Mountain Xpress 02.26.25

Poetry Contest

Xpress announces its 2025 poetry contest in celebration of

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 If so, consider submitting an original, previously unpublished work.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 Again, only previously unpublished poems will be considered.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 Michael 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

Asheville City Council maps recovery around fiscal

MARSHALL MAGIC

PUBLISHER & EDITOR: Jeff Fobes

City Manager Debra Campbell

Local musicans across mulitple genres recently recorded songs in the Old Marshall Jail’s stairwell. Net proceeds from The Resonance Sessions’ triple-vinyl and digital editions will benefit artists impacted by Tropical Storm Helene. Featured on this week’s cover, from left, Doug Carr, Becca Nicholson, Alyse Baca and Dulci Ellenberger.

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: Caleb Johnson, Cindy Kunst

Innovative ways to raise the $60 billion we need,

Listen to these 15 tracks during the last stretch of winter

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

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

Still waiting for new trash bins in Buncombe

I’m trying to get the media to report on Buncombe County’s trash service’s severe shortcomings. Seven weeks ago, we applied for the new trash service through FCC Environmental Services, and our old trash bins from Waste Pro were picked up. Since then, we have not had new trash and recycle bins from FCC replaced. I have called them over eight times, and my husband has called and sent multiple emails with no result. We keep getting told, “We are putting in a work order.” I’ve spoken to supervisors and requested callbacks from upper management with no results.

I’ve asked the community through the WAX Facebook group, and I now know that I am not alone in missing bins, despite the fact that your publication, Mountain Xpress, published in your paper a few weeks ago that everyone in Buncombe County had received their new trash bins [“Trash Talk: Buncombe’s New Trash-service Provider Says All Carts Have Been Delivered,” Jan. 22]

I’m reaching out to Xpress because I honestly don’t know what other outlet we have. I’m hoping if some media attention can be brought to this, that maybe they will actually step up and get people’s trash and recycling bins to them or at least publicly address the situation. I’m starting to believe that they have run out of bins. I see no other explanation besides gross incompetence.

— Taylor Stone Asheville

Editor’s note: For updated coverage on the issue, see this week’s news section. We also reached out to FCC Environmental Services and received the following response from its communications department: “We understand the customers’ frustration and appreciate the opportunity to address this concern. While most residents have received their bins, we recognize that

some are still without, and we sincerely apologize for the inconveniences.

“We are actively working to deliver all outstanding bins. We encourage customers to call 828-820-7022 and provide their name, account number or address. This will ensure that their information will be delivered directly to the general manager for a prompt resolution and delivery of a collection bin.

“Additionally, we have made some changes as of last week to improve responsiveness and prevent future delays, resulting in positive feedback. We appreciate the community’s patience and remain committed to resolving these issues as quickly as possible.”

Thoughtful zoning can help small homes fit in

[Regarding “Asheville City Council Ousts Chair, Vice Chair of

]

There is a significant amount of opportunity to build small homes (e.g., accessory dwelling units, or ADUs) on portions of existing residential lots should some thoughtful modifications of the existing Asheville Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) be accepted by the City Council.

This could free up the existing, unnecessarily limiting code. This would result in adding housing opportunities for those with significant financial constraints as well as for some, such as older adults, needing a more “accessible” type of housing setup than found in the local marketplace.

It is not necessary to face off protection of “legacy” neighborhoods against those seeking to free up buildable lots for more accessible and affordable homes. The concerns of the former can be (and often are)

accommodated in other communities by well-thought-out zoning. — Bill OConnell Asheville

Housing ‘policy’: Make it up as you go along

[Regarding “Asheville City Council Ousts Chair, Vice Chair of Housing Authority Board,” Feb. 13, Xpress:]

Asheville City Council’s plan(s) for new housing are a mess. There is no guiding principle. It is made up as each new project/idea comes before them to be voted on.

Take the 767 New Haw Creek Road development along Haw Creek. This is on no urban corridor. There is no bus route. There are no stores to walk to. Yet townhomes were approved.

The city voted through a plan whose access was via a piece of adjacent property in an adjoining neighborhood. Does the Council care? No, the current “policy” is make it up as you go along and beggar the consequences.

The Council should identify the areas along urban corridors suitable for development and then find devel opers to develop. Instead, they let the developers run them around by the nose. As soon as the phrase affordable housing is uttered, it gets approved. Flag lots and cottage lots will do nothing to change the housing stock. It is just more confusion dressed as leadership.

Reimagine commercial strips to add housing

[Regarding “Asheville City Council Ousts Chair, Vice Chair of Housing Authority Board,” Feb. 13, As someone with experience in development, I have been following

Housing Authority Board,” Feb. 13, Xpress, as featured in the Feb. 19 Xpress newsletter:

CARTOON BY RANDY MOLTON

the current discussion about potential changes to our zoning ordinance for cottage development and for flag lots. This approach alone, even if passed, is not going to make a substantial impact on our supply of housing, including housing affordable to our workforce. Too few units. And politically, it’s divisive. Why?

One of the fundamental principles of traditional neighborhood development (think of places that support walking and cycling equally well as motor vehicles, generally pre-World War II) is that like-kind buildings face like-kind buildings across the street. Changes of building type would happen on alleys, not on streets.

Buildings across from potential flag lots or cottage development lots are mostly going to be single-family buildings, which are not “like-kind.” I think this is a big reason for much of the neighborhood opposition to these ideas. And the number of units available from this approach barely dents the housing shortage.

Commercial streets, many of them “suburban strips” characterized by buildings set well back from the street, with parking lots in front, are a better opportunity to build “apartments over commercial” buildings starting at two-four stories, and maybe higher in certain locations. The buildings can be brought up to the sidewalk, with parking behind the building(s). And

they potentially provide the residential units we need.

It’s probably obvious to many, and most of your readers, that commercial strips are becoming physically and functionally obsolete. Plenty of available lease space, declining rents and declining tenant quality. This creates the opportunity, with appropriate zoning changes regarding parking, for owners of strip properties to build new, mostly residential buildings on the street side of their property, while keeping the strip buildings on the back of the property in operation, perhaps even as residences.

Commercial parking standards are mostly five parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of building. Residential standards are mostly one or two parking spaces per 1,000 square feet. And commercial and residential parking needs are somewhat complementary, with residents needing parking at night and on weekends to a large degree, and commercial needing them during weekday working hours. So this approach has a certain logic to it.

Asheville is going to need thousands of new housing units over the next decade; our commercial corridors are the best place to provide them, but only if the streets are “complete”— safe and appealing for bicycles and pedestrians as well as the car, and safe and convenient for the young and

the elderly who can’t or don’t wish to drive.

— Rob Dickson Paradigm & Co. New Urbanism/Traditional Neighborhood Development Asheville

Welcome back, Walmart

A huge thank-you to the tireless crews who worked day and night to rebuild our neighborhood Walmart on Bleachery Boulevard. It’s great to once again be able to shop close to home for affordable household goods of all kinds.

And to the staff at the Hendersonville Road Walmart, thank you for welcoming us and serving us at your store these last few months; you helped make post-Helene life easier for so many of us.

— Lauri Bailey East Asheville X

Word of the week

mellifluous (adj.)

1. having a smooth rich flow; 2. filled with something (such as honey) that sweetens

You can read all about the mellifluous melodies that fill The Resonance Sessions. The cover story is on page 16. X

CARTOON BY BRENT BROWN

‘An evolving process’

Asheville City Council maps recovery around fiscal constraints

BY BRIONNA DALLARA

bdallara@mountainx.com

Recovery was front and center during Asheville City Council’s annual two-day retreat.

The event Feb.13-14 at the Buncombe County Administration Building was facilitated by Fountainworks, a Raleigh-based consulting firm that helps public leaders address significant challenges.

As Council members plotted a course, staff laid out a bleak fiscal landscape the city will have to navigate, tallying revenue losses from Tropical Storm Helene at $17.6 million atop response and cleanup expenses.

Xpress rounded up key takeaways from the retreat.

HELENE’S FISCAL IMPACT

The city is on the hook for approximately $41.5 million in response and recovery costs.

So far, the city has received $9.86 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance and staff expects full reimbursement for storm-related emergency costs, according to a presentation given by three members of the city’s finance staff.

Even before the storm, the city faced budget challenges due to slowing revenue growth and rising costs, particularly in employee health care and retirement benefits, said Lindsay Spangler, the city’s budget and performance manager, during the presentation.

The fiscal year 2024-25 began July 1 and ends June 30. When Council approved the budget on a 4-3 vote at the

June 11 meeting, it included a 0.63 cent property tax increase and a $7.8 million draw from the city’s fund balance.

City Manager Debra Campbell prefaced the upcoming budget discussion with a disclaimer that the process won’t be typical.

“This is going to be an evolving process. We have a number of other meetings and additional work sessions because this is, again, an unusual budget process. We don’t have all the information we need to make the key decisions,” Campbell said.

Council-staff disconnect

Asheville City Council members tackled a recurring issue at their twoday retreat Feb. 13-14: how to avoid giving city staff conflicting directions on how to solve city issues.

City Attorney Brad Branham noted that staff’s primary goal is to implement Council’s policies, but when direction is inconsistent, it increases the risk of misinterpretation. He suggested that having at least four Council members sign off on a strategy before directing staff would be beneficial.

Assistant City Manager Rachel Wood pointed out that staff primarily receives Council’s feedback during agenda briefings and meetings — often late in the process.

“I think part of that has been really challenging for staff. You all have been amazingly supportive, but sometimes you’re getting a pretty baked cake at that point, and then we’re having to go back and redo work,” Wood said.

Council member Sage Turner suggested holding informal “threeby-three” meetings to allow more dis-

In the aftermath of the storm, the city’s revenue dropped by $17.6 million. This was due to disruptions in tourism, property tax collections and other service fees such as water, parking and transit. FEMA will not reimburse lost revenue, according to the presentation.

But the biggest decision falls on whether city leaders will increase property taxes to stabilize the budget. Potential scenarios include:

• 3.88-cent increase to replenish the fund balance ($136 per year for

cussion before decisions are finalized. These were previously referred to as “check-ins,” and included three or fewer Council members — usually the mayor and two others — to discuss policy and ask questions of city staff, according to previous Xpress reporting. However, there were public concerns over these closed sessions, which some viewed as attempts to skirt the open meetings law, according to previous reporting by Asheville Watchdog. Council ended its check-ins in February 2023. No decision was made over Turner’s suggestion. Council members agreed to reach consensus on an issue before presenting requests to staff. X

an owner of property assessed at $350,000).

• 2.7-cent increase to offset storm-related revenue losses ($95 per year).

• 0.5-cent increase per 1% employee salary raise ($18 per year). If all increases were implemented, an owner of a property assessed at $350,000 could see an annual $249 tax hike.

POTENTIAL CUTS

To stabilize the budgets for FY 2025 and FY 2026, the city identified $5 million in cost savings:

• $1.5 million by delaying nonessential purchases.

• $1.3 million by reducing payments to a retirement trust fund for retired staff’s health benefits.

• $1.1 million by reducing contracted services.

• $500,000 by limiting training and travel.

• $400,000 by reducing Strategic Partnership and neighborhood grants.

• $200,000 in operational savings from storm-damaged facilities, such as pools and the Western North Carolina Nature Center, that remain closed.

• $100,000 in maintenance service reductions.

On the positive column, the city secured $225 million in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds for storm recovery, with a spending plan due by Monday, April 21. City officials are also seeking additional state and federal funding to support rebuilding efforts.

CREDIT RATING CONCERNS

Meanwhile, Standard & Poor’s, an organization that rates municipalities’ creditworthiness, slapped Asheville with a“negative outlook” label, raising concerns about the expense of borrowing money just as the city is about to issue $80 million in voter-approved bonds.

“That’s pretty concerning information to hear that S&P is putting us on a negative outlook. Those are two very powerful words. Am I overinflating that? That’s a pretty big yellow flag they just raised at us,” said Council member Maggie Ullman.

Tony McDowell, the city’s finance director, said staff tried to get the label removed.

“I felt like we were in some ways fighting a losing battle with Standard & Poor’s from the first phone call because they had formed an opinion about the level of destruction here, based on what they had seen in the media, that we found very hard to overcome as we went through the conversations,” McDowell said. “We tried to explain,

TEAM BUILDING: Council member Sheneika Smith, left, and Vice Mayor Antanette Mosley present a drawing that illustrates the roles of Council and city staff during a team-building exercise at the Council’s annual retreat Feb. 1314. Photo by Brionna Dallara

‘Yes, there has been a lot of impact here, a lot of damage, but we’re recovering.”

McDowell said that when he invited S&P representatives to visit this spring, they declined, saying they would wait until the city is further along in the recovery process.

CHARTING THE COURSE

With financial information in hand, Council members worked to set shortand medium-term recovery priorities shaped by nearly 6,900 Helene Recovery Priorities Survey responses representing 8% of the residents, along with door-to-door community outreach and insights from a workshop with Asheville board and commission chairs, said facilitator Beau Mills Survey respondents pegged their top three recovery priorities as strengthening infrastructure, expanding housing solutions and economic recovery. Ullman also noted that 82% of respondents highly valued thoughtful land use planning in storm-damaged areas.

“Even in the midst of vulnerability you would think people would want to build back quickly, but I think they’re taking into consideration that climate disasters will be ongoing and they will probably increase. So, even in the midst of their distress, they are considering resilience,” said Council member Sheneika Smith

Council member Kim Roney highlighted that 71% of respondents supported rent and mortgage assistance to prevent displacement.

“I think the pressure to get from funding allocation to funding on the ground and preventing evictions — that bridge has not yet been fully crossed, and I think the demand is high since we had the survey fairly recently,” Roney said. “It shows me even four months in, we have work to do.”

Council member Sage Turner identified housing coordination as the biggest gap.

“We’ve had several disasters — whether it was COVID, then two years later the South Asheville water crisis that affected everyone, and now, I mean, it’s like every two years we’re having a disaster to manage. Each time it had an impact on housing and emergency housing needs, and we haven’t quite fleshed that out or tied it together,” Turner said.

Council member Bo Hess pointed to the newly formed Flood Assistance Support Team (FAST) as an example of innovation taking place.

“Innovation is not imagining new things but how we can make the things that are already here work better,” Hess said.

LOOKING AHEAD

At the retreat’s conclusion, Council outlined its one-year vision for success across key areas of recovery. Work is underway on many of the goals cited.

They included:

• Infrastructure & Environment: Align neighborhood emergency plans with the city, update flood maps and assess the tree canopy.

• Housing: Improve data regarding needs and use, enhance housing capacity, amend zoning for housing diversity and density, and increase home repair funding.

• Economy: Develop a process for distributing community block grant funds, achieve an above-average business survival rate, lower unemployment and retain storm-impacted businesses.

• Community & Well-Being : Prevent displacement, establish a Helene memorial, foster a sense of community, increase tourism and business revenue, and engage the community in planning and implementation.

This story was supported by the Fund for Investigative Reporting and Editing. X

Accepting

Commissioners frustrated with FCC over service complaints

With missed pickups, overflowing bins and mounting frustration, some Buncombe County residents say that newly hired FCC Environmental‘s waste service is not meeting expectations — and the discontent is making its way to local leaders.

During their briefing meeting Feb. 18, members of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners heard an update from FCC representative Charles Merkley on progress that the company has made in the county, as well as lingering complaints about service and accountability.

Last year, the county awarded FCC a seven-year contract to replace WastePro for its trash and recycling services starting Jan. 1. But the transition proved rocky, according to residents who complained about missed pickups, trash carts that had yet to be delivered and long wait times for calls to FCC’s customer service line.

Now after six weeks in service, data shows that while performance has improved, issues remain.

According to a presentation from Merkley, roughly 39,000 households subscribed to the service, and nearly 78,000 carts were delivered to residents through Feb. 7. FCC claims a 97% route completion rate for January and 98% so far for February. However, the company is still receiving roughly 300 calls per day from residents who say that their trash or recycling wasn’t picked up or that they still had issues receiving new

carts. At the start of the contract, FCC was getting more than 2,000 calls per day.

Merkley told commissioners that regional call staff and a regional manager are in Buncombe County every week to assist with ongoing issues and that the company plans to increase staffing through February, including an additional 10 drivers. Merkley also said that FCC representatives planned to attend four Tropical Storm Helene recovery resource events to provide community outreach.

“Are we ever going to be perfect? We always strive to be perfect, but I don’t think we ever achieve perfect,” Merkley said.

Despite Merkley’s report that service is improving, several commissioners voiced concerns that they have heard from residents and questioned whether FCC was adequately addressing ongoing issues.

“Part of the frustration I hear from the community repeatedly is that they’re calling this call center and that they’re being told by whoever is answering the phone, by your staff, that they can’t pull up their account, they can’t see anything, that they can’t give them any information because they’re just at this call center,” said District 2 Commissioner Terri Wells.

“On a personal note, I think we went four weeks without a bin. We would open a ticket and then

Leadership shift

City Manager Debra Campbell announces retirement

Asheville City Manager Debra Campbell formally announced her retirement to Mayor Esther Manheimer and City Council members in a Feb. 12 letter.

Campbell’s last day will be Friday, Dec. 5.

The letter came a day before Council’s annual retreat, where city staff and Council go over strategic priorities that guide budget, plans and policies for the year. While there was no discussion about Campbell’s departure during the retreat, there

was a slide on the Budget Update and Outlook presentation that listed “City Manager recruitment” as a priority for fiscal year 2025.

Campbell’s initial five-year contract concluded in December 2023 and was automatically renewed for two years. Her latest contract included another two-year renewal option at the end of this year.

In an email to Xpress, Manheimer praised Campbell’s contributions as city manager. “One of her greatest strengths is her unwavering commit-

LINGERING ISSUES: After six weeks in service, FCC is still receiving roughly 300 calls per day from residents.

wouldn’t hear back,” said District 3 Commissioner Drew Ball. “I have serious concerns because we’re looking at 60 days now. … I’ve gotten more calls and people stopping me at the supermarket, in church, everywhere, about their garbage collection,” added District 1 Commissioner Al Whitesides. “I hope you understand, we’re patient, but it’s running out. We’ve got to see results. And as long as I get calls and I see the emails, I’m assuming that you all are not doing your job. So let’s turn things around and do it quick.”

Buncombe County Solid Waste Director Dane Pedersen noted that the county’s contract with FCC has a clause that allows the county to impose a $200 penalty per missed pickup if they miss 10 pickups within a month.

“That means, if staff gets a notification that there’s a missed service, [and] we report that to FCC between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. that day, that has to be corrected that day and verified by the contractor that it is addressed or that becomes a valid miss,” Pedersen explained.

The more instances of missed service that are not corrected the more the penalty. “When you’ve got 200 or more valid misses during any one calendar month, that’s $5,000 plus the unit rate per valid miss. So those things, if the service is not there, those things add up very quickly,” Pedersen said.

Merkley encouraged residents to contact the call center if they are still having issues with trash collection and said that those still waiting for carts could pick them up at the company’s Buncombe County office at 3109 Sweeten Creek Road.

“Should folks expect to receive any discounts on their bill for weeks of missed service, if folks need to take in their own trash to the transfer station? Is that reimbursable expense?” asked Commissioner Ball.

“Yes, we are doing a deep dive on those people,” said Merkley. Residents who are still experiencing issues with FFC trash or recycling collection should call 828-820-7022.

This story was supported by the Fund for Investigative Reporting and Editing.

— Brooke Randle  X

to bring our city from the brink to full recovery,” Manheimer wrote.

“I want to assure you that my commitment to the City of Asheville remains steadfast,” wrote Campbell in her letter to Council. “And while there is much work to be done, particularly concerning the recovery efforts following Tropical Storm Helene, I am fully dedicated and committed to leading these efforts for the remainder of my tenure. My focus will be on ensuring that the initial phase of our recovery is robust and solid groundwork is established.”

ment to supporting her staff — a quality that has been invaluable as nearly 1,200 city employees have worked tirelessly through Tropical Storm Helene

In the letter’s closing, Campbell noted her gratitude for the opportunity to serve as city manager, a post she assumed in 2018.

— Brionna Dallara X

Photo by Brooke Randle

DEBRA CAMPBELL

Photo courtesy of City of Asheville

Some onion varieties love it here, others not so much GARDENING WITH XPRESS

BY CHLOE LIEBERMAN

The courageous green tips of narcissus and daffodils, just beginning to poke up, let us know spring is on the way. After all we’ve been through this fall and winter, I suspect spring will bring some extra exuberance as beauty and warmth return to these mountains. While the soil stirs awake, I’m back to answer your gardening questions each month here in the Xpress. Please send them my way at gardening@mountainx.com.

DAYLIGHT-SPECIFIC ONIONS

I’ve heard that different kinds of onions grow better at different latitudes. Which is good to grow here? Indeed, onions are triggered into forming bulbs (onions to harvest) by the hours of daylight they receive, also known as daylength. At first, onion plants are tiny little things and quite cute in my opinion. Their seeds are about as big as poppy seeds, and the

plants emerge looking like grass that’s no thicker than a pencil lead. For their first couple of months, the plants’ attention is focused on growing green leaves, or aboveground parts, along with roots. When days get long enough, the onion plants switch gears and transform the bases of their leaves into juicy, pungent, round bulbs that we cherish to bring flavor to our food. They do this not to delight our senses but rather to store sugars for the coming year.

You see, onions are biennial plants, meaning that they complete their reproductive cycle over two growing seasons. Beets, celery, radishes and carrots are other garden vegetables that share this quality. During the first year, growth is focused on catching and storing sunlight in the form of sugars, usually cached in a starchy root or bulb. Then the plant rests over the winter, with energy on hand to fuel rapid growth the following spring. At that point, its attention will shift to flowering and making seeds. So, back to the question of latitude. The word refers to how far north or south of the equator a particular location lies. Since we’re in the Northern Hemisphere, our latitude is measured in degrees north, usually written as ° N. The town of Asheville sits at 35.6° N, meaning it’s just over 35 degrees north of the equator. To put this in context, Miami is at 25.8° N, and Portland, Maine, at 43.7° N. What does all this have to do with onions, you ask? Well, it turns out that latitude corresponds with how long or short the days are at any given time of year. If you’re standing right on the equator, days and nights are 12 hours each, all year long. The farther you move from the equator, the longer the days will be during summer, and the shorter they’ll be during winter.

Onions are roughly grouped into three categories based on the daylength they need to trigger bulb formation. These categories are: short-day, intermediate-day (also known as day-neutral), and long-day.

Short-day varieties tend to do well from 25-35° N and begin to form bulbs when the daylength is between 10-12 hours. They are typically planted in fall and harvested the following late spring, before it gets too hot for onions to be happy in the southern regions where they’re grown. Short-day onions are more perishable than intermediate or long-day onions; they won’t keep well in a root cellar.

Intermediate-day (day-neutral) onions grow best from 32-42° N and are triggered into bulbing when days are between 12-14 hours long. In cooler climates, they are usually planted in spring

LIGHT-SENSITIVE: Matching the right type of onion with our growing season is key to success. Photo courtesy of Wild Abundance

and harvested in summer. In milder climates, they can be planted in fall and harvested the following spring. These onions are typically sweet in flavor and keep better than short-day types but not as well as some long-day varieties.

Long-day onions thrive from 37-47° N and bulb up when daylength is 14-16 hours. This group includes sweet and spicy varieties, with some that keep very well and others that are more delicate. The majority of the big onion-producing regions in the U.S. (Washington, Idaho, Oregon) lie in the northern region, so long-day onions are some of the most commonly grown and eaten.

AN IDEAL ONION FOR WNC

Zooming back in now to your garden and this year’s onion crop: Remember that Asheville is at 35.6° N, right in the middle of the various categories. Sure, long-day varieties usually thrive just a smidge to the north, but remember that these are rough categories. Daylength adaptation is on a continuum, and specific varieties in each category may form bulbs in a wider daylength range than others.

Since my own onion-growing goals have been storage onions to keep through fall and winter, I’ve mostly grown long-day varieties, and with good success. My two favorite yellow varieties are Dakota Tears and Clear Dawn. For a red, I like Rosa di Milano. All of these have performed for me under organic growing conditions and moderate fertility; they’re tough, workhorse onions that are also tasty.

Intermediate-day onions will likely do great here, too, and are a good choice if you like big sweet slices of fresh onions on burgers, in salads, or otherwise eaten fresh, rather than stored for later. Shortday onions would probably not work well here because they are typically sown in the fall and harvested in the

following spring. This is a great way to get early onions if the winter is mild, but our winters (especially this most recent one) are hardly that. If you happen to have a hoop house, you could try shortday onions overwintered there, where they will be protected.

The problem with planting the wrong type of onion for your location is that they either will begin to bulb too soon, resulting in small bulbs, or they won’t bulb at all. Other factors that contribute to onion-growing success are fertility, water and sunlight. Onions have pretty shallow roots and will suffer from underwatering. They are also heavy feeders, requiring fairly rich soil to grow large. Since they have slender, upright leaves with less surface area for photosynthesis than, say, a bean or squash plant, it’s especially important that onions get plenty of direct sunlight. In fact, if you grow onions in a shady spot, or your garden is in a deep valley, this can affect how they perceive daylength and can affect bulbing. If onions are under stress from poor conditions, they can begin to bulb earlier than they’re “supposed to.”

This makes a lot of sense, since bulbing is the first step toward making seeds and ensuring the next generation of onions. Heavy stress tells the onions, “Hey, you might not live until next season, might as well make seeds now so there can be a future.” Keeping onions well weeded is another important step to reduce stress and improve growth. I like to weed them once or twice after transplanting, then mulch heavily once they’re 6-8 inches tall with straw or leaves so that weeds are inhibited and soil moisture is retained.

Hopefully, this helps your onion endeavors. Remember, too, that you can get a similar tangy taste from scallions (green onions, no bulbing involved), and there are a great variety of smaller-bulbed perennial onions to explore, too. I recommend checking those out at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. X

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

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 23

 More info, page 25

WELLNESS

Free Tai Chi for Beginners

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

WE (2/26, 3/5), 9am, Marshall Public Library, 1335 N. Main St, Marshall

Balance, Agility, Strength, Stretch

This weekly class for adults focuses on flexibility, balance, stretching, and strength.

WE (2/26, 3/5), 10am, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

Tai Chi Fan

This class includes a short Flying Rainbow Single Fan form, partner work showing the martial application of the fans when they are used as a weapon and Flying Rainbow Double Fan form.

WE (2/26, 3/5), 1pm, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

Community Yoga & Mindfulness

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

WE (2/26), 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 (2/26, 3/5), 11am, Burton Street Community Center, 134 Burton St

Therapeutic Recreation

Adult Morning Movement

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

WE (2/26, 3/5), 10am, Tempie Avery Montford Community Center, 34 Pearson Ave

Qigong

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

WE (2/26, 3/5), 11:15am, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

Gentle Tai Chi for Balance

This class works on improving our balance through exercises that help you to think with your feet while strengthening your balance muscles.

WE (2/26, 3/5 11:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

Tai Chi Chih

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

WE (2/26), 12pm, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

Kitten Yoga

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

WE (2/26), 6pm, House of Black Cat Magic, Co., 841 Haywood Rd

Nia Dance

A sensory-based movement practice that draws from martial arts, dance arts, and healing arts.

TH (2/27, 3/6), 9:30am, TU 3/4), 10:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

Tai Chi For Beginners Yang 10 & 24

In the Beginner Tai Chi class, the focus is on the Yang 10 and 24 forms as well as Qigong exercises for health.

TH (2/27, 3/6), MO (3/3), 11:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave

Friday Fitness

This class focuses on strengthening, stretching, and aerobics every Friday.

FR (2/28), 10am, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

Intermediate Tai Chi Yang 24

This is the Tai Chi that most people envision when they think of Tai Chi. Slow, gentle movements that promote good health.

FR (2/28), 10:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave

Yoga Nidra & Reiki

Within this space, a dream will be induced taking you into a

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROAR:

The 19th annual Asheville Mardi Gras Parade kicks off Sunday, March 2, in the city’s South Slope neighborhood, starting at 3:05 p.m. This year’s parade will feature the theme Animalia, which aims to celebrate the strength and resilience of the area, post-Tropical Storm Helene. Visit avl.mx/cdy for the full schedule of events after the parade. Photo courtesy of Asheville Mardi Gras

state of consciousness that can bring about immense healing in your conscious, subconscious, and unconscious mind.

FR (2/28), 6pm, Asheville Salt Cave, 16 N Liberty St

Intermediate Tai Chi Yang 37

A great class for those who have studied Yang 37 or would like a form that is a little bit more involved than Yang 10 or 24.

SA (3/1), 8:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

Himalayan Sound Bath Meditation

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

SA (3/1), SU (3/2), 11am, Somatic Sounds, 157 S Lexington Ave

Sunday Morning Meditation Group

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

SU (3/2), 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 (3/2), 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 (3/2), 1:30pm, W Asheville Yoga, 602 Haywood Rd

Sound Bath & Gentle

Flow

A gentle yoga flow that prepares your heart, mind, and body for

deep relaxation to the live sounds of various instruments.

SU (3/2), 7pm, W Asheville Yoga, 602 Haywood Rd

Tai Chi Open Clinic

All are welcome in this new curriculum course, regardless of the style of internal martial arts you practice, your skill development or age level.

SU (3/2), 7pm, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

Mindfulness Exercise

Participate in a free exercise designed to help you drop into the present moment.

MO (3/3), 9:15am, Corduroy Lounge, 444 Haywood Rd Ste 103]

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 (3/3), 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 (3/3), 5:30pm, W Asheville Yoga, 602 Haywood Rd

Medical Qigong

A moving meditation and an internal martial art for calming the mind and strengthening the body and spirit.

TU (3/4), 9am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

Zumba Gold & Silverobics

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

TU (3/4), noon, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

Drumming for Exercise

Jam to some tunes while getting a great, low-impact arm and core workout.

TU (3/4), 1:30pm, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

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 (2/27, 3/6), 4:30pm, Asheville 12-Step Recovery Club, 1 Kenilworth Knolls Unit 4

NAMI Connection

Trained peer facilitators guide you in learning how to empower yourself in a place that offers respect, understanding, encouragement, and hope.

SA (3/1), 10am, NAMIWNC, 356 Biltmore Ave

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 (3/1), 2pm, First Congregational UCC of Asheville, 20 Oak St Parkinson’s Support Group

A monthly gathering for people with Parkinson’s and the people who support them.

TU (3/4), 10am, Groce United Methodist Church, 954 Tunnel Rd Community Narcan Training

Learn how to use Naloxone, an introduction into harm reduction, what’s going on in our

We Line Dance

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

TH (2/27), 6:15pm, Stephens-Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave

Tap Dance: Intermediate Fun and active class for students who have already taken beginner tap here or elsewhere.

TH (2/27, 3/6), TU (3/4), 10:45am, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

Asheville Community Square Dance

A night of community social dance, music, laughs and fun.

SA (3/1), 7pm, Haw Creek Commons, 315 Old Haw Creek Rd

Intro to Line Dance

A true beginners course for those who are new to line dance taught by Liz Atkinson.

MO (3/3), 10:30am, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

community and more.

TU (3/4), 10:30am, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

WNC Prostate Support Group

A forum for men, caregivers, family members, partners and supporters to attend no matter their current situation with prostate cancer.

TU (3/4), 6:30pm, First Baptist Church of Asheville, 5 Oak St

DANCE

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 (2/26, 3/5), 5:30pm, Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W State St, Black Mountain

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 (2/26, 3/5), 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 (2/27, 3/6), 8:30pm, Urban Orchard Cider Co. South Slope, 24 Buxton Ave

Tap Dance: Beginner

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

TH (2/27, 3/6), 10am, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

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

TH (2/27, 3/6), 11:45am, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

through May, 2.

WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Dr, Cullowhee

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

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

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 (3/3), 7:30pm, A-B Tech, Genevieve Circle

Together We Rise, Reawaken Dance

A community dance event for promoting wellness and healing post-Helene.

TU (3/4), 11:30am, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Yes, I Can Dance

Monthly themes include east coast swing, west coast swing, tap, salsa, tango, and more.

WE (3/5), 6pm, Stephens-Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave

ART

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

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

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

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

Daily Craft Demonstrations Visitors can watch the creative process firsthand, interact with the artists, and ask questions about the materials and techniques used. These free and educational opportunities are open to the public. Open daily, 10am. Demonstrations run through Dec. 31.

Folk Art Center, MP 382, Blue Ridge Pkwy

57th Annual Juried Undergraduate Exhibition

This exhibition is a great opportunity for WCU undergraduate students to share their artwork with a larger public and to enhance their skills in presenting artwork in a professional gallery setting. Gallery open Tuesday through Friday, 10am. Exhibition through March, 21.

WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Dr, Cullowhee

Painting w/Diamonds

Experience the joy of crafting beautiful, sparkling masterpieces with a new craft hobby that's a mix between paint by numbers and cross stitch.

TU (3/4), 6pm, Tempie Avery Montford Community Center, 34 Pearson Ave

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

COMMUNITY MUSIC

Irish Session

A traditional Irish-style session every second and fourth Wednesday.

WE (2/26), 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 (2/26), 6:45pm, St. Matthias Church, 1 Dundee St

Pan Harmonia: Open Rehearsals

Community members are welcome to drop into either or both of these rehearsals, free of charge.

TH (2/27), 2pm, Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St

ACMS Presents: The Goldmund String Quartet

These rising stars of the classical music world are well known across Europe and beyond for their impeccable interpretations of the great classical and modern string quartet masterpieces.

FR (2/28), 7:30pm, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place

What's Shaking? Music Presents: Cabin Fever

Concert Series

Mountain grooves for kids of all ages, but especially for pre-K friends and their grown ups. It will feature fun music, lots of drums and shakers to play along, poems, a dance party, and more.

SA (3/1), 2pm, The Mule, 131 Sweeten Creek Rd Ste 10

Blue Ridge Orchestra's: March Melodrama

March Melodrama is the second offering of Blue Ridge Orchestra’s 25th Anniversary season, which expresses WNC’s reflection and resilience after Hurricane Helene.

See p25

SA (3/1), SU (3/2), 3pm, Lipinsky Auditorium at UNC Asheville, 300 Library Ln

Bob Strain Quartet: Live Album Recording Pianist Bob Strain will be recording a live album of his original jazz music during this session.  SA (3/1), 4pm, Kittredge Arts Center, 701 Warren Wilson Rd, Swannanoa

Storm String Quartet

Featuring an ensemble of some of Western North Carolina’s most accomplished string musicians.

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

COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS

Access to Capital

Whether you’re a start-up or interested in growing your business, this workshop is here to guide you through the process to secure a business loan. Register at avl.mx/ejs.

TH (2/27), 11am, Online

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 (2/27), 5:30pm, N Carolina Cooperative Extension-Madison County Center, 258 Carolina Ln, Marshall

Create Your Own

Wearable Art

An evening of creativity, self-expression, and community. Bring a solid color T-shirt, sweatshirt, or shawl and let it be your creative canvas.

FR (2/28), 7pm, Center for Spiritual Living Asheville, 2 Science

Mind Way

Belay Clinics

This hour long clinic covers the basics of knot tying, gear checks, and belaying using the PBUS technique.

SU (3/2), 1pm, Tempie Avery Montford Community Center, 34 Pearson Ave

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 (3/4), 10am, W Asheville Park, 198 Vermont Ave

Therapeutic Recreation

Adult Crafting

A variety of cooking and crafts, available at two different times.

TU (3/4), 10am and 11am, Murphy-Oakley Community Center, 749 Fairview Rd

Rotary Tool Workshops

Carve, etch, and sand to creative freedom with a workshop that unlocks the potential of versatile handheld rotary tools for crafting.

TU (3/4), 11am, Harvest House, 205 Kenilworth Rd

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.

TH (3/6), noon, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

LITERARY

Meter & Melody: Poetry Night

An open mic for poetry, hosted by Dill.

WE (2/26), 7pm, Static Age Loft, 116 N Lexington Ave

True Home Open Mic

An evening of music, poetry, comedy and stories. Sign up begins at 6pm.

TH (2/27, 3/6), 6pm, Flood Gallery, 802 Fairview Rd Ste 1200

Black Children's Book Week

This event welcomes local author Jorge Redmond as he shares his heartwarming and empowering new book, Black Girl, Black Girl!

TH (2/27), 5:30pm, Pisgah View Apartments, 1 Granada St

Kristen Gentry & Halle Hill

Kristen Gentry & Halle

Hill will read and discuss their story collections, Mama Said and Good Women, at Western Carolina University's Hunter Library.

TH (2/27), 6pm, Western Carolina University, 176 Central Dr, Cullowhee

Delight: A Counter Cultural Force of Resistance

This program will host author and poet Ross Gay, and will explore how we can find small delights and joy through challenges and adversity.

See p25

TH (2/27), 7pm, Asheville High School, 419 McDowell 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 (3/3), 6:30pm, Flood Gallery, 802 Fairview Rd Ste 1200

Cozy Chapters Bookworm Club

Gather fellow bookworms for a weekly book club. Enjoy hot chocolate, delicious snacks, and engaging conversation about latest reads.

TH (3/6), 6pm, Tempie Avery Montford Community Center, 34 Pearson Ave

THEATER & FILM

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.

TH (2/27), 7:30pm, WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Dr, Cullowhee

The Story of My Life

A powerful theatrical experience that speaks to the enduring bonds of friendship, the memories that shape who we are, and the journey of grief and letting go.

FR (2/28), SA (3/1), 7:30pm, SU (3/2), Hart Theatre, 250 Pigeon St, Waynesville

Friday Family Movie Nights

Freshly popped popcorn and drinks provided. Movie titles announced closer to the event dates.

FR (2/28), 6pm, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, 285 Livingston 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 (2/28), 7pm, Flood Gallery, 802 Fairview Rd Ste 1200

The Acting Co. Presents: The Comedy of Errors

Experience the joy and hilarity of one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, a slapstick comedy about mistaken identities, through a new and contemporary lens.

FR (2/28), 8pm, Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, 18 Biltmore Ave

Paul Rudnick: I Hate Hamlet

A dramatic comedy that follows television actor Andrew Rally as he struggles with taking on the role of Hamlet, dealing with a girlfriend who is keeping a firm grip on her chastity, and playing host to the ghost of John Barrymore, who is clothed as Hamlet.

FR (2/28), SA (3/1), 7pm,

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

The Acting Company Presents: August Wilson’s Two Trains

Running

This Pulitzer Prize finalist is a masterpiece from acclaimed playwright August Wilson, which paints a profound portrait of history through everyday life amid the civil rights movement.

SA (3/1), 8pm, Wortham Center For The Performing Arts, 18 Biltmore Ave

Doktor Kaboom! Look Out! Science is Coming! Prepare for an explosive, all-ages adventure with this science-meets-comedy performance, led by a captivating chemist whose character falls somewhere between Mr. Wizard and Mister Rogers.

TH (3/6), 7pm, Wortham Center For The Performing Arts, 18 Biltmore Ave

Film Screening: Home Home is the collaboration of dance-maker Sue Schroeder and film-maker Adam Larsen. It connects the foundations of human existence, home, body and nature.

TH (3/6), 7pm, Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center, 120 College St

Runaway Princess Former New York City call girl Mary Goggin shares the true, award-winning story of her upbringing in the Bronx, from alcoholism and drug addiction to prostitution told with humor and unflinching honesty.

TH (3/6), 8pm, Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, 18 Biltmore Ave

2025 Ritual Mountain Bike Film Tour

This big-screen celebration of mountain biking highlights incredible athletes and creative filmmakers.

TH (3/6), 7pm, The Orange Peel, 101 Biltmore Ave

MEETINGS & PROGRAMS

Psyche Williams-Forson: When We Go Meet The Trains: Black Women, Food & Power in the American South Author Psyche Williams-Forson will delve into the ways Black women have used, and continue to use, food to shape cuisines in and beyond the south, while defining their sense of self.

WE (2/26), 6pm, Highsmith Student Union, 1 University Heights

Script Reading for Confidence, Voiceover or Screen

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

WE (2/26, 3/5), 6:30pm, Corduroy Lounge, 444 Haywood Rd, Ste 103

The Real Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Theology for Faith In Times of Crisis

This 4- week series will engage Bonhoeffer’s works to help us learn how to be faithful in times of political and social upheaval.

WE (2/26), 6pm, First Baptist Church, 5 Oak St Recovery, Rethinking & Rebuilding Post-Helene: Insights from History

This program will engage historians and scholars with deep knowledge and insights on Appalachia and the Swannanoa Valley to reflect on the devastation and efforts to recover and rebuild after the floods and other destruction in the region. Register at avl.mx/ejz.

WE (2/26), 7pm, Online

Low-Cost Community Cat Neuter Clinic

You must schedule and pay for your

appointment prior to showing up.

TH (2/27), 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 (2/27), 10am, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

IBN Biz Lunch: Woodfin Bring a stack of business cards, and if you like, a door prize to add to our drawing at the end of the meeting.

TH (2/27), 11:30am, The Village Porch, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Woodfin 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..

TH (2/27), 3:30pm, Richmond Hill Park, 300 Richmond Hill Dr

IBN Breakfast Club: West Asheville

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

FR (2/28), 9am, Regina's Westside, 1400 Patton Ave

Meet the Health Plans of North Carolina

Buncombe County has partnered with the four Medicaid, VAYA Health, & NC Enrollment Broker to bring you information about Medicaid Services.

FR (2/28), 10am, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

Black History Alive

Older adults are invited to dress as a famous Black history maker and share their story. Please call (828) 350-2062 for more info.

FR (2/28), 11am, Grove St Community Center, 36 Grove St

Astronomy Club of Asheville: Public Star Gaze

A public star gaze at Grassland Mountain Observatory in Madison County. This event is free and open to everyone, and registration is not necessary to attend.  A temporary gate code, required for entry, will be posted on their website by 5:00 pm on the day of the star gaze. Sunset occurs at 6:24 p.m.

FR (2/28), 5pm, Grassland Mountain Observatory, 2890 Grassland Parkway, Marshall

Bite Nite: Perogies

A monthly drop-in featuring rare pours and small plates. It's casual and it's first come, first served FR (2/28), 5:30pm, Botanist & Barrel Tasting Bar + Bottle Shop, 32 Broadway St, Ste 110 Tarot w/Cats

This 1-hour workshop will include a brief history of the tarot, and how to incorporate a one- and three-card pull for daily guidance.

FR (2/28), 5:30pm, House of Black Cat Magic, Co., 841 Haywood Rd

New Moon Circle

Facilitated by Sierra Hollister, author of Moon Path Yoga, these circles are held at each new moon and full moon and are open to all who wish to join.

FR (2/28), 7pm, W Asheville Yoga, 602 Haywood Rd

Spiritual Tune Ups

Let our Prayer Practitioners Attune your Spiritual Instrument with Prayer. Sgn up at avl.mx/ek6 for a 15-min private time slot.

SA (3/1), 10am, Center for Spiritual Living Asheville, 2 Science Mind Way

Chinese Tea & Tai Chi Foundations

Settle your Qi with Chinese tea while learning the fundamentals of Tai Chi to improve your health. Beginner friendly so all levels are welcome.

SA (3/1), 10:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

Kirtan w/Mantra Mandala

A sweet meditative practice of chanting mantras and divine names.

SA (3/1), 5pm, W Asheville Yoga, 602 Haywood Rd

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 (3/2), 2pm, House of Black Cat Magic, Co., 841 Haywood Rd

Open Gym Climb Climbers must attend and pass an APR climbing course or belay clinic to belay.

SU (3/2), 2:30pm, Tempie Avery Montford Community Center, 34 Pearson Ave

Cherokee History & Stories

Delve into Cherokee history and storytelling with Kathi Littlejohn in a free series held on the Qualla Boundary at the EBCI's tribal museum.

SU (3/2), 3pm, Museum of the Cherokee People, 589 Tsali Blvd., Cherokee

Family Open Gym

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

SU (3/2), 4pm, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, 285 Livingston St

Alive After 55+

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

MO (3/3), TU (3/4), 10am, Linwood Crump Shiloh Community Center, 121 Shiloh Rd

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 (3/3), 10am, Corduroy Lounge, 444 Haywood Rd, Ste 103

Random Acts of Flowers: Floral Arrangements for Those Needing a Smile Random Acts of Flowers improves the emotional health and well-being of individuals in healthcare facilities by delivering recycled flowers, encouragement, and personal moments of kindness.

MO (3/3), 10am, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

Walking the Great Lakes of WNC

Bring walking shoes and friends to see the lakes of western North Carolina.

MO (3/3), TU (3/4) 10am, Linwood Crump Shiloh Community Center, 121 Shiloh Rd

Dharma & Discuss w/ David McKay

David lead a conversation with the group on the dharma, with many opportunities to ask questions, share insights, or listen and learn.

MO (3/3), 6:30pm, The Lodge at Quietude, 1130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Therapeutic Recreation

Adult Crafting

A variety of cooking and crafts, available at two different times.

TU (3/4), 11am, free, Murphy-Oakley Community Center, 749 Fairview Rd

IBN Biz Lunch

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

TU (3/4), 11:30am, Suwana Asian Cuisine, 45 Tunnel Rd

Diabetes Prevention & Management Program

Learn how nourishing foods, mindful exercise, stress management, and restful sleep all play a vital role in balancing your blood sugar and supporting overall health.

TU (3/4), 4pm, Bounty & Soul Education, Warehouse & Volunteer Hub, 1038 Old Hwy 70 W, Black Mountain

Understanding Medicare

Learn about all your Medicare choices. There will also be tools and resources to help you understand the coverage that may be right for you.

TU (3/4), 5pm, Harbor Inn Seafood Restaurant, 800 Brevard Rd

Battle Plans Against Exotic Invasive Plants w/Raven Sterling Learn the best techniques for removing the worst actors, without harming pollinators in the process.

TU (3/4), 6pm, Asheville Botanical Garden, 151 WT Weaver Blvd.

Homelessness Series: The City of Asheville

Invites You to Attend

An upcoming 3-part community education series on understanding homelessness.

WE (3/5), 4pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

Therapeutic Recreation

Hiking

All hikes are between 1-2.5 miles with variable terrain. Transportation provided to site. Advance registration required.

TH (3/6), 10am, Murphy-Oakley Community Center, 749 Fairview 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.

TH (3/6), 1:30pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

GAMES & CLUBS

Indoor Walking for Wellness Club Weather doesn’t matter when you have a community gym. Let us crank up the tunes to get you motivated.

TH (2/27, 3/6), TU (3/4), 9:15am, Stephens-Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave

Bid Whist

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

SA (3/1), 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 (3/2), 1:30pm, Stephens-Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave Dungeons n Drafts

A night of Dungeons & Dragons guided by expert dungeon masters.

TU (3/4), 6pm, Dssolvr, 63 N Lexington Ave

Ultimate Bid Whist & Spades

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

TU (3/4), 6pm, Linwood Crump Shiloh Community Center, 121 Shiloh Rd

Grant Southside Center

Walking Club Walk inside in the gym or outside (if the weather is nice) with themed music each week.

WE (3/5), 10:30am, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, 285 Livingston St

KID-FRIENDLY PROGRAMS

The Family Music Class

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

WE (2/26), 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 (2/26, 3/5), 10am, Stephens-Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave Kung Fu For Children

Designed to begin with the foundations of these styles while also teaching application and self awareness.

WE (2/26, 3/5), 3pm, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

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.

TH (2/27), FR (2/28), 4pm, House of Black Cat Magic, Co., 841 Haywood Rd

Toddler & Me Time Out

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

FR (2/28), 10am, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, 285 Livingston St

Kids Night Out

Grant Southside Center staff are ready each month to connect with your children over goofy games, crafts, science projects, and snacks.

FR (2/28), 6pm, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, 285 Livingston St

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 (3/1), 1pm, House of Black Cat Magic, Co., 841 Haywood Rd

Cabin Fever Kid’s Concert Series

A concert featuring songs, drums and dance party that is geared towards kids.

SA (3/1), 3pm, The Mule, 131 Sweeten Creek Rd Ste 10

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 (3/2), 10am, Asheville Salt Cave, 16 N Liberty St Youth Beginner Climbing

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

MO (3/3), 6pm, Tempie Avery Montford Community Center, 34 Pearson Ave

Kids Cooking Classes

These cooking classes teach fundamental skills to kids alongside an adult from their family or community while focusing on fun, collaboration, and learning.

TU (3/4), 5:30pm, Burton Street Community Center, 134 Burton St

Tot Time

Experience an express tour, then go on an adventure with art, music or storytelling. .

WE (3/5), 11:30am, Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Suessville Creations

Toddlers listen to whimsical stories by Dr. Seuss and create fun and imaginative crafts inspired by the book on an adventure filled with

creativity, laughter, and magic.

WE (3/5), 5pm, Tempie Avery Montford Community Center, 34 Pearson Ave

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 (2/26, 3/5), 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 (2/26, 3/5), 3pm, 60 Lake Shore Dr Weaverville

Free Herbal Medicine

Share

This monthly pop-up brought to you by local herbalists features free tinctures, teas, topicals, supplements, and more.

FR (2/28), 12:30pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Friday Night Sip & Shop

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

FR (2/28), 4pm, Grove Arcade, 1 Page Ave

Asheville City Market

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

SA (3/1), 10am, 52 N Market St

Black Mountain Tailgate Spring Market

Weekly tailgate farmer's market, held every Saturday.

SA (3/1), 10am, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

March Madness Book

Sale

The library will supply the bags and you can fill them with adult books for $5, children's book 4/$1 and puzzles are $2. Antique books are priced as marked.

SA (3/1), 10am, Black Mountain Public Library, 105 N Dougherty St, Black Mountain

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 (3/1), 10am, UNC Asheville, Lot P34, 275 Edgewood Rd

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. See p23

TU (3/4), 3pm, Mills River Presbyterian Church, 10 Presbyterian Church Rd, Mills River

FESTIVALS & SPECIAL EVENTS

Haywood Heart Expo

This free, community-driven event is designed to raise awareness about heart health while providing local residents with the resources and knowledge needed to make informed decisions about their cardiovascular well-being.

TH (2/27), 9am, Haywood Regional Health & Fitness Center, 72 Leroy George Dr, Clyde Heart Health Awareness Day

Learn different types of heart diseases, causes, symptoms and prevention tips. We will talk about having a healthy diet and exercise tips.

TH (2/27), noon, CenterWell Primary Care, 105 River Hills Rd

Mardi Paws Adoption Day

Bring your pets in their best costumes for the chance to make new friends in the spirit of the holiday.

SA (3/1), noon, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, 285 Livingston St

Eyes Up Here Comedy: 10 Year Anniversary Show

A night featuring all femme comedians with this month featuring a special show of comedians from Asheville and around the South East to celebrate their 10 year anniversary.

SA (3/1), 7pm, Ginger's Revenge, 829 Riverside Dr, Ste 100

OpenDoors: Art Affair 2025

OpenDoors Asheville hosts its annual gala and art auction to support local students and families. It will feature a live and silent auction and an array of fine art, luxury travel experiences, jewelry and more. See p25

SA (3/1), 6:45pm, Asheville Masonic Temple, 80 Broadway St 18th Annual Asheville Mardi Gras Parade Asheville's annual Mardi Gras parade will roll through downtown's South Slop neighborhood. This year's parade celebrates strength and resilience as the area still recovers from Hurricane Helene.

SU (3/2), 3:05pm, Mardi Gras Route, South Slope

Bacardi-Gras Ball

The biggest and most wild AVL Mardi Gras Parade post-party. It will feature drink specials with Bacardi Rum and live music from UNIHORN.

SU (3/2), 5pm, The Tiki Easy Bar, 197 Hilliard Ave Pixe Wars: Weekly Retro Game Tournament

The perfect chance to show off your gaming skills every week. MO (3/3), 7pm, Hi-Wire Brewing, 197 Hilliard Ave

BENEFITS & VOLUNTEERING

Josh Blake’s Jukebox: A Benefit for LA Wildfires

This concert will raise funds for some friends in Southern California who were recently devastated by the wildfires in the LA area.

WE (2/26), 8pm, The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave Resources for Recovery Buncombe County is hosting a series of dropin sessions to connect residents to provide personalized storm recovery support.

TH (2/27), 5pm, Leicester Community Center, 2979 New Leicester Hwy, Leicester PSK Gaza Fundraiser Porn Star Karaoke presents a benefit for Gaza.

TH (2/27), 7pm, Sly Grog Lounge, 271 Haywood St

After the Storm Winter Jam A benefit show for Asheville Creative Arts featuring The Hypnotic Band and The Dirty Bird Band.

FR (2/28), 5pm, The Mule, 131 Sweeten Creek Rd Ste 10 Concert to Save The Woods A benefit concert for Save The Woods featuring 13 local acts and food truck service from Mehfil.

SU (3/2), noon, Sly Grog Lounge, 271 Haywood St 2nd Annual Fat

Tuesday Fiesta w/Sal Landers’ Party Rx

This benefit show includes a taco dinner, an auction, and live music. All proceeds support scholarships and community grants in the area.

SU (3/2), 6pm, The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave 2025 Paddling Film Festival World Tour

Benefiting MountainTrue

This film festival will celebrate by watching the best paddling films, and also hopes to inspired others to explore rivers, lakes, and oceans, push extremes, embrace the paddling lifestyle, and appreciate the wild places. See p25

TH (3/6), 7pm, The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave

Preventive

Care

BY TROY JACKSON

troyjackson@authentichealth.com

It seems that the more access to health information we have, the harder it has become to understand what is good or bad for one’s health.

• Am I supposed to eat carbs or not?

• Should I be worried about microplastics?

• Why are people putting butter in their coffee again?

My name is Troy Jackson . I am a husband, father to two young kids, an amateur bread baker and a local family physician who loves learning about the human body, how to prevent disease and how to extend health span. Born and raised in Mississippi, I came to Asheville to complete family medicine residency training at MAHEC and have been in private practice since 2019.

I also enjoy writing, so I am thankful that Xpress has agreed to provide a regular column that allows me to extend my voice beyond the walls of my medical practice. My desire is to share health-focused ideas that may help you in your wellness journey as well as cut through the confusing noise of health advice to bring you something empowering rather than paralyzing.

FIRST TOPIC: HEART HEALTH

Since February is American Heart Month, there is no better place to start a wellness column than on heart disease prevention. Heart disease and strokes comprise the No. 1 and No. 5 reasons for death in the United States, respectively, and have reigned as two of the most deadly diseases since the 1920s. For 40%-45% of Americans who have a heart attack in a given year, their first symptom will be sudden cardiac death. And for the other 60%, their life is forever altered.

But delaying or even preventing heart disease is an attainable goal for most of you reading this. In fact, studies on the American Heart Association’s list of “Life’s Essential 8” show that those who can manage their risk factors for heart disease can dramatically reduce their risk of future heart attack and stroke,

sometimes more so than commonly prescribed cholesterol medications.

Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) is a scoring system developed by the American Heart Association composed of eight domains:

• Healthy behaviors: nutrition, physical activity, sleep, not smoking.

• Healthy factors: weight, cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure.

The score can range from 0-100. In most studies, the average is around 65. You can find the calculator online at avl.mx/ejv.

Several studies show that having a moderate LE8 score between 50-79 reduces your risk of cardiovascular death by 32%-39% compared with those who had a score less than 50. Having a score of more than 80 reduces your risk by 81% compared with those with a score of less than 50. Most studies followed patients for 10-14 years.

These are incredible results and highlight three things I want to share with you:

• You don’t have to be perfect to have better heart health. Although scoring a 100 gave participants the best risk reduction, you can achieve impressive benefits by just being better than the average (65). So maybe you are doing a lot of great things for your heart and your blood work is optimal, but you just cannot get to a “normal” BMI. If you can get your score greater than 65 in other ways, you will see reduced risk and, hopefully, reduced worry.

• We all have room to improve. I’ve seen a lot of patients in my job as a family physician and have yet to meet someone who’s got it all figured out all of the time. I want to encourage you to reflect on your current state of health and identify one area that you can change for the better. It could be dedicating one day per week to a 30-minute strength training routine or avoiding that fast food chain on the way home from a busy workday. Any healthy choice, no matter how small, is impactful when done consistently.

health and wellness series with Dr. Troy Jackson

FINAL THOUGHTS

Going back to these LE8 studies, any 10-point improvement you can make gives you an additional 15% risk reduction. Therefore, the data is clear that any change is worth it.

• Let time be on your side. The younger you are when you pay closer attention to your heart health, the greater the benefit you will receive. And the longer you maintain good health, the lower your risk. Health is akin to compounding interest: Invest early for greater rewards later. Start with getting blood work. Check your LE8 score and identify an area to improve. Start now, so you can experience better health later.

We (medical professionals) often put too much emphasis on prescriptions and procedures. It’s how we are trained, for better or for worse. I vividly remember in medical school seeing textbooks that dedicated multiple pages to medications and their side effects but only gave a flippant, one-sentence comment about lifestyle factors. Don’t get me wrong, medications can be extremely helpful if you find yourself already at high risk. But medications should rarely be prescribed without evaluating a patient’s lifestyle and taking an opportunity to seek out improvements.

It is clear with these LE8 studies that having optimal cholesterol numbers, blood sugar and blood pressure will not get you into the high-score range by themselves. Most of us will need a combination of both good lab work and good adherence to lifestyle factors to truly keep our hearts healthy for the long run. More importantly, these health behaviors are also key strategies in reducing your risk for other conditions like diabetes, dementia and multiple types of cancer.

I look forward to this opportunity to share my thoughts about health and wellness with you in this new column. I’ll try to write on relevant or interesting topics but am also open to your questions and suggestions. If you have a specific medical topic you’d like for me to explore or a question about health you’ve always wondered about, please write to me directly at troyjackson@authentichealth.com with the subject line “MountainX Health Question.” X

Blissful Chiropractic

Experience a 45 minute adjustment that starts with a cranial sacral massage to relax the nerves followed by a gentle hands-on chiropractic adjustment. Sacral Occipital, Applied Kinesiology, and traditional adjustments also available

HEALTHY HEART: Dr. Troy Jackson joins Xpress as a contributor of this new monthly wellness column. His first topic looks at heart health. Photo courtesy of Jackson

ARTS & CULTURE

Marshall magic

WNC artists shine on ‘The Resonance Sessions’ benefit album

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN

In mid-October, eighth-generation Madison County ballad singer Donna Ray Norton was all set to record a new song when a friend asked her if then-attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein could watch.

At the time, Stein was touring the damage from Tropical Storm Helene on Marshall’s Main Street with local officials. Norton was among a group of area musicians at the Old Marshall Jail hotel and bar that day, participating in The Resonance Sessions project, which will release an album Monday, March 10, to benefit Madison County’s music community.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t know. I’m singing this new song, and if I mess up, I might die,’” she recalls.

After reassurances from the Old Marshall Jail owner Josh Copus, Norton agreed. But she was still nervous. A friend suggested she sing a more familiar song, “Fine Sally,” as a warmup. Norton felt a burst of confidence.

“In a lot of the ballads, the women die, or they’re murdered,” she says. “I’m totally a child of the ’90s and ‘Girl

Power.’ So, ‘Fine Sally’ is a fun song to sing for me, and the woman’s a badass in it.”

After Norton delivered a stirring rendition of the ballad, Stein walked over, extended his hand in congratulations, then pivoted to pull her in for a huge hug, telling her, “Girl, you just did that!”

With the politician all ears, Norton noted the importance of his presence in Marshall and urged him to continue then-Gov. Roy Cooper’s tradition of supporting the arts in North Carolina. Norton was invited to perform at Stein’s inauguration a few weeks later, but the event was canceled due to winter weather.

Supporting the arts at the local level, net proceeds from The Resonance Sessions’ triple-vinyl and digital editions will go to the Madison County Arts Council for rebuilding the county’s musical community and to the nonprofit Rare Bird Cultural Arts to offer direct assistance to affected musicians. And while not every Resonance Sessions story is as dramatic as Norton’s, the benefit album’s cumulative power is something participating artists hope will echo for years to come.

‘I THINK WE CAN DO ONE BETTER’

In the warm months, Marshall-based singer-songwriter Clay White programs live music at Zadie’s, the Copusowned restaurant next to Old Marshall Jail. Through that work, he befriended Norton, who had co-hosted a monthly ballad swap at the Old Marshall Jail, as well as such fellow ballad singers as her cousin, Sheila Kay Adams. All three helped clean up downtown Marshall in the wake of Helene.

While mucking out the Old Marshall Jail, Norton and Adams organically began singing ballads. Copus captured the impromptu songs on his phone and shared the videos to Instagram, where they received positive comments. Wanting to revive music on the property, Copus floated the idea to White of posting more cellphone performance videos.

“I was like, ‘That’s cool, but I think we can do one better,’” White recalls. White then recruited his friend Luke Mitchell, an audio engineer who runs Out There Recordings in Marshall, as well as videographer Aaron Stone and audio engineer Bridger Dunnagan of Asheville-based Parkway Studios

for an ambitious, multiday recording project.

With the A/V crew in place, White began contacting Western North Carolina artists who’d played at Zadie’s, then reached out to others around Marshall and Asheville. Those available to participate included Rising Appalachia, River Whyless, Avey Tare (Animal Collective), Tyler Ramsey and Scott McMicken (Dr. Dog).

White initially proposed having the ballads on their own, separate album, but Norton pushed to have them included with the modern selections. White agreed and asked her to recruit a handful of ballad singers, which led to each LP side of the three-vinyl collection featuring one ballad. Not including them, White says, would be an inauthentic representation of the local scene.

“They are a part of the new musical landscape in Madison County,” he says. “It’s not like they just resurrected these songs just for this after having the songs sit in a closet for a decade or whatever. They still sing these songs regularly.”

RECORDING HISTORY

Running a total of four days, the sessions began Oct. 20 with most tunes tracked over the middle two days. Artists were scheduled in 30-minute slots — a tight but workable window that, coupled with no guarantees of sufficient electricity for amplification in the still-damaged Old Marshall Jail, all but necessitated acoustic performances. According to White, a few artists plugged in a drum machine or tape loop machine, but since he and his team were shooting for general sonic cohesion, full drum kits and electric guitar solos didn’t fit the bill.

The musicians were invited to play any song they wanted. Most chose thematically appropriate compositions they’d already recorded, including Ramsey’s “Fire” and Floating Action’s “Don’t You Wanna Be Ready?” However, in some instances, White requested that an artist play a particular song. Such was the case with Pierce Edens’ “Bells of Marshall,” which opens The Resonance Sessions, setting a haunting yet resilient tone for the collection.

“It’s so crazy. He wrote this song with these nautical themes about sitting on the courthouse steps in Marshall,” White says. “It feels so prescient of what was to come.”

A few artists performed songs they’d written after Helene. Among them was David Wimbish, who moved from Saxapahaw to Asheville just three days before the storm. Though he’d spent a lot of time in Asheville over the past 15 years, the oddity of his reloca-

BRICK BY BRICK: Asheville band River Whyless, pictured recording in the Old Marshall Jail stairwell, was among the musical acts that participated in The Resonance Sessions project. Photo by John DuPre

tion’s timing wasn’t lost on him. Upon seeing White’s posts about cleanup efforts in Marshall, Wimbish drove up to volunteer and was soon invited to participate in The Resonance Sessions.

“I didn’t know what to play, but then I ended up writing [‘Peace Ain’t Cheap’] sort of processing my own experience in this space,” Wimbish says. “In that time, I was starting to get to know some of the people in Marshall and the music community there. Even though I didn’t know them superwell, they felt like my kind of people.”

Though the recording space had been power-washed twice by the time White and his team set up, dust persisted, necessitating that the crew wipe down cables, stands and microphones at the end of each recording day.

“And on the first day, we didn’t even have power yet in the building,” White recalls. “We had a huge extension cord and ran the generator out on the back side of the building.”

Background noise remained a concern but gave the recordings an extra layer of character. In addition to the constant flow of military vehicles, dump trucks and an industrial steam cleaner, White and his team negotiated with neighbors to turn off their generators when mics were live. They even had to

shush Madison County Sheriff Buddy Harwood and comically motion for him to wait outside when he accidentally barged in on Norton’s session.

“But when you listen to [the collection], you’ll barely notice [any interference],” says White. “There are a few times where you can hear truck noises and stuff, but the fidelity and quality and isolation that we achieved in there is incredible. It helps that the building has thick brick walls.”

LASTING LEGACY

White and his team tossed around titles for the project that name-checked Marshall or the Old Marshall Jail but ultimately sought something more universal. Stone suggested the word “resonance,” at which point White realized he’d often said, “Pick any song that’s been resonating with you,” while communicating with artists.

As The Resonance Sessions team puts the finishing touches on its Monday, March 10, digital release and the Monday, March 17, release of the vinyl edition, White stresses that there’s still plenty of rebuilding left to do in Marshall; many places still look as decimated now as they did in late September.

“This big thing happened, and then there was this huge outpouring in the beginning. But will people remember us? Will the media still be paying attention months and years later?” White posits. “One good thing about it taking a while for us to produce [The Resonance Sessions] is that we’re having opportunities to keep the conversation alive.”

One of White’s nonnegotiables for the project was that the album cover must include the word “Marshall.” His rationale was that if someone on the other side of the world picks up

the album and sees the town’s name, it might prompt them to research the place and what it endured in fall 2024.

“I hope that it has a wide reach and a long life,” he says. “There are albums that have come out of stuff like [Hurricane] Katrina that’s still relevant and still part of the discussion today. So, I’m hoping we can have a strong addition to that repertoire, that catalog — something that is making a difference 10-20 years later. We want Marshall to be proud of this thing forever.”

To learn more, visit avl.mx/ej6. X

WITH ERIC BROWN

BY ERIC BROWN

Webster’s Dictionary defines February as “that one month that’s a little shorter, and it’s not very good.” Or at least I assume it does. I haven’t owned a dictionary in years, and you can’t access it online without signing up for Dictionary Plus. I mean, what is there to actually like about this gray and miserable month? A month where we all feel bummed out by the no-longerChristmas-time-not-quite-spring vibes. A month where we all walk past the last of the discounted Valentine’s Day candy and feel a gnawing sadness before going all-in on half-price Reese’s Cups. A month where we all beat our heads into the keyboards of our laptops as we struggle to think of ways to make the dying days of winter funny for Xpress’ “Best Medicine” column. Now it has been suggested that I’m projecting my own mental struggles onto you, the reader, but I don’t think I am. I think these are universal feelings we can all relate to. But fear not, dear reader, for we are only days away from March. Or as I like to call it, “The month that’s a little better than February.” To close out February with a little more pizzazz, I’ve gathered three of the funniest people I know: Greg Benge, Lauren Kriel and Paul Dixon

Eric: We’re in one of the worst times for single people: the post-Valentine’s Day haze. The weather is dreary and reminders of romance surround. Asheville is a town that is notoriously hard to date in. What advice do you have for people looking for love?

Lauren: As far as I know, Mr. Rogers never gave dating advice, but given that Asheville was a disaster-dating zone before the hurricane, I think his “Look for the helpers” line applies here. And I know everyone — no matter their relationship status, gender or

Innovative ways to raise the $60 billion we need, post-Helene

FINANCIAL ADVICE: Four local comedians boldly map out some questionable plans for securing the billions of dollars Western North Carolina needs to recover from Tropical Storm Helene. Oh, and they also discuss post-Valentine’s Day blues and why the month of February is just terrible.

from top

degree of damage sustained in the storm — had the biggest heart-ons for the far-flung electrical linemen (line people?) from Montreal and Louisiana and other former French colonies. There was just something about them. They really made us feel … empowered. Yeah, that’s it. We need a regular exchange program for dreamy helpers.

Greg: In my experience, a gift of 10 rat pelts is a surefire courtship strategy. Never fails … except when you roll a crit fail.

Paul: I would recommend if you are lonely this month to get a worm farm and watch them do their squiggly wiggly thing. But if you don’t like little critters, you could affix a big leafy squirrel nest in between your storm window and your actual window and watch their magic happenings any time of the day. That is a lot more fun than watching your boring neighbors who don’t do anything.

Eric: Here’s a little trick I learned. If you don’t date people, they can’t

break your heart. It’s elegant in its simplicity, right? You never have to go on a bad date if you never go on a date. Learn from my example. If you take a three-year break from dating, you can tell people it’s a choice, and nobody will know the difference as long as you don’t cry in front of them.

Eric: Speaking of not crying in front of people, I am definitely dealing with the “We just survived an unimaginable catastrophe blues” this winter. How are you all keeping your spirits up this winter?

Greg: My inner indoor kid has flourished through these cold months by hyperfixating on creating miniature worlds for tabletop roleplay. It seems my midlife archetype is not one of motorcycles or fly-fishing but that of a model train enthusiast without the trains. I bring to life tiny Dungeons & Dragons heroes with the flick of a paintbrush and minions of evil forged with the unexpected sting of a hot glue gun. The frigid hours, days and months melt away as I erect a small farmhouse with a thatched roof harvested from my kitchen broom. Is my floor dusty? Sure, but it’s a small price to pay for control over a tiny corner of my world.

Lauren: Spirits? In this economy? I did just finish a box of wine someone so generously donated to the food/toiletries drive at my gym during the immediate aftermath. Bizarrely, my seasonal depression seems to be on sabbatical right now, probably thanks to the HOLYCRAP-YOU-LIVED-THROUGH-ACLIMATE-EVENT-OF-BIBLICALPROPORTIONS shock vibe. And drawing. And dogs. Color and collars. Oh, and my doctor recommended a B-12 supplement and it tastes like candy. Candy you put under your tongue. Novelty! It’s keeping this winter fresh.

Eric: I panic-bought a nice turntable when talk of the tariffs came about. I’ve been raiding all my favorite record stores in town

Pictured, clockwise

left, Eric Brown, Paul Dixon, Lauren Kriel and Greg Benge. Photo of Brown by Cindy Kunst; all other photos courtesy of the comedians

and stocking my house with sad, weird records. Driving through the destruction of places you’ve gone to your whole life got you down? Try putting on a nice Kate Bush record and listen to how sad the death of Harry Houdini makes her! Stuck in traffic because yet another politician who doesn’t really care is using your hometown for a photo op yet again? Try literally any George Jones record! As a wise man once said, when you listen to a George Jones record, no matter how bad you feel, you know at least one man feels worse.

Paul: Speaking of vinyl — in a deep stack of old scratchy records I found my copy of Black Cloud Botulism Breakdown by that Dr. Reverend Trench Mouth and his Barkin Bastards, and it has shined some light and given levity to my saturnine days during these cold, wet February doldrums. And if that ain’t enough, February is such a dumb month that most people can not even spell Fevurary. I wish damn Halloween would get here already. But until then I will keep hauling my old records out of my cellar and playing the likes of Bad Backwoods BBQ Boys of Baton Rouge and Jack

“Walkin’ Scarface” Phillips and trying to keep them spirits up.

Eric: Post-Helene recovery is slated to cost an estimated $60 billion. So far, only around $4 billion in taxpayer dollars has been approved for assisting us in WNC. How do you propose we raise the rest? Pickpocketing? A really big bake sale? Inquiring minds want to know.

Greg: To those in charge of rebuilding, I would direct attention to the fact that balsa wood and foam board are still surprisingly cheap per square inch of construction. For the price of one house, we could fabricate a thousand 1:12-scale dwellings. Typing this column from my palatial 3-by-2-foot castle, I am preparing to mount a party of like-minded adventurers. We plan to search the many caverns of Appalachia for a dragon or possibly a wyvern to defeat. Hopefully, our hoards will put a dent in the cost of Mod Podge and Citadel paints.

Lauren: I think if we offer up the civic center’s naming rights again, we could start a bidding war among

the oligarchs of this country. No wait, make it a raffle. Only $50 million a ticket, and the winner (Musk? Bezos? Zuck?) gets a rooftop dinner at the Biltmore Village McDonald’s overlooking the consequences of their neglectful tech actions. Too dark? I wouldn’t mind a Big Crafty-sized bake sale. Nobody sells gourmet puppy chow in this town yet.

Paul: Get rich fast? Well, hell this town was founded on snake oil, tourists, robber barons and the curing of people in top hats of diseases by putting them on a porch in a rocking chair. We can do this Asheville!

Eric: We build a quick and dirty, half-assed Biltmore Estate somewhere nearby and switch some road signs around and collect the money for recovery funds. BOOM, we got a brand-new revenue stream. Now I know what you’re thinking. Won’t it be expensive to build another Biltmore Estate? Absolutely not, if we avoid permits and completely fake as much of it as we can. Instead of roses and lilies, plant kudzu — give that about two weeks to grow, and suddenly we’ve got gardens! Beyond the gift shop and an ice cream parlor, everything else can be convincing cutouts

that we say are closed for cleaning or maintenance purposes. Throw whatever livestock we can find in there to wander around and then we’re done. Instant phony Biltmore Estate.

Now if you’re worried that we’d be tricking tourists or that they’d see through the ruse, don’t worry. If they’re the kind of people that we could get to go to the fake cardboard Biltmore Estate in the first place, they were never going to figure out how to get to the real one anyway. They’ll leave happy, with their marked-up handmade merch and their ice cream and their pictures of cardboard mansions, and we’ll all get to rebuild our town.

Now in the eventuality that people find out it’s fake and start to talk, there is a fail-safe built in. It’s all cardboard, so we kick it down and get rid of it. Then, and this is the most important part, we all be cool about it and gaslight anyone who went to the fake one and say nothing like that ever existed. (NOTE: For this to work, there can be no paper trail. So if this makes it into print, that means I either tried and failed to make it happen, or I just got tired and lost interest.) X

‘Don’t let the darkness get you down’

BY THOMAS CALDER

Listen to these 15 tracks during the last stretch of winter tcalder@mountainx.com

As readers may recall, last month Xpress debuted its new monthly music feature, “The Playlist.” The concept for the series is fairly simple. Each month, we ask a local musician to create an ideal playlist on a given theme.

For our February edition, we reached out to singer-songwriter Julia Sanders to tackle the latest topic: songs for making it through the final stretch of winter.

Sanders, who is the co-creator of the Country Brunch series at The Grey Eagle, was happy to participate. “Hope it’s not too much of a downer,” she wrote when submitting her list. “I tried to pick some songs that capture this moment of healing for Asheville.”

In addition to featuring artists she admires, we asked Sanders to include one track from her discography. Her selections, as well as a brief conversation about them, are included below. Be sure to download the playlist at avl.mx/ejn.

Xpress: Despite your warning, I did not find this playlist to be a downer at all. It takes listeners through the full range of emotions — from the lost and lonely to the lovesick and adventurous. Can you speak to your

selection process and the story/atmosphere you were seeking to create?

Sanders: When you mentioned the transition from winter to spring concept it felt like an opportunity to select some songs that honor this unique moment in time for Asheville. I am not a cold-weather person, so this time of year for me always comes with a lot of renewed hope and feeling like I’m coming back to myself in a way. But this year has got the extra weight of the city still recovering from Hurricane Helene and all the grief that came with it. So many of the natural spaces that normally would be the first places we see those little glimpses of spring are still pretty devastated here. I still can’t bring myself to go for a run on the greenway or hike my favorite trail. Just driving by is hard. So I wanted songs that both have that sense of spring possibility and coming to a new chapter but also still honoring all the sadness and fear we’re holding as a city, and country and planet. There’s definitely a sense of both struggle and possibility across a lot of the songs on this playlist. A line that sticks out is from the chorus of Hurray for the Riff Raff’s “Buffalo.” In it, songwriter Alynda Segarra sings, “Two weeks just to catch the buffalo/some things take time,

THE FINAL STRETCH OF WINTER

Courtesy of Julia Sanders. Download the playlist on Spotify at avl.mx/ejn.

Winter’s Come and Gone by Gillian Welch

Safe to Run by Esther Rose, The Deslondes

Send the Sun by Nikki Lane

A Lot of Love by Liliana Hudgens

Heart of the Woods by Kacey Musgraves

Space by Julia Odell

Open the Road by Leyla McCalla

Line to Go by The Deslondes, Riley Downing

Buffalo by Hurray for the Riff Raff

Donut Seam by Adrianne Lenker

When We Were Wild by Erika Lewis

Child of Mine by Laura Marling

Western Wind by Julia Sanders

Dusty Road by Kiki Cavazos

Light of a Clear Blue

Morning by Waxahatchee

I know they do.” I found myself thinking about the buffalo in terms of post-Helene recovery — and the fact that it’s going to take our community a good, long while before we track down that sense of pre-Helene normalcy. This song might be my favorite from the list. I’m curious if there’s a number on here that’s currently resonating with you the most in relation to WNC’s rebuild.

There are so many on here that describe that feeling, but the song that has been in my mind since the storm is Esther Rose’s “Safe to Run.”

I think many of us had this idea that Asheville was somehow a protected place from the extremes of climate crisis, but the hurricane definitely proved us wrong. Now with the recent fires in California on the news right as we’re starting to get back to some normalcy here in Asheville, it really just reminds us all that there is no safe place to run. We have to protect and heal our planet because nowhere is getting a pass. I also love that along with the darkness of that song she has the repeating line “angels surround,” which reminds me of the feeling after the storm when our community came together in such powerful ways to care for each other.

I love the contrast between lightness and darkness in that song and so many on this list. There’s that line from Nikki Lane — “Don’t let the darkness get you down.”

Another killer one comes in Julie Odell’s “Space,” when she sings: “Cause that’s the way that life goes, right?/You can’t be wrong for your whole life/You can simply get stuck/ in the darkness and muck.” As a songwriter, I’d love to hear you riff on a single line from one of the songs on your playlist. Which one makes you pause each time you hear it and think: “Damn, I wish I wrote that”? And what is it about the line that resonates with you from a craft perspective?

I love every line from that Julie Odell song; it’s such a spell.

“Can you stop constantly being afraid, and be proud of the things you make?

Will the doubt cease to occupy the space?

Will your mind allow a positive embrace?

I do believe that could be the case.”

ON THEME: What do Waxahatchee, Nikki Lane and Gillian Welch all have in common? They are among the artists featured on local singer-songwriter Julia Sanders’ playlist for making it through the final weeks of winter. Photo by Joe Gill

I love these lyrics because it feels so stream-of-consciousness but still very poetic. I really like when song lyrics feel like you’re in the moment with the person writing them and that’s what I get from those lines in “Space.”

Also Laura Marling really gave me goosebumps with this verse in “Child of Mine”:

“Last night in your sleep, you started crying I can’t protect you there, though I keep trying

Sometimes you’ll go places I can’t get to

But I’ve spoken to the angels who’ll protect you”

That verse just really resonates with me as a parent. There’s so much unfolding in the world right now that I want to protect my kids from, and also I know there is only so much I can do. That helplessness mixed with fierce love is something she really captures in that line describing their nightmares. And then we get another line about angels and protection like in “Safe to Run.” X

Beer on the half shell

Lounge vibes and shellfish stout at Oyster House Brewing

BY CHRISTOPHER ARBOR

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, then share the experience with Mountain Xpress readers. Read about their recent visit to Wedge Brewing at avl.mx/ekb.

“A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”

– John Augustus Shedd

To be honest, I just wasn’t feeling it. You know, the state of things. There are plenty of good reasons to be in a bad mood. But for the sake of you, dear reader, I selflessly headed to Oyster House Brewing Co. to have a beer with friends. Does that make me a hero, you ask? Your words, not mine.

I arrived early so I could mope on my own for a little while, but, gosh darn it, my dear friend Nathaniel Johnson had showed up early to mope too. Well, two negatives make a positive. That’s just fundamental math.

And basic grammar. Pretty soon, the tides turned, and I wasn’t not smiling.

Oyster House’s unique lounge vibe distinguishes it from many of the other breweries in the area. I was swallowed up by a big red couch and settled into the flagship beer, Moonstone Oyster Stout, which is made with real oysters. Seriously. If that sounds unpleasant, you ought to give it a try because — surprise, surprise — it doesn’t taste like oysters; it’s not even salty like a gose. It just has an unexpected richness to it that’s quite pleasing to the palate. Nathaniel and I chatted for a few minutes until the rest of our crew arrived, many of them on foot. We raised our glasses to our group’s birthday boy, Burke Rogers, and we ordered from the robust food menu. To be frank, I wasn’t expecting to be wowed. The phrase “Appalachian seafood” sounds as confusing to my ears as “Scandinavian coconuts” or “New York wallaby.” But I took the plunge, ordered the crab cake sandwich, and have no regrets. It was pretty dang good, and the shrimp and

andouille gumbo that arrived as a side was even better.

Oyster House’s owner and head brewer is Billy Klingel. I don’t know his secret, but I know a little of his history. According to the brewery’s website, he used to work at The Lobster Trap downtown and had a big dream of brewing the perfect oyster stout. That dream culminated in him opening this fine establishment back in 2009, the first brewery in the neighborhood and a favorite hangout for locals.

I’m mighty grateful that he did. In fairer weather, the patio will provide a welcoming outdoor space that we’ll be sure to return to.

Remember, folks: The world’s your oyster; go clutch your pearls.

We meet Wednesdays around 5:30 p.m. The next stops on our voyage are:

• Feb. 26 — Burial Beer Co. on Collier Avenue

• March 5 — Hi-Wire Brewing on Hilliard Avenue

Join us if you like. You can email me at yearinbeerasheville@gmail.com or just show up. X

2/26: NEW MOON in Pisces Reader: Jessica 12-5

2/28: Reader: Krysta 12-6

3/2: Reader: Andrea 12-4

3/3: Reader: Aimee 1-6

3/4: Reader: Byron 1-5

3/6: Reader: Alondra 1-6

3/8: Reader: Edward 12-6 Astrology 101 w/Aimee

IN JAMMIES with Phaulty Plan, 8 PM Local Phish Tribute 46 Wall Street AVL thirdroom.art

3.1 TRIBAL-TRONICS An Ancient Journey into the Distant Future, 8 PM Ft. Justin Perkins (of Toubab Krew), Adam Kaalouf, KalimbaMan + Tribute to the

South America meets South Asheville

BY KAY WEST

A treasured family rosary hangs by the entrance to Juancho’s Fonda, the authentic Colombian restaurant Jeison Bosch opened on Sweeten Creek Road in early September. The rosary belonged to Bosch’s late father and the restaurant’s namesake, Juan “Juancho” Moreno, and played a significant role during the daunting year it took Bosch to launch the restaurant. “Whenever I got discouraged, I prayed on his rosary, and something good would happen to keep me going,” he says.

Juancho’s was just starting to build its customer base when Tropical Storm Helene shut it down on Sept. 27. Though Bosch reopened on Oct. 11, poststorm uncertainty affected the restaurant’s momentum. With the new year, Bosch is looking forward to a fresh start for Asheville’s only Colombian restaurant.

In Colombia, little family-owned roadside restaurants known as “fondas” are common. “They have character,” says Bosch. Born and raised in Medellín, his mother and her father owned restaurants in Medellín, Bogotá and Barranquilla on the Caribbean coast.

At age 13, Bosch moved to New Jersey with his mother and sisters. He

eventually studied mixology and spent several years bartending at resorts in Florida, then briefly in Greenville, S.C., before arriving in Asheville 16 years ago. He worked for Hector Diaz’s restaurants, including seven years as general manager of Salsa’s, but never gave up his goal to have his own business.

In late 2023, an old Pizza Hut on Sweeten Creek Road with a “for rent” sign caught his eye. “I didn’t have a lot of money, but the landlords liked me, and I got it,” he says.

Once he took possession, Bosch realized the space needed a lot of work. But he persevered, taking odd jobs, receiving some financial help from family and doing much of the buildout himself to create the cozy, 49-seat fonda. The walls are painted in warm hues and hung with Colombian décor; a window reveals the small, bustling kitchen. “People like to see their food being cooked,” Bosch says.

Most of the cooks are from Colombia, but they still had to learn Bosch’s recipes for the scratch-made, entirely gluten-free menu. “Bandeja paisa is the Colombian national dish and our top seller,” he explains. “Pork belly, steak and Colombian chorizo, rice and cranberry beans made with hogao — a seasoning sauce, like a Colombian sofrito and one of our key ingredients.”

Pan de bono, he continues, is a type of gluten-free cheese bread made with imported costeño cheese. The seafood cazuela is a typical Colombian dish of coconut milk with shrimp, lobster, octopus and fish served with rice, tostones (twice-fried sweet plantains), cabbage salad and a sliced avocado. Bosch also brings his long experience as a bartender to Juancho’s elevated beverage program.

“It is a blessing to open this restau rant in Asheville,” Bosch says. “I don’t think it would work in another city. Here people appreciate being hum ble and independent and hard work to make a dream happen. Locals in Asheville are gold.”

Juancho’s Fonda is at 2619 Sweeten Creek Road. Hours are 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday- Sunday. Learn more at avl.mx/eju X

FAMILY RECIPE: Juancho’s Fonda owner Jeison Bosch, far left, is pictured with his mother and fellow restaurateur, Filomena Diaz, second from left, and several other family members in the dining room of the South Asheville restaurant. Photo courtesy of Bosch

Taste & Talk Wine Event

Sample and learn about little-known Southern Italian wine varietals at “Italy: Off the Beaten Path,” the third in Metro Wines’ Taste and Talk series of free, drop-in learning events. Sommelier and Asheville School of Wine director of education Andy Hale will be on hand 3:30-5:30 p.m., Thursday, March 6, pouring wine and sharing insight and stories from his explorations of Italy. “The bold, sun-drenched wines of Southern Italy remain an undiscovered gem,” says Hale. “Just as delicious [as wines of Northern Italy], far more affordable and packed with history, these wines offer a taste of Italy’s wilder, more soulful side.” No reservations are necessary. Free parking is available next to the shop, which is at 169 Charlotte St. Learn more about Metro Wines at avl.mx/6ob  X

CHILI COOK-OFF and FUNDRAISER

La Bodega by

Cúrate reopens as event venue

Since Tropical Storm Helene, La Bodega by Cúrate, sister restaurant to chef Katie Button’s award-winning Spanish tapas concept, Cúrate, has remained shuttered. On Feb. 19, the Button Meana Restaurant Group announced the reopening of the second-floor space at 32 S. Lexington Ave. as an event venue. The location can accommodate up to 125 people, and the group plans to eventually add the downstairs area to increase capacity to 175, it noted in a press release. The venue offers tailored menus featuring Cúrate bar service, tapas and pintxos dishes, plus experiences such as sangria-making and jamon Iberico carving. To celebrate the new concept, La Bodega will host a pintxo party 6-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 19, featuring author and TV personality Edward Tickets are $135 each and are available at avl.mx/ek8. X

The challenges of Tropical Storm Helene and its aftermath forced pastry chef Amanda Plyler to close her Woodfin baking school, Dogwood Cottage Baking, in late October. But she hasn’t hung up her apron. On Saturday, March 8, 4:30-7 p.m., Plyler will collaborate with the Plyler Team at Lusso Realty in hosting Chili Cook-off and Bake Sale, a fundraiser at N.C. Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 1, 18 Piney Park Road, Asheville. Proceeds from the chili contest will benefit Valley Strong Disaster Relief, an organization that emerged to help storm-affected residents after Tropical Storm Helene. Proceeds from Amanda Plyler’s donation-based baked goods sale will support first responder mental health treatment at Responder Support Services. Entry for up to two chilis in the contest is $100 per person or team. Tickets to attend the event are $20 each and include a chili supper and raffle ticket. For tickets, visit avl.mx/ejw. X

E W MILLSRIVER FOOD PANTRY

New Orleans Jazz Dinners

Jargon will celebrate Mardi Gras with two evenings of Cajun and Creole cuisine and live music at its popular NOLA Jazz Dinners on Monday and Tuesday, March 3 and 4. Instead of its regular menu, the restaurant will offer an a la carte selection of Louisiana-inspired cocktails, small plates, mains and desserts. Les Chat Violets will perform New Orleans-style jazz in the restaurant’s courtyard both Cynthia McDermott and the Bon Temps will perform in Jargon’s next door Argot Room. Jargon is at 715 To make reservations,

oto of Rev Megan McMilla

In early February, Mills River Presbyterian Church opened a new community food and supplies pantry in a small house next to its fellowship hall at 10 Presbyterian Church Road, Mills River. Staffed by church volunteers and area Boy Scouts, the pantry is open to anyone in need 3-6 p.m. every Tuesday. Available items include nonperishable foods, diapers and baby wipes, toiletry and paper products, feminine hygiene goods, cleaning supplies and bottled water. The project was launched with more than 100 shelf-stable food items collected during the church’s Souper Bowl Sunday event. For more information, visit avl.mx/ek5. X

West Asheville plant-based restaurant The Smokin’ Onion invites veggie-loving singles ages 21 and older to its inclusive Single Mingle mixer event 6-8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28. Participants do not have to be vegan, but they do need to be “kind and not creepy” to participate in the laid-back, “low stakes” matchmaking session, according to the restaurant’s event post on social media. Space is limited. Email thesmokinonion@gmail.com to RSVP. The Smokin’ Onion is at 697 Haywood Road. For more information, visit avl.mx/d9j. X the new pantry courtesy of MillsRiver

Photo of the event space courtesy of La Bodega by Cúrate

SMART BETS

March Melodrama from Blue Ridge Orchestra

Not in the mood for March Madness? How about March Melodrama? The Blue Ridge Orchestra (BRO) will offer the two performances of orchestral favorites at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, March 1 and 2, in Lipinsky Hall at UNC Asheville. Local musician, cellist and composer Franklin Keel will lead the orchestra as guest conductor. Keel, associate principal cello with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, is part of many local and regional projects, including the Opal String Quartet, Ben Phantom, Upland Drive and Sirius.B. The guest artist for March Melodrama will be Ivan Seng. Since receiving his master’s degree in piano performance from the UNC School of the Arts, Seng has taught and performed regularly in Winston-Salem and Asheville, working with area ensembles, including the Dead Eduards piano trio and Pan Harmonia. March Melodrama is the second offering of Blue Ridge Orchestra’s 25th anniversary season, which is dedicated to expressing Western North Carolina’s resilience after Tropical Storm Helene. In a press release about the event, BRO music director Emily Mariko Eng says, “We wanted this March program to

explore emotions in their extremes … through the musical voices of Mozart, Dvorak and Gluck.” For March 1 tickets, visit avl.mx/ek3. March 2 tickets are available at avl.mx/ek4. X

OpenDoors Art Affair

Nothing clandestine about this love affair. On Saturday, March 1, local nonprofit OpenDoors will raise the curtain on its 15th annual Art Affair fundraiser at the Asheville Masonic Temple with the big reveal of donated work by more than 30 Western North Carolina artists available through a silent and live auction. Paintings, handmade apparel, mixed media collage, woodwork, stoneware and a curated five-course wine dinner for 12 are among the treasures attendees will bid on. The theme of Art Affair 2025 is Ripple Effect, recognizing small acts of compassion and heroism that have provided the region with hope and healing after Tropical Storm Helene. The theme also reflects the mission of OpenDoors, founded in 2005, to eradicate race-based gaps in opportunity and achievement by providing year-round academic and enrichment opportunities for local students. Corporate sponsorships ensure all ticket sales and auction proceeds directly support OpenDoors students.

Day on

Holders of the $200 VIP tickets get a sneak peek at the auction items with doors opening at 6 p.m.; general admission is $150, with entry at 6:45 p.m. The program and live auction begin at 8:15 p.m. Chef-prepared food and signature cocktails will be provided to all guests at the arty party. avl.mx/ej4 X

Photo of Franklin Keel by Kathy Kmonicek

Calm

Bohicket River by Jeremy Russell

Big World, Small Delights with Ross Gay

Poet and essayist Ross Gay has that joy, joy, joy, joy down in his heart. And on Thursday, Feb. 27, he will share his thoughts on joy and his exploration of willful gladness during Ross Gay: Big World, Small Delights, an event in the Asheville High/SILSA High School auditorium presented by Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café and the Asheville City Schools Foundation (ACSF). Gay is the author of four volumes of poetry and three collections of essays and is a 2015 recipient of a National Book Critics Circle Award. Student winners of ACSF’s spoken word contest will perform before the author takes the stage for a 40-minute reading and discussion followed by a 20-minute Q&A session. The program runs 7-8:30 p.m. General admission tickets are $25 each, available in advance and at the door. Tickets that include reserved seating, a 5:30-6:30

p.m. pre-event reception with refreshments, a copy of The Book of Delights, and a book-signing opportunity with the author are $100 each, available in advance only. Proceeds benefit the ACSF. avl.mx/wordcapn X

Paddling Film Festival World Tour

Row, row, row your boat over to The Grey Eagle on Thursday, March 6, for the Paddling Film Festival World Tour’s Asheville screening, presented by Western North Carolina environmental nonprofit MountainTrue. The evening is an early celebration of World Water Day on Saturday, March 22, an annual United Nations observance focusing on the importance of fresh water. The festival, launched in 2006 by the Ontario, Canada-based Rapid Media, screens paddling films with partner locations around the world aiming to inspire attendees to “explore rivers, lakes, and oceans, push extremes, embrace the paddling lifestyle, and appreciate the wild places,”

according to MountainTrue’s event page. Doors open at 6 p.m., allowing plenty of time to fuel up at Grey Eagle Taqueria, grab a beer and snag a seat — the show is general admission — before the films begin at 7 p.m. During intermission, MountainTrue will talk about its French Broad Riverkeeper Program and announce the winners of two raffle packages. (Raffle tickets are available at avl.mx/ek1.) Tickets for the event are $17.95 for adults, $5.65 for children ages 12 and younger. Proceeds from ticket sales and the raffles benefit MountainTrue, which has been addressing urgent community needs since Tropical Storm Helene. avl.mx/ek2 X

Still from Ganga Girls, directed by Pashant Bhatt and Jyoti Jangra, courtesy of MountainTrue

Photo of Ross Gay by Natasha Komoda

CLUBLAND

Clubland Listings

MARDI GRAS STRIKES BACK: On Saturday, March 1, dynamic funk and rock band Empire Strikes Brass hosts its 11th annual Mardi Gras party at The Grey Eagle, starting at 8 p.m. The festivities will feature New Orleans-inspired second-line and funk tunes with elements of rock and jam. Photo courtesy of Tom Farr

For

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26

GRANGE BY FOOTHILLS Trivia Night, 6pm

HI-WIRE BREWINGBILTMORE VILLAGE Free Weekly Trivia, 7pm

HIGHLAND BREWING CO.

Hear Here w/Amanda Anne Platt & the Honeycutters (country, folk), 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

Old Time Jam, 5pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

Bluegrass Jam w/Derek McCoy & Friends, 6pm

PISGAH BREWING CO.

David Matters & Life Like Water (Appalachia, Africa), 6pm

SLY GROG LOUNGE

Weird Wednesday Open Jam, 7pm

SOUTHERN

APPALACHIAN

BREWERY Jazz Night, 6pm

THE MULE

Trivia w/Party Grampa, 6:30pm

THE ODD

Terraoke Karaoke Takeover, 9pm

opt. 4.

THE ONE STOP

The Big Town Getdown (funk, jazz, pop), 10pm

THE ORANGE PEEL

Bryce Vine w/Jayo (hip-hop, alternative), 8pm

VOODOO BREWING CO.

Music Bingo Thursdays, 7pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN

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

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27

CATAWBA BREWING CO. SOUTH SLOPE

ASHEVILLE

Comedy at Catawba: Asheville Cat Ladies, 7pm

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

Poison Ruïn, Béton Armé, & On the Block (punk), 8pm

FLEETWOOD'S Hotel Hugo, Paprika, & East Ritual (indie-rock, garage), 9pm

HIGHLAND BREWING CO.

The Knockin' Boots (country), 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

Bluegrass Jam w/Drew Matulich, 7pm

LEVELLER BREWING CO.

Irish Session, 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

PISGAH BREWING CO.

Bald Mountain Boys (bluegrass), 6:30pm

SHAKEY'S Karaoke w/Franco Nino, 9pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA Standup Comedy Night, 8pm

STATIC AGE LOFT Auto-Tune Karaoke w/ Who Gave This B*tch A Mic, 10pm

THE GREY EAGLE

Satsang w/Sierra Marin (folk-pop, reggae, hip-hop), 8pm

THE ORANGE PEEL Niko Moon w/ David J (country, pop), 8pm

VOWL Karaoke Night, 8pm

WICKED WEED WEST

Paul Edelman (roots, rock, folk), 5:30pm

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28

27 CLUB

The Ruff'Tons Album

Release w/The Bleeps & Warmones (punk, alternative), 8:30pm

ASHEVILLE MUSIC

HALL

Hustle Souls & Firecracker Jazz Band (funk, jazz), 9pm

CATAWBA BREWING CO. SOUTH SLOPE

ASHEVILLE

• Comedy at Catawba: Shelley Gruenberg & Friends, 6pm

• Comedy at Catawba: Tamar Rubin, 8pm

CORDUROY LOUNGE

The Feels Trio (indiesoul, R&B, pop), 8pm

CORK & KEG

The Uptown Hillbillies (country), 8pm

CROW & QUILL

Sparrow & Her Wingmen (jazz, swing), 8pm

EDA'S HIDE-A-WAY

Tina & Her Pony (Americana, folk), 8pm

EULOGY

DJ Lil Meow Meow's

Dance Floor Rapture (pop, electronic, R&B), 9pm

FLEETWOOD'S Creature Double

Feature: Monster Wave & tinyTVs (surf-rock, punk), 8pm

HIGHLAND BREWING CO.

Bayou Diesel (cajun, zydeco), 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

Bradley Bacci Band (funk, psych-rock), 8pm

LOOKOUT BREWING

COMPANY

Friday Night Music Series, 6pm

NOBLE CIDER & MEAD TAPROOM AND PRODUCTION FACILITY

Crisp Comedy w/Erin Terry, 7pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

The Big Hungry (rock, funk, blues), 8pm

ONE WORLD BREWING

Eric Chesson (folk, Americana), 8pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

Auspicious Golden Fish (funk, electronic), 9pm

SHILOH & GAINES

Dirty Dead (tribute-band), 9pm

SLY GROG LOUNGE Terror Dome, Yawni, Boy Air Conditioner, & Rich Inner Life Love You So Much (hip-hop, indie, experimental), 8pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

DJ Uncle Rizz (multigenre), 8pm

THE GREY EAGLE Buffalo Wabs & the Price Hill Hustle (rock, folk, Americana), 8pm THE JUNCTION PUB Douglas Aldridge at The Junction Pub!, 8pm THE ONE STOP • Masterson & Holliday (rock, country, folk), 6pm

• The Kind Thieves (rock, country, funk), 10pm

THE ORANGE PEEL 80s vs 90s Dance Party, 9pm

THE STATION BLACK MOUNTAIN Mr Jimmy (blues), 5pm THIRD ROOM Jammin' in Jammies w/Phaulty Plan (tribute-band), 8pm TURGUA BREWING CO Rod Sphere (soul, rock, reggae), 5pm

URBAN ORCHARD Dieselboy: The Destroyer (multi-genre), 9pm WICKED WEED WEST Karaoke Night, 6pm

SATURDAY, MARCH 1

27 CLUB Cleansing of the Temple, Chained, Heavy is the Head, Jiu-Jitsu, & Marked for Death (hardcore, metal), 8pm ASHEVILLE CLUB Mr Jimmy (blues), 6pm

ASHEVILLE MUSIC

HALL

JGBCB (tribute-band), 9pm

BATTERY PARK BOOK

EXCHANGE

Dinah's Daydream (jazz), 5:30pm

CORDUROY LOUNGE

Slow Packer (folk, pop, indie), 8pm

CORK & KEG

Bayou Diesel (cajun, zydeco), 8pm

CROW & QUILL

Meschiya Lake and The Mood Swingers (jazz), 8pm

DSSOLVR

The Witching Hour

Dark & Dirty Comedy Show, 10pm

EULOGY

Beneath the Veil: A Mardi Gras Masquerade, 7pm

HIGHLAND BREWING

CO. Chalwa (reggae), 5pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

• Nobody’s Darling String Band, 4pm

• Bam-a-Lam! (lo-fi, pop, rock), 9pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

• Invitational Blues Showcase: Blues Belters Edition, 4pm

• Saturday Sessions (multi-genre), 8pm

SHILOH & GAINES

Candler Rice (multigenre), 9pm

STATIC AGE LOFT

Sanctum (goth, darkwave), 8pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS

Big Trouble, Ton of a Bitch, Tantric Death, & Serrator (hardcore, punk), 9pm

THE GREY EAGLE

Empire Strikes Brass: 11th Annual Mardi Gras Party (funk, jazz), 8pm

THE MULE

Disclaimer Comedy Presents: Petey’s Comedy Party, 7:30pm

THE ORANGE PEEL

The Hip Abduction w/ The Palms (reggae, world-music, pop-rock), 8pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN

Lillie Syracuse Band (folk-pop, indie), 7:30pm

SUNDAY, MARCH 2

CATAWBA BREWING CO. SOUTH SLOPE

ASHEVILLE

Comedy at Catawba: Mandee McKelvey, 6:30pm

DSSOLVR

Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 4pm

EULOGY

Benjamin Booker w/ Kenny Segal (garagerock, punk-blues, art-pop), 7pm

FLEETWOOD'S Eddie Spaghetti, "Metal" Marty Chandler, & GÄK (metal, punk), 9pm

GINGER'S REVENGE CRAFT BREWERY & TASTING ROOM

Sunday Jazz Jam, 2:30pm

HIGHLAND BREWING CO.

Grateful Sunday w/ Phuncle Sam (tribute-band), 2pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

• The Bluegrass Boys, 12pm

• Traditional Irish Music Session, 3:30pm

ONE WORLD

BREWING WEST

Suns of Stars Sunday Residency (bluegrass), 2pm

PISGAH BREWING CO.

Pisgah Sunday Jam, 6pm

SLY GROG LOUNGE

Open Mic w/Mike Andersen, 6:30pm

THE GREY EAGLE

Asheville Jazz Orchestra, 7:30pm

THE ORANGE PEEL

Zoso: The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience, 8pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN

Queen Bee & the Honeylovers (jazz, blues, Latin), 7pm

MONDAY, MARCH 3

27 CLUB

27 Club Karaoke, 10pm CATAWBA BREWING COMPANY SOUTH SLOPE ASHEVILLE

Musicians in the Round: Monday Open Mic, 5pm

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 LOFT

The Hot Seat Comedy, 7pm

THE ARGOT ROOM

Cynthia McDermott & The Bon Temps (jazz, swing), 7pm

THE JOINT NEXT DOOR

Mr Jimmy & Friends (blues), 7pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN

Local Live w/Chris Norred & Pat Cardwell, 7pm

TUESDAY, MARCH 4

EULOGY Vansire (dream-pop, lo-fi), 7pm

FLEETWOOD'S Turntable Tuesdays, 9pm

HI-WIRE BREWING

Not Rocket Science Trivia, 7pm

HIGHLAND BREWING CO.

Mardi Gras w/Meschiya Lake & The Mood Swingers (jazz, swing, blues), 6pm

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 SHAKEY'S Booty Tuesday w/DJ Tamagotchi, 10pm

THE ARGOT ROOM

Cynthia McDermott & The Bon Temps (jazz, swing), 7pm

THIRD ROOM Open Decks, 8pm

VOODOO BREWING CO. Trivia Tuesday w/ Principal Mike, 7pm

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5

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

PULP

Mission Accomplished (classic-rock), 8pm

PISGAH BREWING CO.

Ashley Heath & Joshua Singleton (blues, country, soul), 6pm

SLY GROG LOUNGE

Weird Wednesday Open Jam, 7pm

SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BREWERY

Jazz Night at SAB, 6pm

THE GREY EAGLE

Austin Meade w/Cole Barnhill & Devora (rock, Americana, folk), 8pm

THE JOINT NEXT DOOR

Rod Sphere (soul, rock, reggae), 6pm THE MULE Trivia w/Party Grampa, 6:30pm

THURSDAY, MARCH 6

27 CLUB

Virginia Sweet, Fool Hardies, & Alex Cano (hard-rock, Americana), 8pm

ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL

Sierra Hull (bluegrass), 8pm

CROW & QUILL

Las Montañitas (cumbia), 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

FLOOD GALLERY

True Home Open Mic, 6pm

HI-WIRE BREWING Open Mic Night w/ Stephen Evans, 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 WEST Fee Fi Phaux Fish (Phish tribute), 8pm

PISGAH BREWING CO.

Swamptooth (bluegrass, Americana), 6:30pm

SHAKEY'S Karaoke w/Franco Nino, 9pm

SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO. Brothers Comatose (bluegrass, folk), 6pm

STATIC AGE LOFT Auto-Tune Karaoke w/ Who Gave This B*tch A Mic, 10pm THE EVENT CENTER AT HIGHLAND BREWING Honky Tonk: Rodeo Night, 5pm

THIRD ROOM The Lactones (funk, prog, psychedelic), 8pm VOWL Karaoke Night, 8pm VOODOO BREWING CO.

Music Bingo Thursdays, 7pm

FREEWILL ASTROLOGY BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries author Anne Lamott articulated a thought that’s perfect for you to hear right now: “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” I might amend her wisdom a bit to say “for a few hours” or “a couple of days.” Now is a rare time when a purposeful disconnection can lead you to deeper synchronization. A project or relationship will improve after a gentle reset. Your power mantra: “Renew yourself with quiet inaction.”

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Beavers are the engineers of the natural world. The dams they fabricate not only create shelters for them, but also benefit their entire ecosystem. The ponds and marshes they help shape provide rich habitats for many other species. Boosting biodiversity is their specialty. Their constructions also serve as natural filters, enhancing water quality downstream. Let’s make beavers your inspirational symbol for the coming weeks, Taurus. In their spirit, build what’s good for you with the intention of making it good for everyone whose life you touch. Ensure that your efforts will generate ripples that nourish your tribe and community.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I predict that you will soon have reason to celebrate a resounding success. You will claim a well-deserved reward. You may even shiver with amazement and gratification as you marvel at how many challenges you overcame to emerge triumphant. In my view, you will have every right to exude extra pride and radiance. I won’t complain if you flirt with a burst of egotism. In accordance with my spirituality, I will tell you, “Remember that this wonder you have spawned will live for a very long time.”

CANCER (June 21-July 22): When you see the stars in the night sky, you’re looking at the ancient past. Light from those heavenly bodies may have taken as long as 4,000 years to reach us. So we are beholding them as they used to be, not as they are now. With that as your inspiration, I invite you to spend quality time gazing into your own personal past. Meditate on how your history is alive in you today, making its imprint on all you do and say. Say prayers and write messages to yourself in which you express your awe and appreciation for the epic myth that is your destiny.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): I mourn the growing climate calamity that is heating up our beloved planet. Among many other distortions, it has triggered yellow forsythias and blue gentians to blossom during winters in the Austrian Alps — an unprecedented event. At the same time, I am also able to marvel at the strange beauty of gorgeous flowers growing on the winter hills of ski resorts. So my feelings are mixed — paradoxical and confusing — and that’s fine with me. I regard it as a sign of soulfulness. May you be so blessed, Leo: full of appreciation for your capacity to hold conflicting ideas, perspectives, and feelings.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The quietest place on earth is a room at Microsoft’s headquarters near Seattle. It’s made of six layers of steel and concrete, and its foundation includes vibration-dampening springs. Within it, you can hear your heartbeat, the swishing of your clothes, and the hum of air molecules colliding. The silence is so eerily profound that many people become flummoxed while visiting. Here’s the moral of the story: While you Virgos are naturally inclined to favor order and precision, a modicum of noise and commotion in your life is often beneficial. Like background sounds that keep you oriented, minor wriggles and perturbations ensure you remain grounded. This will be extra important for you to acknowledge in the coming weeks.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): To make a Mobius strip, you give a half twist to a strip of paper and attach the ends. You have then created a surface with just one side and one edge. It’s a fun curiosity, but it also has practical applications. Using Mobius strips, engineers can design more

efficient gears. Machinists make mechanical belts that are Mobius strips because they wear out less quickly. There are at least eight other concrete functions, as well. Let’s extrapolate from this to suggest that a similar theme might be arising in your life. What may seem like an interesting but impractical element could reveal its real-world value. You may find unexpected uses for playful features. One of your capacities has dimensions you have not yet explored, but are ready to.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Sandra Cisneros is a visionary writer with Sun and Mercury in Sagittarius. She is always in quest of the next big lesson and the next exciting adventure. But she also has the Moon, Venus, and Saturn in Scorpio. Her sensitive attunement to the hidden and secret aspects of reality is substantial. She thrives on cultivating a profound understanding of her inner world. It took her years to master the art of fully expressing both these sides of her character. I bring this to your attention, Scorpio, because you’re primed to go in quest for experiences that will open your heart to novel amazements — even as you connect with previously unknown aspects of your deep self that resonate with those experiences.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The Moeraki Boulders are spread along a beach in New Zealand. Many of the 50 big rocks are nearly perfect spheres and up to six feet in diameter, so they provide a stunning visual feast. Scientists know that they have steadily grown for the last 4 million years, accumulating ever-new layers of minerals. I propose we make them your symbols of power until July 1. In my astrological estimation, you are in a phase of laying long-term groundwork. What may seem to be a tedious accumulation of small, gradual victories is part of a grander undertaking. Like the Moeraki Boulders, your efforts will crystallize into an enduring foundation.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): A Japanese proverb says, “The bamboo that bends with the wind is stronger and more resilient than the oak tree that resists.” That’s true. When storms bluster, oak branches get broken and blown away. Bamboo may look delicate, but it is actually strong and capable of withstanding high winds. It flourishes by being flexible instead of rigid. That’s the approach I recommend to you, Capricorn. Challenges may emerge that inspire you to stay grounded by adapting. Your plans will become optimal as you adjust them. By trusting your natural resilience, you could find unexpected chances for interesting transformation. Your potency will lie in your ability to bend without breaking.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Seattle’s Space Needle serves as an observation tower. It’s 605 feet high. For years, there was a restaurant with a rotating floor at the top. In its early days, the movement was so brisk that some visitors got dizzy and nauseous. Engineers had to recalibrate the equipment so it was sufficiently leisurely to keep everyone comfortable. Your current situation resembles this story. The right elements are in place, but you need to adjust the timing and rhythm. If there are frustrating glitches, they are clues to the fine-tuning that needs to be done.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Octopuses have three hearts, each with a different function. Every one of their eight limbs contains a mini-brain, giving them nine in total. Is there any doubt, then, that they are the patron creature for you Pisceans? No other zodiac sign is more multifaceted than you. No other can operate with grace on so many different levels. I celebrate your complexity, dear Pisces, which enables you to draw such rich experiences into your life and manage such diverse challenges. These qualities will be working at a peak in the coming weeks. For inspiration, consider putting an image of an octopus in your environment.

EMPLOYMENT

ADMINISTRATIVE/ OFFICE

FINANCE & MEMBERSHIP

COORDINATOR Reports to: Executive Director. Part time, 5-8 hours per week, remote, 1099, $20 per hour. Email director@bethisraelnc.org for full job info. 8282528660 director@bethisraelnc.org www.bethisraelnc.org

SALES/ MARKETING 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

HANDY MAN

HANDY MAN 40 years experience in the trades, with every skill/tool imaginable for all trades with the exception of HVAC. No job too small. $40 an hour. Carl (828) 551-6000 electricblustudio@gmail.com

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ACROSS

1 Org. of the main characters in “The Americans”

4 What might rain down on opposing players

8 Words before “Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope”

14 Drum location

15 ___-Seltzer

16 Gamer’s likeness

17 It follows ka in the Spanish alphabet

18 500 sheets of paper

19 Barbershop stock

20 Jay Gatsby, to Nick Carraway?

23 Puffs

24 Move slightly

25 Many ’90s music purchases

28 Chooses

29 Company that once sold the Magic 8 Ball

30 Kipling or Keats

31 Mare/hare pair?

35 Spain and Portugal

37 Steakhouse order

38 Horse-drawn party vehicle?

42 Cuckoo

43 The “A” of U.A.E.

44 Morning TV host Kelly

47 Animal that sounds like you?

48 “___ intended!”

50 Sneaky schemes

51 Tennis format … or a description of some of the letters in 20-, 31- and 38-Across

53 Noted name in suits

56 Yaks

57 Feeling induced by a total eclipse, perhaps

58 Grinned broadly

59 The “grand slam” of showbiz

60 Souvenir for a Final Four team 61 Box up 62 Takes in 63 ___ Moines

1 Stick with 2 Racehorse’s gait 3 Get a party going

Zingers 5 Butter alternative 6 “Well, see ya!”

7 Italian anise-flavored liqueur

8 Feature of golf and rugby, but not gymnastics or luge? 9 Dodge

Having little hustle 11 Bankable vacation, for short

Tarnish 13 Hosp. areas 21 “Just tell me which it is!” 22 Japanese noodle 25 Locale of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest

Refute

Eye irritation

Eats that pair well with

Former N.B.A. star Smits, the “Dunking Dutchman”

Wallop

1988 film for which Tom Hanks received his first Oscar nomination

Not doing anything

Part of your