Mountain Xpress 02.28.18

OUR 24TH YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 24 NO. 32 FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

2

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

MOUNTAINX.COM

MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

3

OUR 24TH YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 24 NO. 32 FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

C O NT E NT S

PAGE 37 AND WE’RE ROLLING To help enlighten moviegoers during Academy Awards season, a trio of local independent filmmakers share what they do behind the scenes.

COVER PHOTO Courtesy of Asheville School of Film COVER DESIGN Scott Southwick

C ONTAC T US

(828) 251-1333 fax (828) 251-1311

news tips & story ideas to NEWS@MOUNTAINX.COM letters/commentary to LETTERS@MOUNTAINX.COM sustainability news to GREEN@MOUNTAINX.COM a&e events and ideas to AE@MOUNTAINX.COM events can be submitted to CALENDAR@MOUNTAINX.COM

FEATURES

or try our easy online calendar at MOUNTAINX.COM/EVENTS

NEWS

food news and ideas to FOOD@MOUNTAINX.COM wellness-related events/news to MXHEALTH@MOUNTAINX.COM business-related events/news to BUSINESS@MOUNTAINX.COM

WELLNESS

venues with upcoming shows CLUBLAND@MOUNTAINX.COM

22 DON’T GO IT ALONE Caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients face challenges in caring for themselves

get info on advertising at ADVERTISE@MOUNTAINX.COM

5 LETTERS 5 CARTOON: MOLTON

GREEN

Recharge with Self Care!

8 THERE AND BACK AGAIN Future transit efforts, concerns mirror Asheville’s past

27 POWER DOWN County looks for tangible ways to accomplish sustainability goals

7 CARTOON: BRENT BROWN 16 ASHEVILLE ARCHIVES 18 CONSCIOUS PARTY

place a web ad at WEBADS@MOUNTAINX.COM question about the website?

WEBMASTER@MOUNTAINX.COM find a copy of xpress JTALLMAN@MOUNTAINX.COM

19 COMMUNITY CALENDAR

BOOK ONLINE www.ashevillesaltcave.com

26 GREEN SCENE 30 FARM & GARDEN 31 FOOD 34 SMALL BITES 37 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

39 MERCURISTS RISING Stephanie Morgan features her solo material in a birthday show

A&E

Relaxation, deep tissue, energy work, couples massage, reflexology, hot salt stone, and salt body scrubs.

33 GROUPS DYNAMIC Cooking schools turn up the heat with culinary team-building experiences

41 SMART BETS 42 THEATER REVIEW 46 CLUBLAND 51 MOVIES

40 STREET PREACHERS Spaceman Jones & The Motherships launch a second EP

12 Eagle Street • DOWNTOWN ASHEVILLE FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

follow us @MXNEWS, @MXARTS, @MXEAT, @MXHEALTH, @MXCALENDAR, @MXENV, @MXCLUBLAND we use these hashtags #AVLNEWS, #AVLENT, #AVLEAT, #AVLOUT, #AVLBEER, #AVLGOV, #AVLHEALTH, #AVLWX

54 FREEWILL ASTROLOGY 54 CLASSIFIEDS 55 NY TIMES CROSSWORD

Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Mountain Xpress is available free throughout Western North Carolina. Limit one copy per person. Additional copies may be purchased for $1 payable at the Xpress office in advance. No person may, without prior written permission of Xpress, take more than one copy of each issue.

4

WWW.MOUNTAINX.COM FACEBOOK.COM/MOUNTAINX

52 SCREEN SCENE

A&E

We offer a variety of therapeutic massage services, all with a touch of salt.

FOOD

22 WELLNESS

MOUNTAINX.COM

To subscribe to Mountain Xpress, send check or money order to: Subscription Department, PO Box 144, Asheville NC 28802. First class delivery.

One year (52 issues) $130 / Six months (26 issues) $70. We accept Mastercard & Visa.

COPYRIGHT 2018

BY MOUNTAIN XPRESS ADVERTISING COPYRIGHT 2018

BY MOUNTAIN XPRESS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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/WRITER: Alli Marshall FOOD EDITOR/WRITER: Gina Smith NEWS EDITOR/WRITER: Carolyn Morrisroe OPINION EDITOR: Tracy Rose WELLNESS EDITOR/WRITER: Susan Foster

CARTOO N BY RAN D Y M O LT O N

Ambulance fee increase will hurt poor and unfortunate The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a significant raise in ambulance fees, according to the Mountain Xpress [“County Raises Fees for Ambulance Service,” Feb. 14]. And in a microcosm, there’s what’s wrong with health care in the U.S. Sure, there are many good reasons for the raise, but it shows a shortsighted lack of heart. I get it; they want to collect more from Medicare and insurance companies. It brings Buncombe’s fees in line with the rest of the state’s.

But it forgets that the Affordable Care Act has been crippled, leaving more people without health insurance (disclaimer: like me). So if I get into an accident or fall down and can’t get up, I have to pay rates that even the insurance companies won’t pay 100 percent of. I have to lie there thinking, “OK, do I have enough money to cover this ambulance ride, or should I just try to crawl to the hospital?”

In that situation, finances should not be part of the calculations. This raise is only going to hurt the poor and unfortunate. Obviously, the commissioners have lost sight of that. I would rather pay more in taxes and have ambulance rides free if I need it. Of course, I would also rather pay more in taxes and have universal health care, so you know where I’m coming from.

One last thing, EMTs are chronically underpaid. I bet that not a dime of this raise goes to them. Trickle-down economics doesn’t work, but apparently charging more to those who can least afford it always works. This is an election year, and we’re paying attention.

— Mark H. Bloom

Asheville

For many, Confederate flag means ‘I’m a Southerner’ Gentle Ones: One of your readers wrote in the Opinion section (Feb. 21) that “any son of (a Confederate veteran) . . . would have died over 100 years ago” [“Confederate Flag Project Reflects More Than Bad Taste”]. I beg to argue his math.

Now, it is correct that a Civil War veteran himself would have died over 100 years ago, but not necessarily a son of a veteran. To wit: The three children of my great-grandfather, a Union Civil War veteran, died in 1921, 1928 and 1962 — all of which were less than 100 years ago.

The Confederate flag for many people simply says, “I’m a Southerner.” I remember my mother’s horror when she found a Confederate flag decal on my high school notebook, which I had placed there to demonstrate my mem-

STAFF REPORTERS/WRITERS: Able Allen, Edwin Arnaudin, Thomas Calder, Virginia Daffron, David Floyd, Max Hunt, Carolyn Morrisroe CALENDAR EDITOR: Abigail Griffin CLUBLAND EDITORS: Abigail Griffin, Max Hunt MOVIE REVIEWERS: Scott Douglas, Francis X. Friel, Justin Souther CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Peter Gregutt, Rob Mikulak REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Jonathan Ammons, Liisa Andreassen, Kari Barrows, Leslie Boyd, Jacqui Castle, Scott Douglas, Tony Kiss, Bill Kopp, Cindy Kunst, Kate Lundquist, Monroe Spivey, Lauren Stepp, Daniel Walton ADVERTISING, ART & DESIGN MANAGER: Susan Hutchinson GRAPHIC DESIGNERS: Norn Cutson, Scott Southwick, Olivia Urban MARKETING ASSOCIATES: Christina Bailey, Sara Brecht, Bryant Cooper, Karl Knight, Tim Navaille, Brian Palmieri, Heather Taylor INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES & WEB: Bowman Kelley, DJ Taylor BOOKKEEPER: Amie Fowler-Tanner ADMINISTRATION, BILLING, HR: Able Allen, Lauren Andrews DISTRIBUTION MANAGER: Jeff Tallman ASST. DISTRIBUTION MANAGER: Denise Montgomery DISTRIBUTION: Gary Alston, Russell Badger, Frank D’Andrea, Jemima Cook Fliss, Adrian Hipps, Clyde Hipps, Jennifer Hipps, Joan Jordan, Laura Stinson, Brittney Turner-Daye, Thomas Young

MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

5

OPI N I ON

Celebrating Climate Action & Innovation Identified by the EPA as a “climate saver”

Send your letters to the editor to letters@mountainx.com.

bership in a clique that was from West Virginia. That’s all it meant to me, with no thought of fighting to maintain slavery (the “state’s right” that the Southerners were trying to hold onto).

I suspect that many flag holders have no deeper thought than mine was. For those who wave the flag while giving a Nazi salute or mouthing denigrations of various groups of people, however, it is a different matter.

Symbols can have deep meaning. I grew up in World War II. I still cannot stand to see a swastika, which to me is ugly and hateful. Why pointedly display a symbol that you know will upset some people unless that is your aim in the first place? As another writer has remarked, what we need in our society (not just Asheville) is more kindness. However, the Bullyin-Chief in the White House is modeling behavior that is just the opposite of kindness. What will we become?

— AA Lloyd

Asheville

Let’s take action on climate change

We will be closing for a makeover

Feb 18th - Mar 6th Follow us on FB, Instagram, & Twitter for updates.

MENUS ARE AT REZAZ.COM

828.277.1510

Historic Biltmore Village 6

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

MOUNTAINX.COM

In the State of the Union address, the president mentioned recent, costly climate-related disasters without acknowledging the growing conditions generating stronger storms, droughts and wildfires.

Granted: It’s hard to “wrap your head around the scale of action needed to avoid catastrophic changes in the climate” (David Roberts in Vox, Jan. 27). Nevertheless, it’s a critical failure on the part of U.S. leaders to ignore even the possibility of climate catastrophe and its subsequent socioeconomic and political upheavals.

Western North Carolina is home to many who love and work to protect and support our environment, even if it’s only changing some daily activities to reduce our carbon footprints — often the best we feel we can do.

It’s all important.

But now it isn’t nearly enough.

I’m afraid it could be too late. I live in the mountains and wonder when droughts and infestations caused by increasing heat and reduced winters will bring down our beloved forests, reduce our clear rivers and streams, and challenge our wonderful local farms. Will we be able to plant enough trees to make up for the losses here?

Can we manage local agriculture within a changing environment and more days above 95 degrees?

Asheville’s Drew Jones (climateinteractive.org) points to two

things critical for promoting largescale and rapid reduction of CO2 emissions: citizen engagement and pricing carbon emissions. Carbon fee and dividend legislation would put a fee on fossil fuels used and shipped into the U.S., make clean energy cheaper and more attractive than polluting energy sources, and in 20 years reduce our CO2 emissions 50 percent below 1990 levels.

The money raised would be returned to Americans as monthly rebates.

Implementing clean energy would drive innovation and new jobs.

Please make the climate a priority; please support legislation to reduce emissions now — let our elected representatives hear from you.

— Dale Stratford

Asheville Editor’s note: A longer version of this letter will appear online at mountainx.com.

Fight back against government war on citizens Our government has declared war on its citizens, especially the poor and the senior citizens. Our so-called president wants to do away with food stamps and send people boxes of food.

The idea is absurd and would be way more expensive than food stamps.

He also wants to cut a lot of money out of the HUD program, which is providing assistance to needy seniors by providing help with their housing.

I currently live in subsidized senior housing because the GOP destroyed my retirement fund in 2008 when they destroyed the economy.

The new tax law takes money from programs benefiting us citizens and gives it to the rich and to increase the war budget. We have a warmonger in the White House and a Congress who supports him. This affects us in Asheville. Fight back.

— Lloyd Kay

Asheville

We want to hear from you!

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

C A RT O O N B Y B R E NT B R O W N

35TH ANNUAL END OF SEASON

GAMBLERS SALE MARCH 1 - MARCH 6

COME SEE US TODAY!

BRING YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR & YOUR ASIAN CAR—TOYOTA, LEXUS, HONDA, ACURA, SUBARU, NO EUROPEAN MODELS

Free alignment inspection with any service, just ask.

EVERYTHING 20-40% OFF

LOCALLY OWNED & OPERATED

DON’T TAKE LIFE TOO SERIOUSLY. YOU WILL NEVER GET OUT ALIVE...

SPRING SPECIAL Mention Ad - Get 10% off labor!

WILLING TO TAKE A GAMBLE THAT IT’LL BE THERE AFTER THE FIRST WEEK?

We Treat You Like Family!

We’ll be closed March 7th for a staff outing.

SUPPLIES LIMITED. NO HOLDS OR LAYAWAYS-SORRY! MONDAY-SATURDAY 10-6 • SUNDAY 1-5 SKI COUNTRY SPORTS 1000 Merrimon Ave., Asheville, NC 28804 • 828-254-2771

www.skicountrysports.com

MOSTLY AUTOMOTIVE 253 Biltmore Ave. 828-253-4981 MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

7

NEWS

THERE AND BACK AGAIN

Future transit efforts, concerns mirror Asheville’s past

BY MAX HUNT mhunt@mountainx.com On Feb. 1, 1889, an elated crowd of Asheville locals braved frigid temperatures to watch history in the making in Pack Square. That day, the city’s newest innovation — the electric streetcar — departed on its maiden voyage through the city. From that single car, Asheville’s first mass transit system would evolve into the second-largest trolley service in the entire country for its time.

Until its demise in 1934, the trolley would play a central role in transforming Asheville from an isolated village into a modern city, bringing the possibilities and pitfalls of modernity with it.

Over a century later, Asheville once again struggles to accommodate increasing numbers of tourists, transplants and natives attempting to navigate the city. As city planners and residents wrestle with the latest growing pains, increasing numbers of citizns are calling for the city and state to invest in a future beyond the car.

A STREETCAR NAMED DEVELOPMENT At the turn of the 20th century, Asheville boomed with exuberant growth and expansion. The coming of the railroad in 1880 had opened the region to tourists and developers eager to capitalize on the area’s natural resources and scenic beauty. But getting visitors from place to place around the city was an arduous task for mule and man alike.

That all changed with the trolley’s introduction. “A new era was begun,” wrote authors David C. Bailey, Joseph M. Canfield and Harold E. Cox in their history of the Asheville streetcar system, Trolleys in the Land of the Sky. “No longer would Asheville be a simple mountain town, sparked only by visits of health-seekers and the wealthy fashionable from the east.”

By 1907, the streetcar system was carrying over 3 million passengers a year, the most of any in the state, according to the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. At its peak in 1915, Asheville’s system was running 43 individual cars on approximately 18 miles of track.

The trolleys not only ferried people around the city but also helped 8

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

COMING DOWN THE ROAD: As Asheville scrambles to meet the challenges presented by its latest growth spurt, an increasing number of residents are calling for public transit and multimodal transportation options in the city. But financial and strategic planning obstacles hamper increased multimodal transportation, similar to the challenges faced over 100 years ago, when the city boasted one of the largest electric trolley systems in the country. Photo courtesy of the city of Asheville shape it. Bankrolled by private investors, trolley lines spurred development in nearby villages like Montford and Ramoth (which encompassed the neighborhoods between Weaver Park and the Grove Park Country Club). West of the city, the sparsely populated area around the Sulphur Springs Resort grew into what is now West Asheville via the trolley line established by Pennsylvania investor William Carrier. Farther north, Weaverville and Woodfin were brought closer than ever through R.S. Howland’s efforts to establish trolley connections to Asheville, including the Craggy Mountain Line.

Many of the early companies operating the lines struggled to stay solvent, however, and several were sold or put into receivership throughout the late 1800s, according to Bailey, Canfield and Cox. In the early 1900s, the system was consolidated under the Asheville Power & Light Co., which became Carolina Power & Light in 1926.

CP&L ran the trolleys, paying usage fees to the city to operate on public streets, until the demise of the trolley system in 1934.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW Today, after decades of financial struggles following the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, Asheville again finds

MOUNTAINX.COM

itself in the midst of a renaissance.

According to U.S. census data, the city’s population grew from 74,000 in 2000 to nearly 90,000 residents currently. This doesn’t include the estimated 40,000 commuters who drive into the city for work each day, according to a 2017 study by national transportation research group TRIP. In addition, the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority estimates that an average of nearly 30,000 people visit Buncombe each day, while the Asheville Regional Airport reported record numbers of travelers for the fourth straight year in 2017.

Unlike the early 1900s, however, getting around today’s Asheville is predicated on motor vehicles. TRIP’s study noted that the average Asheville motorist spends 26 hours a year waiting in traffic; collectively, Asheville commuters use roughly $3.2 million worth of fuel annually.

While some commuters must drive out of necessity, there are many who could eschew cars if a viable alternative were offered, says Mike Sule, executive director of Asheville on Bikes. “The only way to reduce congestion is to diversify the mode share,” he says. “If we want a city that people can flow and move through, then we need to provide transportation options for a variety of people.”

Within the city itself, few options exist for those without a car beyond

the Asheville Redefines Transit bus system. Since 2010, the city has worked with community stakeholders to redevelop ART into a modern transit system, expanding service hours and routes, hiring a new management company to oversee the system, and modernizing its bus fleet to include hybrid, biodiesel and, in the next few years, electric buses.

Currently, ART operates 17 individual routes, serving 2.1 million passengers last year.

The recent hiring of a new management company, RATP Dev, in October to oversee the ART system has also paid dividends, according to the city, which recently reported that on-time performance had improved from around 50-60 percent historically to 67 percent as of January.

SOLIDARITY, SEGREGATION AND STREETCARS Many of the streets and neighborhoods where ART buses now run developed around the streetcar system. But the trolley’s impact on Asheville went beyond its influence on the city’s physical layout. The streetcar system soon highlighted issues of workers’ rights and racial segregation.

Asheville streetcar employees were paid a spartan 12 cents an hour as late as 1913, when the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees of America, Division

128, staged a strike that crippled Asheville’s trolley service for three days, forcing ownership to increase wages over the next several years. The streetcar workers’ union would eventually evolve into the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 128, which continues to represent the city’s transit employees today.

While the trolleys may have enabled the growth of suburban communities outside Asheville, that growth reflected white residents’ desire to maintain racial segregation between neighborhoods.

Nor was the trolley system itself immune from such bigotry, as Bailey, Canfield and Cox illustrate. When an African-American park was established in Ramoth in 1902, black residents began to use the East Street Line in significant numbers, causing white patrons to complain.

Citing “a lack of business” and an “unsafe” trestle crossing at Reed Creek, the line’s owners abruptly discontinued service to the area on July 6, 1902, according to the authors. When the Ramoth aldermen approved a new line to the community several days later, it was with the added stipulation that “prohib-

BIRTH OF AN ERA: Asheville residents gathered on Feb. 1, 1889, in Pack Square to celebrate the first run of the city’s newly purchased electric streetcars. The streetcar system would revolutionize Asheville and set the stage for the city’s future growth.

Photo via the North Carolina Collection, Pack Memorial Library, Asheville ited the street railway from operating a ‘Negro park’ on or near the new line.”

TRANSIT FOR THE REST OF US Economic disparities are apparent today in the makeup and concerns of the ART system’s ridership. According to a 2013 ART rider survey, 63 percent of respondents had no other transportation

option, while 78 percent of riders earned under $25,000 a year.

Addressing the needs of necessity riders was the catalyst for the formation of Just Economics’ People Transportation Campaign in 2012, says Amy Cantrell, one of the initiative’s organizers. “When we went through the ART makeover, necessity riders actually lost service in a lot of ways,” she notes, including a

reduction of stops to improve on-time performance and a tightening of service hours. “We were sort of ballasting on-time performance on the backs of the most vulnerable [residents].”

In response, the People’s Transportation Campaign developed a 19-point transit agenda that called for more service to neighborhoods that rely heavily on ART for transportation, an increase in evening and weekend service hours, improved bus stop infrastructure and better rider representation on the city’s Transit Committee.

While the group celebrated the successful implementation of its agenda last December, says Cantrell, campaign members aren’t resting on their laurels. “We’re not anywhere near the kind of robust transit system that we know we need as a necessity rider.”

With the city engaged in its next Comprehensive Plan process, as well as a major update to its Transit Master Plan in the coming year, transit advocates are devising a new set of goals on behalf of riders.

For its part, the city is encouraging mixed-use development around centralized “nodes” along the transit sys-

CONTINUES ON PAGE 10

MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

9

N EWS tem in the new plans, which they hope will make accessing and connecting to the ART system easier for residents, while providing a viable alternative to car-based commuting, city transportation staff stated in an email to Xpress.

END OF AN ERA The automobile’s rise spelled doom for Asheville’s trolleys. By the 1920s, improved road conditions and wider ownership of motor vehicles had begun to subvert the electric streetcars’ hold on the city.

The final death-blow came with the 1929 stock market crash, which plunged Asheville and the rest of the country into the Great Depression.

By 1934, the city decided to phase out the trolleys in favor of a modern bus system. Just as they had gathered back in February 1889, citizens came to Pritchard Park on Sept. 7, 1934, to see the trolleys off one last time.

A recap of the send-off in the Asheville Citizen noted that, “Although the general motif was gay, there was an undercurrent of sadness among many of the passengers at the passing of the familiar streetcars which had served the city so long.”

Many of the trolleys wound up at Fortune’s Street Car Tourist Camp on Hendersonville Road as reconfigured campers; at least one served as a dwelling in Biltmore Forest into the 1950s.

In 2001, vintage railroad buff Rocky Hollifield founded the Craggy Mountain Line to preserve a 3-mile section of track in Woodfin, the last surviving stretch of Asheville’s trolley system. Today, the volunteer-run nonprofit operates short excursion trips on Saturdays from April through October, as well as special holiday events.

Only two original Asheville streetcars are known to remain in existence.

Craggy Mountain Line owns both, and Hollifield intends to restore them and put them back in service.

“Our desire is to bring the two Asheville cars back to life, so people can come here and step up into a piece of our local history,” Hollifield says. But restoring those cars — both of which are in a state of disrepair — requires time and money, for which Hollifield hopes to find a grant or funding source in the near future.

BEYOND THE BUS More than eight decades after the trolley’s final run, public interest in multimodal transit is experiencing a resurgence. The 2013 Millennials & Mobility study by the American 10

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

BRANCHING OUT: By 1912, the electric streetcar system had extended into many areas beyond the limits of Asheville proper, facilitating the growth of suburban neighborhoods in Montford, West Asheville, North Asheville and beyond. Image via the North Carolina Collection, Pack Memorial Library Public Transit Association noted that young commuters increasingly want to live in cities that offer a variety of transit options and prefer modes of transportation that allow them to work while traveling.

Locally, Sule says, “There’s every indicator that our community wants active transportation: There are ‘Slow Down’ signs everywhere. If you look at the South Slope survey on the city’s website, bicycle parking is a higher priority than vehicle parking.”

In August 2016, the city hosted a preliminary community meeting to discuss possibilities for a shuttle program to ferry people among West Asheville, the River Arts District and downtown. According to the city’s Transportation Department, an analysis of the shuttle proposal will be included in the city’s updated Transit Master Plan, which is expected to be released in draft form by April.

Asheville has also invested in developing its greenway system, which will eventually link downtown with points east, west and north (See “Road to Redevelopment,” Sept. 16, 2016, Xpress).

To gauge interest in a possible bikeshare program, city staff plans to launch a feasibility study this year. Such a program would allow residents and visitors to pick up a bike from a station in one part of the city and return it to another station when finished.

Diversifying transit throughout the city offers a multitude of benefits for the entire community, says Sule. In addition to improved safety for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists, a diverse transit system encourages economic growth, “primar-

MOUNTAINX.COM

ily because people are moving slower through those corridors, and they’re able to notice more of what a particular corridor has to offer,” Sule contends.

With Asheville’s population steadily growing, Cantrell says that it’s time for the city to develop a transportation network that mirrors larger cities in the country, where public transit is easily accessible and reliable. “It’s more sustainable, better for the environment and much better on traffic congestion,” she notes.

A robust transit system also facilitates community engagement and helps bridge equity gaps, Cantrell adds. “Lack of access really hampers the life of our overall community and participation in the community as a whole. Transit’s a real intersectional issue, in terms of food and security, the struggle for affordable housing and for economic opportunity for better jobs.”

THE TROUBLE WITH TRANSIT But if city officials are open to the idea of a diversified transportation landscape, implementing those ideas is a more complex puzzle. “Challenges can be financial, physical or social,” says the city’s transportation staff, especially in a region with limited available land for right of way expansion.

Last year, for example, Asheville’s ambitious greenway plans ran into a snag due to ballooning construction costs, causing city planners to put some projects on hold. And plans to incorporate multimodal elements into the Interstate 26 Connector project remain

up in the air, as the city and the N.C. Department of Transportation haggle over who pays for those aspects of the design.

While Sule acknowledges that funding is always a challenge for any transportation project, he contends that the public supports increased investment in alternative modes of transport. “We just passed a $30 million bond referendum for transportation, which speaks to how much our citizens desire active transportation options,” he says.

Initiating such projects also requires regional cooperation, notes Lyuba Zuyeva, director of the French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization, a conglomerate of municipal and county representatives that works with state agencies to set transportation priorities in WNC. “There has been an increase in cross-county commuting patterns in our region over the last 15 years and there is not currently a regional transit authority in place to help connect residents from one part of our region to another,” says Zuyeva, unlike other areas of the state like the Triangle, where a regional transit authority supports local transit services to facilitate intercounty transportation.

For Cantrell, the issue of funding presents a values question for the city.

“Budgets are moral documents,” she says. “Investing in transit might seem like a lot, but there are social costs that we don’t compute in sometimes, whether that’s health care, social services because people can’t get to work, the environment. Investing in transit is actually much cheaper than reaping those costs later on.”

DOT OR DON’T Outside agencies, like NCDOT, which controls many of Asheville’s roadways, must also be on board with the city’s transportation goals. Points of disagreement recently emerged over NCDOT’s proposed widening of Merrimon Avenue, which some residents, advocacy groups like Asheville on Bikes and the members of City Council have opposed (See “Residents to DOT: Let Us Participate in Merrimon Planning,” Jan. 24, Xpress).

While NCDOT has endorsed a “complete streets” approach — which calls for accommodating all street users, including pedestrians, cyclists and transit users as well as motorists — since 2009 and recently adopted a Vision Zero plan that emphasizes multimodal transportation, Sule alleges that Division 13, which oversees DOT operations in Western North Carolina, has not prioritized such initiatives in

chance to ride a trolley, maybe walk the greenway, do some river riding and just see a lot of the area.”

In addition, Hollifield has grand plans for a depot location at the other end of the line in the center of Woodfin, which could include a small museum, food vending area and other amenities.

While his organization is still seeking funding assistance for the depot project, Hollifield says the goal in the next couple of years is “to have it where people can come and have a place to feel, see, hear and smell the experiences they would have been able to have almost 100 years ago.”

LESSONS FROM THE RAIL LINE

BUS OR BUST: Within Asheville’s city limits, few transit options exist beyond the ART bus system for residents who don’t own a motor vehicle. Since 2010, the city has worked to improve the ART system’s efficiency and lessen its impact on the environment. Photo courtesy of the city of Asheville its projects locally. “The agency that is tasked with providing transportation to our citizens is ironically the No. 1 obstacle to safe, accessible transportation options,” he says.

In response, Division 13 spokesperson David Uchiyama points to NCDOT’s 2018-27 State Transportation Improvement Program, where a host of pedestrian, sidewalk and multimodal priorities are listed for the Asheville area, based on the state’s Strategic Mobility Formula, which allocates revenue based on data-driven scoring and local input. Uchiyama adds that residents’ ire is often mistakenly pointed at DOT, when transportation initiatives are generated by regional groups like the French Broad River MPO in partnership with DOT. According to Zuyeva, DOT sets aside anywhere from 4 to 10 percent of available Regional Impact and Division Needs funding for nonhighway modes of transportation. But under state law, municipalities and local agencies must match state funding for any pedestrian or bicycle improvement project, while federal and state statutes limit how much highway transportation funding can be used for multimodal projects.

The French Broad River MPO met with local stakeholders and NCDOT officials on Feb. 13 to discuss goals aimed at increasing mobility for low-income residents, seniors and those with disabilities in WNC through Federal Transit Administration grants and partnerships with nonprofits and the private sector.

On March 21, NCDOT will host a Summit for the Statewide Strategic Transportation Plan in Raleigh to review and discuss statewide initiatives. In addition, the N.C. Public Transportation Program will host a five-day confer-

ence beginning April 20, and the N.C. Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations will host its annual conference on April 24, during which transportation issues will be discussed.

BACK ON TRACK

Residents can keep up with current initiatives and provide feedback on projects by visiting the public input website Open City Hall, attending upcoming workshops, or applying to serve on one of the city’s transportation-related boards and committees.

Meanwhile, Cantrell says the People’s Transportation Campaign will continue to focus on improving the ART system, with hopes to expand its efforts into Buncombe County. “That’s

on the horizon,” she says. “There are so many opportunities where it would make sense to advocate around county transit — it’s a huge need.”

She encourages interested residents to get involved with the campaign by visiting justeconomicswnc.org or becoming a member of the Better Buses Together Facebook group.

Sule, meanwhile, encourages residents to sign up for his organization’s newsletter. “If you want to find out the events and the opportunities to volunteer, ashevilleonbikes.com is the place to go,” he notes. “You’ll get to know of all the major cycling events, our advocacy campaigns and the call to actions.”

Perhaps the easiest thing people can do is learn from the city’s past efforts and mistakes in maintaining multimodal options like the once-famed trolley system, says Hollifield. “You had a system that was so efficient,” he says of the trolleys. “They were quiet; they used no gas or oil, no tires or batteries. You didn’t have to pave a road every few years. I don’t think the buses are going anywhere anytime soon, but I do think we’re learning that we should have held on to this railroad history and kept it.” X

And what of the trolley system?

Could Asheville’s transportation future feature a return of the streetcars, as cities like Charlotte and San Francisco have done?

Not anytime soon, according to Asheville’s Transportation Department, citing upfront costs, logistical challenges and questionable returns as prohibitive factors to any such project.

City transportation staffers say they are looking at the possibility of eventually transitioning frequently used ART routes into rapid transit lines, which “function more like conventional rail systems.” However, they add, “It’s too early to discuss whether ridership and other conditions could meet the requirements that would be necessary to justify a BRT [bus rapid transit] system.”

While a return of a streetcar system in Asheville might not be on the horizon, the vestiges of the original trolley lines could play an important role in revitalizing nearby Woodfin’s waterfront, where town and county officials announced plans last year for a $13.9 million project that would include a 5-mile stretch of greenway, a new park and the region’s first constructed whitewater wave.

The location of this new project happens to be located along the Craggy Mountain Line’s right of way, says Hollifield. “The fact that we’re going to have a park at the end of our line is very exciting,” he notes. “It’ll give people a MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

11

N EWS

by Carolyn Morrisroe

cmorrisroe@mountainx.com

FUTURE FOCUS With two newly elected members and an evolving political landscape, Asheville City Council’s annual retreat at The Collider Feb. 15-16 reflected a shifting mindset about what issues the city should tackle in the coming years.

The stated purpose of the retreat was: “To enhance the ability of the Asheville City Council to work together and make effective policy decisions through team building, a review and renewal of its vision and three-year priorities, and a discussion of governance roles.”

Before diving into discussion of the city’s goals, facilitator Tyler St. Clair asked Council members to share their observations on how the city has changed since 2008.

Mayor Esther Manheimer pointed to Asheville’s increased development, growth and tourism as big changes.

“There’s been a lot of discussion about tourism and its effect on our economy — whether we hate it or we really hate it,” she said to laughter from those in the room. “And so it’s just a completely different climate in less than 10 years.”

Council member Julie Mayfield said one trend she sees is the city being “under siege” by the state legislature.

“I think it makes us a little more cautious than we might be otherwise,” she said. “Asheville is an affirmatively progressive town, but because of the fact that we have a target on our back, we haven’t passed resolutions or challenged things that we might challenge otherwise, and that’s frustrating for a lot of people.”

Manheimer added that she believes national events have influenced the narrative in Asheville over the past decade. “The other thing that’s completely changed is we weren’t talking about police shootings in 2008, we weren’t talking about Confederate monuments, we weren’t talking about equity. We weren’t having social justice conversations like we are today,” she said.

Civic engagement among community members of Asheville increased in response to the Great Recession, said Council member Keith Young.

“I think people were hurt so dearly, financially and socioeconomically, that people became more attuned to what local government can and can’t do for them, and even if they didn’t know, they wanted to be involved,” he said.

New Council member Sheneika Smith said another factor is that the composition of the city’s neighbor12

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

City Council prioritizes equity, environment, economy at annual retreat

SETTING CITY GOALS: Assistant City Manager Cathy Ball writes notes while Council members, from left, Julie Mayfield, Sheneika Smith, Mayor Esther Manheimer and Vijay Kapoor brainstorm about what they’d like to keep in the city’s Vision 2036 plan. Photo by Carolyn Morrisroe hoods has fundamentally changed. “I think around the time of the recession, a lot of people lost their homes, and then they began to pick back up, and that meant the identity of neighborhoods began to change,” she said. “So I think along with what was going on statewide and nationally, in Asheville the activism ramped up because it was an act of self-preservation and trying to save the Asheville that a lot of people knew and that attracted people here.”

RE-VISIONING At its retreat in January 2016, City Council created Vision 2036, which laid out the Asheville that Council members would like to see within 20 years. The document is intended to be used as a guide when developing new policies and priorities.

At the retreat, Council members took a hard look at the vision statement and discussed what they think should remain in the document and what needs to change. They assembled in two breakout groups and created lengthy lists of suggestions for shaping the vision.

Mayfield presented the list of things that are working in Asheville on behalf of her breakout group, which also included Manheimer, Smith and newly elected Council member Vijay Kapoor.

She highlighted as positives the city’s finances, greenway projects, transporta-

MOUNTAINX.COM

tion, energy and affordable housing. “We definitely have an engaged community … we are paying a living wage, we are continuing to set that model, our boards and commissions are getting stronger — we’re getting more applicants and more diverse applicants, and we’re doing a better job of training them,” she added.

Vice Mayor Gwen Wisler presented the list of items from the vision statement that are working in Asheville for her group, which included Young, Council member Brian Haynes and City Manager Gary Jackson. Among them: making community engagement a standard operating procedure; focusing on energy and the environment; efforts related to equity and diversity; and the city’s commitment to open data and the evolving use of technology. The group also wanted to “keep Asheville as welcoming for guests and for people who move here and continue to make it easy for people to get involved and get invested in the city,” Wisler said.

Next, Council members talked about what they’d like to change about Vision 2036 — and about Asheville in general. The first group had a lot to say on the topic of workforce development, advocating for internship programs and job programs for individuals left out of Asheville’s job market. Kapoor summarized the group’s discussion: “We talked a little bit about, well, what do we do versus what the private industry does, questions about trying to fit people with jobs — what’s the disconnect between,

there’s a lot of job openings out there and there’s people saying, ‘I can’t find good jobs that pay good wages.’”

The first group said the city should continue its efforts to expand affordable housing and look into anti-displacement measures. It also brought up food insecurity, equity initiatives, land planning, police turnover, improving Parks & Recreation and working on zoning and development rules with the county.

The second group also presented a long list of issues on which members would like to see action in the city, including: supporting workforce development and diversity; recruiting more local talent for the police force; retaining youths so they don’t move out of Asheville; diversifying the economy; strengthening the relationship with the county; and developing an action plan around environmental initiatives.

Wisler said the group had an idea about improving the development process. “We were focusing on engaging the neighborhoods more, getting more neighborhoods to actually proactively plan versus just being anti-something,” she said. “Getting ‘Plan on a Page’ for all neighborhoods and make the neighborhood plans be the first thing that a developer goes to, or anyone who’s thinking about making a change in a neighborhood, that we really rely on that to be the guidance.”

Council made a few small revisions to the Vision 2036 document based on the discussions about what to keep and

what to change, but one more substantial addition did not gain consensus of Council. Wisler suggested adding two sentences, which, after incorporating suggestions from other Council members, read: “Downtown is the financial, cultural, social, governmental and economic center of Western North Carolina. Asheville has successfully preserved other historic commercial areas scattered across the city.”

Some members of Council didn’t feel comfortable focusing on just downtown Asheville. “I want to not single out downtown as the only place that we’re trying to preserve or be any type of commercial power,” Smith said. “It seems like all across the city, we want it to be thriving.”

Young said calling out downtown could leave residents and business owners in other neighborhoods feeling overlooked. “People might distinguish that as ‘What about me?’” he said. He also worried that future City Councils might read this in the Vision 2036 statement and, not being privy to this conversation, misconstrue it as a directive to focus civic efforts on downtown to the exclusion of other areas of the city.

Ultimately, the language about downtown Asheville being the center of WNC was not added to the vision statement.

PRIORITY PLANNING The second day of the annual retreat was given over almost entirely to revising the city’s 36 three-year priorities, originally developed two years ago. Council took them one by one, updating the status of each priority and deciding whether to retain it as a priority, mark it as complete or demote it as not a key priority.

Council identified several priorities that need more attention, such as installing a monument to AfricanAmerican heritage, developing a plan for city-owned property at 68 Haywood St., and implementing strategies to get more diversity on city boards and commissions.

Members agreed they wanted to completely revise the wording of a priority relating to the city’s Parks & Recreation Department. The new version states: “Expand the role of Parks & Recreation in fostering racial equity and closing the achievement gap through its programming, facilities, staffing, operations and partnerships.”

Jackson explained that Parks & Rec has been working to apply an equity lens to its programming, which will continue. Mayfield suggested that the city could make additional investment in the depart-

BREAKOUT: Council members, from left, Gwen Wisler, Keith Young and Brian Haynes talk about the long-term vision for the city of Asheville in a breakout session. Photo by Carolyn Morrisroe ment’s programs that are free and open to everyone.

In November, Council accepted the new Food Policy Goals and Action Plan, which identifies long-term food policy focus areas and goals. At the retreat, Council talked about where to go from here. Mayfield said her understanding is the plan now moves into becoming operational, with a focus on education and growing more food, which further brings it into the city’s purview because of the element of planting and maintaining community gardens and orchards on city-owned property. “That work has sat largely with the Sustainability office and some in Parks & Rec … and like none with Public Works, which actually manages a fair amount of our land,” she said.

Kapoor wondered if growing food should really be the focus of the Food Action Plan. “I get the edibles, I get all that, but to me the more immediate, three-year problem is focusing on how do we get people fed in the city of Asheville?” he said. “If we had one dollar, I would rather see that spent on supporting the YMCA or something like that where we immediately meet the need of those folks as opposed to saying, spend a dollar creating an urban orchard.”

Council added the word “women” to its existing priority: “Research and recommend a portfolio of options for small business and women- and minority-owned business support.” It also clarified that the original intent of the goal was to address chain stores moving into downtown.

“There’s still the chain store piece around zoning and what are some other strategies,” Mayfield said. “We can’t just outright ban them, even if we wanted to, so what are some other strategies to help protect local businesses?”

Haynes pointed out that the Downtown Commission has a working group dedicated to addressing this issue.

Multiple times throughout the retreat, City Council members brought up the desire for a better working relationship

with Buncombe County government. It workshopped a priority pertaining to this issue to read: “Identify and expand opportunities for partnership with Buncombe County, to include energy, transportation, affordable housing, greenway extension, solid waste, parks and recreation, and other amenities.

Additionally, identify, address and formalize cooperative agreements with the county to ensure they are balanced.”

Wisler explained the problem as it currently stands. “We have several items that city staff has identified where either our agreement with the county hasn’t been documented, it’s kind of fluid, or the agreement isn’t necessarily fair or equitable between us, and we have a bunch of items that we just need to sit down and hammer out, either document them or renegotiate them,” she said.

After revising the 36 existing priorities, Council recommended a few new ones. Hiring a new city manager topped Council’s to-dos since Jackson announced he plans to retire at the end of this year. Also making the list of new goals were: • Develop a strategy based on the National League of Cities report to foster economic mobility in the city of Asheville.

• Identify reasons for and reduce police turnover and enhance minority and local recruitment.

• Develop and implement a strategy to further awareness of the vision and the successes that the city is experiencing.

• Integrate multiyear operational financial plan into budget process.

• Evaluate new and renewing external contracts for the opportunity to bring work in-house. Haynes suggested this goal in response to the fact that the city contracts out labor and can’t require contractors to pay a living wage, but it does pay a living wage to city employees.

A longer version of this article that includes personal reflections from the Council members appears online at avl.mx/4pw. X

$

MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

13

B U N C O M B E B E AT

NEWS

McGrady talks regional water systems at County Commission

WATER WRANGLES: State Rep. Chuck McGrady addresses the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 20 to report on a new committee to study the regionalization of water and sewer systems. He has also visited governmental bodies in Henderson County in recent days. Photo by David Floyd State Rep. Chuck McGrady is making the rounds of local governing bodies to talk about a study committee he is co-chairing to explore incentives for regionalization of sewer and water systems. He addressed the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 20 and was scheduled to address Asheville City Council on Feb. 27.

McGrady’s tour comes on the heels of a decision by the county’s Metropolitan Sewerage District in late December to deny a resolution that would have merged the district with the Cane Creek Water and Sewer District in Henderson County.

McGrady, a Republican whose district includes northern Henderson County, said the committee grew out of nullified legislation that transferred ownership of the Asheville water system to the Metropolitan Sewerage District — the state Supreme Court ultimately deemed it unconstitutional — but he said the committee does address a broader issue.

“Many of the sewer and water systems across the state became municipal systems because they were originally part of a mill town, and the mill put in the water and the sewer,” McGrady said. “Then it became a municipal system, and unfortunately in a lot of cases that mill closed down and the water and sewer systems oftentimes frankly weren’t sustainable in their fashion in the way they worked.”

McGrady said when he suggested the study, the state treasurer’s office and Department of Environmental Quality told him he’d hit on a big issue. The treasurer’s office, he said, was concerned about finances. “Some of these systems are not sustainable,” McGrady 14

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

said. “They estimate that somewhere between 30 and 60 municipalities [and counties] across the state … are functionally bankrupt because of their water and sewer systems.”

The DEQ’s concern, McGrady said, also had to do with sustainability.

“Periodically [these systems] fail, and suddenly the state has to come in and put up a few hundred thousand dollars to deal with the issue at hand, but it’s just a Band-Aid. … Both of these state government departments have basically said, ‘Can we create some incentives or even some sticks to cause some of these things to merge together? We need more regional water and sewer.’”

Not everyone in attendance at the commission meeting viewed McGrady’s presentation in a positive light. “Rep. McGrady is relentless in his efforts to take control of Asheville’s water,” said Asheville resident Beth Jezek during public comment. “When he says he is trying to work with Asheville to resolve water issues, please realize there are no issues to be resolved. The courts resolved the Asheville water issues over a year ago. … His actions in the legislature are antagonistic and punitive, making it difficult to believe he has altruistic motives and is acting with integrity.”

McGrady tried to allay concerns that the committee was put together with ulterior motives. “In the MSD processes … we had folks stand up and suggest that this committee was the way that Rep. Chuck McGrady was going to seize Asheville’s water system again,” McGrady said. “And I’m here to talk to you directly to explain that that just isn’t true. It’s just rhetoric.”

MOUNTAINX.COM

FUNDING SCHOOL PROJECTS At its Feb. 20 meeting, the Board of Commissioners unanimously approved issuing limited obligation bonds to pay for $60 million worth of school projects that have been approved over the past few years.

This includes about $46.7 million in major renovations to Asheville High School, Community High School and Montford North Star Academy as well as LED retrofits for schools in both the Buncombe County and Asheville City Schools systems, and roofing and HVAC replacements at Ira B. Jones Elementary School. The county will also be financing about $13.7 million in miscellaneous projects.

“I think these projects have all been vetted by both the county school board internally and then the city school board and then the School Capital Fund Commission,” said board Chair Brownie Newman, “So I think there’s been a very thorough process from staff, the school boards and this body to rank all the projects within each school system, and these were projects that rose to the top.”

The Local Government Commission, which must consider any debt financing of this magnitude, will look at the financing plan on March 6.

The county will issue the bonds through a public sale, with the term of issuance being 20 years. The county will pay off the debt using Article 39 sales tax revenue, which is one of four sources of sales tax revenue used by the county.

Of the Article 39 revenue, 50 percent is designated for school capital projects.

In a separate vote, commissioners unanimously approved three extra projects totaling $813,167 for the 2019 school year. Commissioners had previously approved about $14.23 million in projects for the 2019 school year out of a capacity of about $15 million.

“The [School Capital Fund Commission] was recommending a few more projects to use up the remaining capacity for that school year,” said Dustin Clark, the county’s business intelligence analyst. “That would be the remainder of school year 2019 funding, and we would look at school year 2020 funding moving forward.”

These new projects include $431,167 for the demolition of Asheville High School’s ROTC building and wall stabilization, $132,000 for a kitchen replacement at Clyde A. Erwin High School and $250,000 for LED lighting replacements in Buncombe County schools, which county schools energy manager Alesha Reardon says makes up for a reduction in rebate funds received from Duke Energy Progress.

REACHING NEW HEIGHTS Commissioners heard an update on the Lee Walker Heights revitalization project, which has received a second major piece of funding in the form of federal housing tax credits from the N.C. Housing Finance Agency to help incentivize investment in the housing development. The first major piece of funding was a $4.2 million commitment each from the city of Asheville and Buncombe County.

David Nash, chief operating officer of the Asheville Housing Authority, told commissioners he anticipates the tax credits will fund approximately $12 million, or one-third, of the total project cost.

Built in 1950, Lee Walker Heights was the first public housing community in Asheville. Planners envision that the complex will be a mixedincome community once complete, adding 116 additional apartments to the complex’s current allotment of 96 deeply subsidized units.

Nash said residents will be relocated during construction: “We will be providing another apartment in our inventory that’s equal to or better than the one they are staying in now, and they will have the right to return when the project is complete.” He added that the relocation could start this summer.

Newman lauded the project. “This is much more than just an afford-

NEWS BRIEFS able housing development. … It’s going to accomplish a bunch of other great things for the neighborhood and the community,” he said.

IN OTHER BUSINESS Commissioners bumped a public hearing on a rezoning request to March 6 because the petitioner, Heath White of Zen Tubing, was dealing with a personal matter and couldn’t attend the meeting. White is asking the county to rezone a 4-acre parcel at 1648 Brevard Road from residential low-density to commercial service district.

The board filled two vacancies on the Buncombe County Board of Adjustment, selecting candidates Wendell Howard and Martin Moore.

Commissioners decided to delay a vote on filling a vacancy on the Asheville Board of Adjustment until they could interview the second of two candidates.

The next meeting of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners will occur Tuesday, March 6, in room 326 at 200 College St. in downtown Asheville. For more of the latest county and city news, check out Xpress’ Buncombe Beat.

— David Floyd X

Xpress collects 12 awards at N.C. Press Association gala Raleigh’s a fair distance from our mountain home, but the drive to the North Carolina Press Association’s annual conference was worth the gas money for Xpress this year. The paper snagged 12 awards, including third place for general excellence among community newspapers with a circulation of over 10,000 in North Carolina.

The judges wrote: “At first glance, Asheville’s Mountain Xpress has the look of a flashy niche publication. But once you get into it, the punchy tabstyle layout lends way to thoughtful, issue-based news reporting and enjoyable feature stories. The extensive voter guide was particularly well done, as is the community calendar.

Obviously, this is not your traditional community newspaper (no sports coverage or local editorial), but it is certainly fun to read.”

Xpress managing editor Virginia Daffron attended the awards ceremony on Feb. 22, where she received first place in the education reporting category for her look at the wide gap in academic achievement between white and black students in the Asheville City Schools, “Changing Course: Asheville City Schools Take Aim at Racial Disparities,” March 22, 2017. Daffron and staff writer Max Hunt shared second place in the beat feature reporting category for their writing on the French Broad River: • “Communities along Upper French Broad Work to Restore Water Quality,” Aug. 16, 2017 • “Local Agencies Work to Improve Water Quality in Buncombe & Madison Counties,” Aug. 23, 2017

#WINNING: Mountain Xpress takes third place in the general excellence category for North Carolina community newspapers with circulations of more than 10,000. The award of excellence was one of 12 Xpress received at this year’s N.C. Press Association awards, held on Feb. 22 in Raleigh.

Photo by Virginia Daffron • “Can the Woodfin Greenway & Blueway Beat the Odds?” Aug. 2, 2017 • “MSD Upgrades Infrastructure with Capital Improvement Projects,” Aug. 30, 2017 Arts & Entertainment editor and writer Alli Marshall scored three prizes: • Second place for her reporting on “(In)sightseeing: Hood Tours Share

by Max Hunt | mhunt@mountainx.com BUNCOMBE COMMISSIONERS MEET MARCH 6 The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners will hold its next scheduled meeting Tuesday, March 6, at 5 p.m. at 200 College St., Suite 326, in downtown Asheville. A meeting agenda will be released online before the meeting at avl.mx/4pk.

BUNCOMBE NONPROFITS PARTNER FOR LOCAL CIVICS 101 SERIES The League of Women Voters of AshevilleBuncombe County, Pisgah Legal Services and Children First/ Communities in Schools will present a four-week program throughout March centered on local government processes and how residents can get involved.

The Local Civics 101 series will begin Tuesday, March 6, with three representatives from Asheville City government: Jaime Matthews, assistant to the city manager; Dawa Hitch, director of communications and public engagement; and Asheville City Council member Keith Young. Speakers will present on current initiatives going on at the city level and take questions from attendees.

County government representatives will speak March 13, while a local

judge and representatives from the Justice Resource Center and Family Justice Center will present on March 20. Pisgah Legal Services staff will hold an advocacy training session on March 27.

Each event will take place at the Edington Center, 133 Livingston St., Asheville, 6-7:30 p.m. Light snacks will be served.

Spanish interpretation and child care are available as needed. The events are free and open to the public.

More info: avl.mx/4po or 828-333-0893 CITY RELEASES RAD CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE The city of Asheville’s Strategic Development Office has announced upcoming construction projects taking place in the River Arts District over the next several weeks. Projects include work on the Jean Webb parking area through May, as well as work on the parking lot under the Interstate 240 bridge.

In addition, crews will begin sewer and utility work in March along Riverside Drive from the railroad trestle to Lyman Street, and roadwork under the trestle bridge, which will close one lane of traffic for at least six weeks. City staff and contractors will host a public meet-and-greet Friday, March 16, 8:30-10 a.m. at 14 Riverside Drive to dis-

the History and Future of Black Asheville,” Jan. 25, 2017.

• Third place for “Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands Celebrates 70 Years,” July 20, 2017.

• Third place for headline writing Former County Government Reporter Dan Hesse received second place for “The 1.5 Percent: Past Pay Increases Present Puzzles,” (Sept. 13, 2017) for city county government reporting.

Staff writer Able Allen netted third place in news enterprise reporting for his look at how county fire services are structured and funded, “Where There’s Smoke: How Local Fire

cuss construction projects and timelines The projects are part of the city’s River Arts District Transportation Improvement Project.

Long-term construction is expected to continue through 2018 throughout the RAD. More info: avl.mx/4pm PLAYWRIGHT TONY KUSHNER TO VISIT WCU Acclaimed playwright and author Tony Kushner will visit Western North Carolina University on Thursday, April 5, at 7:30 p.m. for an onstage interview and discussion with Beth Huber, associate professor of writing.

The interview will cap off the university’s Spring Literary Festival and is one of the featured events of WCU’s College of Fine and Performing Arts 10th anniversary celebration.

Kushner has received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, an Emmy Award, two Tony Awards and numerous other accolades for his work, which includes plays and screenplays such as Angels in America, Munich and Lincoln, among others.

Tickets to the event are $25 for the general public, $20 for WCU/Southwest Community College faculty and staff, and $5 for WCU/SCC students.

Tickets & more info: avl.mx/4pl or 828-227ARTS X

Departments Keep Residents Safe in Changing Times,” Aug. 9, 2017.

Xpress’ pull-out guide to Beer Week (May 25, 2017) received third place in the special section category.

Xpress’ design staff — Norn Cutson, Scott Southwick and Olivia Urban — were honored with three awards for ads on behalf of Rezaz Mediterranean Restaurant & Wine Bar (first place), Isa’s Bistro (third place) and Hot Yoga Asheville (third place).

MOUNTAINX.COM

— Xpress Contributor X FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

15

COMMUNITY CALENDAR FEB. 28 - MARCH 8, 2018

classroom and state-ofthe-art shooting range.

Mature, professional, friendly, and highlyqualified instructors. $85. (828) 575-0028. www.skylandtraining. com

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

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

ANIMALS DIANA WORTHAM THEATRE 18 Biltmore Ave., 828-257-4530, dwtheatre.com • SU (3/4), 2pm & 7pm - Event featuring animal expert Peter Gros from Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. $40/$20 children.

BENEFITS ASHEVILLE ART MUSEUM 828-253-3227, ashevilleart.org • WE (2/28), 6:30-8:30pm - Proceeds from the TOAST Asheville event with beer sampling, local food, live entertainment and silent auction benefit the Asheville Art Museum. $40/$30 members. Held at New Belgium Brewery, 21 Craven St. AUCTION FOR THE ARTS blackmountainarts.org • SA (3/3), 6pm Proceeds from this annual auction featured arts and services and a catered buffet reception benefit the Black Mountain Center for the Arts. $30. Held at Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W. State St., Black Mountain BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF WNC 828-253-1470, bbbswnc.org • FR (3/2), 7-9pmProceeds from the Big Brewery Bowl-Off bowling competition benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of WNC. Free to attend.

Held at Sky Lanes, 1477 Patton Ave. • SA (3/3), 9am-5pmProceeds from Bowl For Kids’ Sake Buncombe County, bowling com-

VILLAGERS... (PD.) ...is an Urban Homestead Supply store offering quality tools, supplies and classes to support healthy lifestyle activities like gardening, food preservation, cooking, herbalism, and more.

278 Haywood Road. www.forvillagers.com

petition, benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of WNC. Free to attend.

Held at Sky Lanes, 1477 Patton Ave. • SA (3/3), 11am-3:30pmProceeds from Bowl For Kids’ Sake Henderson County, bowling competition, benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of WNC. Free to attend.

Held at Tarheel Lanes, 3275 Asheville Highway, Hendersonville GREEN RIVER COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION greenriver-ca.com • SA (3/3), noon-2pm - Proceeds from the Chilly Chili Cook-off, chili competition benefit the Green River Community Association. $5. Held at Tuxedo Park, 1299 Old US Highway 25, Zirconia OPEN HEARTS ART CENTER 828-505-8428, openheartsartcenter.org • FR (3/2), 8pm Proceeds from this fundraising concert featuring Taylor Martin benefit Open Hearts Art Center. $10. Held at Pisgah Brewing Company, 150 East Side Drive, Black Mountain OUR VOICE 828-252-0562, ourvoicenc.org/ trauma-education-series • TH (3/8), 7pmProceeds from the "Where There’s Hope, There’s Healing" lecture

by Elizabeth Smart, reception and live music

by Kat Williams benefit Our Voice. $25/$10 students/$100 VIP champagne reception. Held at A-B Tech Mission Health Conference Center, 16 Fernihurst Drive PUBLIC EVENTS AT WCU 828-227-7397, wcu.edu • TH (3/1), 5pm Proceeds from donations at the Lead the Way

VISIBLE: Christine Darden, one of the researchers featured in the 2016 book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race will deliver UNC Asheville’s annual Parsons Lecture on Thursday, March 1, at 7 p.m. in Lipinsky Auditorium. A leading mathematician, data analyst and aeronautical engineer during her 40-year career, Darden grew up outside Charlotte and attended Allen High School in Asheville. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in engineering from George Washington University and became an internationally known expert in sonic boom minimization. Her talk, From Monroe to NASA, will detail her Tar Heel State childhood and the numerous obstacles she conquered in her rise to success and recognition at NASA. Free. For more information, visit math.unca.edu. Photo courtesy of UNC Asheville (p. 20) fundraising campaign kickoff event benefit the Western Carolina Lead the Way Campaign. Free to attend. Held at A.K. Hinds University Center, Memorial Drive,Cullowhee

BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY A-B TECH SMALL BUSINESS CENTER 828-398-7950, abtech.edu/sbc • SA (3/3), 9am - "SCORE: How to Build Your Customer Base," seminar.

Registration required. Free.

Held at A-B Tech Small Business Center, 1465 Sand Hill Road, Candler • TU (3/6), 9-11am "Preparing for a Small Business Loan," seminar.

Registration required. Free.

Held at A-B Tech Small Business Center, 1465 Sand Hill Road, Candler • TU (3/6), 6-8pm "Business Formation: Choosing the Right Structure," seminar.

Registration required. Free.

Held at A-B Tech Small Business Center, 1465 Sand Hill Road, Candler • WE (3/7), 6-9pm "SCORE: Basic Internet Marketing," seminar.

Registration required. Free.

Held at A-B Tech Small Business Center, 1465 Sand Hill Road, Candler DEFCON 828 GROUP meetup.com/ DEFCON-828/ • 1st SATURDAYS, 2pm - General meeting for information security professionals, students and enthusiasts. Free to attend. Held at Earth Fare South, 1856 Hendersonville Road FLOOD GALLERY FINE ART CENTER 2160 US Highway 70, Swannanoa, 828-273-3332, floodgallery.org/ • THURSDAYS, 11am-5pm - "Jelly at the Flood," coworking event to meet up with like-minded people to exchange help, ideas and advice. Free to attend.

WESTERN WOMEN'S BUSINESS CENTER 828633-506-5101, carolinasmallbusiness.org • WE (2/28), 9-11am "Business Plan as a Living Document," seminar.

Registration required: 828-274-7739 or jhanks@ carolinasmallbusiness. org. Free. Held at Lenoir Rhyne Center for Graduate Studies, 36 Montford Ave.

Sunday, March 11, 2pm5pm. $30 admission, a free beer, free gift for first 25, prizes and snacks. A technological revolution in its infancy and you can financially benefit from the largest wealth transfer in history! Find us on Facebook events or email: blockchainfarmer@gmail. com

WNC LINUX USER GROUP wnclug.blogspot.com, wnclug@main.nc.us • 1st SATURDAYS, noon - Users of all experience levels discuss Linux systems. Free to attend. Held at Earth Fare South, 1856 Hendersonville Road

CLASSES AT VILLAGERS (PD.) • Tarot for Self Care Immersion: Thursdays, March 8-29. 6:30-8:30pm. $125-200. • Event Planning with the Moon: Sunday, March 11.

5:30-7pm. $20-30.

Registration/information: www.forvillagers.com

CLASSES, MEETINGS & EVENTS BITCOIN? BEER? (PD.) Learn about the Blockchain Revolution at the Blockchain and Beer lecture series! • Wedge at Foundation Cloud Room,

EMPYREAN ARTS CLASSES (PD.) Beginning Aerial Arts on Sundays 2:15pm, Mondays 6:30pm, Tuesdays 1:00pm, Thursdays 5:15pm.

Beginning Pole on Sundays 3:30pm, Mondays 5:15pm, Thursdays 8:00pm. Floor Theory

Dance on Wednesdays 7:30pm. Intro to Sultry Pole on Sundays 6:15pm more Information at EmpyreanArts.org Call/text us at 828.782.3321.

NC CONCEALED CARRY HANDGUN COURSE (PD.) Held in a clean, comfortable, safe

ASHEVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT 828-259-5881, ashevillenc.gov/ Departments/Police • Through WE (2/28) - Open registration for the spring Citizens Police Academy.

Registration: bit. ly/2uVozmf. Free.

ASHEVILLE ROTARY CLUB rotaryasheville.org • THURSDAYS, noon1:30pm - General meeting. Free. Held at Renaissance Asheville Hotel, 31 Woodfin St. ASHEVILLE SUBMARINE VETERANS ussashevillebase.com, ecipox@charter.net • 1st TUESDAYS, 6-7pm - Social meeting for U.S. Navy submarine veterans. Free to attend. Held at Ryan's Steakhouse, 1000 Brevard Road ASHEVILLE WOMEN IN BLACK main.nc.us/wib

WE PREVENT DOWNTIME!

oneclickavl.com 828-318-8558

info@oneclickavl.com Shop Hours: 9-3 M-F 438 Montford Ave. Asheville, NC 28801

MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

17

Don’t wink in the dark.

Not advertising is like winking in the dark.

You know what you’re doing, but nobody else does.

C O N S C I O U S PA R T Y

by Edwin Arnaudin | earnaudin@mountainx.com

Conscious Brews

Reach 75k pair of eyes per week Free design services adver tise@mountianx.com

HEADY TUNES: Asheville reggae band Chalwa is one of the groups that will play the fourth annual Conscious Brews event March 4 at Highland Brewing Co. Funds from a silent auction and $1 from each pint sold that afternoon benefit the Brain Injury Association of North Carolina. Photo by Elsa Berndt WHAT: An afternoon of music and beer to benefit the Brain Injury Association of North Carolina WHEN: Sunday, March 4, 1-6 p.m.

WHERE: Highland Brewing Co., 12 Old Charlotte Highway, Suite 200 WHY: In 2002, Karen Keating was working in an Asheville cardiologist office when she got a phone call informing her that her youngest son had been involved in a car accident and had sustained a traumatic brain injury.

“It was a whole new world,” Keating says. “He was in a coma for 10 days.

When he woke up, left side [was] paralyzed and the physicians couldn’t tell me if and when he woke up what his cognitive function would be.”

Keating’s son went through therapy, was able to graduate with his high school class and is doing well as a self-sufficient adult, but once he returned to society, it was unclear how to proceed. In need of guidance, Keating sought out the Brain Injury Association of North Carolina, attended an open board meeting and was asked to become a board member. At that time, the support advocacy resource organization for individuals with brain injury and their families had offices in Charlotte, Raleigh and Greenville, but nothing west of Charlotte. Keating told BIANC officials that if they established an office in Asheville, she’d quit her job and open it — and when they did, she followed through on her promise.

18

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

MOUNTAINX.COM

Now the community development coordinator for BIANC, Keating and her friend Dennis Berndt of Hinds’ Feet Farm, a local day program for individuals with brain injury, created Conscious Brews four years ago to raise funds for BIANC and awareness of its efforts. The 2018 edition takes place Sunday, March 4, at Highland Brewing Co., and kicks off Brain Injury Awareness Month.

At the free event, local bands donate their time throughout the afternoon.

There’s also a silent auction for a variety of local goods and services, and Highland will donate $1 from each pint sold during the event to BIANC, as well as collect tips over the course of the month. Berndt’s reggae band Chalwa, rockers Velvet Truckstop and guest musicians will take to the stage. Also on board are Southern rockers The Log Noggins, one of whose members has a special connection with BIANC. “[The band] had been named something else, but they were kayaking down the French Broad and a tree fell and hit him in the head,” Keating says. “They had to pull him out [and] get him to the hospital. He sustained an injury and he has been able to come back from that and is doing great, and they decided to change their name to kind of play on words with what they’re doing.”

Conscious Brews takes place Sunday, March 4, 1-6 p.m. at Highland Brewing Co. X

• 1st FRIDAYS, 5pm Monthly peace vigil. Free.

Held at Vance Monument, 1 Pack Square BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • Through TU (4/17), 10am-4pm - Free tax preparation for taxpayers with low and moderate income.

Mondays & Wednesdays at Pack Memorial Library.

Tuesdays at West Asheville Library. Thursdays at Weaverville Library. Free.

• TH (3/1), 5pm - Spanish conversation group for adults. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. • TU (3/6), 11am - Bingo for all ages. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. LAUREL CHAPTER OF THE EMBROIDERERS' GUILD OF AMERICA 828-686-8298, egacarolinas.org • TH (3/1), 10am-noon - General meeting and instruction program to create a Biscornu pin cushion, taught by Kim Sanders. Registration required: 828-693-4499. $10. Held at Cummings United Methodist Church, 3 Banner Farm Road, Horse Shoe MOMS DEMAND ACTION momsdemandaction.org • WE (3/7), 6-7:30pm - Monthly meeting to address current issues as well as future legislative agenda. Free. Held at West Asheville Public Library, 942 Haywood Road

SHOWING UP FOR RACIAL JUSTICE showingupforracialjustice. org • TUESDAYS, 10am-noon Educating and organizing white people for racial justice. Free to attend.

Held at Firestorm Cafe and Books, 610 Haywood Road VETERANS FOR PEACE 828-490-1872, VFP099.org • TUESDAYS, 5pm Weekly peace vigil.

Free. Held at the Vance Monument in Pack Square.

Held at Vance Monument, 1 Pack Square

FOOD & BEER CALDWELL CUSINE 726-2478, kandreasen@cccti.edu • TH (3/1), 6pm - Caldwell Community College culinary program dinner.

Registration: 828-2973811, x.5222. $21. Held at J.E. Broyhill Civic Center, 1913 Hickory Blvd SE. Lenior

GOVERNMENT & POLITICS BLUE RIDGE REPUBLICAN WOMEN’S CLUB facebook.com/BRRWC • 2nd THURSDAYS, 6pm General meeting. Free to attend. Held at Gondolier Restaurant, 1360 Tunnel Road.

CITY OF ASHEVILLE 828-251-1122, ashevillenc.gov • 1st WEDNESDAYS, 5pm - Citizens-Police Advisory Committee meeting. Free.

Meets in the 1st Floor Conference Room. Held at Public Works Building, 161 S. Charlotte St.

HENDERSON COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY 905 S. Greenville Highway, Hendersonville, 828-6926424, myhcdp.com • 1st SATURDAYS, 9-11am - Monthly breakfast buffet. $9/$4.50 for children under 10.

INDIVISIBLE COMMON GROUND-WNC Indivisible-sylva.com • 1st WEDNESDAYS, 6:308pm -General meeting.

Free. Held at St. David's Episcopal Church, 286 Forest Hills Road, Sylva PROGRESSIVE WOMEN OF HENDERSONVILLE pwhendo.org • FRIDAYS, 4-7pm Postcard writing to government representatives. Postcards, stamps, addresses, pens and tips are provided. Free to attend. Held at Sanctuary Brewing Company, 147 1st Ave., Hendersonville

KIDS APPALACHIAN ART FARM 22 Morris St., Sylva, appalchianartfarm.org • SATURDAYS, 10:30-noon - Youth art class. $10.

APPLE VALLEY MODEL RAILROAD & MUSEUM 650 Maple St, Hendersonville, AVMRC.com • WEDNESDAYS, 1-3pm & SATURDAYS, 10am-2pm - Open house featuring operating model trains and historic memorabilia. Free.

ASHEVILLE COMMUNITY THEATRE 35 E. Walnut St., 828-2541320, ashevilletheatre.org • SA (3/3), 10am Saturdays at ACT: Brightstar Touring Theatre presents Hansel and Gretel. $7.

BARNES AND NOBLE BOOKSELLERS ASHEVILLE MALL 3 S. Tunnel Road, 828-296-7335 • FR (3/2), 6:30pm "Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!" Story time, games and activities for children aged 3-8. Free to attend.

• SA (3/3), 11am - The Very Hungry Caterpillar, story time for kids aged 3-8. Free to attend.

BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • 2nd SATURDAYS, 1-4pm & LAST WEDNESDAYS (1/31), 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. • FR (3/2), 4pm - "Kids Draw," drawing activities for school aged kids. Free.

Held at Leicester Library, 1561 Alexander Road, Leicester • MONDAYS, 10:30am - "Mother Goose Time," storytime for 4-18 month olds. Free. Held at Skyland/South Buncombe Library, 260 Overlook Road • WE (3/7), 4pm - After School Book Club: The Wild Robot by Peter Brown. Free. Held at EnkaCandler Library, 1404 Sandhill Road, Candler CAMP CEDAR CLIFF 5 Porters Cove Road • MO (7/30) through FR (8/3) - Open registration for Camp Cedar Cliff "Week of Joy" for children who have been touched by cancer. Sponsored

by Mission Hospital.

Registration: 929-4503331. Free.

DIANA WORTHAM THEATRE 18 Biltmore Ave., 828-2574530, dwtheatre.com • TH (3/1) & FR (3/2), 10am & noon - Series for Students and Families: Theatreworks USA presents Click, Clack, Moo. $8.50/$7.50 for groups of 11 or more.

FIRESTORM CAFE AND BOOKS 610 Haywood Road, 828-255-8115 • FR (3/2), 6-8pm Madelyn Lantz and Joe Longobardi present their children's book regarding childhood bullying, The Singing Pool. Free to attend.

HANDS ON! A CHILDREN'S GALLERY 828-697-8333, handsonwnc,org, learningisfun@ handsonwnc.org • WE (2/28), 4-5pm "Science on Wheels," science activities for teens.

Registration required:

828-697-4725. Held at Mills River Library, 124 Town Center Drive Suite 1. Mills River HOT WORKS FINE ART SHOW ASHEVILLE hotworks.org/ artistapplications • Through TU (5/1) Submissions accepted for the 2018 youth art competition.

RIVERLINK 828-252-8474, riverlink.org • Through MO (3/19) Submissions accepted for the RiverLink Art and Poetry Contest. Open to pre-kindergarten to 12th grade students. See website for full guidelines.

THEATER AT WCU 828-227-2479, bardoartscenter.wcu.edu • FR (3/2), 9am & 11am - Upcycled Cinderella, a play encouraging teamwork, friendship and creativity for grades pre-K through 5. $3 per student. Held at The WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Drive WHOLE FOODS MARKET 4 S. Tunnel Road • MONDAYS, 9-10am "Playdates," family fun activities. Free to attend.

OUTDOORS CHIMNEY ROCK STATE PARK (PD.) Enjoy breathtaking views of Lake Lure, trails for all levels of hikers, an Animal Discovery Den and 404-foot waterfall.

Plan your adventure at chimneyrockpark.com BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY HIKES 828-298-5330, nps.gov • TH (3/1), 10:30am “Hiking the Blue Ridge Parkway and Beyond,” presentations by Carolina Mountain Club, Friends of Mountains-to-Sea Trail and a parkway ranger.

Free. Held at Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center, Milepost 384 HENDERSON COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 301 N. Washington St., Hendersonville, 828-697-4725 • TU (3/6), 6:30-7:30pm - Henderson County Wildlife Series: "Use of Game Cameras to

Photograph Wildlife," presentation by Alan Cameron, volunteer with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

Free.

PISGAH CENTER FOR WILDLIFE EDUCATION 1401 Fish Hatchery Road, Pisgah Forest, 828-877-4423 • TH (3/1), 9am-noon - "Fly Selection 101," flyfishing workshop for ages 12 and up. Registration required. Free.

PISGAH CHAPTER OF TROUT UNLIMITED pisgahchaptertu.org/ New-Meeting-information. html • 2nd THURSDAYS, 7pm General meeting and presentations. Free to attend.

Held at Ecusta Brewery, 36 E Main St., Brevard

6-Week Workshop in Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self

Facilitated by James Navé Asheville

Mar. 20 - Apr. 24 Tuesdays • 7-9PM

Register Now!

JamesNave.com

nave@jamesnave.com

$25 OFF ANY JUNK PICKUP

This offer excludes our minimum charge.

we remove anything. . . from anywhere YES EVEN YOUR TRASH!

TRANSYLVANIA COUNTY LIBRARY 212 S. Gaston St., Brevard, 828-884-3151 • TH (3/1), 6:30pm - Discover Natural Transylvania Series: Presentation by Bill Hodge regarding preservation efforts in the Shining Rock Wilderness Area. Free.

WHAT WE PICK UP IS 85% OFRECYCLED OR REUSED

828.707.2407

junkrecyclers1@gmail.com

PARENTING BLACK MOUNTAIN COUNSELING CENTER 201 N. Ridgeway Ave., Black Mountain • WEDNESDAYS (3/7) through (4/11), 9-10am - Grandparent & Kinship Parenting, support group.

Registration required: 828-669-9798 or blackmountaincounseling. org/sign-up. Free.

PUBLIC LECTURES ASHEVILLE DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION 828-251-9973, ashevilledowntown.org • WE (3/7), 5:30-7pm Building Our City Speaker Series: Lecture by Ellen Dunham-Jones, director of the urban design program at Georgia Tech. Free.

Held at Asheville Masonic Temple, 80 Broadway DR. WESLEY GRANT SR. SOUTHSIDE CENTER 285 Livingston St., 828-259-5483

Handmade Upcycled Lit Grill Shelf Find along Bourbon Street

th

4

FREE BEer

10

SUNDAY!

pm

HENDERSON COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY 828-692-6424, myhcdp.com/ • SA (3/3), 6pm Candidate's forum with Scott Donaldson, Steve Woodsmall and Phillip Price. Free. Held at First Congregational UCC of

Hendersonville, 1735 5th Ave. W., Hendersonville

-5

PUBLIC EVENTS AT UNCA unca.edu • SA (3/3), 9:15am2:45pm - Regional Science Olympiad, event featuring scientists from 11 high schools and 11 middle schools across Western

North Carolina competing in 46 different science related events. Free.

Held in various locations across campus Held at UNC-Asheville, 1 University Heights

Send your event listings to calendar@mountainx.com

am

N.C. ARBORETUM 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way, 828-6652492, ncarboretum.org • Through SU (5/6) Roots of Wisdom: Native Knowledge, Shared Wisdom, exhibition showcasing the relationship between indigenous peoples and cutting-edge science. Admission fees apply.

by Abigail Griffin

Ma rch

C OMMU N IT Y CA L EN D AR

26 Glendale Ave • 828.505.1108 Mon-Fri 10am-6pm • Sat 10am-7pm Sun 10am-5pm TheRegenerationStation

MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

19

C OMMU N IT Y CA L EN D AR

• FR (3/2), 7pm Proceeds from "The Prison Story Project" event featuring a staged reading of the stories of inmates from death row benefit incarcerated men and women through the Prison Story Project. Admission by donation.

MINDFUL MORNINGS facebook.com/ mindfulmorningsAVL/ • FR (3/2), 8-9:30am - Speaker series with the mission to connect, inspire, and teach dogooders to help them achieve their goals.

Registration required: www.bit.ly/MM-AVL_ no5. Free. Held at Wedge Foundation, 5 Foundy St. PUBLIC EVENTS AT A-B TECH 828-398-7900, abtech.edu • WE (2/28), 3pm Community Voices Lectures Series: "Colorism and its Implications," lecture

by Nicole Townsend.

Free. Held at AB Tech, Ferguson Auditorium, 340 Victoria Road PUBLIC EVENTS AT WCU 828-227-7397, bardoartscenter.edu • TH (3/1), 7:30-9pm - "Astronomy for

by Abigail Griffin

Everyone: Where are We in Space and Time?" presentation by astronomer Stephan Martin. $15.

Held at WCU at Biltmore Park, 28 Schenck Parkway, Suite 300

settle inward, beyond the busy or agitated mind, to the deepest, most blissful and expanded state of awareness. TM is a tool for personal healing and social transformation that anyone can use to access that field of unbounded creativity, intelligence, and well-being that resides within everyone.

NIH research shows deep revitalizing rest, reduced stress and anxiety, improved brain functioning and heightened mental performance.

Thursday, 6:30-7:30pm, Asheville TM Center, 165 E. Chestnut.

828-254-4350. TM.org

PUBLIC LECTURES AT MARS HILL mhu.edu • TH (3/8), 6pm - "The View from Home: Images of Appalachia and the 'Rural-Urban Divide,'" lecture by Tim Marema, editor of the Daily Yonder, regarding perceptions of contemporary Appalachia. Free Held in the Ramsey Center in Renfro Library at Mars Hill University, 265 Cascade St., Mars Hill PUBLIC LECTURES AT UNCA unca.edu • WE (2/28), 7pm - Choosing Equity: “Ending Inequality in Our Schools: What Actually Works,” community series on integration, inclusion and equity in schools. Tickets: acsf. org/nhj. $25. Held in Lipinski Auditorium Held at UNC-Asheville, 1 University Heights • TH (3/1), 7pm Lecture by Christine Darden, leading mathematician, data analyst and aeronautical engineer during her 40 years

BIDDING BUDDIES: The Black Mountain Center for the Arts’ annual Auction for the Arts holds true to its name as no mere art auction, but one that raises funds to support the center’s year-round arts classes and programs. The 13th iteration begins Saturday, March 3, at 6 p.m. in the center’s gallery with a catered reception and silent auction featuring entertainment discounts and packages, gift certificates, textiles, pottery and jewelry. An hour later, the event shifts to the building’s theater space for the live auction, led by local author Jeff Hutchins with items of higher value, such as vacation accommodations, sculpture, musical instruments, sports equipment, prints, furniture and creative packages. Tickets are $30. For more information, visit www.BlackMountainArts. org. Photo of Joyce and Fritz Ackerman by Joye Ardyn Durham (p. 17) at NASA. Free. Held at Lipinsky Auditorium at UNC Asheville, 300 Library Lane

• TU (3/6), 7:30pm World Affairs Council Great Decisions Series: "The Defense Budget and Global

Antiques, Diamonds, Estate Jewelry, Coins, Coin Collections, Watches, Estates — Highest Prices Paid Period

WE BUY

WE SELL

Check out our Website & Indycar Race Team

www.Tiquehunterantiques.com 336 Rockwood Road, Suite 101 Arden, NC Next to the Cracker Barrel off Airport Road 20

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

828.767.5293

MOUNTAINX.COM

Engagement Priorities," lecture by retired Air Force Major General Richard Devereaux. $10. Held at UNC-Asheville Reuter Center, 1 Campus View Road

SENIORS COUNCIL ON AGING OF BUNCOMBE COUNTY, INC. 828-277-8288, coabc.org • WE (2/28), 5:30-7:30pm - "Medicare Choices Made Easy," workshop.

Registration required.

Free. Held at Blue Ridge Community Health Services, 2579 Chimney Rock Road, Hendersonville • FR (3/2), 5:30-7:30pm - "Medicare Choices Made Easy," workshop.

Registration required.

Free. Held at Goodwill Career Training Center, 1616 Patton Ave. JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES OF WNC, INC. 2 Doctors Park, Suite E, 828-253-2900 • TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS, 11am-2pm

- The Asheville Elder Club Group Respite program for individuals with memory challenges and people of all faiths. Registration required: 828-253-2900. $30.

SENIOR OPPORTUNITY CENTER 36 Grove St. • MO (12/4), 2-3pm Bingo for seniors and older adults. .75 per card.

WNC BAPTIST RETIREMENT HOME 213 Richmond Hill Drive • TH (3/8), noon-1pm "Simplify, Streamline and Reduce Stress-Spring Cleaning Tips," workshop with lunch. Registration required: 828-254-9675 or sdavis@brh.org. Free.

SPIRITUALITY ABOUT THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION TECHNIQUE • FREE INTRODUCTORY TALK (PD.) Meditation is fully effective when it allows you to transcend—to effortlessly

ASHEVILLE INSIGHT MEDITATION (PD.) Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation. Learn how to get a Mindfulness Meditation practice started. 1st & 3rd Mondays. 7pm – 8:30. Asheville Insight Meditation, 175 Weaverville Road, Suite H, ASHEVILLE, NC, (828) 808-4444, www. ashevillemeditation. com.

ASTRO-COUNSELING (PD.) Licensed counselor and accredited professional astrologer uses your chart when counseling for additional insight into yourself, your relationships and life directions. Readings also available. Christy Gunther, MA, LPC. (828) 258-3229.

GROUP MEDITATION (PD.) Enjoy this supportive meditation community.

Mindfulness meditation instruction and Buddhist teachings at Asheville Insight.

Thursday evenings at 7pm and Sunday mornings at 10am. www. ashevillemeditation. com.

THE MUSIC OF GURDJIEFF/DE HARTMANN (PD.) March 13, 7-8pm. Free public event exploring the music of Gurdjieff/ de Hartmann including opportunities for questions and discus-

sion. Details: info@ gurdjieffasheville.org or www.gurdjieffasheville. org.

CENTER FOR ART & SPIRIT AT ST. GEORGE 1 School Road, 828-258-0211 • 1st & 3rd THURSDAYS, 2pm Intentional meditation.

Admission by donation.

CENTER FOR SPIRITUAL LIVING ASHEVILLE 2 Science Mind Way, 828-253-2325, cslasheville.org • 1st FRIDAYS, 7pm - "Dreaming a New Dream," meditation to explore peace and compassion. Free.

CHABAD HOUSE OF ASHEVILLE 828-505-0746, chabadasheville.org • TH (3/1), 5:30pm - Purim party and Megillah reading with a sushi bar and buffet dinner. $15/$8 children/$45 family.

Registration requested.

Held at Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, 36 Montford Ave. GRAPEVINE COMMUNITY CENTER 1300 Grapevine Road, Marshall • SA (3/3), 10am-3pm - "All Day Singing and Dinner on the Grounds," Christian harmony singing workshop and dinner. Free.

MUSIC AT UNCA 828-251-6432, unca.edu • TU (3/6), 7pm - "The Complicated Lives of Biblical Women," concert by Alicia Jo Rabins blending art-pop songs, poetry and feminist Torah scholarship.

Free. Held at UNC Asheville, Humanities Lecture Hall, One University Heights PUBLIC EVENTS AT UNCA unca.edu • FR (3/2), 3-5pm - Interfaith Peace Conference presentation featuring music by the interfaith trio Abraham Jam, lectures by the conference’s three keynote speak-

ers and a panel session moderated by Rabbi Phillip Bentley. $10.

Held at UNC Asheville, Humanities Lecture Hall, One University Heights • TH (3/6), 7pm - “The Complicated Lives of Biblical Women,” performance by Alicia Jo Rabins blending art-pop songs, poetry, and feminist Torah scholarship. Free. Held in the UNC Asheville Humanities Lecture hall, One University Heights SHAMBHALA MEDITATION CENTER 60 N Merrimon Ave., #113, 828-200-5120, asheville.shambhala.org • THURSDAYS, 7-8:30pm & SUNDAYS, 10amnoon - Meditation and community. Admission by donation.

ST. EUGENE'S CATHOLIC CHURCH 72 Culver St., 828-254-5193 • FR (3/2), 7-8pm - Taize, interfaith meditative candlelight prayer meetup with song, silence and scripture. Free.

• TU (3/6), 7-9pm - "The Gospel Call to Peace and Reconciliation: A Turn to nonviolence and Just Peace," lecture by Marie Dennis, co-president of Pax Christi International.

Free.

• TH (3/8), 7-9pm - "War No More: The Path to Nonviolence," lecture

by Marie Dennis, copresident of Pax Christi International. Free.

TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH 60 Church St., 828-253-9361 • SA (3/3), 8:30am-4pm "A Question of Identity: How Answering the Question 'Who Am I?' Brings Power, Purpose and Peace Into Our Lives," workshop with author Randy Siegel.

828-638-8683. $25.

URBAN DHARMA 828-225-6422, udharmanc.com/ • THURSDAYS, 7:30-9pm - Open Sangha night.

Free. Held at Urban Dharma, 77 Walnut St.

VOLUNTEERING TUTOR ADULTS IN NEED WITH THE LITERACY COUNCIL (PD.) Spend two hours a week helping an immigrant who wants to learn English or a native English-speaking adult who wants to learn to read. Sign up for volunteer orientation on 3/13 (5:30 pm) or 3/15 (9:00 am) by emailing volunteers@litcouncil. com.

12 BASKETS CAFE 610 Haywood Road, 828-231-4169, ashevillepovertyinitiative. org • TUESDAYS 10:30am - Volunteer orientation.

ASHEVILLE PRISON BOOKS ashevilleprisonbooks@ gmail.com • SATURDAYS, 2-4pm Volunteer to send books in response to inmate requests. Information: avlcommunityaction.com or ashevilleprisonbooks@

gmail.com. Held at Downtown Books & News, 67 N. Lexington Ave. HAYWOOD STREET CONGREGATION 297 Haywood St., 828-246-4250 • 1st & 3rd THURSDAYS, 10am-noon - Workshop to teach how to make sleeping mats for the homeless out of plastic shopping bags.

Information: 828-7077203 or cappyt@att.net.

Free.

tions from local nonprofit organizations. Free to attend. Held at UpCountry Brewing Company, 1042 Haywood Road TRAUMA INTERVENTION PROGRAM OF WNC 828-513-0498, tipofwnc.org • Through FR (3/2) - Open registration for a training academy for those interested in volunteer-

ing as part of a team of volunteers who provide immediate emotional and practical support to survivors of traumatic events.

Academy takes place nights and weekends from March 8 - 17. For information or registration: 828-513-0498.

For more volunteering opportunities visit mountainx. com/volunteering

KIDS ISSUES 2018 Coming MARCH 14 & 21

MOUNTAINTRUE 828-258-8737, mountaintrue.org • TH (3/8) - Volunteer to help fight sediment erosion by planting live stakes along the French Broad River. Registration required.

THE ROOTS FOUNDATION therootsfound.org/ • WE (2/28), 5:156:30pm - “For the Better: Social Volunteer Awesomeness,” event to meet volunteer organiza-

MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

21

DON’T GO IT ALONE

Caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients face challenges in caring for themselves

BY LESLIE BOYD leslie.boyd@gmail.com Barbara Boylan was just 62 when she began forgetting things and losing words. After a fall, a neurologist diagnosed her with mild cognitive impairment.

That was seven years ago, when her family began what’s known as the “Long Goodbye”: starting to grieve as the person she once was began to fade away.

Boylan spent her career as a longterm care specialist, organizing activities for people with dementia. She was one of the people who helped develop the dementia unit at Black Mountain Center.

Ironically, she would now be on the receiving end, says her husband, commercial real estate broker Robin Boylan.

LONG GOODBYE: Becky Anderson looks at photos of her husband, Ed, who is in a long-term care facility with Alzheimer’s disease. Photo by Leslie Boyd

Magical Offerings 3/1: Tarot Reader: Bobbi Oshun 1-6pm 3/2: Psychic: Andrea Allen 12-5pm 3/3: Tarot Reader: Edward Phipps 12-6pm 3/4: Scrying with Angie 12-6pm 3/5: Cardologer: Ashley Long 1-5pm 3/6: Tarot Reader: Byron Ballard 1-5pm 3/7: Tarot Reader: Jonathan Mote 12-6pm

She would have to leave her job in 2012, and for a while, Boylan was able to care for his wife at home.

“I would come home from work and find all her jewelry on the bed,” he says. “It seemed she was always cleaning something out, emptying something.”

Eventually, in 2014, she would have to attend adult day care.

“She didn’t want to go, but we told her she would be helping to organize activities, and CarePartners went along with the ruse,” he says.

Over 100 Herbs Available!

March Stone: Black Kyanite March Herb: Violet

(828) 424-7868

ashevilleravenandcrone.com

555 Merrimon Avenue Daily readers including Scrying, Runes, Tarot, & More! Walk-ins welcome!

22

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

MOUNTAINX.COM

Today, she lives in a long-term care facility. She no longer walks or speaks.

DIGNITY IN DECLINE Becky Anderson also has spent the last decade saying goodbye to her spouse, Ed, who is in long-term care at Givens Estates Health Center. He once managed three large manufacturing facilities, but today he no longer walks or holds a conversation; he rarely lifts his head.

“I go over every evening and spend two or three hours with him,” she says.

“It was really hard to give up caring for him, but it got to be too much for me to do alone.”

For Anderson, the most important thing has been to preserve her husband’s dignity.

“It’s important for him to get out of his room, to be with other people, even if he doesn’t speak,” she says.

“It’s important that he be treated as a person who still has value.”

In 2017, more than 15 million Americans provided unpaid care for people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. These caregivers provided an estimated 18.2 billion hours of care valued at more than $230 billion.

And while many are happy to provide care for a loved one, it’s a stressful job, compounded by the sadness of seeing a loved one lose one ability after another.

“There’s a reason they call it the Long Goodbye,” says Boylan.

“It’s brutal.”

CARE AND CONCERN Some 35 percent of caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s or other dementia report that their health has gotten worse because of their responsibilities, as compared with 19 percent of caregivers for older people who don’t have dementia, according to the 2017 Facts and Figures report from the Alzheimer’s Association.

For Boylan, his work and the support of his two adult children have been essential in preserv-

ing his health, both emotionally and physically.

“The kids have been rock stars,” he says. His daughter, Katharine Fuchs of Charlotte, has chronicled her mother’s decline in her blog, Southern Bourbon Mountains.

The changes are gradual but relentless. Patients lose the ability to make decisions, to drive and eventually to shower, dress or even feed themselves.

Even the abilities to speak and walk are lost, and caregivers are faced with increasing responsibilities and duties as they watch their loved ones disappear, piece by piece.

Some people with dementia become combative and angry, frustrated as they lose the ability to navigate everyday life, and caregivers bear the brunt of the abuse.

Losing the ability to drive is often a hard issue, but Anderson learned in a support group that hanging keys that don’t go to anything on a hook near the door might help convince her husband that he could get out if he needed to.

“He could grab the keys, but he couldn’t start the car with them,” she says. She also learned that placing child safety locks higher up on the door would stymie his efforts to get out and wander — a common behavior.

CALL FOR HELP “The first thing you need to do when you get a diagnosis is call for help,” Boylan says. “You can’t do this alone, and no one should try.”

In Asheville, Memory Care has worked with people who have dementia and their families for two decades, assessing, advising and referring

caregivers to needed resources. The Alzheimer’s Association — Western Carolina Chapter offers referral services to specialists and assistance through its Direct Connect Referral program.

Among the services of Memory Care are regular assessments of caregiver stress.

“Sometimes people just don’t realize how stressed they have become,” says Lindsey Kremer, social work care manager at Memory Care.

The assessment, the Kingston Caregiver Stress Scale, consists of 10 questions broken down into three groups: caregiver, family and financial issues. It asks whether family members are experiencing conflict over the care of the person with dementia, whether finances are stretched, whether the primary caregiver is feeling trapped or confined or whether the caregiver fears not being able to continue to care for the person.

“This helps us know when the family needs more help,” Kremer says.

to get help, Young says. Respite is essential, and if friends and family can’t offer a caregiver a chance to get out for a few hours a week, there are agencies that provide that opportunity with adult day care or in-home services.

“You’re no good to the person you’re caring for if you don’t take care of yourself,” Young says. “Don’t try to do it alone. Just don’t. There’s help.

Take it.” X

SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT Denise Young, regional manager for the Alzheimer’s Association, says the first thing people who face a family member being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s need to do is forge a community of people on whom they can rely for emotional and other support.

“It can be a church, a group of neighbors or old friends or family,” she says. “Don’t be afraid to admit this is more than you can handle alone, because it is more than you can handle alone.”

Tips for caregivers The National Institutes of Health offers tips on dealing with a host of Alzheimer’s issues (which include wandering, combativeness, communication problems, delusions and more) so that caregivers can use the experience of others in dealing with their own loved one’s issues.

Caregiver tips from Denise Young of the Alzheimer’s Association, Western Carolina Chapter: 1. Accept that you can’t do this alone. Call the Alzheimer’s Association for resources.

2. Make sure you get time away.

Go shopping, see a movie. Respite is essential.

3. Remember, the grieving process goes on for years as you lose the person a little at a time.

4. There are always ways to connect, even after the person no longer knows your name.

The Alzheimer’s Association connects families with specialists, social services, attorneys who specialize in geriatric issues, therapists, inhome care or assisted living specialists — everything they will need to optimize care.

“Stress is a big issue,” Young says.

“There’s a reason it’s not uncommon for caregivers to die before the person with dementia.”

The most important thing any caregiver can do for self-care is

5. The part of the brain that processes music and art is one of the last to be affected. If the person loved music before, he or she still will.

6. Try to help the person stay connected to the things he or she loved before; for example, nature, art or pets.

7. Learn all you can about the illness. It will help you understand the process.

Authentic Chinese Medical Treatment for Injury & Illness

Acupuncture Chinese Herbal Prescription learn more from our site walk in or schedule online

Our Team Brings 30+ Years experience in China to Asheville 828-424-7415 / www.alternativeclinic.org 23 Broadway St, Downtown Asheville

THERAPEUTIC MASSAGE at the Alternative Clinic

• Pregnancy Massages by DONA trained Doula • Sports & Deep Tissue massage for aches & pains • Deep Qi work to rebalance & reset energy flow • Relaxation & anti-stress massages to feel your best

$45 for 30 minute/$75 for 60 minute massage – we are a tip free establishment walk in, call or schedule online: 828-424-7415 www.alternativeclinic.org MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

23

VIBRANT LIVES How Four Seasons encourages employees and volunteers to maintain a healthy lifestyle

BY KARI BARROWS karibarrows94@gmail.com

Become a Certified Yoga Teacher this summer!

July 6-22, 2018 Prama Institute Marshall, NC Residential & Commuter options available.

Call (828) 774-7548 or visit www.ashevilleyogaretreat.com for more info.

Randy Ashley wrashley@hotmail.com

Individualized, Goal-Oriented Coaching for Runners of All Levels

75 Boston Marathon Qualifiers USATF Level 1 and 2 Endurance Certifications WWW.RARUNNING.COM 828-280-0439 24

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

Self-care is no easy task, even for health care employees. But Four Seasons Compassion for Life is taking the initiative to transform its workplace into a healthier environment. The nonprofit palliative and hospice care organization, with several locations across Western North Carolina, has developed a wellness program called Vibrant 4 Life to help employees and volunteers maintain healthy lifestyles.

Vibrant 4 Life started in 2014, when CEO Millicent Burke-Sinclair and hospice medical director Dr. Ashley Albers decided to look into what steps might help employees make healthier choices. “When I came to Four Seasons, I was passionate about health and wellness and continue to be focused on this for all of Four Seasons,” Burke-Sinclair says. “Our organization shares this vision, and many employees have partnered together to advance this purpose, including our hospice medical director, Ashley Albers, as well as our volunteer and wellness coordinator Kristina Israel and many more who serve on our Vibrant 4 Life committee.”

Burke-Sinclair explains how the program’s name reflects the environment Four Seasons strives for. “Each letter in Vibrant is significant and further supports our values and purpose: Vitality, Inspiration, Balance, Rejuvenation, [Adventure], Nourishment and Thrive,” she says. “These wellness concepts guide us throughout the year with powerful focus and intentionality on all spectrums of wellness. Four Seasons is dedicated to supporting our employees with their own self-care.”

In addition to hospice and palliative care, Four Seasons also offers personalized supportive services for patients, including care navigation (helping patients manage and understand the various options they have for health care services); home care, which provides more security and flexibility with treatment; bereavement support, which includes music therapy and other creative outlets; and clinical research, carried out through the research and development department, founded in 2005, which has conducted over 40 studies and grant projects

MOUNTAINX.COM

A WOMAN FOR ALL SEASONS: Maureen Williams, director of care navigation at Four Seasons, displays a coloring project she used to relax during a meeting. Photo courtesy of Four Seasons focusing on symptom management and quality of life.

A HEALTHIER ENVIRONMENT Israel cites one example of Four Seasons’ steps toward a providing a healthier environment — stocking vending machines with healthy snacks, something staff members had to adjust to. “In the very beginning, when we made that transition to healthy vending machines, there was a bit of grumbling among staff, but what’s really interesting has been to see people’s food choices slowly start to change,” she says. “In Vibrant 4 Life, we talk a lot about creating a culture of wellness, and it’s not just about, ‘We put out these initiatives, we do all this stuff, that means we have a great wellness program.’ ... You want to see people actually becoming more balanced, being able to

have those conversations comfortably in their workplace.” Israel adds that the ideal results are long-term changes in sedentary lifestyles.

Other benefits from Vibrant 4 Life include discounts with local businesses, on-site fitness classes, an interactive health and wellness activity called Lunch & Learn, group wellness challenges throughout the year and participation in the Pardee Medical Wellness program, a three-month coaching program, offered by Pardee Hospital and sponsored by Four Seasons.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF-CARE Israel says some employees and volunteers working in health care can sometimes neglect their own needs, forgetting that “self-care is a discipline, not indulgent. It’s a practice.”

Tiffany Blackwell, a single mom who works in the research and development department, says her two teenage daughters keep her days busy and that sometimes it becomes harder to make healthy decisions. “Fast food and convenience food had become a staple in our diets,” she admits. “I was not uneducated when it came to eating healthy and exercise; I had just become complacent.”

But she says she has seen long-term changes in herself thanks to the Pardee Medical Wellness program. “Doing this with my co-workers was great because we all could support each other,” Blackwell says. “I am so thankful to Four Seasons for the opportunity to be a part of this program. For me, it was the perfect catalyst for a lifestyle change.”

Blackwell says she has changed her habits, eating breakfast every day and never drinking soda, and has been able to lose 20 pounds. Her daughters have jumped on board with her healthy choices, she adds.

Burke-Sinclair notes that a high level of self-care is important for Four Seasons to facilitate. “In order for us to create the best care possible for all of the patients and families we serve, it is imperative that all of our staff are well,” she says. “Self-care is directly correlated to performance and therefore incredibly important for all of us.”

Israel echoes this sentiment by pointing out that healthy employees make the organization more efficient. “They add value back into the organization because they’re taking charge of their health and their well-being,” she notes.

“They’re more productive; studies are very, very clear on this. When people are well, they do better in their life. They’re better parents, they’re better people, and they’re definitely better employees.

They’re more engaged, they’re happier at their job, and what that translates to is better outcomes for our patients’ families, because people really want to be here, which means it’s a better place to work.”

Israel notes that wellness initiatives also improve employee retention and that by integrating these initiatives into Four Seasons’ messaging “hopefully the result over time is that we create a magnet culture,” she says. “People are naturally going to be attracted to come and work here that care about things like that.”

Israel says Vibrant 4 Life makes sense as a way of creating a healthier environment for everyone involved — employees, volunteers and patients. “We all spend the majority of our adult lives at work,” she says. “That’s why it makes sense to integrate these things into your culture as an employer because you can really help people.” X

OFFER EXPIRES 03/28/18

675 Hour Massage Certification Program Spring 2018 Class • April 9 - September 26, 2018 DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE – APPLY ONLINE

AshevilleMassageSchool.org • 828-252-7377 Student Clinic

Schedule Now: 828-252-0058

W EL L NESS CA L E N DA R

WELLNESS SHOJI SPA & LODGE • 7 DAYS A WEEK (PD.) Private Japanesestyle outdoor hot tubs, cold plunge, sauna and lodging.

8 minutes from town. Bring a friend to escape and renew! Best massages in Asheville!

828-299-0999. www.shojiretreats. com SOUND BATH • SATURDAY • SUNDAY (PD.) Every Saturday, 11am and Sundays, 12 noon.

Experience deep relaxation with crystal bowls, gongs, didgeridoo and other peaceful instruments. • Donation suggested. At Skinny Beats

Sound Shop, 4 Eagle Street. www. skinnybeatsdrums. com TAI CHI TEACHER TRAINING WORKSHOP (PD.) Led by International Tai Chi Champion David-Dorian Ross at Haywood Regional Medical Center’s Fitness Center. March 3-4, 2018. • Information/ registration: Matt Jeffs, DPT at 904 377-1527.

GRACE LUTHERAN CHURCH 1245 6th Ave W, Hendersonville, 828-693-4890, gracelutherannc. com • TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS, 9am - Walking exercise class. Free.

LEICESTER COMMUNITY CENTER 2979 New Leicester Highway, Leicester, 828-774-3000, facebook.com/ Leicester.

Community.Center • MONDAYS, 5:156:15pm - Zumba Gold exercise class. $5.

• MONDAYS, 6:15-7pm - Zumba classes. $5.

• MONDAYS, 7:158pm - Gentle Flow Yoga. $5.

T.H.E. CENTER FOR DISORDERED EATING 828-337-4685, thecenternc.weebly.com • WE (2/28), 12:301:30pm - Lunch & Learn: "Empowered Eating Education," presentation by Kendra L. Gaffney, RD, LDN, CEDRD from Nutritious

Thoughts. Free to attend/Lunch purchase separate.

Held in the Tap Haus Held at Whole Foods Market, 4 S. Tunnel Road • TH (3/1), 6pm - Fattitude, film screening followed by discussion with directors Lindsey Averill and Viridiana Lieberma. $25.

Held at Grail MovieHouse, 45 S. French Broad Ave. • SA (3/3), 6pm - Straight/Curve: Redefining Body Image, film screening. Free. Held in the UNC Asheville Grotto, 1 University Heights TAOIST TAI CHI SOCIETY taoist.org/usa/ locations/asheville • TU (3/6), 5:307pm - Beginner

“I have been to this school numerous times for massages and am never disappointed. These students are very professional and very informed about the body and the muscle groups. I have been helped tremendously here. I have some old injuries that flare up occasionally—you always make me feel much better!”

tai chi class and information session for the class series. Free. Held at Asheville Training Center Town & Mountain Realty Building, 261 Asheland Ave. UNITY OF THE BLUE RIDGE 2041 Old Fanning Bridge Road, Mills River, 828-891-8700 • FR (3/2), 6:308:30pm - Sound healing event with crystal bowls, healing rods and sacred geometry. $20.

URBAN DHARMA 77 Walnut St., 828-225-6422, udharmanc.com/ • TUESDAYS, 7:308:30pm - Guided, non-religious sitting and walking meditation. Admission by donation.

CenterForMassage.com 2 Eagle St. Downtown Asheville

The

Sustainability

Series CELEBRATING EARTH DAY 2018

Each week in April MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

25

A LIFE OF ACTION Community remembers Tyler Garrison

GREEN SCENE

POWER DOWN County looks for tangible ways to accomplish sustainability goals

BY DAVID FLOYD dfloyd@mountainx.com

Motorcycles rumbled up Riverside Drive toward Salvage Station in Asheville on Feb. 23. The riders, followed by the green Junk Recyclers box truck, joined about 300 family members, friends, co-workers, colleagues and acquaintances who gathered to remember and celebrate the life of Tyler Garrison.

The news of Garrison’s sudden death in a motorcycle accident in Texas early on the morning of Feb. 18 shocked many. The local entrepreneur, activist and organizer, who called Asheville home for the past seven years, once described his businesses, Junk Recyclers and The Regeneration Station, as two halves of a whole. Both ideas sprang from his efforts to recycle and repurpose

26

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

unwanted items and keep them out of the landfill.

At Salvage Station, smoke and the sharp smell of sage wafted across the yard. A sacred fire that had been tended night and day by several of Garrison’s close friends was brought to the fire pit.

Those assembled hugged and comforted each other.

The group closed the celebration by singing “Happy Birthday” on what would have been Garrison’s 35th. As the crowd raised their glasses and sang, and the candles on the pineapple upsidedown cake were lit, a gust of wind swirled through the room and blew out the flames.

— Text and photos by Cindy Kunst X

MOUNTAINX.COM

In December, Buncombe County established an ambitious goal, as county commissioners resolved to run all government operations on renewable energy sources by 2030 and run all operations in the community on renewable energy by 2042.

The goal was one of six strategic initiatives the Board of Commissioners approved during its meeting on Dec. 5, slipping through by a vote of 4-3, with Commissioners Joe Belcher, Robert Pressley and Mike Fryar voting against it.

Three months after the vote, some are still skeptical that the county can accomplish the goals within the allotted time frame. In an interview with Xpress, Belcher says he supports renewable energy but that the plan as presented isn’t practical. “If you make that goal and you don’t go back and have strategy to execute that goal, then … there’s no vision in it,” he says.

Board of Commissioners Chair Brownie Newman, who is a major proponent of the resolution, acknowledges that the county doesn’t have a detailed road map yet. “All of the different things between then and now that will have to be done to achieve it probably aren’t fully knowable at this time … but we feel like we need to set that goal in order to make it clear that we want to get there,” Newman said.

Leading up to the vote, environmentally focused groups and individuals pushed hard for passage of the renewable energy commitment.

Representatives from several local high schools and UNC Asheville presented a petition to commissioners that contained more than 1,800 signatures in support of the resolution. The Sierra Club organized a massive email campaign, and representatives from the organization met one-on-one with most of the commissioners to address some of their specific concerns.

“I think the biggest concern was: Could it be done, was it achievable, was it just a pie-in-the-sky kind

of resolution?” says Ken Brame, political chair of the North Carolina Sierra Club.

Now that the board has passed the resolution, the question is: What tangible steps will the county government take to make these goals a reality?

HITTING THE SWITCH Jeremiah LeRoy, who became Buncombe County’s first sustainability officer last March, says there are a number of different answers to that question. “It is a difficult question to answer in its entirety because it’s a long-term goal, so this isn’t something that’s going to happen tomorrow,” he says. “It isn’t something that’s going to happen next year, but it is something that we feel like over the long term with the improvements in technology, with reduced cost in renewable energy, that we’ll be able to reach.”

LeRoy says the county uses approximately 30 megawatts of energy in an average year, which helps power its 1.7-million-squarefoot portfolio of buildings. The county has added another 300,000 square feet to this tally with the addition of a new Health and Human Services complex and parking deck on Coxe Avenue. One strategy that will help the county reach its goal involves simply reducing its overall energy usage. LeRoy says the county is already doing this, regularly updating its equipment to more efficient models, installing advanced automated systems to ensure buildings use an ideal amount of power and retrofitting facilities with LED lights.

Finding a renewable way to generate this electricity is another matter altogether, but even this early in the process, LeRoy sees several options.

LeRoy anticipates that many of the county’s buildings could be good candidates for renewable energy production. By commissioning a feasibility study, the county would be able to ascertain through a thirdparty engineering firm which buildings would be suitable candidates for renewable energy — “whether

LOOKING TO THE SUN: Sundance Power Systems in Weaverville installs solar panels for residential and commercial customers. One of its recent projects was a 138.5-kilowatt system on the roof of Asheville Eye Associates’ building, pictured, at 8 Medical Park Drive.

Photo by Warner Photography that’s photovoltaic, solar thermal, whatever the option might best fit the particular facility,” LeRoy says.

Whether or not these power sources directly power the buildings they’re installed on, however, depends on the systems themselves.

“Some systems - like solar thermal … would reduce energy consumed but not ‘power’ anything,” LeRoy said. “Others might be plugged into the grid and provide an offset through net metering.”

According to LeRoy, the county will also attempt to maximize the efficiency of its fleet of vehicles. The county could also look at using electric vehicles or ones that run off of alternative fuel sources.

RUNNING OFF OFFSETS Installing renewable energy systems is one way the county can reach its goal, but it’s likely that Buncombe County will have to turn to other strategies to get all the way to 100 percent.

Energy produced through solar panels, wind turbines or fossil fuels is indistinguishable once it enters the grid, LeRoy says. “It’s like trying to throw a gallon of water into the swimming pool and then trying to discern which water is yours,” he

fulfilling these renewable energy goals is not clear yet.

Duke is still defining details of the Green Source Advantage program, but LeRoy said that ideally the program would be relatively cost-neutral.

The solar farm at Woodfin, on the other hand, will generate money for the county, LeRoy says, and feasibility studies aren’t usually expensive. “Oftentimes, solar companies are eager to do these studies in order to potentially bid on the actual projects themselves,” he says.

In the future, Newman says that each project that comes in front of the Board of Commissioners in service of this goal will have to stand on its own merits. “We should make sure that we run a good cost-benefit analysis for all of the different projects and plans we make to achieve the goal,” he says. “And if some of them are deemed to be too costly or cost-ineffective, then the commission can vote them down.”

CONTINUES ON PAGE 28

says. “It’s all mixed together; there’s no way to tell.”

The county can offset its reliance on fossil fuels by establishing renewable energy sources, even if the precise electrons produced through these processes don’t find their way into county facilities.

LeRoy is already eyeing two possible avenues to make this happen.

One is already underway. The county is negotiating a lease with Duke Energy for the company to build a solar farm on a piece of property in Woodfin that used to be a landfill.

LeRoy says the solar array could generate 4 to 5 megawatts of electricity, equivalent to about 15 percent of the county’s energy consumption.

Duke Energy is also in the early stages of rolling out an initiative called the Green Source Advantage program, which, if approved by the North Carolina Utilities Commission, would allow large customers like Buncombe County to purchase power from third-party renewable energy producers, with Duke acting as the middleman.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF CHARGE While LeRoy has identified some specific steps the county can take to reach its goals, the price tag on MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

27

G REEN SC E N E IN GOOD COMPANY Jacob Corvidae, a manager at the Rocky Mountain Institute, a research and consulting nonprofit based in Colorado that focuses on sustainability, says he doesn’t know how many counties across the U.S. have declared goals like Buncombe County’s. But he says his organization is seeing an increasing number of cities and townships making aggressive renewable energy commitments.

Many cities that establish goals like those passed in Buncombe County start by purchasing renewable energy credits, or RECs, Corvidae says, which means they are receiving credit for the energy they produce by investing in renewable energy production — even if the renewable energy they help produce doesn’t find its way into municipal facilities.

“This is one of the objections sometimes that people have to RECs, right?” Corvidae says.

“That you’re kind of buying the ability to say that you’re supporting renewable energy.”

In actuality, Corvidae says, RECs do have a real positive impact on the renewable energy market, generally supporting the amount of renewable energy it takes to offset the amount of energy local governments use.

Corvidae says that RECs are useful at stimulating reductions in carbon across the globe, but there is an ongoing question about whether

ROOFTOP RAYS: Solar panels could be an option for local residents who want to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. A federal tax credit and a proposed solar rebate program by Duke Energy has the potential to put a major dent in the cost of solar panels, but the price still tends to be too steep for many low-income people. Photo courtesy of Sundance Power Systems buying RECs is the best use of taxpayer dollars for pursuing renewable energy.

Nature’s Vitamins & Herbs (formerly Nature’s Pharmacy)

Offering professional advice & great products since 1996

Professional advice on CBD oil & supplements!

Carrying 4 Top Brands:

Charlotte’s Web, Palmetto Harmony, Kingdom Harvest & Green Mountain CBD Available as: creams /salves • oral liquid • oral capsules liquid for vaping • chewing gum Owners:

Mike Rogers, PharmD Bill Cheek, B.S. Pharm

We stock great vitamin brands including:

Gaia, Pure Encapsulations, Thorne Research, Barleans, Professional Brands and more!

Check out our natural remedies, aromatherapies (wild crafted & organic) and our new line of Exotic Teas 752 Biltmore Avenue • 828-251-0094 • www.naturesvitaminsandherbs.com 28

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

MOUNTAINX.COM

“While RECs do stimulate actual investment in renewables,” he said, “the market has been getting a bit saturated lately, so the stimulation is weaker than it used to be.”

Ideally, Corvidae says RECs are just a starting point. “It’s a steppingstone while you get the other things in place to actually be producing your own energy locally,” he says.

Independent energy production has the potential to put local governments at loggerheads with utility providers, which could feel threatened if a large customer like a city or township decides to begin generating its own electricity. Corvidae doesn’t expect all cities to suddenly become independent of their utility companies. Instead, he sees cities as being in a very powerful position to negotiate.

“The utility has the capital to invest, the utility has the resources, the delivery mechanism in place,” Corvidae says. “So it’s generally probably a faster, easier route for the city to use its political heft and its stance as representing however many people are in that city to go to the utility and say, ‘OK, we have a

commitment to 100 percent renewable energy. You need to be delivering it because if you can’t deliver it, then we need to start producing it ourselves or going somewhere else to get it.’”

Corvidae anticipates that in the future, local governments will adopt a variety of approaches to reaching their renewable energy goals: Some might be able to convince their utility company to switch over to renewable energy and others might rely on a mixture of self-generated and utility-generated electricity to reach their goals.

SPARKING COMMUNITY INTEREST County officials acknowledge that their plan to run the county government by 2030 using renewable energy is ambitious — “to say the least,” says LeRoy. But the second part of the resolution, switching all operations in the community to renewable energy sources, will require far more community support to accomplish — particularly because it’s not some-

thing the county can directly control.

“The county government itself is not really in the driver’s seat in terms of making that happen,” Newman says.

Instead, Newman sees the county setting an example to members of the community: “Look, we’re putting solar on our landfill, we’re putting solar on public buildings and our schools,” he says. He also sees the potential for establishing incentives, which could include encouraging developers to maximize the energy efficiency of their buildings beyond what the building code requires.

Amy Knisley, chair of the environmental studies department at Warren Wilson College, likes that the county established this extra goal on behalf of the community, but she believes it will take encouragement from the county government to keep the public engaged.

“If the county will hang in there and continue to give voice to this, I would bet on us getting together around tables in a lot of different places around the county cooking up plans,” she says.

Knisley does see several forces converging to make these goals possible. She says technology has developed to the point that renewable energy is far more accessible, and the tone at the top, particularly President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement, has sparked a strong countercurrent of collective interest among states and localities in fostering sustainable practices.

“The industry, the technology is there, the political will is there,” Knisley says. “There’s been a lot of financing running around chasing this stuff. So I think the timing is great.”

POWER TO THE PEOPLE Dave Hollister is the president and CEO of Sundance Power Systems, a company in Weaverville that designs, installs and maintains renewable energy systems for private citizens, businesses, schools and other organizations. Since late January, when Duke Energy announced a proposed solar rebate program that would offset the cost of installing a solar system by a maximum of $6,000 depending on the wattage, Hollister says the phones at Sundance have been ringing off the hook.

“By far, solar is the most ubiquitously available and financially expedient form of renewable energy that both homeowners and businesses and even municipalities can engage in,” Hollister says.

Why is this the case? For one, solar panels have become much more reliable — both technologically and fiscally. Hollister says appraisers have determined a reliable way of estimating how much value a solar array adds to a house, reducing the risk of the investment.

“So if I put a system on my house and I think that I might be leaving and might be selling it in three years and … you might scratch your head and go, ‘Oh my God, am I ever going to receive all my money back?

Am I ever going to get a return on that investment?’ Now you would be able to have that asset value actually quantified in the appraisal of your home,” Hollister says.

The cost of these systems, however, is still prohibitive for many people.

“This technology is very inaccessible to low-income and marginalized and underserved communities,” Hollister says. “It’s a real challenge.”

Hollister says most residential installations cost anywhere from $2.50 a watt to $3.50 a watt, and that most systems that Sundance is putting in right now are between 5 kilowatts and 10 kilowatts (one kilowatt is equal to 1,000 watts). Using these figures as a baseline, this means a 5 kilowatt array at $3 at watt would cost $15,000 and a 10 kilowatt array at $3 a watt would be about $30,000.

These estimates, however, don’t take into account the proposed solar rebates from Duke Energy or the 30 percent federal tax credit on solar panels, which cut the cost significantly. Even with a recent tariff by the Trump administration bumping up the cost of solar systems produced abroad, Hollister sees tremendous momentum in the community.

“People are desperately looking for ways to actively participate in transitioning our entire economy over to a more stable and clean and cheaper renewable energy future,” he says.

And people don’t have to purchase solar panels to participate. Many experts also point to community solar programs, which allow private citizens to purchase offsets, as a viable way for individuals to offset their reliance on fossil fuels. Members of the community can also maximize the energy efficiency of their homes, reducing the amount of energy that they use. It all factors into reaching the communitywide goal.

“This is what we know as a community that we want to do,” LeRoy says. “So let’s go ahead and make this bold statement to say we’re going to do this, and we’re going to figure it out.” X MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

29

FARM & GARDEN

BARE IN MIND

Now is the time to plant bare-root trees and bushes is also key in selecting which trees and plants are right for your garden. Keep space in mind, too, because some grow significantly over their lifespan On offer at the SWCD sale: dogwood, persimmon, pear, fig, apple and other trees, along with blackberry, blueberry, raspberry and strawberry plants. All proceeds benefit the agency’s environmental education programs for area students in kindergarten through college. X

BY MAGGIE CRAMER mcramerwrites@gmail.com At most nurseries, trees and berries sit lined up in pots, ready to be taken home and transplanted; their root balls in soil await a gentle loosening out of the round or square shapes they’ve taken on. But there are benefits to buying bare-root seedlings and plants — that is, those out of containers with their roots exposed.

To begin with, they’re often cheaper, shares Taira Lance, an environmental educator and soil conservationist with the Buncombe County Soil & Water Conservation District. Why? Suppliers can ship them more easily to sellers and offer price breaks that get passed down to the consumer. The Buncombe SWCD will host its bare-root tree seedling and plant sale Thursday and Friday, March 1 and 2, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. each day (or until the plants are sold out); find more details below.

But beyond price, Lance notes that these plants are grown in the field in natural soils and, thus, often have a larger root mass than some of their containerized counterparts, which are grown in sterile potting mix and possibly cooped up for a long time. Bareroot trees and plants, Lance says, “are typically very healthy and usually take off faster.”

And the time to get them in the ground is upon us: ideally in March, before they start leafing out. “They are pulled in the field during dormancy in late winter to be ready for spring planting,” Lance explains. “The planting window is fairy narrow, and they need to be planted as soon as possible and the roots kept moist.”

The

Sustainability Series

CELEBRATING EARTH DAY 2018

Every week in April

30

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

GET TO THE ROOT WHAT Buncombe SWCD’s 37th annual Tree Seedling and Plant Sale WHEN Thursday and Friday, March 1- 2, 8 a.m.-6 p.m., or until sold out

SEEDLING SELECTIONS: Plant shoppers can choose from popular fruit and berry varieties at the Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District’s annual plant sale. Purchases support educational programs on conservation for area youths. Photo by Gary Higgins Aside from getting them in the ground quickly with some water, there’s not much else to it, she says.

Just dig a hole that will fit the size of the root mass and sit back and wait for the tree or bush to grow (the hardest part of the process).

ECO 25TH ANNUAL SPRING CONFERENCE (PD.) March 9-11, 2018. at UNCA. 150+ practical, affordable, regionally-appropriate workshops on organic growing, homesteading, farming, permaculture. Trade show, seed exchange, special guests.

Organicgrowers school.org.

(828) 214-7833 ASHEVILLE GREEN DRINKS ashevillegreendrinks. com • 1st THURSDAYS, 7pm - Eco-

MOUNTAINX.COM

Lance does, however, suggest being familiar with your soil before you plant.

Too dry or too wet could be a problem for some varieties, as could soils with a high clay content — it doesn’t drain well and often breeds disease. Knowing if your yard gets enough sun or is mostly shaded

presentations, discussions and community connection. Free. Held at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place

WNC SIERRA CLUB

HENDERSONVILLE GREEN DRINKS

Solution,” presenta-

8286920-385-1004, facebook.com/ hvlgreendrinks • TH (3/8), 5:30pm - “The Value of Prescribed Burns,” presentation and discussion. Free to attend. Held at Black Bear Coffee Co., 318 N. Main St. Hendersonville

828-251-8289, wenoca.org • TH (3/1), 7-9pm - “Engaging with Conservatives on a Bipartisan Climate tion by Steffi Rausch, lead organizer for the Asheville Chapter of the Citizens Climate Change Lobby. Free. Held at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place

FARM & GARDEN

SWCD Environmental Education Programs.

Free to attend.

ASHEVILLE GARDEN CLUB 828-550-3459 • WE (3/7), 9:30am General meeting and presentation by Lisa Wagner, plant ecologist. Free. Held at All Souls Cathedral, 9 Swan St. BUNCOMBE COUNTY COOPERATIVE EXTENSION OFFICE 49 Mount Carmel Road, 828-255-5522 • TH (3/1) & FR (3/2), 8am-6pm - Proceeds from this seedling and plant sale benefit Buncombe

CITY OF HENDERSONVILLE cityofhendersonville. org • THURSDAYS, FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS, (3/1) until (5/13) - Seasonal mulch and composted leaves giveaway.

Thurs. & Fri.: 3:307pm. Sat.: 8am-noon.

Free. Held at the old Waste Water Treatment Plant, 80 Balfour Road, Hendersonville

WHERE 49 Mount Carmel Road Asheville DETAILS Seedlings and plants range from 50 cents to $8 each, and proceeds benefit the agency’s educational programming. Learn more at www.buncombecounty.org or call 828-250-4785.

HAYWOOD COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS 828-456-3575, sarah_scott@ncsu.edu • Through FR (3/16) - Proceeds from this plant sale featuring edibles, native plants and perennials benefit plant sale fund education-related horticulture projects in Haywood County.

To order: 828-4563575 or mgarticles@ charter.net.

MEN’S GARDEN CLUB OF ASHEVILLE 828-683-1673, mensgardenclubofasheville.org • TU (3/6), 12:45pm - “Sowing Seeds of Victory: American

Gardening Programs of World Wars I and II,” lecture by master gardener Phil Roudebush.

Registration: gerry327@charter. net. Free/$11 optional lunch at 11:45am.

Held at First Baptist Church of Asheville, 5 Oak St. SAINT PAUL MOUNTAIN VINEYARDS 588 Chestnut Gap Road, Hendersonville • WE (2/28), 8am-4pm - “Grape School,” grape growing workshop. Registration required: 828-6974891 or go.ncsu.edu/ hcgrapeschool2018. $20 includes lunch.

FOOD

TO-GO BOX REVIVAL Asheville chefs brainstorm ways to turn restaurant leftovers into new meals

BY JONATHAN AMMONS jonathanammons@gmail.com We all know the feeling: You’re stuck in standstill traffic on the drive home and you are starting to get hangry, that unique feeling of anger caused by a hungry stomach. And the thought of cooking from scratch or finishing off that 3-day-old pad Thai in your fridge fills you with even more white-hot rage.

To make it worse, your kid is whining that he doesn’t want to eat the rest of the oversized burger he ordered last night, and who can blame him? You aren’t exactly inspired at the thought of a dried-out burger and soggy fries.

But throwing that food away isn’t a sustainable choice. The 2012 N.C. Food Waste Generation Study found that the average Buncombe County resident tosses out about 5 pounds of food per week, which adds up to over 27,800 tons of food wasted annually. That’s a lot of doggy bags that could have been transformed into totally new meals with just a small amount of effort.

In this new series, Xpress looks to local culinary professionals for inspiration on using everyday pantry items to revamp unfinished meals into fresh cuisine. Chefs are presented with theoretical restaurant leftovers and asked to invent ways to turn them into completely different dishes.

CARIBBEAN SPICE Sommer Collier is the brains behind A Spicy Perspective, an Asheville-based online recipe database for home cooks that focuses on preparation of simple yet artful dishes. So who better to mastermind the transformation of the contents of a 3-day-old to-go container from Nine Mile into something new and exciting? The dish in question: the restaurant’s signature menu item, the Nine Mile, which consists of grilled jerk chicken with fresh ginger, fire-roasted tomatoes, jalapeño peppers, squash, zucchini and spring onions, all sautéed in white wine and butter and served over linguini.

We specified that most of the chicken and pasta had been eaten in the make-believe box, but that didn’t deter Collier, who confessed, “I think I’ve actually used these leftovers

OUTSIDE THE BOX: With a little creativity, unfinished restaurant meals can be completely reinvented. AUX Bar chef Steven Goff met Xpress’ theoretical to-go box challenge with the strategy of turning a leftover Mamacita’s burrito into a plate of crispy nachos. Photo by Cindy Kunst before to make a great pot of Caribbean curry soup.”

To make the soup, she drew from her home pantry:

32 ounces chicken broth 1 can unsweetened coconut milk 1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped 1 onion, peeled and chopped

Three to four garlic cloves, minced 1 tablespoon butter or coconut oil Curry powder Her process: Sauté the chopped onion and garlic in a tablespoon of butter or oil. Once softened, add the chopped sweet potatoes

nightly specials sun: $1 off draft beer & burgers mon: $6 mule cocktails tue: $5 wine by the glass wed: kids’ meals half off 828.505.7531 coppercrownavl.com

CONTINUES ON PAGE 32 MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

31

F OOD

Happy Hour every day 4 to 6pm Join us for our specials including Oysters, Shrimp Cocktail and Charcuterie menu!

Manic Monday ALL OYSTERS $1.50 Wine Down Wednesday 1/2 PRICE BOTTLES Flight Friday $9 (Reg. $15) LIVE MUSIC Friday: Adi the Monk on guitar Saturday: The Fabulous Jesse Barry with Kelly Jones 2 HENDERSONVILLE RD • BILTMORE STATION • 828.676.2700

and a pinch or two of curry powder. (“Don’t overdo the curry powder,” she warns. “Maybe a half teaspoon or less.”)

Add the sweet potatoes and sauté for a couple of minutes, then pour in the broth. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add the contents of the leftover box and simmer for an additional three to five minutes, until the sweet potatoes are cooked through and the chicken and pasta are warmed. Finally, stir in the coconut milk and season with salt and pepper to taste.

“The chicken, ginger and veggies should round out the soup base and create a lovely island flavor the whole family can enjoy from half a container of leftovers,” she says, noting that the sweet potato acts as a filler to make up for the shortage of noodles. If there’s only a little left in the box, she advises, reduce the additional ingredients by half to make a smaller portion.

NACHOS LIBRES Chef Steven Goff, formerly of Zambra and King James Public House, recently returned to the Asheville culinary scene after a couple of years working in the Raleigh area and launching his food truck, Brinehaus. He also recently opened AUX Bar in the former Crepe Bourée and Vincent’s Ear spaces on Lexington Avenue with Blind Pig Supper Club founder Mike Moore.

Goff was issued the challenge of reinventing the leftover three-quarters of a two-day-old Veggie Mama burrito from Mamacita’s. The ingredients included sweet potato, kale and black beans, pico de gallo, some wilted and forlorn lettuce, cilantro, onions and cheese with a ton of soggy chips and some ramekins of salsa.

From that uninspiring offering, Goff whipped up something he calls “Snachos.”

From his home pantry: Pickled jalapeños Shredded cheese (any kind will do) Plain yogurt His process: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lay out the chips evenly on sheet tray and toast them until crunchy. From there, he says, “dig the soggy lettuce out of the burrito corpse as best as possible and reserve the rest.” Heat a cast iron skillet to smoking, and sear all the burrito fillings but the lettuce. Sprinkle some cheese on top of the chips and melt in the oven. Finally, he instructs, “dump the hot, stir-fried burrito guts evenly over the chips,” then garnish with the jalapeños and yogurt to taste and serve with the leftover salsas.

He adds that he typically keeps chicken, ground beef and sweet potatoes in his pantry as well and would use cubed, roasted sweet potatoes and either grilled chicken or ground beef to the mix to bulk it up. Fermented and pickled veggies are another good addition, he notes, for those with wellstocked kitchens. “But for the Asheville hospitality employee fridge, which would likely not have those three ingredients, I left them out,” he says.

In a moment of further inspiration, Goff opted to pull another to-go box from the imaginary fridge — this one filled with Copper Crown’s fried chicken and mashed potatoes with kilt, or wilted, cabbage. “Cut the chicken into cubes and sear it as the protein for your nachos,” he says. “The kilt cabbage could take a nice cast-iron char and vinegar douse and be added to the pickled topping of the nachos.”

And those who have milk on hand can take it to the next level. By mixing some milk and a bit of cheese into the mashed potatoes, he says, one can create potatoes aligote, which can be used as a rich dip for the nachos. X

plant Half-price wine bottle Wednesdays, classic cocktail Fridays, & vegan verve all the time 165 merrimon avenue | 828.258.7500 | www.plantisfood.com 32

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

MOUNTAINX.COM

by Shawndra Russell

shawndra@shawndrarussell.com

GROUPS DYNAMIC It’s no secret that Asheville is an increasingly popular spot for tourists.

But the city also earned nods from national meeting-planning publications in 2017 as a meeting destination on the rise and a top incentive destination alongside larger cities like Austin, Texas, and Nashville, Tenn. And, of course, Asheville has found a way to blend its vibrant food culture into that mix. Many area cooking schools now offer culinary experiences that cater to meeting planners and organizations looking for an outside-the-box option for team building.

Through several Asheville-area venues, teams can customize their culinary team-building experience to include a range of cuisines and formats. At Asheville Mountain Kitchen, owner Ofri Gilan says many groups opt to divide in half for a competition-style cookoff. Sometimes she acts as both teacher and judge. At other times, the group selects its own judges and scores the dishes on presentation, teamwork and/or taste.

Even if things get heated during the competition, she says, the losing teams are usually good sports because everyone gets an edible reward. “Food always makes people happy,” says Gilan, who also teaches regular cooking classes for the public. She hosts events at her mountain home in Haw Creek, where groups can set up for activities around her large kitchen bar and mingle on her large outdoor deck after the cooking is done.

Team-building programming takes a different approach at Season’s at Highland Lake at the Highland Lake Inn & Resort in Flat Rock. Here, participants typically don’t go the competition route. Instead, they are divided into three groups with each in charge of preparing one course.

Teams at Season’s work directly with the restaurant’s executive and banquet chefs, who provide instructions and guidance as well as “constructive criticism on their performance, from flavor to plate presentation,” says Peter Fassbender, director of food and beverage. He adds that in working directly with the chefs, participants often walk away with an appreciation for the challenges of preparing food in large quantities. “They realize the importance of good communication,” he says.

At The Farm, an events venue and cooking school in Candler, groups can communicate the atmosphere

WNC cooking schools turn up the heat with culinary team-building experiences memories they have about food from their childhoods. In turn, she talks about her own youth growing up in Israel and memories of cooking with her grandmother.

Fassbender sees the benefits of culinary team-building as being tied to two factors. “Cooking as a group requires great communication and organization, which are extremely important to any company, no matter the product, be it goods or services,” he says.

He adds that the intensity inherent to cooking large amounts of food also tests a person’s — and team’s — ability to handle pressure. “Being able to handle multiple tasks simultaneously with food items is extremely challenging.

It makes for a pretty daunting task,” he says. Luckily, the dangling carrot of a great meal keeps people motivated, and the hard work makes sitting back and enjoying a glass of wine with the fruits of their labor that much more delicious. X

TEAMWORK: Participants in a culinary team-building class at The Farm work together to make pasta for a group meal. Many local cooking schools offer team-building programs for businesses and organizations that are looking for an out-of-the-ordinary employee experience. Photo courtesy of The Farm desired when booking the activity, and the staff plans a customized event accordingly. “Some clients are looking for a relaxing private dinner, others want a higher-energy interactive experience,” says owner Beverly Gottried. Among the most popular group events to date have been beer-pairing dinners, where a local beer expert is brought in to add a fun and educational element to the team-building activity.

So do teams that cook together really get stronger? Gottried thinks so. “We like food-focused events because it changes the dynamics for folks who work together,” she says. “And there is no hierarchy during a cooking class or a beer-pairing experience. Everyone

is trying something new, and they are doing it together.”

Yet, these events aren’t always just about bonding, as Gilan points out.

“Some groups use it to test how certain people work together to perhaps make changes to their team,” she says, noting a company that hosted an event that allowed employees to socialize with colleagues and meet their spouses for the first time. That group ended up coming back because team members felt the event helped break down barriers.

“When you know where people are coming from, it may make you more understanding of your colleagues,” Gilan says. To facilitate these connections, she often asks people to share with the group

Black Mountain Cafe, Butcher Shop, Catering

Come enjoy our cozy cafe setting, extensive produce, beverage, & local selections!

Check out other locations:

Downtown & Biltmore

www.hopeyandcompany.com

MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

33

SMALL BITES

by Thomas Calder | tcalder@mountainx.com

Karen Washington uses food to connect the dots

“Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it’s very important that you do it.” -Gandhi

FARMTOHOMEMILK.COM

1478 Patton Ave

ACROSS FROM SKY LANES

Serving craft cocktails with locally distilled spirits OPEN AT NOON WEEKENDS

A revelation can surface at any moment and at any time in a person’s life. For farmer, educator, writer, activist, international speaker and 2014 James Beard Leadership Awardwinner Karen Washington, hers arrived courtesy of a tomato.

The year was 1985. Washington was a first-time homeowner living in the Bronx with her two young children.

“I was trying to live the American dream,” she says. “I had a huge backyard and three options: I could cement it, put a lawn on it or grow food. I decided to grow food.”

The decision resulted in the lifealtering tomato. Washington, who had no prior gardening experience, gathered information from books and elders within her community. “I didn’t know a tomato grew on a vine. I didn’t know a tomato was a fruit. I didn’t know a tomato was red,” she says.

“And to actually see this thing growing, and then when I tasted it … it just changed my world. I wanted to start growing everything.”

On Friday, March 9, Washington will lead the workshop Food for All: Growing Our Community as We Grow Our Food. The daylong session will combine storytelling with group activities and open dialogue.

Topics will range from participants’ personal experiences with gardening and farming, to larger issues, including the history of community gardens, food labels, hunger, poverty, food justice and food sovereignty.

The event is a pre-workshop associated with the Organic Growers School spring conference, Saturday-Sunday, March 10-11.

Washington says her mission is for participants to roll up their sleeves and dig into the greater issues surrounding the current food system. In the United States, one in six people faces hunger. In Buncombe County, over 34,000 residents deal with food insecurity. “Rural or urban, poor is poor,” says Washington. “It has no face.”

The workshop is also a chance for Washington to continue her work with up-and-coming farmers. “If you were

GREEN THUMB: Activist and farmer Karen Washington grew her first tomato in 1985.

She’s been involved in the food and farm scene ever since. Photo courtesy of the Organic Growers School to tell me 10 years ago that young people would want to farm and become farmers, especially people of color, I would have said, ‘Heck no,’” she says. “But now, time and time again, I have been touched by the twinkle of so many young farmers … who want to get involved in the food movement.”

When participants leave the workshop, Washington says, they will have a firmer grasp on the history of the food movement, as well as the challenges that lie ahead. Washington also says students will walk away with “action steps and solutions that they can take back to their communities.”

CONTINUES ON PAGE 36 34

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

MOUNTAINX.COM

MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

35

F OOD Food for All: Growing Our Community as We Grow Our Food runs 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Friday, March 9, at The Sherrill Center and Kimmell Arena at UNC Asheville, Mountain View Room No. 417, 1 Campus View Road. Tickets are $55 for conference attendees, $70 for nonattendees. The Organic Growers School also offers a sliding-scale payment option. For details and tickets, visit avl.mx/4o2.

CHEFS IN ACTION

The

Sustainability

Series

CELEBRATING EARTH DAY 2018

Exploring the landscape of sustainability in WNC in all four April issues of Mountain Xpress Contact us today!

828-251-1333 x 320 advertise@mountainx.com 36

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

MOUNTAINX.COM

Food Connection, an organization that works to eliminate food waste and ease food insecurity in Asheville, will host Chefs in Action, its largest annual fundraiser on Thursday, March 1. Presented by Wicked Weed Brewing, the event will highlight the steps the organization takes in connecting unused food with people in need. The evening will also feature gourmet dishes prepared by chefs from Pack’s Tavern, Bouchon, Vinnie’s Neighborhood Italian, UNC Asheville, Sierra Nevada and Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community. Varden “Papa Vay” Landers will perform at the event.

Beer and wine will be served as well.

Chefs in Action runs 6-9 p.m.

Thursday, March 1, at Celine and Company Catering, 49 Broadway.

Tickets are $65 per person with couples and table options available. To learn more, visit avl.mx/4o3.

CURRAGH CHASE POP-UP DINNER “Curragh Chase is a pop-up restaurant that combines the conviviality of a classic pub with a commitment to the highest level of culinary craftsmanship,” says its executive chef, Brittany Kroeyr. Summit Coffee Co. will host the next dinner on Friday, March 2. Menu highlights include chicory Caesar salad, prime rib and a popcorn semifreddo. The dinner will also include alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages prepared by Summit Coffee.

The Curragh Chase pop-up begins at 7 p.m. Friday, March 2, at Summit Coffee Co., 4 Foundy St. Tickets are $60 per person. To learn more, visit avl.mx/4o7.

WHITE LABS KITCHEN & TAP FERMENTATION SERIES White Labs Kitchen & Tap will debut its educational Fermented

Pairings Series on Tuesday, March 6. White Labs education and engagement curator Erik Fowler and executive chef Evan Timmons will lead discussions on the pairings and fermented products featured.

The menu will include house-made brewer’s yeast-risen bread, cheese, fermented fruit and charcuterie.

Fermented Pairings Series AVL Vol.1 runs 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 6, at White Labs Kitchen & Tap, 172 S. Charlotte St. Tickets are $25 each and are available at avl.mx/4o4.

WHOLE-HOG BUTCHERY CLASS On Thursday, March 8, Hickory Nut Gap Farm will host a whole-hog butchery class led by Charles Lee of The American Pig. According to the workshop’s event page, participants will “learn to utilize every part of the hog, from head to trotter and shoulder to ham.”

The class runs 6-8 p.m. Thursday, March 8, at Hickory Nut Gap Farm, 57 Sugar Hollow Road. Tickets are $75 per person. For details, visit avl.mx/3xh.

JAMES BEARD AWARD SEMIFINALISTS The 2018 James Beard Award semifinalists have been announced, and Asheville is represented on the list in three categories with four overall nominations. Leah Wong Ashburn of Highland Brewing Co. is up for Outstanding Wine, Beer or Spirits Professional; David Bauer of Farm & Sparrow is nominated for Outstanding Baker; Katie Button of Nightbell and Curate is up for Best Chef: Southeast and Meherwan Irani of Chai Pani is also nominated in the same category. The James Beard Awards honor exceptional food and beverage professionals from across the U.S. and are often referred to as the Oscars of the culinary world. Finalists will be announced on Wednesday, March 14. Winners will be named Friday, April 27.

For the complete list of nominees, visit avl.mx/4o5. X

A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T

ON THE JOB

Local filmmakers discuss their behind-the-scenes work

INDEPENDENT FRAME: Brad Hoover, left foreground, prepares to shoot a scene on an outdoor production. The Asheville-based filmmaker has close to 25 years of experience as a cinematographer/director of photography. In addition to such responsibilities as designing a film’s lighting and choosing lens focal length, Hoover often operates the camera himself. Photo courtesy of Asheville School of Film

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com While watching the Academy Awards on Sunday, March 4, many viewers will fill out ballots to guess who will win each category and debate why a particular nominee is superior to his or her competition. But while the acting and musical fields lend themselves to easy critiques, some of the technical awards are more difficult to parse. To help enlighten moviegoers, a trio of local independent filmmakers spoke with Xpress about what they do behind the scenes.

THE SHEPHERD “Essentially, if you think of the process of creating a film as a project, then the producer is like a project manager,” says Sekou Coleman. “Most of the work

that I do is in the independent realm, which means a lot of my work involves not just making sure that the film project moves forward and gets completed, but also making sure there are funding sources and distribution options in place.”

If Coleman were producing a film for a studio like Disney or Sony, he’d likely have 10-15 assistants helping him with paperwork, scheduling, hiring, script delivery and other necessary tasks. But in his roughly 15 years of shepherding independent films forward — his preferred type of project — he typically has two or three helpers.

Under Coleman’s guidance, the combined efforts of the production team make sure that the director can walk on set and get work done as expected.

With the proper people and equipment in place, the director may focus on the film’s creative aspects without having

to stress about technical, administrative and logistical matters.

In regard to the role of executive producer, Coleman says that person is often the one “with the checkbook.” Though generally not a hands-on, everyday type of position, an executive producer ensures that the producer or producing team is competent enough to ensure the successful completion of the project. It’s also a credit sometimes given to actors or a director as a way of increasing their ownership and compensation for participation in the film.

As far as the Oscars are concerned, Coleman thinks the awarding of Best Picture to a film’s producer is an apt reflection of his or her work, but views the complete movie as a team operation.

“It’s not just one person. It’s all the way from the executive producer down to the grips and the [production assistants] who cart the stuff on and off set after

everyone else has gone home, because if they weren’t doing their job, then none of the other stuff would be taken care of,” he says.

FINDING THE RHYTHM Madeleine Richardson began freelancing as an editor during her junior year at UNC Asheville. Over the subsequent four years, she’s come to specialize in custom wedding videos and marketing pieces, but also has experience with narrative films.

“Generally, I’m expected to present a first draft of the edit in a timely manner, and then, from there, work with the director to make any needed changes,” she says.

Richardson has a workspace at home where she does most of her editing.

She uses Adobe Premiere as well as

CONTINUES ON PAGE 38 MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

37

A &E Adobe After Effects for motion graphics and will also sometimes use Adobe Illustrator for logo creation, then animate it in After Effects. While most of her work is solitary, she’ll sometimes bring in the director to work beside her as they go through any changes to get to the final cut of the film.

“The director has a vision that I’m expected to fulfill, but as an editor, there are certain things I can influence, such as the final pacing of the piece,” she says.

“Having a great sense of rhythm, emotion and instinct is key.”

Another important contact for an editor on narrative films is the script supervisor. Richardson says that person keeps track of the director’s notes regarding certain takes and performances for the editor to reference, further enhancing the quality of her work.

“For me, editing can be an incredibly satisfying experience,” Richardson says.

“I know to some it might seem tedious, but when you immerse yourself in the world that you’re creating and hit the rhythm of the story just right, it tastes so delicious.”

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ETC. When the Oscar for Best Cinematography is awarded, Brad Hoover will be one of many professionals wishing the honor went by a different name. “I prefer the term director of photography — DP — or DOP in Europe. It’s more descriptive of what we do,” he says. “No one calls the DP a cinematographer on set.”

In his 25 years as a DP, Hoover has been responsible for the photographic and visual elements of numerous films. He says determining a look and visual style based on the content of the script, in close consultation with the director, is the DP’s primary job.

He also considers the relationship between a director and DP to be the key creative partnership on the set.

“I really prefer to work with directors who I can sit down with and create a shot list and storyboards beforehand. Being creative and thoroughly analyzing the script in the relative calm of preproduction is a thousand times easier than trying to come up with shots in the chaos of the set,” Hoover says.

The DP also chooses the necessary camera and lighting equipment, designs the lighting, determines camera setups, chooses lens focal length and creates compositions and camera movement. On independent films, the DP often operates the camera, but on larger or union films, there is a separate camera operator. Camera movement and shot design are usually suggested by the DP and must be approved by the director.

“Some directors have a very acute aesthetic vision and strong ideas on composition and lighting. With this type of director, I voice my opinions and ideas when I feel appropriate but always defer to them if there is a disagreement,” Hoover says.

“Then there are other directors who focus fully on the performances of the actors and trust the DP to [do] their job based on their consultations in preproduction. Most directors are somewhere in between the two extremes.”

As these three filmmakers note, many other people are necessary to complete a work of cinema. If the success of current Best Picture front-runner Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri — shot two years ago in Sylva, Black Mountain and surrounding areas — is any indication, they’ll continue to be in high demand on the local front. X

Don’t wink in the dark.

Not advertising is like winking in the dark.

You know what you’re doing, but nobody else does.

Reach 75k pair of eyes per week Free design services adver tise@mountianx.com 38

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

MOUNTAINX.COM

by Bill Kopp

bill@musoscribe.com

MERCURISTS RISING Singer-songwriter Stephanie Morgan is known as the voice and face of stephaniesid. For 15 years, Morgan and that band played locally, toured and released a series of albums. When the group folded in 2016, it wasn’t immediately clear what Morgan’s next musical move would be.

But, after quietly re-emerging in mid-2017 with a solo album, she put together two new groups: indie-pop band the Mercurists and an improvisational alter ego, Pink Mercury. In celebration of her birthday, Morgan has scheduled a Saturday, March 3, show at The Mothlight, fronting the Mercurists.

Latching onto the memorable melodies within stephaniesid’s sophisticated, instrumentally complex music could sometimes take a few listens. And, while her debut solo album Chrysalism, released a year ago, wasn’t exactly a musical U-turn, its songs are more immediate. That directness wasn’t an intentional thing, Morgan says. “But I do think that life has phases in which certain things become more important to you.”

The songs on Chrysalism began as stephaniesid jam sessions, but by the time Morgan entered a Virginia studio with producer Matthew E. White and session musicians, the end was nearing for both stephaniesid and Morgan’s marriage to collaborator Chuck Lichtenberger. Morgan says she recorded the songs with the blessing of her ex-bandmates. “I decided that I really liked the theme of universal songs, anthemic tunes that could bring people together,” she says.

With the benefit of hindsight, Morgan thinks that the Chrysalism songs were, in fact, advising her. “That’s almost always the case with the songs I write,” she says. “I write them, and I think I know what they mean at the time. But then much later, I’ll listen to them again and go, ‘So that’s what I was getting at!’

Our inner wisdom comes out, whether we want it to or not.”

Morgan released Chrysalism without fanfare. The album had a “soft” release and wasn’t distributed to reviewers (though Mountain Xpress did review the album). There were only two live dates in support of it. “I didn’t do radio promotion,” Morgan says. “I didn’t do any of that stuff. It was like, ‘I just need to be where I’m at right now.’” The album’s title — describing a kind of amniotic tranquility — seems especially apt.

Stephanie Morgan features her solo material in a birthday show past, the exercise was sometimes a feature of stephaniesid shows.

Because of the individual Mercurists’ busy schedules, for now, Morgan is the writing songs for a Chrysalism follow-up on her own. She describes a process some might call mercurial: “I’m looking up at clouds and trying to find pictures in them. And then suddenly I find something: ‘Oh, that’s an elephant!’” X

WHO Stephanie Morgan and the Mercurists WHERE The Mothlight 701 Haywood Road themothlight.com WHEN Saturday, March 3, 9 p.m. $8 advance/ $10 day of show

MERCURIAL BY DESIGN: After the demise of her longtime group stephaniesid, Stephanie Morgan has launched not one but two bands. Pink Mercury is an improvisational outfit; the Mercurists provide an outlet for Morgan’s pop leanings. The latter plays The Mothlight on March 3. Photo by Joe Pellegrino A sense of optimism pervades the songs on Chrysalism, even though Morgan’s personal circumstances at the time didn’t necessarily encourage that attitude. “I did not expect some of the things that happened in my life to happen the way they did,” she says. But she realized — or perhaps just decided — that she had to forge ahead. “To make the best possible stuff I can make,” she says, “I have to dive into exactly what I do.”

Over the last several months, Morgan has re-embraced the larger world and is finding her place in it. She assembled the Mercurists from among well-known Asheville players: bassist Ryan Reardon (of Les Amis), former Jon Stickley Trio drummer Patrick Armitage, Toubab Krewe guitarist Drew Heller and keyboardist Rich Brownstein, formerly of The Broadcast. (For The Mothlight show, Merrick Noyes from Third Nature will sub on keys.) Zack Cardon (Midnight Snack) and Brie Capone provide backup vocals, while Morgan sings and plays both guitar and keyboards.

Initially basing a repertoire around the Chrysalism material, the Mercurists satisfy Morgan’s pop leanings. “I love all kinds of music,” she says, “but I really dig a good pop song. And until now, I’ve never fully unleashed

my unabashed love for straight-up pop music.”

But Morgan’s more experimental bent needs an outlet as well. For that, there’s Pink Mercury. In sharp contrast to the Mercurists’ carefully constructed pop, Pink Mercury is completely improvisational. And there’s no set lineup. “I have a group of go-to people,” Morgan explains. “There’s a cadre of them, and they don’t all play on the same shows. It’s an expandable, collapsible group.”

The improvisational collective employs a guerrilla approach, staging pop-up shows around Asheville in venues like 5 Walnut, Ben’s Tune-Up and Static Age Records. “We can pop up anywhere as long as there is good energy in the room,” Morgan says.

Pink Mercury is, by design, “extremely collaborative. We have this ethic that if anybody in the band likes an idea, they can just run with it.” And spontaneity is built in: “We don’t rehearse,” Morgan says.

But even within the more conventional structure of a Mercurists show, Morgan embraces the unknown. The Mothlight event will include her “Night of Bravery” exercise, in which preselected audience members get five minutes onstage to do ... whatever. Providing a link with Morgan’s

MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

39

A&E

by Daniel Walton

danielwwalton@live.com

STREET PREACHERS It’s early on Thursday in the back room of Fleetwood’s, the combination vintage shop/bar/music venue/ wedding chapel in West Asheville.

But as Davaion Bristol, aka hiphop artist Spaceman Jones, gets ready to shoot a music video with Erick Lottary (ShotXLott) for the impending release of Spaceman Jones & The Motherships Vol. 2, the vibe transforms from a grungy garage show into a Sunday morning church service.

Light streams through the purple and orange patchwork of stainedglass diamonds along the back wall as Bristol dons a long, black robe with crosses down its front. He shakes loose a tangle of dreadlocks and begins to walk the space, talking about the inspiration behind the new EP that he and producer Cliff B. Worsham are set to debut at Ellington Underground on Saturday, March 3.

“What’s affecting us the most is how the people who are in charge of us act,” Bristol says. “They want us to go along with what the priests subscribe, what’s already been handed to us. They want the whole world to be an echo chamber: You can be censored for having an opinion that’s against the norm, no matter how ridiculous the normal opinion is.”

Worsham, aka MOTHER HOOD of Asheville electro-soul outfit RBTS WIN, chips in from behind the podium where he’s set up his sampler for the video shoot. “Now, more than ever, they want us not to speak,” he says. “They want people like [Bristol] to not have a voice.”

Their tag-team sermon underscores Bristol and Worsham’s com-

Handmade custom fit lingerie and ethically made brands from around the world

NOW OPEN Tue-Fri 11-6, Sat 12-5 • 828.505.2506 842 Haywood Rd. West Asheville 40

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

Spaceman Jones & The Motherships launch a second EP

WORDS ON THE STREET: Spaceman Jones & The Motherships, the collaboration of rapper Davaion Bristol, aka Spaceman Jones, left, and producer Cliff Worsham of RBTS WIN, are picking up the pace of their releases in response to current events. “Now, more than ever, [people in power] want us not to speak,” Worsham says. Photo by Erick Lottary mitment to making meaningful, socially conscious hip-hop. Spaceman Jones & The Motherships, the pair’s initial EP, drew material from the 2016 presidential election and first 100 days of the Trump administration. The upcoming record follows suit — as will Spaceman Jones & The Motherships Vol. 3, already recorded and planned for release around early fall of this year.

The fast pace of releases, says Worsham, speaks to the easy collaboration he and Bristol enjoy in the studio.

“The first tape was kind of an experiment to see if we worked together, but recording it went so quickly that we got momentum,” he explains. “The recipe works, and [Bristol]’s become such a good writer that we were able to get a lot done in the past few months.”

Although Spaceman Jones & The Motherships Vol. 2 follows the same template as the first EP, with two sets of four songs separated by an interlude and bookended by an intro and outro, the sound feels more open in both production and vocals. Bristol’s raps are sparser, less hurried, while the backing tracks constructed by Worsham and fellow RBTS WIN producer Javier Bolea give each individual sample more room to breathe.

MOUNTAINX.COM

Bristol may be putting fewer words into each bar, but what he does say hits harder for its precision. On the second verse of “Halfway Crook,” he raps, “Remember lessons from my transgressions / I lost a couple friends and gained a lot of blessings / Messing with ghosts through the smoke / I wonder what was worse for ni**ers, slavery or coke?”

The syllables pop off the crisp tattoo of a snare drum while a church bell sets an appropriately somber tone; there’s little else on the track to compete for attention with Bristol’s lyrics.

“I switched up a lot of my cadence for this record,” he says. “I’m kind of rapping in between the space of what’s actually happening in the music, more in the groove.”

Even the duo’s approach to live performance is adapting to this lessis-more philosophy. “We’ve learned that features don’t really work — it’s enough with just [Bristol] and me,” Worsham says. “And we don’t worry too much about trying to translate the studio sound to live shows because we want it to rip!”

Onstage and in the studio, Spaceman Jones & The Motherships continue to tighten their music, finding the clearest ways to share messages that Worsham believes are crucial for the times. “I think people in Asheville and across the board in the U.S. right now are hungry for real substance,” he says.

“Once you give them a taste of something like that, they have to have more of it, because once you start learning, you don’t want to stop.” X

WHAT Spaceman Jones & The Motherships Vol. 2 album release party WHERE Ellington Underground 56 Patton Ave. ellingtonunderground.com WHEN Saturday, March 3, 10 p.m. $10

SMART BETS

A&E

by Edwin Arnaudin | Send your arts news to ae@mountainx.com

Songs of Love

Spheres of Influence

For Songs of Love, its latest series of intimate performances, local chamber music organization AmiciMusic mixes opera, operetta, musical theater and film by such composers as Arlen, Herbert, Kern, Loesser, Puccini and Rodgers. Bringing the pieces to life is the duo of pianist Daniel Weiser and soprano Simone Vigilante, whose mastery of a range of vocal styles will be on full display. Before each offering, Weiser — who doubles as AmiciMusic’s artistic director — will share insightful and entertaining anecdotes about each composer. The run of shows begins at Isis Music Hall on Thursday, March 1, 7 p.m. and ends Sunday, March 4, 4 p.m., at Saluda’s Orchard Inn (4 p.m.) with a pair of 7:30 p.m. home concerts in between. $20-50. amicimusic.org/concert/songs-of-love. Photo courtesy of AmiciMusic

With a background in traditional painting and printmaking informing her aesthetic, Asheville-based artist Linda Gritta has followed the allure of abstraction in recent years. Steering her paintbrush is a fascination with the order and chaos in humankind, nature and physics, through which she explores the possibilities of the medium.

UNC Asheville presents some of Gritta’s latest works in an exhibition titled Spheres of Influence, on display at the Blowers Gallery of the Ramsey Library, March 1-30.

Seeking to express the simplicity and complexity of Gritta’s world, the selected works range from small, lushly painted spheres to epic, meandering abstracts. The exhibit’s opening reception takes place Saturday, March 3, 4-6:30 p.m., at Ramsey Library. Free. library.unca.edu. Image courtesy of Gritta

Dhat Boy Val Ever since he was a 6-yearold known as Lil JJ, Asheville native Jamal Valentine has been writing rhymes and deepening his passion for hip-hop. Building from those early scribblings in his school notebook, he’s stuck with his craft and released a series of singles, mixtapes and EPs under the name Dhat Boy Val. The rapper’s most recent project, the RIP My Pops EP, reflected on the loss of his father and paved the way for a busy 2018.

To celebrate the release of his new single “Sex on a Pedestal,” set to be on a mixtape due out April 30, Dhat Boy Val performs Saturday, March 3, at 10 p.m., at Timo’s House. Backing him on the turntables will be DJ Twan.

Free. timos-house.com. Photo courtesy of the artist

Dogwood Tales Hearing Dogwood Tales’ latest batch of songs, one might never guess that the band’s founders got their start in the pop-punk realm. Based in Harrisonburg, Va., friends and songwriters Kyle Grim and Ben Ryan moved away from those high-energy roots and toward the country duo tradition laid down by the likes of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, and Mandolin Orange. Touring in support of its late February album, Too Hard to Tell, the band brings its refined Southern sound to The Burger Bar on Friday, March 2, at 9 p.m. Fellow Virginian and tour mate Saw Black and Asheville singer-songwriter Jon Dwyer open the night. $3-5 suggested donation. facebook.com/burgerbar.asheville. Photo courtesy of the band

MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

41

2018 Kids

T H E AT E R R E V I E W

by Kai Elijah Hamilton | kaielijahhamilton@gmail.com

‘Mountain Political Action Committee’ at The Magnetic Theatre

issues

Coming MARCH 14 & 21 42

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

In Mountain Political Action Committee, the new play by local actor-turned-writer Honor Moor, an eclectic party of five in Asheville formulates a group called Mo-PAC (an anagram of the production’s title), lead by Velma Lytle (played by Delina Hensley). The members, each from different backgrounds, are sworn to secrecy. There’s firefighter Olson Kelly (Scott Cameron), social guru Lizzie Crutchfield (Tara Theodossis), Verizon agent Johnson Hendon III (Tim Plaut) and police dispatcher Andrea Caldwell (Cary Nichols). Together, they aim to be the watchdogs of any wrongdoings in the community.

The show runs through Saturday, March 10, at The Magnetic Theatre.

A main goal of this politically charged committee is to make a difference in the lives of hate-crime victims. Suspicion quickly circulates when an outsider becomes aware of Mo-PAC, and Andrea’s wife becomes a target. The group must take it upon themselves to flush out the mole among them.

Michael Lilly, who was last seen in a stellar performance of On Golden Pond at Parkway Playhouse, directs this comedy. There are certainly some chuckles, but there’s more to savor in the few serious moments.

Moor shows passion and promise as a first-time playwright. The play’s greatest strength could lie in finding a common ground between Republican and Democratic viewpoints. The attempt to understand both sides is crucial in a piece, such as this, that is aiming for change. When the play heads in that direction, it becomes less preachy and is at its best. However, there are far too many references to Asheville, which bottles up the comedy for only those familiar with the area.

If the play was focused to be a clever satire, it could spark a series. Each cast member shows good distinction, a collaborative effort of which Lilly and Moor should be proud.

MOUNTAINX.COM

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH: The cast of ’Mountain Political Action Committee’ includes, from left, Delina Hensley, Tim Plaut, Scott Cameron, Tara Theodossis and Cary Nichols.

Photo courtesy of The Magnetic Theatre Hensley makes Velma a brassy, stereotypical Southern woman. Such a choice gives the play a central focus. The outlandishness of the character could easily follow through to potential sequels.

Cameron and Nichols manage to tame the play and, in turn, are the standouts.

Their understated performances as real people satisfy. Cameron is perfectly cast as the tall, strapping buck. His character goes through the greatest arc by experiencing a political awakening.

Nichols has the acting chops for drama. The choice not to make her lesbian character a stereotype was thoughtful and wise. When Andrea’s wife is violated by a hate crime, Nichols reflects the skill of a strategic but caring dispatcher. The suspense becomes serious among everyone in the group, but the mystery does not last long enough.

The Magnetic Theatre has long been a supporter of local playwrights. By

staging works like Mountain Political Action Committee, it taps into the deeper concerns of our nation. While Republicans risk feeling offended by this piece, Democrats may enjoy its blunt approach. X

WHAT Mountain Political Action Committee WHERE The Magnetic Theatre 375 Depot St. themagnetictheatre.org WHEN Through Saturday, March 10.

Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, at 7:30 p.m. $10-16

A&E CA L EN DA R

ART ART AT MARS HILL UNIVERSITY mhu.edu • WE (2/28), 3-6pm Event to create art in response to Connie Bostic's art show. Free.

Held at Weizenblatt Art Gallery at MHU, 79 Cascade St, Mars Hill ASHEVILLE AREA ARTS COUNCIL 828-258-0710, ashevillearts.com • MONDAYS through (4/30), 10am-1pm "Explorative Fibers," fiber workshop for veterans. Registration required: 828-258-0710.

Free. Held at Local Cloth, 207 Coxe Ave. • MONDAYS until (3/26), 2-5pm - Weaving class for veterans. Registration required. Free. Held at Local Cloth, 207 Coxe Ave. BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • TU (3/6), 6-7:30pm "Art After Dark," instructional class to create an acrylic painting of a sunset landscape. Materials provided. Registration required: 828-250-6488.

Free. Held at Skyland/ South Buncombe Library, 260 Overlook Road THE CENTER FOR CRAFT, CREATIVITY AND DESIGN 67 Broadway, 828-785-1357, craftcreativitydesign.org/ • TH (3/1), 4-6pm"Market Positioning: The Foundation of Your Business Strategy," entrepreneur's workshop with Regina Connell, former director of communications at Heath Ceramics. Registration required. $20-$40.

ART/CRAFT STROLLS & FAIRS PENLAND SCHOOL OF CRAFTS 67 Doras Trail, Bakersville, 828-7652359, penland.org • SA (3/3), 1-5pm - Open house with hands-on activities for all ages.

Free to attend.

by Abigail Griffin

Send your event listings to calendar@mountainx.com

• MONDAYS, 6:308:30pm - "Aspects of Butoh," butoh dance practice with the Asheville Butoh Collective. $15-$20.

Held at 7 Chicken Alley • THURSDAY through SUNDAY (3/8) until (3/11) - Proceeds from the Noguchi Taiso, Water Body Movement, movement workshop with Mari Osanai benefit Asheville Butoh Collective. See website for full schedule and registration. $45-$80 per class/$225 entire workshop. Held at BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce St.

AUDITIONS & CALL TO ARTISTS ASHEVILLE ART MUSEUM 828-253-3227, ashevilleart.org • Through SA (3/31) Submissions accepted for Appalachia Now! An Interdisciplinary Survey of Contemporary Art in Southern Appalachia, exhibition. See website for full guidelines.

FLETCHER AREA ART FAIR 828-691-1255 , director@ fletcherartsheritage.com • Through SA (3/31) Vendors accepted for the Fletcher Area Art Fair taking place on Saturday, April 7.

MUSIC VIDEO ASHEVILLE 828-515-1081, musicvideoavl.com • Through TH (3/15) Submissions accepted for the 11th annual music video competition. See website for submission guidelines.

SALUDA HISTORIC DEPOT 32 W. Main St., Saluda, facebook.com/ savesaludadepot/ • FR (3/2), 7pm - Open auditions for all ages for the Saluda Historic Depot Theater Group.

Contact for full guidelines: 828-749-4803 or cgerwe@rsnet.org.

DANCE DO YOU WANT TO DANCE? (PD.) Ballroom • Swing • Waltz • Latin • Wedding • TwoStep • Special Events.

Lessons, Workshops, Classes and Dance Events in Asheville.

Certified instructor. Contact Richard for information: 828-3330715. naturalrichard@ mac.com • www.

DanceForLife.net EXPERIENCE ECSTATIC DANCE! (PD.) Dance waves hosted

by Asheville Movement Collective. Fun and personal/community transformation. • Fridays, 7pm, Terpsicorps Studios, 1501 Patton Avenue. • Sundays, 8:30am and 10:30am,

FEMME FOOTWORK: “In a period of history like now, the female voice is important and expressing it through dance is ideal for a festival of female art,” says Susan Collard, director of Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre. Co-hosted with local dancer Kathleen Meyers Leiner, ACDT’s Women’s Work answers that call Friday, March 2-Sunday, March 4, with original dance theater works by female choreographers in recognition of Women’s History Month. Performers at the BeBe Theatre include New York City guest artist Anabella Lenzu, Leiner and the Asheville Butoh Collective. Single-show tickets are $18 for adults and $15 for students. Discount packages for multiple workshops and performances are also available. For more information or to purchase tickets, call the BeBe Theatre box office at 828-254-2621. Photo of Lenzu by Todd Carroll courtesy of the organizers (p. 43) JCC, 236 Charlotte Street. Sliding scale fee.

Information: ashevillemovementcollective.org STUDIO ZAHIYA, DOWNTOWN DANCE CLASSES (PD.) Monday 8am Bootcamp 12pm Bootcamp 12pm Barre Wkt 5pm Teen Dance Fitness & Technique 6pm Hip Hop Wkt 6pm Bellydance Drills 7pm Bellydance Special Topics 7pm Tribal Bellydance Level 1 7pm Sassy Jazz 8pm Tribal Bellydance Level 2 8pm Lyrical 8pm Raks Azure Pro Bellydance Troupe • Tuesday 9am Hip Hop Wkt 6pm Intro to Bellydance 7pm Bellydance 2 8pm Creating a Solo • Wednesday 8am Bootcamp 10am

Hip Hop 12pm Bootcamp 5pm Flow and Glow Yoga 6pm Bhangra Series 7pm Tap 1 8pm Tap 2 • Thursday 9am Hip Hop Wkt 3:15pm Kids Hip Hop and Creative Movement 4pm Kids Hip Hop and Creative Movement 5pm Teens Hip Hop 6pm Stiletto Sculpt Dance 7pm Liberated Ladies 8pm West Coast Swing • Friday 8am Bootcamp 12pm Bootcamp • Saturday 9:30am Hip Hop Wkt 10:45 Buti Yoga Wkt 1pm Hip Hop • $14 for 60 minute classes, Wkt $8. 90 1/2 N. Lexington Avenue. www.studiozahiya.com :: 828.242.7595

ASHEVILLE CONTEMPORARY DANCE THEATRE 828-254-2621, acdt.org/ • SU (3/4), noon-1:30pm - "Painting Dance," improvisation-based workshop with Connie Schrader exploring the ways painting and dance can inform each other. For ages 15 and up. Registration required: 828-254-2621.

Free. Held at Be Be Theatre, 20 Commerce St. BAILEY MOUNTAIN CLOGGERS 828-689-1113, baileymountaincloggers.yolasite.com/

frugalframer

custom picture framing since 1975

What would you like to fram e?

• FRIDAY through SUNDAY (3/2) until (3/4) - Bailey Mountain Cloggers spring concert. Fri.-Sat.: 7pm. Sun.: 3pm. $10/Free for children under six. Held at Mars Hill University, 265 Cascade St., Mars Hill BEBE THEATRE 20 Commerce St., 828-254-2621 • FR (3/2) & SA (3/3), 7:30pm - "Women’s Work: A Weekend of Dance Works," featuring works by Anabella Lenzu and Kethy Leiner. $18/$15 students.

• SU (3/4), 6pm "Women’s Work: A Weekend of Dance Works," featuring works by local female choreographers, Asheville Butoh collective and Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre. $18/$15 students.

DIANA WORTHAM THEATRE 18 Biltmore Ave., 828-257-4530, dwtheatre.com • WE (3/7) & TH (3/8), 8pm - Bodytraffic, dance performance. $45/$40 student/$20 children.

HABITAT TAVERN & COMMONS 174 Broadway, habitatbrewing.com

Thank you for voting us #1!

Downtown

95 Cherry Street North 828.258.2435

Arden

2145 Hendersonville Rd. 828.687.8533

www.frugalframer.com

frugalframer.com

ASHEVILLE BUTOH COLLECTIVE ashevillebutoh.com

MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

43

A& E CA LEN DA R

• 1st MONDAYS, 7-8:30pm - "Salsa Dancing for the Soul," open levels salsa dance. Free to attend.

SOUTHERN LIGHTS SQUARE AND ROUND DANCE CLUB 828-697-7732, southernlights.org • SA (3/3), 6pm - "Dance by the Light of the Moon," themed dance. Advance dance at 6pm. Early rounds at 7pm. Plus squares and rounds at 7:30pm. Free.

Held at Whitmire Activity Center, 310 Lily Pond Road, Hendersonville THE ASHEVILLE SCHOOL 360 Asheville School Road, 828-254-6345, ashevilleschool.org • TH (3/1) - "Emotion Creates Motion & Motion Creates Emotion," intermediate/advanced dance workshop taught

by Anabella Lenzu.

Registration required: 828-215-2410 or leinerk@ ashevilleschool.org. Free.

MUSIC AFRICAN DRUM LESSONS AT SKINNY BEATS DRUM SHOP (PD.) Saturdays 5pm, Wednesdays 6pm. Billy Zanski teaches a fun approach to connecting with your inner rhythm.

Drop-ins welcome. • Drums provided. $15/class.

(828) 768-2826. www. skinnybeatsdrums.com 35BELOW 35 E. Walnut St., 828-2541320, ashevilletheatre.org • FRIDAYS through SUNDAYS (3/2) until (3/18) - Putting it Together, musical revue featuring the works of Steven Sondheim.

Fri.-Sat.: 7:30pm. Sun.: 2:30pm. $22.

A CAPELLA ALIVE wbellnc@yahoo.com • THURSDAYS, 7-9pm - A Cappella Alive! womens choral group practice. Free.

Held at Givens Gerber Park Community Room, 40 Gerber Road AMICIMUSIC 802-369-0856, amicimusic.org • FR (3/2), 7:30pm - "Songs of Love," concert featuring soprano Simone Vigilante and reception. Held in a private home, register for location. $35.

• SA (3/3), 7:30pm "Songs of Love," concert featuring soprano Simone Vigilante and reception.

Held in a private home, register for location. $35.

• SU (3/4), 4pm - Proceeds from "Songs of Love," concert featuring soprano Simone Vigilante and reception benefit the Saluda Depot. $50. Held at The Orchard Inn, 100 Orchard Inn Lane, Saluda

BLUE RIDGE ORCHESTRA blueridgeorchestra.com • SA (3/3), 2pm & 4:30pm - "Cello Cielo," orchestral concert featuring cello soloist Franklin Keel. $15/$5 students. Held at Biltmore United Methodist Church, 378 Hendersonville Road BREVARD MUSIC CENTER 828-862-2105, brevardmusic.org • MO (3/5), 12:30pm Concert by trumpeter Neal Berntsen, trombonist David Jackson and pianist David Gilliland. Free. Held at Brevard College, 1 Brevard College Drive Brevard DIANA WORTHAM THEATRE 18 Biltmore Ave., 828-257-4530, dwtheatre.com • FR (3/2), 8pm - Cowboy Junkies, concert. $39.50 and up.

FLAT ROCK PLAYHOUSE 2661 Highway 225, Flat Rock, 828-693-0731, flatrockplayhouse.org • SA (3/3), 2pm & 8pm & SU (3/4), 2pm - The Young Irelanders, music, song and dance concert. $16-$32.

GRAPEVINE COMMUNITY CENTER 1300 Grapevine Road, Marshall • SA (3/3), 10am-3pm - "All Day Singing and Dinner

on the Grounds," Christian harmony singing workshop and dinner. Free.

LAKE JUNALUSKA CONFERENCE & RETREAT CENTER 91 North Lakeshore Drive Lake Junaluska, 828-452-2881, lakejunaluska.com • SA (3/3), 7:30pm Abraham Jam, concert featuring Billy Jonas, David LaMotte and Dawud Wharnsby. $18.

MUSIC AT UNCA 828-251-6432, unca.edu • TU (3/6), 7pm - "The Complicated Lives of Biblical Women," concert by Alicia Jo Rabins blending art-pop songs, poetry and feminist Torah scholarship. Free. Held at UNC Asheville, Humanities Lecture Hall, One University Heights MUSIC AT WCU 828-227-2479, bardoartscenter.wcu.edu • TH (3/1), 7pm - OldTime and Bluegrass Series: Concert featuring mountain ballads by Sarah Elizabeth Burkey and Susan Pepper. Open jam session at 8pm. Free. Held at H.F. Robinson Administration Building, Cullowhee SMOKY MOUNTAIN BRASS BAND smbrass.com • SU (3/4), 3pm - Brass concert featuring guest

The

Sustainability

CELEBRATING EARTH DAY 2018

Ever y week in April

Series

Don’t wink in the dark.

Not advertising is like winking in the dark.

You know what you’re doing, but nobody else does.

Reach 75k pair of eyes per week Free design services adver tise@mountianx.com 44

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

MOUNTAINX.COM

composer, Ed Kiefer.

Free. Held at Lipinsky Auditorium at UNC Asheville, 300 Library Lane SONG O' SKY CHORUS songosky.org • TU (3/6), 6:45pm - Open house for a cappella chorus group. Free. Held at St. John's Episcopal Church, 290 Old Haw Creek Road TRYON FINE ARTS CENTER 34 Melrose Ave., Tryon, 828-859-8322, tryonarts.org • SA (3/3), 5-11pm Proceeds from "Chase Away the Blues," concert featuring regional blues artists benefit the Tryon Fine Arts Center. $30$300.

SPOKEN & WRITTEN WORD ASHEVILLE TOASTMASTERS CLUB 914-424-7347, ashevilletoastmasters.com • THURSDAYS, 6:157:45pm - General meeting to develop leadership, communication and speaking skills within community. Free. Held at YMI Cultural Center, 39 South Market St. ASHEVILLE WRITERS' SOCIAL allimarshall@bellsouth.net • 1st WEDNESDAYS, 6-7:30pm - N.C. Writer's Network group meeting and networking. Free to attend. Held at Battery Park Book Exchange, 1 Page Ave., #101 BLUE RIDGE BOOKS 428 Hazelwood Ave., Waynesville • 1st & 3rd SATURDAYS, 10am - Banned Book Club. Free to attend.

• SA (3/3), 2-4pm - Charley Pearson presents his book, The Marianated Nottingham and Other Abuses of the Language.

Free to attend.

BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • MO (3/5), 5pm - "Poetry Alive," event featuring actors presenting memorized poems for all ages.

Free. Held at Skyland/ South Buncombe Library, 260 Overlook Road

• TU (3/6), 7pm - EnkaCandler Book Club: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Free. Held at EnkaCandler Library, 1404 Sandhill Road, Candler CITY LIGHTS BOOKSTORE 3 E. Jackson St., Sylva, 828-586-9499, citylightsnc.com • SA (2/3), 3pm - Jennifer McGaha presents her memoir, Flat Broke with Two Goats. Free to attend.

DIANA WORTHAM THEATRE 18 Biltmore Ave., 828-257-4530, dwtheatre.com • SU (3/4), 2pm & 7pm Peter Gros, wildlife expert and longtime co-host of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, storytelling. $40/$35 student/$20 children.

FIRESTORM CAFE AND BOOKS 610 Haywood Road, 828-255-8115 • SA (3/3), 3pm- Holly Kays presents her book, Shadow of Flowers. Free to attend.

• First SUNDAYS, 5pm - Political prisoners letter writing. Free to attend.

• WE (3/7), 6pm - Jordan Makant reads from his debut chapbook, Impossible Angles. Free to attend.

FLATIRON WRITERS ROOM LITERARY CENTER 5 Covington St. • FR (3/2), 6pm - Poetry readings by Maggie Anderson and Jan Beatty.

Free to attend.

FLETCHER LIBRARY 120 Library Road, Fletcher, 828-687-1218, library. hendersoncountync.org • 2nd THURSDAYS, 10:30am - Book Club.

Free.

• 2nd THURSDAYS, 1:30pm - Writers' Guild.

Free.

FLOOD GALLERY FINE ART CENTER 2160 US Highway 70, Swannanoa, 828-273-3332, floodgallery.org/ • SUNDAYS, 2-5pm - Halcyone Literary Magazine meeting for writers, reviewers, poets and artists interested in reviewing submissions,

reading and submitting their own works and helping with the formation of the magazine. Free.

MALAPROP'S BOOKSTORE AND CAFE 55 Haywood St., 828-254-6734, malaprops.com • WE (2/28), 6pm Thomas Mira Y Lopez presents his book, The Book of Resting Places: A Personal History of Where We Lay the Dead. Free to attend.

• SU (3/4), 3pm "Poetrio," event featuring poetry readings by Todd Boss, Eric Wright and Laurie Wilcox-Meyer. Free to attend.

• MO (3/5), 6pm - Chris Dombrowski presents his book, Body of Water: A Sage, a Seeker, and the World’s Most Elusive Fish.

Free to attend.

• MO (3/5), 7pm - LBGTQ Book Club: Adrian and the Tree of Secrets by Hubert, illustrated by Marie Caillou. Free to attend.

• TU (3/6), 6pm - Elizabeth Osta presents her book, Saving Faith: A Memoir of Courage, Conviction, and a Calling. Free to attend.

• TU (3/6), 7pm - Current Events Book Club: When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, by Patrisse KhanCullors. Free to attend.

• TU (3/6), 7pm- Women in Lively Discussion Book Club: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. Free to attend.

• WE (3/7), 6pm - Brendan Reichs presents his young adult book, Genesis. Free to attend.

• WE (3/7), 7pm Malaprop's Book Club: A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

by Betty Smith. Free to attend.

• TH (3/8), 6pm - Bill Kopp presents his book, Reinventing Pink Floyd: From Syd Barrett to the Dark Side of the Moon.

Free to attend.

NCSU POETRY CONTEST go.ncsu.edu/ poetrycontest • Through MO (3/12) Submissions accepted for the NC State poetry contest.

NEW DIMENSIONS TOASTMASTERS 828-329-4190 • THURSDAYS, noon1pm - General meeting.

Information: 828-3294190. Free to attend. Held at Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity, 33 Meadow Road THOMAS WOLFE MEMORIAL 52 North Market St., 828-253-8304, wolfememorial.com • TH (3/8), 5:30-7pm Polyphemus, short-story discussion led by Dan and Ana Clare. Free.

THEATER ASHEVILLE COMMUNITY THEATRE 35 E. Walnut St., 828-254-1320, ashevilletheatre.org • FRIDAYS through SUNDAYS until (3/4) - 9 to 5, musical. Fri. & Sat.: 7:30pm. Sun.: 2:30pm. $15-$30.

FLAT ROCK PLAYHOUSE 2661 Highway 225, Flat Rock, 828-693-0731, flatrockplayhouse.org • THURSDAYS through SUNDAYS (3/2) until (3/25) - Seussical the Musical.

Thurs. & Fri.: 7:30pm. Sat.: 11am. Sat. & Sun.: 3pm. $14-$28.

MAGNETIC 375 375 Depot St., themagnetictheatre.org • THURSDAYS through SATURDAYS until (3/10), 7:30pm - Mountain Political Action Committee, comedy. $16.

THEATER AT UNCA 828-251-6610, drama.unca.edu • THURSDAY through SUNDAY (3/1) until (3/4) - Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter, student performance. Thurs.Sat.: 7:30pm. Sun.: 2pm. $12/$10 seniors, military & faculty/$7 students. Held at Belk Theatre at UNC Asheville, One University Heights

GALLERY DIRECTORY ART AT MARS HILL UNIVERSITY mhu.edu • Through FR (3/9) - When All God's Children Get Together: A Celebration of the Lives and Music of African-American People in Far Western North Carolina, exhibition curated by Ann Miller Woodford. Held at Rural Heritage Museum at Mars Hill, 100 Athletic St., Mars Hill • Through TU (3/13) - Exhibition of artwork by Connie Bostic and the MHU Women's Studies Program. Held in Weizenblatt Gallery at Mars Hill University, 265 Cascade St., Mars Hill ART AT UNCA art.unca.edu • Through FR (3/9) - they/them: a sculptural exploration of gender fluidity, exhibition of sculptural woks by Al Slydel. Held at UNC Asheville - Owen Hall, 1 University Heights • Through FR (2/23) - Exhibition of the artwork of the late James Spratt. Reception: Friday, March 9, 6-8pm & Friday, March 23, 6-8pm. Held at UNC Asheville Owen Hall, 1 University Heights • TH (3/1) through FR (3/30) Spheres of Influence, exhibition of abstract paintings by Linda Gritta.

Reception: Saturday, March 3, 4-6:30pm. Held at UNC Asheville - Ramsey Library, 1 University Heights ART AT WCU 828-227-2787, bardoartscenter.wcu.edu • Through FR (5/4) - Lining: Sheathing, interactive installation and exhibition of work by Denise Bookwalter and Lee Emma Running. Reception: Thursday, April 19, 5-7pm. Held at The WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Drive • Through FR (3/30) - 50th Annual Juried Undergraduate Exhibition.

Held at The WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Drive ARTS COUNCIL OF HENDERSON COUNTY 828-693-8504, acofhc.org • Through FR (3/2) - Art Teachers Create, group exhibition featuring work from Henderson County teachers and mentors. Held at First Citizens Bank, 539 N. Main St., Hendersonville ASHEVILLE AREA ARTS COUNCIL 828-258-0710, ashevillearts.com • Through FR (3/2) - My North Carolina, exhibition of artwork by fourth graders of Claxton Elementary. Held at The Refinery, 207 Coxe Ave. • Through FR (3/30) - AAAC Juried Members Show, group exhibition. Reception: Friday, March 2, 5-8pm. Held at The Refinery, 207 Coxe Ave. ASHEVILLE ART MUSEUM 175 Biltmore Ave., 828-253-3227 • Through SU (3/4) - Exhibition featuring selections from the 2018 WNC Regional Scholastic Art Awards competition.

ASHEVILLE GALLERY OF ART 82 Patton Ave., 828-251-5796, ashevillegallery-of-art.com • TH (3/1) through SA (3/31) - Black, White, and Shades of Gray, group exhibition featuring the paintings of Jane Molinelli.

Reception: Friday, March 2, 5-8pm.

ALL IN THE FAMILY: For 10 years, the mother/daughter duo of Bee Sieburg and Molly Courcelle have painted in their working spaces on the second floor of the Wedge Studios building. Sieburg’s representational and impressionist styles are largely based on photographs she takes, which tend to feature landscapes, rustic buildings and farm animals. Different yet complementary, Courcelle’s peaceful and serene abstract paintings are rooted in her Christian faith and based on flowers and plants. A selection of the pair’s newer paintings will be on display at the Wedge at Foundation location. The exhibit runs through April 1 with an opening reception Thursday, March 1, 5:30-7 p.m. For more information, visit www.wedgebrewing.com/location-wedge-foundation. Photo by Studio Misha Photography CALDWELL ARTS COUNCIL 601 College Ave SW, Lenoir, 828-754-2486 • Through SU (3/29) - Close to Home, group exhibition of photography, paintings and portraits.

DOWNTOWN BOOKS & NEWS 67 N. Lexington Ave., 828-348-7615, downtownbooksandnews.com • Through FR (3/9) - Exhibition of paintings by Chris Phillips.

FLOOD GALLERY FINE ART CENTER 2160 US Highway 70, Swannanoa, 828-273-3332, floodgallery.org/ • SA (3/3) through SA (4/7), Recent Paintings, exhibition of works by David Hopes.

Reception: Saturday, March 3, 6-9pm.

FOLK ART CENTER MP 382, Blue Ridge Parkway, 828-298-7928, craftguild.org • Through WE (2/28) - Exhibition of woven works by Tapestry Weaver South.

GALLERY 1 604 W. Main St., Sylva • Through WE (2/28) Retrospective exhibition of

photography and fiber arts by Dr. Perry Kelly.

GRATEFUL STEPS 30 Ben Lippen School Road, Suite 107, 828-277-0998, gratefulsteps.org • Through WE (2/28) - Exhibition of photography by Cindy Kunst.

HAYWOOD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL 86 N Main St., Waynesville, 828-452-0593, haywoodarts.org/ • FR (3/2) through SA (4/28) - Watercolor & Wax, group painting exhibition.

NUMBER 7 ARTS 12 E Main St, Brevard, 828-883-2294, number7arts.com • Through WE (2/28) - New Beginnings, group exhibition.

OPEN HEARTS ART CENTER 217 Coxe Ave. • Through FR (3/30)- Creative License: Expression in Color, exhibition of artworks by Oshin.

PINK DOG CREATIVE 348 Depot St., pinkdog-creative.com • Through SA (3/31) - A Contemporary Response to Our Changing Environment, group exhibition curated by Joseph Pearson.

PUBLIC LECTURES AT MARS HILL mhu.edu • Through SA (3/31) - Innuendo, group exhibition. Held at ZaPow!, 150 Coxe Ave., Suite 101 REVOLVE 122 Riverside Drive • Through SA (3/3) - Exhibition of scupltural works by Shanna Glawson.

THE HAEN GALLERY 52 Biltmore Ave., 828-254-8577, thehaengallery.com • Through SA (3/24) - Wintertide 2018, group exhibition.

TRACEY MORGAN GALLERY 188 Coxe Ave., TraceyMorganGallery.com • Through SA (3/31) - Future Past: Experiments in Photography, group exhibition.

TRACKSIDE STUDIOS 375 Depot St., 828-545-6235 • Through WE (2/28) - New Artists - Fresh Visions, group exhibition.

TRANSYLVANIA COMMUNITY ARTS COUNCIL 349 S. Caldwell St., Brevard, 828-884-2787, tcarts.org • Through FR (3/2) - Connected, curated group exhibition.

TRYON ARTS AND CRAFTS SCHOOL 373 Harmon Field Road, Tryon, 828-859-8323 • Through FR (3/16) - Red-Carpet Artist of the Year, group exhibition.

WAYNESVILLE BRANCH OF HAYWOOD COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 678 S. Haywood St., Waynesville, 828-452-5169 • Through SA (3/31) - Waynesville and Environs: A Black and White Perspective, exhibition by Linda Dickinson.

WEDGE FOUNDATION 5 Foundy St., wedgebrewing. com/location-wedge-foundation/ • Through WE (2/28) - Chickens, Barns and Sunsets, recent paintings by Cecil Bothwell.

• TH (3/1) through SU (4/1) Exhibition of works by mother and daughter Bee Sieburg and Molly Courcelle. Reception: Thursday, March 1, 5:30-7pm.

O

18

20

e

G

IN

on

ti di

SO

!

N

M

CO

! w o 33 n e 13 s i rt 1e v -25 d a 8 82

WEST END BAKERY 757 Haywood Road, 828-2529378, westendbakery.com • Through WE (2/28) - Medicine Queen, exhibition of folk art

by Denise Ostler.

MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

45

CLUBLAND

Featuring Largest Selection of Craft Beer on Tap 8 Wines

TUE: Free Pool and Bar Games WED: Music Bingo FRI & SAT 5 -9pm: Handmade Pizzas from Punk Rock Pies 2 Hendersonville Road P o u r Ta p R o o m . c o m Tue - Thu 4pm-10pm • Fri & Sat 2pm-11pm

Open daily from 4p – 12a

Social House Martini Mondays $8 Craft Wednesdays- $6 Feature Craft Cocktail Bite the Bulleit Friday- $5 shots of smoked Bulleit Bourbon MONDAY 26 FEB:

GARY MACKEY DUO 7:00PM – 10:00PM

THURSDAY 1 MAR:

RUSS WILSON'S SWING BAND 7:00PM – 10:00PM

FRIDAY 2 MAR:

3 COOL CATS

7:00PM – 10:00PM

SATURDAY 3 MAR:

KING GARBAGE 7:00PM – 10:00PM

309 COLLEGE ST. | DOWNTOWN | (828) 575-1188

w w w. p i l l a r a v l . c o m 46

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

MOUNTAINX.COM

UP CLOSE & PERSONAL: Throughout his celebrated career, Canadian alt. country songwriter Corb Lund has seamlessly mixed Western country reverence and rock ’n’ roll energy with witty lyrics and a roguish sense of humor, the type of which would bring a wry smile to the spirit of Johnny Cash or Townes Van Zandt. On his latest tour, “BS with CL,” the iconic bard of Alberta has stripped down his stage presence to offer audiences an up close, intimate night of stories, songs and bullshittin’. Catch Corb Lund when he rambles into Asheville’s Ambrose West on Friday, March 2, for a 8 p.m. show. Photo courtesy of event promoters WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Les Amis (African folk), 8:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Brad Hodge & friends, 7:30PM BLUE MOUNTAIN PIZZA & BREW PUB Open mic w/ Billy Owens, 7:00PM DOUBLE CROWN Western Wednesday w/ Wyatt Yurth & The Gold Standard (western swing) & DJ Dave Gay, 9:00PM FUNKATORIUM John Hartford Jam w/ Saylor Bros (bluegrass), 6:30PM GREY EAGLE MUSIC HALL & TAVERN Corey Hunt Band w/ Ross Cooper, 8:00PM

HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Woody Wood Wednesdays (rock, soul, funk), 5:30PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Danika & The Jeb, 7:00PM JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Old Time Open Jam Session, 5:00PM LAZY DIAMOND Killer Karaoke w/ KJ Tim O, 10:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Cigar Brothers, 6:30PM MG ROAD Salsa Night w/ DJ El Mexicano Isaac, 8:00PM ODDITORIUM Norse Folk Rave & Tales, 9:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Evil Note Lab, 10:00PM

ORANGE PEEL Washed Out w/ Biyo, 9:00PM POLANCO RESTAURANT 3 Cool Cats, 8:00PM SANCTUARY BREWING COMPANY French Broad Mountain Valley Acoustic Jam, 6:30PM

THE MOTHLIGHT Conan w/ The Ditch and the Delta & Waft, 9:30PM THE PHOENIX & THE FOX Jazz Night w/ Jason DeCristofaro, 7:00PM THE SOUTHERN Disclaimer Comedy Open Mic, 9:00PM

THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Woke Wednesday w/ Cynde Allen & Cortina Jenelle, 7:00PM Woke Wednesday afterparty w/ DJ Phantom Pantone, 9:00PM

TIMO'S HOUSE Zabuls (electronic, hiphop), 8:00PM

THE IMPERIAL LIFE The Berlyn Jazz Trio, 9:00PM

TWIN LEAF BREWERY Open Mic Night, 8:00PM

THE JOINT NEXT DOOR Bingo Night w/ Bag O' Tricks, 7:00PM

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Jazz Night w/ Jacob Secor, 7:30PM

TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES JJ Kitchen All Star Jam (blues, soul), 9:00PM

THURSDAY, MARCH 1 AMBROSE WEST Chris Jacobs Band w/ special guest, 8:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Will Ray & The Space Cooties, 7:30PM ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Backup Planet w/ Gang of Thieves, 10:00PM BOLD ROCK HARD CIDER Alex Hunnicutt, 6:00PM CAPELLA ON 9@THE AC HOTEL Capella on 9 w/ Lincoln McDonald, 8:00PM DOUBLE CROWN Sonic Stew w/ DJ Alien Brain, 10:00PM ELLINGTON UNDERGROUND Frequency: House Sessions, 8:00PM FLEETWOOD'S Date Night at the Chapel (a game show), 8:00PM FRENCH BROAD BREWERY Brother Bluebird (indie folk), 6:00PM

GOOD STUFF Jim Hampton & friends perform "Eclectic Country" (jam), 7:00PM GREY EAGLE MUSIC HALL & TAVERN Railroad Earth afterparty w/ Roosevelt Collier Trio & special guests, 10:00PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Roots & friends open jam (blues, rock, roots), 6:30PM ISIS MUSIC HALL Songs Of Love, 7:00PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 "Songs of Love" w/ AmiciMusic & Simone Vigilante (classical, jazz), 7:00PM Molly Tuttle, 8:30PM JACK OF THE WOOD PUB The Clydes pre-jam, 7:00PM Bluegrass Open Jam Session, 9:00PM LAZY DIAMOND Heavy Night w/ DJ Bootch, 10:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Hank Bones, 6:30PM

CORK & KEG The Gypsy Swingers (jazz, bossa nova, Latin), 8:30PM

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Mitch's Totally Rad Trivia, 7:00PM Random Animals, 10:00PM

THE MOTHLIGHT Pictures of Vernon w/ Prince Daddy & the Hyena, 9:30PM THE SOCIAL LOUNGE Miss Cindy Trio, 10:00PM

ONE WORLD BREWING Brother Oliver (folk rock), 9:00PM

BOLD ROCK HARD CIDER The Log Noggins, 7:00PM

TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES Jesse Barry & The Jam (blues, dance), 9:00PM

BURGER BAR Jon Dwyer w/ Dogwood Tales & Saw Black, 9:00PM

DIANA WORTHAM THEATRE An evening w/ Cowboy Junkies, 8:00PM

UPCOUNTRY BREWING COMPANY Bradley Carter, 7:00PM

CAPELLA ON 9@THE AC HOTEL Capella on 9 w/ Captain EZ, 9:00PM

DOUBLE CROWN Rock 'n' Soul Obscurities w/ DJ Greg Cartwright, 10:00PM

ORANGE PEEL Railroad Earth w/ Roosevelt Collier, 8:00PM OSKAR BLUES BREWERY Hank Erwin & the SBG's (folk, blues), 6:00PM PISGAH BREWING COMPANY The Paper Crowns Band, 6:30PM

THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Liley Arauz (Latin), 9:00PM THE IMPERIAL LIFE The Burger Kings, 9:00PM

CROW & QUILL Vendetta Creme (cabaret), 9:00PM

¡ LILEY ARAUZ!

Live Latin Music Performance Every Thursday • 9pm - 12am • $5

39 S. Market St. • theblockoffbiltmore.com

FRIDAY, MARCH 2

PURPLE ONION CAFE Danika & Jeb, 7:30PM SANCTUARY BREWING COMPANY Dan Staton, 7:00PM

WXYZ LOUNGE AT ALOFT HOTEL WXYZ unplugged w/ Stevie Lee Combs, 8:00PM

BEN'S TUNE UP Vinyl Dance Party w/ DJ Kilby, 10:00PM

185 KING STREET Aaron Austin Band w/ special guests, 8:00PM AMBROSE WEST An evening w/ Corb Lund (alt-country, folk), 8:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Vince Junior Band (soulful blues), 7:30PM ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL CloZee, 10:00PM

THIS WEEK AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL

THIS WEEK AT THE ONE STOP:

THU 3/1 FRI 3/2 SAT 3/3

DO CA$

Randomanimals - [Neo Soul/Funk] Gretchen & The Pickpockets - [Soul/Jazz] Chalwa - [Roots/Reggae]

NA H TIO N$

UPCOMING SHOWS - ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL:

BACKUP PLANET

CLOZEE

ZION I X LESPECIAL

w/ Gang of Thieves

w/ BomBassic & Koresma

+ late night lespecial w.s.g. FTO & DJ Jet

THU 3/1 - SHOW 10pm (D OORS 9pm) - adv. $10/ dos . $12

FRI 3/2 - SHOW 10pm (D OORS 9pm) - adv. $15/ dos . $18

SAT 3/3 - SHOW 10pm (D OORS 9pm) TICKETS $15

3/8 3/9 3/10 3/15

The Human Experience Hayley Jane & The Primates Bella’s Bacon ft. Bella’s Bartok + Dr. Bacon Kung Fu

Tickets available at ashevillemusichall.com @avlmusichall MOUNTAINX.COM

@OneStopAVL FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

47

CLU B LA N D ELLINGTON UNDERGROUND Jelly Ellington w/ Brothrs & Alex Heisey, 10:00PM FLOOD GALLERY FINE ART CENTER Classic World Cinema, 8:00PM FRENCH BROAD BREWERY Bird In Hand (folk), 6:00PM

COMING SOON WED 2/28

7PM–DANIKA & THE JEB THU 3/1

7PM–AMICIMUSIC PRESENTS

“SONGS OF LOVE” 8:30PM–MOLLY TUTTLE FRI 3/2

7PM–AMERICANA ARTIST

STEFF MAHAN

9PM–DANCE PARTY WITH

JIM ARRENDELL SAT 3/3

7PM–THE KENNEDYS 8:30PM-JIM KWESKIN SUN 3/4

5:30PM–MARTIN GROSSWENDT & SUSANNE SALEM-SCHATZ 7:30PM–THE HIGH KINGS TUE 3/6

7:30PM–TUESDAY BLUEGRASS SESSIONS WED 3/7

7PM–THE SEA THE SEA THU 3/8

7PM–BEPPE GAMBETTA 8:30PM–REVELATOR HILL AND VIRGINIA AND THE SLIM FRI 3/9

7PM–BRIAN ASHLEY JONES SAT 3/10

7PM–ELLIS DYSON AND THE SHAMBLES SUN 3/11

5:30PM–SEZESSIONVILLE ROAD

EP DEBUT SHOW 7:30PM–JEFF THOMPSON’S WHAT FOUR ISISASHEVILLE.COM DINNER MENU TIL 9:30PM LATE NIGHT MENU TIL 12AM

TUES-SUN 5PM-until 743 HAYWOOD RD 828-575-2737

48

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

MOUNTAINX.COM

FUNKATORIUM The Heavy Pets, 8:00PM GOOD STUFF Momma Molasses, 8:00PM GREY EAGLE MUSIC HALL & TAVERN Brett Dennen w/ Dean Lewis, 8:00PM HABITAT TAVERN & COMMONS First Friday Square Dance, 8:00PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Winter Drum Circle, 6:00PM Hot Trail Mix (bluegrass), 7:00PM Imperium Release w/ Deb au Nare's Risqué Revue, 7:00PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Steff Mahan, 7:00PM Dance Party w/ Jim Arrendell, 9:00PM JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Dallas Baker Band, 9:00PM JARGON The Eric Heveron-Smith Trio (jazz), 10:00PM LAZY DIAMOND Fervor Fridays w/ DJs Chrissy & Jasper (rock 'n' soul vinyl), 10:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Steve Karla (Gypsy jazz), 6:30PM ODDITORIUM Casteless w/ Hear/Say (punk), 9:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Free Dead Fridays w/ members of Phuncle Sam, 5:30PM Gretchen & The Pickpockets, 10:00PM ONE WORLD BREWING Say What (funk), 9:00PM ORANGE PEEL Chaos Among Cattle w/ At Death's Behest, Systematic Devastation & Tombstone Highway, 9:00PM OSKAR BLUES BREWERY Elonzo Wesley, 6:00PM PACK'S TAVERN DJ Ocelate (dance, pop), 9:30PM

PILLAR ROOFTOP BAR 3 Cool Cats, 7:00PM PISGAH BREWING COMPANY Taylor Martin's Song Dogs (benefit for Open Hearts Art Center), 8:00PM SANCTUARY BREWING COMPANY Fortune & Glory, 8:00PM SLY GROG LOUNGE Gutter Demons w/ Viva Le Vox & Ghostwriter, 9:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE 3 Degrees of the Grateful Dead w/ Ton Of Hay, 9:30PM THE IMPERIAL LIFE Select DJ sets, 9:00PM THE MOTHLIGHT Arlie w/ William Hinson, 9:30PM THE WINE & OYSTER Adi the Monk, 6:00PM UPCOUNTRY BREWING COMPANY The Berlyn Trio (jazz, funk, soul), 8:00PM WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Kevin Spears, 8:00PM WXYZ LOUNGE AT ALOFT HOTEL WXYZ electric w/ DJ Malinalli, 8:00PM

SATURDAY, MARCH 3 AMBROSE WEST An Evening w/ Cheryl Wheeler, 8:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Swing Step Jam, 4:30PM ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Zion I w/ lespecial & late night lespecial w/ FTO & DJ Jet, 10:00PM BOLD ROCK HARD CIDER Say What, 6:00PM BYWATER Brody Hunt & the Handfulls, 8:00PM CAPELLA ON 9@THE AC HOTEL Capella on 9 w/ Special Affair, 9:00PM CHESTNUT Jazz Brunch, 11:00AM CORK & KEG The Old Chevrolette Set, 8:30PM CROW & QUILL House Hoppers (swing jazz), 9:00PM DOUBLE CROWN Soul Motion Dance Party! w/ DJ Dr. Filth, 10:00PM

ELLINGTON UNDERGROUND Spaceman Jones & The Motherships, 10:00PM FLEETWOOD'S Liberty Van Zandt, Nosedive, CMR Keen & Battery Powered Hooker Boots, 9:00PM FRENCH BROAD BREWERY Ryan Barrington Cox & Lassos (country, folk), 6:00PM GREY EAGLE MUSIC HALL & TAVERN Kevin Devine w/ Brie Capone & Livingdog, 8:30PM

SANCTUARY BREWING COMPANY Yoga w/ Pets, 10:00AM Andrew Thelston Band, 8:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Saturday Salsa & Latin Dance Party w/ DJ Motta, 9:00PM THE MOTHLIGHT Stephanie Morgan & the Mercurists w/ "Night of Bravery", 9:00PM THE WINE & OYSTER Jesse Barry w/ Kelly Jones, 7:00PM

HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Letters To Abigail (Americana), 7:00PM

TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES Andalyn's Show (live music), 10:00PM

ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 The Kennedys, 7:00PM Jim Kweskin, 8:30PM

UPCOUNTRY BREWING COMPANY Mark Bumgarner, 8:00PM

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Sirius.B (Gypsy folk, funk, punk), 9:00PM

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Beyond The Pale, 8:00PM

JARGON The Jacob Rodriguez Trio (jazz), 10:00PM

WXYZ LOUNGE AT ALOFT HOTEL WXYZ live w/ Gypsy Grass, 8:00PM

LAZY DIAMOND Sonic Stew w/ DJ Alien Brain, 10:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Sean Mason Trio, 6:30PM MG ROAD Late Night Dance Party w/ DJ Lil Meow Meow, 10:00PM

SUNDAY, MARCH 4 185 KING STREET Sunday Sessions Open Jam, 4:00PM

NATIVE KITCHEN & SOCIAL PUB Krista Shows & Scott Sharpe, 7:30PM

ARCHETYPE BREWING Post-Brunch Blues w/ Patrick Dodd, Ashley Heath & Joshua Singleton, 3:00PM

ODDITORIUM Party Foul: A Tasteful Queer Troupe (drag), 9:00PM

ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Musicians Jam & Pot Luck, 3:30PM

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Chalwa, 10:00PM

BOLD ROCK HARD CIDER Andrew Thelston, 3:00PM

ONE WORLD BREWING Fumblebuckers (newgrass), 9:00PM

BYWATER Drew Matulich & Friends, 8:00PM

ORANGE PEEL Rumours (Fleetwood Mac tribute), 9:00PM

DOUBLE CROWN Killer Karaoke w/ KJ Tim O, 10:00PM

PACK'S TAVERN The Groove Shakers (rock 'n' roll, bluegrass), 9:30PM

FLEETWOOD'S Shred Flinstone w/ Tongues of Fire & Styrofoam Turtles, 9:00PM

PISGAH BREWING COMPANY Tim Reynolds & TR3 (fusion, rock), 9:00PM

FLOOD GALLERY FINE ART CENTER True Home Open Mic (5 p.m. sign-up), 5:30PM

PURPLE ONION CAFE Jacob Johnson, 8:00PM

FUNKATORIUM Gypsy Jazz Sunday Brunch, 11:00AM

SALVAGE STATION Flow Tribe w/ Dumpstaphunk, 8:00PM

GOOD STUFF Open Mic w/ Fox Black & friends, 6:00PM

GREY EAGLE MUSIC HALL & TAVERN An evening w/ Jorma Kaukonen [SOLD OUT], 8:00PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Reggae Sunday w/ Chalwa, 1:00PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Martin Grosswendt & Susanne Salem-Schatz (blues, country, oldtime), 5:30PM The High Kings, 7:30PM

UPCOUNTRY BREWING COMPANY Yoga in the Taproom, 1:00PM Cinema Sunday: Animal House, 7:00PM WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Neon Crush, 7:30PM

MONDAY, MARCH 5 185 KING STREET Open Mic Night, 6:00PM

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Traditional Celtic Jam, 3:00PM

ARCHETYPE BREWING Old Time Jam, 6:00PM

JARGON Sunday Blunch w/ Mark Guest & Mary Pearson (jazz), 11:00AM

ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Classical Guitar Mondays, 7:30PM

LAZY DIAMOND Divide & Dissolve w/ Nomadic War Machine, 10:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Phil Alley, 6:30PM ODDITORIUM King Vulture w/ Survival Crimes & Secret Guest (rock), 9:00PM ORANGE PEEL Matisyahu w/ Eminence Ensemble, 8:00PM OSKAR BLUES BREWERY Trivia Night, 5:00PM PISGAH BREWING COMPANY Sunday Travers Jam, 6:00PM SLY GROG LOUNGE Sly Grog Open Mic, 7:00PM SUMMIT COFFEE ASHEVILLE Ben Phan & Cynthia McDermott, 11:00AM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Burlesque Brunch w/ Queen April, Ariel Vanator, Sera Sahara, Zelda Holiday & Dahlia Grey, 1:00PM 7 Days of Genius Pitch Night w/ Asheville Awesome Foundation, 6:30PM THE IMPERIAL LIFE Select DJ sets, 9:00PM THE MOTHLIGHT In The Presence of Wolves w/ GEPH & Verse Vica, 9:30PM THE OMNI GROVE PARK INN Bob Zullo (pop, rock, jazz, blues), 7:00PM

BYWATER Bluegrass Jam, 4:00PM DOUBLE CROWN Country Karaoke w/ KJ Tim O, 10:00PM GOOD STUFF Bingo Wingo Thingo, 6:00PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Game Night, 4:00PM JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Quizzo Trivia Night, 7:00PM Open mic, 9:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Dave Desmelik, 6:30PM MG ROAD The Living Room Series, 7:30PM ODDITORIUM Risque Monday Burlesque w/ Deb Au Nare, 9:00PM OLE SHAKEY'S Karaoke From Muskogee w/ Jonathan Ammons & Take The Wheel (live band karaoke), 9:00PM ONE WORLD BREWING Open mic night (7:30 p.m. sign-up), 7:30PM OSKAR BLUES BREWERY Mountain Music Mondays, 6:00PM SANCTUARY BREWING COMPANY Murder Ballad Monday, 8:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Cafe Mortal Film Nite: Departures (film screening), 7:00PM

MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

49

CLU B LA N D THE IMPERIAL LIFE Ghost Pipe Trio, 9:00PM

2/28 wed conan

w/ the ditch & the delta, waft

3/1

thu

3/2

fri

pictures of vernon

w/ prince daddy & the hyena, tba

arlie

w/ william hinson

3/3

sat

stephanie morgan & the mercurists

(birthday show!) w/ night of bravery

3/4

sun

in the presence of wolves

w/ geph, verse via

3/5

mon

ed schrader's music beat

w/ kreamy 'lectric santa

Yoga at the Mothlight

Tuesdays and Thursdays- 11:30am Details for all shows can be found at

themothlight.com

THE MOTHLIGHT Ed Schrader's Music beat w/ Kreamy 'Lectric Santa, 9:00PM THE OMNI GROVE PARK INN Bob Zullo (pop, rock, jazz, blues), 7:00PM TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES Ryan Barber's RnB Jam Night (R&B, jam), 9:00PM UPCOUNTRY BREWING COMPANY Monday Bluegrass Jam w/ Sam Wharton, 7:00PM

TUESDAY, MARCH 6 ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Gypsy Jazz Jam Tuesdays, 7:30PM ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Tuesday night funk jam, 11:00PM BOLD ROCK HARD CIDER Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, 1:00PM BYWATER Movie Madness, 8:00PM

TAVERN Downtown on the Park Eclectic Menu • Over 30 Taps • Patio 14 TV’s • Sports Room • 110” Projector Event Space • Shuffleboard Open 7 Days 11am - Late Night

Over 35 Beer s on Tap !

DOUBLE CROWN Groovy Tuesdays (boogie without borders) w/ DJs Chrissy & Arieh, 10:00PM FLEETWOOD'S The Retinas, Jackson Harem, The Power & Leggy, 9:00PM GOOD STUFF Old time-y night, 6:30PM HABITAT TAVERN & COMMONS Pints & Professors, 7:00PM

FRI. 3/2 DJ OCelate (dance hits, pop)

SAT. 3/3 The Groove Shakers (bluegrass, rock n’ roll)

HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Dr. Brown's Team Trivia, 6:00PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Tuesday Bluegrass Sessions w/ Mason Via & Trail Mix, 7:30PM JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Bill McClain & Ann Griffey, 7:00PM LAZY DIAMOND Shaken Nature w/ Champagne Superchillin (garage rock, French psych pop), 10:00PM

TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES Early Tuesday Jazz & Funk Jam (jazz, funk), 9:00PM

LAZY DIAMOND Killer Karaoke w/ KJ Tim O, 10:00PM

UPCOUNTRY BREWING COMPANY Open Mic Night w/ Arrow Sound, 6:30PM

MG ROAD Salsa Night w/ DJ El Mexicano Isaac, 8:00PM

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Irish jam & open mic, 6:30PM

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7

LOBSTER TRAP Jay Brown, 6:30PM

185 KING STREET Vinyl Night, 6:00PM

MG ROAD Keep it Classic Tuesdays w/ Sam Thompson, 5:00PM

ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Brad Hodge & Friends, 7:30PM

ODDITORIUM Free Open Mic Comedy w/ Tom Peters, 9:00PM

DIANA WORTHAM THEATRE BODYTRAFFIC, 8:00PM

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Turntable Tuesday, 10:00PM PULP Electric Karma w/ Mantia & Sane Void, 9:00PM SANCTUARY BREWING COMPANY Taco and Trivia Tuesday, 6:00PM SLY GROG LOUNGE Jack Donovan w/ The Spiral & Window Cat, 9:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Swing Asheville & Jazz-n-Justice Tuesday Community Jazz Jam (dance lessons @ 7 p.m. & 8 p.m.), 9:00PM THE MARKET PLACE RESTAURANT AND LOUNGE Rat Alley Cats, 7:00PM THE MOTHLIGHT Escondido w/ KOLARS, 9:30PM

DOUBLE CROWN Western Wednesday w/ Bryan Marshall and His Payday Knights & DJ Dave Gay, 9:00PM

LOBSTER TRAP Cigar Brothers, 6:30PM

ODDITORIUM 1476, Volur & All Hell (metal), 9:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Evil Note Lab, 10:00PM ORANGE PEEL Lewis Black [SOLD OUT], 9:00PM POLANCO RESTAURANT 3 Cool Cats, 8:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE HempYeah! (hemp networking event), 6:30PM THE IMPERIAL LIFE The Berlyn Jazz Trio, 9:00PM

FLEETWOOD'S A Deer, A Horse w/ Morbids & Sluggy, 9:00PM

THE JOINT NEXT DOOR Bingo Night w/ Bag O' Tricks, 7:00PM

FUNKATORIUM John Hartford Jam w/ Saylor Bros (bluegrass), 6:30PM

THE MOTHLIGHT Shopping w/ French Vanilla & KONVOI, 9:30PM

GREY EAGLE MUSIC HALL & TAVERN Wallows w/ Field Medic, 8:00PM

THE PHOENIX & THE FOX Jazz Night w/ Jason DeCristofaro, 7:00PM

HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Woody Wood Wednesdays (rock, soul, funk), 5:30PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 The Sea The Sea, 7:00PM JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Old Time Open Jam Session, 5:00PM

THE SOUTHERN Disclaimer Comedy Open Mic, 9:00PM TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES JJ Kitchen All Star Jam (blues, soul), 9:00PM WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Jazz Night, 7:30PM

The

Sustainability

Series CELEBRATING EARTH DAY 2018

20 S. Spruce St. • 225.6944 packStavern.com 50

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

MOUNTAINX.COM

Each week in April

MOVIES

REVIEWS & LISTINGS

BY SCOTT DOUGLAS, FRANCIS X. FRIEL & JUSTIN SOUTHER

HHHHH = H PICK OF THE WEEK H

Writer/director Ziad Doueiri explores the human roots of ethnic and religious discord with his Best Foreign Language Oscar nominee, The Insult.

The Insult HHHH

DIRECTOR: Ziad Doueiri PLAYERS: Adel Karam, Rita Hayek, Kamel El Basha, Christine Choueiri, Camille Salameh, Diamand Bou Abboud, Georges Daou DRAMA RATED R THE STORY: A Lebanese Christian and a Palestinian refugee butt heads over a residential plumbing code, and their ensuing court battle throws the entire country into chaos.

THE LOWDOWN: Either a disturbingly dark comedy or a painfully prescient melodrama that exposes some undeniably universal truths.

The Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars is typically one of the more overlooked segments of the awards, and historically many of the movies nominated might never

get a screening outside of major markets like New York and Los Angeles.

That’s truly a shame, because these films often represent some of the most insightful and thought-provoking work being produced, and would boast universal themes only superseded by most American moviegoers’ aversion to subtitles. A perfect case in point is Ziad Doueiri’s The Insult, a film that delves deeply into the cultural divides that have fractured the Middle East but could just as easily be transposed onto the current societal landscape of the good ol’ US of A. Set in Beirut, The Insult follows what begins as a minor incident between a Lebanese Christian and a Muslim Palestinian immigrant and escalates to the brink of civil war, with decades of resentment and bigotry bubbling to the surface of a nation struggling to maintain a tenuous cultural detente. As tensions mount, the two men become prox-

ies in a complex conflict that would be ludicrous were it not so deadly serious, and as riots break out over the courtroom battle between them, the audience is left to wonder whether Doueiri is presenting a pitch-black comedy or an unremittingly bleak melodrama.

Doueiri, Quentin Tarantino’s camera operator for Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, manages his film with style and grace, but occasionally missteps when it comes to tonality. It helps matters greatly that his leads deliver exceptionally strong performances, with Adel Karam imparting a venomous intolerance to his turn as the distinctly un-Christlike Christian and Kamel El Basha personifying stoic nobility as the beleaguered Palestinian — a role that justifiably garnered El Basha the best actor award at the Venice Film Festival. If Doueiri’s characterizations are a bit pat, his stars’ performances are anything but.

Co-written by Doueiri, a Christian, and his now-ex-wife Joelle Touma, a Muslim, The Insult is actually about a series of insults ranging from the obvious to the insidiously subtle. It’s a film that is not only rooted in interpersonal conflict, but one that embodies conflict itself — between ethnic groups, generations, geopolitical and religious worldviews — practically every possible form of schismatic opposition is touched on to some extent. The questions raised defy easy answers, and Doueiri stops short of any such pontification. But what he does offer is a very simple and universal point — that such conflicts are only possible insofar as people refuse to see the commonality of our shared plight, and that nothing can be accomplished until the dogmatic adhesion to Otherness is completely disavowed. It’s a pretty heady message for a film that starts out with a dispute over plumbing codes, but one that deserves as broad an audience as possible. Arabic with English subtitles. Rated R for language and some violent images.

Now Playing at Grail Moviehouse.

REVIEWED BY SCOTT DOUGLAS JSDOUGLAS22@GMAIL.COM

M A X R AT I N G Xpress reviews virtually all upcoming movies, with two or three of the most noteworthy appearing in print.

You can find our online reviews at mountainx.com/movies/reviews. This week, they include:

HHHS HHHS

ANNIHILATION EVERY DAY

FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL

HHH

GAME NIGHT

HHHS

THE INSULT (PICK OF THE WEEK) HHHH

Annihilation HHHS DIRECTOR: Alex Garland PLAYERS: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny, Oscar Isaac, Benedict Wong SCI-FI RATED R THE STORY: A team of female scientists explores a mysterious area of alien influence from which no prior expedition has returned.

THE LOWDOWN: Writer/director Alex Garland hits a serious sophomore slump with this Tarkovsky-lite sci-fi adaptation.

When novelist and screenwriter Alex Garland made his directorial debut in 2014 with Ex Machina, I thought I was witnessing the emergence of a talent that could revolutionize high-concept sci-fi cinema. Now that I’ve seen Annihilation, I’m worried that I might have given him entirely too much credit. What could have been another exemplar of hard science fiction in the vein of Arrival instead comes across as a flaccid collection of big

MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

51

SCREEN SCENE

MOVIES

T H E ATE R I N F O R M ATI O N ASHEVILLE PIZZA & BREWING CO. (254-1281) ASHEVILLEBREWING.COM/MOVIES CARMIKE CINEMA 10 (298-4452) CARMIKE.COM CAROLINA CINEMAS (274-9500) CAROLINACINEMAS.COM CO-ED CINEMA BREVARD (883-2200) COEDCINEMA.COM EPIC OF HENDERSONVILLE (693-1146) EPICTHEATRES.COM FINE ARTS THEATRE (232-1536) FINEARTSTHEATRE.COM FLATROCK CINEMA (697-2463) FLATROCKCINEMA.COM GRAIL MOVIEHOUSE (239-9392) GRAILMOVIEHOUSE.COM REGAL BILTMORE GRANDE STADIUM 15 (684-1298) REGMOVIES.COM

ideas poorly executed, like a slightly more mature tween-lit franchise builder with a substantial budget and a couple of A-list stars. There’s a reason that Netflix picked up the foreign distribution rights on this one — it feels tailor-made for the streaming market, the kind of thing that would ordinarily skip a theatrical release entirely.

If that direct-to-video dig seems a little harsh, it’s only because I had such lofty expectations for Garland. His writing has always been strong, and the visual sensibilities that he demonstrated with Ex Machina suggested a double-threat talent with a hefty dose of Kubrickian influence. Annihilation feels less like Kubrick and more like cut-rate Ridley Scott (which, coincidentally, would be current Ridley Scott).

It’s not a bad film by any means, and it does have some inspired moments, but Annihilation’s poorly animated zombie

bears are never going to equal the anarchic surrealism of Oscar Isaac’s android dance party from Ex Machina, at least in my estimation.

What does work here is the genuinely creepy atmosphere created by the film’s central conceit, the mysterious Area X. Also known as The Shimmer, Area X is a region subsumed by an alien presence that looks like soapy water and seems to eat people. Into that particular breach steps Natalie Portman’s Lena, a Johns Hopkins biologist whose husband Kane (Isaac) is the only person ever to have entered the Shimmer and returned. As details are slowly dropped about the nature of Area X, Lena and a crew of badass women led by Jennifer Jason Leigh mount what is revealed to be only the most recent expedition into this bizarre no-man’s-land, one that will almost certainly result in their deaths.

If Garland aped Kubrick with Ex Machina, here he’s leaning heavily on Andrei Tarkovsky. The unmistakable influence of films such as Stalker and Solaris is indelibly imprinted on Annihilation, but such comparisons don’t really do this film any favors. Directorially, Garland pulls off some impressive set pieces, but his script never quite measures up to the visuals. Many of his characters’ motivations are murky at best, some of their decision-making thoroughly inexplicable and all of their conversations insufferable. But the film skates by these flaws on the basis of Garland’s aesthetic acumen, and the result is either an eminently watchable B-movie or a particularly schlocky failure of an A-budget franchiser. Garland is likely to redeem himself with futures efforts, but the fact remains that my expectations for his work will be decidedly more tempered in the wake of Annihilation. Rated R for violence, bloody images, language and some sexuality.

Now Playing at AMC Classic River Hills 10, Carolina Cinemark, Regal Biltmore Grande, Epic of Hendersonville.

REVIEWED BY SCOTT DOUGLAS JSDOUGLAS22@GMAIL.COM

The

Sustainability

Series CELEBRATING EARTH DAY 2018

Each week in April 52

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

MOUNTAINX.COM

by Edwin Arnaudin | edwinarnaudin@gmail.com ates the fat hatred and fat shaming that result in a cultural bias and civil rights issue for people struggling with their weight. Directors Lindsey Averill and Viridiana Lieberman will participate in a post-screening discussion. “In my mind, Asheville is a community of thinkers — people who want to care for others and who are dedicated to a world that is healthier and happier — so I really feel like our Q&A is going to be incredible,” Averill says. Tickets are $25 and available online. grailmoviehouse.com • Asheville Pizza & Brewing Co., 675 Merrimon Ave., presents Pan’s Labyrinth on Thursday, March 1, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $3 and available online and at the main bar. ashevillebrewing.com

WATER PROTECTORS: The documentary Black Snake Killaz chronicles the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline. Firestorm Books & Coffee screens the film on March 6. Image by Jackie Fawn Illustrations • Happy Body yoga studio hosts a screening of Heal on Wednesday, Feb. 28, at 6 p.m. in Ferguson Auditorium on the campus of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, 340 Victoria Road.

The documentary about the power of the mind to heal the body will give way to a panel discussion featuring local healers Rob Wergin, Jessica Mark, Dr. Jenn Cournoyer and Jim Sullivan. Tickets are $15 and available online. avl.mx/4oc • The North Asheville Library, 1030 Merrimon Ave., will screen 13th on Wednesday, Feb. 28, at 6 p.m. Ava DuVernay’s documentary analyzes how the 13th Amendment abolished slavery yet paved the way for mass incarceration.

Free. avl.mx/251 • As part of NEDAwareness Week, T.H.E. Center for Disordered Eating presents a screening of Fattitude on Thursday, March 1, at 6 p.m., at Grail Moviehouse, 45 S. French Broad Ave. The documentary looks at how popular culture perpetu-

FILM BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • WE (2/28), 6pm - 13th, screening of film by Ava DuVernay regarding the 13th ammendment. Free.

• On Sunday, March 4, at 7 p.m., UpCountry Brewing Co., 1042 Haywood Road, screens Animal House. Free to attend. upcountrybrewing.com • The Social, 1078 Tunnel Road, hosts an Academy Awards viewing party Sunday, March 4, at 7 p.m. The event also includes the exclusive screening of a new short film by Asheville native Melanie Star Scot. Free to attend. thesocialasheville.com • The BLOCK off Biltmore, 39 S. Market St., shows Departures on Monday, March 5, at 7 p.m. Yojiro Takita’s Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film will be followed by a discussion about the film as a catalyst to deepen attendees’ relationships with end-of-life issues. Free to attend. theblockoffbiltmore.com • Firestorm Books & Coffee, 610 Haywood Road, hosts a screening of Black Snake Killaz on Tuesday, March 6, 6-8 p.m. The feature-length documentary film chronicles the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline, exploring actions taken by water protectors to stop the construction of the oil pipeline. There will be a discussion after the screening, including information on resistance to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Free to attend. firestorm.coop X

Held at North Asheville Library, 1030 Merrimon Ave.

with directors Lindsey

T.H.E. CENTER FOR DISORDERED EATING 828-337-4685, thecenternc.weebly.com • TH (3/1), 6pm Fattitude, film screening followed by discussion

Grail MovieHouse, 45 S.

Averill and Viridiana Lieberma. $25. Held at French Broad Ave. • SA (3/3), 6pm - Straight/ Curve: Redefining Body Image, film screening.

Free. Held in the UNC

Asheville Grotto, 1 University Heights TRYON FINE ARTS CENTER 34 Melrose Ave., Tryon, 828-859-8322, tryonarts.org • TU (3/6), 7pm - Mildred Pierce, film screening. $6.

STA RTI NG F RI DAY

Death Wish

Remake of the 1974 Charles Bronson vehicle from director Eli Roth and writer Joe Carnahan, starring Bruce Willis. According to the studio: “Dr. Paul Kersey (Willis) is a surgeon who only sees the aftermath of his city’s violence as it’s rushed into his ER – until his wife (Elisabeth Shue) and college-age daughter (Camila Morrone) are viciously attacked in their suburban home. With the police overloaded with crimes, Paul, burning for revenge, hunts for his family’s assailants to deliver justice. As the anonymous slayings of criminals grab the media’s attention, the city wonders if this deadly avenger is a guardian angel … or a grim reaper.” No early reviews. (R)

Red Sparrow

Spy thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence. According to the studio: “Dominika Egorova (Lawrence) is many things. A devoted daughter determined to protect her mother at all costs. A prima ballerina whose ferocity has pushed her body and mind to the absolute limit. A master of seductive and manipulative combat. When she suffers a career-ending injury, Dominika and her mother are facing a bleak and uncertain future. That is why she finds herself manipulated into becoming the newest recruit for Sparrow School, a secret intelligence service that trains exceptional young people like her to use their bodies and minds as weapons. After enduring the perverse and sadistic training process, she emerges as the most dangerous Sparrow the program has ever produced. Dominika must now reconcile the person she was with the power she now commands, with her own life and everyone she cares about at risk, including an American CIA agent who tries to convince her he is the only person she can trust.” Early reviews mixed. (R)

Mountain Xpress

SP E CI AL SCREENI NGS

Les Diaboliques HHHHS

DIRECTOR: Henri-Georges Clouzot PLAYERS: Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot, Paul Meurisse THRILLER Rated NR Henri-Georges Clouzot is noted as France’s answer to Hitchcock, but the argument could be made that he was, at times, even better. Along with Wages of Fear and The Inferno, Clouzot’s mastery of morbidity is at least on par with Hitchcock’s darkest corners. Possibly the director’s best-known work, Les Diaboliques (1955) is a gripping suspensethriller with elements of supernatural horror, but the true nature of the story doesn’t become fully clear until the film’s final frames. And that third-act twist still packs a punch more than 60 years later, even if you know exactly what’s coming. The director’s wife, Vera Clouzot, and Simone Signoret deliver bravura performances, but it’s Clouzot’s stylization and tense construction that have made this film a true classic. Ignore the regrettable 1996 remake and watch the original instead. The Asheville Film Society will screen Les Diaboliques on Tuesday, March 6, at 7 p.m. at the Grail Moviehouse, hosted by Xpress movie critic Scott Douglas.

Don’t wink in the dark.

Not advertising is like winking in the dark.

You know what you’re doing, but nobody else does.

Reach 75k pair of eyes per week Free design services adver tise@mountianx.com MOUNTAINX.COM

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

53

FREEWILL ASTROLOGY ARIES (March 21-April 19): On September 1, 1666, a London baker named Thomas Farriner didn’t take proper precautions to douse the fire in his oven before he went to sleep. Consequences were serious. The conflagration that ignited in his little shop burned down large parts of the city. Three hundred twenty years later, a group of bakers gathered at the original site to offer a ritual atonement. “It’s never too late to apologize,” said one official, acknowledging the tardiness of the gesture.

In that spirit, Aries, I invite you to finally dissolve a clump of guilt you’ve been carrying . . . or express gratitude that you should have delivered long ago . . . or resolve a messy ending that still bothers you . . . or transform your relationship with an old wound . . . or all of the above.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The Committee to Fanatically Promote Taurus’s Success is pleased to see that you’re not waiting politely for your next turn.

You have come to the brilliant realization that what used to be your fair share is no longer sufficient. You intuitively sense that you have a cosmic mandate to skip a few steps — to ask for more and better and faster results. As a reward for this outbreak of shrewd and well-deserved self-love, and in recognition of the blessings that are currently showering down on your astrological House of Noble Greed, you are hereby granted three weeks’ worth of extra service, free bonuses, special treatment and abundant slack.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): No one can be somewhat pregnant. You either are or you’re not. But from a metaphorical perspective, your current state is a close approximation to that impossible condition. Are you or are you not going to commit yourself to birthing a new creation? Decide soon, please. Opt for one or the other resolution; don’t remain in the gray area. And there’s more to consider. You are indulging in excessive in-betweenness in other areas of your life, as well. You’re almost brave and sort of free and semi-faithful. My advice about these halfway states is the same: Either go all the way or else stop pretending you might.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The Appalachian Trail is a 2,200-mile path that runs through the eastern United States. Hikers can wind their way through forests and wilderness areas from Mount Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mountain in Georgia. Along the way they may encounter black bears, bobcats, porcupines and wild boars. These natural wonders may seem to be at a remote distance from civilization, but they are in fact conveniently accessible from America’s biggest metropolis. For $8.75, you can take a train from Grand Central Station in New York City to an entry point of the Appalachian Trail.

This scenario is an apt metaphor for you right now, Cancerian. With relative ease, you can escape from your routines and habits. I hope you take advantage!

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Is 2018 turning out to be as I expected it would be for you? Have you become more accepting of yourself and further at peace with your mysterious destiny? Are you benefiting from greater stability and security? Do you feel more at home in the world and better nurtured by your close allies? If for some reason these developments are not yet in bloom, withdraw from every lesser concern and turn your focus to them. Make sure you make full use of the gifts that life is conspiring to provide for you.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “You can’t find intimacy — you can’t find home — when you’re always hiding behind masks,” says Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Junot Díaz. “Intimacy requires a certain level of vulnerability. It requires a certain level of you exposing your fragmented, contradictory self to someone else. You running the risk of having your core self rejected and hurt and misunderstood.” I can’t imagine any better advice to offer you as you navigate your way through the next seven weeks, Virgo. You will have a wildly fertile opportunity to find and create more intimacy. But in order to take full advantage, you’ll have to be brave and candid and unshielded.

54

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6, 2018

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In the coming weeks, you could reach several odd personal bests. For instance, your ability to distinguish between flowery bullshit and inventive truth-telling will be at a peak.

Your “imperfections” will be more interesting and forgivable than usual, and might even work to your advantage, as well. I suspect you’ll also have an adorable inclination to accomplish the half-right thing when it’s impossible to do the perfectly right thing.

Finally, all the astrological omens suggest that you will have a tricky power to capitalize on lucky lapses.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): French philosopher Blaise Pascal said, “If you do not love too much, you do not love enough.” American author Henry David Thoreau declared, “There is no remedy for love but to love more.” I would hesitate to offer these two formulations in the horoscope of any other sign but yours, Scorpio.

And I would even hesitate to offer them to you at any other time besides right now. But I feel that you currently have the strength of character and fertile willpower necessary to make righteous use of such stringently medicinal magic. So please proceed with my agenda for you, which is to become the Smartest, Feistiest, Most Resourceful Lover Who Has Ever Lived.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The state of Kansas has over 6,000 ghost towns — places where people once lived, but then abandoned. Daniel C. Fitzgerald has written six books documenting these places. He’s an expert on researching what remains of the past and drawing conclusions based on the old evidence. In accordance with current astrological omens, I suggest you consider doing comparable research into your own lost and half-forgotten history. You can generate vigorous psychic energy by communing with origins and memories. Remembering who you used to be will clarify your future.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): It’s not quite a revolution that’s in the works. But it is a sprightly evolution.

Accelerating developments may test your ability to adjust gracefully. Quickly-shifting story lines will ask you to be resilient and flexible. But the unruly flow won’t throw you into a stressful tizzy as long as you treat it as an interesting challenge instead of an inconvenient imposition. My advice is not to stiffen your mood or narrow your range of expression, but rather to be like an actor in an improvisation class. Fluidity is your word of power.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): It’s the Productive Paradox Phase of your cycle. You can generate good luck and unexpected help by romancing the contradictions. For example: 1. You’ll enhance your freedom by risking deeper commitment. 2. You’ll gain greater control over wild influences by loosening your grip and providing more spaciousness. 3. If you are willing to appear naive, empty, or foolish, you’ll set the stage for getting smarter. 4. A blessing you didn’t realize you needed will come your way after you relinquish a burdensome “asset.” 5. Greater power will flow your way if you expand your capacity for receptivity.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): As you make appointments in the coming months, you could re-use calendars from 2007 and 2001. During those years, all the dates fell on the same days of the week as they do in 2018. On the other hand, Pisces, please don’t try to learn the same lessons you learned in 2007 and 2001. Don’t get snagged in identical traps or sucked into similar riddles or obsessed with comparable illusions. On the other other hand, it might help for you to recall the detours you had to take back then, since you may thereby figure out how to avoid having to repeat boring old experiences that you don’t need to repeat.

MOUNTAINX.COM

MARKETPLACE

BY ROB BREZSNY

REA L ESTATE | REN TA L S | R O O M M ATES | SER VI C ES JOB S | A N N OU N CEM ENTS | M I ND, BO DY, SPI R I T CL A SSES & WORKSH OPS | M USI C I ANS’ SER VI C ES PETS | A U TOMOTI VE | X C HANG E | ADULT Want to advertise in Marketplace? 828-251-1333 x111 tnavaille@mountainx.com • mountainx.com/classifieds If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Remember the Russian proverb: “Doveryai, no proveryai,” trust but verify. When answering classified ads, always err on the side of caution. Especially beware of any party asking you to give them financial or identification information. The Mountain Xpress cannot be responsible for ensuring that each advertising client is legitimate. Please report scams to ads@mountainx.com RENTALS APARTMENTS FOR RENT NORTH ASHEVILLE FURNISHED 1BR Ground Floor Apartment with kitchenette.

960SF- 1BR furnished rental; Downstairs in a 2 level 2700SF Home on a 2/3 Acre Forested Hilltop; The rental is appointed with luxurious furnishings and can be available immediately to rent for short or long term to one or two people. $1350/month plus Utilities. Utilities; $90/ month are all inclusive. References and 1 Month Security Deposit are required. Call 949-300-0567

CONDOS/ TOWNHOMES FOR RENT NORTH ASHEVILLE TOWNHOUSES 2BR, 1BA: $845 • 3BR, 1BA: $945 • 1 mile from downtown. • Hardwood floors. • (no pets policy). (828) 252-4334.

EMPLOYMENT GENERAL LOGISTICS ASSISTANT Looking for Logistics assistant for March and April.

Monday-Friday 8:30am5pm Competitive Pay. General Labor for Expedition style camp. Self-motivated and flexible. Located outside Waynesville. Contact: jonterry@soarnc.org www. soarnc.org TROLLEY TOUR GUIDES If you are a "people person," love Asheville, have a valid Commercial Driver's License (CDL) and clean driving record you could be a great Tour Guide.

Full-time and seasonal parttime positions available.

Training provided. Contact us today! 828-251-8687.

Info@GrayLineAsheville.com www.GrayLineAsheville.com

ADMINISTRATIVE/ OFFICE

2BR, 1BA HOUSE IN OAKLEY Storage shed, fenced yard, off-street parking, great location. Some pets ok. $950/month plus deposit. Call 828-273-9228.

DISPATCHER / OFFICE MANAGER If you are: Patient, Efficient, Detail Oriented, Like to Solve Puzzles and Problems, and are Responsible then you might be the Dispatcher/Office Manager we are looking for.

To apply, please call 828-3513000, listen to the recording, and follow the directions.

SHORT-TERM RENTALS

SALES/ MARKETING

10 MINUTES TO ASHEVILLE Separate entrance apartment vacation/short term rental in Weaverville, pets allowed/pet deposit. Complete with everything including internet. $100/day (2 day minimum, $650/week, $1500/month. duffwhazzup@gmail.com

UNDERWRITING ACCOUNT REPRESENTATIVE Asheville FM community radio seeks ambitious salesperson to secure, develop and maintain business accounts. Customer service and communication skills.

One year sales or marketing experience. Broadcast media a plus! Equal opportunity employer. Send resume to: hiring@ashevillefm.org • Full job description at www. ashevillefm.org

HOMES FOR RENT

15 MINUTES TO ASHEVILLE Guest house, vacation/short term rental in beautiful country setting. • Complete with everything including cable and internet.

• $150/day (2-day minimum), $650/week, $1500/month.

Weaverville area. • No pets please.

(828) 658-9145. mhcinc58@yahoo.com ROOM FOR RENT IN KENILWORTH Room in peaceful home in Kenilworth, just minutes from downtown. Comfortable, furnished, sunny bedroom, kitchen, wi-fi, piano, large garden. 5 min. drive to downtown, Biltmore, UNCA. $75/night (3 night minimum), $375/week, $725/ month. Contact writersw@ gmail.com

DRIVERS/ DELIVERY

MOUNTAIN XPRESS DELIVERY Mountain Xpress is seeking an energetic, reliable, independent contractor to contract for part time weekly newspaper delivery. The contractor must have a clean driving record, a reliable large-capacity vehicle with proper insurance and registration, and be able to lift 40 lbs. Distribution of papers is on Tuesday afternoons and early evening and typically

lasts about 7-8 hours per week.

E-mail jtallman@ mountainx.com. No phone calls please.

HUMAN SERVICES COUNSELOR POSITION Looking to hire an LPC or LCSW to work at a private Christian Therapeutic Boarding school for At Risk Teens.

Must be comfortable providing Individual Therapy to teens ages 13-18. jeremey@ wolfcreekacademy.org • wolfcreekacademy.org DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE This position is responsible for creating and overseeing the implantation of a strategic approach to fundraising which includes major gifts, corporate donations, event development/management, and recording of donations. This is a 20 hour a week position. thrive4health.org/ about-us/working-at-thrive/ DIRECTOR OF POLICY & PROGRAMS The Campaign for Southern Equality, which promotes LGBTQ equality in the South, is hiring this new position to direct programs, implement strategy, and supervise staff. More info: https://southernequality. org/about/jobs-internships/.

HALF-TIME YOUTH SERVICES DIRECTOR FOR UNDER ONE SKY VILLAGE FOUNDATION Offering campbased programs for youth in foster care, this position directs services. For job posting and application instructions, email jobsunder1sky@ gmail.com. Include “MtX YSD info” in subject line. jobsunder1sky@gmail.com www.under1sky.org INDEPENDENT LIVING SPECIALIST Full-time (nonexempt).

The Independent Living Specialist is a strong voice for disability rights and independent living, working to assist consumers in maintaining their lives independently in the community. Promotes Disability Partners in the seven county service area and collaborates with community agencies to best assist the consumer to reach goals for independent living. The Independent Living Specialist will provide general information and referral for consumers and the community as requested and core services. • Application packets can be picked up at the Disability Partners office at 108 New Leicester Hwy, Asheville 28806 or requested

via email at krodriguez@ disabilitypartners.org • No Phone Calls Please.

PARAPROFESSIONAL Paraprofessional staff needed to provide services to individuals with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities all over the county (& nearby counties), in their home, in the community, and at their job. 828-350-1111 michelle. kozma@eastersealsucp.com www.easterseals.com/NCVA/ QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL • HENDERSONVILLE Turning Point Services is looking for a full-time dedicated Qualified Professional. Must have a 4 year human services degree and 2 years post-grad experience working with the IDD population. If interested, please apply online at www. turningpointhires.com. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

PROFESSIONAL/ MANAGEMENT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR • UNDER ONE SKY VILLAGE FOUNDATION Under One Sky Village Foundation, an Asheville based non profit, serves youth in foster care.

The ED provides leadership in management, resource development, and organizational infrastructure.

Full-time salaried position reports to the Board of Directors. For full posting, email jobsunder1sky@gmail.com.

Include “MtX EXD ” in subject line. jobsunder1sky@ gmail.com www.under1sky. org FUNDRAISER Development pro with 3+ yrs exp. engaging individual donors. Candidates should have commitment to equity, inclusion and social change.

EOE/FT/Health/Dental/401K and more. Learn more/ apply: unitedwayabc.org/ employment-opportunities.

TEACHING/ EDUCATION

INTERESTED IN WORKING AT A-B TECH? Full-Time, Part-Time and Adjunct Positions available. Come help people achieve their dreams!

Apply for open positions at abtcc.peopleadmin.com

CAREGIVERS/ NANNY CHILDCARE WORKER NEEDED Loving, friendly, childcare worker needed for

Sunday mornings and occasional church events in the nursery of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church located in North Asheville.

1-3 years childcare experience preferred, $12.00 p/h.

Active retirees encouraged to apply! Please send letter of interest and resume to smeehan@gcpcusa.org

XCHANGE MEDICAL SUPPLIES EMF EMF electromagnetic biomat 7000mx. Used a few times. With suitcase. Paid $1,500, sell $850. 407-3420630.

SERVICES ENTERTAINMENT DISH NETWORK-SATELLITE TELEVISION SERVICES Now over 190 channels for only $49.99/month!

HBO-Free for one year, Free Installation, Free Streaming, Free HD. Add Internet for $14.95 a month. 1-800-3736508. (AAN CAN)

MIND, BODY, SPIRIT BODYWORK $60 TWO-HOUR MASSAGE AT YOUR HOME Please check out my FaceBook page [Transformational Massage Therapy through Frank Solomon Connelly:LMBT#10886] for information. Practicing professionally since December 2003. (828) 707-2983.

Creator_of_Joy@Hotmail. com.

ALL OF LIFE COMES TO ME WITH EASE & JOY & GLORY Access Consciousness Bars® can clear the limitations you have in your life and body. Want a different relationship to money, aging, sexuality, health and other areas?

Call Rebekah 828-348-4925. www.pleasureevolution.com

SPIRITUAL

LEGAL DENIED CREDIT? Work to repair your credit report with the trusted leader in credit repair. Call Lexington Law for a Free credit report summary and credit repair consultation. 855-620-9426.

John C. Heath, Attorney at Law, PLLC, dba Lexington Law Firm. (AAN CAN)

IF YOU CAN SEE THE FUTURE... ...you can change it! Call Julie King, licensed Minister, Teacher and intuitive Healer. A gifted psychic for 35 years, internationally known on TV and radio.

Mentoring and Courses available. (831) 601-9005. www.AcuPsychic.com

FOR MUSICIANS MUSICAL SERVICES

ONLINE MEDIATION SERVICES Divorce isn't fun. We offer friendly, easy, online services to help you through a separation or co-parent situation as cost effectively as possible. (828) 279-8166 SARABENSMAN@GMAIL. COM www.sarabensman. com.

HOME IMPROVEMENT HANDY MAN HIRE A HUSBAND • HANDYMAN SERVICES Since 1993. Multiple skill sets. Reliable, trustworthy, quality results. Insured. References and estimates available. Stephen Houpis, (828) 280-2254.

HEATING & COOLING MAYBERRY HEATING AND COOLING Oil and Gas Furnaces • Heat Pumps and AC • Radiant Floor Heating • Solar Hot Water • Sales • Service • Installation. • Visa • MC • Discover. Call (828) 658-9145.

ANNOUNCEMENTS MAKE THE CALL TO START GETTING CLEAN TODAY Free 24/7 Helpline for alcohol & drug addiction treatment. Get help! It is time to take your life back!

Call Now: 855-732-4139.

(AAN CAN)

T H E N E W Y OR K TI M ES CR OSSWOR D PU ZZLE

ACROSS

1 Menaces that name other menaces if you put a “w” at the start 5 Darken 8 BBC sci-fi series, informally 13 “Your Majesty” 14 It leans right: Abbr.

16 Sounded satisfied 17 Angle between a leafstalk and a stem 18 Subject of a parent’s restriction for a child 20 Big “but”?

22 Chevy sedan 23 Prefix with dermis 24 Member of a crossword zoo?

27 Small diamond handed down to an heir?

31 Number 41 or 43 35 Cross shape 36 Barely leading 37 Immune response trigger 39 Takes over (for) 41 Pageant prize

42 Single market locale: Abbr.

43 Son of John and Yoko 44 Fight between two lovers?

48 Goal 49 Scepter go-with 50 Elements with names ending in -ium, typically 55 Futuristic Volkswagen?

59 Seat for a ragtime player 61 Amount of land a pair of oxen could plow in a day, historically 62 Pitcher’s aid 63 Where a brogue is spoken 64 Wander 65 “Straight ___ Compton” 66 Fella 67 Symbol in the middle of a Scrabble board

edited by Will Shortz

3 Prettify 4 John Lewis march site 5 Aversion 6 What an oatmeal bath alleviates 7 Marcel of few words 8 Someone for whom “Thank you very much” is “Mange tak” 9 See 59-Down 10 Popular wedding flower 11 Fashion line?

12 Poetic praise 15 Sprang 19 Christian singer Tornquist 21 Good ___ days 25 Fad x 10 26 Knoxville sch.

28 Give a whupping 29 “Psst, you’re on,” e.g.

30 iPad purchases 31 Scrub in the tub 32 State of the ___ DOWN 33 Not budge 1 “Likewise” 2 It comes a quarter 34 Charter of the way into the 38 Part of L.G.B.T.Q. 39 Benchwarmer day

PUZZLE BY KATHY WIENBERG

40 Ran roughshod 51 Rulers before 1917 over 52 Alternative to a 42 Entangle four-in-hand 45 Bullies 53 Pupa-to-be 46 Use a soapbox 54 Herd member 47 Spot from a pot 56 Doing the job

MUSICIANS HEARING PROTECTION We offer custom fitted earplugs that enable you to hear while playing, yet filters harmful decibals. Lots of color and style options! (828) 7130767. thehearingguync@ gmail.com

57 Jaffe who wrote “Mazes and Monsters” 58 Toon explorer 59 With 9-Down, according to share 60 Slip in a pot

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS NY TIMES PUZZLE

AUTOMOTIVE

(828) 255-0001

AUTOMOTIVE SERVICES WE'LL FIX IT AUTOMOTIVE • Honda and Acura repair. Half price repair and service. ASE and factory trained. Located in the Weaverville area, off exit 15. Please call (828) 275-6063 for appointment. www.wellfixitautomotive. com

No. 0214

Owned & operated by:

JOIN OUR TEAM! w e’r e H i r i n g

ADULT LIVELINKS Chat Lines. Flirt, chat and date! Talk to sexy real singles in your area. Call now!

1-844-359-5773 (AAN CAN).

PENIS ENLARGEMENT PUMP Get stronger and harder erections immediately. Gain 1-3 inches permanently and safely. Guaranteed results. FDA Licensed.

Free brochure: 1-800-3543944. www.DrJoelKaplan. com (AAN CAN) VIAGRA & CIALIS! 60 pills for $99. 100 pills for $130. Free shipping. Money back guaranteed! Discreet save now!

1-800-214-1906 (AAN CAN) WORK IN ADULT FILMS No experience, all types, sizes, races and ages (18+).

Work in films, magazines, or from home on live streaming websites. Call United Casting Now: 212-726-2100.

(AAN CAN)

• • • • • • •

General Manager Food and Beverage Director Room Attendant Pillar Rooftop Bar Manager Pillar Kitchen Cook Pillar Kitchen Dishwasher Pillar Kitchen Server

Room Attendant Laundry Attendant Room Inspector Overnight Security

We are seeking self-motivated candidates with positive attitudes! Experience is a plus! Complete benefits package including 4 01k and profit sharing! www.qualityoilnc.com /careers-currentopenings/#Hotel

Paul Caron

Furniture Magician • Cabinet Refacing • Furniture Repair • Seat Caning • Antique Restoration • Custom Furniture & Cabinetry (828) 669-4625

MOUNTAINX.COM

• Black Mountain

FEB. 28 - MAR. 6

55