropping those items in the water. Not only did we potentially harm the wildlife and dirty the water, but we were unable to gain access for [our] cleanup team, leaving the responsibility of the remaining mess on event staff.” Town Manager Tim Owens remarked, “You have a lot of kids basically swimming around trying to grab money. You know something unfortunate with that could happen.” He responded by researching options for issuing citations for littering and unsafe piloting. Pilot Jennifer Ward appears to have been fully compliant with Federal Aviation Regulations, but Likeli’s attempts to make amends with a cleanup day were met with incredulity, students doubting the damage could be reversed.

Capital at Serious chapel hill

Chris Roush, business professor at UNC–Chapel Hill, has launched North Carolina Business News Wire (NCBNW). Because most online business news sources cover only a field of specialization or a geographical area, the NCBNW website will fill a void in coverage for North Carolina’s 100-some publicly-traded companies, especially the smaller ones. Roush is a veteran business reporter and editor, having

worked with Bloomberg News and BusinessWeek, and 3 large newspapers in the Southeast. He will provide direction and editing to students, who will earn course credit for converting Securities and Exchange Commission filings to color commentary. Subjects of interest include mergers and acquisitions, quarterly earnings, stock trades, promotions and resignations, executive compensation, and patent applications.

The first story covered NeuroPro Therapeutics raising $165,000. The service will be free and available to all media organizations.

Would You Like a Slow Clap with Your Beignets? pinehurst

Pinehurst Resort and Country Club announced the opening of The Deuce.

Until recently, golf fans could stand on the veranda and watch the players on the 18th hole. Now, they can spectate through the large, custom-made windows of a bar and restaurant, “a ball-toss from the green.” The Deuce will serve sliders, sandwiches, and wraps for lunch and appetizers through the afternoon and evening. Offerings include Crab Hushpuppy Beignets, Lobster Mac’n’Cheese Croquettes, Pretzel Bites, and Loaded Tater Tots.

Executive Chef Thierry Debailleul assures the food is fresh, scratchmade, and inventive. The bar will serve specialty cocktails and local craft beer.

The 18th hole has a lot of history behind it, and to commemorate some of it, The Deuce will be decorated with vintage photographs and memorabilia.

This was the place the 1999 US Open drew to an exciting conclusion. When the windows are open, customers will be able to hear groans and cheers from golfers, and vice versa. Pinehurst President Tom Pashley believes playing to a gallery is going to make playing the 18th much more exciting.

October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 57

written by fred mills photos by anthony harden

Fire ON THE

Mountain For Bo Trammell, who runs the Hickory Nut Gap Inn in Bat Cave and mounts the most badass parties on the planet, it’s all about community.

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leisure & libation

October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 59

leisure & libation

PART Y GOERS play air guitar with Dangermuffin.

I

“Want to try a muffin?”

t’s early one Friday evening, springtime in Bat Cave, North Carolina. I’m standing near the kitchen of the Hickory Nut Gap Inn, a mountaintop lodge with a colorful history that stretches back more than half a century. Meet Bo Trammell, who has owned the Inn since 1998 and, along with his wife, Courtney Thompson, operates it as a private weekend or week-long getaway for folks both in the know (or otherwise enamored of said history), and perhaps in need of a different kind of experience than what Western North Carolina vacation sites typically offer.

Bo motions at a plate stacked with delicious looking chocolate muffins, and I readily accept his offer. He’s been giving me the nickel tour of the Inn, which features six guestrooms, each named after the locally-sourced wood that lines the walls (hickory, black walnut, knotty pine, maple, red oak, wormy chestnut); a high-ceilinged great room with a huge fireplace; cooking and dining areas; a roomy basement turned into a game room that includes another fireplace, an oversized dart board, pool and Ping-Pong tables, and, no lie, an actual bowling alley; a long, rocking chair-outfitted screen porch extending across the front of the structure; and a second-floor observation deck looking out over a breathtaking panoply of heavily forested ridges. As we continue through the house, across the great room, and upstairs to the deck, Bo resumes a conversation thread he’d begun a little earlier when we toured the grounds, checking out the nearby guest house, the trails leading into the 60

| October 2016

thick woods encircling the summit, and a large camping area clearing in those woods.

“Basically,” says Bo, easing down onto one of the deck chairs, “we try to provide a setting for folks to get away, relax, and feel like they don’t have to worry about the outside world for a few days or a weekend. Courtney and I are here the entire time, her fixing the meals and me making sure everyone’s comfortable, but we’re definitely different from, say, a regular bed and breakfast—this is a private place, and I think of us more as facilitators for my guests and for their privacy.”

The Secret Handshake In the short time I’ve been here, it’s become eminently clear that the Hickory Nut Gap Inn is unlike most resorts, bed and breakfasts, or cabin/lodge vacation spots. For starters, a good percentage of those among the steady stream of arrivals appear to have some kith/kin connection; the weekend will, in fact, turn out to be an impromptu engagement party for two of them, and no doubt quite a few of the others will gather again in the near future at a church or chapel. It’s a simpatico demographic as well: Everyone appears to be in their late twenties to early forties, and after depositing their bags or camping gear, they all make beelines to the beer kegs out on a large cement patio next to the downstairs door.

Another thing that sets the gathering apart: Many, if not most, of the folks have been to the Hickory Nut Gap Inn in the

past, a fact that I glean from snatches of overheard conversation, such as, “Oh, it looks just the same!” or, “Do you remember last time when we…?” or, “Where’s the Nut Wagon?” (More on that later.) Bo also brings in a select few of his friends when he hosts one of these events. If you get an invitation to the Inn, you are in the circle of trust.

This shared, communal history helps lend a feeling of camaraderie and intimacy, something that Bo himself confirms when he tells me that the Inn’s business is generated by word-of-mouth: “Maybe you were invited by one of your friends who had previously attended a gathering here, and now wanted to put together a gathering themselves. Then the next year you decide you want to do a gathering yourself.

“I can actually draw a line back from everyone here, in some way, to the first couple sets of people I had as guests. I kind of look at it as a tree, with all the branches that come off of it, and then branches off those branches.”

“There’s a bit of mythical allure that surrounds the topic: ‘Oh, I’ve heard about that place—you’ve actually been?!?’”

And while he doesn’t state this explicitly, I also get the sense that everyone at a Hickory Nut Gap Inn weekend has been vetted and/or vouched for, however subtly, to ensure a degree of simpatico-ness. If you’re here tonight, it’s most likely because you’ve got a friend who’s also here, has been here before, and who knows you to be the type who plays well with others. There’s not going to be anybody randomly showing up who “just heard there was something going on up there,” in other words. And there’s definitely no chance of Mr. and Mrs. Smith and their three kids, visiting Western North Carolina from Ohio and wanting to see what a “quaint” place called Bat Cave might be like, deciding, on the spur of the moment, to turn off Highway 64 into the Inn’s entrance—which is marked by a big wrought iron gate and sign depicting a bat—and make their way up the long, winding dirt driveway to the top of Bo’s mountain.

“How it works is, each time we go, it’s someone’s ‘party.’ That person organizes the date and guest list,” one of the new friends I make tonight explains to me. Meet Anthony from Southern Pines.

He’s a veteran of several of Bo’s parties. He and his girlfriend, Dixie, have made the drive up, and, as it turns out, he plans on asking her to marry him this weekend. Apparently a handful of people are in on this secret. I learn later that Courtney had already baked a cake for Anthony and Dixie that reads “Yes!” in icing on the top.

October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 61

Anthony continues, “Each time we go, the crowd is a little different depending on who got the ball rolling. Also, someone’s good buddy from college or a friend from Asheville might join us. And of course we have grown to love Bo and Courtney’s friends as well, and hope they stop in. This leads to an ongoing cycle of gatherings, where someone who was invited last year has now been back with their own group of friends.

“I’ve met some really great people on the mountain, and when I’m elsewhere, I often run into people who know it as well as I do, wishing there was a secret handshake or some way to tell who has been and who has yet to go. There’s a bit of mythical allure that surrounds the topic: ‘Oh, I’ve heard about that place—you’ve actually been?!?’”

If you take a look at the “Rates” page on the Hickory Nut Gap Inn website (Hickorynutgapinn.com), the lodging information

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lists weekly rentals, week-end rentals, special occasions, and corporate events—“whole house parties” is prominently mentioned—with a minimum booking price set at $1,000 per night for 10 people. This is indeed what I have wandered into, and… well, “wandered in” would be a journalistically disingenuous term to use. For while I, the writer, am definitely the odd man out, I’m present because Bo is a friend of my boss, Oby Morgan, and Oby no doubt assured Bo that in allowing me to observe— and, let’s face it, participate in—the revelry tonight, I would definitely not (a) embarrass or offend anybody, or (b) give away any state secrets or breach any confidences. Oby also advised me that, based on what he knows about my personality, he was pretty sure I would like Bo, and that Bo and I would get along just fine. (Correct on both counts, Oby.) “Everybody likes Bo,” he added, with a knowing grin.

Muffin On the Mountain Now, if you are going to facilitate, er, host the kind of badass party I’ve been assured this will be, in order to celebrate properly you need to cover the basics: food, libations, and activities. Check, check, and check. What else? Oh yeah—music.

Nobody’s paying $1,000 a night just to sit around and watch Netflix or play Xbox on the flatscreen.

Meet Dangermuffin. The trio of Dan Lotti, Mike Sivilli, and Steven Sandifer has been around since 2007 and hail from the Charleston County area of South Carolina. In 2014, Lotti got married and moved to the North Carolina mountains, so the group, with five albums under its belt thus far, has also become a regional favorite thanks to its keep-WNC-weird-friendly brew of Americana-powered jam, folk, reggae, and groove-rock. Tonight

the plan is for them to perform two sets, an acoustic one in the comfy sit-down confines of the great room, and then, later, a full-on electric blowout downstairs in the game room, where, not so coincidentally, there’s plenty of room for dancing. I’ve never seen them live myself, but it’s pretty obvious a lot of the people here at the Inn have. The verdict before the musicians play a note is, I am told, “Get ready for some good stuff.”

In fact, according to Bo, the informal name for the evening is “Muffin On the Mountain,” which, by my way of thinking, has both a cool alliteration and a promising aesthetic. Those chocolate muffins sitting on the kitchen counter weren’t baked by accident, either. It’s worth noting, too, that the bandmembers are themselves veterans of Bo’s parties, something Anthony notes proudly when he tells me that he celebrated his 40th birthday here last year and Dangermuffin provided the

DANGERMUFFIN performing the acoustic set in the Inn’s Great Room.

October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 63

soundtrack. “We had such an amazing time, we wanted to do it again,” he says.

“They are great guys and musicians who have their own sound, and we are so fortunate to have them with us on the mountain. Dangermuffin has become our group’s favorite band, friends, and theme music.”

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As Bo and I sit up on the observation deck, munching on our muffins and gazing off into the distance—we note some ominous looking black clouds on the horizon that appear to be drifting in our direction—I ask him a little about his personal background, about the Inn, and how he came to own it.

Bo, 49, is the quintessential laid-back, thoughtful conversationalist, as befits someone who earned a degree in religion at Appalachian State. Possessed of a sly sense of humor, he speaks in a gentle drawl that is simultaneously unthreatening and worldly, even Zen-like. But when talking about the Inn, he can quickly become animated. He’s probably related the story behind the Inn scores of times in the past, but he loves telling it and he knows it’s a good one.

From the brief summary of the Hickory Nut Gap Inn’s history that appears on the website: “This mountaintop hideaway was built on 5000 acres as a weekend retreat by local Trailways Bus Company founder, Herman Hardison in the 1940s and 1950s. Natural materials such as stone and wood milled from the property were used to build the lodge. Today, there are 75 beautiful, forested acres laced with excellent hiking trails.”

Coincidentally, there is a distant family connection between mine and Herman Hardison’s, a degrees-of-separation factoid that Bo seems to find mildly intriguing. Directing my attention to a distant gorge, he informs me that the Inn is positioned so the view from the front

neatly triangulates three mountains, and when the vernal equinox arrives each year, that gorge offers a precise visual frame for the equinox’s morning sunrise. “He had to be a very meticulous man,” says Bo, referring to Hardison.

After Hardison died, one of his daughters took over the lodge as a retreat for her family, but eventually the building and the surrounding land was sold at auction in the late ‘70s.

And it’s at that point where the story gets really interesting.

I’d previously noticed the many framed photos lining the walls of the Inn’s main hallway, most of them shots of rock artists in their element during the ‘70s—among them, David Bowie; Lynyrd Skynyrd, preplane tragedy; a luxuriously hirsute Peter Frampton; Rod Stewart, in full cross-legged/ mic stand-gripping pose; the Sex Pistols, at their final show at Winterland; two photos depicting the Who (young and on the BBC; in full flight, Tommy era); a gentleman named Way Out Willie, who apparently was a Hells Angels majordomo back in the day; and a celebrity power meeting of sorts in which Marlon Brando, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, and concert impresario Bill Graham are sharing a private joke.

Appearing in several of the images is an additional, less recognizable, individual.

That’s Jack (no last name; just “Jack”), the man who wound up purchasing the Inn. Jack was a West Coast music industry mover and shaker based in the Bay Area, and he had developed an estimable/notorious reputation for throwing big parties for rock bands and other entertainment types that could run on for days. He decided he wanted to establish a reliable space on the opposite side of the country as well — the Inn’s website suggests Jack was looking for “a rehearsal studio and playroom” for Lynyrd Skynyrd, whom he also promoted — and upon learning of the old Hardison property in North Carolina, he realized he’d found his rural Shangri-La: Here was a uniquely-designed structure with plenty of room, and it offered acres of open space and loads of privacy. The deal was done: Jack had his East Coast party house.

The year was 1978.

Some of Jack’s parties at the top of the mountain have undoubtedly passed into regional lore among longtime Bat Cave residents. The

‘70s and ‘80s held no shortage of rock ‘n’ roll excess, but of course such tales inevitably get juicier in the re-telling. One persistent, possibly apocryphal, story has a member of the Charlie Daniels Band powering his motorcycle into the lodge and burning rubber on the wooden floor of the hallway. Still, if the Inn’s walls could talk… actually, they do, in a sense, via all those framed photos.

Jack, sadly, would pass away from cancer in 1985. He willed the property to his girlfriend and closest confidante, Bettina Spaulding, who’d originally moved from San Francisco to take up house with him. She was the one who christened the place the Hickory Nut Gap Inn, and she kept the lodge up even after marrying one of Jack’s associates, a Bahamas-based entrepreneur, Captain Easy Batterson, a number of years later.

Meanwhile, Bo, having grown up in the Asheville area, had spent time as a teenager hiking the trails around Chimney Rock and Bat Cave. Along the way he also met Bettina and they became close friends. He helped her out occasionally with odd jobs around the lodge, and even after he went off to college and, later, moved to Raleigh working as Porsche mechanic, he always found time to visit her and pitch in whenever he was in the neighborhood.

After Bettina was diagnosed with breast cancer in the late 1990s, she determined that her husband wanted to stay in the Bahamas following her death. Noting Bo’s love for the mountains—he’d even expressed interest in one day moving back to the area—she worked out a deal that would allow him to purchase the lodge. Not even 30 years old when Bettina died in 1998, Bo suddenly found himself the owner of a mountaintop slice of paradise. (For a more detailed story on the early history of the Inn, go to Wncmagazine. com/feature/sweet_home_carolina.)

Looking back now, Bo recalls going up to the observation deck shortly after he bought the place to meditate on what might be the most positive thing he could do with his new purchase—and also what negative things he should steer clear of. Ultimately he would own 88 surrounding acres; the rest of the original 5,000 was bought up by timber companies, but Bo was able to negotiate a situation whereby the Nature Conservancy October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 65

SOME ARE MORE in the loop, er, the hoop than others at the Inn.

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leisure & libation

would preserve the mountain that rises in front of the Inn. “That way, my view shed would be protected, and I wouldn’t have to worry about cabins and condos going up over there,” he says, nodding across the way.

Initially the Inn operated as a bed and breakfast— Courtney also became a key element in making it run smoothly (the two eventually got married, in 2002)—but all along, Bo felt it could be put to a more unique purpose, one true to its history. “I wanted to honor Bettina and the training I got from her, from just being her friend. I knew I didn’t want it to just be a bed and breakfast, and I already had a dream to do what I do now. It just took me about two or three years to accomplish that.”

Wish You Were Here “What do you think so far?”

I’m down in the Inn’s game room now, chatting with Anthony and some of his friends. Bo has just beaten me in a game of Ping-Pong. (For the record: I held my own, although a couple of hours and several strong drinks later, I didn’t fare quite so well when I challenged another person to play.) To the folks in Anthony’s circle, this is more than just a nice mountain getaway destination for them.

“The Inn is the perfect place for us,” says Anthony. “Plenty of space inside. Campsites for those who want that experience. Room for large groups to relax, play, or find a quiet space.

We love solitude while being with the people we love to be with.

Many bands have played and stayed there. There is a musical history that I believe has its gravity at this point.”

Reflecting on his personal history with the Inn, Anthony adds, “Bat Cave is special to me and Dixie—we always say ‘Bat Cave’ instead of ‘The Inn.’ On our first date I asked her if she would like to come to the mountains with me in a few weeks. We have returned many times with many friends.”

I agree with him—this is a remarkable place. There is a unique vibe in the air this evening, a mixture of “laid-back,” “anticipatory,” and “electric,” with people circulating and conversing and munching and drinking and, yes, availing themselves of the sports diversions. The pool and PingPong tables get their share of use, although it’s the bowling alley lining the far wall of the room that’s clearly the main attraction. Wandering over, I wait my turn to pick up a ball, preemptively announcing to no one in particular that the last time I bowled was about eight years ago at a children’s birthday party “so don’t expect too much from me.” When

I learn that there’s a bowling pool going, whereby you put a buck in a jar on the counter for each turn you take, and whoever makes a strike wins the pool, I decide I probably shouldn’t expect to get rich tonight, either. And I don’t.

But seriously—this is one helluva game room. It’s pretty easy to visualize a touring rock band coming off the road for a weekend to kick back, depressurize, and have some of the same kind of fun that it might find itself having in a city after a show, but in this instance amid total privacy, away from the local gawkers, geeks, and hangers-on. Groupies, debauchery, and illegal smiles optional. Even if someone just feels like relaxing, there’s plenty to gaze at, zero in on, or otherwise zone out with, like the fireplace, a toy stuffed bat dangling on a string from the ceiling, a wellstocked bookcase (numerous titles on religion, philosophy, and metaphysics catch my eye), colorful artwork on the walls (included are posters of Hendrix, Willie Nelson, The Who’s Tommy, and a Rastafarian Last Supper), even a hand-carved Cherokee syllabary, which apparently was commissioned by original owner Hardison, presumably to ward off evil spirits for his lodge.

By now my photographer has arrived, and he’s making the rounds, snapping pics of the music memorabilia dotting the walls and taking action shots of the Ping-Pong and pool tables and the bowling lane. Later, he’ll also get plenty of images of Dangermuffin playing and people dancing and twirling

The very definition of intimacy: Musicians seated in a semi-circle, the audience seated around them on chairs and sofas, with a few standing towards the rear or side of the room, swaying back and forth, tapping their feet, and, if there’s room, dancing. with lighted hula hoops, although with the exception of the band members, his plan is to not take close-focus photos of the party attendees, mindful that “discretion” is a keyword in the Inn’s vernacular. As Bo had advised me earlier that afternoon, “Privacy is our specialty here.”

The Dangermuffin guys have also arrived, so a few of us start shoving furniture down to one end of the room to make room for them to set up their gear. Knowing how the presence of a journalist can sometimes be off-putting to musicians when it’s not been previously disclosed, I go over and introduce myself to guitarist Lotti, explaining why the photographer and I are here and assuring him that it’s to write about Bo and his Inn, although I will certainly highlight the band in the article. Quoting from October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 67

leisure & libation

DANCING the night away!

Almost Famous, I add, “I promise to make you look cool.” He gets the joke and laughs.

Soon enough, the dinner announcement is made, and everyone makes their way up to the dining room where Courtney has laid out an elaborate buffet spread suitable for pretty much any appetite or disposition. I select a rip-roaring rock ‘n’ roll meal of hummus, a salad, and fresh fruit. You can sit at a table in the dining room, or settle down in a rocking chair on the front porch, as I do, or even on one of the stuffed sofas and chairs in the great room. Several people have already told me that these meals are as much a key to the Inn’s appeal as the game room. Notes Anthony, “Her fresh, home-cooked meals have never fallen short of amazing. The Sunday morning breakfast as well, when all are starting [to say their] goodbyes is so good—it seems like we all come for that moment, eggs Benedict, with dill hollandaise, and pancakes, with kudzu vine syrup, shared with your best friends.”

Electric (and Acoustic) Church Music After dinner, it’s time for some… Dangermuffin! The musicians sit down on chairs in front of the fireplace, armed with guitars and upright bass, and ease into an acoustic set that’s simultaneously feel-good and energizing. If you’ve ever attended one of the house concerts that have become staples of traveling singer-songwriters’ tour itineraries, you can picture the scene, which is the very definition of intimacy: Musicians seated in a semi-circle, illuminated by floor and table lamps instead of spotlights, the audience seated around them on chairs and sofas, with a few standing towards 68

| October 2016

A VARIET Y OF music memorabillia is all over the walls at the Inn.

the rear or side of the room, swaying back and forth, tapping their feet, and, if there’s room, dancing.

Being this up-close-and-personal with the living-room musical ambiance also breeds immediacy, with the kind of unscripted patter on the part of the musicians (plus give-and-take with the fans) that you wouldn’t necessarily get at a formal venue, no matter how small.

Near the end of the set, one of the Dangermuffin guys casually asks, “Any requests?” Someone immediately shoots back, “’Purple Rain’!”—Prince had only just recently died—and before you can say, “have a muffin” the band has launched into the late icon’s signature anthem. I think I hear one of them chuckle at one point and reveal that they’ve never played the tune before.

They seem to pick it up pretty quickly, with the entire room helping out and singing the words back at them.

Afterwards, while the band takes a breather and gets refreshments, the crowd gradually begins filtering back downstairs. As expected, those black clouds that Bo and I spotted earlier on the horizon in the afternoon finally moved in and yielded a downpour, so everyone is inside out of necessity. Cue up more pool, Ping-Pong, and bowling. The game room lights are a bit dimmer now, in anticipation of the band’s next set, and someone has brought out the hula hoops outfitted with LEDs that are activated when the hoop is twirled. Those undulating lights, along with some colored mini-spotlights over the Ping-Pong table, add a kind of hippie disco feel to the proceedings. Hold that thought: There’s an actual vintage disco ball suspended from the game room ceiling, spinning off flecks of light.

Just as things are getting semi-hazy, the guys in Dangermuffin converge on their electric instruments and start tuning up. And…. we’re off once more, the entire room slipping into an irresistible rhythmic groove as the band unleashes crowd-pleasers (a number of the tunes, I discern, appear on the most recent Dangermuffin album, 2014’s Songs for the Universe), extended jams and sonic extrapolations, and several well-chosen covers (Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead appear to be favorites of the musicians). Cue up more dancing—solo, with partners, in small groups—electric hula-hooping, and singing along.

Out of the corner of my eye I spot a random motion coming from the side of the room: It’s Bo, emerging from the shadows on a skateboard and weaving in and out of the crowd, moving easily from one end of the room to another, never colliding with anyone or even brushing against them. Something tells me he has practiced this before. A couple of us crack up at the visual incongruity. On the one hand, it just seems slightly absurd; when was the last time you saw someone skateboarding through the audience at a rock concert? I mean, the October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 69

leisure & libation

venue security wouldn’t let someone bring a skateboard inside in the first place. But on the other hand, this is not a venue, it’s a game room, and it’s Bo’s basement to boot, and Bo can do whatever the hell he wants in his own basement. Tonight, it feels just about right.

ice, dims or raises the lights, sets the mood music, and so much more. [Yet he] still has time to beat everyone at Ping Pong and ride through the party on a skateboard while hula-hooping.

“Bo is literally the life of the party, and he will keep it going as long as you want.”

Remember that reference to the “Nut Wagon” I made near the start of this story? While, due to the weather, I didn’t get to experience it before heading back to my home in Fairview, apparently it was deployed the following evening. The Nut Wagon is another semi-legendary feature of the Inn, and Bo doesn’t roll it out for every gathering. Sometimes, say at 2AM or 3AM, when a faithful few have not yet turned in and still have their mojos working, Bo will fire up his oversized vehicle and transport the remaining revelers around the property slowly (“rarely over four miles per hour”), tracing the couple miles of road that loop around it. The Nut Wagon is lit up like a Christmas tree and outfitted with a dancer’s pole, and its roof is like a mini-deck that people can climb up onto and gaze at the stars and the skyline. Nobody’s in a rush to get anywhere in particular, and Bo points out that, inevitably, everyone is hopelessly lost before the trek is done—except him, of course.

Dancing In the Moonlight My abiding memory of the gathering at the Hickory Nut Gap Inn is of it being not so much a party, but a three-ring circus, where each attendee—the guys in Dangermuffin, the people in Anthony’s circle who’ve traveled to Bat Cave, even the Capital at Play writer and photographer—is part of the performance itself. We’re all in the arena; there are no bleachers. And Bo is our ringmaster, subtly but purposefully directing the activities to ensure that there’s never a dull moment and no one is ever left out.

“Bo,” Anthony tells me, “is a caretaker in so many ways. Only after many visits to his Inn did I realize the hard work as well as the detailed effort he puts into providing us with an unforgettable experience. He is always on the job, always making sure that everyone is having a great time. He stokes firewood, fills

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“It’s kind of like Narnia,” he says, conspiratorially. “Some things only come out in the early morning hours. The Nut Wagon is kind of a bridge to the Inn, an additional manifestation of what we do here.”

At the Hickory Nut Gap Inn, each event has its own character, depending on who has booked it, what their

their own private getaways—among them, Band of Horses, Bootsy Collins, and Holy Ghost Tent Revival, along with locals such as Jeff Sipes, Dub Cartel, and Now You See Them. Regardless of who’s staying there, though, the idea is to come away from the visit with a new perspective and a positive outlook as it applies to the people with whom you’ve experienced the Inn together.

“I really believe in community,” Bo mused at one point while we talked. “It’s what’s best for humans. Churches create a communal space, of course, but, you know… Getting together as a community and partying is when we are able to just take a moment and set aside all those day-to-day rules and just let go. It brings us together.

“Our primary goal, mine and Courtney’s, is for the people who come here to leave feeling closer to one another than they were before they arrived.”

“Getting together as a community and partying is when we are able to just take a moment and set aside all those day-to-day rules and just let go. It brings us together.” group of friends is like, and who among Bo’s own circle of emeritus Bat Cavers show up. On certain occasions, like tonight, there’s a theme and live entertainment to go with it. Sometimes, with a nod to the Inn’s storied legacy, the attendees are even the bands themselves, as over the years Bo has played host to a number of musicians looking for

October 2016 | capitalatplay.com

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NATIONAL WORLD [

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The first 11 LoweBots will be rolled out over a 7 month period in stores throughout the San Francisco area. Customers don’t need an app. The LoweBot is a NAVii autonomous retail device, created

by Fellow Robots, that scans Lowe’s hardware stores for customers. It can then roll up to greet them, at which point customers can ask it questions, either by speaking or touch-typing. The LoweBot knows where everything in the store is because it tracks inventory as it rolls about collecting data for informatics. As it escorts customers to their products, the LoweBot flashes targeted promos and product suggestions on its backside. The robot speaks many languages and it can

]

even serve as an interpreter between customers and Lowe’s employees, whose talents for project design will be freed from more mundane product chasedowns. LoweBot debuted as OSHbot in a San Jose Orchard Supply Hardware store owned by Lowe’s.

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Karl Deisseroth, of Stanford University, and Ed Boyden, of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, shared the million-euro Brain Prize in a six-way split in 2013. They each received $3 million for the Breakthrough Prize in 2015. Since 2005, they have received over $28 million in National Institutes of Health grants. Both are usual suspects

Your town is my town.

at TED talks. Their claim to fame is the discovery of optogenetics, a procedure that uses channelrhodopsin, a protein made by green algae, to convert light to neuronal action. It could be used to learn more about the nervous system and cure any number of disorders. The story was recycled because STAT news discovered that Zhuo-Hua Pan could claim priority for the technology. While preceding Deisseroth and Boyden, his papers were rejected at least 3 times in the peer review process. Reasons include he was working out of a small school, his application was too narrow, and he published as pure science rather than technology. A paper presented at a professional Fort Lauderdale, Florida, conference, however, stakes his claim.

Having received only $3 million in NIH grants, Pan quietly continues to seek a cure for blindness in his small Detroit laboratory.

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(SpaceX) Falcon 9. Onboard was a Space Communication, Ltd. (Spacecom) Amos-6 satellite that had rented space to Facebook and Eutelsat Communications to expand broadband in Sub-Saharan Africa. The two broadband providers have since said they are exploring other options. Spacecom, an Israeli firm, had plans to be acquired by Beijing Xinwei Technology Group for $285 million, pending a successful launch. Spacecom is now attempting to recover $50 million or a free flight from SpaceX. It usually takes about two years and $200-$400 million to build a telecom satellite like the one that was lost. Meanwhile, it is not known to what extent the federal investigation and reconstruction will cause delays for over 70 scheduled flights, worth more than $10 billion to SpaceX, including NASA’s deliveries to the International Space Station.

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Seventy-nine of Hanjin Shipping Company’s 141 ships are stranded at ports in 23 countries or sailing the sea unable to land. They are being turned away because port operators don’t believe they will be paid. Some ships have already been seized

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by creditors. Hanjin is in the process of filing for bankruptcy in 43 jurisdictions, following the discontinuation of years of financial assistance. Bankruptcy would allow Hanjin’s ships to dock and unload cargo while the company’s financial position isn’t improving. Nobody wants to risk doing business with them now; companies with orders in process are charging handling fees, sometimes as high as $1,800. A South Korean regulatory agency has asked Hanjin’s smaller competitor, Hundai Merchant Marine Company, to deploy 13 ships to handle the last nautical mile for the stranded cargo, and it is making available reserve funds for Hanjin’s contractors. Meanwhile, the South Korean government has called upon Hundai to purchase Hanjin’s healthy assets. Together, the two shippers handled the bulk of South Korea’s export business, which accounted for about half of the country’s $1.4 trillion gross domestic product.

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Washio, an Uber-for-X, where X equals laundry, posted a note on its website

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saying it would fold immediately. No new orders would be taken and pickups in process would be returned immediately. The business began in 2013 as a laundry service offering, at the touch of an app, home pick-up and delivery with a 24-hour turnaround. Washio charged $5.99 for delivery and $2.15 per pound for its wash and fold service, and required a $30 order minimum. Extra services were available for additional fees. Through the years, the company had raised $16.8 million, and $10 million had come in its seed round from investors like Canaan Partners, Yahoo founder Jerry Yang, and celebrities Ashton Kutcher and Nas. In the aftermath, Washio’s founders, Jordan Metzner, Juan Dulanto, and Bob Wall, are looking on the bright side. “We are proud of what we accomplished along the way: over one million items of clothing dry cleaned, and over 21,000 tons of laundry washed and folded!” The trio had been in negotiations to sell the business.

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Justin Hales had the idea of tapping the unused potential in all the motorhomes and campers he saw sitting in peoples’ driveways. There are about 500,000 campers in Australia, but the average user is estimated to use his only 6 weeks out of every year. So, Hales had the idea of setting up a website like Airbnb. He attracted investors through the National Roads and Motorists Association of Australia (NRMA), Australia’s AAA analogue with 2.4 million members, and its Slingshot Jumpstart Accelerator. Now, vetted owners can list camper vans for free, earning from $280-$630 a week for a camper or $840-$2,100 for a luxury motorhome. Vacationers may search the site for amenable styles, locations, and prices. NRMA’s President Kyle Loades liked the idea because it was a great service for customers, and “we would never have thought of it ourselves.”

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Two Columbia University biomedical engineering students invented wearable monitoring devices that can be worn by newborns in under-developed countries. As part of a design course assignment, Sona Shah and Teresa Cauvel developed a low-cost, low-power, low-maintenance headband capable of monitoring a neonatal’s heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, and blood oxygen saturation. When the data falls out of acceptable ranges, an alarm is transmitted wirelessly to a nurse’s station. The students won third place and $10,000 from their school, which paid for a trip to Uganda, where they would adapt their device to real-world needs.

There, they found it was not unusual for a single nurse to be responsible for 30 babies. The two incorporated as Neopenda and received help from Relevant Health, a Washington, D.C., health tech business accelerator. A recent $300,000 first-place award from the Vodafone Americas Foundation’s

Wireless Innovation Project now funds a pilot project in Uganda.

Sourcing the Same Chinese Vendors as Swiss Watchmakers london, uk

Weird Ape sells luxury watches at discount rates. Founder and director Stefan Kozikowski made this possible by capitalizing on multiple angles. One is that to be Swiss-made, watches need only have 60% of moving parts made in Switzerland. The rest of the clockwork, the faces, and the bands can be made anywhere. Kozikowski sources parts from the same Chinese companies that supply luxury Swiss watchmakers. His second strategy to keeps costs down is Facebook and other social media as his marketing department. Facebook is a low-overhead tool that can sell merchandise with little more than beautiful pictures. Kozikowski further keeps labor costs down by shopping the global market. He has employees in Romania, India, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States. He avoids middlemen as much as possible. Since habitual watch buyers make for a very small loyal base, he is looking into using his successful model to enter other markets, selling perhaps sunglasses or jewelry.

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American insurance companies will be constricting options for doctors and hospitals covered by plans offered on the exchanges in 2017. An analysis of regulatory filings in eighteen states, performed by McKinsey & Company, concluded 75% of exchange offerings next year will be either HMOs or PPOs. Both strictly limit beneficiary choice, sometimes to a single hospital and its affiliates, with no out-of-network

coverage. A spokesperson from the Department of Health and Human Services said enrollees are generally satisfied with their options for providers.

A survey by eHealth, Inc. concluded the most important concern of exchange consumers was premiums. Only 12% were concerned about access to a particular doctor; 1%, a particular hospital. Plans that offer fewer options are hoped to help rein in costs by excluding practitioners and organizations with the highest reimbursement rates.

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Joby Aviation was awarded a patent for a roadable aircraft, the new term for a flying car. The company was founded

by JoeBen Bevirt to revolutionize personal commuting with personal electric aircraft. The patent shares several designs for craft that can take off and land vertically from a driveway or parking space. They may be piloted either by humans or robots. The patent focused on a biplane drone with 4 propellers. Competing in the industry are two companies, Zee.Aero and Kitty Hawk, both personal projects of Larry Page, co-founder of Google. Work is proceeding secretively, but Page is known to have invested over $100 million in Zee.Aero. A fourth company in the race is Terrafugia. Founded in 2006 by MIT students, this company already flew a somewhat larger model, Transition, in 2014. Developers hope to get Terrafugia’s autonomous TF-X using driveways as landing pads by 2025.

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Sound Minds 76

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In the dozen years since opening West Asheville music store Harvest Records, Mark Capon and Matt Schnable have thrived as retailers while perfecting a balancing act between art and commerce. written by jay sanders photos by anthony harden

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Y

ou are passing the “check headlights” sign as you exit a tunnel on the Blue Ridge Parkway, or perhaps you are pushing your grocery cart through the produce aisle at the local Ingles, when it happens: A song comes on the radio, from your iPhone, or through the store’s speakers, and you are transported to another place and time. Maybe it’s a memory from your childhood. It’s possible it could be unpleasant, or maybe it was your first dance at your wedding; but whatever the recollection, it was triggered by the sounds. Music is fundamental to the psychology of experience.

Harvest Records, and its owners, Matt Schnable and Mark Capon, has been selling the soundtrack to people’s lives in Asheville, North Carolina, since 2004. The two young men have survived and thrived by following their instincts, and by forging a path on their own terms. Harvest Records opened its doors the same year that the Pandora streaming service went online, and only one year after Apple debuted iTunes. Matt and Mark starting selling music at a time when most traditional record stores were shuttering and industry analysts were predicting the demise of record sales. Yet they continue to defy those analysts’ expectations.

Over the course of its twelve years, Harvest has become a cornerstone of the Western North Carolina music community.

In addition to running the store, Matt and Mark have operated a small independent record label, Harvest Recordings, promoted shows at local venues such as the Grey Eagle, and even celebrated their 10th anniversary with a three-day, multi-venue music festival, Transfigurations II, featuring 25 bands. These 78

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days find the pair busy starting a new merchandise fulfillment company, and Matt manages Asheville-based folk and indie rock artist Angel Olsen, whose new record My Woman was released in September to huge critical acclaim.

For The Love of Music The two future business partners met at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, in the early 2000s.

Mark’s first memory of Matt is prank-calling other dormitories.

“I remember thinking he was the funniest person I had ever known,” says Mark. “He still is, man. He’s mellowed out in a lot of ways, and we’re older now so we don’t treat life like as much of joke as we did at nineteen, but when he turns it on, Matt is still the funniest person I know.” The two became much closer when they both started volunteering at the college radio station, WXJM. “We booked, promoted, and produced two years of the annual music festival presented by WXJM called MACROCK [The Mid-Atlantic College Radio Festival], and I think that’s when Matt and I began to really understand each other, both personally and professionally.”

YOU NEVER KNOW what you will find at Harvest .

Around the same time, Matt and Mark began booking and promoting shows in Northern Virginia. In a 2014 interview with eclectic audio blog Aquarium Drunkard, Matt said, “We booked a lot of emo and hardcore because that was really big at the time and really big in Virginia, specifically, but we also booked a Songs:Ohia show [as well as] Fugazi, Rainer Maria, Mountain Goats, Of Montreal, and a lot of stuff like that. That’s when Matt and I really got a vibe of how we could work with each other and how we were on a very similar wavelength in terms of priorities. There was sort of an unspoken understanding of each other that’s necessary at that level.”

Towards the end of their tenure at James Madison, Matt and Mark began to discuss the idea of opening a record store. They had a short list of potential locations including Athens, Georgia, and Austin, Texas. The pair visited Asheville in the spring of 2004, and while touring the city they spotted the West Asheville retail space on Haywood Road where Harvest Records currently resides. They would sign the lease the next day. Recalls Mark, “We were driving down the Haywood strip and saw a ‘For Rent’ sign on this place and were kind of like, ‘Let’s do it.’

“We had a bit of our own money to invest, but the bulk of what we spent when opening was from a loan secured from a local bank. It was in 2004, pre-crash, so it seemed a bit easier for a bank to loan money to some chump twenty-something guys wanting to open a record store during the supposed decline of the record business.”

Reflecting on those early days, he adds, “The lease started mid-May. We moved in and the space had a one-bedroom apartment upstairs. We watched movies and ate spaghetti and played tennis and spent every goddamn second together. Which is a bit absurd. But that’s what that first summer was like. We were just working on the shop and hanging out, because we were our only friends—we didn’t really know anyone else here.

So we worked all summer and opened on August 14, 2004.”

Matt picks up the story: “I don’t think we necessarily thought this at the time, but looking back, it’s really nice that it’s such a strong strip of businesses, but also so residential. There’s so many people that live walking distance to Haywood Road.

It’s helped us cultivate a nice mix, of lots of local customers and neighborhood customers with obviously some tourists that come over this way.”

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A Period of Transition

MARK helping customers find the right music

Harvest Records opened at a time of significant transition in the Asheville music scene, and the community at large, when 2004 was witness to the closing of Almost Blue, a large and very popular record store owned by Susan and Brian Haynes, located at the corner of Patton and Coxe downtown where the Thirsty Monk now resides.

That same year Vincent’s Ear—the legendary dive bar where national bands like the White Stripes and Cat Power played before they made it big—was pushed out of its Lexington Avenue location. West Asheville had yet to become the socioeconomic hot spot that it is today.

Matt and Mark had little to no previous experience running a business, a fact that they now cite without apology. “Essentially, we both loved music, and at most shared an interest in how various aspects of the music industry worked,” says Matt. “But no real experience beyond that. We just threw ourselves into it blindly.”

Working as a close partnership, they shared all of the business responsibilities, but from the beginning also recognized the importance of focusing on their individual strengths. “I didn’t mind handling the financial side of things, and ordering new product from lots of varying distributors,” said Mark. “On the flip side, Matt

“We just wanted to be a place where people felt comfortable.

[Shoppers] didn’t necessarily feel like they had to buy a bunch of records for us to pay attention to them—people can come and hang.” has always been our used vinyl guru, buying and pricing from the beginning days, and also is naturally more inclined to help with tech stuff, or building racks and such. So there were always easily defined roles like that. But there’s also about one million things that either of us can do at any point. I’ve always felt like we had a nice balance.

And on top of that, personally, I’ve always wondered how someone could open a retail business without a partner—it seems crazy to me!

This place would have gone under long ago if either one of us wasn’t fully 100% responsible and involved.”

From the beginning, Matt and Mark set out to make an enjoyable, unpretentious shopping experience for their customers. According to Matt, “We just wanted to be a place where people felt comfortable.

[Shoppers] didn’t necessarily feel like they had to buy a bunch of records for us to pay attention to them—people can come and hang.”

As part of this philosophy, touring artists would often stop by Harvest Records for an informal in-store performance. “Having ‘in-stores’ helps bring people together in a great way,” he continues. “No one who shows up is upset that [a band] is there. And it’s free. Just come 80

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Numbers Game VINYL ALBUM SALES

IN THE UNITED STATES FROM 1993 TO 2013 (IN MILLION UNITS)

6M 5M 4M 3M

U. S. ALBUM SALES 2013 LP: 6M CD: 165M Digital: 118M

2M 1M 0M

‘93 ‘94 ‘95 ‘96 ‘97 ‘98 ‘99 ‘00 ‘01 ‘02 ‘03 ‘04 ‘05 ‘06 ‘07 ‘08 ‘09 ‘10 ‘11 ‘12 ‘13

ALBUM SALES IN MILLIONS 800

Physical Album Sales

Digital Album Sales

700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0

‘93 ‘94 ‘95 ‘96 ‘97 ‘98 ‘99 ‘00 ‘01 ‘02

‘03 ‘04 ‘05 ‘06 ‘07 ‘08 ‘09

ch art s so u rce : n i e l s e n so u n dsc an

According to Nielsen SoundScan, consumers purchased fewer than 1 million vinyl records in 2007. By 2014, vinyl had hit 9.2 million in sales, having risen consistently each year since Record Store Day began in 2008. (The jump from 2013 to 2014 was a whopping 52%.) The increase has been so significant that The Tennessean reported how Nashville’s United Record Pressing, the country’s largest vinyl manufacturer, was investing nearly $5.5 million in a full-scale expansion, adding 16 new record presses to increase capacity. Currently, United has 30 presses running 24 hours a day, six days a week, in an attempt to keep up with the growing demand.

“Maybe people were getting disillusioned by digital to a degree, so they dropped back into buying vinyl again, or for the first time,” says Harvest’s Matt Schnable. Indeed, vinyl has been credited with not only introducing younger consumers to physical record stores, but also coaxing older shoppers into returning. With that in mind, however, overall album sales—vinyl, CD, and digital downloads combined—remain in serious trouble, with the industry consistently posting annual declines. The culprit?

Digital streaming, perceived by many consumers to be a cheaper, easier way to get their musical fixes.

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CUSTOMERS can preview used vinyl at a listening station.

and chill, and enjoy the music with us.” Over the years, these shows have become the stuff of legend, yielding performances so memorable that people still talk about them. “There are so many highlights, but having Thurston Moore [from Sonic Youth] perform here was a rather great experience. And the first time Akron/ Family played Asheville was in the shop, and it was a legendary performance. And we’ve had some of our heroes just come here to shop, too, which has been amazing—Brian Eno, Will Oldham, Bob Pollard [Guided by Voices], Ian Mackaye [Fugazi]. It’s just been crazy.” (It’s worth noting, too, that a number of Harvest’s outside bookings have also become muchtalked-about events, notably early ‘70s cult hero Sixto Rodriguez’s 2009 comeback show in Asheville. Matt notes that it’s a point of pride for them when someone remembers, “Oh yeah, Harvest, those guys brought Rodriguez to the Grey Eagle.”)

In February 2011, the store’s next door neighbor, Custom: Hers and Home Boutique, closed. Harvest quickly assumed the lease for the adjacent space, knocked out part of the wall between the two, and essentially doubled their available square footage for retail. “We kinda had to act because we were maxing out our space,” says Mark. “It felt like we were opening again. We had to do some build outs and then conceptualize what we wanted it to look like, but it has been absolutely the right decision.”

Harvest’s reputation as a destination record store has grown over the years. Explains Mark, “You know, we talk about Asheville and tourism a lot, about tourism being a driving force of the city and the good and bad that goes along with that. I feel like at this point in time we have really strong local support, but then also we have connections and repeat customers from out of town, tourist customers. Over the years, we’ve gotten to know a more heady clientele of people that come to Asheville a few times a year, and when they’re here they come to Harvest because they’re treated well and we have a good selection.

It’s kinda been a nice balance of the tourism of this town with our neighborhood.”

The Rise and Fall of the Recording Industry Let’s backtrack a bit. In 1877, the phonograph, invented by Thomas Edison, changed the world.

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MAT T chatting with a customer at the store.

wrapped around a grooved metal cylinder would spark a cultural revolution that continues to reverberate to the present day. In a personal account of his invention, Edison said, “I was never so taken aback in my life. Everybody was astonished. I was always afraid of things that worked the first time.”

The following year, cornetist Jules Levy made “Yankee Doodle” the first musical recording. In the 1890s, the Columbia Graphophone Company was sending nickel jukeboxes to fairgrounds all over the country. The Victor Talking Machine Company introduced the “Victrola” in 1906 to replace the cumbersome cylinders, and the era of recorded music came of age. The Victrola was designed to fit within the home, and quickly became the best-selling record player of its time. During World War II, the fragile nature of the original recordings made on shellac were not able to withstand the rigors of war or the insatiable desires of soldiers for the sounds and rhythms of home. RCA Victor began shipping the first “V-Discs,” which replaced shellac with polyvinyl chloride, known as “PVC” or “vinyl,” which survives to this day as the record industry’s material of choice for analog disc recordings.

The 1960s and 1970s saw the introduction of cassette tapes. Smaller, more portable, and with a longer recording length, analog tape quickly began to pose a market challenge to vinyl sales. By the time digital

media hit store shelves in the form of the compact disc in the 1980s, many in the industry predicted the death of vinyl as a medium. This forecast seemed to be confirmed in the 1990s when music went online with MP3s, file sharing, and, later, the music streaming services that are so ubiquitous nowadays.

Of the top ten best-selling records of all time, eight were sold in the ‘70s and ‘80s, often viewed as the golden age of the music industry. Michael Jackson took the crown in 1982 with the release of Thriller, a title that has reportedly sold over 110 million copies worldwide.

In slightly over a century, music as a commodity was born, matured, and became a daily part of people’s lives, but starting in the early 2000s, things began to slip. Music consumption essentially became a battle between illegal downloading from file-sharing websites like Napster, and the emergence of new industry-sanctioned distribution methods such as Apple’s iTunes. Online streaming services (Pandora, Spotify, YouTube, etc.) soon followed.

Between 2000 and 2007, physical record sales dropped over 32% worldwide. The entire record industry shrank more than at any other time in history, leading to massive layoffs and artist-roster cuts at major labels.

In the United States, approximately 2,680 record stores closed between 2005 and early 2009.

Deeply alarmed by their sector’s decline, in 2007, a group of independent record store owners, inspired October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 83

IN ADDITION to rare records, customers can also find used turntables at Harvest .

by the comic book industry’s success with Free Comic Book Day in driving new business to stores, created Record Store Day, an annual event held every spring. Record Store Day sees the release of limited-edition vinyl records—yes, the audio format that first cassettes, then CDs, and finally digital files all conspired to kill off—typically available for purchase only on that one day. The first event took place on April 19, 2008, to celebrate the unique culture surrounding the nearly 1,400 stores in the United States and the special role they play in their communities, and most industry observers now credit Record Store Day as not only jump-starting a latterday vinyl revival but also helping all those stores to remain in business.

(For its part, Harvest was there from the beginning, and the event has since become, according to Matt, “a behemoth—a wild beast. Ultimately it has brought more attention to smaller record stores and the resurgence of vinyl in general, which we are greatly appreciative of.” He adds, however, that as Record Store Day has grown, with literally hundreds of titles now offered each year, its appeal has gradually become diluted: “I believe it is starting to level out, [so] the future of Record Store Day will be interesting to watch.”)

Connecting With the Art In 2016, a younger generation has discovered the vinyl record album as a way to connect with music on a more visceral level.

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It is a conscious decision to play to a record: One chooses to pull a sleeve off the shelf, remove the disc, and place it on a turntable. That moment when the needle slides into the groove and the warm clicks and pops emanate from the stereo speakers is unlike any experience possible with a digital media player.

Mark notes, “There’s a generation of kids that grew up without any real connection to physical music, so then all of a sudden it’s like an instinctual thing: ‘I want to experience this more than on a laptop. I want to look at the pictures.’ You’re not just skipping around or whatever. The actual act of flipping the record and going to side two because you liked side one—you are immediately connecting. This is human nature; we want to connect with art and experience art in as close of a way as we can.”

It’s also hard to ignore the beauty of the physical cover art associated with the 12” x 12” cardboard sleeve that houses the vinyl disc. At its peak, the designs on a record were not unlike the variety of designs in a wine store; each spoke to the flavor and texture of the music contained within. It is not unusual to be drawn to the visuals as much as the sounds. Digital media, for all of its convenience, simply cannot replicate the beauty and pleasure of a well-designed and informative album cover.

With all this in mind, it’s important to note that being a small, independent retailer has allowed Harvest the agility to pivot and adapt to changing sales trends, and, most crucially, to connect with the needs—and desires—of the store’s clientele.

MUSIC DVDS and other music related items can be found as well.

“We’re constantly tweaking rack space and floor space—vinyl is slowly encroaching more and more into the CD side (of the store) because it represents more of our business, and because they’re (physically) bigger,” says Matt.

“We had vinyl, new and used, in here from day one,” continues Mark. “Before, it was a smaller percentage of our sales, obviously, than it is now. At the time, many of the labels had never stopped pressing vinyl. So companies like Merge Records, Sub Pop, and Matador always had vinyl and it was always cheap, so really, the wave hitting was more like major labels and other labels that were catching up. I don’t necessarily know if we anticipated (the upsurge in vinyl sales), but we were right there when it was happening, and you could feel it happening, so we responded quickly. Naturally, we just got more and more vinyl.”

“We can quickly adapt to anything,” adds Matt. “We can cut buying down on a dime, and that’s our luxury as a small business. We can increase the buying of used product, or decrease. Everything can be so adaptable so quickly. As long as our heads are down and we’re getting it done here, then we don’t need to worry about larger trends. It will seep in.”

In many ways, the record market represents a self-contained microeconomy. Records still exist from all points in the history of the recording industry and are bought and sold on a daily basis. The recent trends may have caused a significant increase in the demand curve, but price fluctuations remain tied to the perception of value by the consumer. This is especially true in the used arena, where the trend has slowly made its way into the consciousness of an older generation that is beginning to realize that the aging stack of records up in the attic may actually contain titles that are incredibly valuable.

“We have good flow: Used records come in, we price them every day, and we get fresh stuff out,” says Matt. “Our regulars know they need to check back in case they miss something.

So the flow of customers coming in is dependent on that flow of used records going out. I want to put stuff out every single day. The serious heads are ravenous. There’s no end to buying records. It’s like there’s some money tree, and they just grab from it, run down, and get what they need.

“For the most part, all of our used vinyl is sourced from people bringing it by the shop. Being in business this long has helped us gain a reputation as fair buyers of used product, and we get customers bringing in things to trade every single day. The largest collection we ever purchased was around 30,000 LPs, and we had them shipped on a tractor trailer from Georgia. Crazy!”

While Matt notes that prices on used records are tied to consumer demand, the same is not true for new releases where the prices are often controlled by the record label. “When we opened, the [independent label releases] were all priced at 10 bucks or 12 bucks, you know—cheap. When the major labels started catching on to the trend and started reissuing a bunch of stuff, that’s when prices started to go up. All of a sudden October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 85

your norm was like $18 - $20, maybe even as high as $30 [per record] for new vinyl. Just completely ridiculous. It frustrates the customers. You can’t charge $40 or $50 for a double LP. You are alienating your fans, and you’re

“Customers aren’t idiots. The backlash is going to be an interesting thing to watch. Some customers can grab the CD for $10 - $12, and you’re trying to get $30 - $40 out of them for the record? Some people are just not going to buy a record they like because it’s too expensive, and I don’t blame them. We have a minimal, blanket markup that we do on every record, that’s how we price new stuff. We’re not trying to gouge anyone; that’s just what we do on every record. I hate writing the high price tags on things, but it is what it is.”

Inflated prices for new vinyl could certainly have a negative ripple effect on consumer behavior and ultimately undo the sales gains of recent years. The used vinyl market, at least, doesn’t appear to be in any danger. As Matt observes, “We’ve been selling records from day one; there have [always] been record collectors, and those record collectors are not going away. They’ll be waves and trends of demographics, but generally, records aren’t going away.”

“We’ve never really spent much time focusing on how other places might be taking business away from us. We want to be motivated to create the best environment for the customers that do walk into our shop and do buy from us. We want them to keep coming back.” alienating record stores. We may bring in one copy, and that’s all. An artist puts a record out at a normal price, we might get a dozen, so price limits the numbers.

photo by Misha Schmiedecke

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Industry Outsiders Matt Schnable and Mark Capon have built a thriving, steadily growing business in a market sector that, by all accounts and statistics, is volatile and in serious trouble. Traditional record sales are constantly under assault from modern streaming services, online retailers, digital downloads, and even the record industry itself. “Obviously we are competing with streaming, in a way,” says Mark. “That’s an endless debate that we won’t even bother tackling. And there’s Amazon and other online retailers, and local shops, but we don’t really view any of this as competition. We’ve never really spent much time focusing on how other places might be taking business away from us—that’s not really what we want to have motivating us. We want to be motivated to create the best environment for the customers that do walk into our shop and do buy from us. We want them to keep coming back. We want it to be fresh and different every time they walk through the door.

So if anything, our only real competition is our own laziness.

The minute we start getting lazy, that’s the minute that the store suffers, and the customer doesn’t have as good an experience as they should. That’s what we’re trying to fight.”

Pausing to let that sink in for a moment, he adds, “We’ve had plenty of ups and downs, and the truth is, neither of us are

probably going to ever get rich from the record store—that’s not why we got into it. But we’ve somehow managed to figure it out through all sorts of changes.”

***

When announcing their Transfigurations II ten-year celebration in 2014, Mark and Matt issued a press release that not only reflected their shared history, it also outlined their idealism as entrepreneurs operating within a space that’s a constant balancing act between art and commerce. That statement is worth repeating here: “In all honesty, if we look back on our earliest hopes, dreams, and visions of what Harvest Records could become, it would mirror what actually ended up happening. Since our college days together, the idea was consistent: Open a record shop, yes, of course… but don’t let it stop there. Create a space dedicated to the discovery of music, the exchange of ideas, a place for broader discussions about community. Book shows for artists that normally wouldn’t come to town; host art on our walls from local artists who haven’t shown much before; start a record label and release recordings of sounds that may have not otherwise been produced physically. And it all happened.”

Smart personal investing for all of life’s seasons 828.274.7844 | info@wofm.us www.WhiteOakFinancialManagement.com Every Investment Strategy Has The Potential For Profit Or Loss.

October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 87

People Play at

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1. Joel Storrow of McGill & Associates, and Ben Hamrick of JPS. 2. Hope Skilling and Tony Roberts.

3. Dining table set up on the street.

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4. Lydia Weathersby and Molly Sandridge.

5. Scott Bunn of ASAP. 6. West Carolina Water Treatment with Dennis and Kathy Warwick (R).

7. Simple Folk band.

8.Craig and Debbie Stanfield of Chestnut Forge, and Danielle Vieth of MTN Merch.

Historic Biltmore Village Farm To Village Dinner Benefit for ASAP Connections | September 8, 2016 photos by Anthony Harden, Alt Media Pros

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9. Robert Foster, Advisory Board Chairman, Historic Biltmore Village Partnership.

10. Justin Aiello of Olivette Farms.

11. Some food for the event from Village Wayside of Biltmore Village.

12. Gail Dowell of Biltmore Property Group.

13. Leigh Ruhl ready for the dinner to begin.

14. Josh Weeks, chef, and Kevin Westmoreland, owner, of Corner Kitchen.

15. Courtney King of Hi-Wire Brewing.

16. Laura Samford of Rezaz.

October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 89

events

petting zoo, and a fishing pond. A museum of farm equipment will be on display to help all see how good we’ve got it now.

october 1

october

EVENTS october 1

Creatures of the Night & Bonfire Delight

5:30-9:30PM Grandfather Mountain 2050 Blowing Rock Highway, Linville, NC Folks gather around a big fire to sip hot chocolate and apple cider to the sounds of spooky storytelling. Once the adrenaline is flowing, park rangers lead the way through the dark forest where things go bump in the night. But not to worry. They’re just friendly animals going about their nightly routines. The event is weather-permitting, and Ranger Rick says dress warmly. Preregistration required; participants must be at least 8.

> Admission: $20 > 828-733-2013 > grandfather.com

Forest Festival Day 9AM-5PM

Cradle of Forestry 11250 Pisgah Highway, Brevard, NC Forestry students from ’round about will get together to play lumberjack games and compete for the 21st Annual John G. Palmer Intercollegiate Woodsmen’s Meet trophy. The talents of multiple mountain craftspeople will adorn the sidelines.

The event is organized by Haywood Community College.

> Admission: Adult $6, Child $3 > 828-877-3265 > cradleofforestry.com october 1

Farm City Day

7AM-8PM

Jackson Park: 801 4th Avenue East, Hendersonville, NC Celebrate diversity with the rural and urban, the ancient and modern, all in one place. The festival began to highlight the symbiotic relationship between the two entities for which it is named. Activities include old-timey games, tractor pulls, a

> FREE > 828-697-4884 > hendersoncountync.org october 1- 29 (fri & sat only)

Ghost Train Halloween Festival at Tweetsie Railroad

7:30-11:30PM

Tweetsie Railroad 300 Tweetsie Railroad Lane, Boone, NC Eek! If Tweetsie gave away all their surprises, it wouldn’t be scary. All we are told is there will be loud explosions on the train. The Haunted House, Freaky Forest, and Ghost Train are not recommended for children under 8. Trick-or-Treating, Tweetsie Palace Spooktacular, Creepy Carnival rides, the Black Hole, and a 3-D maze should provide fun for the whole family. Trains run every 30 minutes.

> Admission: General $36, Toddler (0-2) FREE

> 800-526-5740 > tweetsie.com

limited memberships now available. visit biltmore.com/bscc or call 828-257-5959 for membership information.

CARTER-CPA .COM • 828.259.9900 90

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mention this ad and receive a free round of sporting clays when you join ($30 value).

october 7

Autumn Rails 2016

12-7PM (Fri), 10AM-4PM (Sat) Expo Building, WNC Agricultural Center 1301 Fanning Bridge Road, Fletcher, NC This is an all-scales model railroad show.

Vendors will show new and used models and railroadiana. Various sorts and sizes will be up and running. Kids of any age in scout uniforms get in free.

> Admission: Adult $6, Child (0-11) FREE > 828-685-2726 > fdr-ntrak.com

october 8

Todd New River Festival

9AM-5PM Cook Memorial Park Todd Railroad Grade Road, Todd, NC Annual fundraiser for the Todd Ruritan Club, in existence since 1928 and providing an umbrella for local volunteer organizations invested in strengthening communities through service. 30+ vendors will be on hand with crafts and food.

There will be tractors, steam engines,

and a grist mill making corn meal before the very eyes of spectators. The event typically draws 2,000.

> Parking: $5 > 828-964-1362 > toddruritan.org october 8 - 9 Sugar Mountain Oktoberfest

10AM-5PM Sugar Mountain Resort 1009 Sugar Mountain Dr, Sugar Mountain, NC See this issue’s Insight section for details on the annual family-friendly celebration of all things German.

> 828-898-4521 > oktoberfest.skisugar.com october 8

Motorama/Autorama 9AM-3PM Downtown Main Street, Hendersonville, NC

Compare the new 2017 models to antiques and classics, and cherish the days you

didn’t have to be a computer guru to work on your car. The event is sponsored

by WHKP, the Great Smoky Mountain Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America, and the Hendersonville Antique Car Club.

> FREE > 828-693-9061 october 8

40th Annual Hey Day Fall Family Festival

10AM-4PM Western North Carolina Nature Center 75 Gashes Creek Road, Asheville, NC What’s in a festival? Food you’re not supposed to eat, music drowning out music, tables selling stuff, and friends.

This one has something else: animals.

Hey Day is the Nature Center’s largest annual fundraiser and thus a good time to visit the friendly animals in natural settings. Admission for city residents is discounted.

> Admission: Senior $9.95, Adult

(16-64) $10.95, Youth $6.95, Infant (0-2) FREE > 828-298-0182 > wildwnc.org

CA ITALat LAY the free spirit of enterprise

Join us on Social Media! f o r t i c k e t g i v e away s , e x c l u s i v e s , a n d m o r e !

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events

october 8

Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra 7:30-10PM

Sigur Ros

The HSO will celebrate Iberia. The orchestra will play two master works: Manuel de Falla’s Dances from ThreeCornered Hat and Rimsky Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol. Prodigy Silviu Ciulei will, with the Maharajah Flamenco Trio, shred Tedesco’s Guitar Concerto No. 1, dedicated to Andres Segovia.

Thomas Wolfe Auditorium US Cellular Center 87 Haywood Street, Asheville, NC

october 8 - 9 Tour de Falls 9AM-2:30PM

DuPont State Recreational Forest 1300 Staton Road, Cedar Mountain, NC Non-ADA buses will shuttle visitors to High Falls, Triple Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and Lake Julia. The views are world-class.

> Admission: $6-12 > 828-877-6527 > dupontforest.com october 8

Any & All Dog Show

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october 10

Blue Ridge Community College 180 West Campus Drive, Flat Rock, NC

> Donations appreciated > 828-697-5884 > hendersonvillesymphony.org

FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE AND WE HAVE ALL THE GAMES!

> (828) 863-0480 > tryonridingandhuntclub.org

1:30-5PM

Harmon Field 301 N. Trade St., Tryon NC From the dog show proper and a K-9 demonstration by Polk County Sheriff’s Office, to the so-called “Blessing of the Hounds” and “Bark of Fame” photo sessions, this will be a wooftastic barko-rama for the entire family. Proceeds to benefit that K-9 unit and the Foothills Humane Society.

8:30PM

How much do you know about Icelandic experimental rock? Normally, this trio plays with an orchestra, but this time, they’ll be sans brass and strings, playing new versions of old songs and “road-testing” new creations.

>Tickets: $35.50-$75.50 > 800-745-3000 > uscellularcenterasheville.com october 13

Loveland 7:30PM

Asheville Community Theatre 35 East Walnut Street, Asheville, NC Frannie Potts flies cross-country to a family funeral and breaks down surrounded by a planeload of characters. Grief having overcome pride, the show is “both achingly funny and achingly poignant.”

>Tickets: $25 > 828-254-1320 october 13 - 30

Beehive: The ’60s Musical Flat Rock Playhouse 2661 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, NC The songs of female vocalists from the sixties are celebrated. Featured artists include Lesley Gore, Aretha Franklin, “and everyone in between.” Songs include, “It’s My Party,” “My Boyfriend’s Back,” “Proud Mary,” and “Respect.”

>Tickets: $15-$40

The

Most Important thing in your

> 828-693-0731 > flatrockplayhouse.org

Attorney’s Briefcase...

october 15

Valle Country Fair

9AM-4PM Valle Crucis Conference Center NC 194, Valle Crucis, NC The “overgrown church bazaar” happens again. Red, orange, and gold leaves mix with deep and sunlit hues of green against a Carolina blue sky. Meanwhile, it’s harvest time! Last year, 11,000 people came to enjoy warm autumn weather in an old-fashioned, community agri-celebration. Visitors can shop for quality handmades to the tunes of local bluegrass bands, or sample the BBQ, Brunswick stew, corn muffins, chili, and other homemade yum-yums.

> FREE > 828-963-4609 > vallecountryfair.org october 15

Sierra Nevada 2016 Oktoberfest

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5-10PM Sierra Nevada Brewery 100 Sierra Nevada Way, Mills River, NC The second annual German feast encourages visitors to “dress your best and brush up on your chicken dancing.” There will be beer, including a special mystery collaboration. Glassblowers from Hot Glass Academy and Mobile Glassblowing Studios will be giving live demos. The Soul Rebels, Klaberheads, and Lagerhosen will provide the oompah-pah. Contests include a Flash Your ‘Stache.

>Tickets: General $45, Designated Driver $30 > 828-681-5300 > sierranevada.com/oktoberfestnc

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events

october 15 -16

39th Annual Woolly Worm Festival 10AM-5PM Downtown Banner Elk, NC

Admission Season for 2017-18 is now open!

Admission Season for 2017-18 is now open!

October 6

Upper School Conversation October 6 with Kirk Duncan Upper School Conversation For prospective parents of the Upper School with Kirk Duncan

For prospective parents of the Upper School

October 13

Middle School Conversation October 13 with Kirk Duncan Middle School For prospective parentsConversation of the Middle School with Kirk Duncan

For prospective parents of 18 the Middle School October

Key Lower School Open House For prospective October parents 18 to

Key School grades 2-5House Key Lower School Open

For prospective parents to Key School grades October 19 2-5

Lower School Conversation with Kirk Duncan October 19 For prospective parents of the Lower School Lower School Conversation with Kirk Duncan

For prospective October parents of 20 the Lower School

Key Middle School Open House For prospective parents to the October 20 Key School grades 6-8

Key Middle School Open House For prospective parents to the October 26 Key School grades 6-8 Upper School Open House

For current grade 8 families and prospective October 26 School families of the Upper

Upper School Open House

For current grade 8 families and prospective families of the Upper School

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...yields a lifetime of value. ...yields a lifetime of value. | October 2016

The festival began in the long ago when a newspaper editor noticed different colored woolly worms. This flew in the face of tradition that said the woolly worm color forecast the winter weather. A tie-breaker was needed, and so the festival was born. According to the website, the object of the fest is to “wace your worm”. You can purchase them for $5 each, all worms must be wegistered, and winning worm will contwol the weather in the High Country and take home $1,000 cash.

Proceeds support children’s programs and tourism development.

> Admission: Adult $5, Child (6-12) $3, Infant FREE > 828-898-5605 > woollyworm.com

october 16

HardLox Jewish Festival

11AM-4PM Pack Square Park 121 College Street, Asheville, NC

Did you think Mandelbrot was only a kind of fractal pattern? It’s actually a Jewish food, and it will be served with macaroons, babkas, kugel, and more familiar favorites like lox and bagels and corned beef on rye. Along with Israeli dancing and klezmer music, attendees can learn more about the Torah and traditional Jewish celebrations. Sponsored by Congregation Beth HaTephila in conjunction with the City of Asheville.

> 828-707-6521 > hardloxjewishfestival.org

october 20 - 22

WNC Fall Harvest Days

8AM-5PM WNC Agricultural Center 1301 Fanning Bridge Road, Fletcher, NC Under the theme Power of the Past, exhibitors and vendors will share antique tractors, hit ’n’ miss engines, lots of parts, collectibles, and toys. Saturday activities include a pre-1965 tractor pull and Kiddy Pedal Pulls. The motto of sponsor Apple Country Antique Engine & Tractor Association is: “Other people waste their money on golf clubs and fishing rods. We invest ours in junk.”

> Admission: Adult $8, Accompanied Child (0-11) FREE

> 828-687-1414 > applecountry.org

october 20 - 23

Fall LEAF Festival

377 Lake Eden Rd, Black Mountain, NC This time the theme is Carnival of Wonder, and in addition to the attractions, group activities, and food/gift vendors, live music will include Balkan Beat Box, Beats Antique, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Third World, Solas, and Here Come the Mummies. Note: LEAF always sells out.

> (828) 686-8742 > theleaf.org/the-festival october 21

Third Annual of Time and the River 6-9PM Zealandia Castle 1 Vance Gap Road, Asheville, NC

The work of 18 artists who have painted the French Broad River through its history of contamination and reclamation will display on two stories of the 1889 mansion. Polished cellist Ron Clearfield

will set the mood with original compositions. This is a fundraiser for RiverLink.

> Admission: Nonmember $75, Member $50 > 828-225-5000 > riverlink.org

october 22

Little One-Inch 11AM Asheville Community Theatre 35 East Walnut Street, Asheville, NC Red Herring Puppets will tell the story of an old couple who find a small baby that gets older but not taller. When he comes of age, he sets off on an adventure, meets a princess, and defends her against an ogre. In return, the princess hits him with the ogre’s hammer, causing him to grow to a normal height. Art reflects life.

>Tickets $5 > 828-254-1320 > ashevilletheatre.org october 22

In the Key of EEEEEEEEEEE! & Brahms

8-10PM Thomas Wolfe Auditorium US Cellular Center 87 Haywood Street, Asheville, NC Eeeeeeeeeee! is right. Selections from Saint-Saens and Schmitt may have musical acclaim, but the stories behind them are Eeeeeeeeeee! On a less Halloweeny note, the program closes with Jason Posnock and Alistair MacRae performing Brahms’ Concerto for Violin and Cello.

>Tickets: $8.50-$40.50 > 828-254-7046 > ashevillesymphony.org

Lower School Lower School Grades Pre-K to 5

Grades Pre-K to 5 Critical foundational skills and Critical foundational skills and exceptional enrichment program exceptional enrichment program including STEM, Art, Spanish including STEM, Art, Spanish

Key School

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Upper School

Grades 9-12 Upper School

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828.407.4442 CarolinaDay.org/Apply 828.407.4442 October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 95

EILEEN FISHER

CELEBRATING 20 YEARS

october 22

Martina McBride

7:30PM Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort Event Center 777 Casino Drive, Cherokee, NC McBride, who rose to fame with the call, “Let Freedom Ring!” is touring with her latest album, Wreckless, which has already hit No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums Chart.

>Tickets: $37.50-$57.50 > 800-745-3000 > ticketmaster.com

2onCrescent

828.274.1276 • 2oncrescent.com Open Everyday 11am - 5pm 4 All Souls Crescent, Biltmore Village

Feather Your Nest

CONSIGNMENT SHOP

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

New items arriving daily!

Come see for yourself!

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

828.693.3535 Accepting Quality Consignments

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events

| October 2016

october 22

Bearfootin’ Art Auction

4:30-5:30PM Historic Downtown 145 5th Avenue East, Hendersonville, NC It’s time again to start thinking about what you’re gonna give the in-laws for Christmas. I know! That polar bear statue in the green shirt and knickers would be a warm accent for the kitchen.

Just put it between the china cabinet and the cuspidor. Or maybe you can think of something else to do with a bear you win at auction to promote the arts in Historic Downtown Hendersonville.

> 828-233-3216 > downtownhendersonville.org october 26

Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires

9PM The Orange Peel 101 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville, NC The show will give you more than just a good dose of soul, with strong brass and passionate singing reminiscent of Motown in its heyday—Bradley is absolutely on fire when performing, a sweating/jumping/wailing cross between James Brown and Otis Redding. Bonus:

Hang around to the end and you might get a hug from Bradley.

>Tickets: Advance $15, Door $18 > 828-398-1837 > theorangepeel.net october 26 - 30

Ghouls for Schools

6-9PM Pisgah Brewing Company 150 Eastside Drive, Black Mountain, NC The promo says Pisgah Brewing Company is “proud to partner with the Haunted Trail for its 4th year scaring Buncombe County families.” If a lottery’s good for educating children, then why not this? $1 from every ticket will be donated to the holder’s PTA or PTO of choice. At the end is a party with food and games for all ages.

> Advance Tickets: Adult $11, Child (0-9) $9 > 828-808-3341 > hauntedtrailwnc.com

october 28 - 30

The Young Man from Atlanta 2:30PM 35below 35 East Walnut Street, Asheville, NC What would you do if you found out your wife has been sending money to your son’s late friend? I don’t want to go there, but if you do, this one’s for you.

>Tickets $6 > 828-254-1320 > ashevilletheatre.org If your organization has any local press releases for our briefs section, or events that you would like to see here, feel free to email us at events@capitalatplay.com.

Please submit your event at least six weeks in advance.

October 2016 | capitalatplay.com 97

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| October 2016