Mountain Xpress 07.20.22 by Mountain Xpress

OU R 28TH Y E A R OF W E E K LY I N DE PE N DE N T N E W S, A RTS & E V E N TS FOR W E STE R N NORTH CA ROL I NA VOL . 28 NO. 51 J U LY 20 -26, 2022

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NEWS

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10 AN UNFAIR SHARE? Reappraisal committee to bring recommendations to commissioners

NEWS

FEATURES

12 SECOND CHANCES Diversion program helps homeless residents erase charges, avoid jail time

PAGE 8 FIRE ALARM Volunteer firefighters were once the backbone of fire departments in communities throughout Western North Carolina. But officials are finding it increasingly difficult to get people to sign up for an unpaid job with an erratic schedule and hundreds of hours of required training. What steps are departments taking to fill this critical need?

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30 WHAT’S NEW IN FOOD Mother Ocean Seafood Market partners with Pleb Urban Winery

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OPINION

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

Overlooking the elephants in Asheville’s room Tom Vernon makes an excellent point in his July 6 letter calling for the rebuilding of the Vance Monument [“Thumbs Down on Monument Ideas,” Xpress]. If you ignore (as his letter does) the white supremacist in the room, Zebulon Vance looks pretty good as a local hero. Maybe not the best North Carolina governor of all time (he did, in fairness, try to destroy the United States), but at least respectable. What’s wrong with honoring him in the middle of town? It’s really not that hard to agree with this historically nuanced conclusion. All you need is the strength of character to overlook the unconscionable. Many Asheville progressives exhibit the same stoic virtue on issues that matter to them. Take, for instance, objections recently raised in the Mountain Xpress to increased housing density, open-space reduction and infill construction. If you ignore how more abundant housing exerts a downward pressure on market prices, and how exclusionary, single-family zoning perpetuates segregated housing patterns, and how closein living reduces urban sprawl, and how urban density makes car driving less necessary and alternate modes of transportation more attractive, and how all that reduces carbon footprint and combats climate change, then these reforms look pretty bad. The only ones who benefit are developers. Greedy ones. Outsiders, too. Neighborhood character is at stake. Trouble in river city. Get out the pitchforks. It’s not hard for Asheville homeowners to find a way to agree with this nuanced position, self-serving as it may appear on the surface. All they need is the strength to overlook realities of economics, sociology, history, physics, chemistry and common sense, as well as the struggles of ordinary people trying to find housing they can afford. And isn’t magical thinking what makes Asheville so special? — Peter Robbins Marshall

Speak out against open space amendment At the July 26 City Council meeting, the Open Space Amendment (a

C A RT O O N B Y R AN DY M O L T O N proposal to accelerate Asheville’s urban deforestation and pave over everything in sight) comes up for a hearing and vote. Your voice is needed to speak out against this harebrained proposal that Council is poised to pass. This proposal to deregulate developers within city limits is dressed up with idealistic-sounding justifications like providing affordable housing, improving flooding and fighting sprawl. This gift basket of developer wish-list items would accomplish none of these goals, but it would make developers richer at our expense. The proposal is not an affordable housing initiative. It deregulates housing developments of eight units or more and it includes an optional incentive for “affordable housing” developments. Developers are under no obligation to build “affordable” units; they just get to cut more trees and pave more space if they meet the proposal’s “affordable” criteria. The problem is that, at 80% area median income, the proposal’s definition of “affordability” would provide housing that isn’t affordable at all to those who need housing the most. And gentrification will continue to get worse as developers build the most expensive housing they can. That’s where the money is to be made. Similarly, there is an incentive for enhanced stormwater controls in the proposal. This is also optional for developers who choose to take the incentive. But by deregulating development across the board and lifting open-space

requirements, this proposal would ensure that flooding gets much worse in Asheville as more and more of our urban forest falls to pavement and rain has nowhere to go. The third justification used for this proposal is the claim that by building up in the city, developers will stop building out into the county. The obvious con behind this argument is that the city can’t regulate development in the county, and developers are crawling all over Asheville and the county with an appetite to doze and pave everything in sight. It’s too lucrative for them to resist building anywhere they can get away with it around here. The final argument used to defend this proposal is that we need to make space for newcomers, even if it degrades the quality of life for existing residents and relegates the Asheville we fell in love with to a distant memory. This is an election year with the mayor and several Council members running for reelection. What better election year issue could we ask for than one that pits the interests of developers and people who don’t vote, pay taxes or live here against the quality of life of existing voters, taxpayers and residents? Let’s show up on July 26, speak out and pay attention to whose interests our mayor and Council members are looking out for. If you can’t show up in person, you can write all Council

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JULY 20-26, 2022

OPINION

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

members at AshevilleNCCouncil@ ashevillenc.gov. — Perrin de Jong Asheville

When will we see investments that benefit taxpayers? Just like the old saying, “All dressed up and nowhere to go,” I feel there should be a saying for Buncombe County: “So much money and nowhere to spend it.” Between the Tourism Development Authority monies and the fee-inlieu monies, when are we going to see an investment in our area that benefits the taxpayers of this area? Take the TDA. Spending its budget on attracting tourists when we know the area has been on the map for a long time without the help of advertising. Tourists will come here no matter what. And in the meantime, tourists think about and possibly move here. Time to change the TDA spending on advertising versus infrastructure improvement. Now, take the fee-in-lieu monies, particularly relating to current and proposed changes to the openspace regulations. Currently, the Open Space Amendment will be voted on by City Council July 26 and, if passed, will give developers even more opportunities to pay a fee to bypass open-space requirements. Therefore, this will provide more units in developments

C A R T O O N B Y I R E N E O L DS that the well-off tourists will buy. Meanwhile, our citizens are priced out of the market. The amendment could add to the “too much money” coffers. But wait, when will the fee-in-lieu litigation be resolved that will free up the spending to purchase land made available to the public that had to give up the open space in their neighborhoods? Why are we giving developers a “free pass” to build on every possible square inch of property? What will this reduction in open space do to our tree canopy? After all, isn’t Asheville called the “Tree City”?

Community Action Opportunities H ELPING P EOPLE. C HANGING L IVES.

VIRTUAL PUBLIC HEARING

Community Action Opportunities (CAO) will hold a virtual public hearing on Thursday, July 28th at 1pm to discuss a new housing project. The proposed project aims to increase the number of affordable housing units in Polk County through a collaboration with The Housing Assistance Corporation. CAO estimates $80,000 of its allotted $809,529 Fiscal Year 2023 Community Service Block Grant (CSBG) funds for this proposed collaboration. All interested community members and organizations are invited to attend. Please contact Kate Singogo for login information: kate.singogo@tcqr.org or call 828.210.0601

JULY 20-26, 2022

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What will the fee-in-lieu monies that the developers can pay provide to our citizens? These questions need to be fully considered and be answered before the amendment is approved. If you want answers to all the questions this amendment raises, email your City Council members at AshevilleNCCouncil@ ashevillenc.gov. — Victoria Williamson Asheville

Good citizens can house homeless, too Almost every week we read about homelessness and affordable housing, while local government approves proposals for eight affordable units. But maybe good citizens can also chip away at the challenges. Some people moving into Asheville and many longtime residents have money to invest. And it is fairly easy to create affordable housing from existing structures. An owner’s suite can become a studio apartment by replacing a window with a door, thus creating a private entrance. Add a small fridge and microwave, and people who don’t cook are happy. Plus, by not installing a stove, the room can be easily converted back to a bedroom. An unused garage can also become a studio apartment, but adding plumbing increases cost. The term homeless conjures up panhandlers on the street, but they are just one subpopulation of the homeless. As an older woman, I purchased a house locally with a walkout basement. I created a

studio apartment and housed the homeless. I didn’t know much in the beginning but learned through the process. I found a builder wanting a fair profit, not wealth, and working with local agencies, I selected emotionally and financially responsible candidates who just needed a small place. I charged below market value to encourage saving for their next step. The demographics are revealing — two men, five women, four college degrees and four victims of domestic abuse. These data indicate that anyone can fall victim to inflation, a mistake or a life change and become homeless. Research shows that helping others lowers blood pressure, reduces depression and provides purpose. If you can, consider creating a studio apartment. If you can only spare $10 dollars a month, donate to Habitat, Homeward Bound, Helpmate or another charity. One person can make a difference. — R.L. Todd Asheville

WNC needs nonprofit hospital [Regarding “Healthy Competition: AdventHealth, HCA and Novant Health to Apply for Hospital Beds,” June 8, Xpress:] HCA must not be the only hospital available to WNC. The government must approve a nonprofit hospital. Competition is a good thing. — Michael Reilly Marshall

Standing up for efforts of local Sierra Club This is in response to the fullpage opinion piece published in Mountain Xpress in your June 29 issue lambasting the Western North Carolina Sierra Club and its leaders, and our members’ efforts to educate the public regarding how to protect our valued environment by electing “green” candidates [“Sierra Club Chimera: WENOCA Chapter Endorsements Are an Environmental Disgrace”]. Dear Mr. Branyon, losing is hard. I understand that. But your opponent, Al Whitesides, has a proven track record with environmental issues. He voted to set the most aggressive carbon-reduction goal of government in the Southeast and to advance a bond measure for

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MOUNTAINX.COM

JULY 20-26, 2022

OPINION

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

solar energy that not only presents a carbon emission reduction, but also saves money for our county schools through that lower energy cost. But somehow your full-page spread attacked the Sierra Club and its leaders. Again, sorry you lost, but the best man did win our endorsement. I cannot count the numerous times that the Sierra Club stood against unsound development. Does the Bluffs development in Woodfin come to mind? It was a perfect example of an unsound development neighbors wanted to prevent in favor of sound development: development that will not create unstable hills and mudslides, traffic that disrupts neighborhoods, lack of road and other infrastructure needed to support the community.

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ks ThaVn oting

For

Did these folks ask you to get involved and support their concerns? No, they did not. They asked Ken Brame and the WNC Sierra Club to help them elect responsible candidates who are aware of their concerns. Guess what? Our supported candidates all won against three long-term incumbents! ... If you are against brazen development, where were you? Ken and the Sierra Club were there. If you seriously want to stop all development here in Asheville and Buncombe County, I would call you really out of touch. Growth is going to happen, more people will come here, and more housing is and will be needed, whether it be affordable housing, and yes, that must include infill development. Sir, life goes on, and new people and businesses contribute to our vibrant city and our well-being. Pushing that development farther out into the county or into neighboring counties will only contribute to more sprawl, traffic congestion and increased carbon pollution at a time we need to do everything possible to reduce emissions. I do not like manufacturers connected to the weapons industry any more than you do. But that is reality. Under North Carolina’s laws and constitution, local governments are very limited in preventing development on private property. Our city and our county governments are using all of the leverage they have (which is not much, thanks to the control of the

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Republican Party, of this you must be aware) to provide for not just affordable housing but multiuse development, combining housing with retail development and infill development for smarter growth and to help prevent sprawl. ... I’ve known Ken Brame for eight years. I know him to have integrity and to present all sides of an issue, especially with regard to our political candidates. I know him to further environmental goals and equity issues in all in which he is involved. I know him to be successful. I welcome you to have the same impact on local issues as Ken and the Sierra Club do. We invite you to join us in our efforts to protect our environment rather than criticizing our hard work. Preventing the worst impacts of climate change will take all of us working together. — Maryanne R. Rackoff Sierra Club volunteer Arden Editor’s note: A longer version of this letter will appear at mountainx.com.

Asheville and Buncombe lead the way on forest plan objections [Regarding “From CPP: Objections to Proposed Plan for WNC National Forests Delay Process,” June 20, and “Taking the Long View: Increased Logging Will Benefit Our National Forests,” June 8, both Xpress]: It’s inspiring to see so many objections to the disappointing PisgahNantahala forest plan, which wants to maximize logging and minimize protections for the forest. Among the more than 850 objections to the plan are the city of Asheville and Buncombe County. Big thanks to Asheville City Council and the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners for stepping up for our forests. They recognize the value that mature, intact forests provide for our air, water, climate, scenery, recreational opportunities, property values, regional economy and public health. The largest and most populous city and the largest and most populous county in WNC both want stronger protections for Pisgah. So do 95% of the roughly 34,000 people who have commented on the plan. What will it take for the Forest Service to finally listen?

Protecting Pisgah will benefit the health and well-being of everyone who lives here. Thank you to Asheville, Buncombe County, the hundreds of objectors and thousands of everyday folks who are fighting for the forest. — Steven Koranda Barnardsville

Let’s protect national forests for everyone [Regarding “From CPP: Objections to Proposed Plan for WNC National Forests Delay Process,” June 20, and “Taking the Long View: Increased Logging Will Benefit Our National Forests,” June 8, both Xpress]: The Pisgah-Nantahala forest plan has taken 10 years to write. During that time, over 34,000 comments have flooded the Forest Service. More than 95% of the comments urged the Forest Service to protect more of Pisgah. After a decade of public meetings and a deluge of public comments, the Forest Service has issued a plan that quadruples logging and reduces protections for Pisgah. As a result, it’s received a record-setting 891 objections from organizations, local businesses and hundreds of everyday folks. These forests belong to all of us. Cutting them down benefits only a few, while protecting them improves everyone’s health and well-being. There are plenty of logging opportunities on private property, which makes up three-quarters of WNC forestland. Let’s protect our publicly owned national forests for the benefit of everyone. — Emily Diznoff, M.D. Asheville

Asheville’s fentanyl crisis North Carolina made the top of the list on fentanyl deaths last year. According to a February report, the 10 states with the highest fentanyl deaths last year included North Carolina. Where is fentanyl coming from? Through our southern border. How much is coming into our nation? It was fact checked by www.wral.com that the Border Patrol seized enough fentanyl to kill every American man, woman and child seven times over. Imagine what amount got through? Fentanyl is also called “gray death.” Here are articles that claim

CARTOON BY BRENT BROWN it can be absorbed through the skin: [avl.mx/bso] and [avl.mx/bsp]. Here are just a few local fentanyl incidents: 1. January 2021. Blueridgenow. com reported police warning that five deaths in 48 hours were suspected to be overdoses of fentanyl. 2. Feb. 7. Charlotte Observer: Six survive overdose at Omni Grove Park Inn. 3. March 4-8: AshevilleRecoveryCenter.com reported police seized 19 kg of fentanyl. 4. March 31. www.wcnc.com: 2.76 pounds of fentanyl; 625,000 lethal doses; called the largest single seizure of fentanyl in Buncombe County history. Also reported by Asheville Citizen Times. 5. April 29. WLOS: 1.1 pounds. In 2020, WLOS reported $770,000 that was designated for the Asheville police sector is instead going toward other departments or agencies. With defunding the Asheville police last year, 84 officers were reported by the New York Post to have left the force. This article explains other reasons for police force exodus from Asheville and other locations: [avl.mx/bsi].

Here is what the Asheville community is up against while continuing to defund their police sector. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, in just eight months last year there were over 72 overdose deaths, so that’s roughly nine deaths per month. That’s more than Asheville’s unsolved and solved murder cases, which also are record-breaking. WLOS in January 2021 reported: “Study ranks Asheville in top 10% of most violent cities in America.” Asheville, in this article by Samuel Stebbins of 24/7 Wall St., is among America’s most dangerous cities: [avl.mx/bsk]. AreaVibes reported Asheville’s livability score of 63 (out of 100) with these rankings: amenities, A+; cost of living, D; crime, F; employment, D+; housing, C; schools, C; user ratings, F; total crime, 179% above national average; property crime, 193% above national average. Date and last updated: This data reflects the 2020 calendar year and was released from the FBI in September 2021; this is the most current data available. Given these facts, do you feel Asheville city leaders should reconsider defunding the police? — Kristen Burns-Warren Canton

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JULY 20-26, 2022

NEWS

Fire alarm

Local departments face critical volunteer shortage

BY JUSTIN McGUIRE

ficult to handle without volunteers,” he says.

jmcguire@mountainx.com Jeff Cole grew up in the West Buncombe Fire Department. His grandfather started volunteering with the department shortly after a small group of Lions Club members founded it in 1959. His father and uncle spent years as volunteer firefighters. His mother has been a member of the ladies auxiliary since the late 1960s. “I went on calls with my papaw or my dad, or went to calls with my mom — helping with soda, tea, coffee, crackers and sandwiches — for as long as I can remember,” he says. Cole returned to the department as a volunteer firefighter in 2005 after 20 years in the Navy. Today, he helps manage other volunteers as a volunteer captain. But such stories are increasingly rare. West Buncombe and other local departments are finding it tough to recruit and retain volunteers, once the backbone of community firefighting. Specific data are hard to come by, but the Raleigh-based N.C. Association of Fire Chiefs estimates the number of volunteers has decreased by about 11% each year in recent years. “If departments get two volunteers a month that come through the door, they’re doing well,” says Wesley Hutchins, the group’s executive director. Even Cole’s own sons have no interest in continuing the family tradition. “I can’t blame them,” he says, noting the job is harder than ever and requires substantially more training than it did in his father’s and grandfather’s day. And of course, volunteer work doesn’t pay. HELP WANTED As a result of the shortage, local departments have had to create more paid positions to keep up with National Fire Protection Association standards for staffing levels. To take two examples from this year alone, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners approved a 10% tax increase for the Barnardsville Fire District to add paid staff, and Jackson County commissioners added about $900,000 in funding for eight permanent positions for the Sylva Fire Department. 8

JULY 20-26, 2022

CENTER OF THE COMMUNITY

WHERE THERE’S SMOKE: Local fire officials say they need volunteers to supplement a paid staff that is facing a bigger workload than ever as the area’s population continues to grow. Photo courtesy of the West Buncombe Fire Department Chief Anthony Penland of the Swannanoa Fire Department says his force had just three paid positions when he joined in 1990, with volunteers accounting for the rest. Today, the department has 13 paid positions and four or five volunteers. “You’re looking at anywhere from 18 to 20 people needed to do all the functions that you may have to do on a structure fire,” Penland explains. “We hope that volunteers would supplement our paid staff and we’d be able to have that number. But we’re not meeting that right now.” As a result, Swannanoa often has to rely on help from other area

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departments when dealing with structure fires or other major emergencies. Similarly, Penland’s department offers aid to departments that lack enough volunteers. West Buncombe Chief Dennis Fagnant says when he started with the department 15 years ago, it had three paid positions per shift. Today, it has nine full-time and two part-time paid staff per shift. But he emphasizes that the need for volunteers remains critical. “It’s not uncommon at all for West Buncombe to have two or three, even four calls going on at the very same time, so that becomes dif-

Hutchins with the N.C. Association of Fire Chiefs remembers joining his local fire department with 15 of his friends in 1975. “We were volunteers and we were proud of it,” he says. “Now we’re getting folks moving in from all over the country, and they just don’t understand the volunteer fire department aspect of it.” Observers agree the changing nature of people’s lives, particularly in fast-growing areas like Buncombe County, is perhaps the biggest culprit in the volunteer firefighter shortage. In the past, says Fagnant, it was common for people to live and work in the same small town they grew up in, with the fire department serving as the center of the community. “If there was a fire or anything that happened during the day, you were already in the community, and likely your boss also volunteered in the fire department,” Fagnant says. “So you were able to leave, answer a call and go back to work. That’s not true whatsoever now. During working hours, it’s just not feasible.” Additionally, people increasingly live in households in which both spouses work full time and have to juggle child care and other family responsibilities. Others have to take on second jobs to make ends meet. All that makes the erratic schedule and huge time commitment of a volunteer firefighter — including hundreds of hours of training and certification before ever actually fighting a fire — a deal breaker for most people. That hasn’t been the case for Vlad Stepanov, who has volunteered with the West Buncombe Department for the past year and a half. But he admits balancing his volunteer duties and training requirements with a full-time job and a wife and three daughters has been challenging. Last year, he even used vacation time to get in several days of uninterrupted training. “It would be even harder if you didn’t have a spouse that was supportive,” he says. “My wife has been very understanding.” Stepanov says he was attracted to firefighting after he finished college because he wanted to learn

some new, hands-on skills and get high-quality training. “Plus, I had a passion for firefighting,” he says. Cole shares that passion, even after all these years. “It’s still the thrill of just being able to get in there and face the devil and back it off a little bit,” Cole explains. “The fact you can overcome such a destructive force and get somebody their house back or save somebody’s life is very satisfying.” A GOOD START Local fire officials agree that creative solutions are needed for departments looking to attract more volunteers. Last year, Swannanoa Chief Penland taught the county’s first high school fire academy at Owen High School. Six students completed 16 of the 20 certification courses needed to become a firefighter in North Carolina. One of those students now volunteers with Swannanoa, another with the Riceville Fire Department. “We will potentially get another one as soon as that individual turns 18,” Penland says. “So that’s a good start right there.”

The program proved so successful it will be expanded to Asheville High School this school year, with the Asheville Fire Department teaching the courses. Other efforts are underway across the state to help departments improve recruitment and retention. In 2019, the N.C. Association of Fire Chiefs obtained a $708,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to help departments in 12 North Carolina counties, including Buncombe, boost recruitment. Under the Volunteer Workforce Solutions campaign supported by that grant, the NCAFC provides marketing material, training and support. Participating departments join in leadership workshops and learn how to develop recruitment campaigns specific to their communities. West Buncombe’s Cole says the department has added several volunteers through the program. Cole recalls a different grant West Buncombe had a few years ago that allowed the department to pay volunteers $20 each time they responded to a call. “That was helpful, but it didn’t really make that big of a difference as far as call response,” he

says. “So it’s not necessarily getting paid that makes the difference.” Stepanov says flexibility may be one key to getting more recruits. West Buncombe’s fire academies allow volunteers to complete technical courses by training one night a week for about a year, rather than the usual schedule of compressing training into a few months. “I can’t quit my job and go to take those classes,” Stepanov says. “But the way West Buncombe is doing it, they’re allowing for people to have a job, have a family and just do it one night a week. If some other departments would do something like that, I think they could get their volunteers a little more excited about it.” Fagnant thinks that ultimately one solution may simply be raising awareness that volunteers remain a vital part of fire service for the majority of local departments. “When you talk to a new recruit that comes in, one of the common statements is: ’I didn’t know they still had volunteers,’” he says. “So a lot of people just don’t understand we have a need for volunteers. If this is something you want to do, reach out.” X

MOUNTAINX.COM

JULY 20-26, 2022

NEWS

An unfair share?

Reappraisal committee to bring recommendations to commissioners

BY BEN WILLIAMSON bwilliamson@mountainx.com In 2021, Joe Minicozzi, principal and founder of local urban planning firm Urban3, noticed a disturbing trend. As he and his peers analyzed Buncombe County’s latest round of property revaluations, they discovered that homes in historically poorer neighborhoods had disproportionate increases in property values compared with properties in richer parts of the city. Areas such as Burton Street and Shiloh, both of which are well over 40% nonwhite, saw single-family properties valued at significantly higher prices in 2021 than in the prior year — 36.7% and 35% higher, respectively — significantly raising tax burdens on many of Asheville’s poorest homeowners. Many wealthier, whiter neighborhoods, however, saw much less of an increase. Single-family property values in Brucemont, which is adjacent to Burton Street and 89% white, increased by just 16.6%; values in Biltmore Forest, which has a 99% white population and is across Hendersonville Road from Shiloh, increased by only 11.6%. Many high-priced homes, Minicozzi found, have seen their assessed values fall substantially short of their sale prices. The home of the late Biltmore Farms head, George Cecil, in Biltmore Forest, for example, sold in September 2021 for $9.5 million — a Western North Carolina residential record — but had been assessed at only $4.9 million. “How could the assessor’s computer model be 50% off?” Minicozzi asks. “If you scored a 50% on a

CLOSE, BUT FAR AWAY: Urban3 generated this visual showing differences in property value increases among adjacent neighborhoods with contrasting racial demographics. Graphic courtesy of Urban3 test, would you be considered succeeding in that class? Of course not. That’s an absolute failure in estimating value.” Urban3 prepared an extensive report analyzing the trend, evident in many other U.S. cities, and shared its findings with Buncombe Board of Commissioners Chair Brownie Newman. In response, Newman tasked county Tax Assessor Keith Miller with forming an ad hoc committee to provide guidance for future assessments and identify potential equity concerns.

The resulting committee consisted of three real estate professionals (two from one firm, Christie’s Real Estate), city of Asheville Director of Equity and Inclusion Brenda Mills, three at-large community members and Ori Baber, an Urban3 analyst. The group recently concluded its work, having met 14 times since November, and as of press time was scheduled to present its recommendations to the Board of Commissioners Tuesday, July 19. MOVING NUMBERS According to Miller, the county’s assessment numbers for each property are generated via a formula that considers each structure’s type, market data and sales figures. The resulting values, he asserts, are simply reflections of market forces that exist outside the control of the assessor’s office. He denies any suggestion that his office engages in any intentional over- or under-assessing of properties. “Our appraisers have no idea who lives in these houses. We don’t know their skin color, their ethics; we know nothing. We know the property characteristics and what the sales numbers are,” he says.

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Time is also a factor. Miller says that the county’s property assessments are only accurate on the day they are generated. As time passes and property values increase or decrease, they can drift away from the number generated when the assessment was made. “We just interpret what the buyers and sellers are doing,” Miller says. “In the areas that show larger growth, the numbers show what people are paying for properties. That’s just what the market is. “There is no proof of inequities,” Miller continues, when asked about what looks to be trends specific to certain areas of the city. “No one, Urban3 or [county consultant] Syneva, has said there is clear evidence of bias toward different types of neighborhoods. These properties that were overvalued and underassessed, if you look at the map, they are scattered all over the county.” But Baber claims Urban3 did present evidence of neighborhood-level inequities. He says County Manager Avril Pinder constrained the length and content of the material Minicozzi was allowed to present to the committee. “If you are white, you are eight times more likely to get an assessment discount of value than if you

are Black — period,” adds Minicozzi, referring to tax values that fall underneath sale prices. “That is a textbook definition of bias.” CONFLICTING PERSPECTIVES In keeping with Miller’s view, the ad hoc committee’s recommendations do not include any changes specifically addressing racial or economic inequities. Instead, suggestions include expanding access to the valuation appeals process, changing assessments for properties used as short-term rentals, boosting staff levels in Miller’s office and increasing levels of compliance around reporting property improvements. Discussions during the final meetings of the committee, however, suggest disagreements around equity issues. Members considered two “ratio studies,” reports that evaluated discrepancies between a property’s assessed value and its eventual sale price. The first, conducted by Urban3, found that the county’s most expensive homes had been assessed at about 78.3% of their sale price on average, while the least expensive homes were assessed at about 84.5% of their price — a difference of more than 6 percentage points. The second, commissioned by the county from consulting firm Syneva Economics, found virtually no difference in assessment between homes of different prices. Baber of Urban3 argues that the Syneva study is off-target. He says that report used data that had been adjusted through “sales chasing,” in which assessments for houses that have recently sold are revised using data from those sales. Those sales only covered 2% of all Buncombe properties, he continued, meaning Syneva’s model wouldn’t be accurate for the remaining 98% of homes. Conversely, it’s the Urban3 model that Miller feels is misleading. “It uses old sales data and old assessment data, which you cannot do,” he says. “If you compared a sale today back to when it was assessed, it’s going to look like the property was underassessed. The values will sometimes look like inequities are there when they may not be. The market may just be responding differently to different areas of the county.” Many Asheville homeowners of color are feeling the brunt of the property tax increases and are struggling to process these opposing views. Erin Barksdale is the outreach engagement coordinator for the Racial Justice Coalition, which

BY THE NUMBERS: This visual uses county data to show how property tax breaks differ by home values. Graphic courtesy of Urban3 she says has been following the ad hoc committee’s work. “It was clear last year that Black homeowners were going to pay way more than their fair share and that this was going to make Buncombe County even less affordable for our dwindling Black population. We thought the property tax appraisal should have been scrapped and done again, this time with a racial equity lens,” Barksdale says. “Buncombe County staff completely ignored the data that Urban3 had discovered and instead presented another analysis, one that was not conducted according to industry standards, which effectively whitewashed the property tax inequity problem and declared, in essence, that there was no problem,” she continues. Eric Cregger, county tax systems analyst, wrote in a communication to the committee prior to its June 1 meeting that the assessor’s office’s procedures had been reviewed by state officials and industry professionals and were determined to be sound. According to Newman, multiple perspectives may be considered when commissioners get their turn to weigh in. “I’m aware that Syneva Group and Urban3 did not reach identical conclusions in their analysis,” Newman said. “I expect the board will want to hear about the different analytical approaches taken by the different groups to understand what can be learned from each of the different analysis that has been undertaken.”

CLOSER TO EQUITY? For Barksdale, the committee’s recommendations are a step in the right direction, but much work remains to be done. “The biggest concern that we have is that they don’t fully address the root cause and harm done to the Black community,” said Barksdale. “Because of the information provided to the committee, and the information withheld, it’s no surprise that their proposed solutions won’t really address the core issues. Moving forward, we wonder how the county can be intentional about providing real solutions to a problem they don’t fully understand.” Miller acknowledges that Buncombe has failed to capture the full value of property in the county. In a sample of about 2,000 home sales from 2021, for example, assessed values fell roughly $96 million short of actual sale value. Asked why this was the case, he points to unreported improvements that had increased their value; he says the county’s valuation formula is sound and that the responsibility to record improvements falls on homeowners, not the assessor’s office. But to Baber, that difference in value points to a need for bigger changes in the county’s approach. “This means that in 2020, and perhaps many years prior, these homeowners have been receiving a significant tax break,” he says. “If this trend holds up across the entire housing stock, there could be bil-

lions of untaxed value in the county. This untaxed value mostly exists in more expensive homes, so rich homeowners are benefiting from this flaw in the assessment system.” Next, county commissioners will hear the report and have the opportunity to ask Miller about the ad hoc committee’s recommendations. While differences of opinion persist among Miller, Urban3 and others about how to best interpret the data and move forward, Miller suggests solutions to improving the process may best come from outside his office. “I understand the concern from property owners,” Miller said. “I don’t offer a solution. Every county in North Carolina lives by the same statutes. There hasn’t been a solution created for it yet. Will there be? I don’t know.” X

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Second chances

Diversion program helps homeless residents erase charges, avoid jail time BY BROOKE RANDLE brandle@mountainx.com Homelessness is not a crime, yet people living without shelter are far more likely to wind up in jail than those with even a temporary roof over their head. According to a multistate survey conducted by the California Policy Lab, unsheltered homeless folks are nine times as likely as people in shelters to report having spent at least one night in jail in the last six months. The nonpartisan research institute is affiliated with the University of California. Living outside often leads to citations or arrests for low-level offenses such as loitering, public urination or sleeping in parks. And having those minor infractions on a person’s permanent record can limit future employment and housing opportunities, thereby furthering the cycle of homelessness. But a new program, launched in February by the Buncombe County District Attorney’s Office, aims to give homeless residents accused of such crimes another option. The Unhoused Diversion Program, a specialized addition to the existing Adult Misdemeanor Diversion Program managed by the Buncombe County Justice Resource Center, is designed to spare low-risk, homeless offenders from the consequences of a criminal record while connecting them with resources to help break the cycle of arrest and homelessness. “We’re not going to incarcerate our way out of homelessness, nor is it the right thing to do,” Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams

declares. “If someone is unhoused and is going through a crisis, is this the time to fine them? Can you place them on probation? Can they reasonably be supervised if they don’t have an address or they don’t have a job? And is incarceration for a very marginal criminal act an appropriate response? I think the answer is ‘No’ to all of the above.”

BREAKING THE CYCLE

FAR-REACHING CONSEQUENCES Low-level misdemeanors such as camping, trespassing and panhandling are typically punished by some combination of jail time (usually less than a year), a fine and/or probation. Williams, who was first elected DA in 2014 and previously served 14 years as a public defender, says he considers many such offenses to be crimes of necessity that are a direct result of not having a place to live. “There’s different issues involved if someone has an apartment or house to go to and is choosing to sleep in a park or urinate in public, but for someone who is unhoused and who’s staying in a tent, they may not have many options,” notes Williams. Although many so-called nuisance crimes don’t initially lead to a jail stay, people accused of them can still be given citations. And if they’re unable to show up for required court appearances due to a lack of transportation or other homelessness-related problems, a warrant may be issued for their arrest. So the next time they cross paths with the police, they could end up in jail. After serving their sentence, many individuals end up back on the street — with

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DIFFERENT APPROACH: Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams, pictured, says a new program launched in February offers opportunities for homeless residents accused of nonviolent misdemeanor crimes to avoid jail time and other repercussion. Photo courtesy of Williams misdemeanor charges now part of their permanent record. That can have far-reaching consequences, says Kendra Queen, diversion services supervisor at the Justice Resource Center. “Having a low-level misdemeanor charge

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The Justice Resource Center’s Unhoused Diversion Program focuses on aspects of homelessness that the criminal justice system rarely addresses, such as poverty, trauma, mental illness and addiction. It specifically targets homeless residents who’ve been charged with nonviolent misdemeanors. People charged with violent crimes aren’t eligible. Depending on the severity and type of offense, participants’ involvement in the program may last from three to nine months. During that time, they’re required to attend classes teaching skills that have been shown to improve people’s lives, such as anger management, acceptance-and-commitment therapy and coping with substance abuse. They must also do anywhere from 15-32 hours of volunteer service at a local nonprofit, based on which class of misdemeanor they’re charged with. Participating organizations include Brother Wolf Animal Rescue and The N. C. Arboretum. In addition, enrollees are required to check in regularly with case managers and program coordinators. Those who complete the program are eligible for case dismissal, which is at the discretion of the district attorney’s office those who enroll but fail to fully comply with the rules are returned to court for traditional prosecution. Dealing with such complex issues requires extensive collaboration. The District Attorney’s Office is working

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on your record might hurt your opportunity for employment,” she explains.“Those direct and indirect consequences of having any criminal charge on your record can impact housing and the ability to find a job.” And those impacts, in turn, can lead to people becoming trapped in a cycle of homelessness and jail time.

Essential updates. Original reporting. Daily at 2 p.m.

SNAPSHOT “We’re not going to incarcerate our way out of homelessness, nor is it the right thing to do.” — Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams with the Buncombe County Public Defender and dozens of community partners, says Queen. “Our team is made up of counselors, case managers and peer support, so we can really take this holistic approach to serving Buncombe County residents,” she explains. “There might be a need for outpatient treatment, other medical-related needs or transportation. We’re looking at all of that and helping meet those needs so participants can have their cases dismissed.” The program also provides resources to help address common barriers that homeless people face, such as lacking identification or a permanent address. “I would say the transportation and [access to] mail are critical to being successful in dealing with the justice system while unhoused,” stresses Marcus Laws, homeless services director at AHOPE Day Center, one of those partner agencies. “With COVID-19, the additional barrier of technology came into play, with virtual court sessions.” Accordingly, the Justice Resource Center provides program participants with bus tickets and computer access, so they can send and receive email, conduct job search correspondence and print program-related documents and resumes. AHOPE, meanwhile, serves as a hub where county Justice Services staffers can meet with participants to help them stay current with things like court notifications and appearances. “The services at our day center will also be available for use by participants,” notes Laws, adding, “It may not guarantee that they will

be successful, but it does work to remove barriers to success.” MEASURING SUCCESS In December, Asheville Police Chief David Zack sent Williams a letter citing data from the state Administrative Office of the Courts concerning the DA’s handling of low-level arrests. Between 2018 and 2021, the letter noted, Williams’ office had dismissed almost all such infractions, which are “routinely complained of by downtown businesses and residents.” Zack went on to say that “To date, I have received no notice from you, any judge, any attorney employed by your office, or any other judicial officer that APD personnel are making inappropriate arrests, bringing charges with insufficient evidence, or failing to show up for scheduled court appearances.” The letter also made it clear that the chief planned to share that information at an upcoming meeting with downtown business owners. Williams, however, says there are various reasons that a charge may be dismissed. Sometimes, he explains, APD officers are required to appear in court as witnesses, and it may not be worth their while to show up. Other times, a low-level charge is dismissed to speed up prosecution of a more serious crime stemming from the same incident. In addition, he points out, “There could have been people that did treatment or could have done community service, and then earned those dismissals.” Although the DA says he hasn’t had direct feedback from Zack about

ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, GO: Children 3-6 years old will compete in Asheville Parks & Recreation’s annual Tiny Tykes Triathlon in Pack Square Park, Sunday, Aug. 7. Advance registration is required, and at press time, spots were still available. Cost is $10 for Asheville residents and $12 for those living outside the city. Triathletes are asked to bring their own bike and helmet, wear clothing that can get wet and have shoes securely fastened. Photo courtesy of the city of Asheville

the Unhoused Diversion Program, which launched two months after the chief sent his letter, Williams notes that the APD has been referring participants to it. Despite repeated attempts, Xpress was unable to get a comment from Zack concerning the new program. And while Williams and Queen both have high hopes for the program’s success, it’s too soon to tell. Only 10 homeless people have enrolled since Feb. 1, when the District Attorney’s Office began making referrals. The broader Adult Misdemeanor Diversion Program, however, does have a successful track record. Since its launch in October 2017, 843 individuals have been enrolled

and 587 — nearly 70% — have completed the program and had their cases dismissed. Williams, however, says his principal concern is not necessarily how much the program reduces recidivism among homeless residents but that, in his view, prosecuting crimes related to homelessness is simply a nonstarter that neither increases public safety nor gets people off the streets. Diversion “is a more constructive response than giving somebody a day in jail and turning them back out on the street,” the DA maintains. “Even if the numbers don’t show improvement, I don’t think that there’s a nexus between homelessness and prosecution of violent crime.” X

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JULY 20-26, 2022

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WANT THE FACTS?

Land use incentive grants Asheville is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis, and forecasters expect that conditions will only worsen over the next several years. A 2021 Housing Needs Assessment of Western North Carolina, commissioned by the Dogwood Health Trust and completed by Bowen National Research, anticipates that Buncombe County’s population will grow by 6.8%, or nearly 7,900 people, from 2020 through 2025. By that time, the report expects that households earning less than $30,000 per year will make up a third of the county’s renters, with another third earning between $30,000 and $60,000. Meanwhile, the availability of housing for those low- and moderate-income residents continues to lag. The same report also found that the rental vacancy rate for all Buncombe County units was about 1.2%, with well over 2,200 households on waitlists for affordable housing. That disparity is pushing area leaders to use every tool in their box to encourage more affordable developments, including the city of Asheville’s Land Use Incentive Grant program. Better known as LUIG, the initiative aims to entice developers to include affordable units in their projects by offering property tax rebates. Council is next slated to consider such a grant Tuesday, July 26, for a 186-unit development on Long Shoals Road. In the latest edition WTF — Want the Facts? — Xpress examines the policy and asks whether it still holds up in today’s housing market.

WHAT YOU PAY FOR: A planned 80-unit affordable microhousing development on Hilliard Avenue will receive about $593,000 in city tax rebates through Asheville’s Land Use Incentive Grant program. Rendering courtesy of the city of Asheville WHAT DEVELOPMENTS QUALIFY? To qualify for a grant, at least 20% of a development’s units must be offered as affordable to households earning 80% or less of the area median income (currently $45,000 for an individual, $64,250 for a family of four) for at least 20 years. Developments also must be located in Asheville city limits, and 70% of the available square footage must be residential. At least 50% of the units must accept rental assistance, including housing choice vouchers.

WHEN DID LUIG COME ABOUT?

HOW MUCH DO DEVELOPERS GET?

In November 2010, Asheville City Council adopted the program to bolster the development of affordable, workforce and low-income rental housing. Since then, the LUIG policy has been revised six times, most recently in 2021. The first grant was awarded in 2015 to the River Mill Lofts project.

Grant amounts are based on a point system, and the main way for projects to earn points is through increasing affordability. Developers can also earn points from location or design criteria, such being close to grocery stores and bus lines or incorporating energy-efficient building practices.

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X Awards 2022

Every five points qualifies a project for a grant equal to one year of the property tax increase resulting from the new development (in other words, the difference between the tax on the previous property value and that on the higher property value after development). Regardless of a project’s score, grants are capped at a total of $80,000 per affordable unit. WHAT’S BEEN APPROVED SO FAR? Since the LUIG policy was adopted, 11 projects have been awarded subsidies. Those grants — the most recent of which went to a microhousing development on Hilliard Avenue — have supported nearly 300 units affordable to residents making no more than 80% AMI. The total amount of property taxes that will be rebated through these grants comes out to about $10 million. The average subsidy per affordable unit is thus a little over $33,000. WHO DOES LUIG BENEFIT? All projects approved for LUIG so far have offered housing affordable to those earning 60% AMI or more. LUIG hasn’t been successful at incentivizing housing for those in lower income brackets, says Sasha Vrtunski, the city’s affordable housing officer, as the subsidies don’t fully compensate for the profits

developers would forgo by renting at those levels. “It would be very difficult for a private developer to provide units at 30% AMI without substantial funding from other sources much bigger than our LUIG program — say, [federal] Low Income Housing Tax Credits,” Vrtunski explains. “Providing units at 80% AMI is a typical standard across the country, with 60% AMI being even better, but often needs additional subsidies to make the project pencil out.” WHAT’S NEXT FOR LUIG? Mayor Esther Manheimer says that while the LUIG policy has been successful overall at encouraging affordable housing in Asheville, Council will continue to revise the program to adapt to current affordable housing needs and the state of the economy. Vrtunski says that “over the next few months, staff will be digging in more into the history of this program, how it has functioned and how we can improve it.” “There is always room for improvement,” Manheimer adds. “The economy has changed so much, especially with inflation related to construction, [that] this policy may need to amended from time to time just to stay current as an actual incentive, which is how it’s intended.”

— Brooke Randle X

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JULY 20-26, 2022

FEA T U RE S

Q&A: Local advocate discusses the role of hope When Jade McWilliams, who uses the pronoun they, was notified by email earlier this year that they’d been awarded the 2020 Empowering Hope Award, they were dumbfounded. After all, they say, “If I won it in 2020 and now it’s 2022, why didn’t I know sooner?” Like most things, the award, typically announced at the NC TIDE annual conference, was delayed due to COVID-19. After McWilliams’ confusion cleared, they were pleased by the recognition. NC TIDE’s Empowering Hope Award celebrates people who have overcome adversity through tenacity, strength and self-determination while inspiring hope and empowering others through their own personal life journey. McWilliams — a Western North Carolina advocate for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities — relocated to the area from upstate New York in 2001. Later, they received an autism diagnosis by the Asheville TEACCH Center. Catherine Faherty, an autism professional who recommended McWilliams for the award, says, “From the moment of diagnosis, Jade dove deeply into self-examination, which has resulted in generous self-expression, education and community service.” Along with McWilliams’ more earnest community work, they also embrace the whimsical. As a child, they wanted to build Muppets with Jim Henson, and now they love residing in WNC because of its embrace of creative living. “I’ve met a chiropractor that works on goats,” McWilliams exclaims. “People can do almost anything here and have it taken seriously. I love that.”

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Xpress recently sat down with McWilliams to talk about their journey to becoming a community leader, the Empowering Hope award and how individuals can make a difference within their own community. This interview has been condensed and lightly edited. What is the most significant part about being recognized with this award? The way my life has unfolded, I have never been able to complete a college degree. So, being recognized in any formal way for the work I do is very validating, and that feels good. It’s important that people are looking at our community of folks with all kinds of disabilities and formally honoring the work done by nonprofessionals who don’t have letters after their name. Does receiving this award change the way that you look at your work? It’s definitely something that I can put in a bio. I do a lot of work with helper organizations on how to best serve the needs of people with different kinds of disabilities in the areas of sexual abuse. Being able to say I have this award legitimizes me in a way that shouldn’t maybe be necessary, but it definitely helps. I have encountered situations where people wanted me to present or share with a group, and when they found out that I didn’t have an advanced degree or that I couldn’t offer continuing education units, they said, “Oh. Thanks, but no thanks.” That’s really hard, and it makes me very angry. So, I appreciate the award for validating people on the outside. How do you avoid burnout? Honestly, it’s not easy. In 2021, I was hospitalized for a suicide attempt and spent a year not doing any work. I have a strong community of folks where we help each other out, and that is wonderful. I also have people who check in with me and say, “I think you’re doing too much.” And I say, “Well, let’s look at this and see.” But yeah, it’s easy to get burnt out. It’s easy to be despairing. And it’s easy to get caught up in terrible things that happen in your community. What advice would you pass along to someone who wanted to make a difference in their community? The first thing I would tell them is to look not at the big issues but within your own community. Look at what is not going well for you, what is not going well for the people you care about. Then get creative about what

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LOOK AROUND: When it comes to advocacy work, Jade McWilliams encourages residents to look within themselves as well as in their community. “Look at what is not going well for you, what is not going well for the people you care about,” McWilliams says. “Then get creative about what can be done about that.” Photo by Ray Hemachandra can be done about that. Sometimes getting creative means you need to talk with other people about it or talk to people who work in other disciplines. Those conversations are really worth having. I also believe that it’s fundamentally important that we lift from the bottom up, a very grassroots approach to advocacy and activism. What propelled you to take on this role as a community leader? A large part of it has been my life. I am definitely a product of multigenerational poverty. I grew up with my family on welfare. Today, I live on SSI [disability], which is $841 a month. My mother had profound and serious mental illness and substance use problems. That made growing up very difficult. I know about psychiatric hospitals and mentally ill people being arrested and homeless and the impact of addiction when there’s no money. When I was 15, I met this guy who was twice my age. He really groomed

me, and I went to live with him when I was 16. And that was a whole new, wonderful 18 years of hell. Due to my upbringing and disabilities and challenges, I had a real inability to understand how screwed up so many things in my life were. I finally started getting professional help at the Asheville TEACCH Center. When I started getting services there, I got less isolated and got some perspective. Eventually, someone I knew through that program said, “If you had a place to go, would you leave?” And I said, “Yes.” And she said, “You can come stay at my house for as long as you need.” So I did that, and I never went back. Being able to compare my life now to my life then — how vast that difference is, how wonderful and thankful and grateful I am today. It really made me want to be an advocate for other adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Those are some of the most vulnerable and abused people in the world. I just want to work toward a more inclusive world where people don’t have those experiences and where we’re all appreciated for who we are and how we are and we have opportunities to develop our potential in ways that are meaningful to us. It’s important as a society that we work to find ways to value every person. Part of that has to start with reinforcing the social safety net. Welfare reform killed people including my mom, who died due to a lack of health care and being too disabled to pursue getting disability benefits that could have saved her life. In addition to her mental illness and substance use problems, she was also a Type 1 diabetic. It’s hard to get insulin when you don’t have any health insurance on an ongoing basis, and if you’re transient or don’t have secure housing. ... There are a lot of things that work against people like that, who are incredibly vulnerable. I just feel like there needs to be a better system for catching those people. I advocate and hope for a world with better ways of preventing those needless deaths and suffering of people. What do you see as your biggest success to this point? My biggest success is not being dead. I am 41, and I never expected to live this long. I’m very impressed with myself for the things I’ve lived through and have done so without ever developing a substance use problem. I never became an unkind person. Being alive and having my life be good is my greatest accomplishment.

— LA Bourgeois X

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Local residents adjust to wartime daylight savings, 1941-45

“Clocks all over Asheville, Western North Carolina, and the state will be turned up an hour at midnight tonight, or tomorrow morning, as this state goes on daylight saving time for the remainder of the summer, as a national defense measure,” The Asheville Citizen reported in its July 27, 1941, edition. “It is a simple matter of moving the clock up an hour.” Yet in a separate editorial in that same day’s issue, the paper made clear the potential for plenty to go wrong with the new initiative:

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If you miss a favorite radio program — Or — to turn a pleasant side of the picture — if a long-awaited letter is brought by the postman an hour earlier than it was expected — It’s all due to the fact that you, or somebody else didn’t (or did) turn the clock up an hour at midnight Sunday. (Better turn it up at bedtime, just to be safe, if your bedtime is earlier than midnight!)” At the time, America had yet to enter the Second World War. Still, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was already pushing to conserve the nation’s energy supply, asking Congress to empower him to issue executive orders “fixing new time standards in some areas [such as Asheville] and leaving others unchanged” in the name of national defense, The Asheville Citizen reported on July 16. “I wonder what the president is going to want to control next,” Sen. Gerald Nye of North Dakota is quoted as saying in the article. “Daylight saving is nothing but a policy of fooling ourselves. The simplest way to gain an hour of daylight is to get up an hour earlier in the morning.” Local residents seemed less opposed to the measure. “Nobody much, save perhaps the clock-setter, seems to have been incommoded by Asheville’s shift to Daylight Saving Time,” an editorial read in the July 29, 1941, edition of The Asheville Citizen.

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TIME FLIES: A July 28, 1941, Carolina Power & Light Co. advertisement, notifies readers of The Asheville Citizen that the company is complying with N.C. Gov. J.M. Broughton’s daylight saving time proclamation. There were exceptions, of course, as the paper went on to explain: “Commuters stepped on the gas a bit, forgetful of rationing appeals, as they sped to work an hour earlier by the sun but a bit tardy by the clock. The farmer in all probability followed his customary routine, for cows and chickens, not at all clockwise, needed his attention at the usual time. The city dweller groaned a bit as he hit the floor an hour ahead of time, but he took it in good stride.” Because the hour shift was not adopted across the nation, the railroads, bus lines and airlines remained in Eastern Standard Time, which subsequent reports did note “resulted in some confusion” for local riders. But with summer’s end came the return to standard time. “Just when a good part of the folks have become used to getting up on ‘fast time,’ along comes the ‘guvment’ to change around to ‘slow time’ again,” The Asheville Citizen jokingly lamented in its Sept. 25, 1941, edition.

“This means that when the folks go to bed Saturday night they will set their clocks back an hour, and thus will gain one extra hour in bed fore the bong-bong of the alarm clock arouses them again.” The experiment returned once the U.S. entered World War II, with time advancing one hour on Jan. 20, 1942. The new “war time” remained in effect until the war’s conclusion. “There has been increasing opposition to the ‘fast time,’ from the rural areas principally” an AP article published in The Asheville Citizen reported on Sept. 12, 1945. “Farmers have flooded the mail of their congressmen with complaints that the system worked a hardship on them.” Two decades later, in 1966, daylight saving time became law with the passage of the 1966 Uniform Time Act. Editor’s note: Peculiarities of spelling and punctuation are preserved from the original document. X

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JULY 20-26, 2022

COMMUNITY CALENDAR JULY 20 - JULY 28, 2022

THEATER & FILM

For a full list of community calendar guidelines, please visit mountainx.com/calendar. For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, opt. 4. For questions about paid calendar listings, please call 828-251-1333, opt. 1.

Elsa’s Legacy: The Born Free Story A documentary showing, follwed by a discussion and Q&A with host Wendy Wheat, who lived and worked with George and Joy Adamson in the Kenyan bush. Light refreshments. Donations welcome. For further info contact Wendy: (415)4194499 or wendy4g@ yahoo.com. WE (7/20), 7pm, Jubilee Community Church, 46 Wall St

Online Events = Shaded WELLNESS Men's Cancer Support Group Safely meet in a large conference room and stay socially distant while wearing masks. RSVP: Will (412)9130272 or acwein123@ gmail.com. WE (7/20), 6pm, Free, Woodfin YMCA, 40 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 101 Pub Run Rain or shine, all ages and experience levels welcome. WE (7/20, 27), 6:15pm, Archetype Brewing, 265 Haywood Rd Montford Tai Chi Hosted by local acupuncturist Tyler White. All ages, every Thursday. TH (7/21, 28), 9am, Free, Montford Recreation Center, 34 Pearson Dr Goat Yoga Taught by a certified instructor and nurse. SA (7/23), 11am, 12:15pm, $35, Whistle Hop Brewing Co., 1288 Charlotte Hwy, Fairview Yoga in the Park Join together alongside the French Broad River for this all-level friendly yoga class based on Hatha and Vinyasa traditions. SA (7/23) SU (7/24), 1:30pm, $10, Carrier Park, 220 Amboy Rd

ART RAD Collabs Painters, potters, metalsmiths, woodworkers and others working with glassblowers. FR (7/22), 10am North Carolina Glass Center, 140 Roberts St, Ste B Blown Glass Demos with Andrew Montrie FR (7/22), 1pm, Appalachian Craft Center, 10 N Spruce St, Ste 120 Girl with Flowers Twelve large scale portrait paintings on display - 3d glasses will be given to guests to enhance the experience. FR (7/22), 5pm, SA (7/23) 12pm, Jeffrey Luque Art, 162 W French Broad St, Brevard First Anniversary Celebration Celebrating with the launch of the NFT Art Gallery, this celebration will include

art demonstrations and workshops, live virtual reality painting, local food vendors, live music, as well as an art raffle benefiting the Madison County Community Housing Coalition. SA (7/23), 2pm, Mars Landing Galleries, 37 Library St, Mars Hill

Reception, Screening and Discussion of Come Hell or Highwater, Remembering the Flood of 1916 Presented by the Swannanoa Valley Museum and the Center for Cultural Preservation. With music performed by folk and bluegrass musician David Wiseman, whose tribute song is featured in the film. TH (7/21), 7pm, $1520, Swannanoa Valley Museum, 223 W State St, Black Mountain

Nature and Nurture: The Voorhees Family Artistic Legacy This multi-generational, multi-media exhibit displays paintings, pottery and jewelry from seven members of the Voorhees family. Daily. 9am, NC Arboretum, 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way Bullington Gardens Fairy Trail Three hundred yards of tiny doors that can be gently opened and closed to reveal fairy life scenes. Closed Sunday. WE (7/27), 9am, Bullington Gardens, 95 Upper Red Oak Trail, Hendersonville American Perspectives: Stories from the American Folk Art Museum Collection Over 80 works of folk and self-taught art, including assemblages, needlework, paintings, pottery, quilts and sculpture. Closed Tuesday. Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

COMMUNITY MUSIC Steinway Piano Celebration BMC Artist Faculty take center stage as we shine a spotlight on Brevard’s world-renowned piano program. WE (7/20), 7:30pm, $35, Brevard Music Center, 349 Andante Ln, Brevard Live Jazz Hour) Host and composer Michael Jefry Stevens will be joined by musician friends for a live performance in the community room. All ages welcome. Sponsored by the Friends of Enka-Candler Library. TH (7/21), 6pm, Enka-Candler Library, 1404 Sandhill Rd, Candler Rhythm & Blues Concert Series with Melt Monthly summer concert series continues. Indie pop band Pink

JULY 20-26, 2022

DOWNWARD FACING GOAT: Kidding Around Asheville will host goat yoga classes at Whistle Hop Brewing in Fairview on Saturday, July 23, at 11 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. The class, which is taught by a certified yoga instructor and nurse, runs 60 minutes and incorporates goats from a local farm. A beer or nonalcoholic beverage is included in the $35 cost. Photo courtesy of Kidding Around Asheville Beds opens the show. TH (7/21), 5:30pm, Historic Downtown Hendersonville Brahms Symphony No. 1 Established Swiss conductor Matthias Bamert returns to Brevard to celebrate his 80th birthday with one of the Romantic era’s most magnificent symphonic works. TH (7/21), 7:30pm, $24, Brevard Music Center, 349 Andante Ln, Brevard Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos BMC Artist Faculty perform J.S. Bach’s iconic set of concertos. FR (7/22), 7:30pm, $24, Brevard Music Center, 349 Andante Ln, Brevard Shindig on the Green A mountain tradition since 1967, with bluegrass and old-time string bands, cloggers, ballad singers and storytellers - to support the preservation and continuation of the traditional music, dance

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and storytelling heritage of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. SA (7/23), 7pm, Pack Square Park Dvořák Piano Quintet Folk tunes, Gypsy themes, and driving rhythms provide the energy found in these American and European chamber music classics. MO (7/25), 7:30pm, $35, Brevard Music Center, 349 Andante Ln, Brevard Tuesday Night Block Party Whitewater Bluegrass Co. and an experienced caller will take attendees step-by-step through a collection of moves that combine square and contra dancing styles. Family-friendly with food vendors and other activities. TU (7/26), 6pm, Downtown Brevard, 175 East Main St, Brevard Joshua Bell Plays Tchaikovsky Iconic violinist Joshua Bell joins Artistic

Director Keith Lockhart and the Brevard Music Center Orchestra for Tchaikovsky’s beloved Violin Concerto. WE (7/27), 7:30pm, $30, Brevard Music Center, 349 Andante Ln, Brevard

SPOKEN & WRITTEN WORD Lydia Stryk presents The Teachers’ Room in conversation with Kia Corthron The authors discuss Stryk's novel. Sponsored by Malaprop's. Registration required. TH (7/21), 6pm, avl.mx/brb Malaprop's Notorious HBC (History Book Club) Participants will discuss Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson and Jason Stanford. Registration required. TH (7/21), 7pm, avl.mx/9s9

Malaprop's Science Fiction Book Club Participants will discuss White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi. Registration required. MO (7/25), 7pm, avl.mx/7on Malaprop's Romance Book Club Participants will discuss How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole. Registration required. TU (7/26), 7pm, avl.mx/bh1 Malaprop's Foodie Book Club Participants will discuss Kitchens of the Midwest: A Novel by J. Ryan Stradal. Registration required. WE (7/27), 7pm, avl.mx/boq Brad Rouse presents Climate Warrior The author discusses his book. Sponsored by Malaprop's. Registration required. TH (7/28), 6pm, avl.mx/bs9

The Way We See the World: Exploring Indigenous Representation in Film An evening celebrating Indigenous voices in film and television, featuring special guest Sterlin Harjo (co-creator, FX’s Reservation Dogs). FR (7/22), 5pm, $35-50, Mountainside Theatre, 688 Drama Rd, Cherokee The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee In this Tony award-winning musical, six awkward spelling champions vie for the spelling championship of a lifetime. FR (7/22), SA (7/23), 7:30pm, SU (7/24), 3pm, $25-30, Hendersonville Theatre, 229 South Washington St, Hendersonville West Side Story The number one requested musical from the venue's 2019 show survey. Various dates and times, through July 30. Flat Rock Playhouse, 2661 Hwy 225, Flat Rock The Magnetic Theatre presents: Starbright The story of Grace, an astrophysicist who lost her daughter Abby nearly a year ago, written by Asheville resident Sean David Robinson. TH (7/21), FR (7/22), SA (7/23), 7:30pm, $25, The Magnetic Theatre, 375 Depot St Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert A performance of John Williams’ Oscar

winning score live, to the complete film. SA (7/23), 8:30pm, $24, Brevard Music Center, 349 Andante Ln, Brevard Man of La Mancha “The Impossible Dream” is vibrantly realized in this operatic adaptation of Mitch Leigh’s Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, revealing the idealized story of poet Miguel de Cervantes as he takes on the role of the one and only Don Quixote. Sung in English with supertitles. TH (7/28), 7:30pm, $37, Porter Center, 1 Brevard College Dr, Brevard

CLASSES, MEETINGS & WORKSHOPS Cruise then Booze Paddle Outing A two hour paddle trip down the French Broad, ending at the brewery. Boats, life jackets, paddles and a two-minute shuttle trip to Pisgah Forest access provided. FR (7/22), 4:30pm, Oskar Blues Brewery, 342 Mountain Industrial Dr, Brevard Michael Checkhov Method Originally developed as a movement theater technique, Noreen Sullivan has adapted the method to be inclusive for all artists and creatives seeking to expand their craft through modes of embodiment. Siding scale. SA (7/23), 11am, $10-40, Center for Connection + Collaboration Black Mountain Downtown History Tour Learn the history of Black Mountain and the Swannanoa Valley on this walking tour with museum staff leading attendees through State St, Cherry St and Black Mountain Ave, relaying the history of several buildings and discussing topics including the building of the Swannanoa Tunnel and the disastrous downtown fire of 1912. SA (7/23), 1pm, Free-$10, Swannanoa Valley Museum, 223 W State St, Black Mountain Dirt Skrrt Women's Bike Bash The one-year anniversary celebration will consist of group rides to explore the bike park, a gear swap, industry professionals present to help with bike suspension and a tire change clinic, local bike retailers,

a scavenger hunt with prizes and a live DJ. SU (7/24), 12pm, Free, Kolo Bike Park, 85 Expo Dr Weekly Chess Tournament All skill levels welcome. SU (7/24), 2pm, Sovereign Kava, 268 Biltmore Ave Recap of the 2022 Hearing Loss Association of America Annual Convention This workshop presenter, who attended the convention in Tampa in June, will share lessons learned and new advances in the hearing loss arena. The Zoom ID to enter is: 505 945 6126 and the password is: asheville (all lower case). TU (7/26), 6:30pm WNCHA History Hour – I Found That Song In A Friend: Bascom Lamar Lunsford and WNC Song A virtual event with the WNC Historical Association exploring Madison County legend Bascom Lamar Lunsford and his influence on old time music in WNC. TH (7/28), 6pm, avl.mx/bsz

LOCAL FOOD AND ARTS MARKETS

Leicester Community Center, 2979 New Leicester Hwy, Leicester

Asheville City Market South Midweek market operated by the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP). WE (7/20, 27), 12pm, Biltmore Town Square, 1 Town Square Blvd

River Arts District (RAD) Farmers Market Located on the river with live music and over 30 local vendors. Safely accessible via the greenway, plus ample parking. WE (7/20, 27), 3pm, Smoky Park Supper Club, 350 Riverside Dr

Weaverville Tailgate Market Local foodstuffs, alongside a small lineup of craft and artisan vendors. WE (7/20, 27), 3pm, 60 Lake Shore Dr, Weaverville

Wednesday Night Market: Vintage and Crafts Vintage and crafts from area-based vendors. WE (7/20, 27), 4pm, Fleetwood’s, 496 Haywood Rd

Etowah Lions Club Farmers Market Fresh produce, meat, sweets, breads, arts, and more. WE (7/20 27), 3pm, Etowah Lions Club, 447 Etowah School Rd, Hendersonville

Enka-Candler Tailgate Market Fresh local produce and heritage crafts. Weekly. TH (7/21, 28), 3pm, A-B Tech Small Business Center, 1465 Sand Hill Rd, Candler

Les-ter Farmers Market Support local farmers and craftspeople offering a variety of local produce, herbs, flowers, cheese, meat, prepared foods, art, gifts and much more - all locally grown and produced. WE (7/20, 27), 3pm,

Flat Rock Tailgate Market A diverse group of local produce farmers, jam and jelly makers, bread bakers, wild crafters, and merrymakers. TH (7/21, 28), 3pm, Pinecrest ARP Church, 1790 Greenville Hwy, Flat Rock

East Asheville Tailgate Market Local goods, every Friday. FR (7/22), 3pm, 954 Tunnel Rd Henderson County Tailgate Market One of the oldest open-air markets in WNC, this unique market has a festival feel, with local growers who operate small family farms in Henderson County. SA (7/23), 8am, Henderson County Tailgate Market, 100 N King St, Hendersonville Hendersonville Farmers Market Produce, meat, eggs, baked goods, coffee, crafts and more from 30+ local vendors. With live music, kids' activities and cooking demos weekly. SA (7/23), 8am, 650 Maple St, Hendersonville Mills River Farmers Market A producer-only market, selling products raised or produced within 50 miles. With local musicians, a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs, and high-quality crafts.

SA (7/23), 8am, Mills River Elementary School, 94 Schoolhouse Rd, Mills River North Asheville Tailgate Market The oldest Saturday morning market in WNC. Over 60 rotating vendors. SA (7/23), 8am, 3300 University Heights Asheville City Market Over 50 vendors and local food products, including fresh produce, meat, cheese, bread, pastries, and more. SA (7/23), 9am, 52 N Market St Black Mountain Tailgate Market Seasonal community market event featuring organic and sustainably grown produce, plants, cut flowers, herbs, locally raised meats, seafood, breads, pastries, cheeses, eggs and local arts and handcrafted items. SA (7/23), 9am, Black Mountain Tailgate Market, 130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain Haywood's Historic Farmers Market Located at HART Theatre. SA (7/23), 9am, Hart Theatre, 250 Pigeon St, Waynesville

Transylvania Farmers Market Fifty vendors offering fresh, locally-grown produce, meat, poultry, eggs, honey, cheese, coffee, plants, herbs, cut flowers, baked goods, jams, jellies, relishes, prepared foods and handcrafted items. SA (7/23), 9am, Downtown Brevard, 175 East Main St, Brevard Madison Co. Farmers & Artisans Market Local goods and produce, weekly through October. SA (7/23), 10am, Mars Hill University, Mars Hill University, 100 Athletic St, Mars Hill Junk-O-Rama Saturday Vintage antiques market, every Saturday through October. SA (7/23), 11am, Fleetwood's, 496 Haywood Rd Gladheart Farm Fest Market Fresh produce, bread and pastries, food vendors, and live music, weekly. SU (7/24), 11am, Gladheart Farm, 9 Lora Ln Meadow Market Runs every Sunday from May-August and will feature a rotation

of local bakers, makers and artisans. SU (7/24), 12pm, Highland Brewing Co., 12 Old Charlotte Hwy West Asheville Tailgate Market Over 40 local vendors, every Tuesday - with live music from Asheville Junction. TU (7/26), 3:30pm, 718 Haywood Rd

BENEFITS & VOLUNTEERING Project Linus: WNC Chapter Seeking volunteers to create and donate children’s blankets, providing a sense of security and warmth to children in crisis. Contact Ellen Knoefel at (828)645-8800 or gknoefel @charter. net or Pat Crawford (828)873-8746. Experiential Garden Volunteers Needed Verner Experiential Garden (VEG) will host community garden nights, with gloves and tools provided. Email volunteer coordinator Polly: pphillips@ verneremail.org for more details.

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TH (7/21, 28), 4pm, Verner Center for Early Learning, 2586 Riceville Rd Clothing Swap & Bra Drive to Benefit Helpmate NC Donated bras will be cleaned and curated by Hello, Gorgeous! in order to provide personalized, professional bra fittings and bras for survivors. Leftover clothing items will be donated to a local non-profit. Helpmate works within our community to eliminate abuse and fear by providing safety, shelter, and support for survivors of intimate partner domestic violence. TH (7/21), 5:30pm, $12, The Courtyard at The Shops at Reynolds Village, 61 North Merrimon Ave, Woodfin Christmas in July A festive winter themed event highlighting special or exclusive seasonal releases and a back to school supply and donation drive in partnership with The United Way, with all gifts directly benefiting local schools in the community. TH (7/21), 6pm, Thirsty Monk Downtown, 92 Patton Ave

JULY 20-26, 2022

WELLNESS

Heads together

More mental health services coming to WNC BY JESSICA WAKEMAN jwakeman@mountainx.com There’s a map on the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services website that shades most of the state’s counties orange. Buncombe County is one of the 91 counties the Office of Rural Health has designated as experiencing a behavioral health professional shortage. In fact, the 2022 departmental map designates all 16 counties of Western North Carolina as experiencing a shortage. “We’ve had a shortage of pretty much all mental health workers for a long time — there aren’t enough psychiatrists, psychologists and master’s-level therapists to see all the people who need services,” says Dr. Steve Buie, Mountain Area Health Education Center psychiatry department chair and psychiatry residency program training director. He notes that Asheville and Waynesville both have some psychiatric services, but “if you get further west, there are no psychiatrists in those counties.” (Telehealth is an option for some behavioral health professionals, but not everyone provides it, and some patients prefer not to do their treatment virtually.) MAHEC deemed as most needed child psychiatry and behavioral health professionals qualified to treat substance use disorder co-occuring with mental illness, Buie explains. In 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental

FILLING THE PIPELINE: Dr. Steve Buie, Mountain Area Health Education Center psychiatry department chair, left, and Kristy Smith, clinical services director, right, are committed to developing more behavioral health professionals in Western North Carolina. Photos courtesy of MAHEC Health Services Administration awarded MAHEC a two-year, $4 million grant to become a certified behavioral health clinic. The clinic provides services for adults with serious mental illness, children with serious emotional disturbances, people with long-term and serious substance use disorders, who are also Medicaid beneficiaries. The clinic is dedicated to expanding “access to behavioral health and substance use services in our community because there is pretty great need here in western North Carolina,” explains Kristy

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Smith, clinical services director of MAHEC’s psychiatry department. Over the past several years, MAHEC has sought to address the disparity through several new programs as well. “As so eloquently stated by others, there is no health without mental health,” Dr. Carrie Brown, chief medical officer for behavioral health and intellectual and developmental disability, tells Xpress in an email. “Partnering with the Mountain Area Health Education Center to help bring quality services to rural communities strengthens the state’s behavioral health support network so people can get the help they need closer to home.” ‘AN IMBALANCE BETWEEN SERVICES’ Deficits in certain industries can sometimes be attributed to a so-called pipeline problem, meaning there are not enough workers undergoing training in the pipeline. In 2017, MAHEC established a psychiatry residency — building a pipeline, so to speak — as well as a rural psychiatry track for residents in April 2022, Buie explains. (The medical program at University of North Carolina is

affiliated with MAHEC through its UNC Health Sciences at MAHEC program and supports several programs. However, MAHEC recruits residents separately from UNC, Buie says.) MAHEC’s psychiatry residency had the go-ahead from the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education, Buie explains, which has “recognized there’s imbalance between services available in major metropolitan areas versus rural areas.” The governing body of medical residencies found that “people tend to stay in the area where they do their last training,” he says, and therefore, a new residency could put potential health care workers in the correct place. The state began providing MAHEC funding for four, four-year psychiatry resident slots per year, Buie explains. It later increased to six residents per year. “Our hope is that over time, those folks will graduate and stay in the area to practice psychiatry and that’ll decrease the shortage that we have,” he explained. MAHEC introduced a rural psychiatry track for residents, where residents work at the In-Patient Behavioral Health Hospital at Appalachian Behavioral Regional Health Center in Linville. “It’s a regular psychiatry residency, but it’s in a rural site,” explains Buie. Residents have to spend at least half their time in Linville, but they also will perform some rotations at MAHEC, since some of the training resources only are available closer to Asheville. For example, the residents must complete one month of training in in-patient addiction psychiatry at Julian F. Keith Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Center in Black Mountain, and two months each of child and adolescent psychiatry and neurology. (MAHEC also has a rural medicine fellowship, which is separate from the residencies. The rural medicine fellowship is available for residents in family medicine, psychiatry and OB-GYN, Buie explains. The residents’ training will be focused on their specific areas, but the fellowship adds training for residents planning to integrate their services into a rural community.) INTENSIVE OUTPATIENT AND PARTIAL HOSPITALIZATION PROGRAMS In addition to provider training, MAHEC introduced two programs to teach emotional skills and safety planning to behavioral health

patients. The skills include “identifying your triggers in the environment and coping skills to use that are safe and healthy ways when you are at home or in the community,” Smith explains. The two programs provide intensive work at the MAHEC clinic but the patient returns home each evening to practice the skills at home, she elaborates. The intensive outpatient program started June 30 for adults age 18 and older. Intensive outpatient program patients have been treated for behavioral health previously “but weekly therapy and medication management have not been enough to support their improvement in symptoms and so they need something a little more intensive,” Smith says. The intensive outpatient program is three to four months in group therapy and can include individual therapy or family therapy, if needed. It’s three hours a day, three days a week. MAHEC has four patients in the intensive outpatient program, Smith says, adding the goal is eight-10 patients. Once the intensive outpatient program is off the ground, MAHEC will start a partial hospitalization program for patients who require even more treatment, says Buie. A partial hospitalization patient will receive four hours of therapy and skill building five days per week for two weeks before the patient “steps down” to the intensive outpatient program. ADDICTION PSYCHIATRY FELLOWSHIPS In April, MAHEC received accreditation for an addiction psychiatry fellowship, which is a oneyear training. Dr. Stephen Wyatt, an addiction psychiatrist practicing in Charlotte, joined MAHEC as

the fellowship director. The program will be the first of its kind in North Carolina. In some cases, people have an addiction or a substance use disorder and a mental illness. So psychiatrists are trained to work with people who might have developed psychotic illnesses because of their substance use disorder or have bipolar disorder and are addicted to opiates or alcohol. An addiction psychiatrist can manage both. The fellows will begin training this month. Since July 2020, MAHEC has operated an addiction medicine fellowship, which focuses on providing addiction treatment within its department of family medicine. Buie calls that fellowship “a training focused on teaching people who are not psychiatrists how to manage people with addiction.” The idea is that professionals in other specialties, whether it be anesthesiology or obstetrics and gynecology, can bring knowledge of addiction medicine to their care, he explains. These many new programs, fellowships and residencies ideally should contribute to filling WNC’s pipeline. It’s needed, says Buie, who has practiced psychiatry in WNC since 1987. “During that time, I have worked in an environment where there just weren’t enough people to see the patients who were needed,” he tells Xpress. “You were always having to turn down people who needed care because there wasn’t enough time to see everybody.” He would like to populate WNC with psychiatrists so people in need of behavioral health treatment don’t have “to drive two hours to see a doctor,” Buie says. The ultimate goal “is to be at a point where everyone who needs help has ready access to care.” X

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JULY 20-26, 2022

ARTS & CULTURE

Keep on keepin’ on

Three local bands celebrate landmark anniversaries BY BILL KOPP bill@musoscribe.com Three beloved Asheville-based bands are celebrating anniversaries this summer. Both Andrew Scotchie & the River Rats and Empire Strikes Brass have reached the 10-year milestone, while female-fronted country ensemble Deep River celebrates 30 years of making music together. Xpress caught up with members of each act to discuss their group’s origin story, some of their early struggles and the secrets to a long musical career. ‘THIS IS YOUR LAST SONG ... RIGHT?’ In May 2012, Pauly Juhl was approached by a friend who wanted a New Orleans-style second-line jazz band to play at a wedding rehearsal. A veteran of Dixieland jazz since his high school days, Juhl says that he “jumped at the opportunity.” Drawing from Asheville’s deep pool of talent, he recruited some of the best players he could find. “I was able to get Jerome Widenhouse [trumpet], Henry Westmoreland [sousaphone], Jason Bullock [baritone saxophone] and J Good [drums] for the first gig,” he says. After only a few practices and a couple of gigs, Juhl says he knew he had put together something special. “My mind exploded with possibilities of what a second-line brass band could bring to our community,” he says. The next step was a bit of guerrilla theater. “We did a second line at the very last Bele Chere festival, unannounced,” Juhl says. “We had hundreds following us through the festival streets till we were met with a line of police officers. They politely suggested, ‘This is your last song ... right?’” He notes that the new group pursued every opportunity to play for people, including “festivals and any other reason to march around and make some noise.” Juhl emphasizes that, at the time, second-line parades were new to Asheville. But most in downtown Asheville welcomed the sight of horns and dancers streaming down 22

JULY 20-26, 2022

make the jump into original material. The group released its first album of original music, Theme for a Celebration, in 2017. Returning to Echo Mountain Recording studios in 2019, the group recorded its second album, Brassterpiece Theatre. That same year, ESB played to its largest crowds yet in Morrison, Colo.: several nights at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in front of 10,000 people at each show, sharing the bill with other bands and at times augmenting other acts. For the band’s recent anniversary show at Salvage Station, many past members and collaborators joined the group onstage. “It was an emotional night,” Juhl says. ESB will continue to celebrate its 10-year anniversary while on tour this summer and fall. But Juhl says that the band’s local shows are always special. “Asheville has the best community in the world,” he says. “We travel all over, but we always come home knowing we live in the right place.” SPINAL TAP-LIKE MISHAPS

TIME MARCHES ON: This year marks the 10-year anniversary for Empire Strikes Brass, top, and Andrew Scotchie and the River Rats, bottom. Meanwhile, local group Deep River, center, celebrates 30 years. Photos, from top down, by Carol Spags, courtesy of Deep River and by Tom Farr the sidewalks, he remembers. “Anyone who could play a horn or percussion could join us,” he says. The group expanded to include other respected players from the local music community. Because many of the musicians were in demand, ESB had a revolving-door membership, but the lineup eventually stabilized. Today, the group includes Juhl on saxophone, Alex Bradley on trumpet, Sean Donnelly on keyboard and percus-

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sion, JP Furnas on bass, Nik Hope on drums, Debrissa McKinney on vocals, Lenny Pettinelli on keyboard and vocals, Chris Porter on guitar and Kyle Snuffer on trombone. Holding together such a large ensemble brings its challenges. “Getting nine people and all the gear around isn’t easy,” Juhl says with a smile. The 2014 addition of Pettinelli on keys and vocals allowed ESB to

Just over a decade ago, Andrew Scotchie was one of many buskers on the streets of downtown Asheville, singing and playing acoustic guitar, accompanied by high school classmate Andrews Adams on harmonica. The experience, Scotchie says, was a departure from his previous musical focus. “I had just come out of a punk rock trio,” he recalls. “I wanted to try something on the other end of the spectrum.” Things soon took off and morphed quickly. By 2012, Scotchie was leading a four-piece band, sometimes augmented by a horn section, featuring Bradley and Snuffer from ESB. With his DIY approach to making music as well as promoting it, the still-teenage Scotchie built on local buzz for his band, the River Rats. Scotchie notes that he has learned from both successes and mistakes along the way. “We’re talking about a career path that isn’t taught in school, requires ample leaps of faith, and, to some, is still considered a fantasy,” he says. And while he considers his bandmates family, he candidly admits that “finding that balance between sonic soulmates and business partners is quite a journey.” And one that continues to evolve. Since the group’s launch in 2012, the band has seen a rotating cast of members, many of whom continue to fill in when current bandmates are unavailable to perform. Past mem-

bers have included: Adams, Josh Cavinder, Asher Hill, Eliza Hill, Amanda Hollifield, Sean McCann, Jordan Miller, Brett Tingley and Pettinelli from ESB. Scotchie applies the same care and effort to marketing his band as he does to the process of writing and arranging his original, bluestinged rock music. “While I strongly believe in branding and consistency, I also have a severe fear of doing the same thing or sounding the same,” he says. The band’s 2015 debut, We All Stay Hungry, is defined in part by its youthful enthusiasm. The band’s 2018 sophomore follow-up, Family Dynamo, marked a leap forward, especially in Scotchie’s lyrics. The pandemic didn’t slow the group’s momentum: 2020’s socially conscious Everyone Everywhere built on the previous record’s foundation, and a 2021 EP Live … From a Distance showcased the band — Scotchie plus longtime bassist Keith Harry and drummer Logan Jayne — in its element, live and onstage. All the while, Andrew Scotchie & the River Rats have maintained a busy tour schedule. And life on the road has included all manner of Spinal Tap-like mishaps. Scotchie ticks off a hilarious (if only in retrospect) list that includes a bat getting trapped in the band’s hotel room and goats eating their set list. During a high-profile 2018 show in Abingdon, Va., an exuberant Scotchie — equipped with a wireless guitar setup — made his way onto a catwalk above the audience. He later discovered that he had split his pants open on the way up. “I suppose that’s one way to get an audience to remember you,” he says with a laugh. But Andrew Scotchie & the River Rats have never had much difficulty making an impression upon audiences. And Scotchie is grateful for the support he and his band get in Asheville; the trio has been named Best Rock Band for four years in a row in Mountain Xpress’ annual Best Of WNC readers poll. “When the band first started playing out, there were some people that treated us like pesky kids,” he says. “But there were many more that acknowledged the music, gave it a chance and were willing to help guide the band. Because they saw how dedicated we were.” A TIGHT SHIP In 1991, Sharon Lewis was singing and playing drums for the

all-woman band Amethyst Country. She says that the group broke up the following year because “the other three women were willing to play in smoky bars, and I wasn’t.” But Lewis already had another band concept in mind. “I decided to create a band featuring three woman vocalists: a soprano, first alto and second alto — for maximum vocal range,” she explains. But that wasn’t all. The group she envisioned would also feature three male instrumentalists, and Lewis would continue to supply the back beat. “Perfect yin yang,” she says. “By early summer 1992, Deep River was born.” A few months later, one of the original trio of vocalists left the group. After auditions for a replacement, Sandy Howard got the job. (Today, Howard and Lewis are married partners in life, too.) The group settled in Nashville and sought a major label record deal. But Lewis says that their agent wasn’t encouraging, telling them they were “too old.” Lewis didn’t buy that explanation. “We knew by then that what he couldn’t bring himself to say was that we were ‘too gay,’” she says. “Needless to say, it was soul-crushing.” Lewis and Howard moved their home and band to Asheville in April 2003, a more eclectic and welcoming market. And three years later, Lewis traded in her drumsticks for the bass guitar. But their new setting didn’t eliminate every challenge. “We’ve had to work hard to find venues for our ’80s and ’90s brand of country music,” Lewis says. “Because Asheville is simply not a country music town.” Nevertheless, Deep River has persisted, showcasing the group’s signature vocal harmonies with superb instrumental backing. The entire enterprise is built on a no-nonsense, meticulously organized and businesslike foundation; Lewis runs a tight ship. “Every song has a chart and either an MP3 or video,” she says. “Every musician is expected to learn their parts before coming to rehearsal, every weekly rehearsal has an agenda, and in rehearsals and gigs alike, we expect all members to pay attention to tempo, dynamics, starts and stops.” In addition to “innumerable” private events, the group — which currently includes Nita Smith (soprano vocalist), Gerry Brown (dobro, pedal steel guitar and acoustic guitar), Justin Watt (drums), Alec Fehl (lead guitar), Howard (vocals and acoustic guitar) and Lewis

(vocals and bass) — maintains a busy public concert schedule. Favorite Deep River venues include the Omni Grove Park Inn, The Grey Eagle, the Feed & Seed in Fletcher, Isis Music Hall and The Purple Onion in Saluda. All that hard work has earned Deep River a dedicated following. “We’ve enjoyed a lot of support from our local fan base, which tends to be baby boomers and Gen X folks, and especially the LGBTQI+ community,” Lewis says. X

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BEER

Queen City calling Bhramari and Burial open Charlotte taprooms

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com Since its inception in 2013, Burial Beer Co. has attracted a steady stream of beer tourists from Charlotte while also building relationships via collaborations with such Mecklenburg County producers as Resident Culture Brewing Co. and Divine Barrel Brewing. So, in 2018, when Burial announced plans to open its first non-Asheville location, The Exhibit, in Raleigh, the Queen City’s craft beverage community was less than pleased. “It’s insane how many people [from Charlotte] were making the trip [to Asheville],” says Burial employee Matt Moore. “Charlotte has been begging for us to make the move down.” Those requests were fulfilled June 11 when Burial’s House of Relics taproom and bottle shop opened in the Plaza Midwood part of the city. Moore, the taproom’s general manager, describes the area as “probably the most Asheville neighborhood in Charlotte” for its wide array of arts, music and food options. With the expansion, Burial joins Catawba Brewing Co., Hi-Wire Brewing and Bhramari Brewing Co. in the ranks of Asheville beer businesses that have staked out locations in North Carolina’s largest city. Catawba became the trend’s pioneer in 2019, Hi-Wire had its grand opening July 15 and Bhramari will follow on Saturday, Aug. 13. “We’re at that stage where we’ve been looking for other outlets for us to grow our business,” says Josh Dillard, executive chef and managing owner of Bhramari. “We actually were looking at places all the way across the state in Wilmington, too. But Charlotte kind of called to us a little louder. Plus, it’s closer.” Dillard has also seen what he calls “weekend warriors” heading up U.S. 74 West to visit his brewery since its launch in 2015. By going to them, he sees an opportunity to expand the Bhramari brand while also forging lasting relationships with a city thirsty for more beer options.

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THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM: Bhramari Brewing Co.’s new Charlotte location has been home to multiple other breweries in the past three years. Leadership at Bhramari views its timing and established clientele within the city as key to its success. Photo by Micheal Harwell former home of the Boris & Natasha clothing boutique, which occupied the space for 22 years and now operates a mile and a half away. “So, yeah, it wasn’t set up for a taproom at all,” Moore says with a smile. The opposite proved true for Bhramari, which found a turnkey purchase and will be the third brewery at 1200 S. Graham St. in less than three years. Sunstead Brewing opened there in January 2020 before it merged and rebranded with local cafe and roastery Toucan Louie’s that May. Three months later, D9 Brewing Co. co-founder Aaron Burton purchased the company and relaunched it as Salty Parrot Brewing Co., but by the end of 2021, it had closed for unknown reasons. Dillard notes that opening just before the COVID-19 pandemic and having to navigate the challenges of state-mandated indoor gathering restrictions — which proved difficult even for established breweries like Bhramari — likely played a major role in Salty Parrot shutting down. But with those pandemic-related rules now lifted, Bhramari aims to take advantage of a bustling area fortified by its proximity to the Carolina Panthers’ home field.

“We’re three blocks south of [Bank of America] Stadium, two blocks from Hop Fly [Brewing Co.], three blocks from Resident Culture,” says co-owner and head brewer Gary Sernack. “So, the location’s pretty good. There’s also residential high-rises popping up all around us.” The two-story space has its brewery on the lower level and taproom on the street level with copious indoor and outdoor seating. To help reflect Charlotte’s distinct vibe, the ownership team is going with a black and gold aesthetic — one that also honors the neighborhood’s history. “That was, at one point, a gold district. And there’s inactive gold mines right underneath it,” Sernack says. “So, we kind of lean into that a little bit.” Burial likewise pays homage to its new home’s history in the downstairs part of the taproom with what Moore calls “a retro diner feel” in line with Boris & Natasha’s throwback style. But it’s the House of Relics’ rooftop bar that stands out to him as the property’s chief highlight. “We’ve got almost a Miami Beach, tiki bar vibe upstairs,” he says. “You still get a little bit of the city skyline up there and some great sunsets.”

FITTING RIGHT IN To help facilitate the opening of its first expansion, Bhramari General Manager Kyle Berryann has relocated to Charlotte and will be running the new taproom. Elsewhere, former front-of-house manager Kim Hardy, who moved to Charlotte a few years ago, is being brought back on as events coordinator, and Jared Lewinski, former head brewer at Atlanta’s Pontoon Brewing Co., has been hired in that capacity for the Charlotte brewery. Under Lewinski’s watch, Bhramari also plans to expand its barrel-aging program in the new space. “We’ll focus a lot more on our barrel-aged stout offerings, barrel-aged clean beers and other larger beers, so we’ll be able to have more regular rotation of those [in Charlotte and Asheville],” Sernack says. “We’re also going to be making unique stuff out there that’ll end up over here — not that we have any lack of unique offerings now.” He adds that Bhramari will be bottling at the new location and will probably eventually add a canning line, but for now the bulk of packaging will continue to be conducted in Asheville. The space lacks a kitchen, so Dillard says the new location will start off simple and offer “lunch boxes” of charcuterie items. But a few phases in, they plan to add a food container on the property and ramp up options from there. Though Burial is not brewing in Charlotte, Moore feels that the plen-

tiful tap and packaged options that the city’s consumers crave sets the business up for instant success. “It’s a very tightknit beer scene,” he says. “A lot of people instantly think ‘Asheville’ when they think of North Carolina beer, but Charlotte really has great offerings. There’s a lot of new breweries popping up and a lot moving here from either in state or out of state.” Among those joining the Charlotte industry around the same time as Burial, Bhramari and Hi-Wire is Weathered Souls Brewing Co. The San Antonio-based enterprise started the Black is Beautiful movement to help bring awareness to equality issues and raise funds to support legal defenses and police reform. Together, these new additions seek to raise the city’s craft beverage profile while also providing more options to help society return to “normal.” “The goal is to be able to provide the best Burial experience that we can, and we feel like that is best served at our taprooms so that we can treat people to a very intentional and curated experience while they’re hanging out and enjoying our beer,” says Chris McClure, director of brand and marketing. “Especially with us coming out of COVID, I think that more and more consumers are looking for in-person experiences and a change from what they’ve been doing over the past two years — which, for many people, was sitting in their house or apartment with their significant other, drinking packaged beer.” X

BY THE POWER OF SHERBETSKULL: Burial Beer Co.’s House of Relics taproom is located in Charlotte’s Plaza Midwood neighborhood. Photo courtesy of Burial MOUNTAINX.COM

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COST OF CREATIVITY

Building Community

Jen Murphy on the Street Creature Puppet Collective’s latest show

BY JOHANNA PATRICE HAGARTY johannahagarty@gmail.com For Jen Murphy, a founding member of the Street Creature Puppet Collective, her interest in gardening and foraging has often influenced her work. Such is the case for the collective’s latest production, The Earth is Alive!, a family musical and puppet show celebrating the medicine and magic of Appalachian plants. Written by Josh Fox and produced by Murphy, The Earth Is Alive! first premiered at the spring 2022 LEAF Festival. On Saturday, July 23, at 4 p.m, the collective offers audiences an encore performance at Jubilee! Community, a venue Murphy and her fellow Street Creature puppeteers have called home since May 2021. “It’s a good fit, as [Jubilee! has] a strong environmental and social justice approach and an appreciation of the arts,” she says. “Our Puppet Clubhouse is located in their lower level, alongside their new JAMS microshelter for unhoused women.” Xpress, as part of its ongoing “Cost of Creativity” series, spoke with Murphy about the inspiration and associated costs of her group’s latest production, the importance of creating from a place of love and how telling healing and empowering stories helps brings us together. This interview has been condensed for length and edited for clarity. What is the story behind how The Earth Is Alive! production came to be? I first met Josh Fox, the songwriter for The Earth is Alive!, years ago when he was making music and stilt walking with The Faerie Kin [a local stilt-walking troupe]. Street Creature Puppet Collective ... developed alongside The Faerie Kin, with lots of crossover of people, ideas and puppets. The Faerie Kin has been mostly on hiatus for

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TRIPLE VIRGO: When it comes to managing a large cast of puppeteers, local artist Jen Murphy credits the stars, moon and sun. “I’m a triple Virgo and love lists,” she says with a laugh. Her group, the Street Creature Puppet Collective, will present its latest show, The Earth Is Alive! on Saturday, July 23, at Jubilee! Community. Photo by 7 Doves Photography the past few years, but last spring the tribes came together to create Ancestor Forest, an eco-fable for Earth Day, written and produced by Mica Sun. It was quite an endeavor, with a cast of 30,

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many new puppets, sets and props, with a tiny budget at the Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre. There was one song in particular that moved me to tears, called “The Earth Is Alive!” It’s a joyful song about the turning of the seasons of our bioregion, naming dozens of plants and trees in the order that they flower and fruit. The music reflects the spinning cycles and bounty of life in these mountains. The Ancestor Forest audience responded powerfully to the song, jumping up to dance with the performers.

So, I started to talking with Josh, who is an herbalist and acupuncturist, about doing a puppet video for just that song, with a crankie [rolling paper storytelling scroll]. Instead, over the last summer, fall and winter, it developed into a onehour family show anchored around songs Josh has written over the last decade. These songs are inspired by his relationship with each of the plants, many of which can be found on his album called Spells Cast by Rain. The songs inspired me, as well as my own love of our plant kin. I also wanted Street Creature to stretch our scope and abilities, to tell a longer story, to move beyond the momentary interaction of a parade to being on a stage, but still interactive. How do you manage a project with so many components and dozens of people? I’m a triple Virgo and love lists. Also, I had lots and lots of help. I’ve learned from managing the Puppet Clubhouse for years how to use good organization, delegation and communication to keep projects going. Being willing to listen helps — to let go of control as much as possible but still guide things toward being the best quality we could achieve. Always remembering that this is community art is also significant, meaning the process is as important as the product and everyone’s contribution is valuable. Working with so many puppeteers creating such large pieces, I imagine materials are also costly. How do you reduce costs? Street Creature has always tried to make most of our costumes and puppets out of upcycled junk and donated supplies. We first became known for our giant dragon made out of Ingles bags. This is a budgetary choice but also a political one. We like to demonstrate that people can make really cool stuff from trash, without supporting sweatshops and creating more plastic garbage. For The Earth Is Alive! the dandelion heads were made of packing materials. The pinwheels are from an old dictionary. Papier-mâché is newspaper and cornstarch paste and costs just a buck a box.

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AR T S & C UL T U R E For folks interested in community art, are there any other cost-effective ways to manage the day-to-day expenses associated with production? Since Street Creature operates under the umbrella of the Asheville Puppetry Alliance, a 501(c)(3), we get donations from our Patreon every month and inherited a little nest egg from the previous incarnation of APA [which Murphy and fellow Street Creature members took over from the original board in

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2018]. Between those and Jubilee’s generosity, it keeps us stocked in cornstarch. Also, all of the Street Creatures are willing to work just for the love and fun of it. We are privileged in various degrees to be able to do that, though none of us are rich. We make the choice to spend our free time making spectacles. But we operate in a capitalist system that tends to ignore the value of this work. We’ve gotten a few small grants, but it’s a catch-22. To get a big enough grant to pay for a market-rate studio, we would need to have a bigger budget. We don’t want to spend all of our time fundraising or finding paid gigs. We already have a full calendar of things we love to do that give back to the community. We are happy to operate as volunteers on a shoestring and concentrate on being creative. What are some of the other challenges, opportunities and benefits of community-based arts? The biggest cost of community-based arts is the space. If you’ve tried to find an affordable workspace, you will know it’s as scarce

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as hen’s teeth around here. Having a place to come together weekly, store puppets and supplies is vital. It makes everything we do possible. Losing our longtime home in the North Asheville Rec Center two years ago due to COVID changes was a rude awakening to the state of commercial real estate in Asheville. Artists have to pay their rent, medical bills, car repair, etc., too, and can’t do that with bags of kale or leftover paint. Personally, I’d like to see more government support for small arts organizations and would like to see the city do more to mitigate these problems. There are so many buildings standing empty for years, while artists and arts orgs struggle. ... Street Creatures is doing what we can, in part, because our group is resourceful and engaged in ongoing mutual aid. Building community is vital for life in these times. Imagining a better world and telling healing and empowering stories is what we need. The benefits are big — goodwill, creative growth, pleasure and community connections. Jubilee! Community is at 46 Wall St. To learn more about the upcoming performance, visit avl.mx/bs0. X

The insider’s guide What to do and where to find it! We provide tips on the well-known attractions, hidden gems and quirky oddities that make Asheville so beloved.

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ARTS & C U L T U R E

FOOD ROUNDUP

What’s new in food Mother Ocean Seafood Market partners with Pleb Urban Winery

Since 2017, Mother Ocean Seafood Market has been making a splash on the local food scene. The business began with refrigerated trailers full of fresh and frozen seafood sold at area tailgate markets, before opening a brick-and-mortar store on Merrimon Avenue in 2020. More recently, owner Sam Kosik hired chef Chris Cox to develop Mother Ocean Seafood Market’s prepared food offerings in the store and to create a hot food menu focused on seafood-centric sandwiches like po’ boys, lobster rolls and fried seafood baskets. On July 15, Mother Ocean expands yet again, taking over the stationary food truck at Pleb Urban Winery in the River Arts District. “Graham House built it out, but he got busy with other things,” says Kosik. “So, I called my friend Denny Ward, a great chef from Charleston, who knows seafood. He has moved up here and will be in the truck.” Current hours for RAD Food Truck powered by Mother Ocean Seafood Market are Thursdays, 3-8 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays, 1-9 p.m. and Sundays, 1-7 p.m. The menu will change frequently, but expect the lobster roll, crab cakes and shrimp cocktail, as well as a daily poke or ceviche made from trimmings of the day’s fresh catch. In other news from Mother Ocean, Kosik reports that on Wednesdays, 3-6 p.m., at Smoky Park Supper Club, he’ll be partnering with chef Steve Goff for a pop-up serving

oysters on the half shell, smoked oysters and smoked meats. Pleb Urban Winery is at 289 Lyman St.. For more information, visit avl.mx/bro. Smoky Park Supper Club is at 350 Riverside Drive, avl.mx/9wo. Mother Ocean Seafood Market is 640 Merrimon Ave., avl.mx/brn.

In a pickle Nearly 400 people attended the inaugural PicklePalooza at Blue Ghost Brewing Co. on National Pickle Day, Nov. 14, 2021. The second annual event will remain at Blue Ghost but will move to the Fletcher brewery’s backyard and take place Saturday, July 23. “Blue Ghost’s yard is about the size of two football fields and has a stage, so we’ll be able to really spread out,” says Don Paleno — the “D” to partner Justin Dewalder’s “J” in DJ’s Pickles, the local smallbatch pickle company that launched in February 2021. The stage will be the setting for two live music acts and a DJ spinning tunes. Activities will include a pickle-eating contest, Paleno’s take on the popular sport of pickleball, which he calls Pick-a-Ball, and a pickle bucket race. In addition to DJ’s Pickles jarred products and swag, other local makers will sell their wares. Blue Ghost’s food truck will also be serving, as will Kinfolk, who will endeavor not to run out of fried pickles this year. Additionally,

SEAFOOD ON WHEELS: Sam Kosik, left, and Denny Ward, pose outside the new RAD Food Truck powered by Mother Ocean Seafood Market, located at Pleb Urban Winery. Photo by Jennifer Castillo Diggity Doughnuts will have a dill doughnut, and Pelican’s Snoballs will offer a pickle-flavored icy. Admission is free, but $5 donations are encouraged to benefit Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity. PicklePalooza 2022 kicks off at 1 p.m. and will run until 9 p.m. Blue Ghost Brewing is at 125 Underwood Road, Fletcher. For more information, visit avl.mx/brm.

Silver linings On July 1, chef Silver locovozzi, who uses they/their pronouns,

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celebrated the launch of their Filipino restaurant Neng Jr.’s inside Different Wrld, a creative hub located in West Asheville. “It’s a very small space, like a New York City restaurant in Asheville,” says locovozzi. “So, we’ve had to be smart about fitting all the equipment like a glove.” The menu will also be succinct. “It will be a 10-item menu, mostly small plates and three to four larger dishes, so people can build the meal they want,” locovozzi explains. locovozzi admits that translating Filipinx food is a challenge when it is not nearly as familiar to Americans as Chinese, Indian, Mexican and Italian. “Filipinx food is hard because it has never hit that mainstream avenue,” the chef says. “But I would say the moment is now, and I’m excited Neng Jr.’s will be the first in Asheville.” Through July, Neng Jr.’s will be open Friday and Saturday only, with reservations from 5:309:30 p.m. and walk-ins from 10 p.m.-midnight. locovozzi expects to extend operations to four nights a week in August. Neng Jr.’s is at 701 Haywood Road (entrance is in rear of the building). For updated information, visit avl.mx/brj.

Barn burner

For more information on the prescription program, visit avl.mx/brd.

Barn Door Ciderworks will partner with Red Fiddle Vittles’ Erica Beneke and Matt Farr for the next Kitchen Guest Series in the taproom on Thursday, July 28, for two seatings. Bites & a Flight will pair four Barn Door ciders with four bites by the chefs; one of those small plates will be a fresh corn and crawfish fritter with shishito pepper aioli. Tickets for the 5:30 or 7 p.m. service are $40 per person. Barn Door Ciderworks is at 23 Lytle Road, Fletcher. For tickets, visit avl.mx/brl.

All’s fare

Doctors’ orders “Take two tomatoes and call me in the morning.” Not what most people expect to hear from their physician, but that’s the advice Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project is promoting through the Farm Fresh Produce Prescription program the nonprofit piloted in 2021 and has expanded this season. The program allows health care providers to “prescribe” patients fresh fruits and vegetables from local farms to help treat or prevent diet-related illnesses. Patients can redeem prescriptions, totaling $20 to $60 per week at nine farmers markets or through The AVL Box, a local food delivery service. ASAP is working with Mountain Area Health Education Center and Sona Pharmacy to offer produce prescriptions. The program is also available as a service of the Healthy Opportunities Pilot with select Medicaid insurance providers. Eligible patients are those who suffer from or are at risk of developing a diet-related condition and are either eligible for a federal supplemental nutrition program such as SNAP or enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Those patients receive a prescription identification number to present at a participating farmers market information booth in exchange for Farm Fresh Bucks used to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from any produce vendor. Program participants may also use their prescription identification number to order produce boxes via The AVL Box, available for delivery or at four pickup locations in Asheville, Black Mountain, Fairview and Hendersonville. Access to that service is available at avl.mx/8pq.

The Asheville Buncombe Food Policy Council has renamed and refreshed its quarterly newsletter and invites folks interested in advocating for food systems improvements to subscribe. The summer 2022 issue of Fair Fare announces the good news of ABFPC’s award of a $5,000 Buncombe County Tipping Point grant to fund their Community Cold Storage Project, which supports neighborhoods with outdoor food pantries by installing refrigeration of some type. The organization’s Outdoor Pantries Project continues to expand with its newest partner, Southside Community Farm. For more information about supporting the OPP and where they are located, visit avl.mx/brf. To keep up to date on food sustainability, food justice and community news, projects and events, subscribe to avl.mx/brg.

Homegrown culinary teams Asheville and WNC restaurants are often staffed with graduates of either A-B Tech’s Culinary Arts and Hospitality program or its Baking and Pastry Arts program. Recently, The Biltmore Co. and the college began working together to ensure a new batch of students can learn and earn locally. The partnership includes four training scholarships, which support individualized training programs. The first recipient is Baking and Pastry Arts program student Andjela Legrand. The scholarships provide funding each semester and employment at the Biltmore Estate, with a schedule built around students’ class schedules. The Biltmore is also sponsoring A-B Tech’s Student Hot Food Culinary Team in the American Culinary Federation’s National Competition in Las Vegas the final week of July. This year’s competition marks lucky number 13 for A-B Tech; according to a recent press release, the college has sent more competition teams to the ACF Nationals than any culinary program in the country. Biltmore executive chef Mark DeMarco has provided kitchen space for the team to practice and

experience a taste of the judging process. Team members include captain Roman Nourse, Emmer Moraza Rodriguez, Michael Tan, Christy Greer, Josh Waters, team manager Jason Gray and coach Stephen Hertz.

High glass Asheville is home to two James Beard 2022 national award winners — Curate for Outstanding Hospitality and Chai Pani as Outstanding Restaurant. Add 10 Wine Spectator magazine 2022 Awards of Excellence recipients to our town’s crowded trophy case. To qualify, restaurants must offer a minimum of 100 bins. Nine of the 10 are repeat winners; West Asheville’s Jargon restaurant makes its debut on the list. Posana and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse both received two wine glasses, designating Best of Award of Excellence, while Chestnut, The Blackbird, Vue 1913, Corner Kitchen, Avenue M, Sunset Terrace and The Dining Room join Jargon as Awards of Excellence winners.

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ROUNDUP

Around Town

Folkmoot’s Summerfest returns to Waynesville When Dr. Clinton Border traveled with a local square dance team to a folk festival in Sidmouth, England, in 1973, inspiration hit. The Waynesville surgeon became determined to bring an international folk festival to the isolated mountains of Western North Carolina, an area rich in heritage but lacking in diversity. Eleven years later, with help from international contacts and community leaders, Folkmoot USA was born. Since that time, the organization has hosted over 8,000 performers from 200 countries. And in 2003, it was designated by the N.C. General Assembly as the state’s official international folk festival. “It’s always been about bringing together people from different cultures to this area where culture and tradition have always been a vital part of identity,” says Folkmoot Executive Director Evan Hatch. Folkmoot’s Summerfest runs Thursday-Sunday, July 28-31, at the Folkmoot Friendship Center, the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds and downtown Waynesville. This year’s list of performers includes dance troupes and musicians representing the cultures of Ukraine, Venezuela, Africa, Cuba, Ireland and other countries, as well as local Southern Appalachian and Cherokee traditions. Groups will perform all weekend long, kicking off with a fundraising banquet and gala at the Folkmoot Friendship Center on Thursday, July 28, at 5:30 p.m. Along with ticketed shows Friday and Saturday, the free annual International Day Street Festival takes place Saturday, July 30, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., with food and dance in downtown Waynesville. The festival will end with a performance and closing ceremony at the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds on Sunday, July 31, 2-7 p.m. In the continuing aftermath of COVID-19, festival officials had to reduce Folkmoot’s usual duration from two weeks to four days. But Hatch

says that has allowed them to hold more small events throughout the year, including FolkmootLive! community concerts at the the Folkmoot Friendship Center’s Queen Auditorium. The Folkmoot Friendship Center is at 112 Virginia Ave., Waynesville, and the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds are at 3374 Soco Road, Maggie Valley. For more information or to buy tickets, go to avl.mx/bri.

Native perspective The Museum of the Cherokee Indian will present The Way We See the World: Exploring Indigenous Representation in Film on Friday, July 22, at the Mountainside Theatre. The event will feature screenings and conversations among leading Native filmmakers and storytellers. Participants include: Sterlin Harjo, executive producer/showrunner of the FX series “Reservation Dogs”; Brit Hensel and Keli Gonzales, director and producer, respectively, of the Sundance-selected short, ᎤᏕᏲᏅ (What They’ve Been Taught); Anthony Sneed, writer/director/producer of the short films Swipe and Stripper; and Peshawn Bread, screenwriter and one of the Sundance Institute’s Full Circle Kellogg Fellows. “We speak often about the importance of self-representation at the museum, and self-representation in film and TV is also vitally important as we tell our story,” Shana Bushyhead Condill, museum executive director, says in a press release. Films to be screened at the event include ᎤᏕᏲᏅ (What They’ve Been Taught), Swipe, Stripper and ᎡᏘᏴ ᏥᎾᎾᏛᏁᎮ ᎠᏰᎵᏐ ᎾᏛᏁᎰ (She Carries On), directed by Isaac Fowler and Tim Morris. All proceeds will support the museum’s community learning and educational programming initiatives. Mountainside Theatre is at 688 Drama Road, Cherokee. Ticket prices range $35-$50. To purchase tickets, visit avl.mx/bs7.

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Results publish in August 32

JULY 20-26, 2022

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X Awards 2022

LET’S DANCE: Folkmoot’s Summerfest will feature a performance by the Green Grass Cloggers as well as several other dance and music groups representing cultures from Western North Carolina and around the world. Photo courtesy of Folkmoot USA

Mirror, mirror

Summer fair

About a year ago, Asheville’s Debi Nevel Drecksler joined an online Yiddish group and started sharing stories of her life. “The large group was comprised of many who grew up in my era with Jewish family, who like mine, emigrated to this country,” she says. “They identified with my stories and encouraged me to keep writing.” The result is I Saw Bubbi in the Mirror: Life Stories of a Jewish Girl Raised in the 50s, which she recently self-published. The book is not the first foray into writing for Drecksler, who has penned columns for the Asheville Citizen Times, Rapid River Magazine and SavvyDiscounts.com; she also published an e-book, Alexandra’s Adventure. But her latest publication, she notes, is more personal than any of her previous works. “So many of my life experiences made me realize the influence my upbringing had on my life and what I learned from those that came before me,” she says. “It motivated me to write my life stories and share those lessons.” The book has proved a success so far, selling copies as far away as Australia. Drecksler has been invited to do readings across the country. “It is resonating with people of all religions and backgrounds,” she says. “I hope people will read my book and be inspired to share their own stories.” For more information or to buy the book, go to avl.mx/brq.

The summer edition of the Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands will return to Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Asheville for the first time since 2019, Thursday-Sunday, July 21-24. The show runs 10 a.m.-6 p.m. ThursdaySaturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. The fair will feature contemporary and traditional artisans working in clay, wood, metal, glass, fiber, natural materials, paper, leather, mixed media and jewelry. Members of the craft guild will fill the arena and concourse level of the downtown Asheville venue. There will be a range of craft demonstrations with interactive activities for visitors and mountain musicians performing live on the arena stage. The fall edition of the craft fair will be Oct. 13-16. Run by the Southern Highland Craft Guild, its first Southern Highlands craft fair started in Gatlinburg, Tenn., in 1948. Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Asheville is at 87 Haywood St. Tickets are $10 and are available at the door or at avl.mx/brt.

Spell check Hendersonville Theatre will present The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Friday, July 22-Sunday, Aug. 7. First produced on Broadway in 2005, the award-winning comedic musical tells the story of an eclectic group of middle schoolers who enter

a spelling bee with hopes of winning a trip to the National Spelling Bee. Hendersonville Theatre is at 229 S. Washington St. Tickets are $21-$30. Groups of 10 or more receive a 10% discount. For more information or to buy tickets, go to avl.mx/bs1 or call 828-692-1082.

Friendly skies The art gallery at Asheville Regional Airport is showcasing three local artists in its newest exhibit, Revive, which runs through Tuesday, Nov. 1. The featured art will include copper sculptures by Mark Crossley, mixed media by Mark Flowers and pottery by Akira Satake. Details about the program and how to apply can be found on the airport’s website at avl.mx/bs4.

WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA BAPTIST HOME

Job Fair OPEN TO ALL JOB SEEKERS. The first 50 applicants will receive a coupon for a free taco at White Duck Taco.

Arts funding The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners approved a $129,788 block grant to the Asheville Area Arts Council as part of the county’s 2022-23 fiscal year budget. The council, the designated arts agency for Buncombe County, will allocate the money to local nonprofit arts organizations. For more information, go to avl.mx/brw.

— Flora Konz X

With additional reporting by Justin McGuire

MOVIE REVIEWS Local reviewers’ critiques of new films include: MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON: Jenny Slate’s popular, stop-motion animation shorts about the titular critter keep their charm and quirk intact on the big screen. Grade: B-plus — Edwin Arnaudin MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS: What seems like a cozy British comedy about a WWII widow (Lesley Manville) rediscovering joy via retail therapy plays more like an accidental parody of AARP-friendly stories. Grade: C-minus — Edwin Arnaudin

Find full reviews and local film info at ashevillemovies.com patreon.com/ashevillemovies

CURRENT OPEN POSITIONS:

CNA, Nurses, Housekeeping, Dietary Aide, Medical Technicians

July 23rd

11 AM – 2 PM Western North Carolina Baptist Home 213 Richmond Hill Dr. Asheville NC 28806

• On-site interviews; bring your resumes • Same-day offers • Sign-on bonuses for all positions • Full-time, part-time, and PRN positions available • On-site drug screening • Covid vaccine required

ASSISTED LIVING | SHORT - TERM REHAB | SKILLED NURSING

213 RICHMOND HILL DRIVE • ASHEVILLE, NC MOUNTAINX.COM

JULY 20-26, 2022

CLUBLAND For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, opt. 4.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 20 12 BONES BREWERY Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm 185 KING STREET Trivia Night, 7pm ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY • Queer Comedy Party: Powell Mansfield, 7pm • Aquanet Goth Party w/Ash Black, 9pm ASHEVILLE PIZZA & BREWING CO. Trivia! Trivia! Night, 6:30pm BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING Jay Brown (roots), 6pm

ONE WORLD BREWING Pingo Wednesdays, 7pm RENDEZVOUS Albi (musique Francaise), 6pm SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO. Hope Griffin (acoustic, folk), 5pm STATIC AGE RECORDS Moth sweat w/dot com bubble & nostalgianoid (noise), 9pm SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Witty Wednesday Trivia, 6:30pm THE DUGOUT Karaoke Party, 8pm

BOLD ROCK ASHEVILLE Karaoke Night, 7pm

THE ORANGE PEEL Circle Jerks (hardcore punk), 8pm

BOLD ROCK MILLS RIVER Trivia Night, 6pm

THE POE HOUSE Team Trivia w/Wes Ganey, 7pm

BURNTSHIRT VINEYARDS Trivia Night at the Vineyard, 4:45pm

TWIN LEAF BREWERY Open Mic, 6pm

DSSOLVR Four Feet to Hell Hot Dog Eating Competition, 6pm FBO AT HOMINY CREEK Open Mic and Jam, 6pm HI-WIRE BREWING RAD BEER GARDEN Game Night, 6pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Old Time Jam, 5pm LAZY HIKER BREWING SYLVA Trivia Night, 6:30pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Mountain Music Jam, 6pm ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Wild Wednesday Funk-n-Rock w/Free Anesthesia, 10pm

THURSDAY, JULY 21 185 KING STREET Congdon & Co. w/Paul McEntire (covers), 7pm ALLEY CAT SOCIAL CLUB Open Mic Asheville w/ Lincoln, 8pm ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Kiki Thursdays Drag and Dancing, 8pm ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Jazz Thursday, 7:30pm ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL The Goddman Gallows w/Rebelmatic (alt/ indie), 9pm

FUNNY YOU SHOULD SAY THAT: Los Angeles-based comedian Brad Wenzel will perform a stand-up show at The Getaway River Bar Friday, July 22, 8-10 p.m. Wenzel appeared on Conan three times and released his debut album, Sweet Nothings, on Jack White’s Third Man Records. Photo courtesy of Wenzel CASCADE LOUNGE Weekly Trivia Night, 6:30pm

• The Dirty Grass Players (bluegrass), 8:30pm

CROW & QUILL Black Sea Beat Society (Baltic, Klezmer, Turkish), 8pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Bluegrass Jam w/Drew Matulich & Friends, 7pm

FLEETWOOD'S Echo Pilot, Bonny Dagger, & Busy Weather (punk), 8pm FRENCH BROAD BREWERY Jerry's Dead (Grateful Dead & JGB Tribute), 6pm GIGI'S UNDERGROUND Mr Jimmy (blues), 7pm

BLUE GHOST BREWING CO. The '80s Trivia, 6:30pm

HIGHLAND DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Chris Jamison Duo (singer-songwriter), 6pm

BOLD ROCK ASHEVILLE Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 • Asheville Sessions ft Michael John, 7pm

MAD CO. BREW HOUSE Tina Collins (folk), 6pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Billy Litz (roots, blues, ragtime), 8pm ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Gunslinging Parrots (Phish tribute), 9pm PULP Justin Osborne and Darby Wilcox (indie rock), 7pm ROOM NINE Thirsty Thursday w/DJ Moto, 9pm

SALVAGE STATION Muscadine Bloodline w/Ben Chapman (country), 8pm SOVEREIGN KAVA Free Weekly Table Tennis Tournament, 7pm THE GETAWAY RIVER BAR • Rum Punchlines Comedy Open Mic, 6pm • Karaoke w/Terraoke, 9pm THE ROOT BAR Rachel Waterhouse (neo-soul, jazz, rock), 6pm WELL PLAYED BOARD GAME CAFÉ Flip the Table! Comedy Night, 9pm

FRIDAY, JULY 22 185 KING STREET Songs From the Road Band (bluegrass), 8pm ALLEY CAT SOCIAL CLUB Friday Nite Salsa Dancing, 8pm ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Venus (dark house dance party), 10pm ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Mr Jimmy's Big City Blues, 7:30pm ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Armadilla, Beekeepers & Mellowswells (indie), 9pm BIG PILLOW BREWING Jungle Man Sam (reggae), 6pm BOLD ROCK MILLS RIVER Summer Concert Series w/Jeb Rogers Band (funk, soul, bluegrass), 6pm

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BREWSKIES Karaoke, 10pm BURNTSHIRT VINEYARDS Rene Russell (acoustic, Americana), 3pm BURNTSHIRT VINEYARDS CHIMNEY ROCK Myron Hyman (classic rock, blues), 5pm CITIZEN VINYL Michael Flynn (singer-songwriter), 5pm CORK & KEG Joe Troop Quintet (global with Appalachian twist), 8pm CROW & QUILL The Burger Kings (50s era rock'n'roll), 8:30pm DRY FALLS BREWING CO. The Unexpected (guitar duo), 7pm GINGER'S REVENGE CRAFT BREWERY & TASTING ROOM Carolina Sage (honky tonk, Americana), 7pm GUIDON BREWING Finkelstein (bluegrass), 7pm HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Matt Walsh & The Movers (singer-songwriter), 7pm HIGHLAND DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Drag Music Bingo w/ Divine the Bearded Lady, 7pm ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 • The Mountain Grass Unit (bluegrass, Americana), 7pm • Jack Marion & the Pearl Snap Prophets w/ Sam Foster & Vaden Landers (Americana, country, folk), 8:30pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Jackamo (Cajun country honky tonk), 9pm LAZY HIKER BREWING SYLVA Shane Meade and the Sound (folk rock), 8pm MAD CO. BREW HOUSE Christina Chandler (folk, soul, Americana), 6:30pm

ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Charles Feelgood w/ Ramin & Friends ft. Ryan Ashley (edm), 9pm BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE Dinah's Daydream (Gypsy jazz), 5:30pm BIG PILLOW BREWING Saylor Brothers (bluegrass/jamgrass), 6pm

MEADOWLARK MOTEL Friday Night Karaoke, 7pm

BLUE GHOST BREWING CO. PicklePalooza 2022, 1pm

MILLS RIVER BREWING Appalachian Renegades album release (Southern rock, blues), 7pm

BOLD ROCK ASHEVILLE Datrian & Lindsey from The Fritz (soul, psychedelic), 9pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. ALR Trio (blues, rock), 8pm ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Free Dead Friday w/ Generous Electric & FDF Band, 6pm ONE WORLD BREWING 5j Barrow (folk rock), 8pm POINT LOOKOUT VINEYARDS Too Much Sylvia (covers, oldies), 7:30pm SALVAGE STATION The Movement w/Little Stranger, Bumpin’ Uglies, & The Hip Abduction (reggae), 6:30pm STATIC AGE RECORDS Nuclear Tomb, Cave Grave, Desolus, Negative Bias, Iron Sights, Busted Chops (hardcore/metal), 9pm THE DUGOUT The Lads AVL (rock, folk, blues), 8pm THE GETAWAY RIVER BAR • Brad Wenzel (comedy), 8pm • Drag King Air Guitar Competition, 11pm

SATURDAY, JULY 23 185 KING STREET Pretty Little Goat (roots), 8pm 305 LOUNGE & EATERY Old Men of the Woods (folk, pop), 1pm ALLEY CAT SOCIAL CLUB Asheville's Best Karaoke, 8pm ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY • Cody Hughes (comedy), 7pm • Big Gay Energy Dance Party w/ Ganymede, 10pm ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Miami Gold (rock), 8pm

BOLD ROCK MILLS RIVER Summer Concert Series w/The Super 60s (oldies), 6pm BOTANIST & BARREL TASTING BAR + BOTTLE SHOP Colin Cutler (folk, bluegrass), 1pm BREWSKIES Pool Tournament Saturdays, 7pm BURNTSHIRT VINEYARDS High Sierra (rock), 2pm BURNTSHIRT VINEYARDS CHIMNEY ROCK Lyrismith (acoustic duo), 2pm

SALVAGE STATION Acoustic Syndicate (jam, rock), 7pm SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO. Hustle Souls (soul), 2pm STATIC AGE RECORDS Sham & Sarah Louise (folk), 9pm SUNNY POINT CAFÉ Albi (fingerstyle guitar), 6pm THE 2ND ACT Daniel Sage (rock), 7pm THE BURGER BAR Best Worst Karaoke w/ KJ Thunderk*nt, 9pm THE DUGOUT Xzempt (rock), 8pm THE FOUNDRY HOTEL Jazz Soul Trio, 7:30pm THE ORANGE PEEL Enrage Against the Machine (Rage Against the Machine tribute), 8:30pm

SUNDAY, JULY 24 185 KING STREET Open Electric Jam with the King Street House Band ft. Howie Johnson, 5pm

ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY • Life's A Drag Brunch w/Ida Carolina, 12pm • SOL Dance Party w/ Zati (soul house), 9pm BOLD ROCK MILLS RIVER Summer Concert Series w/The Baggage Brothers (Americana), 1pm BOTANIST & BARREL TASTING BAR + BOTTLE SHOP Syrrup ( jazz, soul, blues), 4:30pm BURNTSHIRT VINEYARDS Peggy Ratusz (blues, jazz, swing), 2pm BURNTSHIRT VINEYARDS CHIMNEY ROCK Clay Johnson (singer-songwriter), 2pm CROW & QUILL The Roaring Lions (parlour jazz), 8pm HI-WIRE BREWING Ninth Anniversary Party w/Jon Stickly Trio (Gypsy jazz, folk-punk, instrumental), 12pm HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Queen Bee and The Honeylovers (swing), 2pm

HIGHLAND BREWING DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Mr Jimmy Duo (blues), 1pm ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 • Redd (Americana), 6pm • Madelyn Ilana & Guests (dream pop, folk), 7:30pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB • Bluegrass Brunch w/ Supper Break, 12pm • Irish Jam, 3:30pm MILLS RIVER BREWING Carver, Carmody & McIntire (acoustic, roots), 2pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Carrie Morrison (singer-songwriter), 3pm SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO. The Chuck Litchenburger Trio (jazz), 2pm STATIC AGE RECORDS Combat (indie rock), 9pm THE ORANGE PEEL August Burns Red (metalcore), 6:30pm ZILLICOAH BEER CO. PubSing (gospel jam & sing-along), 5pm

PLĒB URBAN WINERY Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 4pm

MONDAY, JULY 25 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Freshen Up Comedy Showcase, 7pm BREWSKIES Open Jam w/Tall Paul, 7:30pm DSSOLVR Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm HAYWOOD COUNTRY CLUB Taylor Martin's Open Mic, 6:30pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Quizzo! Pub Trivia w/ Jason Mencer, 7pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. It Takes All Kinds Open Mic Night, 7pm ONE WORLD BREWING Open Mic w/Tony Willingham, 8pm THE GETAWAY RIVER BAR Trivia by the River, 8pm THE JOINT NEXT DOOR Mr Jimmy and Friends (blues), 7pm

CITIZEN VINYL Saturday Spins, 1pm CORK & KEG Big Ig & The Louisiana All Stars (Cajun/ zydeco), 8pm CROW & QUILL Hearts Gone South (honky tonk), 8:30pm DRY FALLS BREWING CO. Mojomatic (blues, rock), 7pm GUIDON BREWING Tuxedo Junction (covers), 6:30pm HIGHLAND BREWING CO. High Flying Criminals (funk, soul), 6pm HIGHLAND BREWING DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Chris Norred & Friends (jazz guitar), 7pm ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 • Hiroya Tsukamoto: Cinematic Guitar Poetry (world, folk), 7pm • Kimberly Morgan-York (country, Americana), 8:30pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB • Nobody's Darling String Band, 4pm • Sparrow and her Wingmen (vintage jazz, swing), 9pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Local Gossip (rock), 8pm ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Guavatron (rock), 10pm

MOUNTAINX.COM

JULY 20-26, 2022

CLU B LA N D

TUESDAY, JULY 26 185 KING STREET Jon Weisberger & Friends ft. Joe Cicero, Donica Elliott, Shawn Lane and Lyndsay Pruett, 6:30pm 5 WALNUT WINE BAR The John Henrys (jazz, swing), 8pm ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Downtown Karaoke w/ Ganymede, 9pm ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Tuesday Night Funk Jam, 10:30pm BOTTLE RIOT DJ Lil Meow Meow's Listening Room, 7pm CASCADE LOUNGE Tuesday Bluegrass Jam, 6pm FRENCH BROAD BREWERY Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm GRATEFUL ORGANIC DINER Open Mic Night, 7pm HIGHLAND DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Not Rocket Science Trivia, 6:30pm MAD CO. BREW HOUSE Team Trivia, 6pm

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Early Tuesday Jam (funk), 9pm ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Grateful Family Band Tuesdays (Dead tribute), 6pm SALVAGE STATION Atmosphere & Iration w/The Grouch, DJ Fresh & Katastro (hip hop), 5:30pm SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO. Howie Johnson / Bill Mattocks Duo (blues, rock), 5pm STATIC AGE RECORDS Gollylagging, Kerosine Heights, Equal Creatures (punk/emo), 9pm SWEETEN CREEK BREWING All Arts Open Mike, 6pm THE BURGER BAR C U Next Tuesday! Late Night Trivia, 9pm

WEDNESDAY, JULY 27 12 BONES BREWERY Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY • Ashevillians (comedy showcase), 7pm

• Aquanet Goth Party w/Ash Black, 9pm ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Stand-Up Comedy Open Mic, 8pm ASHEVILLE PIZZA & BREWING CO. Trivia! Trivia! Night, 6:30pm BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING Jay Brown (roots), 6pm BOLD ROCK ASHEVILLE Karaoke Night, 7pm

BLUE GHOST BREWING CO. The '90s Trivia, 6:30pm

BOLD ROCK MILLS RIVER Trivia Night, 6pm

BLUE RIDGE HEMP CO. Cali Sober: an alcohol free comedy show, 8pm

HI-WIRE BREWING RAD BEER GARDEN Game Night, 6pm HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Well-Crafted Wednesdays w/Matt Smith, 6pm ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Stillhouse Junkies (Americana, country-western), 7:30pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Old Time Jam, 5pm LAZY HIKER BREWING SYLVA Trivia Night, 6:30pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Mountain Music Jam, 6pm

ONE WORLD BREWING Pingo Wednesdays (trivia bingo), 7pm RENDEZVOUS Albi (musique Francaise), 6pm SALVAGE STATION The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus & Attack Attack! w/Kingdom Collapse + Astoria State (rock), 8pm SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO. Fwuit (retro soul), 5pm STATIC AGE RECORDS the sound that ends creation, rat punch, tracheal shave, execution van (metal), 9pm SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Witty Wednesday Trivia, 6:30pm THE DUGOUT Karaoke Party, 8pm THE POE HOUSE Team Trivia w/Wes Ganey, 7pm TWIN LEAF BREWERY Open Mic, 6pm

THURSDAY, JULY 28 185 KING STREET Mark Queen Band (traditional mountain music), 7pm

JULY 20-26, 2022

MOUNTAINX.COM

ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Kiki Thursdays Drag and Dancing, 8pm ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR • Jazz Thursday, 7:30pm • MGB at the AGB, 8pm

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Wild Wednesday Funk-n-Rock w/Free Anesthesia, 10pm

ALLEY CAT SOCIAL CLUB Open Mic Asheville w/ Lincoln, 8pm

BOLD ROCK HARD CIDER Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm CASCADE LOUNGE Weekly Trivia Night, 6:30pm CROW & QUILL Black Sea Beat Society (Baltic, Klezmer, Turkish), 8pm FRENCH BROAD BREWERY Jerry's Dead (Grateful Dead & JGB Tribute), 6pm GIGI'S UNDERGROUND Mr Jimmy (blues), 7pm HIGHLAND BREWING DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Heidi Gilson & Friends (alt country, folk), 6pm ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 • Asheville Sessions ft Jesse Barry (jazz, pop, rock), 7pm • The Aristocats (instrumental), 8:30pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Bluegrass Jam w/Drew Matulich & Friends, 7pm MAD CO. BREW HOUSE Karaoke Night, 6pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Bill Altman (acoustic), 7pm ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Gunslinging Parrots (Phish tribute), 9pm ROOM NINE Thirsty Thursday w/DJ Moto, 9pm SALVAGE STATION Pyle Tribe w/The Beard (rock), 8pm SOVEREIGN KAVA Free Weekly Table Tennis Tournament, 7pm STATIC AGE RECORDS Kelsey Abbott, Katie Ruvane & Fleur Girl (folk, country), 9pm THE GETAWAY RIVER BAR • Rum Punchlines Comedy Open Mic, 6pm • Karaoke w/Terraoke, 9pm

MOUNTAINX.COM

JULY 20-26, 2022

FREEWILL ASTROLOGY ARIES (March 21-April 19): You are entering the Season of Love’s Renewal. To celebrate, I offer you a poem by eighth-century Tamil poet Andal. Whatever gender you may be, I invite you to visualize yourself as the “Snakewaist woman” she addresses. Here’s Andal, bringing a fiery splash of exclamation points: “Arouse, Snakewaist woman! Strut your enchantment! Swoop your mirth and leap your spiral reverence! As wild peacocks shimmer and ramble and entice the lightning-nerved air! Summon thunderheads of your love! Command the sentient wind! Resurrect the flavor of eternal birth!” TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Tips to get the most out of the next three weeks: 1. Work harder, last longer and finish with more grace than everyone else. 2. Be in love with beauty. Crave it, surround yourself with it, and create it. Be especially enamored of beautiful things that are also useful. 3. Taste the mist, smell the clouds, kiss the music, praise the earth, and listen to the moon in the daytime sky. 4. Never stop building! Keep building and building and building: your joy, your security, your love, your beauty, your stamina, your sense of wonder. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini astrologer Astrolocherry says that while Geminis “can appear naive and air-headed to onlookers, their minds usually operate at light speed. They naturally absorb every surrounding particle of intellectual stimuli. They constantly observe their interactions for opportunities to grow their knowledge.” I believe these qualities will function at peak intensity during the next four weeks, Gemini — maybe even beyond peak intensity. Please try to enjoy the hell out of this phase without becoming manic or overwrought. If all goes well, you could learn more in the next four weeks than most people learn in four months. CANCER (June 21-July 22): Naeem Callaway founded Get Out The Box, an organization that mentors at-risk youth in low-income and rural communities. Here’s one of his central teachings: “Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. Tiptoe if you must, but take the step.” Even if you don’t fit the profile of the people Callaway serves, his advice is perfect for you right now. For the time being, I urge you to shelve any plans you might have for grandiose actions. Focus on just one of the many possible tasks you could pursue and carry it out with determined focus. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): A Leo astrologer I’ve known for years told me, “Here’s a secret about us Lions. No matter what happens, despite any pitfalls and pratfalls, my ego will stay intact. It ain’t gonna crack. You can hurl five lightning bolts’ worth of insults at my skull, and I will walk away without even a hint of a concussion. I believe in myself and worship myself, but even more importantly: I trust my own self-coherence like I trust the sun to shine.” Wow! That’s quite a testimony. I’m not sure I fully buy it, though. I have known a few Leos whose confidence wavered in the wake of a minor misstep. But here’s the point of my horoscope: I encourage you to allow a slight ego deflation in the coming days. If you do, I believe it will generate a major blossoming of your ego by August. And that would be a very good thing. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo poet Claude de Burine described how one night when she was three years old, she sneaked out of the house with her parents’ champagne bucket so she could fill it up with moonlight. I think activities like this will be a worthy pursuit for you in the coming days. You’re entering a favorable phase to go in quest of lyrical, fanciful experiences. I hope you will make yourself available for marvels and curiosities and fun surprises.

JULY 20-26, 2022

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): There is a distinction between being nice and being kind. Being nice is often motivated by mechanical politeness, by a habit-bound drive to appear pleasant. It may be rooted more in a desire to be liked than in an authentic urge to bestow blessings. On the other hand, being kind is a sincere expression of care and concern for another. It fosters genuine intimacy. I bring these thoughts to your attention because I think that one of Libra’s life-long tasks is to master the art of being kind rather than merely nice. And right now is an especially favorable phase for you to refine your practice. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You sometimes feel you have to tone down your smoldering intensity, avert your dark-star gazes, conceal your sultry charisma, dumb down your persuasive speech, pretend you don’t have so much stamina, disguise your awareness of supernatural connections, act less like a saint and martyr in your zealous devotions, and refrain from revealing your skill at reading between the lines. But none of that avoidance stuff usually works very well. The Real You leaks out into view. In the coming weeks, I hope you won’t engage in any of the hiding behavior I described. It’s a favorable time to freely pour forth your Scorpionic blessings. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): There could be interesting and important events happening while you sleep in the coming nights. If a butterfly lands on you in a dream, it may mean you’re prepping for a spiritual transformation in waking life. It could be a sign you’re receptive to a breakthrough insight you weren’t previously open to. If you dream of a baby animal, it might signify you’re ready to welcome a rebirth of a part of you that has been dormant or sluggish or unavailable. Dreams in which you’re flying suggest you may soon escape a sense of heaviness or inertia. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): How to be the best Capricorn you can be in the coming weeks and months: 1. Develop a disciplined, well-planned strategy to achieve more freedom. 2. Keep clambering upwards even if you have no competitors and there’s no one else at the top. 3. Loosen your firm grasp and steely resolve just enough so you can allow the world to enjoy you. 4. Don’t let the people you love ever think you take them for granted. 5. Be younger today than you were yesterday. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In the next seven to eight weeks, I’d love for you to embody an attitude about intimacy articulated by author Hélène Cixous. Here’s her aspiration: “I want to love a person freely, including all her secrets. I want to love in this person someone she doesn’t know. I want to love without judgment, without fault. Without false, without true. I want to meet her between the words, beneath language.” And yes, dear Aquarius, I know this is a monumental undertaking. If it appeals to you at all, just do the best you can to incorporate it. Perfection isn’t required. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I periodically consult a doctor of Chinese medicine who tells me that one of the best things I can do for my health is to walk barefoot — EVERYWHERE! On the sidewalk, through buildings and especially in the woods and natural areas. He says that being in direct contact with our beloved earth can provide me with energetic nourishment not possible any other way. I have resisted the doc’s advice so far. It would take the soles of my feet a while to get accustomed to the wear and tear of barefoot walking. I bring this up, Pisces, because the coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to try what I haven’t yet. In fact, anything you do to deepen your connection with the earth will be extra healing. I invite you to lie in the sand, hug trees, converse with birds, shout prayers to mountains and bathe in rivers or lakes.

MOUNTAINX.COM

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BY ROB BREZSNY

REAL ESTATE & RENTALS | ROOMMATES | JOBS | SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENTS | CLASSES & WORKSHOPS | MIND, BODY, SPIRIT MUSICIANS’ SERVICES | PETS | AUTOMOTIVE | XCHANGE | ADULT Want to advertise in Marketplace? 828-251-1333 advertise@mountainx.com • mountainx.com/classiﬁeds If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Remember the Russian proverb: “Doveryai, no proveryai,” trust but verify. When answering classiﬁed ads, always err on the side of caution. Especially beware of any party asking you to give them financial or identification information. The Mountain Xpress cannot be responsible for ensuring that each advertising client is legitimate. Please report scams to advertise@mountainx.com RENTALS MOBILE HOMES FOR RENT SMALL MOBILE HOME FOR RENT Mobile home on a private lot near Asheville Outlets. $600 a month, water and lawn care included. Call 828-275-9625.

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WORKING WHEELS SEEKS AN AUTOMOTIVE TECHNICIAN Seeking someone with excellent diagnostic skills, detail-oriented, good communicator, and passionate about serving our program participants. 25 to 35 hrs/ wk; $22.50/hr + $350/mo medical stipend; To apply: https://bit.ly/WWAutoTech Website: www.workingwheelswnc.org

HUMAN SERVICES UNIVERSAL MH/DD/SAS is looking for compassionate, energetic individuals to provide one on one services to persons with Intellectual Development Disabilities in a community or home setting. Must have a high school diploma and reliable transportation. We have various openings for full and part-time hours. Competitive pay. If interested please email ifreeman@umhs.net or visit us on the web at www. umhs.net. UNIVERSAL MH/DD/SAS is looking for compassionate, energetic individuals to work in our Psycho-Social Rehabilitation (PSR) program. Must have a high school diploma. Competitive pay. We have part-time positions. If interested please email csankey@ umhs.net or visit us on the web at www.umhs.net.

CAREGIVERS/ NANNY COMPANION/ CAREGIVER I am seeking part-time employment as a companion/ caregiver. I am a 57 year

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ARTS/MEDIA COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA SPECIALIST The Episcopal Church in Western North Carolina is looking for a full-time Communication and Media Specialist. This position oversees and develops all print and media communications including videography. www.diocesewnc.org DIGITAL MARKETING SPECIALIST The Smoky Mountain News is looking for a Digital Marketing Specialist who can plan, build, and implement digital marketing campaigns across multiple channels and platforms. The ideal candidate will increase digital awareness of our brands — which include The Smoky Mountain News, Smoky Mountain Living Magazine and Blue Ridge Motorcycling Magazine — and also work with business clients to increase awareness of their company, brand, products, and services. This person should be able to create and manage social media campaigns — mainly Facebook and Instagram — manage e-newsletters, and collaborate with our team of sales professionals, graphic designers and content creators to increase our digital sales volume. We need a self-starter capable of working independently as well as in a team setting. This person will have strong interpersonal skills, a knack for creative thinking as it pertains to digital revenue, a solid understanding of grammar and writing, and will be proficient in (or possess the ability to learn) photography and videography. This is a full-time position with Mountain South Media, a division of The Smoky Mountain News, with offices in Waynesville and Sylva. Recent college grads with appropriate skills and degree encouraged to apply. Email greg@smokymountainnews. com for inquires or to send a resume.

XCHANGE GENERAL MERCHANDISE ST. JOHNS EPISCOPAL RUMAGE SALE Saturday, August 6, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 290 Old Haw Creek Road, Asheville. Come in and see! Our Parish Hall will be filled with home goods, furniture, tools, camping gear, and much more.

ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES STILL BUYING ANTIQUES Seeking old stuff! Cast iron, advertising signs, military, primitives, collections, art, pottery, estates, crocks, bottles, silver, license plates, unusual stuff, taxidermy, rifles, bbguns, more. Call/ Text 828-582-6097,steadyaim1@yahoo.com.

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COUNSELING SERVICES ASTRO-COUNSELING 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, LCMHC. (828) 2583229.

AUTOMOTIVE BOATS/ WATERCRAFT FOR SALE 13 FOOT GRUMMAN CANOE w/ 2 new paddles and life preserver push-ins. Double-ender used two times on Beaver Lake. 2 years old. Weaverville. $950 Call or text 772-285-3333.

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THE N EW Y OR K TI M ES C ROSSWORD P UZ Z LE

Expand your horizons with us

edited by Will Shortz | No. 0615

ACROSS 1 Buds 5 ___ Empire, a.k.a. the Realm of the Four Parts 9 Word with bar or bowl

23 Sardis Rd, Asheville, NC 28806 (828) 670-9191 precisionInternational.com

20 Step up or down

42 44

52 54 61

30 Meal

34 Traveled to an island, in a way

3 Tibetan spiritual leader

31 Tutti-___

35 Children’s author Carle

4 Epitome of slowness

37 Squid predator

5 Cousin ___ (“The Addams Family” member)

40 Part 3 of the quip

6 Agatha Christie ___ Miller

43 Disoriented

7 ___ diem

46 Continue with

2 Slews

45 Files a petition

33 Part 2 of the quip

44 Cry at the end of a big job

21 Phnom ___

39 Wanting no more, say

17 Start of a punny quip with two correct answers

30 Peter Sarsgaard’s role in 2016’s “Jackie,” for short

22 Oversight

PUZZLE BY ROB BAKER

15 Cup-and-saucer luncheons

25 Aloof with

— We specialize in all makes and models! —

14 Pizazz

16 Hot apple pie has one

We’re Hiring Call us today!

8 Arthur ___, 1975 Wimbledon winner 9 Woodcutter’s prop

53 Ed Asner role in 2003’s “Elf” 55 “Right now!”

32 “___ Cousins” (1964 Elvis film)

57 Rips [five letters]

34 ___ Mae (mortgage company)

58 Lit ___ 59 Shot, for short

36 “10-4!”

60 Certain sib

38 Head to the office?

61 “Explosive” cable channel

41 Come under fire, literally or figuratively 42 Ones ordering lab tests?

62 The groom is usually the first to say it 63 New driver’s acquisition: Abbr.

50 Lunar New Year

10 Spot for many a “mom” tattoo

47 Heroine Prior of the “Divergent” series

51 Play around

11 Singer Rawls

52 Philippine coins

12 Theater chain or cable channel

49 London’s ___ Square

64 Something dispensed with in “business casual”

52 Terrible twos, e.g.

65 Actor McShane

48 Part 4 of the quip

54 Drop a line? 56 Devise, as a plot 60 End of the quip 66 Where shampoo was invented 67 Home of 66-Across 68 Stumble 69 ___ footage

13 Dit’s counterpart 18 Aid in busing 19 Back in the day 23 Fictional character who dreams about Heffalumps

70 Many a driver’s ed enrollee

24 Positive response to “Agree?”

71 Regarding

26 Some exams 27 Skedaddled

DOWN 1 Writes

28 Conical shelter 29 Most unusual

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS NY TIMES PUZZLE

A M P M

T A I L

E T C H

C H A O

M E A L S

A B B O T

B A T O R I S C K E T H K D U A P U B L L I P S E I N T F A D T E L B A E L O I S R K E T H B S MO D U G P R O S H E X

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JULY 20-26, 2022

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