Mountain Xpress 02.17.16

OUR 22ND YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 22 NO. 30 FEBRUARY 17 - 23, 2016

Digital Love Dating in the Internet Age Electric finale: Will Utilities Commission OK Duke plan?

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Red Ginger Dim Sum opens downtown

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Bill Maher performs in Asheville

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PaGe 12 diGital love In the age of smart phones and dating apps, how much has really changed in the eternal quest for love and romance? This week, Xpress explores dating in the Internet age, Asheville style.

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18 rushing to judgment Regulatory process for new Duke plant continues down fast track

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26 diet for a small animal The great pet food debate comes to Asheville

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30 islands in the stream Pilot recycling program targets public housing

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37 not-so-silent film Asheville pianist improvises live piano soundtrack to The Kid

37 arts & entertainment 41 smart bets 43 clubland

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48 movies 39 bill maher KeePs it real Comedian and political commentator performs in Asheville

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Tipping offers oldest form of crowdfunding

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With all the rosy talk of a “living wage” being offered to wait staff and making restaurants more like “general business,” I think some very large issues are being ignored in this discussion [“The Tipping Point: Is Blue Dream Curry Paving the Way for No-tip Restaurants in Asheville?”

Feb. 3, Xpress.] First of all, this is America, and why would I want to go to a restaurant that tells me I am not allowed to leave a tip if I feel like it? Last I heard, tipping is still optional.

What is not optional, however, is the price of a meal — and anyone who has done even a modicum of research into the impact of no-tipping policies in other cities knows that the no-tip restaurants have raised their entree and drink policies

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I beg to differ with the claim that “Despite city commitment, not much edible landscaping in Asheville” (the subheadline of “Fruitful Action,” Feb. 3) [Xpress]. Edible, and for that matter drinkable, landscaping is everywhere, including residential lots, city rights of way, and commercial and institutional parking lots.

Last year, my 9/100th-acre home landscape in central Asheville yielded about 75 pounds of crabapples, which became several gallons of canned juice and cider; numerous pawpaws; probably 30 pounds of grapes; 10 or 20 pounds of scallions, onions, leeks and garlic; strawberries; Jerusalem artichokes; rose hips; greens galore; and all the herbs my family needed for the year, including bay leaves, fennel seed and cayenne seasoning.

We harvested serviceberries from a neglected parking lot across the street, from the verges of the Asheville City Hall and from the North Asheville library’s parking lot, and turned the ripe berries into juice for canning.

We harvested pears from abandoned downtown land.

There’s fruit and much more that’s falling to the ground, rotting and going to waste in Asheville. Perhaps what’s

needed isn’t more planting of hard-tomaintain orchards, but more effort to tend what already grows. The city really doesn’t need to be “investing in ... prime locations that are visible.” The city already owns such parcels.

— Nan K. Chase Author of “Eat Your Yard!”

Co-author of “Drink the Harvest” Asheville

ar y

Edible landscaping is everywhere

regular contributors: Able Allen, Jonathan Ammons, Edwin Arnaudin, Pat Barcas, Jacqui Castle, Scott Douglas, George Etheredge, Jesse Farthing, Dorothy Foltz-Gray, Jordan Foltz, Doug Gibson, Steph Guinan, Rachel Ingram, Cindy Kunst, Lea McLellan, Kat McReynolds, Clarke Morrison, Emily Nichols, Josh O’Conner, Thom O’Hearn, Alyx Perry, Kyle Petersen, Rich Rennicks, Tim Robison, Aiyanna Sezak-Blatt, Kyle Sherard, Toni Sherwood, Justin Souther, Krista White

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ca Rto on BY R a n D Y molt o n

contributing editors: Chris Changery, Peter Gregutt, Rob Mikulak, Margaret Williams

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

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across the board. How else do you think they are paying servers over $12 an hour?

Frankly, it’s also nice to have the option of rewarding good service or voicing our disappointment in bad. Do we really want dining out to resemble the one-sided frustration of a “customer-service” phone call with “general business”? As a restaurantgoer, I say, no thank you.

Another reason I like leaving a tip is because I like helping people reach their dreams. When I was in college, I worked as a waitress to pay for school. ... One of the nice things about going out to dinner is that I get to share the fruits of my own successful journey by giving back to people starting their own. As a waitress, I received several hundred-dollar tips — not because I was the fastest to get appetizers on the table, but because the people I served saw a young lady striving to make something of herself and doing so with grace and a smile. …

How many of you are parents who hope to send children to college? Do you hope that your son or daughter has the opportunity to earn tips as they strive to pay the bills for school? … We cannot overlook the role that tipping plays as the oldest and simplest form of crowdfunding — it is a way that we are able to give freely to the dreams of ourselves and our community. Remember folks, tipping is not the law. It is, however, like voting, a privilege.

— Cathy Nichols Asheville editor’s note: A longer version of this letter appears online at mountainx.com

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Be wary of ingredients in personal care products I was happy to see that the [Jan. 27] Mountain Xpress focused on the relationship between environmental and physical health. This is such an important issue.

Studies have linked many diseases — including cancer, endocrine and reproductive illnesses and learning disabilities — to environmental toxins.

In fact, about 90 percent of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer do not have the BRACA gene (cancer suscep-

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tibility gene), [according to the] www. cancer.gov fact sheet. Unfortunately, more than 85,000 chemicals are registered for use in commerce, and about 10,500 are used in the personal care industry (ewg.org).

I applaud you for highlighting the problem of toxic ingredients in products used in hair and nail salons [“Hair Trigger: Organic Salons Reject Toxic Beauty Products”]. These products are some of the worst offenders, but the problem is much more farreaching. The personal care industry as a whole is virtually unregulated. As your article mentioned, there hasn’t been a law passed regulating this industry since 1938.

But this doesn’t just include products used in salons. It includes all the products that we are putting on our bodies every day — shampoo, face cream, body lotion, body and hand wash, makeup, etc. …

A lot of people assume that these products are regulated by the FDA. Actually, the FDA lacks the power to regulate the ingredients. …

Basically, if a product contains one organic or natural ingredient, a company can call the product natural or organic. …

A new company called Beautycounter is doing something about it. Beautycounter’s mission is to educate people about the toxic chemicals in personal care products, and provide them with nontoxic, high-performing alternatives. …

One of Beautycounter’s trusted nonprofit partners is The Environmental Working Group, an environmental research organization dedicated to protecting human health and the environment. The EWG has compiled an extensive database, which rates personal care products on a 1-10 scale for toxicity level. Anything rated 2 or lower is considered safe. If you want to check the safety ratings on the products you’re currently using, you can go to www.ewg.org/skindeep.

I was so concerned about the issue of toxic chemicals in personal care products and the lack of industry regulation and so impressed with Beautycounter’s mission and quality products that I have recently become a consultant. ...

I firmly believe that knowledge is power, and I am doing what I can to arm consumers in Asheville with the knowledge they need to make healthy, informed choices in personal care products.

— Julie Davis Arden editor’s note: A longer version of this letter appears at www.mountainx.com.

c aRt o o n B Y B R E n t B R o w n

Faking it Why Asheville needs new design guidelines BY lauRa BERnER HuDson The news that the BB&T Building will receive a much-needed makeover has produced unsurprising shouts of praise from most Ashevilleans. Built in 1965, the reflective late-modern tower is tough to love with its dingy, fading facade, taut planes and lack of real connection to the plaza level.

But for many of us who grew up here, it’s served as our only bona fide modern skyscraper — a tangible, irrefutable sign that Asheville is a city, not just a town. The glassand-metal exterior hangs from the steel structure in contrast to the heavy, load-bearing masonry buildings surrounding it; the reflectivity of the glass echoes the Vance Monument at sunset. And while it’s not deserving of landmark status, the former Northwestern Bank Building has made a significant con-

tribution to Asheville’s architectural record, and its modernist design is a testament to the city’s continually evolving texture and diversity.

There’s no disputing that buildings have useful life spans and eventually require alteration and reconstruction to remain functional and relevant. Enhanced energy requirements alone demand that the aging tower be re-skinned.

One approach to revitalizing the dated façade would be to expand on the principles of the minimalist International Style, which valued advanced technology, progress and freedom from historical references.

Reconstructing the exterior with a high-performance glass skin would provide an exciting opportunity to fulfill the promise of modernism in ways that the original building didn’t.

Instead, the new design calls for wrapping the tower in a pastiche of quasi-historical, borrowed styles in an attempt to mimic a bygone era. The

Laura Berner hudson

problem with this approach is that the building’s linear, boxy form remains: Where each change of material suggests that the elevation is stepping back, the reality is still a flat exterior rendered as a slightly three-dimensional trompe l’oeil, giving only the illusion of depth. No matter how beautiful the detailing, the result is a modernist building in art deco drag.

We love historic structures because they trigger a sense of nostalgia, and nostalgia is an easy sell. But adding faux historical details to a building of a completely different era merely

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panders to our desire to have it both ways, and the resulting ersatz architecture is, at best, satisfactory or banal. Asheville’s actual art deco buildings shine like gems within the matrix of other styles that enfold them; surrounding them with clichéd reproductions serves only to dilute the quality of the real thing.

This isn’t just about taste: It’s about Asheville’s need for good design policy. The current design guidelines recommend that a building’s essential original design characteristics should be respected, and that themed designs that don’t respect the original character should be avoided unless the façade is “lacking in historical significance or architectural detail.” Why isn’t modernism recognized as having historical value?

Surely we can recognize that different eras have shaped the city and given it a unique identity. And though many condemn modernism as soulless and ugly, in reality it was a social movement — a response to cultural upheaval that united art and technology while celebrating rationality, democracy, equity and optimism.

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think Before you redesign: Rendering of BB&T BUiLDIng renovation Image courtesy of McKibbon Hotel Group In practice, Asheville’s design guidelines acknowledge and respect only a narrow slice of the city’s built environment, with a clear bias against architecture that doesn’t reinforce a specific historical theme that is heavy on ornamentation.

Thus begins a process of homogenization, where everything is made to resemble a mythical past, creating a discomfiting synthetic environment in which a tidy unreality takes precedence over more complicated authenticity.

The National Park Service, the federal agency charged with managing historic preservation, describes Asheville as city with as many architectural styles as there

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are buildings, arguing that this diversity reflects the community’s own diversity and distinctive culture. But the downtown design review guidelines seem to reject that eclecticism.

Shouldn’t we question a policy that promotes unreality, sameness and repetition? Wouldn’t we be better served by one that encouraged the integration of new layers to the city’s architectural fabric, representing the ideas, language, technology and materials of today? It’s essential that any new building respect the surrounding character, but nostalgic misrepresentations merely confuse the relation-

ships among adjacent structures over time.

Consider the Diana Center at Barnard College, whose mix of clear, opaque and fritted glass panels gives a simple box architectural complexity. The all-glass design by Weiss/Manfredi Architects translates brick masonry into a luminous, energy-efficient exterior that’s in conversation with the historic buildings surrounding it, respecting context while honoring the creativity of our own time.

Some might think all this is no big deal. What does it matter if a tired old structure — a poor imitation of the Seagram Building — undergoes cosmetic surgery to travel back in time? Art and architecture are inherently subjective, after all. But architecture is more than decorative — it is real and important, tying us to the political, economic and social issues of the day. A city is a living, evolving organism in which new layers are continuously being woven into the urban fabric, and the environment we build for ourselves shapes our experience, our community and our identity.

When serious, authentic architecture is rejected in favor of simulacra, we exchange reality for a mythical past where everything is made to resemble what might have been. In turn, we blur the boundary between copies and genuine history. It is the elaboration of continuously changing ideas that makes a city truly authentic, and if we don’t embrace this vitality and diversity, we risk becoming a generic, theme park version of what we never were instead of an authentic manifestation of who we truly are.

Asheville native Laura Berner Hudson recently moved back home after 15 years on the West Coast. An architect, she currently serves on Asheville’s Planning and Zoning Commission. X

NOT SO FAST

BY BRaD RousE Duke Energy should go small and slow with its planned Lake Julian expansion.

As a 20-plus-year veteran of utility industry economic planning, I have serious concerns about Duke Energy’s proposed “modernization plan,” which would double the capacity of its Arden plant with three new natural gas-powered units. I’m also disturbed that the General Assembly has required the N.C. Utilities Commission to short-circuit the normal thoughtful process that accompanies the billion-dollar investments we consumers will have to pay for. Big and fast is simply not the right approach.

The commission is now studying Duke’s application and all the ensuing public comments. Usually there are months of discussion for a project this size. But in this case, our state lawmakers basically gave Duke a free pass, mandating that there be no expert witnesses, no cross-examination, no ability to question Duke, and a compressed 45-day review. If the Legislature’s desired outcome were a really good idea, that might be OK. But it’s a really bad idea, and we all need to raise our voices and say, “Not so fast!”

Small and slow is better than big and fast because this is a tumultuous time for the energy and electric utility industries: Twin tsunamis are headed their way.

The first tsunami is the growing clamor to end the fossil fuel era.

Greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels and natural gas leakage are the primary cause of climate change.

The world scientific community has concluded that we must ramp down fossil fuel use by 80 percent or more by 2050 to avoid dangerously destabilizing the climate. More than 190 nations agreed to this in Paris late last year. And as governments take action to meet this goal, either through regulation or carbon pricing, the new Duke plant will be increasingly uneconomic to operate soon after its projected 2020 completion date.

The second tsunami is technological, much like the massive

Brad rouse

waves of change that have already overtaken landlines, cable TV, cellphones, computers, the music industry, book publishing, newspapers, etc.

Technological alternatives to fossil fuels are coming on fast and furiously.

A blend of solar, wind and energy efficiency is already less expensive than Duke’s proposed plant.

Between 2009 and 2015, solar and wind costs declined by 82 percent and 61 percent respectively, and the trend shows no sign of slowing down. LED lights reduce electricity use by up to 90 percent at reasonable cost. Storage battery costs continue to decline. And as we gain experience, we keep realizing new ways to expand our use of these technologies while still providing reliable electrical service. According to Stanford University scientists, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and others, we can now see a clear path, within the next few decades, to meeting 80 to 100 percent of our electricity needs via renewables, storage, increased efficiency and a better, smarter electrical grid.

These twin tsunamis could render the Arden plant economically obsolete on its very first day of operation, because it would be using a fuel that’s viewed as so undesirable that it’s sharply constrained by regulation or

Tell Duke Energy to put the brakes on expansion plans

taxation. And since Duke is guaranteed a profit on investments “made on our behalf,” ratepayers will bear the burden of these “stranded investments.”

Instead, Duke should go small and slow, rather than rushing to replace the current coal-powered units. Are we really better off replacing a dirty technology with one that may be only slightly less dirty and will soon be obsolete? Maybe we should skip natural gas entirely and go straight to new technology, using coal less and less as we gradually ramp up energy efficiency and renewables.

Then again, Duke could choose to build smaller gas-fired units. The Arden plant’s two 188-megawatt coalpowered units are already the biggest in Western North Carolina; the largest of the three gas-fired units Duke is proposing would be a whopping 280MW. But federal regulations require utilities to maintain reserve generating capacity across the region (to pick up the slack in case one or more units suddenly fails), and the size of the largest and second-largest units in the system affects the amount of that reserve capacity that’s available for actual use.

So the proposed increase essentially offers no real advantage, since it would dramatically increase the reserve capacity needed. Meanwhile, it would also increase both the cost for ratepayers and the risk of premature obsolescence. Thus, Duke could just as easily replace the coal plant with two 188-MW gas units at proportionally lower cost and risk.

This interim approach could help us achieve a reasonable long-term solution. Low-income families typically have the most inefficient homes and appliances and are least able to invest in energy-efficiency improvements. Having worked with local families, I know that Duke’s current programs barely scratch the surface of the many ways we could reduce the extreme amount of waste. Since the legally mandated rush to determine our energy future is largely based on the area’s power demand in recent winters, we should focus intensely on reducing energy use during the system’s winter peak time — 7 a.m. on bitterly cold days — using available, off-the-shelf solutions. We just need to mobilize the cooperative efforts of Duke and local civic, political and faith

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leaders to make it happen, and do it in a way that also helps residents — particularly low-income residents — cut their energy costs.

With concerted community effort bolstered by Duke’s financial and technical help, we could ramp up the local deployment of renewable options like solar, wind, low-head hydro and load control. We’ll also need to reconsider building new transmission lines, which were part of the utility’s initial proposal but were scrapped in response to public outcry.

Duke’s original plan called for a high-capacity transmission line running from Asheville to South Carolina, allowing gas-powered electricity produced here to be sold in other parts of its system. But a true “modernization plan” would use transmission lines to coordinate locally produced renewable energy with renewable energy generated elsewhere. After all, even when it’s neither sunny nor windy in WNC, it’s still sunny and/or windy somewhere.

And studies show that tying together a wider area can counteract the intermittency problem. Increasing transmission capacity to the west to connect with the Tennessee Valley Authority’s hydro and planned wind power would help make renewables more reliable here.

In the current rapidly evolving energy environment, building a plant that’s bigger than the absolute minimum required, and doing it sooner than it’s really needed, is risky. Taking such a risk when better options are readily available is nothing short of foolhardy.

Contact the Utilities Commission today and urge it not to approve more than the minimum fossil fueldriven capacity that’s needed to ensure a reliable supply of electricity. Email statements@ncuc.net, and reference docket number E-2 Sub 1089 in the subject line.

Energy policy consultant Brad Rouse volunteers with the Asheville chapter of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby and the Alliance for Energy Democracy. He can be reached at brouse_invest@yahoo.com. X

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DIGITAL LOVE

Dating in the internet age

Backing out of the bar, I wound up in a quiet coffee shop — alone, on my phone, texting with friends back home. I was only trying to make friends that evening, not find a date.

But the boundaries can get blurry, and in any case, the underlying question remains: How do adults connect these days?

Life after coLLege “In college, it’s so much easier to meet people,” says felix dunning, 29. “You’re all in a shared experience: You have a shared interest in the place where you’re residing, where you’re learning. And as soon as you get out of college it’s like, ‘I have to go somewhere and meet people?’ So trying to figure out ways to interact with new potential partners became much more difficult.”

On top of that, says ashley hart, 27, “It’s really hard to meet people out and about, which is weird because Asheville’s such a friendly place. It’s not that I didn’t try. It’s just, I look around in bars and in restaurants and pretty much anywhere I go, and nobody looks up and connects anymore. They’re always on their phones — always texting their friend or seeing where their friends are. There’s like this total disconnect from the social realm.

“I don’t think a lot of people give themselves the opportunity to meet people outside their social groups,” continues Hart. “It’s so easy to be connected to just those people. When I look around and see everyone on their phones, it kind of amazes me.

We’re all here; there’s music and drinks. We should all be mingling and hanging out.”

instant connection: “It almost seems too obvious to mention, but we’ve become so dependent on digital technology — it’s so firmly embedded in our lives,” says Peter Nieckarz, a sociology professor at WCU, who teaches pop culture and social change.

“So it only makes sense that more and more of our experiences with dating will move to online.” Edited photo by Lester Kamstra

BY HaYlEY BEnton hbenton@mountainx.com Editor’s note: To protect people’s privacy, all names in this story have been changed except for those of the three academics quoted.

When I moved to Asheville in 2013, I didn’t know a soul.

Hoping to make friends but not really knowing my way around, I aimlessly wandered downtown at dusk, vaguely intending to just waltz into bars and maybe make a new acquaintance or two.

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As I walked around, feeling increasingly anxious, I repeatedly checked Yelp on my phone, looking for prospective stops. Do I want to meet people here? Or here? What would the people be like here?

At Random Asheville Bar No. 1, most were deep in conversation. Rings of bodies — drinks in hand, backs to me — laughing loudly at a friend’s joke, their voices blending into an indistinguishable static.

It’s not socially acceptable to just approach a group of people midconversation and introduce yourself, so I scanned the bar, seek-

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ing someone unaccompanied. Not one. Meanwhile, some in the clusters scrolled through messages on phone screens, faces illuminated by white light.

Clearly, the overall approach to dating and relationships has changed wildly in the last century or so — and more recent advancements in technology and gender equality have only accelerated the shift. At the same time, though, smartphones and dating apps didn’t invent the mating game. So, digging below the surface, how much has really changed in the eternal quest for love and romance?

currents of change “Did the Internet create this, or was it just a natural product of our changing culture?” asks sociologist marilyn chamberlin, who teaches courses focusing on family and relationships at Western Carolina University. “My opinion is that it was something that happened simultaneously. I think we had a lot of changes going on, and the Internet came along at the same time and provided a tool to support those changes.”

But let’s rewind: In early 1900s America, continues Chamberlin, “In certain classes, especially middle and upper class, the family

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n E ws controlled who you got to date. There was a whole courtship process.”

Around midcentury, however, “It moved more toward open choice, where people would date who they were interested in. Usually you were dating people you went to school or to church with, or who were living in your neighborhood. … People were getting married in their early 20s. Family was still fairly important, but it shifted to personal preference.”

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And later still, as more women went to work outside the home, those traditional patterns “kind of faded out,” says Chamberlin. Instead, “You’ve got workplace colleagues and friends, making all these connections and introducing yourself to everyone.

“One of the things about, say, the 1960s is that dating, at that point, was still fairly structured,” she notes. “For a person that was younger, the expectation was that you would get mar-

ried. Dating had a purpose, and that purpose was getting married. Once divorce rates increased, that presented a different kind of challenge.”

Today, says Chamberlin, the average marrying age for women is 28, the highest it’s ever been — and 29 for men. In the 1950s, on the other hand, those numbers were 20 and 22, respectively. And in the 21st century, both women and men tend to focus more on their careers, their lives,

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their personal adventures, and less on starting a family at a young age.

“Now, dating is for companionship, for having people that you can go and do things with, for a sexual relationship you deem safe.

The purpose of dating changed, and as a result, the market shifted in terms of who’s available,” Chamberlin explains.

Still, how do you meet interesting people when you’re out of school, stuck in a cubicle from 9 to 5, and perhaps not attending any church? instant access Enter the dating app, which enables you to safely and anonymously browse, from wherever you happen to be, a seemingly endless supply of locals looking to chat up, meet up and/or hook up.

“It almost seems too obvious to mention, but we’ve become so dependent on digital technology — it’s so firmly embedded in our lives,” says Peter nieckarz, a sociology professor at Western, who teaches courses on pop culture and social change.

“Twenty years ago, this wasn’t the case; this has happened really quickly. And when we think about the interactions we have with people — friends, family, acquaintances — if we were to add up the interactions we have face to face versus online, the ratio is growing tremendously in favor of online interactions. So it only makes sense that more and more of our experiences with dating will move to online.”

What makes those apps viable, however, is not just the Internet but the conjunction of a number of technologies, including smartphones, Wi-Fi and GPS. And while dating sites like Match.com launched before the rise of social media, the advent of sites like Facebook and Myspace — where users meet and interact via the Internet for a variety of purposes — helped dissolve the social stigma that initially surrounded online dating. If you doubt this, try downloading Tinder and see how many users are within 5 miles of wherever you happen to be.

“When I first started using these apps, I felt a bit embarrassed about it, but now I am shameless,” jokes sarah hausman, 25. “I started using Tinder after a breakup from a fiveyear relationship. I just wanted to see who all was out there and maybe get a little pick-me-up ego boost. But now, being single for over two years, I still have this app on my phone.”

Hausman says she’s met “a pretty high number of people from the Tinder app. My intentions when meeting people ranged from a potential hookup to a new friend — or maybe, if I’m being honest, just something to make my day a little more interesting.

“I went through a phase where I would see how many dates I could get in a week, with no intention of hooking up — or even developing a friendship with these people,” she reveals. “There is word on the street that Tinder is the hookup app, and sometimes people are expecting that. But for me, it’s usually discussed beforehand what type of expectations I have for a date.”

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sPeciaL interests lori horvitz, director of UNC Asheville’s Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies program, says she went straight to the source in an attempt to deconstruct the current scene. “I was actually asking my students what they thought the pros and cons are of dating in the Internet Age,” she reveals. “Some said it’s easier for people to be flaky, and there’s a big emphasis on physical appearance.

But others said it’s very empowering, especially for the queer community.

In rural North Carolina, it’s difficult to meet people — and when you do, it’s very liberating.

“Before Internet dating, people had to meet each other in bars — and if you lived in a small town, you’d have to go to a small-town bar. So your chance of meeting alcoholics was greater,” she jokes.

But kidding aside, she continues, Internet dating enables members of the rural LGBT community to meet like-minded people and “not feel as isolated or alone. It’s sort of like the world is opened up.”

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Not everyone who’s trying to find a date is in their 20s or 30s, though, and older singles may face a somewhat different set of challenges when reconnecting with the dating scene. jack Peppard, 66, married out of high school, divorced and then remarried in his early 30s. After his wife died in 2012, Peppard once again re-entered the dating world — this time using a combination of apps, dating sites and, occasionally, getting set up by friends.

“It’s nice to have somebody that you care about,” he observes. “I’m on dating apps because I’m new to the area:

continuEs on PagE 16 mountainx.com

FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

15

nEws I don’t know anybody. And, well, because I might be wanting to spend my life, or at least my time, with somebody else.”

But dating in your 60s is different, he maintains. “The last time I dated was 30 years ago. I did not have to get on a dating site; I met a lot of people through friends: Somebody would hook you up on a blind date.

Nowadays, it’s hard to find that person. They’ve either been divorced two, three times or are widowed — and at this age, everyone has a lot of baggage.” On top of that, Peppard continues, “All my friends are now married couples who hang out with other married couples.”

Chamberlin agrees that for older folks, “It is definitely more challenging: It’s a bin market. There’s just not a lot of options available to you.”

Still, the Internet definitely makes it easier for a single 66-year-old to connect with others in the same age group.

“There’s millions of dollars being made trying to provide matches for people … and an explosion of sites to meet people, with specialties by age, by interest or sexuality, or for divorced or widowed people,” she points out. “If they can specialize on that level, it indicates that this has really become very popular.” age-oLd issues Meanwhile, continues Chamberlin, for young and old alike, “Dating has become more competitive. It used to be that you weighed people based on characteristics that you liked and didn’t like.”

On the Internet, however, “All the relationships we have are presentations of how we want people to see us,” she points out. “What do I want this person to know about me? What do I want them not to know about me? They’re presenting themselves as this perfect person, but what’s behind that presentation?”

Self-promotion and outright deception didn’t begin with the Internet, however.

“There’s a lot of showmanship online,” Nieckarz concedes. “But you know what? People always did this.

Even in the old days, you go on a date, you’re going to put your best self forward. People have always wanted to manage the impressions that others have of them, and we’ve gotten really good at it with the Internet, because it’s so easy with Facebook and other forms of social media: You have greater control over molding the image you’re projecting.”

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FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

mountainx.com

Hausman, for one, says she loves Tinder “horror stories” — provided, of course, that no one was hurt or sexually assaulted, but where the principals were just so wildly incompatible. “My worst Tinder experience was a lunch date, and the person was so annoying, in an arrogant way, that I wanted to leave as soon as I sat down. They spoke over me and didn’t let me get a single word in — and then proceeded to tell me how cute it was that I was ‘so shy.’

I immediately got the bill. They offered to walk me to my car and then leaned in for a kiss! I was so taken aback at how oblivious they were.”

This, too, is an experience that may be familiar to people who have gone on a bunch of “blind dates,” regardless of how they got set up. But because the Internet can instantly connect you with innumerable people you might otherwise never meet, it may increase the potential for extreme mismatches.

Pretty as a Picture And despite such bumps in the road, notes Hausman, “I love the concept of dating apps and online dating. … I think people are probably delighted that there’s an easy way to break the ice and get the hard part over with: Do they think I’m cute?

Matching with people definitely takes away certain anxieties.” But the fastpaced nature of online interactions, she continues, “also has the potential to create new anxieties that may have not existed before.”

In the online world, Chamberlin observes, “You rely on that instantaneous reaction, and that increases the feeling that everything is centered on you. It’s quick and it’s easy, but at the same time, you kind of leave people hanging. It’s nice to know instantly what someone is thinking of you, but if they don’t answer right away, you think, ‘What does this mean? I haven’t heard from them in two days!’ It can increase the anxiety and the self-centeredness of it all.”

And of course, on picture-heavy dating sites, everyone is judged by the photos they post.

“It becomes problematic if that’s the sole way we’re classifying people,” says Chamberlin. “If you were sitting next to someone in class all the time, you might think that, physically, they’re only OK, but they’re funny and they make interesting comments in class. And you think, ‘Oh, I want to meet that person and get to know them more.’ If all you’re seeing is a picture, it’s a little more shallow.”

“Oh, God, it’s so shallow,” echoes Hart. “We can so easily just filter

through all these people — left, right, left, right — without ever stopping and looking at this person and saying, ‘Maybe he’s a very nice person.

Maybe he’s super funny or attractive in other ways. So I think it’s like everyone is subconsciously judging people just based on their looks — looking at someone for a second and deciding whether or not they’re worthy of your time.”

At one point, she notes, “I deleted my Tinder and my Facebook too. I just felt like I was getting bombarded with all of this superficial crap.” A few months later, though, Hart caved and downloaded OkCupid.

“I thought maybe the people there were seeking a deeper connection,” she explains. “But there’s this thing called quick match on OkCupid, and you’re doing the same thing — swiping left and right. It’s just so easy and almost like an addiction to keep swiping, keep swiping, keep swiping.” face to face Despite dating apps’ growing popularity, though, most folks interviewed for this article said they still prefer to meet people the old-fashioned way, keeping Tinder, OkCupid and the like as a fallback.

“I think it’s a lot more fruitful to meet people face to face,” notes Dunning. “I have not had much luck using online dating. I’ve used Tinder and OkCupid: I’ve been on a number of first dates but never met any people I was terribly interested in seeing again.” He’d rather “meet friends of friends that you might have something in common with.”

As for simply venturing out and trying to pick someone up, continues Dunning, “I don’t want to go hit on a woman in a bar.” A much better strategy, he believes, is “going somewhere where you’re actually interested in what’s going on, and finding someone you’re like-minded with.”

To that end, a visit to Meetup.com turns up more than 100 Ashevillearea groups centered on a particular shared interest.

Even so, though, “It sure would be handy if women would initiate contact more often, or give some sort of indicator that they might be interested.

I think one of the biggest turnoffs is when they play hard-to-get. … When I do try to initiate contact, sometimes I get the vibe that they think I’m a serial killer just for trying to talk to them.

It would be cool if people would just smile and provide that opening.”

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Asheville Speed Dating offers a way around that, scheduling regular gatherings for single people in a specified age range. Participants get seven-minute “dates” with all the potential connections present, and no contact info is exchanged unless both parties subsequently say they’re interested.

But Dunning also cites another sign of the times that may conflict with that idea. “I run into a lot of women in this city that say they’re more interested in an open relationship or friends-with-benefits situation. And I know a lot of women who are put off by the idea of marriage. I feel like that’s probably common in major urban hubs, but I have sort of conflicting feelings about it. … Call me old-school, but I prefer having a shared intimacy with one person.” the more things change…

Of course, the idea of open relationships isn’t new either.

“In the ’60s and ’70s, you dated a variety of different people at the same time,” says Chamberlin. “You would have dinner with one person this week and go to a movie with someone else the next week. That was a way to kind of feel out potential mates. And I think we changed about 10 years ago: People started to think that, when you say ‘dating,’ it had to be exclusive.”

Inevitably, gender differences also affect how folks approach dating. “Women are much more practical,” she maintains. “It sounds odd, but women take it slower than men do. Men are more idealistic that they’re going to find the one true person right away. But women have figured this out about men, so they’re putting on the brakes.”

Meanwhile, access to birth control “has increased women’s openness to sexual relationships,” says Chamberlin. “Though it hasn’t changed as significantly as people like to think, the whole idea of delaying marriage doesn’t mean you want to delay the intimacy.”

And if women are showing an increased interest in open relationships, she continues, it could be a polite way of letting potential partners know that “‘I’m not just going to be talking with you: I’m going to be talking with three, four, five men on Tinder at the same time,’ and we don’t have a way of saying that other than saying, ‘I want an open relationship.’”

In other words, “‘I’m not going to tie myself down to you, in case you turn out to be somebody I’m not all that interested in.’”

For her part, Hausman says that while her feelings about the changes in the dating world are too diverse to even begin to explain, “I’m not a Luddite who thinks kids these days are shallow because they’re always on their damn phones, texting. I think it definitely adds a layer of social complexity and may or may not highlight subtle social nuances that may have already been present.”

Nieckarz, meanwhile, points out that, while “people have a tendency to get lost on their phones when they could be interacting face to face, they may have said the same thing about television, which we’ve had for 60 years now, or the radio or the newspaper, sitting with their face buried in pages of print. It’s easy to critique and have a sort of moral panic about the ‘new media.’ I just think we need to be more aware and mindful about how we use these new technologies.” X

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FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

17

nEws

by Virginia Daffron

vdaffron@mountainx.com

RUSHING TO JUDGMENT A highly specific piece of North Carolina legislation is forcing environmental advocates to act quickly as the expedited approval process created by the law barrels toward a Feb. 29 decision.

Sen. tom apodaca of Hendersonville filed the bill, the Mountain Energy Act of 2015, last May 21, the day after Duke Energy announced plans to replace coal burning generators at Lake Julian with new, natural-gas-fired units.

The legislation established an expedited decision-making schedule of 45 days from the date of Duke’s application to the North Carolina Utilities Commission for approval.

Although unusual, this type of legislation has been employed at least once before in the state, when Duke Energy replaced coal-fired generating units at the H.F. Lee Energy Complex near Goldsboro.

Things haven’t gone entirely smoothly for Duke Energy since the tailored legislation passed the North Carolina Senate on June 11, 2015. Duke’s initial plan to bring a new high-voltage power line into the region from upstate South Carolina eventually was scrapped on Nov. 4 in the face of massive public opposition. At the same time, Duke brought forward a revised modernization plan for two new gas-fired units at Lake Julian, with a contingent unit to be built by 2023 if the region’s demand for electricity continues to grow at its current rate.

Even as they celebrated Duke’s decision to pull the plug on the transmission line plan, environmental and community groups immediately shifted their attention to the specifics of the utility provider’s new proposal.

Groups, including MountainTrue, the Sierra Club and the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association (NCSEA), pressed Duke for more information about how the company arrived at its projections of future electrical demand in the region. The groups pushed the company to hold off on planning for the third natural gas unit while efforts to develop cleaner energy sources and to reduce demand had time to take effect.

On Jan. 15, Duke filed a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) with the Utilities

18

FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

Regulatory process for new Duke Energy plant speeds down fast track capacity. However, Duke did commit to “work aggressively to transition to a cleaner and smarter energy future” through community engagement, investment in distributed energy resources and promotion of demand management and energy efficiency programs. These measures, according to Duke, could delay or eliminate the need for the contingent unit.

Parties Weigh in

service territories Duke Energy Progress

(counties served)*

Duke Energy Carolinas

Overlapping Territory

isoLated region: The western region of Duke Energy Progress is a nine-county area serving over 160,000 homes and businesses. The company’s eastern and western regions are separated by the territory covered by Duke Energy Carolinas, which serves the Charlotte area and surrounding counties. Graphic provided by Duke Energy Commission and the clock started counting down the 45-day period mandated by Apodaca’s legislation.

On Jan. 26, the only public hearing on Duke’s plan drew hundreds of citizens to the Buncombe County Courthouse. Many of those testifying asked Duke to build a smaller, cleaner facility and to delay planning for the proposed third unit.

Those wishing to weigh in as interveners — parties recognized by a court as representing interests not otherwise represented in the matter — faced a Feb. 12 deadline. The Utilities Commission staff will present its findings on Duke’s application at the state Utilities Commission’s regular staff conference on Monday, Feb. 22, in Raleigh.

According to the timeline established by the Mountain Energy Act, the commission must announce a decision on Duke’s proposal by Feb. 29. energy PLan Duke’s CPCN application stuck close to what the company outlined in its Nov. 4, 2015, announcement with regard to the number and size of gas-fired generating units the company proposes to build at Lake Julian. Activists were dismayed, however, to find that the 15 megawatts of solar-generating capacity, which Duke had promised in its revised

mountainx.com

modernization plan, were not part of the CPCN. In its application, Duke wrote, “The new solar generation facility will be subject to a future CPCN application once the coal-unit demolition plans have been sufficiently completed to determine the site configuration that will enable the optimum amount of new solar generation at the Asheville site for the benefit of the Company’s customers.”

Utility-scale battery storage, another feature in Duke’s revised modernization plan, also was not included in the current CPCN. Natural gas for the Lake Julian plant will be provided by a new pipeline being constructed by the Public Service Company of North Carolina, according to Duke. Though natural gas will be the primary fuel for the units, Duke explained, the units will be designed to also burn fuel oil as a backup fuel source.

The need for the third 186 megawatt contingent gas-fired generator, Duke argued, results from the company’s decision to cancel its plans for a new high-voltage transmission line.

Without an outside source of reserve power, projected future increases in peak power demand will require additional generating capacity to ensure the company has adequate reserve

In comments and affidavits submitted by the Feb. 12 deadline, a variety of interests have weighed in.

The Henderson County Board of Commissioners filed a statement “fully and wholeheartedly” in support of Duke’s proposal.

Environmental groups, however, were less enthusiastic. The Southern Environmental Law Center filed comments on behalf of environmental-advocacy groups MountainTrue and the Sierra Club.

The Center entered into a legallybinding nondisclosure agreement to access confidential data submitted

by Duke Energy in its application, and the group retained energyindustry expert richard hahn to analyze the confidential data.

Hahn’s conclusions, contained in the Center’s filed statement, address what he considers flawed aspects of Duke’s case. According to the statement: • Duke failed to support its claim that adequate importation of power into its western region will be unfeasible due to transmission limitations.

• Duke’s method for determining local generation requirements for the purpose of reliability “appears to exceed” standards set by the National Electric Reliability Corporation, resulting in an overstated need for capacity.

• Even if Duke’s assumptions were valid, the capacity of the project is excessive. A smaller project would provide “virtually the same level of local reliability.”

• The facility proposed by Duke would not be the best fit with customer-demand patterns in the western region.

• Duke increased its system-wide reserve margin to 17 percent in

2015 from 14.5 percent in previous years. The need for the increase is not supported by the study used to justify it.

• Duke has not adequately explored alternatives to building the proposed plants, such as renewable energy sources, demand management, energy efficiency and opportunities for purchasing power from other companies.

In a statement, MountainTrue and the Sierra Club called Duke Energy’s proposal “unjustified, oversized and a waste of rate-payer money.”

The N.C. Sustainable Energy Association, which also received access to Duke data after agreeing not to disclose it, focused its remarks on Duke’s contingent third generating unit. The organization submitted an analysis, parts of which were omitted from the public version of the NCSEA’s comments, which concludes: “The public convenience and necessity does not require issuance of a CPCN for the 186 MW CT [combustion turbine].”

The North Carolina Waste Awareness and Reduction Network (NCWARN), in partnership with The Climate Times, asked the Utilities Commission to either hold an open public meeting where evidence can be presented by multiple parties or to deny the application.

NCWARN argued that the 45-day time period established by the Mountain Energy Act is “both abbreviated and arbitrary.” The single public meeting provided by the act, the organization says, is insufficient to allow meaningful consideration by the Utilities Commission. duke resPonds While she declined to address specific criticisms lodged by environmental advocacy organizations and individual citizens, megan miles of Duke’s corporate communications department did say, “As stated in our CPCN filing, we believe the most reliable and cost-effective way to serve the Duke Energy Progress (DEP) western region/Asheville is with local generation, as reflected in the company’s current plan to retire the Asheville coal units and replace them with natural gas units.”

Miles reiterated statements in Duke’s application regarding the utility provider’s plans for solar energy generation and battery-based power storage at the Lake Julian site: “The company will file a future CPCN application to seek approval for a

minimum of 15 megawatts of new solar generation over the next seven years after the Asheville Plant’s coal units have been decommissioned and coal ash excavation is completed. The company also plans to seek approval to install a minimum of 5 megawatts of utility-scale electricity storage over the next seven years.”

She said that Duke Energy will respond to commenters’ specific objections at the NCUC staff conference on Feb. 22, adding that Duke’s application addresses many of the issues outlined above.

PossiBLe choices “Many different parties are raising questions and concerns about the size of Duke’s proposed facility and whether it really needs that size of facility, on that timetable, to serve Duke’s western region customers,” says gudrun thompson, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

According to Thompson, who will attend the Feb. 22 Utilities Commission meeting, the commission must make a decision within the timeline established by the Mountain Energy Act. Thompson outlined what she sees as several possible choices regulators might make by Feb. 29. The regulators could deny Duke’s application if they find that the utility provider did not demonstrate the need for it. Or the NCUC could deny the current application with the understanding that Duke can reapply.

Another possibility: The commission could grant approval for part of what Duke is proposing, a course of action that has precedent in the commission’s February 2007 approval of one of two proposed coal-fired generators for Duke’s Cliffside plant in Cleveland and Rutherford counties.

The commission could approve Duke’s plans while requiring the utility to close coal-fired plants in other areas, in addition to the units Duke proposes to retire at Lake Julian, as the NCUC did in Wayne County in 2009. That facility, which replaced the existing H.F. Lee coalfired plant, was approved under fast track legislation similar to the Mountain Energy Act. Finally, says Thompson, the NCUC could approve Duke’s application and require the company to make additional investments in cleaner forms of energy. X

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19

community caLendar feBruary 17 - 25, 2016

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

All events must cost no more than $40 to attend in order to qualify for free listings, with the one exception of events that benefit nonprofits.

Commercial endeavors and promotional events do not qualify for free listings.

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

Events may be submitted via email to calendar@mountainx.com or through our online submission form at mountainx.com/calendar.

The deadline for free listings is the Wednesday one week prior to publication at 5 p.m.

For a full list of community calendar guidelines, please visit mountainx.com/calendar.

For questions about free listings, call 251-1333, ext. 137. For questions about paid calendar listings, please call 251-1333, ext. 320.

animaLs asheviLLe humane society 828-761-2001 ext. 315, ashevillehumane.org • WE (2/17), 6pm - Presentation

by Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel. $20. Held at Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, 36 Montford Ave. BLue ridge humane society 692-2639, blueridgehumane.org • WE (2/17), 6pm - “Pints for Pets night!” pet adoption event. Free to attend. Held at Sanctuary Brewing Company, 147 1st Ave., Hendersonville • SATURDAYS, 10:30am - Yoga with cats. Proceeds benefit the Blue Ridge Humane society. Free Held at Sanctuary Brewing Company, 147 1st Ave., Hendersonville dog taLk series 545-2948, dogtraininworkshops.blogspot.com • TH (2/18), 7pm - Proceeds from the “What about that Walking Gear?” presentation about the walking gear used for dogs and how they can affect a dog physically and mentally benefit asheville Voice for animals. Reservations requested. $10. Held at Nectar,

20

fishing for funds: On Tuesday, Feb. 23, beginning at 4 p.m., Orvis is teaming up with the Asheville Brewers Alliance to hold a joint fly-fishing and beer festival at The Renaissance Hotel. All of the proceeds from the event will be donated to the ‘Get the Tread Out’ river clean-up planned for the Watauga River in October of 2016. Attendees can enjoy local craft beers, listen to live music, and check out the latest in fly-fishing gear. After the party, the event continues at Asheville Community Theatre with a viewing party of Down the Hatch Fly-Fishing Films. Entrance to the film fest is $10, includes two beer tickets and an entry into a raffle for fly-fishing gear from Orvis. (p. 20)

853 Merrimon Ave.

Benefits Wnc Bee schooL (pd.) The Center for Honeybee Research. Folk Art Center, March 5th: 9-5pm, Mar 6th: 12:30-4:30pm. $45. Info & registration: chbr.org. Bees from hive to honey. asheviLLe art museum 2 N. Pack Square, 253-3227, ashevilleart.org • TH (2/25), 5:30-8:30pm - Proceeds from“Toast Asheville” wine and food tasting event and silent auction benefit the Asheville Art Museum. Reservations required. $40/$30 members.

Bikes & Boxers Benefit • SA (2/20) - Proceeds from this motorcycle ride (with bikers riding in their boxers), raffle and live music event benefit mountain Project, heating for the elderly. Bike registration at 10am. Bike ride at noon. Bands at 1pm. $15 per bike rider/$25 for couple/Free to attend. Held at American Legion Post 47, 171 Legion Drive, Waynesville chase aWay the BLues Benefit tryonarts.org • SA (2/20), 6-11pm - Tickets

FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

to this blues music concert featuring Stolen Hearts and the Chuck Beattie Band benefit the tryon Fine arts center. $30/$80 patron. Held at Tryon Fine Arts Center, 34 Melrose Ave., Tryon fLat rock PLayhouse doWntoWn 125 S. Main St., Hendersonville, 693-0731, flatrockplayhouse.org • SA (2/20), 3pm - Tickets to the Theatre with the Stars competition and reception benefit the winner’s chosen nonprofit. $50. fuLL circLe farm sanctuary 367-1620, fcfsanctuary.org, kaylaw@fcfsanctuary.org • SA (2/20), 1pm - Proceeds from game day at Sanctuary Brewing benefit Full circle Farm sanctuary. $5. Held at Sanctuary Brewing Company, 147 1st Ave., Hendersonville internationaL committee of the red cross Benefit 670-5000 • SA (2/20), 6pm - Proceeds from this dinner sponsored by the Enka High Key Club and Red Cross Club with keynote about humanitarian intervention in Syria benefit the international committee of the Red cross. Free to attend. Held at Francis Asbury

mountainx.com

United Methodist Church, 725 Asbury Road, Candler Live your dreams magic shoW fundraiser facebook.com/ events/574089416090401 • SA (2/20), 2pm - Proceeds from The Vanishing Wheelchair magic show benefit swannanoa Valley montessori school. $10/$5 children. Held at Carver Center Gymnasium, 101 Carver Ave., Black Mountain noBLe cider’s first annuaL chiLLi cookoff facebook.com/ events/225657441105021 • SU (2/21), 3-5pm - Proceeds from this chilli cook-off benefit girls on the Run of wnc. Registration required to enter. $5 to taste/$15 entry fee to submit chilli. Held at Noble Cider, 356 New Leicester Highway orvis doWn the hatch festivaL facebook.com/ events/1698530740361816 • TU (2/23), 4-9:30pm Proceeds from this fly-fishing and beer festival with live music, vendors and films benefit the get the tread out watauga river cleanup.

Films take place at Asheville Community Theatre, 35 E. Walnut St., Asheville, at 7:30pm. Free to attend

expo/$10 film festival. Held at Renaissance Asheville Hotel, 31 Woodfin St. veda studios anniversary Benefit Party vedastudios.com/1yr • SA (2/20), 8:30am-8:30pm - Proceeds from this anniversary celebration with donation classes and slackline benefit ourVoice and carry the Future. Admission by donation. Held at Veda Studios, 853 Merrimon Ave. (Upstairs)

Business & technoLogy a-B tech smaLL Business center 398-7950, abtech.edu/sbc Registration required. Free unless otherwise noted.

• WE (2/17), 10-11:30am “Doing Business with the Government,” seminar. Held at A-B Tech Madison Site, 4646 US 25-70, Marshall • WE (2/17), 10-11am “Financing & Growing a Self-Sustaining Child Care Business,” seminar. Held at A-B Tech Enka Campus, 1459 Sand Hill Road, Candler • TH (2/18), 3-6pm - “Time Management Tools for the Busy Entrepreneur,” seminar. Held at A-B Tech Enka

Campus, 1459 Sand Hill Road, Candler • SA (2/20), 9am-noon - “SCORE: Making Your Business Legal,” seminar. Held at A-B Tech Enka Campus, 1459 Sand Hill Road, Candler • MO (2/22), 6-9pm - “SCORE: How to Start a Business,” seminar. Held at A-B Tech Madison Site, 4646 US 25-70, Marshall asheviLLe investment cLuB sites.google.com/site/ashevilleinvestmentclub, ashevilleic2005@gmail.com • FR (2/19), 11:30am - General meeting. Free to attend. Held at Travinia Italian Restaurant, 264 Thetford St. g&W investment cLuB klcount@aol.com • 3rd WEDNESDAYS, 11:45am - General meeting. Free to attend. Held at Black Forest Restaurant, 2155 Hendersonville Road, Arden Wnc naturaL heaLth & WeLLness • 3rd WEDNESDAYS, 3pm - Networking event for natural health & wellness practitioners. Free to attend.

Held at the Western North Carolina School of Massage, 131 McDowell St., Suite 302, Asheville

cLasses, meetings & events ageLess grace-21 simPLe tooLs for LifeLong comfort & ease (pd.) TUESDAYS, 1:30-2:25pm. Improve quality of daily movement by simultaneously activating cognitive & physical function in a playful manner. $10 if pre-pay 8 classes or $12/class. Training Partners fitness center, 862 Merrimon Ave., 828-606-9931 or e-mail agelessgracecarol@gmail.com to register. comPassionate communication (pd.) 4-week series with Roberta Wall, certified Nonviolent Communication trainer. steps2peace.com. $100 (Scholarships Available) Mondays 6:30-8:30 March 7,14,21,28 at the Jewish Community Center.

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Contact Polly (828) 775-6333. polly.medlicott@gmail.com.

Big ivy community center 540 Dillingham Road, Barnardsville, 626-3438 • 4th MONDAYS, 7pm - Community center board meeting. Free.

BLue ridge toastmasters cLuB blueridgetoastmasters.com/membersarea, fearless@blueridgetoastmasters.org • MONDAYS, 12:15-1:25pm - Public speaking and leadership group. Free. Held at Lenoir Rhyne Center for Graduate Studies, 36 Montford Ave. cataWBa science center 243 3rd Ave. NE, Hickory, 322-8169,

catawbascience.org • Through (5/15) - Ocean Bound! exhibition featuring interactive exhibits. $8/$6 children. ethicaL humanist society of asheviLLe 687-7759, aeu.org • SU (2/21), 2-3:30pm - “The Art of Resilience,” presentation by DeWayne Barton. Free. Held at Asheville Friends Meetinghouse, 227 Edgewood Road haLfWay to hemPx ticketfly.com/event/1088963-halfway-hempxasheville-dj-asheville

hands on cuLinary cLasses at the farm (pd.) You want to, but you’re not sure how to go about cooking local, organic produce and meats. Chef Ferrari will awaken the Chef within you! The Farm, 215 Justice Ridge Road, Candler, NC 28715. 828-6670666. info@thefarmevents.com www.thefarmevents.com Join a Paintnite Party (pd.) at the Stone Ridge Tavern in Asheville on March 1, 7pm-9pm! Get lost in the creative process of painting “Owl Night Long” - no experience necessary! Use coupon code AVLPAINTS for 45% off. Have a drink and enjoy a new skill. https://paintnite.com/events/1041898.html.

Linda PannuLLo mosaics and WorkshoPs (pd.) The best instruction for all levels: • Mosaic Mirror class for Beginners Feb 27-28 with Linda. • Sacred Geometry/ Mosaic Mandala workshop, March 5-6, w/ Dianne Sonnenberg • Building a Landscape with Texture and Color, May 14-15, w/Laura Redlen • Pets, Creatures and Imaginary Beings, April 16-17, Yulia Hanansen.

More classes see website. Call Linda at 828-337-6749. Info and registration at lindapannullomosaics.com

• TH (2/18), 3-7pm - Expo presented by HempX Asheville and the NC Industrial Hemp Alliance features a presentation about growing hemp, hemp vendors, and the Hemp Road Trip Bus. Free to attend. Held at New Mountain Theater/ Amphitheater, 38 N. French Broad ikenoBo ikeBana society 696-4103, blueridgeikebana.com • TH (2/18), 10am - Monthly meeting, demonstration and workshop on free-style relief design.

Free. Held at First Congregational UCC of Hendersonville, 1735 5th Ave. W., Hendersonville

195 Underwood Road, Fletcher, NC 28732 828-684-4400 appletreeautos.com

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organic groWers schooL 23rd annuaL sPring conference (pd.) March 11-13, 2016, UNC Asheville.

70+ sessions per day: practical, affordable, regionally-focused workshops on growing, permaculture, homesteading, and urban farming. Trade show, seed exchange, kid’s program. Organicgrowersschool.org.

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sPring garden schooL With WiLd aBundance (pd.) This 9 week course (held on Sundays starting March 6th) is a hands-on, whole system approach to gardening. Learn about soil science, crop rotation, companion planting & much more! 775-7052, wildabundance.net. asheviLLe timeBank 348-0674, ashevilletimebank.org • TUESDAYS, 4-5:30pm - Orientation session. Reservations required: help@ashevilletimebank.org or 348-4160. Free to attend.

Held at Firestorm Cafe and Books, 610 Haywood Road

Exceptional Deals on the last of our remaining 2015 inventory!

Call or email for details... mountainx.com

FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

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c o n s c i o u s Pa r t y

By Kat McReynolds | kmcreynolds@mountainx.com

Specialty Gardening & Greenhouse Supplies AS H E V I L L E H Y D R O.CO M

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Sale Proceeds to Support Brother Wolf

Additional 10% Off Storewide All Day 444 Haywood Rd. West Asheville 828-258-0757 A consignment shop specializing in outdoor gear, clothing & footwear.

www.secondgearwnc.com 22

FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

Condom Couture what: Condom Couture, a fashion show to benefit Planned Parenthood South Atlantic of Asheville when: Saturday, Feb. 20, 8 p.m. where: New Mountain why: Planned Parenthood South Atlantic is touting the benefits of wearing one condom by dressing models in hundreds of them. “It’s a runway show,” says nikki harris, the nonprofit’s director of philanthropy for Western North Carolina. “The idea is fashionable, wearable art.”

Thirteen designers are participating in Asheville’s 2016 Condom Couture, and each of their garments must employ at least 500 of the popular contraceptives. “They can use other fabrics and modes, but it has to be predominantly condoms,” Harris says. “It’s a pretty challenging medium to work with. It’s definitely a labor of love for a lot of people.”

Though this is Harris’ first year working on Asheville’s Condom Couture, the outfits created at a Charlotte-based iteration of the event “looked like truly couture pieces” to her surprise. In addition to their quirky fashion applications, condoms are the best birth control method to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, she points out.

Studio Zahiya’s lisa Zahiya will emcee for the evening in addition to coordinating an opening dance routine. And after a troupe of models struts onstage to the tunes of DJ Marley Carroll, the latex clothing line will go up for live auction.

Also speaking at the show is Planned Parenthood South Atlantic CEO jenny black. The group of 15 health centers under her watch spans four states and includes an office at 68 McDowell St. in Asheville, where free condoms are readily distributed (in quantities of far fewer than 500).

Visit newmountainavl.com for further information and tickets ($25). All ticket sales and sponsor revenues plus 85 percent of auction revenues will fund the local office’s efforts to reduce teen pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted infections and to expand health and educational services. X

mountainx.com

c o mmunity c aL e ndar

marine corPs League asheviLLe 273-4948, mcl.asheville@gmail.com • Last TUESDAYS - For veterans of the Marines, FMF Corpsmen, and their families.

Free. Held at American Legion Post #2, 851 Haywood Road ontrack Wnc 50 S. French Broad Ave., 255-5166, ontrackwnc.org Registration required. Free unless otherwise noted.

• WE (2/17), 9:30-11am - “Understanding Reverse Mortgages,” seminar. Held at the Hendersonville location. Register for location.

• FR (2/19), noon-1:30pm - “Understanding Credit. Get it. Keep it. Improve it.” seminar.

• TU (2/23), noon-1:30pm - “Understanding Credit. Get it. Keep it. Improve it.” seminar.

• WE (2/24), 5:30-7pm - “Budgeting 101,” workshop.

PuBLic events at Wcu 227-7397, wcu.edu • SA (2/20), 8:15am-4pm - Open house for prospective students. Registration required: openhouse.wcu.edu. Free to attend. reynoLds/fairvieW scriBBLe criBBage cLuB • WEDNESDAYS, 12:30pm - Scrabble and cribbage club. Free to attend. Held at Mountain Mojo Coffeehouse, 381 Old Charlotte Highway, Fairview share internationaL southeast 398-0609, share-international.us/se • SA (2/20), 2pm - Presentation about Maitreya the World Teacher and the Masters of Wisdom. Free. Held at Asheville Friends Meetinghouse, 227 Edgewood Road shoWing uP for raciaL Justice showingupforracialjustice.org • TUESDAYS, noon-2pm - Educating and organizing white people for racial justice.

Free to attend. Held at Firestorm Cafe and Books, 610 Haywood Road thomas WoLfe memoriaL 52 N. Market St., 253-8304, wolfememorial.com • Through SA (2/19), 9am-5pm - Julia Wolfe’s Birthday Celebration. $5/$2.50 seniors/2 students. unca voLuntary income tax assistance unca.edu • SATURDAYS until (4/2), 10:30am-3pm Income tax preparation for incomes under $54K. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St.

safety first, fashion second: Multiple Planned Parenthood branches build fundraisers around the Condom Couture theme, which sees local designers making runway-ready garments out of condoms. Asheville’s Charles Josef created this little black dress worn by model Tess Cailynn Miller. Photo courtesy of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic

Wnc Physicians for sociaL resPonsiBiLity 633-0892, wncpsr.org, info@wncpsr.org • 3rd FRIDAYS, noon-2pm - Monthly meeting. BYO lunch. Free. Held at First Congregational UCC of Asheville, 20 Oak St.

dance studio Zahiya, doWntoWn dance cLasses (pd.) Monday 5pm Ballet Wkt 6pm Hip Hop

Wkt 7pm Bellydance/Hip Hop Fusion 7:30pm Bellydance 8pm Tap • Tuesday 9am Hip Hop Wkt 6pm Intro to Bellydance 7pm Bellydance 8pm Bellydance 8pm Hip Hop Choreo 2 •Wednesday 9am Latin Wkt 5:30pm Hip Hop Wkt 6:30 Bhangra 7:30 Bollywood 8pm Contemporary • Thursday 9am Hip Hop Wrkt 4pm Kid’s Dance 5pm Teens Hip Hop 7pm West African 8pm West African 2 • Saturday 9:30am Hip Hop Wkt 10:45am POUND Wkt • $13 for 60 minute classes, Wkt $5. 90 1/2 N. Lexington Avenue. www.studiozahiya.com :: 828.242.7595 haLfWay to hemPx ticketfly.com/event/1088963-halfway-hempxasheville-dj-asheville • TH (2/18), 8pm - DJ dance party presented by HempX Asheville and the NC Industrial Hemp Alliance. $10/$7 advance. Held at New Mountain Theater/Amphitheater, 38 N. French Broad JoyfuL noise 649-2828, joyfulnoisecenter.org Held at First Presbyterian Church of Weaverville, 30 Alabama Ave., Weaverville • MONDAYS, 7:30-8:15pm - Intermediate/ Advanced clogging class. Ages 7 through adult. $10 • MONDAYS, 6:45-7:30pm - Beginner clogging class. Ages 7 through adult. $10. sWing asheviLLe swingasheville.com • THURSDAYS, 7:30pm - Beginner & intermediate swing dance lessons. 8:30-11pm - Open dance. Live music regularly. $7/$5 members.

Held at Club Eleven on Grove, 11 Grove St.

history. Reservations required: bustour@riverlink. org. $20/Free for members.

BuncomBe county master gardeners

henderson county League of Women voters lwvhcnc.org • TH (2/18), 3-5pm - Monthly meeting. Free. Held in the Chamber of Commerce Meeting Room, 204 Kanuga Road, Hendersonville

255-5522, buncombemastergardener.org • TH (2/18), 11:30am - Gardening in the Mountains Lecture Series: “Pruning Shrubs and Small Trees.” Registration required: 255-5522.

Free. Held at Buncombe County Extension Office, 49 Mount Carmel Road

henderson county senior democrats 692-6424 • WE (2/17), noon - BYO lunch and discussion group. Free. Held at Henderson County Democratic Party, 905 S. Greenville Highway, Hendersonville

farm & garden

caroLina farm steWardshiP association 919-542-2402, carolinafarmstewards.org • WE (2/24), 11am-noon - “Saving Seed on a Market Farm,” presentation by Sow True Seeds followed by an optional tour of Sow True Seeds.

Registration: ag@sowtrueseed.com. Free. Held at French Broad Food Co-op, 90 Biltmore Ave. hayWood county master gardeners 456-3575, sarah_scott@ncsu.edu • Through TU (3/15) - Annual plant sale. Contact to order: 456-3575 or mgarticles@charter.net.

PoLk county friends of agricuLture Breakfast polkcountyfarms.org • 3rd WEDNESDAYS, 7-8am - Monthly breakfast with presentations regarding agriculture.

Admission by donation. Held at the 4-H Center, Locust St., Columbus

food & Beer eco caLdWeLL community coLLege green grannies avl.mx/0gm • 3rd SATURDAYS, 4pm - Sing-a-long for the climate. Information: singfortheclimate.com Free.

Held at Pritchard Park, 4 College St. riverLink 170 Lyman St., 252-8474 ext.11 • TH (2/18), 11:45am - RiverLink bus tour of the French Broad and Swannanoa Rivers, focusing on the Wilma Dykeman RiverWay Plan and

government & PoLitics

2855 Hickory Blvd., Hudson, 726-2200, cccti.edu • TH (2/25), 6pm - Culinary Arts Program presents an African themed dinner. Reservations required: 726-2407. $21. the Lord’s acre thelordsacre.org • THURSDAYS, 11:30am - The Fairview Welcome Table provides a community lunch. Free. Held at Fairview Christian Fellowship, 596 Old Us Highway 74, Fairview

kids attic saLt theatre comPany 505-2926 • SATURDAYS through (2/20), 10am - Tricky, Tricky Trickster Tales. $5. Held at The Magnetic Theatre, 375 Depot St. cataWBa science center 243 3rd Ave. NE, Hickory, 322-8169, catawbascience.org • SA (2/20), noon-3pm - “Engineering Time: Nuclear Radiation,” hands-on activities about nuclear engineering. $8/$6 children. fLetcher LiBrary 120 Library Road, Fletcher, 687-1218, library.hendersoncountync.org • WEDNESDAYS, 10:30am - Family story time.

Free.

JoyfuL noise 649-2828, joyfulnoisecenter.org • MONDAYS, 6-7:30pm - Capriccio String Orchestra for intermediate players. $10. Held at West Asheville Presbyterian Church, 690 Haywood Road • MONDAYS, 6:15-6:45pm - “Movement and Dance,” class for 5 and 6 year olds. $10. Held at First Presbyterian Church of Weaverville, 30 Alabama Ave., Weaverville Lake James state Park 6883 N.C. Highway 126, Nebo, 584-7728 • SA (2/20), 10am - “Predators of Lake James,” ranger presentation with indoor craft activity. Free.

• SU (2/21), 1pm - “Trees Magnified,” ranger led exploration of trees with magnifying glasses.

Registration required: 584-7728. Free.

mountainx.com

Pisgah astronomicaL research institute 1 PARI Drive, Rosman, 862-5554, pari.edu • TU (2/23), 6-8pm - “Frog Call Physics,” science workshop for girls ages 9-14. Registration required. $10. sPeLLBound chiLdren’s BookshoP 50 N. Merrimon Ave., 708-7570, spellboundchildrensbookshop.com • SATURDAYS, 11am - Storytime for ages 3-7. Free to attend.

outdoors ymca of Wnc 210-2265, ymcawnc.org • WE (2/24), 8:45am - 3 mile easy hike on the Fletcher Park Trail Loop. Free/$3 optional carpooling. Held at YMCA - Woodfin, 30 Woodfin St.

Parenting youth outright 772-1912, youthoutright.org • 3rd SATURDAYS, 11am - Middle school discussion group. Free. Held at First Congregational UCC of Asheville, 20 Oak St.

PuBLic Lectures foothiLLs conservancy of north caroLina 437-9930, foothillsconservancy.org • SA (2/20), 10:30am - “The History of Pisgah National Forest,” presentation by author Marci Spencer. $10. Held at the Burke County Courthouse, 203 S. Greene St., Morganton PuBLic Lectures at mars hiLL 866-642-4968, mhu.edu • TH (2/18), 3pm - “Unveiling Our Treasures,” presentation by Pauline Johnson and Roman Blevins regarding discoveries from the Southern Appalachian Archives. Free. Held at the Ramsey Center for Regional Studies.

PuBLic Lectures at unca unca.edu • TH (2/18), 7pm - “Public Events, Private Lives: Literature + Politics in the Modern World,” public lecture by Sir Salman Rushdie. Free. Held at

FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

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com m u n i ty ca Len da r

Kimmel Arena.

• TH (2/18), noon - “Post-Colonialism, Hybridity, and Rushdie,” lecture by Vanessa Guignery, professor of English literature at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Lyon, France. Free. Held in Karpen Hall, Laurel Forum.

sPirituaLity asheviLLe insight meditation (pd.) Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation. Learn how to get a Mindfulness Meditation practice started. 1st & 3rd Mondays. 7pm – 8:30. Asheville Insight Meditation, 29 Ravenscroft Dr, Suite 200, (828) 808-4444, www.ashevillemeditation. com. astro-counseLing (pd.) Licensed counselor and accredited professional astrologer uses your chart when counseling for additional insight into yourself, your relationships and life directions. Readings also available. Christy Gunther, MA, LPC. (828) 258-3229. oPen heart meditation (pd.) Experience and deepen the spiritual connection to your heart, the beauty and deep peace of the Divine within you.

Increase your natural joy and gratitude while releasing negative emotions. Love Offering 7-8pm Tuesdays, 5 Covington St. 296-0017 OpenHeartMeditation.com. cathedraL of aLL souLs 3 Angle St., 274-2681, allsoulscathedral.org • WE (2/17), 7-9 - “Risk as a Spiritual Stance: Drawing on the Life of Reverend Pauli Murray,” presentation by Donnelley McCray. Free. center for art & sPirit at st. george 1 School Road, 258-0211 • WEDNESDAYS, 3:30pm & 6:30pm - Sitting meditation and daily mindfulness practice.

Info: kenlenington@gmail.com. Admission by donation.

• Last Tuesdays, 7-9pm - Aramaic, Hebrew and Egyptian vocal toning, breath work and meditation. Admission by donation. centraL united methodist church 27 Church St., 253-3316, centralumc.org • WEDNESDAYS through (4/27), 6-7pm Christian yoga and meditation series. Free. cLoud cottage community of mindfuL Living 219 Old Toll Circle, Black Mountain, 6696000, cloudcottage.org • 2nd & 4th TUESDAYS, 7-8:30pm Mindfulness training class. Admission by donation. first congregationaL ucc of hendersonviLLe 1735 5th Ave. W., Hendersonville, 692-8630, fcchendersonville.org • FRIDAYS through (4/1), 10am - “Great World Religions,” lectures teaching about Islam, Judaism and Buddhism.

Free.

• SATURDAYS through (2/27), 11am-2pm Basic meditation class. Admission by donation.

24

FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

mountainx.com

by Abigail Griffin

• SUNDAYS through (2/28), 9am - “An Exploration of Living in Community With All of Creation,” book study. Free. grace Lutheran church 1245 Sixth Ave. W., Hendersonville, 6934890, gracelutherannc.com • WEDNESDAYS (2/17) through (3/16), 4:455:30pm - Lenten supper with soup, salad and desert. Followed by worship at 6pm. $5/$3 children under 12.

• THURSDAYS (2/25) through (3/17), 10-11:30am - “Hymns for the Season of Lent,” study series. Free. mountain Zen Practice center mountainzen.org • TUESDAYS, 7:15-8:45pm - “Zen Awareness Practice,” weekly meditation followed by group discussion focused on selected readings of Cheri Huber. Orientation required, contact for details: mountainzen@bellsouth. net. Free. nourish & fLourish 347 Depot St., 255-2770, nourishflourishnow.com • TUESDAYS, 7:30pm - Kirtan with Sangita Devi. $10-$15.

Prama yoga and meditation 712-9326 • TUESDAYS, 6:30-8:30pm - All levels yoga and meditation class. Proceeds benefit the Women’s Welfare and Development Foundation. Registration required. $5.

Held at Asheville Therapeutic Yoga, 29 Ravenscroft shamBhaLa meditation center 60 N Merrimon Ave. #113, 200-5120, asheville.shambhala.org • THURSDAYS, 7-8:30pm & SUNDAYS, 10-noon - Meditation and community.

Admission by donation. st. mark’s Lutheran church 10 North Liberty St., 253-0043 • WEDNESDAYS (2/17) through (3/16), 6pm - Lenten soup and sandwich supper.

Followed by service at 7pm. Free. the cove 1 Porters Cove Road, 298-2092, thecove.org • TUESDAYS through (2/23), 9:45-11:45am - “Love That Makes a Difference,” Bible study group. Free/$12 optional buffet. the gathering church 60 State St., 552-3224 • SU (2/21), 10am - “LAUNCH Service,” grand opening. Free.

sPoken & Written Word 35BeLoW 35 E. Walnut St., 254-1320, ashevilletheatre. org • TH (2/25), 7:30pm - Listen to This Storytelling Series: “Leap Before You Look,” stories and original songs from locals. $15. asheviLLe BookWorks 428 1/2 Haywood Road, 255-8444, ashevillebookworks.com • SA (2/20), 6-8pm - Book launch of Worker, poems by Gary Hawkins. Free to attend.

BLack Box storyteLLing theater 808-1150, davidjoemiller.com • WE (2/17), 7pm - Open-mic hosted by David Joe Miller and Tom Chalmers. Signup at 6:30pm. Free to attend. Held at Buffalo Nickel, 747 Haywood Road BLue ridge Books 152 S. Main St., Waynesville • 1st & 3rd SATURDAYS, 10am - Banned Book Club. Free to attend. city Lights Bookstore 3 E. Jackson St., Sylva, 586-9499, citylightsnc.com • TH (2/18), 10:30am - Coffee with the Poet Series: Poet and professor, Catherine Carter is featured. Free to attend.

• SA (2/20), 3pm - Ann Miller Woodford presents her book, When All God’s Children Get Together. Free to attend.

lines. $15 per entry.

• FR (2/19), 7pm - The NetWest program of the North Carolina Writers Network hosts open mic night for poetry and short stories. Free to attend.

Held at City Lights Bookstore, 3 E. Jackson St., Sylva

spring ultimate frisbee league. $40.

voLunteering

218 Patton Ave., 258-1695, homewardboundwnc.org • 3rd THURSDAYS, 11am - “Welcome Home Tour,” tours of Asheville organizations that serve the homeless population. Registration required. Free to attend.

read 2 succeed asheviLLe r2sasheville.org • TH (2/18), 4-6pm - Volunteer information session for literacy tutoring of Asheville City Sschool students living in poverty and reading below grade level in grades K through 3. Registration required: 6450359. Free. Held at 16-A Stewart St.

mountaintrue 258-8737, wnca.org

For more volunteering opportunities go to mountainx.com/volunteering

homeWard Bound of Wnc

sPorts asheviLLe uLtimate cLuB ashevilleultimate.org, ashevilleultimateclub@gmail.com • Through SU (2/28) - Registration open for adult

• TH (2/18) & TH (2/25) - Paddle-n-Plant with the French Broad river keeper to prevent sediment erosion. Registration required: anna@mountaintrue.org.

Free.

firestorm cafe and Books 610 Haywood Road, 255-8115 • Third WEDNESDAYS, 7pm - ReVisioning History Book Group. Free to attend.

• Last THURSDAYS, 7pm - Liberty Book Club. Free to attend. henderson county heritage museum 1 Historic Courthouse Square, Hendersonville, 694-1619, hendersoncountymuseum.org • SA (2/20), 2:30pm & SU (2/21), 3pm - Black History Month Celebration: Storytelling by Ronnie Pepper.

Accompanied by the Glade Creek Baptist Choir on Saturday, and Sandra Suber on Sunday. $10. maLaProP’s Bookstore and cafe 55 Haywood St., 254-6734, malaprops. com Free unless otherwise noted.

• WE (2/17), 7pm - Ed Tarkington’s presents his novel, Only Love Can Break Your Heart.

• WE (2/17), 7pm - Ed Tarkington presents his novel, Only Love Can Break Your Heart.

• TH (2/18), 7pm - Meredith Leigh’s presents her book, The Ethical Meat Handbook: Complete Home Butchery, Charcuterie and Cooking for the Conscious Omnivore.

• SU (2/21), 3pm - “Writers at Home Reading Series,” featuring work from UNCA’s Great Smokies Writing Program and The Great Smokies Review.

• SU (2/21), 5pm - “Poets Respond to Race,” poetry reading with Jen Lawson.

• MO (2/22), 7pm - Writer’s Coffeehouse w/ Jake Bible: Monthly meeting to discuss the business of writing and network.

• TU (2/23), 7pm- Richard Judy presents his book, THRU: An Appalachian Trail Love Story.

• TH (2/25), 7pm - Susan Dennard presents her novel, Truthwitch and Veronica Rossi presents her novel, Riders. north caroLina Writers’ netWork ncwriters.org • Through TU (3/1) - Submissions accepted for the Randall Jarrell Poetry Competition. See website for full guide-

mountainx.com

FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

25

WeLLness

DIET FOR A SMALL ANIMAL The great pet food debate comes to Asheville

30+ Years Experience

BY nicki glassER nickiglasser@hotmail.com

02/29/16

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FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

Just like the unending (and everchanging) debates over human food, opinions vary widely on the best diet for your cat or dog. Raw? Kibble?

Canned? Homemade? And, also like human diets, a number of Asheville pet professionals say the answer lies in understanding the science behind a body’s needs.

First and foremost is understanding that dogs and cats have very different dietary needs. “Dogs are what we call opportunistic carnivores. Dogs can get some nutrients out of plantbased food; they just don’t do it as well as with meat,” says jenn yarosh, owner of Patton Avenue Pet Co. “But, over the years, because they’ve been domesticated by eating scraps, their body has adapted to be able handle some plant matter.”

Cats, she says, “are obligate carnivores. Cat bodies do not process carbohydrates — they poop out carbs. Their digestive tract, their teeth, everything inside of them is designed for meat.

When they’re eating a carb diet, they’re not really processing it; it’s just passing through them and putting stress on the body,” she says.

A balanced diet for dogs is “somewhere between 70 percent meat, 20 percent organ meat [and] 10 percent veggies,” says christy thompson, a holistic wellness coach for people and pets. “They have to get enough protein, enough vitamins and minerals in the right proportions. They also need bone … it’s got that perfect calciumphosphorous ratio. It is what their body is programmed for.”

The differences between the two types of pets don’t end with food; proper hydration also needs to be considered.

According to Thompson, who was a veterinary technician and a laboratory medical technician before she began her business, My Holistic Transformations, cats have been eating rodents for centuries and are not natural water drinkers.

“You got to figure rodents are 70-80 percent moisture,” whereas kibble “is sometimes 4 percent moisture, and so [cats] are in a constant state of low-level dehydration,” she says.

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creature comfort: Kristi King of Green Earth Pet Food holds her cat Dora.

Photo by Sheryl Mann of Flying Dogs Photography Karel carnohan, a veterinarian and owner of the Cat Care Clinic of Asheville, breaks it down further. “A mouse is about 60 percent protein, 3-4 percent carbs — that’s what’s in its stomach — and the rest is fat and inert things like minerals,” she says. read Before you feed Carnohan encourages owners to inspect the package ingredients before purchasing cat food. “[In] a lot of the foods in the grocery store, like Purina Cat Chow, Whiskas, and Kibbles and Bits, the first six ingredients are corn, wheat, soy protein maybe. So it’s not meat. A very unhealthy diet,” she says.

“The other myth is that dry food is good for their teeth. Well, no, it’s not,” says Carnohan. “That’s like us eating saltwater taffy and saying it’s for our teeth. It doesn’t make sense.”

While she says there is a benefit to crunching something up — “a cat in the wild is going to crunch up the bone” — Carnohan does not think sticking close to a wild diet is critical.

“I used to work with wild animals and wild cats. In the wild, cats don’t live that long and don’t have good dental health either. Wild cats live a couple of years if they’re lucky.” Carnohan believes dental treats can be useful, “but the main thing … is keeping their natural systems in

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balance. Feeding them a healthy high-protein diet is going to keep their pH right. Everything is going to be in more balance than if they’re fed a high-grain, corn-based diet,” she says.

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raW deaL? Kristi King, owner of Green Earth Pet Food, a raw food company based in Asheville, began to learn more about pet food back in 1998, when one of her young dogs developed bone cancer that metastasized to the stomach. Her vet suggested she make chicken and rice for the dog because it was easier to digest. Although it was too late to save that dog, the loss propelled her to learn more about pet food. “The more research I did, the more disgusted I was getting,” she says.

When she heard about raw food, she decided to give it a try because cooking for her pets was time-consuming.

She became convinced when her 16-year-old cat with kidney problems had drastic improvement. Before eating raw food, the cat “would just lie around.

I couldn’t get her to play with toys or anything,” says King. “I started giving her the raw food, and, I’m not kidding, she started running around the house, chasing toys and balls. ... She couldn’t even jump up on the bed before.” After the change to raw food, “she was jumping on the bed. She started acting like a kitten. For me, it was like, that’s it. Everyone is going on raw food now, dogs and cats,” says King.

But not everyone is on the raw food bandwagon. Carnohan says there is no scientific proof that raw is better. “The only benefit to a raw food diet that we really know is true is that raw meat is slightly more digestible. Balance that with the risks of salmonella [or] sarcocystis — there are a lot of parasites you can get — why take the chance?” she says.

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FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

27

wEllnEs s

MoRe iNfo JENNA YAROSH pattonavenuepet.com CHRISTY THOMPSON myholistictransformations.com KAREL CARNOHAN, DVM catcareclinicasheville.com KRISTI KING greenearthpetfood.com LEA OSBORNE, DVM petvetonpatton.com LAUREL DAVIS, DVM sunvetanimalwellness.com

they feed themselves. “Whatever new phenomenon is sweeping across humans in our nation is sweeping across the dog food bags as well. I try to work within the auspices of what the owner wants for their pet,” says Osborne. “I make recommendations when the pet is not healthy or doing well on its own.”

Osborne does not take a position in the kibble, raw or canned food debate. The so-called “best diet,” she says, doesn’t exist. “The biggest thing is to watch your pet on the food and work with somebody to change it so that it makes your pet appear and be healthy,” she says.

However, giving pets the food that is appropriate for their biology may require some people to put their per-

sonal feelings aside. “If you look at science,” says Yarosh, “it all points in one direction: feeding them a biologically appropriate-based diet, which is a meat-based diet. And that’s coming from a lifelong vegetarian.” In her store, she offers good, better and best options.

“We don’t buy anything that would be considered bad or OK,” she says.

Yarosh acknowledges that feeding your pets on these foods can cost more.

“I spend more on pet food than I did in college, when I just had kibble for my dog,” she says. But she saves on vet bills, she adds, finding she only needs to take her pets for yearly checkups and injuries. “It’s in the quality and longevity of life that I see the value of spending a little bit more on pet food.” X

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Food that is not agreeable to dogs’ and cats’ systems can cause “pretty much any health problem,” says laurel davis, doctor of veterinary medicine and owner of Sunvet Animal Wellness in downtown Asheville. She says that most gastrointestinal, skin and ear problems are related to carbohydrates in the food or protein sources to which an animal is sensitive or allergic. “Almost every time there is an ear problem … it is related to food,” says Davis. christy thompson, owner of My Holistic Transformations, agrees, saying that often the cause of itchiness in dogs, such as yeast infections in their ears or the skin on their paws, “is because the dogs are eating all these grains.” Food allergies and sensitivities can also arise when a dog is fed the same protein for years. “The body can start seeing it as an invader,” she says.

And, according to Thompson, “some [dogs and cats] are just like us and have environment allergies, like when the trees are blooming.” If the problem is a

year-round event, it is probably a food allergy, she says.

If it only happens at certain times of the year, an environmental allergy is likely to blame.

“No matter what the disease problem is, I always clean up what they’re eating,” says Davis. “Because, first and foremost, they need to be getting the nutritional choices correct.” She cites the example of a 10-year-old hound dog that recently came in for help with itchy, dry, flaky skin. She saw the dog had patches of fur missing and scratched the whole time. “He’s on a good dry food that has never had water put in it, is always bored with his food and has been on the same food for a long time — also not a good idea,” she says. For this dog, she recommended the owner gradually change to a grain-free, potatofree kibble, soaked in water or broth, along with cooked meat and vegetables.

“I will guarantee you, when that dog comes back in three weeks, I’m going to see a dog that is healthier and the skin has changed and he’s not scratching,” Davis says. “And this is without drugs.” X

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FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

29

green scene

ISLANDS IN THE STREAM

Waste not: A pilot program in two Asheville Housing Authority developments is

giving residents access to the same kind of service available to other city residents.

Photo by Cindy Kunst

BY cinDY kunst clkunst@clicksphotography.net “Recycling is a pain in the butt, to be honest,” Livingston Apartments resident curtis hadden said on a recent trash pickup day, while waiting for the school bus with his son amid a freezing wind. “I mean, it’s good and you should do it, I guess, but there’s too much sorting. This can go in there but not that, you know? I just like to get stuff out of my way in one can. My girl likes it, though, and my son, he does it all the time. He’s always getting on me, too, saying, ‘No, Dad, you can’t put it in there: It goes in the blue one.’”

Those and similar concerns helped derail a 2013 attempt to bring recycling to selected city public housing developments, which was soon overwhelmed by contaminated materials. But while Hadden apparently still has his doubts, another such program is showing more promising results so far.

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FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

The new effort, launched last Oct. 1, was designed to be more convenient for residents and to include significant educational and outreach components. And to date, the numbers show a nearly 23 percent drop in the total weight of solid waste collected in the pilot area since the program began, notes amber weaver, the city’s chief sustainability officer.

That’s “a rate of recycling similar to what the city as a whole is participating at,” says dawn chavez, executive director of Asheville GreenWorks.

“That’s really exciting!” getting it right The pilot program — a joint effort by the Asheville Housing Authority, its Residents Council, Asheville GreenWorks, various city agencies and other stakeholders — was rolled out last fall in the Livingston and Erskine-Walton developments. And while the prior attempt had simply installed big recycling bins next to the existing trash dumpsters without

mountainx.com

Pilot recycling program targets public housing

adequate public education, the new program gives participants access to the same kind of service that’s available to other city residents.

Funded by a grant from the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, the current pilot enables residents of the targeted communities to recycle plastics Nos. 1-7, cardboard (including both boxes and cartons), glass, metal and all types of paper.

Together with $4,325 in city matching funds, the $21,625 grant covered the startup costs, enabling the Sanitation Department to buy small bins for individual apartment dwellers and large, wheeled carts for each building. By making recycling more convenient and showing residents how to reduce their household waste stream, the pilot project aims to divert 14 tons of recyclable solid waste from the landfill by June 30.

Asheville GreenWorks has taken the lead in community outreach, “so this pilot program will be as successful as possible,” notes Chavez. Those efforts have included several community meetings; a “recycling education vehicle” that the nonprofit drives to neighborhoods, schools and special events; door-to-door canvassing led by Community Engagement Coordinator dewana little; and a survey asking residents what kinds of recycling services they needed.

Having smaller bins for apartment dwellers and being able to include all recyclables in a single container, rather than having to sort them, says Weaver, “will greatly enhance their ability to recycle and reduce waste.” amBitious goaLs To quantify the program’s results, the Sanitation Department weighed the amount of trash collected in the target communities last August and September, before recycling began.

Since then, the department has periodically monitored and weighed both the trash and recyclables collected.

Meanwhile, Curbside Management, Buncombe County’s primary recycling contractor, will monitor the recyclables for contamination and report possible sources to Sanitation. Although the sample size is limited at this point, it shows a 22.8 percent drop in the total

weight of solid waste collected in the pilot communities on selected dates, compared with the control numbers.

The project is part of the city’s ambitious Zero Waste AVL program, which aims to cut the total weight of solid wastes going to the landfill by 50 percent by 2035. That’s when the Buncombe County Landfill is projected to reach full capacity.

Adopted by City Council in 2010, the plan established a series of five-year benchmarks en route to the longterm goal.

And with the successful rollout of the “Big Blue” bins, a singlestream recycling program and the current pilot project, the program appears to be on track with the timeline set by City Council so far. The next big hurdle for Zero Waste AVL will be developing and implementing a pay-as-you-throw system that incentivizes recycling and encourages reducing the waste stream by treating trash the same as water, sewage or other utilities. At this writing, Council is still considering whether it should be a bag- or a cart-based system.

“The Office of Sustainability is quite pleased with the initial results of the program and its partners,” notes Weaver, and outreach and public education will continue “to gauge the needs of each individual community as the program grows.”

Meanwhile, other public housing developments want to know when they’ll be included. If the pilot is successful, the city will apply for another such grant this year to expand the program to other areas; eventually, the goal is to provide recycling service at all public housing communities.

And for Livingston resident jared Pearce and his family, the pilot program has been a welcome addition to the community. “My wife and I have been asking for recycling in this neighborhood for over a year,” he reveals. “We love it, and we’re so glad it’s here. We found out, once we started, that we actually throw out one bag of house garbage every week: The rest goes to recycling.” X

mountainx.com

FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

31

food

Dawn of the oak age Biltmore Wine Co. collaborates with Asheville brewers on barrel programs mojokitchen.biz

Lock, stock and BarreL: The rickhouse at Catawba Brewing Co.’s South Slope facility offers needed space for the brewery’s barrel-aging program. Pictured is Shelton Steele, left, Catawba’s director of commercial operations with owner Billy Pyatt. Photo by Matthew Spaulding

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This is the first in a two-part series on the use of barrels in the Ashevillearea beer industry.

Brewers in Northern Europe have been aging their beers in oak barrels for centuries, from traditional Belgian lambics to the first IPAs that made the long journey from England around the horn of Africa. American craft brewers began to modify these time-honored techniques in the late 20th century, using repurposed wine and spirits barrels to impart unique flavor profiles to small-batch ales and lagers.

Western North Carolina beers are no stranger to oak, as evinced in

mountainx.com

the recent proliferation of barrel-aging programs in area breweries, where innovation continues to thrive. traditions of reuse Founded 30 years ago, the biltmore wine co. has always maintained the standards of sustainability and community integration established by George W. Vanderbilt when he began construction on the Biltmore Estate in the late 1800s. To that end, Biltmore Wine barrels have found a new home after retirement, with secondary uses ranging from furniture to garden and landscape installations.

But with the emergence of Asheville’s burgeoning craft brewing community, the company found a creative way to repurpose its barrels in accordance with Vanderbilt’s vision of a self-sustaining

farm. “Recycling wine barrels through reuse within the local community fits within that model,” says Biltmore public relations manager marissa jamison. “Craft beer has become a huge industry in the Asheville area, and Biltmore is glad to be a partner in the beverage community.”

Biltmore has contributed barrels to local breweries such as wicked weed brewing, burial beer co., highland brewing co., oscar blues brewery and catawba brewing co.

While Biltmore is not in the business of selling its barrels, strong relationships with area breweries have resulted in the occasional and informal passing-on of retired barrels when limited supplies allow and have also led to exciting opportunities for collaboration.

Last year Biltmore worked with Wicked Weed on Succession, a gold-

en sour ale brewed with Biltmore riesling grape must and yeast and aged for nine months in Biltmore white-wine barrels. The success of Succession is a positive indicator of the mutually beneficial relationships being forged between Asheville’s craft beverage leaders, and it all started with barrels. the Banks avenue rickhouse catawba brewing co. is known for its wide selection of predominantly traditional beer styles available on draft and in cans throughout North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Take one step into its Banks Avenue tasting room, and it’s clear that the brewery is also serious about barrels.

“It’s our rickhouse,” says owner billy Pyatt. “You’ll see [barrels] stuck on every wall that we can find space.”

Catawba has been experimenting with barrel-aged beers since 2000.

At that time, the fledgling brewery couldn’t afford big stainless steel storage tanks or kegs, so co-owner scott Pyatt found an inexpensive source for Jack Daniels barrels and used them to store production beer until kegs were available to package the product. “The result, of course, was wonderful. Moreover, it started us on our path into all kinds of barrel beers,” Billy says.

Scott passed his experience making such beers as Whiskey River IPA to director of brewing operations Kevin sondey, who currently handles each aspect of the barrel program. Duties include procuring barrels, pulling samples and tasting and blending beers aged for different lengths of time.

The recent completion of a major expansion at Catawba’s Morganton brewery affords Sondey an opportunity to focus more on the barrel program. He’d been so occupied with other day-to-day responsibilities that a large stock of barrels — many sourced from Smooth Ambler Spirits in West Virginia — dried out to a nearly unusable state. But soaking the wood with hot water saved them and ensured that they could be sealed.

The Catawba crew finds that malty beers age better than others in oak barrels, especially Hooligan Scotch Ale. Additional success stories include sour saisons, White Zombie White Ale in gin barrels and a 14.5 percent ABV Belgian-style quad aged in Biltmore cabernet barrels for five years. Director of commercial

operations shelton steele notes that the limited quantity of these creations has meant turning down customer requests for growler fills, but Catawba is working toward offering the beers in specialty bottles.

In the near future, Sondey plans to age a new imperial-strength Rediculous Red IPA (10 percent ABV) in bourbon barrels and has already paired Farmer Ted’s Cream Ale, an admittedly unlikely barrel beer, with Brettanomyces yeast, the results of which will be available to try in a few months. Aiding those creative efforts is the supportive Asheville Brewers Alliance — an invaluable network for buying and selling excess barrels on the local level — and the growth of the craft spirit industry, which, Sondey says, will keep brewers supplied with interesting barrels.

The increased demand has also sparked a regional interest in cooperage — which Banks Avenue tasting manager jared turbyfill calls “a bit of a lost art” — as evidenced through Scott’s contact with a new barrel maker in Marion.

Big Beers from a smaLL sPace Local craft-brew drinkers who have stumbled onto casks pouring oyster house brewing co.’s acclaimed Bourbon Supermoon Imperial Oyster Stout or Islay Watchstone Scotch Ale might find themselves confronted with a conundrum: Where do they keep the barrels in such a small brewery?

The answer is, they don’t. Oyster House ages its beers on oak spirals, cubes and chips soaked in a variety of spirits rather than in second-use barrels.

This process has proved advantageous in ways beyond producing oaked beers in very tight quarters by allowing for innovation. “I like some old standards, but the exciting beer, for me, is the experimental stuff,” says assistant brewer Philip shepard. “Oak adds a depth and character to beer that you can’t get any other way. And oak that has picked up the flavors of some of the world’s best whiskey, well, how can that be anything but good?”

Shepard adds that a variety of interesting new experiments on oak will be available in the near future, teasing the possibility of a Kahlua variant of Supermoon.

With connections to several distilleries in Scotland, Shepard suggests that Oyster House will eventually take the plunge into barrels, with one qualification: “We just need to figure out where the hell we can put them.” X

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FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

33

FooD

by Krista L. White

kristawhitewrites@yahoo.com

FINE CHINA

taste of tradition: Traditional steamer baskets serve as decor at Red Ginger.

Items from the restaurant’s dim sum menu will be served in baskets as well.

Red Ginger brings dim sum to Asheville East meets Western North Carolina in a blend of authentic flavors, decor and architecture in downtown Asheville’s newly opened Red Ginger Dim Sum and Tapas restaurant. The eatery, which at press time was scheduled for a soft opening on Feb. 16, boasts ruddy red-orange and gray walls framed by white classic Americana subway tiles, repurposed barn wood and authentic Chinese artwork and ceramics.

Owner mary “mai” medvedev describes the look as warm and comfortable with a modern twist.

All of the artwork is from China except for the locally painted blue and white mural that greets guests upon arrival, she notes, but about 90 percent of the building materials are locally sourced, including the North Carolina rainbow poplar tables.

And while the space feels new and modern, Medvedev promises a taste experience infused with centuries of tradition.

“Dim sum is very unique Chinese food,” she explains. “Not everybody can have a restaurant, because authentic dim sum is not something that can be taught at school. The tradition of dim sum is based in heritage: One learns the art of making it over many years.”

Executive chef tai tsi lam, for example, has almost 40 years of experience under his belt, and to become an independent dim sum chef he had to study under a master for 10 years.

“All spices and ingredients are exactly what [Chinese people] eat,” says Medvedev. “In my mind, I always wanted to create a menu where we present exactly what you would find in your Chinese friend’s home.”

Medvedev got her start in the restaurant business in 1993, when she opened the Peking Duck House in New Orleans, which she ran for six years. She also owns the Japanese restaurant Umi in Hendersonville.

But opening a dim sum restaurant was a dream that Medvedev had long held dear.

Dim sum is Cantonese; it began as an accompaniment to tea for travelers during the time of Marco Polo, she explains. As time went on, it came to be included in Sunday

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FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

brunches, family events, celebrations and now restaurants and hotels.

And if you think dim sum is strictly dumplings, guess again. There are also such diverse dishes as steamed meatballs, sticky rice with chicken, taro cake and spring rolls.

Everything in the restaurant is made from scratch using traditional methods, says Medvedev.

And while she’s committed to authentic flavors and ingredients, Medvedev has broken with tradition when it comes to service.

Typically, dim sum dishes are precooked and wheeled to the table on carts, so diners can see what they’re choosing.

At Red Ginger, patrons order from a menu and their food is prepared upon request. But the dishes will still arrive in traditional bamboo steamer baskets.

In addition to the dim sum menu, the restaurant also offers its take on tapas, prepared by chef hao jiang, formerly of Umi. The tapas menu features dishes such as grilled sea scallops and baked Chilean sea bass.

The house wines come from the Russian Chapel Hills Winery in Columbus, which Medvedev and her Russian-born husband, Andrey, own and run. Restaurant patrons can also choose from an extensive list of local beers, wines, sake and cocktails.

There are also many locally sourced ingredients: Red Ginger’s chicken comes from Joyce Farms in WinstonSalem, and the pork and steak from Hickory Nut Gap Farm.

“I think this is a good addition to the city, because our menu features food that doesn’t exist in the area,” Medvedev points out. “I’m really proud of this and happy to serve this community.”

And in case you were wondering if the restaurant’s opening was planned to coincide with the Chinese New Year, which began Feb. 8, Mendvedev says it was just a happy coincidence. “But, from feng shui, this is a perfect Chinese New Year,” she notes.

Red Ginger Dim Sum and Tapas is at 82 Patton Ave. and is open 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

Saturdays and 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays.

Prices range from $5-$18. Reservations are accepted for parties of six or more. Visit redgingerasheville.com for more information. X

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friendLy fare: “In my mind, I always wanted to create a menu where we present exactly what you would find in your Chinese friend’s home,” says Mary Medvedev, owner of Asheville’s new Red Ginger Dim Sum and Tapas. Photos by Krista L. White

FooD

smaLL Bites

by Kat McReynolds | kmcreynolds@mountainx.com

MANNA FoodBank packs its millionth book bag with weekend food On Friday, Feb. 19, for the millionth time, MANNA FoodBank will send a local child home from school with a backpack full of food for the weekend. The MANNA Pack for Kids program distributed a total of 50 kits in 2006, its inaugural year.

Now, the nonprofit’s efforts reach an average of 4,838 students in 149 Western North Carolina schools every week.

“The MANNA Packs are heavy on proteins and shelf-stable fruits and vegetables. Each pack also includes the components for a family meal, breakfast and snack items,” explains youth programs manager beth stahl, who pioneered the initiative and has driven its progress since.

“We send fresh fruit out with the packs when we can. Lately that has been apples.”

According to a release from MANNA, a quarter of WNC children struggle with regular access to food.

Many depend on free or reducedprice breakfast and lunch during the school week, but they may not have enough to eat on weekends.

School employees help identify these at-risk youths, whose book bags are discreetly stocked before a dismissal bell ushers in the weekend.

“Younger kids will get their bags and share their excitement with their fellow classmates and friends, but discretion certainly becomes more of a priority for the older students.,” Stahl say. “They can face stigma from classmates and also pushback from parents that might not feel comfortable accepting what they see as charity.” Under the guidance of MANNA’s umbrella organization Feeding America, privacy has been a priority from the start.

Still, feedback is largely positive.

One student called the pack a “treat bag,” and even older students have expressed the bags’ importance.

“We’ve also heard a poignant story recently about kids being grateful to be able to bring food home to their families,” Stahl says. “It’s amazing

person. For more information, visit espressoandjuicebar.com or call 676-3101 to register (required). the seven moLes of mexico

Packing them in: Volunteers at MANNA FoodBank celebrate as Fairview Elementary student Zach Dickey, 9, places the one-millionth MANNA Pack for Kids in a box, ready for delivery. This group of volunteers comes every week to pack thousands of MANNA Packs, which are then distributed every Friday to students across Western North Carolina. Photo courtesy of MANNA FoodBank

how these young children are taking on this responsibility.” Sharing is factored into the portions.

Despite significant progress, Stahl says the program struggles to meet demand of the thousands of foodinsecure homes on a limited budget.

“We buy all of the food that goes into the MANNA Packs, so it is a constant funding priority. Another hurdle is sourcing the most nutritious shelfstable food that is most cost-effective, especially as the weekly number of participants increases.

“For now, we continue to seek to assist kids with the most critical and immediate need while focusing on equitable distribution across our entire service area,” Stahl explains. The current weekly average of roughly 5,000 packs, she says, “is a good number for our staff and volunteers to handle, but as requests from all counties continue to increase, we are facing the reality that we will need to expand the program in the coming years.”

Visit mannafoodbank.org for more information on the nonprofit’s work. fermentation WorkshoP Fermented edibles are the new black, or so it seems. At an upcoming workshop at Medea’s Espresso & Juice Bar, after hearing a quick presentation from owner and nutritionist medea galligan on the health benefits of fermented foods, participants can make their own and sample livecultured and fermented creations.

Items on the menu include lactofermented sauerkraut, pickles, kimchi, cultured vegetables, water and dairy kefirs, crème fraiche (cultured cream), cultured butter and one of Medea’s top-selling drinks, lacto-fermented fruit kvass.

The workshop is 6-8:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20, at Medea’s Espresso & Juice Bar, 200 Julian Lane, Suite 220. Cost is $35 per

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Known for their laundry list of ingredients, including various chili peppers (and sometimes chocolate), moles are a staple of Mexican cuisine. Along with his culinary team, Table’s chef jacob sessoms will feature a different mole in each of seven courses during an upcoming themed dinner. Plates come paired with inventive beverages such as agua frescas and cocktails made of rare spirits, according to a mischievous event description, which warns: “Food will be spicy and loud — just like Jacob.”

The Seven Moles of Mexico is at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25, at Table, 48 College St. Tickets are $58 per person, available by emailing info@ tableashevillecom. An optional cocktail and flights social (not included in price) begins upstairs at The Imperial Life at 6 p.m. Visit tableasheville.com/ now/mole for details. a-B tech graduate advances to nationaL comPetition ruth solis, 2014 A-B Tech culinary arts graduate, won the American Culinary Federation Southeast Region Student Chef of the Year title during a recent competition at Atlanta’s Le Cordon Bleu. She’ll advance to the competition’s national level in July in Phoenix. Prepared under tight time constraints, Solis’ winning dish was a chicken roulade with country ham and cornbread with complementary sauces and sides. The chef worked at Corner Kitchen Catering during her time in Asheville, and she now cooks at Cherokee Town and Country Club in Atlanta.

Visit avl.mx/27n for more information on the win. X

FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

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

NOT-SO-SILENT FILM

Asheville stride pianist improvises live soundtrack to Chaplin’s The Kid

BY EDwin aRnauDin edwinarnaudin@gmail.com The art of improvisation has long come naturally to andrew j. fletcher, dating back to piano lessons as a child when he would take liberties with classical compositions — much to his instructor’s dismay.

The Asheville stride (i.e., early jazz) pianist combines that gift with his love of movies in a live improvised piano soundtrack for Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid on Sunday, Feb. 21, at The BLOCK off Biltmore. The performance marks the sixth film Fletcher has accompanied in this manner, including works by silent film comedians Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd.

“Solo piano goes really well with the comedies. When you get into the dramas and the historical films, things like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, piano lacks the tonality that I think you need to bring to those things,” Fletcher says. “I’m playing to my strengths going straight to the comedies.”

Donning the role of a 1921 movie theater pianist, Fletcher will essentially offer a historical re-creation of what it would have been like in a cinema the week of The Kid’s debut.

Back then, the technology for synchronized sound was still six years away from being a theater fixture, leaving most of the musical accompaniment up to the pianist to figure out. Trade journals published selections from classical compositions, providing mood suggestions for scenes ranging from romantic to comedic to the adventure of a sea battle. Fletcher has a book of these specifically labeled fills that he’ll consult if he’s struggling with what to play but will otherwise eschew sheet music.

For these live, improvised soundtracks, he’s done everything from no preparation to two prior viewings of a film. Very little will be precisely planned out for The Kid, though Fletcher will probably have what he calls “a few themes in the clip” — simple melodies for

a triP doWn memory Lane: In his improvised soundtrack to Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid, Andrew J. Fletcher plans to play up the film’s many comedic elements as well as its tearjerker moments. “I’m there to grab those emotions and anticipate and embody them musically,” he says. Photo by Paul Clark each main character that he can then manipulate, be it changes in tempos, time signatures or keys.

“Just with a few different ideas, the jazz musician’s brain can take that and make them fit all the different moments in the score but also have some continuity between all of those things,” he says. “I can react very quickly to what’s going on on the screen. ... I’m not thinking about, ‘Oh, what did I do last time?’ But I’m thinking about, ‘What do I need to do right now?’ and the immediacy of that, I think, really comes through to the audience as well.”

Fletcher has seen The Kid roughly 10 times. Steeped in its history, he’s quick with anecdotes about how, in 1971,

Chaplin composed a new score and recut the film from 75 minutes to 58, trimming the more sentimental scenes so that it moved faster. “It’s interesting for a director’s cut to be shorter, but there’s the beauty of Chaplin — his sense of timing got more refined even as he got older,” he says.

Fletcher also notes that The Kid is one of the few films with a perfect 100 percent “Fresh” rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes and names Jackie Coogan’s performance as the best ever by a child actor.

Chaplin discovered Coogan performing in vaudeville and realized he was an amazing mimic. Upon casting the boy, Chaplin would act out parts for

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Coogan, who would watch and imitate his co-star to impressive results.

The rapport between the two is so strong and produces such emotional resonance that the film still has the power to make Fletcher cry.

“If it’s a tearjerker moment, I’m going to play with all the pathos I can bring to it,” he says. “I’m there to grab those emotions and anticipate and embody them musically.”

The Kid is the only Chaplin feature in the public domain, so licensing costs are a nonfactor. Fletcher will project a high-quality 720p transfer and situate himself behind the audience, watching the film with them — a configuration that has historically worked wonders. “One of the best compliments I have gotten from doing this was, ‘I came here to see you, but I forgot you were here, and I just was watching the movie,’” he says. “That’s my whole goal, to imbue life into this movie with music.”

Fletcher will record his soundtrack, if he can get the technical details sorted out before the performance, and has a long-term goal of releasing his scores synched with the corresponding films on YouTube. He also hopes to use Concert Window so that people unable to attend the show — which includes a short film before the feature and a post-film performance by Fletcher’s band, The Roaring Lions — may watch from home. X

what Live piano soundtrack to The Kid

by Andrew J. Fletcher where The BLOCK off Biltmore, 39 S. Market St. theblockoffbiltmore.com when Sunday, Feb. 21, 8 p.m. $10

FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

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Want to learn how to Salsa in a fun, relaxed environment?

New 6-week class starts March 9th!

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853 Merrimon Ave. Asheville NC, 28801 Beginners 7:30-8 pm & Intermediate 8:30-9:30 pm

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FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

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a &E

by Bill Kopp

bill@musoscribe.com

Bill Maher keeps it real The comedian and political commentator performs in Asheville

thought I was the only one. There’s thousands of us!’”

Though he regularly deals in what he sees as being wrong with America, Maher remains resolutely upbeat. “As much as I make my living criticizing it, gee whiz, it could be a lot worse,” he says. “We’ve got our problems, but we still have it pretty good over here.” Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t go in for jingoism. “I’m not one of those people who says, ‘Hey, it’s the greatest country in the world.’

I say it’s the greatest country for me.

I don’t need to go up to a Belgian guy and say, ‘Hey, you Belgian f**k! I live in a better country than you do!’ But believe me: I’m not asking for the check. I’m stayin’ here.” X who Bill Maher where Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, 87 Haywood St. uscellularcenterasheville.com when Saturday, Feb. 20, 7 p.m. $44.50-$99.50

stiLL PoLiticaLLy incorrect: Stand-up comic, political commentator and roundtable discussion moderator Bill Maher showcases his acerbic yet nuanced perspective in a one-man performance at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium.

Photo by David Becker/Wireimage

“I’ve certainly never been shy about giving my opinion,” says the stand-up comic and host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.” “Sometimes people ask me, ‘Are you just trying to get a rise out of people or play devil’s advocate?’ And I’ve told them for 23 years — since I started on television — ‘No. I always say exactly what I think, whether my own audience boos me or not.’” bill maher will share what’s on his mind at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium Saturday, Feb. 20.

Maher’s comedy is topical — to say the least — but it’s also honest and heartfelt.

“I never say anything I don’t believe.

Now, I do say things just to get laughs; I mean, I do tell jokes. I’m a comedian. But the premise of the joke is never false,” he says. “I never pretend that I’m a Ted Cruz fan.”

Though he’s quite outspoken, and his “Real Time” discussions often feature contentious back-and-forth exchanges, Maher insists that he doesn’t actively court controversy. “I think it would be a much better world if everyone just agreed with me on everything,” he says with a laugh. “But they don’t.”

Grist for Maher’s politically focused stand-up material often comes from engagement with people across the country. He says that when he travels, “I always ask people, ‘What’s going on here? What’s the local scandal? What’s

going on with the local congressman?’

That, to me, is fascinating. Because — and of course I’m not the first one to say it — politics are local. Most people care about what’s going on within 50 miles of their house.”

Maher’s keen interest in politics developed early. “I grew up in a political household,” he says. “My father was a radio newsman, in the era when every radio station had news at the top of the hour.” His early stand-up gigs focused on politics, too. But he admits that his routine “wasn’t working very well, because the audience doesn’t look at a 23-yearold as someone with nearly the kind of gravitas that is required to comment on political events. I wish, now that I’m 60, that I had a little less gravitas.”

In 1993, Maher launched a new show on Comedy Central. He says that “Politically Incorrect” was “the show that I always wanted to do: a political roundtable.” Though the show earned many awards, including an Emmy, some of Maher’s comments in the wake of 9/11 offended the powers that be, and his contract was not renewed. He launched “Real Time with Bill Maher” in 2003. The show is now in its 14th season and has been nominated for 10 Emmy Awards and six Writers Guild Awards. “Real Time” showcases Maher’s considerable skills as stand-up

comic, political commentator and moderator of lively discussions.

Though Maher characterizes himself as a “proud liberal,” he rarely lets his fellow left-leaning folk off the hook. “The audience that comes to the television show is often too politically correct for my tastes,” he says. “And, very often, they are just cheering for the ‘blue team.’

They don’t seem to be as informed as they should be: They know Obama’s perfect, Sarah Palin’s an idiot. Anything that’s anti-red team, they cheer. And that’s not really a good way to have discourse.

“I think the conservatives definitely are the group that has brought this country to a place where it should never have gotten. But liberals are not right on everything,” Maher says. “And they need to hear it sometimes.”

Maher especially enjoys bringing his stand-up performances to so-called red states. “I know that’s counterintuitive,” he says. “It’s much more having to do with city versus rural. The cities in the South are not really different than the cities anywhere else in this country. There are lots of free-thinking, liberal-thinking, wonderful people — my people — and when I come to a place like Jackson, Miss., they come out of the woodwork.”

He notes , “When they look around the theater, they’re like, ‘Wow! I

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FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

39

a &E

by Timothy Burkhardt

burkhardttd@gmail.com

SLUMBER PARTY

fRee RaNGe aSheville laUNcheS fiRSt SeaSoN

Tryon Little Theater stages Once Upon a Mattress

sensitive nature: Bill Wuehrmann, left, and Sandra Chrysler star in Once Upon a Mattress, a family-friendly comedic retelling of Hans Christian Anderson’s classic, The Princess and the Pea, staged by Tryon Little Theater. Photo by Michelle Flemming Prince Dauntless, a kind-but-slowwitted mama’s boy, must find a princess to wed. His mother, Queen Aggravain, is extremely picky — no one is good enough for her son. So, to keep all the potential brides away from Dauntless, she devises a ridiculous (and impossibleto-pass) test of princess-level delicacy.

This is the premise of Tryon Little Theater’s newest production, Once Upon a Mattress. This family-friendly fairy tale is a comedic retelling of Hans Christian Anderson’s classic, The Princess and the Pea. The play, which opens Thursday, Feb. 18, subverts the stereotypes of heroic lords and dainty ladies that have been cropping up in fairy tales since the Middle Ages.

On the Tryon Little Theater stage, all is going according to the queen’s plan until the arrival of Princess Winifred, aka Fred. “That princess is not a prissy sweet blonde,” says director debbie craig-archer. “When she shows up, she swam the moat to get there.”

Craig-Archer is a veteran of the Western North Carolina theater scene.

Her directing credits include The Sound of Music, Nunsense I & II, and most recently, she brought the musical Big River to the Tryon Little Theater stage.

Once Upon a Mattress first opened off-Broadway in 1959 and has been nominated for several Tony Awards.

Since its premiere, the play has been staged on and off Broadway (launching the career of Carol Burnett) and translated to both the big and small screens.

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FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

Its upbeat and comical musical numbers include “We Have an Opening for a Princess,” “The Minstrel, the Jester and I” and “Yesterday I Loved You.” For the Tryon Little Theater performance, the lead roles of Princess Winnifred the Woebegone, Queen Aggravain and Prince Dauntless will be filled by sandra chrysler, jackie lewis and bill wuehrmann, respectively. The live music will be directed by Tryon United Methodist Church Music Director Pam mcneil, who also plays piano for the show. “People are coming out of the woodwork who are so talented,” says Craig-Archer. “There are really strong voices in this production.”

In the past, Tryon Little Theater has staged big musicals at Tryon Fine Arts Center, but this year’s entire season will be staged at the theater company’s own workshop, a metal building that was once an auto-parts store. Following extensive renovations, the building has been transformed into a black-box theater.

The company has also done a lot of work on its new show. Not only is this Tryon Little Theater production family-friendly, it’s a family affair. “We have a grandmother, daughter and granddaughter who are all in the show together,” says Craig-Archer. “We have a dad — he plays the king — and his two daughters are in it as well, and we have a brother-and-sister duo. I think it’s kind of cool we have so many families doing this.”

There are challenges when it comes to working with a cast full of kin. “If we have rehearsal and one of them is gone, they’re pretty much all gone,” says Craig-Archer. On the other hand, family members help each other with lines and learning choreography. “I always did theater with my parents,” says Craig-Archer, “so it has a special place in my heart.” X what Once Upon a Mattress where Tryon Little Theater 516 S. Trade St., Tryon tltinfo.org when Feb. 18-1 and 25-28. Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. $22 adults/$11 children

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high art, LoW Budget: The New York City-based orchestra The Knights will perform a program spanning Sufjan Stevens, João Gilberto and Ludwig van Beethoven. Tickets to the concert, produced by Free Range Asheville, are $10. Photo courtesy of The Knights Newly formed arts and culture organization Free Range Asheville opens its inaugural season with a performance by acclaimed chamber orchestra The Knights. The collective, which will take the stage at Diana Wortham Theatre on Tuesday, Feb. 23, “changed the model for how to transmit and program classical music,” says Free Range Asheville director jeff arnal.

The New York City-based orchestra grew out of friendship, performs on its member’s terms (as opposed to those of a union) and is built on community and do-it-yourself ideas. According to The Knights’ mission, they “seek to engage with contemporary culture through vibrant performances that honor the classical tradition and our passion for musical discovery” — an idea expressed by the group’s program that spans Sufjan Stevens, João Gilberto and Ludwig van Beethoven.

“Even though they’re aesthetically into the interpreting of old music, Beethoven’s radical,” says Arnal. This concert will mark The Knights’ first appearance in Asheville and, although it’s part of the orchestra’s current tour, will be unique to this city.

It’s also a fitting kickoff for Free Range Asheville, founded by Arnal (a composer, producer and former senior music specialist for The

Pew Center for Arts & Heritage) and his partner estelle woodward arnal (a choreographer and senior grant writer at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival). The couple hope to connect local practitioners with national and international artists.

Their programming, currently in development, will include creative laboratories, incubators, residencies and a cultural thinker series.

While The Knights will play in an auditorium setting, other shows will take place in underused spaces and intimate living rooms, and will borrow a page from Black Mountain College artist initiatives.

But all shows, regardless of venue, will be reasonably priced. “That goes back to the early punk and indie days,” Arnal says. “That’s why our tagline is ‘connecting culture with counterculture.’” X

who The Knights where Diana Wortham Theatre 2 S. Pack Square when Tuesday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m. $10. freerangeavl.org

a& E

smart Bets

by Kat McReynolds | Send your arts news to ae@mountainx.com

Salman Rushdie Celebrated and highly controversial British author Salman Rushdie is no stranger to the tangling of religion, politics and writing. He went into hiding for nearly a decade when an Iranian leader called for his assassination in 1989 in response to his novel The Satanic Verses. The many books he’s published since “are a testimony that intimidation and violence will not silence our basic human right of free speech,” says Samer Traboulsi, associate professor of history at UNC Asheville. The recipient of countless awards and honors, including knighthood in England for his service to literature, Rushdie will give a free and public speech titled “Public Events, Private Lives: Literature + Politics in the Modern World” at UNC Asheville’s Kimmel Arena on Thursday, Feb. 18, at 7 p.m. cesap.unca.edu/ events/salman-rushdie. Photo by Beowulf Sheehan

The National Arts & Crafts Conference Over four days, The Grove Park Inn will transform into an amusement park for Arts and Crafts enthusiasts. Though full-fledged connoisseurs can opt into hands-on workshops, walking tours, group discussions, educational seminars and more, the National Arts & Crafts Conference also caters to casual collectors. Three recurring shows feature expansive displays of antiques, contemporary crafts, and books and publications. Exhibitors from all over the country offer both vintage and new furniture, pottery, metalware, artwork, textiles, rugs, jewelry and other items at competitive prices. The 27th annual event includes shows open to the public on Friday, Feb. 19, 1 to 6 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 20, noon to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, Feb. 21, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. $10. arts-craftsconference.com. Photo courtesy of the National Arts & Crafts Conference

Seussical The Cat in the Hat acts as the mischievous host in Seussical, which calls on many more of Dr. Seuss’ whimsical characters. Together, they create “an incredible crazy-quilt adventure that champions the power of imagination and the benefits of inclusivity,” according to a release from Asheville Community Theatre. Stage veteran but Asheville newcomer Trissa King (as Cat in the Hat), Seuss aficionado Colby Coren (Horton the Elephant) and local middle school student Ethan Seuss (Jojo) all make their ACT mainstage debuts as the musical’s leading trio, though they’ll be joined by a procession of 15 other zany characters. Directed by Mark Jones and with musical direction by Sarah Fowler, Seussical runs on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. through Sunday, March 6. $17-25. ashevilletheatre.org. Photo by Tommy Propest

The Three Davids After selling out their inaugural show as The Three Davids last year, Davids Holt, Wilcox and LaMotte will again bring their internationally enjoyed musical talents beneath one spotlight. “I’m kind of pinching myself that we have formed this trio,” LaMotte says. “I’ve done plenty of in-the-round shows with other songwriters, but I’ve never before entered into this kind of collaboration where we are all learning each other’s songs so that we can play together all night as a band — rather than just taking turns.” Between traditional songs and mountain-inspired originals, the artists will share uplifting stories as well as the spontaneous interactions you’d expect from three pals.

Their performance is at the Diana Wortham Theatre on Saturday, Feb. 20, at 8 p.m. $35 ($25 students/children). dwtheatre.com. Photo by Lynne Harty mountainx.com

FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

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A& E ca l e nd ar

by Abigail Griffin

Art MAKE YOUR OWN UKRAINIAN EASTER EGG (pd.) Learn to make beautiful Ukrainian Easter eggs: Pysanky workshops in the River Arts District or your location. AshevilleStudioA. com • (828) 423-6459 • AvlStudioA@gmail.com for signup + more info.

SIP AND DOODLE (pd.) “Everyone leaves with a Painting” Sip your favorite drink and have fun painting. Ask about Private Parties (Birthday, Anniversary, etc.) $25.00 with this AD. (828) 712-1288 Art at WCU 227-3591, fineartmuseum.wcu.edu • TH (2/18), 5:30-6:30pm - “Using Hand Drafted Architectural Rendering in Interior Design Digital Presentations,” presentation by artist in residence Tami Faulkner. Free.

Held in the Bardo Center room 130.

Asheville Area Arts Council 1 Page Ave., 258-0710, ashevillearts.com • TU (2/23), 6-8pm - “Creating an Artist Resume,” class with Bridget Conn. Registration required: mae@ ashevillearts.com. Free.

Asheville Art Museum 2 N. Pack Square, 253-3227, ashevilleart.org • SA (2/20), 10am-noon - “How to Frame Your Work on Paper,” workshop. Registration required. $30/$20 members.

• SA (2/20), 5-7pm - “Artists Make a Difference: The Creative Spark that Transformed Old Charleston,” presentation. $30/$25 members.

Firestorm Cafe and Books 610 Haywood Road, 255-8115 • FR (2/19), 6:30pm - “Artistic Gumbo Open Mic,” showcase of music, dance, poetry followed by open mic. Free to attend.

Grovewood Gallery 111 Grovewood Road, 253-7651, grovewood.com • FR (2/19) & SA (2/20), 11am-4pm - Still life oil-painting, basketry, and letter carving demonstrations.

• SA (2/20), 11am-4pm - Tour Grovewood artist studios. Free to attend.

Tryon Fine Arts Center 34 Melrose Ave., Tryon, 859-8322, tryonarts.org • 2nd & 4th TUESDAYS through (5/24), 10:30am - The Great Courses, dvd discussion and presentations.

Registration: 859-8322. Free.

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Auditions & Call to Artists

Send your event listings to calendar@mountainx.com

chamber orchestra. $10.70/$32.10 VIP. Pan Harmonia

Rough Draught marshallcontainer.com/roughdraught • Through SU (2/21) - Open call for submissions for experimental lecture series on the theme of “BIRTH + DEATH.” See website for full guidelines. Held at Marshall Container Co., 10 South Main St., Marshall The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design 67 Broadway, 785-1357, craftcreativitydesign.org • Through MO (3/28) - Open call for emerging curators to take part in the Curatorial Fellowship. See website for full guidelines. Free.

254-7123, pan-harmonia.org • SU (2/21), 3pm - “Andalusian Nights,” Mediterranean guitar and harpsichord. $10.   Held at St. Matthias Church, 1 Dundee St. Waynesville Branch of the Haywood County Public Library 678 S. Haywood St., Waynesville, 452-5169 • SA (2/20), 3-4pm - Friends of the Library Concert Series featuring Richard Schulman. Free.

Theater 35below

Comedy Anam Cara Theatre 545-3861, anamcaratheatre.com • SU (2/21), 7:30pm- I’m Proud of You Variety Show. $12/$10 advance.

Held at Toy Boat Community Art Space, 101 Fairview Road Suite B

Music BLUE RIDGE ORCHESTRA CONCERTS MARCH 5 & 6 • PARIS TO ST. PETERSBURG (pd.) Bizet, Faure, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky performed • Saturday, March 5, 7:30pm; • Sunday, March 6, 3pm, Rainbow Community School Auditorium, 58 State St., West Asheville. $15 General Admission; $10 Friends of the Blue Ridge Orchestra; $5 Students. • Tickets available online and (cash and checks only) at Soli Classica, 1550 Hendersonville Road, and Musician’s Workshop, 310 Merrimon Avenue, Asheville. Further information: blueridgeorchestra.org AmiciMusic 802-369-0856, amicimusic.org • SA (2/20), 3pm - AmiciMusic presents “An American in Paris,” chamber music. $20/$15 church members. Held at All Souls Cathedral, 9 Swan St.

35 E. Walnut St., 254-1320, ashevilletheatre.org • WE (2/17), 7:30pm - “Olde Virden’s Super Happy Trivia Challenge,” panel show featuring local actors and personalities answer questions about random topics presented by the host. $12.

Asheville Community Theatre 35 E. Walnut St., 254-1320, ashevilletheatre.org • FRIDAYS through SUNDAYS (2/12) through (3/6) - Seussical. Fri. & Sat.: 7:30pm. Sun.: 2:30pm. $15-$25.

Brevard Little Theatre 55 E. Jordan St., Brevard, 884-2587, brevardlittletheatre.com • FRIDAYS through SUNDAYS (2/19) until (3/6) - Kitchen Witches. Fri. & Sat.: 7:30pm Sun.: 3pm. $16/$11 students.

Hendersonville Community Theatre 229 S. Washington St., Hendersonville, 692-1082, hendersonvillelittletheater.org • FRIDAYS through SUNDAYS (2/12) through (2/21) - All You Need is Love, three short plays by Sue Bargeloh. Fri. & Sat.: 7:30pm. Sun.: 2pm. Admission by donation.

Cathey’s Creek Community Center Island Ford Road, Brevard • SA (2/20), 7pm - Appalachian Turnaround, bluegrass. $5/$3 children under 12.

NC Stage Company

Diana Wortham Theatre 2 S. Pack Square, 257-4530, dwtheatre.com • SA (2/20), 8pm - David Holt, David Wilcox and David LaMotte concert. $37.45/$26.75 students and children.

• TU (2/23), 7pm - The Knights,

375 Depot St., 279-4155 • THURSDAYS through SATURDAYS (2/11) until (2/27), 7:30pm - The Caro Savanti Experience! $24/$21 advance.

FEBRUARY 17 - FEBRUARY 23, 2016

15 Stage Lane, 239-0263 • SUNDAYS (1/31) through (2/21), 2pm - Jeeves Intervenes. $16-$40.

The Magnetic Theatre

Theater at Mars Hill 689-1239, mhu.edu

mountainx.com

• TH (2/18) through SA (2/20), 7:30pm - Agnes of God. $10/ Free for students. Held in Moore Auditorium.

• SU (2/21), 2:30pm - Agnes of

God. $10/Free for students. Held in Moore Auditorium.

• WE (2/17) through SA (2/20),

Theater at WCU

$21/$10 students. Held in Hoey

227-2479, bardoartscenter.wcu.edu

Auditorium.

7:30pm - Macbeth is the New Black.

G al l ery DI R E CTO RY American Folk Art and Framing 64 Biltmore Ave., 281-2134, amerifolk.com • Through TH (2/25) - 12th Annual Miniature Show, exhibition of paintings 9 x 7 or less.

Art at ASU 262-3017, tcva.org • Through SA (8/6) - Julia Barello’s large scale metalwork installation, Strange Gardens.

Held in the Turchin Center Mayer Gallery.

• Through SA (3/19) - Faculty Biennial, multidisciplinary exhibit of faculty work. Faculty presentation: Thursday, Feb. 25, 7pm. Held in the Turchin Center.

Art at Mars Hill mhu.edu • Through SU (7/31) Appalachia a Century Ago, Craft through the Lens of William A. Barnhill, historical exhibition. Held in the Ramsey Center.

• Through FR (3/4), 6-8pm Exhibition of the paintings of Julie Miles and the sculptures of Molly Sawyer. Held in the Wiezenblatt Gallery.

Art at UNCA art.unca.edu • Through MO (2/29) - Gifted

By Faith, painting exhibition by local artist Jenny Pickens.

Held in the Highsmith Center Intercultural Gallery.

• FR (2/19) through (3/4) Private Domain, solo exhibition of recent work by Virginia Derryberry. Opening reception: Friday, Feb. 19, 6-8pm. Held in the Tucker Cooke Gallery.

• FR (2/19) through FR (3/4) – Exhibition by graphic artist Larkin Ford. Opening reception: Friday, Feb. 19, 6-8pm. Held in the Owen Hall Second Floor Gallery.

Art at WCU 227-3591, fineartmuseum.wcu.edu Held in the Bardo Fine Arts Center unless otherwise noted.

• Through FR (5/20) - From Apartheid to Democracy, exhibit from the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Held in the Hunter Library 2nd floor gallery.

• Through (3/25) - John Julius

Wilnoty stone carving exhibit.

Reception: Thursday, Mar. 17, 5pm.

• Through TH (3/18) Architecture of Survival, exhibition of photography by Pedro Lobo & soft sculpture by Jarod Charzewski.

• TH (2/18) through FR (5/6) - Color + Theory : Past + Present, works by Josef Albers, Kenneth Noland, and Odili Donald Odita. Reception: Thursday, April 7, 5pm.

Arts Council of Henderson County 693-8504, acofhc.org • Through FR (2/19) - “The Art of Our Children,” elementary student art exhibition. Held at Art House Gallery & Studio, 5 Highland Park Road, East Flat Rock Asheville Area Arts Council 1 Page Ave., 258-0710, ashevillearts.com • Through SA (2/20) - Point of View Exhibition: The Asheville Stockyards, From Brownfield to Brewery curated by Ken Abbot.

• Through SA (2/20) - ARC Gallery: Collage by Lisa De Girolamo.

Blue Spiral 1 38 Biltmore Ave., 251-0202, bluespiral1.com • Through SA (2/27) - Contrast: Black + White, exhibition of of 2D and 3D works.

Buncombe County Public Libraries buncombecounty.org/governing/depts/library • Through MO (2/29) Exhibition of collage art

by Bob Fakanga. Held at West Asheville Library, 942 Haywood Road Jubilee Community Church 46 Wall St., 252-5335, jubileecommunity.org • Through SU (2/28) Expressions of the Heart, paintings by Laura Elliott and beadwork by Yona FrenchHawk.

Odyssey Cooperative Art Gallery 238 Clingman Ave., 285-9700, facebook.com/odysseycoopgallery • Through MO (2/29) Exhibition of the ceramic art of Anna Koloseike and Kate Gardner.

Asheville Art Museum 2 N. Pack Square, 253-3227, ashevilleart.org • Through SU (3/6) - WNC Regional Scholastic Art exhibition.

• Through late June Appalachian Innovators: Women Makers of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, 1930–2000.

The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design 67 Broadway, 785-1357, craftcreativitydesign.org • Yhrough SA (5/21) - Recorded Matter: Ceramics in Motion, exhibit of eleven artists who integrate video into their studio practice.

Asheville Eye Associates 8 Medical Park Drive, 258-1586, ashevilleeye.com • Through (7/1) - With These Hands: An Appalachian Barn Photography Exhibit by Bonnie Cooper & Don McGowan.

Artists’ reception: Thursday, Mar. 24, 5:30-7pm.

375 Depot St., 545-6235 • Through (2/19) - Colors of Winter, group painting exhibition.

• Through MO (2/29) - Bonjour and Bienvenue, exhibition of Virginia Pendergrass urban sketches.

Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center 56 Broadway, 350-8484, blackmountaincollege.org • Through SA (5/21) - Ray Spillenger: Rediscovery of a Black Mountain Painter, painting exhibition.

34 Melrose Ave., Tryon, 8598322, tryonarts.org • Through (3/5) - Preserving African American Art in the Foothills, exhibition.

Trackside Studios

Tryon Fine Arts Center

Contact the galleries for admission hours and fees.

cLuBLand Wu-Wednesdays (’90s hip-hop experience), 9pm the BLock off BiLtmore Starstuff (jazz, jam, rock), 8pm

Dinner Menu till 10pm Late Night Menu till

Tues-Sun

5pm–12am

Full Bar

12am

the Joint next door Bluegrass jam, 8pm the nationaL Michael Kelley Hunter (soul, funk, blues), 9pm the Phoenix Jazz night, 8pm the sociaL Lounge Phantom Pantone (DJ), 10pm the southern Disclaimer Comedy open mic, 9pm timo’s house “Spectrum AVL” w/ DamGood & rotating DJs, 9pm toWn PumP Open mic w/ Billy Presnell, 10pm traiLhead restaurant and Bar Acoustic jam w/ Kevin Scanlon (bluegrass, oldtime, folk), 6pm

notes from the underground: Amidst a musical landscape of “politics, nepotism and generic emulation,” the post-rock trio You Bred Raptors? seeks to “remind people that art will prevail, according to Peat Rains, founder of the Astoria, New York based band. Fusing cello and eight-string bass riffs with covers of video game and motion picture soundtracks, YBR? has played everywhere from the New York Museum of Modern Art (with Yoko Ono) to the subway stations of the Big Apple. The masked crusaders take their show to New Mountain’s Sol Bar in downtown Asheville on Tuesday, Feb. 23 beginning at 7 p.m.

Wednesday, feBruary 17 5 WaLnut Wine Bar Alarm Clock Conspiracy Duo (indie, Americana), 5pm Les Amis (African folk), 8pm 550 tavern & griLLe karaoke, 6pm

good stuff Karaoke!, 6pm grey eagLe music haLL & tavern Pylon Reenactment Society w/ Vanessa Briscoe Hay & Dressy Bessy (rock), 8pm grind cafe Trivia night, 7pm

asheviLLe music haLL Geeks Who Drink Trivia, 7pm

highLand BreWing comPany Woody Wood Wednesdays (rock, soul), 5:30pm

Ben’s tune-uP Honky Tonk Wednesdays, 7pm

iron horse station Kevin Reese (Americana), 6pm

BLack mountain aLe house Play to Win game night, 7:30pm

isis restaurant and music haLL The Core Wednesday Winter Residency (jazz), 7pm

BLue mountain PiZZa & BreW PuB Open mic, 7pm ByWater Billy Cardine & North of Too Far Downs w/ Mike Rhodes, Simon George and Michael Stevens, 9pm chuPacaBra cafe Ashley Heath (singer-songwriter), 6pm douBLe croWn Honky-Tonk, Cajun, and Western w/ DJ Brody Hunt, 10pm foggy mountain BreWPuB Doug Mcelvy (Americana/ folk), 9pm funkatorium John Hartford Jam (folk, bluegrass), 6:30pm

Jack of the Wood PuB Old-time session, 5pm Honky-tonk dance party w/ Hearts Gone South, 9pm LaZy diamond Killer Karaoke w/ KJ Tim O, 10pm Lex 18 The Downton Abbey Vintage Banquet (ticketed event), 6:30pm LoBster traP Ben Hovey (dub-jazz, trumpet), 6:30pm

10pm odditorium No Regets Improv (comedy), 7pm The Goodbye Party & Total War & Petey (pop), 9pm off the Wagon Piano show, 9pm oLive or tWist Intermediate swing dance lessons w/ Bobby Wood, 7pm Beginning swing dance lesson w/ Bobby Wood, 7:30pm 3 Cool Cats (vintage rock), 8pm one stoP deLi & Bar Geeks Who Drink Trivia, 6pm one WorLd BreWing Billy Litz (multi-instrumentalist), 8pm orange PeeL Alison Wonderland w/ Golden Features & Shuhandz (trap music, synthpop, alternative), 9pm oskar BLues BreWery Trivia at the brewery, 6pm room ix Fuego: Latin night, 9pm scuLLy’s Sons of Ralph (bluegrass), 6pm

mountain moJo coffeehouse Open mic, 6:30pm

sLy grog Lounge Sound Station Open-mic (musicians of all backgrounds & skills), 7:30pm Cards Against Humanity Game Night, 10pm

noBLe kava Open mic w/ Caleb Beissert, 9pm

soL Bar neW mountain adbc presents AXIOM w/ Carrera (drum n’ bass), 9pm

o.henry’s/the underground “Take the Cake” Karaoke,

taLLgary’s at four coLLege Open mic & jam, 7pm

tressa’s doWntoWn JaZZ and BLues Blues & soul jam w/ Al Coffee & Da Grind, 8:30pm White horse BLack mountain Wednesday Night Waltz, 7pm

thursday, feBruary 18 185 king street Ashley Heath (singer-songwriter), 8pm 5 WaLnut Wine Bar Pleasure Chest (blues, rock, soul), 8pm asheviLLe music haLL Dark Star Orchestra after party w/ Phuncle Sam (Grateful Dead tribute), 11pm BarLey’s taProom AMC Jazz Jam, 9pm BLue mountain PiZZa & BreW PuB Matt Sellars (Americana, blues, roots), 7pm BLue ridge taProom Beyond Chicken (Americana), 8pm cLuB eLeven on grove Tango lessons & practilonga w/ Tango Gypsies, 7pm Jason DeCristofaro Quartet, 8:30pm creekside taPhouse Singer-songwriter night w/ Riyen Roots, 8pm croW & QuiLL Carolina Catskins (ragtime, folk), 10pm douBLe croWn Sonic Satan Stew w/ DJ Alien Brain, 10pm eLaine’s dueLing Piano Bar Dueling Pianos, 9pm foggy mountain BreWPuB Rough & Tumble (folk), 9pm french Broad BreWery Andy Ferrell (folk, Americana), 6pm good stuff Ezekiel Morphis (singer-songwriter, folk, Americana), 7pm

COMING SOON WED 2/17

7:00 PM – THE CORE WEDNESDAY WINTER RESIDENCY

THU 2/18

7:00 PM – AN EVENING WITH VANCE GILBERT

8:30 PM – SAM BURCHFIELD BAND WITH NATHAN ANGELO

FRI 2/19 – 7:00 PM CLASSICAL DINNER & A CONCERT: AMICIMUSIC PRESENTS “AN AMERICAN PARIS” 9:00 PM – DAVID RAMIREZ WITH LUCETTE SAT 2/20 7:00 PM – ROBERT GREER & JACKSON EMMER (LOUNGE) 9:00 PM – AN EVENING WITH CARRIE NEWCOMER SUN 2/21 5:30 PM – JEFFERSON ROSS (LOUNGE) 7:30 PM – MICHAEL JEFREY STEVENS CD RELEASE WED 2/24 6:30 PM – THE CORE WEDNESDAY WINTER RESIDENCY THU 2/25

7:00 PM – MATT TOWNSEND (LOUNGE) 8:30 PM – I DRAW SLOW

FRI 2/26

6:00 PM – FRANCINE DELANY NEW SCHOOL:

FUNKY FORMAL FUNDRAISER

SAT 2/27 – 7:00 PM AN EVENING WITH THE MIDNIGHT PLOWBOYS 9:00PM –HEARTLESSBASTARDSWITHSUSTO SUN 2/28 – 5:30 PM UP JUMPED THREE (MODERN JAZZ) 7:30 PM –AN EVENING WITH FRETLESS WED 3/2 7:00 PM – AN EVENING WITH

VON STRANTZ AND KIRSTEN FORD Every Tuesday

7:30pm–midnite

BLUEGRASS SESSIONS Every Sunday

JAZZ SHOWCASE

grey eagLe music haLL & tavern Everyone Orchestra (rock, improv, jam), 9pm isis restaurant and music haLL An evening w/ Vance Gilbert (folk, singer-songwriter), 7pm Sam Burchfield Band w/ Nathan Angelo (folk-rock, funk, singer-songwriter), 8:30pm Jack of the Wood PuB Bluegrass jam, 7pm

mountainx.com

743 HAYWOOD RD 828-575-2737 ISISASHEVILLE.COM FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

43

cl u Bl a n D

Send your listings to clubland@mountainx.com

LaZy diamond Heavy Night w/ DJ Butch, 10pm Lex 18 Bob Strain & Bill Fouty (romantic jazz), 7pm LoBster traP Hank Bones (“The man of 1,000 songs”), 6:30pm market PLace Ben Hovey (dub jazz, beats), 7pm marshaLL container co.

Honey Be Nice (folk), 7pm moe’s originaL BBQ Woodfin Billy Litz (Americana, singersongwriter), 6pm o.henry’s/the underground Game Night, 9pm Drag Show, 12:30am odditorium Thunder Snow Cone Winter Whimsey Tour (burlesque), 9pm off the Wagon Dueling pianos, 9pm oLive or tWist Dance lesson w/ Ian & Karen, 8pm DJ Mike (eclectic mix, requests), 8:30pm one stoP deLi & Bar Streaming Thursdays (live recorded concerts), 6pm A.T.V. (jam), 10:30pm one WorLd BreWing The Franklin Rattlers (old-time), 8pm orange PeeL An evening w/ Dark Star Orchestra (psychedelic, jam, Grateful Dead tribute), 9pm

TAVERN

oskar BLues BreWery Carver & Carmody (acoustic), 6pm

DOWNTOWN ON THE PARK Eclectic Menu • Over 30 Taps • Patio 13 TV’s • Sports Room • 110” Projector Event Space • Shuffleboard Open 7 Days 11am - Late Night

Pisgah BreWing comPany Mike Rhodes’ Fellowship (fusion), 6pm

Our Winter Warmer !

Specials Mon-Thur Try s l O a e n Y D o t u ! r Favori ea te Food & Drink Gr

FRI. 2/19 DJ MoTo

(pop, dance hits)

SAT. 2/20 Lyric

FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

timo’s house Thursday Request Live w/ Franco Nino, 9pm toWn PumP Craig Veltri (singer-songwriter, acoustic), 9pm traiLhead restaurant and Bar Cajun & western swing jam w/ Steve Burnside, 7pm tressa’s doWntoWn JaZZ and BLues The Westsound Revue (Motown, soul), 9pm tWisted LaureL Karaoke, 8pm White horse BLack mountain AmiciMusic presents ’An American in Paris’ (classical), 7:30pm WxyZ Lounge at aLoft hoteL Mark Schimick and Friends (bluegrass, Appalachian folk), 8pm

friday, feBruary 19

cork & keg The Low Down Sires (vintage jazz), 8:30pm creekside taPhouse Roots & Dore (blues), 8:30pm croW & QuiLL Gypsy Guitars (jazz, swing), 9pm douBLe croWn DJ Greg Cartwright (garage & soul obscurities), 10pm eLaine’s dueLing Piano Bar Dueling Pianos, 9pm foggy mountain BreWPuB Cam Stack Band (jam, soul), 10pm french Broad BreWery The Paper Crowns (indie, rock), 6pm good stuff Freestone August (folk, pop, singer-songwriter), 7:45pm Krekel & Whoa (rock ’n’ roll), 9pm grey eagLe music haLL & tavern Malcolm Holcombe (singer-songwriter, folk, Americana), 8pm highLand BreWing comPany The Digs (old-school, Nu-soul, funk), 7pm iron horse station Barb Turner (r&b), 7pm isis restaurant and music haLL Amicimusic presents “An American in Paris” (classical), 7pm David Ramirez w/ Lucette (singersongwriter), 9pm Jack of the Wood PuB Dallas Baker & friends (“Rootsgrass”), 9pm JerusaLem garden Middle Eastern music & bellydancing, 7pm

185 king street Todd Cecil & Back South (country, blues, roots), 8pm

LaZy diamond Totes Dope Tite Sick Jams w/ (ya boy) DJ Hot Noodle, 10pm

5 WaLnut Wine Bar Sankofa (world), 9pm

Lex 18 The Resonant Rogues (gypsy, oldtime, swing), 6:30pm Lenny Pettinelli (pop jazz), 10pm

athena’s cLuB Dave Blair (folk, funk, acoustic), 7pm DJ Shy Guy, 10pm

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

Ben’s tune-uP Woody Wood & the Asheville Family Band (acoustic, folk, rock), 5pm

sanctuary BreWing comPany Benefit for The Turtle Hospital w/ Billy Litz (Americana), 7pm

BLue mountain PiZZa & BreW PuB Acoustic Swing, 7pm

sPring creek tavern Open Mic, 6pm

mountainx.com

the nationaL Whet Appetites: Sexy Storytelling, 7pm Dj Dance Party (electro pop, dance, classics), 11pm

renaissance asheviLLe hoteL Chris Rhodes (jazz, R&B, blues), 6:30pm

southern aPPaLachian BreWery The Dan Keller Trio w/ Elise Pratt (jazz), 7pm

44

the mothLight The Moth: True Stories Told Live (storytelling), 7:30pm

aLtamont theatre An Evening w/ Erick Baker & Callaghan (acoustic, singer-songwriter), 8pm

sLy grog Lounge Open mic (musicians, poets, comedians & more welcome), 8pm

20 S. SPRUCE ST. • 225.6944 PACKSTAVERN.COM

the BLock off BiLtmore Gretchen Witt & Ash Devine (singer-songwriter), 7:30pm

PurPLe onion cafe Galen Kipar & Aaron Balance (Americana roots, folk, blues), 7pm

scandaLs nightcLuB DJ dance party & drag show, 10pm

(funk, pop, soul)

taLLgary’s at four coLLege Open jam night w/ Jonathan Santos, 7pm

BLue ridge taProom Asheville Drum Circle (bring your drums!), 6pm BoiLer room Rebirth 31w/ DJ Luis Armando (underground techno & house), 10pm cataWBa BreWing south sLoPe Max Gross Weight (rock, blues), 5:30pm cLuB eLeven on grove Ty Mo Appreciation Celebration (hip-hop dj), 10pm

LoBster traP Rob Parks & friends (bluegrass, swing), 6:30pm Lookout BreWery Circus Mutts (grass roots rock, bluegrass), 6:30pm market PLace The Sean Mason Trio (groove, jazz, funk), 7pm neW mountain theater/ amPhitheater TAUKing McGee (jam), 11:30pm o.henry’s/the underground Drag Show, 12:30am odditorium Temptations Wings w/ Summoners Circle & The Asound (metal), 9pm off the Wagon Dueling pianos, 9pm one stoP deLi & Bar Free Dead Fridays w/ members of Phuncle Sam (jam), 5pm Umphrey’s McGee After Party w/ Tree Tops & Soul Mechanic (jam, rock), 10pm

orange PeeL Cherub w/ Gibbz & Mike Floss (electronic, pop, funk), 9pm oskar BLues BreWery Ezekiel Morphis Duo (Americana), 6pm

country), 8pm 5 WaLnut Wine Bar Andrew J. Fletcher & 3 Cool Cats (stride piano & vintage rock), 9pm

Pack’s tavern DJ MoTo (pop, dance hits), 9pm

aLtamont theatre An evening W/ Charles “Wigg” Walker (soul), 8pm

Pisgah BreWing comPany Groove fetish w/ Fat Cheek Kat (funk, jam), 9pm

asheviLLe music haLL Blue Ridge Rockaway After Party w/ The Motet (funk), 12:45am

sanctuary BreWing comPany Jamison Adams Project (jam, funk, fusion), 7pm

athena’s cLuB Michael Kelley Hunter (blues), 6:30pm DJ Shy Guy, 10pm

scandaLs nightcLuB DJ dance party & drag show, 10pm

Ben’s tune-uP Gypsy Guitars (acoustic, Gypsyjazz), 2pm Savannah Smith (southern soul), 8pm

scuLLy’s DJ, 10pm soL Bar neW mountain SOL Vibes: Dopethrown, Antandra & Dissisoma (electronic), 10pm southern aPPaLachian BreWery The Peggy Ratusz Trio (blues), 8pm sPring creek tavern Kevin Reese (Americana), 8pm the admiraL Hip-hop dance party w/ DJ Warf, 11pm

BLue mountain PiZZa & BreW PuB Bob Zullo (acoustic), 7pm BoiLer room Bleedseason, I, The Supplier, Artificial Oceans & Swallow the Sky, 9pm cataWBa BreWing south sLoPe Carolina Bound (folk, Americana), 6pm cork & keg Old-Time Jam, 7:30pm

LoBster traP Sean Mason Trio (jazz), 6:30pm market PLace DJs (funk, R&B), 7pm neW mountain theater/ amPhitheater Planned Parenthood Condom Couture, 8pm odditorium The Beard w/ Bent To Break & Broad River Nightmare (metal), 9pm off the Wagon Dueling pianos, 9pm oLive or tWist 42nd Street Band (big band jazz), 8pm Dance party (hip-hop, rap), 11pm

WxyZ Lounge at aLoft hoteL Hank West Band (jazz exotica), 8pm

Nino, 9pm toWn PumP The Voodoo Drifters (blues, Southern rock), 9pm

ZamBra Zambra Jazz Trio, 8pm

tWisted LaureL Live DJ, 11pm

sunday, feBruary 21

Weinhaus Old-Time Jam, 7:30pm White horse BLack mountain Cody Blackbird (Native-American blues, rock, fusion), 8pm WiLd Wing cafe Karaoke, 8pm

5 WaLnut Wine Bar Red Hot Sugar Babies (hot jazz), 7pm

cataLoochee ranch Midnight Plowboys (traditional mountain music), 4pm

one stoP deLi & Bar Umphreys McGee Pre Party w/ Sumilan (rock), 4pm orange PeeL Cherub w/ Gibbz & Mike Floss (electronic, pop, funk), 9pm oskar BLues BreWery Darby Wilcox & the Peep Show (indie, folk), 6pm Pack’s tavern Lyric (funk, pop, soul), 9pm Pisgah BreWing comPany Bread & Butter Band (Americana, bluegrass, old-time), 9pm

February / March THURSDAY

THEATER

8PM SHOW

feat. DJ SCIENTIST

room ix Open dance night, 9pm

THURSDAY

THEATER

PurPLe onion cafe Shana Blake Band (Americana, blues), 7pm

2.18 HALFWAY TO HEMPX

the dugout Mojomatic (rock, blues), 5:45pm

eLaine’s dueLing Piano Bar Dueling Pianos, 9pm

the mothLight Shallows w/ Cadavernous & Debtors Prism (grunge, punk), 9pm

foggy mountain BreWPuB Station Underground (reggae), 10pm

sanctuary BreWing comPany Jangling Sparrows (Americana, rock), 7:30pm

9PM SHOW

2.25

RUN DMT

THURSDAY

SOL BAR

french Broad BreWery Laura Blackley & The Wildflowers (country, folk), 6pm

scandaLs nightcLuB DJ dance party & drag show, 10pm

9PM SHOW

good stuff Pleasure chest w/ Garius Hill (blues, rock ’n’ roll, soul), 9pm

scuLLy’s DJ, 10pm

tiger mountain Dark dance rituals w/ DJ Cliffypoo, 10pm toWn PumP The Jangling Sparrows (indie, folk, Americana), 9pm tWisted LaureL Live DJ, 11pm White horse BLack mountain Cabaret Jazz w/ Virginia Schenck & friends, 8pm WiLd Wing cafe south A Social Function (acoustic), 9:30pm WxyZ Lounge at aLoft hoteL Ben Hovey (live souljazztronica), 8pm ZamBra Zambra Jazz Trio, 8pm

saturday, feBruary 20 185 king street Sally & George (Americana,

grey eagLe music haLL & tavern HoneyHoney w/ Cicada Rhythm (indie, folk), 9pm highLand BreWing comPany Asheville Jazz Orchestra, 7pm Strutter (KISS tribute band), 10pm iron horse station Dave Desmelik (original music), 7pm

shoWtime saLoon Jericho Woods (country, Americana), 8pm southern aPPaLachian BreWery The Jonny Monster Band (blues, rock), 8pm sPring creek tavern Ashley Heath (r&b), 8pm the admiraL Soul night w/ DJ Dr. Filth, 11pm

isis restaurant and music haLL An evening w/ Carrie Newcomer (singer-songwriter), 9pm

the BLock off BiLtmore Live Art Show w/ Sacral Crown & Midnight Willo (experimental, electronic, psychedelic), 6pm

Jack of the Wood PuB Little Lesley & The Bloodshots w/ West King String Band & Henry River Honey (rockabilly), 9pm

the dugout Bite The Apple (hard rock), 5pm

JerusaLem garden Middle Eastern music & bellydancing, 7pm LaZy diamond Sonic Satan Stew w/ DJ Alien Brain, 10pm Lex 18 Jazzville w/ Bronwyn Cronin (American songbook classics), 6:30pm

BoLd rock hard cider Riyen Roots (blues, rock, soul), 4pm ByWater Cornmeal Waltz w/ Robert Greer, 6pm

douBLe croWn Pitter Platter w/ DJ Big Smidge, 10pm

the sociaL Steve Moseley (acoustic), 6pm

BLue mountain PiZZa & BreW PuB Mark Bumgarner (Americana), 7pm

185 king street Sunday Funday Corn Hole Tournament & Open Jam, 7pm

the BLock off BiLtmore Jason DeCristafaro Hot Quartet (jazz, classical, world music), 8pm

the nationaL Chanterelles (fusion soul, funk), 8pm DJ Dance Party w/ AJ Maknbeats & DJ Cos (trap, hip hop, Euro), 11pm

Ben’s tune-uP Reggae night w/ Dub Kartel, 8pm

the mothLight Coconut Cake w/ Sankofa Electrofolk (Congolese rumba rock), 9pm the nationaL Live Jazz & Funk Wall St. Patio Show, 2pm Mike Smith & Datrian Johnson (acoustic soul, R&B), 7pm In Plain Sight (house, dance), 10pm

2.25

SATURDAY

DANK THEATER

BASS 4 BERNIE FEAT.

8PM SHOW

2.27

ELECTROCHEMICAL + XERO GOD

SATURDAY

THEATER

9PM SHOW

3.5

QUANTIC LIVE

SATURDAY

SOL BAR

3.5

9PM SHOW THURSDAY

3.10

9PM SHOW FRIDAY

3.11

9PM SHOW

VIBE STREET + BRIGHTSIDE THEATER

THRIFTWORKS + LIVE ANIMALS THEATER

DOWNLINK + DIESELBOY

Coming Up:

EVERY FRIDAY: SOL VIBES ELECTRONIC SHOWCASE AT SOL BAR WED - 3.30: FRI - 4.15: SAT - 4.16:

TWIDDLE DOPAPOD + THE FRITZ DOPAPOD + TURKUAZ

timo’s house Dance Party w/ DJ Franco

mountainx.com

FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

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Wed • February 17 Woody Wood @ 5:30pm Fri• February 19 The Digs @ 7:00pm

cl u Bl a n D

Send your listings to clubland@mountainx.com

douBLe croWn Killer Karaoke w/ KJ Tim O, 9pm

Sat• February 20 Asheville Jazz Orchestra @7:00pm Check website for details about

Strutter (KISS tribute band)

Sun • February 21 Reggae Sunday @ 1pm

Tue • February 23 Team Trivia with Dr. Brown @ 6pm

grey eagLe music haLL & tavern Agent Orange w/ In The Whale & Ouroboros Boys (punk, hardcore, surf), 9pm highLand BreWing comPany Reggae Sundays w/ Dennis “Chalwa” Berndt, 1pm isis restaurant and music haLL Sunday Classical Brunch, 11am An evening w/ Jefferson Ross (folk, singer-songwriter), 5:30pm Sunday Jazz showcase, 7:30pm Jack of the Wood PuB Irish session, 5pm Jericho Woods Band (Americana, alt-country, roots rock), 9pm LaZy diamond The Lords of Chicken Hill (punk), 8pm Tiki Night w/ DJ Lance (Hawaiian, surf, exotica), 10pm Lex 18 The Downton Abbey Vintage Banquet (ticketed event), 6:30pm LoBster traP Hunnilicious (Americana, country, folk), 6:30pm odditorium Poet Radio, Kitty Tsunami, The Indoor Kids, Jim & The Limbs (rock), 9pm off the Wagon Piano show, 9pm one stoP deLi & Bar Bluegrass brunch w/ Woody Wood, 11am Sundays w/ Bill & Friends (Grateful Dead tribute, acoustic), 5pm

Featuring Largest Selection of Craft Beer on Tap • 8 Wines

2/18

thu

the moth: true stories told live

2/19

fri

shallows (album release) w/ cadavernous, debtors prism

2/20 sat world dance party w/

coconut cake &sankofa electrofolk

2/21 sun deb au nare presents…

burlesque academy of asheville graduation show

FEATURING

2/18 - Cider Night featuring Urban Orchard, Noble, & Bold Rock 2/25 - Celebrating Aged 2014 Brews!

Rogue XS Old Crustacean Barleywine & Anderson Valley Winter Solstice Winter Warmer

On Tap!

$4 Mimosa Sundays!

Serving food from Asheville Sandwich Company!

800 Haywood Road P o u r Ta p R o o m . c o m Monday - Thursday 2-11pm • Friday & Saturday 12-1am • Sunday 12-11pm 46

FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

free!

2/22 mon

the zuzu welsh band w/ straw man, paul alcohol

2/24 wed wayne the train hancock w/ occasional caucasians thu 2/25 the get right band w/ groove fetish ii

2/27

sat

ii

tin foil hat w/ via, axnt

2/29 mon lifecurse w/ artificial oceans, telic

Details for all shows can be found at

themothlight.com

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the omni grove Park inn Lou Mowad (classical guitar), 10am Bob Zullo (pop, rock, blues), 7pm

one WorLd BreWing Movie Night, 7pm Beats & Brews w/ DJ Whistleblower, 8pm

the sociaL Get Vocal Karaoke, 9:30pm

orange PeeL Free movie series: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 7:30pm

the sociaL Lounge DJ Kyusi on vinyl (old school triphop, deep house, acid jazz), 8pm the southern Yacht Rock Brunch w/ DJ Kipper, 12pm timo’s house Bring Your Own Vinyl (open decks), 9pm toWn PumP Jesse RS (indie rock, folk, funk), 9pm Wedge BreWing co.

Vollie McKenzie & Hank Bones (acoustic jazz-swing), 6pm ZamBra Zambra Jazz Trio (jazz, Latin), 8pm

monday, feBruary 22 185 king street Open mic night, 7pm 5 WaLnut Wine Bar Siamese Jazz Club (soul, r&b, jazz), 8pm aLtamont BreWing comPany Old-time jam w/ Mitch McConnell, 6:30pm Ben’s tune-uP Eleanor Underhill (acoustic), 5pm ByWater Open mic w/ Rick Cooper, 8pm

Pisgah BreWing comPany Sunday Travers Jam (open jam), 4pm

courtyard gaLLery Open mic (music, poetry, comedy, etc.), 8pm

PurPLe onion cafe Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’Blues (blues), 7pm

creekside taPhouse Trivia, 7pm

sanctuary BreWing comPany Suds and Studs Yoga, 5pm scandaLs nightcLuB DJ dance party & drag show, 10pm southern aPPaLachian BreWery Jeff Michels & Jim Robertson (folk, Americana), 5pm taLLgary’s at four coLLege Jason Brazzel (acoustic), 6pm the BLock off BiLtmore Bernie Bash: Open Jam Fundraiser, 2pm Silent movie: The Kid w/ Andrew J. Fletcher (piano accompaniment), 8pm

croW & QuiLL Edward Gorey Blanket Fort & Story Telling Night, 8pm douBLe croWn Country Karaoke, 10pm good stuff Open mic w/ Laura Thurston, 7pm grey eagLe music haLL & tavern Contra dance (lessons, 7:30pm), 8pm Jack of the Wood PuB Quizzo, 7pm Lexington ave BreWery (LaB) Kipper’s “Totally Rad” Trivia night, 8pm

the mothLight Burlesque Academy of Asheville graduation show, 9pm

LoBster traP Bobby Miller & Friends (bluegrass), 6:30pm

the nationaL Wall St. Day Party (live DJ), 12pm 3rd annual Winter Classic Masquerade Ball presented by AMG, 9pm

o.henry’s/the underground Geeks Who Drink trivia, 7pm

the nightingaLe Loft AmiciMusic presents ’An American in Paris’ (classical), 2pm

odditorium Sun Seeker (rock), 9pm oLive or tWist 2 Breeze Band (Motown), 6pm

oskar BLues BreWery Mountain Music Mondays (open jam), 6pm sovereign remedies Stevie Lee Combs (acoustic), 8pm the mothLight The ZuZu Welsch Band w/ Straw Man & Paul Alcohol (classic rock, blues, country), 9pm the nationaL Wall St. Open Mic (poetry, skits, singer-songwriter, comedy), 8pm the omni grove Park inn Bob Zullo (pop, rock, blues), 7pm the vaLLey music & cookhouse Monday Pickin’ Parlour (open jam, open mic), 8pm tiger mountain Service industry night (rock ’n’ roll), 9pm timo’s house Movie night, 7pm urBan orchard Old-time music, 7pm

tuesday, feBruary 23 185 king street Members Appreciation Night w/ Naren Schoenacher (rock), 7pm 5 WaLnut Wine Bar The John Henrys (hot jazz), 8pm aLtamont BreWing comPany Open mic w/ Chris O’Neill, 8:30pm asheviLLe music haLL Tuesday Night Funk Jam, 11pm Back yard Bar Open mic & jam w/ Robert Swain, 8pm BLack Bear coffee co.

Round Robin acoustic open mic, 7pm BLack mountain aLe house Trivia, 7pm BLue mountain PiZZa & BreW PuB Mark Bumgarner (Americana), 7pm BuffaLo nickeL Trivia, 7pm cork & keg Honky Tonk Jamboree w/ Tom Pittman, 6:30pm creekside taPhouse Old School Low Down Blues Tues. w/ Matt Walsh, 6pm croW & QuiLL Chinquapin Duo (folk, old-time), 9pm douBLe croWn Honky-Tonk, Cajun, and Western w/ DJ Brody Hunt, 10pm

good stuff Old time-y night, 6:30pm grey eagLe music haLL & tavern NPR’s World Cafe Live! w/ Jon Stickley Trio & The Honeycutters (Gypsy-jazz, bluegrass, Americana), 8pm highLand BreWing comPany Dr. Brown’s Team Trivia, 6pm iron horse station Open mic, 6pm

isis restaurant and music haLL Tuesday bluegrass sessions, 7:30pm Jack of the Wood PuB Kevin Scanlon (folk), 7pm

LoBster traP Jay Brown (acoustic-folk, singersongwriter), 6:30pm market PLace The Rat Alley Cats (jazz, Latin, swing), 7pm

LaZy diamond 50s & 60s Country and Blues w/ DJ Big Smidge, 10pm Classic Rock ’n Roll Karaoke, 10pm

odditorium Odd comedy night, 9pm

Lex 18 The Downton Abbey Vintage Banquet (ticketed event), 6:30pm

one stoP deLi & Bar Turntable Tuesdays (DJs & vinyl), 10pm

off the Wagon Rock ’n’ roll bingo, 8pm

Trivia with Gil, 7pm

taLLgary’s at four coLLege Jam night, 9pm

sanctuary BreWing comPany

the BLock off BiLtmore Jazz-n-Justice (benefit for Full Circle Farm Sanctuary), 7:30pm

one WorLd BreWing

Team trivia & tacos, 7pm

the nationaL Funksters (R&B, jazz, groove), 9pm

sLy grog Lounge 1000 words storytelling open mic, 7pm

the sociaL Lounge Phantom Pantone (DJ), 10pm

soL Bar neW mountain

toWn PumP FeelFree (reggae), 9pm

Deaf Scene w/ Thrid Nature & You Bred Raptors? (post-rock, experimental), 7pm

tressa’s doWntoWn JaZZ and BLues Funk & jazz jam w/ Pauly

mountainx.com

Juhl, 8:30pm tWisted LaureL Tuesday night blues dance w/ The Remedy (lesson @ 8), 8pm urBan orchard Billy Litz (Americana, singer-songwriter), 7pm White horse BLack mountain Irish sessions & open mic, 6:30pm WiLd Wing cafe south Tuesday bluegrass, 6pm Trivia w/ Kelilyn, 8:30pm

FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

47

movies

CrankY Hanke reVieWs & listings

BY KEN HANKE, JUSTIN SOUTHER & SCOTT DOUGLAS

HHHHH = Pick of the week

Alex Jennings and Maggie Smith in Nicholas Hytner’s film of Alan Bennett’s The Lady in the Van — a charming, funny, moving story that never gives in to easy sentiment.

The Lady in the Van

HHHHH DiREctoR: Nicholas Hytner (The History Boys)

PlaYERs: Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings, Roger Allam, Frances de la Tour, Jim Broadbent, Gwen Taylor Fact-BasED comEDY-DRama Rated PG-13 tHE stoRY: The improbable, but “mostly true” story of a homeless woman who spent years living in playwright Alan Bennett’s driveway. tHE lowDown: a charming, touching, absolutely delightful comedy-drama with a terrific Maggie Smith performance — and an equally fine turn from Alex Jennings.

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FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

Technically, this is a 2015 release, which is to say it opened in major U.S. markets in December in the (vain as it turned out) hope of Oscar nods, but it’s only now making its way into what amounts to a wide release in art film terms. In any case, this is a most welcome movie on the often rather barren winter cinema landscape. Put plainly, The Lady in the Van is pretty much a straight-up delight all the way around — so much so that I watched it twice, and would be quite happy to see it again.

Billing itself in an upfront manner as “a mostly true story,” the film tells the story of writer Alan Bennett (Alex Jennings) letting the elderly, difficult, unhygienic “Miss Shepherd” park the

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|

C O N TA C T AT P R E S S M O V I E S @ A O L . C O M

m a x r at i n g

van in which she lives in his Camden Town driveway “till she gets things sorted out.” What that sorting out refers to is never clear, but this temporary arrangement is one that lasted 15 years — and gave Bennett the material for a 1999 play, a 2009 radio play, and now this film. Maggie Smith has played the title character in all of them, and Miss Shepherd might have been tailored to her talents.

It is, in fact, a role that it is hard to imagine anyone else inhabiting, though in all honesty the film version at least is as much about Bennett and, to a lesser extent, the other residents of Gloucester Crescent in Camden Town as it is about Miss Shepherd. And it may just be that is the most interesting and penetrating aspect of the film, since it allows the story to consider the nature of poverty, of the elderly and/or addled living in poverty — and to take a little poke at upper middle-class liberal guilt. But the script never overly sentimentalizes Miss Shepherd, nor does it soften her. At one point Bennett records, “I was about to do her a good turn, but, as ever, not without thoughts of strangulation.” And it’s completely understandable.

It is also very much a film about the creative process, which is conveyed in part by offering us two Alan Bennetts (both played by Jennings) who engage in arguments with each other. One of them is much more keen on the idea of using Miss Shepherd’s story — or as much of it as “they” ever know — as material. This also spills over into areas about the lack of strict adherence to the facts. When one Bennett watches an encounter with Miss Shepherd and objects to his other self, “She didn’t say this,” that other self responds, “No, but why shouldn’t she?” And it’s unarguable that a certain amount of dramatization is not only allowable, but may be nearer the spirit of the thing than strict adherence to reality.

In addition to this, it’s a very savvy film. Following a mishap with the aftermath of Miss Shepherd’s bathroom habits, Bennett remarks (while cleaning his shoe), “If and when I write about this, people will say there’s too much about shit.” I had at that moment

been thinking that this was true, but when he added, “But there was a lot about shit. Shit was in the forefront.

Caring — which is not a word I like — is about shit,” I realized he was perfectly justified. At the same time, when he occasionally allows himself to imagine saying something witheringly on target to Miss Shepherd, his other self upbraids him for not actually having said it, and then comments wryly, “People would say it’s because you’re too nice, but in truth it’s because you’re too timid.” Self awareness is often less than kind.

At bottom, though, this is the story of the impossible, hard-to-like, but impossible-to-dismiss title character and her tragedy — which we only piece together over the course of the film, and even then, like Bennett, are left to fill in the gaps. It is a movie that is funny, sad and utterly charming. It’s definitely one to see. Oh, and if you’re wondering why Frances de la Tour (playing Ralph Vaughan Williams’ widow, Ursula) and Dominic Cooper (playing an unnamed actor and possible boy-toy of Bennett’s) have such small roles, that’s because they (and 17 others) from Hytner’s 2006 film of Bennett’s The History Boys appear in one capacity or another. Rated PG-13 for a brief unsettling image.

Starts Friday at Carolina Cinemas and Fine Arts Theatre. revieWed By ken hanke khanke@mountainx.com

Deadpool HHHH DiREctoR: Tim Miller PlaYERs: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T.J. Miller, Gina Carano, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapicic

RAUNCHY SUPERHERO STUFF: Rated R The Story: A wisecracking, foulmouthed superhero is out for revenge on the man who turned him into his present disfigured state.

The Lowdown: Lavishly vulgar, completely disrespectful, gratuitously bloody — and an awful lot of tasteless fun if you’re not turned off by those things.

I’m not at all sure that Tim Miller’s Deadpool is any more transgressive than Frank Miller’s much maligned The Spirit (2008) — it is definitely less stylized and stylish — though it is certainly more popular. (Deadpool was expected — optimistically — to gross $70 million in its opening weekend, but is currently estimated at having grossed over $135 million.)

Deadpool is outrageously vulgar — fully and fairly winning its R rating — and uncommonly self-aware. This is a movie with a hero (or the next nearest thing) who talks directly to the audience. It’s a movie that exists in a world that’s aware of the very movies it’s part of. For instance, when Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) is told he’s being taken to see Professor Charles Xavier, he wants to know if that means Patrick Stewart or James McAvoy. It’s so in on itself that it has a fourth-wall breaking post-credits bit that riffs on a 30-year-old movie’s fourth-wall breaking post-credits bit.

Frankly, it reminded me of Bing and Bob’s old “Road Pictures,” but with sci-fi action, spandex, bad language and no musical numbers. That, by the way, is a compliment.

The interesting thing is that this is actually Ryan Reynolds’ second goaround as Wade Williams/Deadpool.

He played the same character — in a supporting capacity — in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Honestly, I have no memory of him in the film (and little memory of the film itself), which strongly suggests that his earlier performance was nothing much like the campy, vulgar, winking and sexually ambiguous one on display here. This is just not a performance you’re likely to forget, whether you like it or not. This is also not a performance that could have existed in 2009. It’s a performance that needed that debacle and the 2011 fiasco of Green Lantern to come into being.

Some have said that Deadpool is the character that Reynolds was born to play. The truth is that it’s the character Reynolds career and public

image has forged — and it’s the character that suits him because of this.

Deadpool does not reinvent the super-hero movie. Stripped of its wisecracking, foul-mouthed hero and its self-referencing, self-deprecating (according to the opening credits the director is “an overpaid idiot,” the producers are “asshats” and other participants are treated similarly), and self-congratulatory tone, this is actually a fairly conventional movie. It’s similar (again) to The Spirit in that it buries its basic origins story in the story the film is ostensibly telling — only here the story is simpler. When the film opens, we find Deadpool on the trail of the villainous Ajax (whose real name is Francis and who is played by Ed Skrein). The crux of this is a pretty simple revenge story, since Ajax is the one who turned Wade into the disfigured, self-regenerating, pretty much indestructible Deadpool — as part of a cure for his terminal cancer. The advertised side-effect of the treatment was super powers. The unmentioned side-effect was this disfiguration — something Ajax claims to be able to fix.

Into this, add Deadpool’s girlfriend — former hooker Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) — who in a completely unsurprising move is kidnapped by Ajax and... you can figure this part out without any help. While there is a certain warmth to the Deadpool/ Vanessa relationship that makes the movie seem at least sort of human, it’s mostly a movie that exists on the sheer rush of inventive rudery. Whether it’s giving Deadpool a blind, grumpy roommate, Big Al (Leslie Uggams), whom he latched onto when he met Vanessa in a laundromat where she offered the sage advice that a red superhero suit wouldn’t show blood, or having him con a couple of lesser-X-Men into helping him rescue Vanessa with promises of considering joining up, the movie is all about attitude and smart assery.

If that’s what you want, you’ll probably love the movie — and not even notice that, no, they haven’t figured out a way to make one of these things that doesn’t climax in some kind of hero-villain smackdown. And if you do notice, you probably won’t mind very much. Rated R for strong violence and language throughout, sexual content and graphic nudity.

Playing at Carmike 10, Carolina Cinemas, Co-ed of Brevard, Epic of Hendersonville, Regal Biltmore Grande. reviewed by Ken Hanke khanke@mountainx.com

How to Be Single HHS

Director: Christian Ditter Players: Dakota Johnson, Alison Brie, Leslie Mann, Rebel Wilson, Anders Holm, Damon Wayans Jr., Jake Lacy ROMANTIC DRAMA COMEDY Rated R The Story: Multiple stories — all built around Dakota Johnson going to New York to learn what it’s like to be single.

The Lowdown: It’s not terrible, but neither is it especially good. It’s mostly just innocuous.

The very fact that I went into How to Be Single bathed in dread, expecting the worst, but found myself not minding the experience — well, mostly not minding it — is pretty close to a ringing endorsement. It is as close as I’m getting to one, and somehow “not minding it” doesn’t strike me as something likely to end up on a DVD cover.

The irony to the whole thing, though, is I ended up seeing this at all because I gave my cohort Justin Souther a choice between this and Zoolander 2.

I cringed when he wished this on me, but now suspect I got the better end of a bad deal. Still, this is a long way from a recommendation. If you insist on something approaching a recommendation, I will note that Dakota Johnson is much better here than in last year’s Fifty Shades of Grey, if only because she doesn’t bite her lower lip to express whatever infantile sexuality that was meant to express. Further, this was the first performance I’ve seen from Jake Lacy that didn’t remind me of an especially uncharismatic block of wood.

Honestly, apart from the fact that How to Be Single never actually answers its own question (unless going to New York, getting a cushy job, having endless supplies of money and getting a kooky friend counts) of whether it’s more of a drama than the comedy it’s being marketed as — and that I have no clue why Alison Brie’s character is even in the movie — it’s really not that bad. But neither is it all that good. It is, as I told the young lady taking tickets at The Carolina when I left the theater, harmless.

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THE AT E R LISTINGS Friday, february 19 Thursday, february 25 Due to possible scheduling changes, moviegoers may want to confirm showtimes with theaters.

- Asheville Pizza & Brewing Co. (254-1281) The Good Dinosaur (PG) 1:00, 4:00 Spectre (PG-13) 7:00 Mad Max 2: Beyond Thunderdome (PG-13) 10:15

- Carmike Cinema 10 (298-4452) - Carolina Cinemas (274-9500) Showtimes not available at presstime.

45 Years (R) The Big Short (R) The Choice (PG-13) Deadpool (R) Hail, Caesar! (PG-13) How to Be Single (R) Kung Fu Panda 3 2D (PG) The Lady in the Van (PG-13) Race (PG-13) The Revenant (R) Risen (PG-13) Star Wars: The Force Awakens (PG-13) Where to Invade Next (R) The Witch (R) Zoolander 2 PG-13)

- Co-ed Cinema Brevard (883-2200) Deadpool (R) 1:00, 4:00, 7:00

- Epic of Hendersonville (693-1146) - Fine Arts Theatre (232-1536) 45 Years (R) 1:20 The Lady in the Van (PG-13) 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, Late Show Fri-Sat 9:20 Where to Invade Next (R) 4:20, 7:20, Late Show Fri-Sat 9:30

- Flatrock Cinema (697-2463) (R) Room (R) 4:00, 7:00 (Closed Monday)

- Regal Biltmore Grande Stadium 15 (684-1298) - United Artists Beaucatcher (298-1234) FEBRUARY 17 - FEBRUARY 23, 2016

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movies The story — such as it is — finds Alice (Johnson) deciding to take a break from her long-term boyfriend, Josh (Nicholas Braun) in order to go to New York to find herself. Seems she went from living at home to living in a dorm to living with him, and she wants to find out what it’s like to be single.

Fair enough, I suppose, but I’m not sure that moving in with her older sister, Meg (Leslie Mann), is all that different from living at home. No matter, since that falls apart when her “kooky” new friend Robin (the seemingly ubiquitous Rebel Wilson) slides naked down the laundry chute in Meg’s building. (Fortunately, we only hear about this.) Since this is, of course, The Movies writ large, Alice immediately gets a really nice apartment (finances are never an issue in movies like this) and continues her New York adventure.

While Alice flails away, Meg — an obstetrician firmly opposed to babies — gets all gooey-eyed when a patient leaves her in charge of a picture-perfect infant, and opts for artificial insemination. What she has not reckoned on is falling in love with a hunky younger guy (Jake Lacy). Complications ensue.

And then there’s Lucy (Brie), whose character seems like some kind of afterthought. Seriously, I never quite understood why she was even in the movie, and her part could have been cut without major loss. Or any loss at all.

What are we left with? Well, it’s a fairly innocuous movie that isn’t painful to sit through. It doesn’t have many laughs (unless you simply think Rebel Wilson doing her usual Rebel Wilson outrageous shtick is intrinsically funny). It — and its candy-coated version of NYC — has little, if any, connection to reality, though I don’t suppose that was the idea anyway.

This is pure escapist fluff. It’s a movie where you’re supposed to believe that the rich guy (Damon Wayans Jr.) Alice just met just happens to own a building that has the world’s best view of the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Plaza — at just the moment she was on her way to see said tree. If that appeals to you, so may this movie. Rated R for sexual content and strong language throughout.

Playing at Carolina Cinemas, Epic of Hendersonville, Regal Biltmore Grande, UA Beaucatcher. reviewed by Ken Hanke khanke@mountainx.com

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FEBRUARY 17 - FEBRUARY 23, 2016

The Witch HHHHS

Director: Robert Eggers Players: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Bathsheba Garnett HORROR Rated R The Story: A family of Puritans is banished from its New England enclave over unspecified theological disagreements and strikes out to build a life in an unforgiving wilderness, only to find that the greatest threat they face is far from natural.

The Lowdown: One of the creepiest horror movies to surface in years, The Witch may not be for everybody.

But those willing to embrace its conceit will find a story with affective depth exceeding its scares: a genuinely unsettling film that will haunt audiences long after the credits roll.

This is a particularly difficult review for me, in the best way possible. I have written about some of the worst films of the last 10 months, but I have yet to come across a movie that I could genuinely effuse about — until now. The Witch is certain to be a divisive picture, and its handling of religious hypocrisy, women’s roles in a patriarchal society, and occult themes are likely to hurt its commercial appeal in a broad market.

While the other critics I screened this film with were hesitant to recommend it, I have no such reservations. If the trailers have appealed to you in the slightest, go see The Witch immediately. This film epitomizes the image that Black Sabbath built a career on, but they probably would have soiled their tight British trousers at the bleakness and brutality on display here.

That statement is in no way intended to disparage a band (or musical genre) that I love deeply, rather it is an explication of just how effective this film is in restoring relevance to depictions of witchcraft on screen. Though the trailers may look standard for a modern horror film, The Witch represents a very unique form of revisionism within its given sub-genre. We’ve seen zombies and vampires reimagined in every conceivable permutation ad nauseam, but no earnest effort to reexamine Satanic witches through a modern lens has been made with any success since 1968’s Rosemary’s Baby.

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Set in 1630, decades before the Salem Witch Trials, The Witch culls much of its script from contemporaneous historical records and trial transcripts. The antiquated dialogue may prove problematic for some viewers, but period authenticity is only a superficial manifestation of the film’s true objective: presenting a world of very real and literal sorcery, with all the contingent psychological fallout such a proposition implies. This film plays straight with the audience from its earliest scenes, offering a hypothetical scenario wherein the black magic described prior to so many people being hanged, burned or pressed to death in 17th century America occurs exactly as it was described in those witness testimonies, down to broomsticks, nocturnal Sabbaths and infanticidal blood rituals.

Rather than playing any of these salacious details for simple shock value, the film instead presents them with a matter-of-fact seriousness, deriving its dramatic tension from a place of character development, as opposed to gore and jump-scares. With the exception of the film’s climax, every instance of the supernatural presented on-screen has already been seen in the trailers. This leaves the cast of relative unknowns to carry the weight of the picture through a deliberately paced second act, and they more than rise to the occasion.

Degenerating family dynamics redolent of The Shining take center stage as the titular witch’s subtle ministrations set a self-righteous family at each others throats, leaving adolescent daughter Thomasin (expertly portrayed by newcomer Anya Taylor-Joy) as the unfortunate scapegoat (pun intended) for her father’s desperate wrath and her mother’s mounting madness. Thus, the film skirts a very curious line.

While most explications of the witch trial phenomena would try to rationalize these events as byproducts of schizophrenia, ergot poisoning or misdirected religious zealotry challenged by a young woman’s burgeoning sexuality, this story makes no bones about its position in such matters; for these characters, witchcraft is a tangible and inescapable threat.

The Witch is not a film for the squeamish, nor is it likely to appeal to religious fundamentalists or those threatened by feminist themes. Those seeking mindless action and gratuitous gore need look elsewhere, but any prospective movie-goer in search of a thought-provoking depiction of existential dread need look no further.

Writer/director Robert Eggers’ feature debut has set an impressively high standard by which his future efforts

will be judged, and every accolade and award The Witch garnered at Sundance was well deserved. If he sold his soul to Satan in order to make this film, he probably got the better end of the bargain. Rated R for scenes of sexuality.

Starts Friday at Carmike 10, Carolina Cinemas, Epic of Hendersonville, Regal Biltmore. reviewed by Scott Douglas jsdouglas22@gmail.com

Zoolander 2 H Director: Ben Stiller Players: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Penelope Cruz, Will Ferrell, Cyrus Arnold COMEDY Rated PG-13 The Story: After tragedy and years in hiding, legendary male supermodel — and general idiot — Derek Zoolander comes out of hiding and quickly finds himself entangled in intrigue and conspiracy.

The Lowdown: A dull and uninspired sequel to a pretty good comedy, one that lacks verve and instead relies on rehashed jokes and pointless celebrity cameos.

Earlier this week, I was discussing with a friend our respective favorite films, and said friend mentioned that she would put Ben Stiller’s Zoolander (2001) in her top three favorites. Her rationale wasn’t that it’s a great piece of cinema, but that it makes her laugh and she enjoys it. And it is a good movie — specifically a fun one, surprising and goofy yet intelligent and occasionally pointed — and there’s a lot to be said for that, specifically in the notion that movies can simply be good. Cinema as art is obviously something that should be striven for, but film can also be just entertaining — a quality I think that’s harder to come by than one might first suspect. Not just from the glut of serious award-bait that’s dreadfully boring, but from the rest of cinema’s unwashed masses.

Now, if you need proof of how difficult the simple act of entertainment

can be, watch Zoolander 2. As fun and even vibrant as the original Zoolander is, Zoolander 2 is the exact opposite, a sort of masticated, decimated version of its predecessor. All the most terrible signs are there — the February release date, 15 years between films and the stench of desperation that creates — and somehow it’s all much, much worse than anyone imagined. The film finds our titular protagonist, legendary male supermodel and monumental numbskull, Derek Zoolander (Stiller), in hiding after the accidental death of his wife (Christine Taylor) and the apparent disfigurement of his best friend and fellow model Hansel (Owen Wilson). The plot kicks in when Derek and Hansel are lured out of retirement by a young, hip designer (Saturday Night Live’s Kyle Mooney) and promptly humiliated. Before skulking off, they’re recruited by Interpol agent — and one time swimsuit model — Valentina (Penelope Cruz) to help track down the person responsible for knocking off celebrities like Justin Bieber.

The film gets stuck in a rut of rehashing or simply referencing jokes from the first movie. The satire of the fashion industry, which helped prop up the first film, feels chintzy and pointless this time around. There’s a definite problem with Zoolander 2, where it falls into that sequel trap of thinking more is more. Since there were celebrities in the first Zoolander, there’s got to be even more celebrities this time around — a parade of famous people whose inclusion in the movie serve no purpose. This is perhaps the biggest indictment of the film, since the original had David Bowie, and now, in 2016, Zoolander 2 is stuck with Sting.

Much of the movie just doesn’t feel fleshed out. People like Kristen Wiig and Benedict Cumberbatch are in it as actual credited characters, and they just disappear from the film. It’s all such a waste, not just of talent, but of the original film. All this time and energy placed in a movie that made me laugh just three times — and I’ve already forgotten two of the jokes.

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, a scene of exaggerated violence, and brief strong language.

Playing at Carmike 10, Carolina Cinemas, Epic of Hendersonville, Regal Biltmore Grande. revieWed By Justin souther Jsouther@mountainx.com

sta Rt ing F RiD aY

The Lady in the Van

fiLm

See review in “Cranky Hanke” BuncomBe county PuBLic LiBraries buncombecounty.org/governing/depts/ library Free unless otherwise noted.

• SA (2/20), 2pm - Journey To The Center Of The Earth. Held at North Asheville Library, 1030 Merrimon Ave. caroLina JeWs for Justice West carolinajewsforjustice.org • TH (2/18), 7-9pm - Just Economics’ documentary, Faces of Poverty, followed by panel discussion. Free to attend.

Held at Congregation Beth Israel, 229 Murdock Ave. fiLm at unca 251-6585, unca.edu • WE (2/17), 7pm - Film Screening: Midnight’s Children. Free. Held in Highsmith Union Grotto. mechanicaL eye microcinema mechanicaleyecinema.org • TH (2/18), 7pm - Showing of found footage films of experimental filmmaker and media artist Jen Proctor. $5. Held at BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce St.

Race Lacking a big-name star and boasting a director, Stephen Hopkins, whose theatrical films are mostly cheesy hor-

Mon.-Thur. 4pm-2am • Fri.-Sun. 2pm-2am

87 Patton Ave., Asheville

ror pictures, this biopic on Jess Owens (Stephan James) will rise or fall on the level of interest in its subject.

The studio assures us that the film is “based on the incredible true story of Jesse Owens, the legendary athletic superstar whose quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in history thrusts him onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler’s vision of Aryan supremacy. Race is an enthralling film about courage, determination, tolerance, and friendship, and an inspiring drama about one man’s fight to become an Olympic legend.” No early reviews so far. (Pg-13)

Risen Director Kevin Reynolds hasn’t directed a movie in 10 years, so here he is with this post-crucifixion story that you might think would do better at Easter. Sony says, “The first 40 days

All Glasses $

150!

INCLUDES SINGLE VISION LENS WITH FRAMES AND ANTI-REFLECTIVE COATING. (OTHER CHARGES APPLY FOR BIFOCALS, PROGRESSIVES AND ANY OTHER COATINGS)

after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is told through the eyes of an agnostic Roman Centurion charged by Pontius Pilate to investigate rumors of a risen Jewish Messiah and locate the missing deceased body of Jesus of Nazareth in order to subdue an imminent uprising in Jerusalem. During Centurion’s mission, his doubts of such a supernatural occurrence peel away as he encounters the Apostles and other historic bibli-

Kids Issue Coming soon!

cal characters and bears witness to the legendary storied events that followed the Resurrection.” It, too, has not been reviewed yet. (Pg-13)

The Witch See Scott Douglas’ review in “Cranky Hanke”

mountainx.com

FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

51

m oV i E s

by Edwin Arnaudin

edwinarnaudin@gmail.com

s PEc ial s cREEnings

Broken Lullaby HHHHS

director: Ernst Lubitsch Players: Lionel Barrymore, Nancy Carroll, Phillips Holmes, Louise Carter, Lucien Littlefield drama Rated NR Something very different from the great Ernst Lubitsch: a straight anti-war film made in the midst of his busiest year as a filmmaker. Yes, in 1932, the same year that he gave us the shimmering comedies One Hour with You and Trouble in Paradise (not to mention his segment in If I Had a Million), he made the stylish, but grim, Broken Lullaby. This is a film about a conscience-stricken Frenchman (Phillips Holmes) who cannot get over having killed a German soldier in WWI. In order to try to expiate his sense of guilt, he goes to the parents — and, without knowing, the fiancee — of the dead man to ask for forgiveness. But things don’t work out that way, and he ends up claiming that he and the soldier had been friends in Paris before the war. What happens from this lie is the crux of the drama. Stark, powerful and the work of a master filmmaker at the height of his creativity. The Asheville Film Society will screen broken lullaby Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 8 p.m. in Theater Six at The Carolina Asheville, hosted by Xpress movie critic Ken Hanke.

ADVERTISE YOUR TAX SERVICES

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Accountants, tax preparers, and other financial institutions are invited to take advantage of our great advertising discounts until April 15th.

The Double Life of Veronique HHHHS

director: Krzysztof Kieslowski Players: Irene Jacob, Halina Gryglaszewska, Philippe Volter, Jerzy Gudejko, Claude Duneton drama Rated R Until this past weekend, I had never seen Krzysztof Kieslowski’s The Double Life of Veronique (1991) and was in no way prepared for it. And on one viewing I do not really feel like I can review it — certainly I cannot in any depth. This is a strange, almost hypnotic film. It is a film with a mystery at its core, but it is not a mystery that is solved — nor is it really meant to be solved. It tells two stories, the stories of two women (both played by Irene Jacob). The stories intersect — really the stories bump into each other — but they are separate and told in two more or less consecutive parts, though the first story haunts the film. Weronika is a Polish girl. Veronique is French. They never actually meet, though Veronique captures pictures of Weronika from a tour bus. There are similarities, but the connections are subtle, even delicate. Weronika’s story is a tragedy, but not one Veronique ever knows — and yet it informs her own life in ways she can’t quite grasp. Neither can the viewer, but it’s the overall feeling the film evokes that matters. Classic World Cinema by Courtyard Gallery will present the double life of veronique Friday, Feb. 19 at 8 p.m. at Phil Mechanic Studios, 109 Roberts St., River Arts District (upstairs in the Railroad Library). Info: 273-3332, www.ashevillecourtyard.com

The Secret of Roan Inish HHHH

director: John Sayles Players: Jeni Courtney, Mick Lally, John Lynch, Eileen Colgan fantasy Rated PG An unusual film to come from indie filmmaker John Sayles, The Secret of Roan Inish is completely out of keeping with the generally cynical tone of his other work. Sayles is the last person on Earth you’d expect to be making a “family film,” but that might be part of the reason this 1995 film works as well as it does. Sayles was certainly no stranger to the fantastic. His directing credits include the very fantasticated Brother From Another Planet (1984), while his writing credits encompass such things as Piranha (1978) and The Howling (1981). The surprise lies in the whimsical nature of Roan Inish. What works is Sayles’ refusal to make the material “precious.” In other hands, the story of a little girl (Jeni Courtney) learning, exploring and reclaiming the family history — involving a race of mermaid-like were-seals called Selkies — could probably have been milked for maximum cuteness. Sayles approaches it all in a matter-of-fact manner that’s both refreshing and perfectly in keeping with the story’s coastal Ireland setting, a world in which such things are not thought of as impossible. It results in a fantasy that isn’t played as fantasy, and it works remarkably well. The Hendersonville Film Society will show the secret of roan inish Sunday, Feb. 21, at 2 p.m. in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community (behind Epic Cinemas), 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville.

The Undying Monster HHHH

Contact us today!

828-251-1333 advertise@mountainx.com 52

FEBRuaRY 17 - FEBRuaRY 23, 2016

director: John Brahm Players: James Ellison, Heather Angel, John Howard, Bramwell Fletcher, Heather Thatcher horror mystery Rated NR The Undying Monster (1942) is one of the most curious of all werewolf movies — mostly because it offers so very little werewolfery. Truth to tell, it’s fairly typical of Fox’s rather limited forays into the horror genre.

It’s very well made. The cast is solid. The production values are top notch (thanks in no small part to standing sets), and the entire film is as atmospheric as you could possibly wish. But the horror content is pretty darn subdued, and, based on the evidence onscreen, looks like it was goosed after the fact. (I can think of no other reason why the one good look we get at the film’s werewolf is obviously an effect achieved in post-production. I’ll grant that it adds a layer of creepy unreality to it all, but I doubt that was the idea.) In the main, this is an atmospheric period mystery with James Ellison and Heather Thatcher doing a Holmes and Watson bit as investigators brought in by Scotland Yard to uncover the truth behind “the Hammond mystery” (which was the film’s UK title to get it past the censors). It’s terrific to look at and a lot of fun, but the horror content is on the tepid side. The Thursday Horror Picture Show will screen the undying monster Thursday, Feb. 18, at 8 p.m. in Theater Six at The Carolina Asheville, hosted by Xpress movie critics Ken Hanke and Scott Douglas.

mountainx.com

maRketplace REal Es tat E | R E n ta l s | R o o m m atEs | sERv icEs | joBs | a n n ou n cEm E nts | m i nd, B o dY, spi Rit cl as s E s & woR k s hop s | m u s ic ia n s’ sERv icE s | pEts | a u tomotiv E | x c hang E | adult Want to advertise in Marketplace? 828-251-1333 x111 tnavaille@mountainx.com • mountainx.com/classifieds If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Remember the Russian proverb: “Doveryai, no proveryai,” trust but verify. When answering classified ads, always err on the side of caution. Especially beware of any party asking you to give them financial or identification information. The Mountain Xpress cannot be responsible for ensuring that each advertising client is legitimate. Please report scams to ads@mountainx.com REAL ESTATE Rentals COmmERCiAL/ BuSinESS REnTALS OFFICE • WAYNESVILLE DOWNTOWN 200 +/- sqft. $325/month. Utilities included.

Public parking across street.

(828) 216-6066.

SmOOTHiE/ JuiCE/ COFFEE BAR SPACE FOR RENT 325 SQ FT inside existing Nature's Vitamins and Herbs at 752 Biltmore Ave. in Asheville. Excellent start up opportunity. Call Bill or Mike at 828-251-0094 UNIQUE WAYNESVILLE DOWNTOWN SPACE Above Beverly-Hanks Realtors at 74 N Main. Impressive open 3rd floor of 4000+ sqft., high ceiling, wonderful natural light, separate HVAC, elevator from entrance on Wall St. Many uses: storage/office/showroom but ideal for loft apartment. Available soon, but view now to see if it fits your needs.

Bill: 828-216-6066.

SHORT-TERm REnTALS 15 MINUTES TO ASHEVILLE Guest house, vacation/short term rental in beautiful country setting. • Complete with everything including cable and internet. • $150/day (2-day minimum), $650/week, $1500/ month. Weaverville area. • No pets please. (828) 658-9145. mhcinc58@yahoo.com

Roommates ROOmmATES ALL AREAS ROOMMATES. COm Lonely? Bored? Broke?

Find the perfect roommate to complement your personality and lifestyle at Roommates. com! (AAN CAN)

employment GEnERAL FULL TIME DOG DAYCARE/ KEnnEL ATTEnDAnT You Work, I'll Play Dog Daycare is hiring for a full time position.

Must have own transportation, flexible schedule, be willing to work weekends and holidays.

Punctuality and responsible work ethic a must. $8.50/hour, potential for raise at 3 months.

Send resume, no calls.

JUST A QUICK NOTE... ...to say thank you for your help from Mountain Xpress. I had a dozen calls about my ad and it is only Friday. I now know the best route is through your paper. I will definitely place another ad... Mountain Xpress is an excellent paper. Keep up the excellent work. Libby W.

XPLORE uSA LOCAL COmMUNITY COORDINATOR Local Community Coordinators assist Xplore USA with finding host families for international students here for 3-4 weeks during the summer.

Commission per family recruited: $150-$300. Email resume/ cover letter to emily.terry@ xploreusa.org.

ADMINISTRATIVE/ OFFiCE OFFiCE ASSiSTAnT The Adventure Center of Asheville is seeking full- and part-time seasonal office staff for our 2016 season. 1 year customer service experience required.

Visit advavl.com for details. adventurecenterofasheville. com

DRIVERS/ DELIVERY TROLLEY TOUR GUIDES If you are a "people person," love Asheville, have a valid Commercial Driver's License (CDL) and clean driving record you could be a great TOUR GUIDE! FULL-TIME and seasonal part-time positions now available. Training provided.

Contact us today! www.GrayLineAsheville.com; Info@ GrayLineAsheville.com; 828251-8687.

mEDiCAL/ HEALTH CARE CERTIFIED PHARMACY TECHniCiAn Candidate must be highly motivated & have excellent people skills. Great work environment and excellent benefits. Must be certified, diploma required, but associate’s preferred. Please send your resume to Hot Springs Health Program, Attn.

HR Director, PO Box 69, Marshall, NC 28753 or Fax: 828649-3786, E-mail: employment@hotspringshealth-nc. org, apply online at www. hotspringshealth-nc.org .

Hot Springs Health Program is EOE. CLiniCAL ASSiSTAnT Candidate must be highly motivated and have excellent people skills. Great work environment and excellent benefits.

Medical experience required.

Applicant must be a Certified Phlebotomist, Certified Medical Assistant, or LPN. Please send your resume to Hot Springs Health Program, Attn: HR Director, P.O. Box 69, Marshall, NC 28753. Or faxes to 828-649-3786, emailemployment@hotspringshealth-nc.org, apply online at www.hotspringshealth-nc. org. Hot Springs Health Program is EOE.

HUMAN SERVICES AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY • FAMILY SERVICES ASSOCiATE To recruit and provide case management to families

JOBS with pre-school aged children for a Head Start program. • maintains the outreach and recruitment of children and families; • assists families to fully utilize available community resources; and • works in partnership with the parent towards short and long range family-identified goals to promote healthy, self-sufficient families. • Requirements: • Bachelor’s degree in Social Work or related areas and at least two years of experience.

Equivalent of education and experience is acceptable. • A valid N. C. driver’s license. • Ability to pass physical exam, TB test, criminal background check and drug screen • Fluency in English and Spanish preferred. • Salary: $31,928/ Annually. Send resume, cover letter and (3) work references with complete contact information to: Human Resources Manager, 25 Gaston Street, Asheville, NC 28801 or for information: Admin@communityactionopportunities.org • Or Fax: (828) 253-6319

AVAILABLE POSITIONS • MERIDIAN BEHAVIORAL HEALTH Haywood County Psychiatric Nurse - Assertive Community Treatment Team – (ACTT) Meridian Behavioral Health Services is seeking an RN, or LPN to join our Haywood/Buncombe County Assertive Community Treatment Team (ACTT) in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina. The ACTT nurse is responsible for conducting psychiatric assessments; assessing physical needs; making appropriate referrals to community physicians; providing management and administration of medication in conjunction with the psychiatrist; providing a range of treatment, rehabilitation and support services; and sharing shift-management responsibility with the ACTT Coordinator. Employee must have a valid driver's license without violations or restrictions, which could prevent completing all required job functions. Full or part-time applicants welcome. Haywood and Buncombe Counties Clinician – Assertive Community Treatment Team (ACTT) Seeking an energetic and passionate individual to join the Assertive Community Treatment Team (ACTT) in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina. Come experience the satisfaction of providing recovery-oriented services within the context of a strong team wraparound model serving Haywood and Buncombe counties. If you are not familiar with ACTT, this position will provide you with an opportunity to experience an enhanced service that really works! Must have a Master’s

degree and be licensed/ license-eligible.

Jackson County: Nurse – Assertive Community Treatment Team (ACTT) Seeking an RN, or LPN to join our Jackson County Assertive Community Treatment Team (ACTT) in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina. The ACTT nurse is responsible for conducting psychiatric assessments; assessing physical needs; making appropriate referrals to community physicians; providing management and administration of medication in conjunction with the psychiatrist; providing a range of treatment, rehabilitation and support services; and sharing shift-management responsibility with the ACTT Coordinator. Employee must have a valid driver's license without violations or restrictions, which could prevent completing all required job functions. Full or part-time applicants welcome. Clinician – Recovery Education Center (REC) Seeking passionate, values-driven and dynamic professional to join our Jackson County Recovery Education Center (REC). This program reflects a unique design which integrates educational, clinical and peer support components in a center-based milieu. To be considered, an applicant should be familiar with the recovery paradigm of mental health and substance abuse services. Applicant must have a valid driver’s license, reliable transportation, flexibility, and moderate computer skills. A Master’s degree and license eligibility are also required.

Peer Support Specialist – Recovery Education Center (REC) Meridian is seeking a Peer Support Specialist to work in our Recovery Education Centers in Haywood and/ or Jackson County. Being a Peer Support Specialist provides an opportunity for individuals to transform their own personal lived experience with mental health and/or addiction challenges into a tool for inspiring hope for recovery in others. Applicants must demonstrate maturity in their own recovery process, have a valid driver’s license, reliable transportation and have moderate computer skills. Part-time work may be available. Macon County: Team Leader/Clinician – Recovery Education Center (REC) Seeking passionate, values-driven and dynamic professional to join our Macon County Recovery Education Center (REC). This program reflects a unique design which integrates educational, clinical and peer support components in a center-based milieu. To be considered, an applicant should be familiar with the recovery paradigm of mental health and substance abuse services. Applicant must have a valid driver’s license, reliable transportation, flexibility, and moderate computer skills. A Master’s degree and license

eligibility are also required.

Macon and Haywood Counties Employment Support Professional (ESP) Supported Employment The ESP functions as part of a team that implements employment services based on the SE-IPS model. The team’s goal is to support individuals who have had challenges with obtaining and/or maintaining employment in the past and to obtain and maintain competitive employment moving forward.

The ESP is responsible for engaging clients and establishing trusting, collaborative relationships that result in the creation of completion of individualized employment goals.

The ESP will support the client through the whole employment process and provide a variety of services at each state to support the individual in achieving their employment goals. Transylvania County Clinician/Team Leader and Two Qualified Professionals – Intensive In-Home Team Intensive In-Home service is a team approach, using strengths-based interventions, designed to address the identified needs of children and adolescents who, due to serious and chronic symptoms of an emotional/behavioral disorder, are unable to remain stable in the community without intensive interventions. The primary goal of the IIH staff and service is to stabilize the client’s functioning and eliminate the risk of out of home placement or more restrictive interventions. QPs must have a Bachelor’s degree in Human services with 2 years of fulltime, post degree experience with this population. Applicant must have a valid driver’s license, reliable transportation, flexibility, and moderate computer skills. AGENCYWIDE: Peer Support Specialist Peers Assisting in Community Engagement (PACE) Being a Peer Support Specialist provides an opportunity for individuals to transform their own personal lived experience with mental health and/or addiction challenges into a tool for inspiring hope for recovery in others. Applicants must demonstrate maturity in their own recovery process, have a valid driver’s license, reliable transportation and have moderate computer skills. Clinician Peers Assisting in Community Engagement (PACE) Clinician will be providing ongoing therapy with individuals and clinical support to the peer support team. The position will involve travel and community-based work in multiple counties. A Master’s degree, license eligibility and experience are required.

PACE provides structured and scheduled activities for adults age 18 and older with a diagnosis of Mental Health and Substance Use disorders. This could be a parttime or full-time position. For further information and to complete an application, visit our website: www.meridianbhs.org

COOK WANTED Cook wanted to prepare lunch and snacks for a great bunch of kids MonFri. 7am-3pm. Criminal background check mandatory but little experience is needed for this wonderful opportunity. Call Jeannie Aiken or visit childcarenetworkjobs.com. www.childcarenetwork.com jaiken@childcarenetwork.com 8284121700 GREAT opportunity, GREAT people, GREAT support.

Behavioral Health Group a leading provider of opioid addiction treatment services, is seeking Counselors & Nurses. For more information please call 214-365-6146 or fax your resume to 214-365-6150 Attn: HR-CNSLASH HELPMATE OVERNIGHT AWAKE POSITIONS Helpmate, Inc., a domestic violence agency in Asheville, NC, seeks Overnight Case Managers for part-time positions to provide support to survivors of domestic violence. These positions are awake overnight shifts. • Primary responsibilities will include monitoring security, providing emotional support to survivors, responding to crisis line calls, creating organization systems, and documenting service provision. Strong communication and crisis management skills required. Qualified candidates must hold a Bachelor’s degree or 2 years’ experience in social work or related field, with preference for experience in domestic violence or related field, or a commensurate combination of work and experience.

• Diverse candidates are encouraged to apply. Email resume and cover letter to HelpmateAsheville@gmail. com • Closing date is February 22 at 9am. No phone or in person inquiries – please.

PROFESSiOnAL/ mAnAGEmEnT GiRLS On THE Run OF WNC SEEKS PROGRAM DiRECTOR The full-time Program Director will coordinate and manage all aspects of Girls on the Run programming at the site, volunteer, and participant-level.

4-year degree and 2+ years of professional experience required. Send cover letter and resume to amy.renigar@girlsontherun.org by 2/26/16.

TEACHinG/ EDuCATiOn

Advanced Manufacturing continuing education programs.

For more details and to apply: www.abtech.edu/jobs

BuSinESS OPPORTuniTiES

mATHEmATiCS TEACHER WANTED The Academy at Trails Carolina, a year-round experiential and adventure based therapeutic boarding school for boys grades 9-12 based in Henderson County North Carolina, is seeking a Licensed Mathematics Teacher to join its faculty. Interested applicants should email copies of their resume, NC teaching license, 3 letters of reference, and any pertinent wilderness certifications (WFR, CPR, etc.) to nduncan@trailsacademy. com www.trailsacademy.com NAVITAT CANOPY ADVENTURES-HIRING CANOPY GUIDES FOR 2016 Seeking qualified candidates for the Canopy Guide position for the 2016 season. Learn more at www.navitat.com. Please send cover letter, resume and references to avlemployment@navitat.com. nO PHONE CALLS PLEASE.

PRTF TEACHER- FINE ARTS, SCIENCE STEM, HEALTH AND WELLNESS Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility Teacher will work in classrooms to develop and implement curriculum in accordance with the NC Standard Course of Study and Eliada's treatment models to teach Middle and High School students skills that contribute to their development. The Teacher works with residential staff to manage a classroom environment and provide curriculum for students with specific IEP goals and different learning styles.

Must be able to work in a high pressure, high stress environment. Position will experience verbal and physical aggression from student population. A Bachelor's Degree from an accredited university is required, current teaching certification and two years experience preferred. For more information or to apply visit www.eliada.org/employment/current-openings.

CAREGIVERS/ NANNY

ADJunCT inSTRuCTORS A-B Tech is seeking Adjunct Instructors for our Industrial Maintenance Technology and Computer Integrated Machining courses in our

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cleaning, laundry, medication administration. $150/day 1stephenruggles@gmail.com heartandhearthforelders.com

HEART AnD HEARTH FAmILY CARE HOME SEEKING A COmPASSiOnATE CAREGIVER Heart & Hearth Family Care Home needs a caregiver to work 3 days per week, 24 hr shifts. Duties include care of residents, cooking,

PAID IN ADVANCE! Make $1000/week mailing brochures from home! No experience required. Helping home workers since 2001! Genuine opportunity. Start immediately! www.TheIncomeHub.com (AAN CAN).

CAREER TRAininG AiRLinE CAREERS BEGin HERE Get started by training as a FAA certified Aviation Technician. Financial aid for qualified students. Job placement assistance. Call Aviation Institute of Maintenance 800725-1563 (AAN CAN)

SALOn/ SPA mASSAGE THERAPiSTS QuALiFiED APPLiCAnTS WANTED, EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY!!!

HIRinG QuALiFiED mASSAGE THERAPISTS! We offer an excellent income opportunity with steady repeat clients, flexible hours, medical benefits, free continued education, no waiting for appointments, and a set work schedule. Therapists are employees, not contract labor, and earn well above industry average income. (828) 255-8900 x101 or JobsToEnvy.com

Xchange WANTED A-1 DONATE YOUR CAR FOR BREAST CANCER! Help United Breast Foundation education, prevention, and support programs. Fast free pickup - 24 hour response - tax deduction. Call 855-403-0215 (AAN CAN)

seRvices FinAnCiAL ARE YOU IN BIG TROUBLE WITH THE IRS? Stop wage and bank levies, liens and audits, unfiled tax returns, payroll issues, and resolve tax debt Fast. Call 844-753-1317 (AAN CAN) GET THE IRS OFF YOUR BACK! They do not give up until you pay. Tax Solutions Now will get you the best deal. Call 800-691-1655 (AAN CAN)

ORGAnizATiOnAL GET ORGANIZED. STAY ORGANIZED. with TheIdealAssistant.com. Home or Office - Minimalist Style Organizing / Administrative assisting / Content Mgmt. for social media and Website idealassistant1111@gmail. com 828.595.6063

FEBRuaRY1710- FEBRuaRY - FEBRuaRY23, 16,2016 2016 FEBRuaRY

1 53

fReewill aStRoloGY aries (march 21-april 19): "Old paint on a canvas, as it ages, sometimes becomes transparent," said playwright Lillian Hellman. "When that happens, it is possible to see the original lines: a tree will show through a woman's dress, a child makes way for a dog, a large boat is no longer on an open sea." Why does this happen? Because the painter changed his or her mind. Early images were replaced, painted over. I suspect that a metaphorical version of this is underway in your life. Certain choices you made in the past got supplanted by choices you made later. They disappeared from view. But now those older possibilities are re-emerging for your consideration. I'm not saying what you should do about them. I simply want to alert you to their ghostly presence so they don't cause confusion.

riddles and mysteries that have perplexed you for a long time. Be super-receptive and extra wide-eyed!

taurus (april 20-may 20): Let's talk about your mouth. Since your words flow out of it, you use it to create and shape a lot of your experiences. Your mouth is also the place where food and drink enter your body, as well as some of the air you breathe.

So it's crucial to fueling every move you make. You experience the beloved sense of taste in your mouth.

You use your mouth for kissing and other amorous activities. With its help, you sing, moan, shout, and laugh. It's quite expressive, too. As you move its many muscles, you send out an array of emotional signals.

I've provided this summary in the hope of inspiring you to celebrate your mouth, Taurus. It's prime time to enhance your appreciation of its blessings!

scorPio (oct. 23-nov. 21): Russian writer Ivan Turgenev was a Scorpio. Midway through his first novel Rudin, his main character Dmitrii Nikolaevich Rudin alludes to a problem that affects many Scorpios. "Do you see that apple tree?" Rudin asks a woman companion. "It is broken by the weight and abundance of its own fruit." Ouch! I want very much for you Scorpios to be spared a fate like that in the coming weeks. That's why I propose that you scheme about how you will express the immense creativity that will be welling up in you. Don't let your lush and succulent output go to waste.

gemini (may 21-June 20): Coloring books for adults are best-sellers. Tightly-wound folks relieve their stress by using crayons and markers to brighten up blackand-white drawings of butterflies, flowers, mandalas, and pretty fishes. I highly recommend that you avoid this type of recreation in the next three weeks, as it would send the wrong message to your subconscious mind. You should expend as little energy as possible working within frameworks that others have made.

You need to focus on designing and constructing your own frameworks. cancer (June 21-July 22): The Old Testament book of Leviticus presents a long list of forbidden activities, and declares that anyone who commits them should be punished. You're not supposed to get tattoos, have messy hair, consult oracles, work on Sunday, wear clothes that blend wool and linen, plant different seeds in the same field, or eat snails, prawns, pigs, and crabs. (It's OK to buy slaves, though.) We laugh at how absurd it would be for us to obey these outdated rules and prohibitions, and yet many of us retain a superstitious loyalty toward guidelines and beliefs that are almost equally obsolete. Here's the good news, Cancerian: Now is an excellent time to dismantle or purge your own fossilized formulas.

Leo (July 23-aug. 22): "I would not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well," said the philosopher and naturalist Henry David Thoreau. In accordance with your astrological constitution, Leo, I authorize you to use this declaration as your own almost any time you feel like it.

But I do suggest that you make an exception to the rule during the next four weeks. In my opinion, it will be time to focus on increasing your understanding of the people you care about -- even if that effort takes time and energy away from your quest for ultimate self-knowledge. Don't worry: You can return to emphasizing Thoreau's perspective by the equinox. virgo (aug. 23-sept. 22): You are entering the inquisitive phase of your astrological cycle. One of the best ways to thrive during the coming weeks will be to ask more questions than you have asked since you were five years old. Curiosity and good listening skills will be superpowers that you should you strive to activate. For now, what matters most is not what you already know but rather what you need to find out. It's a favorable time to gather information about

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- By roB BreZny

LiBra (sept. 23-oct. 22): Poet Barbara Hamby says the Russian word ostyt can be used to describe "a cup of tea that is too hot, but after you walk to the next room, and return, it is too cool." A little birdie told me that this may be an apt metaphor for a current situation in your life. I completely understand if you wish the tea had lost less of its original warmth, and was exactly the temperature you like, neither burning nor tepid. But that won't happen unless you try to reheat it, which would change the taste. So what should you do? One way or the other, a compromise will be necessary. Do you want the lukewarm tea or the hot tea with a different flavor?

sagittarius (nov. 22-dec. 21): Asking you Sagittarians to be patient may be akin to ordering a bonfire to burn more politely. But it's my duty to inform you of the cosmic tendencies, so I will request your forbearance for now. How about some nuances to make it more palatable? Here's a quote from author David G. Allen: "Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in mind." Novelist Gustave Flaubert: "Talent is a long patience." French playwright Moliere: "Trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit." Writer Ann Lamott: "Hope is a revolutionary patience." I've saved the best for last, from Russian novelist Irène NÊmirovsky: "Waiting is erotic." caPricorn (dec. 22-Jan. 19): "If you ask for help it comes, but not in any way you'd ever know." Poet Gary Snyder said that, and now I'm passing it on to you, Capricorn. The coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to think deeply about the precise kinds of help you would most benefit from -- even as you loosen up your expectations about how your requests for aid might be fulfilled. Be aggressive in seeking assistance, but ready and willing to be surprised as it arrives. aQuarius (Jan. 20-feb. 18): For a limited time only, 153 is your lucky number. Mauve and olive are your colors of destiny, the platypus is your power animal, and torn burlap mended with silk thread is your magic texture. I realize that all of this may sound odd, but it's the straight-up truth. The nature of the cosmic rhythms are rather erratic right now. To be in maximum alignment with the irregular opportunities that are headed your way, you should probably make yourself magnificently mysterious, even to yourself. To quote an old teacher, this might be a good time to be "so unpredictable that not even you yourself knows what's going to happen."

Pisces (feb. 19-march 20): In the long-running TV show M*A*S*H*, the character known as Sidney Freedman was a psychiatrist who did his best to nurture the mental health of the soldiers in his care. He sometimes departed from conventional therapeutic approaches. In the series finale, he delivered the following speech, which I believe is highly pertinent to your current quest for good mental hygiene: "I told you people something a long time ago, and it's just as pertinent today as it was then. Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice: Pull down your pants and slide on the ice."

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ACROSS 1 Wraps around the subcontinent

6 The Rocksteady 7

genre 9 Hermès rival 14 Market not to be bullish in?

16 Courtier who invites Hamlet to a duel 17 Frost mixed with pebbles?

18 Ebb away 19 Bud in Burgundy 20 Dated 21 Scatter 23 Bad spot for taking prom pictures 24 Authors of fiction?

27 Having a propensity to dig 29 Priest getting what’s coming to him?

33 Don’t do it 36 High on hwys.

37 Title Mr. of literature 38 Post-operation site, for short 39 Elementary education … or feature of the last words punned upon in 17-, 29-, 49- and 66-Across 43 “Y” wearer

44 Poet Lazarus 46 Equine nibble 47 City by the Wasatch

7 Org. for R.V. lovers 8 Lenders’ figs.

9 Vanish, in a

49 Pond admired from

10 Type of laptop-to-

Mountains

No. 0113

way

the back porch?

printer connection

53 Pair for some Winter 11 Loony-looking Olympians 12 New York’s ___ Field 54 Eclipse 13 “Home Invasion” 58 Juice drink rapper brand 15 “For ___!”

60 Expected hr. at the 22 Studio alert airport 25 PX patron 62 That ship 26 “Hello Goodbye” to 63 The Horned Frogs of “All You the N.C.A.A.

Need Is Love” on the Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour” album 28 “Put a cork in it!”

Imperial Palace 30 Maestro’s signal 70 Volunteer’s 31 Do nothing affirmation 71 Villain’s look 32 Jockey strap 72 Currency unit, briefly 33 Grand ___ (opera house 73 Feeling sexually section) aroused 34 Tiptop DOWN 35 Pick from another’s 1 Jettison pack 2 “Oh, give me ___ 40 Give a lift …”

3 Poison used on TV’s 41 Funny Charlotte 42 Enchanting sort “Breaking Bad” 4 Tats 45 Couples’ getaway?

5 Speaks volumes 48 Come together 6 April weather event 50 Try to win

64 First name in infamy 66 Chiffon mishap?

69 Home of the

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