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OUR 26TH YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 26 NO. 19 DEC. 4 - 10, 2019

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C O NT E NT S OUR 26TH YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 26 NO. 19 DEC. 4 - 10, 2019

Infant mortality climbs for Buncombe's African Americans

So many holiday craft markets to choose from

PAGE 8 A WIDER WEB All seemed to be going well this fall for the private, Christian Montreat College to receive $20 million in state funding to expand cybersecurity training programs. Then it hit a snag in the form of a Democratic rebellion. COVER DESIGN Scott Southwick

PRAY TO PLAY Montreat College seeks funds for cyber program

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OPINION

Send your letters to the editor to letters@mountainx.com. STA F F PUBLISHER: Jeff Fobes ASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHER: Susan Hutchinson MANAGING EDITOR: Virginia Daffron A&E EDITOR: Alli Marshall FOOD EDITOR: Gina Smith GREEN SCENE EDITOR: Daniel Walton OPINION EDITOR: Tracy Rose STAFF REPORTERS: Able Allen, Edwin Arnaudin, Thomas Calder, Laura Hackett, Brooke Randle, Daniel Walton COMMUNITY CALENDAR EDITOR: Deborah Robertson

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Hotels, businesses must examine how they treat local workers At its Nov. 21 public meeting, board members of the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority responded to criticisms of how the BCTDA funnels millions of dollars from the occupancy tax into advertising [“On the Defensive: TDA Board Members React to Criticism,” Nov. 27, Xpress]. They compared this negative criticism to a “slow beating” and said they did not get enough credit for all the positive effects of tourism, citing the same statistics that have been trotted out by the BCTDA at every opportunity. I ask these same hoteliers and board members to take a look at how much they pay people working at the hotels and businesses they own and manage. Are low wages themselves not “slow beatings”? When they pat themselves on the back for the higher property values the TDA purports to create, do they also imagine what it is like for their own workers to try to afford these higher prices resulting from the tourism boom and from “elite empty nesters” they have specifically targeted coming to Asheville and driving up housing prices? Who sees those tourism dollars? We do not need tens of millions of dollars of advertising to make Asheville attractive. We do, however, need to take a good, hard look at an outdated state law and ask our county commissioners to refuse to collect the occupancy

tax until this law (put in place in 1983) is restructured or repealed to give our communities control of the resources we desperately need. If hoteliers and small-business owners want to show they care about the future of our city, they can raise wages above a living wage, provide health care for employees and offer paid time off for all workers. The people of Asheville have had enough of being exploited, and it is time to abolish the Buncombe County TDA. — Camille McCarthy WNC Green Party co-chair Asheville

City Council needs to fight for climate action I hope the leadership and members of the Sunrise Movement know that they have huge public support in getting Asheville to adopt a meaningful climate emergency resolution, with the emphasis on the word meaningful. In the article in [the Nov. 20] Xpress, they sounded frustrated and discouraged by the bureaucratic process [“Council, Activists at Odds on Climate Emergency Resolution”]. But they also sounded resolute in sticking to their principled agenda. In the preamble, or “whereas,” section of the resolution, there are 19 short paragraphs of what the city has already done or committed to on paper to reduce its carbon footprint. The city is proud of its accomplishments, and it is a leader among North Carolina municipalities in “sustainability” and energy accomplishments.

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OPI N I ON

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

But what the Sunrise Movement wants from this emergency resolution is substantially different and certainly bolder than more and better intentions. Under current law, the city cannot mandate excellent energy-efficient building codes. It can’t buy renewable electricity from parties other than Duke Energy. It can’t build and install solar energy with or without battery storage without Duke Energy’s approval. It can’t tap the hydropower energy being lost every day from the water flowing from the reservoir. It can’t help finance energy efficiency and solar projects for its residents. In short, unless the city becomes its own municipal electric utility, it can’t in any meaningful and concrete sense respond to the climate emergency unless it fights the General Assembly’s control over whom does our democracy serve: the corporate powers of Duke Energy and the building industry, or the residents of our community. The city was willing to fight the state over district or citywide elections, certainly expressing the will of the people. Why isn’t the city willing to battle the state over the life-and-death climate crisis that will impact every sector of our community’s ability to survive in the rapidly heating world that we live in?

Take it from a retired emergency physician, we don’t need another meaningless document, we need action now. If I had responded to a person with a temperature of 104 degrees or a heart attack or a gunshot wound to the chest like the city is responding to the climate emergency, I would have lost my hospital privileges and maybe my license to practice. Our mayor, City Council members, staff and members of the Sustainability Advisory Council on Energy and the Environment must do better by adopting a climate emergency resolution that includes ordinances that give the city the authority to become its own utility, develop the most up-to-date energy building codes and provide for equitable access to renewable energy funds for all. Council had the courage to fight the state over the election process. Let’s hope they find the courage to choose to fight over this lifeand-death climate emergency. — Richard Fireman, M.D. (retired) Mars Hill Editor’s note: Fireman reports that he volunteers with Extinction Rebellion WNC and the Alliance for Energy Democracy and hopes you show up Dec. 6 for the Climate Strike sponsored by the Sunrise Movement. X

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NEWS

A WIDER WEB

Montreat College expands cybersecurity plans despite Cooper funding veto

BY DANIEL WALTON dwalton@mountainx.com As Assembly Drive winds its way through a nearly century-old stone gate and along Flat Creek to Montreat College, the path is marked by an abundance of natural splendor. The school sits in a richly wooded cove between two mountain ridges, just outside the Pisgah National Forest; its viewbook for prospective students boasts of 30 miles of hiking and biking trails in the surrounding small town of Montreat alone. In recent years, however, a significant portion of the college’s attention has shifted to affairs of a decidedly indoor bent. Under the direction of President Paul Maurer, who took leadership of Montreat in 2014, the private, Christian liberal arts school has rapidly become one of North Carolina’s foremost cybersecurity institutions. In six years, Maurer says, enrollment in Montreat’s cyber programs has gone from zero to 142 — a major surge of strength for an institution that in 2013 had considered merging with Point University in Georgia and closing its local campus altogether. The college’s annual RETR3AT cybersecurity conference has attracted hundreds of attendees since it first convened in 2015, with speakers including Republican Sen. Richard Burr and Max Everett, chief information officer for the U.S. Department of Energy. And the expansion is far from over, Maurer believes. He expects that additional growth in Montreat’s STEM majors, including cybersecurity, will soon merit hundreds of millions of dollars in investment to build a larger

KEEPING TABS: A student monitors a map of global cyberattacks in Montreat College’s cybersecurity lab. Photo courtesy of Montreat College campus on 89 acres currently owned by the college between U.S. 70 and Interstate 40, less than a half mile from downtown Black Mountain. Part of that plan is a $40 million facility to house the school’s cyber program alongside a new, separate initiative called the Carolina Cyber Center, for which the N.C. General Assembly voted to award $20 million in October. “This is a way for academia and industry and government to work together to solve the economic and security threat of our age in our state,” Maurer says of the center, often abbreviated as the C3. “We’ve been working on this project for two or three years now, and we have found tremendous support from

all these sectors, who agree that a P3 [public-private partnership] approach is a really wise and progressive approach to addressing a very complex problem.” But Maurer has not found support from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. On Nov. 8, the governor vetoed House Bill 398, which contained the Montreat funding, calling the money “a substantial capital earmark outside the state’s proven university system.” With the General Assembly adjourned for the rest of the year, it’s unclear when or if the matter might be taken up again. IN THE CROSSFIRE The path to Cooper’s veto was itself marked by contentious political maneuvering. Originally, the C3 money was part of House Bill 966, the General Assembly’s comprehensive appropriations act. According to reporting by Carolina Public Press in August, the governor did not object to any local projects in that bill, including the Montreat funding. However, he had vetoed the budget in June due to disagreements with Republican lawmakers over education and health care spending. Although the House Republicans overrode Cooper’s veto on Sept. 11 — in a vote for which most Democrats were not present, with many claiming they had not

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been informed of its timing — their colleagues in the Senate were unable to muster the three-fifths supermajority needed to pass the budget into law. In response, lawmakers began passing “mini-budget” bills to fund less controversial portions of the original budget. On Oct. 23, in his role as senior chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Jason Saine, R-Lincoln, altered House Bill 398, which originally contained funding for rural broadband that had been moved to a different mini-budget and passed on Oct. 14. He replaced its language with funding requests for the C3 and other information technology needs. By then, according to Rep. John Ager, D-Buncombe, the money had begun to attract negative attention from Democrats. “The rebellion in my party centered around the large appropriation going to a private institution when there were several cybersecurity programs in our university system,” Ager explained in an email to Xpress. “They found negative data about Montreat’s graduation rates. They felt like the $20 million was a sweetheart deal by North Carolina Republicans to support a conservative Christian school.” Rep. John Autry, D-Mecklenburg, formalized that opposition on Oct. 24 by proposing an amendment to the bill that would have removed the C3 money and replaced it with the same amount “for the continuing upgrade of statewide cybersecurity capabilities.” The amendment failed in a tie vote that same day; Ager was the only Democrat to cross party lines in opposition to the change. “I still believed [the C3] was a worthy project that was really bigger than Montreat College. It would have created a high-tech hub in Buncombe County and spin off companies that would benefit the region,” Ager said of his vote. “It would work with the university system, the community college system and the new [N.C. School of Science and Mathematics] in Morganton.” The bill proceeded to pass both the House and Senate mostly along party lines, with Ager again the only Democrat breaking ranks to lend his backing, before receiving Cooper’s veto. “Republican leaders want to provide a multimillion-dollar earmark without explanation while shortchanging the entire state’s cybersecurity department,” wrote Cooper spokes-

person Ford Porter in response to an Xpress request for comment. “That’s not the way this process is supposed to work.” Cooper’s office did not respond to a follow-up question asking why the governor had switched his position on local projects since August. But Ager believes that the $20 million for the C3 — well over three times as much as the roughly $5.5 million Montreat raises annually, and more than twice the college’s total endowment — stood out more glaringly in October compared to other allocations in the mini-budget. The next largest earmark in the bill was $5 million for the NC HealthConnex health information exchange. “As long as the Montreat appropriation was in the general budget, I think [Cooper] was OK to not challenge it. Putting it in a small mini-budget highlighted all the reasons to be against it. In hindsight, that was a political mistake,” Ager wrote. MATTER OF FAITH? Following Cooper’s veto, Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, who in April sponsored a separate bill that would have given $2 million to Montreat for the C3, issued a statement suggesting how at least some Republicans interpreted the move. “Vetoing this legislation puts the state’s most critical information at risk and signals to hackers that the state is vulnerable,” he wrote. “Gov. Cooper seems to have put our information in danger just because he doesn’t like the religious choices of some of the administrators at a college.” Neither Hise nor Saine responded to multiple requests for further comment on the Montreat allocation or Cooper’s veto. However, the college has drawn attention in the past for its Community Life Covenant, adopted in 2017, that all staff must sign as a condition of employment. The document includes positions drawn from the school’s Reformed Christian tradition such as affirming “chastity among the unmarried and the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman” and “the God-given worth of every human being, from conception to death.” Ager confirmed that his party colleagues were concerned by those religious statements: “Democrats did not like the oath Montreat professors were required to subscribe to,” he recalled. The Buncombe representative did not mention sharing those concerns; he wrote that personal meetings

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N EWS with Maurer had convinced him that Montreat “was the only institution in N.C. that stepped up with a matured vision” for cybersecurity training. Maurer focused on the political fight between Republicans and Democrats as driving the failure of House Bill 398. “Unfortunately, the portion of that bill to come to Montreat College had gotten politicized in the weeks prior, and what is really a completely bipartisan issue and problem became a partisan issue,” he said. When asked for his take on Hise’s remarks about specifically religious motivations, Maurer offered no response. But David Thompson of RBX Solutions, a lobbying firm that represents Montreat’s cybersecurity programs at both the state and federal levels, believes that Democrats did not respect the planned division between Montreat College and the C3, which he says college staff would establish but then spin off as an independent nonprofit. He emphasizes that employees of the new center would not be bound by the same covenant as Montreat workers. “We’re not talking about standing up a regional training center that’s going to be a Christian

TALKING TURNAROUND: Paul Maurer, president of Montreat College, has overseen an expansion of enrollment in the school’s cybersecurity programs from zero to 142 since joining the college in 2014. Photo by Matt Rose, courtesy of Montreat College training center. That’s not at all what we’re proposing,” Thompson says. “It’s a very important distinction that again has been lost in the discussion here.”

ETHICS AND NETWORK PROTOCOL While a proverbial firewall would be placed between the C3 and Montreat’s religious beliefs, both Maurer and Thompson say that the college’s desire to impart lessons beyond raw technical skills make it the right choice to catalyze the training center. As a liberal arts college informed by a moral code, Thompson argues, the school shapes graduates who are more than glorified hackers — a philosophy that would remain central to the new nonprofit,

which lists “a focus on ethics and character-based learning” on its webpage. “What Montreat brings to this discussion, that a state university does not bring in any meaningful way, is that we have to consider the human side of cyber,” Thompson says. “You’re really weaponizing students if you are not providing guardrails for the ethical treatment of cybersecurity.” One such public cybersecurity program is the Davis iTEC Cyber Security Center at Forsyth Technical Community College in WinstonSalem, which currently teaches over 300 students. Janet Spriggs, president of Forsyth Tech, said in response to Thompson’s statement that the college “looks forward to finding ways to partner with Montreat in this very important area.” Spriggs added, “We recognize our program focuses on a different aspect of cybersecurity defense than Montreat’s program. However, we believe our program, the programs at other community colleges and universities and the Montreat program are all important in preparing IT security professionals.” Maurer draws parallels between his school’s approach and that of the U.S. military academies, which he says are the only higher education institutions besides faith-based colleges to integrate personal character and ethics into their curricula. It’s no surprise, he continues, that Montreat’s message has resonated with partners in the federal defense complex.

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In 2017, the National Security Agency certified Montreat as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education. Although eight other North Carolina schools, including Forsyth Tech, have also received that designation, Montreat remains the only religiously affiliated college in the state to be certified. Earlier this year, the school became one of just five institutions to sign a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Army for cyber education. Maurer notes that Montreat was also asked this year to take “a leadership role at a national level” in the NSA’s cybersecurity training work. Contacted on Nov. 19, an NSA spokesperson said all personnel associated with the Centers of Academic Excellence program were unavailable to provide comment on Montreat’s role by Xpress’s print deadline of Dec. 2.

tor for technological entrepreneurship. “We see this as a way of really helping develop the economic footprint of the future,” Maurer says. “As we’ve worked with the economic development thinkers of Western North Carolina, they’re very interested in this project because it helps diversify the workforce, which currently is really focused on hospitality and manufacturing.” Maurer notes that Montreat has already received $2 million in state funding for the C3 in the fiscal 2018-19 budget

and is currently searching for its executive director. Once that person is hired, he says, the college will formally establish a separate nonprofit for the center and develop more detailed plans. “I think that we’re in this for the long term, and we’re in this in a meaningful way for how to solve a really serious problem,” emphasizes Maurer about the need for cybersecurity workers of character. “The veto is unfortunate, but it’s not the end of the journey.” X

BY POPULAR DEMAND Montreat’s boosters are confident that funding for the C3 will materialize soon, even if Cooper and the General Assembly fail to reach an agreement over state support. They believe a pressing need for skilled, ethically responsible workers — Thompson says that 13,000 cybersecurity jobs are currently unfilled in North Carolina alone, and the nonprofit Center for Cyber Safety and Education estimates that 1.8 million cybersecurity jobs will be unfilled globally by 2022 — will lead employers both private and public to back a training center. “A lot of our seniors are getting three to six job offers. Their starting salaries are nothing like what I got coming out of college, I can tell you that,” Maurer adds. “They’re at high-profile Fortune 500 companies; they’re with the FBI; they’re in county governments. … We could have three times the number of students in the program, and I don’t think the demand would shrink one bit.” In contrast to the college’s current programs, Maurer explains, the training offered through the C3 would be shorter in duration and more flexible in curriculum, regularly changing to meet industry certification needs. Not only would this approach make the center more appealing to businesses that may not be able to send employees to get traditional degrees, he says, but it would also support time-crunched workers transitioning from other jobs. Additionally, a third of the space would be dedicated as an incubaMOUNTAINX.COM

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BUNCOMBE BEAT

Council rejects tiny home zoning change While Asheville City Council unanimously denied a zoning request that would have expanded where tiny houses are permitted in the city during its Nov. 26 meeting, its members maintained that they already allow the structures in many areas of Asheville through other zoning laws and regulations. “The bottom line is, tiny homes are allowed as accessory dwelling units throughout residential zones,” said Mayor Esther Manheimer. “This is a little bit confusing because people are saying, ‘Please allow tiny homes in your city.’ We allow them as accessory dwelling units right now.” The request, brought before Council by owner Drew Crawford of the Asheville-based DIY Tiny tiny home community, would have added campgrounds and accessory dwelling units as accepted uses in Highway Business district zoning. Crawford claimed that the zoning change would increase the availability of tiny homes for residential

use and ease the area’s shortage of affordable housing. According to Shannon Tuch, the city’s principal planner, tiny homes differ from other residential housing because they are not required to be built using U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development or North Carolina Building Code safety regulations. Tiny homes on wheels — the type of dwellings at Crawford’s community — are managed and inspected by the state Department of Motor Vehicles and not considered permanent housing. Even if the city approved the zoning change that allowed for campground use in the Highway Business district, Tuch said, state law would still not permit the structures to be occupied for more than 180 days. “Much of what’s being talked about today as it relates to tiny homes has to do with the building code. It is not a zoning question,” she said. Council member Julie Mayfield said that she, along with Vice Mayor

GROUP SEEKS COUNCIL SUPPORT FOR INJURED BLACK BEARS

SO HELP ME: Help Asheville Bears, a Facebook group with roughly 68,000 members, asked members of Asheville City Council to work with state officials to find and convict people who they say are killing and maiming bears in the Asheville area after several bears were spotted with missing limbs. Photo courtesy of Help Asheville Bears Gwen Wisler and Council member Brian Haynes, recently toured Simple Life, a tiny home on wheels community located in Flat Rock that has worked to circumvent state regulations. While she agreed that the homes could contribute to Asheville’s housing options, she asked for city staff to develop more comprehensive regulations surrounding affordability and safety requirements. ACTIVISTS DEMAND ‘AS WRITTEN’ CLIMATE RESOLUTION Eleven members of the Sunrise Movement read passages from “On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal” by Canadian author Naomi Klein for more than 30 minutes during public comment while urging Council members to pass a climate emergency resolution “as written” by the group, without omissions or revisions from 12

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city officials. Activist Sally Thames said that, after the group was asked to work with the city’s Sustainability Advisory Committee on Energy and the Environment, committee members stripped the resolution of its most substantive measures. “The resolution drafted by SACEE would allow Council to appear as though they’re taking action when, in fact, it is nowhere near sufficient to take on the scale of the climate crisis,” Thames said. Manheimer said that the Sunrise version of the resolution was constructed from a national template and was not tailored to Asheville’s specific local and state governments, which limit what actions the city can take. Council had previously agreed to put the resolution on its Nov. 27 agenda but reversed course after Sunrise representatives called the move “presumptuous” because the terms of the resolution had not yet been agreed.

Jody Williams and Teresa Newman, speaking on behalf of Help Asheville Bears, asked Council members to work with the state attorney general’s office and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission to find and convict people who they say are killing and maiming bears in the Asheville area using illegal snare traps (See “Local group cites Montana experts on bear amputation concerns,” p. 22). The Facebook group — now over 73,000 members strong — first alerted local media and wildlife officials of the problem in August and now claim that at least 12 bears in a 25-mile radius of Asheville have been observed with absent or severely injured limbs. “The 12 confirmed maimed bears are the ones that have escaped these traps. There’s no way to know how many did not escape and were illegally killed after prolonged and agonized suffering,” Williams told Council members. Wiliams also said that the state Wildlife Resources Commission, which has previously attributed the missing limbs to car strikes, has opened an investigation into the injuries. Asheville residents Carol and Scotty Morgan have also pledged a $50,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for harming the bears.

— Brooke Randle X

FEA T U RE S

ASHEVILLE ARCHIVES by Thomas Calder | tcalder@mountainx.com

Home away from home Montreat Normal School launches, 1916

FORMER DORMITORY: This 1907 postcard shows the Alba Hotel in Montreat, which later doubled as a dormitory for early students of the Montreat Normal School. The structure burned down in 1945. Photo by Alice Margaret Dickinson; postcard from the collection of Mary and Joe Standaert In October 1916, the Montreat Normal School, an all-female institution, opened. Early newspaper accounts are scarce. Fortunately, the North Carolina Room at Pack Library possesses documents from the school’s history, including a 1921 brochure. According to the leaflet, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, which used the property during the summer for its annual Bible conference, donated the space to the school for the remainder of the year. The site’s two hotels (the Montreat Hotel, which burned down in 1924, and the Alba Hotel, which burned down in 1945) operated as a classroom and a dormitory, respectively. “The curriculum embraces the four years of high-school work, two years of normal or college work, a thorough course in House-hold Economics, Bible study and music,” the pamphlet read. Meanwhile, “students pay only board, laundry and some small incidentals,” the leaflet promulgated. Fees totaled $225 for the nine-month term (or roughly $3,235 in today’s dollar). However, $100 scholarships were available to those who could not afford full tuition. Summer employment opportunities were also offered to those who could not afford the remaining $125 fee. “Every girl of ability, who desires an education and whose character and purposes insure the best use of an education, should be enabled to have it,” the pamphlet declared. “For this reason the

Montreat Normal makes a character test only, for her students. No worthy girl is turned away for the lack of funds.” Over time, coverage of the school featured more prominently in local papers. An article in the March 6, 1932, Sunday edition of the Asheville Citizen-Times described it as “one of the most unusual and serviceable educational institutions of its kind in the Southland.”

The article emphasized the school’s focus on character and Christian study. It also noted the property’s latest amenities, which included tennis courts, basketball courts and athletic fields. “It is the policy of the authorities to make this institution a home as well as a school,” the article continued. “The teachers live in the dormitory with girls, eat at the same table with them, and join in all the recreation.” Students formed literary societies and other social clubs, the paper reported. The school also had “its own radio, victrola, and moving picture apparatus. These help the social committees of the different organizations to provide many evenings of fun and entertainment that rest the mind after the week of strenuous study.” According to the 1932 article, the Montreat Normal School’s student body represented several states in the South, as well as California, Michigan and Washington, D.C. International students also attended the school, arriving from Brazil, Cuba and Africa. Two years later, the school changed its name to Montreat College. In 1959, the institution became coeducational and was renamed Montreat-Anderson College. Decades later, in 1995, the previous name of Montreat College was restored. Today, the college has locations in Montreat, Asheville, Charlotte and Morganton. Editor’s note: Peculiarities of spelling and punctuation are preserved from the original documents. X

Thanks for sharing In our Nov. 6 “Asheville Archives,” we featured a story about the 1908 Buncombe County jail, which operated until 1928 and was later razed in 1951. Following the story’s publication, we received an email from local resident Tom Atkinson, whose father operated the kitchen and laundry services in the 1928 Buncombe County jail, located on the 15th floor of the Buncombe County Courthouse. Growing up, Watkins writes, he and his friend, Jackie DeWeese, played throughout the courthouse. Then one day, he notes, Sheriff Laurence E. Brown “decided it would be better if we played someplace else and gave us the key to the Marjorie Street [1908] jail. … I recall the jail being stacked with boxes of papers. Jackie and I ventured around a bit in the jail and saw what we thought might be a dumbwaiter. Actually, it was the platform for the gallows. That was enough for us to find another place to play!” Atkins adds, “I kept the key and have treasured it as a boyhood memory.” Thank you for sharing the UNLOCKED HISTORY: A key to the image and memory with the 1908 Buncombe County jail. Photo courtesy of Tom Atkinson community, Tom! X

MOUNTAINX.COM

DEC. 4 - 10

COMMUNITY CALENDAR DEC. 4 - 12, 2019

CALENDAR GUIDELINES For a full list of community calendar guidelines, please visit mountainx.com/calendar. For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, ext. 137. For questions about paid calendar listings, please call 828-251-1333, ext. 320.

ACTIVISM CITIZENS-POLICE ADVISORY COMMITTEE • 1st WEDNESDAYS, 5pm - Citizens-Police Advisory Committee meeting. Free. Meets in the 1st Floor Conference Room, Public Works Building, 161 S. Charlotte St. PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE OF HENDERSON CO. • FRIDAYS, 4:30-6pm - Postcard writing to government representatives. Postcards, stamps, addresses, pens and tips provided. Free to attend. Held at Sanctuary Brewing Co., 147 1st Ave., Hendersonville

BENEFITS 24TH ANNUAL MONTFORD TOUR OF HOMES • SA (12/7), 1-5pm - Proceeds from the 24th Annual Montford Tour of Homes benefit neighborhood improvements, activities, youth programs and tree planting. $25. Held at Montford Neighborhood

92ND ANNUAL CHRISTMAS GREEN MARKET • SA (12/7), 9am-4pm & SU (12/8), noon-4pm - Proceeds from the French Broad River Garden Club Foundation's 92nd annual Christmas Green Market benefit local horticultural and conservation scholarships and projects. Free to attend. Held at Clem's Cabin, 1000 Hendersonville Road ASTRONOMY CLUB HOLIDAY SOCIAL • TH (12/5), 6:30pm - Proceeds from the 8th annual Holiday Social and Auction with refreshments, door prizes and silent and live auctions benefits the Astronomy Club of Asheville. Free to attend. Held in the Manheimer Room, UNC Asheville Reuter Center, 1 University Heights BOAS AND BOW TIES GALA • SA (12/9), 6-9pm Proceeds from the Boas and Bow Ties Gala benefit Food Connection. Admission by donation at theurbangastronome. com, choose an item from the Angel Tree. Held at The Foundry Hotel, 51 S. Market St.

LUNCH • DINNER CARRY-OUT • CATERING 828-298-1035

blackbearbbqavl.com 14

DEC. 4 - 10, 2019

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DECK THE TREES • FR (12/6) through MO (1/6), 10am-9pm - Proceeds from Deck The Trees in the theme of Go Tell It On the Mountain benefit the Fuel Fund for the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministries. Free to attend. Held at Monte Vista Hotel, 308 W. State St., Black Mountain FELIZ NAT-VIDAD • TU (12/10), 7:30pm Proceeds from Feliz NatVidad, a holiday musical journey benefit the arts at Flat Rock Playhouse. $60-$100. Held at Flat Rock Playhouse, 2661 Highway 225, Flat Rock FESTIVAL OF TREES • TH (12/5) through SU (12/8) - Proceeds from this fundraiser featuring 30 elaborately decorated Christmas trees, with raffle and live music benefit the Children’s Center of Transylvania County. Thurs.: noon-3pm. Fri. & Sat.: 10am-8pm. Sun.: 10am-2pm. $5. Held at Porter Center for Performing Arts at Brevard College, Brevard FILL A BOX FOR FIVE BUCKS BOOK SALE • SA (12/7), 10am - SA (12/7), 10am - Proceeds from the Fill a Box for Five Bucks Book Sale benefits The Friends of the Weaverville Library. $5/box. Held at Weaverville Library, 41 N. Main St. Weaverville HOLIDAY CRAFT AND GREENERY SALE • FR (12/6) & SA (12/7), 9am-4pm - Proceeds from the Holiday Craft and Greenery Sale benefit Bullington Gardens, a horticultural education center and public gardens. Held at Bullington Gardens, 95 Upper Red Oak Trail, Hendersonville HOLIDAY HAPPY HOUR & ART AUCTION • FR (12/6), 5:30-7:30pm - Proceeds from the Holiday Happy Hour & Art Auction benefit Art in Schools for Transylvania County. $30. Held at Haen Gallery Brevard, 200 King St., Brevard

MASTER GARDENER WREATH-MAKING • SA (12/7), 9:30amnoon & 1-3:30pm - Proceeds from the Master Gardener WreathMaking workshop benefit horticultural projects and grants in Haywood County. Bring gloves and pruners. Registration required. Info: mgarticles@charter. net or 828-456-3575. $25. Held at Haywood County Extension Center, 589 Raccoon Road, Suite 118, Waynesville PAN HARMONIA: COMMUNITY BENEFIT CONCERT • SU (12/8), 4pm Proceeds from the Pan Harmonia: Community Benefit Concert of the early music masters with Kate Steinbeck, flute, Gail Ann Schroeder, viola da gamba, and Barbara Weiss, harpsichord, benefit Beloved Asheville and Bountiful Baroque. Admission by donation. Held at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 337 Charlotte St. PEACE, LOVE & HOLIDAY BALL • SA (12/6), 6:3010:30pm - Proceeds from the Peace, Love & Holiday Ball, a ‘60’s-style 50th anniversary Gala benefit Tryon Fine Arts Center. Tickets: avl.mx/6qj. $100-$500. Held at Caitlyn Farms, 286 A.R. Thompson Road, Mill Spring THAT’S A WRAP • FR (12/6) through SU (12/8) - Proceeds from the gift-wrapping station in the food court benefit Enka Marching Band. Thurs.-Sat.: 11am-7pm, Sun.: noon-6pm. $5 and up. Held at Asheville Outlets, 800 Brevard Road Some events from this section may be found in the Give!Local calendar on p. 18

BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY A-B TECH SMALL BUSINESS CENTER 1465 Sand Hill Road, Candler, 828-398-7950, abtech.edu/sbc

WALK THIS WAY: Mills River Presbyterian Church has planned its inaugural Cookie Walk and Craft Sale for Saturday, Dec. 7, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., in the Fellowship Hall. For $7, one purchases an empty bakery box and then fills it from a selection of thousands of homemade cookies. The craft show portion of the event features local artists working in a variety of mediums, including pen and ink, blown glass, textiles, wood and painting. (p. 15) • SA (12/7), 9am-noon Branding Your Business, seminar. Registration required. Free. • WE (12/11), 9-11am Deep Dive Lab: Let Your Business Conscious be Your Guide, seminar. Registration required. Free. • SA (12/14), 9am-noon - Cybersecurity for Your Small Business, seminar. Registration required. Free. DEFCON 828 GROUP • 1st SATURDAYS, 2pm - General meeting for information security professionals, students and enthusiasts. Free to attend. Held at Earth Fare South, 1856 Hendersonville Road WNC LINUX USER GROUP • 1st SATURDAYS, noon - Users of all experience levels discuss Linux systems. Free to attend. Held at Earth Fare South, 1856 Hendersonville Road

CLASSES, MEETINGS & EVENTS EMPYREAN ARTS CLASSES (PD.) Intro to Handstands on Thursdays 7:45pm. Intro

to Partner Acrobatics on Sundays 6:30pm. Intro to Pole Fitness on Mondays 6:15pm, Tuesdays 7:15pm and Saturdays 11:30am. Release & Restore on Sundays 5:00pm and Wednesdays 7:30pm. empyreanarts.org • 828.782.3321 ASHEVILLE CHESS CLUB • WEDNESDAYS, 6:30pm - Sets provided. All ages and skill levels welcome. Beginners lessons available. Free. Held at North Asheville Recreation Center, 37 E. Larchmont Road ASHEVILLE NEWCOMER'S CLUB • 2nd MONDAYS, 9:30am - Monthly meeting for women new to Asheville interested in making friends and exploring the community. Free to attend. Held at First Baptist Church of Asheville, 5 Oak St. ASHEVILLE ROTARY CLUB • THURSDAYS, noon-1:30pm - General meeting. Free. Held at Trinity Episcopal Church, 60 Church St.

ASHEVILLE TAROT CIRCLE • 2nd SUNDAYS, noon General meeting. Free to attend. Held at Firestorm Books & Coffee, 610 Haywood Road ASHEVILLE WOMEN IN BLACK • 1st FRIDAYS, 5pm Monthly peace vigil. Free. Held at Vance Monument, 1 Pack Square BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • WE (12/4), 11am - BINGO for all ages. Prizes from the Friends of the Library. Coffee and morning snacks. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. • THURSDAYS, 10:30amnoon - Modern money theory study group. Free. Held at North Asheville Library, 1030 Merrimon Ave. • THURSDAYS, 5pm - Spanish Conversation Group for adults. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. • Every other TUESDAY, 4pm - Basic computer skills class. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St.

GENEALOGY CLUB • 2nd TUESDAYS, 3pm - Genealogy Club. Free. Held at Mountains Branch Library, 150 Bill's Creek Road, Lake Lure KOREAN WAR VETERANS CHAPTER 314 • 2nd WEDNESDAYS, noon - Korean War Veterans Association, General Frank Blazey Chapter 314, general meeting. Lunch at noon, meeting at 1pm. Free to attend. Held at Golden Corral, 2530 Chimney Rock Road, Hendersonville LAND OF SKY OPEN HOUSE • WE (12/4), 2-4pm Open house with tour of the building and opportunity to learn about services and funding opportunities. Free. Held at Land of Sky Regional Council Offices, 339 New Leicester Highway, Suite 140 LEICESTER COMMUNITY CENTER BOARD MEETING • 2nd TUESDAYS, 7pm - Public board meeting. Free. Held at Leicester Community Center, 2979 New Leicester Highway, Leicester

MONTHLY VETERANS COFFEE • SA (12/7), 8:30-10am - Build a community of veterans at the Monthly Veterans Coffee. Free to attend. Held at Ryan's Steakhouse, 1000 Brevard Road UNDERSTANDING CREDIT. GET IT. KEEP IT. IMPROVE IT. • MO (12/6), 5:30-7pm - Understanding Credit. Get it. Keep it. Improve it. Seminar. Registration required. Free. Held at OnTrack WNC, 50 S. French Broad Ave. WEEKLY SUNDAY SCRABBLE CLUB • SUNDAYS, 12:304:30pm - Scrabble club. Information: ashevillescrabble.com. Free. Held at Stephens Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave. Some events from this section may be found in the Give!Local calendar on p. 18

ECO CITIZENS CONCERNED WITH THE CLIMATE CRISIS • TU (12/10), 6-7:30pm - Volunteer action committees meet. New volunteers requested. Information: Citizens4climate@gmail. com. Held at Donaldson Room, 1216 Sixth Ave. W., Suite 500 (in back), Hendersonville ENERGY EFFICIENCY FOR EVERYONE • WE (12/4), 1-3:30pm - Energy Efficiency for Everyone, workshop. Registration required: bit.ly/35lEv2S. Free. Held at Lenoir-Rhyne University, 36 Montford Ave. SIERRA CLUB HOLIDAY PARTY AND RECOGNITION AWARDS • TH (12/5), 6:30pm Sierra Club’s 10th annual Holiday Party and Recognition Awards, bring a potluck dish to share listing the ingredients. Held at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place Some events from this section may be found in

the Give!Local calendar on p. 18

FARM & GARDEN COMMUNITY GARDEN MEETING • WE (12/4), 6pm - Leicester Library Community Garden is starting up. Learn how to get involved. Free. Held at Leicester Library, 1561 Alexander Road, Leicester

FOOD & BEER 8TH ANNUAL HOLIDAY COOKIE SALE • SA (12/7), 1-3pm - 100s of homemade holiday cookies as well as beverages, cake and holiday music. Free to attend. Held at First Congregational UCC of Hendersonville, 1735 5th Ave. W., Hendersonville COOKIE WALK AND CRAFT SALE • SA (12/7), 9am-1pm - First annual Cookie Walk and Craft Sale. Fill a cookie tin for $7 also art fair including glass, textiles, painting, jewelry and wood. Free to attend. Held at Mills River Presbyterian Church, 10 Presbyterian Church Road, Mills River FAIRVIEW WELCOME TABLE • 2nd THURSDAYS, 11:30am-1pm - Community lunch. Admission by donation. Held at Fairview Christian Fellowship, 596 Old US Highway 74, Fairview THE GREAT HOLIDAY COOKIE EXCHANGE • MO (12/9), 1pm - Bake 3 dozen cookies and swap with other bakers. Bring recipe. Free. Held at Mountains Branch Library, 150 Bill's Creek Road, Lake Lure

FESTIVALS CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTING • FR (12/12), 6pm Christmas tree lighting, cookies, hot cocoa and musical performances. Free. Held at Lunsford Commons, Mars Hill

University, 265 Cascade St., Mars Hill FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS • Through MO (12/23), 6-9pm - Drive through holiday light festival. Portion of proceeds benefit Buncombe County Special Olympics. $10 per passenger vehicle/ Discount for tickets purchased in advance. Held at Lake Julian Park and Marina, 406 Overlook Extension, Arden HENDERSONVILLE CHRISTMAS PARADE • SA (12/7), 10:30am Hendersonville Christmas Parade themed Home for the Holidays down the Main St. Free. Held at Historic Downtown Hendersonville SEASON OF LIGHT CELEBRATION • SA (12/7), 5-8pm - Season of Light celebration, hors d'oeuvres and music. $10/$5 kids. Held at Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center, 450 Pigeon St., Waynesville TOWN OF MARS HILL CHRISTMAS PARADE • SA (12/7), 11am - Mars Hill Christmas Parade. Free. Held at Mars Hill Elementary, Bailey St., Mars Hill WAYNESVILLE CHRISTMAS PARADE • MO (12/9), 6pm Waynesville Christmas Parade on Main Street. Held in Downtown Waynesville WINTER LIGHTS EXHIBITION • Through SA (1/4), 6-10pm - Winter Lights, outdoor holiday lights exhibition. $18/$12 children/Free under 5. Held at NC Arboretum, 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way

GOVERNMENT & POLITICS CITIZENS-POLICE ADVISORY COMMITTEE • 1st WEDNESDAYS, 5pm - Citizens-Police Advisory Committee meeting. Free. Meets in the 1st Floor Conference Room, Public Works Building, 161 S. Charlotte St.

CITY COUNCIL • TU (12/10), 5pm Formal meeting of the Asheville City Council. Held at Asheville City Hall, 70 Court Plaza HENDERSON COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY MONTHLY BREAKFAST • 1st SATURDAYS, 9-11am - Monthly breakfast buffet. $9/$4.50 for children under 10. Held at Henderson County Democratic Party, 1216 6th Ave. W., Suite 600, Hendersonville

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INDIVISIBLE COMMON GROUND-WNC • 1st WEDNESDAYS, 6:30-8pm - General meeting. Free. Held at St. David's Episcopal Church, 286 Forest Hills Road, Sylva PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE OF HENDERSON CO. • FRIDAYS, 4:30-6pm - Postcard writing to government representatives. Postcards, stamps, addresses, pens and tips provided. Free to attend. Held at Sanctuary Brewing Co., 147 1st Ave., Hendersonville PUBLIC INPUT SESSIONS FOR STRATEGIC PLANNING • WE (12/4), 2:30-4:30pm - Provide input to the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners for the 5-year strategic plan. RSVP: Angelyn.Johnson@ buncombecounty.org. Held at Black Mountain Town Hall, 160 Midland Ave., Black Mountain • WE (12/4), 5:30-7:30pm - Provide input to the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners for the 5-year strategic plan. RSVP: Angelyn.Johnson@ buncombecounty. org. Held at Arthur R. Edington Education and Career Center, 133 Livingston St. • FR (12/6), 5:30-7:30pm - Provide input to the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners for the 5-year strategic plan. RSVP: Angelyn.Johnson@ buncombecounty.org. Held at Enka-Candler Library, 1404 Sandhill Road, Candler • SA (12/7), 11am-1pm - Provide input to the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners for the 5-year strategic plan.

MOUNTAINX.COM

DEC. 4 - 10

CONSCIOUS PARTY EARLY MUSIC: The Community Benefit Concert of early music masters with flutist Kate Steinbeck, Gail Ann Schroeder, viola da gamba, and Barbara Weiss, harpsichord, perform compositions by J.S. Bach, G.P. Telemann and Wilhelmine von Bayreuth. The concert is planned for Sunday, Dec. 8, 4 p.m., at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged. Proceeds benefit BeLoved Asheville and Bountiful Baroque. Photo courtesy of Lisa RingelspaughIrvine (p. 14)

RSVP: Angelyn.Johnson@buncombecounty. org. Held at Skyland Fire Department, 9 Miller Road, Skyland

KIDS EMPOWERING THE LEADER IN EACH YOUNG MAN (PD.) Journeymen is supporting adolescent boys on their paths to becoming men of integrity. Our cost-free program is now enrolling young men 12-17. Mentees ("J-men") participate in bi-weekly mentoring groups and a semi-annual Rites of Passage Adventure Weekend, where they develop compassion, self-awareness, accountability, resilience and authenticity. Learn more: journeymenasheville. org Contact: journeymenasheville@ gmail.com, (828) 771-6344. APPLE VALLEY MODEL RAILROAD & MUSEUM • WEDNESDAYS, 1-3pm & SATURDAYS, 10am-2pm - Open house featuring operating model trains and historic memorabilia. Free. Held at Apple Valley Model Railroad & Museum, 650 Maple St., Hendersonville

DEC. 4 - 10, 2019

MOUNTAINX.COM

BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • 1st WEDNESDAYS, 11am-noon - Storytime + Art, project for preschool students. Free. Held at North Asheville Library, 1030 Merrimon Ave. • WE (12/4), 4pm - Dungeons and Dragons for ages 6-12. Registration required. Free. Held at Fairview Public Library, Fairview • 1st WEDNESDAYS, 4-5:30pm - Heroes Unlimited, role playing game for grades 6-12. Registration required. Free. Held at Fairview Library, 1 Taylor Road, Fairview • WE (12/4), 4pm LEGO builders, kids 5 and up. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. • 1st FRIDAYs, 2:30pm - Read with J.R. the Therapy Dog. Free. Held at Skyland/South Buncombe Library, 260 Overlook Road • FR (12/6), 6:30pm - Lego building, ages 5 and up. Free. Held at Fairview Library, 1 Taylor Road, Fairview • FR (12/6), 4pm LEGO builders, kids 5 and up. Free. Held at Enka-Candler Library, 1404 Sandhill Road, Candler

• SA (12/7), 10am LEGO builders, kids 5 and up. Free. Held at Oakley/South Asheville Library, 749 Fairview Road • MONDAYS, 10:30am - Spanish story time for children of all ages. Free. Held at EnkaCandler Library, 1404 Sandhill Road, Candler • MO (12/9), 4pm LEGO builders, kids 5 and up. Free. Held at Weaverville Public Library, 41 N. Main St., Weaverville • TU (12/10), 4pm EcoExplore: Intro to Ornithology. Free. Held at Swannanoa Library, 101 West Charleston St., Swannanoa • TU (12/10), 4-5:30pm - Read with Olivia the Therapy Dog. Registration required: 828-250-6482. Free. Held at Weaverville Public Library, 41 N. Main St., Weaverville • WE (12/11), 4-5:30pm - Read with Hunter the Therapy Dog. Free. Held at Black Mountain Public Library, 105 N. Dougherty St., Black Mountain • THURSDAYS, 6pm Story time designed for children ages 3-6. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. CHRISTMAS AT THE FARM • SA (12/7), 2-6pm - Christmas

at the Farm with the decorated 1880s farmhouse, wagon rides, a children's craft, holiday stories, silent auction of gift baskets, animals, hot chocolate bar and bake sale, Santa visits, live music and complimentary cider and cookies. $5/$3 students/Free under age 5. Held at Historic Johnson Farm, 3346 Haywood Road, Hendersonville FLETCHER LIBRARY • WEDNESDAYS, 10:30am - Family story time. Free. Held at Fletcher Library, 120 Library Road, Fletcher GINGERBREAD HOUSE CONTEST • FR (12/6), 5-8pm Cast your vote for best gingerbread house. Cocoa and cookies. Awards at 7pm. Free to attend. Held at Art MoB Studios & Marketplace, 124 4th Ave. E., Hendersonville HOMESCHOOL ART PROGRAM • 2nd TUESDAYS, 11am-12:30pm - Homeschool program for grades 1-4. Registration required: 828-253-3227 x 124. $4 per student. Held at Asheville Art Museum, 2 S. Pack Square

C OMMU N IT Y CA L EN D AR KID YOGA AND MOVEMENT STORYTELLING • WEDNESDAYS until (12/4), 9:45am - Kid Yoga and Movement Storytelling with Miranda Watson, weaves in animal, nature and humanity-themed yoga postures with storytelling. Registration: avl.mx/6m8. $10. Held at Henry LaBrun Studio at Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, 18 Biltmore Ave. KIDS' CHESS TOURNAMENT • SA (12/7) - Franklin School of Innovation Checkmake Challenge Scholastic Chess Tournament. Registration: 9-9:45am. Rounds at 10am, 11am, 1pm and 2pm. Info: avl.mx/6qm. $15. Held at The Franklin School of Innovation, 21 Innovation Drive, MISS MALAPROP'S STORY TIME • WEDNESDAYS, 10am - Miss Malaprop's Story Time for ages 3-9. Free to attend. Held at Malaprop's Bookstore and Cafe, 55 Haywood St. PET PHOTO NIGHT • SU (12/8), 6-8pm - Bring your pet to meet Santa. Free. Held at Asheville Outlets, 800 Brevard Road ‘THE NUTCRACKER’ • TH (12/12), 9am - The Asheville Ballet presents The Nutcracker for school children. $6. Held at Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, 18 Biltmore Ave.

OUTDOORS CONTEMPLATIVE HIKE AT BEARWALLOW MOUNTAIN • WE (12/4), 9am-noon Easy-to-moderate 1-mile climb through mountain forest, opening up onto a grassy field at the top for some guided reflection before looping back down.

PISGAH CHAPTER OF TROUT UNLIMITED • 2nd THURSDAYS, 7pm - General meeting and presentations. Free to attend. Held at Ecusta Brewing, 49 Pisgah Highway, Suite 3, Pisgah Forest Some events from this section may be found in the Give!Local calendar on p. 18

PARENTING BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • TUESDAYS, 11am - Play time with baby and toddler toys, tunnels and climbing structures. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. • TUESDAYS, 11:30am - Play time with baby and toddler toys, tunnels and climbing structures. Free. Held at Fairview Library, 1 Taylor Road, Fairview MOTHERS CONNECTION • THURSDAYS, 11:30am1:30pm - Social gathering for mothers and their babies. Registration required. Free to attend. Held at Haywood Regional Medical Center, 262 Leroy George Drive, Clyde

PUBLIC LECTURES DISCOVER NATURAL TRANSYLVANIA SERIES • TH (12/5), 6:30-7:30pm - The Story of the Pisgah Game Preserve, presentation by David Whitmire. Free. Held at Transylvania County Library, 212 S. Gaston St., Brevard Some events from this section may be found in the Give!Local calendar on p. 18

SENIORS ASHEVILLE NEW FRIENDS (PD.) Offers active senior residents of the Asheville area opportunities to make

new friends and explore new interests through a program of varied social, cultural and outdoor activities. Visit www. ashevillenewfriends.org ASHEVILLE ELDER CLUB • TUESDAYS, WEDNESDAYS & THURSDAYS, 11am-2pm - The Asheville Elder Club Group Respite program for individuals with memory challenges and people of all faiths. Registration required: 828-253-2900. $30. Held at Jewish Family Services of WNC, 2 Doctors Park, Suite E HENDERSONVILLE ELDER CLUB • WEDNESDAYS, 11am2pm - The Hendersonville Elder Club for individuals with memory challenges and people of all faiths. Registration required: 828-253-2900. $30. Held at Agudas Israel Congregation, 505 Glasgow Lane, Hendersonville Some events from this section may be found in the Give!Local calendar on p. 18

SPIRITUALITY ASTRO-COUNSELING (PD.) Licensed counselor and accredited professional astrologer uses your chart when counseling for additional insight into yourself, your relationships and life directions. Stellar Counseling Services. Christy Gunther, MA, LPC. (828) 258-3229. EXPERIENCE THE SOUND OF SOUL (PD.) Sing HU, the most beautiful prayer, and open your heart to balance, inner peace, Divine love, and spiritual self-discovery. Love is Love, and you are that. HU is the Sound of Soul. Spiritual discussion follows. Sponsored by ECKANKAR. Date: Sunday, December 8, 2019, 11am. Eckankar Center of Asheville, 797 Haywood Rd. (“Kings and Queens Salon” building, lower level), Asheville NC 28806, 828-254-6775. (free event). www. eckankar-nc.org

A COURSE IN MIRACLES STUDY GROUP • 2nd & 4th MONDAYS, 6:30-8:30pm - A Course in Miracles, study group. Information: 828-7125472. Free. Held at Groce United Methodist Church, 954 Tunnel Road ANATTASATI MAGGA MOVIE NIGHT • TH (12/5), 6-9pm Anattasati Magga movie showing of the movie, Zen. Free to attend. Held at Asheville Friends Meetinghouse, 227 Edgewood Road DEATH CAFE • TU (12/10), 5-6:30pm - Share your experience with death, dying and grieving in a caring group with two end of life dulas. Light refreshments. Free. Held at First Congregational UCC of Hendersonville, 1735 5th Ave. W., Hendersonville DREAMING A NEW DREAM MEDITATION • 1st FRIDAYS, 7pm Dreaming a New Dream, meditation to explore peace and compassion. Free. Held at Center for Spiritual Living Asheville, 2 Science Mind Way MEDITATION CLASS • 1st SUNDAYS, 10am - Meditation class sponsored by Science of Spirituality. Information: 828-348-9123 or avlmeditation@gmail. com. Free. Held at Veda Studios, 853 Merrimon Ave. (Upstairs) OPEN SANGHA • THURSDAYS, 7:309pm - Open Sangha night. Free. Held at Urban Dharma, 77 W. Walnut St. TAIZE PRAYER MEETUP • 1st FRIDAYS, 7-8pm - Taize, interfaith meditative candlelight prayer meetup with song, silence and scripture. Free. Held at St. Eugene's Catholic Church, 72 Culver St.

VOLUNTEERING ALEXANDER RIVER PARK WORK DAY • SA (12/7), noon-4pm Partner with GreenWorks

and MountainTrue for a work day that includes river cane propagation, invasive plant removal and tree planting and stream cleanup activities. Registration: avl.mx/6qn. BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS WNC • 2nd & 4th THURSDAYS, noon-12:30pm - Orientation sessions for prospective volunteers. Free. Held at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Western North Carolina, 50 S. French Broad Ave., Suite 213 GIVING TREE BOOK WRAPPING • WE (12/11), 2pm - Volunteer with Friends of the Library to gift wrap books from the holiday giving tree. Held at Fairview Library, 1 Taylor Road, Fairview STITCHES OF LOVE • 2nd MONDAYS, 7-9pm - Volunteer to stitch or crochet hand-

made articles for local charities. All skill levels welcome. Held at New Hope Presbyterian Church, 3070 Sweeten Creek Road VOTER ENGAGEMENT CAMPAIGN • SU (12/8), 2-5pm - Indivisible AVL volunteer canvasser training, door-to-door voter outreach and debriefing wrap-up with free food and drink at Westville Pub. No prior canvassing experience needed. Registration required: IndivisibleAVL.org. Free childcare. Held at Francine Delany New School, 119 Brevard Road For more volunteering opportunities visit mountainx.com/ volunteering Some events from this section may be found in the Give!Local calendar on p. 18

MOUNTAIN XPRESS PRESENTS

THE FIELD GUIDE

Asheville

Coming Soon!

Mountain Xpress is proud to introduce The Field Guide to Asheville – the insider’s guide on what to do and where to find it! Written by Mountain Xpress editors and contributors, its content is well-rounded, inclusive and savvy. We’re providing takes and tips on the well-known attractions, hidden gems and quirky oddities that make Asheville so beloved. Join us and tell tens of thousands of tourists and visitors all about your business in The Field Guide to Asheville!

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Some events from this section may be found in the Give!Local calendar on p. 18

Registration: avl.mx/6q7. Free. Held at Bearwallow Mountain Trail, 4899 Bearwallow Mountain Road, Hendersonville

Send your event listings to calendar@mountainx.com

YOUTH ART CLASS • SATURDAYS, 10:30noon - Youth art class. $10. Held at Appalachian Art Farm, 22 Morris St., Sylva

by Deborah Robertson

Asheville

Museums crafts shopping wellness art tours outdoors music culture

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828-251-1333 • advertise@mountainx.com MOUNTAINX.COM

DEC. 4 - 10

C O MMU N IT Y CA L E N D AR

Score at the half As of Dec. 1, the ceremonial halfway mark of Give!Local, the annual campaign to raise money for local nonprofits was nearing $56,000 in donations. The 45 nonprofit partners are steering their supporters to the platform to boost the year’s bottom line and fund their missions for the coming year. Some nonprofits are improving on fundraising totals from previous years, while others will need a boost to achieve their goals. Now is the moment for readers to jump in and give a push to the nonprofits they believe do great things for the community and to become the driving force behind the missions. Go to givelocalguide.org to learn more and to donate. ANIMALS Appalachian Wildlife Refuge (38*)........................$1,848 Asheville Cat Weirdos Emergency Fund (15*) ��$580 Asheville Humane Society (38*)............................$2,420 Blue Ridge Humane Society (8*)...........................$2,515 Brother Wolf Animal Rescue (24*)...........................$670 Friends of the WNC Nature Center (19*)................$961 Wild for Life (25*)................................................ $6,354w *Number of individual donors

HEALTH & WELLNESS

CREATIVITY & LITERACY

All Souls Counseling Center (22*).........................$1,030 Bounty & Soul (11*)...................................................$373 Girls on the Run (16*)................................................$575 MemoryCare (20*)...................................................$1,180 Western Carolina Medical Society Foundation (11*)...$590 WNC Birth Center (7*)..............................................$685 WNCAP (9*).................................................................$330

Asheville Choral Society (4*).......................................$40 Literacy Council of Buncombe County (24*).......$1,371 NC Glass Center (5*)..................................................$130 Open Hearts Art Center (16*)...................................$565 The POP Project (15*)................................................$720

EDUCATION Asheville City Schools Foundation (15*).................$320 Asheville Museum of Science (5*)............................$120 Children First/Communities In Schools of Buncombe County (19*)................................................................$761 Muddy Sneakers (21*)................................................$550 My Daddy Taught Me That (22*).............................$630 OpenDoors of Asheville (24*)....................................$745 Verner (12*).................................................................$765 COMMUNITY 103.3 Asheville FM (10*).............................................$200 Asheville Tool Library (14*)......................................$265 Bountiful Cities/FEAST (21*)....................................$414 Council on Aging of Buncombe County (26*) ��$910 The Mediation Center (14*).......................................$405

ENVIRONMENT Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) (9*)..................................................................$405 EcoForesters (10*).......................................................$306 Friends of the Smokies (13*).....................................$375 Green Built Alliance (5*)...........................................$100 MountainTrue (38*).................................................$1,805 Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy (34*) ��$4,232 SOCIAL JUSTICE Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity (19*).........$5,850 Asheville Poverty Initiative (34*)...........................$4,096 BeLoved Asheville (40*)..........................................$1,833 Helpmate (30*).........................................................$1,471 Homeward Bound of WNC (25*)...........................$1,610 Just Economics (9*)....................................................$690 Our VOICE (30*)......................................................$2,091 Pisgah Legal Services (41*)....................................$1,746

GIVE!LOCAL NONPROFITS’ CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS This week the Community Calendar is highlighting events that are sponsored by nonprofits that are participating in the Give!Local campaign. The campaign is raising money for 45 worthy local nonprofits that make a big difference where we live. These events are wonderful examples of some of the great work that these nonprofits do within our communities! ART/CRAFT STROLLS & FAIRS

BENEFITS

NORTH CAROLINA GLASS CENTER 140 Roberts St., Suite B, 828-5053552, ncglasscenter.org • Through SU (12/8), 10am-6pm Annual seconds sale and tours of the new space. Free to attend. OPEN HEARTS ART CENTER 217 Coxe Ave. • Through FR (12/20), noon-5pm Shop Local Holiday Pop-Up Market with ceramics, cards and original art, make an ornament, live music and food and drink for sale.

MUSIC ASHEVILLE CHORAL SOCIETY 828-232-2060, ashevillechoralsociety.org • FR (12/6), 7:30pm & SA (12/7), 4pm - Annual Yuletide Candlelight concert featuring the chorus along with a brass quintet and children’s chorus. $25/$10 students. Held at Arden Presbyterian Church, 2215 Hendersonville Road, Arden

DEC. 4 - 10, 2019

COUNCIL ON AGING OF BUNCOMBE COUNTY, INC. 828-277-8288, coabc.org • TH (12/5), 4-6pm - Proceeds from this exhibition of Christmas trees and wreaths with raffle, refreshments and bidding benefit the Council on Aging of Buncombe County and The Falls Coalition of Henderson County. Information: coabc.org/ festival-of-trees. Held at The Lodge at Mills River, 5593 Old Haywood Road, Mills River GIRLS ON THE RUN 828-713-3132, gotrwnc.org • SU (12/8), 10am - Proceeds from this family-friendly 5K run and walk benefit Girls on the Run WNC. Registration: gotrwnc.org/5K. $40/$30 advance. Held at Asheville Outlets, 800 Brevard Road NORTH CAROLINA GLASS CENTER 140 Roberts St., Suite B, 828-505-3552, ncglasscenter.org • SU (12/1) through TU (12/31), 10am-6pm - Proceeds from sales of limited edition blown glass ornaments and sculpted candy canes benefit Open Doors and Pisgah Legal. Free to attend.

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CLASSES, MEETINGS & EVENTS ASHEVILLE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE 828-254-7162, colburnmuseum.org • SUNDAYS, 2:30-4pm - Tour of the night time sky in an inflatable astronomy dome. Admission fees apply. Held at Asheville Museum of Science, 43 Patton Ave. SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN HIGHLANDS CONSERVANCY 372 Merrimon Ave. • TH (12/12), 4-6pm - Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy Holiday Open House, free.

ECO GREEN BUILT ALLIANCE greenbuilt.org • WE (12/11), 1-4pm - Ecological Site Preparation & Long-Term Resilience, workshop for builders, architects, landscape architects and developers. $50/$40 members. Held at LenoirRhyne University, 36 Montford Ave.

KIDS ASHEVILLE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE 828-254-7162, colburnmuseum.org

• 1st & 3rd FRIDAYS, 9-10am Little Explorer’s Club, science topics for preschoolers. $7/Caregivers free. Held at Asheville Museum of Science, 43 Patton Ave. BELOVED ASHEVILLE LIBERATION STATION 10 N. Market St., belovedasheville.com • MONDAYS & THURSDAYS, 3:30-4:30pm - Spanish/English immersion for kids from Spanish and English speaking backgrounds to come together. Free. FRIENDS OF THE WNC NATURE CENTER 828-259-8092, wildwnc.org, americorps@wildwnc.org • SA (12/7), noon-1pm - Behind the scenes tour for kids. Registration required. $10-$18. Held at WNC Nature Center, 75 Gashes Creek Road

OUTDOORS FRIENDS OF THE SMOKIES 828-452-0720, friendsofthesmokies.org, outreach.nc@ friendsofthesmokies.org • TU (12/10) - Moderate, 4.5-mile guided hike at Goldmine Loop. Registration required. $35/$20 members.

PUBLIC LECTURES MOUNTAINTRUE 828-258-8737, mountaintrue.org • TH (12/12), 5:30-7pm - Hendersonville Green Drinks: The Plastic Reduction Task Force and the Trash Trout, lecture by Eric Bradford, Director of Operations with Asheville GreenWorks. Free to attend. Held at Black Bear Coffee Co., 318 N. Main St., Hendersonville

litcouncil.com. Learn more: www.litcouncil.com. Free. GIRLS ON THE RUN 828-713-3132, gotrwnc.org • SU (12/8) - Volunteer to assist at this family-friendly 5K run and walk. Held at Asheville Outlets, 800 Brevard Road HOMEWARD BOUND OF WNC 19 N. Ann St., 828-258-1695, homewardboundwnc.org

SENIORS

• THURSDAYS, 11am - See the Hope Tour, find out how

COUNCIL ON AGING OF BUNCOMBE COUNTY, INC. 828-277-8288, coabc.org • FR (12/13), 2-4pm - Medicare Choices Made Easy. Free. Held at Goodwill Career Training Center, 1616 Patton Ave.

VOLUNTEERING TUTOR ADULTS/YOUTH IN NEED WITH THE LITERACY COUNCIL (PD.) Give someone another chance to learn. Provide reading, writing, and/or English language tutoring and change a life forever. Volunteer orientation 12/12 (9am) or 1/6 (5:30pm) RSVP: volunteers@

Homeward Bound is working to end homelessness and how you can help. Registration required: tours@homewardboundwnc.org or 828-785-9840. Free.

WELLNESS BELOVED ASHEVILLE LIBERATION STATION 10 N. Market St., belovedasheville.com • WEDNESDAYS, 2:30-4pm - Street medic outreach clinic. Free.

HEALTH ROUNDUP

Magical Offerings

by News staff | news@mountainx.com

Death rate for black Buncombe infants climbs

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555 Merrimon Avenue COLOR GAP: Buncombe County’s mortality rate for African American infants is nearly four times that of white babies, a disparity that has worsened since 2012. Graphic courtesy of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services As part of its Early Childhood Action Plan, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services released reports on over 50 measures of health outcomes for every county in North Carolina on Nov. 12. Buncombe County’s report showed many numbers in line with the rest of the state but some that bode poorly for the county’s youngest residents. Among Buncombe’s biggest differences with other counties was the mortality rate among its black infants. While 12.7 African American babies die during the first year of

life per 1,000 live births on average in North Carolina, that number is 19.6 per 1,000 in Buncombe County. Moreover, the county’s rate has doubled since 2012, when it was 9.8 per 1,000. Buncombe bested other counties on metrics such as early childhood wellness visits, asthma care, injury emergency room visits and childhood reading ability. Members of the county’s Health and Human Services were scheduled to present an update on the Community Health Improvement Plan, which includes

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lowering infant mortality as one of two key targets (alongside improving mental health), to the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners on Dec. 3.

New musical garden opens at Charles D. Owen Park Buncombe County residents can enjoy the sounds of music and nature together at Charles D. Owen Park in Swannanoa, which recently installed a collection of instruments

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WE LLNE SS developed by Freenotes Harmony Park. The outdoor play space, supported by a 2019 AARP Community Change grant, is designed for accessibility to users of all ages and abilities. “Music has positive effects on learning, memory and our ability to grow as caring and connected individuals,” wrote Josh O’Conner, director of Buncombe’s recreation services, in a press release announcing the garden. “This space will be further enhanced throughout the next several months with tiles along the existing path created by community members with themes of compassion, peace and diversity. There are no bad notes when you harmoniously blend the positive power of music and community.”

SEARCH announces nonprofit plans SEARCH, which advocates for rural health care in Mitchell and Yancey counties, shared its goals for the coming year at a Nov. 14 meeting in Spruce Pine. After playing a large role in discussions around the sale of Mission Health to HCA Healthcare, the community group hopes to incorporate as a formal nonprofit and incubate health projects throughout the region. In a press release, SEARCH coleader Susan Larson wrote that seeking nonprofit status would allow the group to broaden its scope by raising grant funds, which it could use to research charity care options for uninsured and low-income residents. She noted that SEARCH will also continue to monitor local issues such as ambulance service in Mitchell and Yancey counties, HCA contracts for which are set to expire next year. More information is available at searchwnc.org.

Medical moves • Dr. Joshua Wu joined Harris Regional Hospital in Sylva to address what the hospital called “the overwhelming need for orthopaedic care in our region.” Wu, who completed a fellowship at MAHEC in Asheville, will also offer sports medicine services at Harris. • AdventHealth Hendersonville tapped Kevin Morgan as its director of operations for physi-

DEC. 4 - 10, 2019

MOUNTAINX.COM

cian services. Morgan was previously the practice manager at the system’s Laurel Park location. • Zandra Wingfield was hired as the first full-time school nurse at Summit Charter School in Cashiers. Her position was funded entirely by the Highland Cashiers Health Foundation, a successor foundation founded earlier this year as a result of HighlandsCashiers Hospital Mission Health’s sale to HCA Healthcare. • In a decision that may bring more health professionals to Western North Carolina, AdvisorSmith ranked Asheville as the No. 10 midsized city for doctors. The city was also ranked No. 20 overall in a list of 317 municipal areas.

Tips of the hat • The Black Mountain NeuroMedical Center was named North Carolina’s best nursing home in rankings recently compiled by Newsweek, beating out over 400 other facilities in the state. The center caters to people with chronic, complex conditions who

often cannot be admitted to other nursing homes. • Steven Solana, a physical therapist at the Brooks-Howell Home in Asheville, received the Paul Diaz Caring Award from Kindred Healthcare. In a press release announcing the award, which was given to just two of Kindred’s nearly 34,000 employees, the company praised Solana’s “extraordinary level of skill, compassion and empathy.” • For the seventh consecutive year, AdventHealth Hendersonville was recognized as among 2019’s Most Wired Health Systems by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives. The award recognizes the system’s use of technology to improve community health care. • AdventHealth Hendersonville nurse Lindsey Philon received The DAISY Award for her work in the health system’s maternity facility, The Baby Place. Philon was nominated by a patient who commended the nurse for her “family-oriented and personal” approach. X

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Amber Myers, Holistic Herbalist WELLNESS PILATES CLASSES AT HAPPY BODY (PD.) Individualized, challenging, Reformer, Tower and Mat classes. Call 277-5741. Details at: AshevilleHappyBody. com SOUND HEALING • SATURDAY • SUNDAY (PD.) Every Saturday, 11am and Sundays, 12 noon. Experience deep relaxation with crystal bowls, gongs, didgeridoo and other peaceful instruments. $15. At Skinny Beats Sound Shop, 4 Eagle Street. skinnybeatsdrums.com FIT + FABULOUS FITNESS SERIES • 2nd THURSDAYS, 6-7pm - Cardio workout class. Registration at 5:30pm. Free. Held at Asheville Outlets, 800 Brevard Road

GENTLE YOGA • WEDNESDAYS until (12/4), 8:30am - Gentle Yoga with Miranda Watson, a slow flowing sequence of postures ending in guided meditation. Registration: avl.mx/6m7. $15. Held at Henry LaBrun Studio at Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, 18 Biltmore Ave. GRACE LUTHERAN CHURCH 1245 6th Ave W., Hendersonville, 828-693-4890, gracelutherannc.com • TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS, 9am - Walking exercise class. Free. • MO (12/9), 9am-6pm - Appointments & info: 828-585-8060. MINDFULNESS MEDITATION • SU (12/8), 10amnoon - Mindfulness meditation practice. Free to attend. Held at Asheville Shambhala Meditation Center, 60

N. Merrimon Ave., Suite 113 MIXED LEVEL PILATES • SA (12/7), 11am Mixed Level Pilates with Cisco Pilates. Registration required. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. PARDEE SEMINAR • TH (12/5), 5:30-7pm Shoulder Replacement, seminar with Dr. Richard Jones, a boardcertified orthopedic surgeon at Southeastern Sports Medicine and Orthopedics. Registration required: pardeehospital.org/ classes-events or 828698-7333. Free. Held at YMCA Mission Pardee Health Campus, 2775 Hendersonville Road, Arden SPECIAL OLYMPICS ADAPTIVE CROSSFIT CLASSES • WEDNESDAYS, 3-4pm - Adaptive

crossfit classes for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Free. Held at South Slope CrossFit, 217 Coxe Ave., Suite B THE MEDITATION CENTER • 2nd WEDNESDAYS, 6-8pm - Inner Guidance from an Open Heart, class with meditation and discussion. $10. Held at The Meditation Center, 894 E. Main St., Sylva VA MEDICAL CENTER TOWN HALL • TH (12/5), 5pm - The Medical Center Director provides an update on the latest facility and VA health care news. Free. Held at Charles George VA Medical Center, 1100 Tunnel Road

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Some events from this section may be found in the Give!Local calendar on p. 18

MOUNTAINX.COM

DEC. 4 - 10

GREEN SCENE ROUNDUP

Asheville coal ash landfill hearing on Dec. 19

WORK IN PROGRESS: Jason Walls, Duke Energy district manager, stands in front of the utility’s new gas-fired power plant in Arden during construction in October 2018. Pending regulatory approval, Duke plans to add a landfill for coal ash to the property beside Lake Julian. Photo by Daniel Walton

BY DANIEL WALTON dwalton@mountainx.com After years of hauling coal ash over 120 miles from basins at its Arden power plant to a Georgia landfill, Duke Energy is hoping to keep things quite a bit closer to home. At 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 19, a public hearing will take place in Room B of the Mission Health/A-B Tech Conference Center at 340 Victoria Road in Asheville regarding the utility’s plans to build a 12.5-acre landfill on its property beside Lake Julian. According to documents on file with the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, Duke applied for the landfill permit on June 17. The proposed location is to the northwest of the utility’s new gas-fired power plant, between Interstate 26 and the western shore of Lake Julian, and would hold approximately 1.1 million cubic yards of waste after being filled over roughly 2 1/2 years. 22

DEC. 4 - 10, 2019

MOUNTAINX.COM

Jason Walls, Duke Energy district manager, says the utility had considered building an on-site landfill several years ago but was unable to find a suitable location. Construction yards created for the new gas plant, he explains, now offer a “real estate opportunity” for coal ash disposal. Walls says that on-site storage will be quicker, cheaper and less dangerous than the current practice of shipping ash by truck. “It’d be the equivalent of taking about 67,000 trucks off of the roads that they’re traveling now to go to Homer, Ga., which include residential neighborhoods as well as the interstate,” he says. “This [lined landfill] will provide tremendous protection to groundwater and provide a safe and cost-effective way to store ash.” Once the landfill is capped, Walls says, Duke plans to cover it with solar panels to complement existing plans for solar on the closed coal basins. Interested parties can submit public comment on the proposal at the Dec. 19 hearing or by emailing Ed

Mussler at the N.C. Division of Waste Management at publiccomments@ ncdenr.gov through Friday, Jan. 10.

Local group cites Montana experts on bear amputation concerns Asheville-area bears with missing limbs have some local residents worried about foul play — and now, they’re citing expert opinions to back up their concerns. On Nov. 8, the community group Help Asheville Bears issued a statement from Brian Sommers, a criminal investigator with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, suggesting that the amputations were due to illegal traps. Along with two department colleagues, Sommers argued that the injuries observed in photographs provided by the group were not consistent with vehicle collisions, which experts with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission have said are the likely

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SUITABLE FOR FRAMING: UNC Asheville student Emily Avery, center left, receives her environmental education certificate from Michael Regan, center right, secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality. Photo courtesy of UNCA cause. “Given the fact that you have approximately 12-plus bears in a 25to 50-square-mile area showing the same type of leg loss, it is very apparent that you have someone in the area that is baiting or attracting the bears in and then using snares to try and trap or capture the bears,” he wrote. Help Asheville Bears, which has swelled to over 73,000 members on Facebook since its founding in late August, is calling for the state to “publicly walk back its car strikes theory” and find the root cause of the bear injuries (See “Council rejects tiny home zoning change,” p. 12). The group has listed a $50,000 reward, backed by Carol and Scotty Morgan of Asheville, for information leading to the conviction of those responsible. The group can be reached by email at helpashevillebears@gmail.com.

Hopeful happenings • Over the week of Nov. 18, the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy installed solar panels on the roof of its Merrimon Avenue headquarters. The project was carried out by SolFarm Solar Co. of Asheville. “Hearing folks walking above your head is a bit odd, but I love that every clunk and bump means we are one step closer to having solar panels on the roof,” wrote Angela Shepherd, SAHC communications director, in an email to Xpress. • Students at Estes Elementary School planted 10 shade trees at their South Asheville campus on Nov. 22 in support of a new Asheville GreenWorks goal to plant 50,000 trees by 2040. Asheville City Council member Vijay Kapoor, whose children attend Estes and who financially supported the planting, wrote in a press release, “Planting trees is one of the easiest and most effective ways to combat

climate change, beautify Asheville and reduce stormwater impacts.” • A group led by activist Steve Norris and sponsored by Asheville nonprofit Community Roots held a fast and prayer campaign at the Vance Monument from Nov. 25-27 to bring attention to environmental concerns. In a release announcing the event, Norris called it “an opportunity to reflect on the ways in which the earth, her air, her water, her animals and so many other things we need for life are now endangered.”

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Tips of the hat • Gary Higgins, director of the Buncombe County Soil & Water Conservation District, retired from his role on Nov. 29 after 36 years with the county. “Gary has made a significant impact on helping landowners preserve their natural resources and undoubtedly has made Buncombe County a better place with his conservation expertise and relentless work ethic,” the county wrote in commemoration of Higgins’ service. • Emily Avery, an environmental studies student at UNC Asheville who plans to become a middle school science teacher, received the Environmental Education Certification offered through the NCDEQ. Department Secretary Michael Regan presented Avery with her certificate in person at UNCA on Oct. 23. • Asheville-based nonprofit EcoForesters announced its Root Cause awards for sustainable forestry on Nov. 7. Winners included the North Carolina Audubon Society’s Aimee Tomcho for Sustainable Use of Forest Products, retired Haywood Community College forestry professor John Palmer for Lifetime Achievement, and Polk County landowners Linda and Ellis Fincher for EcoForester of the Year. X

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DEC. 4 - 10

FOOD

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SALAD DAYS: This dish, made with Ten Mile Farm mixed greens and Springer Mountain Farms fried chicken, was featured on Copper Crown’s erstwhile lunch menu. The East Asheville restaurant ended its lunch service in August. “It was a really tough decision because we did have some incredibly loyal regulars,” says co-owner Kate Bannasch. Photo courtesy of Copper Crown

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DEC. 4 - 10, 2019

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Weekend lunches can be busy at Creekside Taphouse, a bar and restaurant tucked away in East Asheville’s Haw Creek community. On a recent warm Sunday afternoon, the business was slammed with football fans hollering at the TV, families playing with their kids on the patio playground and a drawn-out volleyball match in the sandpit out back. But co-owners Kim Murray and Anthony Dorage, restaurant industry veterans who took ownership of Creekside over a year ago after having been regular customers there, have encountered a problem that a

lot of restaurateurs are grappling with: the dreaded lunchtime slump. “It costs us more to be open for lunch than we bring in,” says Murray. While weekends tend to draw sports fans, being located smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood has always made for thin crowds during weekday lunch shifts. To address the issue, the pair have been considering a tactic a lot of area restaurants have resorted to lately — cutting lunch service during the week. “I’ve never been faced with this situation in my 30-plus years in the restaurant business, where I’ve had to make that kind of decision, and it’s a rough one,” Murray says. “But we need to make this decision because we’re going in the red, and we can’t

continue to do that every day. I’m scared to pull the trigger.” A number of popular local restaurants that once offered lunch, including Cucina 24, Gan Shan Station, Copper Crown and Table, ultimately stopped. So why the shaky trigger finger for Murray? “It’s the backlash,” she says. “We don’t know if we want to endure that.” She notes that she and Dorage already “disturbed the apple cart” when they took over Creekside Taphouse and changed a few menu items and other things about the restaurant. It isn’t hard to ruffle the feathers of a regular, she notes, even if you are trying to change things for the better. “So to stir that up again, we’re apprehensive about that.” “It was a really tough decision because we did have some incredibly loyal regulars,” says Kate Bannasch, co-owner and operator of Copper Crown, which ended its lunch service at the end of August. “I mean, people you’d see in there multiple times a week, people who would bring business associates, people from the VA, people who would order to-go from us from the dealerships down the road — to talk to them and face them and say we weren’t going to do this anymore. … We had a lady burst into tears, we got creamed on Facebook about it, all of it.” The decision, says Bannasch, has made things better for the restaurant overall. And while the immediate resistance — especially on social media — gave her pause, she was also impressed by the number of regulars who rushed to the restaurant’s defense. “If I go back and read the thread, there was probably more positive than negative, but the negative came out of the gate,” she says. Given the ire of disgruntled lunch seekers, she wants it to be known that the choice wasn’t made lightly. Bannasch, who opened Copper Crown in 2015 with her husband, Adam, says it took the two of them a few months of deliberating and crunching the numbers to arrive at that decision. Closing for lunch meant lost shifts for workers and even letting some go. “Especially if you are a place that is trying to create that local, farm-totable thing, everything superfresh, that is so much work,” she says. “So when you have to keep your ticket prices low to drive that business, and when you are staffing it and those servers are walking with maybe $40 [in tips] … it starts to be like, why are we busting our butts for this?” “We got pushback as well,” notes Gan Shan Station owner and chef

Patrick O’Cain, who eliminated Gan Shan’s Charlotte Street location’s lunch service in June, although lunch sales were nearly a third of the restaurant’s sales. “It was nothing that was insurmountable, and it immediately improved my quality of life, the quality of life of my staff and the biggest issue that we have to deal with in this market, which is labor. So it has an immediate effect on the amount of people that we need.” O’Cain notes that Asheville’s restaurant scene is at a high saturation point with many of its numerous venues designed to cater to lunchtime customers. He also observes that the growing plethora of businesses continues to stretch a labor pool that’s already spread thin and helps develop a very transient workforce. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 30% of Asheville’s population works in the service industry, and the Asheville Chamber of Commerce finds an annual unemployment rate of just 3%. Many restaurants make much of their profit from sales of alcohol, which tends to have a more generous markup than the razor-thin margins on food. But O’Cain points out that

alcohol sales at Gan Shan Station dropped by more than half during lunch service, accounting for just 12% of sales compared to the 25% the restaurant typically brings in during dinner service. Bannasch agrees that alcohol sales are crucial in helping drive profits for restaurants. “When somebody comes in and gets a hamburger with a glass of water, and it’s an $8 ticket, that probably cost us $6.50 to put it on the table,” she says. “You do that math, and it’s like, ’Wait a minute, this isn’t really adding up.’” For Murray, the decision won’t be an easy one either way. She knows that in cutting lunch service, Creekside will likely have to eliminate at least two back-of-house positions and maybe a couple of front-of-house jobs as well from its staff of 28. “When we run the numbers, we are in the red most days for lunch. Because you have to be prepared; you have to have all the staff here in case it does get busy,” she explains, clearly stressed about the prospect. “We don’t just, on a whim, decide we’re going to quit things, you know?” X

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DEC. 4 - 10

FOOD

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TASTING THE STARS There’s likely no alcoholic beverage more closely associated with celebration than Champagne. It’s part of wedding receptions, boat launches, regatta wins and New Year’s celebrations the world over. “People love bubbles,” says Thomas Hilts, an Asheville-based freelance bartender who also works with Cordial & Craft event planners. Benedictine monk Dom Pierre Pérignon started making wine in 1668. In northeast France, the delightful bubbles that characterize Champagne were initially considered a defect. According to a history at intowine.com, winegrowers were trying to make a white wine as good as the red varieties produced in Burgundy. But the cold winters in Champagne caused fermentation to stop prematurely. Thinking the wine had finished its fermentation stage, winemakers bottled the liquid. Soon the dormant yeast cells reawakened and continued doing their job. At worst, the result was overpressurized, shattered bottles. At best, the wine featured tiny effervescent bubbles. And according to legend, Pérignon exclaimed, “Come quickly! I am tasting the stars!” Happily, French nobility developed a taste for the sparkling wine unique to the Champagne region. But by the 20th century — and owing to the United States’ intransigence regarding the Treaty of Versailles — American winemakers were producing sparkling wine with the word “Champagne” prominently displayed on their bottles. A comparatively insignificant part of that treaty (it signaled the end of World War I, after all) established the identification of Champagne as a strictly French product. But as Joshua Malin explains in an essay for vinepair.com, “although the United States signed the treaty, the Senate never ratified the treaty.” So today consumers in the U.S. can visit a grocery store and buy a bottle of bottom-shelf “Champagne” for as little as $3.99. Yet that stuff — like Gallo’s André brand, the No. 1-selling sparkling wine in America — isn’t true Champagne. The real thing is made using Pérignon’s method (today known as methode Champenoise) and must come from that province bordering Belgium. And as Gwen 26

DEC. 4 - 10, 2019

Local experts discuss Champagne on its own and in cocktails

BUBBLE WATER: Gwen Collins, “Queen of Bubbles” at wholesale vendor Mutual Distribution, says price is usually a reliable indicator of quality when it comes to Champagne. If the price seems too good to be true, she says, “it’s going to taste like it.” Photo by Hannah Ramirez

MOUNTAINX.COM

Collins, “Queen of Bubbles” at wholesale vendor Mutual Distribution, explains, price tends to be a reliable indicator of quality. If the price seems too good to be true, she says, “it’s going to taste like it.” Collins says there are some genuine nonvintage Champagnes from smaller growers, like Champagne Jacquart, “coming out below $50 retail, and they’re amazing.” We also like ownergrower Champagne Voirin-Jumel’s Tradition, a Brut available locally for around $42. When it comes to wine grapes, there really is something special about the Champagne region. “The more cold and austere the climate, the better quality wine in the long run,” Collins says. She recommends 2002 vintage and notes that for Champagne, “2008 has been declared the vintage of the century.” Champagne is available in a sweetness range from bone-dry brut nature to very sweet demi-sec. There’s also a style called extra dry; confusingly, it’s sweeter than brut. The drier varieties are by far the most popular, Collins says. Once a bottle is opened, Champagne begins to lose its trademark effervescence. That may not matter to some

drinkers. “If you’re talking about me, it’s going to be gone in an hour,” says Collins, perhaps only half in jest. “The ones that have the tiniest bubbles when you first pour are going to be the ones that die the fastest.” And size matters: Smaller bubbles are one visible indicator of quality. Collins emphasizes that agitation destroys the bubbles faster. “The least amount of movement once the bottle is open, the longer those bubbles will stay,” she says. Today, Champagne is more popular than ever; a report from Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (the drink’s official organization) backs that up. Although Champagne accounts for less than 0.5% of the world’s vineyards, in 2018 some 301.9 million bottles were shipped. Around 51% of that was exported, which suggests that the French drink a lot of the bubbly. But so do we: Nearly 24% of that exported sparkling wine ended up in the United States. And Champagne doesn’t have to be enjoyed on its own. “It’s a fun way to spice up and round out a cocktail, too,” says Hilts. With its dry character, Champagne can balance out the sweet note of other cocktail ingre-

dients, as well as adding in those wonderful tiny bubbles. Hilts says that Champagne is quite versatile, too. “It can go with anything,” he says. “I use it with gin, vodka and even tequila cocktails.” Hilts says when used as an ingredient, “you can’t go wrong with an inexpensive middle-of-theroad Champagne. If somebody wants a sweeter cocktail, add less Champagne. If you want a drier version, you just add a little more.” It can work in almost any medium, he says. “You just have to know how to balance the drink.” But when Champagne is being consumed straight — after you’ve walked down the aisle, won that yachting regatta or rung in the new year with loved ones — the good stuff is worth the money. “There are [sparkling] wines coming out of our country that are great,” Collins says. “They’re done in the methode Champenoise, they’re done with the same grapes, they’re done in a cooler area of California.” Yet they’re not Champagne, she insists. “The soils are completely different, so you lose a lot of minerality. I don’t feel like there’s any place that can re-create the real thing. I’d rather pay the extra money and get a bottle of Champagne.” X

Lion’s mane Courtesy of Thomas Hilts • 2 ounces Champagne • 1 1/2 ounces orange vodka • 1 ounce cranberry juice • ½ ounce simple syrup (1:1 sugar to water) • A splash of orange bitters • Fresh cranberries or small wildflowers Ahead of making the cocktail, add one fresh cranberry or a wildflower to each section of an ice tray; fill with water and freeze. Stir vodka, syrup and bitters in a mixing glass filled with ice. Strain into a rocks glass containing three or four ice cubes (or one very large ice cube). Add cranberry juice to the serving glass and top with the Champagne.

MOUNTAINX.COM

DEC. 4 - 10

FOOD

SMALL BITES by Thomas Calder | tcalder@mountainx.com

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’Tis the season to be jolly — and generous. And if you’re going to be both, why not dress to the nines while you’re at it? At least that is the concept for the upcoming In the North Carolina Spirit, a gala co-hosted by Jeremy Hood (aka “The Urban Gastronome”) and The Foundry Hotel, with a live performance by the Russ Wilson Orchestra. The gathering takes place Saturday, Dec. 7, and benefits Food Connection, a local organization that works to relieve hunger by connecting surplus freshly prepared meals to those experiencing food insecurity. Benne on Eagle will prepare the evening’s menu, while beer, wine and exclusive cocktails will be available from businesses including Cultivated Cocktails, New Belgium Brewing Co., The Chemist, Hillman Beer, Wicked Weed Brewing, Devil’s Foot Beverage Co., TOPO Organic Spirits, plēb urban winery and Oak City Amaretto. All items will be available for purchase, with a percentage of the proceeds benefiting Food Connection. Menu items were not available at press time. Guests are required to bring a gift for admittance. Requested items include gift cards, scarves, toboggans, gloves, coats, sweaters, hoodies, blankets, socks and shoes. Along with receiving monetary and culinary contributions from the gala, Food Connection will gather and distribute these donations to local community members and families in need. “I want people to walk away with that feeling that they contributed something to a greater cause,” says Hood. “That they were able to help somebody.” In the North Carolina Spirit runs 6-9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, at the Workshop Lounge at The Foundry Hotel, 51 S. Market St. For more details on gift donation guidelines, visit avl.mx/6q9.

Holiday tea and pastry pairing Asheville Tea Co. and The Rhu will partner to host a holiday tea and pastry pairing on Thursday, Dec. 5. Featured beverages include Winter Wonderland, Snow Day, Nutcracker and Chocolate Habanero Chai tea blends. The event will include a discussion about flavors and local sources. Substitutions will be available for

URBAN LEGEND: Jeremy Hood (aka “The Urban Gastronome”) joins forces with The Foundry Hotel and a slew of local beverage businesses to raise funds, food and gifts for local families in need. Image courtesy of Hood; photo by Darrell Cassell of Rowella Creative those with nut allergies or aversions to hot pepper spice. Tickets are $15. The pairing runs 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, at The Rhu, 10 S. Lexington Ave. For tickets, visit avl.mx/6pz.

Art unveiling at The Blackbird On Thursday, Dec. 5, The Blackbird will unveil artist Lisa Diakova’s new installment, a 9-foot triptych that depicts a murder of crows indulging in a curated feast. The Blackbird will celebrate with a complimentary wine tasting and light snacks. The event runs 4-7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, at The Blackbird, 47 Biltmore Ave. To learn more, visit avl.mx/6q0.

Community chili cook-off Lookout Brewing Co. will host its annual community chili cook-off

on Saturday, Dec. 7, during Black Mountain’s Christmas parade. Contestants are encouraged to enter their dishes before the 4 p.m. holiday procession in order to enjoy a bowl during the event. Winners will be determined by popular vote for most creative and best all-around. The cook-off runs 3-6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, at Lookout Brewing Co., 103 S. Ridgeway Ave., Black Mountain. For more information, visit avl.mx/6q2.

Four Sisters Bakery at the Circle of Lights Once you finish your bowl of chili at Lookout Brewing Co. and the final parade float passes by, consider making your way to Lake Tomahawk for the annual Circle of Lights for dessert. Four Sisters Bakery will partner with Black Mountain Recreation and Parks to provide free sweets and other refreshments for this year’s

celebration, which takes place immediately after the Black Mountain Christmas parade. The all-ages event is free to attend. Circle of Lights runs 5-7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, at Lake Tomahawk, 401 Laurel Circle Drive. To learn more, visit avl.mx/6q1.

The class runs 2-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, at the French Broad Food Co-op, 90 Biltmore Ave. To learn more, visit avl.mx/6q3.

Tequila dinner Mamacita’s Taco Temple will host a five-course tequila pairing dinner on Sunday, Dec. 8. Featured tequilas include Altos Tequila, Tequila Avión and Del Maguey Mezcal. Fried plantain, fried calamari, mezcal rotisserie chicken on banana leaf and Mexican chocolate cake are among the menu highlights. Tickets are $65 per person, not including tax and gratuity. Reservations are required. The dinner runs 7-9 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8, at Mamacita’s Taco Temple, 132 Charlotte St. To learn more, visit avl.mx/6q4. For reservations, call 828-255-8098.

Breakfast with Santa Asheville Parks and Recreation will host Breakfast with Santa at the Stephens-Lee Center on Saturday, Dec. 7. The event is ideal for children ages 2-9. The gathering is limited to 50 people per seating, with breakfast served at 9 a.m. and again at 10:30 a.m. Menu items include pancakes, sausage, yogurt, bananas, orange juice and coffee. Reservations are required. Breakfast is $8 per person. Breakfast is served at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, at Stephens-Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave. To purchase tickets, visit avl.mx/6q6.

Sushi class Birmingham Sushi Class will offer a two-hour workshop on Wednesday, Dec. 11. The class will cover how to make sushi rice and sauces and how to safely serve raw fish. Students will each get to sample two sushi rolls and will leave with a cheat sheet filled with tips, tricks and recipes. Tickets are $40 per person. The class runs 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 11, at Ginger’s Revenge Craft Brewery & Tasting Room, 829 Riverside Drive, Suite 100. To learn more, visit avl.mx/6q5. X

Meal planning basics Culinary nutritionist Nancy Campbell will lead a meal planning workshop at the French Broad Food Co-op on Saturday, Dec. 7. The class will cover strategies for prepping in advance for easy weekday meals, building a pantry that serves you, using overlapping ingredients and other culinary tips. Cost is $15 per person; co-op members receive a $10 discount.

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MOUNTAINX.COM

DEC. 4 - 10

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

THE ART OF GIVING

Craft fairs and holiday pop-ups offer unique gifts

BY ALLI MARSHALL

Sale. This is the 15th annual event for the horticultural education center and public gardens, and offerings include “free-standing owls and snowmen, holiday gnomes and ornaments,” as reported by a press release, as well as “premium amaryllis, poinsettias, cyclamens and Christmas cactus plants” and freshly cut Fraser fir trees from the WNC mountains. 95 Upper Red Oak Trail, Hendersonville. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 6 and 7, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. bullingtongardens.org

amarshall@mountainx.com Big-box shopping is fun for very few people, and the gifts that come from such stores tend to make only the briefest of impressions upon their recipients. If it’s the thought that counts, thoughtful gifts can be found in droves in the studios and galleries of Western North Carolina’s many artists and craftspeople. And, not only is purchasing handmade wares more inspirational than stressful, buying local puts more cash into the pockets of area artists and back into the local economy. Plus, the numerous holidaythemed craft fairs and pop-ups that take place this time of year are social events filled with old and new friends and jolly vibes. Find more local craft fairs in Calendar and at mountainx.com. • For 11 years, The Big Crafty has been inspiring joy in DIY craft enthusiasts, striking fear in the hearts of introverts, and probably conflicting many a solitude-loving DIY craft enthusiast, because it jampacks the U.S. Cellular Center, 87 Haywood St., with 150 creatives selling their wares. The crowded, colorful and hypersocial happening “supports the creative community in all its boundarypushing, human-scale, all-in, full-tilt glory,” says the website. The Big Crafty Hand to Heart Holiday returns Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 7 and 8, opening at noon daily. thebigcrafty.com

LARGE AND IN CHARGE: The Big Crafty brings 150 makers to the U.S. Cellular Center for a marathon weekend of holiday craft shopping. Pictured, the Kurt Sun Yun Studio booth, courtesy of The Big Crafty

• There are two themes in play at the Holiday Makers Sale at the Folk Art Center: winter festivities and discounts. “This is the best opportunity to find deals on quality gifts … and a chance to connect with the craftspeople in the region,” says a press release. Makers will cycle out their remaining 2019 stock and offer new designs at 10%50% discounts. Look for ceramic tableware, wooden bowls, jewelry, handwoven and dyed wearables, journals and etched cards, glass vases, ornaments and more. Milepost 382, Blue Ridge Parkway. Saturdays, Dec. 7 and 14, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. southernhighlandguild.org • Winter in the Weave, a two-day holiday market, returns with 20 30

DEC. 4 - 10, 2019

MOUNTAINX.COM

local artists and small businesses. Watercolor paintings, wire bonsai tree art, jewelry, organic clothing, natural house-cleaning products, locally sourced seasonings and herbs, leather goods, home décor and more will be on display, and the pop-up “will also offer a drawing for a raffle basket filled with products from all of the vendors,” according to a press release. The shop can be found at Gotta Have It Antiques, 60 Monticello Road, Weaverville, Friday, Dec. 13, 5-8 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 14, 10 a.m.2 p.m. avl.mx/6of • The homepage for the Uncommon Market has a counter ticking down time to the next vending event. “Asheville’s largest market for the old, the bold, the creative and unexpected is in its fifth season of gathering quality curators of antiques, vintage decor, art, jewelry and home furnishings,” boasts the website. Get in on the action at the WNC Agricultural Center, 761 Boylston Highway, Fletcher, on Saturday, Dec. 14, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 15, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. $5 admission (good for both days)/free for kids. uncommonmarketasheville.com

• Members of the Transylvania County Handcrafters Guild “will offer handcrafted items for sale ranging from basketry, fiber art, weaving, enamelware, landscape painting, pottery, marionettes, jewelry and many other fine crafts, all suitable for unique Christmas gift,” says a flyer for the annual juried show. Just in case anyone missed it, because it’s buried in the list: marionettes. The show (at the Masonic Lodge, 174 E. Main St., Brevard), on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 13 and 14, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. is free and open to the public. • “A gift for everyone on your list,” promises the website for the Show & Tell Holiday Pop-up Shop. The happening, which runs through Saturday, Dec. 21, at Asheville Social Hall, 81 Broadway, showcases “the best in local and indie craft, design, food and vintage goods,” from vendors such as The Inverse (accessories), Blossom and Blade (apparel), Randall Smith (visual art), Bella & Oliver Soap Co. (body care) and many more. Open daily 10 a.m.8 p.m. avl.mx/6qg • Celebrate or share the great outdoors with crafts from Bullington Gardens’ annual Holiday Craft and Greenery

• Riverview Station readies for its Holiday Open House showcasing more than 65 studios and galleries during a “Shop and Sip.” The free, family-friendly fete presents paintings, pottery, jewelry, mixed media, fiber art, photography and more, along with demonstrations, live music and refreshments. The open house seconds as a grand opening for new collaborative art space AVL Art Garden; other artists in Riverview Station also have special events planned. 191 Lyman St. Sunday, Dec. 15, noon5 p.m. riverviewstation.com • Shop locally and support underserved artists at Open Hearts Art Center’s Holiday Pop-up Market. Ceramics, cards, gifts and original artworks are available in a 50% off sale. Hours are Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. through Friday, Dec. 20. 217 Coxe Ave. openheartsartcenter.org • Partake of wine and warm cider at the aptly named Holiday Sip & Shop, held at Grovewood Gallery, 111 Grovewood Road. The annual event offers wooden bowls and utensils, ceramic tableware, blown glass, fine jewelry and much more, according to a press release. The sale runs Friday and Saturday, Dec. 6 and 7, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Kendall White will demonstrate wet felting on Friday, and Deanna Lynch will show small stitching, appliqué and mini-quilt work on Saturday. On both days, Karen Kennedy will be on hand, “needle-felting using locally dyed wool to create festive holiday snowmen.” grovewood.com • There are only two chances each year to catch the Toe River Arts

GLASS ACT: Makers will cycle out remaining 2019 stock and offer new designs at deep discounts at the Holiday Makers Sale, held at the Folk Art Center. Pictured, ornaments by Jeff McKinley, courtesy of The Southern Highland Craft Guild Studio Tour, and the next opportunity is Friday-Sunday, Dec. 6-8. “Approximately 100 artists participate throughout Yancey and Mitchell counties, representing a variety of media, such as pottery, paint, glass, metal, textiles, wood and mixed media,” reports a press release for the free, self-guided tour of galleries in Burnsville and Spruce Pine. Newcomers include Leah Leitson (porcelain), Jim and Mary Lynn Bowman (glass) and Will Manning (forged knives). Find info and guides at toeriverarts.org • Multiple events comprise the Holly Jolly celebration at Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W. State St., Black Mountain, on Friday, Dec. 6. Across the hall from the Clay Studio Exhibit (on view in the Upper Gallery through Dec. 20), the Holiday Pottery Market offers hundreds of items for purchase. The Youth Maker Market showcases the creativity of local children ages 8-16, such as paracord bracelets, specialty pencils, Zentangle art, postcards, watercolor art, bumper stickers and a wide variety of holiday ornaments, according to a press release. And in the theater, local authors Shelly Frome, Jeff Hutchins, David LaMotte, David Madden, Mamie Hilliard, Nonny Hogroian, David Kherdian and Jerry Pope present fiction and nonfiction books for sale. 5-7 p.m., free to attend. blackmountainarts.org • For those who like to push things to the 11th hour (hey, procrastinators need love, too), The Regeneration Station, 26A Glendale Ave., holds its Last Minute Holiday Craft & Flea. “Find a special gift for everyone on your nice and naughty lists

in one stop,” promises a Facebook invite for the 100-plus vendor extravaganza. Handcrafted jewelry, holiday decor, natural beauty products, knitted good, records, books, houseplants, postcards and more are on offer, along with “hot chocolate, until runs out.” Saturday, Dec. 21, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. avl.mx/6q8 • The Swannanoa WinterFest is “modeled on the traditional German Weihnachts markets,” a press release explains, and brings 20 artists, vendors and charity organizations to Grovemont Square, adjacent to the Swannanoa Library, 101 W. Charleston Ave., Swannanoa. At the outdoor gathering, “attendees can warm their hands over one of several fire pits while enjoying the delicious food, European holiday treats and drinks that will be available for purchase.” There will also be caroling, singalongs and festive lights. Saturday, Dec. 14, 4-8 p.m. Info at 828-250-6486 • The newly minted Refraction Art Market at the Wedge at Foundation, 5 Foundy St., was created by Andrew and Amy Massey, a ceramist and painter, respectively, to celebrate “the vibrant artistic energy the Wedge was built upon by featuring artists that have played integral roles within the Wedge community.” The organizers add, “The Wedge was … the place where you could count on sharing ideas and creative visions among a pool of equally passionate creators.” The market will showcase such visions, from glass and woodwork to tile, jewelry and more. Sunday, Dec. 15, 1-6 p.m. refractionartmarket.com X MOUNTAINX.COM

DEC. 4 - 10

A&E

by Thomas Calder

tcalder@mountainx.com

TAKING BACK THE GODS “There are a lot of scared people in the world,” says mixed-media artist and priestess Valeria Watson. Fear, she observes, disconnects communities. It also makes for timid, uninspired conversation. “Nobody asks questions,” Watson laments. “Nobody asks me, ‘Why is there white on your head?’” The reason, Watson explains, “is because I’m dealing with the white gods right now.” The decision to cover her forehead in white makeup, the artist continues, came as a directive from Odin, a prominent god in Norse mythology. In recent years, Watson says, she has been channeling the deity for guidance on her latest artistic endeavor. On Friday, Dec. 6, Watson will debut her new installation, Völuspá Vision Story, at Pink Dog Gallery. Combining drawings, paintings, sculptures and textiles, the work offers a visual interpretation of “Völuspá,” the first known Norse poem. Watson’s interest in North Germanic mythology began several years ago, following an extensive period studying her African lineage. (In 2008, Watson helped establish Osogbo as a sister city to Asheville; she is also the founder of the Zamani Refuge African Culture Center in Leicester.) “Once I had established who I was as a black person, I had the freedom to see who I was as a German person, or a Norse,” she says. A descendant of both slaves and slave owners, Watson points out that her decision to trace her white ancestry is unusual. “Black people never talk about that,” she says. “We’re brought up to be ashamed of it.” As a child in the 1950s, Watson

Local artist Valeria Watson explores Norse mythology

NO FEAR: “I always have this feeling that I look too nice, but I want to look fierce,” says artist Valeria Watson. In her latest exhibit, Völuspá Vision Story, she examines Norse mythology and fearlessly reclaims its symbols, which have been co-opted by the white supremacy movement. Photo by Thomas Calder notes, obedience and silence ruled the day. White society, she explains, “tried to put us in a box. … We were taught, ‘Keep your head down.’” A born rebel, Watson did not adhere to the social order based on white supremacy. Nor did she shy away from unusual company, including a stint in the 1970s with the New York City Chapter of the Hells Angels. Her thenhusband was a member of the group, she explains, and brought Watson along to the Third Street clubhouse. “I remember this one guy named Wild Bill,” she says. “Above his bed was this huge Nazi flag.” The symbol did not intimidate Watson. Instead, she saw it as a chance to engage.

“Some of them knew they were reincarnated Nazis,” she says of the chapter’s members. “And so we talked about, ‘Well, do you have to be stuck in your karma? Do you have to keep doing this over and over? Or can you forgive yourself … and sin no more?’” Just as Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party corrupted the swastika (previously used by several ancient societies as a symbol of well-being), today’s white supremacists have co-opted several of the Norse symbols, including Thor’s hammer and the Odal rune. Part of Watson’s upcoming exhibit features a collection of these stolen hieroglyphs. Their inclusion, Watson explains, allows her and fellow North Germanic descendants to reclaim

and educate people about the original intent behind these designs. Along with taking back bastardized symbols, Watson uses the ancient myths to study womanhood and the patriarchy. Her reinterpretation of “Völuspá” places its emphasis on the seeress’s history, rather than the poem’s focus on the world’s origin. “To me, the seeress is a woman who is saying, ‘I remember a time when I didn’t have to hide my vagina. I remember a time when I could walk out naked and I wasn’t abused and I wasn’t harmed,’” says Watson. Völuspá Vision Story, continues the artist, is an invitation to engage and sit with these difficult topics. The exhibit is also a chance to self-reflect and raise questions. Answers might not come easily, the artist cautions, but that shouldn’t prevent viewers from considering these complex matters. “Everything is evolving and changing,” Watson says. “Hopefully, we keep changing, we keep learning. There’s always more depth. There’s always more things to explore.” X

WHAT Völuspá Vision Story WHERE Pink Dog Gallery, 348 Depot St. avl.mx/6qd WHEN Opening reception Friday, Dec. 6, 6-8 p.m. The exhibit will remain on view through Sunday, Jan. 5 Free

LU NC H SPEC IAL!!! Mon-Fri 11-1pm

$10

A ny E n t r e e W i t h A ny H i l l m a n B e e r , Te a o r Fo u n t a i n D r i n k E n t r e e s i n c l u d e c h i p s , o t h e r s i d e s a d d i t i o n a l c h a r g e . D i n e i n o n l y .O f f e r v a l i d t h r o u g h 2 0 1 9 32

DEC. 4 - 10, 2019

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by Bill Kopp

bill@musoscribe.com

(NOT SO) SERIOUS In the mid-1980s, Frank Zappa released an album with a question for a title: Does Humor Belong in Music? While much of the guitaristbandleader-composer’s music was quite serious, his humor-focused material occupied a significant place in his body of work. Asheville-based rock trio Hit Dogs has a similar collective philosophy: While the musicians are certainly not a comedy act, humor is one of the ingredients of their music. A new album, Without Further Ado, demonstrates that Hit Dogs can elicit laughs while maintaining a serious commitment to serving up melodic, rocking tunes. The band celebrates the release of that record with a Saturday, Dec. 7, show at The Grey Eagle. When they hear the opening track on Hit Dogs’ new album, some listeners may wonder if they’ve somehow mistakenly popped in a CD by a different group. The band’s musical hallmarks — sharp rock hooks, a tight trio sound and strong vocal harmonies — aren’t in immediate evidence. Instead, “Without Further Ado” presents what sounds like a Latin band performing live in front of a massive, adoring audience. A lengthy Spanish-language voice-over eventually introduces the group. That track leads seamlessly into “Los Hit Dogs,” a rocker with a melody that initially builds on the Latin flavor of the introduction. It’s only around the one-minute mark of the second tune that Hit Dogs remove their virtual Mexican wrestling masks to reveal their true ’90s-style alterna-rock nature. Guitarist and lead singer Neal Ward laughs about the musical red herrings that kick off Without Further Ado. “Allen [Millsapps, drummer] and I spent a late night on the computer getting that intro track together,” he explains. “It [sounded like a] giant concert or some ridiculous TV show, so we wrote over-the-top dialogue that could only be done in Spanish. Because then you know that it would be a joke: ‘It’s going to be the greatest thing you’ve ever heard!’” The development of that in-joke track led directly to the inspiration that brought forth “Los Hit Dogs,” as well. “I don’t think we really have a lot of intention about what a song ends up being,” Millsapps says. “It just happens. I think it comes with

Hit Dogs celebrate the release of their second album that could appeal to an audience of rock fans well beyond Hit Dogs’ local base of operations because “a well-constructed song has some catchy licks and unexpected turns, but musically it still makes sense,” Ward says. “And good harmony is always a plus.” But he admits that humor — which does belong in music, after all — informs it all: “As a band, we take things pretty lightly.” X

HOW TO MAKE A GOOD THING BETTER: Aggressive, muscular musicianship is joined by top-notch, hooky songwriting on Without Further Ado, the second album from local power trio Hit Dogs. But humor is never very far away from the mix. The band promises to bring all of those qualities together onstage at The Grey Eagle on Dec. 7. Photo courtesy of the artists some innate chemistry between the three of us.” That effortless nature is something that the trio values. “A spark ends up becoming a whole song fairly easily,” Millsapps says. “And if it’s not easy, we may scrap it.” Or, if an idea seems halfformed, they might set it aside. “There have been a couple times when we back-burnered something,” Ward says. “We’re like, ‘Y’know, there’s something there, but … not yet.’” Bassist John Lindsey says that was the case with “Somnium” and “Double Barrel,” two standout tracks on Without Further Ado. “We played around with the arrangement and changed things up more on those than any other songs,” he explains. The fret-buzzing, distorted bottom end of those cuts may evoke thoughts of Alice in Chains, Queens of the Stone Age or early solo Ozzy Osbourne. The band makes the most of the power trio format; specifically, Lindsey and Millsapps provide playing that’s in turns busy and simple, always serving the needs of the particular song. But the music on Without Further Ado is varied, showcasing the musical breadth of the trio. “Creeper” is built around electronic drum tracks and synthesizers; the result sounds halfway between a 1980s video arcade and some funky ’70s late-night FM radio soul. Still, humor pops up in Hit Dogs’ music again and again. A mischievously backhanded nod to Nirvana, “Mr. Fuzzypants Will Have His Revenge on Oteen” is equal parts musical subtlety and hard-rocking groove. But it opens with the crowing of the titular roost-

er formerly owned by Millsapps. “We laugh every time we hear that one on the radio,” says Ward. At its core, “Mr. Fuzzypants” also sounds very much like the kind of track

WHO Hit Dogs with Super Villain WHERE The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave. thegreyeagle.com WHEN Saturday, Dec. 7, at 10 p.m. $8 advance / $10 day of show

MOUNTAINX.COM

DEC. 4 - 10

SMART BETS

A&E

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

Juniper Bends Reading Series

Hannah Kaminer

The quarterly reading series, which pairs poets with long-form writers and seasoned wordsmiths with emerging artists, returns — and this time with a festive edition. While the full showcase won’t be a sendup of snow angels and silver bells, each presenter will share something reflective of the season and its celebratory side. Readers include poet, professor and editor Katherine Soniat (author of Bright Stranger and other titles); poet, prose writer and artist Steve Abhaya Brooks (Savage Amusement, among other titles); poet and mental health professional Eric Tran (The Gutter Spread Guide to Prayer, due out in 2020), poet and community advocate Daniel Suber, and narrative nonfiction writer Ash Lounsbury. The event takes place at Downtown Books & News on Friday, Dec. 6, 7 p.m., with cookies, wine by donation and books for sale by the writers. Free. avl.mx/6pp. Photos of Suber, left, and Lounsbury courtesy of the writers

It’s become an annual tradition for singer-songwriter Hannah Kaminer to reflect on the year that was and close it out with a hometown show. Among her musical accomplishments in 2019, arguably the most notable was her song, “Don’t Open Your Heart,” earning second place in the Country category of the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at Merlefest. On Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 7 p.m., Kaminer will take to the Isis Music Hall lounge with a backing band composed of Aubrey Eisenman, Olivia Springer and Jackson Grimm. They’ll play tracks from Kaminer’s albums Acre by Acre and Heavy Magnolias, plus a set of brand-new songs. “I’m writing from different perspectives — stepping into other people’s shoes a bit more,” Kaminer says. “I have a new one called ‘Say Goodbye to Old-Time Asheville’ that’s pretty snarky.” $12 advance/$15 day of show. isisasheville.com. Photo by Susannah Kay

Joshua Messick

Bruce Steele A regular contributor to D23, the Disney fan club magazine, Asheville-based writer (and Xpress movie critic) Bruce Steele took on his biggest project for the company with One Day at Disney. He interviewed more than 70 Disney employees from a range of positions within the far-reaching company, from “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts and Captain Marvel star Brie Larson to (currently) less famous figures with behind-the-scenes roles at various Disney theme parks and offices. The result is a sharp coffee table book, full of gorgeous color photos and Steele’s profiles of people from around the world who keep the company’s diverse enterprises active and magical. On Thursday, Dec. 5, at Malaprop’s, Steele will discuss his new work in conversation with fellow local writer Denise Kiernan (The Last Castle), beginning at 6 p.m. Free to attend. malaprops.com. Author photo by Christopher Oakley

DEC. 4 - 10, 2019

MOUNTAINX.COM

Since winning the 2003 National Hammered Dulcimer competition, Joshua Messick has made good on his immense potential, headlining festivals and being the featured instrumentalist for the animated film Mary and the Witch’s Flower by Studio Ponoc, the continuation of famed Studio Ghibli. The Asheville-based musician has also remained a prolific recording artist, with seven albums to his name, including a recent pair of instrumental Christmas music collections. Alongside his wife, Stephanie Messick (Celtic harp), James Kylen (percussion) and Ryan Knott (cello), Messick will return to White Horse Black Mountain for consecutive Christmas-themed programs on Friday, Dec. 6, and Saturday, Dec. 7. Each show begins at 8 p.m. $20 advance/$22 day of shows. whitehorseblackmountain.com. Photo by Lynne Harty

A & E CALENDAR ART 5TH ANNUAL DISPLAY OF NATIVITY SETS • WE (12/11) through WE (12/18) - 300+ Nativity sets from 60+ countries. Weekdays: 5-8pm, Weekend: noon-6pm. Free. Held at First Baptist Church of Asheville, 5 Oak St. BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • Through TU (12/31) - Fairview fiber artists Julie Bagamary, Paula Entin and Laura Gaskin display their work. Held at Fairview Library, 1 Taylor Road, Fairview • TH (12/5), 1:15pm - Rafael Guastavino architectural exhibit and tour of Basilica St. Lawrence. Registration required. Free. Meet in NC Room at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. • TU (12/10), 1:15pm - Rafael Guastavino architectural exhibit and tour of Basilica St. Lawrence. Registration required. Free. Meet in NC Room at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. • TU (12/10), 6pm - Spinning Yarns knitting and crochet group. Free. Held at Skyland/South Buncombe Library, 260 Overlook Road • WE (12/11), 1:15pm - Rafael Guastavino architectural exhibit and tour of Basilica St. Lawrence. Registration required. Free. Meet in NC Room at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. • TH (12/12), 1:15pm - Rafael Guastavino architectural exhibit and tour of Basilica St. Lawrence. Registration required. Free. Meet in NC Room at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. DECORATIVE ORIGAMI PAPER BOX • TH (12/5), 1-4pm - Decorative origami paper box class with Margot Dale. Make three different folded paper boxes, as well as decorations. Supplies provided. Registration

required. $33/$28 for members. Held at Haywood County Arts Council, 86 N. Main St., Waynesville MEGHAN PATRICE RILEY POP UP • FR (12/6), 5-8pm & SA (12/7), noon-5pm Holiday Party honoring jeweler Meghan Patrice Riley. Free to attend. Held at Mora Contemporary Jewelry, 9 Walnut St. PRESENTATION BY GLORIA SUTTON • TH (12/5), 7pm - Reframing Contemporary Art History: On the Work of Sara and Stan VanDerBeek, presentation by author and art historian, Gloria Sutton. $8/Free for members. Held at Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center, 120 College St.

ART/CRAFT STROLLS & FAIRS SHOW AND TELL HOLIDAY POP UP SHOP (PD.) 11/29-12/21, 10am-8pm @ ASHEVILLE SOCIAL HALL. Find a gift for everyone on your list! Shop local/indie craft, design, and vintage. showandtellpopupshop. com • 81 Broadway St., 28801. ART AFTER DARK • 1st FRIDAY, 6-9pm - 7 galleries open late for Art After Dark. Free to attend. Held at Downtown Waynesville COOKIE WALK AND CRAFT SALE • SA (12/7), 9am-1pm - First annual Cookie Walk and Craft Sale. Fill a cookie tin for $7 and/or art fair including glass, textiles, painting, jewelry and wood. Free to attend. Held at Mills River Presbyterian Church, 10 Presbyterian Church Road, Mills River FIRST FRIDAY ART WALK • 1st FRIDAYS, 5-8pm - Downtown Asheville First Friday Art Walk with more than 25 galleries within a half mile radius of historic downtown Asheville. Free to attend. Held at Downtown Asheville

HOLIDAY MAKERS SALE • SA (12/7) & SA (12/14), 10am-4pm - Holiday Makers Sale, guild members liquidating their overstock. Free to attend. Held at Folk Art Center, MP 382, Blue Ridge Parkway MERRY MAKERS MARKET • SA (12/7), 10am-3pm Locally made goods and music. Free to attend. Held at Haw Creek Commons, 311 Old Haw Creek Road THE BIG CRAFTY • SA (12/7) through SU (12/8), noon-6pm - 100s of regional artists working in all media. $5 on Saturday. Held at US Cellular Center, 87 Haywood St. TOE RIVER ARTS STUDIO TOUR • FR (12/6) through SU (12/8), 10am-5pm - 100 artists participate throughout Yancey and Mitchell counties representing a variety of media, such as pottery, paint, glass, metal, textiles, wood and mixed media. Visit: ToeRiverArts.org. Free to attend. WINTER CRAFT FAIRE AND ARTISTAN MARKET • SA (12/7), 11am2pm - Local artists and activities for kids. Free to attend. Held at Calvary Baptist Church, 531 Haywood Road Some events from this section may be found in the Give!Local calendar on p. 18

AUDITIONS & CALL TO ARTISTS 'A FUNNY THINK HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM' • SA (12/7), 10am-1pm & 2-5pm & SU (12/8), 2-5pm - Open auditions for A Funny Think Happened on the Way to the Forum. Information: hendersonvilletheatre. org. Contact for full guidelines. Held at Hendersonville Community Theatre, 229 S. Washington St., Hendersonville

DANCE LEARN HOW TO DANCE! BALLROOM, SWING, TWO-STEP & MORE (PD.) Enjoy learning with a Certified Instructor. Contact Richard: 828333-0715, naturalrichard@mac. com, DanceForLife.net FAMILY DANCE • 2nd SUNDAYS, 3-5pm - Family contra/square dances for families with children ages 6-12. All ages welcome. Free. Held at Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Road HENRY LABRUN STUDIO AT WORTHAM CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS 18 Biltmore Ave., 828-257-4530, worthamarts.org • WEDNESDAYS until (12/4), 5:30pm - Pantomime course with Otto Vazquez, traditional pantomime done to music. Registration: avl.mx/6m9. $10. • TUESDAYS until (12/10), 5:30pm - Hip Hop 101 with Otto Vazquez, popular social dances. Registration: avl.mx/6mb. $10. MONDAY NIGHT CONTRA DANCE • MONDAYS, 7:3010:30pm - Community contra dance. $7. Held at The Center for Art and Spirit at St. George's Episcopal Church, 1 School Road SOUTHERN LIGHTS SQUARE AND ROUND DANCE CLUB • SA (12/7), 6pm - Christmas dinner, dance and semi-annual meeting. Dinner at 5:30pm. Squares and rounds at 7pm. Free. Held at Whitmire Activity Center, 310 Lily Pond Road, Hendersonville ‘THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING’ • FR (12/6) until SA (12/7) - Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre presents The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. $20-$29. Fri.: 7:30pm, Sat.: 2pm & 7:30pm. Held at Wortham Center for

the Performing Arts, 18 Biltmore Ave.

MUSIC ACAPELLA - SINGING VALENTINE (PD.) Help out Cupid this Valentines Day! Quartet brings singing Valentines to your home, business, or restaurant. Order at ashevillebarbershop.com 866.290.7269 AFRICAN DRUM LESSONS AT SKINNY BEATS SOUND SHOP (PD.) Wednesdays 6pm. Billy Zanski teaches a fun approach to connecting with your inner rhythm. Drop-ins welcome. • Drums provided. $15/ class. (828) 768-2826. www.skinnybeatsdrums. com A VERY SPECIAL CHRISTMAS CONCERT • SU (12/8), 3pm - A Very Special Christmas Concert with Celtic ConFusion and Tom Fisch. $20. Held at Flat Rock Cinema, 2700 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock ART OF MUSIC FESTIVAL KICKOFF • TH (12/5), 6-9:30pm - Kickoff concert for the Art of Music Festival with Balsam Range. Event includes barbecue dinner and beer available for purchase. $25/$12 students. Held at Folkmoot Friendship Center, 112 Virginia Ave., Waynesville ASHEVILLE DRUM CIRCLE • FRIDAYS, 6-9:50pm Asheville outdoor drum circle. Free. Held at

Pritchard Park, 4 College St. BALSAM RANGE ART OF MUSIC FESTIVAL • FR (12/6) & SA (12/7), 7pm - Balsam Range, bluegrass. Tickets: avl.mx/6qo. $25 and up. Held at Stuart Auditorium at Lake Junaluska, 20 Chapel Drive, Lake Junaluska BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • MO (12/9), 3pm -The Rhythmic Arts Project is an educational curriculum that utilizes drums and percussion to educate and empower people with developmental disabilities. Registration required. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. • MO (12/9), 7pm - Storyteller and musician Andy Offutt Irwin performa a holiday concert. Free tickets. Held at Weaverville Public Library, 41 N. Main St., Weaverville • WE (12/11), 6pm -The Rhythmic Arts Project is an educational curriculum that utilizes drums and percussion to educate and empower people with developmental disabilities. Registration required. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD • SU (12/8), 7pm - Christmas Around the World, Blue Ridge Ringers handbell concert. Free. Held at Hendersonville Presbyterian Church, 699 North Grove St., Hendersonville

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A& E CA LEN DA R CLASSICAL GUITAR SOCIETY • 2nd SUNDAYS, 1pm - Classical Guitar Society meeting followed by a potluck and musician's jam. Free to attend. Held at Asheville Guitar Bar, 122 Riverside Drive FLETCHER COMMUNITY CHORUS CHRISTMAS CONCERT • TH (12/12), 7pm Fletcher community chorus Christmas concert. Admission by donation. Held at Fletcher United Methodist Church, 50 Library Road, Fletcher GRANNY’S MASON JAR • TH (12/5), 7-9pm - First Thursday Old-Time and Bluegrass Series continues with Granny’s Mason Jar. Free. Held at Homebase College Ministry, 82 Central Drive, Cullowhee HENDERSONVILLE SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA AND YOUTH CHORUS • FR (12/6), 7pm - The Hendersonville Sym-

phony Youth Orchestra and Youth Chorus presents a combined concert featuring music for the holidays. $10. Held at Blue Ridge Community College Conference Hall, 49 E. Campus Drive, Flat Rock HOLIDAY SING-ALONG • SU (12/8), 4pm - Oldfashioned holiday sing-along. Registration: avl.mx/6qp. Free. Held at Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W. State St., Black Mountain JOHNNY GANDELSMAN PERFORMS BACH • TH (12/12), 7pm Johnny Gandelsman performs Bach's complete cello suites on the violin. $10 BMCM+AC members + students/$15 non-members. Held at Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center, 120 College St. MUSIC DEPARTMENT CHRISTMAS CONCERT • FR (12/6), 7pm - Music department Christmas

concert featuring the wind symphony, university choir and percussion ensemble. Free. Held at Mars Hill University, 265 Cascade St., Mars Hill PUBSING • SU (12/8), 4-5pm - Sing Christmas carols then at 5pm carol in the neighborhood. Free to attend. Held at Grace Episcopal Church, 871 Merrimon Ave. PUBSING • 2nd SUNDAYS, 3-5pm - Gospel jam and sing-along. Free to attend. Held at Zillicoah Beer Co, 870 Riverside Drive, Woodfin REUTER CENTER SINGERS HOLIDAY CONCERT • MO (12/9), 7pm Reuter Center Singers holiday concert with free reception after. Admission by donation. Held at UNC Asheville Reuter Center, 1 University Heights

REVELS! • SA (12/7) & SU (12/8), 3pm - Blue Ridge Orchestra’s annual Revels! concert, 60-person community orchestra in playing both popular and classic seasonal favorites. $15/$10 BRO Friends/$5 Students. Held at Lipinsky Auditorium at UNC Asheville, 300 Library Lane SINGING ON THE RIVER • SA (12/7), 10am-3pm - Christian Harmony, shape-note singing and potluck dinner. Free. Held at Madison County Arts Council, 90 S. Main St., Marshall SOUNDS OF THE SEASON • SU (12/8), 3pm - The annual Sounds of the Season concert is presented by Western Carolina University’s School of Music with WCU’s Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, University Chorus, Concert Choir and Civic Orchestra, along with

Balsam Brass and the Cullowhee Wind Quintet. $20/$15 for WCU faculty and staff and those 60 and older/$5 students and kids. Held at The WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Drive, Cullowhee ‘THE TIME OF SNOW’ • SU (12/8), 7pm Asheville Youth Choirs present a concert of holiday music. Free to attend. Held at First Baptist Church of Asheville, 5 Oak St. VIOLET BELL • FR (12/6) and SA (12/7), 8pm - Violet Bell duo perform folk, bluegrass and soul. $27-$32. Held at Tina McGuire Theatre, Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, 18 Biltmore Ave. WOMANSONG OF ASHEVILLE • MONDAYS, 7-9pm - Community chorus rehearsals open to potential members. Free. Held at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place Some events from this section may be found in the Give!Local calendar on p. 18

SPOKEN & WRITTEN WORD A SLICE OF LIFE: AN EVENING OF STORIES • SA (12/7), 7:30pm - A Slice of Life: An Evening of Stories. $15 advance/$20 door. Held at Black Mountain Center for the Arts,

DEC. 4 - 10, 2019

MOUNTAINX.COM

225 W. State St., Black Mountain BANNED BOOK CLUB • 1st & 3rd SATURDAYS, 10am - Banned Book Club. Free to attend. Held at Blue Ridge Books, 428 Hazelwood Ave., Waynesville BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • WE (12/4), 3pm Afternoon Book Club: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Free. Held at Weaverville Library, 41 N. Main St. Weaverville • TH (12/5), 1pm Creative Writing Group is open to adults who want to write children's books. Free. Held at Leicester Library, 1561 Alexander Road, Leicester • TH (12/5), 6pm - Bill Jacobs presents his book, Whence These Special Places?, a look at the geologic origins of WNC’s unique landscape. Free. Held at North Asheville Library, 1030 Merrimon Ave. • TH (12/5), 6:30pm Book Club: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. Free. Held at East Asheville Library, 902 Tunnel Road • SA (12/7), 2-3:30pm National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) Party for any writer who participated in NaNoWriMo. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. • TU (12/10), 1pm - Book Club: The Island of the Sea Women by Lisa See. Free. Held at Leicester

Library, 1561 Alexander Road, Leicester • TU (12/10), 6pm - Librarian Led Book Club: Less by Andrew Sean. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. • WE (12/11), 4pm - Our focus is creating a supportive and fun environment for writers through exercises and discussions. Open to adults and teens 15 and older. Free. Held at Skyland/South Buncombe Library, 260 Overlook Road • TH (12/12), 7pm Local author Jennifer McGaha presents her memoir Flat Broke With Two Goats. Free. Held at West Asheville Public Library, 942 Haywood Road CHRISTINE DAVISON PRESENTS 'NAUGHTY NOEL' • FR (12/6), 5:30pm Author Christine Davison and illustrator Dana Irwin present their book, Naughty Noel. Free to attend, Held at Metro Wines, 169 Charlotte St. EVE ENSLER'S 'THE APOLOGY' • TH (12/5), 6-7:30pm – Hear men read aloud from Eve Ensler's, The Apology. Free to attend. Held at Firestorm Books & Coffee, 610 Haywood Road FLETCHER LIBRARY 120 Library Road, Fletcher, 828-687-1218, library.hendersoncountync.org • 2nd THURSDAYS, 10:30am - Book Club. Free.

• 2nd THURSDAYS, 1:30pm - Writers' Guild. Free. HOLIDAY BOOK SALE • FR (12/6), 3-6pm & SA (12/7), 10am-4pm Holiday Book Sale. Free to attend. Held at Black Mountain Public Library, 105 N. Dougherty St., Black Mountain MALAPROP'S BOOKSTORE AND CAFE 55 Haywood St., 828-254-6734, malaprops.com • WE (12/4), 6pm - Amy Greene and Trent Thomson present Step Into the Circle: Writers in Modern Appalachia, part photo book, part essay collection and all praise for the mountains and valleys of the region. Free to attend. • TH (12/5), 6pm - Bruce Steele presents One Day at Disney, in conversation with Denise Kiernan. Free to attend. • SU (12/8), 3pm - Jonathan C. Creasy presents Black Mountain Poems. Free to attend. MEGAN LUCAS AND EVAN WILLIAMS • SA (12/7), 10am-1pm - Megan Lucas and Evan Williams present their books at this festive book signing. Free to attend. Held at The Center for Art & Entertainment, 125 S. Main St., Hendersonville NEW DIMENSIONS TOASTMASTERS • THURSDAYS, noon1pm - General meeting. Information: 828-3294190. Free to attend. Held at Asheville Area

Habitat for Humanity, 33 Meadow Road NORTH CAROLINA WRITERS’ NETWORK OPEN MIC • WE (12/11), 6-7:30pm. North Carolina Writers’ Network Open Mic: Poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction. Free to attend. Held at The BLOCK off biltmore, 39 S. Market St.

THEATER 'A CHILD'S CHRISTMAS IN WALES' • SU (12/8), 6pm - Poet James Navé performs the classic story A Child's Christmas in Wales. Registration: avl.mx/6pq. Free. Held at Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W. State St., Black Mountain 'A FLAT ROCK PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS' • WEDNESDAYS through SUNDAYS until (12/22) - A Flat Rock Playhouse Christmas, musical. Wed. & Thurs.: 2pm & 7:30pm, Fri.: 8pm, Sat.: 2pm & 8pm, Sun: 2pm. $17-$64. Held at Flat Rock Playhouse, 2661 Highway 225, Flat Rock

APPALACHIAN CHRISTMAS CAROL • TH (12/12), 5:30pm - Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, with Zebulon Vance too. $5/$2 kids. Held at Vance Birthplace, 911 Reems Creek Road, Weaverville ASHEVILLE COMMUNITY THEATRE 35 E. Walnut St., 828-254-1320, ashevilletheatre.org • THURSDAYS through SUNDAYS (12/5) until (12/20) - Miracle on 34th Street, fantasy. Fri.: 7:30pm, Sat. & Sun.: 2:30pm, additional performances Wednesday, Dec. 18 & Thursday, Dec. 19 at 7:30pm. $26/$12 children. • WEDNESDAY through SUNDAY (12/11) until (12/15) The Santaland Diaries, comedy. Wed.-Sat.: 7:30pm, Sun.: 2:30pm, additional performances Friday, Dec. 13 and Saturday, Dec. 14, 9:30pm. $20. 'BERNSTEIN FAMILY CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR' • THURSDAYS through SATURDAYS (12/5) until (12/21) - Bernstein Family Christmas Spectacular. Thurs.-Sat.: 7:30pm. Sat.: 10pm.

$31. Held at The Magnetic Theatre, 375 Depot St.

(12/15) - Proceeds from

CAROLINA CHRISTMAS SHOW • FRIDAY & SATURDAY - Carolina Christmas Show, music, dance, & comedy. Fri.: 7:30pm, Sat.: 2:30 & 7:30pm, $22/$19. Held at Colonial Theatre, 53 Park St., Canton

to Matthew, Mark,

'CHAGALL AND MRS. BELMONT' • FR (12/6), 2:30pm - Chagall and Mrs. Belmont, drama. $10. Held at 35below, 35 E. Walnut St. • SU (12/8), 2:30pm - Chagall and Mrs. Belmont, drama. $10. Held at UNC Asheville Reuter Center, 1 University Heights 'HANDLE WITH CARE' • WEDNESDAYS through SUNDAYS (12/4) until (12/22) - Handle With Care, bilingual rom-com. Wed.-Sat.: 7:30pm, Sun.: 2 pm, with additional matinees on Sat.: (12/14) & (12/21). $18-$38/$10 students. Held at NC Stage Company, 15 Stage Lane 'LET IT BE, CHRISTMAS' • FRIDAY through SUNDAY (12/8) until

Let It Be, Christmas, The Gospel according Luke John, Paul, George, and Ringo, benefits Eliada Homes. Fri.-Sun.: 7:30pm & Sun.: 2:30pm. $10. Held at Biltmore United Methodist Church, 378 Hendersonville Road 'MIRACLE IN BEDFORD FALLS' • THURSDAYS through SUNDAYS (12/5) until (12/22) - Miracle in Bedford Falls, musical. Thurs.-Sat.: 7:30pm, Sat. & Sun.: 2:30pm. $25-$30/$18 students. Held at Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre, Owen Theatre, Mars Hill University Mars Hill 'WHO KIDNAPPED MRS. CLAUS' • FRIDAYS and SATURDAYS, (12/6) until (12/14), 7:30pm - Who Kidnapped Mrs. Claus, holiday whodunit. $39/$25 children under 12/family 4-pak $88. Held at The Center for Art & Entertainment, 125 S. Main St., Hendersonville

MOUNTAINX.COM

DEC. 4 - 10

CLUBLAND

LOTS OF LAUGHS: Tennessee-based comedian and writer Heather Land credits some viral video moments for her connection to her fans. She now uses the stage to share her witty and relatable commentary on her I Ain’t Doing It tour. Reflecting on her 40s she says, “I have seen it all and I have the airbrushed t-shirts to prove it.” Land performs a fully seated show at The Orange Peel on Friday, Dec. 6, at 8 p.m. $35-$99. theorangepeel.net. Photo by Cameron Powell

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4 12 BONES BREWERY Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7:00PM 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Les Amis, (African folk music), 8:00PM ARCHETYPE BREWING Old Time Jam, 5:00PM ASHEVILLE CLUB Live Jazz Trio, 7:00PM ASHEVILLE DISPENSARY Witch Academy Herb of the Month: Echinacea (treats, discussion, community) 7:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR AGB Open Mic, 6:30PM BLUE MOUNTAIN PIZZA & BREW PUB Open Mic hosted by Billy Owens, 7:00PM CROW & QUILL Asheville City Horns (hot jazz), 9:00PM DOUBLE CROWN Western Wednesday w/ live Honky Tonk, 9:00PM FUNKATORIUM Grass at the Funk feat. the Saylor Brothers, 6:30PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Woody Wood Wednesday, 6:00PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Peppino D’Agostino, 7:00PM

DEC. 4 - 10, 2019

MOUNTAINX.COM

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Old Time Music Jam Session, 5:00PM

SOVEREIGN KAVA Open Mic w/ Caleb Beissert (sign-up at 7:30PM), 8:00PM

LAKE JULIAN PARK AND MARINA Lake Julian Festival of Lights, 6:00PM

STRAIGHTAWAY CAFE Circus Mutt, 6:00PM

LAZY DIAMOND Killer Karaoke w/ KJ TimO, 10:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Cigar Brothers, 6:30PM ODDITORIUM Hot Flakes, Night Beers (metal), 9:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Disclaimer Lounge Comedy Open Mic, 9:00PM ONE WORLD BREWING WEST OWB West: Latin Dance Night w/ DJ Oscar, 9:00PM OSKAR BLUES BREWERY Music Bingo, 6:00PM PISGAH BREWING COMPANY Acoustic Wednesdays: Two Fontaines, 6:00PM SLY GROG LOUNGE Monthly Monster Maker, Exquisite Corpse, 6:00PM SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BREWERY Jazz Night hosted by Jason DeCristofaro, 6:30PM

ASHEVILLE CLUB Live Cello, 7:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Will Ray and the Space Cooties, 7:00PM

THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE HempYEAH's Holiday Party (music, vendors, treats, speakers), 6:00PM Ruby's Blues Jam, 9:00PM

ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL The Main Squeeze, 10:00PM

THE FOUNDRY HOTEL 3 Cool Cats, 6:00PM

BLUE MOUNTAIN PIZZA & BREW PUB Ionize, 7:00PM

THE GOLDEN FLEECE Scots-Baroque ChamberFolk w/ The Tune Shepherds, 7:00PM THE GREY EAGLE Michael Glabicki of Rusted Root w/ Dirk Miller, 8:00PM TOWN PUMP David Bryan's Open Mic, 9:00PM TWIN LEAF BREWERY Open Mic Night, 7:00PM UPCOUNTRY BREWING COMPANY Phish Live Stream, 7:30PM

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Pleasure Chest, (blues, rock, soul), 8:00PM AMBROSE WEST Maradeen w/ The Saylor Brothers, 8:00PM

BEN'S TUNE UP Offended! Comedy Open Mic, 9:30PM

BROWN MOUNTAIN BOTTLEWORKS NC Songsmiths, Old Sap, 7:30PM CAPELLA ON 9 @ THE AC HOTEL Capella on 9 Repeal Day Celebration, 6:00PM CROW & QUILL Big Dawg Slingshots (western swing), 10:00PM DOUBLE CROWN Old Gold w/ DJ Jasper (soul 'n' rock 'n' roll), 10:00PM FLEETWOOD'S Comedy at Fleetwood's: Jessica Michelle Singleton, 8:00PM FLOOD GALLERY FINE ART CENTER True Home Open Mic, 6:30PM FOLKMOOT FRIENDSHIP CENTER Balsam Range Art of Music Festival Kickoff, 6:00PM

ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Runaway Home, 7:00PM Mary Gauthier w/ special guest Jaimee Harris, 8:30PM JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Bluegrass Jam, 7:00PM Quizzo Pub Trivia, 7:30PM LAKE JULIAN PARK AND MARINA Lake Julian Festival of Lights, 6:00PM LAZY DIAMOND 80's INVASION, 10:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Hank Bones, 6:30PM LOCAL 604 BOTTLE SHOP Vinyl Night (bring your to share!), 8:00PM MARKET PLACE Bob Zullo (pop, rock, jazz & blues), 6:00PM ODDITORIUM Party Foul Drag Circus, 9:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL 1st Thursday's feat. Jointkiller Brass Band, 5:00PM Mitch's Totally Rad Trivia, 7:00PM The Main Squeeze w/ Travers Brothership, 10:00PM ONE WORLD BREWING OWB Downtown: Lenny Pettinelli, 9:00PM ONE WORLD BREWING WEST OWB West: BeLoved Asheville’s 10th Year Celebration, (music, food, silent auction), 6:00PM OWB West: One World Family Band Jam, 8:00PM ORANGE PEEL CHON & Between the Buried and Me w/ Intervals, 7:30PM PACK’S TAVERN Acoustic Thursdays w/ the Steve Moseley Duo, 8:00PM PISGAH BREWING COMPANY Moonfish 2, 7:00PM POLANCO RESTAURANT DJ Dance Party w/ DJ Phantome Pantone Collective, 10:00PM PURPLE ONION CAFE Michael Reno Harrell, 7:30PM SALVAGE STATION Celebrate Safe Motherhood w/ music by Queen Bee & the Honeycutters, 6:00PM SANCTUARY BREWING CO. Tessia Noel, 7:00PM

SLY GROG LOUNGE Speak Easy Story Slam! Story Theme: Come Get "Stuffed", 6:30PM Driftwood Soldier w/ The Callers, 9:00PM STRAIGHTAWAY CAFE Open Mic, 7:00PM THE 63 TAPHOUSE Weekly 8 Ball Tournament (sign ups at 7:00 p.m.), 8:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Oil-N-Vinegar Residency w/ Datrian Johnson, Terry Letman and Duane Simpson, 9:00PM

COMING SOON WED 12/4 7:00PM–PEPPINO D’AGOSTINO

THU 12/5

THE BARRELHOUSE Ter-rific Trivia, 7:00PM

7:00PM–RUNAWAY HOME 8:30PM–MARY GAUTHIER W/ JAIMEE HARRIS

THE GREY EAGLE The Revelers, 9:00PM

7:00PM–TIM GRIMM & JACKSON GRIMM

FRI 12/6

THE IMPERIAL LIFE The Roaring Lions (jazz), 9:00PM THE MOTHLIGHT The Messthetics w/ Seven and a Half Giraffe & Shane Parish, 9:00PM TOWN PUMP Tim McWilliams Band, 9:00PM TRISKELION BREWERY Open Irish Jam hosted by Cornell Sanderson, 6:30PM TWIN LEAF BREWERY Craft Karaoke, 9:00PM

8:30PM–JUMP LITTLE CHILDREN W/ SPECIAL GUESTS HULA-FI SAT 12/7 7:00PM–MAGPIE: GREG ARTZNER & TERRY LEONIN

UPCOUNTRY BREWING COMPANY Phish Live Stream, 7:30PM Music Bingo w/ Old Sap, 8:00PM WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Winter Jazz Spells w/ Roberta Baum, 7:30PM WILD WING CAFE SOUTH Acoustic Karaoke, 10:00PM ZAMBRA Dinah's Daydream, 7:00PM

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Jesse Barry & The Jam, (blues, funk), 9:00PM ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Firecracker Jazz Band, 8:00PM Barrio Candela LatinX Dance Party, 10:00PM ASHEVILLE CLUB Live Classical Guitar, 7:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Vince Junior Band (refreshingly soulful blues), 8:00PM

8:30PM–FRANK SOLIVAN & DON STIERNBERG: VIRTUOSIC MANDOLIN DUO SUN 12/8 6:00PM–RYAN KIJANKA ALBUM RELEASE SHOW 7:30PM–HOLIDAY SWING W/ QUEEN BEE AND THE HONEYLOVERS

TUE 12/10 7:30PM–TUES. BLUEGRASS SESSIONS HOSTED BY SETH MULDER & MIDNIGHT RUN

WED 12/11 7:00PM–HANNAH KAMINER

ISISASHEVILLE.COM DINNER MENU TIL 9:30PM LATE NIGHT MENU TIL 12AM BRUNCH 10-2 SUNDAY ONLY

TUES-SUN 5PM-until

743 HAYWOOD RD | 828-575-2737 MOUNTAINX.COM

DEC. 4 - 10

CLU B LA N D

Local UPCOMING SHOWS: DOORS 8PM

DEC 5

MARADEEN

SHOW 8:30PM

GET RIGHT BAND

SHOW 8:30PM

2ND ANNUAL NOT QUITE KOSHER COMEDY NIGHT

SHOW 6PM

W/ THE SAYLOR BROTHERS

DOORS 8PM

DEC 7

W/ WAXING GIBBOUS

DOORS 5PM

DEC 15

DOORS 5:15PM

DEC 17

EXPERIENCE MUSIC

DOORS 7PM

CHARLIE TRAVELER PRESENTS:

DEC 19

A CAJUN CHRISTMAS WITH BEAUSOLEIL

DEC 5 DEC 7 DEC 15

SHOW 6PM

DEC 17

SHOW 8PM

DEC 19

TICKETS SOLD HERE: W W W. A M B R O S E W E S T. C O M BOX OFFICES: T H E H O N E Y P O T & T H E C I RC L E

BOOK YOUR WEDDING OR EVENT NOW: 828.332.3090 312 HAYWOOD ROAD

THE SONG LIVES ON: In the multimedia concert Songs that Sustain, folklorist and ballad singer Susan Pepper presents pieces from the Appalachian Mountains along with landscape images and field recordings. “In this performance, Pepper pays tribute to the sustaining power of traditional song in the past and present,” says a press release for the event, set to take place at Flood Gallery and Fine Arts Center on Saturday, Dec. 7. Pepper will be joined by local songwriter, musician and educator Ash Devine; their duo, Pepper and Devine, centers on harmony singing. 7 p.m. $12 advance/$15 day of show. avl.mx/6qw. Photo courtesy of the musicians

ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL The Heavy Pets & Roosevelt Collier, 10:00PM BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE Dinah's Daydream (Gypsy jazz), 7:00PM BLUE MOUNTAIN PIZZA & BREW PUB Acoustic Swing, 7:00PM BLUE RIDGE COMMUNITY COLLEGE CONFERENCE HALL Hendersonville Symphony Youth Orchestra & Youth Chorus Holiday Concert, 7:00PM BOLD ROCK HARD CIDER Kat Boomcat, 6:00PM BROWN MOUNTAIN BOTTLEWORKS Alex Culbreth, 7:30PM CAPELLA ON 9 @ THE AC HOTEL DJ Dance Party w/ Phantom Pantone DJ Collective, 9:00PM COLONIAL THEATRE Carolina Christmas Show (comedy, dance, music), 7:30PM CROW & QUILL Resonant Rogues (ballads for wanderers), 9:00PM

DEC. 4 - 10, 2019

MOUNTAINX.COM

HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY First Friday Dance Party, 8:00PM

LUELLA'S BAR-B-QUE BILTMORE PARK Friday Night Live Music Series, 8:00PM

PACK’S TAVERN DJ RexxStep, 9:30PM PILLAR ROOFTOP BAR Fwuit, 7:00PM

ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Tim Grimm & Jackson Grimm, 7:00PM Jump, Little Children w/ special guests HULA HI-FI, 8:30PM

MAD CO BREW HOUSE Live Muisc by Wintervals, 6:00PM

PISGAH BREWING COMPANY Alex Krug Combo, 8:00PM

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Irish Session, 3:00PM West End String Band, 9:00PM

NEW BELGIUM BREWERY Patch Party, 12:00PM Matt's Blues, 5:30PM

LAZOOM ROOM Red, White & Boobs: A Jug Band Comedy Christmas (Night One), 8:00PM LAKE JULIAN PARK AND MARINA Lake Julian Festival of Lights, 6:00PM LAZY DIAMOND Nu Disco w/ DJ Strongmagnumopus, 10:00PM Slayed & Fade w/ DJ Ethan M (rockers & soul), 10:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Hot Club of Asheville, 6:30PM

DOUBLE CROWN Rotating Rock 'n' Soul DJs, 10:00PM

LOCAL 604 BOTTLE SHOP Sad Music Club (indie jazz trio), 8:00PM

GINGER'S REVENGE Stephen Evans & the True Grits (rock, folk), 7:30PM

LUELLA'S BAR-B-QUE Friday Night Live Music Series, 8:00PM

MOE'S ORIGINAL BBQ WOODFIN Gary Mac Fiddle, 7:00PM

ODDITORIUM Didges Christ Superdrum, Amnesis, Bleedseason, Cypher Machine (metal), 9:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Free Dead Fridays feat. members of Phuncle Sam (acoustic), 5:00PM First Fridays w/ Dirty Dead, 10:00PM ONE WORLD BREWING WEST OWB West: First Fridays w/ Kai Zen (Jeff Sipe, Mike Barnes, Mark McDaniel), 9:00PM ORANGE PEEL Heather Land: I ain't doin' it Unfiltered Tour, 8:00PM OSKAR BLUES BREWERY Redleg Husky (country, bluegrass), 6:00PM

SANCTUARY BREWING CO. Letters to Abigail, 8:00PM SLY GROG LOUNGE Hoodie Weather Tour feat. Cut Rugs & Danny Grooves, 8:00PM STRAIGHTAWAY CAFE Vinylly Friday w/ Catiana & Carolyn, 6:00PM STUART AUDITORIUM AT LAKE JUNALUSKA Balsam Range Art of Music Festival, 12:00AM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Freedom's Friday w/ Slay the Mic, 9:00PM THE GREY EAGLE Jeff Coffin, Keith Carlock, Air Felder & Felix Pastorius, 9:00PM THE IMPERIAL LIFE DJ Dance Party feat. Phantom Pantone Collective, 10:00PM THE MOTHLIGHT A.A. Bondy, 9:00PM THE OMNI GROVE PARK INN Andrew J. Fletcher (solo jazz piano), 2:30PM

7 HIT DOGS

WED MICHAEL GLABICKI

TOWN PUMP Caroline Keller Band, 9:00PM

AMBROSE WEST Get Right Band w/ Waxing Gibbous, 8:00PM

CROW & QUILL The House Hoppers (hoppin' swing jazz), 9:00PM

UPCOUNTRY BREWING COMPANY Phish Live Stream, 7:30PM

APPALACHIAN COFFEE COMPANY Mr. Jimmy (Chicago style blues), 4:00PM

DOUBLE CROWN Soul Motion Dance Party w/ DJ Dr. Filth, 10:00PM

URBAN ORCHARD CIDER CO. SOUTH SLOPE De' Rumba w/ DJ Malinalli, 9:00PM WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Joshua Messick: Hammered Dulcimer Christmas, 8:00PM WILD WING CAFE A Social Function, 9:00PM WILD WING CAFE SOUTH Flashback Band, 9:00PM WORTHAM CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Violet Bell, 8:00PM ZAMBRA Jason Moore, 7:00PM

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7 5 WALNUT WINE BAR The Moon & You, (cello folk, soul), 9:00PM

ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Modern Strangers, 8:00PM DJ Lil Meow Meow, 10:00PM ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Fifth Annual Holiday Craft Bazaar w/ tunes by Bald Mountain Boys & Chalwa, 11:00AM 4th Annual Very Jerry Xmas, 10:00PM BLACK MOUNTAIN CENTER FOR THE ARTS A Slice of Life: An Evening of Stories hosted by Connie Regan-Blake, 7:30PM BOLD ROCK HARD CIDER The Super 60s, 6:00PM CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH Winter Craft Faire and Artistan Market (puppet show, pony rides, story time), 11:00AM COLONIAL THEATRE Carolina Christmas Show (music, comedy, dance), 2:30PM

EXPLOREASHEVILLE. COM ARENA AT U.S. CELLULAR CENTER ASHEVILLE The Big Crafty, 12:00PM FLEETWOOD'S Mammabear, Ugly Runner & Whiteoak Splits, 9:00PM GINGER'S REVENGE AcousticENVY (classic rock, blues, old soul), 7:30PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Annabelle's Curse, 7:00PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Magpie: Greg Artzner & Terry Leonino, 7:00PM Frank Solivan & Don Stiernberg: Virtuosic Mandolin Duo, 8:30PM LAZOOM ROOM Red, White & Boobs: A Jug Band Comedy Christmas (Night Two), 9:00PM LAKE JULIAN PARK AND MARINA Lake Julian Festival of Lights, 6:00PM

SAT

OF RUSTED ROOT

W/ SUPER VILLAIN – 10PM

W/ DIRK MILLER, TOLAN SHAW

THE REVELERS

SAMARA JADE, NOAH PROUDFOOT

LAZY DIAMOND Slushie Saturdays w/ Los Dos Krektones (instro-surf rock), 2:30PM Raw Funk, Stomp, Rock, Groove, & Skank w/ DJ The Bogart, 10:00PM

THU

FRI

JEFF COFFIN, KEITH CARLOCK, NIR FELDER, FELIX PASTORIUS

MON

LIPINSKY AUDITORIUM AT UNC ASHEVILLE BRO Revels!, 3:00PM

SAT

DRAG BRUNCH 12PM

TUE

LOBSTER TRAP Sean Mason Trio, 6:30PM

SAT

ODDITORIUM Asheville Krampusfest (drag, puppet show, costume contest), 9:00PM

SUN

W/ MOMMA MOLASSES

THE BLUE RIDGE BUSKETEERS

NEIL HILBORN

W/ COWBABY

WED

W/ CARACARA – 7PM

ASHEVILLE

10-MINUTE MOVIES

TROLLEY LA LA LA

Asheville’s longest running live music venue • 185 Clingman Ave TICKETS AVAILABLE AT HARVEST RECORDS & THEGREYEAGLE.COM

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Fifth Annual Holiday Craft Bazaar w/ music by Bald Mountain Boys & Chalwa, 11:00AM 4th Annual A Very Jerry Xmas, 10:00PM The Quickening, 10:00PM ONE WORLD BREWING WEST OWB West: DJ Hydro, 9:00PM

E v e nt s MONDAY NIGHTS

ORANGE PEEL Whiskey Myers & Rob Leines [SOLD OUT] 9:00PM

Watch NFL games on our 18 foot screen. Free Pizza! THURSDAY NIGHTS

OSKAR BLUES BREWERY Dave Desmelik Duo (Americana), 6:00PM

College Greek Night FRIDAY NIGHTS

Latin dancing

PACK’S TAVERN

EVERY SATURDAY

DJ plays the best 90’s & 2000’s music

shop local. unchain asheville. smile & save. be well.

share joy.

Booking available for all company holiday parties...

Asheville’s Local & Female-Owned, Top-Rated Teeth Whitening Service

SMILE

$79 BUCKS

828-458-5072

Brighten your smile before the new year!

Before/After Photo’s at www.DowntownSmiles828.com 828-484-6369 (Mention ad) • 2 Wall St. #103 Offer expires 1/15/20

FREE PARKING Located in the heart of Downtown AVL

THIS WEEK AT AVL MUSIC HALL & THE ONE STOP!!!

*NOT REDEEMABLE FOR CASH. CANNOT BE USED WITH OTHER OFFERS. NEW CLIENTS ONLY.

THE MAIN SQUEEZE w/ Travers Brothership

THE HEAVY PETS + Roosevelt Collier

THU, 12/5 - SHOW: 10 pm (DOORS: 9 pm) - adv. tix: $12

FRI, 12/6 - SHOW: 10 pm (DOORS: 9 pm) - adv. tix: $12

First Fridays w/

Dirt y Dead FRI, 12/6 - MUSIC: 10 pm [HIGH ENERGY GRATEFUL DEAD] DONATION BASED COVER

38 North French Broad Ave

Paradox Nightclub

5th Annual

4th Annual

Holiday Craft The Quickening Very Jerry Bazaar!! Xmas SAT, 12/7 - MUSIC: 10 SAT, 12/7 - 11am -6 pm FREE!

[FEEL GOOD MUSIC] DONATION BASED COVER

SAT, 12/7 - SHOW: 10 pm (DOORS: 9:30 pm) - tix: $15

LOCAL THURSDAY SHUFFLE - 10pm

Free Dead Friday - 5pm

SUN

Mitch’s Totally Rad Trivia - 6:30pm

FRI

disclaimer comedy - 9:30pm Brown Bag Singer-Songwriting Competition - 5:30pm

THU

Tuesday Early Jam - 8PM Tuesday Night Funk Jam - 11PM Electrosoul Session - 11:30PM

WED

TUE

12/12 - Of the Trees, Integrate, Special Recipe • 12/13 - George Porter + Joe Marcinek w/ JBOT • 12/14 - Bleep Bloop, Kirby Bright, Zeplinn & Sabali • 12/19 - Phutureprimitive + An-Ten-Nae • 12/20 - Vince Herman & Drew Emmitt w/ Ton of Hay World Famous Bluegrass Brunch - 10:30am-3pm Shakedown Sundays - 4pm-7pm MOUNTAINX.COM

@AVLMusicHall @OneStopAVL DEC. 4 - 10

DANCE

CLU B LA N D

at night in ASHEVILLE!

The Groove Shakers, 9:30PM PILLAR ROOFTOP BAR The Coal Cave Hollow Boys, 7:00PM

17 Taps & Domestics • Nightly Drink Specials

FULL KITCHEN • TIKI BAR

FREE Parking on Eagle/Charlotte Streets 39 S. Market St. • 254-9277

AWARD-WINNING WING SPECIALS Sun., Tue., Wed. & Thur. • 6-8Pm

Mon-Thur 4pm-2am • Fri-Sun 2pm-2am 87 Patton Ave – Downtown Asheville

PISGAH BREWING COMPANY Brothers Oliver, 9:00PM PURPLE ONION CAFE Jason Decristefaro Trio, 8:00PM SANCTUARY BREWING CO. Ross Osteen, 8:00PM

SLY GROG LOUNGE WYLA, Hard Rocket, Bad Banker, & The Egg Eaters, 9:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Community Salsa/Latin Night w/ DJ Edi Fuentes (lessons at 9:00PM), 9:30PM THE GREY EAGLE Youth OUTright's monthly Drag Brunch hosted by Ida Carolina, 12:00PM

THE MONTFORD ROOFTOP BAR Primal Studios hosts Buti Yoga Brunch w/ Phantom Pantone DJ Collective, 11:00AM THE MOTHLIGHT Kadavar w/ Ruby the Hatchet & Rocky MTN Roller, 9:00PM THE SHIFT STUDIO Sacred Sound: Vibration of Creation/Frequency of Love!, 1:00PM TOWN PUMP Bald Mountain Boys, 9:00PM TWISTED LAUREL DJ Dance Party w/ Phantom Pantone DJ Collective (rotating DJ's), 11:00PM UPCOUNTRY BREWING COMPANY Phish Live Stream, 7:30PM WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Joshua Messick: Hammered Dulcimer Christmas, 8:00PM WORTHAM CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Violet Bell, 8:00PM ZAMBRA Killawatts, 7:00PM

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Random Animals, (soull, rock, funk), 7:00PM ARCHETYPE BREWING Post-Brunch Blues, 4:00PM ASHEVILLE CLUB Vaden Landers (bluegrass, country), 4:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Classical Guitar Society Meeting 1:30PM Pot Luck & Musician's Jam, 3:00PM BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE Pimps of Pompe Trio (Gypsy jazz hip-hop), 2:00PM BLACK MOUNTAIN CENTER FOR THE ARTS Holiday Sing-Along at BMCA, 4:00PM A Child's Christmas in Wales, 6:00PM

DEC. 4 - 10, 2019

MOUNTAINX.COM

FUNKATORIUM Gary "Macfiddle" Mackey (bluegrass), 1:00PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Reggae Sunday w/ Chalwa, 2:00PM Sidecar Honey, 7:00PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Ryan Kijanka Album Release Show, 6:00PM Holiday Swing w/ Queen Bee and the Honeylovers, 7:30PM JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Irish Session, 3:00PM LAKE JULIAN PARK AND MARINA Lake Julian Festival of Lights, 6:00PM LIPINSKY AUDITORIUM AT UNC ASHEVILLE BRO Revels!, 3:00PM LUELLA'S BAR-B-QUE Sunday Brunch w/ Hank Bones & Jon Corbin, 12:00PM LUELLA'S BAR-B-QUE BILTMORE PARK Sunday Live Music w/ Leo Johnson, 1:00PM ODDITORIUM Seasons, Artificial Oceans, The Supplier, A World of Lies (metal), 9:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL World Famous Bluegrass Brunch, 10:30AM ORANGE PEEL Whiskey Myers plus Rob Leines [SOLD OUT] 9:00PM OSKAR BLUES BREWERY Trivia Night, 5:00PM SALVAGE STATION The Hip Abduction, 8:00PM SLY GROG LOUNGE Sacred Snow: Winter Music and Arts Festival, 3:00PM Open Mic w/ Mike Andersen, 6:30PM THE BARRELHOUSE Weekly Original Music Open Mic, 6:00PM

BOLD ROCK HARD CIDER Bluegrass & Brunch, 11:00AM

THE IMPERIAL LIFE DJ Dance Party feat. Phantom Pantone Collective, 9:00PM

EXPLOREASHEVILLE. COM ARENA AT U.S. CELLULAR CENTER ASHEVILLE The Big Crafty, 12:00PM

UPCOUNTRY BREWING COMPANY Community Collective (music, vendors, brunch), 2:00PM Phish Live Stream, 7:30PM

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF ASHEVILLE The Time of Snow, 7:00PM

FLEETWOOD'S Comedy at Fleetwood's: Blaire Erskine, 8:00PM

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Richard Shulman Trio, 7:30PM

ZAMBRA Joey Harrington, 7:00PM

MONDAY, DECEMBER 9 27 CLUB Karaoke w/ Terra Ware, 9:00PM 5 WALNUT WINE BAR CaroMia, April B, Nicole Nicolopoulos (folk, R&B), 8:00PM ASHEVILLE CLUB Live Improv, 7:00PM CATAWBA BREWING SOUTH SLOPE Musicians in the round hosted by Jon Edwards, 6:00PM JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Quizzo Pub Trivia, 7:30PM Open Mic Night, 9:30PM LAKE JULIAN PARK AND MARINA Lake Julian Festival of Lights, 6:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Bobby Miller, 6:30PM ODDITORIUM Risque Monday Burlesque hosted by Deb Au Nare, 9:00PM OSKAR BLUES BREWERY Mountain Music Mondays (open jam), 6:00PM SANCTUARY BREWING CO. Open Mic Night w/ It Takes All Kinds, 7:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Ambigious Roots w/ Jamar Woods, Brennan Dugan & Adam Chase, 9:00PM THE GOLDEN PINEAPPLE Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 8:00PM THE IMPERIAL LIFE Leo Johnson Trio, 9:00PM THE MOTHLIGHT Bless Your Heart Album Release w/ Reversels, Brynn Estelle, 8:00PM

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10 5 WALNUT WINE BAR The John Henrys, 8:00PM ASHEVILLE CLUB BluesDay Tuesday w/ Mr. Jimmy, 6:00PM Izzy (singer, songwriter), 7:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Gypsy Jazz Jam w/ Steve Karla & Phil Alley, 8:00PM

ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Tuesday Night Funk Jam, 11:00PM BOLD ROCK HARD CIDER Tacos & Trivia, 4:00PM FLEETWOOD'S Matt Heckler, The Callers, 8:00PM HAYWOOD COUNTRY CLUB Turntable Tuesdays hosted by VTT, 10:00PM ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Tuesday Bluegrass Sessions hosted by Seth Mulder & Midnight Run, 7:30PM JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Honky Tonk Tuesday w/ Tom Pittman, 7:00PM LAKE JULIAN PARK AND MARINA Lake Julian Festival of Lights, 6:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Jay Brown, 6:30PM

TAVERN Downtown on the Park Eclectic Menu • Over 30 Taps • Patio 15 TV’s • Sports Room • 110” Projector Event Space • Shuffleboard Open 7 Days 11am - Late Night t he g i f t o f g r e at f o o d a nd Gi ve k d r i n ! Gi ve a Pac k ’s Gi f t C a r d!

THU. 12/5 Steve Moseley Duo (acoustic rock)

FRI. 12/6 DJ RexxStep

(dance hits, pop)

SAT. 12/7 The Groove Shakers (party tunes & rock)

20 S. Spruce St. • 225.6944 packStavern.com

LOCAL 604 BOTTLE SHOP Asheville Synth Club, 7:00PM MARKET PLACE Bob Zullo & Grant Cuthbertson (vocal jazz), 6:00PM ODDITORIUM Odditorium Comedy Night, 9:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Tuesday Early Jam, 8:00PM Tuesday Night Funk Jam, 11:00PM SALVAGE STATION Trivia!, 7:00PM

In the Spirit

Issue

Coming December 18

SANCTUARY BREWING CO. Team Trivia w/ host Josh Dunkin, 7:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Late Night Blues Dancing, 11:00PM THE SOCIAL Open Mic w/ Riyen Roots, 8:00PM TWIN LEAF BREWERY Robert's Twin Leaf Trivia, 8:00PM

DEC. 4 - 10

MOVIE REVIEWS

Hosted by the Asheville Movie Guys HHHHH

= MAX RATING

EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com

H PICK OF THE WEEK H

Marriage Story HHHHH

DIRECTOR: Noah Baumbach PLAYERS: Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Laura Dern DRAMA/COMEDY RATED R The sense that actors Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson are having their best year ever is cemented by their moving yet understated work in Marriage Story, writer/director Noah Baumbach’s most polished and heartfelt film to date. Johansson and Driver are Nicole and Charlie, a young couple with an 8-yearold boy who are, respectively, the star and artistic director of an avant-garde New York City theater company. The movie begins with two sweet montages as the characters narrate what they like most about their spouse — but the paired essays turn out to be exercises in a fraught marriage-counseling session. It’s all downhill from there. Divorce is a common theme in Baumbach’s films — his first to garner significant critical acclaim was The Squid and the Whale, told from the children’s point of view. But Marriage Story doesn’t side with either Charlie or Nicole, as Baumbach portrays each with both sympathy and critical distance. Although the crux of the escalating dispute is custody of Henry (Azhy Robertson, Juliet, Naked), this is no Kramer vs. Kramer with a clear villain. It’s a messy, no-good-answers slice of 44

DEC. 4 - 10, 2019

MOUNTAINX.COM

BRUCE STEELE bcsteele@gmail.com life that traces how two people who hoped to split amicably and without lawyers in New York City wind up in court in Los Angeles, represented by vicious attorneys. Laura Dern, breezily magnifying her “Big Little Lies” role as a rich creep, takes Nicole’s case, while Charlie consults with the nasty, expensive Jay (Ray Liotta) and the well-meaning but schlubby Bert (a perfectly cast Alan Alda). Among Baumbach’s achievements here is the gradual revelation of Charlie’s and Nicole’s very different perspectives on what seemed for years a loving marriage and productive artistic partnership, and the ways in which small infractions or disagreements can become heinous accusations in a legal tussle. Driver and Johansson are wonderful throughout — not because they’re flashy and melodramatic but because they stay vulnerable and even chummy while their distance and distrust build. A key scene in which their differences escalate cements both actors’ performances as among the most human and carefully modulated of the year. This is heavy stuff, yet Baumbach also sprinkles in realistic humor and moments of affection that keep the movie and the characters warm and genuine. As always, his filmmaking is low key, meant to capture his cast at their best and to underline their relationships — whether divided or intertwined — with subtle visual cues. The result is a film that showcases people and feelings above all else, and one that viewers may feel and remember for years to come. Starts Dec. 6 at Grail Moviehouse REVIEWED BY BRUCE STEELE BCSTEELE@GMAIL.COM

The All-Americans HHH

DIRECTOR: Billy McMillin PLAYERS: Mario Ramirez, Joseph Silva, Sammy Hernandez DOCUMENTARY NOT RATED In East Los Angeles, “The Classic,” the annual football game between high

THIS WEEK’S CONTRIBUTORS

Melissa Myers

Ian Casselberry

school rivals Roosevelt and Garfield, is a huge deal to the local Latino community. Veteran editor Billy McMillin (Mike Wallace Is Here; West of Memphis) chronicles both teams’ seasons leading up to the 80th edition of the showdown in The All-Americans, a passable documentary that thinks it’s a powerful activist statement but is little more than a basic youth sports drama. McMillin assumes that contemporary radio snippets relaying negative opinions about immigrants, plus a few heavyhanded statements from his subjects about the plight of Latinos in the U.S. will incite positive change, yet they more often than not impede the flow of the film’s appealing human-interest stories that they’re meant to augment. The standout strengths of The AllAmericans are the sufficiently compelling, “Friday Night Lights”-style mininarratives within the overall story arcs, but even with moments of surprising vulnerability from these young men and their loved ones, none are developed to memorable ends, nor are they filmed or presented in noteworthy ways. The overall effect isn’t nearly the boundary-breaking message of national unity it strives to be. Instead, it’s another well-made high school football documentary that will appeal to fans of the game but have difficulty wrangling viewers who don’t care about sports. Starts Dec. 6 at Pisgah Film House REVIEWED BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN EARNAUDIN@MOUNTAINX.COM

The Cave HHHHS DIRECTOR: Feras Fayyad PLAYERS: Amani Ballour, Salim Namour DOCUMENTARY RATED PG-13 In his newest documentary, The Cave, director Feras Fayyad (Last Men in Aleppo) steers viewers into one small corner of the ongoing Syrian civil war via the story of pediatrician and hospital manager Dr. Amani Ballour and her team of medical professionals and patients. As warplanes repeatedly bombard the hollowed-out hellscape that is the city of Ghouta, Amani and her team must work around the clock below the surface, in their underground medical

center that goes by the titular name. A steady stream of patients constantly tries the strength and will of the medical team as the trauma and shellshock of war slowly wear away everyone’s ability to function under the extreme pressure of emergency medicine in a 24/7 war zone. Fayyad’s documentary nicely avoids being overtly political — there aren’t explicit explanations of the reasoning behind the actions of Syria, Russia or the Syrian rebels. Instead, he does an excellent job focusing on the humanity of the situation. What viewers witness are the civilian costs of a political war: the tragic casualties of innocent lives and limbs lost in bombings and chemical attacks. Above all else, The Cave delivers a powerful study of the resolve of the human spirit despite severe stress and abject helplessness. Amani’s voicemails reveal her father in another city, pleading with her to evacuate, while she also grapples on the ground with the traditional religious worldviews of patients who criticize her for doing this work as a woman, rather than fulfill a traditional role as mother and wife in the domestic sphere. All of these challenges occur while the hospital struggles to keep up with the influx of patients after each new bombing — its resources depleted without any sign of relief. It’s easy for Western viewers to feel removed from the true tragedies of a faraway war, particularly the face of modern warfare. The Cave bears witness to the individual human consequences of the upheaval in presentday Syria, and it is important for these tragedies to be seen and reckoned with by the world, particularly in light of the fact that this war is still playing out today. Now playing at Grail Moviehouse REVIEWED BY MELISSA MYERS MELISSA.L.MYERS@GMAIL.COM

The Irishman HHHHS

DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese PLAYERS: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Al Pacino, Anna Paquin BIOPIC/DRAMA RATED R Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman probably doesn’t need to be 3 1/2 hours long, but that’s focusing on the wrong thing. The story of someone’s life takes time to properly tell and isn’t just made up of grand moments. The little, quieter ones lead up to the defining events of a person’s exis-

tence and are when relationships are often formed, some of which can forever change a person’s world. What’s important to Scorsese is allowing the necessary minutes for his characters to develop and inherent tensions in the story to build. When Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) is introduced, he’s a small-time crook supplementing a working-class income by sneaking meat deliveries to a mob establishment for a better cut of profits. His delivery routes eventually lead to an encounter with Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci), a mob capo who sees Sheeran’s resourcefulness as ideal for a subordinate who will do anything asked of him. From there, the narrative becomes an origin story for a successful gangster, one who could fit right into previous Scorsese mob epics like Goodfellas. Sheeran becomes a loyal soldier for Bufalino, picking up payments, beating up anybody who doesn’t show proper gratitude and killing those who pose a

threat or fail to realize their proper roles in the entire operation. However, the key difference in this story is that Scorsese’s protagonist intersects directly with historical events that have been a mystery to the population at large for more than 40 years. Moving up in the organization eventually gets Sheeran tapped to help out union boss Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) in a dispute with Chicago cab drivers. Sheeran becomes Hoffa’s trusted accomplice and family friend, a fateful development that tests the gangster’s loyalties to their limit. The Irishman spans more than 50 years, and going deep into Sheeran’s past requires digital effects to de-age De Niro. It’s distracting at first when De Niro’s younger face doesn’t quite look real. But more often than not, the effect

by Edwin Arnaudin | earnaudin@mountainx.com

The All-Americans (NR) HHH

their choice into a 10-minute play that’s then acted out for attendees, using a range of props and general ingenuity. Tickets are $7 in advance and $10 day of show, and sales benefit the Asheville ReCyclery bicycle repair shop. thegreyeagle.com

Marriage Story (R) HHHHH (Pick of the Week) JUST ANNOUNCED Dark Waters (PG-13) Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway star in this fact-based tale of an attorney who sues DuPont for polluting drinking water.

CURRENTLY IN THEATERS 21 Bridges (R) HHS Abominable (PG) HHHH Ad Astra (PG-13) HHHHS The Addams Family (PG) HH A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (PG-13) HHHH The Cave (NR) HHHHS Charlie’s Angels (PG-13) HHHS Doctor Sleep (R) HHHHS Fantastic Fungi (NR) HHHH Ford v Ferrari (PG-13) HHHHS Frozen II (PG) HHS The Good Liar (R) HHHHS Harriet (PG-13) HH The Irishman (R) HHHHS Jojo Rabbit (PG-13) HHHHH Knives Out (PG-13) HHHHH Last Christmas (PG-13) HHHH Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (PG) HHHS Midway (PG-13) HS Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood (R) HHHHS Pain and Glory (R) HHHH Parasite (R) HHHHH Playing with Fire (PG-13) H Queen & Slim (R) HHHHS

CONTINUES ON PAGE 46

SCREEN SCENE

STARTING FRIDAY

Playmobil: The Movie (PG) A feature-length animated film inspired by and starring figures from the titular German toy manufacturer.

is startlingly effective, showing us a De Niro we haven’t seen for decades. However, the true achievement is De Niro’s performance, the best work he’s done in many years. Sheeran is torn between friends (and family) and those who provide him a life he never could have imagined, and De Niro makes that emotional pain palpable. But perhaps the greatest acting surprise is Pesci, more reserved and quietly powerful than he’s ever been. (Pacino gets all the histrionics, portraying Hoffa’s outsized, bombastic personality.) Russell doesn’t bend people to his will by yelling, punching people or smashing things. He simply wields

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Prolific animator/illustrator/director Ron Campbell, whose credits include Yellow Submarine and The Flintstones, brings his traveling art show to Blackbird Frame & Art, Dec. 10-11. Photo by Nick Follger • The Backcountry Film Festival stops by the High Gravity taproom at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., 100 Sierra Nevada Way, Mills River, on Thursday, Dec. 5, 7-9 p.m. The collection of 10 short films that celebrate the backcountry snow sports community is produced by the Boise, Idahobased nonprofit Winter Wildlands Alliance. Tickets are $15 and available online. avl.mx/6qk • Asheville 10-Minute Movies returns to The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave., on Monday, Dec. 9, at 8 p.m. For the event, teams turn a film of

FILM ANATTASATI MAGGA MOVIE NIGHT • TH (12/5), 6-9pm - Anattasati Magga movie showing of

the movie, Zen. Free to attend. Held at Asheville Friends Meetinghouse, 227 Edgewood Road

• Ron Campbell, director of “The Beatles” cartoon series in the 1960s and an animator on the film Yellow Submarine, brings his traveling art show to Blackbird Frame & Art, 365 Merrimon Ave., on Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 10 and 11, 4-8 p.m. each day. Campbell’s 50-year career also includes work on “ScoobyDoo,” “The Smurfs,” “Rugrats,” “The Jetsons,” “The Flintstones,” “George of the Jungle,” “Captain Caveman,” “Yogi Bear,” “Winnie the Pooh” and “Ed, Edd n Eddy.” Now retired, he continues to create paintings based on his cartoon career and share his art in person around the U.S. In addition to the opportunity to speak with Campbell about his experiences, customers who purchase a piece of his artwork receive a personal painting on the Certificate of Authenticity. Free to attend. blackbirdframe.com X

'PLEASANTVILLE' • TU (12/10), 6pm - Pleasantville, dramedy. Free. Held at Fairview Library, 1 Taylor Road, Fairview

MOUNTAINX.COM

'THE MASTER OF THE CARRIAGE' • SU (12/8), 3-5pm - The Master of the Carriage, animation, and discussion. Info: gurdjieffasheville. org. Free.

DEC. 4 - 10

FREEWILL ASTROLOGY

M OVIE RE V I EW S the fear of what happens to those who cross him or don’t show respect. We’re fortunate in Asheville to have The Irishman shown on the big screen, the ideal environment in which to watch this film. Yes, 3 1/2 hours is a considerable commitment, and maybe you’ll appreciate being able to take breaks at home while watching the film on Netflix. But the world Scorsese evokes — through music, costuming, food and history — and the performances from his powerhouse ensemble (the scenes

between De Niro and Pacino warrant the hype) pull you in and make that time go by mostly unnoticed. Afterward, perhaps you’ll think about what seemed unnecessary or went on too long, but you likely won’t feel that way while watching and appreciating every moment The Irishman provides. Now playing at Grail Moviehouse REVIEWED BY IAN CASSELBERRY IANCASS@GMAIL.COM

the

humor issue!

Coming Jan. 1st

Putting the ‘bunk’ back in buncombe!

ARIES (March 21-April 19): In composing this oracle, I have called on the unruly wisdom of Vivienne Westwood. She’s the fashion designer who incorporated the punk aesthetic into mainstream styles. Here are four quotes by her that will be especially suitable for your use in the coming weeks. 1. “I disagree with everything I used to say.” 2. “The only possible effect one can have on the world is through unpopular ideas.” 3. “Intelligence is composed mostly of imagination, insight and things that have nothing to do with reason.” 4. “I’m attracted to people who are really true to themselves and who are always trying to do something that makes their life more interesting.” TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “I’m drowning in the things I never told you.” Famous make-up artist Alexandra Joseph wrote that message to a companion with whom she had a complicated relationship. Are you experiencing a similar sensation, Taurus? If so, I invite you to do something about it! The coming weeks will be a good time to stop drowning. One option is to blurt out to your ally all the feelings and thoughts you’ve been withholding and hiding. A second option is to divulge just some of the feelings and thoughts you’ve been withholding and hiding — and then monitor the results of your partial revelation. A third option is to analyze why you’ve been withholding and hiding. Is it because your ally hasn’t been receptive, or because you’re afraid of being honest? Here’s what I suggest: Start with the third option, then move on to the second. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I’ve got some borderline sentimental poetry to offer you in this horoscope. It may be too mushy for a mentally crisp person like you. You may worry that I’ve fallen under the sway of sappy versions of love rather than the snappy versions I usually favor. But there is a method in my madness: I suspect you need an emotionally suggestive nudge to fully activate your urge to merge; you require a jolt of sweetness to inspire you to go in quest of the love mojo that’s potentially available to you in abundance. So please allow your heart to be moved by the following passage from poet Rabindranath Tagore: “My soul is alight with your infinitude of stars. Your world has broken upon me like a flood. The flowers of your garden blossom in my body.” CANCER (June 21-July 22): Try saying this, and notice how it feels: “For the next 17 days, I will make ingenious efforts to interpret my problems as interesting opportunities that offer me the chance to liberate myself from my suffering and transform myself into the person I aspire to become.” Now speak the following words and see what thoughts and sensations get triggered: “For the next 17 days, I will have fun imagining that my so-called flaws are signs of potential strengths and talents that I have not yet developed.” LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): An interviewer asked singersongwriter Leonard Cohen if he needed to feel bothered and agitated in order to stimulate his creativity. Cohen said no. “When I get up in the morning,” he testified, “my real concern is to discover whether I’m in a state of grace.” Surprised, the interviewer asked, “What do you mean by a state of grace?” Cohen described it as a knack for balance that he called on to ride the chaos around him. He knew he couldn’t fix or banish the chaos — and it would be arrogant to try. His state of grace was more like skiing skillfully down a hill, gliding along the contours of unpredictable terrain. I’m telling you about Cohen’s definition, Leo, because I think that’s the state of grace you should cultivate right now. I bet it will stimulate your creativity in ways that surprise and delight you.

Cartoon by Brent Brown

DEC. 4 - 10, 2019

MOUNTAINX.COM

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Poet Juan Felipe Herrera praises the value of making regular efforts to detox our cluttered minds. He says that one of the best methods for accomplishing this cleansing is to daydream. You give yourself permission to indulge in uncensored, unabashed fantasies. You feel no inhibition about envisioning scenes that you may or may not ever carry out in real life. You understand that this free-form play of images is a healing joy, a gift you give yourself. It’s a crafty strategy to make sure you’re not hiding any secrets from yourself. Now is a favorable time to practice this art, Virgo.

BY ROB BREZSNY

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In accordance with current astrological omens, here’s your meditation, as articulated by the blogger named Riverselkie: “Let your life be guided by the things that produce the purest secret happiness, with no thought to what that may look like from the outside. Feed the absurd whims of your soul and create with no audience in mind but yourself. What is poignant to you is what others will be moved by, too. Embrace what you love about yourself and the right people will come.” SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “I swear I became a saint from waiting,” wrote Scorpio poet Odysseus Elytis in his poem “Three Times the Truth.” According to my reading of the astrological omens, you may be in a similar situation. And you’ll be wise to welcome the break in the action and abide calmly in the motionless lull. You’ll experiment with the hypothesis that temporary postponement is best not just for you, but for all concerned. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “My greatest asset is that I am constantly changing,” says Sagittarian actress and activist Jane Fonda. This description may not always be applicable to you, but I think it should be during the coming weeks. You’re primed to thrive on a robust commitment to self-transformation. As you proceed in your holy task, keep in mind this other advice from Fonda. 1. “One part of wisdom is knowing what you don’t need anymore and letting it go.” 2. “It is never too late to master your weaknesses.” 3. “If you allow yourself, you can become stronger in the very places that you’ve been broken.” 4. “The challenge is not to be perfect. It’s to be whole.” P.S. And what does it mean to be whole? Be respectful toward all your multiple facets and welcome them into the conversation you have about how to live. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I have a lot of confidence in your ability to renew and reinvent yourself in the coming months. In fact, I think that doing so will be a fun project you’ll both enjoy and be able to carry out with flair. But right now you may be going through a brief period when your own confidence for this project is low. You might be entertaining doubts about your ability to summon the courage and willpower you’ll need. But I feel this is a temporary dip. I have faith that you will soon be tapping into previously unavailable reserves of energy that will provide you with all the fuel necessary to renew and reinvent yourself. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian playwright August Strindberg didn’t have much interest in people who “regurgitate what they have learned from books.” He was bored by stories that have been told over and over again; was impatient with propaganda disguised as information and by sentimental platitudes masquerading as sage insights. He craved to hear about the unprecedented secrets of each person’s life: the things they know and feel that no one else knows and feels. He was a student of “the natural history of the human heart.” I bring Strindberg’s perspective to your attention, my dear one-of-a-kind Aquarius, because now is a perfect time for you to fully embody it. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “It’s no fun being in love with a shadow,” wrote Piscean poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. And yet she indulged profusely in that no-fun activity and even capitalized on it to create a number of decent, if morose, poems. But in alignment with your astrological omens, Pisces, I’m going to encourage you to fall out of love with shadows. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to channel your passions into solid realities: to focus your ardor and adoration on earthly pleasures and practical concerns and imperfect but interesting people.

MARKETPLACE

THE N EW Y OR K TIME S C ROSSWORD P UZ Z LE

RENTALS SHORT-TERM RENTALS SHORT TERM VACATION RENTAL Our guest house is approximately 1,000 sf on two levels, studio floor plan, utilities, and cable included with 2 flat screen tvs. Country setting, 4 miles to Weaverville, 15 minutes to Asheville. Maximum occupancy 4 people. $1,600.00/month, $700.00/ week, $175.00/day, 3 day minimum. No pets please. Phone 828 231 9145 - Email mhcinc58@yahoo.com

EMPLOYMENT GENERAL BREWERY SUPPORT & SANITATION WORKER The Brewery Support Worker 1 is responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of the brewery and restaurants to the highest standard of quality. Reporting to the Brewery Support Supervisor, the core responsibility of the role is to perform facility wide housekeeping and sanitation duties to ensure the facility is orderly and hygienic. This is an entry-level position into a production facility with internal growth opportunities. Please Note: This is a 3rd shift position. 9:00pm-5:30am Sunday-Thursday (15% shift differential) FULL-TIME POLICE OFFICER A-B Tech is currently taking applications for a Full-Time position Police Officer. For more details and to apply: abtcc.peopleadmin.com/ postings/5266 LIFE GUARDS FOR ASHEVILLE JCC YEAR-ROUND POOL The Asheville Jewish Community Center is seeking Certified Lifeguards. Our state-of-the-art facility offers a 6-lane, 25-yard competition indoor/outdoor pool with the only one-meter spring board diving board in WNC. jcc-asheville.org/employment/ certified-lifeguard/ RECREATION LIFE COACH Plans & facilitates recreational, social, & cultural activities for residents. Supports residents' mental health recovery process. Full-time, Thurs/Friday/ Monday evening hours Sat/ Sun 8 am-5 pm Contact: 828894-7117 hr@cooperriis.org www.cooperriis.org TROLLEY TOUR GUIDES If you are a "people person," love Asheville, have a valid Commercial Driver's License (CDL) and clean driving record you could be a great Tour Guide. Full-time and seasonal part-time positions available.

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SPIRITUAL

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edited by Will Shortz

ACROSS

1 Painter of melting pocket watches 5 Stick up 8 Neighbors of Poles 14 Repetition of words at the starts of successive phrases, in rhetoric 16 Place to find a driver 17 French white sauce 18 Celebrity gossip site 19 Michael who directed “Fahrenheit 9/11” 20 Something to debate 22 One may have a black eye 23 Aspiring prof, maybe 25 Bunk bed option 26 The Beatles’ “Back in the ___” 27 Passionate about 28 Numbered composition 30 Stick-to-it-iveness 31 Shorts go-with 32 Late-night Starbucks choice 34 Omen 35 “Trick” used by the creatures found in rows 3, 5, 11 and 13 37 Checklist heading 38 Ballet moves 39 Tack (on) 42 Helps 43 Targets for some eye makeup 44 Spiky yet soothing plant 45 Fund-raising letter, e.g. 46 Bit of scuba equipment 47 Stadium ticket info 50 Org. that recognizes nearly 200 breeds 51 Fishing basket 53 Fortnite devotee, e.g. 54 Astronomer who first observed Saturn’s rings 56 “Sorry!” 59 Feature of “G’day” or “Yes’m” 60 Attends without a date, say 61 Gas thief’s device 62 Key near Ctrl

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18 19

50 54

51 55

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PUZZLE BY DAVID STEINBERG

63 Dog on the yellow brick road

DOWN

1 Modern dance move 2 Sea ___ (tide pool dweller) 3 Polo shirt brand 4 Longtime Apple program whose icon featured a camera 5 Amorous guy 6 Mine cart filler 7 Island with volcanoes and rice paddies 8 Infant’s ailment 9 The “Z” of ZIP code 10 Fluency-building subj. 11 Contributes a little 12 “No lie!” 13 Caveman’s weapon 15 Tough 16 Colombian coins 21 Like some peppers and ballot boxes 23 Ball ___ (play area) 24 2017 Disney/Pixar film set in the Land of the Dead 26 Strong desire 29 Film critic Kael

30 Parties, e.g., for D.J.s 32 Some diaper changers 33 Genre for Fall Out Boy 34 It sticks to a trunk 35 Musical finale 36 Girl in a bonnet, maybe 37 Haberdasher’s accessory 39 Not recognizable by 40 One might say “Welcome” 41 Place to hibernate 42 High-pH compound

43 Use, as a mattress 44 No more than 45 Leaves at the library? 46 Air-conditioning coolant 48 Bird known for its plumes 49 Scoundrels 51 Muse of history 52 Michelle Wie’s org. 55 “Kinda sorta” 57 Part of Verizon Media 58 ___-surf (Google yourself)

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