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OUR 26TH YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 26 NO. 30 FEB. 19 - 25, 2020
C O NT E NT S C O NTAC T US
STARTS ON PAGE 6 THE WOMEN’S ISSUE In our Women’s Issue, we focus on WNC women who get it done — now and in our local history — in realms including politics, education, the restaurant business, metalwork and even wing walking. On the cover: Sara Sanders, director of the STEAM Studio at UNC Asheville COVER PHOTO Cindy Kunst COVER DESIGN Scott Southwick
FEATURES NEWS
6 A WOMAN’S PLACE Gender gap in elected offices narrows, but still short of parity
NEWS
10 VOTER GUIDE, PART 2 A Q&A with the 2020 candidates for Asheville City Council
WELLNESS FOOD A&E
31 HEAVY METTLE Local women artists take on welding, metalwork and engineering
35 MAKING A LIST Gold Rose celebrates ‘Dust’ debut at The Mothlight
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OPINION
Send your letters to the editor to letters@mountainx.com. STA F F PUBLISHER: Jeff Fobes ASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHER: Susan Hutchinson MANAGING EDITOR: Virginia Daffron A&E EDITOR: Alli Marshall FOOD EDITOR: Gina Smith GREEN SCENE EDITOR: Daniel Walton OPINION EDITOR: Tracy Rose STAFF REPORTERS: Able Allen, Edwin Arnaudin, Thomas Calder, Laura Hackett, Brooke Randle, Daniel Walton COMMUNITY CALENDAR EDITOR: Deborah Robertson
CARTOO N BY RAN D Y M O L T O N
Nelson is a passionate community advocate I am writing today to convey my support of Nancy Nehls Nelson for Buncombe County commissioner in District 1. Nancy is a smart and passionate community advocate, a friend of the arts, a great listener, a savvy communicator, a good neighbor and an ally of these mountains we call home. With her corporate business experience, as well as the insight she has gained through community outreach and volunteer service, she would be an incredible asset to any public office. I encourage your readers to consider supporting Nancy in her campaign. We need people like Nancy Nehls Nelson to steward the sustainable growth necessary for this great corner of North Carolina to thrive and prosper in the future. Thank you. — John Piper Watters Candler
Turner offers leadership, dedication The less the government at the national level reflects me, the people around me and the community I live in, the more I’m driven to effect change locally. I’ve known Sage Turner for years and served with her on the Downtown Commission and other committees. I’ve watched her motivate people to action. Sage doesn’t just participate, she leads. She isn’t hesi-
tant to stand on the front lines, embrace a vision and drive change. It took Sage a long time to decide to run. “There will be many good candidates, can I really make the difference I want to?” she asked me. And I appreciate that. Serving on City Council needs to be a labor of love and is always demanding and can be incredibly frustrating and thankless. But I experienced her dedication, and I encouraged her to run. She has an open mind, asks great questions and doesn’t hesitate to listen to her adversaries. Just as crucial, she identifies opportunities and isn’t afraid to give creative ideas a shot. Sage is not only willing to learn, she’s my favorite kind of nerd, devouring information and sharing freely what she discovers. Sage was key to the renaissance of her neighborhood, West Asheville. She is proactive with the issues we are facing downtown. She understands that lack of access to ownership drives inequality, divides people and destroys communities. In our society, ownership is power. I want to see her work and years of experience with building cooperatives, expanding access to affordable housing and supporting locally owned businesses gain more traction. We’re lucky to have strong, visionary candidates running for Council, and we’re able to pick three in the primary. I believe it would serve us well to elect Sage as one of them. — Franzi Charen Co-owner, Hip Replacements Clothing Founder of Love Asheville Go Local Asheville
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After an extensive process of reviewing voting records, questionnaire responses and interviews, the Sierra Club is endorsing the following candidates for the Democratic primary: U.S. House, District 11 — Moe Davis; governor — Roy Cooper; lieutenant governor — Terry Van Duyn; state auditor — Beth Wood; N.C. commissioner of agriculture — Jenna Wadsworth; N.C. superintendent of public education — both Jen Mangrum and Keith Sutton; N.C. state Senate — Julie Mayfield; Buncombe County commissioner, District 1 — both Nancy Nehls Nelson and Terri Wells; Buncombe County commissioner, District 3 — Donna Ensley and Parker Sloan; Asheville City Council — Keith Young. — Ken Brame WNC Sierra Club political chair Leicester
Wells puts education first We need county commissioners like Terri Wells. She makes education her No. 1 priority. This focus is what we need from our leaders. With the cuts in education funding, lack of pay raises for educational staff and instructors, and lack of appreciation for our education institutions, we need someone who has experience in education to make these decisions instead of people who lack context and experience. Terri has extensive practical experience working collaboratively with people of differing experiences and views. While education is her No. 1 focus, she will also work to preserve what many of us have come to the area for: nature, open spaces, farmland and our beautiful environment. Her love of our environment comes from her deep family roots in our community. We need commissioners with more than “good intentions”: Commissioners who will make good on their intentions. Vote for Terri and vote for our future. — Kenet Adamson Asheville
District 1 voting conundrum Terri Wells is still a mystery, as is her opponent, since I can’t see daylight between them (or anywhere near); but her endorsers are certainly liars. One writes that Wells has a [political] platform on her webpage when she doesn’t, and another … writes that Wells is a good listener when Wells deleted my questions from her Facebook page with no answer, as did [Nancy Nehls] Nelson. 4
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I’ll have to write in myself unless someone else volunteers, since there’s no Republican or Libertarian primary to turn to, leaving zero democratic choice as usual. Since nonhideous candidates are one in a million, we need ballots resembling phone books. Where’s Dereck Lindsey? Priced off the ballot? — Alan Ditmore Leicester Editor’s note: Xpress contacted Wells and Nelson, both candidates for Buncombe County commissioner in District 1, with a summary of the letter writer’s points. Nelson declined to offer a response. We received the following response from Veronika Gunter with the Terri Wells for Commissioner campaign: “We invite everyone to visit Terri’s website, terriwellsforcommissioner.com, to learn about ninth-generation Buncombe County farmer and former public school teacher Terri Wells; read her platform (see Vision for Leadership as Our Buncombe County Commissioner on the homepage, published Dec. 17, 2019); and see the list of farmers, educators and other community leaders who endorse Terri. We also welcome all respectful communication, including via terriwellsforcommissioner@ gmail.com, and through engagement with our campaign Facebook page, which we use to invite the public to attend events and meet Terri in person, at [avl.mx/6xo].” Xpress also contacted Lindsey, who ran for county commissioner in 2018 but did not advance from the primary. He writes that he and his wife decided that he would not run for a commissioner’s seat this cycle so they could spend time focusing on professional goals. “But I’m still active in the Riceville community at the fire department on the board of advisers. Which has really given me more insight into how a bigger budget works and how to work with others on active issues in a time of uncertainty within a community that was going through some major changes and budget issues. In the future, I’m looking forward to stepping back into local politics and helping Buncombe County and its citizens just improve on this beautiful community we have.” X
Election letters deadline Have an opinion about a local or regional candidate or election issue? For the best shot at seeing your letter make Xpress’ print issue before the March 3 primary, please send your missive by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19, to letters@mountainx.com. See avl.mx/5ds for guidelines.
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A WOMAN’S PLACE
Gender gap in elected offices narrows, but still short of parity
BY MARK BARRETT markbarrett@charter.net After Patsy Keever was elected to the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners in 1992, she noticed something interesting when the commissioners — all men except for Keever — held a community meeting to hear from residents in Leicester. “The men in the audience … just sort of ignored me and talked to the other commissioners,” she says. Anyone addressing a group of elected officials in Buncombe County today who did not engage with its female members would risk being ignored themselves, or worse: 38% of local officeholders chosen by popular vote in the county are women, as of mid-February. They make up a majority of two elected boards, and two more boards are evenly split between men and women. Political scientists and women who have run for office in the county suggest that obstacles for women to get elected to local office here are much lower now than they once were — even though the proportion of female elected officials is still a good bit less than their share of the county’s population. Amy Evans, a Black Mountain Republican who ran unsuccessfully for state House in 2018, says she never felt as if she were treated differently during the campaign because of her gender, although it did come up as she was being encouraged to run. She and another female candidate “were told that women had an advantage,” she says.
WOMEN IN CHARGE: The Buncombe County Board of Education is one of two elected bodies in Buncombe County where women make up a majority. The other is Asheville City Council. Women have been more successful at getting elected to local school boards across the state than to many other offices, a Meredith College expert says. Photo courtesy of Lifetouch Inc. However, Buncombe County’s story is somewhat different from that of North Carolina as a whole. One measure of gender parity among elected officials says women’s grasp on the levers of power in the state has slipped a bit since 2014. And, after dipping during the last decade, women’s share of seats in the state General Assembly has largely recovered but is still only at about the same level it was in 2009. Fueled by backlash against President Donald Trump, female candidates in much of the nation made big gains in the 2018 elec-
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tion, notes David McLennan, a political scientist at Meredith College in Raleigh who studies women in politics. But “North Carolina did not see the same progress,” he says. CAN A WOMAN WIN? Elizabeth Warren sparked another round of the debate over how electable female candidates are last month when she accused Bernie Sanders, one of her rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, of telling her in 2018
he didn’t believe a woman could be elected. Sanders denied the charge. There is a broad consensus among political scientists that, all things being equal, a female candidate for elected office has a slight edge over a male one. Those who have quantified that advantage in terms of the extra vote share a woman gets put it at about 2%, McLennan says. Nonincumbent female candidates were more likely to win than nonincumbent men when running for U.S. House, U.S. Senate, governor or other statewide elected office in 2018, the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University found. “Typically, once women make the decision to run and they do run, they win” more often than men, says Christine Bricker, a political science professor at Warren Wilson College. “If you look at public opinion and you say, ‘What do people want in their leaders?’ they’ll say, ‘The ability to compromise, understanding my problems,’” McLennan says. “The public likes a lot of things they think are associated with women.” But in any given race, all things rarely are equal. Female candidates for president, for instance, have to overcome the somewhat circular impression among some voters that they cannot win or that their gender would be significant handicap for their electability. An Ipsos poll done for the Daily Beast last June found that 79% of Democrats and independents said they would be comfortable with a female president, but only 33% of that same group thought their neighbors would be. The idea that female candidates in general have an advantage may
HELP WANTED: Christine Bricker, a political science professor at Warren Wilson College, says more female candidates are needed if women are to achieve parity in elected office. “We have a lack of candidates because women have different perceptions of their ability to win,” she says. Photo courtesy of Bricker
seem odd in light of Trump beating Hillary Clinton in 2016 despite being taped bragging about grabbing women by their genitals, accused of sexually assaulting women (which Trump denies) and making disparaging remarks about women. And the Center for American Women and Politics says polling shows there is still sexism in parts of the American electorate. Bricker and McLennan essentially say the 2016 presidential race does not sum up everything known about women’s ability to get elected. Clinton “did not campaign as a woman,” McLennan says, meaning she did not underline her gender or stress qualities like empathy or trustworthiness that voters often associate with female candidates. Bricker says researchers see latent racism and sexism as playing a role in the 2016 result, not to mention the effect of the Electoral College. Clinton won the popular vote, but the Electoral College gives rural areas, which tend to be more conservative, extra weight when determining the winner of a presidential contest, she notes.
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NEWS A BIG SHIFT No one suggests that women running for office do not face challenges that men do not or that getting elected is easy for anyone. “Just eat your Wheaties if you’re going to get involved in politics,” Evans says. Female candidates may still have to deal with misogynistic threats and online harassment, expectations by some that they should be at home raising their children instead of running for office and media coverage that sometimes gives undue attention to their appearance or dress. But Evans and two other women who have run for office in Buncombe County in recent years say they rarely or never felt they were treated differently as they campaigned because of their gender. In her races for school board and state Senate over the last 10 years, voters wanted to know “what my values were, what I stood for, what I wanted to do in office,” says Lisa Baldwin, a Fairview Republican. Being a woman didn’t come up, she says. Sheneika Smith, a Democrat who won a seat on Asheville City Council in 2017, says the question of gender
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five-member Board of Commissioners, “There was one spot that people sort of thought of as the woman’s spot,” Keever says. When Democrats nominated two women for commissioners’ seats in 2008, that sparked discussion about whether the county was ready for two women on the board, she recalls. It was. Holly Jones and Carol Peterson, like the other Democrats in the race, won by comfortable margins. Keever recalls feeling she should wait to run for office until her children had finished high school. Candidates and voters are much less likely to have that concern today, she says. They figure, “If men can have children and have a job and serve, so can women.”
NO OVERNIGHT SUCCESS: David McLennan, a political science professor at Meredith College in Raleigh who studies women in politics, says big gains by women in getting elected fooled some people into thinking gender parity in public office was not far away. “Everybody thought that after 1992, we would move more quickly,” he says. Photo courtesy of Meredith College “wasn’t noticeable to me when I ran.” An exception was expressions of concern from friends over how Smith would manage the demands of the office as a single mother, she says. “I think it came from a really honest and considerate place from most people, because they wanted to see me do a good job,” Smith says, adding that those who raised the issue didn’t appear to be trying to use it as a reason not to vote for her. Keever, 72, a Democrat who has a total of six campaigns under her belt, says attitudes about female candidates have changed dramatically. At the time of her 1992 bid for a seat on what was then a
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Buncombe County’s status as an urban county that leans increasingly Democratic means it is more fertile ground for female candidates than much of North Carolina. Meredith College researchers found that rural areas of the state, which also are more likely to vote Republican, are considerably less likely to elect women to public office. And, McLennan says, “It’s clearly the case that the Democratic Party is doing more to recruit women than the Republican Party.” Meredith’s 2018 Status of Women in North Carolina Politics report found that women held less than a quarter of the roughly 5,000 elected positions in the state, down a little since 2015. There hasn’t been a new tally since the 2018 election, but McLennan says anecdotal evidence suggests women did not make the big gains in representation in North Carolina that they did in many other states.
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As in the nation as a whole, polls usually suggest women in North Carolina are more likely to vote for Democratic candidates than men are. Here are a few recent examples: • A Fox News poll conducted in the state Nov. 10-13 asked respondents who they favored in four head-to-head matchups between President Donald Trump and four leading Democratic candidates: Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg. Women backed Democrats by an average margin of 9 percentage points. Men favored Trump by an average of more than 12 percentage points. • Interestingly, when the same poll asked North Carolina residents if they thought the United States was ready for a woman president, men were more likely to answer “yes” than women. Seventy percent of men responded positively, 23% said the country is not ready and 7% were undecided. The breakdown among women was 64% “yes,” 27% “no” and 10% undecided. • A New York Times/Siena College poll asked Tar Heels in October whether they would “definitely” or “probably” support Trump or the Democratic nominee in 2020. Among female likely voters, 50% said they expect to vote for the Democratic candidate, and only 40% said they are likely to vote for Trump. Among men, 48% expected to vote for Trump and 40% for the Democratic nominee.
Women at the wheel Elected boards in Buncombe County where women make up the majority: Asheville City Council and Buncombe County Board of Education. Elected boards in Buncombe evenly split between men and women: Biltmore Forest and Montreat town boards
The percentage of women candidates running in 2018 in the state was actually lower than it was in 2014, the Meredith report says. A national group promoting more women in public office ranked North Carolina 22nd among the states on women’s share of elected offices in 2019. But the state’s score of 23.5 on the gender parity index compiled by RepresentWomen means it was less than halfway to parity, which would be a score of 50. Electoral districts drawn to favor Republican candidates and Democrats’ tendency to cluster in urban areas explain part of the difference between women’s 51% share of North Carolina’s population and their far lower proportion of election victories, experts say. McLennan and Bricker said a big factor in North Carolina and elsewhere is a shortage of female candidates. Some women juggling the demands of family and job feel they don’t have time to run, and Bricker says research shows being recruited is much more important to women’s decision to run than men’s. “Women and men have very different perceptions of their electability,” she says. “It’s more likely that you have a man who thinks, ‘I’m qualified to run,’ than a woman who thinks she’s qualified to run even though they have the same qualifications.” “A lot of people just lack confidence. They just don’t want to do it alone,” Smith says. “We need to strengthen our sisterhood.” The generally slow pace of change in recent years contrasts with big increases in the number of female elected officials nationally in the 1980s and 1990s. But McLennan predicts changes in willingness to run and other factors affecting women’s likelihood of getting elected will result in more female officeholders in the future. Younger women “just don’t see the barriers that older generations have perceived,” he says. X
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N EWS
Election Guide Part 2 of 3
Asheville City Council Voter Guide
2020
Only one thing is certain in this year’s Asheville City Council contest: A change is going to come. Of the three incumbents whose terms expire at the end of 2020, Keith Young alone is running to keep his seat. Julie Mayfield instead filed for the N.C. Senate District 49 race, while Brian Haynes is stepping down to focus on social and environmental justice activism, paving the way for at least two newcomers to join the council. The nine candidates running in the primary field offer voters a range of choices regarding just how much change they’d like to see. Several hopefuls from activist backgrounds are calling for big shifts to city business — Shane McCarthy would commit to communitywide carbon neutrality by 2030, Kim Roney includes participatory budgeting in her campaign platform, and Nicole Townsend advocates reparations for community members harmed by the city’s history of redlining. Others, including the three candidates endorsed by Mayor Esther Manheimer, look to refine rather than disrupt city systems. Sandra Kilgore, Rich Lee and Sage Turner all plan to address Asheville’s affordable housing problems through better use of existing tools such as a revamped Unified Development Ordinance, public-private partnerships and the city’s community land trust. Two political newcomers round out the field: Kristin Goldsmith and Larry Ray Baker. The former was the first candidate to declare her run, announcing
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IN THE BUILDING? Nine candidates are competing for three seats on the Asheville City Council. The top six vote-getters will advance to November’s general election. Photo by Virginia Daffron in May 2019, while the latter is both the youngest candidate (at 23) and the only registered Republican in the nonpartisan race. Xpress hosted a forum for all nine candidates at A-B Tech on Feb. 5, when each got the chance to share their positions more deeply. (See “Hot seat,” Feb. 12, Xpress.) The full event is available online thanks to Sunshine Request at avl.mx/6xg.
— Daniel Walton X
The
Sustainability April 1, 8, 15 and 22
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ASHEVILLE CITY COUNCIL
LARRY RAY BAKER Website: N/A at this moment Occupation: Security officer Previous candidacy or offices held: Did not respond Key endorsements: Did not
ASHEVILLE CITY COUNCIL
respond Amount of money raised: Did not respond Top three donors: Did not respond
KRISTEN GOLDSMITH
SANDRA KILGORE
Website: GoldsmithForAsheville.com Occupation: Retail manager Previous candidacy or offices held: Democratic Party Precinct 15.1 Chair Key endorsements: Equality North Carolina, Run for Something Amount of money raised: Did not respond Top three donors: Did not respond
Website: ElectSandraKilgore.org Occupation: Broker/owner, Kilgore & Associates Real Estate Previous candidacy or offices held: No Key endorsements: Mayor Esther Manheimer; City Council member Vijay Kapoor; Gene Bell, former director of the Asheville Housing Authority; Matthew Bacoate Amount of money raised: Did not respond Top three donors: Did not respond
THE QUESTIONS What makes Asheville home to you?
Being born and raised in the amazing city of Asheville, I have seen the city in many lights, but at the same time, it has always been here for me. While the city and people might change, the atmosphere is here to stay. What really makes Asheville home are the people and the sense of community you can feel in a lot of the city.
The creativity and warmth of our people. I believe in our aspirational values of equity and inclusion and I want to see us build a city that lives up to those values.
I was fortunate to be born and raised in Asheville. I grew up in Southside and attended Livingston Elementary (Arthur Edington Educational Center). I graduated Asheville School and attended UNCA. I have many fond memories of Asheville, and most of my immediate family stills resides here. I own a boutique real estate office blocks from where I grew up as a child. This is my home.
Name three achievable goals you would champion in the next two years.
Transparency in government, addressing the numerous infrastructure needs, seeking more moderate growth and, most importantly, affordable housing.
I’ll call for a fundamental overhaul of our Unified Development Ordinance in order to achieve more equity and sustainability in our community and to help us achieve our goals for affordable housing. I’ll direct the city manager to issue RFPs for city-owned land for the development of permanently affordable housing. I’ll establish a partnership with Buncombe County to develop fare-free public transit.
One solution to affordable housing I would explore is a co-op relationship among the city, county and private investors to make it a win-win for all involved. I would promote the tax advantages of investing in Qualified Opportunity Zones to increase development in economically disadvantaged areas. I would do outreach to attract and retain businesses that are a good fit with the synergy of Asheville and provide living wages to increase the city’s tax base and reduce unemployment.
Which recent City Council budget decision(s) do you disagree with, and what would you have done differently?
I disagree with most things that have happened in the past year, with Wanda Greene and many more taking taxpayers’ dollars. Their model for constantly increasing density to meet tax revenues to meet infrastructure growth is flawed and not working. There seems to be a constant “fuzzy math” over our budget and the bond issue moneys.
I disagree with the decision to delay full implementation of Year 1 of the Transit Master Plan. I would have aggressively lobbied the TDA to provide funding to help implement Year 1 by demonstrating the benefits of transit for not only our residents, but also our visitors. City Council needs to be more assertive in advocating for TDA funding of projects that serve our community’s needs.
I am in agreement with many of the budget decisions; however, I feel more funds should be allocated to combat homelessness in the city. I feel that it is growing problem we need to address and get under control to keep it from spreading.
How will you as a City Council member help Ashevilleans cope with the rising cost of living?
Fund Asheville’s 100% Renewable Energy Resolution and Transit Master Plan starting in next year’s city budget. Shut down the Asheville coal plant and encourage Duke Energy to invest in energy efficiency programs. Buncombe County’s energy usage continues to increase, and energy demand is highest on the coldest days of winter. If this pattern continues at the current rate, a new natural gas plant would need to be built to serve Buncombe County to meet the highest peak demand in winter.
By rewriting our zoning policies, we can bring more equity to our neighborhoods with the inclusion of multifamily housing in our single-family neighborhoods. A mixture of incomes is the best tool to increase supply, bring down overall costs and fight gentrification. I’ll also advocate for a program to incentivize property owners to build ADUs [accessory dwelling units] specifically for long-term renters with housing choice vouchers, and I’ll encourage the use of city-owned land for the development of permanently affordable housing.
This is a good time to look at renewable energy companies as possible partners and incentivize startups that are paying living wages. I also feel the need to bring in larger and more diverse companies and businesses paying living wages. An increase in income would give many residents a pathway to homeownership. This would not only add to the economic growth of the community but would also increase the overall tax base, which would provide more funds for social needs.
How will you balance Asheville’s growth while protecting the quality of life for current residents and the city’s unique identity?
We must renew what is already special in Asheville and add quality in new ways. This is especially true in regard to infrastructure: our parks, streets and sidewalks. We must reinforce the integrity of our residential neighborhoods, continue to attract employers and great jobs that value community and continue to elevate our commitment to the environment and to sustainability.
As a former architect, I not only understand the importance of responsible and sustainable development, but I’m uniquely capable of ensuring that those who wish to develop here do so with the interests of the community in mind. As someone who knows firsthand what it’s like to struggle to make a living in Asheville, I’ll prioritize policies and development that put our people first, bringing equity to our neighborhoods and building more affordable housing.
I feel that Council is on the right track in seeking outside consultants like the Urban Land Institute to come in and provide additional information before making many decisions concerning growth. I would like to have access to that information before offering my opinion as to balancing the growth while protecting the life for current residents and retaining the city’s unique identity.
What actions would you support for Asheville to fight climate change and meet its 100% renewable energy goal by the established deadline of 2030?
Hopefully I can help with assisted living and Section 8 in Asheville. Right now, the wait times are so high that people have to wait months on a waitlist and possibly never get called or notified in time that a place of residence has opened up for them. But I personally hope to meet up with HUD one day and see if they have any plans to help moderate the current oppressive living rate in Asheville at this time.
I support installing solar panels on all city-owned buildings to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. I’ll partner with Buncombe County to develop fare-free public transit and park and ride facilities to reduce the numbers of cars on the road. I’ll support funding for more bike lanes and greenways and I’ll prioritize projects that integrate transit with large-scale development. Finally, I support creating an urban forest master plan and hiring an urban forester to protect and increase our tree canopy.
Education is paramount for ensuring the community understands how the little things we can do reduce the carbon footprint. Adding thousands of canopy trees throughout the community would help immensely. Increasing the number of electric buses in our transit system would reduce stress on our infrastructure and play a huge role in reducing the carbon footprint in the city. The city could also invest in bringing in more solar farms and promoting solar alternatives for residents.
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ASHEVILLE CITY COUNCIL
RICH LEE
SHANE MCCARTHY
KIM RONEY
Website: RichLeeForAsheville.com Occupation: Financial adviser Previous candidacy or offices held: Ran for Asheville City Council in 2015 and 2017 Key endorsements: N.C. District 115 Rep. John Ager; Mayor Esther Manheimer; Teamsters International; Karen Cragnolin, RiverLink founder Amount of money raised: $5,700 Top three donors: Sandra Lee, Teamsters, Bernard Arghiere
Website: McCarthyForAVL.com Occupation: Construction manager Previous candidacy or offices held: Elected secretary of East End/Valley Street Neighborhood Association for 2019 Key endorsements: Ponkho Bermejo, codirector of Beloved Asheville; Brad Rouse, executive director of Energy Savers Network; Daniel Suber, youth coordinator at Asheville Writers in the Schools and Community; Cathy Walsh, member of the Asheville Tree Protection Task Force, Blue Ridge Naturalist Society and Elisha Mitchell Audubon Society Amount of money raised: $2,923.00 Top three donors: Myself, Janet Price, Dan Collins
Website: KimRoney4Asheville.com Occupation: Piano teacher, server Previous candidacy or offices held: Ran for Asheville City Council in 2017 Key endorsements: City Council members Shenika Smith and Brian Haynes; Rev. Amy Cantrell, co-director of Beloved Asheville; chef Gene Ettison; Julio Torodya; Magaly Urdialis, sustainability coordinator for the Center for Participatory Change Amount of money raised: $7,336 Top three donors: Kendall Oliver, Esther Cartwright, Dr. Lisabeth Medlock
What makes Asheville home to you?
This has been home my whole adult life. I met my wife here and built my career here. My children were born here and go to city schools. I love the architecture, the mountain scenery and the small-town vibe, but it’s the neighborhoods and people that make it feel like home. The creative, close-knit people and the communities we build here, the ways we engage and chip in. If all else changed, that’s what I’d want to protect.
I was born and raised here, but I left for a few years to attend N.C. State University for civil engineering. Raleigh was all right, but it just didn’t feel like home. After graduation, I was drawn back to Asheville by our mountains and natural beauty, by our arts and culture. Most of all, I couldn’t stay away from family, lifelong friends and the deeply connected community networks that make up our city.
Name three achievable goals you would champion in the next two years.
1.) Launch Asheville’s long-overdue zoning overhaul. Much of what we experience as the worsening of life here — poorly planned development overtaxing our infrastructure, the lack of affordable housing, the concentration of our economy in hotels and tourism, the loss of tree canopy — comes down to zoning that hasn’t been updated this century. 2.) Invest in our sidewalks, roads, bus and water systems until they work. 3.) Work to get hotel taxes directed to local needs instead of only promoting tourism. City Council chose not to prioritize our development policies; I would have funded an overhaul of our Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) to prioritize affordable housing on transit corridors, protect and plant trees and keep neighborhoods walkable and climate resilient. City Council also chose not to fully fund operations of our community’s first land trust. With adequate staff and resources, this could be a critical tool in fighting gentrification and creating permanent affordability. I support it, and so should Council. In my profession, we say rising incomes are the best way to counter rising costs. On Council, I will focus on increasing higher-wage job opportunities and giving more Asheville residents an equity stake in the city’s growth, whether that’s through down-payment assistance, diversified housing, land banks or land trusts. I’ll continue to improve the transit system, our sidewalks and bike lanes, and I’ll work to close food deserts so we can offset our higher housing costs with lower transportation costs. Look at what feels like home here. It’s not the number of buildings. It’s people. It’s the physical and cultural fabric of the city. Asheville will continue attracting people. But it can still feel like Asheville if we make it possible for all our residents to thrive here. That requires attracting highwage jobs, planning for affordable housing and improving student outcomes, in addition to managing our budget to take care of the basics: water, roads, transportation and city services.
Raise minimum city employee pay to $15 per hour. It is absurd that we have firefighters who are putting their lives on the line for less than a living wage. Change the fact that Asheville is ranked as one of the most dangerous cities for pedestrians, drivers and cyclists. Implement a tree protection ordinance to stop the rapid decline of our tree canopy.
The community of Asheville: my family, friends and neighbors. After 13 years here, I better understand what community means. I recently knocked on the door of the home where my great-grandmother was born in Kenilworth in 1910, and as I think about longterm accountability, I consider my now-adult students I’ve known since they were in elementary school. I’m already being held accountable, which is why I’m inviting community to join in this work to Be ’Bout it Being Better. With courageous leadership and collaboration, we are capable of moving toward a fare-free, regional transit system, which is at the intersection of equitable access, economic mobility and environmental sustainability; deeply affordable housing through creative, cooperative solutions; and a participatory democracy and budgeting process that ensures the people are heard in our budget and policy decisions.
ASHEVILLE CITY COUNCIL
THE QUESTIONS
Which recent City Council budget decision(s) do you disagree with, and what would you have done differently?
How will you as a City Council member help Ashevilleans cope with the rising cost of living?
How will you balance Asheville’s growth while protecting the quality of life for current residents and the city’s unique identity?
What actions would you support for Asheville to fight climate change and meet its 100% renewable energy goal by the established deadline of 2030?
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Reduce urban sprawl with smart zoning and thoughtful development where the city can handle it. Make our infrastructure climate resilient to handle more frequent flooding and limit heedless construction that contributes to stormwater runoff and overburdens our systems. Convert city buildings and vehicles to renewable power. Reduce car dependency with reliable transit and comprehensive sidewalks and greenways. Lobby our local energy monopoly for more renewables and alternatives like home solar. Grow and protect trees to reduce the heat-island effect.
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Last year, City Council declined to fund extended hours for transit. Our bus system is vital for the workers who keep our city running. However, the bus often doesn’t run late enough to get our service and retail workers home at night. A functioning transit system is essential — without it, we can’t compete with other cities for good-paying jobs. When I’m on City Council, I will fully fund our transit system to bring it into the 21st century. Remove barriers to homeownership by expanding the down-payment assistance program and the community land trust program. Build housing that’s affordable to those who need it most: people who have low incomes or are at risk of homelessness. If private developers won’t build affordable housing, the city can build it ourselves. Allow alternative methods of affordable housing, such as new manufactured homes that are built to modern energy standards. I’ve talked to so many locals who have lived here their whole lives and feel like we are becoming a tourist town. We’ve seen a huge boom of hotels and tourist spots. We need to steer new growth in a different direction. Asheville can do this by attracting good-paying jobs from other industries. On City Council, I will lead this effort by investing in our community: affordable housing, our water system, our environment and our transportation systems.
This “100% goal” is currently for municipal buildings only — just 1% of total energy use. We need to act much more aggressively to match the scale of the climate crisis. I will commit Asheville to a goal of citywide carbon neutrality by 2030. We will start by retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency, building local renewable power which creates green, good-paying jobs, lobbying the state to break Duke Energy’s monopoly on electricity and protecting our tree canopy.
I’ve attended Council meetings for five years, advocating for investment in transit, the Housing Trust Fund, increased base-rate pay for employees like our firefighters, our tree canopy and environmental sustainability. Instead, the majority have perpetuated a growing pay disparity, inflated the police budget without accountability, invested in too many outside consultants and plans that didn’t address our needs, waited too long for action on dedicated funding for transit and haven’t made a strong enough case for occupancy tax allocation. I’ll hold a higher standard through example for city employees, advocating for a $15 base rate and paid family leave while maintaining our living wage policy. We must address equity in our schools and community so we can attract quality jobs and retain our people being gentrified out. Saying no gives value to yes, so I won’t waver on affordability requirements for new development and will join in guiding processes, policies and UDO updates to ensure alignment with community values. We must tackle the spending of our tax dollars on tourism marketing, coordinating with the county and state to change our occupancy tax allocation and use. Our neighbors serving on the Tourism Development Authority need to join us in drastically changing, or the TDA must be abolished. We need these resources for infrastructure, deeply affordable housing, a downtown shuttle and park and ride service to get ourselves and visitors around without cars and a leap forward in accessibility and sidewalks. Since climate change is our biggest public safety issue, we’ll update our Comprehensive Plan so budget, policy and planning decisions address resiliency with an equity lens and thorough public engagement. We’ll coordinate with the county on renewables and transit corridor density planning and ensure our future city bonds are leveraged to partner on neighborhood resiliency, ending food deserts and getting our entire community to 100%, which will increase quality jobs for our community in a Green New Deal for Asheville.
ASHEVILLE CITY COUNCIL
NICOLE TOWNSEND
SAGE TURNER
KEITH YOUNG
Website: TownsendForAVL.com Occupation: Organizer Previous candidacy or offices held: N/A Key endorsements: City Council members Shenika Smith and Brian Haynes; Rev. Amy Cantrell, co-director of Beloved Asheville; Cortina Jenelle, poet, speaker and facilitator; chef Gene Ettison, Equality North Carolina Amount of money raised: $15,824.04 Top three donors: Nicole Townsend (Self), Katheryn Shem, Amy Mandel
Website: SageforAsheville.com Occupation: Finance and project manager, French Broad Food Co-op Previous candidacy or offices held: None Key endorsements: Mayor Esther Manheimer; City Council member Julie Mayfield; Alan Glines, former Asheville city planner; Jeff Staudinger, Asheville Community Land Trust consultant; Franzi Charen, founder of Asheville Grown Business Alliance Amount of money raised: $8,600 Top three donors: Bernard Arghiere, environmental advocate; Drew Smith, West Asheville business owner; Barry Bialik, affordable housing builder
Website: ElectKeithYoung.com Occupation: Deputy clerk of Superior Court Previous candidacy or offices held: Asheville City Council Key endorsements: WNC Sierra Club Amount of money raised: Under threshold Top three donors: N/A
The people. There is a feeling of deep love and deep community here in Asheville. Hundreds of community members have seen me during the moments when I couldn’t see myself. The people here are fighters and deep lovers. Due to white supremacy and the need to flee from home, my family has a complicated relationship with home as a geographic location. Asheville is home to me because it is where my people are.
It’s a feeling, a sense of belonging, of connection to community and the ways our community lives and breathes and how we care for each other. My family has lived here for 20 years. It’s the only home my son (18) has ever known. It’s where extended family have had their roots for generations. It’s walking down streets and knowing the neighbors, the store owners and their children. It’s volunteering at events and organizations that work for a better Asheville. Establish a path to and create 1,000 affordable homes/ units by 2025. Lift city employee full-time minimum wage to $31,200 ($15/hr, 40 hours/wk). Leverage my role as a community leader and city councilor to deepen collaboration between nonprofits, businesses, local governments and community members to achieve goals around climate resiliency, the opportunity gap and responsible planning.
I was born and raised in Asheville from elementary school to high school. So many memories simply just makes it my home.
Expanding upon the written consent policy so that it includes pedestrians and bicyclists. Work in collaboration with educators and Buncombe County commissioners to pass a resolution in support of the public school budget request that has been put before the North Carolina legislature. Increase Asheville’s tree canopy and reduce our environmental impact by implementing a Green New Deal for Asheville that has a race and class analysis.
Turning the city into an affordable housing developer for deeply affordable units. Implementing fare-free transit and expanding service hours. Begin making preparations for a new bond program that will continue funding for needed city initiatives, including infrastructure improvements.
Property taxes were raised in 2017. A proposal has been put forth that would once again raise property taxes. We shouldn’t raise property taxes each time there is a deficit. We must analyze the things we can divest from so we can invest in what we need. We need to push back against the state so that we can implement a food and beverage tax, allowing for people who visit our city to contribute to funding things such as transit.
Council did not fund needed updates to the UDO, Downtown and Riverfront Design Guidelines. These documents define how we grow, what can be built, what it looks like, what we prioritize (trees, art) and how we protect our culture. I would have. Council voted to spend $290,000 on multiple designs for 68 Haywood. I would have requested limiting plans to two designs and a cap of $150,000, allocating the remaining $140,000 to an urban forester and forestry plan.
I could second-guess any budget, and I’m sure others will; however, in the wake of climate change, I should have made a more concerted effort toward allocating funds to go toward climate-resilient programs. I believe I am making up for that now with my Green New Deal proposal.
Our “Keep Asheville Weird” slogan is being erased and replaced by a “Keep Asheville Gentrified” slogan. That is not acceptable. Balance means using the creativity and scrappiness that we are known and loved for to ensure that no more lives are lost because people have to sleep outside while we watch the number of million-dollar homes increase. Balance means saying no to the things that will not serve our people in the long run.
Use my knowledge and experience as the chair of the Affordable Housing Committee and my master’s in urban planning to plan and create 1,000 affordable units by 2025. I will strategize responsible locations to preserve green space, limit new infrastructure and reduce transportation costs, which can cost 25% of income. I will prioritize a wage floor of $31,200, work on solutions for wage compression and retention and increase efforts for renewables and home weatherization. Update the UDO to ensure we are building a fiscally, socially and environmentally sustainable community, which requires identifying strategic growth areas, including downtown, urban centers and along transit corridors, to help protect neighborhoods against demand. Expand infill options to produce incremental growth without overwhelm. Require major projects to provide ground-floor activation, ensuring locals don’t lose access and local storefronts. Invest in infrastructure and cultural programs, including functional public art, roads, transit, multimodal upgrades and repairs to our water systems. I support updating the UDO, which governs all development, ensuring we are zoned for strategic, fiscally and environmentally sound growth along transit, downtown, urban centers and major corridors. I support restoring our tree canopy. I support investing in renewables in ways that exempt low-income residents and affordable rents from increased costs. I support aligning green jobs and weatherization with economic opportunity for marginalized residents. I support implementing the transit master plan and modifying fares to increase ridership.
I will be pushing for the city to become its own affordable housing developer to build deeply affordable units, as well as working with the Chamber of Commerce on a jobs program that is currently in the works.
I am a renter because I can’t afford a home within the city limits that will give me everything I need. I will work in collaboration with the community to invest in the community land trust and housing cooperatives, as well as say no to developers who prioritize pockets over people.
We must take the lead of grassroots organizers and scientists who have been pushing our city for years to invest in climate justice. We must implement a Green New Deal for Asheville that includes a race and class analysis.
I will balance Asheville’s growth through an equity lens. Quality of life begins on different levels, and every resident has different needs. Growth itself may be affecting one person, while someone else may be dealing with basic functions of life such as transportation. Being a good Council member means understanding the different needs of our city’s residents and balancing those needs with each other. A rising tide may lift all boats, but all boats aren’t built to ride the wave. I will follow up on the climate emergency resolution the city just passed with the help of the Sunrise Movement and others. We are also the first city in the state of North Carolina to declare a climate emergency. I would also pass a local Green New Deal and I am the only candidate that has proposed an actual package of initiatives.
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BUNCOMBE BEAT 2020
Asheville climate activists split on carbon tax issues
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For the second time in as many meetings, members of Asheville City Council passed a measure addressing what the officials view as an escalating environmental emergency. But while local climate activists share that concern, they presented differing visions of the best way to proceed at Council’s Feb. 11 meeting.
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In the end, the board approved a resolution that urges Congress to pass the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. The move followed Council’s Jan. 28 unanimous vote calling for more aggressive government action to combat “our current ecological crisis.” The proposed federal legislation is backed by the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, an international grassroots environmental group, and would impose a steadily increasing fee on fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. The government would then evenly distribute the revenue collected from the fee to all citizens. Asheville’s resolution in support of the proposal, introduced in Congress as HR 763, was removed from the consent agenda and considered separately at the request of Council member Brian Haynes. He pointed out that the bill would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating carbon emissions until 2030 and would exempt the U.S. military, one of the world’s largest consumers of fossil fuels, from paying the tax. Of the bill’s co-sponsors, he added, 48 have taken money from the oil, gas and electric utility industries. “We can no longer allow the fossil fuel and utilities industries to help write legislation ensuring their own self-preservation while their actions continue to move the planet toward irreversible, catastrophic changes to the environment,” Haynes said. “At our previous meeting, the Council unanimously passed a climate emergency resolution calling for bold actions to combat the climate crisis. HR 763 fails to meet that challenge.” Before Council passed the resolution in a 6-1 vote, with Haynes opposed, eight members of the public shared differing opinions. Resident Charles Warner suggested that a tax on carbon would negatively impact low-income people and asked that Council instead support other climate change initiatives, such as carbon sequestration. “[The bill] is, quite frankly, a carbon tax. Now that sounds great, but keep in mind that a carbon tax imposed on utilities and other people — they do not pay it. They simply pass it right along,” Warner said. “It will come down to you; it’ll come down to me; it’ll come down to the aging; it will come down to the poor; it will come down to those who are on fixed incomes.” Asheville resident and CCL volunteer Dan Glenn, who supported the bill, said it represented just one step in efforts to reduce carbon emissions and that concessions on both sides were necessary to garner bipartisan support.
STRIKE OUT: Attendees at the Dec. 6 Asheville Climate Strike urged government leaders to take bold action against climate change. Photo by Daniel Walton “We want to pass something that is durable, that hopefully, with slight changes in Congress, won’t get overturned like all the regulations that have been overturned by the current administration,” Glenn said. “There are compromises that need to be made.” IN OTHER NEWS Council rescheduled its annual retreat from Feb. 14 to Friday, March 13, starting at 8:30 a.m., at Harrah’s Cherokee Center — Asheville. Mayor Esther Manheimer said that the issue of funding extending bus service hours would be on Council’s agenda for the meeting. No explanation was provided for the one-month delay.
— Brooke Randle X
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F EA TU R E
by Jon Elliston
jonelliston@gmail.com
RISE AND FALL The little-known story of Asheville’s pioneering aviatrix
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UNFILTERED FAME: Asheville’s Uva Minners poses here as part of an advertising campaign, most likely for Camel cigarettes, for which she was a paid celebrity spokesperson. Photo courtesy of Carol Ann Williams/North Carolina Collection, Pack Memorial LIbrary, Asheville (Editor’s note: Portions of this article first appeared in Hidden History of Asheville, a book written by the staff and volunteers of Pack Memorial Library’s North Carolina Room and published last year.) Pity anyone who tried to keep up with Uva Shipman Minners, who carved a blazing path through 1930s America. The “aviatrix,” as she was called in the parlance of the day, was not only a groundbreaking woman stunt pilot, parachutist and wing walker: She also raced cars and crashed them with aplomb. Minners was an early member of the small but spirited sorority of pioneering women who insisted that access to flight
controls shouldn’t be monopolized by men. At the time, “A new generation of female pilots was emerging, and they refused to be pigeonholed, mocked or excluded,” historian Keith O’Brien noted in his 2018 bestseller Fly Girls. “Instead, they were united to fight the men in a singular moment in American history when air races in open-cockpit planes attracted bigger crowds than Opening Day at Yankee Stadium and an entire Sunday of NFL games.” Born Uva (pronounced YOU’-va) Shipman in Hendersonville in 1908, this daughter of a Baptist minister was raised in Asheville before setting her sights on points northward and airborne. In her early 20s, she danced
“Young women today have to be adventurous about the jobs they pick.” — Uva Shipman Minners professionally and wed in a selfdescribed “marriage of convenience” that enabled her to move to New York City, according to her only child. “She always did crazy things,” remembers Hendersonville resident Carol Ann Williams, who praised her mother’s brave spirit before adding, “I think it was foolishness, myself.” Dave Williams, one of Minners’ grandchildren, has similar recollections. “She was a character, that’s for sure,” he says. “We were lucky to have known her while she was alive; she could have been killed a lot of times.” From the Big Apple, Minners rose to fame as a dashing daredevil who indeed cheated death. She dazzled crowds at races and air shows, spawning breathless newspaper accounts that spread around the country and made their way back home to Western North Carolina. She was 5 feet, 2 inches tall, somewhat waifish, and by many accounts lovely in appearance. But she had little interest in joining the highsociety flappers of her era, preferring to venture where few women (and, in truth, not many men) had gone before. “Young women today have to be adventurous about the jobs they pick,” Minners said in 1935 during the depths of the Depression. “Because all of the safe and sane places are taken, and one certainly doesn’t want to be a loafer all one’s life.” She cut her teeth on wing walking, mostly for the famed Howard Flying Circus, and used the proceeds to pay for flying lessons. As one contemporary newspaper account noted, her specialty was “walking out onto a wing and going though acrobatics without any safety attachment while the plane whirled along at more than 100 miles per hour.” In December 1931, Minners announced an ambitious plan aimed at proving that “Women pilots are as capable as men.” “Girl Plans Solo Paris Hop as Shopping Trip,” the Brooklyn Daily Eagle trumpeted, detailing Minners’ hopes of becoming the first woman to make a trans-Atlantic solo flight. (Another rising aviation star, Amelia Earhart, would beat her to the feat a few months later, leading Minners to abandon the gambit.) Unbowed, however, Minners continued jumping at every chance to defy stereotypes and expectations. In the process, she gained a national following that led to a kind of perverse
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771 Haywood Rd. • West Asheville 828-225-4949 www.westvillagemarket.com/sales/ NO LOAFER: Minners made her name as an airplane wing walker and used the money she made from stunt appearances to pay for flying lessons. Photo courtesy of Carol Ann Williams/North Carolina Collection, Pack Memorial LIbrary, Asheville success: At the peak of her notoriety, she became a much-publicized shill for Camel cigarettes. “Camels don’t jangle my nerves,” she purportedly said in one widely circulated ad that touted her parachuting prowess, “and they encourage good digestion in a pleasant way.” (“She really wasn’t that much of a smoker,” Carol Williams remarks. “It was a bunch of hooey.”) “She was just always different from everybody else,” Williams recalls as she pages through her mother’s voluminous scrapbooks — noting that Minners, a bona fide phenomenon in her early years, spent most of her latter decades beset by mental illness and fading into relative obscurity. Minners retired from her high-flying, news-splashing adventures around 1940, and after a stint working as a clerk for the Defense Department, she lived in various places around the country before settling back in Hendersonville. There, she taught children’s evangelism courses, among other pursuits. Minners died in 1997 at age 88, and she’s buried in Oakdale Cemetery, where her headstone displays an etching of a biplane soaring through the clouds above the word “Grounded.” X
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CLASS OF ’65: During its 87-year run, 1,177 students graduated from the Allen High School. Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Collection, Pack Memorial Library, Asheville On June 1, 1910, a fire destroyed Zion Methodist Church on College Street. As firefighters responded to the conflagration, its spreading flames threatened the nearby Allen High School, a private, allblack, female institution (known then as the Allen Industrial School). The fire was ultimately contained, but the school’s near destruction, wrote The Asheville Gazette News, “has called attention to the history of that important institution.” Launched in 1887, the school operated until 1974. Early accounts state that initial classes were held inside a livery stable. But in 1897, an Englishwoman named Marriage Allen donated $1,000 (roughly $31,000 in today’s dollar) for the construction of a proper school. The Allen High School was regularly featured in local papers throughout its 87-year run. Student plays, musicals and sporting events made headlines, as did the school’s participation in social issues. For example, on Feb. 13, 1933, The Asheville Citizen reported on a series of talks held at the school concerning race relations. “Progress of the colored people,” the paper wrote, “and a better feeling among all races as a thing indispensable for world peace and welfare” were among the matters addressed. Despite these community sessions, injustices and cruelties toward people of color continued throughout the United States. According to the Equal Justice Initiative, more than 4,400 African Americans were lynched in the South and other regions of the country between the years of 1877 and 1950. During the Jim Crow era, educational opportunities also remained scarce for many black Americans. On Jan. 25, 1942, the Sunday edition of the Asheville Citizen-Times reported that the Allen High School was one of only three private accredited secondary schools for African Americans in the state. Meanwhile, the paper continued:
“Of the 27 counties in Western North Carolina only seven have accredited high schools for negroes. Seven have non-standard high schools while the others have no negro high schools.” The Allen High School, the 1942 article stated, “was a definite need,” not only for local residents but also for students in surrounding areas. According to the paper, of the 53 girls living at the school, 28 came from nine of the state’s western counties, while 19 students arrived from other North Carolina counties or adjoining states. The remainder, the article continued, were from elsewhere. Integration ultimately led to the school’s closure in 1974. That year, 10 girls graduated from Allen High, bringing the school’s total number of graduates to 1,177. Four years later, in 1978, the Allen High School Alumnae Association hosted its first high school reunion. The Asheville Citizen previewed the gathering in its Aug. 13, 1978, edition. According to the paper, about 400 former students were expected at the event, including Annis Bradshaw Pearson, class of 1915, the school’s oldest surviving member. Celebrating the school’s successes, the 1978 article named several of its prominent former students:
“Graduates of Allen include Evelyn Williams McKissick, wife of Soul City developer Floyd McKissick; Dr. Sheila Wright, opthalmologist; Amelia Parker, administrative assistant to White House Press Secretary Jody Powell; Dr. Jean Bright, a retired professor at A&T State University in Greensboro and author of several books; and recording star Nina Simone, a former resident of Tryon.” On Sept. 30, 1978, in a letter to the editor alumnae associates Margaret Johnson and Ann Woodford thanked reporter Henry Robinson for calling attention to the gathering, writing: “This historic and unprecedented event not only had a great effect on the community of Asheville, but has also reached out nationally. With the very professional help of Mr. Robinson, we were able to let Asheville and its alumni know that a landmark of Asheville will not die and be clouded in a blanket of dust.” Today, the school’s former buildings are used as offices, including Explore Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau. Editor’s note: Peculiarities of spelling and punctuation are preserved from the original documents. X
Celebrating Nina Simone On Saturday, Feb. 22, 4-7 p.m., the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded nonprofit, is celebrating Nina Simone’s 87th birthday. The acclaimed musician, civil rights activist and Allen High School graduate was born in Tryon on Feb. 21, 1933. She died April 21, 2003. The event will be held at the Roseland Community Center, 56 Peake St., Tryon. During the celebration, participants will learn more about the ongoing work to preserve Simone’s childhood home; guests will also have the opportunity to weigh in on the future use of the site. For more information, visit avl.mx/6wy.
COMMUNITY CALENDAR FEB. 19 - 27, 2020
CALENDAR GUIDELINES For a full list of community calendar guidelines, please visit mountainx.com/calendar. For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, ext. 137. For questions about paid calendar listings, please call 828-251-1333, ext. 320.
ACTIVISM ENC & SONG • SU (2/23), 12:302:30pm - Equality North Carolina and Southerners on New Ground, informal meeting. Free to attend. Held at Firestorm Books & Coffee, 610 Haywood Road WORLD BEYOND WAR • WE (2/19), 4-6:45pm - World Beyond War webinar viewing party and chapter meeting. Registration: lauriedtimm@gmail.com or 240-565-7403. Free. Held at 1 Wellspring Lane
ANIMALS ASHEVILLE ANIMAL RIGHTS READING GROUP • 3rd FRIDAYS, 6-7:30pm - Animal Rights Reading Group. Free to attend. Held at Firestorm Books & Coffee, 610 Haywood Road
BENEFITS 'ANAMALIA' • SA (2/22), 2pm Proceeds from the all-ages Anamalia puppet show by Hobey Ford benefit Food Connection, Inc. Tickets: food-connection.org. $15/$12 advance/$10 children under 12. Held at White Horse Black Mountain, 105 Montreat Road, Black Mountain AMICIMUSIC • SU (2/23), 4pm Proceeds from Go Tell it on the Mountain, concert celebrating African-American History Month with soprano Simone
Vigliante and pianist Daniel Weiser, benefit a new Saluda Visitors Center. Registration required. $55. Held at The Orchard Inn, 100 Orchard Inn Lane, Saluda ARTS AND CRAFTS HOME TOUR • SA (2/22) & SU (2/23), 1-5pm - Proceeds from this Arts and Crafts Home Tour featuring homes in Norwood Park benefit the Preservation Society of Asheville/ Buncombe County. Register for location: bit.ly/2Sme7C5. $35. ASHEVILLE'S HIDDEN VOICES • MO (2/24), 7pm - Proceeds from Asheville's Hidden Voices, live music event featuring 10 musicians living under poverty benefit Asheville Poverty Initiative's 12 Baskets Cafe. $25. Held at The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave. PILATES WITH PUPPIES • SA (2/22), 10am - Proceeds from Pilates with Puppies, mixed level pilates class benefit the Asheville Humane Society. Registration required. $15. Held at Asheville Humane Society, 14 Forever Friend Lane ST. GERARD HOUSE MARDI GRAS • TU (2/25), 6-9pm - Proceeds from this Mardi Gras party with Cajun dinner, music and live auction benefit the St. Gerard House. Information: stgerardhouse.org. $35 and up. Held at Wild Wing Cafe South, 65 Long Shoals Road, Arden
STRANGER KINGS: UNC Asheville presents two archaeology lectures during the spring semester. The first lecture, on state expansionism, colonialism and stranger-kings among the classic Maya, is presented by Maxime Lamoureux-St. Hilaire on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 7:30 p.m. in UNC Asheville’s Highsmith Student Union Mountain Suites. The lecture stems from Lamoureux-St. Hilaire’s studies of the structure of Classic Maya royal courts and their palaces. Photo courtesy of Getty Images (p. 21) BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY A-B TECH SMALL BUSINESS CENTER 1465 Sand Hill Road, Candler, 828-398-7950, abtech.edu/sbc • TH (2/20), 2-5pm - How to Define YouTube Success Through Metrics, seminar. Registration required. Free. • TH (2/27), 9-11am - Understanding and Harnessing Your Business' Cash Flow, seminar. Registration required. Free. FLETCHER AREA BUSINESS ASSOCIATION • 4th THURSDAYS, 11:30noon - General meeting. Free. Held at YMCA Mission Pardee Health Campus, 2775 Hendersonville Road, Arden INTRO TO THE STARTUP ECOSYSTEM • TU (2/25), 6pm - Intro to the Startup Ecosystem, presentation by Supportedly and Venture Asheville on the local startup ecosystem. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. SAFE AND ACCESSIBLE MODIFICATIONS FOR INDEPENDENCE (SAMI) TRAINING • TH (2/27), 1-5pm - SAMI session 2 includes entry solutions, kitchen options and the dangers of code compliant solutions. Registration: avl.mx/6uy.
Free. Held at Goodwill Career Training Center, 1616 Patton Ave. TAKING THE LEAP ASHEVILLE • TUESDAYS through (3/10), 6-8pm - Taking The Leap Asheville, four week long cohort regarding the different aspects of starting a business. Sponsored by SBTDC of WNC. Registration required. Registration: bit.ly/2Orhsxh. Free. Held at The Collider, 1 Haywood St., Suite 401
CLASSES, MEETINGS & EVENTS BECOME A BROKER IN 2020! (PD.) 5 or 7 Week Prelicense Classes. Weeknights or Weekends. Next sessions begin Feb 4th or 8th. Register for $445 at www. ThomasNC.online or call 828-333-7509 EMPYREAN ARTS CLASSES (PD.) Aerial Flexibility on Mondays 6:15pm, Wednesdays 6:15pm, and Saturdays 1:00pm. Self Care on Sundays 2:15pm and Mondays 7:30pm. Aerial Chill & Restore on Wednesdays 7:30pm. Intro to Handstands on Thursdays 7:45pm. Intro to Partner Acrobatics on Sundays 6:30pm. empyreanarts.org. 828.782.3321
TAOIST TAI CHI OPEN HOUSE (PD.) West Asheville: Monday, February 24, 10:30am12pm, St George's Church, 1 School Road. For classes starting first week of March: asheville.nc@taoisttaichi.org.
HOMINY VALLEY RECREATION PARK • 3rd THURSDAYS, 7pm - Hominy Valley board meeting. Free. Held at Hominy Valley Recreation Park, 25 Twin Lakes Drive, Candler
AMERICAN LEGION POST 70 • LAST MONDAYS, 6pm General meeting. Dinner at 6pm. Meeting at 7pm. Free. Held at American Legion Post 70, 103 Reddick Road
LEICESTER HISTORY GATHERING • 3rd THURSDAYS, 7pm - The Leicester History Gathering, general meeting. Free. Held at Leicester Community Center, 2979 New Leicester Highway, Leicester
BIG IVY COMMUNITY CENTER BOARD MEETING • 4th MONDAYS, 7pm Community center board meeting. Free. Held at Big Ivy Community Center, 540 Dillingham Road, Barnardsville BLACK MEN MONDAYS • LAST MONDAYS, 6:308pm - Black Men Mondays brings positive, strong and like-minded black men together for the benefit of one another and the community. Information: 828-361-4529. Free. Held at Community Action Opportunities, 25 Gaston St. COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR ADULT CARE HOMES • 3rd FRIDAYS, 9-10:30am - Committee meeting. Registration: julia@landofsky. org. Free. Held at Land of Sky Regional Council Offices, 339 New Leicester Highway, Suite 140
MARINE CORPS LEAGUE • 4th TUESDAYS, 6pm - 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., 828-255-5166, ontrackwnc. org • TH (2/20), noon-1:30pm - Emotions and Spending, seminar. Registration required. Free. • MONDAYS (2/24) until (3/9), 5:30-8pm - Manage Your Money, workshop series. Registration required. Free. • TH (2/27), noon-1:30pm - Budgeting and Debt, class. Registration required. Free. • TH (2/27), 5:30-7pm - Understanding Credit. Get it. Keep it. Improve it. Seminar. Registration required. Free.
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CONSCIOUS PARTY
C OMMU N IT Y CA L EN D AR SCIENCE PUB SERIES • TH (2/20), 5:30-7pm - Climate Change and Your Health, presentation with refreshments. Free. Held at The Collider, 1 Haywood St., Suite 401 TELL YOUR STORY • TH (2/27), 6-8pm - Share your history and knowledge of the Burton Street Community and see what our afterschool students have created with the LEAF Schools and Streets program. Dinner provided. Free. Held at Burton Street Community Center, 134 Burton St. . WNC REPAIR CAFE • TU (2/25), 5-8pm - WNC Repair Café, hands-on help repairing broken household items. Reservation recommended. Free to attend. Held at Living Web Farms - Biochar Facility, 220 Grandview Lane, Hendersonville
PUPPETS AGAINST HUNGER: Proceeds from the Puppets Against Hunger performance that stars Hobey Ford’s characters is titled Anamalia and benefits Food Connection, a nonprofit that connects fresh meals with families in need. Ford’s production explores the world of animals through movement, music and puppetry. The show is planned for Saturday, Feb. 22, 2 p.m. at White Horse Black Mountain. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 the day of the show and $10 for children younger than 12. Photo courtesy of Hobey Ford (p. 19)
ECO COLLIDER MONTHLY MOVIE NIGHT • FR (2/21), 5:307:30pm - Burned: Are Trees the New Coal?, documentary film screening. Discussion with the Dogwood Alli-
Asheville City Hall, 70 Court Plaza HAYWOOD COUNTY TDA GRANTS • TH (2/27), 10am or 2 pm - Applicants for the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority partnership funding must attend a mandatory workshop.
Collider, 1 Haywood St.,
HOW TREES SUSTAIN POLLINATORS AND HELP STEM CLIMATE CHANGE • MO (2/24), 6pm - How Trees Sustain Pollinators and Help Stem Climate Change, presentation by Phyllis
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FARM & GARDEN POLK COUNTY FRIENDS OF AGRICULTURE BREAKFAST • 3rd WEDNESDAYS, 7-8am - Monthly breakfast with presentations on agriculture. Admission by donation. Held at Green Creek Community Center, 25 Shields Road, Columbus
Stiles, founder of the Bee City USA. Free. Held at Henderson County Public Library, 301 N. Washington St., Hendersonville
FOOD & BEER ASHEVILLE VEGAN RUNNERS • 4th SATURDAYS, 5:306:30pm - Asheville Vegan
Runners, open group meeting. Free to attend. Held at Firestorm Books & Coffee, 610 Haywood Road FOOD INSECURITY: NOT JUST A SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUE • MO (2/24), 4:30-6pm Food Insecurity; Not Just a Social Justice Issue, panel discussion with Traci Malone Nutrition, Bountiful Cities, BeLoved Asheville, and Bounty & Soul. Registration required: assistant@crcfored. com or 651-757-0400. Free. Held at BeLoved Asheville, 10 N. Market St., Suite 200
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SOUL FOOD SUPPER • TH (2/20), 6-7:30pm - A celebration of how far the African-American community has come and where it’s going, includes a potluck meal, guest speaker and a choir. Free to attend. Held at Stephen's Lee Community Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave.
FESTIVALS MARDI GRAS PARADE • SU (2/23), 3:05pm - Mardi Gras parade heads east on Hilliard Ave., south on Coxe Ave., east on Banks Ave.,
south on Church St., west on Buxton Ave. Free. Held at South Slope, Federal Alley
visitncsmokies.com. Free. Held at Haywood County Tourism Development Authority,
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
1110 Soco Road, Maggie Valley
ALL THINGS VOTING PROGRAM • TH (2/20), 4-6pm - All Things Voting, presentation by Karen Hebb, Board of Elections director. Free. Held at Henderson County Public Library, 301 N. Washington St., Hendersonville
JACKSON COUNTY REPUBLICANS
CITY COUNCIL • TU (2/25), 5pm - Formal meeting of the Asheville
743-0910. Held at VFW
• TH (2/20), 6:30pm Republican, unaffiliated and conservative voters invited to the monthly meeting. Information: 828-743-6491 or 828Post, 4012 NC-107, Glenville
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS 100TH BIRTHDAY AND CANDIDATE MEET AND GREET • TH (2/20), 5:308:30pm - League of Women Voters 100th birthday party and a meet and greet for the Candidates for Asheville City Council, Buncombe County Commissioner and NC Senate 48 & 49. Free to attend. Held at Archetype Brewing Broadway, 174 Broadway SILENT VIGIL FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM • FR (2/21), 4-4:30pm - Progressive Alliance's monthly Silent Vigil to promote compassionate Immigration Reform policies. Held at Henderson County Courthouse, 200 N. Grove St., Hendersonville STATE OF THE DOWNTOWN LUNCHEON • WE (2/26), noon1:30pm - State of the
Downtown, luncheon with presentations. Registration required. $20/$15 members. Held at Harrah's Cherokee Center - Asheville, 87 Haywood St.
KIDS EMPOWERING THE LEADER IN EACH YOUNG MAN (PD.) Journeymen is supporting adolescent boys on their paths to becoming men of integrity. Our cost-free program is now enrolling young men 12-17. Mentees ("J-men") participate in bi-weekly mentoring groups and a semi-annual Rites of Passage Adventure Weekend, where they develop compassion, selfawareness, accountability, resilience and authenticity. Learn more: journeymenasheville.org Contact: journeymenasheville@ gmail.com (828) 771-6344. BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • TH (2/20), 10:30am Story time and art making with the Asheville Art Museum. Free. Held at Skyland/South Buncombe Library, 260 Overlook Road • FR (2/21), 4pm - Reading with JR The Therapy Dog. Registration required: 828-250-4752. Free. Held at North Asheville Library, 1030 Merrimon Ave. • MO (2/24), 4pm - LEGO builders, kids 5 and up. Free. Held at Weaverville Library, 41 N. Main St. Weaverville • 4th TUESDAYS, 1pm - Homeschoolers' book club. Held at North Asheville Library, 1030 Merrimon Ave. • TU (2/25), 3pm - Graphic Novel Book Club for ages 8-12. Free. Held at North Asheville Library, 1030 Merrimon Ave. • 2nd SATURDAYS, 1-4pm & LAST WEDNESDAYS, 4-6pm - Teen Dungeons and Dragons for ages 12 and up. Registration required: 828-250-4720. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. EXPLORE SCIENCE AT THE NANOSCALE • SA (2/22), noon-3pm - Explore Science at the
Nanoscale, hands on science and technology activities for kids and adults. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library - Lord Auditorium, 67 Haywood St. FLAMENCO KIDS • FRIDAYS, 6:15pm Flamenco for children ages 5-10. Information: 786-327-9548. $14/class or $50/month. Held at In His Steps Dance Ministry, 159 Church St. GIZMO FOR PRESIDENT • WE (2/19), 10am - Author Suzanne Kline presents her book Gizmo 4 President. 4:15pm - Roundtable with 18-19-year-old voters. Free. Held at Rainbow Community School, 574 Haywood Road STEM WITH DR. K • TU (2/25), 3:30-5:30pm - STEM with Dr. K: Designing a math board game, part 1. Registration required. Ages: 6-106. Free. Held at Mountains Branch Library, 150 Bill's Creek Road, Lake Lure
OUTDOORS FLORENCE NATURE PRESERVE WORKDAY • FR (2/21), 10am-2pm - Workday to restore natural habitat and protect rare plants and wildlife by removing non-native, invasive plants and maintaining an important meadow habitat. Registration required: volunteer@ conservingcarolina.org or 828-679-5777 x 211. WATERFALL HIKE AT GROVE STONE AND SAND QUARRY • SA (2/22), 9am-1pm Guided difficult 3.5-mile loop hike within the boundaries of Grove Stone and Sand Quarry. Registration and information: svmhikes@gmail. com. $35/$25 members. Held at Swannanoa Valley Museum, 223 W. State St., Black Mountain
PARENTING EVERGREEN INFORMATION SESSION • WE (2/26), 6-7:30pm - Information session for prospective families interested in enrolling their child. Free. Held at
Evergreen Community Charter School, 50 Bell Road
PUBLIC LECTURES ARCHAEOLOGY LECTURE • WE (2/19), 7:30pm - State Expansionism, Colonialism, and StrangerKings among the Classic Maya, presented by Maxime Lamoureux-St. Hilaire. Free. Held at Highsmith Student Union, 1 University Heights BLACK ASHEVILLE HISTORY HARVEST UPDATE • TH (2/27), 6pm Friends of the North Carolina Room and the Buncombe County Community Engagement Team present update on the North Carolina Room's most recent community archiving project: The Black Asheville History Project. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. HAMILTON IN MUSIC AND POLITICS • TU (2/25), 7pm - The Room Where It Happened, Drs. Hawn and Theisen talk on Alexander Hamilton and his influence and how debates with Thomas Jefferson shape current conversations about the role of government. Free. Held at Belk Auditorium (inside Wren Student Union), Mars Hill University, 265 Cascade St., Mars Hill HISTORY BITES: A WINTER LECTURE SERIES • FR (2/21), 11:30am - An informative talk by Kemper Gibson, forensic biologist at the Western Regional Crime Laboratory, and light refreshments. $5. Held at Historic Johnson Farm, 3346 Haywood Road, Hendersonville ‘IT IS ALWAYS THREE O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING’ • TU (1/28), 7pm - It is always three o’clock in the morning, music lecture on themes of anxiety, depression and mortality in the music of English composers John Dowland (1563–1626) and Benjamin Britten (1913–1976). Free. Held at Karpen Hall, UNC
Asheville, 2000 University Heights OLD BUNCOMBE COUNTY GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY • SA (2/22), 2-3pm - The Evolution of Buncombe County: Old to New, presentation by Sandy Jordan and Nancy Manning. Information: obcgs.com. Free. Held at Old Buncombe County Genealogical Society, 128 Bingham Road, Suite 950 UNVEILING OUR TREASURES • WE (2/19), 3:30pm From Margins to Center: Reflections on the History of African Americans at Mars Hill University, 18561980, presentation by Malik Frost and Dr. David Gilbert. Free. Held at The Ramsey Center in Renfro Library, 100 Athletic St., Mars Hill
SENIORS CARING FOR MY LOVED ONE WITH DEMENTIA • WE (2/19), 9-11am - Caring for My Loved One with Dementia: Preparing for the Road Ahead, part 3. Registration: avl.mx/6vb. Free. Held at UNC Asheville Reuter Center, 1 University Heights HENDERSON COUNTY ALZHEIMER’S COMMUNITY FORUM • WE (2/26), 10-11:30am - Alzheimer’s Association of Western Carolina hosts the Henderson County Alzheimer's community forum. Registration: tinyurl. com/ALZHendersonForum or 800-272-3900. Free. Held at Henderson County Public Library, 301 N. Washington St., Hendersonville INTRODUCTION TO MEDICARE: UNDERSTANDING THE PUZZLE • WE (2/19), 2-4pm Introduction to Medicare – Understanding the Puzzle, explains how Medicare works, the enrollment process, how to avoid penalties and ways to save money. Registration: coabc.org or 828-2778288. Free. Held at Blue Ridge Community Health Services, 2579 Chimney Rock Road, Hendersonville
• FR (2/21), 2-4pm - Introduction to Medicare – Understanding the Puzzle, explains how Medicare works, the enrollment process, how to avoid penalties and ways to save money. Registration: coabc.org or 828-277-8288. Free. Held at Goodwill Career Training Center, 1616 Patton Ave.
SPIRITUALITY ANATASATI MAGGA (PD.) Sujata Yasa (Nancy Spence). Zen Buddhism. Weekly meditations and services; Daily recitations w/ mala. Urban retreats. 32 Mineral Dust Drive, Asheville, NC 28806. 828-367-7718. info@ anattasatimagga.org. ANATTASATIMAGGA. ORG APPALACHIAN TEA CEREMONY (PD.) Mary Plantwalker will be hosting an Appalachian Tea Ceremony every 3rd Thursday of the month! Come and enjoy local infusions with heartfelt offerings in a beautiful setting. Donation based. Registration required: info@herbmountainfarm. com. Weaverville at Herb Mountain Farm off Maney Branch. Email for directions. 4:00-5:30pm. ASTRO-COUNSELING (PD.) Licensed counselor and accredited professional astrologer uses your chart when counseling for additional insight into yourself, your relationships and life directions. Stellar Counseling Services. Christy Gunther, MA, LPC. (828) 258-3229. A COURSE IN MIRACLES STUDY GROUP • 2nd & 4th MONDAYS, 6:30-8:30pm - A Course in Miracles, study group. Information: 828-712-5472. Free. Held at Groce United Methodist Church, 954 Tunnel Road ARAMAIC TONING, PRAYER AND SILENCE CIRCLE • Last TUESDAYS, 7-9pm - Aramaic, Hebrew and Egyptian vocal toning, breath work and meditation. Admission by donation. Held at The
Center for Art and Spirit at St. George's Episcopal Church, 1 School Road MINDFULNESS MEDITATION • SU (1/26), 10am-noon - Mindfulness meditation practices of sitting and walking meditation. Admission by donation. Held at Asheville Shambhala Meditation Center, 60 N. Merrimon Ave., Suite 113 SONGS & SILENCE, ALL FAITH TAIZE SERVICE • THURSDAYS, 6:30-7:15 pm - All faith Taize service of meditation and music. Free. Held at Grace Lutheran Church, 1245 6th Ave W., Hendersonville SPIRITUAL FORMATION • SA (2/22), 9am-3pm - Spiritual Formation weekend workshop featuring Rev. Dr. Mike Slaughter. Lunch included. Tickets: bit.ly/37nlde2. $15. Held at First United Methodist Church of Hendersonville, 204 6th Ave. W., Hendersonville
VOLUNTEERING TUTOR ADULTS/YOUTH IN NEED WITH THE LITERACY COUNCIL (PD.) 43% of adults with low literacy live in poverty. Volunteer and help our neighbors rise above the confines ofpoverty. Orientation 3/2 (5:30pm) or 3/5 (9am) RSVP: volunteers@ litcouncil.com. Learn more: www.litcouncil.com. Free. TRANZMISSION PRISON PROJECT • Fourth THURSDAYS, 6-9pm - Monthly meeting to prepare packages of books and zines for mailing to prisons across the US. Free to attend. Held at Firestorm Books & Coffee, 610 Haywood Road TRAUMA INTERVENTION PROGRAM OF WNC TRAINING ACADEMY • Through WE (2/26) - Open registration to participate in the 10-day volunteer training program beginning Thursday, Feb. 27. Information and registration: 828-513-0498 or online. For more volunteering opportunities visit mountainx.com/ volunteering
MOUNTAINX.COM
FEB. 19 - 25, 2020
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WELLNESS
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2/19: SUN in Pisces Tarot Reader: Jonathan Mote 12-6pm 2/20: Circle Round Presents: Everyday Magick 6-8pm, Donations 2/22: Integrating Science, Magic & Spirit w/ Urania’s Well 3-5pm, $20/Cash 2/23: NEW MOON in Pisces Energy Healing Event w/ Blue Ridge Healing Arts 3-5pm, Donations
Mission criticized on staff shortages, patient care
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NO CLEANUP: Dr. Carole Saltzman, now retired, said janitorial services at Mission Hospital have dwindled to the point that “patients are having to clean their own rooms, or their family members [are].” Photo by Mark Barrett
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Finding a nurse to answer a patient’s call, someone to prepare equipment for surgery or even to clean a room at Mission Health is often an exercise in futility, speakers said at a Feb. 10 meeting to get public input on the performance of the system since it was taken over by for-profit owners. Local elected officials, ordinary citizens and even a Mission nurse all blasted the stewardship of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, which bought the collection of hospitals
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and other health care institutions for $1.5 billion and began running it in February 2019. “Patients are screaming into the hallways: ‘Please help! Help!’” Dr. Carole Saltzman, a retired physician, told consultants hired to monitor HCA’s adherence to the terms of the purchase from the nonprofit that had owned and run the system. Jennifer Kirby, a Candler resident who is a nurse at Mission’s main hospital in Asheville, tearfully told the crowd, “Every single department in that hospital that is designed to help the patient … is critically and unethically and inhumanely understaffed.
“I used to be really proud of where I worked. I’m not anymore,” she said. Almost everyone who spoke was strongly critical of changes made under HCA. Worries about a shortage of workers and patient care dominated the discussion, but speakers also raised concerns about HCA’s charity care policy, relationships with physicians, services for deaf patients and other issues. State Sen. Terry Van Duyn, D-Buncombe, read a letter from herself, Mayor Esther Manheimer, county Board of Commissioners Chair Brownie Newman and Buncombe County’s three state House members that called for changes in what the
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letter says are “unacceptable” outcomes of the sale. The co-authors stood beside Van Duyn. The letter notes predictions Mission officials made before the sale that HCA would turn a profit at Mission by making purchasing and back office functions more efficient. “It is clear now that this was a lie,” the letter says. “Instead, HCA has chosen to make its money by reducing charity care, eliminating medical and unit administrative staff to the detriment of patient care and safety, and sacrificing entire physician practice groups with long-standing contractual relationships by demanding significant reductions in pay.” A shortage of staffers is “putting patient safety at risk,” the officials said. Several people said it is also harming employee morale. “I have lots and lots of friends who work for Mission,” said Fairview resident Barbara de Loache. “They are miserable.” The meeting is one of several being held around Western North
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Experts in
YOUR FAMILY’S
LOW MORALE: Black Mountain resident Kitty Kelly said that when a relative was at Mission Hospital recently, she found that staffing levels are so low that, “Nurses are in tears. Nurses are covering way too many patients.” Photo by Mark Barrett
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Carolina by Gibbins Advisors, a consulting firm hired by Dogwood Health Trust, the nonprofit that received proceeds from the Mission sale. The legal requirements Gibbins is monitoring generally have to do with provision of specific services rather than quality of care, but a Gibbins official told the crowd it would relay all of the concerns to Dogwood and HCA. Mission spokeswoman Nancy Lindell said Feb. 11 that system officials “heard the passionate voices
of our community. This feedback is important to us and, as such, we have been and continue to actively work with both our local and corporate leaders to identify opportunities for improvement.” She said the past year “has been a time of enormous transition for our organization and … we have sometimes created confusion by not effectively communicating about changes.” The system will evaluate next steps once the current round of similar meetings around WNC is complete, Lindell said. X
WELLN ESS CA LEN DA R ADVANCE CARE PLANNING WORKSHOP • TH (2/20), 7-9pm Advance care planning workshop with panel discussion and opportunities for assistance to complete legally valid documents. Free. Held at UNC Asheville Reuter Center, 1 University Heights ASHEVILLE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION CENTER: INTRODUCTORY SESSIONS • THURSDAYS, 6:307:30pm - Introductory session for Transcendental Meditation. Registration: 828-254-4350 or MeditationAsheville.org. Free. Held at Asheville Center for Transcendental Meditation, 165 E. Chestnut COFFEE AND CONVERSATION: AMONG FRIENDS • 4th WEDNESDAYS, 11:30am-noon - Coffee and conversation on wellness topics. Free. Held at Ferguson Family YMCA, 31 Westridge Market Place, Candler
EMBODIED WISDOM: FINDING SUPPORT FROM WITHIN • WE (2/26), 5:30-7pm - Embodied Wisdom: Finding Support from Within, workshop. Registration required: Ashevillehappybody.com/ workshops. Free to attend. Held at Happy Body, 1378 Hendersonville Road RED CROSS BLOOD DRIVES redcrosswnc.org • WE (2/19) - 10th annual Battle of the Badges Blood Drive Competition. Appointments & info: 800-RED-CROSS or visit redcrossblood.org. Held at First Baptist Church of Asheville, 5 Oak St. • MO (2/24), 8am-1pm - Appointments & info: 828-298-2173 x 1214. Held at Evergreen Community Charter School, 50 Bell Road • WE (2/26), 8:30am1pm - Appointments & info: 828-803-2884. Held at YMCA - Woodfin, 30 Woodfin St.
• TH (2/27), 11am-3:30pm - Appointments & info: Carmen@ mastgeneralstore.com or call 828-712-0309. Held at Trinity Episcopal Church, 60 Church St. RICEVILLE COMMUNITY WORKOUT • THURSDAYS, 6pm Community workout for all ages and fitness levels. Bring yoga mat and water. Free. Held at Riceville Fire Department, 2251 Riceville Road TAI CHI FOR ADULTS • TH (2/20), 10:30-11:15am - Tai chi class tailored for veterans. Open to all adults. Registration required: 828-250-4700. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library - Lord Auditorium, 67 Haywood St. THE BLOOD CONNECTION BLOOD DRIVES 800-392-6551, thebloodconnection.org • WE (2/19), 7:30-10am - Blood drive. Register online. Held at Four
Seasons Compassion for Life, 571 S. Allen Road, Flat Rock • TH (2/27), 10am-3pm Blood donation drive. Registration: bit.ly/2Sj8GnE. Held at AdventHealth Hendersonville, 100 Hospital Drive, Hendersonville TRAUMA-SENSITIVE SCHOOLS • SA (2/22), 8:30am-4pm - Trauma-Sensitive Schools training for individuals in Henderson County who work with children or youth (Pre K-12). Registration required: 828-697-4733 or mwgruebmeyer@hcpsnc. org. Free. Held at Mills River Academy, 96 School House Road, Mills River YWCA FITNESS AND AQUATICS OPEN HOUSE • WE (2/26), 7am-7pm Fitness and aquatics open house with refreshments, personal trainers and fitness associates, tours and free opportunity to use the gym, pool and group fitness classes. Free. Held at YWCA of Asheville, 185 S. French Broad Ave.
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FOOD
PIONEERING SPIRIT Women create their own opportunities in Asheville’s restaurant industry
A PLACE OF HER OWN: Jamie Wade opened Sand Hill Kitchen in a West Asheville gas station after working back of house in restaurants from New Orleans to the Outer Banks for many years. “It wasn’t like I always wanted to open a restaurant in a gas station,” Ward says with a laugh. “But it was a great place to start my first business.” Photo by Cindy Kunst
BY KAY WEST kswest55@comcast.net When Miki Loomis and her thenhusband signed the lease in April 2010 on the building on Merrimon Avenue that would become HomeGrown restaurant, her first child was only 6 weeks old. A few months later, just two weeks after the restaurant opened, Loomis found out she was pregnant with the couple’s second child. She adjusted.
“I picked my office chair with arms that made it comfortable for nursing,” she remembers. “You do whatever it takes; you have no choice if you’re starting a business. Strap the baby on and go. You just roll with it.” Opening their own restaurant is a decision many women who have spent years in a kitchen working for someone else come to as a means of exerting more control over their lives on and off the line. Doing whatever it takes and rolling with unanticipated hurdles — or pregnancies — is a start.
In hindsight, Loomis reflects that as daunting as it was bearing two children within 18 months and simultaneously birthing a business, it was also a blessing. “I couldn’t work for two weeks after Magnolia was born,” she says. “I couldn’t be that micromanager restaurant owner. I had to trust my management staff, and that was a good lesson to learn.” One of the people she entrusted to make decisions for Homegrown — which had absorbed Loomis’ busy catering company — was Terri Terrell, who came on board as catering chef while Loomis was pregnant with Magnolia. Nine years later, Terrell is director of operations for the business. Though she does not have children, her gender is one of the challenges she has faced in building a career in the restaurant industry. “In certain situations, it’s a doublewhammy, being a woman and the lack of a culinary degree,” Terrell says. “Her degrees in theology and sociology are helpful when it comes to managing people, but she learned to cook and honed her kitchen skills through years on the job, including a stint as a traveling chef on the American Le Mans sports car racing circuit. “Miki gave me a lot of culinary freedom, creating menus and leading the kitchen,” says Terrell. “She can do both of those things really well, but her leadership skills are more overall management of the company and front of house.” “We’re not into titles or degrees much here,” Loomis says with a shrug. “It all works as a collective, with a lot of teamwork.” She mentions chef Erica Rowe and prep chef Liza Myers, whom she calls “the backbone of our kitchen.” HOME BAKERY TO RESTAURANT As many women — and men — in the industry have proved, lack of a culinary degree can be overcome, and having one isn’t a golden ticket. Achieving success as a restaurant owner requires grueling hours and single-minded dedication. If you’re a parent — especially a single parent — you also need a support system to take up the slack for a lack of professional child care geared to the odd hours of the hospitality industry.
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F OOD When Sweet Monkey Café & Bakery owner Hollie West was a child, she wanted an Easy Bake oven for Christmas. “My mom said, ‘We have a real oven you can play with,’ and so I did.” The old-school Betty Crocker cookbook from which she improvised a recipe for crusty white bread eventually led her to culinary school at the Art Institute of Seattle. West focused on the savory track in school, but ended up with postcollege internships and jobs in baking, including a stint as pastry chef at The Savoy in Asheville. She went on to start a bakery out of her home in Marshall, providing breads and desserts for restaurants. After taking a short break when she had her son, West expanded her client base to include retail. “I was doing five tailgate markets a week, plus catering and some wholesale. I was working in a commercial kitchen at the [Madison County Cooperative] Extension office and running out of physical space to do all of that,” she says. “It was never my goal to own a restaurant, but I needed a bigger place to work, and this space was available.” With help from her parents, who had moved to Madison County, West launched Sweet Monkey in July 2014. “We opened with the intention of breakfast and lunch because I had a 5-year-old and wanted to still function as a normal human being, which is actually not possible in the restaurant business,” she admits. “Everybody has to adapt.”
CREATE YOUR OWN JOB Jamie Wade had long held a dream of having her own restaurant, with a specific concept in mind. “I always wanted to open a breakfast and lunch place,” she says. “I love cooking breakfast.” It was something the Arizona native with a degree in photography did a lot of in the 1990s while working in the massive kitchen at the landmark Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. She remembers that, of the 40 cooks on staff there, usually only four or five were women. “Kitchens at every level of service back then were not friendly places for women.” From New Orleans, Wade moved to North Carolina’s Outer Banks, spending 12 years working at The Blue Point, a sea-to-table restaurant in the tiny village of Duck. After a divorce, she and her then almost 7-year-old daughter moved to Asheville to be near her parents, who could help with child care. Despite her strong resume and experience, Wade had a difficult job search (which she blames on ageism even more than gender bias). So she tightened up her catering skills working at The N.C. Arboretum and took business courses at Mountain BizWorks, where she was mentored by Short Street Cakes founder Jodi Rhoden. When the old Asheville Sandwich Co. space inside the Roadrunner/BP Market on Sand Hill Road became available, Wade jumped on it, receiving financing through Mountain BizWorks. “There was a kitchen
and equipment, but it all had to be cleaned, and I did it all myself,” she says. “I had three weeks to clean, do the menu, get signage, order product and hire staff. I was so exhausted that the woman who does all our baking and cooks our breakfast basically hired herself in her interview.” That was three years ago, and on a recent rainy weekday afternoon, half of the 22 seats in Wade’s Sand Hill Kitchen were filled with regulars. The takeaway business for the restaurant’s burgers, Reubens and mainstay chicken sandwich is brisk. “It wasn’t like I always wanted to open a restaurant in a gas station,” Wade admits with a laugh. “But it was a great place to start my first business. It’s affordable, it does well, and there was a real need in this neighborhood for a place like this.” Although Wade loves her little eatery and its all-scratch-made menu, she does envision bigger things. “Eventually, I also want to open a place with more seats and a more comfortable environment with a bigger kitchen,” she says. QUALITY OF LIFE It’s important to Robyn Ziegler that customers of her eponymous Ziggy’s Bakery & Deli, which she co-owns with life-partner, Joshua Widner, know her as well as her food. “I like to visit the tables and introduce myself,” she says. “People are surprised that I’m the owner, I think, because I’m a woman and
how young I am [she’s 28]. I love that personal touch in a small place.” Armed with a culinary degree from Johnson & Wales in Rhode Island, the Pennsylvania native came to Asheville to work first at the Biltmore Estate, then The Market Place, where she met Widner. When the two decided to create a healthier quality of life for themselves, they devised a concept to fill a vacuum. “I thought Asheville was missing a traditional, Northern-style deli with a deli case where you could get freshsliced meats and cheeses, pick up a pint of potato salad and get a loaf of fresh-baked bread,” she says. “Or have your deli sandwich built to perfection. I love sandwiches, and Josh loves to bake, so it was perfect.” The business allows them to set hours that work for them. “We’re still putting in about 80 hours a week each, but we’re actually home eating dinner by 7:30 and have a couple hours to decompress and not talk restaurant,” says Ziegler. She still dreams restaurant, though. “My strongest food memory is a little restaurant I went to in Paris. There was a chef and two sous chefs, it had less than 20 seats and does a oneseating, seven- or 12-course tasting menu that changes every day. I made so many notes and drawings of the plates on the back of the menu. That is my dream restaurant,” she says. “I’ll get there one day, but meanwhile, I’m putting stuff in between sandwich bread and making it work.” X
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FOOD
BEER SCOUT by Edwin Arnaudin | earnaudin@mountainx.com
Unsung heroines
Taproom managers serve as liaisons between production and consumers
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LIKE A BOSS: Numerous Asheville-area taprooms operate smoothly and efficiently thanks to female managers. Clockwise from top right are Christine Ferguson Weaver (Hi-Wire Brewing), Katie Jordan and Katy Luquire (Urban Orchard Cider Co.) and Gabe Pickard-Karnowski (Zebulon Artisan Ales). Photo of Ferguson Weaver by Javier Bola; photo of Luquire and Jordan by Bella Javens; photo of Pickard-Karnowski courtesy of Zebulon Artisan Ales In the craft beverage industry, the alcoholic liquids are foremost what define a business, but it’s the taproom experience that can set a producer apart from its peers. Visiting where the beer or cider is made allows customers to form a stronger connection with the brand, and throughout the Asheville area, many of the individuals making sure those interactions run as smoothly as possible are women. “We’re the liaisons between the owners and the staff, the liaisons between production and the staff, and the liaisons between sales and the staff,” says Katy Luquire, hospitality manager for Urban Orchard Cider Co. “We have weekly meetings with the whole company, so we have a really good idea of what’s happening — not just in the taproom, but with the business as a whole.” Between Luquire, whose role also includes managing the cidery’s Buxton
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Avenue location and its events, and Katie Jordan, manager of Urban Orchard’s original West Asheville taproom, they’re responsible for roughly 20 employees. In addition to hiring, training and scheduling, they write standard operating procedures, work with production to craft product descriptions and help educate each bartender and server about the ciders on tap. Their attention to detail ensures that the work of owner/operator Josie Mielke and head cidermaker Greg Hill are accurately conveyed to each patron. “What we do most is communicating information to people and making it streamlined in a way that people can understand,” Jordan says. “A big part of that is keeping ourselves organized, too. We have SOPs for our own daily stuff that we do, so if someone is out sick or on vacation, we make sure all
of our bases are covered and that we’re working together.” Hi-Wire Brewing’s Christine Ferguson Weaver is likewise familiar with synchronicity on a large scale. As the brewery’s director of retail operations — “a fancy word for GM,” she says — Ferguson Weaver manages managers at its Asheville, Durham and Knoxville, Tenn., taprooms, as well as The Event Space next to its Big Top production brewery. In addition to providing support for over 50 bar employees, she’s in charge of all wholesale, retail and incentive merchandise that goes in and out of the Big Top, all inventory that isn’t beer and handling other duties as they arise. “Just last week, I was on the packaging line helping them,” Ferguson Weaver says, noting that the brewery was working on its annual Collaboration 12-pack, which is brewed one beer at a time and hand-packed. “Hand-packing
on top of their normal schedule, they needed help. So for one whole week, I was working in packaging. You have to be flexible and be able to jump around wherever you’re needed.” She also hops in to assist behind the bar when required, drawing on 14 years in the craft beer industry. She quickly rose from bartender to management in Charlotte and at Thirsty Monk and Green Man Brewery. Key to helping spread expertise throughout her Hi-Wire staff is teaming with the brewers, cellarmen and other colleagues to create cheat sheets for bartenders. “When beer nerds come in, they can talk with them about everything from the ABV to the hops used and temperatures and malts,” Ferguson Weaver says. “We try to give them as much information as possible going in. You don’t want anyone to be uninformed about anything, especially what’s on tap.” Operations are slightly different at Zebulon Artisan Ales, where Mike Karnowski brews the beers and writes up their descriptions, and his wife/coowner Gabe Pickard-Karnowski handles nearly everything else. Though the Weaverville brewery may soon be open on Sunday afternoons, its hours are currently limited to 1-6 p.m., two days a week. Pickard-Karnowski runs the tasting room on Fridays, and her lone coworker is there with her on Saturdays. “The size of our brewery is conducive to knowing a little more about the history and about the types of beer, the categories of beers and the recipes,” Pickard-Karnowski says. “People really enjoy having the brewer that made the beers there, but everybody needs a day
off, so I try to be as informed as possible so people don’t feel they’re getting any less of a good experience.” Her other duties include recruiting help for bottling days, picking out glassware and working with graphic design friends in New Orleans and New York City to craft T-shirts and bottle labels. She also handles marketing, bookkeeping, invoices, taxes and brews the occasional beer, all the while maintaining positive relationships with Zebulon’s local accounts and ones throughout North Carolina. “We’ve only been open four years, and some of these [bottle] shops only opened four years ago, too,” she says. “We started together and, like moss on a stone, we’re symbiotic. We work together and we want them to succeed, and they all are very supportive.” While each manager finds her work fulfilling and rewarding, they’re upfront about the job not being as glamorous as it might seem from the outside. They note that craft beverage production is a manufacturing field, and one that requires lots of cleaning and heavy lifting. And while the industry remains male-dominated and not everyone is adept at listening to knowledgeable, strong-willed women, all four managers see noticeable progress on the local front as a whole and from top-down leadership within their individual businesses. “Asheville is a good place for moving things in more of a diverse direction, starting with the food industry,” Jordan says. “We have so many strong female chefs here, and that industry has really been shaken up. I think the brewing industry is following suit.” X
The
Sustainability April 1, 8, 15 and 22
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FEB. 19 - 25, 2020
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SMALL BITES
FOOD
by Thomas Calder | tcalder@mountainx.com
Soul Food Supper Throughout February, Asheville Parks and Recreation is celebrating Black History Month with a series of events. The latest, Soul Food Supper, takes place 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20, at the StephensLee Recreation Center. According to Kim Kennedy, the center’s facility manager, Stephens-Lee Teen Leadership program, the East End/Valley Street Neighborhood Association and the Stephens-Lee Alumni Association collaborated to coordinate the free event. The two associations will provide the food, which will include chicken, macaroni, green beans, collard greens, rice, rolls, black-eyed peas and a variety of desserts. Meanwhile, the teen program will provide entertainment: Female students will perform an African dance, while male students have created a remembrance video for the gathering.
Seating is limited to 100 guests. Tickets can be picked up in advance at the Stephens-Lee Recreation Center during regular business hours: Mondays and Wednesdays, 8 a.m.-8 p.m.; Tuesdays, 6 a.m.-6 p.m.; Thursdays 6 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; Fridays, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturdays 11 a.m.4 p.m. and Sundays 12:30-4:30 p.m. The event, notes Kennedy, is part of the student program’s ongoing community outreach. Since the program launched in 2017, participating students have planted edible gardens in the East End neighborhood, delivered food to community members and provided services within the Stephens-Lee Recreation Center. Tamillia Thompson, the teen program leader, says the supper will honor the past, as well as look ahead to the future. “We want to make sure that the kids understand that we are a community and that when we come together we can make something great.” The Soul Food Supper runs 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20, at the StephensLee Community Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave. The event is free to attend, but tickets are required. For details and the full list of Black History Month events, visit avl.mx/6xe.
Salami and wine The Chop Shop Butchery will host a salami and wine tasting on Friday, Feb. 21, featuring three types of salami paired with three wines. The program includes a discussion of how salami is made, the styles available and the origins of each style. Additional wine and beverages will be available for purchase. Tickets are $25. The event runs 5:30-6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, at The Chop Shop Butchery, 100 Charlotte St. For tickets, visit avl.mx/6x1.
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Lookout Brewing Co. will host its inaugural mac and cheese cook-off on Saturday, Feb. 22. According to the event’s Facebook page, all are welcome to compete. Prizes will be awarded for most creative, most nostalgic and best all-around. There is no cost to enter. Participants are asked to bring prepared recipes in a casserole dish. The cook-off runs 4:30-7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, at Lookout Brewing Co., 103 S. Ridgeway Ave., Black Mountain. To learn more, visit avl.mx/6x2.
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LEADING THE WAY: Members of the Stephens-Lee Teen Leadership program, pictured, will help set up and perform during the upcoming Soul Food Supper, hosted at the Stephens-Lee Recreation Center. Photo by Thomas Calder
Mardi Gras at Catawba Brewing Co. Catawba Brewing Co. will host a Mardi Gras party on Sunday, Feb. 23, following the Asheville Mardi Gras Parade. Deli Llammma food truck will serve Cajun food during the event, and the brewery will have King Cake Pastry Stout available for purchase. A live performance by Bayou Diesel is scheduled for the celebration as well. The party runs 5-8 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 23, at Catawba Brewing Co., 32 Banks Ave. To learn more, visit avl.mx/6x9.
Asheville’s Hidden Voices Asheville Poverty Initiative, a local nonprofit, hosts its inaugural Asheville’s Hidden Voices talent show on Monday, Feb. 24. The all-ages show will feature 10 performers. Tickets are $25, with proceeds benefiting 12 Baskets Cafe, an eatery at West Asheville’s Kairos West Community Center that uses fresh food donated by local restaurants to serve free meals to all. “We hope this is the beginning of an annual event that sheds light on the struggles in our town, but doing so in a way that personalizes and celebrates the gifts of those [who are] economically disadvantaged,” says Shannon Spencer, Asheville Poverty Initiative’s executive director. The show begins at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 24, at The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave. To purchase tickets, visit avl.mx/6x3.
Mardi Gras crawfish boil The Cut Cocktail Lounge will celebrate Mardi Gras with a crawfish boil. According to the event’s Facebook page,
the boil will feature crawfish, sausage, shrimp, potatoes and corn with a side of cornbread. Plates are $10. Following the boil, the lounge will host a masquerade, including a mask-decorating table and $2 slices of king cake. Live music will be performed by Bird in Hand. The boil runs 5-9 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 25, at The Cut Cocktail Lounge, 610 W. Main St., Sylva. The masquerade will follow at 9 p.m. To learn more, visit avl.mx/6x4.
Say hello to Farewell Farewell coffee and wine bar recently opened in the South Slope district. Along with an espresso bar, the eatery offers a rotating, seasonal food menu and natural wines. Several of the menu items are sourced from local farms and businesses, including J Bread, Urban Peasant and Farm & Sparrow. Current highlights include sweet porridge, trout toast and a winter salad. “Our philosophy is to keep it simple, nothing over the top,” says co-founder Maxwell Puterbaugh. Farewell is at 11 Southside Ave. Hours vary. To learn more, visit avl.mx/6x6.
Grata Pizzeria Grata Pizzeria is set to open inside UpCountry Brewing Co. It replaces The Döner – German Street Food, which left the space in November. The pizzeria uses locally sourced, madefrom-scratch ingredients. Though the grand opening won’t take place until April 4, the pizzeria will offer bites on weekends in February and March as it finalizes its menu. Grata Pizzeria is inside UpCountry Brewing Co., 1042 Haywood Road. To learn more, visit avl.mx/6xd. X
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
HEAVY METTLE
Local women artists take on welding, metalwork and engineering 2015 Best of WNC reader poll. But she wanted to do “more useful” work, so she got into welding. These days, Bartley works for Haw Creek Forge, owned by former construction welder Catherine Murphy. “It almost feels like there has to be a woman-owned metal company to hire other women,” Bartley says. At the same time — having recently transitioned away from her own River Arts District studio in the wake of a family tragedy, “I was happy to get a metal job.” Bartley’s current employment has her working with a team of makers. “It’s a nice crew to be on, which doesn’t exist in solo work,” she says. And production of garden art pieces means she routinely practices her welding skills — a throwback to her training at A-B Tech. Bartley found her way to that educational program after an interest in crystal collecting and wire-wrapped jewelry led her to want to fit metals
and rocks together. “I started asking for who would help me [learn] to do this, and that’s how I found Bill Churlick [of Earthspeak Arts] in the River Arts District,” she says. “He had no qualms about giving me big hunks of metal and hammers and saying, ‘Hit it!’” Bartley had envisioned pursuing sculpture (she describes her relationship with arts as “both addictive and therapy”) when she went for her welding certificate. “I definitely showed up as a tiny, middle-aged woman and had some judgment, mostly from big, young men,” she says of her studies at A-B Tech. “The dean and the instructors were all awesome. They didn’t flinch or blink or say, ‘Who would hire you?’” One hurdle to overcome for Bartley has been accessing safety wear in her size. Welding coats don’t come in a
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FIRE POWER: While studying welding at A-B Tech, one of Jeri Bartley’s instructors told her that women tend to be better at that skill. “Attention to detail, steadier hands and a little bit more caring,” Bartley explains — attributes she brings to her own job as a metalworker. Photo by Cindy Kunst
BY ALLI MARSHALL amarshall@mountainx.com Artistic modalities aren’t gendered any more than, say, cuisines, dance styles or literary genres. Yet, historically, certain forms of making have been more associated with femalebodied people (fiber arts and jewelry design among them) while other skill sets, such as electronics, blacksmithing and welding, have been associated with male artists. “I really like being able to make things and building things and share that skill set — especially with engineering students,” says Sara Sanders, director of the STEAM Studio at UNC Asheville. The acronym stands for science, technology, engineering, art and math. Those studying engineering, Sanders points out, are “basically tasked with designing something that someone else will build.” When Sanders started her job at UNCA, where she’s an alumna, she
was with the university’s engineering department, and part of her role was developing the STEAM studio along with collaborators from the art department. “Being a female-bodied person working with boys and men who are not used to seeing [a woman] in that role — teaching them to weld, teaching them to use tools — not only was important for the few female students, [but for all the students] as they go into the work field and see women as capable.” One of the barriers to entry into STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers for female students, she notes, is not seeing women in those fields being treated with respect. For local metal artist Jeri Bartley, another roadblock was in finding an apprenticeship opportunity. “I always thought that once I learned small work and the basics, I could take it to the next level,” she says. Bartley was named among the region’s best jewelry artists in the
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A&E small or extra-small, so she scours thrift stores for old leather coats. “I had to go to Jacksons [Western Store] to buy boys Carhartt pants,” she says. And, to find welding gloves that fit means paying a higher price than larger-sized gloves meant for her male counterparts. Sanders also took welding classes, drawn in a roundabout way to metalwork through environmental activism and downhill bike racing. “I was always into working with my hands and making stuff,” she notes. “I was pushed toward art school but didn’t want to be told to make art.” She decided to return to academia for art education and discovered that she loved algebra and physics. Sanders was considering a degree in chemical engineering when a flyer for the mechatronics program at UNCA caught her eye. “I absolutely loved it,” she says. In a circuits class, “a whole world of invisible magic became accessible.” These days, Sanders’ own artwork takes the form of furniture, but much of her creativity is devoted to curriculum design: “Coming up with projects for students where it’s a platform for them to have something
SKILL SHARE: “I’m really proud of what we’re doing,” Sara Sanders says of UNCA’s STEAM Studio, which she directs. “The environment we’re trying to create is one of inclusivity from the perspective of gender identity, race, discipline … it’s about trying to give people access to tools and skills.” Photo by Cindy Kunst to do [and] have something to take away.” Current projects in the STEAM studio include a take on the traditional marble machine in the form of a kinetic sculpture, which will be installed in
the Asheville Art Museum’s interactive area for children. Sanders also directs the Community Tool School with STEAM Studios outreach coordinator
Jeannie Regan. The after-school and summer camp programs for girls wereestablished through the Community Foundation of WNC, and the Windgate Foundation offers students the opportunity to familiarize themselves with power tools while building a functional object, such as customizable benches, wind chimes, birdhouses — and playable, custom electric guitars in collaboration with Girls Rock Asheville. “The instructors act as artist assistants to the kids,” Sanders explains. In one week, “They’re learning how to use tools, how to measure, how to use simple math. Metalwork, woodwork. On day one, the first thing we do is get them using basic tools, and then we start making stuff.” There will be four Tool School camps offered this summer to inspire the women welders, metalworkers and engineers — or, simply, women who like to build things — of the future. Learn more about the artists in the story at avl.mx/6xm and jeribella. com. Learn about The Community Tool School for girls at avl.mx/6ws. X
The
Sustainability April 1, 8, 15 and 22
Leslie McKenna is pleased to announce the opening of her second counseling office, located in downtown Asheville. This office will complement her original practice, located in Hickory, NC. Leslie combines the latest research in neuroscience with mindfulness practice to assist clients in their healing and recovery process. For many years, Leslie has worked with women who have struggled with issues such as: • Low self esteem Now • Body Shame accepting • Anxiety new • Depression clients • Unresolved trauma
70 Woodfin Place, #222, Asheville, NC 28801 828-443-8905 • LeslieMcKennaCounseling.com
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Series
by Edwin Arnaudin
earnaudin@mountainx.com
A DIFFERENT KIND OF FILM FESTIVAL Movies & Meaning returns to the Wortham Center Micky Scottbey Jones is many things, but a serious moviegoer isn’t one of them. The Spring Hill, Tenn.-based nonviolence practitioner and contemplative activist enjoys the occasional film, and her daughter is even studying the subject at college. But when Jones is in the mood for a new offering, she consults her Swannanoa-based friend and Movies & Meaning Festival collaborator Gareth Higgins. “I’ll tell him what’s on my mind or what I’m going through in my life, and I’ll tell you — every time, he picks the perfect movie for me to watch,” Jones says. She’s confident that similar results await attendees at the 2020 edition of the festival, Friday, Feb. 21, to Sunday, Feb. 23, at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Opening the weekendlong gathering is Babette’s Feast, voted the top film in the inaugural Movies & Meaning poll of films that help humans live better. Other selections include a Feb. 22 late-morning screening of After Life from Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters) — a fantasy/ drama about the recently deceased having one week to select a single happy memory that will then be reexperienced for eternity — and a surprise showing on the evening of Feb. 22. “What’s new each year is the films themselves, and I think they’re always of a high quality. We try to get a range, from stuff that makes people think to stuff that stirs people’s hearts,” Higgins says. For the event’s founder, the big differences between Movies & Meaning and other film festivals are twofold. One is the community aspect, in that Higgins and his fellow organizers are attempting to facilitate a space where the audience gets to know each other. The other piece is to truly experience the films. “Whether that just means providing an environment where the film gets screened and the room is quiet and the lights stay down until after the end credits finish rolling — that might be enough for some people. But for lots of us, we take
it further,” Higgins says. “We try to think of something imaginative to do that helps embody the films. And it’s another different thing to have [three-time world poetry slam champion] Buddy Wakefield come and screen a movie — it’s a short film that embodies one of his poems, and then he’s going to perform poetry. To me, that’s way more impressive than having a typical Q&A with the filmmaker that only scratches the surface of ‘Why did you make this film?’” In turn, Higgins strives for the festival
She’ll also do a talk about how black women tell their stories and sustain themselves in the process, which she notes is distinct from nonmarginalized people in the United States. Jones navigates those concepts daily in her work as the director of healing and resilience initiatives with the Faith Matters Network, where she’s known as the Justice Doula. “My focus is really ‘How do we help activ-
THE JUSTICE DOULA: Micky Scottbey Jones is among the speakers and hosts for the 2020 Movies & Meaning Festival on Friday-Sunday, Feb. 21-23, at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Photo by Matthew Paul Turner to be about the content of the films and their potential for social change rather than their technical merit or other esoteric aspects that could dissuade those who aren’t movie nerds from taking part. That sentiment resonates with Jones, who may not care to spend time at Cannes or Sundance but is “so grateful” for each film she sees at Movies & Meaning. “The conversations we go on to have after are just so good,” she says. “It’s worth it just to be with the kinds of people who are interested in these conversations, who are interested in these kinds of movies and want to do the internal and external work. It’s deeply refreshing.” Jones has taught workshops at previous Movies & Meaning Festivals, but this year, she’ll be hosting from the main stage and generally “cocreating and holding the environment.” That role includes being intentional about how attendees are welcomed, connecting with them between pieces and ushering them from one conversation to the next.
ists, organizers and clergy and everyday leaders build sustainable leadership?’ So, ‘How are they taking care of themselves and each other in a way that can help them do the work they’re called to do long term?’ — which is to create positive social change,” she says. “That takes a lot out of you as a person, so my work is mostly based around helping them
do their own healing work and build resilience.” Aiding Jones’ work is a principle that she lives by — instead of “practice makes perfect,” it’s “practice makes possible.” For her, the concept means that if people practice something different, they get to see what could happen and start moving toward that shift in their lives, a notion that she feels is a key component of Movies & Meaning. “Festivals, these short periods of time when we come together — it’s only a festival. It’s only a weekend, so I think it kind of gives us permission to try something new, to do something we wouldn’t normally do, to talk to people we wouldn’t normally talk to,” Jones says. “It stirs an imagination within ourselves as a practicing of new possibilities.” X
WHAT Movies & Meaning Festival WHERE Wortham Center for the Performing Arts 18 Biltmore Ave. moviesandmeaning.com WHEN Friday, Feb. 21, to Sunday, Feb. 23. Options range from $10 for individual screening student tickets to $179 for a full weekend pass. Scholarships are available.
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SMART BETS
A&E
by Edwin Arnaudin | Send your arts news to ae@mountainx.com
The Comedy Show The self-professed “cornerstone of Asheville’s black community” since 1893, the YMI Cultural Center has rolled into 2020 seeking to be a destination for all people to “experience a variety of cultural programs and exhibitions of art and artifacts from Asheville to Africa, preserving the heritage of African Americans in Buncombe County.” Kicking off the initiative is The Comedy Show, a monthly event featuring talent from across the country with an emphasis on black, female and LGBT+ performers. The series’ inaugural edition takes place Thursday, Feb. 20, with an allblack lineup that includes headliner Mia Jackson, plus Tiffany Anderson, Kourtlyn Wiggins and local comic Petey SmithMcDowell. The jokes start at 8 p.m., and the series will continue on the last Thursday of every month with a rotating lineup of comics. $20 advance/$25 day of show. avl.mx/6ww. Photo of Jackson courtesy of the artist
Krista Shows Krista Shows’ road to Asheville was a bit of a circuitous one. Adopted from Texas and raised in Mississippi, she grew up singing church music and momentarily called Los Angeles, Hawaii and Western North Carolina home before returning to Mississippi in her early 20s. Alongside the Sunflower River in the rural town of Clarksdale, Shows started writing songs as a means of processing life and making connections with others, drawing on folk, country and R&B traditions. These creations form her debut studio album, Prone to Wander, which is slated for release sometime in 2020. A finalist in the 2019 LEAF Singer-Songwriter Competition, Shows will perform with a full band on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m., in the Isis Music Hall Lounge. $12 advance/$15 day of show. isisasheville.com. Photo courtesy of Shows
Asheville Mardi Gras Paging Stevie Wonder — via Dr. John! “Superstition” is the theme of Asheville Mardi Gras’ 2020 parade, its lucky 13th year as a city-sanctioned event. Following the crowning of King Bam Booey (Chris Eizember) and Queen Nora (Lynnora Bierce) at the annual Twelfth Night Celebration in early January, the royal couple will oversee the parade’s third consecutive year on the South Slope on Sunday, Feb. 23. Beginning at the traditional time of 3:05 p.m., the stream of creative krewes will start from Federal Alley and head east on Hilliard Avenue, turn south on Coxe Avenue, continue east on Banks Avenue, turn south on Church Street, then west on Buxton and back to Federal Alley. After the parade, the Queen’s Ball will be held at the Funkatorium. Free to attend. ashevillemardigras.org. Photo by James Destio Photography
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The Office! A Musical Parody Unaware of such things as Bayside! The Saved by the Bell Musical and Full! House! The Musical? Then the existence of The Office! A Musical Parody may have eluded you as well. The unauthorized parody of the beloved NBC comedy “The Office” comes from the minds of Bob and Tobly McSmith, whose FRIENDS! The Musical Parody played Diana Wortham Theatre in March 2019. Their latest creation visits that same hallowed stage on Sunday, Feb. 23, and concerns a normal morning at Scranton, Pa.-based paper company Dunder Mifflin that’s disrupted when a documentary crew randomly begins filming the employees’ lives. Songs include “Welcome to Scranton (The Electric City),” “That’s What She Said,” “The Dundies” and “Marry Me Beesly.” Reunite with Michael, Pam, Jim, Dwight and the rest of the gang at 7:30 p.m. $34-$47. dwtheatre.com. Photo by Jeremy Daniels
by Bill Kopp
bill@musoscribe.com
MAKING A LIST
Gold Rose celebrates ‘Dust’ debut at The Mothlight
ASHES AND DUST: On Gold Rose’s debut album, Dust, songwriter Kevin Fuller viscerally tackles subjects like mental illness and suicide. And he believes that, for those who are struggling, doing so can provide an opening for dialogue. Photo by Jeffrey Delannoy It’s not unusual for a singer-songwriter to pen raw and emotionally honest lyrics. But some subjects remain largely taboo. That didn’t dissuade Gold Rose singer, guitarist and songwriter Kevin Fuller from writing and recording “The List,” a song about suicide sung from a first-person perspective. That track is a standout cut on his band’s debut album, Dust. Gold Rose celebrates the album release with a Sunday, Feb. 23, show at The Mothlight. Fuller recalls writing “The List” about a year and a half ago. “The song just came out of me,” he says. “I think the context of its themes were subconscious. I didn’t realize until months later what the song was about.” Listening today, it’s pretty clear where the lyrics are going. “I realized, ‘Holy cow: This is what this is,’” he says. “‘This is me, imagining committing suicide and [then] trying to communicate with people.’” “The List” shouldn’t be viewed as a cry for help, though. While Fuller shares that he has struggled with mental health issues, for him, songwriting provides a kind of catharsis, helping to put things into perspective. Rather than writing songs to order or deadline, he responds to inspiration when it strikes him. “I had a good 10-15 years of not working that way,” he admits. “It was like, ‘Now it’s time to write a song.
What do I have?’” He says that method didn’t produce any work of substance. But while living in Portland, Maine, and going through a rough emotional patch (“I almost ended up in a mental hospital,” he says), Fuller found himself moved to create. “I wasn’t even planning on writing anything,” he recalls. “But all these songs just poured out of me. I started playing. I had a couple of hooks, started singing stuff, and grabbed a notebook and wrote everything down. Everything had flipped, from ‘I need to sit down and write a song,’ to ‘I’m going to write a song when I have something to say.’” When Fuller recorded “The List,” he posted a clip of it on Gold Rose’s
Facebook page. In the post, he framed the song as an opportunity to begin a dialogue. “I’ve seen my mental health diminish lately, and thanks to some friends, I’ve gotten some help,” he wrote. “If you need help, don’t be afraid to ask.” And he made clear that the offer wasn’t an empty one: “I’d walk offstage to hear your worries.” Fuller says that the response was uplifting. “I had so many people reach out to me through DMs, texts and even phone calls, saying, ‘Hey man, we’re here for you.’ That in itself was so heartwarming to me, and it also was part of the original message I was trying to convey: Life is hard, and it’s OK to struggle with mental health issues.”
In a sense, the experience of creating and sharing the song brought its composer full circle. “I think that the response that I got from it was the actual message I was trying to send,” he says. “If that makes any sense.” The character of Gold Rose’s Dust is rooted in outlaw and alt-country styles; Fuller calls it “Americana deluxe.” And while the music itself is warmly inviting, the songs have a haunted, slightly unsettled ambiance. There’s an introspective and often melancholy vibe to songs like “Jesus Saves” and “Moving Day.” Elsewhere, “Stuck in Appalachia” strikes a moody Southern gothic tone. And, while Fuller found that sharing “The List” led to a deeper connection with listeners, he says that’s not his primary aim. “I’ve never set out with the goal of doing anything other than expressing myself,” he says. “To me, music is a sort of therapy. I don’t ever write a song thinking, ‘If someone were to hear this, what would they think?’ Or, ‘What would be the message they receive?’ I’m writing for myself. It doesn’t matter if anyone ever hears it.” But he doesn’t deny that his songwriting can do more than that. He finds value in “repurposing these themes and saying, ‘Let’s have a conversation. I’m here. I’m vulnerable. Because it’s OK. It’s OK if you’re struggling. And it’s OK to ask for help.’” X
WHO Gold Rose album release show WHERE The Mothlight 701 Haywood Road themothlight.com WHEN Sunday, Feb. 23, 8 p.m. $8
WEEKLY LUNCH SPECIALS!
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MON: House Pastrami Reuben TUES: House Smoked Turkey & Brie WED: Blackbird Burger 11:30am to THUR: Classic BLT 2:30pm FRI: Mushroom Melt
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A & E CALENDAR ART ASHEVILLE ART THEORY READING GROUP • 3rd WEDNESDAYS, 6pm - Asheville art theory reading group. Free. Held at Revolve, 821 Riverside Drive, #179 CHIT-CHAT FASHION SHOW • SA (2/22), 6-9pm - Chit-Chat Fashion Show: African Influences on Jewelry, Fashion and Food, presentation. Free to attend. Held at Zenobia Studio, 344 Depot St. IKEBANA INTERNATIONAL OF ASHEVILLE • TU (2/25), 10am Sumi-e: Its History and Role in Japanese Art, presentation. Information: ikebanaasheville. org. Free to attend. Held at Folk Art Center, MP 382, Blue Ridge Parkway IKENOBO IKEBANA SOCIETY • TH (2/20), 10am Laura Felt and Dede Walton present Adopting Japanese Things for Westerner’s Use. Free. Held at First Congregational UCC of Hendersonville, 1735 5th Ave. W., Hendersonville LISTENING WITH YOUR EYES WITH SHANA TUCKER • SU (2/23), 2pm - Join Artist in Residence, Shana Tucker, for an interactive performance and examination of concert lighting design and visual aesthetics. $15. Held at Tina McGuire Theatre, Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, 18 Biltmore Ave. THE PRAYER SHAWL MINISTRY • Fourth TUESDAYS, 10am - Volunteer to knit or crochet prayer shawls for community members in need. Free. Held at Grace Lutheran Church, 1245 6th Ave W., Hendersonville
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TRADITIONAL OIL PAINTING DEMONSTRATION • FR (2/21) & SA (2/22), 11am-5pm - Traditional oil painting demonstration by Bryan Koontz. Free to attend. Held at Grovewood Gallery, 111 Grovewood Road
ART/CRAFT STROLLS & FAIRS 7TH ANNUAL SECONDS SALE • Through FR (2/28) Local artists, seconds sale in a variety of media. Free to attend. Held at Woolworth Walk, 25 Haywood St. SUN AND MOON MAKERS MARKET • SU (2/23), 1-5pm Sun and Moon Makers Market featuring local artists and benefiting Helpmate Domestic Violence Advocacy. Free to attend. Held at Pleb Urban Winery, 289 Lyman St. THIRD THURSDAY IN MARSHALL • 3rd THURSDAYS, 5-8pm - Gallery openings, studio tours, shops, food and drinks. Free to attend. Held at Downtown Marshall
AUDITIONS & CALL TO ARTISTS ASHEVILLE GALLERY OF ART • Until MO (3/9), 5:30pm - 2D artists interested in joining the gallery complete documents and deliver original works. ashevillegallery-of-art. com Held at Asheville Gallery of Art, 82 Patton Ave.
DANCE COUNTRY DANCE W/ TWO-STEP DANCE LESSON (PD.) Saturday, February 22nd, 7 to 10:30pm at Asheville Ballroom, 291 Sweeten Creek Road. Two-Step lesson 7 to 8pm. Dancing 8 to 10:30pm. No partner necessary. Dance your favorite dances to modern Country music. Free bottled water and
desert. Online discount $11 by Feb 21st at: www.Danceforlife. dance, $13 at the door. 828-333-0715, naturalrichard@mac. com EURYTHMY MEETS POETRY • SA (2/22), 7-8pm - I Go Where I Love, eurythmy and poetry concert featuring Christina Beck and Beatrice Voigt. $15/$7 students. Held at Asheville Waldorf School, 27 Balm Grove Ave. FLAMENCO CLASSES • MONDAYS, 7pm Flamenco for adults at all levels. Information: 786-327-9548. $15/ class or $45/month. Held at Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W. State St., Black Mountain • FRIDAYS, 7pm Flamenco for adults at all levels. Information: 786-327-9548. $14/ class or $50/month. Held at In His Steps Dance Ministry, 159 Church St. IMPROVER CONTEMPORARY LINE DANCING • THURSDAYS, noon-2pm - Improver contemporary line dancing. $10. Held at Stephens Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave. INTERNATIONAL FOLK DANCE • TUESDAYS, 7:309:30pm - International folk dancing, dances from around the world. No partner needed. Info: 828-645-1543. Free. Held at Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Road OLD FARMER'S BALL oldfarmersball.com • THURSDAYS, 7:3011pm - Old Farmers Ball, contra dance. $8/$7 members/$1 Warren Wilson Community. Held in Bryson Gym Held at Warren Wilson College, 701 Warren Wilson Road, Swannanoa • 4th SUNDAYS, 3-5pm - Family contra/ square dances for
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families with children ages 6-12. All ages welcome. Free. Held at Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Road
MUSIC A CAPELLA SINGING (PD.) WANNA SING? ashevillebarbershop. com AN EVENING WITH MARY D. WILLIAMS • TH (2/20), 6pm - Gospel concert featuring Mary D. Williams. Free. Held at AB Tech, Ferguson Auditorium, 340 Victoria Road ASHEVILLE SYMPHONY: ‘MOUNTAINS TO SEA’ • SA (2/22), 8pm Mountains to Sea, concert featuring works by Copland and Vaughan Williams. $25 and up. Held at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, 87 Haywood St. BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty. org/governing/depts/ library • WE (2/19), 3:30pm Ukelele jam. Free. Held at Weaverville Public Library, 41 N. Main St., Weaverville • WE (2/26), 3:30pm Ukelele jam. Free. Held at Weaverville Public Library, 41 N. Main St., Weaverville CELEBRATING NINA SIMONE • SA (2/22), 4-7pm - Celebrating Nina Simone, community event. Free. Held at Roseland Community Center, 56 Peake St., Tryon CELTIC CORNER • SU (2/23), 3pm Celtic Corner, Scots Baroque folk-chamber concert featuring Rosalind Buda and The Tune Shepherds. $25/$20 advance/$5 students. Held at First Presbyterian Church Asheville, 40 Church St. DAMSELFLY TRIO • TH (2/27), 7pm Damselfly Trio, concert featuring three works by BMC alumna Ursula
Mamlok. $8/Free for members. Held at Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center, 120 College St. LAURA BOOSINGER & JOSH GOFORTH • TH (2/20), 7pm Laura Boosinger and Josh Goforth, Appalachian music concert. Free to attend. Held at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, 789 Merrimon Ave. ‘SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM’ • THURSDAY through SUNDAY (2/20) until (2/23) -Side by Side by Sondheim, musical revue by MHU Theatre Arts. Thurs.-Sat.: 7:30pm. Sun.: 2:30pm. $15/$8 students. Held at Owen Theatre, 44 College St., Mars Hill SLY GROG OPEN MIC • SUNDAYS, 7pm - Open-mic for storytellers, poets, musicians and all kinds of performance artists. Sign ups at 6:30pm. Free to attend. Held at Sly Grog Lounge, 271 Haywood St. STURGILL SIMPSON CONCERT • SA (2/22), 7:30pm - Sturgill Simpson, country music concert. $30.50 and up. Held at ExploreAsheville. com Arena at Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville, 87 Haywood St. THE DRUMMERS OF JAPAN • MO (2/24) & TU (2/25), 7pm - Yamato: The Drummers of Japan, concert. $20 and up. Held at Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, 18 Biltmore Ave. THE MUSIC OF QUEEN • THURSDAYS through SUNDAYS until (2/23) - The Music of Queen, legendary rock tribute. Thurs.: 7:30pm, Fri. & Sat.: 8pm, Sat. & Sun.: 2pm. $35. Held at Flat Rock Playhouse, 2661 Highway 225, Flat Rock TRUE HOME OPEN MIC NIGHT • TH (2/20), 6-8:30pm - Open-mic for singers,
speakers or readers. Sign-up at 6pm. Free to attend. Held at Flood Gallery Fine Art Center, 850 Blue Ridge Road, Unit A-13, Black Mountain ‘WHERE BROADWAY MEETS GILBERT & SULLIVAN’ • SA (2/22), 7:30pm - Where Broadway Meets Gilbert & Sullivan, concert featuring the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players. $35 and up. Held at Tryon Fine Arts Center, 34 Melrose Ave., Tryon
SPOKEN & WRITTEN WORD ANDRE FRATTINO PRESENTS 'SIMON SAYS' • SU (2/23), 3pm Craft: Andre Frattino, author of Simon Says: Nazi Hunter Volume 1, in conversation with Denise Kiernan. Free to attend. Held at Little Jumbo, 241 Broadway BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty. org/governing/depts/ library • WE (2/19), 3pm - Book discussion club. Call for book selection. Free. Held at Black Mountain Public Library, 105 N. Dougherty St., Black Mountain CANDACE A. HARDIN PRESENTS 'THE ADVENTURES OF DR. DOROTHY JARROD' • SA (2/22), 3pm Candace A. Hardin presents her book The Adventures of Dr. Dorothy Jarrod Volume 1: The Oracle. Free. Held at City Lights Bookstore, 3 E. Jackson St., Sylva MALAPROP'S BOOKSTORE AND CAFE 55 Haywood St., 828-254-6734, malaprops.com • TH (2/20), 6pm - Nancy Hastings Sehested presents Marked for Life: A Prison Chaplain's Story. Free to attend. • TH (2/20), 7pm Notorious History Book Club’s pick is
The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War by James Bradley. • TH (2/20), 7pm Spanish-Speaking Book Club's pick is Aura by Carlos Fuentes, translated by Lysander Kemp. Free to attend. • SU (2/23), 4pm - William Sturkey presents Hattiesburg: An American City in Black and White. Free to attend. • MO (2/24), 7pm - Science Fiction Book Club is reading A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin. Free to attend. • WE (2/26), 6pm - Lee Matalone presents Home Making, in conversation with Erica Witsell. Free to attend. • TH (2/27), 6pm Jacob Paul presents Last Tower to Heaven, in conversation with Jessica Jacobs. Free to attend. • TH (2/27), 7pm Works in Translation Book Club’s pick is Rouse Up O Young Men of the New Age! by Kenzaburo Oe, translated by John Nathan. NC STATE POETRY CONTEST • Until MO (2/24) - The annual NC State Poetry Contest is a literary competition open to all NC residents. Registration: avl.mx/6vw. Free. SALUDA TRAIN TALES • 3rd FRIDAYS, 7pm - Saluda Train Tales, storytelling to help educate the community of the importance of Saluda’s railroad history and the Saluda Grade. Free. Held at Saluda Historic Depot, 32 W. Main St., Saluda SEEKING STORYLAND • FR (2/21), 7:30pm - Seeking Storyland, storytelling by David Novak. $15/$5. Held at Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W. State St., Black Mountain
SOCIAL JUSTICE BOOK CLUB • TU (2/25), 7pm - Social Justice Book Club: The Line Becomes a River, by Francisco Cantú. Free to attend. Held at Firestorm Books & Coffee, 610 Haywood Road
THEATER 'A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM' • FRIDAYS through SUNDAYS until (3/1) - A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, musical. Fri. & Sat.: 7:30pm. Sun.: 2pm. $32/$27 students/$22 youth. Held at Hendersonville Community Theatre, 229 S. Washington St., Hendersonville 'GOODNIGHT, TROUBLEMAKER' • THURSDAYS through SATURDAYS until (2/22), 7:30pm - Goodnight, Troublemaker, Voltaire as time traveller. $15. Held at BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce St. 'HEDDA GABLER' • TH through SU (2/27) until (3/1) - Hedda Gabler, production by TheatreUNCA. Thurs. - Sat.: 7:30pm. Sun.: 2pm. $12/$7 students. Held at Belk Theatre, UNC Asheville, One University Heights ‘THE FANTASTICKS’ • FRIDAYS through SUNDAYS, (2/7) until (3/1) - The Fantasticks, romcom musical. Fri. & Sat.: 7:30pm, Sun.: 2:30pm. $26-$30. Held at Asheville Community Theatre, 35 E. Walnut St. WORTHAM CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS 18 Biltmore Ave., 828-257-4530, worthamarts.org • FR (2/21), 7:30pm & SA (2/22), 2pm & 7:30pm - Coriolanus, Shakespearian production by Nemesis Theatre Company. $15. • SU (2/23), 7pm - The Office! A Musical Parody. $34 and up.
CLUBLAND
FEB THE HILLBENDERS: WHOGRASS! 29 MAR BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY 06
MARK O’CONNOR BAND APR
07
MODERN VINTAGE: “Things are not always what they seem, especially when you’re used to filtering them through an illusion of childlike romanticism,” says Nashvillebased artist Miss Tess. “From far away, the moon is a mystical, glowing entity, yet in reality is cratered and dusty, sort of like … an ashtray.” Tess has spent more than a decade recording music and leading her band, the Talkbacks. Her latest solo project is a retro-soul ride through alt-Americana. She performs on Saturday, March 7, 8 p.m. at the Purple Onion Cafe. $25. purpleonionsaluda.com. Photo by Gina Binkley
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19 12 BONES BREWERY Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7:00PM 185 KING STREET NC Songsmiths Quetzal Jordan, 8:00PM 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Les Amis, (African Folk Music), 8:00PM ALLEY CAT SOCIAL CLUB Karaoke w/ Kari - Okay, 9:00PM AMBROSE WEST Worthwhile Sounds presents: Barnes Goldy Wash, 8:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR AGB Open Mic Showcase, 6:30PM FLEETWOOD'S Bryan, Raggedy, Claire Brockway, 9:00PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Woody Wood Wednesday, 6:00PM
ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Greg Klyma: C&W Tour 2020, 7:00PM Guitar Masters Christie Lenee & Daniel Champagne, 8:30PM ODDITORIUM Wreath, Shutterings, Hug, 8:00PM OLE SHAKEY'S Sexy Tunes w/ DJ Franco Nino, 10:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Disclaimer Comedy Open Mic, 9:00PM ONE WORLD BREWING WEST OWB West: Latin Dance Night w/ DJ Oscar (Bachatta, Merengue, Salsa), 9:00PM ORANGE PEEL Kyle Kinane: The Spring Break Tour, 8:00PM SANCTUARY BREWING CO. FBVMA Mountain Music Jam, 6:00PM SLY GROG LOUNGE Weird Wednesday Jam, 9:00PM
SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BREWERY Jazz Night hosted by Jason DeCristofaro, 6:30PM SOVEREIGN KAVA Poetry Open Mic w/ Caleb Beissert, 8:00PM STATIC AGE RECORDS Lavender Blue, Sophia Corinne, Lunch, 9:00PM THE CASUAL PINT Schitt$ Creek Trivia Night, 7:00PM THE GOLDEN FLEECE Scots-Baroque Chamber-Folk w/ the Tune Shepherds, 7:00PM THE GREY EAGLE Summer Salt w/ Okey Dokey & Breakup Shoes, 8:00PM THE MOTHLIGHT The Brook & The Bluff w/ Jordy Searcy, 8:30PM THE SOCIAL LOUNGE Knotty G's, 9:00PM
26
29
LEO KOTTKE APR
JIM MESSINA APR
MAR
SEBASTIAN BACH
25
31ST ANNIVERSARY TOUR
TICKETS @ PARAMOUNTBRISTOL.ORG OR CALL 423-274-8920
WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN The Second Civil War, 7:30PM WILD WING CAFE SOUTH Acoustics w/ Ryan Perry, 8:30PM
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Pleasure Chest, (blues, rock, soul), 8:00PM AB TECH, FERGUSON AUDITORIUM Mary D. Williams (gospel singer, historian, educator), 6:00PM AMBROSE WEST Gnarbot w/ TUB, 8:30PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Will Ray and the Space Cooties, 7:00PM CROW & QUILL Big Dawg Slingshots (western swing), 10:00PM FUNKATORIUM Pong AVL Local Businesses Team Tournament, 6:30PM
MOUNTAINX.COM
FEB. 19 - 25, 2020
37
C LUBLAND HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY AMG Krewes Happy Hour & Pre Parade Rally, 5:00PM Live Music, 6:00PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Lemon Sparks, 7:00PM
WED 2 /19 7PM– GREG KLYMA: C&W TOUR 2020
LOCAL 604 BOTTLE SHOP Vinyl Night Free Tastings, 7:00PM MAD CO BREW HOUSE TV Dog, Third Thursdays Marshall, 5:00PM ODDITORIUM Horseburner, Torrents, Augur (metal), 8:00PM OLE SHAKEY'S Karaoke w/ DJ Franco Nino, 10:00PM
GUITAR MASTERS CHRISTI LENE’E AND DANIEL CHAMPAGNE
T HU 2 / 20 7PM– AN EVENING WITH LEMON SPARKS
F RI 2 / 21 7PM– AN EVENING WITH FEW MILES SOUTH 9PM– THE FLOYD PHILHARMONIC
SAT 2 / 22 7PM– AN EVENING WITH KRISTA SHOWS 8:30PM– LAST CHANCE RIDERS WITH RIP HAVEN
SUN 2 / 23 6PM– ZACH & MAGGIE “THE BRIGHT SIDE OF AMERICANA”
7:30PM– AMY BLACK BAND
T UE 2 / 25 7:30PM– TUESDAY BLUEGRASS SESSIONS HOSTED BY DANIEL ULLOM AND FRIENDS
WED 2 / 26 7PM– THE CARLEANS 8:30PM– RICH NELSON BAND
T HU 2 / 27 7PM– TUI 8:30PM– AMERICANA RISING: AN EVENING IN THE ROUND WITH NASHEVILLE’S JOSH GRAY, JASON ERIE & JOHN DENNIS
ISISASHEVILLE.COM DINNER MENU TIL 9:30PM LATE NIGHT MENU TIL 12AM BRUNCH 10-2 SUNDAY ONLY
TUES-SUN 5PM-until
743 HAYWOOD RD | 828-575-2737 38
FEB. 19 - 25, 2020
MOUNTAINX.COM
ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Mitch's Totally Rad Trivia Night, 6:00PM Charlie Traveler Presents: Wednesday Night Titans Experimental, 9:00PM 3rd Thursday Hersday (local rotating lineup & open jam), 10:00PM ONE WORLD BREWING OWB Downtown: Lenny Pettinelli, 9:00PM ONE WORLD BREWING WEST OWB West: One World Family Band Jam, 9:00PM
THE CASUAL PINT Extreme Music Bingo, 7:00PM THE GREY EAGLE Adam Knight's Buried Alive (Phish Tribute), 9:00PM THE MOTHLIGHT The Moth: True Stories Told Live (Theme: Love Hurts), 7:00PM THE SOCIAL LOUNGE Pimps of Pompe (Gypsy jazz hip-hop), 9:00PM TOWN PUMP JC Tokes, 9:00PM TRISKELION BREWERY Open Irish Jam hosted by Cornell Sanderson, 6:30PM WILD WING CAFE SOUTH Acoustic Karaoke, 10:00PM YMI CULTURAL CENTER The Comedy Show feat. Mia Jackson, 8:00PM
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21 27 CLUB Dirty Bird, 10:00PM 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Rahm Squad, (funk, soul), 9:00PM AMBROSE WEST Reasonably Priced Babies Comedy Improv, 8:00PM
ORANGE PEEL Tombstone Highway Album Release Party, 7:00PM
ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY In Plain Sight, House Music DJs, 9:00PM
PACK'S TAVERN Jessie Barry & Jeff Anders, 8:00PM
ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Hard Rocket, 8:00PM
POLANCO RESTAURANT Pop Up DJ Dinners w/ DJ Phantome Pantone Collective, 10:00PM
ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Dr. Bacon & The Freeway Jubilee, 10:00PM
PURPLE ONION CAFE Mark Stuart, 7:30PM
BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE Dinah's Daydream (Gypsy jazz), 6:00PM
SANCTUARY BREWING CO. Billy Litz, 7:00PM SLY GROG LOUNGE Freaks & Follies, A Uniquely Asheville Variety Show, 8:00PM SOVEREIGN KAVA King Garbage, 8:00PM STATIC AGE RECORDS Wes Tirey, Michael Cormier, Jason Calhoun, Parish, Castellvi Duo, 8:00PM THE BARRELHOUSE Ter-rific Trivia, 7:00PM
BLACK MOUNTAIN CENTER FOR THE ARTS Seeking Storyland, 7:30PM BOLD ROCK HARD CIDER Blackberry Sour Cocktail & Steal the Pint, 11:00AM Derek McCoy Trio, 6:00PM BOOJUM BREWING COMPANY DNB, 9:00PM CORK & KEG Big Dawg Slingshots, 8:30PM
WED
SUMMER SALT
THU
ADAM KNIGHT’S BURIED ALIVE (PHISH TRIBUTE)
19 CROW & QUILL Mosquito Cabaret (Balkan dance music), 9:00PM FLEETWOOD'S Matt Heckler, The Callers, 8:00PM GINGER'S REVENGE Asher Leigh & Jodi McLaren (folk), 7:30PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Pop-Up Cat Café, 5:00PM Live Music, 7:00PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Few Miles South, 7:00PM The Floyd Philharmonic, 9:00PM LAZOOM ROOM LaZoom Comedy: Joe Zimmerman Night I, 8:00PM MAD CO BREW HOUSE Mr Jimmy, 6:00PM NEW BELGIUM BREWERY Dave Desmelik, 5:30PM ODDITORIUM All Hell, Earth Collider (metal), 8:00PM OLE SHAKEY'S Friday After Work Concert Series, 5:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Free Dead Fridays feat. members of Phuncle Sam (acoustic), 5:00PM Dr. Bacon w/ The Freeway Jubilee, 9:00PM ORANGE PEEL An Evening w/ Drew & Ellie Holcomb, 7:00PM PACK MEMORIAL LIBRARY - LORD AUDITORIUM Black History Month Movie Matinee Series, 1:00PM
SANCTUARY BREWING CO. Progressive Alliance Postcard Parties, 4:30PM Brother Bluebird, 7:00PM SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO. Eric Gales, 7:00PM
STATIC AGE RECORDS Weird Science 80’s Party, 9:00PM
ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Dance Party w/ DJ Lil Meow Meow, 10:00PM
THE BARRELHOUSE Tin Roof Echo, 7:00PM THE CASUAL PINT Vinyl Night, 7:00PM
ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Maybe Maybe Not: New Band Debut Show, 8:00PM
THE GREY EAGLE Garza feat. Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation, 9:00PM THE MOTHLIGHT Hold Tight: Marley Carroll & DJ Brandon Audette, 9:00PM TINA MCGUIRE THEATRE, WORTHAM CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Nemesis Theatre Company presents Coriolanus 2020, 7:30PM
WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Jimmy Landry, Sam Frazier, Jordi Baizan, 8:00PM WILD WING CAFE Showers on Mars, 9:00PM
PACK'S TAVERN DJ RexxStep (dance hits, pop), 9:30PM
WILD WING CAFE SOUTH A Social Function Friday nights!, 9:00PM
SALVAGE STATION High Plains Drifters: Paul's Boutique, 9:00PM
ZAMBRA Hot Club Of Asheville (Gypsy jazz), 7:00PM
THIS WEEK AT AVL MUSIC HALL & THE ONE STOP!!!
AMBROSE WEST Clan Destiny Circus Performer Showcase Matinee Show, 2:00PM Clan Destiny Circus Performer Showcase Evening Show, 7:00PM
SOVEREIGN KAVA Comedy Night w/ Justin Blackburn, 9:00PM
URBAN ORCHARD CIDER CO. SOUTH SLOPE De' Rumba, 9:30PM
27 CLUB TechNoir: Dark Synth Dance Party, 10:00PM 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Eleanor Underhill & Friends, (Americana, soul), 9:00PM
SLY GROG LOUNGE Ultraviolet: A Queer Dance Party Benefit, 9:00PM
TOWN PUMP Morgan's Mill, 9:00PM
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22
ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL The Digs & Friends 80s 90s 00s Dance Party, 10:00PM ASHEVILLE WALDORF SCHOOL I Go Where I LoveEurythmy meets Poetry, 7:00PM BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE Gypsy Jazz Jam Balaya, 12:00PM BOLD ROCK HARD CIDER The Super 60s, 6:00PM BOOJUM BREWING COMPANY Andrew Thelston Band!, 9:00PM CONUNDRUM SPEAKEASY & INTRIQUE LOUNGE Rick Hefner, 7:00PM CORK & KEG Vaden Landers Band, 8:30PM CROW & QUILL Hearts Gone South (Local honky tonk), 9:00PM EXPLOREASHEVILLE. COM ARENA AT
HARRAH'S CHEROKEE CENTER - ASHEVILLE Sturgill Simpson: A Good Look’n Tour w/ special guest Tyler Childers, 7:30PM FLEETWOOD'S Secret Shame, Evil Sword, Sami Pait, 9:00PM GINGER'S REVENGE Quetzal Jordan (Indie Folk), 2:30PM Kenny Freeman (Texas blues, Americana), 7:30PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Krista Shows, 7:00PM Last Chance Riders w/ RIP Haven, 8:30PM
20 FRI
21 SAT
22 SUN
23
SUN
JACKSON GRIMM BAND + HANNAH KAMINER
MON
ASHEVILLE’S HIDDEN VOICES
TUE
BETWEEN THE DARK AND LIGHT: THE GRATEFUL DEAD PHOTOGRAPHY OF JAY BLAKESBERG, 6PM
TUE
TON OF HAY
23
W/ OKEY DOKEY, BREAKUP SHOES
24
GARZA
25
(FT. ROB GARZA OF THIEVERY CORPORATION)
RUSTON KELLY
25
MUSIC OF GRATEFUL DEAD FOR KIDS, 12PM
WED
26
A GRATEFUL DEAD TRIBUTE BLOW UP YOUR TV POP-UP SERIES
DADDY’S BEEMER W/ PINK BEDS, SOUS SOL
Asheville’s longest running live music venue • 185 Clingman Ave TICKETS AVAILABLE AT HARVEST RECORDS & THEGREYEAGLE.COM
LAZOOM ROOM LaZoom Comedy: Joe Zimmerman, 9:00PM LOCAL 604 BOTTLE SHOP Machines Gloom, 8:00PM O.HENRY'S/THE UNDERGROUND The Stage Volume 2 Indie Artist Showcase, 9:00PM ODDITORIUM Party Foul Drag Circus (drag), 8:00PM
2/21 De’rumba
w/ DJ Malinalli
ONE WORLD BREWING WEST OWB West: Jason DeCristofaro & Kevin Spears, 9:00PM
9:30pm-2am @ South Slope
2/23 Watch the Mardi
ORANGE PEEL Railroad Earth w/ Handmade Moments, 8:00PM
Gras Parade
with us @ South Slope
PACK'S TAVERN Carolina Lowdown band, 9:30PM
Cider Specials all day
2/26 Irish Session
PURPLE ONION CAFE Amanda Anne Platt, 8:00PM
One year anniversary
SANCTUARY BREWING CO. Scott Moss & Derek McCoy, 8:00PM
w/ Andrew Finn Magill and Will MacMorran
SLY GROG LOUNGE Danny Feedback, The Callers, Sane Voids, 8:00PM Danny Feedback, Sane Voids, The Callers, Space Grandma, 9:00PM
Charlie Traveler Presents:
WEDNESDAY NIGHT TITANS
w/ The Freeway Jubilee
THU, 2/20 - SHOW: 9 pm (DOORS: 8 pm ) - TICKETS: $10
FRI, 2/21 - SHOW: 9: 45 pm (DOORS: 9 pm ) - TICKETS: $10
7pm-9pm @ South Slope 24 BUXTON AVE • 210 HAYWOOD RD
URBANORCHARDCIDER.COM
Jarvis Jenkins FRI, 2/21 - MUSIC: 10 pm [AUTHENTIC ALLMAN BROS] DONATION BASED COVER
The Digs & Friends 80s 90s 00s Dance Party!
AMORAMORA
SAT, 2/22 - SHOW: 10 pm (DOORS: 9 pm ) $ 5 SUGGESTED DONATION
SAT, 2/22 - MUSIC: 10 pm [MULTI-GENRE] DONATION BASED COVER
LOCAL THURSDAY SHUFFLE - 10pm
Free Dead Friday - 5pm
SUN
Mitch’s Totally Rad Trivia - 6:30pm
FRI
disclaimer comedy - 9:30pm
THU
Tuesday Early Jam - 8PM Tuesday Night Funk Jam - 10PM Electrosoul Session - 11:30PM
WED
TUE
2/27 - Passafire, Bumpin Uglies & Joey Harkum • 2/28 - K.L.O, Duffrey, Soul Candy & Opulence • 2/29 - Weedeater & The Goddamn Gallows • 3/6 - Star Kitchen • 3/7 - Fruition w/ Katie Toupin • 3/14 - Psymbionic + Zebbler Encanti Experience World Famous Bluegrass Brunch - 10:30am-3pm Shakedown Sundays - 4pm-7pm MOUNTAINX.COM
@AVLMusicHall @OneStopAVL FEB. 19 - 25, 2020
39
CLU B LA N D SOVEREIGN KAVA The Build (ambient, electro, folk, punk), 9:00PM THE CASUAL PINT Girl Scout Cookie & Beer Pairing w/ music by Peggy Ratusz, 7:00PM THE GREY EAGLE Ruston Kelly w/ Valley Queen, 9:00PM
TRYON FINE ARTS CENTER NY Gilbert & Sullivan Players, 7:30PM VIOLET OWL WELLNESS Mystical Night Market, 5:00PM
THE MOTHLIGHT The Vagina Monologues, 7:00PM
WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Puppets Against Hunger for Food Connection with Hobey Ford, 2:00PM
THE POE HOUSE Mr Jimmy, 7:00PM
WILD WING CAFE Karaoke, 9:30PM
THE ROOT BAR Perry Wing Combo, 9:30PM
WILD WING CAFE SOUTH Ryan Perry Band, 9:00PM
THE SOCIAL LOUNGE DJ StrongMagnumOpus, 10:00PM THOMAS WOLFE AUDITORIUM Asheville Symphony: Mountains to Sea featuring AVL Symphony Chorus, 8:00PM TINA MCGUIRE THEATRE, WORTHAM CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Nemesis Theatre Company presents Coriolanus 2020, 2:00PM TOWN PUMP Dry Reef, 9:00PM
YMI CULTURAL CENTER Black History Brunch, 10:00AM ZAMBRA Killawatts (jazz), 7:00PM
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23 185 KING STREET Open Electric Jam, 6:00PM 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Underhill Rose, (country soul), 7:00PM
BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE Pimps of Pompe Sundays (Gypsy jazz hiphop), 3:00PM
LIPINSKY AUDITORIUM AT UNC ASHEVILLE UNC Asheville Wind Ensemble, University Chorale & Reuter Center Singers in Concert, 3:00PM
BOLD ROCK HARD CIDER Zuzu Welsh Band, 3:00PM
ODDITORIUM Aunt Vicki, Witch Disco, Mouth Breather, Bad Banker (rock), 8:00PM
BURIAL BEER CO. Mardi Gras Party feat. LEAF easel Rider (1-3PM) Parade (3PM) w/ music by Second Line & Simon George & Friends (4-6PM), 1:00PM
ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL World Famous Bluegrass Brunch, 10:30AM
ARCHETYPE BREWING Post-Brunch Blues, 4:00PM
CENTER FOR SPIRITUAL LIVING ASHEVILLE Sunday Celebration of Life, 11:00AM FLEETWOOD'S Queer Comedy Party ft. Kendall Farrell, 8:00PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Reggae Sunday w/ Chalwa, 2:00PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Zach & Maggie : The Bright Side of Americana, 6:00PM Amy Black Band, 7:30PM
SANCTUARY BREWING CO. Mardi Gras Get Down w/ Hustle Souls, 3:00PM ST. GEORGE'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH Free Sonic Moving Meditation, 4:00PM THE CASUAL PINT The Casual Pint: Mini Paint Your Pet, 1:00PM THE GREY EAGLE The Music of the Grateful Dead for Kids, 5:00PM Worthwhile Sounds Presents: Jackson Grimm Band & Hannah Kaminer Band, 8:00PM
BUBBLE & OYSTER THURSDAYS
828-350-0315
SMOKYPARK .COM 40
FEB. 19 - 25, 2020
MOUNTAINX.COM
WORTHAM CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS The Office: A Musical Parody, 7:30PM
THE GREY EAGLE Hidden Voices, 7:00PM
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24
WORTHAM CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Yamato: The Drummers of Japan, 7:00PM
185 KING STREET Karaoke Night, 7:30PM
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25
27 CLUB Monday Mayhem Karaoke, 9:00PM 5 WALNUT WINE BAR CaroMia, Mary Ellen Davis, Amanda Platt (folk), 7:00PM ALLEY CAT SOCIAL CLUB Monday Movie Night, 8:00PM ARCHETYPE BREWING Old Time Jam, 12:00AM ASHEVILLE CLUB Improv & Sketch Show, 7:30PM BURIAL BEER CO. Mardi Gras Party & Crawfish Boil w/ music by The Lundi Gras Party (5PM), 2:00PM FLEETWOOD'S Stand Up 101 Graduation Show, 7:00PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Nerdy Talk Trivia, 6:00PM ODDITORIUM Risqué Monday Burlesque Hosted by Deb Au Nare, 8:00PM ONE WORLD BREWING OWB Downtown: Open Mic, 8:00PM ONE WORLD BREWING WEST OWB West: Jazz Jam, 12:00AM ORANGE PEEL Pongin’ at the Peel, 6:00PM SANCTUARY BREWING CO. Open Mic Night - It Takes All Kinds, 7:00PM SOVEREIGN KAVA Locals Night: Singer/ Songwriter Showcase w/ Lo Wolf, 8:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE The Soul Jam feat. Jamar Woods, 8:30PM THE CASUAL PINT General Knowledge Team Trivia, 7:00PM THE GOLDEN PINEAPPLE Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 8:00PM
5 WALNUT WINE BAR The John Henrys, 8-10 (hot jazz), 8:00PM ALLEY CAT SOCIAL CLUB Open Mic & Live Podcast, 8:00PM ARCHETYPE BREWING Tango Class & Milonga Dance w/ Mary Morgan, Eric Knoche & Stanley Dankoski, 7:00PM
TAVERN Downtown on the Park Eclectic Menu • Over 30 Taps • Patio 15 TV’s • Sports Room • 110” Projector Event Space • Shuffleboard Open 7 Days 11am - Late Night LIVE M R A COV USIC , E V NE ER CHARGE!
THU. 2/20 Jessie Barry & Jeff Anders (acoustic rock)
FRI. 2/21 DJ RexxStep
(dance hits, pop)
SAT. 2/22 Carolina Lowdown Band (classic rock, dance)
ASHEVILLE CLUB BluesDay Tuesday w/ Mr. Jimmy, 6:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Django Reinhardt Gypsy Jazz Jam, 8:00PM ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Tuesday Night Funk Jam, 10:00PM
20 S. Spruce St. • 225.6944 packStavern.com
BOLD ROCK HARD CIDER Tacos & Trivia, 4:00PM BURIAL BEER CO. Mardi Gras Party w/ music by the Big EZ's, 2:00PM HAYWOOD COUNTRY CLUB Turntable Tuesdays hosted by VTT, 10:00PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY US Cornhole League, 6:00PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Tuesday Bluegrass Sessions hosted by Daniel Ullom & Friends, 7:30PM JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras Cajun Jam!, 4:00PM LOCAL 604 BOTTLE SHOP Synth Jam, 7:00PM MAD CO BREWING NC Songsmiths: Taylor Martin, 6:00PM NEW BELGIUM BREWERY Guardians of our Troubled Waters Documentary Screening & Discussion, 7:00PM
UPCOMING SHOWS: DOORS 7PM
FEB 19
SHOW 8PM
WORTHWHILE SOUNDS PRESENTS:
FEB 19
BARNES, GORDY, WALSH
GNARBOT
DOORS 8PM
FEB 20
SHOW 8:30PM
W/ TUB
DOORS 7PM
FEB REASONABLY PRICED BABIES IMPROV COMEDY 21 SHOW 2PM CLAN DESTINY CIRCUS FEB PERFORMER SHOWCASE 22 TWO SHOWS – MATINEE & EVENING
BREW DAVIS
DOORS 6PM
FEB 29
ALBUM RELEASE PARTY W/ BRIT DROZDA
FEB 20
SHOW 8PM
FEB 21
SHOW 7PM
FEB 22
SHOW 7PM
FEB 29
TICKETS SOLD HERE: W W W. A M B R O S E W E S T.C O M BOX OFFICE S: T HE HO NE Y P O T
BOOK YOUR WEDDING OR EVENT NOW: 828.332.3090 312 HAYWOOD ROAD
MOUNTAINX.COM
FEB. 19 - 25, 2020
41
CLU B LA N D
Dance Hall / Live Music COMMUNITY BAR Green / Vegan Event Space
ODDITORIUM Free Open Mic Comedy, 8:00PM OLE SHAKEY'S Booty Tuesday, 10:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Tuesday Early Jam, 8:00PM
FREE Parking on Eagle/Charlotte Streets 39 S. Market St. • 254-9277
ONE WORLD BREWING OWB Downtown: Jack Pearson's Comedy Cosmos (stand-up), 9:00PM
ONE WORLD BREWING WEST OWB West: FLOW, 8:00PM
SOVEREIGN KAVA Open Jam w/ Chris Cooper & Friends (sign up at 6:30PM), 8:00PM
SALVAGE STATION Fat Tuesday w/ Zydeco Ya Ya & Unihorn, 7:00PM
THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Mardi Gras Dance w/ The House Hoppers, 7:30PM
SANCTUARY BREWING CO. Team Trivia Tuesdays, 7:00PM SLY GROG LOUNGE Wildstreet, 9:00PM
THE GREY EAGLE Between the Dark & Light: The Photography of the Grateful Dead w/ Jay Blakesberg, 7:00PM Ton of Hay: Grateful Dead Tribute, 9:30PM THE SOCIAL LOUNGE The Trivia Factory, 7:30PM TWIN LEAF BREWERY Robert's Twin Leaf Trivia, 8:00PM WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Irish Music Circle, 6:45PM Open Mic, 8:45PM WILD WING CAFE SOUTH Fat Tuesday! 10th Annual Party w/ a Purpose for the St. Gerard House!, 6:00PM WORTHAM CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Yamato: The Drummers of Japan, 7:00PM
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26 12 BONES BREWERY Robert’s Totally Rad Trivia, 7:00PM 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Les Amis, (African Folk Music), 8:00PM ALLEY CAT SOCIAL CLUB Karaoke with Kari Okay, 9:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR AGB Open Mic Showcase, 6:30PM FUNKATORIUM Grass at the Funk featuring the Saylor Brothers, 4:00PM HAPPY BODY Embodied Wisdom: Finding Support from Within, 5:00PM
42
FEB. 19 - 25, 2020
MOUNTAINX.COM
MAD CO BREWING Half Pour Wednesday’s, 2:00PM ODDITORIUM Pretty, Space Grandma (Indie), 9:00PM OLE SHAKEY’S Sexy Tunes with DJ Franco Nino, 10:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Disclaimer Comedy Open Mic, 9:00PM Disclaimer Lounge Comedy Open Mic, 9:00PM ONE WORLD BREWING WEST OWB West: Latin Dance Night w/ DJ Oscar (Bachatta, Merengue, Salsa), 9:00PM SANCTUARY BREWING CO. FBVMA Mountain Music Jam, 6:00PM SLY GROG LOUNGE Weird Wednesday Jam, 9:00PM SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BREWERY Jazz Night hosted by Jason DeCristofaro, 6:30PM SOVEREIGN KAVA Poetry Open Mic w/ Caleb Beissert, 8:00PM STATIC AGE RECORDS Human Pelt ~ Bbigpigg ~ Mouthbreathers at Static Age Records, 9:00PM THE CASUAL PINT Friends Trivia Night, 7:00PM THE GOLDEN FLEECE Scots-Baroque Chamber-Folk with the Tune Shepherds, 7:00PM THE GREY EAGLE Blow Up Your Tv Pop Up Showcase, 8:30PM THE SOCIAL LOUNGE Live Music at the Social Lounge downtown 9-11pm, 9:00PM Live Music Wednesdays, 9:00PM
HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Woody Wood Wednesday, 6:00PM
URBAN ORCHARD Irish Session One Year Anniversary w/ Andrew Finn Magil & Will MacMorran, 7:00PM
ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 The CarLeans, 7:00PM Rich Nelson Band, 8:30PM
WILD WING CAFE SOUTH Showers on Mars in South Asheville!, 8:30PM
MOVIE REVIEWS
Hosted by the Asheville Movie Guys HHHHH
= MAX RATING
EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com
BRUCE STEELE bcsteele@gmail.com
H PICK OF THE WEEK H
The Call of the Wild HHHH
DIRECTOR: Chris Sanders PLAYERS: Harrison Ford, Omar Sy, Terry Notary, Karen Gillan ADVENTURE RATED PG A story that features an animal usually sparks one specific question: Does the creature survive? To quell this particular concern, trust that the dog in How to Train Your Dragon codirector Chris Sanders’ adaptation of Jack London’s classic novel The Call of the Wild does indeed make it. But more than merely remain alive, the canine comes to understand the difference between having a pack and having a master, and that one doesn’t always equate to the comfort of the other. As in the original tale, Buck (Terry Notary, in a fantastic motion-capture performance) is a 140-pound sweetheart of a dog who’s snatched from a life of luxury and sent to the Yukon, where he passes from owner to owner. While Buck engages with various humans and animals, the bulk of his time is spent with optimisticyet-determined mailman Perrault (Omar Sy, Jurassic World) and melancholic John Thornton (Harrison Ford). Sy is incredibly engrossing as a beacon of humanity’s kindness toward animals, demonstrating that leading from a place of tenderness is far more effective than being vicious. And Ford puts in some of his best work in years. While
his acting in the recent Star Wars films is good (but distant), he’s astoundingly engaged with this story, and, by extension, makes each scene with the CGI Buck increasingly believable as the story unfolds. While maintaining the source material’s period setting, screenwriter Michael Green (Blade Runner 2049) does an excellent job of tweaking the story for a modern age — removing several problematic aspects and streamlining the narrative, all without losing its emotional heft. The end result can feel a bit of a mixed bag, but one that’s nevertheless entertaining, heartfelt and surprisingly emotional. Stars Feb. 21 REVIEWED BY DOUGLAS DAVIDSON ELEMENTSOFMADNESS@GMAIL.COM
Cunningham HHS DIRECTOR: Alla Kovgan PLAYERS: Merce Cunningham, Carolyn Brown, John Cage DOCUMENTARY RATED PG The documentary Cunningham seems to be more of an academic instructional video on dance than an engaging look at pioneering artist — and Black Mountain College collaborator — Merce Cunningham. In many ways, it’s a traditional nonfiction film that unfortunately
THIS WEEK’S CONTRIBUTORS
Douglas Davidson
Kevin Evans
includes a very tiring display of monotone B&W clips. What viewers will find among many of these sequences are actors who are great dancers, who are frequently intriguing and who oftentimes execute exquisite movements. But that being said, unless you’re a dancer or avidly into dance, you may find this film to be quite the soporific lullaby. The film begins with a scene of a man dancing in a tunnel, then shifts to a New York City skyline — where, upon a rooftop, there are several dancers, in various poses and wearing colorful suits. While moments like the rooftop scenes, some nature shots and even some sequences with dancers in unadorned rooms are fleetingly compelling and impressive, they’re unlikely to excite the average viewer. Instead, the film is esoteric to a fault, and despite its focus on Cunningham, his discipline, his accomplishments and some of his professional disappointments, it fails to get all that personal about the man. For a dance geek, this documentary may be heaven, but for me, I need not watch it again. Starts Feb. 21 at Grail Moviehouse
Ian Casselberry
Josh Kristina McCormack Guckenberger
The premise of having fantasies fulfilled without considering the consequences brings a sense of dread to the story, yet any payoff gets lost amid repeated attempts to surprise the audience with a twist, which only creates more absurdity. However, Michael Peña’s performance as Mr. Roarke, the head of Fantasy Island, might help this movie become a cult hit. He’s miscast in a role that requires dignity and authority, and his attempt to mimic Ricardo Montalban’s accent as the original Mr. Roarke will fuel many future drinking games: Take a shot every time Peña says “FAHN-tisy.” Viewers won’t make it to the end of the movie — which is the best fantasy Roarke could provide. REVIEWED BY IAN CASSELBERRY IANCASS@GMAIL.COM
REVIEWED BY KEVIN EVANS K.A.E.0082@GMAIL.COM
Fantasy Island H DIRECTOR: Jeff Wadlow PLAYERS: Lucy Hale, Maggie Q, Portia Doubleday, Michael Peña HORROR/COMEDY RATED PG-13 Anyone who has fantasized about a feature-film remake of the 1980s TV show “Fantasy Island” will likely be disappointed by director Jeff Wadlow’s attempt. The movie’s beginning and end aim for some amusing allusions to the source material, in which people arrive by plane to a mysterious island where they can live out their fantasies, but the references are a stretch and will be meaningless to those unfamiliar with the show. Wadlow (Truth or Dare) tries to reimagine Fantasy Island as a horror film, yet the best he can come up with is a series of derivative scenes from better movies, including elaborate torture scenarios, mindless slashers, zombies with oozing eyes and doppelgängers lurking nearby. MOUNTAINX.COM
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M OVIE RE V I EW S
Sonic the Hedgehog HH DIRECTOR: Jeff Fowler PLAYERS: Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, James Marsden ACTION/ADVENTURE RATED PG I’ll make it clear from the outset that I am not the prime audience for Sonic the Hedgehog.
My knowledge of the long-running video-game series is minuscule at best, and the film is made to appeal to little kids between the ages of 6 and 9. So, there’s a part of me that feels as if I’m punching down when giving this film — one that’s so clearly not made with a viewer like me in mind — a negative review. With all that said, Sonic the Hedgehog is still quite bad. Now, it isn’t terrible, but I feel that many critics are leaning very heavily
on the moments when their extremely low expectations are defied in the slightest, leading many of them to give the film a considerably more positive review than it deserves. While there is some pretty solid CGI work (especially in terms of Sonic’s animation and much-publicized character redesign), it’s in service to an unfunny, generic and quite dull kid-friendly road-trip movie, the likes of which I’ve seen done — and done far better — many times before.
STARTING FRIDAY The Assistant (R) HHS
The cast (led by James Marsden) practically seems on autopilot, including Ben Schwartz’s vocal performance as the titular blue hedgehog, which almost always feels at odds with the character’s look and actions. The one exception is Jim Carrey as the villainous Dr. Robotnik, who compensates for the aggressively humorless script — written by the scribes of such classics as National Lampoon’s Dorm Daze and its equally groundbreaking sequel — by playing up his classic physical comedy schtick in a way that brings a burst of energy to this otherwise boring cash grab. REVIEWED BY JOSH MCCORMACK JMCCORMA@UNCA.EDU
The Call of the Wild (PG) HHHH (Pick of the Week) Cunningham (PG) HHS JUST ANNOUNCED Brahms: The Boy II (PG-13) A sequel to the 2016 horror film about a creepy, life-like doll.
CURRENTLY IN THEATERS 1917 (R) HHHHS 2020 Oscar-nominated Short Films: Animation (PG-13) HHHH 2020 Oscar-nominated Short Films: Documentary (R) HHHH 2020 Oscar-nominated Short Films: Live-action (R) HHH Bad Boys for Life (R) HH Birds of Prey (R) HHH Dolittle (PG) HHHS Downhill (R) HHHH Fantastic Fungi (NR) HHHH Fantasy Island (PG-13) H Ford v Ferrari (PG-13) HHHHS The Gentlemen (R) HHHH Gretel & Hansel (PG-13) HHH Jojo Rabbit (PG-13) HHHHH Jumanji: The Next Level (PG-13) HHHS Just Mercy (PG-13) HHHHS Knives Out (PG-13) HHHHH Les Misérables (R) HHH Little Women (PG) HHHHH Parasite (R) HHHHH The Photograph (PG-13) HHHS Sonic the Hedgehog (PG) HH Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (PG-13) HHHHS 44
FEB. 19 - 25, 2020
MOUNTAINX.COM
The Assistant HHS DIRECTOR: Kitty Green PLAYERS: Julia Garner, Matthew Macfadyen, Makenzie Leigh DRAMA RATED R If there’s one thing you need to know about documentarian Kitty Green’s painfully quiet debut narrative feature, it’s that silence is deafening — and frustrating as hell. The Assistant chronicles an exhaustive day in the life of Jane (Julia Garner, Netflix’s “Ozark”), a blearyeyed college graduate who’s working her way up as a junior assistant in a fast-paced New York City film production company. From the onset, it’s clear that she’s overworked and undervalued by her apathetic coworkers and, more importantly, by her wildly demanding and often abusive boss. Any joy she might have once felt to work there has been completely zapped — she operates like a demoralized cog in a deeply toxic machine and embodies her internal rage with soul-crushing perfection. Unnamed and unseen, the boss — clearly based on the likes of Harvey Weinstein — looms large over everyone he interacts with. His muffled, menacing insults on the office phone are intended to intimidate Jane and viewers alike, effectively creating a hostile atmosphere that feels as fraught and vulnerable as our main character. Yet here and elsewhere, The Assistant suffers from a significant lack of plot specifics that viewers can sink their teeth into and, as its modus operandi, rests primarily on tedious observation of Jane’s mundane tasks. Because of this approach, it’s too detached and generic to communicate its vital,
universal message: that this type of abuse is occurring in workplaces everywhere and we are all complicit in its continued existence. Instead, the robotic surveillance of Jane’s deadening day feels stagnant and far too restrictive, and pulls focus from the pressing issues of gender politics and shared silence taking place in modern work environments today. It’s disappointing, since a grittier, more daring exploration of this topic is so needed amid today’s tumultuous moral landscape and would do much to ignite an all-toooften muzzled conversation surrounding consent and harassment. Read the full review at mountainx.com/movies/reviews Starts Feb. 21 at Grail Moviehouse REVIEWED BY KRISTINA GUCKENBERGER KRISTINA.GUCKENBERGER@GMAIL.COM
The Photograph HHHS
DIRECTOR: Stella Meghie PLAYERS: Issa Rae, LaKeith Stanfield, Chanté Adams, Y’Lan Noel DRAMA/ROMANCE RATED PG-13 The Photograph may be the most low-key Valentine’s Day release ever. Going in, I feared some delayed outbreak of violence or tragedy or testosterone — but no. It’s just a serious, levelheaded narrative about two couples, one in present-day New York City, one in Louisiana in the 1980s.
FILM BLACK HISTORY MONTH MOVIE MATINEE SERIES • FR (2/21), 1-3pm - Freedom Riders, documentary. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library - Lord Auditorium, 67 Haywood St. COLLIDER MONTHLY MOVIE NIGHT • FR (2/21), 5:307:30pm - Burned: Are Trees the New Coal?, documentary. Discussion with the Dogwood Alliance. Free. Held at The
Collider, 1 Haywood St., Suite 401 FLOOD GALLERY FOREIGN FILM SERIES • FR (2/21), 8pm - The Quiller Memorandum, eurospy. Free to attend. Held at Flood Gallery Fine Art Center, 850 Blue Ridge Road, Unit A-13, Black Mountain ‘GUARDIANS OF OUR TROUBLED WATERS’ • TU (2/25), 7pm - Guardians of Our Troubled Waters, documentary. $15. Held at New Belgium Brewery, 21 Craven St.
Mae (Issa Rae, Little), a well-off museum curator, is the daughter of Christina (played in flashbacks by Chanté Adams), an immensely successful photographer who has just died. Christina has left Mae a photo of her younger self and a long, handwritten letter describing her first great love, with a Louisiana fisherman named Isaac (Y’Lan Noel, The First Purge) — who, in the present (played by Rob Morgan, The Last Black Man in San Francisco), is being interviewed by journalist Michael (Lakeith Stanfield, Knives Out). Older Isaac has that same photograph of Christina, which of course leads Michael to Mae. From there, cue the Rodgers and Hammerstein template for dual love stories, one matching our strong-willed leads (in flashbacks), the other depicting young people in the hazardous throes of first love. The Photograph is a slick and traditional production set in a politically neutral utopian vision of the present, complete with Canadian streets posing as New York, stunning hair and costumes even on minor characters, incredibly gorgeous and unrealistically spacious apartments, a thriving print media (Michael works for a magazine
modeled on The New Yorker) and concert tickets you can put in the mail. I say this not to bash the film but to place it in context: Written and directed by Stella Meghie (Everything, Everything), it achieves its desired glossy Hollywood finish, and it goes about its business with skill and just enough sentimentality to keep viewers engaged. The script is efficient, the dialogue occasionally clunky, and there’s one big twist that any sophisticated viewer will be surprised to learn was supposed to be a surprise. But plenty of heart is provided by the cast. Adams, a relative newcomer, gets the film off to an emotionally grounded start with a videotaped interview of Christina that resonates throughout the film. Both her performance and Rae’s are exemplary, giving moviegoers shining examples of smart, self-possessed women who love men but will not be dominated by them. Stanfield, meanwhile, has solidly established himself as a leading man who can handle any role with calm effectiveness and a touch of dry humor. The talented supporting cast includes cheeky comedian Lil Rel Howery (Get Out) as well as a somber Courtney B. Vance. Given the long history of airheaded romcoms offered for Valentine’s Day viewing,
The Photograph is certainly a step up — an adult drama that treats both its lovers and its audience with respect and sympathy. It’s like a Nicholas Sparks story with fewer melodramatic touches, no toolboxes or horses and more wellrounded characters. It may not break any new storytelling ground, but as a date-night movie, it more than fills the bill. REVIEWED BY BRUCE STEELE BCSTEELE@GMAIL.COM
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FEB. 19 - 25, 2020
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FREEWILL ASTROLOGY ARIES (March 21-April 19): Do you feel ready to change your mind about an idea or belief or theory that has been losing its usefulness? Would you consider changing your relationship with a once-powerful influence that is becoming less crucial to your life-long goals? Is it possible you have outgrown one of your heroes or teachers? Do you wonder if maybe it’s time for you to put less faith in a certain sacred cow or overvalued idol? According to my analysis of your astrological omens, you’ll benefit from meditating on these questions during the coming weeks.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I don’t require everyone I learn from to be an impeccable saint. If I vowed to draw inspiration only from those people who flawlessly embody every one of my ethical principles, there’d be no one to be inspired by. Even one of my greatest heroes, Martin Luther King Jr., cheated on his wife and plagiarized parts of his doctoral dissertation. Where do you stand on this issue, Libra? I bet you will soon be tested. How much imperfection is acceptable to you?
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): When she was alive more than 2,500 years ago, the Greek poet Sappho was so famous for her lyrical creations that people referred to her as “The Poetess” and the “Tenth Muse.” (In Greek mythology, there were nine muses, all goddesses.) She was a prolific writer who produced over 10,000 lines of verse, and even today she remains one of the world’s most celebrated poets. I propose that we make her your inspirational role model for the coming months. In my view, you’re poised to generate a wealth of enduring beauty in your own chosen sphere. Proposed experiment: Regard your daily life as an art project.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio comedian John Cleese co-founded the troupe Monty Python more than 50 years ago and he has been generating imaginative humor ever since. I suggest we call on his counsel as you enter the most creative phase of your astrological cycle. “This is the extraordinary thing about creativity,” he says. “If you just keep your mind resting against the subject in a friendly but persistent way, sooner or later you will get a reward from your unconscious.” Here’s another one of Cleese’s insights that will serve you well: “The most creative people have learned to tolerate the slight discomfort of indecision for much longer, and so, just because they put in more pondering time, their solutions are more creative.”
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Have you ever dropped out of the daily grind for a few hours or even a few days so as to compose a master plan for your life? The coming weeks will be an excellent time to give yourself that necessary luxury. According to my analysis, you’re entering a phase when you’ll generate good fortune for yourself if you think deep thoughts about how to create your future. What would you like the story of your life to be on March 1, 2025? How about March 1, 2030? And March 1, 2035? I encourage you to consult your soul’s code and formulate an inspired, invigorating blueprint for the coming years. Write it down! CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian novelist William Makepeace Thackeray (1819–1875) is famous for Vanity Fair, a satirical panorama of 19th-century British society. The phrase “Vanity Fair” had been previously used, though with different meanings, in the Bible’s book of Ecclesiastes, as well as in works by John Bunyan and St. Augustine. Thackeray was lying in bed near sleep one night when the idea flew into his head to use it for his own story. He was so thrilled, he leaped up and ran around his room chanting “Vanity Fair! Vanity Fair!” I’m foreseeing at least one epiphany like this for you in the coming weeks, Cancerian. What area of your life needs a burst of delicious inspiration? LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Who loves you best, Leo? Which of your allies and loved ones come closest to seeing you and appreciating you for who you really are? Of all the people in your life, which have done most to help you become the soulful star you want to be? Are there gem-like characters on the peripheries of your world that you would like to draw nearer? Are there energy drains that you’ve allowed to play too prominent a role? I hope you’ll meditate on questions like these in the coming weeks. You’re in a phase when you can access a wealth of useful insights and revelations about how to skillfully manage your relationships. It’s also a good time to reward and nurture those allies who have given you so much. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Doom and gloom dominate the forecasts made by many prophets. They experience perverse glee in predicting, for example, that all the rain forests and rivers will be owned by greedy corporations by 2050 or that extraterrestrial invaders who resemble crocodiles will take control of the U.S. government “for the good of the American people” or that climate change will eventually render chocolate and bananas obsolete. That’s not how I operate. I deplore the idea that it’s only the nasty prognostications that are interesting. In that spirit, I make the following forecasts: The number of homeless Virgos will decrease dramatically in the near future, as will the number of dreamhome-less Virgos. In fact, I expect you folks will experience extra amounts of domestic bliss in the coming months. You may feel more at home in the world than ever before.
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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) developed a vigorous and expansive vision. That’s why he became a leading intellectual influence in the era known as the Enlightenment. But because of his inventive, sometimes controversial ideas, he was shunned by his fellow Jews and had his books listed on the Catholic Church’s Index of Forbidden Books. Understandably, he sometimes felt isolated. To compensate, he spent lots of time alone taking wide-ranging journeys in his imagination. Even if you have all the friends and social stimulation you need, I hope you will follow his lead in the coming weeks — by taking wide-ranging journeys in your imagination. It’s time to roam and ramble in inner realms. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “Absolute reason expired at 11 o’clock last night,” one character tells another in Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt. I’m happy to report that a different development is on the verge of occurring for you, Capricorn. In recent days, there may have been less than an ideal amount of reason and logic circulating in your world. But that situation will soon change. The imminent outbreak of good sense, rigorous sanity and practical wisdom will be quite tonic. Take advantage of this upcoming grace period. Initiate bold actions that are well-grounded in objective rather than subjective truth. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Renowned Aquarian composer Franz Schubert (1797–1828) created more than 700 compositions, some of which are still played by modern musicians. Many of his works were written on and for the piano — and yet he was so poor that he never owned a piano. If there has been a similar situation in your life, Aquarius — a lack of some crucial tool or support due to financial issues — I see the coming weeks as being an excellent time to set in motion the plans that will enable you to overcome and cure that problem. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In 1908, British playwright W. Somerset Maugham reached the height of success. Four of his plays were being performed concurrently in four different London theaters. If you were ever in your life going to achieve anything near this level of overflowing popularity or attention, I suspect it would be this year. And if that’s a development you would enjoy and thrive on, I think the coming weeks will be an excellent time to set your intention and take audacious measures.
MOUNTAINX.COM
MARKETPLACE
BY ROB BREZSNY
REAL ESTATE | RENTALS | ROOMMATES | SERVICES JOBS | ANNOUNCEMENTS | MIND, BODY, SPIRIT CLASSES & WORKSHOPS | MUSICIANS’ SERVICES PETS | AUTOMOTIVE | XCHANGE | ADULT Want to advertise in Marketplace? 828-251-1333 landrews@mountainx.com • mountainx.com/classifieds If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Remember the Russian proverb: “Doveryai, no proveryai,” trust but verify. When answering classified ads, always err on the side of caution. Especially beware of any party asking you to give them financial or identification information. The Mountain Xpress cannot be responsible for ensuring that each advertising client is legitimate. Please report scams to ads@mountainx.com RENTALS ROOMS FOR RENT ROOM FOR RENT IN AVL. Spacious (1000 sq.ft.) and light studio efficiency for rent $950/ mo. includes utilities. Please call Larry 828-712-4566. ROOM FOR RENT ON THE RIVER IN NORTH ASHEVILLE Home on the riverbeautiful setting- gardensshared bath- $600 monthutilities included -drug free - 1 person- references828-206-5811
EMPLOYMENT GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR FOR THE AMERICAN CHESTNUT FOUNDATION We are seeking a versatile, detail-oriented creative professional who can help amplify our work and increase support for our ambitious mission. Application instructions and full job description at: https:// www.acf.org/about-us/ employment. 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. Fulltime and seasonal parttime positions available. Training provided. Contact us today! 828 251-8687. Info@GrayLineAsheville.com www.GrayLineAsheville.com PART-TIME POSITION A-B Tech is currently taking applications for a part-time position Police Officer. For more details and to apply: abtcc.peopleadmin.com/ postings/5326 COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR FOR THE AMERICAN CHESTNUT FOUNDATION We are seeking a versatile, detailoriented creative professional who can help amplify our work and increase support for our ambitious mission. Application instructions and full job description at: https://www.acf. org/about-us/employment.
RESTAURANT/ FOOD DISHWASHERS - FT & PT DISHWASHERS at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. play an important role in the success of our Taproom & Restaurant. This entry-level position allows you the opportunity to learn how our kitchen works, gain and improve your culinary skills,
and show your dedication toward a long-term kitchen career. Dishwashers thoroughly clean and inspect dishes, silverware, glasses and kitchen equipment. To Apply- Please visit our website sierranevada.com/ careers/. HOST - PART TIME The Host is the first employee to interact with arriving guests as they enter the Taproom. It is the job of the Host to greet arriving guests, welcome them into the establishment and seat them according to established guidelines. To Apply: Please visit our website sierranevada.com/ careers/ LINE COOK The Line Cook is responsible for set up, food production, quality control and consistency of all meat, fish, fowl and other food items prepared on their station. The Line Cook assists the Sous Chef, the Back of House Supervisors and the Lead Line Cooks in daily food production and maintaining a clean and sanitary facility. To Apply: Please visit our website sierranevada.com/ careers/.
HUMAN SERVICES OVERNIGHT RESIDENTIAL COACH Black Mountain Academy is seeking Overnight Residential Coaches for 3rd shift to work at our therapeutic boarding school supporting adolescent males with Level 1 (high-functioning) Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) or who have social challenges, anxiety, and difficulty in traditional academic settings. The ideal candidate has experience with this population of students, is student-centered in their approach, and is flexible. Duties include, but are not limited to, facilitating night time and morning routines, assisting with meal preparation, cleaning, and data entry. All candidates must be 21 years old or older. Please see our website for more information about the school, www. theblackmountainacademy. com. Interested candidates, please send your resume and cover letter to jobs@ theblackmountainacademy. com.
TEACHING/ EDUCATION FULL-TIME POSITION A-B Tech is currently taking applications for a Full-Time position Baking and pastry Arts Instructor. For more details and to apply: https:// abtcc.peopleadmin.com/ postings/5324
SERVICES
COUNSELING SERVICES
CAREGIVERS COMPANION • CAREGIVER • LIVE-IN Alzheimer's experienced. • Heart failure and bed sore care. • Hospice reference letter. • Nonsmoker, with cat, seeks live-in position. • References. • Arnold, (828) 273-2922.
ALL-NATURAL HOUSE CLEANING All-Natural House Cleaning Services by Home Made. I use homemade, nontoxic cleaning solutions, bring all the supplies, and charge $25 per hour. See www.facebook.com/ anya.le.fae for more information.
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CONSTRUCTION
HEALTH & FITNESS
CONTRACTOR / BUILDER Contractor / builder, full house additions, remodeling and decks, 26 years experience, Asheville area Waynesville, good references, reasonable, license 32692 call George MCconnell 828 -712 -1536
BREASTFEEDING FRIENDLY COMMUNITY Join our effort to make Buncombe a Breastfeeding Friendly Community by becoming a Community Partner. Getting Certified is free and simple. Fill out the application at www. ncbfc.org or contact Natasha Bowden at Natasha@ buncombepfc.org
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GENERAL SERVICES BOOKKEEPING SERVICES Bookkeeping Small Business Solutions. Organizing income/expenses, payroll, banking, tax preparation. Quickbooks/MS Office. Customized services. Only pay for the time you need. Flexible/reasonable, your office or remote. FortuneNetBooks@gmail. com.
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MIND, BODY, SPIRIT BODYWORK V-DAY MASSAGE SPECIAL Relaxing massage therapy with Beth Huntzinger, LMBT #10819 is a lovely gift to show appreciation. Schedule or buy a gift certificate before 2/18 and receive FREE HOT TOWELS. ashevillehealer.com. 828-279-7042.
DUO MOVEMENT FOR VALENTINE’S DAY AT PRECISION PILATES + YOGA WITH LORETTA ZEDELLA Keep the loving kindness going! Share movement and relaxation with someone you care about! Bring a friend, daughter, dad, or partner. Explore simple poses together and enjoy individual stress relief work as we end with some dark chocolate! 828-774-5575. info@ precisionpilates.com. precisionpilatesavl.com.
FOR SALE AUTO MAZDA MIATA MX5. 2003 red and tan convertible. 6 speed manual transmission. New clutch, oil pan and gaskets. 227K miles. No wrecks, excellent body, single owner. $5500. 828-776-2860.
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T H E NEW Y O R K T IM E S C R O S S W O R D P UZ Z L E
ACROSS 1 Mary Stuart, for one
5 Taiwan-based computer giant 9 Secretly watched
14 Tea made with milk, sugar and cardamom
edited by Will Shortz 15 Rob of “Parks and Recreation” 16 Attacked with a spray 17 Engaged in foul play 20 Burnt ___ (old Crayola color) 21 Some batteries 22 One engaged in friendly contention 29 Lith., e.g., once 30 Hands (out) 31 2020, por ejemplo 32 “___ che macchiavi quell’anima” (aria opener) 34 Invalidate 36 “Oh, now they’re really going to fight!” 41 Puts up on a gallery wall 42 Colorful spring flower 43 A.B.A. member: Abbr. 44 Stand in a mall 46 HBO competitor 49 Cry “Uncle!” 54 Veg out
puzzle by Mary Lou Guizzo 55 ___ Gay (historic plane) 56 Hold back 62 Elude 63 Gangster 64 Turnabouts, informally 65 Evasive 66 Actor Rogen 67 Crafty website
DOWN 1 Straight downhill ski run 2 Some early “astronauts” 3 Granola treat 4 River of Tuscany 5 Nothing but 6 Corp. manager 7 “Oh, gross!” 8 Do over for radio, say 9 ___ campaign 10 Colt 45 brewer 11 Knock off 12 What has a long history in ichthyology? 13 E.P.A.-banned pesticide
No. 0115
18 Slip up 19 Nine-time P.G.A. Tour winner Jay 23 Individual: Prefix 24 Timeout alternative 25 Receptacle for one doing decoupage 26 Smaller than micro27 Ample, informally 28 Deeply massage 32 Meringue ingredient 33 “Kidnapped” author’s monogram 34 “___ gratia artis” 35 Napoleon’s marshal 36 “Take ___!” 37 Possesses, biblically 38 ___’acte 39 Pageant wear 40 Tennis great Huber 44 Drying oven 45 Coves
46 Like a really good game for a pitcher, say 47 Brawls 48 Stylish and sophisticated 50 Skateboarding jump 51 Forested 52 Full complement of limbs on a squid 53 Exactly as scheduled
56 Lead-in to Man or 12 57 School founded by Thos. Jefferson 58 Make a record of 59 Gender-neutral pronoun spelled with a slash between the first and second letters 60 Wager 61 “Yuck!”
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