Mountain Xpress 02.12.25

Poetry Contest

Xpress announces its 2025 poetry contest in celebration of April as National

Poetry Month.

Are you a poet living in Western North Carolina? If so, consider submitting an original, previously unpublished work. This year’s theme is on life in Western North Carolina after Tropical Storm Helene. What are the visuals from the storm’s immediate aftermath that stick with you? What acts of kindness left an impression? How did you get through it? How has the ongoing recovery process impacted you or your loved ones? What gives you hope for our region? Of course, these questions are just suggestions. Your poem might address an entirely separate aspect of the storm. Trust your instinct and submit your most polished work.

All poems should be no longer than one typed page in a 12-point font. (Any poems that go beyond the page count will be disqualified.) Again, only previously unpublished poems will be considered. No A.I. generated poems are allowed. And while we love to hear from our younger poets, we ask children under 18 to submit their work to our annual Kids Issues.

The contest is currently open for submissions and will close at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, March 12. Email your poem in the body of the message to tcalder@mountainx.com Embedded links or attached documents will not be read. The subject line should read “Xpress 2025 Poetry Contest.” Include the author’s name and contact information in the email. Only one submission per person. There is no cost to enter.

A winning poem will be determined by local poet Michal Dechane, author of the collection The Long Invisible. The winner will be published online and in print in our April 30 issue. The contest is not open to Xpress employees or their families, or freelance contributors.

Contact Thomas Calder at tcalder@mountainx.com with any questions

A

Asheville

‘HE WAS SPECIAL’

Henry Logan made history when he joined the Western Carolina basketball team in 1964. Never before had a Black man played varsity basketball for a predominantly white college in the Carolinas. But after a successful college career, Logan’s life took a dark turn before he finally found a way to beat his demons. A new book explores Logan’s life and legacy.

County

Eleanor Underhill and Spaceman Jones & The Motherships release new albums

news tips & story ideas to NEWS@MOUNTAINX.COM

letters/commentary to LETTERS@MOUNTAINX.COM

sustainability news to GREEN@MOUNTAINX.COM a&e events and ideas to AE@MOUNTAINX.COM events can be submitted to CALENDAR@MOUNTAINX.COM or try our easy online calendar at MOUNTAINX.COM/EVENTS food news and ideas to FOOD@MOUNTAINX.COM wellness-related events/news to MXHEALTH@MOUNTAINX.COM

PUBLISHER & EDITOR: Jeff Fobes

ASSISTANT PUBLISHER: Susan Hutchinson

MANAGING EDITOR: Thomas Calder

EDITORS: Lisa Allen, Gina Smith

OPINION EDITOR: Tracy Rose

STAFF REPORTERS: Lisa Allen, Thomas Calder, Brionna Dallara, Justin McGuire, Greg Parlier, Brooke Randle, Gina Smith

COMMUNITY CALENDAR & CLUBLAND: Braulio Pescador-Martinez

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Jon Elliston, Mindi Meltz Friedwald, Peter Gregutt, Rob Mikulak

REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Christopher Arbor, Edwin Arnaudin, Mark Barrett, Eric Brown, Carmela Caruso, Cayla Clark, Tessa Fontaine, Mindi Meltz Friedwald, Carol Kaufman, Bill Kopp, Chasity Leake, Jessica Wakeman, Kay West, Clark Wilson, Jamie Zane

PHOTOGRAPHERS: Cindy Kunst

ADVERTISING, ART & DESIGN MANAGER: Susan Hutchinson

LEAD DESIGNER: Scott Southwick

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS: Tina Gaafary, Caleb Johnson, Olivia Urban

MARKETING ASSOCIATES: Emily Baughman, Sara Brecht

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES: Hinton Edgerton, Jeff Fobes, Mark Murphy, Scott Southwick

WEB: Brandon Tilley

BOOKKEEPER: Amie Fowler

OFFICE MANAGER: Mark Murphy

ADMINISTRATION & BILLING: Hinton Edgerton, Lisa Watters

DISTRIBUTION: Susan Hutchinson, Cindy Kunst

DISTRIBUTION DRIVERS: Ashley Alms, Cass Kunst, Henry Mitchell, Courtney Israel Nash, Joey Nash, Carl & Debbie Schweiger, Gary Selnick, Noah Tanner, Mark Woodyard

Keeping UNCA’s forest would benefit city

I am relatively new to Asheville, having moved here from Miami in 2021. I am still a board member with Artists in Residence in the Everglades, a residency program that partners with the Everglades National Park to give resident artists access to the knowledge held there.

One of the lessons I learned in this process is that these parks grew from the 19th-century conservation movement. During that time — and to this day — there was an assumption that the nature one should save and preserve had to be “pure” or untouched by people. Thus, when the national parks were established in this spirit, the federal government actively removed people living with nature from those lands because they did not fit the ideal. In the Everglades, Gladesmen had lived in the difficult ecosystem for generations, mingling with Native Americans, sustaining life, economies and unique cultures. All of them were removed. They were too messy.

Urban forests prove a different case — that forests can coexist with and enrich densely populated places. They are dynamic spaces in which human activities can be assets to the forest’s and community’s health and resilience. Regular human disturbances can create the conditions for certain species of mushrooms to grow. Regular brush clearing and thinning can help forests resist fires, and controlling invasive species can generate practices that can be adopted more broadly around the community to support native plant species. Volunteers learn about the care of the forest and each other. There are place-making and psychological benefits of the urban forest to the city. The opportunities an urban forest affords are in fact far more than the limited scope other development opportunities may have.

Let’s play out whom the development would actually serve. A soccer field, for instance, only serves those who play soccer; otherwise, these fields mostly stay empty. Field sports, unfortunately, have mostly been privatized, so the lim-

Word of the week

canoodle (v) to engage in amorous embracing, caressing and kissing

Seeing as Valentine’s Day is this Friday — and considering Xpress launched a new monthly relationship column in this week’s edition — “canoodle” felt like an appropriate Word of the Week. For those fortunate enough to have a special someone, we wish you plenty of canoodling. X

its on the use value of the land are even further constrained. Using the land to build more buildings for the university? Is what the university gains in such an endeavor really worth what they would lose in the habitat that already exists in the forest they have?

The present forest allows the university to be a leader in forest management in a region that sorely needs this leadership. Following Hurricane Helene, public and private property holders face extraordinary costs for mitigating risks from downed or standing dead trees on their land. The open tree canopy will allow invasive plants to take over unless checked. University and institutional problem-solving and leadership in this kind of situation can make an enormous difference.

— Tyler Emerson-Dorsch Asheville

Divert tax breaks to Helene survivors

Recently, our new Buncombe County Board of Commissioners Chair Amanda Edwards, in a news release from the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County and the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, called the newly approved expansion of Pratt & Whitney an “essential part” of Asheville’s recovery from Helene.

Many of us in Western North Carolina see this as another excuse for expanding the power of the merchants of death around the world.

Building more military bomber jet engines is mostly an “essential part” of shredding the lives of children caught in war zones beneath these jets’ targets.

I think the storm might have hurt the chances of ever achieving the goals needed to improve our living standards.

— Leonard Nickerson Swannanoa

FEMA’s good work deserves support

— Rachael Bliss Asheville

Buncombe County needs to rethink priorities

I can’t believe that the problems that Buncombe County has brought on itself. First is that they are taking $4.7 million from the school budget, which is a huge no-no.

Our schools are below grade in all categories, so that money is needed to help out area children.

An article recently stated that affordability for Asheville middle-income people/workers is one of the worst in the country. That is not good.

One other problem with Buncombe County is that they do not check on companies that do or propose to have business with the county. For example, FCC Environmental trash company has had thousands of complaints filed on them from the residents of Florida about their service. Now my area’s pickup day is Wednesday, and as of this writing, it has been sitting outside for three days. They have been called about this. It appears to me that the county is more worried about the lost tourist dollars because of the storm. They are complaining about the shortage.

I think they should worry about getting the money for the schools back to normal and luring big companies to relocate here. I’m not an expert on this, but being known as a tourist town does not pay the bills because of low wages and the rising cost of living here.

I went home today and called both U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, along with U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards of Western North Carolina. I told them I fully support the Federal Emergency Management Agency; that FEMA has been vital to our survival in this region. The team of workers has been compassionate, kind, helpful, supportive, responsive and organized during our months of the Helene recovery experience; they deserve to be supported by the executive branch of government. I also reminded each of these men that their job is to put a check and hopefully some balance on the executive branch of government, being that the Congress is constitutionally responsible to do so. My responsibility is to remind them. I did. I will. Have you? Please do. It has been a very bumpy start this year. I don’t want to read their memoirs years from now and see they had “regrets” of inaction back in 2024, 2025, etc.

Here is their contact information:

• Sen. Tillis (N.C.): 202-224-6342.

• Sen. Budd (N.C.): 202-224-3154.

• Rep. Chuck Edwards (WNC): 202-225-6401.

— Michael Harney Asheville

Plane crash brings back local memories

The recent tragic aircraft collision in Washington, D.C., immediately made me remember that when I was 16 growing up in West Asheville, there was a very similar accident on July 19, 1967, when 82 people died when Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 hit a Cessna near the Asheville airport. I remember finding out about it from a neighbor and was shocked.

Never will forget that day, and it was the one where I realized that when commercial planes crash, a lot of families are suddenly faced with the death or deaths of loved ones. Little did I know then that, later in life, the U.S. Navy would make me work as an air traffic controller myself.

The recent crash made me think the air traffic controller f***ed up, and I feel their pain. I handled many emergency landings, where planes crashed, and all kinds of problems where I had lives in my hands. I hated that job but was good at it since I was promoted to E-5 in under four years, which is rare for the Navy.

Not in our names, please! Give the small businesses and people harmed by Hurricane Helene the tax breaks instead.

CARTOON BY RANDY MOLTON

Needless to say, I did not want to do that job anymore, and D.C. brings the PTSD back. I feel very sad about all the people who died, especially the young skaters.

— John Penley Lake Havasu City, Ariz.

When people don’t face the facts

There’s so much misinformation in our world and even on Nextdoor in this town.

Some of the lunacy reminds me of a funny story about the man who cheats on his wife and lies about it.

One night he’s out carousing and doesn’t come home until dawn. When his wife asks where he’s been, he says, “Oh, honey, I worked late and didn’t want to wake you, so I slept in the hammock.”

“But we took the hammock down last December,” she says.

“Well,” he stammers, “That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.” Crazy, right?

A similar narrative has been playing out in our country, state and local community for years, and it’s baffling to see so many residents and so-called leaders refuse to fess up, face facts or have the common decency to speak up for what’s right.

If you don’t believe me, I suggest you watch some footage from Jan. 6, 2021, and

then give some serious thought to what it means when the president of the United States so devalues and disrespects law enforcement and our justice system that he pardons those who violently attack public servants and will surely do so again. Maybe you (or even Rep. Chuck Edwards) could write an essay or op-ed or try to explain it to a child.

Frankly, it would be nice to hear from some local conservatives who have voiced support for cops in the past when it was convenient but now sit by in silent complicity. If you thought the idea of defunding the police was an outrage, how do you explain devaluing their lives?

You can stick to your story (and your lying felon) all you want, but we the people know the truth.

— Robert McGee Asheville

Why so many accidents on Hendersonville Road?

In these times of devastation and loss due to Hurricane Helene, it seems trivial to complain about traffic, but since I also suffered loss, I feel that it’s OK to kvetch about whatever I feel like kvetching about. I believe that the situation on Hendersonville Road is worthy of discussion, even if no solution seems to be inevitable.

I live in Arden and have traveled on Hendersonville Road numerous times

to get where I want to go. I have lived here for 15 years. Before I moved here, I had lived in Detroit, Houston, San Jose and central New Jersey. In all my years, and I am a senior, I have never seen so many car accidents as I have seen on Hendersonville Road. In my estimation, there have been at least four or five accidents every year, if not more, that I have been aware of. In the other places that I have lived, I would say perhaps I had seen one or two accidents a year, if that.

I have tried to figure out what the cause of these accidents has been. Is it old people who have lost their ability to pay attention with the increase in traffic? Is it people who are texting on their phones while driving? Is it tourists who have lost their way or can’t find what they’re looking for? Is it young people who are impatient and impulsively jumping in front of cars? I truly don’t have the answer. However, it might be the middle lane that could be the culprit. You have people coming in from one side and others coming in from the other side to make a left turn. It’s like an accident waiting to happen. You’re supposed to signal to enter that lane and then enter when it’s safe. Then you should signal and then wait until traffic is clear before moving into the next lane. Some people ride along the lane. Some people go all the way from the middle and shoot across both lanes to exit, causing you to slam

on your brakes if you’re lucky enough not to hit them.

Once there’s an accident, all traffic comes to a halt. Then there’s the police, sometimes an ambulance and sometimes a fire truck. Sometimes there are all of them. Traffic also stops when someone is working on the lights or the road. When Hendersonville Road comes to a halt, it also has an impact on Sweeten Creek Road. Sometimes it’s so bad I am prevented from just getting out of my house and going somewhere. It also doesn’t help that so many more cars are on the road because of the excessive building of apartments and hotels in the area. It seems that the solution to one problem has created another.

Another thing that people do here that I have never seen before is stop in the middle of the road for no apparent reason. If you’re lost, get off the road and pull over into a parking lot until you can figure it out or go to a nearby store to ask for directions.

I wish someone would come up with an actual solution to all this, but in the meantime, despite it all, I still love Asheville. So try to keep your cool. When someone drives crazy, I just call them a snickerdoodle. It’s hard to stay mad at someone if you call them a snickerdoodle. Have a safe and pleasant journey, y’all! — Ilene Logelin Arden

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

CARTOON BY BRENT BROWN

Housing for all

BY ANDREW PAUL AND TIM WATKINS

In response to the tragedy of Tropical Storm Helene, we’ve seen an impressive flurry of action by governments, community leaders, nonprofits and neighbors. We hope that some of that energy will now be directed toward Asheville’s long-simmering tragedy: the housing shortage.

Simpy put, there’s not enough housing for everyone who lives, works or goes to school here, and the shortfall has fostered sprawl, displacement, increasing homelessness and a higher cost of living for everyone from service workers to teachers to nurses to artists. All of this was only exacerbated by Helene.

When a disaster wipes out homes, one factor in determining the severity of the displacement is the area’s vacancy rate. Unfortunately, Asheville’s has been terribly low for a decade or more. And when residents have to fight over scarce housing options, landlords and landowners can pit renters against one another to drive up housing costs — which was already happening even during the good times.

Notably, we saw how anxiety about housing supply factored into the

recent presidential election. Far-right candidates exploited this understandable concern to scapegoat some of the least advantaged working people in our society. Regardless of whether or not we’re in crisis, however, Ashevilleans don’t want to be fighting one another for scarce resources in what is wrongly assumed to be a zerosum game.

In the short term, we need rental assistance and an eviction moratorium. But in the long term, we need more homes.

A FORK IN THE ROAD

Asheville could choose to continue keeping most of the city off limits for infill housing. (According to official city statistics, less than 18% of land in the city is zoned for multifamily housing.) But this pushes most new construction outside the city limits, where it sprawls across mountainsides and clusters around interstate exit ramps. It puts more homes in floodplains or tucked alongside highways and other undesirable locations. Conversely, the city could choose to incentivize building more multifamily and small-lot housing in the places

best suited for it: our most resilient and sustainable neighborhoods.

They’re the ones closest to amenities such as greenways and schools. They’re the ones near job centers such as downtown and UNC Asheville. They’re the neighborhoods where you don’t have to get on a highway to get around town. They’re the ones that most enable residents to walk and bike to their destinations, empowering those who can’t drive due to age, ability or socioeconomic status. According to Federal Highway Administration figures, roughly one-third of the U.S. population fits that description.

meaning fewer shuttered storefronts on Merrimon Avenue. And creating a greater variety of housing options would mean that more city residents’ children and friends could afford to stay nearby as their housing needs grow and change.

PLANS TO ADDRESS THIS ALREADY EXIST

Kids Issues!

These core neighborhoods are sustainable because they offer more climate-friendly ways to get around. (No economic sector contributes more to greenhouse gas emissions than transportation.) And building infill housing in these areas is also fiscally sustainable because it grows the tax base while incurring lower infrastructure maintenance costs compared with single-family homes.

Neighborhoods such as Malvern Hills, Falconhurst, Grace and Five Points are resilient because they stand on high ground. They’re the ones left standing after the storm ravaged homes in and near Biltmore Village, the River Arts District and along the Swannanoa River. They also foster better connections with neighbors and offer more nearby resources than outlying, isolated areas.

These are the neighborhoods that are most in demand. But because of their outdated, exclusionary zoning codes, they’re also the ones that are most segregated by income.

Expanding the tax base by adding more multifamily and small-lot homes would provide more money for maintaining community amenities. Having more people living in these areas would support local businesses,

We both write from firsthand experience with living in such neighborhoods. When one of us moved to Asheville, he landed in a fourplex just north of Chestnut Hill, within walking distance of both Trader Joe’s and Asheville Pizza & Brewing. There were only two parking spaces on the small lot, but that was fine: He parked on the street. And the rent was just $800. During the 2015 snowstorm, amid dangerous driving conditions, he simply continued walking to work downtown the way he always had.

Homes like this are more desirable — and more expensive — than ever. But current density limits and costly parking mandates make it harder to build more of them.

Both of us now live near Haywood Road in West Asheville where, after the storm, you didn’t need to walk far to find water distribution stations or food trucks serving free meals. We’d be happy if our friends who are now struggling to afford housing could join us here.

The good news is that Asheville has already developed plans to make these neighborhoods more accessible to everyday people: City Council just needs to vote on them.

In policy circles, this is known as “middle housing reform.” It argues that neighborhoods with predominantly single-family homes could use more small to medium-sized apartment buildings. High-rises are important for

ANDREW PAUL, LEFT, AND TIM WATKINS

downtowns, and large apartment complexes have their place too. But in our residential neighborhoods near the city’s core, simply allowing the middle ground in building sizes and heights — duplexes, town houses and modest two- to three-story buildings featuring four to 12 homes each — would make a big difference. These apartments could be rentals or owner-occupied. And though small-lot homes aren’t technically considered middle housing, they’re often part of the same reform package.

These kinds of homes are quicker to permit, finance and build than larger developments. This is important given the urgency of our housing shortage. Plus, their more modest scale means they can appeal to a wider variety of local builders, not just the really big developers.

NOW’S THE TIME

In the wake of Helene, Ashevilleans are understandably concerned about disaster-induced land speculation. But research shows that allowing a little more housing in every neighborhood, rather than concentrating more intense housing growth in one or two places, is one of the best ways to

fight speculation in residential neighborhoods where demand is rising. Creating a small amount of positive change will make our neighborhoods more resilient, not less so, in the face of market pressures.

In recent years, the city has spent more than $100,000 on a Missing Middle Housing Study; it included a “displacement risk assessment” that highlighted middle housing’s important role in protecting Asheville’s vulnerable communities. The authors went so far as to warn that “choosing to not permit” middle housing in core neighborhoods would have “exacerbating effects on displacement pressure.”

And that was before the storm. But here’s even more good news: It won’t cost the city a dime more to implement middle housing reforms: All it takes is political will.

Andrew Paul is a founding member of Asheville for All. Tim Watkins is a founding member of Strong Towns Asheville. X

NEWS

More is needed

BY GREG PARLIER

gparlier@mountainx.com

Weaverville-based filmmaker Erin Derham has been working for more than four months to help survivors of Tropical Storm Helene access temporary housing. She has found assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to be absent for many and insufficient for others trying to navigate the complexities of recovery after losing their homes.

“We’re on the ground half of every day, and we have been for 4 1/2 months. I have seen one FEMA person, and that was when I went to their headquarters,” Derham says.

Derham and her husband, Matt Van Swol, partnered with content creator Shawn Hendrix and Sampson Hickox, a contractor based in Canton, to create Operation Shelter, an initiative to help storm survivors with housing issues. Donations for Operation Shelter’s work largely come from private crowdsourcing on social media, Derham says.

In Swannanoa, Beth Trigg, who co-founded recovery organization Swannanoa Communities Together, hasn’t felt much of a FEMA presence either. She calls dealing with the agency a “nightmare.”

Trigg recently asked fellow grassroots organizers in a 27-member group chat if anyone had encountered caseworkers from FEMA or any other level of government. The answer was no.

In Xpress’ ongoing reporting on recovery efforts, frustrations with the federal agency are common among residents. Yet, Derham and Trigg both acknowledge that FEMA has contributed a great deal to the region.

By its own count, FEMA has distributed more than $316 million in cash grants to Western North Carolina survivors, according to a news release, including more than $7.6 million in rental assistance, according to a Feb. 4 release. In Buncombe County alone, FEMA has provided more than $107 million in individual and housing assistance, according to a presentation to the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 4.

That support is why Trigg doesn’t think FEMA should be outright eliminated, as suggested by President Donald Trump on a recent visit to the area. But it also shouldn’t be immune from criticism, she argues.

Trigg and Derham say the agency is difficult to get in touch with when needed and the decisions for who receives and does not receive assistance is confusing.

Grassroots organizers weigh in on FEMA’s effectiveness

ON THE GROUND: From right, Operation Shelter members Matt Van Swol, Shawn Hendrix and Erin Derham pose with Christine Lopez on her land near the French Broad River after her home was destroyed by Tropical Storm Helene. The group helped Lopez clear her land of debris and is helping her rebuild. Also pictured, left, is NewsNation reporter Brian Entin. Photo courtesy of Derham

Trigg points to her own experience with FEMA as a prime example. Despite her monthslong work assisting others in the recovery process, she’s yet to receive the minimum $750 assistance grant from the agency. She notes that she was denied twice despite having representatives from Pisgah Legal Services review her application, she says.

“I haven’t been able to figure out how to navigate the system. And I know people with advanced degrees who have had major challenges navigating the system,” Trigg says.

Overall, FEMA has received more than 87,000 applications for assistance, with 56,500 residents having received aid, according to the Feb. 4 presentation.

In a response to questions emailed to FEMA, a spokesperson tells Xpress the agency aims to connect any volunteer organizers with FEMA liaisons to help navigate the agency’s system.

RENTER’S DILEMMA

Renters, say Trigg and Derham, are among those facing the most compli-

cated challenges in getting back into their homes across WNC.

Some renters whose homes were destroyed are having difficulty proving that their house is either unlivable or more unlivable than it was before the storm, Trigg says.

Nearly two-thirds of the people Derham has helped have been renters, she says. For one particular family whose rental home was destroyed, it took Operation Shelter weeks and “a lot of work” to acquire an $80,000 recreational vehicle and a six-month stay in an RV park, she notes.

“We can’t do any more renters now because it just took up too much of our resources to help people. So that’s 62.7% of people that I have no idea how to help because most of these people have also lost their jobs,” Derham says.

Others, notes Trigg, continue to live in hotels because their application for FEMA assistance remains pending.

In these instances, Trigg notes, trips to FEMA’s Disaster Recovery Center (DRC), formerly located at the Asheville Mall, and calls to FEMA have not

helped. She and her volunteers, she says, are at a loss on how to get resultls.

“If we don’t know how to get in touch with somebody to help with that, how can a family know?”

The FEMA spokesperson says most things can be solved by calling the agency’s 800 number or visiting one of the 12 DRCs still open in WNC. Just two remain open in Buncombe County.

DIAL UP

Trigg has run into other issues with FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) program, which puts displaced people up in hotels while their homes are repaired. In particular, those who are disabled or elderly and not adept with technology have struggled to navigate a system that relies on accessing information in an online portal, a problem FEMA acknowledges.

“Survivors need to stay in touch with FEMA throughout the recovery process. It’s important to note FEMA may call from out-of-area or unknown numbers. Survivors should also let

us know if their contact information changes,” the FEMA representative told Xpress in an email exchange.

Trigg says for many of these individuals, dialing up the agency is time-consuming and difficult. In one case, after spending three hours on the phone, her colleague discovered a client was eligible for rental assistance but had been staying in a hotel on a nonprofit’s dime because the client didn’t know how to access that information online.

SAFETY CONCERNS

Trigg says such stories demonstrate how FEMA caseworkers could make a big difference. “There’s not that many people on vouchers that they should have been able to knock on every door and do that for everybody.”

During a briefing of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 4, FEMA representative Ina Chan said the agency uses flyers, text messages, calls and emails to attempt to contact residents who have been difficult to reach, but FEMA does not directly approach residents, citing safety concerns.

“We’ve [done] it in the past in other states … where we did go and knock on doors, but some not-so-good outcomes happened,” Chan told commissioners. “FEMA staff were not just hurt, but some of them were actually shot at.”

In Xpress’ email exchange with FEMA, its spokesperson said FEMA has visited “over 300 hotels and motels in recent weeks in an attempt to sit down and speak with occupants identified as ineligible for the TSA.”

Trigg is critical of FEMA’s bias against people who were unhoused before the storm — the agency has clearly stated it is not responsible for assisting this demographic — calling it a policy failing.

“If somebody was living in a tent and all their stuff was destroyed, all of that stuff also has monetary value and costs money to replace,” she points out.

For Derham, the early communication from FEMA administrators has felt disrespectful, blaming storm victims when addressing complaints about the system.

“If you won’t answer your phone, how are these people supposed to do anything?” she asks.

NEW LEADERSHIP

The conversation around FEMA’s success in the region has been complicated at multiple stages of recovery by comments from President Trump — both during his campaign and since returning to office.

In the early days of recovery, he suggested, among other things, that

HOUSING HELPER: Beth Trigg, co-founder of Swannanoa Communities Together, has helped dozens of people avoid evictions, find temporary housing and navigate FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance program after Tropical Storm Helene. Photo by Greg Parlier

FEMA had an anti-Republican bias and that FEMA money was being stolen for migrants. Both claims have been debunked. More recently, the president suggested that FEMA should be abolished, shifting the burden of disaster response to the states.

On a trip to Swannanoa Feb. 8, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem repeated the possibility of eliminating the agency and said the administration would ensure disaster aid would not be politicized, according to Blue Ridge Public Radio.

On Jan. 24, Trump signed an executive order establishing the

Federal Emergency Management Agency Review Council, a 20-member committee co-chaired by Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to conduct a “full-scale review” of the agency.

“Americans deserve an immediate, effective and impartial response to and recovery from disasters,” the order says, giving the committee a year to submit a report suggesting changes.

In the short term, FEMA has a new leader. Cameron Hamilton, a former member of the Navy SEALs, was named “senior official performing duties of the administrator” Jan. 22, according to the New York Times.

Before joining FEMA, Hamilton was director of business strategy for a defense contractor in Virginia, a job he took after an unsuccessful run for Congress last June, according to the Times. He has previously worked in the U.S. departments of State and Homeland Security, according to his biography.

Derham, who spoke to Hamilton on Feb. 2, says she has renewed hope that the agency will be reformed to be more efficient.

“My gut is telling me he’s in it for the right reasons and that he’s trying. So I’m going to listen to what he says,” Derham notes. “I have a lot of hope that Asheville is going to get help.”

On the ground in WNC, FEMA continues to operate Disaster Recovery Centers at Fairview Public Library and Weaverville Town Hall. The agency extended the deadline to apply for assistance until Saturday, March 8. The deadline for the TSA program is now Monday, May 26; the extension came after the agency received pressure from local and state officials.

Additional reporting by Brooke Randle.

Editor’s note: For more on FEMA’s efforts to assist displaced community members, see “FEMA Reports Difficulty in Contacting Dozens of Temporary Hotel Residents,” page 13. X

Counting our neighbors

BY GREG PARLIER

gparlier@mountainx.com

Over two days, Jan. 28-29, 135 volunteers fanned out around the community to embark on a nearly impossible task: Counting the unhoused. Canvassers — from homelessness service providers and elected officials to residents — were paired up to conduct surveys with people living in parks and along commercial corridors around Buncombe County.

This year, Xpress joined the annual task, called the Point-in-Time (PIT) count, a nationwide effort required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to document each community’s unhoused population at a specific point in time. The results help inform local, state and federal funding for services and how those services should be expanded or adapted.

For both volunteers and participants, the count, led by the AshevilleBuncombe Continuum of Care, represented an opportunity for much more than, well, counting. They were given an opportunity to see, maybe for the first time, what life is like for those many of us just walk past.

Jamie Benshoff was living on the streets, struggling with untreated mental illness when an interaction with a provider from Homeward Bound led to her getting Social Security and eventually, housing. Now housed for four years, she volunteers for the PIT count every year because she knows firsthand the value of the interactions that occur during the event.

“For those of us struggling with mental illness or active addiction or even just the loss of vision, living and survival day-to-day, to have some-

GATHERING SUPPLIES: Volunteers fill backpacks with snacks, socks, hats, gloves, first-aid kits and personal hygiene products Jan. 28 before heading out on the Point-in-Time count to determine how many unhoused people there are in Asheville and Buncombe County. Photo by Greg Parlier

body there that you can talk to and engage with, who identifies with you, is so helpful,” Benshoff told a group of volunteers Jan. 28 before they left to conduct the count. “What you’re doing today is so important.”

This reporter took that message to heart. With my canvassing partner Val Ball, who works for Homeward Bound but doesn’t often do street outreach, we headed out on our assigned route the morning of Jan.

Blissful Chiropractic

29, clipboards in hand and backpacks full of supplies. We were told to walk the downtown area between the Haywood Street Congregation and Biltmore Avenue, north of Patton Avenue. I was familiar with the area, as Xpress’ office sits square in the middle of that region on Wall Street, but this day had a different vibe.

Instead of keeping my head down, avoiding eye contact with strangers for fear of being asked for money,

my head was up, my posture was welcoming, and my demeanor was friendly. The results were evident. Most of the couple dozen people we interacted with were respectful, even affable. No one asked for money.

THE SURVEY

The first gentleman we approached had no issue whatsoever participating in the four-page survey and was

Coming March 12th & 19th

forthcoming with answers to all the somewhat personal questions we — complete strangers — asked.

The survey includes everything from basic demographic questions, which themselves can be awkward to ask someone standing right in front of you, to health-related questions about any chronic conditions, diseases or disabilities the person might have.

Ball, my partner, developed a routine of apologizing ahead of time for asking such probing questions when she got to the health-related portion of the survey. That seemed to help some people feel more comfortable, although most didn’t seem to mind at all.

The man, as most people did throughout the day, happily accepted our offer of a fresh pair of socks at the conclusion of our survey. Who couldn’t always use an extra pair of socks?

We talked to more than 20 people throughout the day. Some were older and relying solely on meager Social Security payments and no longer able to work, living on the streets because they simply couldn’t afford housing. Others were fleeing a domestic violence situation that forced them to stay light on their feet, ready to flee at any time. Some dealt with persistent physical or developmental disabilities, having fallen through the cracks of the health care system.

’WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN?’

Elsewhere in the county, some volunteers didn’t find many people to survey.

Asheville City Council member Kim Roney, volunteering for her third PIT count, didn’t encounter any homeless people in her designated canvass area. But that didn’t stop her from gaining a new perspective from the experience.

Interacting with several government workers along the riverways and roads to which she was assigned, Roney was pleased to hear the community’s shared concern for people living in the margins. Near overpasses, bridges and waterways, places where homeless people previously hung out, Tropical Storm Helene’s impact was evident, she notes.

“What we noticed … was closed stores, piles of mud under bridges and unstable ground that no longer seemed safe for camping. That displacement may connect with migration patterns, but it was also really humbling and scary to imagine the additional layers of trauma our neighbors must be dealing with if

MOTIVATOR: Jamie Benshoff, who used to be unhoused, speaks to volunteers before they fan out around the community to survey the unhoused population for the 2025 Point-in-Time count Jan. 28. Photo by Greg Parlier

they were lucky enough to survive sleeping under trees and near the river,” she says. “No picture does justice to seeing camping supplies peeking out from piles of heavy clay

mud and wondering what happened to the human that used to sleep there,” she adds.

Roney’s experience left her wondering if the count might reveal a decrease in the homeless population after Helene because people may have migrated to safer locations.

A question was placed on the survey this year to help give organizers an idea of the storm’s impact to the unhoused population.

Conversely, County Commissioner Drew Ball, (no relation to Val Ball) who canvassed in Swannanoa on his first PIT count, predicted a rise in the count this year because of an existing housing crisis exacerbated by the storm.

“The truth is, life is hard, and it can be fragile, and falling into homelessness can happen faster than most people realize,” he notes. “I met people today from all walks of life who were trying to survive without stable housing: young men who lost their jobs due to the storm, a single mother trying to raise her children after escaping an abusive relationship, and an elderly woman whose income could no longer keep up with skyrocketing housing costs. None of these individuals fit the typical stereotype.”

How the count works

Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care (CoC) is one of many around the country tasked by the U.S, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to conduct a Point-in-Time (PIT) count during a 10-day window in late January every year.

The count offers service providers a chance to highlight the need of homeless population in Asheville and measure the CoC’s progress in how its services are performing, said Debbie Alford, homeless strategy specialist with the City of Asheville, at a kickoff event for volunteers and the media Jan. 28.

Last year, a more extensive CoC count tallied 739 unhoused people locally, the highest in years. Of those, 219 people were unsheltered, while the rest were in transitional or emergency shelters.

A year earlier, the 2023 Asheville CoC counted 573 individuals, including 171 living on the street, showing a nearly 29% increase.

The local increase mirrored national trends. More than 770,000 unhoused people were counted around the country in January 2024, an 18% increase over the previous year, according to the Annual

Homelessness Assessment Report, released in December.

Emily Ball, manager of the city of Asheville’s homeless strategy division, called last year’s count the most accurate yet because the team extended the length and reach of the count.

The count expanded from just one evening of surveying to a second daytime session the following day. Teams revisited high-traffic corridors around the county where unhoused people are often found, as well as service locations like Homeward Bound’s AHOPE day center and Haywood Street Congregation downtown and several crisis ministries run by Asheville-Buncombe Community Christian Ministry (ABCCM) and Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry.

Starting last year, outreach professionals were assigned to known encampments, including those in more rural areas in an effort to get a more accurate count of those residents. Previously, teams of volunteers with limited training had been sent to camps and told to err on the side of caution when approaching people’s tents and living areas.

This year, only small tweaks were made. Ball says more teams

THROUGH THE VEIL

Benshoff’s story of life on the street also doesn’t fit the typical narrative that tries to disparage those without homes as lazy or criminal. She explains the experience of homelessness — the constant battle against the elements, bureaucracy and limited places to sleep — as living near a “veil” between the real and unreal.

So any opportunity for those operating in normal society to reach “through the veil” and have a normal interaction with someone experiencing homelessness can be very helpful, Benshoff says.

Veil or not, the resilience that those I and others saw during the PIT count was, and is, impressive. Their days are often structured around any opportunity to get such luxuries as a hot meal, a warm blanket or just a private moment in a bathroom.

“Homelessness is a difficult and often devastating experience, but those facing it still have basic rights. They deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, just like anyone else,” Drew Ball says. “[Difficult] circumstances don’t define a person’s worth or humanity. In fact, when it comes to surviving, when it comes to the fundamental human drive to endure, what could be more human?” X

were sent to the Swannanoa and Barnardsville areas because of the expected uptick in unhoused population after Tropical Storm Helene. At the advice of unhoused CoC members, organizers also circulated flyers announcing the count to service provider locations so people would know there would be volunteers conducting surveys on certain days.

Organizers expect the count to increase this year, especially since it will include people staying in hotels and motels through FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance program launched after Helene.

Then again, it’s unclear how many people left the area after the storm, Ball says. Organizers hope they will get a clearer picture of Helene’s impact because people were asked if they lost housing, employment or belongings because of the storm.

Despite all their efforts, Ball recognizes that the count is imperfect.

“There’s no chance that all of the street teams and outreach folks are going to connect with every unsheltered person. It’s just not possible. Lots of people are going to be sleeping in cars or encampments that no one is aware of. So it is never going to be perfect data, but it is our most comprehensive snapshot,” she says. X

Broken harmony

Asheville Pizza and Brewing disputes

The Orange Peel’s account of rift

BY BROOKE RANDLE

Asheville Pizza and Brewing, the other half of the embattled partnership that founded downtown music venue Rabbit Rabbit, filed in court its view of a deal turned sour.

“We hope that the community will consider both sides of this story and discuss it respectfully. It’s been distressing to see social media posters attacking our business, having my home address shared online and seeing people state opinions that aren’t based in fact,” says Michael Rangel, owner of Asheville Pizza and Brewing (APB). “Our business has remained strong at Asheville Brewing, and we are getting great response as we start to announce 2025 events for Asheville Yards.”

In a social media post Jan. 8, APB announced the rebranding of Rabbit Rabbit to Asheville Yards Amphitheater, which is under new management. APB’s partners in Rabbit Rabbit, The Orange Peel and Public Interest Projects (PIP) sued APB on Jan. 3, seeking an injunction to stop the latter from ending its contract to co-own and manage Rabbit Rabbit. PIP is also seeking damages and court and attorney fees. The Orange Peel alleges in the suit that APB broke its contract, misrepresented its finances and pushed The Orange Peel out of the partnership against its will. (Read more at avl.mx/ein.)

In an affidavit filed in Buncombe County Superior Court on Jan. 17, Rangel rebuts those accusations and claims that the parties agreed to allow the change of its management company and terminate its contract with The Orange Peel. Rangel asserts The Orange Peel “was unable or unwilling to produce enough shows” at the venue, refused to pay $750,000 in occupancy expenses and withheld more than $250,000 in earnings.

Rangel also alleges that The Orange Peel directed employees to engage in a public smear campaign aimed at crippling Asheville Yard’s 2025 concert season in retaliation for the decision to work with another events manager.

HOW THEY GOT HERE

Rangel states in the affidavit that APB, referred to as Ninja Brewing Inc. in the filings, and Public Interest

Projects (which owns The Orange Peel) created Coxe Properties LLC in May 2019 to purchase the 1.25-acre property. The affidavit also states that PIP loaned the shared LLC $800,000 to purchase the property.

APB began leasing the property from 75 Coxe Properties in June 2019. Rangel claims that the initial lease, prepared by J. Patrick Whalen Jr., included an initial term of three years, with the ability to extend the three-year lease three times at APB’s discretion, for a total of 12 years. Beyond that, the agreement would be renewed one year at a time.

Rangel also states that APB is solely responsible for lease payments, but the agreement includes revenue sharing. According to the lease agreement submitted with the affidavit, the minimum annual rent would be 15% of annual gross revenues from the venue or $240,000, whichever is greater. Rangel notes that APB has met its obligation for rent payments since the start of the lease. If total revenue generated from the venue was less than $500,000, the parties would split expenses.

The filings allege that The Orange Peel did not reimburse expenses in 2023 or 2024. Rangel asserts that The Orange Peel owes approximately $750,000 but “has refused to pay this amount owed for unexplained reasons.”

The affidavit notes that the entities agreed to keep at least $210,000 in their shared bank account before distributing revenue to either partner. Rangel asserts that even though the total balance of their shared account exceeded that minimum by $600,000 in 2024, The Orange Peel refused to allow payouts to APB. The combined amount of the funds owed by The Orange Peel and Public Interest Projects, the affidavit says, is more than $1 million.

“We believe this was an attempt to starve Ninja’s cash flow and force us to sell Rabbit Rabbit to them at a lower price or agree to drastically change our contracts in their favor,” Rangel says in the affidavit.

CALLING IT QUITS

The affidavit also claims that The Orange Peel, whose responsibility at the shared venue was to book and produce live events, was not holding up its end of the contract by producing far fewer shows than requested by APB. “I believe OPE limited booking at Rabbit Rabbit

COUNTERPOINT: An affidavit filed in Buncombe County Superior Court on Jan. 17 by Michael Rangel introduces additional information about the ongoing dispute over the management of the outdoor music venue formerly known as Rabbit Rabbit. Photo by Brooke Randle

so as not to compete with The Orange Peel,” Rangel wrote in the affidavit.

Rangel adds that after months of in-person mediation last summer, the two parties were unable to resolve their disagreements.

On Sept. 4, APB notified The Orange Peel that it was terminating its agreement effective Jan. 1. Rangel states that on Dec. 6, APB signed with a new management company and plans to add an ice-skating rink, special events and more concerts. The renamed venue, Asheville Yards, will now be an “open venue,” which allows Asheville Yards to be open to local promoters as well as any other promoters regionally or nationally, according to the affidavit.

“The new management company will not be constrained by the same competitive concerns that chilled [Orange Peel Events’] efforts to promote and book Rabbit Rabbit,” Rangel writes in the affidavit.

PUBLIC BACKLASH

Rangel asserts that The Orange Peel filed its Jan. 3 lawsuit in retaliation to APB’s decision to work with other partners for concert production and had its employees launch a defamation campaign against APB and Asheville Yards. Dozens of social media posts decrying APB began circulating after the venue’s rebranding announcement Jan. 8. Asheville Yards Amphitheater also received dozens of one-star reviews on Google, although the venue has yet to hold an event.

“I believe the current lawsuit was initiated by plaintiffs after they received the demand letter for amounts owed to Ninja by OPE and in retaliation for Ninja entering into a new management agreement to produce live shows at what is now Asheville Yards, placing them in direct competition with The Orange

Peel,” Rangel writes in the court filings. “Further, I believe OPE and J. Patrick Whalen Jr. have directed OPE and/or The Orange Peel employees to engage in a social media campaign to disparage and defame Ninja and Asheville Yards, which are designed to harm Ninja’s ability to do business in 2025 and beyond.”

In an email to Xpress, Rangel says that no employees who worked directly for APB or Asheville Yards were laid off during the switch. Any events management employees who do not also work for The Orange Peel have been invited to stay.

Both sides of the dispute expressed regret over the rancor that has arisen.

“We look forward to getting this difficult time behind us, so we can focus on creating more than 100 nights of programming a year at Asheville Yards. Our facility will be a significant driver of more business for the South Slope and for Asheville in general,” Rangel adds in his exchange with Xpress. “By becoming an ‘open’ venue in 2025, we can now invite local promoters to host more music, while having more locally flavored and family-oriented events and programming, too. A significant increase in events and programming also means more opportunities for our local, on-site staff to work more and earn more.”

The Orange Peel owner Liz Whalen Tallent wrote in an email to Xpress, “We understand and feel so much compassion for the layers of emotion that community members are feeling in these difficult posthurricane times. The recent developments have been difficult for everyone involved. [The Orange Peel] will continue to work towards a just outcome for our brand, our team — all the hardworking locals, who made our venue and reputation in the music industry what it is.”

On. Jan. 27, Judge Adam Conrad denied The Orange Peel’s request to expedite discovery. X

FEMA reports difficulty in contacting dozens of temporary hotel residents

With the clock ticking, representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) say that they are struggling to reach dozens of displaced residents living in temporary hotel housing.

During the Feb. 4 briefing meeting of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, representatives from FEMA in charge of managing local relief efforts in Buncombe County briefed local leaders on the agency’s transitional sheltering assistance program and other Helenerecovery updates.

According to a presentation, 674 households have received transitional sheltering assistance, which offers temporary hotel stays to residents displaced by Helene as they work toward permanent housing solutions. Meanwhile, 741 residents have received rental assistance as of Jan. 30. The presentation went on to note that 93 households were approved for direct housing.

In order for displaced residents to extend their hotel stays, those receiving assistance must continue to renew their eligibility with FEMA. Of the more than 600 residents currently in hotels, 129 were expected to check out on Saturday, Feb. 8, unless they receive an extension from the agency. However, FEMA representative Ina Chan explained to the board that FEMA has been “unable to contact” 67 residents who are currently utilizing transitional sheltering assistance to see whether they qualify for an extension.

Chan explained that the agency has used flyers, text messages, calls and emails to attempt to contact residents who have been difficult to reach.

Privacy and safety concerns, Chan noted, prevent FEMA workers from directly approaching residents.

“We’ve exhausted every avenue,” Chan said of the residents. “Unfortunately, the struggle is real. We have come into such a difficult time to get into contact with a lot of folks. And it’s not just the ones that are qualified or eligible or approved for … FEMA’s direct housing, but those in general that are currently checked into the hotel.”

District 3 Commissioner Parker Sloan asked if there were other available options that officials and FEMA members could perform to improve communication, including going door to door.

“Are either county navigators or these state folks knocking on these folks’ doors?” Sloan asked. “I understand the security concerns, but it seems like there’s a relatively small group of people that we know we need information from, [and] we know where they are physically.”

“If you’re asking if we are going to knock on the door, we’re not. It is definitely a safety issue,” Chan responded. “We’ve [done] it in the past in other states … where we did go and knock on doors, but some not so good outcomes happened. FEMA staff were not just hurt, but some of them were actually shot at.”

(As of Feb. 10, FEMA reported that only nine households that were receiving transitional shelter assistance had moved out by the Feb. 8 deadline.)

According to a presentation, as of Jan. 30, FEMA has distributed more than $107 million in individual assistance to Buncombe County applicants. FEMA has received more than

87,000 applications for assistance, with 56,500 residents having received assistance, about a 74% approval rate. Another FEMA representative, Bob Smith, went on to say that some people who have applied and are eligible but haven’t received assistance yet may need additional paperwork, such as a copy of their homeowners insurance policy or proof of residency. Residents who need help processing additional paperwork should go in person to one of the two disaster recovery centers for assistance, he said. Locations include Fairview Public Library, 1 Taylor Road, Fairview; and Weaverville Town Hall, 30 S. Main St.

“That’s always an animal we’re always fighting,” Smith added. “There are going to be people who fall through, and we’re working through to make sure that if they fall into ineligible that we’re going to case manage them into getting acceptance.”

REACHING OUT: FEMA representative Ina Chan explained that the agency has made multiple efforts to contact residents who are eligible for assistance. Screen capture courtesy of Buncombe County

The deadline to register for assistance is Saturday, March 8. “We encourage people not to wait for that month. If you haven’t applied, apply as soon as you can,” said Smith. Editor’s note: For more on the community’s response to FEMA, see “More is Needed: Grassroots Organizers Weigh in on FEMA’s Effectiveness,” page 8. This story was supported by the Fund for Investigative Reporting and Editing.

— Brooke Randle  X

Signs of the Time

More than 100 demonstrators gathered Feb. 3 in Pritchard Park to protest the Trump administration’s immigration policies and deportations. The group later made its way down Haywood Street to the Flint Street bridge over Interstate 240. The hourslong demonstrations concluded at Pack Square Park around 8:30 p.m. X

Week of the Pet

The celebrity tennis benefit, Stars Servin’ Up Love presented by Explore Asheville, raised more than $1 million for Western North Carolina nonprofits on Feb. 2. Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Jessica Pegula were among those to compete at the ExploreAsheville.com Arena at Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Asheville. Net proceeds will benefit the Always Asheville Fund, United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County, Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity and Asheville Tennis Association. X

Meet Jasper. This handsome boy is just as much the teddy bear he appears to be, according to Brother Wolf Animal Rescue. He adores cuddling and likes to stay attached to his favorite people. His foster reports that he is “sometimes more cat than dog” with his mannerisms. Go to avl.mx/ckd to learn more. X

‘A

step toward justice’

UNC Asheville announced spring enrollment is up 1.9% year to year. In a press release, the university attributes the increase to financial aid grants made available in the wake of Tropical Storm Helene, as well as ongoing recruitment initiatives that predate the storm.

The Presbytery of Western North Carolina voted on Jan. 25 to give its former 15,736-square-foot church on 1.39 acres on Haywood Road in West Asheville to the nonprofit Reparations Stakeholder Authority of Asheville (RSAA) at no cost. “This is not just a transaction — it is a bold and deliberate act of repair,” said Torre Garrison, executive director of RSAA in a media release. “This property represents a step toward justice and a powerful example of what can be achieved when we confront systemic harm and commit to healing and equity.”

The group plans to renovate the space into a community hub. X

Enrollment Inches Up RECOVERY WORKSHOPS

The City of Asheville has announced public meetings throughout February, inviting residents to learn more about the Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery. According to the city website, public feedback during these meetings will help create an action plan draft outlining how the $225 million in disaster recovery funds will be allocated. Meeting locations and times vary. For more information, visit avl.mx/eiq. X

Photo by

Photo by Lisa Allen

Photo by Shinya Suzuki from New York

‘He

was special’ Basketball

BY JUSTIN M c GUIRE

jmcguire@mountainx.com

Asheville’s Henry Logan didn’t set out to shatter racial barriers when he accepted a scholarship to Western Carolina College in 1964. He just wanted to play basketball.

But Logan made history when he, along with Stephens-Lee High School teammate Herbert Moore, took the court for the Catamounts that fall. Never before had a Black man played varsity basketball for a predominantly white college in the Carolinas or anywhere else in the Southeast. Before that, the state’s best Black players tended to go to historically Black colleges or head north to play for Big Ten schools.

By the time Logan’s legendary Western career was over in 1968, the state’s “Big Four” programs — UNC Chapel Hill, N.C. State, Duke and Wake Forest — had Black players. Things had changed for good in hoops-mad North Carolina.

“More than anyone else, he’s the one who set in motion the epochal changes that came to the college game in the South, which, in turn and inarguably, helped speed the process of civil rights in that region,” writes Jim Hughes in Henry Logan: The Stuff of Legend, a recently published ebook.

Hughes started the biography in 1997 and worked on it on and off for years. Logan died in 2023, just as the author was making a final push to complete it. He tells Xpress he wrote the book because he believes Logan’s legacy should be more widely known nationally.

“His story is so phenomenal in three different ways,” Hughes explains. “He was a pioneer. He was an idolized basketball star — he’s the only player in college history with more than 3,200 points and 1,000 assists. And he lost his basketball career and became a hopeless street drunk before recovering from that to have 31 years of continuous sobriety when he died.”

JORDAN BEFORE JORDAN

The legend of Henry Logan began long before he set foot on Western Carolina’s Cullowhee campus.

Asheville attorney Eugene Ellison was a child living in Hillcrest Apartments, a public housing complex, when Logan was a teenager. Ellison could see the Hillcrest basketball court from his apartment.

“You always knew when Henry Logan was in Hillcrest because the word ran rampant that he was in the

star Henry Logan broke barriers, conquered demons in legendary life

ON THE BALL: Henry Logan was a star basketball player at Western Carolina College in the 1960s. “He started the integration of college basketball in the South,” says author Jim Hughes. Photo courtesy of Western Carolina University

projects playing ball,” recalls Ellison, who became Logan’s close friend and adviser. “And the area outside the court would just be covered up with people coming to watch him and his buddies come over there to play ball.”

As a sophomore in 1962, Logan led Stephens-Lee to its only state championship in basketball. He scored 21 points for the Bears as they defeated Winston-Salem’s Atkins High School for the 4A title in the N.C. High School Athletic Conference, the organization that governed sports at all-Black schools in the Jim Crow era.

Even then, the skills that would make Logan a college star and future pro were on display. Just 6 feet tall (or maybe a little smaller), Logan was a prolific scorer, passer and ball handler. With his extraordinary quickness and leaping ability, Logan’s playing style was about 10 years ahead of its time, anticipating stars like Julius “Dr. J” Irving and David Thompson, Hughes says.

“I’m telling you man, he was Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan,” Ellison asserts.

Logan was so dominant his senior year in high school that he became the first Black player to be picked to play in the annual Blue-White Senior All-Star game, which features outstanding players from Western North Carolina. That same year, the Citizen Times named Logan its player of the year.

“He is a lad of mild manner and quiet mien, but on the basketball court he is a slasher who cuts and drives with a single purpose: to get the ball through the hoop,” wrote Bob Terrell, then the paper’s sports editor and columnist. “He is so adept at supplementing his vicious drives with a sudden stop-andpop shot that his defenders have difficulty holding him under 30 points.”

By then, Logan was drawing interest from programs like Ohio State and Minnesota. Leaving North Carolina to play for a Big Ten school was a familiar

path for star Black players like New Bern’s Walt Bellamy (Indiana) and Greensboro’s Lou Hudson (Minnesota).

But Logan elected to stay closer to home.

CHOOSING WESTERN

Hughes says Terrell played a key role in Logan’s journey to Western, which then played in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The NAIA is made up of smaller schools than those typically found in the National Collegiate Athlethic Association (NCAA).

During Logan’s final two years at Stephens-Lee, his reputation grew to the point that the school had to play games at off-campus sites to accommodate the crowds, Hughes says. Terrell took note of the excitement and became an active participant in Logan’s recruitment.

A Western alum, Terrell was friends with Catamounts coach Jim Gudger and pushed Gudger to check out the Stephens-Lee phenom. Gudger was interested in bringing in a Black player — not as a political or moral statement, Hughes says — but because he realized the game was changing and that Black players were driving the future.

“Once he saw Henry play, Gudger went all out to get him to Cullowhee,” Hughes writes. “Terrell helped every step of the way, even attending meetings with leaders of the Asheville NAACP.”

After Logan signed with Western, his teammate and friend Herbert Moore came along as part of a package deal, says Steve White, who was a Western student working in the athletic department when Logan was playing. White went on to become the school’s sports information director for 30 years.

The idea was that Moore would be Logan’s roommate and help him with his school work — decades later, Logan revealed that he couldn’t read until he was 35. Moore, not as dominant a player as Logan, left Western after three semesters.

The news that Logan and Moore were headed to Western was banner news in Terrell’s Citizen Times “Local stars first Negroes in Carolinas Conference,” read the headline. But the groundbreaking signing failed to be picked up by any other news outlet in the country, Hughes points out.

’HENRY WENT THROUGH A LOT’

Logan was a sensation from Day 1 of his freshman season at the school, which changed its name to Western

Carolina University in January 1967.

The Catamounts drew about 3,500 people to their home opener in December after drawing only a few hundred the previous year, Terrell wrote. Logan’s sensational play would lead to packed houses at home and on the road throughout the season as he averaged 27 points a game, according to reports in the Citizen Times

But race was never far from the surface.

“Henry went through a lot that first year,” White recalls. “There were a lot of things that happened on the court that people did not know about.”

Logan’s first game as a Catamount was against Piedmont College in Demorest, Ga. The all-white Piedmont squad did not cover itself in glory that day.

“They called me every kind of name they could think of, some I’d never even heard before,” Logan told Hughes. “I got pushed and tripped and elbowed every time I made a move or drove through the lane. Every time I heard the N-word I just played harder.”

In another incident, Logan and Moore had to sit out when Western traveled to Lafayette, La., to participate in the Bayou Classic tournament. Louisiana law prohibited sports competitions between Black and white players.

“I really am grateful that we don’t cherish ideas as absurd as some they still linger to in Louisiana,” Asheville’s Larry Kibby wrote in a letter to the Citizen-Times shortly after the tournament. “This is probably the only way they could stop this fabulous freshman.” The racial incidents lessened over time as more teams in the conference and around the state integrated, White says.

Over his four years in Cullowhee, Logan averaged 30.7 points per game. He still holds virtually every school scoring and assist record and is ninth on the all-time college basketball scoring list with 3,290 points. He scored 60 points in one memorable 1967 game and helped lead the United States to the gold medal in the 1967 Pan American Games, played in Winnipeg, Canada.

THE FALL

Logan was drafted by the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Seattle SuperSonics in 1968 but opted to make more money by signing with the Oakland Oaks of the rival American Basketball Association (ABA).

As a rookie in 1969, Logan was a teammate of future Hall of Famer Rick Barry on a team that won the ABA title. His future as a pro looked bright. But by then his personal life was spiraling out of control, leading to the end of his first marriage.

“In Oakland, I got to drinking real bad,” Logan told Hughes. “Running

HOME TEAM: Henry Logan helped the United States take the gold medal in the 1967 Pan American Games. Photo courtesy of WCU

around with prostitutes ... I tried to stop but couldn’t. I was out of my mind.”

Back in Asheville after his rookie season, he continued his out-of-control ways and put on so much weight that he reported to training camp at more than 200 pounds. A series of knee injuries, along with his drinking, left his once-promising career in tatters. He was out of the league after two seasons. His troubles continued after he came back to Asheville full time. He was an illiterate alcoholic who hadn’t earned a degree at Western, severely limiting his employment opportunities, Hughes points out.

Things reached a nadir in 1978, when Logan tried to kill himself with a combination of alcohol and pills. But as luck would have it, Harold Aday, pastor with the Swannanoa Assembly of God, called Logan just as he woke up from his pill- and alcohol-fueled haze. Aday wanted Logan to run a youth outreach program at his church.

When Logan told Aday about his attempted suicide, the pastor rushed over and prayed with him. Logan became a Christian that day, Hughes writes. He joined the church and became youth outreach director. A few years later, at the age of 35, he finally learned to read because he wanted to read the Bible.

“He had a very spiritual experience, and I tried to tell that in the book,” Hughes says.

Logan didn’t get his drinking under control right away, Hughes writes. He had periods of sobriety but didn’t quit alcohol entirely until 1992.

’TELL IT ALL’

A Durham native and lifelong basketball fan, Hughes first heard about Logan in 1994 from Kevin O’Connor, who had played basketball at Belmont Abbey College in the 1960s. Intrigued, Hughes decided he needed to tell Logan’s story.

In 1997, he moved to Asheville and met Logan.

“I hung around with him for almost a year,” Hughes says. “We played in the old geezer game at the Asheville Y, which is a lot of fun. He embarrassed some of the younger guys. He was still a pretty good player, especially for a pickup game.”

Hughes interviewed family members, former teammates and opponents and people like Ellison and Terrell over the years. But the book remained unfinished until late last year.

“It was very slow going, and a lot of things happened in my life, and a lot of things happened in Henry’s life,” Hughes says.

In the beginning of their relationship, Logan laid out one condition for Hughes in writing the book.

“Tell it all,” he insisted. “Don’t leave anything out. The drinking, the women — all the crazy things I did the whole time I was lost. If Christ has the power to work a miracle on a man like me, anyone can be saved.”

Hughes believes Western Carolina was somewhat reluctant to embrace Logan’s legacy for many years because of his personal problems, but that has changed. He was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1990. In 2002, his No. 10 jersey was retired. The concourse at the Ramsey Center, where the men’s basketball team plays, has a large display, including a video, honoring Logan.

White says Logan would attend games a few times a year in his later years. “One of his teammates from Charlotte would pick him up in Asheville and bring him to the games because at that time Henry’s legs were really in bad shape, and he had a hard time accelerating and braking his automobile,” he says.

HONORING LOGAN

Logan’s legacy has been embraced outside Cullowhee as well. In 2000, he was inducted into the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame. In 2023, he was posthumously

Thurs., Feb. 20

11:00 - 1:00 PM

Reimagining retirement has never been easier. Come enjoy a presentation about 60 Givens Gerber Park: a more affordable rental retirement option (55+) and enjoy lunch on us. Monthly fees are all-inclusive based on income. RSVP required.

REUNITED: Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Barry, left, and Henry Logan attended the 50th anniversary celebration of the American Basketball Association in 2018. The two were teammates on the ABA champion Oakland Oaks in 1969. Photo by Eugene Ellison

elected to the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame.

Ellison advocated for Logan’s induction into the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame.

But there is one honor that has thus far eluded him. Ellison and Hughes believe Logan deserves a spot in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the sport’s highest honor.

“I didn’t do anything but share Henry’s story,” Ellison says. “I didn’t do anything but make sure that Henry had somebody with him to cut through all the bull when people wanted some thing, including trying to get to the Hall of Fame.”

Ellison is in contact with people from the NBA, as well as those associated with the long-gone ABA in hopes of getting his case heard for the Naismith Hall.

“When you look at special athletes and special people, the uniqueness about them has to do with how they master their trade,” he says. “They have a nat ural gift that they are able to maximize. Henry Logan was like Michael Jordan, he was like Rick Barry, Artis Gilmore, Spencer Haywood. Henry Logan’s name fits right with theirs. He was special.”

County commissioners support eastern hellbender GREEN ROUNDUP

BY BROOKE RANDLE

Slimy, wrinkly and strangely endearing, the eastern hellbender has called the streams and rivers of the Appalachian mountains home for millions of years. But the giant salamander is under threat from water quality challenges and habitat destruction, issues that have been exacerbated further since Tropical Storm Helene, according to Josh Kelly, a biologist at environmental nonprofit MountainTrue.

“In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, hundreds of hellbenders have been found deceased along local rivers,” Kelly told the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners during its Feb. 4 meeting.

In response, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the eastern hellbender as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act in December.

“The eastern hellbender is one of only three giant salamanders on the planet,” said District 3 Commissioner Parker Sloan during the meeting. “They’re down to about 59%, so we’ve lost roughly half of the eastern hellbenders.”

And on Feb. 4, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners approved unanimously a resolution supporting the hellbender’s designation.

“They’re a really cool creature, and they really only exist in the streams and rivers in the southern Appalachians. And so I want to put this resolution to send on our support to the appropriate federal agencies,” Sloan said.

After reviewing public comments that were received by Feb. 11, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will revise its recommendation. For more information, visit avl.mx/eiy.

MountainTrue to screen paddling films

Asheville-based environmental nonprofit MountainTrue is showing paddling films as part of the Paddling Film Festival World Tour at The Grey Eagle on Thursday, March 6. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the show begins at 7 p.m. Seats are general admission. This event is a fundraiser

for MountainTrue with tickets available for $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Kids younger than 12 are admitted for $5. For more information or to buy tickets, visit avl.mx/ej1.

Lake Julian bird tests positive for avian flu

According to a Jan. 31 press release from Buncombe County, a deceased waterfowl at Lake Julian Park has received a preliminary positive test result for avian influenza H5N1, or bird flu. Staff found eight deceased waterfowl at the park; additional test results are pending, although there is not a timeline for those results. Buncombe County staff says that the park will remain open but visitors should avoid touching or feeding waterfowl and wash their hands regularly.

“It’s not common for the virus to transmit from animals to humans, but it is possible,” said Buncombe County Public Health Director Ellis Matheson. “Reduce your risk of infection by staying away from sick or dead birds, and the same goes for your pets, as well.”

More information at avl.mx/ej0.

RiverLink helps with streambank repair

RiverLink announced in a press release two programs to help property owners fix streams damaged by Tropical Storm Helene. The N.C. State Cooperative Extension Service is providing free workshops throughout WNC on how to restore scoured, eroded stream banks and replant native woody plants to prevent future erosion and soil loss. The first round of workshops will be held in Burnsville, Black Mountain, Woodfin and Asheville on Wednesday-Saturday, Feb. 12-15. Sign up and learn more at avl.mx/eio

SALAMANDERS IN PERIL: The eastern hellbender, native to southern Appalachian streams and rivers, is under consideration for endangered species designation after Tropical Storm Helene destroyed habitats. Image courtesy of N.C. Wildlife Commission

Volunteers check on eastern hemlocks

On Jan. 22, roughly 30 volunteers joined members of the Pisgah Conservancy, Adventure Scientists and the Hemlock Restoration Initiative to identify and tally eastern hemlock trees that appear to have survived hemlock woolly adelgid infestations in the Shining Rock Wilderness Area of Pisgah National Forest. The volunteer effort was part of a large-scale Tracking Eastern Hemlock project that Adventure Scientists is leading this spring in national forests in North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and New York. More information at avl.mx/eiw.

Home energy needs

Electrify Asheville-Buncombe is offering a free Home Energy Navigator service designed to support local homeowners who are interested in solar energy, heat pumps, induction cooking or other home electrification options to transition to more energy-efficient homes. According to a media release, consultations begin with a 30-minute virtual meeting in which navigators assess the homeowner’s needs and goals, review financial incentives and offer a preliminary evaluation of the home’s suitability for electrification. More information at avl.mx/eix.

Sustainability Heroes

Future farmers

The N.C. State Extension is holding the Farm Succession School event aimed at helping farmers learn more about common issues when transitioning the farm to the next generation and strategies to overcome these challenges. The workshop, announced via media release, is from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday, March 27, at the WNC Regional Livestock Center in Canton. More information at avl.mx/eiz. Ag Hall of Fame nominations openWNC Communities, an Ashevillebased nonprofit that supports community development and agriculture initiatives across Western North Carolina, is accepting nominations for the Western North Carolina Agricultural Hall of Fame. The honor recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the agricultural sector, driving sustainability and growth in the region, according to a media release. The annual Western North Carolina Agricultural Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held Friday, Aug. 8, at the Davis Event Center in Fletcher. The public is invited to submit nominations. Guidelines, criteria and nomination form can be found at avl.mx/ej2.

Warren Wilson climate efforts honored

Warren Wilson College was honored by Second Nature, a sustainability and climate action nonprofit that focuses on higher education, for its leadership in climate resilience and its rapid response efforts following Tropical Storm Helene. The college announced in a media release that it received Second Nature’s inaugural Climate Luminary Honors award in the Climate Resilience in Action category at its annual Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit, held Feb. 2- 4 in Washington, D.C. X brandle@mountainx.com

RiverLink also launched an Adopta-Stream Program with trained volunteers working alongside its experts to restore privately owned streams in Buncombe, Henderson, Madison, and Yancey counties. Teams will install biodegradable, erosion prevention matting and native plants, shrubs and trees to retain soil and prevent future erosion. Answer this short survey to see if you qualify. avl.mx/eip

The City of Hendersonville’s Environmental Sustainability Board is accepting nominations for the annual Sustainability Hero Award. It highlights outstanding achievement in the pursuit of environmentally sustainable practices by an individual city employee or team, according to a media release. Nominations can be submitted to virginiategel@gmail. com until Friday, Feb. 28.

FEB. 12 - FEB. 20 , 2025

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

 Online-only events

 More info, page 33

WELLNESS

Free Tai Chi for Beginners

Improve your balance, fitness, and flexibility without putting stress on the joints.

WE (2/12), 9am, Marshall Public Library, 1335 N Main St, Marshall

Therapeutic Recreation

Adult Morning Movement

Wednesday mornings are all about active games, physical activities, and sports adapted to accommodate all skill levels.

WE (2/12, 19), 10am,

Tempie Avery Montford Community Center, 34 Pearson Ave

Community Yoga & Mindfulness

Free monthly event with Inspired Change Yoga that will lead you into a morning of breathwork, meditation and yoga.

WE (2/12), 10:30am, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

Thrive 55+ Exercise

Party

Every Wednesday, active adults will come together for chair exercise, balance challenges, and strength training.

WE (2/12, 19), 11am, Burton Street Community Center, 134 Burton St

Balance, Agility, Strength, Stretch

This weekly class for adults focuses on flexibility, balance, stretching, and strength. Bring your own exercise mat.

WE (2/12, 19), 10am, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

Tai Chi Chih

Move towards better health and more happiness with mindful, moving meditation.

WE (2/12), 12pm, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

Kitten Yoga

Bring your yoga mat and recharge your energy while being assaulted by adorable, adoptable kittens.

WE (2/12), 6pm, House of Black Cat Magic, Co., 841 Haywood Rd

Friday Fitness

This class focuses on strengthening, stretching, and aerobics

every Friday.

FR (2/14), 10am, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

The Art of Yoga Series

A harmonious blend of artistic inspiration and mindful movement guided by Julie Levin Caro. All levels are welcome.

SA (2/15), 10am, Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Himalayan Sound Bath Meditation

Imagine the soothing tones of Himalayan singing bowls washing over you, calming your mind, and rejuvenating your spirit.

SA (2/15), SU (2/16), 11am, Somatic Sounds, 157 S Lexington Ave

Restorative Yoga & Hot Stones w/Live Violin

Experience the gentle and nurturing practice of restorative yoga that eases tension, soothes the nervous system, and quiets the mind.

SA (2/15), 6pm, W Asheville Yoga, 602 Haywood Rd

Wild Souls Authentic Movement w/Renee

Trudeau

An expressive movement class designed to help you get unstuck, enjoy cardio movement, boost immune health, dissolve stress and celebrate community.

SU (2/16), 9:30am, Dunn's Rock Community Center, 461 Connestee Rd, Brevard

Sunday Morning Meditation Group

Gathering for a combination of silent sitting and walking meditation, facilitated by Worth Bodie.

SU (2/16), 10am, The Lodge at Quietude, 1130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Prenatal & Postpartum

Yoga

A rejuvenating and relaxing yoga session designed specifically for pregnant and postpartum folks.

SU (2/16), noon, W Asheville Yoga, 602 Haywood Rd

Queer Yoga

This class is donation-based and centered towards creating an affirming and inclusive space for all queer folks.

SU (2/16), 1:30pm, W Asheville Yoga, 602 Haywood Rd

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

Heart to Heart: Partner

Yoga

This class offers a unique opportunity to explore yoga poses in collaboration, creating balance and support through shared movement.

SU (2/16), 5:30pm, W Asheville Yoga, 602 Haywood Rd

Strength & Exercise

Workout at your own pace in a fun atmosphere in this weekly class for active adults working on overall fitness and strength.

MO (2/17), 9:15am, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

Prenatal Yoga

Paulina, a yoga teacher and certified birth doula, will guide you through gentle poses and breathing exercises to help you connect with your changing body.

MO (2/17), 5:30pm, West Asheville Yoga, 602 Haywood Rd

Zumba Gold & Silverobics

Calorie-burning, fun, low-impact class that incorporates dance and fitness for older adults each week.

TU (2/18), noon, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

Drumming for Exercise

Jam to some tunes while getting a great, low-impact arm and core workout. No need to be a pro drummer.

TU (2/18), 1:30pm, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

Breathwork, Movement & Meditation

Special practice combining restorative yoga, Somatic Breathwork, and meditation, designed to promote deep relaxation and nervous system balance.

TU (2/18), 6:30pm, Old Fort Yoga, 45 Catawba Ave, Old Fort

Qigong

Gentle form of exercise composed of movement, posture, breathing, and meditation used to promote health and spirituality.

WE (2/19), 11:15am, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

Intro to the Fitness Center

Learn how to use equipment and machines in the fitness center to jump start a regular wellness routine.

TH (2/20), 1pm, Stephens-Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave

SUPPORT GROUPS

Nicotine Anonymous

People share their experience, strength and hope to stop using nicotine. You don’t need to be stopped, just have a desire to attend.

TH (2/13, 20), 4:30pm, Asheville 12-Step Recovery Club, 1 Kenilworth Knolls Unit 4

Magnetic Minds: Depression & Bipolar Support Group

A free weekly peer-led meeting for those living with depression, bipolar, and related mental health challenges. For more information contact (828) 367-7660.

SA (2/15), 2pm, First Congregational UCC of Asheville, 20 Oak St

DANCE

Latin Night Wednesday w/DJ Mtn Vibez

A Latin dance social featuring salsa, bachata, merengue, cumbia, and reggaeton with dance lessons for all skill levels.

WE (2/12, 19), 8pm, One World Brewing W, 520 Haywood Rd

Bachata Dance Lesson & Social

Live DJ Bachata nights with some Cha Cha, Cumbia, Merengue and Salsa added to the mix.

TH (2/13, 20), 8:30pm, Urban Orchard Cider Co. S Slope, 24 Buxton Ave

Tap Dance: Beginner

Tap dance for beginners teaches the basics through a combination of exercise, music, and incredible fun.

TH (2/13), 10am, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

Tap Dance: Advanced Fun and active twice-weekly class for advanced students.

TH (2/13), 11:45am, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

February Square Dance

This dance is free and open to all, both on campus and within the community.

TH (2/13), 7pm, Mars Hill University, College St, Mars Hill

Line Dance: Beginner Some familiarity with line dance steps is helpful, but not necessary in this weekly class.

MO (2/17), noon, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

Monday Night Contra Dance

A welcoming environment for anyone who would like to contra dance. Lessons start at 7 p.m. and a social dance starts at 7:30 p.m.

MO (2/17), 7:30pm, A-B Tech, Genevieve Circle

Open-Level Adult Dance

Each class will feature a full-body warm-up, specific skill practice, and a dance combination to your favorite music.

WE (2/19), 5:30pm, Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W State St, Black Mountain

VALENTINE’S DAY CANDLELIGHT CONCERT: Asheville Masonic Temple hosts a special Valentine’s Day Candlelight concert on Friday, Feb. 14, starting at 8:45 p.m. This live, multisensory musical experience will feature the Opal String Quartet performing romantic classics and other heartfelt melodies. Photo courtesy of Fever

We Line Dance

Brenda Mills leads this inclusive exercise class that uses line dancing to get your body moving.

TH (2/20), 6:15pm, Stephens-Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave

ART

2025 School of Art & Design Faculty Biennial

This exhibition provides students and the community an opportunity to view recent work created by distinguished faculty members whose primary research output is studio-based. Gallery open Tuesday through Friday, 10am. Exhibition through May, 2. WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Dr, Cullowhee

Black History Through the Eyes of Art Celebrate as we take a look at Black history through the eyes of local artists and how they acknowledge and celebrate the past.

WE (2/12), 6:30pm, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, 285 Livingston St Torn Exhibition

This exhibition features the captivating exploration of art created through processes of addition and subtraction, where

fragments and remnants take on new life. Gallery open Monday through Friday, 10am. Exhibition through Feb. 28.

Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W State St, Black Mountain

An Artful Journey: Black Artists & Ancient Egypt

Each artful journey will begin with coffee, tea, and pastries followed by an inspiring lecture and discussion with art historian and curator Julianna Caro.

FR (2/14), 10:30am, Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W State St, Black Mountain

Greetings from Asheville: Tourism & Transformation in the Postcard Age

This exhibition explores how the land, the people, and the built environment of Asheville and its surrounding environs were interpreted through early 20th century vintage postcards. Gallery open Wednesday through Sunday, 11am. Exhibition through May. 30, 2025.

Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

How We Heal

This special exhibition will feature three new artists: Cynthia Brody, Marlon Vidal and Kathleen Stern. How We Heal is a tribute to the inhabitants of WNC, who

have been so resilient in the long recovery post-Helene. Gallery open daily, 11am. Exhibition through Feb. 28. Asheville Gallery of Art, 82 Patton Ave

Anti Form: Robert Morris’s Earth Projects

The suite of lithographic drawings by Robert Morris presents a series of ideas for ten works of art shaped out of earth, atmospheric conditions, and built environments. Gallery open Wednesday through Sunday, 11am. Exhibition through May 2025.

Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Asheville Strong: Celebrating Art & Community After Hurricane Helene

An exhibition of artwork by artists who live and work in the Helene-affected Appalachia region. This special, non-juried exhibition celebrates the strength and diversity of our regional arts community. Gallery open Wednesday through Sunday, 11am. Exhibition through May. 5, Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square Forces of Nature: Ceramics from the Hayes Collection Forces of Nature is drawn from the collection of Andrew and Hathia Hayes,

demonstrating the different approaches to ceramics in Western North Carolina.Gallery open daily, 11am, closed Tuesday. Exhibition through March, 2025. Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Look Up Asheville:

A Photographic Exploration of Asheville Architecture

The exhibition features vivid photographs by local photographer Michael Oppenheim. The photographs will be showcased on canvas as gallery wraps and traditional archival photographic prints. Gallery open Monday through Friday, 8:30am. Exhibition through February, 28. John M. Crawford Jr. Gallery, 360 Asheville School Rd

COMMUNITY MUSIC

Irish Session White Horse hosts a traditional Irish-style session every second and fourth Wednesday. WE (2/12), 5pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain Men in Harmony: Open Singing Jam Men's a capella ensemble hosts an open jam session to scout for new

talented members as well as share an evening of music. For more information contact Jim Gordon at (828) 545-2262.

WE (2/12), 6:45pm, St. Matthias Church, 1 Dundee St

Hub New Music & Yaz Lancaster

A dynamic program including compositions by Angélica Negrón, Elijah Daniel Smith, Nico Muhly, Tyshawn Sorey, Andrew Norman, and a new commissioned work by Yaz Lancaster.

WE (2/12), 7pm, Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center, 120 College St

Daze Between Benefit Concert

The Jazz Foundation of America presents a charity concert benefiting Hurricane Helene recovery efforts, featuring a variety of local talent.

TH (2/13), 2pm, One World Brewing W, 520 Haywood Rd

Amici Music Presents: Go Tell It On The Mountain

An afternoon of great African-American spirituals to celebrate Black History Month. All ages.

SA (2/15), 2pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

My Jazzy Valentine w/Roberta Baum, Dylan Hannan & Jason DeCristofaro

My Jazzy Valentine will feature jazz vocalist Roberta Baum and a Jazz quartet performing classic jazz standards with themes of love from the American songbook.

SA (2/15), 3pm, Kittredge Arts Center, 701 Warren Wilson Rd, Swannanoa

Zoe & Cloyd Annual Valentine's Concert

This show will be a special retrospective and celebration of their music over the past ten years. For more information call 828-669-0930.

SA (2/15), 7pm, Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W State St, Black Mountain

Asheville Jazz Orchestra

An evening of authentic traditional and contemporary jazz.

SU (2/16), 7:30pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Local Live w/Beth Lee & Dylan Walshe

A monthly showcase of local musicians.

MO (2/17), 7pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Okonski: Entrance Music Album Release

After nearly two years, Okonski returns with Entrance Music, an album that finds the trio at the height of their improvisational prowess and celebrating the spontaneous and meditative.

TH (2/20), 7pm, Harvest Records, 415-B Haywood Rd

Tony’s Trischka’s EarlJam

This is a special tribute to Earl Scruggs concert that also features special guest Woody Platt. Tony Trischka is considered one of the most influential Banjo players in the roots music world. See p33

TH (2/20), 7:00pm, 185 King Street

Soprano Larisa Martínez

Witness the enchanting voice of soprano Larisa Martínez, one of opera’s brightest stars, in an unforgettable evening of beautiful arias and art songs.

TH (2/20), 7:30pm, Parker Concert Hall at Brevard Music Center, 349 Andante Ln, Brevard

COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS

Qigong

Gentle form of exercise composed of movement, posture, breathing, and meditation used to promote health and spirituality

WE (2/12, 19), 11:15am, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

Jewelry Making w/ Laurie

Make a bracelet, necklace or earrings for yourself or as a gift. Contact Laurie with any questions at (510) 305-5111.

WE (2/12), noon, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

Beginning Cherokee Language

Learn a new language in the new year with beginner Cherokee lessons on the Qualla Boundary. This offering is free of charge and open to all.

WE (2/12, 19), MO (2/17), 5pm, Museum of the Cherokee People, 589 Tsali Blvd., Cherokee

One-Pot Meals

Learn to make fuss-free dinners in a pot or a pan. This class is a great way to have fun

while meeting your neighbors and enjoying a tasty meal.

TH (2/13, 20), 5:30pm, North Carolina Cooperative Extension-Madison County Center, 258 Carolina Ln, Marshall Valentine’ Day Sip ‘n’ Paint

Enjoy conversation, art, and hot chocolate and apple cider. Your first canvas is free and you can purchase a second canvas for $2.

FR (2/14), 4pm, Grove St Community Center, 36 Grove St

Upcycled Vintage Glass Windows Workshop

Create a one-of-a-kind artwork using vintage wooden-framed glass windows and an array of vintage glass items, from grandma’s crystalware to 1970s ashtrays.

SA (2/15), 10am, Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W State St, Black Mountain

Reconnect & Relax: A Thai Massage Workshop for Couples

Celebrate love and connection the day after Valentine’s with a special workshop designed to bring you and your partner closer.

SA (2/15), 2pm, W Asheville Yoga, 602 Haywood Rd

Asheville-Buncombe Senior Games Clinics

Enhance skills and discover new passions through APR’s free clinics, available to all interested participants in this year’s Asheville-Buncombe Senior Games.

TU (2/18), 10am, W Asheville Park, 198 Vermont Ave

Therapeutic Recreation

Adult Crafting

A variety of cooking and crafts, available at two different times. Advance registration required. Open to individuals ages 17+ with disabilities.

TU (2/18), 10 and 11am, Murphy-Oakley Community Center, 749 Fairview Rd

Sticky Situations: Make Your Own Slime

A hands-on workshop to learn the secrets of master slime making. From classic stretchy slime to glow in the dark, experiment with different ingredients and techniques to create unique slimes.

TU (2/18), 5:30pm, Tempie Avery Montford Community Center, 34 Pearson Ave

Change Your Palate Cooking Demo

This free lunchtime food demonstration is open to all but tailored towards those with type 2 diabetes or hypertension and/or their caretakers.

WE (2/19), noon, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

Mountain Stitchers

Gather with other makers while you work on knitting, crocheting, stitching, or other personal fiber projects.

WE (2/19), 1pm, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

Craft & Connect

Get crafty and acquire new skills while connecting with peers. Advance registration required.

TH (2/20), 7pm, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, 285 Livingston St

LITERARY

Books on the Boundary: The Truth According to Ember

This reading circle is delighted to welcome author Danica Nava (Chickasaw Nation) for a discussion of the winter read, Native rom-com The Truth According to Ember.

WE (2/12), 5:30pm, Museum of the Cherokee People, 589 Tsali Blvd., Cherokee

Galentine's Day Book

Signing & Hangout

A book signing and hangout with local fantasy author, Jessica Leigh.

FR (2/14), 5pm, New Belgium Brewing Co., 21 Craven St

Flooded Poetry

Each poet will be able to share 2-3 poems, and occasionally we will have local celebrity poets close out our night with a featured reading.

MO (2/17), 6:30pm, Flood Gallery, 802 Fairview Rd Ste 1200

Asheville StorySLAM: Love Hurts

Prepare a five-minute tale about the agony of deferred love, the misery of good love, gone bad, the anguish of one-way love, or love that hurts so good.

TH (2/20), 7:30pm, The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave

THEATER & FILM

Script Reading for Confidence, Voiceover, or Screen

Stephanie Morgan, owner of Corduroy, will direct and coach 2-3 readers as they each work through one short script, allowing for class feedback.

WE (2/, 19), 6:30pm, Corduroy Lounge, 444 Haywood Rd Ste 103

YAMATO: The Drummers of Japan

Take a thrilling, high-energy ride through centuries of Japanese tradition, where heart-thumping rhythms explode from a dizzying display of more than 40 Taiko drums.

WE (2/12), TH (2/13), 7pm, Wortham Center For The Performing Arts, 18 Biltmore Ave

Ballet Hispánico

Experience the passion and artistry of Ballet Hispánico as they bring 50 years of vibrant Latino culture to life on stage.

WE (2/12), 7:30pm, WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Dr, Cullowhee

Matters of the Heart: Poetry, Prose & Everything in Between

An evening of original stories, poetry and a play by local WNC artists.

TH (2/13), 7pm, Weaverville Community Center, 60 Lakeshore Dr, Weaverville

Once Upon a Murder: An Enchanted Realm Mystery

This interactive murder mystery takes you to the Enchanted Realm, a land where harmony reigned for centuries, until Queen Black seized control of the Silver Tree Forest.

TH (2/13), 7pm, Ginger's Revenge Craft Brewery & Tasting Room, 829 Riverside Dr

The Play That Goes Wrong

This play-within-a-play features actors battling collapsing sets, missed cues, broken props, their own lines, the audience, and each other on opening night of, The Murder at Haversham Manor.

TH (2/13, 20), FR (2/14), 7:30pm, SA (2/15), SU (2/16), 2:30pm, Asheville Community Theatre, 35 E Walnut St

Foreign Film Fridays

Every Friday visitors can enjoy a cozy movie night in the gallery featuring some amazing foreign films curated by film-buff Carlos Steward.

FR (2/14), 7pm, Flood Gallery, 802 Fairview Rd Ste 1200

Valentines Day Cabaret

Celebrate love and joy at this intimate acoustic selection of non-musical theatre love songs from artists like The Beatles, The Carpenters, Jackson 5, and more, performed by some of the region's best talent.

FR (2/14), SA (2/15), 7:30pm, SU (2/16), Hart Theatre, 250 Pigeon St, Waynesville

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

A progressive white couple’s proud liberal sensibilities are tested when their daughter brings her black fiance home to meet them in this fresh and relevant stage adaptation of the iconic film.

SA (2/15), 3pm, Hendersonville Theatre, 229 S Washington St, Hendersonville

Jeeves Saves the Day Prepare yourself for another priceless predicament calling upon the redoubtable Jeeves to save the day.

WE (2/12), TH (2/13), FR (2/14), SA (2/15), 7:30pm, SU (2/16), 2pm, North Carolina Stage Co., 15 Stage Ln John Singer Sargent: Fashion and Swagger Enjoy art documentaries accompanied with a Q&A led by art historian Julie Levin Caro, Head of the Museum’s Learning and Engagement department. SU (2/16), 2pm, Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square Solstice: A Winter Circus Experience Solstice blends over 8 acrobatic acts with lighting, costumes, music, scenery, and snow to create a unique blend of poetry and circus in a 75-minute show.

SU (2/16), 7pm, Wortham Center For The Performing Arts, 18 Biltmore Ave Golden Era Movie Magic

An afternoon of beloved classic films. Grab some popcorn and get ready for a trip down memory lane.

TU (2/18), 12:45pm, Tempie Avery Montford Community Center, 34 Pearson Ave

MEETINGS & PROGRAMS

IBN Breakfast Club: Mills River

All are invited to attend and promote their business, products, and services, and meet new referral contacts.

WE (2/12), 8am, Mills River Restaurant, 4467 Boylston Hwy, Mills River Jam Sessions Bring homemade or store bought jams, jellies, and marmalades to share and taste a variety of flavors, learn new recipes, and connect with jam lovers.

WE (2/12), 9:30am, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, 285 Livingston St Low-Cost Community Cat Neuter Clinic You must schedule and pay for your appointment prior to showing up. Register at avl.mx/dlq.

TH (2/13), 8am, House of Black Cat Magic, Co., 841 Haywood Rd

NSA-WNC Meeting Professional keynote speakers, coaches, trainers, facilitators, and consultants who cover a broad range of topics, skills, & knowledge.

TH (2/13), 10am, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

IBN Biz Lunch: Brevard/ Pisgah Forest Network and have lunch with new and old friends while you promote your business products and services.

TH (2/13), 11:30am, Hawg Wild Smokehouse & Taproom, 91 Pisgah Hwy, Pisgah Forest

Nerd Nite February

A monthly event held in 100+ cities around the world featuring fun-yet-informative presentations across a variety of subjects.

TH (2/13), 7pm, The River Arts District Brewing Co., 13 Mystery St

Reconnecting Thru Hard Times & Listening Circle w/Resources for Resilience

This event fosters understanding, connection, and hope, helping us support one another through life's toughest moments.

FR (2/14), 2:30pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

Free Your Heart

This 90-minute class designed to open both the physical and metaphorical spaces of love, compassion, and connection. Bring a journal, pen, and a readiness to free your heart.

FR (2/14), 6pm, W Asheville Yoga, 602 Haywood Rd

Therapeutic Recreation

After Dark

Experience fun activities with old friends and make new friends along the way. Open to individuals ages 14+ with disabilities.

FR (2/14), 6pm, Murphy-Oakley Community Center, 749 Fairview Rd

Winter Botany & Wild

Foraged Tea w/Marc Williams

Participants will explore the art of plant identification during one of the most challenging and rewarding times of the year, when flowers, fruits, and leaves have mostly disappeared, leaving subtle clues in their place.

SA (2/15), 12:30pm

Hemlock Hike

This 3.5 mile hike will cover the ecological importance of hemlocks in riparian areas, what is threatening them, what is being done about it, and more.

SA (2/15), 1pm, DuPont

State Recreational Forest, Entrance: 1400 Staton Rd, Cedar Mountain

Historic Floods & Landslides: What Have

We Learned

Learn what makes WNC a flood and landslide prone area and how we can protect ourselves and our community.

SA (2/15), 2pm, Bo Thomas Auditorium, Blue Ridge Community College, 180 W Campus Dr, Flat Rock

Coloring w/Cats: Teens & Adults

Set time for yourself and cuddle with the panthers, meet other cat-lovers, and color a beautiful picture of a cat from our adult coloring books.

SU (2/16), 2pm, House of Black Cat Magic, Co., 841 Haywood Rd

Family Open Gym Weekly time in the gym reserved for all ages to shoot hoops and play other active games as a family.

SU (2/16), 4pm, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, 285 Livingston St

Creative Check-in

This 1-hr set-up-yourweek session is designed for just about anyone who wants a supportive group to help them keep account of their dreams and goals, and how they play out in the week.

MO (2/17), 10am, Corduroy Lounge, 444 Haywood Rd Ste 103

Polyvagal-Informed Mindfulness

In this exploration, you will learn to develop practical tools to heighten awareness of how you experience, embody, and express yourself in the world.

MO (2/17), 6:30pm, The Lodge at Quietude, 1130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Alive After 55+

A program for active older adults to socialize, play board games and puzzles, create in group art activities, and more.

MO (2/17), TU (2/18), 10am, Linwood Crump Shiloh Community Center, 121 Shiloh Rd

EveryDay Strong

A program that equips caring adults with training and tools to support the mental health and wellness of children aged 8 to 18.

TU (2/18), 10am, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Av

IBN Biz Lunch: Arden

All are invited to attend and promote their business, products, and services, and meet new referral contacts.

TU (2/18), 11:30am, Wild Wing Cafe South, 65 Long Shoals Rd, Arden

Lunch & Learn Series w/Rev. Michele Laub, RScP

This Lunch & Learn series was specifically designed for those of us who want to continue to expand our spirituality and are not comfortable driving in the dark.

TU (2/18), noon, Center for Spiritual Living Asheville, 2 Science Mind Way

Veterans Creative Retreat

The mission of the retreat is to provide a safe space for veterans to explore various artistic mediums, socialize with peers, and find calm and comfort in creating.

TU (2/18), 5:30pm, Givens Gerber Park, 40 Gerber Rd

Spill the Beans: Social Group Staff will have fun and engaging questions and prompts to start off conversation, something silly or something

deeper. WE (2/19), 2pm, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

Job Search Survival Kit w/Jeff Percival

Participants will examine Job Search Survival Kits and work to understand what they need to do to get through periods of unemployment.

TH (2/20), 11:30am, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

Lunch & Learn w/Dr. Brad McAbee

All community members are encouraged to attend to gain insight into heart health and when to seek emergency care for heart-related symptoms.

TH (2/20), 11:30am, Harris Regional Hospital, 68 Hospital Rd, Sylva Free Sober Disc Golf

This is a great opportunity to get outside and get some exercise. It's also a fun time to meet others in recovery, build community and create connection. No experience is necessary.

TH (2/20), 3:30pm, Richmond Hill Park, 300 Richmond Hill Dr, Asheville

Celebrate Black History: Soul Food Supper Come hungry for the annual Soul Food Supper co-sponsored by East End Valley St Neighborhood and Stephens-Lee Alumni associations.

TH (2/20), 6pm, Stephens-Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave

GAMES & CLUBS

Grant Southside Center Walking Club Walk inside in the gym or outside, if the weather is nice, with themed music each week.

WE (2/12, 19), 10:30am, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, 285 Livingston St

Let the Games Begin: A Night of Fun & Connection

A night of fun featuring games, snacks and beverages with friends and the community. Bring your favorite games or jump in and play something new.

FR (2/14), 7pm, Center for Spiritual Living Asheville, 2 Science Mind Way

Bid Whist Make bids, call trumps, and win tricks. Every Saturday for fun competition with the community.

SA (2/15), 1pm, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, 285 Livingston St

Weekly Sunday

Scrabble Weekly scrabble play where you’ll be paired with players of your skill level. All scrabble gear provided.

SU (2/16), 1:30pm, Stephens-Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave

Pixe Wars: Weekly Retro Game Tournament

The perfect chance to show off your gaming skills every week. It’s free to play and the weekly winner takes home a Hi-Wire gift card.

MO (2/17), 7pm, Hi-Wire Brewing, 197 Hilliard Ave

Ultimate Bid Whist & Spades

Bring a partner or come solo for a fun evening of competitive bid whist and spades every Tuesday.

TU (2/18), 6pm, Linwood Crump Shiloh Community Center, 121 Shiloh Rd

KID-FRIENDLY PROGRAMS

The Family Music Class

A play-based interactive music and movement program for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and their grownups.

WE (2/12), 9:30am, Whole Body Chiropractic, 390 S. French Broad Ave

Tiny Tykes Wednesday Play Dates

Open play for toddlers to explore bikes, balls, inflatables, climbing structures, and more fun.

WE (2/12), 10am, Stephens-Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave Toddler & Me Time Out

This open gym time allows toddlers and caregivers to make memories and new friends through structures and unstructured activities.

FR (2/14), 10am, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, 285 Livingston St

Family Music & Valentine’s Day Party

This play-based music and movement class will include sing-alongs, dances, and instrument play, as well as a special story time.

FR (2/14), 3:30pm, The Well, 3 Louisiana Ave Family Bootcamp

Make the most of your workout time while helping your kids discover the benefits of staying active. Children ages 5 and older are welcome to join.

SA (2/15), 9:30am, Reuter YMCA, 3 Town Center Blvd.

Kids Yoga & Art Pop Up: Friendly Forest Animals

Children will learn tools for self-regulation, build social-emotional skills, and practice a variety of breath-work and mindfulness techniques to use throughout their daily life. All yoga

and art supplies are provided.

SA (2/15), noon, W Asheville Yoga, 602 Haywood Rd

Coloring w/Cats:

Kiddie Edition

An artistic session with coloring books and markers for children ages 13 and under to relax by coloring as they pet cats to reduce stress and anxiety.

SA (2/15), 1pm, House of Black Cat Magic, Co., 841 Haywood Rd

Kids Quiet Play Session

Some benefits, especially useful for children, include mental clarity for distracted youngsters as well as immune boosting, respiratory relief and relief from skin conditions.

SU (2/16), 10am, Asheville Salt Cave, 16 N Liberty St

Beginner Climbing:

Ages 5-7

A three-week instructional climbing class designed for beginners. Adults belay their own children.

MO (2/17), 6pm, Tempie Avery Montford Community Center, 34 Pearson Ave

Little Climbers

A mix of fun games and activities for little adventurers with a focus on building toddlers’

motor skills and balance and more.

TU (2/18), 10am, Tempie Avery Montford Community Center, 34 Pearson Ave

World of Games

Grab a controller and best your opponent playing games like Fortnite, Warzone, Madden, and 2K. Board and card games available for those not gaming.

TU (2/18), 6pm, Stephens-Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave

Black Cat Tales: Story Time w/Cats

A special after-school workshop where families with children age 7 and under can relax and foster a love of reading while also socializing with the cats in the lounge.

WE (2/19), 4pm, House of Black Cat Magic, Co., 841 Haywood Rd

LOCAL MARKETS

River Arts District

Farmers Market

Weekly market featuring local fruits, vegetables, meats, bread, honey, eggs, pastries, flowers, crafts and more. SNAP and disaster SNAP are accepted.

WE (2/12, 19), 3pm, AB Tech, 24 Fernihurst Dr

Weaverville Winter Tailgate Market

A selection of fresh, locally grown produce, grass fed beef, pork, chicken, rabbit, eggs, cheese, sweet and savory baked goods, artisan bread, body care, eclectic handmade goodies, garden and landscaping plants. Open year round.

WE (2/12, 19), 3pm, 60 Lake Shore Dr Weaverville

Friday Night Sip & Shop

Sip, shop and stroll through the different shops found within the Grove Arcade, every Friday.

FR (2/14), 4pm, Grove Arcade, 1 Page Ave

Shakedown on Wall Street

Third Room presents a takeover of Wall Street featuring various local vendors, artists, and musicians.

FR (2/14), SA (2/15), SU (2/16), 1pm, Third Room, 46 Wall St

Asheville City Market

Featuring local food products, including fresh produce, meat, cheese, bread, pastries, and other artisan products.

SA (2/15), 10am, 52 N Market St

North Asheville Tailgate Market

The oldest Saturday morning market in WNC, since 1980. Over 60 rotating vendors providing a full range of local, sustainably produced produce, meats, eggs, cheeses, breads, plants and unique crafts.

SA (2/15), 10am, UNC Asheville, Lot P34, 275 Edgewood Rd

Honky Tonk Flea

Discover unique antique treasures, vintage gems, and handmade goods while listening to the best honky tonk vinyls.

SU (2/16), 11am, Eda's Hide-a-Way, 1098 New Stock Rd, Weaverville

MPRC Pantry

The pantry is available to anyone with needs. Some items available include non-perishable foods, diapers, baby wipes, paper goods, feminine hygiene products and more.

TU (2/18), 3pm, Mills River Presbyterian Church, 10 Presbyterian Church Rd, Mills River

FESTIVALS & SPECIAL EVENTS

Hearts & Hires: Job & Resources Fair

This job fair is intended to provide new oppor-

tunities for dislocated workers impacted by Helene as well as others searching for a new career. There will be over 125 employers and resource providers participating in this expo.

WE (2/12), 10am, Western N Carolina Agricultural Center, 761 Boylston Hwy, Fletcher Galentine's Day

Enjoy live music by Hot Bread Selectors, get some permanent jewelry from Sparked with Love, and indulge in Girl Dinner specials.

TH (2/13), 6pm, District 42, 7 Patton Ave

You Had Me At MEOW: Speed-dating for Queer Cat-lovers

A queer inclusive speed-dating event where you can mix and mingle with single cat lovers from all walks of life. All proceeds from this event will be donated to Binx's Home for Black Cats.

TH (2/13), 6pm, House of Black Cat Magic, Co., 841 Haywood Rd

Asheville Gay Men's Chorus: Silly Love Songs

An evening of sweet music, sweet drinks and sweet treats during this Valentine's Cabaret. The AVLGMC will also welcome a special guest emcee and perfomer Divine, the Bearded Lady.

FR (2/14), 5pm, Hilltop Event Center, 21 Restaurant Court

Valentine's Day

Enjoy live music from the incredible Mr. Soul Motion, indulge in cocktail and dessert specials crafted for the occasion, and more.

FR (2/14), 5pm, District 42, 7 Patton Ave

Valentine’s Day Family Masterpiece Painting

Bring your partner, child, friend, or family member and get creative as you both receive canvases to paint portraits of each other. Hot chocolate and snacks provided.

FR (2/14), 5:30pm, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, 285 Livingston St

AMOS After Hours: Attraction & Reaction in the Natural World

An adults-only night with fun hands-on experiences and activities exploring the science of attraction and reaction. Put your chemistry to the test with chemical reaction matchmaking.

FR (2/14), 6pm, Asheville Museum of Science, 43 Patton Ave

Valentines Day Family Dance

Bring someone special and your best dance moves to Burton Street Community Center's Valentines Day Family Dance for music, refreshments, and memories.

FR (2/14), 6:30pm, Burton Street Community Center, 134 Burton St

Valentine's Tantra Speed Date

Experience this speed dating revolution with a 94% connection rate. Meet singles and ignite connections through fun, chemistry-building games.

FR (2/14), 6:30pm, WellSpring Wellness Center, 966 Tunnel Rd

Community Valentine

Pride Party

Start a new tradition and celebrate love of all kinds. Play games, dance, talk and take photos with costumes. Bring your love or find love.

FR (2/14), 7pm, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place, Asheville

Flappers & Felony: A Valentine's Murder Mystery Event

Enjoy solving a Valentine murder mystery with the Swannanoa Valley Museum. It’s up to the party goers to find the murderer before the police arrive.

FR (2/14), 7pm, Peri Social House, 406 W State St, Black Mountain Snow Moon Stargazing for Valentine's Day

Bring your sweetie, your BFF, or venture on a solo excursion while Astronomer & Author Stephan Martin guides you through the stars. It's encouraged to dress warmly and bring blankets for sitting or staying warm.

FR (2/14), 7:30pm, Hickory Nut Gap Farm, 57 Sugar Hollow Rd, Fairview

Alternative Valentine's Day: Speed Relating Speed relating increases connection between humans. It's an original, fast-paced listening game that looks kind of like speed dating, but isn't and it's for anyone, single or in a relationship.

FR (2/14), 8pm, Corduroy Lounge, 444 Haywood Rd Ste 103

Candlelight: Valentine's Day Special

A live, multi-sensory musical experience to awe inspiring locations never seen before. Celebrate love this Valentine's Day with soundtracks featuring romantic classics like Breakfast at Tiffany's, Romeo and Juliet and other heartfelt melodies.

FR (2/14), 8:45pm, Asheville Masonic Temple, 80 Broadway Annual Valentine's Day Fake As Hell Wedding

Celebrate Valentine's Day with a Fake As Hell Wedding. It's free and fun with a dance party to follow.

FR (2/14), 9pm, Fleetwood's, 496 Haywood Rd

6th Annual Great Buzz Gathering

Discover how pollinators power our world and

how you can help. This event will feature talks, exhibits, and a community united by a passion for biodiversity, native plants, and protecting pollinators.

SA (2/15), noon, The Mule, 131 Sweeten Creek Rd Ste 10

Fuzzy Rainbows Fest: Second Saturday

An all-day Billy Strings pre-show party featuring live music and art vendors. These back-to-back Saturday events will take place on both floors.

SA (2/15), noon, Asheville Music Hall, 31 Patton Ave

Grownup & Me Valentine's Dance Dress up in your Valentine's Day finest and join Ms. Lacy for a fun-filled class. You and your kiddo will learn a beautifully choreographed Valentine-themed duet, perfect for sharing love through movement.

SA (2/15), 3pm, Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W State St, Black Mountain

You Had Me At MEOW: Speed-dating for Cat-lovers

An inclusive speed-dating event where you can mix and mingle with single cat lovers from all walks of life. All proceeds from this event will be donated to Binx's Home for Black Cats.

SA (2/15), 6pm, House of Black Cat Magic, Co., 841 Haywood Rd

The Souper Duper: Asheville's Annual Soup Contest

The event will raise money for local non-profits and give back while enjoying some warm food and local music.

SU (2/16), 2pm, The Mule, 131 Sweeten Creek Rd Ste 10

Celebration of Life for Adara McDaniels

This event is a special celebration of life for beloved Asheville Drag Queen, Adara McDaniels who passed away from complications to cancer. There will be featured performances by Luanne Landreth, Celeste Starr, Mimi Monroe and more.

SU (2/16), 6pm, O.Henry's, 237 Haywood St

Black History Celebration

Learn about Black history in Asheville with games, refreshments, and fellowship.

TH (2/20), 1:30pm, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

BENEFITS & VOLUNTEERING

Oakley Community

Closet

A cost-free opportunity to shop clothes, shoes, and toys. Donations for Oakley Community

Closet happily accepted at Murphy-Oakley Community Center throughout the week.

WE (2/12), 1pm, Murphy-Oakley Community Center, 749 Fairview Rd

Share the Love This free community event aims to raise funds to support Root Cause Farm's goal of growing fresh, organic produce in 2025 and distributing it at no cost to neighbors in need.

TH (2/13), 4pm, The Mule, 131 Sweeten Creek Rd Ste 10

Tyger Tyger Pop-Art Auction for Beloved Asheville

A special silent auction on Valentine's Day of flood-damaged, salvaged and new art by Tyger Tyger Gallery artists who have generously donated their work to benefit BeLoved Asheville. There will be drinks donated by Burial Beer Co. and music from DJ Xo Sarii.

FR (2/14), 5pm, Tyger Tyger Gallery, 191 Lyman St, Ste 144

Gawd Save The Queen: A benefit for Suzy Phillips & Crew This fundraiser will feature tunes, a photo booth, all the candy hearts you can eat as well as food options. All proceeds from ticket and food sales will go directly to helping Gypsy Queen and crew.

FR (2/14), 6pm, Citizen Vinyl, 14 O'Henry Ave

90’s-Themed Drag Brunch to Benefit Tranzmission Featuring the fiercest performers in Asheville decked out in 90s-inspired couture, serving looks so gnarly they’ll make you clutch your pearls. There will be food by BiscuitHead and proceeds will benefit Tranzmission.

SA (2/15), 11am, Banks Ave., 32 Banks Ave Comedy for Community Supporting Our Voice Comedy for community brings all you favorite local comedians together to support a variety of local charities and organizations. This event will be supporting Our Voice.

SU (2/16), 6:30pm, Catawba Brewing Company S Slope, 32 Banks Ave

15th Annual Battle of the Badges Blood Drive Competition

A good-natured blood drive competition between the Asheville Fire Department, Asheville Police Department, Buncombe County Emergency Medical Service, Buncombe County Sheriff's Office and the North Carolina Hwy Patrol.

WE (2/19), 8am, First Baptist Church, 5 Oak St

A new monthly relationship column with Jamie Zane

BY JAMIE ZANE

Dear Readers,

I consider myself lucky to be a curious person who isn’t afraid to take risks. It’s brave to express vulnerabilities, and I value sharing from the heart. That’s what I keep telling myself as I step into this very exciting (and a little terrifying) adventure of presenting you with this new monthly column. My hope is that this will be a space for us to explore the things that matter most to so many of us — our relationship to ourselves, each other and the world around us.

Before we get started, I’d like to share a little about me and my intentions for this endeavor.

I grew up in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey (yes — there are woods in Jersey), spent several years in Philadelphia, moved out to Colorado and then made Asheville my forever home in 2011. I am a transplant who dares to say she felt called here.

As a first-generation college student from a working-class background, I racked up more student loan debt than most and eventually earned several degrees while waiting tables and volunteering as a rape crisis counselor, including a master’s degree in education in human sexuality and a master’s in marriage and family therapy. The life experiences I’ve had are far more interesting than the degrees I forced myself to finish — but damn, that sex degree has become rather useful. My current professional roles tend to be congruent with one another: psycho-

therapist specializing in human sexuality; clinical supervisor for therapists all over the country who are pursuing sex therapy certification; owner of a group practice that has grown way bigger than I had imagined; adjunct professor at my former therapy school in South Carolina; and now a monthly columnist.

I’m also a mom, a friend, a partner, and a cat and dog enthusiast.

WHAT TO EXPECT EACH MONTH

Relationships are sometimes confusing, terrifying, messy and exhausting. I’d like to think that the rewards are worth the risk and aim to share the reasons why I’ve made an entire life that centers on relationships.

I feel quite comfortable talking about my work in certain terms but never about my people directly. There is nothing more sacred to me than confidentiality in therapy, and I am fiercely protective of this agreement. If I discuss something that I have done in my work, it will be in vague terms and mostly focused on what I said or did.

The topic of sex is triggering for so many people and for a variety of reasons that span across diverse identities. When a subject matter is so provocative that it can hardly be spoken about — yet it is also such an important part of our humanity and it can be seen almost everywhere — this drives my curiosity and desire to uncover what’s behind it all.

As the title suggests, this will be a space for feelings, and we’re going to discuss the difference between feelings and desire, the health of relationships,

RELATIONSHIP ADVICE: Xpress welcomes Jamie Zane as the paper’s newest monthly columnist. She is featured here with her cat, Feliz.

mental/emotional health and why these things are so important. We will engage about the barriers that we face in communication with others and within ourselves. We will contemplate the role of culture’s influence on relationships and sex. We will talk about fun things like how to incorporate play into your life and why it’s so important for us throughout our whole lives. We will address hard things like unwanted sexual experiences, desire discrepancies, navigating sex after cancer and coping with feeling chronically unsafe.

There is no single demographic in mind for this column. Sometimes you will see yourself in our discussions, and sometimes you will not — but you will hopefully have the ability to connect with the underlying human experience within the topic we are exploring. That is the ingredient to what I think of as next-level empathy — it’s not knowing exactly what the person is experiencing but understanding the underlying emotions involved in their experience.

This column will also be somewhat of a hybrid. Sometimes I will interview a guest based on the topic of interest. Other times I might just go on a rant that will hopefully take you for an interesting ride. And hopefully — I really do mean this sincerely — some of you will feel compelled to write in a question, and I can fulfill one of my lifelong dreams of doling out advice to strangers. Because that is not what therapists usually get to do. Just know that I’m not your therapist in this role, and nothing that I communicate with you in this space should be taken as a form of therapy.

CONSIDER THIS

For now, I will leave you with something to contemplate:

What is sex for?

If you are game for an activity, write down as many answers as you possibly can. Then circle the answers that matter to you the most. And then think about how connected or disconnected you feel with what I’m now going to call your sexual values. And if you’re looking for a deeper connection with a partner or a friend, engage in some conversation this Valentine’s Day (or any random day) on the above question. If you’d like to contribute to the column by sending a question or a topic request, please email me at jamie@ outofthewoodstherapy.com and indicate Mountain Xpress in your subject line. I will most likely not be responding to these emails directly and anything you write may be featured in the column anonymously.

Back in my graduate program in human sexuality, I learned that there are three underlying questions that people have behind almost every question about sex: Am I normal? Is this (fantasy, desire, proclivity) normal? Do I have permission to do this?

Over the following months, “Love & Sex in WNC” intends to address these — and many more — topics! X

Photo by Ryan Brazell

ARTS & CULTURE

Waterlogged phoenix

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN

On Aug. 24, craft beverage aficionados gathered on the banks of the French Broad River for Zillicoah Beer Co.’s annual Session Fest. Though the weather was on the warm side, there was plentiful shade for visitors as they sampled beers under 5% ABV from 20 local and regional breweries.

Just over a month later, those grounds were underwater — one of the many riverside victims of Tropical Storm Helene. But true to the scrappy resilience that’s defined the brewery since its October 2017 opening and helped it weather the COVID-19 pandemic, the Zillicoah team is scarred but not defeated by this latest setback.

“We determined really quickly that this couldn’t be the end of Zillicoah,” says co-owner Jeremy Chassner. “We will be back.”

THE DAMAGE

The timetable for Zillicoah’s return, however, is understandably tough to pin down for Chassner, his brother, Jonathan Chassner, and their business partner, John Parks.

As the pre-Helene rains fell on Sept. 25, brewery staff moved tables up from the pad that sits down by the river, then transferred pumps and other movable equipment to pallets and forklifted them onto racks inside the brewhouse. But Jeremy says he and his colleagues never thought water would enter the building. The brewery sits about 100 feet from the river, and a berm runs along the south half of the property for flood mitigation, with the building seated about 10 feet above that on a hill.

Zillicoah rises from the post-Helene rubble

WALL TO WALL: Zillicoah Beer Co. sustained significant damage from floodwaters caused by Tropical Storm Helene. But ownership is determined to reopen its Riverside Drive location. Photo courtesy of Zillicoah

“The water made it there and then some,” Chassner says. “The waterline inside our building is at 6 feet. The way it rushed in from the south ended up shearing the locking mechanisms off and lifting all five of our garage doors to that level. As all our belongings, tables and fermenters were crashing around like a giant washing machine, they ended up slamming and busting the doors out.”

As the water receded, seven of the brewery’s fermenters along with its

tables, point-of-sale stations, safe, spare parts, tools, bottling line, keg washer, barstools and merchandise were carried out the sides. Furthermore, its cold box, which held all of Zillicoah’s beer inventory plus some raw materials, broke apart; the horizontal lagering tanks were thrown on their sides, and every piece of equipment was left with 6 inches of mud underneath.

Chassner describes the brewery’s fenced-in storage area as resembling an earthquake scene from a movie, complete with “giant wooden shelving racks thrown on top of each other like toys,” the brewery’s enormous air compressor turned upside down and blocking the door, and everything likewise caked in mud.

Then there were some truly unexpected discoveries.

“We had all kinds of property and debris — including two shipping containers that don’t belong to us — on our property. [And on-site restaurant partner] Master BBQ’s food trailer was pinned up against a power pole,” Chassner says.

Despite everything, Chassner says he’s grateful the structure itself is still standing and sound and that some equipment survived, including

the brewhouse and main fermenters. While he believes the stainless portions of all this equipment should be fine, all electrical/mechanical items will likely require replacing.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

Like many local business owners affected by Helene, the Zillicoah team couldn’t reach the property until days after the damage occurred.

Chassner says they “started to have a sinking feeling” late in the morning on Sept. 27, shortly after cellphone service in the region went down. His brother, Jonathan, soon managed to find enough open roads to reach Riverside Drive. But once there, the closest he could get to the property was the Grainger Industrial Supply building two lots away.

“At that time, our entire field was under moving water, but the brewery itself was still dry by several feet,” Jeremy says. “Seeing what was going on just south of us, we were hoping that we would stay lucky. Obviously, that didn’t happen.”

The following day, taproom supervisor Alan King worked his way to the Zillocoah entrance and sent the

ownership team pictures of the brewery underwater with walls missing, cold box gone and doors twisted and blown out.

“I didn’t really know what to do or feel,” Chassner says. “My jaw just about hit the floor. It was truly, immediately one of the greatest heartbreaks of my life, and I think it was the same for both Jon and Parks.”

Once the owners made it inside the brewery on Sept. 29, there was still moving water receding from the parking lot. In addition, the gate was mangled and stuck shut, prompting the team to jump the barbed-wire fence and trudge in.

After taking in the destruction, Chassner’s mind pivoted to the safety of his staff and his ability to provide for his family, and he contemplated if a life change and/or move was in order.

“It’s hard to quiet your mind under these circumstances, and you can’t avoid asking yourself the questions you really don’t want to ask,” he says. “We were going through every emotion from fear to anger to depression to, ultimately, gratitude that we had our lives. As time went on, we discovered that this was far from a guarantee.”

Chassner compares taking in the property’s destruction to “seeing a sick family member — we couldn’t just leave it to die.” In turn, acknowledging that Zillicoah’s normally serene property is as big of a draw as its beer, the team decided to stay at 870 Riverside Drive. Discussions with the landlord confirmed that both sides’ goals aligned.

“We realize the risk of rebuilding at our current site, but it’s something we need to do,” Chassner says. “There’s always the possibility of moving the brewing equipment off-site in the future and keeping our current location as a taproom. We’ll see.”

NOT JUST ‘OUR BREWERY’

Starting the rebuild has included sifting through debris, including parts of other businesses from miles upriver, plus shoveling mud, ripping out drywall, pressure washing, squeegeeing and plentiful disassembling and reassembling.

“We’re trying to view this as an opportunity to do it better this time,” Chassner says.

But as the cleanup began, the Zillicoah ownership team spent the better part of a month putting the business on hold. That involved everything from canceling internet and phone accounts and returning leased equipment to managing autopays, service-level agreements and recurring deliveries.

“You start by poring through all your accounting records and banking statements to identify every cost associated with keeping your busi-

ness afloat. Start big and move down the list,” Chassner says. “When the money stops coming in, you need to make sure the money stops going out if you want any shot at making it.”

According to Chassner, Zillicoah’s insurance company denied its claim entirely, refusing to even provide business interruption coverage due to utilities being knocked out. However, financial aid has poured in through the brewery’s GoFundMe campaign, which as of press time has raised nearly 80% of its $150,000 goal.

In addition, Zillicoah has received grants through Mountain BizWorks and the N.C. Craft Guild, and numerous industry colleagues have held fundraisers in support of the business. But it’s the hundreds of messages from friends, regulars and complete strangers from halfway across the country that have proved just as meaningful.

“This support is really what helped us cope and persevere,” Chassner says. “We always knew that the beer community loved and supported Zillicoah, but it wasn’t until Helene that we really got the full scope of just what the brewery means to people. For the first time, we realized that it’s not just our brewery, and we’ve been using that sentiment to drive our recovery. We want it back for everyone.”

To those ends, Chassner & Co. have gratefully accepted help from a few regulars who work in the trades. (“More than a few beers will be bought for them when the time comes,” he says.)

The brewery also received its emergency repair permit from Buncombe County and has subcontractors working on specific pieces. Electrical work is underway, gas lines have been pressure-tested and passed inspection, and some basic plumbing work is slated to be completed before the end of January.

“All mud is finally out, and we’re organizing the space. The building is almost feeling habitable again, and for the first time in a long time, we’re feeling encouraged and positive,” Chassner says. “All this to say, we’re still many, many months away from reopening.”

As the work continues, Chassner and his co-owners also turn to each other for support. The childhood friends have long played music as a form of therapy and are thankful to have such loving families in this time of crisis.

“Jon, Parks and I are all equally stubborn and driven. On day one, this felt impossible, insurmountable. The option to walk away from it all was very much there and would have been the simpler route,” he says. “That’s not who we’ve ever been, and it’s certainly not who we are now. While these times are tough, there’s no two people I’d rather have in my corner to turn this mountain into a molehill.”

To learn more, visit avl.mx/efn. X

Musical pillars Eleanor Underhill and Spaceman Jones & The

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN

Just Enough Trouble is the title of Eleanor Underhill’s new album, but the phrase also accurately sums up the Asheville-based artist’s motto in crafting the nine-song collection.

A sonic departure from the polished Americana of Underhill Rose — her long-running project with Molly Rose Reed, in which she sings and plays clawhammer banjo — as well as the layered indie rock of her Eleanor Underhill & Friends project, the LP features “just enough” experimentation and boundary pushing without tipping too far into the unknown.

“I tried to keep it somewhat cohesive in terms of more electronic, more poppy, more fun, more dance-y,” Underhill says. “But there’s always going to be that element of banjo and moodiness and quirkiness that I cannot not do, even if I try.”

Released in mid-November and intended as a tonic for an Asheville

community in need of some joy after Tropical Storm Helene, Just Enough Trouble reflects the singer-songwriter’s longtime love of upbeat grooves and her growing skills as a producer.

Over the past few years, Underhill has increasingly tinkered with drum machines and synthesizers, creating nearly 40 seeds of songs that she calls “baby plants.” But nurturing those sprouts into musical blossoms proved immensely challenging.

“It was really hard for me to focus in and finish a certain amount. Initially, I was thinking, ‘Let’s just get a single out,’ and that single was ‘Just Enough Trouble,’” she says. “That came out, and people were like, ‘The production’s great, it’s really fun.’ I did a music video for it, and I really felt that extra bit of affirmation from the community to be like, ‘Let’s keep going and wrap up as many more songs as I can.’”

Starting primarily with music and beats, Underhill figured out a track’s feeling before matching it with lyrics that fit the mood. For example, “Feels

Motherships

Like a Party” began with her messing around with various synthesizers, after which she asked local instrumentalist Jacob Rodriguez to duplicate a synth part on saxophone.

“So he re-created that, and then I was like, ‘God, this feels like a party.’ And then I was like, ‘There’s the chorus,’” she says.

Though there’s a decreased emphasis on lyrics across Just Enough Trouble and more significance placed on the overall vibe of the track, that doesn’t mean the results are any less intentional and communicative.

“I was trying to be much more obvious and accessible and pop-friendly with the writing on this album,” Underhill says. “And keep the themes a little more general and less hyperpersonal like some of my other stuff, which might come off as being a little more esoteric and maybe cryptic.”

As with cultivating her production skills in the electro-pop mold, it took Underhill a while to embrace this style of songwriting. She used to think that Talking Heads frontman David Byrne’s approach of finding the rhythm of the lyric, putting in placeholder syllables and then figuring out words that fit was “crazy” and “inauthentic” compared with taking a piece of poetry and setting it to music. But now she’s come around to this mindset.

“After you do it for so many years, you want to switch up how you come at it so that the result is different,” she says. “I don’t want to keep writing the same songs. I’ve already written that one. How do you develop and change and make it fresh for yourself?”

Another new wrinkle with Just Enough Trouble’s creative process was building the tracks with zero thought toward performing them live. Underhill calls that shift “liberating,” and though

UPBEAT: Eleanor Underhill latest album, Just Enough Trouble, reflects the singer-songwriter’s longtime love of upbeat grooves. Photo by Silas Durocher

she has since played “Just Enough Trouble,” “And She Said” and “Visual Design” in her shows, she doesn’t feel the need to include them in her sets because they exist in their fullest form on the album.

“It’s too hard to want to do something creatively and be like, ‘Oh, but I can’t — I don’t know how I’m going to re-create this live.’ So then you’re just second-guessing everything. Just create it the way you want it,” she says. “It’s such a different musical landscape these days. I think there’s a lot of ways we can rethink how we do things.” To learn more, visit avl.mx/egf  X

Ahead of their time

The world wasn’t ready for Spaceman Jones & The Motherships’ Forever in a Day

Originally planned for a February 2022 release, the latest EP from the prolific hip-hop duo of lyricist Davaion “Spaceman Jones” Bristol and producer/vocalist Cliff B. “MOTHER HOOD” Worsham was shelved for nearly three years. But with its Jan. 6 debut, the work is hitting ears at a time when it feels most impactful.

“It was almost a ‘too important to put out now’ type of situation. And then we sat on it so long, it became an ‘if not now, when?’ type of situation,” Worsham says. “We just heralded those songs to a different degree. Not to say that the ones we’ve released [in the interim] were bad or anything. I think our catalog is exceptional, but I think we heralded those songs to some degree a little more than others.”

Over the years, the duo contemplated sharing the six-track collection at various junctures. But after the stark division over the U.S. presidential election on the heels of Tropical Storm Helene’s crippling effects, the music seems more vital than ever.

“I feel like it came out at the right time,” Bristol says. “Everything is per-

tinent. This is a time where I think we have to have a little bit more of an edge and be a little bit more hard and ready to confront things head on.”

He continues, “We have to be a lot more willing to be confrontational about things that disturb our own peace — the peace of the community and the peace of the world. Because playing nice has got us into the situation where we are now.”

That hard-nosed, direct style makes even more sense once listeners realize much of the EP was created during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when uncertainty reigned supreme and vows for sweeping social reform were brushed off by those who’ve been fed false promises all their lives. These conflicts are most evident on album closer “Ain’t No Killing (Without Killing),” which was written and recorded in the wake of George Floyd’s May 2020 murder.

“Those lyrics [are] still [relevant] to this day because nothing has changed,” Worsham says. “When it comes down to what’s happening in the streets and how they’re treating folks in the street, that song remains the same.”

In discussing the album, Bristol and Worsham keep coming back to the word “raw.” In regard to “Ain’t

PUTTING IN THE WORK: Since recording Forever in a Day, Spaceman Jones & The Motherships have lived according to the title’s theme of taking control of your life and putting in the work to achieve your dreams.

Photo by Eric Lottary

No Killing (Without Killing),” Bristol enjoys the contrast between Worsham’s fairly poppy production and the raw subject matter, while Worsham ranks Bristol’s lyrics up with “Banks and Collection Plates” as his rawest rhymes from their discography.

But lines like, “If you die on the job, they goi’n clock you out first/And they won’t put a dime toward your funeral and hearse,” from the title track go just as hard. They also echo bars from across the Spaceman Jones & The Motherships catalog that address lower-middle-class, 9-to-5 woes that keep their work feeling bracingly relevant.

As such, Worsham compares Bristol’s lyrics to “reading prophecies,” which is a big reason why Forever in a Day doesn’t sound like it’s been gathering dust or is tied to a particular moment. And the same goes for their unreleased works.

“We’ve probably got three records sitting on the shelf. And some of that stuff’s been sitting there for years — I’m talking way longer than four years,” Worsham says. “And if you put that music on, I guarantee you that it’s just as timeless.”

Since recording Forever in a Day, both artists have lived according to the title’s theme of taking control of your life and putting in the work to achieve your dreams. In addition to producing numerous projects, Worsham returned to his folk/Americana roots, released the critically acclaimed The Cove Ghost in 2024 and recently began recording a follow-up album. Meanwhile, Bristol has grown his Urban Combat Wrestling events into must-see entertainment and launched the Happy Belly Food Truck Co. in late summer 2024.

“You want to have a full life, and we have to change and grow and figure out what we want to do and find a way to make it happen,” Bristol says. “There’s nobody else that’s going to do sh*t for you. And if they do, it’s going to have strings attached.”

To learn more, visit avl.mx/egg. X

Two worlds

BY JESSICA WAKEMAN

In 2015, when Melissa Connelly began work on the initial draft of her debut novel, What Was Lost, the #MeToo movement had yet to gain national momentum. Issues concerning sexual abuse and misconduct remained largely unaddressed.

In many ways, this silence was reminiscent of the author’s own childhood in the 1970s — one of two periods she explores in her debut novel, which came out last fall. What Was Lost tells the story of Marti Farrell — both as a young teen navigating sexual abuse in the 1970s and later as an adult still coping with the trauma of her past.

“I wanted to do it in two timelines to show the effect of the sexual abuse — how it affects [the survivor] through life, how it affects an adult woman, how it affects her parenting,” Connelly says.

SHAME AND GUILT

As a teen, Marti is a trusting, creative 14-year-old girl with a lonely home life. Because of this, she revels in the special attention from her high school’s “cool” art teacher, Spencer Douglas. He shares wine and marijuana with Marti and her friends, and he exposes them to artwork, books and music. His nicknames, gifts and touchy-feely behavior (what an adult reader recognizes as a sexual predator grooming his

victim) makes Marti feel desirable, powerful and special.

“She thinks she’s an equal in this relationship,” Connelly says. “It took her many years to really process the whole thing. [Marti] felt a lot of guilt about it, a lot of shame, because she felt like she created the situation.”

Over the past decade, as Connelly worked on the book, college campuses grappled with confronting sexual assault as the #MeToo movement spread worldwide. Such conversations were not available to Connelly and her friends growing up. In discussing her work with Xpress , Connelly describes some of her high school classmates being targeted by male authority figures and sexually abused. To her knowledge, this behavior wasn’t reported to law enforcement or publicly known.

“It just wasn’t talked about then at all,” Connelly explains. “Even bits of it we were aware of, you didn’t even process it as sexual violence. It was all about blaming the victim.” She recalls Oprah Winfrey discussing her own childhood sexual abuse on her television show in the 1980s as a turning point that greatly increased societal awareness and galvanized a response.

In the novel, however, Marti’s trauma remains a secret long into adulthood. The story’s other time period follows the character as a divorced, 40-year-old mother, co-parenting her 14-year-old daughter, Tess, who is beginning to show an interest in boys. Marti struggles to trust her

BACK

AND

FORTH:

Author Melissa Connelly’s debut novel, What Was Last, tells the story of Marti Farrell in two parts — as a young teen navigating sexual abuse in the 1970s and later as an adult still coping with the trauma of her past. Author photo courtesy of Connelly

daughter’s judgment. Additionally, the novel’s protagonist grapples with her own decision over whether or not to tell Tess about her own experience of sexual abuse.

Over the course of several weeks, Marti realizes how the secret has negatively impacted her relationships. In response, she decides to track down Spencer Douglas.

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

Throughout the book, Connelly touches on other hot-button themes, such as emotionally neglectful parents, closeted homosexuality and slut-shaming. But pregnancy termination may be the book’s topic that is most relevant in 2025.

“I never expected Roe v. Wade being overturned and how significant that would be in terms of my book,” Connelly explains. “It’s interesting now that this is a story of what it was like before Roe and that we’re living the aftermath of it.”

In What Was Lost, the young Marti does not know how to access the health procedure or the number of laws in place that restrict her ability to get one as a minor. At the time of the story, abortion is illegal in the character’s home state of Vermont, forcing her to hitchhike to New York.

Connelly believes her lifelong experience working with young people in psychiatric nursing and special education helped her channel Marti’s teenage perspective. She is quick to point out, however, that Marti’s story

does not reflect her own. The only similarity, she says, is that both left home at an early age. After leaving New York, Connelly attended a high school on a commune in Vermont. She insists that because it was the 1970s, this decision was not all that unorthodox. (Still, she says with a chuckle, the experience “could be” its own novel. “There were a lot of hard years between 16 and 20, when I finally went to college.”)

LIFE IN BREVARD

Connelly is based in Brooklyn most of the year. (Former New York City first lady Chirlane McCray, a neighbor and friend, blurbed her book.) But since retiring in August, the author says she anticipates longer visits to her home in Brevard. Her parents, she notes, first moved to the area in the 1980s.

She’s also working on a second novel, which will be told from multiple points of view.

“That one is harder for me to write, because it’s more autobiographical,” Connelly says. “It’s about a family where the father dies very suddenly when the children are still young.”

Connelly’s own journey as a writer, she notes, has been unconventional. She was in her late 40s when she began What Was Lost. Ten years later, she’s thrilled to see it published. “If you told my 22-year-old self it would have taken me that long, I’d have been horrified,” she says with a laugh. “But I am here. I did it!” X

Peeling back the layers

Monastic meanderings at Thirsty Monk Biltmore Park

BY CHRISTOPHER ARBOR

yearinbeerasheville@gmail.com

On Jan. 1, Christopher Arbor and his friends launched a quest to visit one Asheville brewery each week for all of 2025 in the order that they opened. They’ve run into a few snags and detours — for example, Asheville’s third brewery, French Broad River Brewing, is still rebuilding after flooding from Tropical Storm Helene. Their most recent stop was at Thirsty Monk Brewery. (To read about their previous adventure at Dirty Jack’s, visit avl.mx/ej3.)

First a little pub-style trivia: Ryan Island is in Siskiwit Lake, which is on Isle Royale, which is in Lake Superior. To put it another way: It’s the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake in the U.S. On a map, it looks like a poorly drawn target. A Russian doll situation of geography.

What am I rambling about? Hold your horses. I’m getting there. With the winter solstice more than a month behind us, the days are getting longer and brighter, so 5 o’clock was golden hour as we drove down Interstate 26 to Thirsty Monk Brewery’s Biltmore Park location. The original downtown taproom, which opened in 2008, should have been our next stop. But it’s still closed post-Helene, so we opted for the South Asheville outpost.

To me, Biltmore Park feels like a pocket of Charlotte within Asheville’s city limits, but then there’s Thirsty Monk, a pocket of Asheville tucked within the pocket of Charlotte. Another layered, Russian doll situation. When we arrived, the golden rays of sunshine outside were augmented by the amber lighting inside the taproom. The aesthetic leans toward simple: wooden tables, hightops, chairs and stools. In contrast to the (dare I say) monastic vibe, tarot-inspired posters on the walls feature the beers the company has brewed over the years.

I later contacted owner Barry Bialik for details on the décor, and he shared that the wood for the bar front was reclaimed from cattle barns that used to be on River Arts District property where New Belgium Brewing is now. Part of the bar is also decorated with an old barrel from Founders Brewing Co. in Michigan.

We shuffled up to the bar where we met bartender Heather Crosson. She

was dang good at her job — making strangers feel like friends, dropping knowledge about the brewery’s history and recipes, offering recommendations for food pairings. As an introvert, I’d be exhausted doing her job for 10 minutes, but she’s been doing it for more than 10 years. She was there when the location opened back in 2013.

Heather walked us through the food menu. There weren’t a tremendous number of options, but everything looked amazing. A pint of bacon? Yes, please. A couple of us ended up with some tasty burgers, but the more adventurous took her advice and were delighted by the trout tacos and the fish and chips.

There were four Belgian ales on tap: two high-gravity beers that I dodged plus the Holy Wit and Abby Blonde. Abby, Heather told us, is the name of the owner’s daughter. I asked if the beer is named for the daughter or the daughter for the beer (abbey ale is a style in the Belgian family). She assured me the beer is named for the daughter. There were also several Green Man beers available. Heather explained that the two breweries have a very friendly relationship — Thirsty Monk actually does all its brewing in Green Man’s facility. A few Thirsty Monk hard seltzers called “Holy Water” were also on tap. (Ha! I see what they did there.) I was curious about the religious/sacreligious theme of the place, so I poked around online.

According to a 2019 article in The Beer Connoisseur, Bialik discovered through past-life regression work that he’s the reincarnation of a French monk from the 1500s. And in this life, he’s busy making the world a more pleasant place, not just with beer, but as former chair of Asheville’s Affordable Housing Committee and through his other business, Compact Cottages, which has built over 300 homes in the area.

Sadly, Bialik informed me that due to a decrease in downtown visitor traffic after Helene, Thirsty Monk’s iconic downtown taproom may not reopen. “I’d say about 25% of our staff has moved away from Asheville,” he told me. “We are trying to figure out what to do with the space.”

Friends, that’s heartbreaking. One of the goals of this series is to spotlight local businesses to help revitalize our community post-Helene. However, a lot of breweries haven’t reopened after the storm and may never. As you know, there’s still a lot of work to do — debris to clear, homes to reconstruct, conversations to be had, an economy to rebuild. Let’s do it together.

We meet Wednesdays around 5:30 p.m. Our next meetups are:

• Feb. 12 — Oyster House Brewing on Haywood Road

• Feb. 19 —Wicked Weed Downtownd Join us if you’d like. You can email me at yearinbeerasheville@gmail.com or just show up.  X

165 merrimon avenue plantisfood.com

TAP DANCER: Bartender Heather Crosson introduced the Year in Beer gang to what’s on tap at Thirsty Monk’s Biltmore Park location. Photo by Christopher Arbor

Popping the cork

BY KAY WEST

After nearly three months of building out the Haywood Road slot between The Hop West and Instant Karma boutique, friends and business partners Phil Cerrito and Brian Kim had their final inspection at Bebop Bottle Shop on Sept. 26. Cerrito says he and Kim were grateful the City of Asheville kept its appointment despite the driving rain that day.

“We planned to spend that weekend doing finishing touches and open the next week,” he says. “Obviously, that’s not what happened.”

Anyone living in Western North Carolina at the time knows what happened — on Sept. 27, Tropical Storm Helene shut the city and region down for weeks. Rather than placing bottles

of wine on custom-built shelves in their shop, the partners spent the weekend clearing downed trees in their North Asheville neighborhood, resulting in severe cases of poison ivy for both of them. With no water, power or access to medication, they evacuated to the coast to spend a few weeks with Kim’s partner’s family.

When Cerrito and Kim returned, they discovered that their contractor’s shop near the Swannanoa River — Vaden Custom Builders — had been inundated with 20 feet of water, and Bebop’s shelves had washed down the river.

2/12:

Reader: Jessica 12-5

2/13: Reader: Alondra 1-6

2/14: HAPPY

Reader: Krysta 12-6

2/16: Reader: Andrea 12-4

But the entrepreneurs persevered, and on Oct. 26, they opened Bebop Bottle Shop. The intention, says Cerrito, was to fill a niche he had identified on his first exploratory trips to Asheville from the pair’s native New Jersey in November 2023. “I saw room for what we wanted to do — an on-premises retail operation with a bar element,” he says. “We also wanted to be part of Asheville’s vibrant art, music and creative scene.”

Cerrito and Kim first became business partners in New Jersey hosting a pop-up roast pork sandwich venture at farmers markets on weekends. “A

friend of mine had a bar, and at midnight Friday nights, we’d go into his kitchen and start cooking the pork to be ready the next morning,” he explains.

Both partners also had full-time jobs at the time — Kim in corporate finance and Cerrito in wine sales. When Kim decided to relocate to Asheville to start a business, Cerrito’s interest was piqued, and they decided to team up again, minus the pork sandwiches.

“We knew of Asheville as a beer town but learned there is a really good wine culture here as well,” Cerrito says. “Restaurants, shops and consumers here have an understanding of what good wine is, and the importance of responsible farming and minimal intervention.”

Due to the shop’s size limitations, the inventory stays around 150 wines, with 90% of them retailing for under $35.

“I typically only buy six bottles of anything at a time, so on any given week we have 10-30 new wines in the store,” Cerrito says. Bebop also carries a small selection of nonalcoholic options.

Shortly after opening as a bottle shop, Bebop began pouring by the glass at its small bar. The two go hand in hand, Cerrito explains. “People come in for a glass of wine at the bar, look around at the shelves and walk out with a bottle.”

The by-the-glass list is refreshed daily. People can also pull a bottle off the shelf or out of the cooler, and for a $10 corkage fee, drink it on-site. In addition to the bar, there is seating in the shop’s main room and in the back of the store, where there is also a community table.

Bebop offers its walls to help River Arts District artists who lost gallery space due to Helene. “We don’t curate, we give space and take no commission on sales,” says Cerrito. Artist Greg Carr, aka Tall Greg, has kicked off a monthly Sunday afternoon paint-and-sip guided painting class with Cerrito choosing the wines — the next one is 3:30-5:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 16; tickets are $45 and available at avl.mx/eii.

Local musician Zack Kardon is doing a music residency in the shop — solo and with friends — 7-9 p.m. Wednesdays. Cerrito and Kim are also talking with chefs about starting popups and wine dinners once Bebop has its health certificate.

“The timing to be here in West Asheville is great,” Cerrito observes. “There’s a diversity of new, small businesses in the neighborhood with fresh ideas and perspectives, all supporting each other. Brian and I are really happy we landed here.”

Bebop Bottle Shop is at 723 Haywood Road. Learn more at avl.mx/eif. X

THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE: Bebop Bottle Shop hosts local musician Zach Kardon every Wednesday in its intimate space, with wine by the glass or bottle. Photo courtesy of Bebop

Like many Western North Carolina businesses, chef Suzy Phillips’ Gypsy Queen Cuisine and Simple restaurants took a hard hit from extended shutdowns after Tropical Storm Helene. Additionally, her third eatery, Black Cat Sandwich Co., was on the cusp of opening when it was flooded and destroyed by the storm. On Friday, Feb. 14, at Citizen Vinyl, chefs Michelle Bailey and Terri Terrell cook up some love — and lots of food — with Gawd Save the Queen, a benefit for Phillips and her staff. A $5 advance ticket allows admission to buy a la cart meat, veggie and vegan dishes, plus enjoy music, a photo booth, candy hearts and more. Citizen Vinyl is at 14 O. Henry Ave. Tickets available at avl.mx/ei6. X

Locals-onlydeals atFarmBurge r

This month, Farm Burger is offering a winter deal for locals only. On Mondays, Asheville locals can get a burger for $5 and local draft beers for $2 at the downtown location at 10 Patton Ave. On Fridays, customers can take advantage of the same deal at the South Asheville location at 1831 Hendersonville Road. For more information, visit avl.mx/eiv. X

Local residents placed flowers outside Cucina 24 in memory of the restaurant’s chef and owner, Brian Canipelli, who died after a medical emergency during dinner service on Feb. 6. Xpress will have more on Canipelli’s life and local contributions in next week’s issue. X

Grocery store in downtown

If all goes well, April will see the debut of a new grocery store, Asheville Forager, at 35 Wall St. downtown. Owners Padraic and Heather Collins are working on the buildout for the concept, which will feature many locally sourced items, plus a deli and in-house bakery. The space — previously home to the Asheville Emporium gift shop — was damaged when an upstairs apartment was flooded after water service returned to Asheville following Tropical Storm Helene, according to Heather Collins. This is the couple’s first business ven- ture, she says. For updates, visit avl.mx/eir. X

A Taste of the Favorites at Golden Hour

As a teaser for its planned March reopening, Golden Hour at The Radical hotel will host A Taste of the Favorites pop-up dinner with live music at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22. The family-style meal will offer a preview of the restaurant’s new menu that will roll out with the reopening in March. Dishes will include rice-pot cornbread, seafood beignets, lamb a la parilla, roasted chicken and many more. Golden Hour is at 95 Roberts St. Tickets are $75 each. Visit avl.mx/eis. X

The EmPOWERing Mountain Food Systems project and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) Division of Commerce are collaborating with the New Mexico-based Street Food Institute to host a Food Truck Bootcamp training event for aspiring food truck owners Monday-Thursday, March 10-13, in Cherokee. The training will cover many aspects of launching and operating a food truck, from menu design and food safety to marketing, inspections and business planning. Registration is $150 for EBCI tribal members, $200 for nontribal members. For more information, call Laura Lauffer at 828-359-6936. Register at avl.mx/eiu. X

Photo by Thomas Calder

Photo

by Kay West

National Geograhic: The Greatest Wildlife Photographs

Thanks to a new exhibition at The N.C. Arboretum, you don’t have to brave the wild to observe the wild. A new collection from National Geographic, curated by nature photo editor Kathy Moran, is now on display at The N.C. Arboretum’s Baker Exhibit Center through Sunday, May 11. “The Greatest Wildlife Photographs” exhibition features over 70 framed wildlife photographs taken over more than a century by celebrated National Geographic photographers, including Michael “Nick” Nichols, Steve Winter, Paul Nicklen, Beverly Joubert, David

Doubilet and more. Text panels that accompany each photo explain how the photographers achieved the images, often through innovative methods such as camera traps, remote imaging and underwater technology. From snow leopards in India and gelada baboons in Ethiopia to the flightless 250-pound cassowary of Australia and the gray wolves of Minnesota, the exhibit takes visitors on a worldwide journey to see animals in their natural habitats. Entry to the exhibit is included with The N.C. Arboretum’s regular parking fee; members are admitted for free. avl.mx/eig X

Jazz with Trevor Darden

Jazz is cool. Jazz is sexy. Jazz is Trevor Darden’s love language, and on Friday, Feb. 14, the charismatic crooner delivers his message at Soprana, Embassy Suites by Hilton’s rooftop bar. Darden, a native of Savannah, Ga., first caught the ears of Asheville locals and visitors a few years ago from his post at the Flat Iron sculpture downtown on the corner of Battery Park Avenue and Wall Street, where he immersed himself in the local busking tradition with an acoustic guitar and seductive vocals. His impeccable style set him apart from more dresseddown street performers, a fashion sense he developed further in his alter ego, Street Sinatra (avl.mx/eij), sporting vintage fedoras, snappy suspenders and snazzy three-piece suits. Darden segued to indoor performances at venues including the Haywood Park Hotel, Crave Dessert Bar, Sovereign Remedies in Asheville and Goldfinch in Black

Mountain. The Valentine’s Day show at Soprana will run 6-9 p.m., featuring jazz, big band, modern soul and slowburn love songs. Specialty cocktails for the big night include the Soprana Love Potion, True Love’s Kiss and Chocolate Strawberry. avl.mx/eik X

Tony Trischka’s EarlJam

One of the world’s most influential banjo players, Tony Trischka has inspired bluegrass and acoustic musicians from Béla Fleck to Steve Martin. On Thursday, Feb. 20, at 185 King Street in Brevard, Trischka and his band will be joined by Grammywinning bluegrass artist Woody Platt to present EarlJam, a tribute to Trischka’s banjo idol, the late Earl Scruggs. The performance showcases Scruggs’ unique three-finger style, tracing the bluegrass legend’s story from his childhood to his final years. For the show, Trischka transcribed many of Scruggs’ solos from extremely rare recordings of jam sessions with Scruggs and John Hartford. Most were songs Scruggs never commercially recorded or released. On the show’s event page, Trischka says, “Earl is my North Star, a lifetime pathway. At the age of 13, when I first heard 16 notes of Scruggs-style banjo playing, I put down my folk guitar and pestered my parents to buy me a banjo. That 5-string became my obsession and has been for 60 years.”

EarlJam debuted in 2024 at Joe’s Pub in New York City, and selections have been performed at the Grand Ole Opry. The show is 21 and older; guests younger than 21 must be accompanied by a guardian. General admission tickets are $23. avl.mx/eih X

RADA Outpost Gallery grand opening

Within days of Tropical Storm Helene wiping out many of the River Arts District’s buildings, studios and art, people sprang into action to help and raise funds. Notably, the River Arts District Artists (RADA) group, under the leadership of its current president, jewelry designer and maker Jeffrey Burroughs, launched the RADA Foundation (avl.mx/eim).

On Friday, Feb. 14, the RADA Outpost Gallery at 24 N. Lexington Ave. will host a grand opening party from 5-8 p.m. The large space was donated to RADA by Hatteras Sky’s Radical Hotel, spearheaded by Hatteras Sky principal Amy Kelly; Radical also paid for the gallery’s signage. “In this space, we can show and sell art from RAD artists who lost studios, galleries, art, supplies and income to Helene,” Burroughs says. “We can also advocate for and remind people that studios are open in the upper part of RAD on Roberts Street, Artful Way, Clingman Avenue and Depot Street.” Situated next door to Table restaurant, the multiroom gallery’s walls feature works by over 80 artists,

with crafts-style pieces to be added as the gallery acquires more furnishings. Burroughs says RADA is working with another arts patron to extend the residency for Outpost until the end of this year. avl.mx/eil X

Photo courtesy of Trevor Darden

“Vumbi Pride” by Michael Nichols

Photo by Greg Heisler

Photo courtesy of RADA

CLUBLAND

POP-FUNK FUSION WITH LATIN ROOTS: On Friday, Feb. 14, Johnson City, Tenn.-based band Florencia & the Feeling performs at Jack of the Wood Pub, starting at 9 p.m. Attendees can expect a high-energy fusion of pop, funk and jazz influenced by the Argentinian roots of lead singer Florencia Rusiñol, accompanied by her band. Photo courtesy of Florencia & the Feeling

THE ONE STOP

Watkins (indie-folk, alt-rock), 10pm

THE ORANGE PEEL

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12

EULOGY

Early James (country, blues, folk), 7pm

GRANGE BY FOOTHILLS Trivia Night, 6pm

HI-WIRE BREWING -

BILTMORE VILLAGE Free Weekly Trivia, 7pm

HIGHLAND BREWING

CO.

Hear Here w/Jay Brown & Matt Smith (Americana, folk, rock), 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

Old Time Jam, 5pm

LEVELLER BREWING CO. Folk Club, 6:30pm

OKLAWAHA

BREWING CO. Bluegrass Jam w/Derek McCoy & Friends, 6pm

SOUTHERN

APPALACHIAN BREWERY Jazz Night, 6pm

THE GREY EAGLE Golden Folk Sessions (acoustic), 7pm

Joy Oladokun (folk, alt-country, R&B), 8pm

VOODOO BREWING CO.

Music Bingo Thursdays, 7pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN

Melissa McKinney's Bad Ass Blues Jam, 7:30pm

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13

BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE

Mike Kenton & Jim Tanner (jazz), 5pm

CROW & QUILL

Matadragones (Latin, Americana), 8pm

EDA RHYNE DISTILLERY & TASTING ROOM

The Gilded Palace of Metamodern Sounds, 6pm

EDA'S HIDE-A-WAY

Bless Your Heart Trivia w/Harmon, 7pm

EULOGY

Fashion Bath, Powder Horns, & Porcelain Parrot (indie-rock), 8pm

FLOOD GALLERY

True Home Open Mic, 6pm

HIGHLAND BREWING CO.

Heavenly Vipers (jazz, country, rock), 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

Bluegrass Jam w/ The Saylor Brothers & Friends, 7pm

LAZOOM ROOM BAR & GORILLA

YIKES: Dating Disaster Comedy w/Sarah Love, 7pm

LEVELLER BREWING CO.

Irish Session, 6pm

LOOKOUT BREWING CO.

Music Bingo w/DJ Spence, 6pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

Synth Night w/Sumsun (electronic, dance), 7pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Fee Fi Phaux Fish (Phish tribute), 8pm

PISGAH BREWING CO.

The Log Noggins (southern-rock, progressive), 6:30pm

SHAKEY'S Karaoke w/DJ Franco Nino, 9pm

SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO.

The Cleverlys (bluegrass, comedy), 6pm

STATIC AGE LOFT Auto-Tune Karaoke w/ Who Gave This B*tch A Mic, 10pm

THE ORANGE PEEL

Tim Heidecker (Americana, alt-country, pop-rock), 8pm

VOWL Karaoke Night, 8pm

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14

27 CLUB

Heartbreak Club

Presents: Lust & Love, 8pm

ASHEVILLE MUSIC

HALL

Magenta Sunshine (funk, soul, rock), 10pm

CATAWBA BREWING

CO. SOUTH SLOPE

ASHEVILLE

• Valentine's Day

Comedy w/Ryan Brown, 6pm

• Hot & Horny Valentine's Day Comedy Showcase, 8pm

CORK & KEG

Red Hot Sugar Babies (jazz, blues, swing), 8pm

CROW & QUILL

Nick Garrison (jazz), 8pm

EDA'S HIDE-A-WAY

Valentine’s Day w/ Cyndi Lou & the Want To (country), 8pm

EULOGY

Saints & Sinners:

Valentine's Day Party (electronic), 9pm

GINGER'S REVENGE

CRAFT BREWERY & TASTING ROOM

Mark & Mary Jazz Duo, 6pm

HIGHLAND BREWING

CO.

• Relay Relay (multigenre), 6pm

• Valentine's Day

Dance Party w/DJ Lil Meow Meow (dance, electronic), 9pm

JACK OF THE WOOD

PUB

• Billy Strings Pregame Party w/Bear Creek String Bandits & Marty Lewis (bluegrass), 4pm

• Florencia & The Feeling (funk, pop, soul), 9pm

LOOKOUT BREWING

CO.

Friday Night Music Series, 6pm

ONE WORLD BREWING

Suns of Stars (bluegrass), 11pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

Secret B-Sides w/Chess Club (R&B, hip-hop, indie-pop), 9pm

SHAKEY'S

Maybe This Time: An Asheville Cabaret, 9pm

SHILOH & GAINES

Free Flow Band (funk), 9pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Music for Lovers w/King Garbage (hip-hop, pop, R&B), 8pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS

Gabber Rave (edm), 9pm

THE ARGOT ROOM

Karaoke w/Chels: Anti-Valentines Party, 8pm

THE GREY EAGLE

Album Release Show:

Chatham Rabbits w/Joe Terrell (folk), 8pm

THE ORANGE PEEL

Sold Out: Josh Johnson (comedy), 7pm

THE STATION BLACK MOUNTAIN

Mr Jimmy (blues), 5pm

THIRD ROOM

• Saylor Brothers w/ James Schlender (bluegrass), 4pm •Joe Samba w/Dale & the ZDubs (roots, reggae-rock), 10pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN

Love Bubble (folk-rock, sunshine-pop), 7:30pm

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15

27 CLUB

3rd Annual Bloody Valentine Show (metal), 8pm

ASHEVILLE CLUB

Mr Jimmy (blues), 6pm

ASHEVILLE MUSIC

HALL

Fireside Collective (progressive bluegrass), 10pm

BATTERY PARK BOOK

EXCHANGE

Dinah's Daydream (jazz), 5pm

CORK & KEG

Old-Time Jam, 7pm

CROW & QUILL

Meschiya Lake and The Mood Swingers (jazz), 8pm

EDA'S HIDE-A-WAY

The Bo Stevens (country), 8pm

EULOGY

Saxsquatch w/Yahzay (electronic, R&B, neosoul), 9pm

FLEETWOOD'S

Broken Heart Bash w/ My Gal Monday, Bad Fidelity, & In Dog Years (punk, alternative, rock-n-roll), 9pm

GINGER'S REVENGE

Modelface Comedy Presents: Gluten-Free Comedy, 7pm

HIGHLAND BREWING

CO.

Ben Balmer (folk, Americana), 5pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

• Nobody’s Darling String Band, 4pm

• Drew Matulich & Friends: Billy Strings Afterparty (bluegrass, Americana, blues), 9:30pm

ONE WORLD

BREWING

• Daycrawlers Trio (bluegrass), 3pm

• Redbud & Bald Mountain Boys (bluegrass), 11pm

ONE WORLD

BREWING WEST

• The Greenliners (bluegrass), 2pm

• For the Love of Levon & Lowell (classic-rock, southern-funk), 8pm

SHAKEY'S Trash Talk Queer Dance Party & Drag Show, 10pm

SHILOH & GAINES

Karma Dogs (rock), 9pm

STATIC AGE

RECORDS

Quinn B, Flo Petite, Velvet Graves, & Eggshell Emily (alt-folk, indie-pop, shoegaze), 9pm

THE GREY EAGLE

• Billy Strings Pregame w/Fee Fi Phaux Fish (Phish tribute), 1pm

• Agent Orange w/ Suzi Moon (surf-rock, punk), 8pm

THE ODD Party Foul Drag, 8pm

THE ORANGE PEEL Mountain Grass Unit (bluegrass), 11:45pm

THIRD ROOM

DJ Logic & Friends (hip-hop, acid-jazz, jam-band), 11:30pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK

MOUNTAIN

Piper & The Hard Times (blues-rock), 7:30pm

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16

ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL

Kyle Tuttle Band (jamgrass), 10pm

DSSOLVR

Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 4pm

EULOGY

Red Clay Revival w/Shed Bugs (Americana, funk-rock, psychedelic)), 11pm

FLEETWOOD'S

Thelma and the Sleaze, Puppy and the Dogs, & Yawni (southern-rock, indie, avant-pop), 9pm

GINGER'S REVENGE CRAFT BREWERY & TASTING ROOM

Sunday Jazz Jam, 2:30pm

HIGHLAND BREWING

CO.

Resonant Rogues (folk, jazz), 2pm

Congratulations and thanks

JACK OF THE WOOD

PUB

• The Bluegrass Boys, 12pm

• Traditional Irish Music Session, 3:30pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

Sundays w/Songs From The Road Band (bluegrass), 2pm

PULP

The 40 20 10s (Americana, alt-country), 7pm

SLY GROG LOUNGE

Open Mic w/Mike Andersen, 6:30pm

STATIC AGE

RECORDS

Tomato Jake, Bombay Gasoline, & No One and the Somebodies (electronic, funk, alternative), 8pm

THE GREY EAGLE Burlesque Brunch, 12pm

THE ONE STOP Suns of Stars (bluegrass), 10pm

THIRD ROOM

• Grass is Brass (bluegrass, jazz-funk), 4pm

• Sicard Hollow (jamgrass), 11:30pm

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17

27 CLUB

27 Club Karaoke, 10pm

CATAWBA BREWING CO. SOUTH SLOPE ASHEVILLE

Musicians in the Round: Monday Open Mic, 5pm

EULOGY

Franck Vigroux & Xambuca (electronic, experimental), 8pm

FLEETWOOD'S Best Ever Karaoke, 9pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

Takes All Kinds Open Mic Nights, 7pm

ONE WORLD BREWING Open Mic Downtown, 6:30pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

Mashup Mondays w/ JLloyd, 8pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS

Sludge Inc. (punk, stoner-rock, alt-metal), 8pm

THE JOINT NEXT DOOR

Mr Jimmy & Friends (blues), 7pm

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18

FLEETWOOD'S Turntable Tuesdays, 9pm

LOBSTER TRAP

Dinah's Daydream (jazz), 6:30pm

LOOKOUT BREWING CO.

Team Trivia, 6:30pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

Team Trivia, 7pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

The Grateful Family Band Tuesdays (Grateful Dead tribute), 6pm

THE GREY EAGLE Fantastic Negrito (R&B, blues, folk), 8pm

THIRD ROOM Open Decks, 8pm

VOODOO BREWING CO.

Trivia Tuesday w/ Principal Mike, 7pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN White Horse's Open Mic, 7pm

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19

FLEETWOOD'S PSK Karaoke, 8pm GRANGE BY FOOTHILLS Trivia Night, 6pm

HI-WIRE BREWINGBILTMORE VILLAGE Free Weekly Trivia, 7pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

Old Time Jam, 5pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

Bluegrass Jam w/ Derek McCoy & Friends, 6pm

PISGAH BREWING CO.

High Top Boys (bluegrass, folk), 6pm

SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BREWERY

Jazz Night, 6pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS

Tall Juan w/Sounding Arrow (punk, psychedelic, folk-rock), 8pm

THE GREY EAGLE

Uncle Lucius w/Cole Phillips (country, rock, Americana), 8pm

THE ODD Terraoke Karaoke Takeover, 9pm

THE ONE STOP Alex Bradley & Friends (funk, soul, jazz), 10pm

VOODOO BREWING CO.

• Comedy Night w/ Hey There Comedy, 7pm

• Music Bingo Thursdays, 7pm

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20

ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL

Bearly Dead (tribute-band), 8pm

BOTANIST & BARREL TASTING BAR + BOTTLE SHOP

Oh! Comedy Show, 6:30pm

CROW & QUILL

Matadragones (Latin, Americana), 8pm

EDA RHYNE DISTILLERY & TASTING ROOM

The Gilded Palace of Metamodern Sounds, 6pm

EDA'S HIDE-A-WAY

Bless Your Heart Trivia w/Harmon, 7pm

EULOGY

Stealing the Covers: Night 1 (multi-genre), 7pm

FLOOD GALLERY

True Home Open Mic, 6pm

HIGHLAND BREWING CO.

Nordmoe & The Rodeo (country), 6pm

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

LEVELLER BREWING CO.

Open Old Time Jam, 6pm

LOOKOUT BREWING CO.

Music Bingo w/DJ Spence, 6pm

ONE WORLD BREWING Musical Happy Hour, 5pm

ONE WORLD

BREWING WEST

Fee Fi Phaux Fish (Phish tribute), 8pm

PULP

Sold Out: Marc Maron (comedy), 8pm

PISGAH BREWING CO.

Asheville Guitar Tribute to Jeff Beck (funk-rock, jazz-fusion), 6:30pm

SHAKEY'S • Comedy Showcase w/Hilliary Begley, 8pm

• Karaoke w/DJ Franco Nino, 9pm

STATIC AGE LOFT Auto-Tune Karaoke w/ Who Gave This B*tch A Mic, 10pm THE ONE STOP Andrew Thelston Band (rock, alternative), 9pm VOWL Karaoke Night, 8pm WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Rick Price (soft-rock, folk), 7:30pm

FREEWILL ASTROLOGY BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Love requires stability and steadiness to thrive. But it also needs unpredictability and imaginativeness. The same with friendship. Without creative touches and departures from routine, even strong alliances can atrophy into mere sentiment and boring dutifulness. With this in mind, and in accordance with astrological omens, I offer quotes to inspire your quest to keep togetherness fertile and flourishing. 1. “Love has no rules except those we invent, moment by moment.” — Anaïs Nin. 2. “The essence of love is invention. Lovers should always dream and create their own world.” — Jorge Luis Borges. 3. “A successful relationship requires falling in love many times, always with the same person, but never in quite the same way.” — Mignon McLaughlin.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In celebration of the Valentine season, I suggest you get blithely unshackled in your approach to love. Be loose, limber, and playful. To stimulate the romantic and intimate qualities I think you should emphasize, I offer you these quotes: 1. “Love is the endless apprenticeship of two souls daring to be both sanctuary and storm for one another.” — Rainer Maria Rilke 2. “Love is the revolution in which we dismantle the prisons of our fear, building a world where our truths can stand naked and unashamed.” — Audre Lorde. 3. “Love is the rebellion that tears down walls within and between us, making room for the unruly beauty of our shared becoming.” — Adrienne Rich.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): To honor the rowdy Valentine spirit, I invite you to either use the following passage or compose one like it, then offer it to a willing recipient who would love to go deeper with you: “Be my thunderclap, my cascade of shooting stars. Be my echo across the valley, my rebel hymn, my riddle with no answer. Be my just-before-you-wake-up-dream. Be my tectonic shift. Be my black pearl, my vacation from gloom and doom, my forbidden dance. Be my river-song in F major, my wild-eyed prophet, my moonlit debate, my infinite possibility. Be my trembling, blooming, spiraling, and soaring.”

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian author Elizabeth Gilbert wrote, “The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all.” One of those strange jewels in you is emerging from its hiding place. Any day now, it will reveal at least some of its spectacular beauty — to be followed by more in the subsequent weeks. Are you ready to be surprised by your secret self? Are your beloved allies ready? A bloom this magnificent could require adjustments. You and yours may have to expand your horizons together.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In 2025, the role that togetherness plays in your life will inspire you to achieve unexpected personal accomplishments. Companionship and alliances may even stir up destiny-changing developments. To get you primed, I offer these quotes: 1. “Love is a trick that nature plays on us to achieve the impossible.” — William Somerset Maugham. 2. “Love is the ultimate outlaw. It won’t adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is sign on as its accomplice.” — Tom Robbins. 3. “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same. Yet each day reveals new constellations in our shared sky.” — Emily Brontë.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Psychotherapist Robin Norwood wrote that some people, mostly women, give too much love and kindness. They neglect their own self-care as they attend generously to the needs of others. They may even provide nurturing and support to those who don’t appreciate it or return the favor. Author Anne Morrow Lindbergh expressed a different perspective. She wrote, “No one has ever loved anyone too much. We just haven’t learned yet how to love enough.” What’s your position on this issue, Virgo? It’s time for you to come to a new understanding of exactly how much giving is correct for you.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Are you ready to express your affection with lush and lavish exuberance? I hope so. Now would be an excellent time, astrologically speaking. I dare you to give the following words, composed by poet Pablo Neruda, to a person who will be receptive to them. “You are the keeper of my wildest storms, the green shoot splitting the stone of my silence. Your love wraps me in galaxies, crowns me with the salt of the sea, and fills my lungs with the language of the earth. You are the voice of the rivers, the crest of the waves, the pulse of the stars. With every word you speak, you unweave my solitude and knit me into eternity.”

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Among its potential gifts, astrology can raise our awareness of the cyclical nature of life. When used well, it helps us know when there are favorable times to enhance and upgrade specific areas of our lives. For example, in the coming weeks, you Scorpios could make progress on building a strong foundation for the future of love. You will rouse sweet fortune for yourself and those you care for if you infuse your best relationships with extra steadiness and stability.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I want you to be moved by intimacy and friendships that buoy your soul, inspire your expansive mind, and pique your sense of adventure. To boost the likelihood they will flow your way in abundance during the coming weeks, I offer you these quotes. 1. “Love is a madness so discreet that we carry its delicious wounds for a lifetime as if they were precious gems.” — Federico García Lorca. 2. “Love is not a vacation from life. It’s a parallel universe where everything ordinary becomes extraordinary.” — Anne Morrow Lindbergh. 3. “Where there is love there is life. And where there is life, there is mischief in the making.” — my Sagittarius friend Artemisia.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Every intimate alliance is unique, has its own rules, and shouldn’t be compared to any standard. This is a key theme for you to embrace right now. Below are helpful quotes. 1. “Each couple’s love story is a language only they can speak, with words only they can define.” — Federico Fellini. 2. “In every true marriage, each serves as guide and companion to the other toward a shared enlightenment that no one else could possibly share.” — Joseph Campbell. 3. “The beauty of marriage is not in its uniformity but in how each couple writes their own story, following no map but the one they draw together.” — Isabel Allende. 4. “Marriages are like fingerprints; each one is different, and each one is beautiful.” — Maggie Reyes.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Borrowing the words of Aquarian author Virginia Woolf, I’ve prepared a love note for you to use as your own. Feel free to give these words to the person whose destiny needs to be woven more closely together with yours. “You are the tide that sweeps through the corridors of my mind, a wild rhythm that fills my empty spaces with the echo of eternity. You are the unspoken sentence in my every thought, the shadow and the light interwoven in the fabric of my being. You are the pulse of the universe pressing against my skin, the quiet chaos of love that refuses to be named. You are my uncharted shore.”

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Love and intimacy and togetherness are fun, yes. But they’re also hard work — especially if you want to make the fun last. This will be your specialty in the coming months. I’ve assembled four quotes to inspire you.

1. “The essence of marriage is not that it provides a happy ending, but that it provides a promising beginning — and then you keep beginning again, day after day.” — Gabriel García Márquez. 2. “The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret. But those who follow the art of creating it day after day come closest to discovering it.” — Pearl Buck.

3. “Love is a continuous act of forgiveness.” — Maya Angelou. 4. “In the best of relationships, daily

is a mutual process. Each partner

RENTALS APARTMENTS FOR RENT

APARTMENT FOR RENT

First floor of house in quiet, safe, private neighborhood East of Asheville. 1b/1b, one person only. Shared washer/ dryer. $975/month for rent, $75 for utilities + Wi-Fi. Pets considered. (828) 545-0043

EMPLOYMENT

SKILLED LABOR/ TRADES

MANUFACTURING HOUSING EXPERIENCE Looking for someone with manufacturing housing experience. All aspects of finishing, drywall, siding and framing. Pay based on experience. Text only will call back. 828-412-2062

SALES/ MARKETING

SENIOR SALES ASSOCIATE

Work for a local company that has covered the local scene for 30 years! Mountain Xpress newspaper is a supportive, team-oriented environment serving local readers and businesses. We are seeking an experienced and enthusiastic advertising sales representative. Ideal candidates are personable, organized, motivated, and can present our company with confidence. Necessary skills include clear and professional communications (via phone, email, and in-person meetings), detailed record-keeping, and self motivation. Experience dealing with varied and challenging situations is helpful. The position’s responsibilities

include account development and lead generation (including cold-calling), account management, assisting clients with marketing and branding strategies. If you are a high energy, positive, cooperative person looking to join an independent media organization, please send a resume and cover letter (no walk-ins, please) explaining why you are a good fit for Mountain Xpress to: xpressjob@mountainx.com. This is a noncommissioned position. There is potential for a performance-based annual bonus Salary $22 per hour.

PROFESSIONAL/ MANAGEMENT

ONTRACK WNC IS HIRING AN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR!

OnTrack WNC is on the hunt for a dynamic and team-oriented community leader to step into the role of Executive Director! To apply, head over to our website: ontrackwnc.org/were-hiring/ emilyr@ontrackwnc.org

HOME IMPROVEMENT

GENERAL

SERVICES

AVL'S PREMIER EXTERIOR CLEANING SERVICE Maintaining your property is important for its longevity and curb appeal. JD Power Washing provides safe soft washing for your house, driveway, deck, and more. jd@ jd-power-washing.com

ANNOUNCEMENTS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

AFFORDABLE TV & INTER-

NET If you are overpaying for your service, call now for a free quote and see how much you can save! 1-844588-6579. (AAN CAN)

AGING ROOF? NEW HOMEOWNER? STORM DAMAGE? You need a local expert provider that proudly stands behind their work. Fast, free estimate. Financing available. Call 1-888-292-8225 (AAN CAN)

BATH & SHOWER UPDATES In as little as ONE DAY! Affordable prices - No payments for 18 months! Lifetime warranty & professional installs. Senior & Military Discounts available. Call: 1-877-510-9918. (AAN CAN)

BEAUTIFUL BATH UPDATES in as little as one day. Superior quality bath and shower systems at affordable prices. Lifetime warranty & professional installs. Call Now! 1-855-402-6997. (AAN CAN)

CASH PAID FOR HIGH-END MEN'S SPORT WATCHES Rolex, Breitling, Omega, Patek Philippe, Heuer, Daytona, GMT, Submariner and Speedmaster. These brands only! Call for a quote: 1-855-402-7109 (AAN CAN)

DON'T PAY FOR COVERED HOME REPAIRS AGAIN American Residential Warranty covers All major systems and appliances. 30 day risk free. $100 off popular plans. 888-993-0878. (NC Press)

GET A BREAK ON YOUR TAXES! Donate your car, truck, or SUV to assist the blind and visually impaired. Arrange a swift, no-cost

vehicle pickup and secure a generous tax credit for 2025. Call Heritage for the Blind today at 1-855-869-7055 today! (NC Press)

GET DISH SATELLITE TV + INTERNET! Free install, free HD-DVR upgrade, 80,000 on-demand movies, plus limited time up to $600 in gift cards. Call today! 1-877920-7405. (NC Press)

GOT AN UNWANTED CAR? Donate it to Patriotic Hearts. Fast free pick up. All 50 States. Patriotic Hearts’ programs help veterans find work or start their own business. Call 24/7: 1-855-402-7631. (AAN CAN)

GOT TAX PROBLEMS? Owe under 10k to the IRS? Get affordable tax help you deserve! Start for just $49/ mo. Call Tax Response Center 877-824-1321. (NC Press)

HEARING AIDS High-quality rechargeable, powerful Audien hearing aids priced 90% less than competitors. Tiny and nearly invisible! 45-day money back guarantee. 888970-4637. (NC Press)

NEED NEW WINDOWS? Drafty rooms? Chipped or damaged frames? Need outside noise reduction? New, energy efficient windows may be the answer! Call for a consultation & FREE quote today. 1-877-248-9944. (AAN CAN)

PEST CONTROL Protect your home from pests safely and affordably. Roaches, Bed Bugs, Rodent, Termite, Spiders and other pests. Locally owned and affordable. Call for service or an inspection today! 1-833-237-1199. (AAN CAN)

REPLACE YOUR ROOF With the best looking and longest lasting material – steel from Erie Metal Roofs! Three styles and multiple colors

Do you have an extra car that needs a new home?

Your donated car can open the doors to independence, increased income, and higher education for a hardworking member of our community. Vehicles of all types and conditions are welcomed and appreciated!

The donation is tax-deductible. The process is simple. The impact is real.

available. Guaranteed to last a lifetime! Limited time offer

– up to 50% off installation + additional 10% off install (for military, health workers & 1st responders). Call Erie Metal Roofs: 1-855-585-1815. (NC Press)

SAFE STEP. NORTH AMERICA’S #1 WALK-IN TUB.

Comprehensive lifetime warranty. Top-of-the-line installation and service. Now featuring our FREE shower package and $1600 off for a limited time! Call today!

Financing available. Call Safe Step 1-855-931-3643. (NC Press)

STOP OVERPAYING FOR AUTO INSURANCE A recent survey says that most Americans are overpaying for their car insurance. Let us show you how much you can save. Call now for a no obligation quote: 1-866-472-8309. (AAN CAN)

TOP CA$H PAID FOR OLD

GUITARS! 1920-1980 Gibson, Martin, Fender, Gretsch, Epiphone, Guild, Mosrite, Rickenbacker, Prairie State, D'Angelico, Stromberg. And Gibson Mandolins / Banjos. 1-877-560-5054. (NC Press)

UNCLAIMED / RECEIVED

FIREARMS

The following is

a list of unclaimed firearms currently in the possession of the Asheville Police Department: GRY/BLK, BRYCO ARMS, 48, .380; GREEN, STEN, MKII, 9mm; BLK/BRO, REMINGTON, 870; SIL/BLK, S&W PISTOL, 6906, 9MM; BLK, GLOCK, 23, .40; GRY, JIMENEZ, J.A. NINE, 9MM; SIL, HCA PISTOL, HCA, .32; BLK, LUGER, AP9, 9MM; BLK, HIGHPOINT, 4095 RIFLE, .40; GRY/BLK, SKS, 762X39, 7.62; BRO, REVELATION, 300F, 12 GA; BLK, ANDERSON, AM-15, 223; BLK/WHI, GPR (REVOLVER), GERSTENBERGER, .22; BLK, RUGER, LCP, .380; TAN/ BLK, CANIK, TP9SA, 9MM; BLK, BERETTA, APX, 9MM;

BLK, S&W, S&W MP 45, .45; BLK/BRO, HATFIELD 20 GA SHOTGUN, HATFIELD, .20; BLK/BRO, MOSSBERG SHOTGUN, MOSSBERG, .12; PLE, SCCY, CPX-1, 9MM; BLK/BRO, MOSSBERG SHOTGUN, MOSSBERG, .12; BLK/BRO, HATFIELD 20 GA SHOTGUN, HATFIELD, .20; UNKNOWN, STERLING PISTOL, 22; BLK/SIL, SMITH & WESSON, 9 SHIELD, 9MM; SIL/BLK, JENNINGS, J22, .22; BLK, SMITH & WESSON, S&W, .40; BLK/SIL, HI-POINT, CF380, .380; SIL/BLK, AMT, BACKUP, 9MM; BLK, SMITH & WESSON, SHIELD, 9MM; SIL/BRO, SENTINEL, MKI, .22; BLK, SMITH & WESSON, S&W, .380; SIL, RAVEN, MP-25, .25; BLK, HI-POINT, C9, 9MM; BLK, HI-POINT, S&W, .40; BLK, RUGER REVOLV, LCR, .38; BRO, TAURUS, G2C, 9MM; BLK, KELTEC, P3AT, .380; SIL/BLK, S&W PISTOL, SD, 9MM; BLK, GLOCK, 22, .40; BLK, GLOCK, 43, 9MM; BLK/ BRO, BERSA, 383-A, .380; BLK, HIPOINT RIFLE, HIPOINT, 9MM; BLK, REMINGTON, 870, 12 GA; BLK, GLOCK, 43, 9MM; UNK, HERITAGE, ROUGH, .22; BLK, SMITH & WESSON M&P, M&P 15-22, UNK; UNK, GSS-SHOTGUN, STEVENS 94H, SINGLE; UNK, GSP 12 GA SHOTGUN, MAVERICK 88, 12GA; BLUE, STEVENS, STEVENS 320, 12 GA; UNK, LLAMA, PARABELLUM, 9MM; BLK, TAURUS, G2C, 9MM; BLK, GLOCK, 26, 9MM; BLK/TAN, GLOCK, 42, .380; BLK, TAURUS, PT738, .380; BLK, SPRINGFIELD, SA XD, 9MM; BLK/GRY, RUGER REVOLV, LCR, .38; COM/BRO, DAVIS INDUSTRIES, P-32, .32. Anyone with a legitimate claim or interest in this property must contact the Asheville Police Department within 30 days from the date of this publication. Any items not claimed within 30 days will be disposed of in accordance with all applicable laws. For further information, or to file a claim,

contact the Asheville Police Department Property and Evidence Section at 828232-4576

UNCLAIMED PROPERTY The following is a list of unclaimed property currently being held at the Weaverville Police Department. Electronics, personal items, tools, weapons (including firearms) and other miscellaneous items. Anyone with a legitimate claim in the listed property has 30 days from the date of publication to contact the Weaverville Police Department, M-F 9AM- 3PM, 828-645-5700. Items not claimed within 30 days will be disposed of in accordance with North Carolina General Statute.

WATER DAMAGE CLEANUP & RESTORATION A small amount of water can lead to major damage and mold growth in your home. We do complete repairs to protect your family and your home's value! For a free estimate, call 24/7: 1-888-290-2264 (AAN CAN)

WATER DAMAGE CLEANUP & RESTORATION A small amount of water can lead to major damage in your home. Our trusted professionals do complete repairs to protect your family and your home's value! Call 24/7: 1-888-3131427. Have zip code of service location ready when you call. (NC Press)

WE BUY HOUSES FOR CASH AS IS! No repairs. No fuss. Any condition. Easy three step process: Call, get cash offer and get paid. Get your fair cash offer today by calling Liz Buys Houses: 1-888-2471189. (NC Press)

WE BUY VINTAGE GUITARS

Looking for 1920-1980 Gibson, Martin, Fender, Gretsch, Epiphone, Guild, Mosrite, Rickenbacker, Prairie State, D'Angelico, Stromberg. And

Gibson Mandolins / Banjos. These brands only! Call for a quote: 1-855-402-7208 (AAN CAN)

WESLEY FINANCIAL GROUP, LLC TIMESHARE CANCELLATION EXPERTS Over $50,000,000 in timeshare debt and fees canceled in 2019. Get free informational package and learn how to get rid of your timeshare! Free consultations. Over 450 positive reviews. Call 844-213-6711. (NC Press)

YOU MAY QUALIFY For disability benefits if you have are between 52-63 years old and under a doctor’s care for a health condition that prevents you from working for a year or more. Call now! 1-877-247-6750. (AAN CAN)

MIND, BODY, SPIRIT

HEALTH & FITNESS

ATTENTION OXYGEN

THERAPY USERS Discover oxygen therapy that moves with you with Inogen Portable Oxygen Concentrators. Free information kit. Call 877-4430443. (NC Press)

ACROSS

1 Suddenly stopped moving

6 Japanese noodle

10 Pronoun that’s falling into disuse

14 Japanese noodle soup

15 Chicago paper, familiarly, with “the”

16 Virtue signal?

17 In plain sight

18 The devil’s workshop, it’s said

20 Hiccup

22 Like tres and cuatro relative to uno and dos

23 Shade of black

24 Pasture sound

BATH & SHOWER UPDATES in as little as one day. Affordable prices - No payments for 18 months! Lifetime warranty & professional installs. Senior & Military discounts available. Call: 1-877-560-1844 (NC Press)

ELIMINATE GUTTER CLEANING FOREVER LeafFilter, the most advanced debris-blocking gutter protection. Schedule a free LeafFilter estimate today. 20% off entire purchase. Plus 10% Senior & Military discounts. Call 1-877-649-1190. (NC Press)

27 Casserole topped with guacamole or sour cream

31 They elevate a choir’s performance

33 www addresses

34 Comedian’s stage performance

37 Talk excessively

39 State leader?

40 Relating to form

41 Burst of energy

44 Actress Skye of “Say Anything …”

45 Hole near a sole

46 Corridor

48 Surveyor’s measure

49 Home plate is the “fourth” one

52 Michelle Obama, to Craig Robinson, for short

53 Common volleyball combo … or 20-, 34and 41-Across together

58 Most tacky

61 Wrinkle remover

62 Dad humor, perhaps

63 Bread in a tandoor

64 Papal vestment

65 Sacrifice a fly?

66 Younger Stark daughter on “Game of Thrones”

67 Book often shelved on its side DOWN

1 Word on a gift tag

2 Shankar who performed at Woodstock

3 Black cat, maybe

4 “Fiddler on the Roof” star

5 Catch in a sting

6 Soup recipe instruction

7 Surgeon, informally

8 Shire resident

9 Héloise’s lover

10 “Kapow!”

11 Ancient Chinese dynasty

12 Word with style or fashioned

13 Sept. and Oct.

Element named after the Greek word for “sun” 21 Pitchforkshaped letters

Place to pick daisies 25 Mysterious knowledge

26 Rick of Rickrolling fame

27 Earl of food storage fame

28 Southwestern gully

29 Attacked, as by a tiger

30 Shakespearean dying words

32 Party pooper

35 Flight board posting: Abbr. 36 Near 38 Personification of darkness, in Greek myth

42 Cross-country runner’s asset

43 Big ___

(Seton Hall’s conference)

47 Portugal’s capital, in Portugal

50 Warrior’s weapon

51 Assignment often graded with a red pen

53 Not quite broken, say

54 Mountain above Vulcan’s forge

55 Right-leaning type?: Abbr.

56 Nut that’s a source of caffeine

57 Noneternal flames?

58 Loops in, in a way

59 It’s not one of the five W’s

The “E” of B.C.E.