OUR 26TH YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 26 NO. 51 JULY 15-21, 2020
MOUNTAINX.COM
JULY 15-21, 2020
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JULY 15-21, 2020
MOUNTAINX.COM
NEWS
8 DOUBLING UP Tourism businesses patch together local, federal funds in bid for survival
11 COMING SOON Board OKs large housing development in Enka
FEATURE
NEWS
FEATURES
15 ‘THE MOST DANGEROUS BILL EVER PRESENTED’ Asheville Archives explores residents’ reaction to the 1964 Civil Rights Act
STAFF
PAGE 20 BAPTISM BY FIRE
PUBLISHER: Jeff Fobes
Thai Pearl in West Asheville opened in early March — a week before bars and dining rooms across the state were shut down to slow the spread of COVID-19. Xpress looks at several new local eateries that saw their debuts revised, delayed or put on indefinite hold by the pandemic. COVER PHOTO Cindy Kunst COVER DESIGN Scott Southwick 4 LETTERS
WELLNESS
18 BUNCOMBE DEBUTS NEW FOSTER PROGRAMS Plus, UNCA aging program receives federal grant; more
22 THE HIDEAWAY ON BROADWAY Céline and Company Catering offers distanced dining in its downtown event space
8 NEWS
OPINION EDITOR: Tracy Rose GREEN SCENE EDITOR: Daniel Walton STAFF REPORTERS: Able Allen, Edwin Arnaudin, Thomas Calder, Laura Hackett, Molly Horak, Daniel Walton
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Peter Gregutt, Rob Mikulak
14 COVID CONVERSATIONS
REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Mark Barrett, Leslie Boyd, Bill Kopp, Cindy Kunst, Alli Marshall, Brooke Randle, Gina Smith, Luke Van Hine, Kay West
15 ASHEVILLE ARCHIVES 16 COMMUNITY CALENDAR
ADVERTISING, ART & DESIGN MANAGER: Susan Hutchinson
20 FOOD
LEAD DESIGNER: Scott Southwick
24 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 27 SMART BETS
MEMBERSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR: Laura Hackett
28 CLUBLAND 29 MOVIES
MARKETING ASSOCIATES: Sara Brecht, David Furr, Brian Palmieri, Tiffany Wagner
30 FREEWILL ASTROLOGY 31 CLASSIFIEDS
OPERATIONS MANAGER: Able Allen
31 NY TIMES CROSSWORD
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES & WEB: Bowman Kelley BOOKKEEPER: Amie Fowler-Tanner ADMINISTRATION, BILLING, HR: Able Allen, Lauren Andrews DISTRIBUTION: Susan Hutchinson, Cindy Kunst
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MANAGING EDITOR: Virginia Daffron
MOVIE SECTION HOSTS: Edwin Arnaudin, Bruce Steele
7 CARTOON: BRENT BROWN
18 HEALTH ROUNDUP
24 LOOKING OUTWARD, LOOKING INWARD The Broadcast releases its long-delayed third album
ASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHER: Susan Hutchinson
COMMUNITY CALENDAR & CLUBLAND: Madeline Forwerck, Laura Hackett
4 CARTOON: MOLTON
11 BUNCOMBE BEAT
FOOD
Accounting Office Management Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company Asheville Raven & Crone Blackbird Frame and Art Bottle Riot / formerly District Wine Bar Carolina Hemp Company Conservation Pros, LLC Cosmic Vision Father and Son Home Improvement Franny’s Farm Geraldine’s Bakery Gillespie Dental Associates Givens Gerber Park Highland Brewing Co. Ingles Markets Inc. Isis Restaurant and Music Hall Laughing Seed Land of Sky Regional Council (LOSRC) Livewell in WNC / Live Well Mostly Automotive Inc. Musician’s Workshop Nature’s Vitamins and Herbs New Belgium Brewing Pack’s Tavern Pisgah Brewing Co Ravenscroft Reserve Initiative RHA Health Services Inc. RiverLink Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse Silverball Subs Smoky Park Supper Club Sovereign Kava Stewart Builders Inc. The Blackbird Restaurant The Fresh Market The North Carolina Arboretum The Regeneration Station Town and Mountain Realty 2010 White Labs Kitchen & Tap Wicked Weed Brewing Working Wheels - Wheels 4 Hope
C O NT E NT S
A&E
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MOUNTAINX.COM
JULY 15-21, 2020
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OPINION
Thank You FOR VOTING! BEST OF WNC Results will be published in September
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Did you know there is a small forest in the South Slope? The developer has agreed to hold off on the demise of the forest if the community can raise the funds to purchase 11 Collier Ave. for preservation.
C AR T O O N B Y R AN DY M O L T O N
Depriving people of livelihoods is no solution While I appreciate hearing Margot Kornfeld’s thoughts and concerns about being a person who is “at-risk” as we combat this current virus, I found it unfortunate that she would choose to imply that I have no concern for anyone but myself [“Freedom Vs. Reducing Coronavirus Risk,” June 24, Xpress]. Quite the contrary. While precautions and common sense are needed more than ever right now, whether one is “at-risk” or not, depriving thousands of their livelihoods here in Asheville and millions across the nation while driving many small businesses into bankruptcy is not the solution, in my humble opinion. Perhaps Ms. Kornfeld would feel safer if we kept the lockdown indefinitely and required everyone to wear face masks for the next year or two. Those who need an income to survive and support their families do not seem to be much of a concern to her. I feel differently. As far as our civil liberties are concerned, they are not mine, Ms. Kornfeld. They belong to all of us.
Visit the Ravenscroft Reserve Initiative at ashevillegreenworks.org/RRI to learn more and donate. Donations are tax-deductible and directly support this preservation effort. 4
JULY 15-21, 2020
Send your letters to the editor to letters@mountainx.com.
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Curtailing these basic rights in the name of keeping us all safe is a precedent we set at our own peril. Benjamin Franklin told us many years ago that those who are willing to give up their liberties for safety will ultimately lose both. I wish you well and pray for the safety and well-being of us all. — Gardner Hathaway Asheville
Where is coverage of local union effort? I have a question for Mountain Xpress and then, without waiting for an answer, I’m going to give my own thoughts on the matter, as is typical to the op-ed form. My question: Where is the piece on vegan vittles producer No Evil Foods’ union busting? Sure, Motherboard, Vice, The Appeal and other outlets have reported on the saga, but there’s something to be said for the press in close proximity failing to weigh in on such an issue, even in the most skeletal fashion, being that it is, very much, local news. Meat and food justice are clearly on the table for Mountain Xpress, as are union issues; the lack of coverage of this
occurrence seems irresponsible and out of touch with the mission of “balanced reporting.” Mountain Xpress has reported on No Evil Foods a dozen times, covering everything from the company’s launch to its involvement in various culinary events and its impact in overall bolstering the reputation of plantbased meat nationwide. These articles, as well as those released by vegan imprints, craft a positive picture, as does its own social media presence and website. The latter highlights partnerships with WNC nonprofits UpSkill WNC and Bounty & Soul, but what interests me more is the banner that appears at the top: “Why No Evil Foods isn’t backing down during COVID-19.” Clicking this will take you to a page of its site where they provide the kind of information one would expect, all proclaiming the business’s integrity and ideals. ... To summarize, No Evil Food’s co-founder dissuaded unionization by claiming that the right of workers to organize within the Axis, No Evil Foods’ ill- (maybe, aptly) named production facility, would so impede its operation that they would be unable to save lives. Moving onto the former, social media, what draws my attention is its Instagram, which purports the business to be “compromise-free” in its bio. They make no mention of the union debacle. ... I think Mountain Xpress has left this stone, this seitan brick, unturned because what’s underneath is simply too detrimental to the glorious, progressive, compassionate Asheville that uncalloused liberals like to imagine. (For the record, I’m an uncalloused liberal, though I have my share of espresso machine burns.) For a plucky little operation that acquired venture capital backing to be decried by workers as toxic — emotionally, at least, in reference to the allegations of gaslighting and the audio clips released by Vice, though there are also complaints about the inability to socially distance in its plants — and for one that promotes its enterprise to be harm-reducing at that, would be devastating. It confirms that we are guilty of mistaking virtue signaling for actual values and advertising these falsehoods to the rest of the world. It would also undermine any suggested strength of WNC’s nontourism-related economy, even more devastating considering the toll of the pandemic on travel. And that would be evil, wouldn’t it? — Nora Walsh-Battle Mills River Editor’s note: Thank you for highlighting this dispute and the nation-
MOUNTAINX.COM
JULY 15-21, 2020
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OPINION
Send your letters to the editor to letters@mountainx.com.
al coverage it has received. Xpress’ only reported story featuring No Evil Foods (avl.mx/7nt) was published in February 2015. The company’s products, along with those of another local manufacturer, were mentioned in a 2017 story on the science of meat substitutes (avl.mx/4c3). Other mentions of NEF refer to the inclusion of the company’s products in local food events or were press releases posted on the News Bulletins section of our website. Our capacity to cover labor issues is limited. Xpress has no stake in supporting the company’s messaging or management. Xpress also contacted No Evil Foods, and we received the following response from Sadrah Schadel and Mike Woliansky, the company’s co-founders: “No Evil Foods is a small, young business that began at an Asheville farmer’s market just six years ago. As a family-run business, we foster a great place to work, with a positive culture and generous pay and benefits. “Already a living wage employer, we recently increased indefinitely our line pay to an average of $17 an hour. We also cover 100% of employee health care premiums, prioritize paid time off, sick leave and expanded family
Donate your car. Change a life. A car donation to Working Wheels can help create the security and hope that local essential workers and their families desperately need right now. Working Wheels follows all recommended CDC safety guidelines, and our touchless car donation process can be completed online and by phone without any physical contact.
workingwheelswnc.org | 828-633-6888 6
JULY 15-21, 2020
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leave, provide an Employee Assistance Program for support through unexpected life challenges and ensure flexibility for those who are working parents. “Because we listen to our team, respond to their concerns and provide generous benefits, in February, our employees decided a union (commonly referred to as a “meat packers” union) was not the right choice for our vegan company. “In a free, fair election, our employees declined the union by close to a 70% margin. Our team declined the union because they trust us, believe in our progressive, family culture, our living wage standard, our excellent benefits and our commitment to our mission — to build community and to provide consumers with quality plant-based meats to improve their health, preserve the environment and eliminate cruelty to animals. “To learn more about us and our mission, please visit [avl.mx/7nr], and our culture, please visit [avl.mx/7ns].” A longer version of this letter will appear at mountainx.com.
Thanks to those who fought Atlantic Coast Pipeline Duke and Dominion have announced that they will halt construction on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which was to be 600 miles long, from West Virginia through Virginia and North Carolina. Despite the utilities’ victory at the U.S. Supreme Court last month, the “unacceptable layer of uncertainty and anticipated delays” were making the pipeline financially unfeasible for the two utilities. They declared it was “no longer a prudent use of shareholder capital.” Indeed, renewables are a much better investment! This costly and unnecessary pipeline would have carried climate-wrecking fracked gas from West Virginia. Despite the utilities’ claims that this gas was for local use, most of it was slated for export to Europe. Already, liquefied natural gas compressing stations were being built. The ACP should have been completed by 2018, but numerous court challenges delayed its construction, and most recent estimates were for completion in 2022. The pipeline’s estimated cost had ballooned from $4.5 billion to $8 billion, to be passed along to ratepayers. It is a victory for the farmers and other landowners in Robeson County, who have been fighting the pipeline for the past six years. In this largely Indigenous and African American part of Eastern North Carolina, Duke and Dominion were seizing people’s land
by eminent domain. The routine leakages and planned releases of methane, and the 1-mile blast zone all around the pressurized pipeline, were putting these low-income communities of color at risk. Duke’s and Dominion’s decision signals the uncertain future of fracked gas at this time of pandemic, climate crisis and economic upheaval. My gratitude goes out to all the activists who have struggled against the pipeline. We can all breathe easier knowing that fracked gas has suffered a significant setback! — Cathy Holt Asheville
It’s high time to expand Medicaid in NC I’ve been a passionate advocate for access to health care for residents of our state for years. When the General Assembly met this summer for its legislative session, I can’t believe expanding Medicaid wasn’t the first step the legislature took to support the health of our residents during this pandemic! We’ve been beating the drumbeat about the need to expand Medicaid in this state for almost a decade, and we’re in the small minority of states that haven’t expanded. The facts are undeniable: Expanding Medicaid would provide access to health insurance for as many as 500,000 residents of our state desperately in need of care. We’re in the middle of a global pandemic, which has reinforced health disparities along race that we’ve known about for decades. One of the main reasons communities of color face such a higher rate of COVID19 is less access to health insurance. Expanding Medicaid would be one step forward in working to address these disparities. We’re lucky in Asheville to be represented by a delegation that has been champions of Medicaid expansion for years and should send them notes of thanks for consistently speaking out on this topic. We should all be calling Sen. Berger and Rep. Moore to demand a vote this summer on Medicaid expansion for North Carolina. Anything less is a neglect of their duty to lead for the best interests of all citizens of our state. I’m sure they’ll be back in town for a veto override or special session in the weeks and months ahead. People are dying because of a lack of access to health insurance! I’m tired of talking about it; let’s get Medicaid expanded this year! — Tony Franco Asheville
C AR T O O N B Y B R E N T B R O W N
Thank You FOR VOTING!
BEST OF WNC Results will be published in September MOUNTAINX.COM
JULY 15-21, 2020
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NEWS
DOUBLING UP
Tourism businesses patch together local, federal funds in bid for survival
BY DANIEL WALTON dwalton@mountainx.com The scale of the Paycheck Protection Program — a $669 billion pot of funding for forgivable loans to businesses and nonprofits established as part of the federal government’s coronavirus aid package — is matched by the size of the spreadsheet detailing its recipients. At over 661,000 rows and 131 megabytes, opening the document noticeably strains a reporter’s computer. But unwieldy as it may be, the July 6 data set provides the first real transparency into one of the largest relief efforts of the COVID-19 era. The file lists names, locations and award amounts for all companies and nonprofits that received PPP loans of more than $150,000, along with how many jobs those loans were projected to retain. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many of those who sought and received aid in Buncombe County were tied to the tourism industry. Restaurants, brewers, hoteliers, tour companies and retailers were all among the 449 named PPP beneficiaries with headquarters in Asheville. Subsequent to qualifying for their PPP loans, at least 46 of those entities also received help from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority. Together, those businesses and nonprofits took home more than $1.12 million in grants from the TDA’s Tourism Jobs Recovery Fund, a $5 million effort supported by occupancy tax revenue that previously had been dedicated to tourism product development. Was that extra local help necessary, given the millions in federal money that the businesses and nonprofits had already received? Ask Randy Talley,
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JULY 15-21, 2020
SERVICE WITH A (HIDDEN) SMILE: Employees at Cúrate Tapas Bar prepare to reopen with masks and other measures in place to slow the spread of COVID-19. Photo courtesy of Katie Button Restaurants owner of Asheville-based restaurant chain Green Sage Cafe, and the answer is an emphatic yes. “We feel extremely fortunate to have received every single loan that we applied for, but we think it’ll take everything that we have received and then some to get to a time in the future
MOUNTAINX.COM
where we will be profitable again,” Talley says.
IMPERFECT FIT
Sage Ecoenterprises, the parent company of three Green Sage locations,
received a PPP loan in the $150,000$350,000 range on April 8. (Federal data discloses loan values in categories, not as specific amounts.) At that point, Talley says, his restaurants were closed in compliance with Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order to slow the spread of coronavirus, and the vast majority of his employees were laid off. But federal regulations required him to spend at least 75% of the money on payroll within eight weeks for the loan to be forgiven. Despite the risk of not meeting that goal, and thus being saddled with substantial debt from the unforgiven loan, Talley put off rehiring his employees until Cooper had signaled restaurants could reopen for in-person dining in late May. Otherwise, he says he would’ve been paying staff to sit at home while Green Sage was not legally allowed to seat customers. “For anybody who was going to operate through this, it was probably a windfall: extra, extra, extra money. But for me, it was more like survival money,” Talley argues. “I didn’t want the money to be just a substitute for unemployment; I wanted it to give us a fighting chance to live another day.” Congress eventually amended the PPP’s parameters on June 5, giving businesses longer to spend their loans and increasing the amount that could be put toward rent and utilities. But COVID-19 had introduced new expenses for Green Sage to operate safely, such as personal protective equipment and plastic register shields, that the PPP would not cover. An $18,000 grant from the TDA, Talley says, allowed him to meet those needs, as well as invest in to-go ware for his restaurants’ newly expanded takeout business. With both customers
MUSICAL COVER: The Asheville Symphony is sending its supporters face masks adorned with a picture of Beethoven to stay engaged while live concerts can’t take place. Photo courtesy of the Asheville Symphony Society and employees able to operate safely, he says, sales have recovered to about half of their pre-pandemic levels — enough to buy time, he stresses, but not yet enough to make money. Katie Button, owner of Cúrate Tapas Bar and Button & Co. Bagels in Asheville, agrees that the PPP wasn’t sufficient to save her businesses. None of the more than $1.1 million loan her restaurant group received, she explained, could be used to pay outstanding invoices to local farmers and restock her kitchens. “I just kept telling them, ‘As soon as we get funding, I will pay you back.’ But as soon as we got the PPP money, I couldn’t pay them back, because it’s illegal to use those funds for that purpose,” Button recalls. TDA grants totaling $42,000 between Button’s two restaurants had no such limitations, helping her make those suppliers whole. “We saw that TDA fund, and we thought: ‘If we get this, I can pay that farmer who I can’t look in the eye because I’m embarrassed I haven’t paid them yet,’” she says.
COMPLEMENTARY EFFORTS
That flexibility was a key goal of the Tourism Jobs Recovery Fund, says Noah Wilson, director of sector development for nonprofit Mountain BizWorks. The TDA paid his organization $150,000 to administer the fund and evaluate grant applications. “PPP is incredibly important to keep people in our community on payroll and keep business’s rents and utilities paid,” Wilson explains. “But a great deal of need exists for programs like the [Tourism Jobs Recovery Fund] that can help them adapt and cover the many other costs needed to safely and successfully reopen.” Wilson says that TJRF applicants had to disclose other emergency funding
they’d received, including PPP loans, as part of their grant documents. That funding wasn’t directly tied to grant approval, he continues, but helped Mountain BizWorks understand how tourism-related entities would finance their reopening. “The businesses and nonprofits that got significant PPP awards are also, by the very nature of the PPP program, going to be some of the tourism sector’s biggest employers,” Wilson says. “We
OUT ON TOP A total of 19 Asheville-based businesses and nonprofits received at least $2 million from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, as listed below. Federal data does not contain the exact amount of each award.
were able to leverage those federal funds, make the most of our government’s investment in those firms, and pay for things that the PPP can’t in order to give them the best possible chance at success.” David Whitehill, executive director of the Asheville Symphony, says that’s how his nonprofit is combining PPP and TDA money. A federal loan of $197,000, he says, allowed the symphony to pay its musicians and staff during a critical period of planning and fundraising. A $17,670 TDA grant will help it welcome patrons back when in-person concerts resume, currently scheduled for February 2021. In the meantime, Whitehill says, the symphony is exploring options for popup outdoor concerts and other ways to be present in the community. “There’s a lot of ways we’re all going to need to heal through this, and one of the ways to heal is through music,” he adds. Editor’s note: Green Line Media, the parent company of Mountain Xpress, received a Paycheck Protection Program loan of $150,000-$350,000 on April 13. Because Xpress does not provide a “direct in-person tourism experience,” the publication was ineligible for TDA support. X
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N EWS
Tip of the iceberg The labs have been busy these days: Both locally and across the state, viral tests are confirming ever more cases of COVID19. In the week between June 29 and July 6, Buncombe County recorded 111 new cases of the disease, a number that took nearly two months to reach after the county’s first contact with the coronavirus. North Carolina’s new daily case count exceeded 2,000 for the first time on July 3. But beneath those lab-confirmed cases likely lurks a much larger group of people who have contracted the virus without ever knowing it. Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on June 25 that his team estimates 10 additional coronavirus infections for each reported case of COVID-19. Many of those undetected cases are asymptomatic, so those infected are likely to interact with others and potentially spread the virus. The CDC’s estimate is based on testing a broad sample of the population for antibodies to the coronavirus. Because the human immune system makes antibodies in response to viruses even in the absence of symptoms, and those antibodies linger in the blood for some time after infection, antibody tests can show if someone had the coronavirus after the fact. Although the CDC tested nearly 12,000 people to draw its conclusions, those samples came from just six regions of the U.S., with Missouri the closest area to Western North Carolina. Xpress sought to determine if a similar pattern of hidden cases might hold true for the area’s coronavirus infections.
NOT MY JOB
Local health departments, however, didn’t have much to say on the subject. “Antibody testing is not reportable,” said Buncombe County Health and Human Services spokesperson Stacey Wood in response to a June 29 information request. Officials with the Henderson County Health Department echoed that response, saying they had not received antibody test results at the local level. Steve Smith, the department’s health director, added that such information likely wouldn’t help his team in its day-to-day work of contact tracing and public health promotion. “The results would probably be used only for the purpose of prevalence estimation in communities,” Smith explained. “Since a positive antibody test doesn’t equate to immunity, it doesn’t have immediate or practical value for us with communicable disease control measures at the county level.” 10
JULY 15-21, 2020
What’s WNC’s true rate of COVID-19? been infected with a different coronavirus. But even taken as rough estimates, the antibody numbers suggest that official Buncombe and Henderson COVID-19 case counts may capture only a fraction of those infected by the disease. By June 25, Buncombe County had 523 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19. If 1.5% of Buncombe’s roughly 261,000 residents had been infected, the true case count as of that date would have exceeded 3,900 — nearly 7.5 times the lab-confirmed count. On the same date, Henderson County had 581 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Assuming a 1.4% prevalence rate across the county’s population of about 117,400, the true case count as of June 25 would have been about 1,640, or a little less than triple the number of reported cases.
POWER IN THE BLOOD: COVID-19 antibody testing of blood donors may help public health officials understand the true prevalence of the disease. Photo by Dennis Drenner, courtesy of the American Red Cross State-level responses provided little more detail. According to Kelly Haight Connor, a spokesperson for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, the state is not currently gathering antibody testing data and has yet to use that information as part of its regular disease analysis. “DHHS is assessing options for routinely collecting these results and integrating them into our COVID-19 surveillance,” she said. In response to an Xpress question at a July 2 press conference, DHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said her department had looked at preliminary coronavirus antibody results collected by the state’s research community. A study by Wake Forest Baptist Health, she said, had reported antibody levels of around 10%, while other studies found levels in the range of 5%-6%. She did not specify if any of those studies had been conducted in WNC. “What it’s telling us is that there’s virus here, and there’s a lot of folks that have been exposed to COVID-19 here in North Carolina. That shows you that there is a lot of spread of this virus when people don’t even know that they are sick,” Cohen said.
BLOOD WILL OUT
While Cohen mentioned scientific work, some of the biggest coronavirus antibody testing efforts in North Carolina are being conducted by nonprofit organizations. Both the American Red Cross and The Blood Connection currently offer free antibody tests for all blood donors, who
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gain access to their results as a reward for their generosity. Yet the blood banks have been reluctant to publicize their findings. Maya Franklin, a spokesperson for the Red Cross, said her organization would only provide data to state health departments, not media outlets or the public. Connor with NCDHHS confirmed that the state had been in touch with the Red Cross but said her department had not yet received the nonprofit’s aggregate data. A July 1 records request for recent correspondence between state health officials and the Red Cross had not been fulfilled as of press time. Meanwhile, The Blood Connection initially declined to share its antibody test numbers and positivity rates, citing patient privacy requirements under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Reminded that HIPAA only applies to identifiable health information and not bulk testing results, spokesperson Heather Moulder said her organization had “been overly cautious” and provided data for the period from May 11 through June 25. Although Moulder did not specify how many tests had been conducted in specific locations, she said The Blood Connection had analyzed nearly 32,000 units of blood for coronavirus antibodies. Positivity rates were 1.5% in Buncombe County, 1.4% in Henderson County and 1.33% across all of North Carolina. Moulder emphasized that this data set was insufficient to draw definitive conclusions, and tests can also yield positive results for people who previously have
TESTING, TESTING
As it becomes increasingly clear that COVID-19 will be with North Carolina for the long haul, more formal antibody testing efforts are gearing up throughout the state. On July 7, Sen. Thom Tillis announced that Wake Forest Baptist Health had received a $27 million contract from the CDC to conduct a “broad-based antibody population surveillance study.” Locally, according to Connor with NCDHHS, the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health has proposed an antibody study with the Asheville-based Mountain Area Health Education Center to be conducted in Buncombe and Henderson counties. Dr. Allison Aiello, a disease expert with UNC, says the work is still in the planning phase and will be led by MAHEC researchers. However, the status of that work remains uncertain. Dr. Susan Mims, chair of the Department of Community and Public Health at MAHEC, said her organization was not conducting any antibody studies but is “reviewing several.” Spokesperson Jennifer Maurer could not confirm by press time whether MAHEC planned to collect new antibody data in the future or would limit itself to review of existing information. Mims did note that MAHEC is active in other parts of the region’s COVID-19 response. “We are working closely with UNC Asheville on a project to support the six regional residential colleges and universities on their reopening strategies,” she explained. “Our Community Response Team at MAHEC is also collaborating with health care organizations, practices, and others to address and mitigate the effects of COVID in Western NC.”
— Daniel Walton X
BUNCOMBE BEAT
Board OKs large housing development in Enka A county board has cleared the way for a housing development that will bring 687 homes to property on Pond Road on the southwestern edge of Asheville. The Farm at Pond Road, to comprise 575 apartments, 80 townhomes and 32 single-family homes, will be one of the largest residential projects in Buncombe County in recent years. It is to be built in two stages over the next few years. The Buncombe County Board of Adjustment approved plans for the 83-acre site in Enka July 8. Members said the project is well designed and will have less impact on neighbors than many other uses allowed by the property’s “employment” zoning, such as a manufacturing plant. “Fantastic project, great use of the land,” said board member Josh Holmes. Neighbors’ reaction has been less enthusiastic, although only one spoke in direct opposition during the meeting, conducted online via Zoom. “Pond Road is a small, narrow farming road,” Martha Reed told the board. “It was never intended for that kind of heavy traffic.” A nearby project will bring more than 200 housing units to the area, and the two developments together will create a strain on local schools, she said. The property, located about half a mile north of Pond Road’s intersection with Sardis Road, is a former farm and in recent years has been used for a mulch business. Nearby resident Phyllis Jamison said she worries about the size of buildings, glare and runoff. “The proximity has been a big shock on our neighborhood,” she said. “It’s very hard to imagine the changes that’s going to be happening to our landscape as well as our everyday lives.” But she noted that Greensboroarea developer Fall Line Development has made changes to decrease impacts on neighbors. She said some neighbors met with Fall Line head Brian Wise recently: “We were satisfied with the conversation and at this point we are trusting his word.” Derek Allen, a local attorney representing Fall Line, said the company’s goal “is to preserve the contiguous green spaces to the extent possible … and provide a variety of residential options here in Buncombe County, which are sorely
THERE GROWS THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The Buncombe County Board of Adjustment limited the height of buildings in the planned The Pond at Farm Road residential development to no more than 65 feet. This rendering shows one of the apartment buildings. Image by Carmina Wood Morris, DPC via Buncombe County government needed, in a way that is thoughtful and responsible.” Wise said more than half of the property will remain as open space, and workers will plant trees to make the project less visible for neighbors. Because a lot of the property is pastureland, “This is one of those rare developments in Buncombe County where actually postdevelopment we’re going to have more trees than we had predevelopment,” he said.
Fall Line will put a stoplight at the intersection of Pond and Sardis roads in connection with the project and modify the Brevard Road/ Pond Road intersection to make it easier for vehicles to turn left onto Brevard Road. Those changes will “leave the area in a better condition from a traffic and safety standpoint than it currently is,” said John Davenport, a traffic engineer hired by Fall Line.
— Mark Barrett X
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OF F I CI A L L Y O PEN
NEWS
EDC report shows Buncombe investment slowdown
JUST ONE WORD ... PLASTICS: Jabil Healthcare, which manufactures precision medical plastics, announced an $18.5 million investment in Buncombe County in January. Photo of Jabil representatives with several Buncombe County commissioners courtesy of the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County As Buncombe County’s unemployment reaches record levels — at 17.5% in May, the latest month for which data is available, the rate is more than quintuple that in May 2019 — efforts to recruit employers have also hit hard times. The Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County recently reported its worst results in four years. According to the EDC’s most recent annual report, the coalition attracted just $20 million in capital investment to Buncombe County in fiscal year 201920. That figure is down nearly 40% compared to the $33 million invested in fiscal 2018-19. Job creation also saw a sharp decline, down by about half year-over-year. Clark Duncan, the EDC’s executive director, places blame for the slowdown squarely on the COVID-19 pandemic. Uncertainty about when and how the global economy will recover, he says, has curbed the enthusiasm of businesses to come to Buncombe. “Economic development announcements are typically leading indicators of economic expansion and job growth,” Duncan explains. “As you might expect, the public health crisis that consumed the last four months of the fiscal year has significantly slowed corporate decision-making and dampened the kind of economic confidence required for large new job or investment commitments.” Duncan notes that last fiscal year’s picture wasn’t completely dark, with medical plastics manufacturer Jabil Healthcare and electronics maker Charles Edward Industries announcing substantial investments during the last several months. He says life sciences and technology are both indus12
JULY 15-21, 2020
tries with “tremendous” potential for the region. And Duncan strikes an upbeat note about the future. “I’m optimistic that many of those plans will spring back to life in the next six to 12 months,” he says. “The fundamentals of skilled workforce, community growth and quality of life will continue to attract the kind of economic growth we need in Western North Carolina.” But information presented last November during the EDC’s own Metro Economy Outlook suggests that Buncombe County may be battling strong national headwinds for the foreseeable future. At that event, Bernard Baumohl, recognized by The Wall Street Journal as the most accurate economic forecaster of 2018, said the next recession would likely be driven by a downturn in consumer spending and “acts of human folly.” Regarding Baumohl’s first point, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that month-over-month spending by American consumers plummeted by 12.6% in April after falling 6.6% in March. Although spending recovered by 8.2% in May, that increase makes up less than half of losses since the start of the pandemic. Regarding the second point, as reported by NPR, the head of the World Health Organization said on June 29 that a disjointed global response had failed to contain the coronavirus. “The lack of national unity and lack of global solidarity and the divided world ... is actually helping the virus to spread,” noted Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “The worst is yet to come.”
MOUNTAINX.COM
— Daniel Walton X
Sovereign Kava Sovereign Kava wants to change your head, and we’re very, very good at it. Kava comes from the roots of a pepper plant (piper methisticum) that has rocked faces in the S. Pacific for 1000s of years. It provides an unmissable, unmistakable buzz. Nobody buys weird-tasting drinks that don’t do anything. Lots of people buy our weird-tasting drinks. Often with kava, it takes a few experiences (or one big experience) to feel its signature headchange. Our bartenders can get you “there.” VOTED WNC’S #1 Pandemic Hours: Open daily @ noon till 8:30pm
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Explore over 400 acres of woodlands and stunning gardens at The North Carolina 268 BILTMORE AVE, AVL ASHEVILLEKAVA.COM Arboretum, located minutes from downtown Asheville in Pisgah National Forest. Featuring miles of hiking trails, spacious gardens, including the popular Bonsai Exhibition Garden, and an abundance of native flora and wildlife, the Arboretum welcomes all ages, abilities and interests. Don’t miss the return of the Arboretum’s highly anticipated outdoor exhibit Nature Connects®: Art with LEGO® Bricks featuring 16 larger-than-life sculptures, including a giant peacock, towering dragonfly and majestic monarch butterfly made entirely out of LEGO Bricks. The Arboretum is open daily from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Visit ncarboretum.org or call 828-665-2492 for more details. Sign up to become an Arboretum Society Member on your next visit and save on your registration fee!
100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way, Asheville
OF F I C I A L L Y OP E N
GERALDINE’S Fresh Goods. Baked Daily.
Cosmic Vision Cosmic Vision is an eclectic retail store started 23 years ago in downtown Asheville, NC. It’s purpose is to support local and world wide social service projects by donating parts of its profits and selling clothing, jewelry and accessories made by local and international artists. We specializes in cotton, wool and rayon outfits from India, Thailand, Indonesia, Ecuador and Peru
OPEN 7:00am -1:00pm. Everyday. Cases are full of fresh danish, favorite pastries, eclairs, cookies, bagels and of course Boston Cream Donuts! Breakfast sandwiches available from 7:00-12:00pm. So happy to see you again! 20 13 C SI N CEIL LE , N EV A SH
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34 N Lexington Avenue, Asheville 828 285 0073 cosmicvisionstore.com
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Conservation Pros Inc.
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We have been helping your neighbors save energy since 2007 and we can help you too! We provide Energy Audits, Insulation and Air Sealing, Sealed Crawl Spaces and Dehumidification, Door and Window Sealing, Mold Remediation, and more!
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We are a locally owned Sub Shop located at 347 New Leicester Hwy. We craft our subs using fresh produce from the WNC Farmers Market, bread from Annie’s Bakery, and sliced to order Thumann’s Meats and Cheeses. With rotating specials and a customizable menu there are options for all sandwich enthusiasts. Draft and canned beer from our favorite breweries are always revolving as well. We offer takeout, easy online ordering, curbside, outdoor and indoor dining, and delivery through TakeoutCentral.
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www.silverballsubs.com 828-412-5281
We are practicing social distancing and using protective measures to keep our customers and crew safe.
BlackBird Frame & Art You probably have some precious family photos, valued art or memorabilia...things worth framing that deserve professional design and honest advice for long-term preservation. With more CPFs* on staff than any other shop in the country, BlackBird Frame & Art provides the highest level of service and the largest selection in NC...at prices competitive with any discount chain or online source. Visit our website to see what others have to say. Custom framing for 29 years, the last 17 in Asheville, BlackBird has earned a reputation comparable to the finest framers in much larger cities. Come see our unsurpassed selection of frames, uncommon gifts and art-inspired décor. For your safety, we have rearranged the shop for distancing, requiring face coverings of staff and customers, and spaces are disinfected after each use; employees are screened daily. *CPF (Certified Picture Framer) is the professional designation of the Professional Picture Framers Association, earned by experience and testing. 365 Merrimon Ave www.blackbirdframe.com | 828-225-3117 info@blackbirdframe.com
Carolina Hemp Company Carolina Hemp Company is open! Established in 2014, we are proud to be Asheville’s Hometown Hemp company. We are dedicated to providing our community with the highest quality hemp goods available. Our education-centered general store offers everything from our Carolina Hemp Naturals Whole Spectrum Hemp Extract, Carolina Hemp Flower, edibles, topicals, concentrates, hemp based foods, clothing, and accessories. Our passion is driven by the opportunity to bring real growth, sustainable products and viable, proven alternatives to pharmaceuticals into our communities. From local events to community outreach, we’ve made it our mission to support and drive sustainability, regenerative practices, and furthering hemp and cannabinoid research for all. Drop by our 290 Haywood Rd retail location to learn more from our Hemp Advocates about how Whole-Spectrum Hemp Extract can help you! Open in-store and curbside pickup. Store Hours: Mon-Fri 11am-6pm. Saturday: 12pm-6pm carolinahempcompany.com 290 Haywood RD, Asheville 828-438-4367
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JULY 15-21, 2020
13
COVID CONVERSATIONS
FEA T U RE S
Our COVID Conversations series is back this week with more stories of local life during the pandemic. For upcoming conversations, we’re looking to speak with folks who’ve experienced COVID-19 firsthand, either as someone who’s contracted the virus or as a caregiver. Want to share your experience? Please email news@ mountainx.com and let us know the best way to reach you.
Hoe in hand Local resident contributes to his community through gardening
Living a nightmare Gloria Pincu reflects on her battle with COVID-19 Gloria Pincu remembers being loaded into a truck by EMTs in early April. She remembers the drive to Mission Hospital in Asheville; she remembers being placed on a gurney. After that, things get fuzzy. Weeks before, 80-year-old Pincu and her husband, Daniel, had boarded a cruise ship in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for a trip around South America. The world had different plans: COVID-19 was spreading globally. Instead of docking in Chile as originally scheduled, their ship was rerouted to San Diego, where they disembarked on March 31 — two weeks later than planned. The couple made it back to Asheville in early April but soon after tested positive for the coronavirus. Her husband, also 80, had a terrible cough that made him increasingly weaker; she had a terrible pain in her back. He went to the hospital first; she followed a day later. Both were in bad shape, Pincu says, but the two weren’t allowed to see each other. She was “out of it completely” when Daniel died of COVID-19 on April 27. By the end of April, Pincu was awake in the intensive care unit. She didn’t have the typical COVID-19 symptoms of a fever and cough, she says — she had no pain but was weak. She wasn’t hungry, but she remembers drinking a chocolate drink and falling asleep around 8 p.m. Eventually, she was moved to a private room with a window, but all she wanted to do was go home. The hospital had few patients, Pincu explains. Occasionally, nurses would bring her outside for a few minutes of fresh air. “It was very eerie once I finally was able to leave my room and see what was going on,” she says, describing the corridors of the hospital she passed through during that time as “deadsville.” When she finally returned home on May 6, the world looked completely different. Her two daughters came
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JULY 15-21, 2020
IN THE GARDEN: In 2014, Roy Harris helped launch the Southside Community Garden. Today, he remains a committed volunteer. Photo by Thomas Calder
HAPPIER DAYS: Daniel and Gloria Pincu on a trip to Israel in 2017. Photo courtesy of Rachel Pincu-Singer to help take care of her, and friends cycled in and out. The Jewish Secular Community of Asheville, of which Pincu is a member, set up a meal train to make sure she was fed. But in addition to regaining her strength, Pincu is also grieving for her husband and completing the “awful tasks” all widows have to do — changing the registration to her car, the name on her bank accounts. “It’s been agonizing for me,” she says. “It’s like living in hell,” she continues. “It was just awful. I still can’t get over all the things I’ve gone through and I’m still going through.” With reporting by Virginia Daffron
MOUNTAINX.COM
— Molly Horak X
Looking over raised beds, fruit trees and rows of colorful vegetables, Roy Harris laughs at the irony of his involvement with the Southside Community Garden. “Fifty-two years ago, I stood on the edge of our family garden in Hyde County, North Carolina, with my father and basically turned the pitchfork and hoe over to him and said, ‘Daddy, I’m out of here. I’m not a dirt farmer. I’m headed to college to become an engineer.’” Now, the 70-year-old retired engineer has his hands in the dirt again, plucking weeds and watering plants on the quarter-acre site of the community garden, which Harris helped launch six years ago. The initiative has taken on greater meaning in the wake of COVID-19, Harris says. Food insecurity is a particular problem in the predominantly low-income Southside neighborhood. Gardening, he continues, is one way to combat the issue. And it’s a message Harris shares with residents, young and old. “We teach people that if you have a 4-by-8 spot in your yard or wherever, you can always go out and pick your own salad,” he explains. Along with his physical labor, Harris contributes his activism to local advocacy groups. He’s especially committed to promoting and improving his Southside neighborhood. On July 7,
he hosted members of the Dogwood Health Trust at the community garden. “I wanted to make sure we’re on their radar,” Harris says of the $1.5 billion foundation, which was created from the proceeds of the sale of nonprofit Mission Health to for-profit HCA Healthcare in 2019. DHT funds programs to improve the health and well-being of Western North Carolina residents. On a tour of the garden, Harris stops before his latest project, a raised bed he calls “The Asheville City Garden.” He intends to represent the entire community within the 32-square-foot plot. Among the many plants already featured, collards are a nod to the city’s African American population, peppers symbolize the area’s Latinx groups and a series of colorful flowers acknowledge the region’s LGBTQ community. “And then I have what they call the three sisters — corn, squash and the bean — all planted together,” Harris says. “It’s a Native American technique. The corn grows up, the bean runs up the corn’s stalk and the squash covers the ground to keep the grass from growing.” Looking back over the garden, the retired engineer says, “I’ll be here as long as I can. As long as I can walk up and down the hill.”
— Thomas Calder X
FEA T U RE S
ASHEVILLE ARCHIVES by Thomas Calder | tcalder@mountainx.com
‘The most dangerous bill ever presented’ Residents react to the 1964 Civil Rights Act
FADED SIGNS OF FORMER TIMES: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made it illegal to discriminate based on race, religion, sex or national origin. The law also prohibited racial segregation in schools, employment and public accommodations. The image shows a former segregated public restroom located in Pack Square. Photo by Andrea Clark On June 30, 1964, an Associated Press story featured in The Asheville Citizen reported that the United Church Women of North Carolina supported the civil rights bill, which the U.S. House of Representatives would soon debate. Part of the organization’s resolution declared: “We reaffirm our belief that there should be national legislation enacted by Congress of the United States to insure for all our citizens their just and constitutional rights and needs in education, voting, employment opportunities, housing, and access to public places of accommodation.” In addition, the group proclaimed: “[T]eachings of the Lord Jesus Christ reveal that we are all one family under God, the Father of us all, and that all people, regardless of race, should enjoy the blessings of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” In response to the article, resident J.W. Boykin submitted a letter to the paper, published on Feb. 5, 1964. In it, he wrote, “We
question if these women know what they are advocating. Undoubtedly the women have had only one side of the question presented them.” Boykin, who continued his letter in the first-person plural, encouraged residents to read “Civil Rights and Legal Wrongs,” a pamphlet produced by the Virginia Commission on Constitutional Government. “And finally,” he concluded, “may the thought be voiced, but not above a whisper, that the theology of the ladies may be slightly off balance? Perhaps a close reading of our Lord’s words in St. John 8:31-47 would be of help.” Five days later, on Feb. 10, the House passed the civil rights bill, sending it to the U.S. Senate. Delays, including a 75-day filibuster, ensued. During this period of uncertainty, several additional opinions and letters appeared in The Asheville Citizen. This included a March 21, 1964, editorial that featured excerpts from a recent writing published in The American Scholar. Its author, philos-
opher Gerald Johnson, characterized all civil rights (except for the right to vote), as secondary and therefore undeserving of constitutional protections. The paper’s editorial team agreed. “We have defended the Negro’s rights to equal opportunity and have urged the voluntary removal of barriers that have discouraged his mass emergence to social and economic respectability,” the column declared. “But to force, by law, an employer to hire a Negro or a private restaurant to serve him violates the principles of law in a democratic republic.” Similar messages followed, albeit far more hyperbolic. On March 24, reader George R. Hunt proclaimed: “If the Civil Rights Bill is passed there will be more chaos and confusion in this nation than there has been since the Civil War.” Later, he warned, “Many of the Southern people are leaving the Democratic Party for such radical things the party is doing. Nothing can be more radical than trying to get this bill passed.” Hunt signed off by encouraging “all good men” to write, phone and wire their representatives “to fight against the passage of the Civil Rights Bill so we can pass on to our children the heritage our fathers passed to us — freedom.” In the same day’s paper, one Fannie B. McCoy wrote, “This uncivil rights bill is unconstitutional to the extent of 100 per cent, and it is the most dangerous bill ever presented to the United States Senate.” As the filibuster dragged on, Marion resident M.R. Smith bemoaned what he considered unfair treatment toward conservatives. According to Smith, whose letter appeared in The Asheville Citizen on April 25, 1964, those opposed to civil rights were deemed “die-hards, bigots, fanatics [and] extremists[.]” But, Smith insisted, “I rather suspect that these so-called die-hards are decent, responsible people who still happen to believe that they have, or should have, the fundamental freedom of association and freedom to do business with whom they choose.” Despite efforts to prevent it, the U.S. Senate passed the civil rights bill on June 19, 1964. The following week, Weaverville resident James L. Mooney wrote The Asheville Citizen, hopeful about the bill’s potential, despite many white citizens’ opposition to it:
July 10 - 31 The French Broad River
Celebrate clean water and community with Anything that Floats 2020! Registration includes a swag bag full of goodies, a free raffle ticket for a chance to win awesome prizes donated by local businesses, and more!
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“Education, forward thinking, restraint and, plain common horse sense can alleviate the mental disturbance of our people: A composite citizenry, prepared to work together, can arrive at a compatible solution, permitting each citizen to enjoy the true provisions of the Civil Rights Bill.” On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the measure into law. Editor’s note: Peculiarities of spelling and punctuation are preserved from the original documents. X
For details: distro@mountainx.com or call 251-1333 ext. 112
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JULY 15-21, 2020
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COMMUNITY CALENDAR JULY 15-23, 2020
CALENDAR GUIDELINES For a full list of community calendar guidelines, please visit mountainx.com/calendar. For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, ext. 137. For questions about paid calendar listings, please call 828-251-1333, ext. 320.
Clubland is back! See Pg. 28 Online Event= q WELLNESS Chair Yoga TH (7/16), 2pm, Free, Weaverville UMC, 85 N Main St, Weaverville Alzheimer's Association Workshop 10 warning signs of Alzheimer’s. TH (7/16), 5pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7eb q Middle Path: Group Sound Healing
Multi-instrumental acoustic experience. FR (7/17), 6pm, $15, Canton Recreation Park, Penland St, Canton Asheville Fit Tribe: Training on Tap Group workout. SA (7/18), 11am, Free, Zillicoah Beer Co, 870 Riverside Dr Doulas of Asheville Info Session Live Q&A. SA (7/18), 11:30am, Free, avl.mx/7oi q
Tranzmission: Trans, Nonbinary & Queer Recovery Support Questions: info@ tranzmission.org SA (7/18), 2pm, avl.mx/7kc q SeekHealing: Trauma & Addiction Recovery Live Q&A with director Jennifer Nicolaisen. MO (7/20), 7pm, avl.mx/7nx q Alzheimer's Association Workshop COVID-19 and caregiving. TU (7/21), 12pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7e6 q Steady Collective Syringe Access Outreach Harm reduction event offering free educational material, naloxone and syringes. TU (7/21), 2pm, Firestorm Books, 610 Haywood Rd COVID-19 Community Testing TH (7/23), 10:30am, Buncombe County Sports Park, 58 Apac Circle Tranzmission: Nonbinary Support Meeting
Questions: info@ tranzmission.org. TH (7/23), 6:30pm, avl.mx/7ok q
ART Someday I'll Take Art: Demystifying Painting Studio art basics class. WE (7/15), 12pm, Free, Tryon Painters & Sculptors, 78 N Trade St, Tryon The 73rd Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands Artist panels, demonstrations and a raffle. TH (7/16), 12am, avl.mx/77o q Third Thursday in Marshall Open art studios and galleries. TH (7/16), 5pm, Free, Downtown Marshall Haywood Library: Mini Canvas Painting Class Ages 12-18. FR (7/17), 10am, Free, avl.mx/7l0 q Slow Art Friday: Many Become One Discussion led by touring docent Hank Bovee at Asheville Art Museum. Register:
828-253-3227. FR (7/17), 12pm, avl.mx/7cu q
FR (7/17), 6pm & 8pm, $40, Market St Courtyard
Hendersonville Art & Architecture Day Guided tours. Reservations: info@ acofhc.org. SA (7/18), 9am, Free, 125 S Main St, Hendersonville
Concerts on the Creek: Summer Brooke & Mountain Faith Outdoor concert featuring bluegrass and gospel music. FR (7/17), 7pm, Bridge Park, 76 Railroad Ave, Sylva
Art in the Park Local artist exhibitions and vendors. SA (7/18), 10am, Pack Square Park Youth Plein Air Painting Workshop Led by artist James Cassara. MO (7/20), 9:30am, Free, Lake Louise Park, Lake Louise Dr, Weaverville AIGA WatchStack: Group Talk & Signal Buzz Networking event. TU (7/21), 5:30pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7dr q Discussion Bound Book Club Marilyn Chase presents Everything She Touched: The Life of Ruth Asawa. WE (7/22), 1pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7nj q Pack Library: Craftivism 101 Embroidery and cross stitch workshop. WE (7/22), 6pm, Free, avl.mx/7ll q Slow Art Friday: Black Mountain College Collection Discussion led by touring docent Michelle Dorf at Asheville Art Museum. Register: 828-2533227. FR (7/24), 12pm, Free, avl.mx/7cy q Brevard’s 4th Friday Gallery Walk FR (7/24), 5pm, Transylvania Community Arts Council, 349 S Caldwell St, Brevard
MUSIC
NO JOB TOO LARGE OR SMALL
FATHER AND SON
Home Improvement Billy & Neal Moxley
100 Edwin Place, AVL, NC 28801 | Billy: (828) 776-2391 | Neal: (828) 776-1674 16
JULY 15-21, 2020
MOUNTAINX.COM
A CAPELLA SINGING (PD.) WANNA SING? ashevillebarbershop. com Brooklyn Rider & Matana Roberts World music performance and conversation at Black Mountain College Museum. WE (7/15), 5pm, avl.mx/7jt q Wortham Performing Arts: The Moon & You Outdoor concert featuring an acoustic Americana duo. Admission includes boxed dinner from 67 Biltmore.
Wortham Performing Arts: Chuck Lichtenberger Trio Outdoor jazz concert. Admission includes boxed dinner from 67 Biltmore. SA (7/18), 6pm & 8pm, $40, Market St Courtyard Free Planet Radio: Global Music Concert Performed from The Grey Eagle. SA (7/18), 7pm, avl.mx/7n0 q Callisto Quartet Presented by the Chamber Music Society of the Carolinas. SA (7/18), 7:30pm, avl.mx/7h8 q Wortham Performing Arts: Becky Stone Outdoor performance featuring storytelling and songs. Admission includes boxed dinner from 67 Biltmore. SU (7/19), 6pm & 8pm, $40, Market St Courtyard
LITERARY St. George's Episcopal Talks About Racism The Cross & the Lynching Tree, conclusion. Register: stgeorge-office28806@gmail.com. WE (7/15), 12pm, avl.mx/7as q Malaprop's Author Discussion Leah Hampton presents F*ckface & Other Stories. WE (7/15), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7gf q Notorious HBC Book Club Imbeciles by Adam Cohen. TH (7/16), 7pm, avl.mx/7ik q Reader Meet Writer: All the Songs We Sing Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Carolina African American Writers' Collective. TH (7/16), 7pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7io q Ales & Tales Book Club Beartown by Fredrik Backman. SU (7/19), 2pm, avl.mx/7nl q
North Asheville Book Club Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple. TU (7/21), 2pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7nk q Malaprop's Author Discussion S.A. Cosby presents Blacktop Wasteland. TU (7/21), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7hg q
SA (7/18), 10am-3pm, Harley Davidson, 20 Patton Cove Rd, Swannanoa
BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY Quality Janitorial Group Hiring Event WE (7/15), 10am, 1276 Hendersonville Rd
Haywood County Public Library: Book Chat Open conversation with library staff. WE (7/22), 6pm, avl.mx/7kq q
Deep Dive Lab: Social Media for Small Business Owners Presentation by Aisha Adams. TH (7/16), 10am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7m0 q
Race Matters: Book Club & Conversation Series Part 2 How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi. Register: 828-743-0215. TH (7/23), 4pm, avl.mx/7eh q
SCORE: Celebrating Resilience in Small Business Presentation and breakout sessions on branding and digital media. TH (7/16), 10am, $25, avl.mx/7mh q
Reader Meet Writer Jill McCorkle, author of Hieroglyphics. TH (7/23), 7pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7nn q
Asheville Chamber: Business Before Hours Networking event. TU (7/21), 9am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7o0 q
The Moth StorySLAM Five-minute storytelling competition. TH (7/23), 7:15pm, $10, avl.mx/7o2 q
THEATER & FILM Drive-In Movie: The Princess Bride SA (7/18), 7pm, $25/ carload, Lake Logan, 25 Wormy Chestnut Lane, Canton
African American Business Association: New Ways to Network Talk by J. Hackett. TU (7/21), 11am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7m1 q Incredible Towns Business Network General meeting. WE (7/22), 11am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7g8 q
Diamond as Big as the Ritz Radio drama performance. WE (7/22), 8pm, The Paper Mill Lounge, 553 W Main St, Sylva
How to Maximize Your PPP Loan Forgiveness Talk by Mike Ames of Mountain BizWorks. WE (7/22), 3pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7md q
Outdoor Movie Night: Superbad FR (7/24), 8:30pm, Free, Hi-Wire Brewing, 2A Huntsman Place
Hatch AVL Pitch Party Open mic for entrepreneurs. TH (7/23), 5pm, avl.mx/7kz q
ANIMALS Kitten Socialization: Preparing For & Raising a Happy Kitten Behavior help session. SA (7/18), 11:30am, Free, avl.mx/7lu q
BENEFITS Sharing House Charity Drive Cleaning products, toilet paper and nonperishable foods. WE (7/15), 12pm, 45 Oak Park Dr, Brevard Christmas in July Donation Drive Toys and monetary donations.
Business in Bare Feet Q&A on mentorship and entrepreneurship. FR (7/24), 9am, Free, avl.mx/7gq q
CLASSES, MEETINGS & EVENTS MountainTrue University: Dear White People Talk by Tanya Marie Cummings, founder of Pathways to Parks. WE (7/15), 11:30am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7o7 q Necessity is the Mother of Invention: Adopting New Ways to Connect Workshop exploring
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pandemic-related trends in the music industry. WE (7/15), 2pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7el q Cosmic Adventures: Ask an Astronomer Live Q&A. TU (7/21), 8pm, $10, avl.mx/7ob q Local Cloth: How to Teach Online Tips for planning remote workshops. WE (7/22), 6pm, $15, avl.mx/7oa q Spanish Conversation Group For adults. TH (7/23), 5pm, Free, avl.mx/7c6 q
WEEKLY MARKETS Tuesdays • West Asheville Tailgate Market. 3:306:30pm, 718 Haywood Rd Wednesdays • Asheville City Market South. 12-3pm, Biltmore Park Town Square • Weaverville Farmers Market. 2:30-6pm,17 Merrimon Ave, Weaverville • RAD Farmers Market. 3-6pm, Pleb Urban Winery, 289 Lyman St • Locally Grown on the Green. 3-6pm, 35 Hwy 64, Cashiers • Jackson County Farmers Market. 3:306:30pm, Innovation Station, 40 Depot St, Dillsboro Thursdays • ASAP Farmers Market at A-B Tech. 9am-12pm, 340 Victoria Rd • Flat Rock Farmers Market. 3-6pm, 1790 Greenville Hwy, Hendersonville • Enka-Candler Tailgate Market. 3:306:30pm, 70 Pisgah Hwy, Candler Fridays • Marion Tailgate Market. 10am-3pm, 67 W Henderson St, Marion Saturdays • North Asheville Tailgate Market. 8am-12pm, UNC Asheville, Lot C • Hendersonville Farmers Market.
8am-1pm, 650 Maple St, Hendersonville • Yancey County Farmers Market. 8:30am-12:30pm,10 S Main St, Burnsville • ASAP Farmers Market at A-B Tech. 9am-12pm, 340 Victoria Rd • Black Mountain Tailgate Market. 9am-12pm, 130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain • Haywood’s Historic Farmers Market. 9am-12pm, 250 Pigeon St, Waynesville
ECO & OUTDOOR TerraCycling Day Recycle body care bottles, snack packaging, pet food containers and more: avl.mx/7lg. MO (7/20), 11am, West Village Market, 771 Haywood Rd Pop-up 5k in the Park WE (7/22), 6pm, $10, Fletcher Park, 300 Old Cane Creek Rd, Fletcher Soul Fire Farm: Ask a Sista Farmer Q&A on gardening, livestock, agroforestry, plant medicine and food preservation. FR (7/24), 4pm, Free, avl.mx/7gl q
FOOD & BEER Haywood Library: DIY Fresh Cheese Ricotta and paneer making class. TU (7/21), 9am, Free, avl.mx/7kw q MANNA FoodBank Express Free grocery items for neighbors in need. TU (7/21), 1pm, Sharing House, 164 Duckworth Ave, Brevard Haywood Library: Souped-up Ramen Noodles Cooking class for teens and adults. FR (7/24), 10am, Free, avl.mx/7m5 q
FESTIVALS & FAIRS Cashiers Plein Air Festival Live artist demonstrations and classes. WE (7/15), 10am, Village Green, 35 Hwy 64, Cashiers Open Street Weekend Weekend-long closure of Main St for an enhanced pedestrian environment. FR (7/17), 6pm, Downtown Hendersonville
Junk in the Trunk Vintage Market Antiques and collectibles tailgate sale. SA (7/18), 8am, 244 W Main St, Brevard Junk-O-Rama Vintage Market Clothing, records and books. SA (7/18), 10am, Fleetwood's, 496 Haywood Rd Hemp Hangout Music, games and vendors. SA (7/18), 1pm, Carolina Hemp Company, 290 Haywood Rd Fringe Digital Summer Vol. 2 Music, dance and spoken word. WE (7/22), 7:30pm, Free, avl.mx/7o5 q
CIVICS & ACTIVISM Hendersonville Neighborhood Compatibility Meeting Hotel proposal review. TH (7/16), 2pm, 305 Williams St, Hendersonville Coffee w/ a Transportation Planner Q&A on the Metropolitan Transportation Plan and the Hellbender Regional Trail Plan. TH (7/16), 2:30pm, avl.mx/7iv q Buncombe County Affordable Housing Committee Meeting TU (7/21), 1pm, avl.mx/7mi q Just Economics of WNC: City Budget Workshop 2 Presentations and discussion on Asheville Police Department's budget. TH (7/23), 5:30pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7of q
KIDS Miss Malaprop’s Storytime Ages 3-9. WE (7/15), 10am, avl.mx/7ds q NC Arboretum: Herpetology Skills Session Tracking the eastern box turtle. WE (7/15), 10am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7kv q NC Arboretum: Herpetology Skills Session Lizards of WNC and the Piedmont. TH (7/16), 1pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7me q Cup o' Joe Variety Show Music and stories. SA (7/18), 1pm, avl.mx/7ai q
Haywood Library Storytime Ages 2-6. MO (7/20), 10am, Free, avl.mx/7m4 q
BRING YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR & YOUR ASIAN CAR—TOYOTA, LEXUS, HONDA, ACURA, SUBARU, NO EUROPEAN MODELS
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SPIRITUALITY Appalachian Tea Ceremony (PD.) Mary Plantwalker will be hosting an Appalachian Tea Ceremony every 3rd Thursday of the month! Come and enjoy local infusions with heartfelt offerings in a beautiful setting. Donation based. Registration required: info@ herbmountainfarm. com. Weaverville at Herb Mountain Farm off Maney Branch. Email for directions. 4:00-5:30pm Astro-Counseling (PD.) Licensed counselor and accredited professional astrologer uses your chart when counseling for additional insight into yourself, your relationships and life directions. Stellar Counseling Services. Christy Gunther, MA, LPC. (828) 258-3229. Trials & Tests: A Bahá'í Perspective Devotional on plagues, pandemics and hardships. WE (7/15), 7pm, Free, avl.mx/7ni q Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin'-By World Community problem solving workshop. TH (7/23), 5:45pm, Foster Church, 375 Hendersonville Rd Jewish Power Hour w/ Rabbi Susskind TH (7/23), 6pm, chabadasheville.org q
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VOLUNTEERING American Red Cross Blood Drive Appointments: redcrossblood.org FR (7/17), 11am, Biltmore Park Town Square NC Arboretum: Volunteer Info Meeting Signup required. WE (7/22), 10am, avl.mx/7m6 q Conserving Carolina: Volunteer Info Session TH (7/23), 5:30pm, avl.mx/7ly q American Red Cross Blood Drive Free COVID-19 antibody tests for donors. FR (7/24), 11am, Asheville Outlets, 800 Brevard Rd
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JULY 15-21, 2020
17
HEALTH ROUNDUP by Xpress Staff | news@mountainx.com
Buncombe debuts new foster programs sizes trauma-informed practices in the treatment of “abused, neglected and exploited youth.” • LifeShare Carolinas hosted its first virtual meeting between an organ transplant recipient and a donor’s family on June 14. Bob D’Amelio of Charlotte thanked the family of late Franklin resident Connor McLane, whose donated liver saved D’Amelio’s life. • Pardee UNC Health Care in Hendersonville is now offering two new breast cancer screening techniques designed to increase testing comfort and accuracy. According to a press release from Pardee, the Hologic SmartCurve system is “specifically designed for more comfortable compression during breast imaging,” while the GE Invenia ABUS 2.0 can “improve detection in women with dense breasts by more than 37% when used in addition to mammography.” • Robin Martin received the 2020 Volunteer Service Award from Gov. Roy Cooper for her work with Warrior Canine Connection. She began volunteering with the organization in 2012 and donated 1,727 hours in 2019 alone. Much of that time was spent at the Buncombe County Veterans Treatment Court, where the nonprofit runs a program that connects service dogs
“Right now, many children with high needs are placed outside of Buncombe due to a lack of available and trained homes to address their trauma and well-being needs,” said Amy Huntsman, foster home licensing supervisor with the Buncombe County Department of Health and Human Services, in a press release. To serve those kids closer to home, Buncombe DHHS has launched High Intensity Parenting and Lifeline, two new programs that will provide enhanced training and around-theclock access to supportive resources for foster parents, including financial incentives. More information about foster parenting or volunteering to help children experiencing the familial consequences of addiction, domestic violence, neglect and abuse is available at buncombecounty.org/foster or by emailing amy.huntsman@ buncombecounty.org. STANDARDS OF CARE • T he Black Mountain Home for Children, Youth & Families earned Children and Residential Experiences certification from Cornell University, becoming one of the nation’s first organizations to receive the honor. CARE empha-
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LOOKING OUT FOR KIDS: The Black Mountain Home for Children, Youth & Families earned Children and Residential Experiences agency certification, becoming one of the first organizations in the country to do so. Photo courtesy of the Black Mountain Home for Children, Youth & Families in training with court-involved veterans. UNCA AGING PROGRAM RECEIVES $1.2M FEDERAL GRANT Efforts to prevent falls among North Carolina’s older adults just got a major leg up. The N.C. Center for Health & Wellness at UNC Asheville received a three-year, $1.2 million allocation from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in support of its work on healthy aging, including fall prevention. As part of the grant, the center will aim to enroll 6,000 new participants
in the evidence-based A Matter of Balance and Tai Chi for Arthritis for Fall Prevention programs. The funding will also promote access to other programs that address social and behavioral determinants of health in older adults. “NCCHW houses the statewide hub for evidence-based healthy aging programs and is an innovative leader for the network,” said Amy Joy Lanou, the center’s director and a UNCA professor of health and wellness, in a press release announcing the grant. “This grant will advance our work, from supporting the implementation
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STAND-UP EFFORT: The N.C. Center for Health & Wellness, housed at UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center, received a $1.2 million federal grant for its work on fall prevention. Photo courtesy of UNCA of programs to driving innovation to sustain critical services.” More information and registration details about the center’s programs are available at avl.mx/7je. AREA HOSPITALS RELAX COVID-19 VISITOR RESTRICTIONS Two of Western North Carolina’s largest health systems have dialed down restrictions on visitors imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both Asheville-based Mission Health and AdventHealth Hendersonville are allowing patients to see more people, although some limits remain in place. At Mission, patients are permitted one “adult patient advocate” per day between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. Visitors are still not allowed at HighlandCashiers Hospital’s Eckerd Living Center, in line with state guidance for long-term care facilities. AdventHealth allows patients in its medical/surgical and intensive care units to have one visitor at a
time from 8:30-10:30 a.m. and 4-6:30 p.m. Exceptions include pediatric patients, who can be accompanied by two adults at all times, and end-of-life patients, who can receive two visitors at a time and up to six per day. Patients with COVID-19 or under investigation for the disease may not receive visitors, except for end-of-life patients at AdventHealth. All visitors will be screened for illness and required to wear face coverings.
MAKING MOVES
• Columbia, S.C.-based Palmetto Infusion recently opened an ambulatory infusion clinic at 200 Julian Shoals Drive in Arden. According to a press release announcing the opening, the facility offers “an alternative and serene setting” for outpatient treatment of chronic disease such as multiple sclerosis and lupus. • Dr. Natalie Sadler of Black Mountain and Dr. Larry Burk of
FACES TO FACES: Liver transplant recipient Bob D’Amelio, second from left, virtually thanked the family of donor and late Franklin resident Connor McLane in a meeting organized by LifeShare Carolinas. Screen capture courtesy of LifeShare Carolinas
Boone joined an open letter, signed by over 400 medical and public health professionals from across the country, asking the Federal Communications Commission to update its guidelines for radiofrequency exposure. The letter was organized by Americans for Responsible Technology, a nonprofit initiative that opposes the deployment of 5G wireless. • AdventHealth Hendersonville welcomed two new family nurse practitioners to its care team. Robin Allen joins the system’s cardiology unit, while Susannah Sitton joins AdventHealth’s Medical Group Multispecialty at Flat Rock. • Homeward Bound of WNC has established the Housing Is Healthcare Fund to provide rental assistance for area clients. The fund, seeded with a $250,000 gift from retired Asheville physician Dr. Brown Cosby, helps counter the loss of $72,000 in previously anticipated money from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. • Brother Wolf Animal Rescue announced the launch of a second low-cost mobile spay and neuter clinic. Together with the organization’s first mobile clinic launched in November 2018, the units will average about 180 surgeries each week and serve nine Western North Carolina counties once the second unit is fully operational.
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• T h e Veterans Benefit Administration invites North Carolina’s veterans to a telephone town hall about its COVID-19 response at 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 21, with Dr. Paul R. Lawrence, the VBA’s undersecretary of benefits. Veterans may participate by calling 833-380-0417. • The Henderson County Department of Public Health is seeking parents and guardians of children with special needs to serve on an advisory council that will provide input on services and resources for families and care providers. For more information or to sign up, contact Ruth Ramirez at rramirez@ hendersoncountync.gov or 828-6946070. Information is also available at HendersonCountyKids.com. X
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JULY 15-21, 2020
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FOOD
OPEN-MINDED
Newly opened and nearly opened restaurants took a COVID punch in March BY KAY WEST kwest@mountainx.com
Live Music, Mask-erade & Happy Hour Thur., July 30th • 4:30-7pm Bar, Lounge, & Patio • Seating is limited - first come, first serve • Musician Ryan RnB Barber - Local & GRAMMY winning vocalist • Social distancing & masks are required • Best mask design wins a $50 gift card based on votes
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In a smashing one-two punch of bad timing and unintended irony, the grand opening for Iconic Kitchen and Drinks on the former site of TakoSushi in South Slope was set for April 1. “We were roaring along since we took possession of the building in February,” says Bruce Ganger, co-owner with wife Peg Ganger and Dave Byrley of the restaurant they’ve branded as “a foodie road trip across America.” Then along came COVID19, and the road trip screeched to a halt. “In mid-March, we had to put our pencils down and wait.” Iconic is one of several new restaurants in town that saw their debuts revised, delayed or put on indefinite hold by the pandemic that closed bars and dining rooms on March 17. (In the latter category, count three tenants whose spring openings in the Grove Arcade are pending: Asheville Proper steakhouse, Bebette’s New Orleans Coffee House and a new concept from the Chai Pani Restaurant Group.)
TAKING IT TO TAKEOUT
In West Asheville, Sujitra Chubthaisong — aka Chef May — and her husband, Travis Queen, had already opened Thai Pearl restaurant on March 9, excited to be in the walkable neighborhood and next door to Haywood Road mainstay Nine Mile. “My sister and I had a Thai restaurant, Boon Choo, in Hendersonville,” says Chubthaisong. “When Travis and I married, I moved to Asheville, and he and I decided to do a restaurant here.” They took over the former Nantahala Brewing space in mid-February, renovated the interior and were serving traditional Thai dishes in their cozy dining room less than a month later. “The response was overwhelmingly positive; we were slamming,” Queen recalls. “On our ninth day, the state shut everything down at 5 p.m. ” The experience from their first week of business, the couple say, turned out to be a saving grace as they immediately turned to takeout while other restaurants on Haywood
MOUNTAINX.COM
OPEN KITCHEN: Sujitra Chubthaisong (aka Chef May) works in the kitchen of Thai Pearl, the restaurant she and husband Travis Queen opened nine days before stayat-home orders went into effect. Photo courtesy Thai Pearl totally closed. “We did not have that option,” says Queen. “We had to pay rent.” Due to being open less than two weeks before the shutdown, they were ineligible for aid from the federal Paycheck Protection Program or the $5 million Buncombe County Tourism Jobs Recovery Fund. Thai Pearl ran its full menu on takeout for lunch and dinner, seven days a week. “The community really rallied behind us, and most days we’re breaking even,” Queen says.
On July 2, he and Chubthaisong set four safely distanced tables in the dining room and have continued offering takeout as well.
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Iconic opened with two outdoor seating areas on June 29, unveiling Byrley’s menu of, as the name says, iconic regional dishes, including Maine lobster rolls, Philly chees-
esteaks and Wisconsin brats. “The neighborhood jumped onto takeout right away,” says Ganger. “Visitors in South Slope for the breweries are taking advantage of our outdoor space. We are fortunate to have this location as tourists come back.” The Hilton Asheville Biltmore Park (a Biltmore Farms Hotels property) announced plans on March 17 for the relaunch and renaming of its 11-year-old, locally owned on-site restaurant, Roux, with reopening celebrations set for March 31 and April 2. The debut of Fork Lore, its redesigned dining room and chef Randy Dunn’s new menu were hit by the double whammy of restaurant and hotel closures. “Roux served hotel guests, but our neighbors in Biltmore Park were a substantial part of our lunch business as well as after work in the bar,” says Biltmore Farms Hotels marketing manager Emily McCollin. “Our collection of specialty bourbons, scotches and whiskeys is a real drawing card for the bar. But we felt like after 11 years, everyone was ready for a refresh, and we wanted chef to have a chance to tell his own food stories.” Fork Lore began takeout in June, and when more restrictions were lifted July 1, it opened its dining room. “We had to reformat our beautiful new dining room before anyone got to see it,” says McCollin with a laugh. Eric Scheffer is no stranger to segueing from Plan A to Plan B½. The owner of Vinnie’s Neighborhood Italian saw his dream of a waterfront seafood restaurant run aground last November when the development of property on the French Broad River was halted in the face of vehement opposition. “I had been working on the Jettie Rae’s concept for five years,” he says. “I took a step back to regroup, and then an opportunity opened up in town.” That window opened when chef and restaurateur Patrick O’Cain decided to close his 6-year-old Charlotte Street Pan Asian eatery, Gan Shan Station. “I heard he was wanting to downsize, and so we met and struck a deal,” Scheffer explains. He also struck up a convivial conversation with Gan Shan executive chef Will Cisa, whose coastal origin in Charleston closely mirrors Scheffer’s on the North Shore of Long Island, N.Y. Cisa will oversee the menu highlighting coastal seafood from Maine to the Gulf Coast, with product availability following the seasons. The building and patio at 143 Charlotte St. have undergone complete overhauls, with additional out-
door seating to accommodate guests while the indoor space remains closed. Jettie Rae’s Oyster House opened the first week of July. “That’s kind of when we had always planned to open,” says Scheffer. “It just looks a lot different than the plans we had back in February.”
’OTHER IDEAS’
Chef and restaurateur (Table, Imperial Life, Cultura, All Day Darling) Jacob Sessoms’ grand plan for 2020 was tempest-tossed when COVID-19 shut everything down in March. “I’ve been a restaurant owner in Asheville for 16 years,” he says. “It’s a difficult business, but I’ve been lucky to have some of the best people in this town work for me over the years, and I can’t complain. I was working on setting in motion a fairly imminent future when I was no longer a restaurant owner and do something different, but corona had other ideas.” The imminent future included a partnership with Hatteras Sky, an Atlanta-based real estate firm for whom he will — eventually — help guide mixed-use developments in the River Arts District. In the immediate future, there were his restaurants, employees and family to consider. After 10 days “in a very heightened state of anxiety,” Sessoms got to work on four new and newish concepts. El Gallo, a popular monthly taco pop-up staged at Imperial Life by Sessoms and executive chef Luis Martinez, will take over the Table space at 48 College St. with all-day tacos and a dinner menu that will rotate monthly through regions of Mexico, starting with Martinez’s home of Oaxaca. Upstairs cocktail lounge Imperial Life is being rebranded as La Imperial with food, cocktails and music in the evening. Martinez, also an artist, crafted the tables for both places, which will open mid to late July. Table will move into the space formerly occupied by Calypso on North Lexington Avenue, with a “resimplified” menu that, Sessoms says, will remain true to the restaurant’s original mission, more focused on showcasing ingredients than technique. The restaurant is projected to relaunch in its new space in late August, along with a new bar next door. “Table will be named Table Right Here, and next door will be Bar Right There,” Sessoms says with a laugh. “It’s a really bad dad joke, I know.” X MOUNTAINX.COM
JULY 15-21, 2020
21
F OOD
The Hideaway on Broadway
Céline and Company Catering offers distanced dining in its downtown event space
ON BROADWAY: The Hideaway pop-up restaurant makes its Broadway debut with plenty of elbow room. Photo by Julie Stehling
Take care of yourself and others 828-350-0315 SMOKYPARK.COM
soon u o y e Se awn l e h t on
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As executive chef since 2006 of Celine and Company Catering — which she bought in 2015 — Kim Lloyd has fed tens of thousands of locals, visitors and tourists, often in the business’s 6,000-square-foot street-level event space, On Broadway, in the Broadway Arts Building. “We do everything from weddings to nonprofit galas there, and off-property catering for small dinners in people’s homes to 1,000-person dinners at the civic center,” says Lloyd. And then came COVID-19, and 13 events booked from March 15 to the end of that month were canceled. Spring events began to reschedule for the fall, and now many of those are rebooking for 2021. Even as restaurants began to devise ways to reboot business, large gatherings, celebrations and corporate meetings remained verboten. “I started to think of ways we could remain relevant and participate in the community,” says Lloyd. She recalls having lunch outdoors downtown at Mountain Madre Mexican Kitchen & Agave Bar just after Phase 2 of the state’s reopening plan was initiated. She observed that tourists were making their way back to the city and people were interested in eating out. She also noticed many closed restaurants. “I knew that as long as there was limited occupancy capacity, there would be a need for more restaurant seats,” she says. “Our large room could easily manage that. Food, hospitality and service are things we understand.”
Lloyd went to work revamping her large downtown event room. She rented 25 palm trees and a slew of tall planters to fill the safely distanced space between linen-draped tables, pulled out her vintage china, glassware and silver, and tasked executive chef Austin Tisdale with writing a menu for The Hideaway on Broadway pop-up restaurant. “This is such a fun opportunity for him to create dishes for guests to order a la carte as opposed to meals for 300 people eating the same thing.” The Hideaway serves dinner by reservation (or walk-up, based on availability) 4:30-9:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday accompanied by live music Fridays and Saturdays. Local craft beers and house wines are available to order there, or diners can tap into an arrangement with Metro Wines to choose a vintage paired to their courses. “We will have Kim’s weekly menus on hand to reference for pairings,” says Gina Trippi, co-owner of Metro Wines. “People can call ahead, consult with us, make a selection and stop on their way to dinner to pick up their wine. We love being part of her innovative solution to distanced dining.” Metro Wines and Grapevine Distributors will team up with Lloyd on Thursday, July 23, at 6:30 p.m. for a reservations-required, four-course summer wine dinner. The cost is $68 per person, gratuity not included. Call 828-254-9902 to reserve a safely distanced table. X
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JULY 15-21, 2020
23
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
LOOKING OUTWARD, LOOKING INWARD
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The Broadcast releases its long-delayed third album
HARD WAY: A series of delays meant that The Broadcast’s third studio album remained unreleased for nearly two years after its completion. But leader Caitlin Krisko believes that the current world crisis means that the message of unity within Lost My Sight is just right for today. Photo by Eric Rayburn
BY BILL KOPP bill@musoscribe.com
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Reestablishing her band here, she led the group through the making of its debut studio album, Dodge the Arrow, released in 2013. A decade later, Krisko appears relatively settled in her adopted home. “I feel an incredible sense of ‘I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be,’” she says.
Mon. - Sun. Lunch: 11:30am–2:30pm Mon. - Sun. Dinner: 5:00–8:00pm Sat. + Sun. Brunch: 9:00am–2:30pm
After an extended period of focusing on touring and business matters, Asheville-based soulful rock band The Broadcast overcame a series of delays and released its third studio album,
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Lost My Sight, on July 10. With restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic still in effect, live dates in support of the record are in doubt, but band leader and frontwoman Caitlin Krisko feels that now is very much the right time to release the album. Krisko moved to Asheville from her native Manhattan in 2010.
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Working with Wilco and Tedeschi Trucks Band producer Jim Scott, The Broadcast made its second album, From the Horizon, in 2016. Like its predecessor, that record was self-released. And while The Broadcast maintained a steady and energetic schedule of live dates — including multiple tours of Europe — the group operated outside the traditional machinery of the music industry. “Up until June 2019, I was managing and booking the band under a pseudonym,” Krisko reveals. That all changed recently — the culmination of a focused effort on the part of Krisko and her bandmates. “Having a management and booking agency this last year has relieved an incredible amount of pressure to deliver on something that I’m not really qualified to deliver on,” she says. But the transition had another unintended effect: The release of The Broadcast’s third album — already postponed once — would be delayed yet again. And not for the last time. Recording sessions for Lost My Sight were completed by the end of summer 2018. But Krisko says that as the band worked on postproduction activities, they faced a question: “‘Do we release it [in summer 2019], or do we use this as a calling card for managers and agents?’ That was a really tough call for us, because we really wanted to get the record out.” She ultimately felt that her own booking skills wouldn’t yield the kind of tour that Lost My Sight deserved, and, in fall 2019, The Broadcast signed on with the agent who schedules dates for The Avett Brothers. The band also inked a deal with a New York City-based management team, Groundwork Artist Management, which was so impressed with the still-unreleased Lost My Sight that the agency wanted to shop it to record labels. Krisko agreed, but that meant yet another postponement. After meet-
ing with several labels, an agreement with one appeared imminent in early 2020. Then, the coronavirus hit, and the deal was off the table. As the two-year anniversary of its recording approached, Krisko made the decision to move ahead with a self-release of Lost My Sight. With the pandemic forcing the hard-touring band off the road, she decided, “I don’t want [to wait] another year. Let’s just release this baby — do it digitally and call it a day.” Produced by Tim Lefebvre (formerly the bassist in Tedeschi Trucks Band) and TTB drummer Tyler “Falcon” Greenwell, Lost My Sight is at once more streamlined and confident than its predecessors. The horn charts that characterized much of From the Horizon are largely absent, and new keyboardist Mike Runyon takes a prominent role. And while Krisko’s powerhouse vocals have long been a trademark of The Broadcast, on the new release she proudly displays greater stylistic range. Recalling previous album sessions, she says, “Everyone’s always been like, ‘Go to a 10!’ So it was really nice to have a producer who says, ‘I want you to be as quiet as you possibly can right now.’” She believes that Lefebvre gave her “the permission to have confidence to be subdued, to really lean into the dynamics.” Krisko describes the central theme of Lost My Sight as unity. “I have to start looking outside of myself, beyond my own experiences, in order to relate to other people more,” she says. And the new songs build on that realization. “A lot of people use social media and meme culture to express their feelings. I feel really blessed that I have been gifted with the ability to write music. And we made a record that felt real, raw and honest.” thebroadcastmusic.com X
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A&E
Small wonder Local artist Margaret Cogswell opens her Tiny Gallery
The idea for the Tiny Gallery — a sidewalk showcase in the Norwood Park neighborhood of North Asheville — goes back a decade. In 2010, multimedia artist Margaret Cogswell was a resident artist at Penland School of Craft. There, she and her friend Mark Boyd conceptualized what she calls “a way to have an impromptu show in unexpected places.” Six doors held together by hinges and a framed roof made up the original Tiny Gallery, which was installed in locales such as “outside on the grass, on a porch, inside an art center and in a parking lot.” Four doors from that inaugural portable structure are included in the new Tiny Gallery, which Cogswell resurrected during the COVID-19 quarantine. “Until the shutdown, I sold my work through two galleries and commissions,” she says. Her primary focus has been crafting papier-mâché animals and painting. “Like many others, my income came to an abrupt halt — workshops were canceled, galleries closed. It was scary and liberating at the same time,” she says. Cogswell is quick to acknowledge her privilege: Her husband’s job has continued throughout the quarantine, alleviating some of the couple’s financial stress. “Early on, I was ricocheting between being so grateful at least one of us had a job and being so sad about the state of affairs,” she says. To deal with both emotions, she turned to artwork: “When you feel helpless, you try to do something that makes you feel more empowered. That’s where I go. … I feel like I’m bringing my best self to something, and that’s the most I can do.” She adds, “Anyone who creates things — artists, at least — we’re working things out through our brains and our hands. … If I can put out something that’s positive, [then] maybe I’ve done a little something.”
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At the same time, she continues, “The only relevance [my work] has is to affirm that we are human and that kindness is important.” In terms of social justice issues, especially those of racial justice being discussed on local and national levels, Cogswell admits the thought process can be overwhelming. “We’re in a time of reckoning,” she says. But, even as the Tiny Gallery approaches creativity from a micro level, it also explores sociopolitical concepts, such as recycling and reuniting materials, and eschewing the purchase of new items in the creation process. For Cogswell, the personal is also political. “I made a list of what I believe in,” she says in her artist statement. Ideas that went into the latest iteration of the Tiny Gallery include “simple pleasures, small everyday moments; smiles and laughter are worthy goals; continuing to learn, stretch, challenge and ask questions; observing and listening; adding to the positive energy in the world; trusting the voice in my head.” Cogswell’s initial goals for the gallery were that she would pursue whatever she felt like making and that the space would serve as a place for her to engage directly with people through her work. For her, the process of creating is more interesting than the final product, and the opportunities from COVID-19 and quarantine to think about creativity over commercial success was a huge gift. “To grow and to push yourself, you have to keep taking chances,” she says. Originally, Cogswell envisioned the Tiny Gallery to be more like Little Free Libraries — the neighborhood book exchanges, usually in the form of cute, handcrafted, public bookshelves in front yards and other accessible spots. The nonprofit organization behind the book-sharing effort recently registered its 100,000th library. The similarity Cogswell imag-
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SIDEWALK SCENE: Asheville-based artist Margaret Cogswell originally envisioned her Tiny Gallery to be like Little Free Libraries. “It wouldn’t have a lock on it,” she says. “It would have my work in it or other work, and people could look at it at their leisure.” Photo courtesy of Cogswell ined between her invention and the popular literary installations was that “it wouldn’t have a lock on it. It would have my work in it or other work, and people could look at it at their leisure.” While Little Free Libraries offer books for free or trade, Cogswell’s gallery presents a retail possibility. “I’m going to try the honor system model for a while and see what happens,” she says. “The gallery will be open during the day with work available to view whenever. If people are interested in buying, there will be info posted on how to purchase through Venmo or such. I might lose a few pieces along the way, but I think it’s worth it all the way around.”
And the element of surprise is key. “Walking by, [people will] discover it, and they can have an unexpected experience,” Cogswell says. A neighborhood opening show took place on July 11, and more events are in the works. “I think it would be a cool idea if other people wanted to do it, or other people wanted me to help them do it,” Cogswell says of the evolution of the Tiny Gallery. “But I didn’t have a grand plan, other than I wanted to build one, and I needed to [take] some action during this time.” The Tiny Gallery is located at 32 Woodward Ave. Learn more at mcogswell.com.
— Alli Marshall X
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All the Songs We Sing
Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands
In August 1995, African American men and women gathered at poet Lenard D. Moore’s house in southeast Raleigh and shared rough drafts of works in progress. Twenty-five years later, the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective remains active and strong, and in June celebrated its quarter-century anniversary with All the Songs We Sing, an anthology of works by members of the collective, edited by Moore. On Thursday, July 16, at 7 p.m., the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance presents a livestream discussion of CAAWC’s history, hosted by Wiley Cash. Moore and North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green will partake and be joined by contributors L. Teresa Church, Crystal Simone Smith, Bridgette A. Lacy, Grace Ocasio, Fred Joiner, Carole Boston Weatherford, Camille T. Dungy, Angela Belcher Epps and Gideon Young, who will read selections from poems, stories and essays included in the collection. Malaprop’s is a participating bookstore. Free, but registration is required. avl.mx/7nw. Photo of Moore by Dave Russo and Green by Sylvia Freeman
The past few months have yielded many “firsts” for Western North Carolina organizations with long-standing traditions as they pivot to digital offerings. Perhaps none of these changes is more significant than that of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, whose 73-year tradition of hosting the beloved Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands goes virtual Thursday, July 16-Sunday, July 19. The online event allows visitors to explore works of clay, fiber, glass, leather, metal, paper, wood, jewelry and more through virtual “booths,” where they can shop, view videos of craft demonstrations and interact with artists in their studios via livestreams. There will also be a raffle drawing, with all proceeds going toward the guild’s education department. Free to “attend.” craftguild.org/craftfair. Photo of work by Berea College students courtesy of Southern Highland Craft Guild
Wortham Center Special Events Series
Alyse Bensel
Unable to utilize its various indoor spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts is opening its Market Street Courtyard for a run of offerings featuring exclusively local musicians, storytellers and performers. The Special Events Series includes shows each evening at 6 and 8, beginning Friday, July 17, with husband-and-wife folk duo The Moon and You, followed by pianist Chuck Lichtenberger and his Trio (July 18) and storyteller Becky Stone (July 19). The following weekend brings the folk trio of Lyndsay Pruett, Matt Purinton and Drew Matulich (July 24), traditional duo Zoe & Cloyd (July 25), and storyteller/instrumentalist Josh Goforth (July 26). Each show is $40, which includes a box dinner from 67 Biltmore and a beverage from the Bill & Jerry McAninch Theatre Café. Seating is limited to 25 people per performance, and ticket sales end three days prior to the performance date. The wearing of face masks is required, except when eating or drinking. worthamarts.org. Photo of Stone by Toby Maurer
In her new book, Rare Wondrous Things: A Poetic Biography of Maria Sibylla Merian, Alyse Bensel takes an unusual approach to explore the life of an unusual woman. “I’m a poet, not a biographer or historian in any official sense, so a ‘traditional’ biography was not the best course of action for me,” says the assistant professor of English at Brevard College and director of the Looking Glass Rock Writers’ Conference. “Poetry gave me the opportunity to include several different approaches to Merian’s life through persona poems, ekphrastic poems, more narrative-driven poems and poems that recount my own research and writing process constructing the collection.” Bensel’s route digs into the history of the 18th-century illustrator and naturalist, who the author says made “groundbreaking discoveries in metamorphosis” and also ran her own business, which was “unheard of and quite scandalous in the late 1700s.” Rare Wondrous Things will be published Tuesday, July 21. alysebensel.com. Author photo courtesy of Bensel MOUNTAINX.COM
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CLUBLAND
Online Event= q WEDNESDAY, JULY 15 THE JOINT NEXT DOOR Laura Thurston (solo acoustic), 6pm SALVAGE STATION q Jehnny Beth (rock, electronic), 6pm, avl.mx/7om
WE’RE BACK!
DINNER AND A CONCERT ON THE LAWN
CONCERTS BEGIN AT 6:30PM T HU 7/16
MARK BUMGARNER & FRIENDS AMERICANA, COUNTRY, FOLK ROCK
F RI 7/17
BELLE AND THE BAND AMERICANA, FOLK, POP
SAT 7/18
THE KNOTTY G’S AMERICANA SOUL
SUN 7/19
AUBREY EISENMAN & THE CLYDES
WAVERLY INN Hope Griffin w/ Eric Congdon (folk), 6pm 185 KING STREET Team Trivia & Games, 7pm ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL The Lasso Twins (rock, psychedelic), 8pm THE PAPER MILL LOUNGE Karaoke X, 9pm THE DUGOUT SPORTS BAR & TAPHOUSE Karaoke w/ DJ Sandman, 9pm
THURSDAY, JULY 16 LAZY HIKER BREWING Open Jam, 5pm
AMERICANA, BLUEGRASS
T HU 7/ 23
THE DARREN NICHOLSON BAND BLUEGRASS
F RI 7/ 24
COUNTRY POUR
CLASSIC COUNTRY, HONKY-TONK, OUTLAW COUNTRY
SAT 7/ 25
TRISKELION BREWERY Open Irish Jam w/ Cornell Sanderson, 6:30pm ISIS MUSIC HALL q Catherine MacLellan (folk), 7pm, avl.mx/7ky CATAWBA BREWING SOUTH SLOPE Outdoor Trivia w/ Bingeable, 7pm
ORANGE PEEL q Alexa Rose (country, rock), 7pm, avl.mx/7hc
GOT THE BLUES: After 35 years fronting The Chicago Kingsnakes, guitarist and vocalist Jimmy “Ang” Anderson has gone solo as Mr Jimmy. An Asheville native, he writes, sings and plays “real-deal” Chicago-style blues. On July 11, he released his debut solo album “All Alone with the Blues,” from which he will play a selection at Oklawaha Brewing Co. in Hendersonville on Thursday, July 23, at 7 p.m. Photo courtesy of Jimmy Anderson
THE ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Gunslinging Parrots (Phish tribute), 8pm
WHITESIDE BREWING CO. Doug Ramsay (jazz, soul), 5:30pm
NANTAHALA BREWING SYLVA Shane Meade (rock, funk), 5pm
BURNTSHIRT VINEYARDS Hummingtree Band (folk), 2pm
POINT LOOKOUT VINEYARDS Mo-MoJo Blues Band, 6pm
BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE Dinah’s Daydream (Gypsy jazz), 6pm
MILLS RIVER BREWING Kate & Troy (acoustic duo), 2pm
FLEETWOOD'S Patio Music Series: Ancient Ethel (rock), 6pm
RIVERSIDE RHAPSODY BEER COMPANY Rooster (Americana, folk), 6pm
HI-WIRE BREWING BIG TOP Trivia Night, 7pm
FRIDAY, JULY 17 IAMAVL q Downtown After 5, 5:30pm, avl.mx/7mp
GENEVA'S RIVERFRONT TIKI BAR Mr Jimmy Trio (blues), 6pm MAD CO. BREW HOUSE Laura Thurston (solo acoustic), 6pm ISIS MUSIC HALL Lawn Concert w/ Belle & The Band (acoustic duo), 6:30pm THE GREY EAGLE Patio Show w/ Chuck Brodsky (solo acoustic), 7pm
ISIS MUSIC HALL Lawn Concert w/ the Knotty Gs (folk), 6:30pm CATAWBA BREWING SOUTH SLOPE Katie’s Randy Cat (Irish punk), 7pm THE GREY EAGLE Patio Show w/ The Maggie Valley Band (dark Appalachian), 7pm MOUNTAIN SPIRIT q James Maddock (folk), 7pm, avl.mx/7n5
LOVE BUBBLE
BANDS2FANS q Snake Oil Medicine Show, 8pm, avl.mx/7ol
WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN q Zoe & Cloyd (bluegrass), 8pm, avl.mx/7jl
SUN 7/ 26
OKLAWAHA BREWING COMPANY Scoundrel's Lounge (blues, soul), 8pm
185 KING STREET Keturah & The Blown Glass Band (Americana, soul), 8pm
GREEN RIVER BREW PUB Izzi Hughes (rock), 8pm
ELEVATED MOUNTAIN DISTILLERY Mile High Band (rock, country), 8pm
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ISIS MUSIC HALL Lawn Concert w/ Mark Bumgarner & Friends (Southern Americana), 6:30pm
JULY 15-21, 2020
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185 KING STREET Josh Carter & Barrett Davis (folk), 8pm ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL LITZ (power funk), 10pm ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Dreads for Brains (reggae, psychedelic), 10pm
SATURDAY, JULY 18 SAINT PAUL MOUNTAIN VINEYARDS The JackTown Ramblers (bluegrass, jazz), 3pm
ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Third Eye (TOOL tribute), 9pm WILD WING CAFE Karaoke Night, 9:30pm ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Cosmic Shift (funk), 10pm THE SOCIAL Karaoke Show w/ Billy Masters, 10pm
SUNDAY, JULY 19 SUMMIT COFFEE Frances Eliza (jazz, folk), 11am
POINT LOOKOUT VINEYARDS Izzi & Eric (folk), 2:30pm BOLD ROCK HARD CIDER Seth & Sara (acoustic duo), 3pm THE ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Shakedown Sunday: Drip A Silver (Grateful Dead/ Jerry Band tribute), 4pm ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Billy Litz (blues), 5pm 185 KING STREET Open Electric Jam, 6pm ISIS MUSIC HALL Lawn Concert w/ Aubrey Eisenman & The Clydes (bluegrass), 6:30pm THE GREY EAGLE q Graham Sharp (solo acoustic), 7pm, avl.mx/7mb MOUNTAIN SPIRIT q The Rough & Tumble (folk), 7pm, avl.mx/7mc
MONDAY, JULY 20 ARCHETYPE BREWING Old Time Jam w/ Banjo Mitch McConnell, 6pm CATAWBA BREWING SOUTH SLOPE Musicians in the Round (open jam), 6pm
TUESDAY, JULY 21 OKLAWAHA BREWING COMPANY Team Trivia Tuesday, 6pm
ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Early Tuesday Jam: Trilateral Omission, 8pm
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22 OKLAWAHA BREWING COMPANY French Broad Valley Mountain Music Jam, 6pm THE JOINT NEXT DOOR Laura Thurston (solo acoustic), 6pm 185 KING STREET Team Trivia & Games, 7pm TWIN LEAF BREWERY Open Mic w/ Thomas Yon, 7pm ISIS MUSIC HALL q Rebecca Haviland & Whiskey Heart (roots rock), 7pm, avl.mx/7mq THE PAPER MILL LOUNGE Karaoke X, 9pm THE SOCIAL Karaoke w/ Lyric, 10pm
THURSDAY, JULY 23 LAZY HIKER BREWING Open Jam, 5pm ISIS MUSIC HALL Lawn Concert w/ The Darren Nicholson Band (bluegrass), 6:30pm OKLAWAHA BREWING COMPANY Mr Jimmy (blues), 7pm BALSAM FALLS BREWING CO. Open Mic Night, 8pm BEN'S TUNE UP Comedy Open Mic w/ Baby George, 9pm
MOVIE REVIEWS THIS WEEK’S CONTRIBUTORS
Hosted by the Asheville Movie Guys EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com HHHHH
BRUCE STEELE bcsteele@gmail.com
Ali McGhee
= MAX RATING
Flannery HHHH DIRECTORS: Mark Bosco and Elizabeth Coffman PLAYERS: Mary Steenburgen, Alice Walker, Tommy Lee Jones DOCUMENTARY NOT RATED In a time when Southern communities are reckoning with the ugly legacy of racism, native Southerners (including myself) are wrestling, as we often have, with the region’s rich and difficult complexities, as well as the ways in which we can feel haunted by a past that embodies trauma and beauty in equal measures. Perhaps the necessity of living with difficult, even contradictory, parts of Southern identity is one reason that Flannery O’Connor became an early staple of my reading life. Here was a writer who captured the darkness and grace of the South while refusing to simplify or shy away from the twisting, thorny and seductive paths through culture and history that Southerners have walked. In Flannery, the honest, charming and ultimately reverential documentary by directors Elizabeth Coffman (Veins in the Gulf) and Mark Bosco, we get to meet one of the region’s most iconic storytellers and learn that her own narrative is just as worthy of attention as the ones she told. The film intersperses episodes of O’Connor’s life with excerpts from her fiction and letters read by Mary Steenbergen. It also includes interviews with the writer’s friends and family members. We hear from cousins, classmates, mentors and would-be lovers, as well as academics, biographers, journalists and celebrities ranging from Tommy Lee Jones to New Yorker theater
critic Hilton Als as they share their admiration for this singular author. Whimsical animations, perhaps inspired by O’Connor’s own delightful cartoons, accompany many of the story excerpts, even when the material traverses such bleak subjects as disability, racism, transphobia and murder. But then, O’Connor’s ability to see grace in humanity’s darkest moments was always her gift, and the film repeatedly makes that artistic gift clear. A deserved amount of time is spent on both “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” perhaps her most famous short story, and her novel Wise Blood. The documentary points out that, without being paradoxical, both works end in terribly violent acts that simultaneously strengthen, rather than diminish, our hope for humanity. Faith was always central for O’Connor, whose Catholic beliefs made her feel ostracized in Protestant Georgia, and is at the heart of this film. Brad Dourif, who plays Wise Blood protagonist Hazel Motes in John Huston’s 1979 feature film adaptation, shares a particularly delightful anecdote about how the director, an atheist, was hoodwinked by the novel’s surprising take on religion. Throughout Flannery, faith and other themes of O’Connor’s fiction are examined in the context of her body of work, the author’s life — and sometimes her literal physical body. We follow along as lupus, which killed her father, slowly takes her own mobility, forcing her to leave a life among the literati of New York City and return to Andalusia, the family farm in Milledgeville, Ga. Embedded in the South, however, she became its finest reporter,
documenting the struggles of its people in her wry, Southern Gothic way. While complimentary overall, the filmmakers thankfully don’t shy away from less socially acceptable details of O’Connor’s biography. An entire segment is devoted to the theme of racism and her use of “the n-word” in her writing, a reason why she’s still excluded from certain reading lists today. Nevertheless, the film is quick to note that she saw herself as a documentarian, reflecting the world as it was, but also subtly, and sometimes trickily, nodding to a better way. She was, and continues to be, a conversation starter, and this vibrant account of her life and work is a wonderful opener. REVIEWED BY ALI MCGHEE ALIMCGHEE@GMAIL.COM
Douglas Davidson
U.S., supervising every little thing — that’s mostly justified. And to her credit, Yours Truly is a slick, dynamic film that utilizes all the editing and animation techniques used by the best modern documentarians. But it also has the feel of a DVD “behind the scenes” featurette, in which everyone congratulates everyone else and any messy production questions are simply ignored. Don’t expect to learn, for example, who’s paying for all this or where all those worker bees come from. Things happen because Ai Weiwei wills them to happen, and no sticky problems ever need to be confronted. Still, Yours Truly is a fine introduction to the attention-grabbing works of China’s most famous artist — though not nearly as infor-
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Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly HHHS
AVAILABLE VIA FINEARTSTHEATRE.COM (FA) GRAILMOVIEHOUSE.COM (GM)
DIRECTORS: Cheryl Haines and Gina Leibrecht PLAYERS: Ai Weiwei DOCUMENTARY NOT RATED
Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly HHHS (GM) Alice (NR) HHH (FA) All I Can Say (NR) HHHHS (GM) The Audition (NR) HHHH (GM) Beanpole (R) HHHS(FA) Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint (NR) HHHS (FA) The Booksellers (NR) HHHS(FA) Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things (NR) HHHS(GM) Fantastic Fungi (NR) HHHH (FA) Flannery (NR) HHHH (Pick of the Week) (FA, GM) Fourteen (NR) HHHH (FA) The Hottest August (NR) H (FA) House of Hummingbird (NR) HHHH (FA) John Lewis: Good Trouble (PG) HHHH (FA, GM) The Last Tree (NR) HHHH (GM) Lucky Grandma (NR) HHHH (FA) Miss Juneteenth (NR) HHH (GM) My Darling Vivian (NR) HHHH (GM) Pahokee (NR) HHHHS(FA) Papicha (NR) HHH (FA) Proud (NR) HHH (FA) Shirley (R) HHHHS (FA) Someone, Somewhere (NR) HHHH (FA) Sometimes Always Never (PG-13) HHHH (GM) Sorry We Missed You (NR) HHHHS(FA) The Surrogate (NR) HHHHS (FA) The Times of Bill Cunningham (NR) HHHHS (FA) The Tobacconist (NR) HHHS (FA) Vitalina Varela (NR) HHHHS (FA) We Are Little Zombies (NR) HHHH (GM) The Woman Who Loves Giraffes (NR) HHHHH (FA)
Buncombe County-based viewers of Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly may be reminded of the site-specific artwork of American Mel Chin, who last year worked with students at UNC Asheville to create an installation for New York City’s Times Square. Yours Truly chronicles a similar long-distance art project: Chinese artist and prominent dissident Ai’s 2014 overlay within Alcatraz prison. It was put together during the period immediately after his brief incarceration by the Chinese government, when he was essentially under house arrest. The Alcatraz installation, titled Ai Weiwei: @Large, was an elaborate and beautiful creation honoring prisoners of conscience from across the globe. Thanks to the film, viewers are able to watch the enormous effort that went into its construction, to explore it virtually and to learn the details of the work for themselves — and it’s well worth the time. Yours Truly is not an objective documentary, however, but an extension of the exhibition, credited to Ai’s chief collaborator on the Alcatraz project, a San Francisco art curator named Cheryl Haines. She’s the film’s director and its primary voice, and she doesn’t hesitate to put herself center stage and pat herself on the back. Considering the magnitude of the project she pulled off — traveling between China and the
MOUNTAINX.COM
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FREEWILL ASTROLOGY
M OVIE RE V IEW S mative as the 2012 documentary Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry. REVIEWED BY BRUCE STEELE BCSTEELE@GMAIL.COM
REVIEWED BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN EARNAUDIN@MOUNTAINX.COM
Greyhound HHHH DIRECTOR: Aaron Schneider PLAYERS: Tom Hanks, Stephen Graham, Elisabeth Shue FACT-BASED ACTION/DRAMA RATED PG-13 The last time Tom Hanks was on a boat for a historical thriller, we got Captain Phillips, his best work of the 2010s. Seven years later, he’s back in treacherous waters with the World War II-set Greyhound, and while swapping Paul Greengrass for Aaron Schneider (Get Low) results in a downgrade in style, the tension and entertainment value remain nearly as high. The streamlined script, written by Hanks and based on the novel The Good Shepherd by C.S. Forester, establishes the basic wants and history of Admiral George Krause (Hanks, natch) in hokey, wooden scenes with fiancée Evelyn (Elisabeth Shue) in a San Francisco lobby in December 1942. The Hallmark-style interactions continue on the titular battleship under his command, leading a convoy of supply ships to England in the Black Pit section of the Atlantic — the multiday stretch outside Allied air cover — but soon blessedly fade once German U-boats attack, cued to a score suggesting that the Nazi vessels are whales fond of the Psycho score. At that point, Greyhound basically becomes a submarine movie, but with the added beauty and terror of the surface-level open sea. Working with good enough special effects, Schneider orchestrates the exciting battles in an easy-to-follow fashion where even the plentiful nautical military jargon of Hanks’ script makes sense to laymen. Multiple faces on the ship, in particular Stephen Graham (The Irishman), are recognizable, but while none receive a fraction of the basic background sketch bestowed upon Krause, each works well as a cog in the impressive machinery. In particular, Rob Morgan (The Last Black Man in San Francisco; The Photograph) has an oddly thankless role as food-server Cleveland but nonetheless leaves his mark through kindness and duty. True to military form, Cleveland and everyone else are in service to a larger mission, this particular one under Krause’s leadership. And as the stand-in for the captain’s all but anonymous crew, Hanks channels their fear and especially sense of loss through his unmistakable facial reactions. The actor’s performance proves key in a situation where it makes sense for one figure to take the lead, and with a story that feels as if it conveys nearly all it needs in a nicely 30
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compact 80 minutes, it’s difficult to argue with that approach. Available to stream via Apple TV+
The Old Guard HHHH DIRECTOR: Gina Prince-Bythewood PLAYERS: Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne ACTION/ADVENTURE RATED R Based on the Image Comics series, The Old Guard offers a somewhat predictable narrative that’s nevertheless entirely offset by strong character arcs, a cast with fantastic chemistry and stunts that will make you gasp. The film follows a group of seemingly immortal warriors led by Andy (Charlize Theron), with Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts), Joe (Marwan Kenzari, Aladdin) and Nicky (Luca Marinelli, The Great Beauty) loyal to her command as they complete missions for good around the world. Though godlike beings aren’t a new concept, screenwriter Greg Rucka adds an intriguing creative wrinkle by making this crew notably philosophical and battle-weary. They understand, perhaps greater than anyone, that an endless life requires considerable responsibility and, with it, the burden of bearing their failures. Taking lives carries a heavy price for these characters, so to enact more violence than required is something they’d rather avoid. Their mindfulness — a refreshing twist on the typical remorseless killer trope — gives much of The Old Guard its emotional heft, which the film takes its time exploring without diminishing the exquisite artistry of its action sequences. Each fight is more than just which member of the team can get hurt the worst before he or she recovers and strikes back. The injuries and healing still hurt, so the warriors design each attack and defensive plan to deliver maximum punishment while incurring minimal damage. In a break from traditional action filmmaking, director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball) gives viewers room to see clearly what’s happening during these fights, imaginatively employing long shots that showcase each character’s skills. This visual approach lets us see that it’s actually Theron wielding Andy’s axe and Kenzari unquestionably delivering a particularly ferocious and absolutely justified inverted body slam. Even KiKi Layne (If Beale Street Could Talk) as new recruit Nile is all but certain to drop jaws as she goes toe to toe with Theron in an early tussle. Read the full review at mountainx.com/movies/reviews Available to stream via Netflix REVIEWED BY DOUGLAS DAVIDSON ELEMENTSOFMADNESS@GMAIL.COM
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ARIES (March 21-April 19): “If the time is not ripe, we have to ripen the time,” wrote Aries educator and activist Dorothy Height. This approach worked well during her 98 years on the planet. Her pioneering advocacy for African American women generated a number of practical improvements in their employment opportunities and civil rights. In accordance with the current astrological omens, Aries, I highly recommend her guiding principle for your use. You now have the power to ripen the time, even if no one else believes the time is ripe. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “Whatever inspiration is, it’s born from a continuous ’I don’t know.’” A wise and talented woman said that: Nobel Prize-winning poet Wisława Szymborska. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, it’s excellent advice for you to embrace during the coming weeks. You’re close to finding and accessing a mother lode of inspiration, and one of the best ways to ensure that happens in an optimal way is to make “I don’t know” your mantra. In other words, be cheerfully devoted to shedding your certainties. Lose your attachment to the beliefs and theories you tend to overly rely on. Make yourself as empty and clear and spacious as you possibly can. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini-born author Djuna Barnes (1892–1982) was a world traveler who wrote in several different genres, ranging from lesbian fiction to essays on boxing to plays that used poetic language. She was experimental and empirical and experiential. On one occasion, she voluntarily submitted to the force-feeding endured by hunger-striking suffragists so she could write about what it was like to be tortured. Another fun fact about Djuna: Every morning, she did up her hair and put her make-up on, then climbed into bed and wrote for many hours. In the coming weeks, Gemini, I recommend you draw inspiration from every aspect of her life — except the torture part, of course. The coming weeks will be a fine time to be versatile, exploratory and committed to expressing yourself purely in whatever ways make you comfortably excited. CANCER (June 21-July 22): As a Cancerian, you have a natural propensity to study and understand what author Margaret Atwood describes as “echoes and emptiness and shadow.” I believe this aspect of your repertoire will be especially active and available to you in the coming weeks. For best results, regard your attunement to these echoes and emptiness and shadow as an asset, even a precious talent. Use it to discern what’s missing or lost but could be recovered. Invoke it to help you navigate your way through murky or confusing situations. Call on it to help you see important things that are invisible to others. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Time can turn a scab into a beauty mark,” said actor and screenwriter Nia Vardalos. That’s a rousingly poetic speculation — and more metaphorically true than literally. But I suspect that if it ever might have a useful and meaningful application to an actual human struggle, it will be yours in the coming months. In my view, you are in fact capable of harnessing the magic necessary to transform a wound into a lovely asset. Be bold and imaginative as you carry out this seemingly improbable feat — which is actually not improbable. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Would you like to boost your mental and physical health in the coming weeks? Try this: Immerse yourself in the understanding that you’re interconnected with everything in the world. Tell yourself stories about how the atoms that compose your body have previously been part of many other things. This isn’t just a poetic metaphor; it’s scientific fact. Now study this passage by science writer Ella Frances Sanders: “The carbon inside you could have existed in any number of creatures or natural disasters before finding you. That particular atom residing somewhere above your left eyebrow? It could well have been a smooth riverbed pebble before deciding to call you home. You are rock and wave and the peeling bark of trees, you are ladybirds and the smell of a garden after the rain.”
BY ROB BREZSNY
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): It’s a favorable time to celebrate the fantastic privilege of being alive. Are you willing to believe that? Will you cooperate with my intention to nudge you in the direction of elation and exaltation? Are you open to the possibility that miracles and epiphanies may be at hand for you personally? To help get yourself in the proper mood, read this passage by Libran author Diane Ackerman: “The great affair, the love affair with life, is to live as variously as possible, to groom one’s curiosity like a high-spirited thoroughbred, climb aboard, and gallop over the thick, sunstruck hills every day.” SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): ’“Deciding to remember, and what to remember, is how we decide who we are,” writes poet Robert Pinsky. That’s useful counsel for you right now, Scorpio. You’re entering a phase when you can substantially reframe your life story so that it serves you better. And one of the smartest ways to do that is to take an inventory of the memories you want to emphasize versus the memories you’d like to minimize. Another good trick is to reinterpret challenging past events so that you can focus on how they strengthened you and mobilized your determination to be true to yourself. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “A person must dream a long time in order to act with grandeur,” wrote Sagittarian author and activist Jean Genet. “And dreaming is nursed in darkness.” According to my analysis of your astrological omens, this is an apt description of what has been unfolding for you, Sagittarius — and will continue to play out for you in the next two weeks. If you’re aligned with cosmic rhythms, you have been nursing your dreams in darkness — exploring and cultivating and learning from the raw creative energy that is simmering and ripening in your inner depths. Keep doing this important work, even if there are not yet any productive results. Eventually, it will enable you to “act with grandeur,” as Genet said. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau said, “There are truths that one can only say after having won the right to say them.” In my estimation, you have recently earned the right to express a fresh batch of scintillating and useful truths. Please do us all a favor and unveil them — preferably with both candor and tact. In behalf of everyone who will benefit from your insights, I’m sending you congratulations for the work you’ve had to do on yourself so as to win them. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “After you make a fool of yourself a few hundred times, you learn what works,” testifies musician and singer Gwen Stefani. In my own life, I’ve had to make a fool of myself more than a few hundred times to learn what works. My number is closer to a thousand—and I’m still adding new examples on a regular basis. In the coming weeks, Aquarius, I highly recommend that you try what has served me and Gwen Stefani so well. You’re entering a phase when your foolishness will generate especially useful lessons. Being innocent and wildly open-minded will also be very useful. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “It is better to err on the side of daring than the side of caution,” wrote author and futurist Alvin Toffler. While I hesitate to declare that idea to be absolutely and always true, I do recommend it to you in the coming weeks. Given the fact that you have recently been expanding possibilities and cultivating breakthroughs, I’d love to see you keep on pushing forward until you climax your momentum. To boost your courage, try to think of a crazy cry of exhilaration you might exclaim as you make your leaps, like “YAHOO!” or “HELL YES!” or “HERE I COME!”
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edited by Will Shortz
ACROSS
1 Spry 6 Gray, say 10 Raise on a farm 14 Parts of radios 16 Dubliner’s land 17 Dog in “Finding Neverland” 18 Second-in-charge, as at a restaurant 21 “The ___ Erwin Show” (1950s sitcom) 22 Watson of “Beauty and the Beast” 23 Revered emblem 24 Blackens with goo 26 California setting for “Hannah Montana” 28 End of a proof, for short 30 Boundary marking the limits of a black hole 33 Salt Lake City collegian 34 Tuna type 35 Fort ___ (gold depository) 36 Carpe ___ (seize the day) 37 Director of the horror films “Cabin Fever” and “Hostel” 41 Comedian Martin 43 Miner’s big find 44 President who was formerly Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary of war 47 Campaigned 48 Texter’s guffaw 49 Toss the pigskin perfectly 54 Offshoot of punk 55 Knockoffs, informally 56 Baby’s first word, maybe 57 Like pistachios and lemons 59 Peace Nobelist Wiesel 61 19-Down for an air gun 62 Classic comics rallying cry … or a hint to 18-, 30- and 49-Across 66 Politician Buttigieg 67 Joel or Ethan of the film world 68 Jail, in slang 69 “Leave it to the ___”
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1 One little bite 2 Holst who composed “The Planets” 3 Cover, as a car 4 Hula hoop? 5 Triage sites, for short 6 Monarchy for over a thousand years 7 Treatment for A.D.H.D. 8 Partner of Hammer in the supermarket 9 Vocal percussionists 10 One creating a little buzz at an outdoor party 11 Angrily abandon a video game 12 Approximately 39 inches 13 “The most successful ___ seldom pays for its losses”: Thomas Jefferson 15 Part of an office bldg. address 19 See 61-Across 20 Follower of “the,” often
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PUZZLE BY AMANDA RAFKIN AND ROSS TRUDEAU
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25 Trap 27 Preppy clothing brand 29 Prefix with god or john 31 However, in brief 32 Rise from bed … or drop to one’s stomach 36 Jeans material 37 Her, to Henri 38 Affect in a distant, menacing way 39 “Sure, my pleasure!” 40 Instrument with a soundbox 42 Election night graphic 45 Anticipate
46 Like most roads 49 Subject in which sin is an important topic? 50 It means “no returns allowed” 51 Group wielding pitchforks, say 52 Strolled 53 Things shooting from a sci-fi monster’s eyes 58 White bills in Monopoly 60 Key to get out? 62 Tinder or Venmo 63 Harry Potter’s best friend 64 Long stretch 65 A Stooge
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS NY TIMES PUZZLE E T T A P A W S A L E E L E A A Y N C H E E T O R I N P U S S A S K S A Y S T H E S L I D S A G G A S H E
A L L V E A L S E C O N I K O K B I E Y S
T I E S U P
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P A S H A
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JULY 15-21, 2020
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