Mountain Xpress 04.01.20

OUR 26TH YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 26 NO. 36 APRIL 1-7, 2020

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APRIL 1 - 7, 2020

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NEWS

18 BUNCOMBE MERGES CONSERVATION DEPARTMENTS Plus, Chestnut Mountain conservation, park closures and more

WELLNESS

10 BUNCOMBE BEAT One Buncombe Fund to help cushion economic blow from COVID-19. Plus, emergency measures and more

GREEN

FEATURES

20 ‘A GIANT MONKEY WRENCH’ Dogwood CEO weighs grant allocations for COVID-19 fight

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FOOD

22 MARKETING 101 As tailgate market season begins, managers look for ways to safely connect farmers and consumers

PUBLISHER: Jeff Fobes

Local residents such as designer Stina Andersen are among those who are adapting to the COVID-19 crisis — in her case, shifting focus to making cloth-based masks. Her story is also part of this month’s special focus on sustainability, which manifests in many different forms throughout WNC.

ASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHER: Susan Hutchinson

COVER PHOTO Cindy Kunst COVER DESIGN Scott Southwick 5 LETTERS 5 CARTOON: MOLTON 7 CARTOON: BRENT BROWN 8 COMMENTARY 15 COMMUNITY CALENDAR 16 BEST OF WNC CATEGORIES 18 GREEN SCENE 20 WELLNESS

FOOD

22 FOOD 23 MAY WE HELP YOU? Ben’s Friends keeps hospitality workers connected to their sobriety

24 CAROLINA BEER GUY 25 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 27 SMART BETS 28 MOVIES 29 COVIDTOWN CRIER

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26 KEEPING THE SOUND ON IamAVL amps up its livestreaming services to aid local musicians

30 FREEWILL ASTROLOGY 30 CLASSIFIEDS 31 NY TIMES CROSSWORD

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STAFF

ON THE MEND

10 NEWS

A&E

Alice Dodson Architect A-B Tech Appalachian Wellness Asheville Holistic Realty Asheville Pizza & Brewing Co. Biltmore Estate Black Bear BBQ Blue Ridge Community College (BRCC) Bottle Riot / formerly District Wine Bar Buncombe Partnership For Children / Smart Start Calypso Restaurant Central United Methodist Church Connect Buncombe Flying Squirrel Cleaning Company Franny’s Farmacy General Equipment Rental Green Built Alliance (WNC Green Building Council)/ Blue Horizons Project Highland Brewing Co. Hopey & Company Ingles Markets Inc. Isis Restaurant and Music Hall Joel Adams and Associates Karen Donatelli Bakery & Cafe Laughing Seed Cafe Lenoir-Rhyne University Margaret & Maxwell, Big Black Cat LLC The Matt and Molly Team (Keller Williams) Mela Indian Restaurant Mellow Mushroom Mostly Automotive Inc. Mountain Area Pregnancy Services (MAPS) Organic Mechanic Pack’s Tavern Plant Restaurant Pisgah Brewing Co Ruth’s Chris Biltmore Village Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse Smoky Park Supper Club Southern Atlantic Hemp Co, Inc. - SAHAE Sovereign Kava Strength X Bone Density Town and Mountain Realty 2010 Tunnel Vision Wellington Sales LLC West Village Market / Sunflower Diner Wicked Weed Brewing

C O NT E NT S

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MANAGING EDITOR: Virginia Daffron OPINION EDITOR: Tracy Rose GREEN SCENE EDITOR: Daniel Walton STAFF REPORTERS: Able Allen, Edwin Arnaudin, Thomas Calder, Laura Hackett, Daniel Walton COMMUNITY CALENDAR & CLUBLAND: Lauren Andrews, Laura Hackett, Susan Hutchinson MOVIE SECTION HOSTS: Edwin Arnaudin, Bruce Steele CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Peter Gregutt, Rob Mikulak REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Mark Barrett, Leslie Boyd, Cindy Kunst, Gina Smith, Luke Van Hine, Kay West ADVERTISING, ART & DESIGN MANAGER: Susan Hutchinson LEAD DESIGNER: Scott Southwick GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Olivia Urban MEMBERSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR: Laura Hackett MARKETING ASSOCIATES: Sara Brecht, Brian Palmieri, Tiffany Wagner OPERATIONS MANAGER: Able Allen INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES & WEB: Bowman Kelley BOOKKEEPER: Amie Fowler-Tanner ADMINISTRATION, BILLING, HR: Able Allen, Lauren Andrews DISTRIBUTION: Susan Hutchinson, Cindy Kunst DISTRIBUTION DRIVERS: Gary Alston, Russell Badger, Clyde Hipps, Joan Jordan, Angelo Sant Maria, Desiree Davis, Charlotte Rosen, Carl & Debbie Schweiger, David Weiss

COPYRIGHT 2020

BY MOUNTAIN XPRESS ADVERTISING COPYRIGHT 2020

BY MOUNTAIN XPRESS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

OPINION

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

Readers, you came through.

This month, Xpress more than quadrupled its membership count. Thanks to the following monthly contributors (and the ones who have chosen to remain anonymous) — we couldn’t do this work without your support.

SUSTAINING MEMBERS

CARTOON BY RAN D Y M O LT O N

Support local charities in need Every day in the news for the last month, we have heard cancellations for major fundraisers for our Western North Carolina charitable organizations.

Hopefully this is drawing attention to the amazing number of nonprofits we have in Asheville. These charities depend heavily on the community donations from these events.

There is an easy way for homebound folks to help charities at no cost by using the AmazonSmile program when ordering online with Amazon. We all do it.

Why not have Amazon donate to your favorite local charity? I volunteer for Aura Home Women Vets (aurahomewomenvets.org), and I have designated it to receive a small donation from Amazon with every order I send. It only takes two minutes to sign up and pick your charity from the list of registered organizations.

All those little donations add up!

Why not make the best of this dreadful situation by helping out those nonprofits that work to make Asheville so amazing? Take more walks, talk to your friends and loved ones, read more, wash your hands and support local charities in need. Thank you.

— Betty Sharpless Asheville

What is wrong with North Asheville!?!

I really wonder about the collective intelligence level of North Asheville.

What don’t you people understand about “Stay at home”?

Food, gas and medicine are all you need right now so stay the hell home!

— Mike Rapier Weaverville

Goodbye to Haywood Street trees Haywood Street lost some very good friends in front of the Pack Library and Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe and other storefronts down the street when some beautiful trees were cut down recently.

I’ve been told that the sewage lines needed to be replaced. Those shady trees gave much beauty and respite to us all.

They will be missed. Too sad.

— Gardner Hathaway Asheville Editor’s note: Xpress contacted Polly McDaniel, communications specialist with the city of Asheville, and she offered the following response: “Many of the trees along Haywood Street had to be removed in preparation for streetscape and infrastructure improvements along the corridor as part of the Haywood Streetscape construction project. More trees will be planted than removed, and the new trees will be installed in larger tree pits. Sidewalks will be expanded and pedestrian safety will be significantly improved. More information is available at [avl.mx/6h4].”

A breath of fresh air [Re: The March 11 Xpress:] Thank God for Jerry Sternberg! Mr.

Doris Galloway and the late Leon Galloway Alan Rosenthal Asheville Community Movement Dane and Cynthia Barrager Gerald Dillashaw Kevin Heslin and June Walker Mary Morris Mary Anne & Steve West Hunter Praytor P.A. Peggy Newell Mary and Steve Arnaudin

SUPER GRASSROOTS

Victor G. Dostrow Lori Grifo Shannon Doyne Chris O’Connor Michele Bryan Judith Janofsky Pat Latta John R Sterling Tyson Bevirt Gene Hyde and Barrie Bondurant Kate Mulderig Brad Rouse Alan and Wendi Gratz Kristy Lapidus Eva Blinder Charles Robinson Stan Barahowski Amanda Hall and Bob Zeid Dinah Williams

GRASSROOTS

Scott Clodfelter Joan D’Entremont Jo W. Hogan Karen Ward Barbara Toth Sage Turner Ken Schapira Randy Bernard Phil Blake Susan and Michael Harrison

Sherry Banner Adam Knapp Marilyn Rosenberg Eric Jackson Jeff Dalton Jan Burkhead Harold Dishner Jessica Frantz Nancy Gavin Boone Guyton Bobby Hembree Robert LaBreck Amie Paul Hanne and Glen Miska Steve Keeble Tom and Patricia Hearron Donna Stringer Michael Thompson Thomas Kaluzynski Kathleen Prosser Emil Revala Barbara Vandervate Tina White Will Hackett Stephen Rinsler Erica Ryland Sally and Bill Pete Linda Block Caroline Knox Cathy Kramer Ed and Cathy Stevens Russell Scott Adams Doria Killian Constance Lofton Erin Ryan Jim and Anne Stokely Tricia Shapiro Susan Oliver Hayley Benton David Mayeux Kristen Winstead Boris Fernandez Aiden Carson Aaron Kreizman Marie Waterman

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VOTED WNC’S #1 KAVA BAR & OPEN MIC

OPINION

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

Sternberg, you are a commonsense breath of fresh air in our murky world [“Expert Idiocy: The Gospel According to Jerry”]. Keep it comin’.

And thank you, Harry Waldman, for the invite [“Let Me Tell You About Trump”]. I already agree with you, but I bet you’d be an interesting dinner guest.

For movie guy Bruce Steele: Jane Goodall worked with chimpanzees, Dian Fossey, with gorillas.

— Karol Kavaya Marshall Editor’s note: We appreciate the feedback on our March 11 issue. We have updated Bruce Steele’s movie review of The Woman Who Loves Giraffes to reflect Jane Goodall’s area of expertise.

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Well, now we’ve got coronavirus in the mountains! So, should we follow our illustrious senator’s lead, sell a million and a half shares of stock and retire in luxury?

Wait. We don’t have stock. Should we sell our livestock? We can’t find any buyers. Up here in the mountains we can’t even think about retiring. Thank God Dollar General, Target and Ingles are still open. That’s where we’re working.

We’re working at Sonic for $4/hour. Plus tips. Who tips at Sonic? We’re waitstaff working for $2/hour. What if our restaurants close? We relied on tips to make ends meet. Keep that shelter in place order from becoming law. At least you’re doing that right.

Here’s a tip, old white men: How about some help for the little people?

Should the slush fund only benefit billionaires? Come on. Have a heart, senators. Show us you care. Think about the people who got you elected.

— Leslie Gaidi Fairview

We all have something to give Editor’s note: This letter and the following two are among several letters we received about 12 Baskets Cafe from students at Francine Delany New School for Children before schools shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. Also, though 12 Baskets’ community space is closed, the organization continues to distribute takeout meals at its Haywood Road site.

Before visiting 12 Baskets, we assumed that we would simply be providing service to people who needed help; however, that proved to be incorrect. We came out of that experience with more knowledge than before about our community and their stories. We ate with the patrons and spoke just as we do during lunchtime at school. There, we learned that everyone has something

to give, regardless of your bearing in society. Even if it’s something as small as a good story to tell, we all have value in our experiences.

Too often, our society encourages a mindset of cutthroat competition where individual people benefit from the downfall of others. 12 Baskets is shifting that narrative in teaching us that by offering small gestures, we can help our community thrive as a whole. Food is simply a medium for the connection of humanity, and the round tables being used at 12 Baskets keep everyone on the same level.

At 12 Baskets, you don’t have to pay for your meal, but one way you can repay is by lending a helping hand in the community. That could mean picking up trash off the sidewalk, washing dishes or helping clean the cafe when it’s closing. For example, Ronnie, a man who is often there and benefits greatly from their hospitality, pays 12 Baskets back by mopping the floor at the end of the day. His positivity is infectious, and his admirable work ethic and optimistic attitude rubs off on us and inspires us to help our community as well. Ronnie is proof that we all have something to give.

Contributing in seemingly small ways can improve the quality of our lives. We realize that 12 Baskets is an essential part of our community, and we hope that you can realize that, too.

— Blake, Noah and Olivia

Students, Francine Delany New School for Children Asheville

The fallacy of the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ In the heart of West Asheville, a group of devoted companions strives to bring a stronger sense of community to the area.

These social servants run a cafe known as 12 Baskets. The boisterous laughter, busy feet and constant conversation amble through the open door of the cafe.

12 Baskets is a restaurant where anyone is welcome to come in and get a bite to eat with no bill charged. The food served is rescued from local restaurants, and without 12 Baskets, the food would have been thrown away.

At 12 Baskets, we experience a new environment, a new aspect of life, and we are exposed to other people’s perspectives. We have learned that people should not be categorized strictly by their material wealth. Whether you have an abundance of physical assets or not, everyone has something to offer.

The belief that some people are “haves” and others are “have-nots” is an inherent fallacy because everyone shares an element of both. While at 12 Baskets, we have seen people with and without homes serving others food, mopping

floors, staying late to clean up and helping all around.

Our experiences so far have been consistently positive and welcoming.

We’ve met people from multitudes of social backgrounds, had conversations with people from all over Asheville, the U.S. and even other countries. Going to 12 Baskets has changed our views on people, for not everyone is going there for the same reason. Some people want a meal, some want to serve, and others simply want companionship. The community that the cafe creates allows people like and unlike to break the barriers between them, and in doing so, work together to address our community’s needs.

— Taraka, Kevyn and Cameron

Students, Francine Delany New School for Children Asheville

Everyone is welcome at 12 Baskets, even you Recently our eighth grade class at Francine Delany had the opportunity to go to 12 Baskets to volunteer and serve the people. We also got to talk to people living in our community. One of the important missions of 12 Baskets is to break down the barrier that divides our community into socioeconomic groups.

Everyone in the community is welcome at 12 Baskets. You might think that a free cafe is only meant for people living in poverty, but in reality, the cafe is designed so that anyone is welcome to have a meal, talk and to just be part of the community. The people you might run into could be people who need a warm meal, or they could be someone who just wants to have a simple conversation.

One of the founders, Shannon Spencer, told us about an elderly woman who was retired and she had money, but she was tired of eating at home alone.

She wanted to have a meal and talk with other people in her community. We as eighth grade students go to 12 Baskets to learn more about our community and to shift our perspective on people who often get unfairly stereotyped.

Shannon once told us why they have round tables rather than rectangular tables. She said, “Round tables give everyone a chance to be heard because there is no head to the table, everyone is equal.” You might think this is just a minor detail, but it encapsulates 12 Baskets’ mission to include everyone.

12 Baskets strengthens our community, and we encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and visit the cafe for yourself.

— Josh, Jalicia and Holland

Students, Francine Delany New School for Children Asheville

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OPINION

Obsolete It’s time to replace Asheville’s City Hall

BY NAN K. CHASE Tick, tick, tick.

The clock is counting down toward the city of Asheville’s self-imposed deadline, adopted in 2018, to have all city operations — including municipal buildings — powered by renewable energy by the end of 2030. And the city’s recent declaration of a climate emergency adds further urgency to the situation. Can we agree that Asheville needs a new City Building before then?

I’m the first to admit that my heart skips a beat every time I catch sight of Douglas Ellington’s bold creation (aka City Hall). It’s beautiful, unique — and it represents the city’s Roaring ’20s economy (1920s, that is).

But while the iconic building is an instantly recognizable symbol of Asheville, a look at the facts reveals it as a dinosaur when it comes to technology and use of space. Its heating system, modernized last year at a cost of nearly $800,000, runs on natural gas,

NAN K. CHASE which doesn’t count as renewable. “We have not assessed the cost of conversion to electric,” says Walter Ear, the city’s capital projects building construction program manager.

ENERGY-INEFFICIENT When the historic structure was dedicated in 1928, its terra cotta tiles were touted as providing “a watertight, practi-

Connect Buncombe is grateful for the growing network of greenways and trails in Buncombe County! Now, more than ever, we appreciate that greenways offer everyone a chance to get out of the house, get some exercise and enjoy the natural beauty of our region.

Here are some tips to keep you safe on the greenway: • Follow guidance on personal hygiene — wash hands prior to heading out, carry hand sanitizer, do not use trails if you have symptoms, if you have to cough or sneeze do so into your elbow.

• Observe the minimum recommended social distancing of six feet from other people.

• Public restrooms are likely to be closed — be prepared.

• Bring water or drinks — public drinking fountains may be disabled and should not be used, even if operable.

• Bring a suitable trash bag. Leave no trash.

To find a greenway to enjoy go to: ashevillenc.gov/service/enjoy-greenways/ To support the growth of the greenway network in Buncombe County go to: connectbuncombe.org/

Learn more at connectbuncombe.org @connectbuncombe • #greenwaysplease

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APRIL 1 - 7, 2020

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cal and enduring roof.” But time took its toll: In 2015, the city spent $3.8 million to replace portions of the vintage roofing and drainage systems that were “beyond repair,” according to a certificate of appropriateness for rehabilitation; the lengthy process included tuck-pointing all masonry joints.

Is it any wonder that form failed to follow function? Ellington designed the building in 24 hours or less, according to a nomination form for its inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, and only minor changes were made before construction began.

The floor plan, the nomination states, was “typical of many office buildings of the 1920s. Rectangular offices occur at the perimeter of each floor. Most of the remaining central space is filled by a large service core which contains public elevators and an enclosed maintenance stairway.”

The original three elevators, which have open gratings and require citypaid operators, are scheduled to be replaced over the next two years, according to Ear. The cost is unknown, since the design work isn’t due to be finalized till this fall. And the building’s magnificent front doors have been rejiggered with a glassed-in antechamber whose wind tunnel aerodynamics merit a warning sign.

According to Ear, the building contains over 95,500 square feet of space.

But only about 60,000 square feet of that is actual office or meeting space (plus the room allocated for security screening). What was described as a “monumental” Council chamber in 1928 is inadequate now; large public hearings are often held elsewhere or spill over into other rooms.

Meanwhile, is it even worth talking about retrofitting this fossil with upto-date communications technology and renewable energy infrastructure?

According to the recently posted 126page final report laying out pathways for Asheville’s transition to 100 percent renewable energy, the city won’t be able to reach its goal in time without purchasing renewable energy credits as substitutes for direct renewable power generation, but public input rated that option the lowest of various choices. Relying solely on solar panels for municipal buildings won’t work: Asheville would need “960 rooftop solar systems or 73 acres of land” for power generation, and according to Ear, the City Building is a poor candidate for rooftop solar.

A FRESH POINT OF VIEW So what’s the city to do? What other cities and counties do all the time: build new facilities and either repurpose existing structures, sell them or tear them down.

“The iconic building is a dinosaur when it comes to technology and use of space.”

Asheville’s previous city hall lasted all of 34 years before being razed.

Kannapolis, N.C., population 50,000, built a 106,000-square-foot city hall in 2015 for $28 million; Concord, population 92,000, opened a new $17 million city hall in 2016.

Booming, high-tech Raleigh has become a leader in energy efficiency, requiring new municipal buildings over 10,000 square feet to meet at least LEED Silver standards and to maximize sustainability concerns when renovating existing structures. The city has also taken steps to incorporate geothermal and solar power, occupancy sensors and LED lighting into municipal buildings.

Farther afield, Greensburg, Kan., a dying farm town that was blown off the map by a tornado in 2007, has a new lease on life. The entire town is being rebuilt as a model green city powered by wind, solar and sensible daylighting design. The new town hall is breathtaking. Columbus, Ind., internationally known for its architectural excellence, built a stunning new city hall back in 1981; the original 1895 civic building, listed on the National Register in 1979, was renovated in 1986 and later converted into a mix of loft apartments and offices.

Asheville could do something similar, using cutting-edge materials such as superinsulation and solar-generating glass sheathing, concrete and brick. By all means keep Ellington’s tower intact, but either sell it or lease it. As long as it’s not part of “municipal operations,” the city can declare victory and move on.

Symbolism matters, too. The City Building went up at the end of Asheville’s horse-and-buggy era: Antibiotics hadn’t been invented yet, women had only recently won the vote, and Jim Crow reigned. At the building’s dedication ceremony, the musical selections included “Dixie,” and Confederate President Jefferson Davis got a shoutout. Does that really represent today’s Asheville?

Ellington himself praised “the broad outlook of the officials who had the project in charge” for allowing him “to entertain a fresh point of view.” And 92 years later, Asheville should once again look to the future with a fresh point of view, instead of remaining anchored to its past. After all, innovation is renewable energy.

Nan K. Chase is the author of Lost Restaurants of Asheville and Asheville: A History. She previously served on the Historic Resources Commission of Asheville and Buncombe County.

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Although Buncombe County’s recently enacted stay-at-home order is set to expire Thursday, April 9, residents shouldn’t expect to resume business as usual once that date arrives. At a March 27 press conference, Gov. Roy Cooper announced a similar order, effective throughout North Carolina at 5 p.m. Monday, March 30, that will stay in effect until Wednesday, April 29 — nearly three weeks longer than the duration of Buncombe’s mandate, an effort to stem the spread of the new coronavirus.

“The sounds of our lives, the school bell or the halftime buzzer: They’re gone. But we have to act now, in the safest, smartest way, when we have the chance to save lives,” Cooper said about his decision and its goal of slowing COVID-19 transmission. “Even with the uncertainty of these times and the new pace of our lifestyles, we know that the good parts of our lives as North Carolinians will return. We fight this disease now so that we are better able to defeat it in the future.”

As with Buncombe County’s order, violation of the state order is a Class 2 misdemeanor, punishable by up to 60 days in

jail and a $1,000 fine. Cooper clarified that in instances where the state’s language differs from that of local governments, the more restrictive guidance would apply.

While the 1,307 confirmed COVID-19 cases in North Carolina as of 11 a.m.

March 30 currently make up a significantly smaller load than those facing states such as New York and California, Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, said the state cannot wait to put restrictions in place. “We don’t have the luxury of time,” she said. “We must act quickly based on what we do know to slow the spread of the virus.”

ONE BUNCOMBE FUND OPENS FOR CONTRIBUTIONS, GRANT APPLICATIONS The rapid relief fund approved on March 24 by the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners is now open for business. Tim Love, the county’s director of intergovernmental relations, announced during a March 27 press conference that

OneBuncombe.org was available online to accept community donations to and requests for assistance from the One Buncombe Fund.

Love said the fund, overseen by a sevenmember board of directors with representatives from the government, business, banking and philanthropic communities, would begin disbursing money the week of March 30. Individuals can apply for direct assistance grants to cover needs such as rent and utilities, while businesses can apply for low-interest loans of up to $10,000 to serve as “bridge” financing until federal and state resources become available.

Kit Cramer, president and CEO of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and chair of the new fund, said its balance sat at just over $500,000 as of March 27. That money includes a $200,000 challenge grant from residents of Biltmore Lake and The Ramble in South Asheville, as well as a $50,000 contribution from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority.

Community members, businesses and private foundations, she said, were all being asked to chip in.

RESORT AT REST: No parking valets, bell staff or guests bustled in the arrival courtyard at the Omni Grove Park Inn on March 28, despite sunny skies and balmy temperatures.

Signs announced the resort’s closure until further notice. Photo by Virginia Daffron “Get those kids who are out of school outside with some chalk and busy chalking their driveways and other areas with the #OneBuncombe hashtag,” Cramer asked those watching the press conference. “Let’s bring it to everybody’s attention.”

OMNI GROVE PARK INN, BILTMORE TEMPORARILY CLOSE A number of local hotels and attractions have shuttered, including iconic Asheville destinations Omni Grove Park Inn and Biltmore Estate.

According to the Buncombe County “stay home, stay safe” mandate, all lodging facilities are required to close except those that provide one of the following services: “work-related accommodations, facilities housing persons experiencing homelessness and any facility being used for isolation and quarantine purposes.”

Visitors who checked into hotels in the county before the mandate are not required to vacate nor are they compelled to remain.

“We will assess potential timelines to reopen as circumstances evolve,” said Susan Rotante, public relations director at The Omni Grove Park Inn. Other hotels plan to continue limited operations. McKibbon Hospitality, a Tampa, Fla.-based company that counts the AC Hotel Asheville Downtown and Kimpton Hotel Arras among its properties, will continue accepting reservations for individuals in need of workrelated accommodations, as well as paid guests seeking to quarantine in isolation, said Lauren Bowles, McKibbon’s vice president of communications. The company also manages the Aloft Asheville Downtown, which temporarily closed before the March 25 mandate. Currently, McKibbon Hospitality does not intend to use vacant rooms in any of its three hotels to house residents experiencing homelessness.

Bowles said McKibbon has protocols to keep those who may arrive with the virus away from noninfected guests. “They will not be able to use any of the public spaces … [and] we will send someone to deliver things to their room,” she explained.

ASHEVILLE MAYOR GETS EMERGENCY POWERS With nine people present in the echoing chamber, Asheville City Council members on March 24 unanimously approved a consent agenda that granted Mayor Esther Manheimer broad emergency powers.

Manheimer, along with Council members Sheneika Smith and Keith Young, attended via phone as their four colleagues in City Hall first passed a measure allowing up to three members to participate in meetings remotely.

The emergency ordinance gives Manheimer — or, in her absence, Vice Mayor Gwen Wisler — authority to regulate nearly any activity “reasonably necessary to maintain order and protect lives or property” during the COVID-19 state of emergency.

Written public comments read by City Clerk Maggie Burleson included exhortations to the mayor to properly exercise her new authority. “I just pray that the mayor uses the new powers with even greater skill. … Feel free to direct APD to maintain order in an effective and just manner,” one said, with another asking Manheimer, “Please do not let us down.

The everyday public who live full time in Asheville are in dire straits.” Burleson did not read the names of the commenters.

On March 26, Manheimer used the emergency measure for the first time to relax city regulations on food truck locations and restaurant signage. According to a city press release, the move aimed “to increase access to safe dining options during the course of this COVID-19 public health emergency.”

GOVERNMENTAL DISTANCING: Four members of City Council, City Clerk Maggie Burleson, City Manager Debra Campbell, City Attorney Brad Branham, Economic Development Director Sam Powers and an Xpress reporter made up the total in-person attendance at the March 24 meeting of Asheville City Council, which was closed to the public as part of COVID-19 state of emergency measures. Photo by Virginia Daffron City Council will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, April 14, to consider a $100,000 allocation to the One Buncombe Fund. The money would come from the city’s general fund.

IN OTHER NEWS • On March 29, Buncombe County announced its first death from COVID19. According to a county press release, the “elderly individual” died March 28 at Mission Hospital.

• Pardee UNC Health in Hendersonville announced its first case of COVID-19 as of March 27. In addition to its current visitor restrictions, the facility closed its day surgery entrance on Fleming Street.

• According to Gov. Cooper’s office, approximately 270,000 state residents had filed for unemployment March 17-29. The surge in claims represented the largest of any twoweek period in the state’s history and was roughly 36 times greater than filings in the first two weeks of March.

• Warren Wilson College closed its trails and campus to all visitors, effective immediately, until further notice. “We so look forward to seeing you again once our beautiful home in the valley reopens to the community,” the college said in a March 27 press release. “Until then, know that the animals are well tended, the trees will continue to grow, and our students will continue to make it a better world.”

— Xpress Staff X MOUNTAINX.COM

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11

NEWS

by Thomas Calder

tcalder@mountainx.com

WITHIN AND WITHOUT Local initiatives illuminate LGBTQ community

COMMUNITY EFFORT: UNCA professor Amanda Wray, third from right, stands with fellow staff, students and community partners who have helped with her ongoing oral history project concerning the LGBTQ community. Also pictured, from left: Rachel Muir, Libby Ward, Kaylin Preslar, Simon Brooks, Tina White and Gene Hyde. Photo courtesy of Amanda Wray When UNC Asheville launched its inaugural Queer Studies Conference in 1998, “It was very much academics talking to academics,” remembers Sophie Mills, a professor of classics at the school who was a founding organizer of the biennial event. In more recent years, she continues, the conference has looked beyond the lecture hall, regularly featuring panel discussions and workshops led by activists, artists and undergraduates as well as scholars.

This year’s edition, originally slated for April 3-5, had expected to continue that tradition. But the event, titled “Fitting In and Sticking Out: Queer (In)Visibilities and the Perils of Inclusion,” has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the topics the conference had planned to address — including LGBTQ health care, history and pedagogy — remain key issues, since this is a group that, more often than not, has been ignored by the history books.

In an effort to give readers a broader look at the local LGBTQ community, Xpress spoke with several individuals and organizations that are working to spotlight and preserve its stories and achievements.

DIFFERENCES VS. SIMILARITIES “When you look back historically to what [gay rights] organizing looked like and what the goals were during the sexual revolution in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, a lot of what was hap12

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pening at that time were not calls for inclusion or discussions of sameness,” says UNCA sociology professor Shawn Mendez, who is this year’s conference co-chair. “People weren’t talking about the ways that gays and lesbians were the same as straight people; most of those folks were talking about the ways that gays and lesbians were different.”

Within gay and lesbian communities, those differences were celebrated. The message, says Mendez, was, “We’re different from you, but that shouldn’t mean we deserve less dignity or respect than you.”

Mainstream America, however, wasn’t ready for such ideas, notes Mendez. In the inaugural edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual in 1952, the American Psychiatric Association classified homosexuality as a “sociopathic personality disturbance.” That classification remained until the board of trustees voted to remove it in December 1973, and it took further reclassifications in subsequent editions before the organization fully removed the pejorative associations with homosexuality.

Mendez, who identifies as queer, says that in the 1980s, LGBTQ organizations changed their message in response to the AIDS epidemic. Early on, a majority of Americans thought the outbreak affected only homosexual men. To counter this false assumption, she explains, activists began explicitly promoting similarities. “Gays and lesbians started saying, ‘Actually, straight people, we’re exactly the same as you.

We just have this one tiny difference of who we decide to partner with.’”

Today, the message continues to evolve, and the conference has tended to reflect that, says Mendez. In previous decades, she says, those who studied gender and sexuality generally maintained a limited focus, ignoring factors such as race, immigration status, religion and family dynamics.

“I think, over time, queer studies has gotten better at grappling with those issues from a more intersectional lens, or dealing with the ways that all the statuses interact with each other,” says Mendez. “I am hopeful that that will continue to happen and that we’ll continue to come up with innovative ways to think about, research, study and document all of the ways that our lives are impacted and the unique combinations of those things over time.”

INTERNAL DIVISIONS For some local LGBTQ research projects, however, representing diversity is still an issue. Since January 2019, UNCA English professor Amanda Wray has been working with undergraduate interns, community allies and members of Western North Carolina’s LGBTQ community to compile oral histories. With support from Blue Ridge Pride and the YMCA of Western North Carolina, Wray’s team has conducted over 30 interviews so far.

“Our identities are complex: We’re not just one thing.”

— Cortina Jenelle Caldwell, Artists Designing Evolution Up till now, however, the project has remained fairly homogeneous.

“We’re in crucial need of interviewees of color,” Wray reveals.

Among the project’s many goals is creating a virtual pride center.

“It’s so important to me that kids everywhere can get on the internet, click a button and see some stories about people from their county coming out,” she explains. But if the project remains predominantly white, Wray maintains, it risks losing its ability to speak to the region’s queer youth of color.

Meanwhile, the project has also fostered intergenerational relationships within the LGBTQ community, since undergraduates are conducting many of the interviews. “It’s really just this amazing thing to put a lesbian woman in her 80s in conversation with a transgender man who is 22,” says Wray.

Such interactions, she believes, can help break down barriers within the LGBTQ community. “The role that transgender people have played in inviting us to question so many things that we held sacred, like same-sex attraction,” has been challenging for some community members, notes Wray. She cites an interview with an 88-year-old lesbian who “does not believe that trans women can be lesbians.” This kind of fracture is common between different generations, Wray explains.

The present round of interviews has also highlighted a paradox: In order for the LGBTQ movement to survive, it needed allies; but now that it has a broader network of supporters, many members feel the community has unraveled.

“One of the perils of inclusivity that we’ve learned from our oral history participants,” says Wray, “is that when gay spaces become less explicitly gay — when they become more inclusive of cisgender and allies — nobody really knows where to go to find their people anymore. It becomes less clear who is in the family and who is supporting the family.”

Documenting these complex stories, she believes, is essential. “Oral history is such an empowerment tool. From its inception it has always been about preserving the history of the people, as a way to offer an alternative to what gets published in textbooks.” And meanwhile, the experience itself — conducting the

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ONE BY ONE: Local artist and activist Cortina Jenelle Caldwell says bridging the gap between communities is simple. “It’s just building relationships. It can start with one person … and one conversation.”

Photo courtesy of Caldwell interviews, hearing the stories, interacting with the people sharing them — is also beneficial.

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DIGGING DEEPER CoThinkk, a philanthropic organization led by people of color, has been dedicated to social change since its inception in 2014. Founder Tracey Greene-Washington says the group initially focused strictly on “centering equity.” But as the grassroots organization grew, its mission intensified. “If you don’t do this work in an intersectional way, then you’re missing opportunities to deepen your analysis,” she explains.

Beginning in April, the nonprofit will host a three-month-long online workshop titled “Heart of Humanity.” Led

by Alan Ramirez, a regional organizer with Southerners on New Ground, and Cortina Jenelle Caldwell, the founder and creative director of Artists Designing Evolution, the series will cover LGBTQ history, language and how to create a welcoming and inclusive workspace.

Intersectionality, says Jenelle Caldwell, will be a key feature.

“We’re not really going to see things progress if we’re only focused on one particular lane at a time, because we live multilevel lives,” she explains.

“Our identities are complex: We’re not just one thing.”

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The sessions, adds Ramirez, will combat stereotypes about the LGBTQ community and shed light on overlooked portions of its population. “Most of the time, it’s black and brown queer and trans people who are erased from the conversation,” he says.

The series will also celebrate such figures as Bayard Rustin, a civil rights activist and adviser to Martin Luther King Jr., and Pauli Murray, a writer, legal theorist, labor organizer and Episcopal priest. “We need to recognize that these people have been invisible by and large,” Jenelle Caldwell points out. “We don’t know all of the contributions that the LGBTQ community has made in America because we haven’t been welcoming them in to begin with.”

The sessions are primarily aimed at CoThinkk members, and GreeneWashington strongly encourages interested members of the broader community to consider joining her organization.

“We hope that it is a transformative process,” she says. “It’s about members changing individually — shifting and transforming and evolving as change agents in this overall work.”

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Mendez has a similar feeling about this year’s Queer Studies Conference, which organizers hope to reschedule for the fall. Gaining a deeper understanding, she says, provides a crucial foundation, but learning alone is only the first step.

GAINING GROUND: Shawn Mendez, cochair of UNCA’s Queer Studies Conference, says the LGBTQ movement continues to gain support, thanks to past and present activists and organizers “doing that superchallenging and superdifficult work of getting exposure, demanding access, demanding dignity and demanding respect.” Photo courtesy of Mendez “Now you know this thing, but so what? Why does it matter? What are you going to do with it? How does this help real people try to live their lives in the real world?”

The goal, continues Mendez, “is that everybody walks away from the conference with a feeling that there’s something they can do within their sphere of influence to make the world better, safer, more inclusive and more supportive for LGBTQ people and their lives.” X

A CLOSER look In October of 1979, a small group of gay men in Asheville established the Community Liaison Organization for Support, Education and Reform. According to the group’s constitution, its purpose was “to serve as a liaison organization between the gay/lesbian community and the larger population, to provide mutual support, education and information regarding problems and concerns of the gay/ lesbian community, to work for reform of social prejudices and discrimination practices and attitudes, and to foster for individuals and the community a sense of gay/ lesbian identity.”

Along with regular meetings and social events, CLOSER published Community Connections, a weekly newspaper providing updates and information about local happenings.

The organization disbanded in the early 2000s, but its archival materials are now housed in the North Carolina Room at Pack Memorial Library as part of the special collections’ ongoing work to expand its catalog concerning local LGBTQ history.

Within the past year, the N.C. Room has also begun hosting pop-up exhibits, including last year’s “Out!” at Banks Ave in South Slope, which displayed photos, newspaper clippings and other items documenting Asheville’s queer community during the years from 1972-2002.

According to N.C. Room manager Katherine Cutshall, additional pop-ups are planned for later this year, with dates and locations to be determined. In the meantime, she adds, the N.C. Room will continue to welcome donations of photos, documents, letters and other archival materials once county libraries reopen.X

COMMUNITY CALENDAR APRIL 1 - 9, 2020

A-B TECH SMALL BUSINESS CENTER (ONLINE)

CALENDAR GUIDELINES

• TH (4/02), 9:3010:30AM Keeping Customers & Employees Safe During Unsettling Times.

Pre-registration required at https:// www.ncsbc.net • SAT (4/04), 9:30-10:30AM Promoting Your Business & Products During a Crisis. Preregistration required at https://www. ncsbc.net • TUES (4/07), 9:3010:30AM Ideas to Keep Cash Flowing During a Pandemic Shutdown. Preregistration required at https://www. ncsbc.net • TH (4/9), 9:3010:30AM How to Manage Employees as Coronavirus Spreads. Preregistration required at https://www. ncsbc.ne

For a full list of community calendar guidelines, please visit mountainx.com/calendar. For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, ext.

137. For questions about paid calendar listings, please call 828-251-1333, ext. 320.

MUSIC A CAPELLA SINGING (PD.) WANNA SING? ashevillebarbershop. com DIRTY DEAD: LIVE QUARAN STREAM (ONLINE) • FRI (4/3), 9:30PM Donations to musicians highly encouraged. Visit https:// iamavl.com/live/ Keep Music Live Project (ONLINE) • FRI (4/3), 8-10PM Guitarist & singer Vicki Genfan streams a live concert online.

Register at http:// avl.mx/71f • SAT (4/4), 4-5:30PM Muriel Anderson plays live guitar & harp-guitar online. Register at http://avl.mx/71g • SUN (4/5), 5-6:30PM Great Entertainer Thom Bresh plays a live concert online.

Register at http:// avl.mx/71h • MON (4/6), 7-10PM Singer/songwriter Namoli Brennet plays a live concert online.

Register at http:// avl.mx/71i • TH (4/9), 7:3010:30PM Eleanor Underhill and Molly Rose go solo in a two-set concert streamed from their home. Register at http://avl.mx/71j • FRI (4/10), 7:309:30PM Jazz guitarist Sean McGowan performs. Register at http://avl.mx/71k SYNTHESIZE LIVE MOOG W/ BANA HAFFAR (ONLINE) • MON (4/9), 9PM A live improv performance and Q&A session w/

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BEST OF WNC M O UNTA IN X P R E S S P R E S E NTS

2020 BALLOT CATEGORIES Hey, you swell folks, get ready to vote!

This year’s Best of WNC ballot is the eel’s hips, the ab-so-lute cat’s pajamas!

Yes, a lot of things are on hold right now, but tell us about your favorites, what you think is hotsy-totsy and what you can’t wait to enjoy again soon.

As always, the goal of the poll is for voters to honor the area’s unique creativity and excellence. We count on you to know your onions.

It’s a strange moment to be launching Best of WNC 2020 voting, amidst such uncertainty, but desperate times call for positive measures.

As you take time away from other humans, we hope you can take a moment to think of all the things you can’t wait to see return #ashevillestrong after we’ve gotten through all this. And how!

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Literature

Music Events & Venues

Theater

• • • •

Place To Hear Live Music Outdoor Music Venue Listening Room Local Music Festival

Bands by Genre • • • • • • • • • • • •

All-Round Favorite Band Acoustic/Folk Americana/Country Blues Busker/Street Group Funk Hip-Hop Artist/Group Jazz Old-Time/Bluegrass R&B/Soul Rock World Music

Musicians

• Singer-Songwriter • Vocalist • Lyricist

Arts & Crafts

• Art/Crafts Fair or Event • Studio Stroll/Driving Tour • Craft School or Place to Learn a Craft • Craft-Oriented Gallery • Local Art Gallery • Nonprofit That Serves the Arts • Fiber Artist • Jewelry Artist/Designer • Metal Artist or Metalworker • Mural Artist • Painter/Illustrator • Photographer • Potter/Ceramic Artist • Woodworker • Glass Artist

Entertainment

• Comedy Troupe or Series • Local Comedy Show/ Night/Event • Trivia Night Emcee • Open-Mic Night Venue • DJ (Non-Radio) • Comedian

Film

• Movie Theater • Local Filmmaker

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• Local Author • Local Poet

• • • • •

Kid-Friendly Restaurant Late-Night Restaurant Romantic Dining Fine Dining/Upscale Restaurant With a View

• Theater Company Restaurant offerings • Actor (Male or Female) • Vaudeville Troupe (Burlesque, • Barbecue • Bagels Aerial Arts, Jugglers, etc.)

• Best Service Dance • Best Value • Place to Dance • Biscuits • Place to Take Dance • Breakfast Classes or Lessons • Brunch • Performance Dance • Burger Company • Burrito Music Services • Doughnuts • Music Instrument • French Fries Repair Company • Fried Chicken • Music-Related Nonprofit • Healthiest Food • Recording Studio • Hot Bar/Buffet • Music Engineer or Producer • Hot Dogs • Local-Food Emphasis EATS • Locally-Made CBD treats • Lunch • Favorite Restaurant • Lunch - Business Lunch • Restaurant That • Outdoor Dining Best Represents • Pasta The Spirit Of Asheville • People-Watching Restaurant • Restaurant To Take • Pizza Out-Of-Towners To • Pub Grub • Restaurant That Gives • Quick Meal Back To The Community • Ribs • Green/Sustainability• Salad Friendly Restaurant • Seafood • New Restaurant (Opened • Special Diet Options (GlutenIn The Last 12 Months) Free, • Restaurant Still Needed Lactose-Free, etc.)

In Asheville • Sub Shop/Deli/Sandwiches Cuisines • Sushi • Chinese • Taco • French • Take-Out • Greek • Vegetarian • Indian • Vegan • Italian • Wine List • Japanese • Wings • Korean Neighborhoods • Latin American • Restaurant In Downtown • Mediterranean • Restaurant In East Asheville • Mexican • Restaurant In North Asheville • Middle Eastern • Restaurant In South Asheville • Southern • Restaurant In West Asheville • Thai • Restaurant In the Restaurant types River Arts District • Catering Company Desserts & Sweets • Diner/Homestyle • Food Truck • Desserts

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The Best of WNC ballot is easy to navigate.

It features a nifty autocomplete function to let you vote quickly and accurately. Ain’t that the berries? You can even take a break from voting any time and return later. Just remember to save your ballot.

Hot dog, let’s get goin’!

• Chocolate • Ice Cream • Frozen Treats Other Than Ice Cream

Bakeries

• Bakery (Bread) • Bakery (Sweets/Desserts)

Miscellaneous • • • • • • •

Chef Pastry Chef Local Food Festival or Event Cheesemaker/Cheese Dairy Local Food/Drink Product Butcher Shop Nonprofit Helping With Hunger Issues

DRINKS Bars

• Bar That Best Represents the Spirit Of Asheville • Bar: Local Beer Selection • Bar: Unusual Beer Selection • Bar for Live Music • Bar with a View • Bar with Bar Games • Sports Bar • Upscale Bar • Dive Bar • Hotel Bar • Gay-Friendly Bar • Bartender • Neighborhood Bar Downtown-South Slope • Neighborhood Bar River Arts District • Neighborhood Bar - East • Neighborhood Bar - North • Neighborhood Bar - South • Neighborhood Bar - West

• • • • • • • • • •

Beer Store Favorite Local Beer Event Local Beer (Any Style) Local Dark Beer Local IPA Local Lager Local Sour Beer Seasonal Beer Local Cider Cidery

Cocktails & Wine • • • •

Distillery Bloody Mary Cocktails Mocktails or Nonalcoholic Options • Local Winery • Wine Bar • Wine Store

Coffee, Tea & Healthy Drinks • Coffee House • Establishment with the Best Coffee • Coffee/Tea House in Which to Read a Book • Coffee Roaster • Place to Drink Tea • Kava Bar • Smoothies/Juices • CBD drinks/health elixirs

OUTDOORS Biking

• Bicycle Club or Group • Bike Event/Race — Mountain or Road • Mountain Bike Trail

Camping

• Place to Car Camp

Beer, Cider & Breweries • Camping Spot • Local All-Round Brewery Hiking (for its beers) • Creative, Experimental Brewery • Brewery (for its taproom & atmosphere) • Family-Friendly Bar or Brewery • Bar or Brewery That Gives Back to the Community • Brewmaster • Homebrewing/ Winemaking Supplies

• Backpacking Trail/ Overnight Hike • Day Hike • Walk in or Near Asheville • Hiking Club or Group • Picnic Spot • Waterfall

Running

• Running Club or Group • Running Event/Race — Road or Trail

Water & Rivers • • • • •

Place to Relax on the Water Fishing Spot Rafting Company Swimming Hole Whitewater Paddling Section

Miscellaneous

• Canopy/Zip-Line Tour • Environmental or Conservation Nonprofit • Outdoor Gear & Apparel Shop • Skate Park • Ski Resort

SHOPPING Fashion • • • • •

Clothing: Office (Women’s) Clothing: Office (Men’s) Clothing: Dress-Up/Stylin’ Asheville-Style Clothes Clothing: Used or Vintage (for-profit store) • Clothing: Used or Vintage (nonprofit store) • Shoe Store • Jewelry Store

Food

• All-Round Grocery Store • Budget-Friendly Grocery Store • Health Food Store • Convenience/Corner Store • Import/Ethnic Food Store

Home

• New Furniture Store • Used Furniture Store (for-profit store) • Used Furniture Store (nonprofit store) • Antique Store • Bed and Mattress Store • Picture Framer

General & Miscellaneous

• Store That Best Represents The Spirit Of Asheville • Bookstore - New • Bookstore - Used • Store for Comics, Collectibles and/or Games • Record/CD Store

• Adult Toys, Lingerie & Naughty Things Store • Auto Dealer - New and/or Used • Automobile Tire Store • Bike Shop • Gift Shop • Florist • Musical Instrument Store • Head Shop • Vape Shop • Pawn Shop

PROFESSIONAL & HOME SERVICES • Heating/Cooling Company • Alt Energy Sales and Installation • Electrical/Electrician Company • Architectural Firm • Green Builder • Roofing Company • Plumbing Company • House Painters • Handyman or Woman • Moving Company • Home Cleaning Service • Pest Control Service • Equipment Rental Services • Law Firm • Criminal Law Attorney • Family Law Attorney • Real Estate Attorney • Financial Adviser • Accountant/CPA Firm • Bookkeeping Services • Place to Get Your Taxes Prepared • Print Shop • Real Estate Company • Real Estate Agent • Web Development Firm • Marketing and Graphic Design Service • Computer Repair • Car Repair • Bike Repair • Dry Cleaner • Cell Phone Service Provider for the WNC Mountains

KIDS • Child Care or Day Care Service • Parents Night Out Program

Camps • • • •

Day Camp Overnight Camp Nature Camp Kid-Friendly Hike

Medical

Fitness

• Gym or Place to Work Out • Pediatric Practice — • Fitness Studio With Classes General Medical • Pediatric Practice — Dentistry • Martial Arts Studio • Pilates Studio/Center/Classes Places • Yoga Studio • Day Trip for Kids • Yoga Teacher • Museum • Place for Birthday Parties PETS • Place to Make Art • Animal Shelter/Rescue • Playground Organization • Place for Indoor Fun • Outdoor Place to • Place for Outdoor Fun Take Your Pet • Teen-Friendly Place • Pet Supply Store to Hang Out • Pet-Friendly Bar Schools & Classes • Pet-Friendly Restaurant • Preschool Medical • School (Pre-College) • Alternative Pet Health • After-School Program Care Provider • Art Education Program • Veterinary Services • Music Teacher (Classroom) • Veterinarian

Shopping

Skill-Building

Dance Studio for Kids Gymnastics Program Martial Arts Program Youth Sports Program

HEALTH & WELLNESS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Physician (General Practice) Family Medical Practice Pediatrician Maternity Care/Service Dentist Dental Practice Orthodontist Eye Care Specialist/Service Psychologist/Counselor Hospital Place to Get Medical Care When Under- or Uninsured Women’s Health Center Pharmacy / Drugstore Place to Buy Supplements, Vitamins & Herbs Place to buy CBD oil

Alternative • • • • •

• Business that Best Represents the Spirit of Asheville • Business that Gives Back to the Community • Business with Best Customer Service • Business with EarthFriendly Practices • Co-Op/WorkerOwned Business

Chiropractor Acupuncture Clinic Acupuncturist Assisted Living Facility Place to Center Yourself

End-of-Life

• Hospice • Mortuary/Funeral Services

Physical Therapy • Physical Therapist • Physical Trainer • Massage Therapist

• • • •

• Most Important Local News Story (in the Last 12 Months) • Most Under-Reported Story (in the Last 12 Months) • Most Over-Reported Story (in the Last 12 Months) • Local News Source • Local Events Information • Local Print Publication Other Than Xpress • Local News Website • Local Podcast • Local Radio Station (commercial) • Local Radio Station (noncommercial) • Local Print Reporter • Local Radio Personality/ Announcer • Local TV Personality/ Announcer • Favorite Feature In Xpress

• Innovative or Entrepreneurial Business • Minority-Owned Business • Woman-Owned Business

WORK & BUSINESS

• Piercing Studio • Tattoo Artist • Tattoo Parlor

• Bank Services for Small Business • Bank • Credit Union

Yard Services/Sales • • • • •

Garden Supply Store Landscape/Grading Service Mulch Supplier Nursery (Trees, Shrubs) Tree Service

mountainx.com/bestofwnc

MEDIA

Banking, Mortages

• Tailgate/Farmers Market • Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farm • Roadside Farm Stand • Farm to Visit for Events • Orchard

APRIL 30

Grooming Service Pet Daycare Facility Pet Kennel Trainer/Training Center

• Employment Sector to Work in • Support Organization for Entrepreneurs and New Businesses

Farm

VOTE NOW UNTIL

Services

• Kids’ Clothes • Toy Store • • • •

Businesses

UNIQUELY ASHEVILLE Civic, Political

• Local Body Products Maker • Spa • Tailor/Alterations

• Activist Group for Civic/ Political Action • Local Hero • Local Politician • Local Villain • Project You’d Like to See Local Government Do

Cosmetic

Culture

PERSONAL SERVICES

• • • • • •

Aesthetician Barber Shop Hair Salon Hair Stylist Nail Salon Nail Technician

Tattoo & Piercing

FARM, YARD & GARDEN

• Best Thing to Happen to Asheville in the Last 12 Months • Biggest Opportunity for Asheville’s Uniqueness • Biggest Threat to Asheville’s Uniqueness • Bumper Sticker or Slogan About Asheville • Local Asheville Attraction • Historic/Interesting Building • Local City Tour • Worst Thing to Happen to Asheville in the Last 12 Months

Events

• Holiday Event — Summer/Fall • Community Garden • Holiday Event — • Nonprofit Supporting Farms/ Winter/Spring Farmland Preservation • Local Fundraising Event

Lodging

• Hotel • B&B or Small Boutique Hotel

Neighborhoods

• Neighborhood • Thing Downtown Asheville Needs • Thing East Asheville Needs • Thing North Asheville Needs • Thing South Asheville Needs • Thing West Asheville Needs • Thing the River Arts District Needs

Nonprofits

• Nonprofit That Improves Asheville • Nonprofit That Serves the Underprivileged

Places

• Place to Connect with Nature Within Asheville City Limits • Place to Get Married • Venue to Book for a Party or Event • Place to Take Your Eccentric Friends • Street for a Stroll • Place to Pretend You’re a Tourist

REGIONAL • Questions for the following regions: Brevard Hendersonville/Flat Rock Swannanoa/Black Mountain Weaverville/Woodfin Marshall/Mars Hill Hot Springs Burnsville Waynesville/Maggie Valley/ Canton Cullowhee/Sylva • Cultural Or Historical Landmark • Breakfast Restaurant • Lunch Restaurant • Dinner Restaurant • Coffee & Sweets • Local Bar/Brewery/ Watering Hole • Music/Entertainment Venue • Art Gallery • Retail Store • Business That Best Represents the Spirit of Your Town • Cultural or Arts Event • Best Thing to Happen to Your Town in the Last 12 Months • Local Cause to Support • Local Place to Enjoy the Outdoors

FAQs

In how many categories must I vote in order for my ballot to be counted?

Each ballot must have at least 30 completed votes to be counted.

How are the votes counted?

Mountain Xpress tallies the votes by hand, taking great care to understand each voter’s intent. We reserve the right to reject any ballot with inappropriate responses.

How do you prevent voter fraud?

Ballots examined for telltale signs of voter fraud or ballot stuffing. We disqualify all ballots that appear to be fraudulent.

When does voting start and end?

Voting officially begins March 27 and continues through April 30.

How do I get a category added or changed?

The categories are set for this year, but to suggest a change for next year, email: bestofwnc@ mountainx.com

Why do voters have to vote for 30 categories?

We want meaningful results from people who are invested in and knowledgeable about the Asheville area.

I hope my business wins.

How do I get voting promotional materials?

Call us at 251-1333. We can get you a packet, or contact your sales representative for information.

Vote now until April 30 at mountainx.com/bestofwnc MOUNTAINX.COM

APRIL 1 - 7, 2020

17

GREEN IN BRIEF

G RE EN S CE N E

by Daniel Walton | dwalton@mountainx.com

Buncombe merges conservation departments By land or by water, Buncombe government leaders are taking a new approach to protecting the county’s natural resources. On March 17, the county announced that it would combine its Soil and Water Conservation District with the Buncombe County Center of the N.C. Cooperative Extension to form the Agriculture and Land Resources Department.

Sybil Tate, assistant county manager, said the change would improve administrative processes and open up opportunities for collaboration. She noted that staff and funding levels would remain the same under the new department and that the public would see no impact on services such as farmland preservation and environmental education.

Heading the department is Jennifer Harrison, who began her role as its director on March 23. According to a county press release, she previously managed the sustainability department at Wisconsin-based food company Organic Valley and holds a doctorate in environmental science from Ohio State University.

Due to the disruption caused by COVID-19, said county spokesperson Kassi Day, Harrison has not yet been able to meet her new staff in person and was unable to comment on her goals for the future of the department.

Gary Higgins, chair of the Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors, said he and his colleagues hoped to update their annual and long-range plans in collaboration with Harrison within the next few months.

Chestnut Mountain Conservation On March 11, state Attorney General Josh Stein announced that the Asheville-based Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy would receive $150,000 from the N.C. Department of Justice Environmental Enhancement Grant program. The money will support the purchase and permanent protection of 448 acres on Chestnut Mountain in Haywood County.

In a press release about the grant, SAHC spokesperson Angela Shepherd said the property near Canton, which at one point had been considered for an auto racing track, contained over 9 miles of streams and served as an important wildlife corridor for bears and deer. She noted that some of the land could be reserved for hiking, nonmotorized biking and children’s play areas.

The DOJ grant comes on top of a $1.2 million grant from the state Clean Water Management Trust Fund in 2019. Shepherd said SAHC is still conducting due diligence on the property and raising additional funds to complete the purchase.

Trails and parks close throughout Western North Carolina Although outdoor recreation is still permitted under the various stay-home or shelter-in-place orders enacted by WNC jurisdictions, the managers of numerous parks and trails have nevertheless opted to restrict access in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. Many have said that

NOTHING TO SEE HERE: Bearwallow Mountain Trail is among the routes in the Hickory Nut Gorge closed by Conserving Carolina to avoid “highly unsafe levels of crowding” and reduce transmission of COVID-19. Photo by Clint Calhoun, courtesy of Conserving Carolina patrons were failing to observe social distancing guidelines; in a representative press release, Hendersonville-based nonprofit Conserving Carolina noted that “with so many other activities closed to the public, we were seeing highly unsafe levels of crowding.”

• Among federal facilities, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is totally closed to the public, as is the southernmost portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Trails and parking areas remain open in the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests, but all campgrounds, restrooms and concessions are closed until further notice.

• The N.C. Forest Service has closed DuPont State Recreational Forest and the neighboring Holmes Educational State Forest. Locally among the N.C. State Park system, Chimney Rock at Chimney Rock State Park, Gorges State Park, Mount Mitchell State Park and South Mountains State Park are closed.

• The Appalachian Trail Conservancy has closed all shelters along the Appalachian Trail and is asking all hikers to postpone hikes of any distance. All trailheads and access points leading to the trail in the Pisgah, Nantahala and Cherokee national forests have been closed.

• Conserving Carolina has closed Bearwallow Mountain Trail, Trombatore Trail, the Florence Nature Preserve trail system and Wildcat Rock Trail in the Hickory Nut Gorge.

• All Asheville city parks, Buncombe County parks, Beaver Lake in North Asheville and the Botanical Gardens at Asheville are closed.

Save the (virtual) date • The Sierra Club of Western North Carolina will offer a webinar about the revision of the Nantahala and Pisgah national forests management plan at 7

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Setting the course for clean energy

Worried about Climate Change?

ALL SMILES: N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein, second from right, announced a $150,000 grant to the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy for the purchase and protection of Chestnut Mountain in Haywood County. Photo courtesy of SAHC p.m. Thursday, April 2. The event will give background about the U.S. Forest Service’s proposed plans and advice about how to most effectively submit public comment. More information and registration at avl.mx/716.

• MountainTrue is also planning an info session about the forest management plan changes at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 7. The online event replaces a series of in-person comment parties previously scheduled through the end

of the month. Details and registration at avl.mx/719.

• Following the cancellation of a March 19 public meeting due to COVID-19, a video presentation about water quality certification for a Biltmore Farms property on the French Broad River in southwestern Buncombe County has been made available online at avl.mx/717. Comments on the application may be submitted through Monday, April 20, by email to PublicComments@ncdenr.gov. X

Action is the remedy for despair The Blue Horizons Project has many ways for you to take action in your home, business, and community to support the transition to a clean energy future.

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TEMPORARY STORE HOURS / MONNFRI 8AMM5PM / SAT 8AMM12PM During this crisis, General Equipment Rental will remain open to provide equipment to other essennal businesses, municipaliies, and homeowners.

- To protect our employees from exposure to COVID-19 at work, our building is closed to non-employees. All rentals and sales will take place at curbside. Call us for details.

- We are also offering delivery and pickup of equipment, upon request, when possible.

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Stay strong. Stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay home.

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APRIL 1 - 7, 2020

19

WELLNESS

‘A GIANT MONKEY WRENCH’ Dogwood CEO weighs grant allocations for COVID-19 fight

REGIONAL RELIEF: Dogwood Health Trust CEO Antony Chiang spoke with local media on March 25 about how the $1.5 billion foundation is deploying resources to help avoid the worst effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Western North Carolina. Photo

by Virginia Daffron

BY VIRGINIA DAFFRON vdaffron@mountainx.com For the past couple of weeks, the authoritative word on the local coronavirus situation has come from state and county government officials.

By contrast, Antony Chiang’s perspective as CEO of the $1.5 billion Dogwood Health Trust is nongovernmental and regional, encompassing the 18 counties of Western North Carolina and the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Chiang spoke to local news media by teleconference on March 25, providing insight into how Dogwood is responding to the COVID-19 crisis.

Chiang said the foundation expects to spend $10 million — 20 times the amount Buncombe County’s government has allocated so far — on efforts to stem the spread of the virus and mitigate its impacts. The trust’s spending target for the year, its second as the steward of the proceeds from the sale of nonprofit Mission 20

APRIL 1 - 7, 2020

MOUNTAINX.COM

Health to for-profit HCA Healthcare, is $40 million to $50 million.

With nearly 30 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in WNC at the time of his remarks, Chiang said, a robust regimen of testing that included aggressive tracing of the close contacts of those who test positive, along with limitations on travel from outside the region, could result in a “seminormal situation” in a matter of weeks.

But that solution, which Dogwood has been pursuing in concert with other local institutions and philanthropies, as well as national and international suppliers, hasn’t yet proven feasible. Due to worldwide shortages of testing equipment and supplies, Chiang explained, testing hadn’t currently achieved the scale necessary to make a significant difference in the disease’s regional trajectory.

While Dogwood continues to work with potential testing partners, Chiang pegged the chances of secur-

ing game-changing regional access to large-scale testing at 50-50.

LIMITING THE SPREAD Reducing the rate of new infections is thus the region’s most important strategy for protecting its health system’s ability to cope with the expected influx of patients who experience the most severe consequences of the disease, Chiang said.

Statistics from other parts of the world with large numbers of COVID19 infections reveal that about 1 in 100 of those who catch the disease require intensive hospital treatment with a ventilator, Chiang said. Based on that rough estimate, he explained, the local health system will enter “stress mode” when the number of diagnosed cases in the region reaches about 1,000.

In both WNC and around the world, the number of confirmed infections is currently doubling about every three days, Chiang said. If the local progression in cases continues at that rate, by the time this article appears in print, the region will have between 120 and 160 cases.

If the increase in cases continues along that track, the region’s approximately 125 ventilators — about 85 of which are available for use on a typical day — could fall short of the need around mid-April, Chiang said. “And then we’ll start to have those same kinds of bad stories that we’re reading about and seeing about in Italy,” he added. As of March 30, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, 10,779 Italians had died of COVID-19, more than 10% of the country’s 97,689 confirmed cases.

Complicating response efforts, Chiang continued, are statistics that have suffered from a “data lag” worldwide. For every verified, reported case of the disease, 10 cases go uncounted in people who are asymptomatic, have mild symptoms or otherwise fly below the radar (often because of the limited availability of testing). Thus, policymakers and elected officials have consistently based decisions on data that trails two weeks to 17 days behind the actual numbers of people infected with COVID-19 in the community, according to Chiang.

To avoid an outcome like that in Italy, Chiang said the 22 employees and contractors now working at Dogwood Health Trust have been considering “hundreds” of funding requests. Projects on the docket include securing commitments for several hundred quarantine beds in

local hotels, purchasing supplies for hundreds of thousands of drop-off meals for senior citizens and ongoing efforts to secure testing supplies, personal protective equipment for health care workers and additional ventilators.

MONEY MATTERS Of vetting the competing priorities, Chiang said, “It’s a challenge because you could spend $10 million just on the K-12 system. You could spend $10 million just on preparing our regional health care providers.”

Ventilators are an especially bigticket item, running up to $40,000 each, he said. Boosting the region’s reserve by 25% would cost $750,000, assuming the machines could be acquired at all in a global marketplace that’s desperate for them, Chiang said.

“I will freely admit these are tough decisions, and we’re very focused right now, at least in these early couple of weeks, on where we think an investment will flatten the curve and prepare the region,” Chiang said. “And then we’ll start turning our attention more to the social impact side.”

Referring to Dogwood Health Trust’s mission of investing in “social determinants of health” — the many aspects of a person’s life that influence well-being, including housing, education, access to transportation and employment — Chiang conceded that COVID-19 had thrown “a huge monkey wrench” into those plans.

Of the community partners working with Dogwood on several pilot projects, Chiang said, “They don’t have the bandwidth right now to talk with us about solving an educational attainment disparity [for example].

So those investments are going to get delayed, unfortunately. But they’ll hopefully get balanced by investments in flattening the curve, investments in preparing the region for the crisis. And again, hopefully, we won’t have the crisis.”

Chiang said he remains committed to moving forward on Dogwood’s pre-coronavirus initiatives as quickly as possible. “But if I’m being very authentic and very direct, we will have to assess literally every week that goes by what’s happening.” X

Esther Francis Joseph

Local Author & Naturopathic Doctor

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FOOD

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As tailgate market season begins, managers look for ways to safely connect farmers and consumers

BY KAY WEST kswest55@comcast.net Like the farms they partner with, Western North Carolina’s weekly outdoor tailgate markets follow a seasonal calendar, with the main market season typically kicking off the first week of April. But like every other thing in this currently upside-down, inside-out world, tailgate markets are struggling to find the new normal for serving farmers and consumers.

The first local market to confront challenges imposed by COVID-19 was the popular Saturday morning Asheville City Market, which is operated by the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project. The onset of regulations prohibiting large indoor gatherings abruptly canceled its March 14 market inside the Masonic Temple and will delay its

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KEEP YOUR DISTANCE: Vendors and customers follow safe distancing guidelines at the new ASAP Farmers Market at A-B Tech Saturday morning March 21. Photo courtesy of ASAP. annual spring move outdoors to Market Street, originally scheduled for April 4.

“The scale of the disruption from all of this to farmers and consumers is so big, we had to move quickly to find a solution,” says Charlie Jackson, ASAP executive director. “Farmers have produce to sell, bakers and makers have product, and we have a very passionate clientele. We need to connect them all.”

ASAP found an ideal connector in its board member Duane Adams, whose day job is at A-B Tech. “I reached out to Duane right away, he put me in touch with the facilities manager; the next morning we were at the site, and by that afternoon, we had their approval,” says Jackson.

On March 19, ASAP announced the ASAP Farmers Market at A-B Tech, an interim outlet for local farmers and vendors displaced by market closings.

The new market takes place in designated parking areas of A-B Tech with a system that admits a limited number of shoppers, maintains safe distancing and eliminates the exchange of currency or credit cards by implementing online payment.

Two lanes of cars were already lined up at the entrance on Persistence Drive by 8:30 a.m. for the first market on March 21. ASAP staff members in orange vests directed the flow of cars and people, while 20 vendors were set up at tables stacked with bagged produce, bread, cheese and glorious, fresh tulips.

Tou Lee, co-owner with his wife, Chue, of Lee’s One Fortune Farm, expressed relief. “This is the

heavy growing season for our greens.

We are glad they set this up so fast.

And you can’t beat the view,” he says, pointing cheerfully to the mountains in the distance.

Jackson reports that the first market went “amazingly well.” While he doesn’t plan to add more vendors, ASAP is looking at coordinating an additional market day to accommodate demand.

The North Asheville Tailgate Market, Asheville’s oldest tailgate market, will not be able to open on the UNC Asheville campus as originally scheduled on Saturday, April 4. For now, says NATM Executive Director Shay Amber, a directory of market vendors is posted at northashevilletailgatemarket.com and shared in the market’s e-newsletter and via social media so customers can reach out to them directly for orders. She also administers the Asheville Online Farmers Market group on Facebook (avl.mx/713).

Quinn Asteak, manager of the West Asheville Tailgate Market, says she originally anticipated a full roster of vendors on the grounds of Grace Baptist Church for the market’s 2020 season launch on Tuesday, April 7.

“But at this point it’s unpredictable.

Our vendors are ready to go, but it could be a last-minute decision, so everyone should keep an eye on our website and social media,” she advises.

“Like all the other markets, we feel strongly that we have to do our best to open in some way for our farmers and our customers. These neighborhood markets are a big part of what makes a place feel like home.” X

May we help you?

Ben’s Friends keeps hospitality workers connected to their sobriety

VIRTUAL SUPPORT: Asheville Ben’s Friends chapter, which offers group support to hospitality industry workers struggling with substance abuse and addiction, has moved its services online in response to the current COVID-19 health crisis. “There is always someone to talk to,” says member Paul Cressend, Jr. “Right now more than ever some people really need that.” Photo by Thomas Calder Chef Paul Cressend, Jr. admits that receiving an email on March 17 notifying him he was terminated from his job was traumatic. But he wasn’t alone.

His co-workers at Isa’s French Bistro in the Haywood Park Hotel received the same email, and thousands of others in Asheville’s hospitality industry were simultaneously hearing similar bad news on the heels of state mandated dining room shutdowns in response to COVID-19.

Being fired, it was explained, was the legal first step to immediately filing for unemployment.

Thanks to Ben’s Friends, the program founded in 2016 by Charleston, S.C., restaurateurs Mickey Bakst and Steve Palmer that offers group support to hospitality industry workers struggling with substance abuse and addiction, he was also not alone when it came to maintaining his twoplus years of sobriety in the face of such a blow.

In fact, as one of the leaders of the Asheville Ben’s Friends chapter that launched last summer, Cressend wants everyone to know that while the organization has asked chapters not to gather in person, the weekly meetings will still take place Tuesdays at 11 a.m., but are moving online to Zoom.

(For more on the chapter’s formation, see “Ben’s Friends Asheville supports restaurant workers coping with substance abuse,” Aug. 1, 2019, Xpress.)

It’s not necessary to be a member of Ben’s Friends to attend the virtual meetings. Information on how to access them can be found via the Asheville F&B Tribe page on Facebook at avl.mx/714. For more details about Ben’s Friends, visit bensfriendshope.com.

“Losing a job disconnects you from your people,” says Cressend.

“Maintaining connections is key to being healthy.”

— Kay West X

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23

CAROLINA BEER GUY

Beer City shaken up Asheville-area breweries adapt to COVID-19 obstacles

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Cooper to temporarily shut their public areas. With bars and indoor restaurant dining rooms also closed, the draft business has mostly evaporated.

Breweries with canning or bottling lines remain active and report strong supermarket sales. Some breweries are selling their beer to-go in crowlers or growlers, but for smaller breweries that depended on taproom sales, it’s another story.

“You can hear a pin drop over here,” says Carl Melissas, head brewer at Wedge Brewing Co. “We are not brewing at all.”

The original Wedge location is closed until further notice, but the Wedge at Foundation site is selling take-home beer.

Production continues at Highland Brewing Co., where the focus has shifted to packaged products, according to company President Leah Wong Ashburn.

“We are fortunate to have great grocery store and wholesale partners,” she says, but notes that the loss of draft business “is a great hit any way you look at it.”

Ashburn notes that Highland has not laid off any employees and that the company’s small-batch beers and new releases remain available for pickup at the brewery. But over at Hillman Beer, one of Highland’s nearest neighbors, brewing has ceased.

“We are totally closed right now,” says co-owner Brandi Hillman. “We’re not doing curbside sales. We feel like it’s safer for our employees and customers.”

Oyster House Brewing Co. is similarly quiet. Owner Billy Klingel was forced to lay off his entire staff of 14 but continued to sell growlers, buckets of oysters and hot takeout food to go for nearly a week.

On March 25, however, he announced via Facebook that the establishment is “going to say goodbye for now” with hopes of returning “in [a] few weeks or so.”

Like Oyster House, Brouwerïj Cursus Kĕmē doesn’t have bottles or cans and, in the words of owner Jeff Horner, has been forced to “completely revise [its] business model,” moving from “100% on-premise” to filling to-go growlers.

“We will continue brewing on our pilot system, for sure,” he says.

Fermented Nonsense Brewing, Asheville’s smallest brewery, just made a batch of beer. But owner Matt Vaughn is facing what he calls “extremely difficult decisions about t­he viability of [his] business” and feels there “is practically no way [they] can survive.”

As for Asheville’s largest brewery, New Belgium Brewing Co. has closed its Liquid Center tasting room but is keeping its operation open with what spokesman Michael Craft refers to as a “minimal production and shipping crew,” which is practicing social distancing guidelines.

Meanwhile, Asheville Brewing Co. continues to brew and can its beer at its Coxe Avenue location, says company President Mike Rangel. But he’s cut one brew shift and is only brewing four days a week. With his restaurants completely shut down, Rangel has laid off about 145 employees and decided against doing food delivery or pickup to protect the health of his crew.

In Burnsville, Homeplace Beer Co. owner John Silver says the brewery will make one more batch of lager, then “shut it down” for the time being. He just canned a batch of Faith Healer IPA to sell for takeout but at press time he expected sales to end after March 27.

Hi-Wire Brewing is still making and canning beer, says creative director Javier Bolea. On March 21, the brewery hosted a collaborative drive-in pallet sale with DSSOLVR, Homeplace, Burial Beer Co. and Zillicoah Beer Co, and on March 28 looped in Hillman Beer, Bhramari Brewing Co. and Twin Leaf Brewery for a second edition. Hi-Wire, Burial and Wicked Weed Brewing have also launched separate online beer stores and are providing home delivery in Asheville.

Elsewhere, Archetype Brewing continues to make beer and sell cans and growlers from its West Asheville location, but owner Brad Casanova reports that his downtown location is currently closed.

He’s also doing home delivery in a partnership with Haywood Road neighbor, OWL Bakery.

— Tony Kiss X

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

ON THE MEND ARTeries by Stina adapts to COVID-19

A STITCH IN TIME: In response to the COVID-19 health crisis, designer Stina Andersen is shifting her focus to making cloth-based masks, which people can purchase online. Photo by Cindy Kunst

BY ALLI MARSHALL AND THOMAS CALDER It’s no secret that the mainstream, ready-to-wear fashion industry is beleaguered. Issues ranging from the use of toxic chemicals and animal testing to nonbiodegradable fabrics and sweatshop labor persist, though celebrities such as Serena Williams, Miley Cyrus and Olivia Wilde have used their platforms to promote ethical and sustainable apparel.

And the pressure continues, with actress Jane Fonda recently declaring that she won’t purchase any new clothing and will reuse what she owns — even on the red carpet. Though Ashevilleans, thousands of miles from Hollywood elites, are unlikely to shame anyone for wearing the same dress multiple times, it’s nice to have options for renewing and preserving a favorite look. “There’s a shift forward with culture. Especially when you see icons announcing this is what they’re doing,” says Stina Andersen of ARTeries by Stina. The business includes a brick-and-mortar storefront and a mobile boutique, both currently closed due to county and state mandates concering COVID-19.

Before the health crisis, Andersen offered mending services as well as group sewing classes. “It’s popular: People want to upcycle, they want to refashion. They want to make [those] lifestyle choices.”

Andersen relocated to Asheville in 2003 after stints in Baltimore and

Mexico. “I needed a place where I felt like I could have a career and have a family,” she says. “In college, I had an alteration business called Bahama Mama and I fixed clothes for people. … Moving to Asheville, [I considered] what people wanted or needed, but there was also creative freedom.” She names local designer Myah Hubble, in particular, as an inspiration.

“Coming to it from [a sculpture background], I never saw any material was worth less than another, so upcycling was like, ‘Oh yeah,’” Andersen says. She points out that Asheville had a burst of creativity in the mid-2000s, when a lot of designers were using repurposed materials and “that refashion community was superstrong.”

But many of those initiatives were based more on creative spark than business acumen. While Andersen also struggled at times to keep her line afloat, she says she knew she “was making the right choices, to keep things upcycled and to not buy fabric that would be excessive.” Her work came out of the art-school-born motivation to always be making something; customizing and mending clothing gave her a marketable platform.

In 2015, Andersen launched her mobile boutique with the support of a Kickstarter campaign. The exposure garnered by the traveling shop, connections she made through festivals and the move toward custom wedding dresses necessitated a brick-and-

mortar space. In 2017, she opened her storefront on Haywood Road.

Adapting to the current demands and restrictions brought about by the health crisis, Andersen is making cloth-based masks, which people can purchase online. The designer is also submitting contracts to medical companies in need of supplies and connecting with other local makers.

“I’m donating bundles of materials for other sewers to pick up so that they can make masks,” she says. “That is something I have been able to do in the last week or so, which feels good.”

Like other local businesses struggling to make ends meet in the current situation, ARTeries by Stina is selling gift cards online that can be redeemed at a later date, once her storefront reopens.

In the wake of Buncombe County’s “stay home, stay safe” mandate, Andersen has temporarily closed her Haywood Street business and relocated her mobile boutique to her East Asheville home. During the shutdown, Andersen says she will continue to work on masks, wrap up current projects and prepare her summer inventory.

Learn more about ARTeries by Stina at arteriesbystina.com. X

Needle and thread to fight the spread of COVID-19 In the wake of COVID-19, residents are doing what they can to lend a helping hand. Masks of Love – WNC is one recent example. According to its Facebook page, the group is calling on local sewers to help make face masks for our area’s health care workers. The group is raising funds and seeking volunteers.

To learn how to get involved or to make a donation, visit avl.mx/715.

The Transylvania Community Arts Council has launched a similar initiative, seeking volunteers to sew face masks for Transylvania County health care workers. Free tutorials are available online. To learn more about the initiative, visit avl.mx/71a. X

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A&E

by Alli Marshall

allimarshall@bellsouth.net

Keeping the sound on When area performance venues shuttered — albeit temporarily — in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19, it felt like the day(s) the music died. But just because fans can’t currently gather for live shows, it doesn’t rule out virtual concerts.

“What I can offer now, with the club’s permission, is if they want to do some closed-door concerts, we’re able to stream from the several venues we’re set up in,” says Josh Blake, co-founder of Independent Arts & Music Asheville.

In addition to the online concerts produced by IamAVL, and its “Echo Sessions” series, which is broadcast on UNC-TV and at PBS.org, the webbased music platform also provides streaming service from a number of venues around Asheville. In this era of coronavirus-induced social distancing, such digital capabilities are playing new roles.

“We want to be of service to as many people as we can. … That’s why we put livestream installations in these venues,” Blake explains.

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The IamAVL philosophy, he says, was always to make streaming possible for all genres of music.

“I joke that we’re the people’s web channel,” Blake says. IamAVL launched in 2012 with the mission to preserve and promote Asheville’s growing cultural renaissance through initiatives such as interviews with bands and live performance clips. Co-founder Scott Reese had enjoyed archiving concerts for decades and so was an early adapter to streaming music. “Once we started to stream people’s shows, [others] requested that we stream their shows,” Blake remembers. So IamAVL’s staff spent a year or two perfecting livestreaming installations they could operate remotely.

“As far as I’m aware, we’re the only city in the world that has multiple venues wired into one website for people to check out what’s live any night of the week,” Blake says.

Within the first week of live music venue closures, he and his team were already working with bands whose shows had been canceled. “Echo Sessions” filmed performances by The Mobros and Screaming Js on March 15. “Post a short live video clip of your best boogie moves … in your own kitchen or wherever you be — and we’ll send our favorite a special Js BOOGiE survival kit merch care package,” the Screaming Js announced on the Facebook event page for that livestream concert.

At interview time, Blake was preparing to film Blake Anthony Ellege’s Quarantine Concert Series featuring Queen Bee and the Honeylovers and Posey Royale, followed by Slice of Life Comedy, at The Orange Peel’s Pulp club. (The series is no longer filming at The Orange Peel.) Pulp, says Blake “was actually one of the first places we ever set up one of our installations. When I went back in, our webcams were still up in the ceiling from seven or eight years ago.”

Many artists are staging their own online concerts through their websites or social media accounts.

It’s a time of creative ingenuity, so resources such as Facebook Live, says Blake, are “an incredible tool to be able to stay connected to your fans and also gather donations — put your Venmo or PayPal up.” He adds, “The No. 1 thing musicians and artists can do now to continue to work is [to go] online — creating online con-

IamAVL amps up its livestreaming services to aid local musicians

CHANGING STAGES: “We want to be of service to as many people as we can,” says Josh Blake, far left, co-founder of IamAVL. The local company, known for its “Echo Sessions” concerts and livestreaming services through area venues, is now working with musicians and producers to get performances in front of online audiences. Pictured, the IamAVL crew livestreaming the Warren Haynes Christmas Jam in 2016.

Photo courtesy of IamAVL certs and putting their merchandise on sale.”

Blake and his team realized that they could also engage viewers through the IamAVL YouTube channel, website and archive of about 2,500 videos. They recently launched a donation platform — an effort they’d made in IamAVL’s early iteration, though at that time they rarely received tips. “But now, in the past four or five days, we’ve raised about $1,200,” he says. Those contributions can be directed to a specific band; unspecified donations go to the Recording Academy’s MusiCares nonprofit group, which has earmarked an Asheville-specific fund to which local musicians and those in the music industry can apply for aid (details at avl.mx/70y).

Additionally, Susan and Jim Knorr, the parents of late Asheville musician Jeff Knorr, donated $5,000 from the Jeff Knorr Scholarship Fund — collected through Asheville Music Professionals — to the MusiCares Asheville fund; and a $20,000 contribution from Don and Alexandra Clayton brought that total to more than $26,000, with aid continuing to come in.

The coming days and weeks will likely bring more innovations around the use of remote and online concerts, art shows, performances and productions. A number of local clubs

have reached out to Blake about possibilities for closed-door sessions and series; artists have been seeking advice and insight on bringing their talents to the virtual audience.

And IamAVL has found other applications in this unprecedented time. Along with its regular shows and services, the organization is also available on a for-hire basis, Blake explains, to record and livestream various events, symposiums and conferences. As COVID-19 makes such large-group gatherings impossible, events are reaching out to Blake’s team to film panel discussions so conferencegoers can still receive the information from the safety of their own homes.

There’s also an opportunity for further local assistance and connection.

“We have a platform we launched at the beginning of the year called WEareAVL,” Blake says. “It’s a place where content creators can showcase their work on our website, so people can go there and submit videos they made, submit their YouTube link, and we [post] it on that page. It’s another way music makers can interact with our website.”

It still takes a village. For now, the village is virtual — but it’s also very dialed in.

Learn more at iamavl.com. Look for Part 2 of this story in next week’s issue. X

SMART BETS

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

Facebook Live Art Auction In response to livelihoods disrupted by COVID-19, the Arts Council of Henderson County has launched a weekly Facebook Live Art Auction. Each Sunday, 3-4 p.m., the organization will feature works from local artists in the community. Of monies raised, “90% of the proceeds go back to the artist, and 10% supports the Artists in Schools program,” according to a press release. “If you are an art supporter and would like to participate in the auction, go to our Facebook page … and join us for an hour of art, auction and conversation.” The remaining events on April 5 and 12 will be co-hosted by the arts council’s executive director, Hannah Duncan, and it president, Josh Dunkin. Learn more at avl.mx/711. Painting by Bethany Joy

Haywood Street Fresco While local art galleries, museums and institutions temporarily close or limit their accessibility to appointments, some are sharing their collections online.

Among the viewable projects is the Haywood Street Fresco, which portrays Jesus’ Beatitudes sermon (i.e., “Blessed are the poor”) via Asheville iconography and residents. The virtual tour allows interested parties to “visit” the fresco from any web-enabled device, taking in the array of colorful paintings and learning about how the collaborative work came to be. In addition to providing close-up views of the fresco with background on the numerous community members who posed for the project, the virtual tour features early-stage sketches and the themes and messages that artists Christopher Holt, Caleb Clark, John Dempsey, Jill Hooper and Anselme Long seek to convey. Photo of Edward Smith mural by John Warner/Warner Photography. visit.haywoodstreetfresco.org

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MOVIE REVIEWS

Hosted by the Asheville Movie Guys EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com

BRUCE STEELE bcsteele@gmail.com

Set in the near future, the story tracks a bizarre series of events, during which the titular village’s residents suddenly can’t find their town on internet maps, a UFOlike drone straight out of the 1950s shows up, and the already isolated community is further constricted by jammed cell phone signals and bullet holes that drain the water from the local delivery truck’s tank.

Despite a somewhat clunky start, there’s sufficient mystery surrounding the water situation and enough quirky details, humor and sex/nudity to hold non-Brazilian viewers’ attention. From there, the film sharply builds to a wild showdown between good and evil that mixes gruesome violence with stunning shots of nature, wordlessly suggesting what the proud townsfolk are fighting for.

Read the full review at ashevillemovies.com REVIEWED BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN EARNAUDIN@MOUNTAINX.COM

Corpus Christi HHHH

Sorry We Missed You HHHHS

DIRECTOR: Ken Loach PLAYERS: Kris Hitchen, Debbie Honeywood, Rhys Stone DRAMA NOT RATED If Sorry We Missed You doesn’t solidify the filmmaking team of director Ken Loach and writer Paul Laverty as one of cinema’s great champions for the working class, it’ll be a damn shame.

Speaking to modern times once again after a quarter-century of powerful collaborations, the duo’s latest tale of average folk trying to make better lives for themselves amid oppressive circumstances is exponentially more relevant now with the global economy in crisis mode.

Caught in society’s meat grinder this time is Ricky Turner (Kris Hitchen), who strives to get his Newcastle family back to where they were financially before the 2008 economic crash delayed their dreams of homeownership.

After a decade of odd jobs, Ricky becomes convinced that becoming a parcel delivery driver is his ticket to success, though the physically demanding “entrepreneurial” business carries predatory fine print and long hours that have tragic ripple effects on his hardworking traveling nurse wife Abby (Debbie 28

APRIL 1 - 7, 2020

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Honeywood), troubled teenage son Seb (Rhys Stone) and kind tween daughter Liza Jane (Katie Proctor).

While the Turners’ hardships — money woes, workplace drama, disobedient kids — are deeply relatable, they feel all the more honest channeled through a cast of relative newcomers whose realistic acting adds a layer of documentarylike authenticity to the proceedings.

Read the full review at ashevillemovies.com REVIEWED BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN EARNAUDIN@MOUNTAINX.COM

Bacurau HHHH DIRECTORS: Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Mendonça Filho PLAYERS: Udo Kier, Sônia Braga FOREIGN FILM/ACTION/DRAMA NOT RATED

Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho follows up his 2016 breakthrough Aquarius with Bacurau, one of the most hyperpolitical films in recent memory and one that transcends languages and borders with its potent universal message: Don’t mess with honest, hardworking people.

DIRECTOR: Jan Komasa PLAYERS: Bartosz Bielenia, Aleksandra Konieczna, Eliza Rycembel FOREIGN FILM/DRAMA NOT RATED

AVAILABLE VIA FINEARTSTHEATRE.COM (FA) GRAILMOVIEHOUSE.COM (GM) PISGAHFILM.ORG (PF) Bacurau (NR) HHHH (GM) Corpus Christi (NR) HHHH (GM, PF) Extra Ordinary (R) HHHS(FA) Fantastic Fungi (NR) HHHH (FA, GM, PF) Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band (R) HHHH (FA, GM, PF) Saint Frances (NR) HHHH (GM, PF) Sorry We Missed You (NR) HHHHS(Pick of the Week) (FA, GM) The Whistlers (NR) HHHH (FA, GM) Wild Goose Lake (NR) In this Hitchcockian crime thriller, a Chinese gangster on the lam becomes entangled with a mysterious beautiful woman. Available starting April 3 (PF) Zombi Child (NR) A Haitian horror film about a family’s troubled past involving reanimation of the dead and its lingering effects on the present.

Available starting April 3 (GM)

DIRECTOR: Corneliu Porumboiu PLAYERS: Vlad Ivanov, Catrinel Marlon, Rodica Lazar FOREIGN FILM/CRIME NOT RATED

of Guy Ritchie’s best work, albeit a bit more subdued and less humorous.

The film follows Cristi (Vlad Ivanov, Snowpiercer), a Romanian police officer who travels to the Canary Islands to learn the Silbo Whistle, a wordless form of Spanish that allows for communication across great distances.

Over time, the purpose of these lessons is revealed — and proves deliciously complicated.

Writer/director Corneliu Porumboiu throws viewers into the plot midstory and slowly feeds us subtle hints to help piece together the full picture. In typical gangster movie fashion, The Whistlers keeps us guessing about whom to trust and the identities of the inevitable double-crossers.

This is a film for those who enjoy such challenges and don’t mind feeling a little lost early and often. My only complaint is that some of the loyalties formed among characters seem a little nonsensical given the background we are presented, and some stronger character development could have cleared up the reasoning behind these alliances.

But in our current trying times of self-quarantine due to COVID-19, the prospect of a little long-distance whistling to keep in touch without actually touching feels increasingly appealing, making Porumboiu’s film an unexpectedly hyperrelevant experience.

Read the full review at mountainx. com/movies/reviews

Direct from Romania, The Whistlers is a multilingual crime thriller reminiscent

REVIEWED BY MELISSA MYERS MELISSA.L.MYERS@GMAIL.COM

A worthy also-ran to Parasite’s Academy Award win for Best International Film, fiery Polish export Corpus Christi succeeds in large part thanks to lead actor Bartosz Bielenia’s captivating physical appearance.

Resembling a male, skeletal Angelina Jolie, his haunted look is an apt fit for young ex-con Daniel, who, after learning that he can’t get into seminary because of his criminal record, amusingly bumbles his way into a substitute vicarage position in a village that’s grieving a recent tragedy.

Sporadically qualified, Daniel charms the parishioners with his rock star priest ways, humorously injecting New New Testament thinking into their stale daily lives and wittily exploiting the power of his role to enact change and expose corruption within the community.

Read the full review at ashevillemovies.com REVIEWED BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN EARNAUDIN@MOUNTAINX.COM

The Whistlers HHHH

“Why are they publishing this Crier rubbish?” you may be asking. We certainly are. The rest of this edition of Mountain Xpress can’t help but show the tough times WNC is facing. Here’s one little spot in the paper where we offer a bit of levity, to possibly brighten someone’s day, poking a bit of harmless fun at the outrageousness of it all.

PARADISE LOST With Buncombe County’s streets and sidewalks all but empty of pedestrian and vehicular traffic, skateboarders and graffiti artists are reveling in the wide open spaces — then returning home, disgusted, just as quickly as they appeared.

“There’s no thrill of the chase — or of being chased, I guess,” says skater Tyler Gruden, who raised his middle finger when asked for his age. “No grannies or bearded hipsters to give you stank eye — it sucks.”

“It's some real Malcolm Gladwell shit,“ says Gruden’s kickflipping companion, who claims his birth name is “Ovaltine.” He also asks that readers listen to one of his four podcasts,“ particularly the one about the connection between purebred dogs and global warming. Please and thank you.”

Area taggers have experienced a similar sense of what acclaimed artist $mudge refers to as “that roller-coaster stomach feeling.” The Mr. Brainwash acolyte says that she “got within inches” of making her mark on “a very significant and famous piece of Asheville architecture” when she realized it was “all too easy” and bailed.

“Maybe if a bunch of COVID deniers come through to ‘wait it out,’ I can get some proper work done,” she says. “Until then, I’m afraid I’ve got tagger’s block.”

LOW PRICES, HIGH HUMANITY The Crier reports that local shoppers are so starved for human interaction that they’re going to Trader Joe’s specifically for the borderline-intrusive cashier chatter. The self-isolated are now finding fulfilling human intimacy in the once maddening inanity of unsolicited reflections on their recent activities and/or new product suggestions.

“Normally, I’d want to pay for my one little container of 21 Seasoning Salute and get the hell out of there,” says Marcellus Wallace of Woodfin. “But now I like telling Brett that it’s going on my stovetop Brussels sprouts in this particular way. And he likes it, too.

Hello, new normal.”

While outside in line, keeping 6 feet between her and those who only minutes before tried to run her over in the spacious parking lot, one excited shopper waited for the store-mandated customer capacity limit to clear. She could be heard repeating to herself, “They’re going to ask me about my frozen salmon and pesto!!!”

Though grocery bloggers have long scorned so-called “Joe Jawing,” industry experts report that the transactional conversation is proving a key factor in maintaining a steady flow of shoppers and prolonging a sense of normalcy in a time of panic-buying, thereby helping to preserve the supply chain.

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FREEWILL ASTROLOGY ARIES (March 21-April 19): “If all the world’s a stage, where the hell is the teleprompter?” asks aphorist Sami Feiring. In my astrological opinion, you Aries are the least likely of all the signs to identify with that perspective. While everyone else might wish they could be better prepared for the nonstop improvisational tests of everyday life, most of you tend to prefer what I call the “naked spontaneity” approach. If you were indeed given the chance to use a teleprompter, you’d probably ignore it. Everything I just said is especially and intensely true for you right now.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): How hard are you willing to work on your most important relationships?

How might your life change for the better if you gave them your most potent resourcefulness and panache? The next eight weeks will be a favorable time for you to attend to these matters, Libra.

During this fertile time, you will have unprecedented power to reinvigorate togetherness with imaginative innovations. I propose you undertake the following task: Treat your intimate alliances as creative art projects that warrant your supreme ingenuity.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): When Nobel Prize-winning Norwegian author Knut Hamsun was 25 years old, a doctor told him that the tuberculosis he had contracted would kill him within three months. But in fact, Hamsun lived 67 more years, till the age of 92. I suspect there’s an equally erroneous prophecy or unwarranted expectation impacting your life right now. A certain process or phenomenon that seems to be nearing an end may in fact reinvent or resurrect itself, going on to last for quite some time. I suggest you clear away any misapprehensions you or others might have about it.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “I make mistakes,” confessed author Jean Kerr. “I’ll be the second to admit it.” She was making a joke, contrasting her tepid sense of responsibility with the humbler and more common version of the idiom, which is “I make mistakes; I’ll be the first to admit it.”

In the coming weeks, I’ll be fine if you merely match her mild level of apology — just as long as you do indeed acknowledge some culpability in what has gone amiss or awry or off-kilter.

One way or another, you need to be involved in atonement and correction — for your own sake.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I invite you to remember what you were thinking and feeling around your birthday in 2019. Were there specific goals you hoped to accomplish between then and your birthday in 2020? Were there bad old habits you aimed to dissolve and good new habits you proposed to instigate? Was there a lingering wound you aspired to heal or a debilitating memory you longed to conquer? The coming weeks will be an excellent time to take inventory of your progress in projects like those. And if you find that you have achieved less than you had hoped, I trust you will dedicate yourself to playing catch-up in the weeks between now and your birthday. You may be amazed at how much ground you can cover.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): If you have been thinking of adopting a child or getting pregnant with a new child, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to enter a new phase of rumination about that possibility. If you’ve been dreaming off and on about a big project that could activate your dormant creative powers and captivate your imagination for a long time to come, now would be a perfect moment to get more practical about it. If you have fantasized about finding a new role that would allow you to express even more of your beauty and intelligence, you have arrived at a fertile phase to move to the next stage of that fantasy.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I can’t swim. Why? There was a good reason when I was a kid: I’m allergic to chlorine, and my mom wouldn’t let me take swimming lessons at the local chlorine-treated pool. Since then, the failure to learn is inexcusable, and I’m embarrassed about it. Is there an equivalent phenomenon in your life, my fellow Cancerian? The coming weeks might be an excellent time to meditate on how to correct the problem. Now excuse me while I head out to my solo self-administered swim lesson at Bass Lake, buoyed by the instructions I got from a Youtube video.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Is William Shakespeare the greatest author who ever lived? French philosopher Voltaire didn’t think so, calling him “an amiable barbarian.” Russian superstar author Leo Tolstoy claimed The Bard had “a complete absence of aesthetic feeling.” England’s first Poet Laureate John Dryden called Shakespeare’s language “scarcely intelligible.” T. E. Lawrence, a.k.a Lawrence of Arabia, declared The Bard had a second-rate mind.

Lord Byron said, “Shakespeare’s name stands too absurdly high and will go down.” His contemporary, the poet and playwright Ben Johnson, asserted that he “never had six lines together without a fault.” I offer these cheeky views to encourage you Leos to enjoy your own idol-toppling and authorityquestioning activities in the coming weeks. You have license to be an irrepressible iconoclast.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo-born Jack Ma is China’s richest person and one of the world’s most powerful businessmen. He co-founded Alibaba, the Chinese version of Amazon.com. He likes his employees to work hard but also thinks they should cultivate a healthy balance between work and life.

In his opinion, they should have sex six times a week or 312 times a year. Some observers have suggested that’s too much — especially if you labor 12 hours a day, six days a week, as Jack Ma prefers — but it may not be excessive for you Virgos. The coming months could be a very erotic time. But please practice safe sex in every way imaginable.

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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I suggest you make room in your life for a time of sacred rejuvenation.

Here are activities you might try: Recall your favorite events of the past. Reconnect with your roots.

Research your genetic heritage. Send prayers to your ancestors and ask them to converse with you in your dreams. Have fun feeling what it must have been like when you were in your mother’s womb.

Get a phone consultation with a past life regression therapist who can help you recover scenes from your previous incarnations. Feel reverence and gratitude for traditions that are still meaningful to you. Reaffirm your core values — the principles that serve as your lodestar. And here’s the No. 1 task I recommend: Find a place of refuge in your imagination and memories; use your power of visualization to create an inner sanctuary.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Are we just being poetic and fanciful when we say that wonder is a survival skill? Not according to the editors who assembled the collection of essays gathered in a book called Wonder and Other Survival Skills.

They propose that a capacity to feel awe and reverence can help us to be vital and vigorous; that an appreciation for marvelous things makes us smart and resilient; that it’s in our selfish interests to develop a humble longing for sublime beauty and an attraction to sacred experiences. The coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to dive deep into these healing pleasures, dear Aquarius.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): For decades, the city of Sacramento, Calif., suffered from severe floods when the Sacramento and American rivers overflowed their banks. Residents authorized a series of measures to prevent these disasters, culminating in the construction of a 59,000-acre floodplain that solved the problem. According to my analysis, the coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to plan an equally systematic transformation. It could address a big ongoing problem like Sacramento’s floods or it could be a strategy for reorganizing and recreating your life so as to gloriously serve your long-term dreams.

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edited by Will Shortz

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ACROSS 1 Award notably won in each of the “big four” categories by this puzzle’s honoree

7 Peeling potatoes as punishment, maybe 11 Krazy ___ 14 Things used with some frequency?

15 Surf sound 16 Yoko whose work is sometimes described as 17-Across

17 Having no musical key 18 Swear is true 20 “We’ve Only Just ___” 21 Toy brand with plastic figures 22 Maker of the old Dreamcast game console 24 Terse admission 25 2006 #1 Shakira hit 29 Avail oneself of Vail?

32 Actor Morales 33 The Iams logo depicts one 34 Arranged artfully, as fabric 36 Janet of “Psycho” 38 “The ___ Squad” 40 Ill-tempered 41 Anise-flavored aperitif 43 Vim 45 Poker giveaway 46 Texting format, for short 47 Art technique that’s French for “fools the eye” 50 Some ways off 51 Gait slower than a gallop

No. 0226

puzzle by Francis Heaney 52 Butler’s “Gladly” 56 ___-Japanese War 60 “Check it out … I’ll wait here” 61 Film with a famous chariot race 62 Squirrel’s favorite tree, maybe 63 Gal pal of Dennis the Menace 64 Score early in the game, often 65 Car rental add-on 66 Creatures in Tolkien’s Fangorn Forest 67 Hit song by the 1-Across winner whose name is spelled out by the final three letters of 21-, 25-, 47- and 52-Across

DOWN

1 Take hold of 2 Merit 3 “On the internet, nobody knows you’re ___” (classic New Yorker cartoon caption) 4– 5 Bellyached 6 Designer letters

7 Test that’s all talk 8 Feature of a Manx cat 9 Relative of a cricket 10 Leaders of Canadian provinces 11 Hoda of morning TV 12 Voting nay 13 Easily influenced person 19 Rolled-up grass 21 Old airline with a globe in its logo 23 11 U.S. presidents of the 20th century belonged to it 25 Pitches in 26 “___ to remember …”

27 What socks come in 28 Early afternoon hour 29 Binge 30 Actress O’Hara with a Tony for “The King and I” 31 Peaceful pastoral scene 35 Artificial, as some modern pop vocals

37 Chocolaty sundae topping

52 Eager 53 Soft ___ (flattery) 54 Chatters 55 Word after high, heavy or seven 57 Thick hairstyle 58 “Star Trek” role for Takei 59 Airport about 28 miles from Disneyland Paris 61 Short hairstyle

39 Swimming pool measurement 42 Entices 44 Part of m.p.h.

48 Get situated 49 Ochoa in the World Golf Hall of Fame 50 ___ Center (Chicago skyscraper)

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS NY TIMES PUZZLE

F I S B A N T R I C E B L U E S P T O T A T O M S O D A K E Y S H I D S N E P A S W I P E A R P T R E S

H E U L S L S T E A R R E U K N S S T O N A N A R A P L I E R I S I S I

T A Y E P I P E

S G T S

R E P O S G F T D R L R A T A T I N I C K K N A T G K O P E K E S R E W I P E H T K I S E P Y R

E R I C

R A V E N

O P E R A

T E R S E

T A C K S R O A N P O L O K E G F I L E F T O J A K R A T O A R E

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