Rapid River Magazine February 2012 by Rapid River Magazine

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Andie MacDowell talks about her role in the new TV series Jane by Design. PAGE 17

Asheville Bravo Concerts presents the Moscow Festival Ballet. PAGE 20 Interview with Adam Z. Bowers about Asheville Lyric Opera’s latest production, Così fan tutte. PAGE 3

Catch the Irish-American super group Solas at Diana Wortham Theatre. PAGE 7

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performance INTERVIEW WITH

INTERVIEWED BY

Adam Z. Bowers

DENNIS RAY

apid River Magazine: Tell us a little

about Asheville Lyric Opera’s next production, Mozart’s Così fan tutte, and why is it a significant opera?

Adam Z. Bowers: Così is an ensemble cast, meaning each character brings a special energy which contributes to the whole. This may sound familiar. We see it in television shows like “Friends” and “Seinfeld”. For the time period it was considered cutting edge. RRM: What drew ALO to consider doing

Adam Z. Bowers, Administrative Assistant of the Asheville Lyric Opera.

AB: Mozart operas are perfect for the Diana

inherent naivety of youth. We may think relationships have advanced, but the change is superficial. The way we define relationships has changed, but true love is still the ultimate goal.

Così fan tutte?

Wortham Theatre. That particular theatre offers an intimate experience which suits such a difficult piece, theatrically and musically. It’s a comedy, which allows it to produce a powerful societal critique on the interplay between man and woman. Now add some of the most gorgeous, sophisticated music Mozart ever wrote. What’s not to love?

RRM: Why has ALO decided to have Così fan tutte take place in 1925?

AB: The idea was first voiced by Pat Heu-

ermann. She had set it in modern times before, but never in combination with its original location - Naples, Italy. We saw an opportunity to blend the modern and traditional. We’re headed into unchartered territory. The ALO has never set a main stage opera in a modern time.

RRM: Do you feel Così fan tutte is relevant in 2012?

AB: An ensemble cast and a modern setting already make it more accessible to people in 2012. Così is about finding true love in the face of rigid social constructs and the

RRM: Tell us a little about Pat Heuermann and what she will bring to this opera.

AB: Pat has a lifetime of operatic experience.

She is a founding member of the Atlanta Opera, has worked in Austria and Italy and was the president of the National Opera Association for two years. Lucky for us, she’s local.

RRM: ALO is known for using powerful yet

beautiful set designs. What can we expect to see in this production?

AB: You’ll see a rotating set which will add

another level of depth and fluidity. Not only that, but Julie Ross has created an incredible scenic drop of Naples in the art nouveau style so popular in 1920’s Italy. The set dressing will be just as incredible. We’re getting almost all of the furniture on loan form Village Antiques. ‘Bowers’ continued on page 4

WNC’s Only Professional School for Stage and Screen

Presenting Jean Coralli’s “Giselle” Under Sergei Radchenko’s direction, leading dancers from across Russia present Jean Coralli’s Giselle, a story of young love, mistaken identity, and the journey of the spirit. The Moscow Festival Ballet’s performance maintains the Russian tradition of scrupulous production and loving concern for this gem of the romantic ballet.

Try Out the Program the First Week for Free With No Obligation!

Friday, March 9 @ 7:30 pm

6 & 12 Week Classes Begin the Week of February 19. RSVP to info@nys3.com

Tickets $15–$60 • Students 1/2 price • Tickets available at the Civic Center Box Office, ticketmaster.com or 828.225.5887 • AshevilleBravoConcerts.org

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THOMAS WOLFE AUDITORIUM

BMW of Asheville

bmwofasheville.com 828-681-9900

27 Different Classes and Workshops

(917) 710-2805 Vol. 15, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2012 3

performance The Sound of Music in the Spring. RRM: Can you tell us a bit Scott Joiner about your own history? and Dominic AB: I was born in North Aquilino are Carolina and went to School both local at Appalachian State Univerprofessionals sity where I received a who perform degree in music education. regularly with Moving to Asheville in 2009, the Asheville I began an administrative Lyric Opera. Sketch for the backdrop. internship with the ALO. By Our the following season I was visiting singlanding contracts for singing, stage manageers include Sarah Beckham, Regina Davis ment and scenic/prop construction. I am and Brent Davis. Sarah, a native of Texas, now a part time staff member of the ALO. is making her ALO debut as Fiordiligi. Regina Davis is from Lake Toxaway, but has RRM: Who is your favorite operatic comspent the last couple of years performing in poser and why? and around the Netherlands. Brent often AB: I don’t keep strict favorites. Mozart is performs with the Atlanta Opera Company my favorite composer. His music is gorand was last seen in ALO’s production of geous and complex and develops with the La Bohème. character. It may sound simple, but it’s hard as nails. Theatrically, Verdi is my favorite. IF YOU Così fan tutte will be performed RRM: Tell us a little about cast. GO at the Diana Wortham Theatre on AB: We have a mix of local and visiting proFebruary 17 and 18 at 8 p.m. For fessionals. Kristen Hedberg, our associate tickets, contact the theatre box office at (828) 257-4530. Adult tickets range from artistic director will be playing Despina. Not $30-$53 with student tickets available from only is she a great singer and performer, $17-$35. Go to www.dwtheatre.com to but a great director. She directed last year’s purchase tickets. production of Brundibár and will direct ‘Bowers’ continued from page 3

Cast of Cosi fan tutte Fiordiligi, Sarah Beckham; Dorabella, Regina Davis; Ferrando, Scott Joiner; Guglielmo, Brent Davis; Despina, Kristen Hedberg; Don Alfonso, Dominic Aquilino

SARAH BECKHAM During the 2011-2012 season, soprano Sarah Beckham sings Fiordiligi in Cosi fan Tutte with both Opera in the Heights in Houston, Texas and Asheville Lyric Opera in North Carolina. She also sings Mimi in La Bohème and Countess in The Marriage of Figaro with Center City Opera Theater of Philadelphia and Josephine in HMS Pinafore with Opera New Jersey.

BRENT DAVIS Brent Davis, baritone – has appeared frequently with American regional companies including The Atlanta Opera since making his debut in 2004 as Prince Yamadori in Madama Butterfly. With the company, he has been seen in Tosca

and in the premieres of Cold Sassy Tree and Akhnaten, with the rare opportunity to work with composers Philip Glass and Carlisle Floyd.

REGINA DAVIS Hailed by critics as, “a young lady who bears watching,” mezzo-soprano Regina Davis has struck audiences with her “exquisite” performances. Recent performances include the Operadagen Festival in Rotterdam and the role of Proserpina in Pierre Audi’s La tragedia d’Orfeo with Opera Studio Nederland. Regina’s work has taken her to Amsterdam, Netherlands where she has been a Studio Member of the Opera Studio Nederland for 2010-2011 and made her European debut at the Royal Concertgebouw as soloist. Regina hails from the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina.

PATRICIA HEUERMANN Patricia Heuermann’s career as a stage director, teacher and lecturer includes opera, music theatre and cabaret performances throughout the United States and Europe. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Ms. Heuermann has taught at New York University, Emory University and Clark College, and has directed opera workshops for Manhattan School of Music and the 92nd Street Y.

SCOTT JOINER In the 2010/2011 season, Joiner sang principal roles with Asheville Lyric Opera and Knoxville Opera, won North Carolina’s Heafner/Williams Vocal Competition, made his solo debut with the Asheville Symphony broadcast live on WCQS and was heard in numerous recitals, including the Musical Monday series at the Historic Tennessee Theatre and the Lotte Lehmann Vocal Recital at Wintergreen Music Festival, in cooperation with the Lotte Lehmann Foundation of New York City.

ASHEVILLE LYRIC OPERA UPCOMING EVENTS

Cosi fan tutte February 17, 18

Sound of Music April 20, 21, & 22

Taste of Opera June 9

Contact Asheville Lyric Opera (828) 236-0670 www.ashevillelyric.org 4 February 2012 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 15, No. 6

we love this place LaZoom’s Valentine “Let Your Love Roll” Ride

RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE Established in 1997 • Volume Fifteen, Number Six

FEBRUARY 2012 www.rapidrivermagazine.com

Publisher/Editor: Dennis Ray Managing Editor: Beth Gossett Marketing: Dennis Ray, Rick Hills Staff Photographer: Liza Becker Layout & Design: Simone Bouyer Poetry Editor: Ted Olson Proofreader: Mary Wilson Accounting: Sharon Cole Distribution: Dennis Ray CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Jenny Bunn, James Cassara, Michael Cole, Amy Downs, John Ellis, Lauren Garcia, Beth Gossett, Max Hammonds, MD, Cherry Hart, Phil Hawkins, Phil Juliano, Chip Kaufmann, Michelle Keenan, Eddie LeShure, Peter Loewer, Marcianne Miller, Brian Musser, T. Oder & R. Woods, Ted Olson, Michael Parker, Dennis Ray, Patty Smyers, Katie Anne Towner, Greg Vineyard, Bill Walz, Robert Wiley. INFO Rapid River Arts & Culture Magazine is a monthly publication. Address correspondence to info@rapidrivermagazine.com or write to: Rapid River Arts & Culture Magazine 85 N. Main St. Canton, NC 28716 Phone: (828) 646-0071 www.rapidrivermagazine.com All materials contained herein are owned and copyrighted by Rapid River Arts & Culture Magazine and the individual contributors unless otherwise stated. Opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Rapid River Arts & Culture Magazine or the advertisers found herein. © Rapid River Arts & Culture Magazine, February 2012 Vol. 15 No. 6

3AdamInterviews Z. Bowers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Friday, February 10 through Tuesday, February 14. Your total body Giggle3

Richard Handy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Andie MacDowell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

7SolasPerformance ............................

Rennie Harris Puremovement . . . . . 7 Bravo! – Moscow Festival Ballet . . . 21

8JamesColumns Cassara - Music . . . . . . . . . . . Eddie LeShure - Jazz. . . . . . . . . . . . Greg Vineyard - Fine Art . . . . . . . . Michael Parker – Wine . . . . . . . . . . Ted Olson - Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . Marcianne Miller – Books . . . . . . . Bill Walz - Artful Living . . . . . . . . Max Hammonds, MD - Health . . Peter Loewer - The Curmudgeon .

8 10 18 27 28 29 31 32 33

9ChallMusic Gray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9 Richard Shulman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Hendersonville Chamber Music . . . 39

11 Movie Reviews

Chip Kaufmann & Michele Keenan 11

16 Stage Preview NC Stage – Love Child. . . . . . . . . . .

gasm for Valentines Day! Skip the typical dinner and roses and hop on the LaZoom bus for a two hour Valentine adventure full of heart-warming mayhem. LaZoom’s “Let Your Love Roll” Ride is the absolute finest way to tell your sweety that he/she/he-she/she-he is “worth it.” A Valentines ride for couples with games, performance, and special guests. Departing from The Thirsty Monk at 92 Patton Ave, downtown Asheville. Reservations required. Passengers must be 21 to ride. Tickets $60 per couple. For tickets go online at www. lazoomtours.com or call (828) 225-6932.

The New Orleans Bingo! Show Dressed in black, white and red like the leering faces on a good poker hand, the Bingo! Show is a multimedia stage experience that includes original black-and-white silent films, aerialists, dancers, ingénues, clowns, audience interaction, bingo games, slapstick comedy and shady characters who remind you that every stage door opens into a dark alley. A curious spectacle, a thrilling phenomenon, and one of the very finest entertainments on the theatrical stage today. February 24-26. For tickets or reservations: www.themagneticfield.com, (828) 668-2154, or The Magnetic Field at 372 Depot Street in Asheville’s River Arts District.

Retro Happy Hour at The Market Place Young professionals gather Thursday evenings in downtown Asheville, an alternative to the late night bar scene. Old school music, retro cocktails at discounted prices and a dress code that has a “Mad Men” slant creates a warm, upscale vibe in the already cozy venue. And the event seems to be a hit. The number of attendees has averaged between 30 and 50 and has continued to grow. The event was created by Kelly Denson of Lush Life Productions as an alternative to the late night bar scene. “The Retro Happy Hour events bring a big city feel to our small community. People seem to dress up a little more, go out earlier — then you can go home at a reasonable hour,” says Denson. Retro Happy Hour takes place every Thursday from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at the Market Place, 20 Wall Street. Dress: Retro optional. No cover. For more information contact Chef William Dissen of the Market Place at (828) 252-4162.

ACT – Chicago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

19 Fine Art Arts & Crafts Conference . . . . . . . . .

19 Brennen McElhaney . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

20 Shops Blake Sneed – Bogart’s . . . . . . . . . . .

30 Noteworthy Render Unto the Valley . . . . . . . . . .

Rapid River Magazine Follow us online for the latest events www.rapidrivermagazine.com

The Chocolate Fetish . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Judi Ferris – The Chocolate Bear. . . 24 Angelyn Messer – Strains of Music . 38

34 What to Do Guide Best in Show by Phil Juliano . . . . .

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On the Cover: Bill, Elizabeth, and Sue Foley, owners of The Chocolate Fetish. Photo: Liza Becker

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Callie & Cats by Amy Downs . . . . Corgi Tales by Phil Hawkins . . . . Dragin by Michael Cole . . . . . . . . Ratchet & Spin by T.Oder, R.Woods

35 35 35 35 35

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Vol. 15, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2012 5

L T

stage preview Executive Director of the Asheville Symphony to Assume New Role with the Orchestra

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he Board of Directors of the Asheville Symphony announced at the January 23, 2012 board meeting that Steven Hageman, Executive Director of the Asheville Symphony will assume a new role with the organization at the end of the 2011-12 season. Hageman has been at the helm of the Asheville Symphony since 1997. A search committee will be established to identify Mr. Hageman’s successor. He will continue to work with the Asheville Symphony during the transition and on development and other fundraising projects after the appointment of the new Executive Director. Hageman said, “It has been very rewarding to have been involved in

some of the most exciting times in the history of the Asheville Symphony, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to be part of the organization during this time. The artistic leadership provided by Daniel Meyer has been key to the Orchestra’s recent success, as has the very devoted and generous leadership of the board members. I could not have asked for a more supportive team of board, staff and musicians. I look forward to continuing to work with our wonderful orchestra in a different capacity.” ASO Board President, Carolyn Hubbard, noted that “Steve’s professionalism, business expertise and love of classical music have been the perfect combination for his success in leading our organization to become the out-

standing arts organization it is today.” During his tenure, Mr. Hageman worked with the search committee in 2003 to find a new Music Director after the twenty–two year leadership of Robert Hart Baker. Working with Music Director Daniel Meyer, the Asheville Symphony increased the number of Masterworks concerts from six performances to seven, added two Young People’s Concerts and, just recently, performed a free outdoor Labor Day concert for the community. Hageman was successful in acquiring funding through grants and donations for a stage extension and new lighting in Thomas Wolfe Auditorium and the purchase of a Steinway piano last year.

—P —Pa Pat Boone

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INTERVIEW WITH

film, television, media and design and connect them with work opportunities. The majority of the trainen professional instructors ing at the studio from NYC and LA. Twentyrevolves around seven unique classes and the Meisner Techworkshops. One location Richard Handy nique — an acting to get it all. The New York technique that was Studio for Stage and Screen is just 8 developed and refined by Sandford minutes from downtown Asheville. Meisner over the course of 40 years. Work with some of the best Of the four techniques that I studied, instructors in the country to receive I found the Meisner Technique the New York City caliber theatre and most accessible and had the clearest film training. Professional instructors road from A-Z. can help you reach your potential as I was fortunate to work with an actor, no matter what your level of three of Sandy’s experience. The original instrucThe New York NYS3 is designed to offer tors from the Studio’s newly Neighborhood renovated, 2,300 the highest level training for Playhouse when sq. ft. acting stage, screen and design, at I studied in studio and 1,500 the lowest price possible. NYC. Like the sq. ft. partnerPlayhouse, it is ing film studio important to me are located in that there is a common language in the beautiful, historic and culturally rich program. So no matter what class you Asheville, NC. take the main principles are constantly Rapid River Magazine: Tell us a little being reinforced and developed which about The New York Studio for Stage organically speeds up the growth and Screen (NYS3) in Asheville. process. Richard Handy: NYS3 is a professionRRM: How did NYS3 first come al local acting school that is designed about? to offer the highest level training for RH: A version of the school opened stage, screen and design at the lowest up in the fall of 2010 as The Stella price possible. Our goal is to help Adler Studio in Asheville at ACT as many people as we can develop a and that was a wonderful start. ACT solid foundation in the arts of theatre, was extraordinary to work with and

Richard Handy

6 February 2012 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 15, No. 6

INTERVIEWED BY

DENNIS RAY

helped us get our feet on the ground. They understood our mission to provide affordable professional training and did everything they could to make that possible. The only downside was that we were limited by the availability of the space. ACT has a lot of wonderful programs and additionally it was important that their space was accessible to the public to rent for other ambitious projects. Consequently, we had to combine our voice and acting technique class, which reduced its effectiveness with only so much time to offer anything else. It just limited our growth potential. Then, about two months ago, I got a phone call from Jon Menick who owns Story Point Media and has over 40 years experience in film, telling me about a beautiful studio space in the Riverside Business Park that he wanted to help me move into. Additionally, he offered up his film studio to expand the program. So I took him up on his offer, quickly begin renovating the space, and started contacting the best instructors I could find to bring them together to do what they do best. The rest is history.

RRM: What classes are still available to register for this Spring?

RH: Students will be able to register

for all of our workshops, 6-week and 12-week classes up until the week of February 19. This includes: Improv ‘Handy’ continued on page 26

performance

2 0 1 1 - 2 0 1 2 SEASON Daniel Meyer, Music Director

Electrifying Irish-American Solas

agically contemporary yet timeless, the Irish-American super group Solas takes the stage at the Diana Wortham Theatre on Friday, February 10. Touring in support of its new multimedia project, Shamrock City City, Solas is a lightening rod of talent and inspiration, electrifying crowds of all musical tastes. The band has been trumpeted as “the first truly great Irish band to rise from America,” (Boston Globe) and ranked among “the most exciting bands anywhere in the world” (Irish Echo). As proven by its latest release, The Turning Tide, this band has the raw instrumental virtuosity, the wild grace and the dynamic vocal blend to bring audiences to their feet. Solas Shamrock City is a multimedia project which tells the story of copper mining town Butte, Montana, at the turn of the 20th century, as seen through the eyes of Irish immigrant, Michael Conway, the great uncle of Seamus Egan’s father. In 1910, Conway sailed from Cobh, County Cork, Ireland to Philadelphia before making his way to Butte and the mines. Conway’s journey and plight inspired the band to explore the role of immigrants in the development of industrialized America. For nearly 15 years, Solas has been recognized as the most popular, influential Irish-American super group, stepping out onto the world stage in 1996 when Irish music was at the brink of a new era of innovation and popularity. The five young musicians who made up the band at the time had no idea that they were to be a galvanizing element in the Irish music scene – a lightning rod of talent and inspiration that set new standards for musicianship, repertoire, and intensity. Philadelphia-born, multi-instrumentalist and founding member Seamus Egan leads the traditional Irish group whose music was featured in the film The Brothers McMullen. Eagan’s bandmates include: fiddler and fellow founding member, Winifred Horan, formerly of Cherish the Ladies; Mick McAuley from Kilkenny, Ireland on accordion and concertina; North Ireland’s Eamon McElholm plays guitar and keyboards; and Nimah Varian-Barry of County Cork fills the role of lead vocalist with a distinctive and powerful quality like no other. She joined Solas following the release of its 2010 album The Turning Tide.

Call for tickets today! UPCOMING CONCERTS

BY JOHN

ELLIS

SATURDAY

FEBRUARY 11, 2012 • 8pm BEETHOVEN’S “PASTORAL” SYMPHONY Beethoven Liszt

Symphony No. 6 “Pastoral” Piano Concerto No. 1 Jeanette Aufiero

Wagner Jeanette Aufiero

Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde

CONCER T SPONSOR

THE PAYNE FUND

MARCH 17, 2012 BRAHMS SYMPHONY NO. 1 Rossini

IF YOU Solas performs February 10 at GO Diana Wortham Theatre. For

tickets (Regular $30; Student $25; Child $12), call the theatre’s box office at (828) 257-4530 or visit www.dwtheatre. com. Student Rush tickets ($10 with valid I.D.) are sold the day of the show, based on availability.

Douglas O’Connor

La Scala di Seta Overture Glazunov Concerto for Alto Saxophone Piazzolla Oblivion Brahms Symphony No. 1

APRIL 14, 2012 MOZART’S “JUPITER” SYMPHONY MAY 12, 2012 THE PINES OF ROME

FOR TICKETS AND MORE INFORMATION

828.254.7046 • www.ashevillesymphony.org

Ambassador of Hip-hop, Rennie Harris Puremovement

he world’s pre-eminent hip-hop BY JOHN ELLIS dance company, Rennie Harris Puremovement, brings pure, hip-hop can be characterized as a contemcontagious stage magic to Diana porary indigenous form, one that expresses Wortham Theatre this month. universal themes that extend beyond racial, Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Puremovereligious, and economic ment is a celebration of boundaries, and one that life. Under Harris’s artistic (because of its pan-racial direction, Puremovement’s and transnational popularvirtuosic dancers stretch ity) can help bridge these brilliant street moves to divisions and change the high art in works that beat course for young minds. with meaning and delight. Harris’ work encomBased in Philadelphia, passes the diverse and this company is the interrich African-American national ambassador of hiptraditions of the past, while hop dance, delivering the simultaneously presenting true essence and spirit of hip the voice of a new generahop, rather than commertion through its ever-evolvcially exploited stereotypes. ing interpretations of Highly acclaimed dance. He is committed to choreographer Dr. Lorenzo providing audiences with a “Rennie” Harris founded sincere view of the essence Rennie Harris Puremoveand spirit of hip-hop. ment in 1992 on the belief No stranger to acthat hip-hop is the most claim and recognitions, important original expresRennie Harris received a sion of a new generation. Master of African AmeriWith its roots in the incan Choreographer Medal ner-city African-American Rennie Harris Puremovement from the Kennedy Center and Latino communities, Photo: Gabriel Bienczycki

and was voted one of the most influential people in the last one hundred years of Philadelphia history. Harris has been compared to twentiethcentury dance legends Alvin Ailey and Bob Fosse and was recently awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in recognition of his work as a choreographer. In May of 2010, he received an honorary doctorate degree from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. The now Dr. Lorenzo “Rennie” Harris is atop the hip-hop heap as its leading ambassador. Pre-Show Discussions

For insight and increased enjoyment of the performances, ticket holders can attend free pre-performance discussions in The Forum at Pack Place at 7 p.m. before both performances. IF YOU Rennie Harris Puremovement, GO Thursday & Friday, February 23

& 24 at 8 p.m. Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place. For tickets (Regular $40; Student $35; Child $12), call the theatre’s box office at (828) 257-4530 or visit www.dwtheatre. com. Student Rush tickets ($10 with valid I.D.) are sold the day of the show, based on availability.

Vol. 15, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2012 7

PG.

spinning discs CD Reviews by James Cassara

At the time I write this 2012 is not yet a month old and we’ve already been blessed with many a fine new release. This month is highlighted by a much deserved reissue, a local artist of note, and one of the great female pop bands of our era. As always be sure to frequent one of our local independent stores. Support those who support the music!

Alex Chilton Free Again: The 1970 Sessions Omnivore Music Alex Chilton’s untimely death in March of 2010 ended one of the most eclectic and unpredictable chapters in American pop music. From the start, be it as the presumed front man (a role he never wanted not fully embraced) for the Box Tops, his wildly uneven solo excursions, and up through his seminal Memphis Soul Meets Garage Rock days with Big Star, Chilton rarely gave the people what they thought they wanted. But he always gave them what they needed, even if they didn’t know it at the time. Unlike many departed-too-soon rock stars, since Chilton’s death there’s not been much released in the way of tributes or back catalog. Yet one suspects that, given the fits and starts nature of his recording style, there’s probably an abundance of material (much of it already bootlegged) waiting to be culled. Whether or not it is worth putting out is another matter. To that end Free Again: the 1970 Sessions takes a look at his earliest years. It was a time of both artistic growth and perpetual frustration for Chilton: his eerily soulful voice made him a natural but Chilton desperately wanted to sing his own songs, something producers Dan Penn and Chips Moman would never allow. The Box Tops were a gravy train, and one they were certainly not going to let go of. But in between Box Tops sessions Chilton would sneak off, grab a few musician buddies, and in clandestine fashion cut a few tracks. The history of these formative efforts can be a bit convoluted; some were tied up by contractual issues while others were never meant for proper release, but they eventually did see the light of day when Ardent Records released them on CD in 1996. This welcome reissue, given a new and far more appropriate title, adds a few tracks, cleans up others, and presents a wonderfully accurate portrait of the 20 year old artist, one still deeply in love with blue eyed soul but increasingly enamored by psychedelic Brit pop. Of course there are elusive hints of country music and raunchy veneered rock & roll (the slow burn abandon of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” is particularly effective) but for the most part the songs here retroactively give us a logical bridge between the Box Tops and Big Star. There are also a few hints of the post Big Star years – a period in which Chilton would 8 February 2012 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 15, No. 6

swerve gleefully from the cantankerous musings of Like Flies on Sherbert to the meticulous pop craft of High Priest. In that regard, Free Again may not quite be a revelation but as both a musical document, albeit a rather haphazard one, or historical artifact, it is for Chilton’s obsessive followers (and I have never met any other kind) nothing less than essential. ****

Joe Henry Reverie Anti Music Records Since the turn of the century Joe Henry has recorded five critically acclaimed albums and become a Grammy winning producer. That’s a more than decent track record for any artist and yet among all but a few, Henry remains a relatively obscure figure. That is in part due to the mercurial nature of his artistry – he rarely taps the same vein twice – and the ambitious yet cautious temperament of his albums. His strongest albums are usually fixated on a specific theme, one which he explores to its fullest, which is great fodder for those of us who think and write compulsively about music but doesn’t always make for great listening. Reverie is a collection of 14 songs that spiral around the concept of time: the chance glimpses of memory that construct our perception of pleasure, pain, loss, redemption, and the myriad ways in which we continually injure ourselves and those we allege to love best. If all that sounds stuffy, not to mention more than slightly daunting, don’t worry. Fresh from his work producing Mose Allison, Henry has clearly learned a trick or two about keeping things light. Despite the serious tenor of the songs this is the loosest and most lively record he’s ever made. Recorded at his home studio (according to the liner notes Henry was dead set on leaving the windows open) Reverie is a breezy stroll through everyday life but at a level of intense scrutiny that is to music what Terrence Malick is to film. The sounds of traffic, barking dogs, mothers summoning their children and chainsaws cutting firewood saturate the album. But they do so in subtle fashion, pouring into the songs but never intruding upon them. It‘s an audacious move but one Henry pulls off with confidence and ease. Yet for all its off handedness the songs reveal the sturdy and intentional craftsmanship of Henry’s songwriting.

Accompanied by his longtime band of drummer Jay Bellerose, pianist Keefus Ciancia, bassist David Piltch, and guitarist Marc Ribot, the songs are brilliantly constructed and unforgettably imaginative. The opening track, “Heaven’s Escape (Henry Fonda on the Bank of America)” is pure Henry, a joyful Prohibition-era romp that evokes the music of that era without being constricted by it. The gospel piano and incessant snare of “Odetta” evoke the jubilation of Sunday church, as sinners rally around one another for comfort and absolution. Guest vocalist Jean McLain kicks off the torch ballad blues of “Sticks and Stones” while Henry’s strutting guitar counters with a frenetic 4/4 tango that has to be heard to be believed. After 2009’s wondrous Blood From Stars – an effort that was my favorite album from that year – I truly thought Joe Henry could at best hope to maintain the high bar he had set for himself. With Reverie he has done the seemingly impossible by surpassing it, keeping alive a string of five absolutely brilliant albums in a row. I honestly don’t know how he does it, or how long he’ll be able to keep up this pace. Every hitting streak must eventually end but when Joe Henry somehow releases an album that is less than marvelous I’ll only look back, shake my head in disbelief, and marvel how he did it in the first place. *****

The Little Willies For the Good Times Milking Bull Records The music Norah Jones makes with her pick up band the Little Willies seems the perfect antidote for the often too mannered textures of her own albums. Hers are immaculately produced, theirs are intentionally casual. Hers are models of meticulous arrangement while The Willies would much rather strum a few cords and see what comes of it. Neither approach is better than the other. Both demonstrate the offhanded charm that makes Norah who she is, and while For the Good Times seems designed in part to take the spotlight off her there’s no doubt that Jones is the star attraction. The jazzy warmth that dominates gives even the most light weight numbers – and For the Good Times is nothing if not light weight – as smooth as good scotch palpability that befits the material and allows the musicians to tug and twist such numbers as ‘CD’s’ continued on next page

sound experience ‘CD’s’ continued from page 8

Ralph Stanley’s “I Worship You” and Scotty Wiseman’s “Remember Me” into new and unexpected terrain. That’s the upswing of the album, and while nothing else here offers any such surprises it is still the type of off the cuff effort that keeps things interesting. It is by no means a statement album but that’s entirely the point. Much like the Warren Zevon/R.E.M. one shot of Hindu Love Gods For The Good Times is Norah Jones and company’s opportunity to kick back and have some fun. And most likely so will you. ***

The Bangles Sweetheart of the Sun Model Music Group Since reuniting nearly a decade ago the Bangles have at times seemed a bit lost, delicately trying to capture a balance between the impeccable jangle pop that made them famous and a desire to avoid sounding so terribly dated. Having decided to dance with the one that brought them Sweetheart of the Sun smartly dispenses with any pretence of relevancy and chooses to instead reinvestigate the sound that they work so well. To that end they’ve enlisted a most logical conspirator in the form of one Matthew Sweet, whose own career (including the two cover albums he recorded with Bangle Susanna Hoffs) has been a lesson in keeping up with the past. The album oozes with Beach Boy like vocal harmonies, Byrds fashioned guitars, and production tricks that echo everyone from the Beau Brummels to the Swinging Medallions. But what really drives Sweetheart of the Sun are the songs themselves: Solid and smartly crafted (and yes, a bit goofy) ditties about parenthood, sagging relationships, and the inevitable reality of being dragged into middle age. They stylistically flirt with all the trademark Bangles sounds: the steady thump rock of “What a Life” is a fine compliment for the tender moments of the title track. The balance of ballads to up-tempo numbers is perfect, and another testament to Sweet’s influence. And a couple of cover tunes (perhaps considered for the Under the Covers sessions) nicely serve to round things out. “Sweet and Tender Romance” is a delightfully obscure pop tune first done in 1964 by the British girl group the McKinleys while their take of the Nazz’s familiar “Open My Eyes” is a testament to the Bangles own gorgeous way with harmony. Sure the lead vocals have gotten a bit rough over the years but that only serves to make Sweetheart of the Sun more authentic. I’m sure Sweet and company were

Chall Gray presents 69 Love Songs Chall Gray seems to be a man in perpetual motion, applying the finishing touches to one project while middle deep in another and no doubt planning the next.

BY JAMES

CASSARA

have James back here to help out.

JC: The lineup is

amazing. Going from memory I don’t recall many of these bands playing last time. Talk about how you went out and recruited them. Was it born out of a shared love of the 69 Love Songs album?

s owner of The Magnetic Field a huge success, both – the comfortably intimate venue creatively and in terms that has quickly become an inof the crowd it drew. At tegral part of the already vibrant the time did you envision Asheville Theatre scene – Gray doing another? has the innate ability to sense the pulse of Chall Gray: Actually, what people want, likely even before they no, it was very much know it themselves. thought of as a one-time CG: It is! I’m very Nattily attired and compulsively show. But since then excited to see the show. polite, Gray brings to Asheville another people have continued The amazing quality level of energy, one which is as infectious to come up to me and of the 69 Love Songs as it is inspiring. And while theatre is talk about how much fun release made my job certainly his first love he’s equally pasthat show was, and how as producer pretty easy sionate about music. The Magnetic Field they wanted it to hapthough, because whenChall Gray Photo: Peter Brezny takes its name from the band whose pen again. The musicians ever I spoke with folks 1999 three disc opus 69 Love Songs talked about how much they’d like to play they were immediately excited at the became the creative spark for yet another it and after awhile I thought, “Why not?” It prospect of being able to play some of of his ventures, a recurring Valentine’s was incredibly fun to do, so why not do it these songs. I think this show represents Day show in which a multitude of local again. And here we are... a superb cross-section of the musical talbands recreate the album in its entirety ent Asheville has to offer, and I’m proud JC: James Richards was a big part the first – straight through, all 69 songs (most to be a part of it. outing. Now that he lives barely hitting the four in New York City how minute mark) in all JC: So what happens when four bands did you go about expandThis show represents their glory. want to play the same song? on the foundation The first 69 Love a superb cross-section ing CG: Amazingly, it worked out perfectly. he built? Obviously one Songs show took place I told everyone that I would be assignof the musical talent doesn’t replace a James… in 2009 at the Grey ing set lists, but I would do my best to Asheville has to offer. Eagle. This is the CG: We had a great time honor their requests, and miraculously sophomore outing for working on the first one. the requests were evenly distributed the event which promHe was the very first throughout! ises to be every bit as eclectic, engaging, person I called after having the original idea JC: How much freedom are the bands and strangely romantic as the one before. for the show, and we worked well together. given in the ways in which they interpret My thanks go out to Chall for taking the I’ve been pretty consistently busy over the the song? Are they pretty much left to time to share his ideas about where 69 last couple of years, so I’m more used to the their own devices? Love Songs might go from here. attendant concerns of putting on various shows now, though I’d still certainly love to ‘Chall Gray’ continued on page 10 James Cassara: The first show was

tempted to smooth those edges out but in this case I think instinct won out over fixation. It may not be a classic Bangles record in the order of 1984’s All Over the Place but it is a darn solid effort from a most unexpected source. ***1/2

Dave Desmelik Deep Down the Definition Stereo Phonic Records Dave Desmelik has always been known for the complexity and instinctive smarts of his lyrics but with his latest release he’s delivered the complete package, songs whose measures and musical accompani-

ment reflect the same precision as the words. That isn’t to say the songs at any time seem labored or over analyzed. Part of what makes Deep Down the Definition such a joy is in the ways Desmelik works so hard yet makes it sound so damn easy. As is often the case with his work there’s no tangible recurring theme running through the album, but rather a gathering of whatever thought processes are running through his head. Desmelik ruminates about fatherhood, friendship, tough choices, hard luck, and the ways in which we somehow summon the strength to smile at the end of the day, but as always his laconic delivery belies the gravity of the situation. Tough times aren’t just around the corner, they’re already here but we don’t yet

know it. But it’s not all the bitter without the sweet. “He Won’t Go Down” is a lovely nod to Desmelik’s son Holmes, while “Success” is a clever warning to be careful what you wish for. The arrangements are sharp – credit co-producer Vinnie Constantine for channeling Desmelik’s instincts in all the right directions – and the efforts of Josh Gibbs and Andy Gibbon are remarkably sympathetic to the songs. What it adds up to is a complete package of Dave Desmelik the songwriter, musician, and (dare I say it?) poet. It also adds up to a compelling and absorbing work that demands and, more to the point, deserves your attention. ****

Vol. 15, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2012 9

sound experience BRRG Battle of the Bands Sunday, February 19 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Seven local bands will compete for the chance to play halftime at a Blue Ridge Rollergirl home bout at the WNC Agricultural Center. The line up features: Ogre Throne (hard core rock); Johnny Sexx (gloss rock); The Ville Boyz (underground hip hop, soul); Lyric (pop, funk, progressive); Build me a Boat (indie folk, acoustic); Grammer School (rock, pop); and, Free Lunch (punk, basement, experimental). At the Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave. Tickets $8 in advance or $10 at the door. (828) 232-5800 or visit www.thegreyeagle.com/info.

‘Chall Gray’ continued from page 9

CG: Absolutely! I just let them go. I don’t

have any illusions of being some arbiter of taste or defender of the source material. These bands are all very talented, and I think the fans enjoy getting some twists on what they know – and from what I’ve heard from a few participants that will certainly be the case! (Reggae, indie rock, maybe we’ll even see a mariachi tune.)

JC: What I love best about 69 Love Songs

the album are the seditious fashion in which it is all about love, but in a way it’s not. For those on the other side of the equation – not finding their soul mate or maybe even dealing with a wounded heart – there is still a place for them at the table. So does one have to be in love to enjoy the show?

or have been in love, or be fascinated by the concept of love, or be unsure whether they’ve been in love, or be obsessed with the etiology of love, or never have been in love, or abhor love, or be heartbroken, or be formerly heartbroken and now just relatively okay and looking for perspective, or be intrigued by the idea of art as an expiatory outlet after falling in love, or falling out of love.

JC: Well, that pretty much covers the range! CG: I would think so. Anyone who falls into any of those categories likely qualifies as someone who would enjoy the show. I also have to say there’s something for everyone, and the Grey Eagle folks have been great. They’re just terrific to work with; there’s a reason so many musicians list the Eagle as one of their favorite places to play.

CG: I think one needs to either be in love,

WNC Jazz Profiles: Richard Shulman

Richard Reiter Swing Band, Providence and Crossing Point; and recorded and performed with Mr. Spats (Steve Evans, June Bisantz, Steve Swallow and Bob Moses) and Bobby Previte (with Dave Hofstra, Tom Varner and Lenny Pickett). The Richard Shulman Group, a jazz quartet, played regularly in the New York area and recorded the albums “A Simple Gift” and “Open Spaces”, and Richard also released his solo jazz piano album “Solo Flight”. Richard has recorded 23 of his own albums, most of which are available on the label “ RichHeart Music”. Trained in the classical and jazz fields, he’s developed a heartfelt language in these genres while splitting his output between jazz and music for meditation, healing and inspiration. An injury in 1977 led him to explore healing aspects of music, and his studies in healing and meditation have informed his music ever since. I asked Richard how his musical expression in jazz and his spirituality come together, and his response was, “Jazz is a container through which spirituality can be expressed. I turn on an inner listening within the context of what I’m playing - which could be a jazz standard, one of my original tunes, or simply the blank slate of free improvisation. As I play what I hear inside, music is created which expresses that Life which includes what we call spirituality. I become one with the music, a vehicle for

10 February 2012 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 15, No. 6

IF YOU Chall Gray Presents 69 Love GO Songs, featuring the Electric

Owls, Jay Martin & The New Euphemisms, Kovacs & the Polar Bear, Wilson the Rocker, Pilgrim, Now You See Them, Jeff Santiago y Los Gatos Negros, and Holiday Childress (w/ Chuck & Stephanie from Stephanie’s Id). At the Grey Eagle, Saturday, February 11 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance and $13 day of show. Advance tickets are available online and at our local outlets for this standing room (as if anyone could remain sitting) only show.

EDDIE LESHURE

Amenia Peace Festival and a wide variety of other venues throughout North America and in Europe. A concert in 2008 with bassist Mike Holstein and drummer Sonny Thornton led him to realize that this trio had the sympatico to become his regular group. 2009 brought the release of “Sky Jazz”, the Richard Shulman Trio’s first CD. Richard currently resides in Asheville, NC and tours and records nationally.

Pianist/composer Richard Shulman has been exploring consciousness through jazz in his recordings, performances and compositions since 1983. The intent behind his music is healing, connection, and the expression of beauty.

orn and raised in Niagara Falls, N.Y., Richard began piano lessons at age seven. As a teenager Richard played organ at various churches, was the music counselor at a summer camp in Canada, and joined a rock band with future jazz recording artists Thom Rotella and Bobby Previte. Graduating from the University of Rochester with a double-major Bachelor’s degree in music and psychology, he continued to perform with Previte in the jazz-fusion band Thermopylae. While in Rochester, Richard also attended the prestigious Eastman School of Music and studied jazz improvisation with Chuck Mangione and Marian McPartland, orchestration with Donald Hunsberger and arranging with the legendary Rayburn Wright. He continued his studies in jazz with Frank Foster while getting his Masters Degree in musical composition at the State University of New York at Buffalo. During those years he played onstage in concert with such jazz stalwarts as Thad Jones, Eddie Gomez, Pepper Adams, Jerry Dodgion, Freddie Hubbard and Al Harewood - as well as recording his first jazz album “Wonder”. After moving to New York City, Richard played in the studio as a session musician with the great jazz rhythm section of Ron Carter and Grady Tate; performed with groups such as The

For those who are in love, heartbroken, fascinated, unsure, intrigued, just okay, or obsessed.

Richard Shulman Photo: Frank Zipperer

that Life which gives me life.” As a composer, Shulman has created over sixty pieces for jazz groups as well as songs and pieces for chamber ensembles, choir, and symphony orchestra. Commissions include a piece for the Amherst Saxophone Quartet, plus “May Peace Prevail on Earth” for singers, symphony orchestra, three choirs, and jazz quartet, created for the World Peace Prayer Society. I asked, “Is there a particular context within which you normally compose new music?” “I will use any context as an “excuse” to compose new music. I’m inspired to write pieces about lessons I’ve learned or particular feelings I may be experiencing, but most large projects start with a specific intent, and the composing follows a process of discovery as I learn in more depth what the piece is about.” Richard has performed at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Art Park, the United Nations, the Kool Jazz Festival, The

“Richard Shulman has been my musical mentor and friend for some years. Talking to him about the music is a very trippy experience as he looks at the night’s performance as an entire arc - and his internal preparation is legendary. It’s tempting to get caught up in the particulars of performing – Richard reminds me to keep trying to step back to listen (maybe to stay aware), not just drive the song, or the evening. As a teacher and musical companion he is unparalleled.” -Singer Heather Mastertonwww.richheartmusic.com To hear CDs visit www.jukeboxalive.com/ albums.php?profile=199808

Share Eddie LeShure’s passion for jazz with Jazz Unlimited on MAIN FM each Wednesday 7-10 p.m., at 103.5 or MAIN-FM.org.

Reel Take Reviewers: MICHELLE KEENAN is a long time student of film and a fundraiser for public radio. CHIP KAUFMANN is a film historian as well as a program host on WCQS-FM. Both are members of the Southeastern Film Critic's Association (SEFCA).

Illustration of Michelle & Chip by Brent Brown.

BRENT BROWN is a graphic designer and illustrator. View more of his work at www.brentbrown.com.

∑∑∑∑∑ - Fantastic ∑∑∑∑ - Pretty darn good ∑∑∑ - Has some good points ∑∑ - The previews lied ∑ - Only if you must M- Forget entirely For the latest REVIEWS, THEATER INFO and MOVIE SHOW TIMES, visit www.rapidrivermagazine.com

Questions/Comments? You can email Chip or Michelle at reeltakes@hotmail.com

A Dangerous Method ∑∑∑1/2 enough to know ematographer, Barry Ackroyd, to make sure who really has left that he captured the look of the other film. Short Take: David Cronenberg’s take their life of crime Although the setting has been updated on Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and the behind and who and the cinema verite approach utilized, female patient who inspired both men hasn’t. I am not fathe dialogue and text are pure Shakespeare. is anchored by the performances of the miliar with the origiCombine that with the hard to follow visuthree leads but for the most part it is a REEL TAKE: Contraband, the dull and uninvolving film. nal film, but have als and the average person is going to have American remake of a 2008 heard that it’s really a very difficult time keeping up with the REEL TAKE: What is one to make of David Icelandic thriller, sounds like good. I don’t know proceedings. I have more than a passing acCronenberg’s A Dangerous Method? Method Fans a great vehicle for Mark Wahlif something was quaintance with the Bard, having acted in a of the director’s earlier more visceral works berg. In many ways it is. He Mark Wahlberg and Ben Foster lost in translation or number of his plays and having seen several will certainly be disappointed by how bloodstar in Contraband. can utilize his street smarts, his if it was changed for film adaptations, yet I had difficulty followless the film is. Not only by a lack of the physical prowess and his acting American audience, ing the action. deep red liquid, but by how devoid of life chops. The Icelandic director of the original, but we are given very superficial stereotypes That’s too bad because Coriolanus is a the movie turns out to be. I realize that a Baltasar Kormakur, was even enlisted to to work with in these characters. play that seems very much in tune with our movie about Freud and Jung can’t avoid bedirect the American version. Unfortunately With the exception of Giovanni Ribisi time. A Roman general with no governing ing clinical, but Cronenberg overdoes it. it’s not as smart a thriller as I (and I think (who seems to be falling into a one-hit experience is approached by the Senate to be The story of Carl Jung (Michael Fassmany others) had hoped it would be. It is wonder of weirdness) as the drug trafficker/ their candidate for ruling the city. Once he bender), his extremely disturbed but highly perfectly enjoyable, but utterly disposable smuggler to whom the debt is owed, the rest grudgingly accepts, he is quickly hounded intelligent entertainment. If I did not have to write a of the actors, including Ben Foster, Lukas out of office and into exile after a patient and review, I wouldn’t have thought twice about Haas, J.K. Simmons and David O’Hara, political deal is made behind his later mistress it upon exiting the theatre. The disappointgive the film their best with the material back. Aligning himself with a former (Keira Knighting part is that it really could have been the provided. At the very least, they all seem enemy, he marches on Rome for ley), and their film I’d hoped to see. like they had a good time making the film. payback only to not be able to follow relationship Wahlberg is Chris Farraday, a former Unfortunately I think the end result may through because of his strong willed, to Sigmund smuggler who has left his life of crime have disappointed them as well. patriotic mother. This inaction winds Freud (Viggo behind and gone legit. He has a beautiful Contraband is perfectly adequate, up sealing his doom at the hands of Mortensen) wife (Kate Beckinsale), two young sons and mainstream, date-night entertainment. If that former enemy. should be a a successful homes security system busiyou are looking for something more, look The principal performances are highly charged ness. He is a happy man, content to leave elsewhere. all high caliber with Fiennes as a grim Keira Knightley as the troubled affair. After a his previous life behind. When his dumberand dedicated Coriolanus, Gerard patient who helps Freud & Jung in Rated R for violence, pervasive language and brief very dynamic than-a-bag-of-hammers brother in-law Butler as an intense and determined A Dangerous Method. drug use. opening, the foolishly tries to pull a job, Farraday must enemy, and Vanessa Redgrave as a REVIEW BY MICHELLE KEENAN film bogs down return to his old life one last time to bring political mother to rival Angela Lansbury in in an overly technical approach to its subject in a shipment of counterfeit money in order the 1962 version of The ManchuCoriolanus ∑∑∑1/2 matter. Although a brief appearance by to save his family. Sounds pretty straight rian Candidate. This year’s breakout Vincent Cassel enlivens the proceedings, he forward as far as things go, but what ensues Short Take: Ralph Fiennes actress, Jessica Chastain, isn’t given disappears way too soon. directs and stars in this is anything but. very much to do but Brian Cox The film is beautifully photographed modern day adaptation of a What unfolds is a series of twists and makes the most of a dishonorable lesser known Shakespeare and the period recreation is perfect, which turns and tested loyalties. All of which, part. All have the proper command play that brims over with appeals to the history geek in me as predone well, could be very clever indeed. The of the Shakespearean dialogue and, if intensity but may be hard WWI Vienna is one of the places I would filmmakers manage to pull off a few surprise it weren’t for the distracting visuals, for many people to follow. most want to time travel to. The perpunches, which are fun for the audience, this could have been a top drawer formances by the three leads, especially but eventually just becomes messy. My REEL TAKE: The posters for adaptation. Just for fun I played it Knightley who is cast against type, cannot colleague Justin Souther (Mountain Xpress) Ralph Fiennes’ adaptation of back without a picture and it proved be faulted. The screenplay by Christopher called it convoluted, and I think that’s the Coriolanus could have read to be absolutely riveting. UnfortuHampton, which is taken from his play that appropriate world. The result is totally (and probably should have nately for first time director Fiennes, was based on John Kerr’s book of the same mediocre fare. Gerard Butler in read) “Shakespeare meets The movies were meant to be seen as name, is certainly intriguing as it allows us The film is set between the Port of New Ralph Fiennes’ Hurt Locker Locker.” That’s because well as heard. to see how the process of psychoanalysis deCoriolanus. Orleans and Panama. Farraday, who was Fiennes has updated the play’s Rated R for scenes of bloody violence. velops. But what works on the stage doesn’t very good at his old livelihood, enlists the setting from Ancient Rome to R EVIEW BY CHIP KAUFMANN help of his close friends to pull off the job. what appears to be the Balkan conflict of the ‘Movies’ continued on page 12 For someone that’s so smart, he isn’t smart 1990s. He even hired The Hurt Locker Locker’s cinContraband ∑∑1/2

Short Take: A former smuggler returns to his life of crime one last time to save a family member.

Vol. 15, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2012 11

film reviews ‘Movies’ continued from page 11

always work on film unless you know how to translate it. I really wanted to like A Dangerous Method not only because of its time setting but because of its subject material. I enjoyed the film for the reasons mentioned above but I fault it for its inability to come to life. Most of the audience that I talked to at our special screening didn’t like it either. It’s a real pity because, considering the talent involved, this movie should have been better than it was. For a fascinating cinematic look at Sigmund Freud, track down John Huston’s 1962 film Freud starring Montgomery Clift and Susannah York. Now that’s a movie worth analyzing. Rated R for sexual content, nudity, and brief language.

REVIEW BY CHIP KAUFMANN

Haywire ∑∑∑∑ Short Take: First rate action thriller told without explosions or car chases and with an old fashioned focus on plot,

Gina Carano takes revenge on those who doublecrossed her in Haywire.

characterization, and non-CGI fisticuffs.

REEL TAKE: As moviegoers we need to be

thankful that director Steven Soderbergh decided to postpone his retirement. Soderbergh is a throwback to the type of old Hollywood studio director like Robert Wise or John Sturges who could consistently make good movies and in just about every genre. Earlier this year we got Contagion which bore a strong resemblance to such disaster movies as The Andromeda Strain and The Satan Bug. This time around Soderbergh seems to be channeling the no frills action thrillers of Don Siegel like Telefon or The Black Windmill which is perfectly fine with me. mill, Covert operations specialist Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) is sent by her contractor/lover Kenneth (Ewan MacGregor) on a mission to Barcelona to free a hostage. Immediately afterwards she is sent to Dublin where she is doublecrossed and framed and turned into an international fugitive. Her father (Bill Paxton) and a shady government official (Michael Douglas) are the ‘Movies’ continued on page 14

My Thoughts on the 2012 Oscars + My Picks

ack at the very BY CHIP KAUFMANN first Academy Awards cerFassbender, The Debt, The emonies when Help, The Tree of Life for Wings won for Chastain). Best Picture (see special One of the changes to DVD pick), things were the Oscars in recent years very different. Just like has been to expand the today’s Golden Globes Thomas Horn and Tom Hanks number of Best Picture there were awards given in happier times in Extremely nominees from 5 to 10 last Loud and Incredibly Close. for Best Comedy in adyear and 9 this year (don’t dition to Best Drama. ask about the discrepancy) while leaving the There was also an award given to other major categories (Best Actor, Actress / the Best Artistic Production (critical Best Supporting Actor, Actress / Best Direcchoice as opposed to popular choice) tor) stuck at 5. While 9 Best Picture nomiwhich in 1927 went to Sunrise. That nees this year is a bit of a stretch, leaving the category was quickly abandoned along other categories at 5 is criminally negligent. with the practice of awarding Best Actor There have been more great perfor& Actress to performers for multiple mances in all 4 categories this year then roles (Emil Jannings and Janet Gaynor there have been for quite some time. You were the first winners). could also have added a couple of names to This year Michael Fassbender and the Best Director category as well. NeverJessica Chastain would have qualified theless it is what it is and so without further under those guidelines for their perpontification…here are my picks and preferformances in several 2011 films ((Jane ences for the 6 major awards. Eyre, Shame, X-Men: First Class for

• Best Actor: George Clooney (The Descendants)…. My Preference: Same. • Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer (Beginners)…. My Preference: Max von Sydow (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close). • Best Actress: Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)…. My Preference: Glenn Close (AlLady bert Nobbs). • Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer (The Help)…. My Preference: Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs). • Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)…. My Preference: Martin Scorsese Artist (Hugo). • Best Picture: The Artist…My Preference: Same. This how I think it will turn out this year however Oscar loves novelty (especially when it celebrates Hollywood) so I would not be surprised if The Artist were to win most of the major awards. We’ll find out on February 26th. Start making your preparations now.

My Take on Award Season and Oscar

t’s award season in the film industry. Roll out the red carpet, the botox and the fashion police! If the Golden Globes are any indicator of the road to Oscar then we have a pretty good inkling of all that glitters gold come February 26. My colleague Chip Kaufmann and I are not film critics in the snarko-typical sense. While there are films that make it altogether too easy to sling a snarky arrow or hurl a verbal barb, Chip and I would rather celebrate what’s great in film than run it down. This award season in particular echoes that sentiment with two films that celebrate film. The Artist and Hugo lead the nominations this year with 10 and 11 nominations, respectively, including nominations for Best Picture. The Artist is a love letter to Hollywood. It’s a silent film that plays to a 21st century audience. It is a beguiling film with wonderfully broad audience appeal. It offers a tip of the hat to dozens of other films throughout, but you don’t have to ‘get’ the references in order to enjoy the film. Hugo, while not dripping with the charm of The Artist Artist, is an homage steeped even deeper in film history. Hugo tells the story of the rediscovery of one of film’s greatest pioneers, George Melies. Melies was a true magician and

12 February 2012 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 15, No. 6

a man ahead of his time. BY MICHELLE KEENAN Hugo is movie magic. For a film geek like me, these the moviegoer in me wants two films make the awards Viola Davis to win for The season that much more Help. How will it play out? Help special. Streep will get it for Best But then again, so does Actress and Octavia Spencer George Clooney! This year gets Best Supporting Actress viewers will get a double Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer whammy of prettiness with and Viola Davis form an unlikely for the The Help. the presence of Clooney friendship in The Help. • Best Supporting Actor will and Pitt and their lovely likely (and in my opinion counterparts. As Bridesmaids star and Best deservedly) go to Christopher Plummer for Supporting Actress nominee Melissa McBeginners. Beginners Carthy said, “They’re so beautiful … It’s • Best Original Screenplay seems like a almost too much!” The superstar power will sure thing for Woody Allen for Midnight in surely make more viewers tune in (for how Paris.. Best Adapted Screenplay is more of a long is another question). toss up and all are deserving of it, but at first So who will take home Oscar gold? Ofblush it looks like they’ll give it to Alexander ten the folks we want to see win the coveted Payne for The Descendants. statuette are not the ones that do, but this • Like the film or hate the film, Best Cinyear (with the exception of a few omissions) ematography should, hands down, go to the nominations are pretty solid, and come Tree of Life this year. Oscar night the biggest surprises will likely be on the red carpet. In a nutshell here’s • And last but not least, it’s a tight competihow I think it will go: tion for Best Director this year, but I am hoping they give it to Martin Scorsese for • The Best Picture race is between The ArtHugo. Hugo is a complete deviation from ist and The Descendants. I think The Artist typical Scorsese fare. He succeeded brilliantwill take Best Picture and George Clooney ly in making movie magic, in paying homage will take Best Actor for The Descendants. to early cinema, and capturing the feel of an • In the Best Actress category the critic in old fashioned movie while utilizing state-ofme says they’ll give it to Meryl Streep for the-art new technology. her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher, but

play along with oscar

And the Oscar Goes to…

Tune in February 26 at 7 p.m. on ABC for all the red carpet excitement and Hollywood’s biggest night.

scar is back for his 84th year and Billy Crystal is back for the ninth time as the master of ceremonies. Oscar producers Brian Grazer and Don Mischer are thrilled to have Crystal, “back where he belongs.” As for Crystal, he glibly tweeted, “Am doing the Oscars so the young woman in the pharmacy will stop asking my name when I pick up my prescriptions. Looking forward to the show.” We [at Reel Takes] are excited too; the two movies with the most nominations are virtual love letters to movies and filmmaking. Whether you’re planning an Oscar party or just planning on keeping score from the comfort of your own snuggie, use our handy dandy Reel Takes Oscar Ballot to help you keep track.

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• Demian Bichir, “A Better Life” • George Clooney, “The Descendants” • Jean Dujardin, “The Artist” • Gary Oldman, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” • Brad Pitt, “Moneyball” My money is on: __________________________________ And the winner is: _________________________________

• “The Descendants” screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash • “Hugo” screenplay by John Logan • “The Ides of March” screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon • “Moneyball” screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin • “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan My money is on: _______________________________ And the winner is: ______________________________

Best Actor in a Supporting Role • Kenneth Branagh, “My Week with Marilyn” • Jonah Hill, “Moneyball” • Nick Nolte, “Warrior” • Christopher Plummer, “Beginners” • Max Von Sydow, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” My money is on: __________________________________ And the winner is: _________________________________

Best Actress in a Leading Role • Glenn Close, “Albert Nobbs” • Viola Davis, “The Help” • Rooney Mara, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” • Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady” • Michelle Williams, “My Week with Marilyn” My money is on: __________________________________ And the winner is: _________________________________

Actress in a Supporting Role • Berenice Bejo, “The Artist” • Jessica Chastain in “The Help” • Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids” • Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs” • Octavia Spencer in “The Help” My money is on: __________________________________ And the winner is: _________________________________

Animated Feature Film

Best Picture • “The Artist,” Thomas Langmann, Producer • “The Descendants,” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers • “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” Scott Rudin, Producer • “The Help,” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers • “Hugo,” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers • “Midnight in Paris,” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers • “Moneyball,” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers • “The Tree of Life,” Nominees to be determined • “War Horse,” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers My money is on: ________________________________ And the winner is: _______________________________

• “A Cat in Paris,” Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli • “Chico & Rita” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal • “Kung Fu Panda 2,” Jennifer Yuh Nelson • “Puss in Boots,” Chris Miller • “Rango,” Gore Verbinski My money is on: __________________________________ And the winner is: _________________________________

Cinematography • “The Artist,” Guillaume Schiffman • “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” Jeff Cronenweth • “Hugo,” Robert Richardson • “The Tree of Life,” Emmanuel Lubezki • “War Horse,” Janusz Kaminski My money is on: __________________________________ And the winner is: _________________________________

Costume Design • “Anonymous,” Lisy Christl • “The Artist,” Mark Bridges • “Hugo,” Sandy Powell • “Jane Eyre,” Michael O’Connor • “W.E.,” Arianne Phillips My money is on: __________________________________ And the winner is: _________________________________

Writing (Original Screenplay) • “The Artist,” written by Michel Hazanavicius • “Bridesmaids,” written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig • “Margin Call,” written by J.C. Chandor • “Midnight in Paris,” written by Woody Allen • “A Separation,” written by Asghar Farhadi My money is on: _______________________________ And the winner is: ______________________________

Music (Original Score) • “The Adventures of Tintin,” John Williams • “The Artist,” Ludovic Bource • “Hugo,” Howard Shore • “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” Alberto Iglesias • “War Horse,” John Williams My money is on: _______________________________ And the winner is: ______________________________

Music (Original Song) • “Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” • Music and Lyrics by Bret McKenzie • “Real in Rio” from “Rio” • Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown; Lyrics by Siedah Garrett My money is on: _______________________________ And the winner is: ______________________________

Directing • “The Artist,” Michel Hazanavicius • “The Descendants,” Alexander Payne • “Hugo,” Martin Scorsese • “Midnight in Paris,” Woody Allen • “The Tree of Life,” Terrence Malick My money is on: _______________________________ And the winner is: ______________________________

Where to Watch Oscar The Carolina Cinema will host an Oscar party in its lounge. Bring your friends and family to see the Oscars on the big screen and lounge on leather sofas. Enjoy national or local brews on tab or sparkling wine by the bottle. Participate in a “Best Dressed” Contest to win a free movie pass and a “Best Motion Picture” nominated film poster! Enter to Win a “Night at the Movies” by filling out the official Oscars Ballet prior to the start of the show... including two free tickets, a large popcorn, two medium drinks, and two memberships to the Asheville Film Society! Watch last year’s “Best Motion Picture” winner, The King’s Speech, for free in the lounge prior to the big event at 4 p.m. The awards begin at 7 p.m.

Vol. 15, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2012 13

film reviews ‘Movies’ continued from pg. 12

only ones she can turn to. Somehow she must get back to the U.S., find out the truth, and then get even. That’s Haywire in a nutshell and that is all the plot the film needs. Mixed Martial Arts star Gina Carano is an engaging heroine whose action sequences keep her constantly in movement. This approach suits the material perfectly. Surrounding her with a solid cast (Michael Fassbender in a supporting role is very effective) and solid, no-nonsense direction from Soderbergh keep the film from bogging down and allow it to build to a wonderfully understated climax with a great final line from Antonio Banderas. While the film’s high critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes didn’t surprise me, the much lower audience rating did. Judging from the comments I read, it would appear that they wanted more skin, more explosions, and more high tech effects a la Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. However Haywire is much more than the female Bourne ripoff that many are calling it. Of the three new films reviewed this month (The The Artist is reworked from an earlier review), Haywire has stuck with me the most. Most movies are made as escapist fare and for one to make an impression on someone who watches a lot of movies is no mean feat. Rated R for language and some violent sequences.

REVIEW BY CHIP KAUFMANN

Red Tails ∑∑∑

American bombers at any cost, the Red Tails of the 332nd Fighter Group never faltered. Their successful efforts, skill and dedication changed race relaREEL TAKE: George tions, if only in a select Lucas’ Red Tails is takbranch of the armed ing more of pounding services. It’s a great from the critics than story, an important The Tuskegee Airmen live again in the actual Red Tails story and one worth George Lucas' Red Tails. did from the Germans. cheering for. This is unfortunate, but to a degree it is Someone recently told me that people understandable. While it may not be a great have said that the movie is like an old John movie, I hope it is a movie that many people Wayne war film with black people. They say will go see. The story of Tuskegee Airmen that like that’s a bad thing? Lucas very delibin World War II is long over due being told. erately chose to make this film old school. It Sadly, it took George Lucas 23 years to get very much feels like an old Saturday matinee this made - George Lucas! Lucas! And when he war movie which is appropriate given the did manage to get it made he had to finance content. However some of the cheesy diait with his own money and distribute it logue is a disservice to the film’s emotional himself. The reason? No one would green impact and is better served in a galaxy far, light this kind of movie with all Black cast. far away. What we’re really supposed to feel I guess when it came to the almighty dollar, is how brave these young pilots were, what progressive Hollywood forgot that it’s 2012! they were up against, and how thrilling the The story is set in Italy in 1944. The flying was. On this score the movie succeeds. Tuskegee Airmen were part of an experiLed by Terrence Howard and Cuba mental program with young ‘colored’ pilots. Gooding, Jr. Lucas assembled a fine en‘Scientific’ findings and social norms of the semble of young, relatively unknown actors. day believed their kind would not make David Oyelow, Nate Parker and Tristan good pilots. Those ‘scientific’ findings went Wilds turn in particularly likeable perforout the door when, at long last, late in the mances; we will certainly see more of these war, the Tuskegee Airmen were finally put young actors in the future. Unfortunately to the test. They proved themselves beyond the myriad of slightly convoluted sub-stories any shadow of a doubt. Tasked to protect is a bit of detriment to the film as well. Bottom line: this is an important story. The spirit of Red Tails is in the right place. That in and of itself is enough to cheer for the Tuskegee Airmen. Short Take: The long overdue big screen story of the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II.

Special DVD Pick for February Wings (1927) Since this edition of Rapid River Magazine is going to be our Oscar edition, this month’s special DVD pick is the very first movie to win the Best Picture Oscar. It has just been released on Blu-Ray and DVD in pristine condition. The movie is Wings, a World War I drama about two fighter pilots from the same town who happen to be in love with the same girl. The film was made in 1927 which means that it is a silent film. Now that The Artist has piqued interest in the silent film format, why not start with one of the very best. Paramount Pictures has pulled out all the stops in this first release commemorating the studio’s 100th anniversary. The movie has undergone a frame by frame digital restoration with the original color tints restored (yes, silents had color), a new recording of the film’s original orchestral score, and even period sound effects. This makes the 85 year old film look and sound as good as the less

than year old The Artist Artist. The film is remembered as one of silent star Clara Bow’s best movies and as the jumping off point for Gary Cooper’s career. But what makes Wings truly special is its aerial photography which remains unequaled, even after all these years. Director William Wellman had been a World War I pilot and he not only knew what it was like but he hired several WWI pilots to fly the planes in authentic fashion. Cameras were mounted to the planes (no sound to have to worry about) and they were able to capture dogfights in the sky with stunning accuracy. If you really want to experience what an authentic, period silent film was like, go no further than Wings. It has comedy, drama, pathos, thrills and all in the larger than life (in a good way) world that is the silent movie. A world where emotions and visuals take center stage and where what you see is exactly what you get. REVIEW BY CHIP KAUFMANN

14 February 2012 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 15, No. 6

Rated PG-13 for some sequences of war violence.

REVIEW BY MICHELLE KEENAN

The Artist ∑∑∑∑∑

Miller (Berenice Bejo) makes the transition to sound and is on her way up. The parallel to A Star is Born is obvious as are countless other references to classic Hollywood movies like Citizen Kane and The Thin Man and that’s part of the film’s appeal to a modern day audience. Along with the French performers, there are prominent roles for two American character actors. John Goodman plays the Hollywood studio head, complete with fat cigar, while James Cromwell is George’s loyal chauffeur (a reference to Sunset Boulevard). Both adapt themselves to the silent levard medium perfectly. I could easily spend the rest of this review citing the various old movie references but The Artist is much more than just a simple homage. It’s also a heartwarming story of two people headed in different directions with a healthy dose of lightweight comedy thrown in. It also contains Jean Dujardin and Berenice one of the Bejo in the most charmaward winning The Artist. ing and suggestive scenes ever captured on film with Berenice Bejo and an empty coat. I can unequivocally say that The Artist is my number one film of last year. Martin Scorsese’s Hugo and Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris round out my top three. Speaking of Midnight in Paris, if you loved that film (and it played here for 20 weeks!) then you will love The Artist Artist. And if you show it that kind of support, maybe its limited engagement in Asheville will last that long.

Short Take: This 21st century take on the silent movie is a valentine to Old Hollywood and to film lovers everywhere.

Rated PG-13 for some disturbing images and a crude gesture.

REEL TAKE: The Artist has become one

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy ∑∑∑∑1/2

of the most talked about movies in recent years. Its series of awards and plaudits (a 20 minute standing ovation at Cannes, 3 Golden Globes and several Oscar nominations) have only increased the buzz concerning this most unusual offering. Unknown French director Michel Hazanavicius, who also wrote the screenplay, wanted to take on the challenge of making a silent film, complete with black and white photography and title cards, in the 21st century. To say that he succeeded with The Artist would be an understatement. The setting is 1927 Hollywood. Silent superstar George Valentin (patterned after Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and played by French actor Jean Dujardin) is about to be caught up in the transition to sound. While he is dealing with this crisis, young extra Peppy

REVIEW BY CHIP KAUFMANN

Short Take: A remarkably subtle, elegant and reserved espionage thriller.

REEL TAKE: Based on the John le Carré

novel of the same name, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a studious espionage thriller set at the height of the Cold War in the early 1970s. The premise is simple: MI6 has a highly placed mole. Finding out who the double agent is proves a bit trickier, a lot trickier. A stellar British cast and a spy story sounds like box office gold, but be forewarned, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy is not for everyone, not by a long shot. It is a ‘spy’ film, but bears no other similarity to adrenaline pumping espionage flicks a la ‘Movies’ continued on page 15

film + performance of original version of Let the Right tal value alone will carry the film for One In) gives the already austere most people. film an even more diffident tone (a Altogether too soon, World War I James Bond, Jason Bourne or Ethan seemingly typical Scandinavian trait begins. Unable to pay the rent, after a Hunt. Tinker Tailor is meant to be as in film) and yet evokes an almost crop failure and purchasing Joey, Almethodically digested as it is methodioppressive feeling of bert’s father sells the horse to a young cally told. Like its charmelancholy. officer. The rest of the film tells Joey’s acters, you must watch Tinker, Tailor, journey through the war. Without carefully and listen Soldier, Spy is one of giving away too much, the horse finds carefully. Look away or the most demanding himself under various owners on both drift off for a moment films you’ll ever watch. sides of the war. and you’re lost. It demands that you The only part of the journey that When British Inwatch and follow every I found heartening was the fact that telligence first realizes detail. It demands that wherever the story took the horse they have a Russian you think about what amidst the horror of war, there was almole in the upper ways a human that showed some shred echelon of their opera- Gary Oldman is the enigmatic you’re watching. Its George Smiley in Tinker, subtlety and plodding of compassion to the animal. This is tives, the head of MI6, Tailor, Soldier Spy. pace does not denote one of the film’s greatest strengths, and known as ‘Control’ gentility. On the contrary, Tinker, I think also plays to one of Spielberg’s (John Hurt), enlists the help of one Tailor, Soldier, Spy is cutthroat in the strengths, telling positive and resilient of his most trusted agents, George most cunning way. stories of the human spirit. Smiley (Gary Oldman). After a crucial The colorful cast of characters operation in Budapest goes horribly Rated R for violence, some sexuality/nuthroughout the horse’s epic journey inawry, they are both put out to pasture. dity and language. cludes some fine performances, includShortly thereafter Control ends up REVIEW BY MICHELLE KEENAN ing Niels Arestrup, Tom Hiddleston dead and Smiley is brought out of and Patrick Kennedy. Jeremy Irvine retirement. War Horse ∑∑∑1/2 gives a very earnest and slightly cheesy Smiley’s world is a stark contrast Short Take: Spielberg makes performance as Albert, but over all it to the glamorous life of secret agents the point once again that war is works. Peter Mullan and Emily Watson usually depicted in the movies. He is stupid, by telling the epic journey give fine performances as Albert’s para beige trench coat wearing, middleof horse during World War I after ents, but the cheesiness of the scenes aged man with a receding hairline, being separated from the boy who back home are in such contrast to the heavy glasses, and a mild as milk toast trained him. scenes of the war, it feels odd. But then personality. In short, wallpaper is REEL TAKE: Steven Spielberg’s epic again, maybe that contrast is the point. more exciting than George Smiley. story of a horse’s journey through The film is so involved, so intense, This bland exterior is of course delibWorld War I has been touted as one but in the end it falls flat. For me, it’s erate. He operates with a cold and calof the best pictures of the year. War already long running time of 2 hours culating ever watchful demeanor. His Horse is beautifully filmed, and the and 26 minutes felt even longer. After own humanity is carefully concealed horse (or horses) the time and Kleenex and protected. Only a slight enigmatic gives one of the most invested in the smile hints of anything beneath the amazing perforprocess, missing the surface. The character of George mances of the year. mark is felt so much Smiley was made famous by Alec (If they gave Oscars more profoundly Guinness in a made-for-TV mini-seto animals, this horse than it is in watching ries. Humbled but undaunted by this would trounce Ugsomething of a lesser legacy, Oldman makes the character gie from The Artist value (Contraband for his own and plays Smiley with an and Cosmo from instance – see review exacting detail all his own. Beginners, and that on pg. 11). Oldman is surrounded by a brilis saying a lot.) War However, like liant ensemble, including Colin Firth, A boy and a horse share an Horse also certainly Red Tails (see review Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Tom unbreakable bond in Steven improved stock in on pg. 14) the spirit Spielberg's War Horse. Hardy and Toby Jones as well as the Kleenex, but for me, of War Horse is in aforementioned John Hurt. Their that’s not necessarily an indicator of the right place. Unlike Red Tails, War characters are equally enigmatic. Each greatness. Spielberg aimed high, really Horse is trying to be too much; it was is integral to the layers of the story, the high with this one, but he didn’t quite always intended to be Oscar nominee. ever growing tension and the unravelhit the mark. As such it’s failings are less forgiveable. ing of clues along the way. Joey is a beautiful thoroughbred However, like Red Tails, the spirit of The story unfolds in a blend bought in a bidding war between a the film is in the right place. In a story of linear narrative and seemingly farmer and the local landed gentry in like this, that’s the most important errant flashbacks, all of which give Devonshire England. To everyone’s thing. Between War Horse and Exus glimpses of the men at the ‘top amazement, the slightly sauced tremely Loud Incredibly Close, I won’t of the circus’ in MI6, including the farmer wins the bid. His prize is spirneed to have a good cry for quite a familial-like camaraderie and dysited, untamed and not fit for farming while. Watch this film without a hanky functional elements of having spent work. To save his father from public at your own risk. many years together. In the end it embarrassment, the farmer’s son, is the flashbacks, as they dovetail to Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of war Albert (Jeremy Irvine), trains Joey. the story at hand, that unearth the violence The horse and boy forge a bond that humanity of these men. Swedish REVIEW BY MICHELLE KEENAN even war cannot sever. This elemendirector Thomas Alfredson (director ‘Movies’ continued from pg. 14

Stand-up Comedian Greg Brown Records “Vegan Kryptonite” If you like quick, witty humor, Greg Brown does not disappoint. His awkwardly cool 6' 5" frame and hip glasses set the tone for his cerebral jokes. Brown stumbled into comedy the same year he created The Laugh Your Asheville Off Comedy Festival. Now in its 6th year, Laugh Your Asheville Off is considered one of the most successful comedy festivals in the U.S. Before stand-up comedy, Brown coauthored a cook book which hit #6 on The New York Times Bestseller list. Later that same year he was named “The Enlightened Cook” by a popular food magazine. So, it makes sense that many of his jokes revolve around food and the quirkiness of the restaurant culture. “Beer before liquor never sicker; but pinot grigio after toothpaste – the worst breakfast idea ever.” The Altamont Theater will host Brown as he records Asheville’s first nationally distributed live comedy show. Comedian and local actor Tom Chalmers will be on the bill, along with D.C. based comedian Herbie Gill. IF YOU Stand-up comedian Greg Brown records his GO EP “Vegan Kryptonite,” February 25 at 8:30

p.m. at the Altamont Theatre, 18 Church Street. Price: $8 at the door. Visit www.myaltamont. com or phone (828) 348-5327 for more details.

Vol. 15, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2012 15

stage preview The Feral Chihuahuas End of the World Shows For long ago it was predicted that 2012 would be the year of the Chihuacolypse! (Pronounced Chiwa-kuh-lips.) The first signs of the coming doomsday will be revealed February 3, 4 and 10, 11. The show will be entitled Harbinger 1: Rise of the ‘Stache. The end is nigh, may as well laugh while we can. For prophecy has foretold we shall. This multimedia sketch comedy event takes place at the Be Be Theater, 20 Commerce St in downtown Asheville. Tickets: $10 online, $13 at the door. Available at www. feralchihuahuas.com. More details by calling (828) 280-0107.

NC STAGE LIGHTENS THE WINTER GLOOM WITH The Hilarious Comedy LOVE CHILD

starring Charlie Flynn-McIver and Bill Muñoz

ebruary is a rough month, even in gorgeous Western NC. Between the cold, the gray skies, and the lack of holidays (except for Valentines Day, which can be as depressing as the weather for some), it’s simply a month to endure. If anything can lift your spirits in the depths of February, it’s the prospect of two straight hours of knee-slapping, side-clutching, tears-on-your-cheeks laughter. And that’s what North Carolina Stage Company hopes to offer with its two-man comedy Love Child Child, opening February 15 in downtown Asheville. Love Child is also the name of the play-within-a-play in this comedy full of backstage shenanigans and on-stage hysterics. Writer/director Joel has pinned all of his professional hopes on his new English adaptation of the Greek tragedy Ion. Tensions are running high as Joel tries to keep his company of actors under control, his sanity

intact, and his mom from offering unsolicited advice from the front row. Love Child premiered Off Broadway in 2008, created by and starring Daniel Jenkins and Robert Stanton, two well-known comedic actors. The New York Times called it “a delicious romp…keep-up-if-you-can fun.” Charlie Flynn-McIver and Bill Muñoz play an enormous cast of characters, including the actors on stage, the crew behind the scenes, and the audience watching them perform. The delight is in watching their hilarious, breathless character changes, done without benefit of costumes or wigs. Director Neela Muñoz has frequently collaborated with both actors, including directing Bill Mambo Mouth by John Leguizamo and directing Charlie in last season’s smash hit comedy Boeing-Boeing. (In fact, she has collaborated with Bill ing Muñoz on quite a number of projects, since they are married.)

Bill Muñoz and Charlie Flynn-McIver star in the delightful comedy Love Child.

IF YOU Love Child runs February 15 GO through March 18, 2012, with

performances Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. as well as Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Preview prices for February 15-19 are $20. Tickets purchased after February 19 are $17-$29 based on day of the week. For more information visit www.ncstage.org or call (828) 239-0263.

diana wortham theatre at pack place in downtown asheville

DANCE SERIES KICK-OFF

MARCH 13 & 14

MARCH 30 & 31

FEBRUARY 23 & 24

"pure explosive energy" - NY

reinvents dance re-imagines theater redefines thrills

Buy all three shows and save 10% off Regular ticket price

Times

“Hip hop dance to a higher power”

-Village Voice

828.257.4530 16 February 2012 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 15, No. 6

www.dwtheatre.com

sneak preview Andie MacDowell in “Jane by Design” INTERVIEWED BY CHERRY HART

ctress and Asheville resident Andie MacDowell is now appearing in the ABC Family TV series “Jane by Design.” She plays fashion executive Gray Chandler Murray, the demanding boss of assistant Jane Quimby (Erica Dasher). In a phone interview from Los Angeles, MacDowell talked about the comedy series and her preparations for the January Golden Globes ceremony where her daughter Rainey Qualley served as Miss Golden Globe.

Rapid River Magazine: What are you doing to get ready for the Golden Globes?

Andie MacDowell: I’ve picked out my dress

and shoes. I love the enthusiasm around the event. I’m very proud of Rainey.

RRM: Tell me about your character in “Jane by Design.”

AM: Gray is an

Andie MacDowell as fashion executive Gray Chandler Murray on the set of Jane by Design.

Photo courtesy of ABC Family

extreme character. She’s tough, and she is overthe-top rude! She could use some yoga (laughing).

RRM: What

makes her that way?

AM: She works in a cut throat business. You never know who you can trust. She works with people who are the top of their game and has to be focused on her work. She tells her assistant, “You can’t have a private life.” Everything that matters to her revolves around work. RRM: In the past, you modeled for Vogue

magazines in America, England, France, and Italy. How old were you when you began modeling?

AM: I was 20 years old and had attended college. When I had my first movie role, I was 23 and wanted to be seen as an actress.

RRM: Will any models you have known make appearances in the series?

AM: We are having lots of great guest stars.

One is fashion designer Betsey Johnson. Paulina Porizkova, who was a huge success as a model at the same time I was in the business, will be on the show.

Andie MacDowell plays the demanding boss of Erica Dasher’s character, Jane Quimby (right), in the cutthroat fashion world of Jane by Design. Photo courtesy of ABC Family

RRM: Will the audience get to see more of the private side of Gray?

AM: There will be a peek into her life. She

is going through a divorce, and you will see what her husband is like. She will also start to show more respect for Jane and see her more as an ally.

RRM: What’s it like on set working with the cast and Erica Dasher (Jane)?

AM: I’m proud of the kids. The whole cast is

doing a wonderful job. Erica is fantastic! She is hard-working. We are having a lot of fun. Erica Dasher plays the part of a high school teen mistaken for an adult, who lands the job as assistant to Gray (MacDowell). She scrambles to please her boss and keep the well-paying job to help her brother pay their house mortgage. In a phone interview from Los Angeles, Dasher commented about working with MacDowell. “Andie is fantastic! I was really intimidated by her when she first came on the set; she’s an actress! Now I know how warm and generous she is. She is a wonderful role model. She works hard and is so kind to all of us. She is very funny! I had no idea she was so funny.” When asked if she was into fashion as much as her character, she said, “I’ve always admired fashion from afar but I was not as well dressed in high school as Jane.” Dasher appeared in TheWB.com’s original web series The Lake. She produced her own documentary feature “Speak Easy,” which is currently in post-production. Andie MacDowell now appearing in “Jane by Design” Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EST, ABC Family TV.

Vol. 15, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2012 17

PG.

Mane Street Fur

by Misty Wright

Puppies 4 Sale AKC & CKC Available Standard Poodles: . $550 Schnauzers: .......... $400 Chorkies: .............. $350 & Many More

(828) 550-1556

64 Main Street • Canton, NC 28716

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Get in Here!

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Upcoming Issues March 2012 Local Artists Issue

April 2012 If[Y_Wb_p_d] _d0

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Spring Arts Issue

May 2012 Studio Tours Issue

Want to be Included? Call (828) 646-0071 today for details. Reduced advertising rates, web banners, and more!

www.rapidrivermagazine.com

18 February 2012 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 15, No. 6

fine art

Professional Pet Grooming

Walk-Ins Welcome!

Valentine’s Day Musings from the Sci-Fi Loving Shut-In MAY OUR CUPS RUNNETH OVER WITH LOVE

h, the day of BY GREG VINEYARD Love. And this year it falls on velvet box... Seria Tuesday ously, what’s with — how exciting! the nervousness?? Tuesdays need that A suggestion something more to for those on the make them less... search: how about Tuesdayish. So this is a hand-made coffee your year to make it mug? You are SO happen. in the right town. OK, I don’t really My morning tea know what I’m talkis always in a mug ing about because I made by a local stay in watching movartisan. Artistic types ies like Outlander, Outlander are inspired by their The Heart Mug, but I know that aside artistic cups. In my Thirty Valentine’s Days Later from saving the unicurrent rotation verse from aliens, it’s are unique works all about connection. And diamonds, right? by Patty Bilbro, Jennifer Moore and Tim Made you nervous just now, didn’t I? Turner. Gift mugs can hold treats, love letBut wait, this is Asheville, land of amazters, friendship notes, gift cards, special teas ing, handmade arts and crafts, performance, and coffees, chocolates... and even rings. literature, farm-to-table foods, microbrew Yes, I alluded to the ring thing again. Why and outdoor adventure! So many choices as are you sweating??? Just breathe. you search for just the right gesture to celIronically, one of my favorite Valenebrate love, family and friendships. And not tine’s gifts in this category isn’t handmade... just for Her. There’s a lotta Hims, Thems When I was growing up, on Valentine’s and Friends that might be on your list. morning there would be a card and a gift at Romance. Bromance. Neighbors. Knock each of the kids’ places at the breakfast table. yourself out! In the early 80’s, I received a heart-covered cup, which you see in this month’s photo. This mug has traveled with me over great Ask yourself: “What would distances. It’s just as important to me as any handmade piece I own. Like a responsible I like?” I recommend ART. museum curator, I have retired it from too Or art instruction for two much handling and take very good care of it. to create a memorable Valentine’s Day makes me think of my eclectic combination of favorite, personally art Date Night. meaningful things, from new art to old, treasured pieces, like my heart mug. All Having trouble deciding? Ask yourself: together, these keepsakes bridge my past “What would I like?” Aside from the entire and present. Farscape series on DVD (which I just got, I offer up the thought that you can trust so don’t run out on my account!), of course the universe to guide you to the right gift; go I recommend ART. Local art makes for a anywhere in our town and just start walking. fantastic gift. For your loved ones who really ‘Cause it’s not just the item given, but the enjoy shopping for themselves, perhaps a act of giving itself, that fuels good feelings gift certificate. Or art instruction for two to and promotes memories that serve as a create a memorable art Date Night. (Think resource for renewal and connection. of the pottery scene in the movie Ghost.) Happy Valentine’s Day — and don’t (OK, now STOP thinking about the pottery forget to pick up something for yourself! scene in the movie Ghost.) Since Asheville has an incredible food Greg Vineyard is an artist, scene, dinners — whether out on the town art consultant and writer or home-cooked using local ingredients based in Asheville, NC. — are artistic in their own way. And of www.creativewayfinding. course Asheville is home to many fine jewbyregion.net. Find his art elers, should you want to get down on one at Constance Williams knee while holding up something shiny in a Gallery, 9 Riverside Drive.

fine art the 25th National

Arts & Crafts Conference and Antiques Show

hen 300 Arts & divided the country into Crafts collecfive regions, then selected tors and two an experienced speaker dozen dealers from each region. Beverly arrived at the Brandt will tackle the East Grove Park Inn in 1988, they Coast, Christian Carron had no idea that the Arts & will handle the Midwest, Crafts revival, let alone an Robert Rust will speak on Arts & Crafts conference, the Rocky Mountain region, would last longer than the Bruce Smith takes on the best years of the original Arts West Coast, and Johnson & Crafts movement. will delve into the South. Photos by Bill Murphy, Asheville, NC But 25 years later they To conclude the seminars, continue to come, includtextile artist and historian ing 22 dedicated collectors Dianne Ayres will discuss who have never missed a “Unraveling the Mystery of single Grove Park Inn Arts Arts & Crafts Textiles.” & Crafts Conference. They In addition, the Arts will join 1,500 other Arts & & Crafts Conference will Crafts enthusiasts on Februinclude nearly 30 Small ary 17-19 to celebrate. Group Discussions, educaFounder Bruce Johntional displays by the Amerson, author and publisher ican Art Pottery Association of ArtsAndCraftsCollector. and the Stickley Museum com, has long been known at Craftsman Farms, both for his keen organizational skills, his selecwalking and house tours, numerous worktion of knowledgeable seminar speakers and shops and demonstrations by craftspeople, for organizing the largest and finest selection an art museum reception and live music. of both antique and contemporary Arts & Each afternoon the attention will turn Crafts for this three-day educational event. to the exhibition ballroom, hallways and Johnson has planned three days of meeting rooms, where 125 nationallycelebration, including champagne and desknown antiques dealers, craftsfirms, artists, sert social hours on Friday and Saturday book sellers, non-profit organizations and evenings, drawings for items donated by the magazine publishers will be exhibiting. 100 exhibitors, “Dancing on the Terrace” late Saturday night, plus the Asheville premier of a new film documentary The Day IF YOU For detailed information please Carl Sandburg Died, with an appearance by GO go to www.Arts-CraftsConference. writer and director Paul Bonesteel. com or contact Bruce Johnson at Inspired by Robert Judson Clark, a true (828) 628-1915 or bj1915@charter.net. pioneer of the Arts & Crafts revival, Johnson

Allanstand Craft Shop at the Folk Art Center

Milepost 382 Blue Ridge Parkway | Asheville, NC Open Daily 9am-5pm | 828-298-7928

Guild Crafts

930 Tunnel Road/Hwy 70 | Asheville, NC Open Mon.-Sat.: 10am-6pm | 828-298-7903

Supporting mountain artists and setting the standard for fine crafts since 1930.

Shop online: www.craftguild.org The Southern Highland Craft Guild is an authorized concessioner of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

work shown: Jim McPhail

Folk Art Center Main Gallery Show

he American BY APRIL NANCE Association of Woodturners: An pate and represent the International Invitabest wood art available. tional Exhibition of The exhibition runs Turned or Sculpted through May 13, 2012 Wood is currently being in the Folk Art Center hosted by the Southern Main Gallery. Highland Craft Guild at the Folk Art Center Work by Nick Agar of IF YOU GO: Folk Art in Asheville. Devon, England. Center, Milepost 382 This event is one of Blue Ridge Parkway, the most prestigious exhibitions of turned Asheville, NC. Phone (828) 298-7928 or or sculpted wood to be held in 2012. visit www.craftguild.org for more details. Twenty-six renowned artists from Canada, Free parking, free admission. Open daily England, France, Germany, New Zealand, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the U.S. have been selected to particiVol. 15, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2012 19

R A P I D

KANINI’S Dining Catering Take-Out

Indulge Your Valentine!

Scratch Kitchen featuring Locally Produced Foods

We Offer the Finest Assortment of Chocolates and Custom Gift Baskets

• Daily Lunch Specials • Frozen & Fresh Take-Out Meals • Corporate & Special Event Catering • Pick-up & Local Delivery Available

“not your ordinary...confectionary”

Valentines Dinner-to-Go Chocolate Dipped Strawberries Brie Kisses & Artichoke Bites Roquefort Pear Salad Champagne Chicken and Shrimp with Angel Hair Pasta and Asparagus Fresh Rolls with Whipped Herb Butter Chocolate Pot de Crème

A R T S

gift guide INTERVIEW WITH BOGART’S

1196 N. Main Street Waynesville, NC

R I V E R

Blake Sneed

ogart’s Restaurant, INTERVIEWED BY DENNIS RAY located in downtown Waynesville, has been long-time noted for great steaks, soups, and salads. They provide a casual family atmosphere in a rustic setting and have a menu noted for its practical value. They are located within walking distance of Waynesville’s unique shops and seasonal festival activities and within one mile of Waynesville Country Club.

Rapid River Magazine: Tell us a little about Bogart’s.

$19.75/person

Blake Sneed: Bogart’s Valentines Dinner-to-Go Order Deadline February 10th

170 North Main Street Waynesville, NC

828.452.6844

PG.

The Green Light Cafe Hearty, Wholesome, and Delicious

PG.

828-507-3654 or 828-452-5187 kaninis@bellsouth.net ~ www.kaninis.com MWF 10:30 to 5:30 • T/TH 10:30 to 2:30

Strains of Music, Inc. Waynesville’s Complete Music Store

Bogart’s casual family atmosphere in a rustic setting. Photo: Liza Becker

Restaurant has always placed top priority on keeping our new and previous customers happy. We have just put out an updated menu with several additions made to accommodate requests that have been made over the past years.

RRM: What’s your secret

to keeping customers coming in? What have been some of your most successful promotions, and where did they originate?

BS: Our exceptional hostesses and wait staff are friendly and

truly enjoy our customers. This seems to be apparent. We treat them like family. We have daily lunch and dinner specials as well as featured items every day! We also post daily on our Facebook page with our specials and features for that day.

Join Us on Valentine’s Day for a Romantic Dining Experience

This Valentine’s Day Give the Gift of Music

Save up to 30% on Selected Musical Instruments

Downtown Asheville • (828) 250-3800

PG.

favorite for years. Consistently tender, hand cut, flame-grilled to order and affordably priced. Doesn’t get any better!

RRM: What is Bogart’s offering for this Valentine’s Day? BS: Our sweetheart deal will be two filet mignon dinners

with side and salad and includes two of our mini-desserts for $29.99.

Dinner Monday – Saturday Tues.-Thurs. 11:30-8pm • Fri.-Sat. 11:30-9pm Sunday Brunch 11-4pm • Closed Monday

67 Academy St., Waynesville, NC

www.GreenLightCafe.com

incstrains@bellsouth.net

fax: (828) 456-7793

20 February 2012 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 15, No. 6

BS: The 7 oz. filet mignon is outstanding and has been the

some different items as specials. We’re trying to give the customers some daily variety. Just call or check Facebook to see what we have for the day. My favorite soup in particular is the chicken and dumplings and I really enjoy the Caesar wraps we have been making for Friday lunch as well.

Homemade Vegetarian and Vegan Meals Catering :: Monthly Specials

18 N. Lexington Ave.

ticular dish?

RRM: By the way, what’s your favorite dish off of the menu? BS: We have started making our own soups and trying out

We Offer Lessons, Rentals, Sound Equipment and Installations.

Mention this Ad to Enjoy a Complimentary Dessert.

RRM: What dish is your signature dish and why that par-

• (828) 456-3331

Bogart’s Restaurant 303 S. Main St. Waynesville • (828) 452-1313

guide for sweethearts THE MOSCOW FESTIVAL BALLET PERFORMS

Giselle

Best Diamond Deals of the Year

Presented by Asheville Bravo Concerts

Now through February, online or in store

KATIE ANNE TOWNER

shevilleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Thomas Wolfe Auditorium will come alive with the leaps, bounds, toes, twirls, and lifts of some of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatest dancers on Friday, March 9, when the Moscow Festival Ballet performs their acclaimed touring version of the timeless classic, Giselle. Considered to be one of the greatest Romantic ballets, Giselle, first appeared in Paris in 1841, with choreography composed by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot and music by Adolphe Adam. It is a fairytale story of a young peasant woman, Giselle, who falls in love with a duke disguised as peasant. When Giselle dies of a weak heart, her ghost protects her lover from a group of vengeful female fairy spirits in the forest. Giselle was first seen in Moscow in 1843. The balletâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history in Russia since that time has shown a continuous sequence of performances. When Giselle was forgotten everywhere else in Europe â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it was dropped from the Paris Opera repertory in 1868 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Russian dancers and ballet-masters preserved and honored it. The Moscow Festival Balletâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s production maintains the Russian tradition of scrupulous production and loving concern for this gem of the Romantic ballet, and now local audiences will be able to witness their masterful production of this show. The Moscow Festival Ballet was founded in 1989 when legendary principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet, Sergei Radchenko, sought to realize his vision of a company which would bring together the highest classical elements of the great Bolshoi and Kirov Ballet companies. Leading dancers from across Russia have come together under Radchenkoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s direction to solidify the reputation and quality of this company and their new productions of classic ballets. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have brought the Moscow Festival Ballet to Asheville several times since they began touring in the 1990â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s,â&#x20AC;? Asheville Bravo Concertsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Executive Director Tracey Johnston-Crum said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;and they never fail to deliver a fantastic and exciting performance.â&#x20AC;? The show will undoubtedly prove to be a treat for all ages, and a great celebration of the classic fairytale story of Giselle.

IF YOU Moscow Festival Ballet at the GO Asheville Civic Center on Friday,

March 9, at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $15-60 and can be purchased at (828) 225-5887, ticketmaster.com, or in person at the Asheville Civic Center Box Office. Student tickets are halfprice. For more information visit www. ashevillebravoconcerts.org.

Valentines Day is Tuesday, February 14th

29 Biltmore Ave.

Exclusive Parking in the Rear

PG.

(828) 281-4044 DC www.vandykejewelry.com

Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sale begins Feb. 1 Up to 75% off on select items

let your love shine

www.jewelsthatdance.com

2012 signed limited edition 14k gold cloisonnĂŠ pendant and earrings

+D\ZRRG 6W Ä&#x161; $VKHYLOOH 1& Ä&#x161; Ä&#x161; +RXUV 0RQ 6DW

PG.

Vol. 15, No. 6 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE â&#x20AC;&#x201D; February 2012 21

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22 February 2012 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Vol. 15, No. 6

The Chocolate Fetish

Home of Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Best Trufflesâ&#x201E;˘ and Ecstasy Trufflesâ&#x201E;˘ Premium American and European style chocolates.

iscerning chocolate lovers have been enjoying quality, award winning, handmade chocolates from The Chocolate Fetish since 1986. They use only the finest ingredients and all their signature products are made in small batches to assure you receive maximum freshness. They do not add chemical preservatives or vegetable oils.

INTERVIEWED BY

DENNIS RAY

Rapid River Magazine: Tell us a little about the Chocolate Fetish and how it has grown over the past twenty-six years.

Elizabeth Foley: The Chocolate Fetish

has always been an independent family business dedicated to handcrafting fine artisan chocolate truffles. After Bill and Sue bought the shop in 2002 following a business career that had them living in three countries and seven states, they wanted to take the business to a whole new level and share their culinary experiences and knowledge with others through chocolate. The Chocolate Fetish has grown from a one employee shop to over 20 employees in peak season and now offers many more chocolate delicacies in a much bigger European style retail shop and ships to loyal customers nationwide.

RRM: Were you formally trained to work in the art of chocolate making?

EF: Those of us responsible for the art of

creating new flavors and products have had formal training in America and Europe, ranging from the prestigious French Pastry school at the University of Chicago and Le Cordon Blue to special advanced classes conducted by some of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top chocolatiers, including chef Jean-Pierrie Wybaugh, plus many years of experience with chocolate.

RRM: You have just introduced a new line of truffles. Tell us a little about them.

EF: Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been developing new flavors for two years, which has coalesced into our

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INTERVIEW WITH

From the Romeo and Juliet collection.

newest line of truffles, Ecstasy Eliteâ&#x201E;˘. Our concept was to build on a 25-year reputation of making superb truffles and take it to the next level. These flavors incorporate layers of textures and our custom combinations of chocolates that make them more involved and sophisticated. The new Ecstasy Eliteâ&#x201E;˘ line has eight flavors and incorporates our seasonal truffle offerings. Two of my current favorites are the African Queen Truffleâ&#x201E;˘ and the Jewel of India Truffleâ&#x201E;˘. The African Queen begins with a crispy hazelnut wafer covered in a creamy smooth caramel flavored chocolate ganache, then enrobed in one of our exclusive dark chocolate blends and topped with a leopard print pattern. The Jewel of India is a milk chocolate truffle flavored with a sweet mild Indian curry and a subtle hint of coconut. When some people first hear about curry and chocolate together their reaction is varied. Actually the two complement each other very well. There are a plethora of different curries out there ranging from sweet to spicy. We choose a sweet blend that complements the chocolate very well.

RRM: What are the other flavors in the line? EF: After Midnightâ&#x201E;˘ is our blend of four high cocoa content dark chocolates. Diamond Griottineâ&#x201E;˘ is our artisan take on a cherry cordial with a special French brandied cherry and a white chocolate ganache in a dark chocolate shell. Mountain Sunriseâ&#x201E;˘is a blended dark chocolate

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gift guide

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Chocolate high heel shoes, totally edible.

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Chocolateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; continued on page 23

gift guide for sweethearts ‘Chocolate’ continued from page 22

flavored with fresh citrus. Peanut Panache™ is a handmade crispy peanut wafer topped with a peanut flavored chocolate ganache enrobed in milk chocolate. Chai Moon™ is a milk chocolate ganache dipped in high cocoa butter content white chocolate flavored with our freshly brewed Chai Tea, and Midsummer’s Dream™ is a white chocolate ganache flavored with fresh lavender and a hint of lemon and local mountain honey.

of questions about the flavors as well as an opportunity for customers to suggest names. Names like “African Queen” and “Peanut Panache” were both customer suggestions.

RRM: Talk a little about “The Chocolate Fetish’s” concept of flavors.

EF: Fine chocolate is always our primary

focus. Other flavors add interest and sophistication but shouldn’t overpower the chocolate experience. After all, chocolate is why our customers come to The Chocolate Fetish. A chocolate truffle is the finest example of the chocolatier’s art and it RRM: What goes into creshould provide a multiating your unique flavors. dimensional experience EF: A lot goes into creatthat is savored, enjoyed and ing new truffle flavors. provides a lasting finish. First you start with the For example, the chocolate. Chocolate is Valentine engagement ring Dragon’s Sigh Truffle™ chocolate heart box. a lot like wine grapes in begins with a burst of that, depending on how dark chocolate flavor that and where the cacao tree grows and how provides the full mouth flavor that only the bean is processed, there can be many fine chocolate provides. As the initial flavor subtle flavors. We are unique from other wanes you experience the taste of sesame chocolatiers in that we blend different then after about a five second delay a light chocolates to produce a flavor profile that taste of our Wasabe dances on your tongue, will work with the item we are creating. disappears, and the lingering finish of a For example, for a fruity flavored slightly different dark chocolate consumchocolate like Pomegranate Pink Peppermates the experience. corn, we began with a blend of chocolates For a further taste sensation take a sip of that had a special fruity flavor then proyour favorite red wine as the Wasabe disapceeded to develop a desired flavor. The next pears and experience a renewed burst of the step is to do many test batches to determine initial favors. Many equate our fine chocohow and with what you are going to develop late experience with the world’s fine wines. your final flavor. Infusions, juices, purees, zests, and liquors can all lend different flavors and textures. Which one or combination is going to work best for your desired results and what is readily available must be decided. Then there is the fun part, lots and lots of tasting.

RRM: How do you know if a new flavor is ready to sell?

EF: A good indicator is when you have a

tray of examples in the kitchen and even though you’ve asked people not to eat them all, by the end of the day they’re gone. Sometimes things are just too hard to resist. We also do a lot of sample research and customer opinion surveys locally and confer with experienced chocolatier colleagues in other parts of the country and sometimes send taste samples to our European contacts. While we were developing the Ecstasy Elite™ line we gave samples to Asheville customers and asked them to fill out feedback forms. The forms included lots

berries and dip them fresh multiple time a day in our special dark chocolate blend to assure the freshest possible product to our customers. If a person says they are going to come pick up their berries at 3:00 we won’t dip their strawberries until 2 p.m. This year we are also offering local delivery for the first time. We are really excited about being able to offer this special service to our customers. We pride ourselves on of-

fering exceptional customer service and feel this is another opportunity for us to be able to go above and beyond.

The Chocolate Fetish Inc. 36 Haywood St, Asheville (828) 258-2353 www.chocolatefetish.com

PG.

investing in the souls of our city

• Awesome Desserts • Delicious Snacks • 23 Bottled Sodas • Mocktails • Full Espresso Bar

Creatures Café Alcohol-Free Music Venue and Café

RRM: Where do you come up with ideas for new flavors?

EF: We are always on the lookout for new

flavor ideas. Sometimes they come from customer requests and suggestions, sometimes they come from attending classes with world renowned chefs, sometimes they come from enjoying a meal at a local restaurant or one far away that includes an interesting flavor combination that may work well with chocolate.

RRM: What specials will you be offering this

Featuring: • Live Entertainment • Amazing Desserts • An Inspiring Art Gallery

81 Patton Ave., Asheville

Hours: Tues-Thurs, 5:30pm-12am Fri & Sat, 5:30pm-3am Creatures Cafe is a non-profit organization 501 (c)(3) ein 26-0245324

PG.

–

828-254-3636 www.creaturescafe.com

Photos courtesy of Monzingo Photography

Valentine’s Day?

EF: This Valentine’s Day we will be

offering our Pomegranate Pink Peppercorn Truffle and new for this year our Dark Desire Truffle. Our Dark Desire Truffle is a dark chocolate shell filled with a dark chocolate ganache. The top of the piece is accented with a beautiful rose pattern. As we do every year we will be offering chocolate covered strawberries for Valentine’s Day. We specially source the big stem From the heart assortment.

Bring in this Ad and We’ll Take

15% Off Your Order Excluding Alcohol 1 Coupon Per Table

(828) 236-9800

Delicious

Open 7 Days a Week

Hoagies & Pretzels Fresh-Baked Calzones

50 Broadway ~ Asheville, NC Specialt y Pizzas • Spring Water Dough • Salads Vegan Soy Cheese, and other Vege tarian Options!

PG.

Wireless Internet Access!

Vol. 15, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2012 23

Valentines Art Reception

gift guide

and Demonstration

INTERVIEW WITH

One-of-a-Kind Valentine Gifts

INTERVIEWED BY

DENNIS RAY

Judi Ferris

stablished in 2006, The Chocolate Bear is located on Main Street in historic downtown Waynesville, NC, minutes from the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains. If you are visiting Asheville, The Chocolate Bear is only a short drive west of there.

Rapid River Magazine: What was the mo-

ment you knew you wanted to be a chocolatier or work mainly with chocolate?

Judi Ferris: I had been working here at the

Thursday, February 9 from 7 to 9 pm Roses are red, violets are blue we can’t have a party if we don’t see you! at the Gourmet Chip Company 43 1/2 Broadway, Downtown Asheville Across from the Mellow Mushroom

Refreshments provided by the Gourmet Chip Company Rick Hills’ Studio ~ 1235 Sulphur Springs Rd., Waynesville, NC ~ (828) 452-0228 ~ rickg8tor@yahoo.com

Chocolate Bear for four years and last fall I was offered the opportunity to buy the business. Well, I knew The Chocolate Bear had an extremely wonderful reputation so I immediately jumped at the opportunity. We have many tourists that are loyal repeat customers as well as a strong established local clientele. I’ve always enjoyed working with and visiting with our customers.

RRM: How would you describe the product line your shop offers?

JF: We offer a large variety of very fine

Judi Ferris, owner of The Chocolate Bear. Photo: Liza Becker

chocolates.

RRM: What is your best selling product and what is your personal favorite?

JF: Our number one best seller is our

JF: I would be working with flowers and

plants or doing international traveling. I have been very fortunate to have been able to travel a lot overseas. My grandson lives in Ireland so you can imagine I go there as often as possible. One of my other favorite places to visit is the Tuscany countryside in Italy.

RRM: What specials are you offering for Valentine’s Day?

JF: We’re taking orders for chocolate

covered strawberries, a local favorite, and chocolate covered cordial cherries, valentine truffles, and specialty candies. We also sell special gift baskets and we offer special Valentine’s packaging. We will also be offering special Valentine’s Day fudge covered granny smith apples.

The 1st Annual Rapid River Magazine Cover Design Contest

4NPLZ .PVOUBJO .BHJD You Could Win: • Your Artwork on the Cover of Rapid River Magazine • A Featured Article in Rapid River Magazine • A Series of One Man Shows and Art Events • 500 Giclee Prints of Your Winning Entry • $500 in Custom Framing Prizes will be awarded to the top 3 entries. There will also be a People’s Choice Award. Look for an entry form in the March issue or at www.RapidRiverMagazine.com.

Call For artists: submit 5 Designs for $20

Thank You to Our Fine Sponsors:

Sign-A-Rama, Great Smokies Creations, Mia Galleries, Van Dyke Gallery, Gallery 262, Frame It To-aT, Neo Cantina, Jack of Hearts Pub, Creatures Cafe, Mamacitas Restaurant, Jimmy John’s Subs, Green Light Cafe.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit Friends of Great Smoky Mountain National Park

RRM: What is the perfect chocolate gift to give? chocolate truffles — a chocolate ganache center coated in chocolate or cocoa powder. We carry between 30-35 flavors. Another big seller is our locally made fudge. My personal favorite is the dark chocolate sea salt caramel. That too is becoming very popular.

RRM: What is next for you and for your

in pretty Valentine’s Day packaging. What our clients like best is that they get to pick out the truffles individually. I’ve heard many people comment that this really makes the gift so much more personal than giving a pre-sorted box of chocolates. It shows you know exactly what your sweetheart loves.

shop?

JF: I hope to expand the retail area, and possibly expand to online sales.

RRM: If you weren’t working with chocolate, what would you be doing? 24 February 2012 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 15, No. 6

JF: You can’t go wrong with a box of truffles

The Chocolate Bear 170 North Main Street Waynesville, NC 28786 (828) 452-6844

R A P I D

R I V E R

A R T S

gift guide Asheville Small Plate Crawl

ozens of independent restaurants will create special Small Plate Menus, priced from $3 to $8, featuring their cuisine and Chef’s talent. Crawl from restaurant to restaurant on February 21-23 from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. — lunch and dinner hours — sampling the best of Asheville’s culinary scene. There’s no purchase necessary to enter the Asheville Small Plate Crawl’s first Photo Contest for a chance to win 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in two categories: Small Plates (food or drink shots) and Crawl Flavor (overall essence of the Crawl event). Details and rules are on AshevilleSmallPlateCrawl.com

Thank You for Voting Us #1

THE OCTOPUS

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Restaurants participate all three days during the same block of time: 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. or 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., rain or shine. See details on the AIRpass. Print the Crawl AIRpass and Maps at AshevilleSmallPlateCrawl.com. An AIRpass is not required, but is needed to enter the prize drawing. Prizes will be listed on the Crawl website. Present the AIRpass when purchasing Small Plates for validation. Buy a Small Plate at 5 or more restaurants to qualify for a prize drawing. Participating restaurants are located in downtown Asheville, Biltmore Village and North, South, East and West Asheville. Look for blue AIR Event Flags outside participating restaurants. Include a restaurant outside of Asheville’s downtown core in the “5 or more” to double your prize winning chances (AIRpass entered into drawing twice)! Qualifying restaurants will be indicated on the AIRpass. Drop the completed AIRpass off at any participating restaurant. Winners will be contacted by email. Groups and sharing are okay, so you don’t get too full before trying all your favorite restaurants AND the ones you’ve always wanted to try. This is a rain-or-shine event. Small plates taste just as great no matter what the weather!

IF YOU Asheville Small Plate GO Crawl, February 21-23

from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. For more information visit AshevilleSmallPlateCrawl.com.

PG.

Short Street Cakes’ 3rd Birthday Mardi Gras Party and Benefit Raffle Short Street Cakes will celebrate its third birthday with a Mardi Gras Party on Fat Tuesday, February 21, from 5-8 p.m. The event will feature live music, Mardi Gras beads, beer from Heinzelmannchen Brewery, Wine from Sour Grapes, Handmade King Cake and a beautiful birthday cake. A raffle will be held to benefit GO Kitchen Ready, a new kitchen training program. Raffle items include copies of Jodi Rhoden’s book “Cake Ladies,” a $25 gift certificate to Harvest Records, a copy of Mark Rosenstein’s book, “In Praise of Apples,” a copy of Heinzelmannchen Brewery’s book, “Your Gnometown Cookbook,” wine from Sour Grapes, and much more. Short Street Cakes is located at 225 Haywood Road in West Asheville, just up the hill from the River Arts District. They are open 7 days a week, Monday through Saturday 8 a.m. til 6 p.m.; Sundays 10-2 p.m.

PG.

Vol. 15, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2012 25

stage preview ‘Handy’ continued from page 6

for Performance, Acting for Film, Movement for Actors, Alexander Technique, The Artist’s Way with internationally know guide James Nave, Script Analysis, Audition Technique, Cold Reading and Design. Available workshops will be: Film Intensive with award winning director Andrew Wonder (4 days), Complete Intro Guide to Voiceover, Stage Combat, Swordplay, The Business of Acting and Character Make-up. The only thing required to participate in most classes is to be 16 years of age, an application and a follow up interview. We also offer professional headshots and resume work with the options of makeup and hair.

RRM: Tell us a little about the classes and teachers.

RH: The teachers are amazing. All of them. I can not tell you how fortunate I feel to have such an extraordinary group of instructors in one location. Almost all of them have taught and worked professionally in LA and New York City and have between 8 and 40+ years experience. So they know what it takes. They know what it’s like at every level of the work. Though most importantly they know how to teach. They know how to communicate effectively and work with different types of students and different levels. They are able to quickly filter to the core issue a student is having that will take care

of the five other issues that are “Growth as an actor and as a simply a product human being are synonymous.” of that core prob~ Stella Adler lem. That takes a very trained eye. At the heart of it all they are teachers who inspire and and backgrounds love what they do and the students feel that. that apply who are They know we love this and it is addictive. prepared for the Whether it be a one day workshop or a 15rigors and serious week technique class they are ready to work commitment neceswith people who really want this and take sary to effectively them to the next level — and then a couple participate in the more. Though again, it is not just about program. For us it training people to be professional actors. is not about your People come here for all different resume or whether The New York Studio of Stage and Screen in Asheville. reasons. The work does far more than teach you want to become people how to act or design a set. It changes a professional actor. you. Perhaps it’s better to say it brings who We are far more concerned about work fessional level training financially accessible you really are to the forefront and connects ethic, determination, attendance and pasfor a majority of the population. It is only you to your instincts, which is what makes sion. due to the flexibility of the instructors that each individual unique. The school is designed for people who this has been made possible. Consequently, Students learn to own themselves in a are willing to commit the time to developwe can offer semester courses for as low as different way. Like Stella Adler always said ing the work, which can be a little as once $6 an hour. — “Growth as an actor and as a human bea week and as much as four times a week. We realize that artists, both aspiring ing are synonymous.” It’s like nothing else That may sound like a lot, but for the and professional, often do not have a lot of and I think it’s applicable to all walks of life. cost and time it’s priceless. Students will financial resources. That should not prevent NYS3 offers 27 different classes and definitely get out of it what they put into people from being able to train. Pricing varworkshops over the course of the year in it and the rewards are extraordinary. The ies depending on the class, but most of our addition to private lessons and audition work changes you as an artist and a person classes run from $150 to $595 and 6 to 15 preparation. forever, which is something no one can ever weeks. Workshops tend to cost $30-$45. take away from you. RRM: Who is this school designed for? RRM: What drew you to Asheville instead of RRM: What are the costs and fees? Atlanta or a larger metropolitan city? RH: NYS3 is a professional level training program that is open to students of all levels RH: One of our main goals is to make proRH: We chose Asheville honestly because it’s

Crime! Celebrity! Corruption!

CHICAGO OPENS AT ASHEVILLE COMMUNITY THEATRE

or years, Asheville Community Theatre has been waiting to produce the musical Chicago. In three weeks, the wait is finally over. Chicago will open at the downtown theatre on Friday, February 17, 2012 and run through Sunday, March 11, 2012 with performances on Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 pm and Sunday afternoons at 2:30 pm. A musical satire that celebrates the criminal as celebrity, the show is scandalous, sexy and sensational. Tickets are available online, over the phone, or in person at the Asheville Community Theatre Box Office. “We have literally applied for the rights to produce Chicago for at least 10 years,” said Susan Harper, Managing Director at

BY JENNY

BUNN

Asheville Community Theatre. “We are beyond excited that we’re finally getting to do it for 2012!” Chicago centers on Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, two criminals-of-passion who find themselves awaiting their trials for murder in Prohibition-Age Chicago. Velma, a vaudevillian, and Roxie, a housewife who aspires to be a performer, fight for the fame that will keep them from being executed for their crimes. An incredible score that includes “All That Jazz,” “Razzle Dazzle,” and “Cell Block Tango,” the music of Chicago is as memorable as the story and the dance. The 1996 revival holds the record for the longest running musical revival in

26 February 2012 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 15, No. 6

Broadway history, and the 2002 film version won 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Asheville Community Theatre’s production of Chicago is directed by Jerry Crouch who has previously helmed such musicals as Guys and Dolls, Peter Pan, and Oliver! for ACT. Musical direction is by Chuck Taft, and choreography, which will be in the style of Bob Fosse, is by Tina Pisano-Foor. Rachelle Roberts stars as Velma Kelly with Liz Newchurch as Roxie Hart and Andre Ellerby as Billy Flynn. “We scoured the dance studios in town to get the word out about auditions, and thus ended up with incredible, incredible dancers,” said Jerry Crouch, director of Chicago. “This will be the top dance show ever seen on the ACT Mainstage.” IF YOU Chicago, February 17 through GO March 11, 2012; performances

Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m., Sunday afternoons at 2:30 p.m. Tickets: $22 Adults, $19 Seniors/Students, $12 Children. Asheville Community Theatre, 35 East Walnut St., downtown Asheville. Call (828) 254-1320, or visit www.ashevilletheatre.org

extraordinary and I wanted to support this area. I’ve been here four years and 12 before that since 1992 and I have always thought this was one of the few things this area was missing. It just made sense. Asheville has so much to offer and is so rich culturally, historically and environmentally. It is a nerve center for so many things including music, arts and crafts, natural medicine, massage therapy, nature, outdoor adventure, and beer. It has a dynamic, creative and open minded culture and extraordinary people with great minds and a vision for a better place. Why would I want to do this anywhere else? I also believe this can effectively bring a lot of additional talent to the area who want to receive high level training in a beautiful location and for a fraction of the cost of LA and NYC. If you are interested in checking out the classes, the first week of classes are free beginning February 19. All you have to do is RSVP to info@nys3.com

The New York Studio of Stage and Screen in Asheville 2002 Riverside Drive, Studio O Asheville, NC 28804 (917) 710-2805

restaurants & wine Not-So-Random, Fizzy Thoughts for February DOM CATAWBA Just another Wednesday night in January it was, after a long meeting planning the 2012 Asheville Mardi Gras. I needed a drink. “Need” is a funny word, isn’t it? Yes, need. The need was for a good local dark beer. (People give me a hard time for drinking beer more often than wine. I am unaware of any rule requiring otherwise. I drink enough wine. Have faith.) When you spend some twenty years tasting and drinking and talking the subject, it must be like getting old and enjoying the freedoms that come with age, especially in saying what you think and making choices that surprise others. So there I was, in my favorite bar, sipping the Honest Injun Stout from Catawba Valley Brewing Company, chatting with people merely familiar to well known, when my side-vision caught the unmistakable shield-shaped label on a Champagne bottle lifted from an ice bucket. I tried not to look like I was looking as I looked, caught the vintage (2002), and sipped my stout. “Have some.” It was Kevin, you know, the guy with the big mustache. I declined

is the definition of finesse in a Champagne, but the 2002 Dom Pérignon is it as well. Having explored Champagne and sparkling wine for a long time, discovering and learning about the alternatives has turned me into a different kind of snob, the kind that goes overboard preaching about the alternatives. I have long felt that the Moët et Chandon brand gets way too much free publicity. Dom Pierre Pérignon, the French Benedictine Monk, did not invent Champagne. The world’s first sparkling wines were produced in Limoux in the early 1500’s by abbey monks in Saint-Hilaire. But reverse-snobbery can be fun, a silly competition of name brand-dropping, and a time to be cooler-than-you for the one stubbornly clutching a Catawba Stout.

WHO LET IT SLIP?

I remember from old reels of The Three Stooges, and quite possibly old cartoons rerun in the 1970’s, something about drinking Champagne from a lady’s slipper. A child’s mind interpreted the concept as something that was supposed to be funny, an adult mind remembering this sooner or later recognizes that this was an introduction to fetishism, and The world’s first sparkling something John Waters left out his wines were produced in satirical sex comedy A Dirty Shame. Limoux in the early 1500’s by Yes, as a child I thought the concept was funny, but we all evenabbey monks in Saint-Hilaire. tually get too old for candy cigarettes, and all I have to say about it with thanks, and made sure others heard now is, “Ewww. Who the hell ever thought me vocalize that I preferred my stout. He that was a good idea?” insisted, and I eventually gave in. A swift general answer is, the Russians. Yes, it was perfect. Concentrated, yet There is a scattering of quotes pulled from creamy, a texture riddled with the finest poems and scripts around the internet about bubbles imaginable. There are a lot of good slipper-sipping, but there is one about slipChampagnes out there, a lot of excellent per-eating. In the 1800’s, Europe enjoyed a têtes de cuvee, but this is not one to blow period in dance history called the Romantic off. I have long said that La Grande Dame Era. Women took the limelight away from

MICHAEL PARKER

the male dancers at this time. They had a cult following. The central figure was a ballerina named Marie Taglioni. When she left behind a pair of white satin pointe shoes in a Saint Petersburg hotel, the landlord sold them for top ruble – one thousand. A group of 36 particularly fanatic fans pooled their money, purchased the slippers, agreed they be cooked in a fricassée, and ate the slippers. Accompanying wine: Champagne. It’s a good bet that the eating of slippers pushed an envelope, that drinking from the slippers was already acceptable in the “cult of the ballerina.” No doubt this ritual had also already expanded beyond pointe shoes to women’s shoes in general, a ritual that inspired Champagne House Piper-Heidsick to join forces with shoe maker Christian Louboutin and produce a box set of Champagne and a high-glass shoe, naming the set “Le Rituel.”

LE RITUEL DE GRAND KREWE Asheville Mardi Gras 2012 is this month. Two events for your February calendar: The Second Annual Running of the Winos will move swiftly from wine bar to wine bar in downtown Asheville on Wednesday, February 8. The 2012 Asheville Mardi Gras Parade and Ball will happen in downtown Asheville on Sunday, February 19. Do a Google search on “Asheville Mardi Gras” and the official website will pop right up. The Grand Krewe (Grand Cru – get it?) is the krewe for wine lovers. Feel free to join us and march in the parade.

February 2012 Events at The Weinhaus Thursday, February 16 Posana Café Wine Dinner. Chef/Owner Peter Pollay will again bring his locally sourced farm-to-table sensibilities to a Weinhaus paired dinner. We intentionally scheduled this gathering as a Valentine’s Day alternative. Avoid the crowds and inflated price-fixe dinner prices of the holiday itself. Join us for a coursed meal with five wines at a cost which includes all tax and gratuity. Give your sweetie the gift of fine dining. The time is 7 p.m. Price: $60 all inclusive. Please call the Weinhaus for reservations at (828) 254-6453.

Friday, February 24 Friday Night flights features “Bordeaux’s Forgotten Grape.” Carmenère was originally one of the grapes used to blend the red wines of Bordeaux. When the phylloxera louse devastated France, the variety was not replanted. Luckily, pre-phylloxera vines had already been exported to Chile. The vines were long thought to be Merlot in its new home. Only in the last twenty years, was the grape discovered as its true identity. Come experience a taste of history. The wine will be accompanied by light hors d’ouvres. The price is $10. Time is 5:30-7:30 p.m.. Held at the Weinhaus, 86 Patton, Ave. Asheville.

The Weinhaus, 86 Patton Avenue Asheville, NC (828) 254-6453

Great values & styles FREE Wine Tastings on Saturdays from 2 to 5 p.m. Tasting wine is not only fun, but it presents a chance to learn about wine and what it is about a particular wine that you like, or don’t like. You can sip while you shop. Find some new favorites — try it before you buy it. We will usually have a few whites and a few reds open, with the occassional guest speaker. Please stop by!

Wine Retail

Tastings ~ Wine Classes

Great wines for any occasion and budget.

www.theAshevilleWineGuy.com 555 Merrimon Ave. (828) 254-6500 Vol. 15, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2012 27

poetry & poets Lisa Alther Presents Her Appalachia Novel Friday, February 24 at 7 p.m. Author Lisa Alther reads from her sixth novel, Washed in the Blood, a unique 3-part, multi-generational tale Lisa Alther set in the melting pot of Appalachia. Alther, originally from Kingsport, Tennessee, aims to “portray the human reality behind cultural stereotypes, particularly those regarding women.” Her previous five novels have been enormously popular, being translated into dozens of languages. She brings to her stories a love of the mountains, a keen sense of what it means to be human, the pull of romance, and plenty of humor. www.lisaalther.com IF YOU Lisa Alther readiing and GO booksigning. Friday, February

24 at 7 p.m. Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café, 55 Haywood Street, downtown Asheville. For more details please call (828) 254-6734.

DO TELL STORYFEST

ationally renowned storytelling performers David Novak, Michael Reno Harrell, and Gwenda Ledbetter, and a host of regional NC favorites perform February 11-12 at the Flat Rock Play House, 125 Main Street, downtown Hendersonville, NC.

IF YOU GO: Admission: Saturday afternoon Showcase, $12; Saturday evening Michael Reno Harrell Concert, $12; Sunday afternoon Abraham Lincoln Birthday Celebration, $8. Advance tickets available from FRPH Box Office (828) 693-0471. For more details call (828) 388-0247. Full schedule at www.dotellfestival.org.

The Briﬆol Sessions:

A MEMORABLE MARRIAGE OF TRADITION AND TECHNOLOGY

ranscribed BY TED OLSON “The Storms Are on the Ocean” from a timeVerse: During his 1927 less song I’m a-going away for to leave you love Bristol visit, Peer recorded I’m a-going away for a while, also recorded sevin August 1927 by But I’ll return to you sometime enteen other music the Carter Family, If I go ten thousand miles acts, including such the above lyrics (and stalwarts of old-time their accompanying, Chorus: country music as memorably lilting The storms are on the ocean Ernest Stoneman, melody) have moved The heavens may cease to be, Blind Alfred Reed, millions of people This world may lose its motion, love Henry Whitter, worldwide. If I prove false to thee Ernest Phipps, and Adapted from Alfred G. Karnes. the traditional ScotExperiencing comtish ballad “The Lass mercial success with the recordings and of Loch Royale,” “The Storms Are on the management contracts he had generated Ocean” was A. P. Carter’s effort to craft in Bristol that summer, Peer returned a commercially viable, compact composithe next year to that city on the Tennestion that would fit onto a 78-rpm record. see-Virginia border to make additional When that recording was made in Bristol, recordings by Stoneman, Phipps, Karnes, Tennessee — on Monday evening, August and other musicians. 1, 1927 — the Carters (A. P., his wife Sara, The “field recording sessions” Peer and Sara’s cousin Maybelle) were unknown conducted in Bristol during 1927 and 1928, outside of their rural Scott County, Virknown collectively as the Bristol Sessions, ginia, community. became legendary for having influenced the “The Storms Are on the Ocean” was emergence of modern country music and recorded a few hours after the trio had for inspiring a range of musicians working successfully auditioned for Victor Records’ in such genres as Americana, alt-country, producer Ralph Peer, who had set up a bluegrass, and rock. temporary studio in Bristol for the purpose Johnny Cash once referred to the of locating and recording some of AppaBristol Sessions as “the single most imporlachia’s music talent. The recordings the tant event in the history of country music.” Carter Family made in Bristol earned them a Wynton Marsalis said in a recent interview: contract with Victor and ultimately launched “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sugthem to fame as the immortal “First Family gested to musicians to get ‘The Bristol Sesof Country Music.” sions’ — Anglo-American folk music. It’s a Another soon-to-be-famous music act lot of different types of music: Appalachian, that caught Peer’s ear in Bristol that same country, hillbilly. It’s folk music in the week was Jimmie Rodgers. Arriving from Anglo-American tradition. It’s essential for Asheville, where during early 1927 he had musicians to know that.” been performing on radio station WWNC, Last year, the Bristol recordings, over Meridian, Mississippi-native Rodgers 120 in all, were collected and released on a made his first recordings in Bristol. Those CD box set. Entitled The Bristol Sessions, records were a bit tentative (though the 1927-1928: The Big Bang of Country Muyodeling on “Sleep Baby Sleep” was utterly sic and released by Germany’s Bear Family distinctive), yet Rodgers’ obvious potential Records, this box set features strikingly led Peer to offer the TB-afflicted performclear digital remasterings of the original er a contract with Victor, launching “the 78s as well as a detailed interpretive book. Father of Country Music” on his shortThe box set was reviewed widely and lived yet legendary career. recently received two Grammy Award nominations (“Best Historical Album” and “Best Album Notes”). In the interest of full disclosure, I should confess that I helped produce this project — it was a logical next step for me after the 2005 publication of a book I coedited with the scholar who first researched the Bristol Sessions, the late country music historian Charles K. Wolfe. Rapid River readers will be interested to know that the Bristol Sessions marked

28 February 2012 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 15, No. 6

only the second time ever that commercial records were made in Appalachia — the first field recording session within the region having occurred in Asheville. In late Augustearly September 1925, Peer (then a producer for OKeh Records) set up a temporary studio in Asheville’s George Vanderbilt Hotel and recorded such important 1920s-era musicians as Stoneman, Whitter, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Wade Ward, and Kelly Harrell. (In the Fall of 1925, Robert W. Gordon of the Library of Congress travelled to Appalachia to make noncommercial documentary cylinder recordings of regional music.) The idea of transporting recording equipment to Appalachia was a shift from previous practice (formerly, record companies had depended upon musicians leaving the mountains to make records in large Southern cities or up North). The Bristol Sessions recordings of 1927-1928, though, were dramatically superior to those made at the 1925 Asheville Sessions. Whereas the Asheville Sessions employed low-fidelity horn microphones, the Bristol Sessions utilized the newly introduced electronic carbon microphone system, which permitted the capturing of a fuller dynamic range of sound. By utilizing state-of-the-art technology and by “discovering” stellar talent whose music was integral to the future evolution of American music, the Bristol Sessions are remembered today as the most significant documentation of Appalachian music from the early years of recorded sound. Ted Olson is the author of such books as Breathing in Darkness: Poems (Wind Publications, 2006) and Blue Ridge Folklife (University Press of Mississippi, 1998) and he is the editor of numerous books, including The Hills Remember: The Complete Short Stories of James Still (University Press of Kentucky, 2012). His experiences as a poet and musician are discussed on www.windpub. com/books/breathingindarkness.htm

Poets who would like for their poetry to be considered for a future column may send their books and manuscripts to Ted Olson, ETSU, Box 70400, Johnson City, TN 37614. Please include contact information and a SASE with submissions.

authors ~ books ~ readings A Mess of Greens: Southern Gender and Southern Food WRITTEN BY ELIZABETH S.D. ENGELHARDT

very now and then it’s good to read a book with footnotes. Such a book is hearty, like a full southern meal of fried chicken, biscuits or cornbread, beans and corn and, of course, a huge serving, or “mess,” of greens. A scholarly book makes us think about things we might never have considered before, and look at every day occurrences in new ways. For example, in this book, A Mess of Greens, we learn how the food we choose is not just a simple, personal preference, but the result of broad movements in our history, politics, race relations and the role of women. Foodways is defined as the cultural, social and economic practices relating to the production and consumption of food. A Mess of Greens is an interdisciplinary look at the foodways of several southern states, during the period of 1870 to 1930. Author Elizabeth Engelhardt, currently an associate professor in the Department of American Studies and Center for Women and Gender Studies at the University of Texas, Austin, grew up in Hendersonville, in a big family of mountain cooks. Her research comes from a fascinating mix of popular culture and oral history — contemporary novels, magazines, government reports, personal diaries, and especially the cookbooks put together by churches and women’s social groups. The book is divided into five diverse, seemingly unrelated topics. First is moonshine and we learn, often from novels, how women not only consumed moonshine but

became stove-top producers and even wealthy “rum-running” entrepreneurs. They threw old society bonds to the wind and became their own women, independent, businesslike and equal to men. The second chapter is about the controversy between hot cornbread and cold biscuits — how government food agents came into southern homes and told women that their beloved traditional cornbread needed to be updated with more hygienic, mass-produced ingredients and the purchase of equipment — so they could become, in essence, more middle class. If you wanted to be upwardly mobile you stirred up a batch of biscuits. But if you resisted the pointed attempts to disparage your traditional ways, you stuck fervently to your cornbread. The third chapter is about Tomato Clubs, an early precursor of 4-H activities in which young girls, often in mixed race groups, learned to become food entrepreneurs. The fourth chapter is not about food but about the lack of it — how the women who lived in mill towns, no longer having access to garden food they’d had in their original homes in the hills, became victims in epidemic proportions of a horrible disease called pellagra, caused by a vitamin deficiency. It is also the story of women who took part in the country’s early labor unions. One woman, named Ella May Wiggins, was a spinner at one of the mills. Mother

Veganist: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World

WRITTEN BY KATHY FRESTON

rowing up in the South, foodie and health writer Kathy Freston (previous book, Quantum Wellness) loved her chicken-fried steak and cheesy grits. She didn’t stop eating meat until her thirties. She calls herself a “veganist,” a person who looks closely at all the implications of her food choices. This means when she decides what to put on her plate, she has weighed the effect her food will have on her health, on the environment, on her spirituality — even how it will affect people across the globe. It’s an intense food mindfulness that many people find compelling. Veganist covers all the usual reasons for not eating meat, but in a way that answers the practical questions you wished you’d had answered before. We all the know health

reasons for eating more veggies just as we’ve tried to ignore the horror stories about the treatment of animals in large-scale meat processing plants. But Freston deals with these issues in a way that is easy to read and her writing style is so impressive that even if you’ve read numerous why-go-veggie books before, this book just might be the one that convinces you once and for all. For example, the most common question many of us have is “How do I stop eating meat?” Her answer: “Give up one kind of meat at a time.” Brilliant — that’s doable. Then she hurls a zinger. The first meat to eliminate, she says, is not beef, which you thought she’d say because beef has such a

REVIEW BY

MARCIANNE MILLER

of nine, at age 29, she was shot and killed while fleeing a labor union rally during the Loray Mill Strike in Gastonia, NC. I’d never heard of this remarkable woman — what a wonderful movie her story would make. The last chapter is about how cookbooks created a unique form of communication among women, sometimes over great distances of space and time, and how the growth of curb markets served as gathering places for city and rural women, encouraging a sharing of ideas that might never have happened otherwise. Like all good history books, A Mess of Greens made me want to learn more about each of the topics covered. It inspired an appreciation of old southern cookbooks, which I’ve set off to find at local used book stores and flea markets. As a writer, I’m curious to read the moonshine novelists I’d never known about, such as Lucy McElroy, whose 1901 novel, Juletty Juletty, created a lasting portrait of a woman who chose illegal activity as a path toward independence. Bottom line: A great read for lovers of history, southern cooking, and women’s studies.

A Mess of Greens, by Elizabeth S.D. Engelhardt, the University of Georgia Press, 2011 (265 pages with illustrations, notes and bibliography). Author info: www.utexas. edu/cola/depts/ams/faculty/ee563

REVIEW BY

MARCIANNE MILLER

huge impact on sustainability — but poultry — because turkeys and chickens are the most badly treated of all the animals we commonly eat. Bottom line: If you’re thinking about going vegetarian and need a simple book to kick start your decision, this is it.

FEBRUARY

We host numerous Readings, Bookclubs, as well as Poetrio!

PARTIAL LISTING More events posted online.

READINGS & BOOKSIGNINGS Thursday, February 2 at 7 p.m. LAWRENCE LOHR author of And Then They Stood: Old Textile Mills of the Carolina Piedmont. Thursday, February 9 at 7 p.m. STEPHANIE TYSON author of Well, Shut My Mouth!: The Sweet Potatoes Restaurant Cookbook. Saturday, February 11 at 1 p.m. GARRET FREYMANN-WEYR presents her new book, French Ducks in Venice, recommended for 5 to 10-year-olds. Saturday, February 11 at 7 p.m. KERBY & MARY NEILL, Binding Their Wounds: America’s Assault on its Veterans. Wednesday, February 15 at 7 p.m. DAN FURST author of Surfing Aquarius: How to Ace the Wave of Change. Thursday, February 16 at 7 p.m. DANNY KOFKE author of A Simple Book of Financial Wisdom. Friday, February 17 at 7 p.m. MARJORY WENTWORTH presents Taking a Stand: The Evolution of Human Rights. Saturday, February 18 at 7 p.m. DANIEL LADINSKY presents A Year with Hafiz. Event includes TRACEY SCHMIDT, author of I Have Fallen in Love with the World, and CHRIS ROSSER, who will play Hafiz inspired music. Tickets are $10 and come with a $5 gift card to Malaprop’s. Wednesday, February 22 at 7 p.m. Coaching skills for parents of ADHD children with COACH RUDY, LCSW Saturday, February 25 at 7 p.m. CHRISTOPHER ARBOR presents Static to Signal. Tim Plaehn reads from the play “West Asheville.” Sunday, February 26 at 3 p.m. KAREN KEMPER & LINDA MCNAMARA, present their new book If You Have to Wear an Ugly Dress, Learn to Accessorize. Hope and humor to help anyone dealing with autoimmune disease.

55 Haywood St.

828-254-6734 • 800-441-9829 Monday-Saturday 9AM to 9PM Sunday 9AM to 7PM

Veganist by Kathy Freston, Weinstein Books 2011 (284 pages). Author website: www.kathyfreston.com

Marcianne Miller is a local writer. She’s completing her first novel, set in Asheville. She can be reached at marci@ aquamystique.com.

Vol. 15, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2012 29

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authors ~ books ~ readings Render Unto the Valley

WRITTEN BY ROSE SENEHI

ose Senehi is a contemporary author whose books often showcase environmental issues within believable plots with ‘little guy’ heroes and heroines striving to protect their homesteads. Her novels include “Pelican Watch,” “Windfall” and “Shadows in the Grass.” Her fourth novel, “In the Shadows of Chimney Rock,” was nominated for the 2009 SIBA Book Award as the Best in Southern Literature, and her fifth novel, “The Wind in the Woods,” for the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Award in 2010. In her sixth and latest novel, “Render Unto the Valley,” Senehi combines the genres of murder-mystery, family saga and romance to educate her readers on ways of protecting our beautiful habitats and of increasing awareness of our unique American heritage. To use her own words: “All my life I have loved hearing people’s stories, and during the writing of my Blue Ridge Series I was enthralled with the rich history and tales of the Southern Blue Ridge...I found that the challenges the early settlers faced in this often harsh, hard-scrabble environment forged a unique American character that exists to this day in these mountains, hamlets and farms.” The first chapter of “Render Unto the Valley” is Senehi at her best: “Icy air streamed through her nostrils and doused her hopes.” That is how twelve year old Karen awakens. Yet another strange man is sleeping with her mother in the next room. She quietly dresses angelic-looking little brother Travis and tiny, red-haired Amy for gathering kindling wood before breakfast. In beautiful prose Senehi describes the icy winter wonderland outside, then, one by one, startles the reader with menacing details. Amy’s kitten has only three legs. Her puppy has been strung up. Karen’s dolls have no heads. Using her own unique and descriptive writing style (reminiscent of Dean Koontz) Senehi offers the reader a well-conceived thriller and conveys a sense of breathless danger which escalates throughout the children’s traipse down to the partially frozen lake. In a fairy-tale like setting the reader wonders about ‘Hansel and Gretel’ and the third sibling. If one of them is a psychopath in the making, will all three return home?

30 February 2012 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 15, No. 6

PATRICE TAPPE

The story resumes almost two decades later. Senehi’s steely mountain girl Karen has become a beautiful woman, recently widowed, living in Manhatten with her nine year old daughter Hali, “a pint-sized Lucille Ball,” and working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art curating her specialty, Southern Appalachian Folk Art. Now Senehi begins to unravel the mysteries of her heroine’s childhood. One learns that Karen Godwell has gone to great lengths to hide her mountain roots. Still struggling inwardly with childhood issues, she “hates the way she is always making herself useful, as if she had to earn her place.” Senehi begins to use subtle imagery to suggest the upcoming confrontation with Karen’s unhappy past: Her dark business suit is described as a “blot on the swarm” of the New Yorkers’ colorful spring garb. In Cinderella-like fashion Karen has completed the reinvention of herself from mountain “hillbilly girl” to New York sophisticate, and her dream position at the museum is a reality. However, when she learns from sister Amy that the family’s 600 pristine acres is in danger of being sold to developers and that brother Travis has sequestered their feisty grandmother to an isolated nursing home, the mountains “tug at her like unfinished business,” and she returns to Fairview, North Carolina to “be back where she never wanted to be again, solely responsible for the well-being of the entire family.” In the fight to save her family’s homestead, Karen’s New York savvy joins forces with her mountain girl grit like designer butter on hearth-charred toast, and the evil-doer is in for a jarring mouthful of surprise. Rose Senehi’s “Render Unto The Valley” delights with an interesting cast of characters, some quirky, many based on real-life people living in the counties of Western North Carolina. It will be up to the reader to decide if some of the violent details of Karen’s past are gratuitous or not. In Karen’s rediscovered world where “mountains either go up and around or down and around,” Senehi’s story line also twists and turns many times before surprising its readers at its final destination.

Signe Pike, Faery Seeker, Speaks

Saturday, February 4 at 3 p.m. Charleston writer/ editor Signe Pike traveled to England, Ireland, Scotland and Mexico in search of faeries and the people who believe in them. She went to forests and caves, to pubs and gathering places, and met kindred spirits who still believe in magic. Her rediscovery of wonder is bound to inspire readers, especially in Asheville where there is a good-size faery-loving community. Her first book, Faery Tale: One Woman’s Search for Enchantment in a Modern World, is lovely and wondrous. www.signepike.com W. Scott Poole Scares Up A Few Monsters

Friday, February 10 at 7 p.m. Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and The Haunting is W. Scott Poole’s latest book. There’s no question that many of us are fascinated with monsters, from sea serpents to nasty extraterrestrials to ghosts and serial killers. What does this say about us? Asheville readers, who seem especially keen for vampires and zombies, will find this reading by prolific author and College of Charleston History professor immensely interesting. www.monstersinAmerica.com Comedian Sarah Benincasa

Thursday, February 23 at 7 p.m. She’s a graduate of Warren Wilson College so Sara Benincasa knows her way around Asheville, but she’s visited many places on her road from mental illness to recovery, acquiring along the way sizable carryons of wit and compassion, some mighty awesome fashions and really rebellious hair. Oh, did I forget to mention those sexually charged adventures? She’ll read and sign copies of her memoir, Agorafabulous!: Dispatches from My Bedroom. www.sarabenincasa.com/home.cfm

Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café

55 Haywood Street, downtown Asheville. Phone (828) 254-6734 or visit www.malaprops.com

artful living The Wheel of Karma “As the blazing fire reduces wood to ashes, similarly, the fire of self-knowledge reduces all Karma to ashes.” ~ Bhagavad-Gita

t its simplest, karma means the law of cause and effect, and it is wise to be mindful that what we do always has effects. As with everything in Buddhism, there are layers upon layers of meaning for karma, all the way up to the metaphysical, and implications for death and rebirth. But staying for the moment at the level of the most obvious, it is not hard to understand that if you bring anger, strife and violence of attitude or action into the world, or if you bring self-absorbed drama, you will be surrounded by strife and violence, or others’ rejection of your drama and this can never be a peaceful, friendly or secure way to live. The quality of your life will be one of strife and violence, or drama and rejection, full of stress and unhappiness. As important as this is to realize, I would like to take the discussion of karma to a subtler level, the level of the evolution of consciousness. The cause and effect to be considered here is with the relationship between mind and behavior, and with mind-set affecting our experience and shaping the future. Not so difficult to understand. As we construct the world in our

contains everything everything,, and if you are looking for only certain conditions, you will most certainly find them. Each of these states of mind is a cause that creates the effect of finding (and even creating) justifying circumstances in the world that then reinforces the attitude in the mind. On a societal/cultural level, the very definition of culture is the holding of unquestioned concepts about the nature of persons in relationship to themselves, to each other, to other cultures, to Nature, even to the nature and limits of consciousness. These unquestioned sets of beliefs then lead to behaviors and perceptions that lead to more of the same beliefs, behaviors and perceptions. And so the wheel turns, but it is only spinning, stuck in the mud of our limited set of thoughts, perceptions and reactive behaviors. The importance of meditation in the resolution of this conundrum cannot As we construct the world in our minds, so we act be overemphasized, in the world, and as we act in the world, so we and it can be very reinforce the ideas we have about the world. helpful to view meditation, first of minds, so we act in the world, and as we all, as the act of stopping your usual mental act in the world, so we reinforce the ideas wheel. As we are carried along, caught in the we have about the world. This can be a way momentum of the turning wheel of karma, of understanding what Buddhism refers to constructing a world in our minds as has as “The Wheel of Karma.” been conditioned into us by life training and Returning to the violent or angry percircumstances, we keep recreating in the son, as they construct a violent, angry world circumstances of life the reasons to conin their minds, they look for more reasons tinue creating our mental world in the same to be angry, and they will find them. Their limited patterns. The momentum of this view of the world reinforced, they will circular feedback keeps our consciousness behave accordingly, and in that behavior and stuck at a very primitive level. So, first of all, people’s responses, they have more verificawe must learn to stop the spinning. tion that the world is a violent, angry place, By sitting, we are stopping. Then, in and so their anger and violence is justified, our posture, we are settling into a dedicaeven required. So too, the self-absorbed tion to balance, stillness, stability, dignity, person will live in an isolated world of their neutrality and curiosity in these moments. own creation, requiring, in their mind, By shifting awareness from being caught in more reason for self-pity and drama. This our spinning mind into awareness of our holds equally true for an anxious, fearful breathing and subsequently looking at the mind, that finds reason for fear in the world, arising and passing of streams of thought in and the depressed mind that finds reasons the mind, we create some calmness, subtlety for despair and unhappiness. and spaciousness to our awareness. Then, as Of course people will find circumwe notice the arising of our thoughts, as we stances in the world to justify their cognifeel the pull of the thoughts, but we stay in tive/emotional predisposition – the world the simple noticing and are not caught and

BILL WALZ

carried away by the thoughts, we create some space and perspective on the mental activity. We realize that this thought is inside me, but we have been living as if we were inside the thought. This is a powerfully liberating insight. Then, we have the spaciousness to notice the qualities of the thought and, almost literally, its density. Is it angry? Is it fearful? Is it unhappy? We can notice that the more fear-based the thought, the denser it will be, the stronger its pull on us will be. Egodriven thoughts of personal diminishment or compensatory inflation will be very dense and, amazingly, an experienced meditator can literally feel their density. We can experience the pull of the thought to carry us into its very small and limited perspective and options for behavior. Then, instead of our usual habit of being carried along by the energy of the thought, we return to the spacious awareness of our breathing and the balanced stillness of our sitting, and we can experience the moment opening back up and our tension dissolving, our options for response expanding. We have stopped the wheel. We discover that we are not caught pursuing the impulses of our thoughts, but rather are calmly, subtly and spaciously present, perceiving situations as they arise with a sense of relaxed connectedness. We realize that we are capable of increasingly calm, subtle and truly intelligent creative responses to our life situations and to the corresponding thoughts that arise. With this practice, we begin to evolve, that is to expand, our consciousness of the possibilities for who we are and what life is about. We begin to realize that the true nature of our mind and who we are is in the spacious awareness in which the thoughts, perceptions and impulses to behavior arise, and that awareness is free of all limitation – like the sun, it shines on everything without bias. From our meditation experience, we can begin to be more mindful in the world, replicating the inner experience of meditation in our outer actions and responses. We begin to resolve, to evolve, our Karma, moving from limited, fearful, reactive separateness to a more spacious, inclusive connection with life as it is with far more creativity and compassion.

We are able to bring the Buddhist teaching about Karma to life, to forgive others and ourselves for past harms, to increasingly experience gratitude for life’s beauty and lessons, and begin to be increasingly responsible (that is, non-harming) in our personal conduct. This grows us spiritually and psychologically. The wheel now turns steadily and surely - advancing us towards a healthier and more fulfilling life. Importantly, as individuals take this responsibility for their lives, we must also wake up and look at the various collective levels of our human society and realize great Karmic debts have been accumulated in relationship to other human communities, and to Nature, that is, to other species and the planet that is our home and source. We can dedicate ourselves to resolving this Karma through the simple formula Buddhism offers us: practicing expanded present moment consciousness and applying forgiveness, gratitude and personal responsibility – then – and only then – will humanity, having gained in true self-knowledge, be able to individually and collectively evolve into a long, healthy and happy future, the wheel of Karma now moving us toward an enlightened destiny.

Bill Walz teaches meditation and mindfulness in university and public forums, and is a private-practice meditation teacher and guide for individuals in mindfulness, personal growth and consciousness. He holds a weekly meditation class, Mondays, 7 p.m., at the Friends Meeting House, 227 Edgewood in Asheville. By donation. “Deep Meditation for Psychological and Spiritual Healing” Sunday, February 19, 2-4 p.m., Jubilee Community Church, 46 Wall St. in Asheville - $10 Information on classes, talks, personal growth and healing instruction, or phone consultations at (828) 258-3241, e-mail healing@billwalz.com. Visit billwalz.com.

“To resolve Karma, practice forgiveness, gratitude and personal responsibility.” ~ Buddhist saying

Vol. 15, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2012 31

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healthy lifestyles What’s in Your New Year?

ew Year’s Eve has come and gone. So have many of the New Year’s resolutions that many people have made, like not texting while driving, taking better care of your health, being nicer to the dog, spending more time with the kids (grandkids). New Year’s resolutions are notoriously ineffectual in making life changes, especially when it comes to an area that resists change such as personal health and well-being. Instead of making (and breaking) New Year’s resolutions, consider these principles and imagine some ways that you might make them happen in your life. Don’t make big changes or choose hard-to-do options. Instead, think about the general principle, then imagine how that principle would play out in your life. Write

down (helps crystallize thinking) one or two ways you would be willing to try for two weeks. If it works for you, continue to do it, or consider other options to achieve the same goal. The principles of healthful living are actually quite simple. Working out a practical way to implement them into your life can be fun and interesting. Consider the following and how they might look on you. 1. Eat a balanced diet from the four basic food groups: whole grains and cereals, fruits and vegetables, the protein group, and the dairy group. 2. Exercise moderately every day – in the open air, if possible. 3. Maintain ideal weight for height. 4. Don’t smoke. 5. Don’t drink alcohol.

MAX HAMMONDS, MD

6. Control blood pressure. 7. Wear seat belts. 8. Get adequate sleep. As you can see, these are just basic, no-frills principles with no specific rules on how to carry them out. Actually, each principle has a variety of ways to be implemented in your life. Each principle can be pursued at multiple levels, depending on whether you are already following a healthful lifestyle or are just beginning to explore healthful living. Whatever your current status, plan an interesting adventure. Surprise your body with an innovative way to approach each principle. And surprise yourself with how good you feel in just a few months when all your New Year’s resolutions are ancient history.

AmiciMusic presents “Four-Hand February”

WITH THE FRANCIS & WEISER PIANO DUO PLUS “CLASSY CLARINET”

miciMusic, the House concerts exciting new with this same program chamber music are also planned on organization Saturday, February 11 at based in Asheville, 3 p.m. at a home in Haw presents a Four-Hand Creek and on Sunday, Februrary celebration February 12 at 2 p.m. with a program called at a home off Town “It’s a Fine (Four-Hand) Mountain Road. Seating Romance” featuring music for the house concerts is by Mozart, Faure, Borlimited and reservations dodin, Barber, along with are required for these Gershwin’s Rhapsody in intimate concerts. For Pianists Daniel Weiser Blue and some original more info on the house and David Troy Francis arrangements of some concerts, please contact Valentine’s Day-inspired love songs. Daniel Weiser at (828) 505-2903 or eThe performers are pianists David mail him at daniel@amicimusic.org. Troy Francis and Daniel Weiser. Both For more on AmiciMusic, visit men are recent transplants to the Ashewww.amicimusic.org for updated ville region, with Francis coming from schedule or get on the AmiciMusic Los Angeles and Weiser from Vermont. e-mail list through the website. This will be their first official program Mr. Weiser will also team up as the Francis & Weiser Piano Duo. with clarinetist Fred Lemmons on Both men have performed individually Friday, February 3 at 7 p.m. at the hundreds of concerts across the country White Horse in Black Mountain on a and around the world. program called “Classy ClariPublic Concerts net” featuring Friday, February 10 at 7 p.m. at music of Weber, the White Horse Black Mountain. Brahms, DeAdmission is $15 for adults and $5 for bussy, Bernstein, students/children. and a KlezmerSunday, February 19 at 4 p.m. at inspired work by the First Baptist Church in WeaverSimon Sargon. ville at 63 N. Main Street. Suggested Mr. Lemmons admission is $15 for adults and free for is also a new Clarinetist Fred children. transplant to Lemmons 32 December 2011 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 15, No. 4

Asheville, after spending 21 years with the U.S. Marine Band. He currently teaches clarinet at Mars Hill and Brevard Colleges. Admission is $15 for adults and $5 for students/children. Visit www. whitehorseblackmountain.com or call (828) 669-0816. Pianist David Troy Francis has been the recording pianist for such films as The Pursuit of Happyness, Elegy and the upcoming re-make of Fame. Mr. Francis plays in recitals throughout America and has seven CDs available including the world premiere recording of Ned Rorem’s Eight Etudes for Piano on the CD entitled “The Americans.” Mr. Francis is also the creator, composer, musical director and executive producer of the runaway smash hit musical BARK! which finished a two year run in Los Angeles in August 2006 and was the 3rd longest running production in Los Angeles intimate theatrical history. IF YOU All programs are subject GO to change. Visit www.

amicimusic.org for latest information. To get on the AmiciMusic e-mail list in order to get up-to-date info on all concerts, please contact Dr. Weiser at daniel@ amicimusic.org.

observations The Curmudgeon and TV

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PETER LOEWER

â&#x20AC;&#x153;And yet, there was one that warmed the cockles of my heart.â&#x20AC;? he Curmudgeon fell upon â&#x20AC;&#x153;What?â&#x20AC;? they hard times down at the Genall demanded in eral Store. Folks had taken unison. most of his pronouncements â&#x20AC;&#x153;A Saturday â&#x20AC;&#x201D; albeit with the traditional afternoon showing Illustration by Peter Loewer grain of organic salt â&#x20AC;&#x201D; exactly as they of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Tarzan, the Ape were fed to them. But when it came to his Man.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; It was wonderful. Johnny Weissrecent take on the sacred cow of commercial muller was Tarzan, Maureen Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Sullivan TV, notably his dissection of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fox so-called was Jane and the story involved their initial News,â&#x20AC;? after just a few hours of viewing, meeting and how they fell in love. It was voices at the store began to raise in protest. only black and white and some of the acting â&#x20AC;&#x153;Certainly,â&#x20AC;? said Breadman, as he tried a bit wooden, but the jungle was real â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and in vain with some Scotch tape to repair a full of animals and â&#x20AC;&#x201D; of course â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Cheetah, broken segment of cellophane on a box the chimp.â&#x20AC;? of chocolate donuts, â&#x20AC;&#x153;there is more to TV â&#x20AC;&#x153;Heavens above,â&#x20AC;? said Breadman, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I than one evening of viewing at your sisterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s think Cheetah just died a few weeks ago house?â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; always thought that bananas were great â&#x20AC;&#x153;Heck,â&#x20AC;? said Cityfella, â&#x20AC;&#x153;even I watch for the system.â&#x20AC;? commercial television.â&#x20AC;? It should be noted â&#x20AC;&#x153;You asked me,â&#x20AC;? said the Curmudgeon, he said nothing more. â&#x20AC;&#x153;and for one thing that movie has something â&#x20AC;&#x153;And,â&#x20AC;? said the local antenna expert that many lack today and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s consistency who after an absence of twenty years apâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; a lot more than offered by the web or the peared about a year ago, older but certainly net. I grew up on those movies and perhaps wiser, was looking for an aerial brace in a the Janes changed and our Johnny did get large box of old TV equipment because his a bit heavier in the late 40s forcing him to business of installing UHF antennas had wear more clothes and finally starring as a picked up with the general increase of rates uniformed â&#x20AC;&#x153;Jungle Jimâ&#x20AC;? but all throughout for cable and the downturn in the economy. there was Cheetah, the greatest actor of them all. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In every film he warned of danger, helped Jane escape, was a pal to their son I had Tarzan, Jane, and Boy, and ate those insecticide-free bananas Boy, a simple-minded â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that chimp had guts!â&#x20AC;? but nevertheless fine Breadman left. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t grow up with hair long one education in morality. year and short the next, or one rock group eclipsing another every six months, or color â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are a lot of TVs out there, he shots of automobile accidents and wars duradded, â&#x20AC;&#x153;and not all those owners are coming the dinner hour, or an inflation rate that pletely wrong?â&#x20AC;? continues to be hidden, or those medical ads â&#x20AC;&#x153;How about it?â&#x20AC;? asked Storekeep. featuring couples in outdoor bath tubs. All â&#x20AC;&#x153;Well, I did have the opportunity to through the end of The Great Depression watch some Educational TV last week since and on to the war years I had Tarzan, Jane, my brother-in-law was busy tuning his and Boy and, I admit, a simple-minded but snow-mobile engine, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m afraid that in nevertheless fine education in morality.â&#x20AC;? my humble opinion it fares no better than â&#x20AC;&#x153;And now youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re stuck with it,â&#x20AC;? said the other.â&#x20AC;? Storekeep. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Oh, come now!â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;I wonder whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stuck with what,â&#x20AC;? said â&#x20AC;&#x153;Huh?â&#x20AC;? Curmudgeon. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Is that a fact?â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yep,â&#x20AC;? Curmudgeon replied to all. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I saw a stupid show on keeping track of Peter Loewer, wandering kangaroos in Sydney Australia shown here, (kind of like flocks of deer without jumping examining the legs) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; obviously more fun than hauling a blossoms of possum up a pole; a rerun if installing wet early-blooming bars on a gardening show six months out Lenten roses, of season; a rerun of an old Lawrence Welk is a wellShow; and a fundraiser (one of hundreds) to known writer expand service perhaps over to the Tennesand botanical artist who has written and see line.â&#x20AC;? illustrated more than twenty-five books on He paused for effect. natural history over the past thirty years.

Going Beyond Racism Through Understanding & Respect

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Mentors & Students CELEBRATING THE IMPORTANCE OF ART IN A CHILDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S LIFE

he Arts Council of Henderson County presents a trilogy of exhibitions celebrating the importance of art in a childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life. The first Mentors & Students exhibition will be The Art of Our Children â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Elementary Student Exhibition, which opens Friday, February 17 and be on display through Friday, March 2, 2012. The opening reception, on February 17 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., will include a performance by the Hendersonville Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Choir. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Hendersonville Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Choir is excited to be a part of the student exhibit. Art and music allow children to channel their expressions and emotions through a positive creative outlet,â&#x20AC;? said Choir Director Kristen Walter.

IF YOU GO: Exhibits are on display in

the First Citizens Bank Main Street gallery at 539 North Main Street, Hendersonville, NC. Gallery hours are Monday - Thursday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Fridays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. All shows are free and open to the public.

Vol. 15, No. 4 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE â&#x20AC;&#x201D; December 2011 33

what to do guide Friday, February 3

Friday & Saturday, February 3 & 4

Sunday, February 5

Frances Greenberg, Elinor Bowman & Lee Entrekin

The Importance of Being Earnest

Upper Gallery Exhibit

An opening reception for the Asheville Gallery of Art’s featured artists will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The public is cordially invited. The exhibition, “Love of Art”, will feature paintings in a variety of media by three of the gallery’s newest artist-members. On display through February 29, 2012 at 16 College Street in downtown Asheville. For more details call (828) 251-5796 or visit www.ashevillegallery-of-art.com.

Friday, February 3

Gayle Ray Exhibit Whether she’s painting a mother with her child, trees dancing together, or lovers intertwined they all have a longing to connect with each other. Opening reception from 4-6 p.m. at Woolworth Walk, 25 Haywood Street. Visit www. woolworthwalk.com.

Friday, February 3

Wellspring of All Life Art Opening: A Show of Hearts by Ginna Diehl, 6-9 p.m. On display February 1-28, 2012 at City Lights Cafe Gallery, Jackson Street, downtown Sylva, NC. For more details please call (252) 955-7526.

How to place an event/ classified listing with Rapid River Art Magazine Any “free” event open to the public can be listed at no charge up to 30 words. For all other events there is a $14.95 charge up to 35 words and 12 cents for each additional word. 65 word limit per event. Sponsored listings (shown in boxes) can be purchased for $18 per column inch. Deadline is the 19th of each month. Payment must be made prior to printing. Email Beth Gossett at: ads@rapidrivermagazine.com Or mail to: 85 N. Main St, Canton, NC 28716. Call (828) 646-0071 to place ad over the phone.

– Disclaimer – Due to the overwhelming number of local event submissions we get for our “What to Do Guide” each month, we can not accept entries that do not specifically follow our publication’s format. Non-paid event listings must be 30 words or less, and both paid and non-paid listings must provide information in the following format: date, time, brief description of your event, and any contact information. Any entries not following this format will not be considered for publication.

One of the most inventive and daring theatre companies in the country, Photo: Richard Termine Aquila Theatre Company presents Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, 8 p.m. Friday, February 3; and Shakespeare’s Macbeth, 8 p.m. Saturday, February 4. Mainstage Theatre Series, Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place. Tickets: Regular $35, Student $30, Children 12 & under $12; Student rush day-of-show (with valid I.D.) $10. Tickets/Info: (828) 257-4530 or online at www.dwtheatre.com.

Saturday, February 4

Free Orchestra and Organ Concert The Blue Ridge Orchestra will present a free concert at First Baptist Church of Asheville at 7:30 p.m. featuring Dr. David L. Foster performing Albinoni, Adagio in G Minor for strings and organ; selections from “The Creation” by Haydn, and Finale from Symphony No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 78 by Saint–Saëns.

Saturday, February 4

Peace Troubadour Concert Cecilia St. King performs at Blue Ridge Community College. Admission is a donation of any amount. King is a 9/11 survivor, and subsequent throat cancer survivor. Her music is non-denominational, expounding her message of peace.

Saturday, February 4

Flood Gallery Exhibit Deception, a cover-up, and whatever else you make of it. Opening reception from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Phil Mechanic’s Flood Gallery, 109 Roberts Street, Asheville, NC. Visit www.ashevillecourtyard.com, (828) 273-3332.

Saturday, February 4

Work of heART A collection of work created by more than forty artists with developmental, mental and emotional disabilities. Opening recption at the Satellite Gallery in downtown Asheville from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Work can be viewed at Woolworth Walk, Homegrown Restaurant, City Bakery, Rocky’s Hot Chicken Shack and on Etsy.com. Exhibit runs through March 3, 2012. Satellite Gallery, 55 Broadway in Asheville. Call (828) 505-2225.

Opening Reception from 3-4 p.m. at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W. State Street for Robert Tynes, painter and Megan Wolfe, ceramist. The show will continue through February 27. For more information call (828) 669-0930 or visit www.blackmountainarts.org.

Friday, February 10

Solas Magically contemporary yet timeless, Irish-American super group Solas inspires and electrifies crowds of every musical taste. Mainstage Celtic Series, Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place, 8 p.m. Regular $30; Student $25; Children 12 and under $12; Student Rush day-of-the-show (with valid I.D.) $10. Tickets/Info: (828) 257-4530 or online at www.dwtheatre.com.

of Spanish dance and music features solos, duets and company dances. Performance takes place at 7:30 p.m. at Western Carolina University’s Bardo Arts Center. Tickets are $10 ($5 for students), and can be purchased by calling (828) 227-2479 or visiting bardoartscenter.wcu.edu.

Tuesday, February 14

The “CLICK!” Project 14 Photographers : 14 Sunrise over Little Pisgah Weeks. Every by Catherine Vibert week a free mini-workshop will be offered. Meet the photographers reception from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at the Conn-Artist Studios & Art Gallery, 611 Greenville Highway, Hendersonville, NC. Call (828) 329-2918 or visit www. clickphotoproject.com for more details.

Wednesday, February 15

Book Signing

Friday & Saturday, February 10 & 11

The Vagina Monologues Western Carolina University’s Department of Intercultural Affairs will host the series of 18 monologues written by Eve Ensler at 7 p.m. in the A.K. Hinds University Center Grandroom. Tickets are $7 at the door. Purchase tickets in advance in room 334 for $5. For more information, contact Sarah Carter at sacarter@wcu.edu or call (828) 2272617.

Saurday & Sunday, February 11 & 12

Auditions for As You Like It The Montford Park Players will hold auditions for Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like It, directed by Jason Williams. Saturday, February 11, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, February 12, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., at the Masonic Temple, 80 Broadway St., Asheville. Free parking at Home Trust Bank, 10 Woodfin St. For more information visit www.montfordparkplayers.org or email info@montfordparkplayers.org.

Monday, February 13

La Pasion Flamenca Presented by the Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana dance company, the program

™

Friday, February 10 For children’s book, The Cow That Meowed, written by Hal Mahan. Through animals changing voices children learn to understand each other’s differences. Signing will be held at Grateful Steps Publishing House & Bookshop, 159 S. Lexington Ave., at 5:30 p.m.

PROJECT Trio Classical training combined with an eclectic taste in musical styles. In UNC Asheville’s Lipinsky Auditorium at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 for the public, $7 for students, and $5 for UNC Asheville students. Tickets can be purchased in person at the Highsmith University Union box office, or online at www.uncatickets. com. The series will continue on March 31 with a performance by Mavis Staples. For more information, go to cesap.unca.edu.

Sunday, February 19

Asheville Classical Guitar Society Martha Masters, Guitar Foundation of America president and GFA 2000 1st prize winner, will perform for the Asheville Classical Guitar Society at 7 p.m. in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville, One Edwin Place. $20, $15 (Seniors, Students, and Members) cash/check. Info: www.ashevilleclassicalguitarsociety.com

Monday, February 20

Soul Food Junkies Screening and discussion with filmmaker Byron Hurt, 7 p.m. in Highsmith University Union room 143. Free and open to the public. Sponsored by UNC Asheville’s Office of Multicultural Student Programs. Info: (828) 251-6585.

Thursday & Friday, February 23 & 24

Rennie Harris Puremovement World-renowned hip-hop dance

company Rennie Harris Puremovement is described by The Village Voice as: “Hip-hop dance to a higher power, in both the mathematical and the metaphysical senses.” Mainstage Dance Series, Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place, 8 p.m. Regular $40; Student $35; Children 12 and under $12; Student Rush day-of-the-show (with valid I.D.) $10. Tickets/Info: (828) 257-4530 or online at www.dwtheatre.com.

Saturday, February 25

Craft and Music Show Acoustic trio Red June performs. Crafts feature handmade String Rings, made from recycled mandolin and guitar strings, as well as hand collected and hand-cut lapidary jewelry. 7:30 p.m. at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W. State Street. $10 donation at the door. For more information, call (828) 669-0930 or visit www.blackmountainarts.org.

Saturday, February 25

Winter DRAG! Scandals and WNCAP present a Drag Benefit Extravaganza, 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. Drag performances begin at 9 p.m. and go all night long! Two floors of dancing by DJ Stratus and DJ Zorro. Raffle prizes! A benefit for those in our community living with HIV/AIDS. Scandals Nightclub, 11 Grove St. in Asheville. Phone (828) 505-1612, or visit www. thegrovehouse.com/scandals.

Friday, March 2

Award-Winning Novelist Sandra Cisneros Free book-signing, reception, 7 p.m., Lipinsky Auditorium. Sponsored by Lenoir-Rhyne University Center for Graduate Studies of Asheville and UNC Asheville. http://asheville.lr.edu

Friday, March 2

The Alexander String Quartet Interpretations of Beethoven, Mozart, and Shostakovich. At the Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place at Charlotte Street at 8 pm. Tickets are $35. A free pre-concert talk will be given at the Re-

FEBRUARY EVENTS ~ ANNOUNCEMENTS ~ OPENINGS ~ SALES 34 February 2012 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 15, No. 6

what to do guide WNC Unified Auditions

Best in Show

by Phil Juliano

auditions, 6 p.m.

Callie & Cats

by Amy Downs

Lunch break and mingle time, 1-2 p.m. Auditions and technical interviews, 2-5 p.m.

Asheville Art in the Park

There is no renewal fee but members must participate in at least one market per year to keep their membership current. There are more than 125 active members. Applications available at www.AshevilleArtinthePark.com.

To make reservations call the HART Box Office at (828) 456-6322. All performances are in the Feichter Studio Theatre, 250 Pigeon Street, Waynesville, NC.

Corgi Tales

by Phil Hawkins

Call to Artists Official 2012 Bele Chere Poster Artwork Sought The Bele Chere Festival is seeking submissions from artists for the 2012 Bele Chere Festival Poster. Winning artist receives $1,000 in addition to other perks. The selection committee encourages all ideas – in either a completed work, or conceptual designs. More information on the Bele Chere Festival can be found at www.belecherefestival.com or www. belecherefestival.org

Friday, March 2

Dragin

by Michael Cole

Quilt Raffle Sunday, March 18 Joyful Noise Community Music & Arts Center is raffling a “Bullseye” quilt to raise money for music and art scholarships. The raffle will take place at Calvary Baptist Church on Haywood Road in West Asheville. You do not need to be present to win. Raffle tickets are $10 each or 3 for $25. Tickets are available by email at jnrafflequilt@gmail.com. See the quilt at www. joyfulnoisecenter.org.

March 9 & 10

Danny Ellis Irish-born and now-Asheville resident Danny Ellis in two performances: 800 Voices, his musical memoir on stage, Friday, March 9; and An Irishman in America, selections from his latest release, on Saturday, March 10. Mainstage Special Attractions Series, Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place.

“Collected Stories” by Donald Margueles, opens Feburary 10, “The Pillowman” by Martin McDonagh opens February 24, a two character musical titled “The Story of My Life” opens March 9, “The Guys” by Anne Nelson opens March 24, and the Oxymorons close it all out the weekend of April 6.

uter Center on the campus of UNCA on Thursday, March 1 at 4 p.m. To order tickets or for additional information please visit www.ashevillechambermusic.org or call Pam Miller at (828) 259-3626. Students may attend ACMS concerts free of charge.

Opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. at the ARTERY, 346 Depot Street, Asheville. Through a series of drawings of fantastical morphing dolls, Stolle comments on the unintended consequences of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Visit www. ashevillearts.com.

HART’s 2012 Season

Actors are asked to prepare 90 seconds of material: one monologue or two contrasting monologues, or monologue and 16 bars of a song. An accompanist will be available. Singing to tapes is not allowed.

Kirsten Stolle, Genetically Commodified

Saturdays in Pack Square. Membership Fee for a 10x10 booth is $85 per Saturday. Application fee is $25. Member benefits include: market access, renewal without re-jury, consecutive placement, access to social events, free consultation.

Friday, February 24 – Youth

For registration information and to and pay your application fee, go to www.unifiedauditions.org.

June 16, 23, 30, and October 6, 13, 20

At Ferguson Auditorium, 340 Victoria Road, Asheville. Annual event allows local actors and technicians to showcase their talents for a variety of companies.

tions for actors, designers, directors, stage managers, musicians, and technicians, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

™

Friday and Saturday, February 24 & 25

Saturday, February 25 – Audi-

Ratchet and Spin

by T. Oder and R. Woods

WNC Artist Showcase through April 9, 2012 Asheville artist Stephen Ham exhibits a colorful series of contemporary monoprints at the Hilton Asheville Biltmore Park. The public is invited to view the show on the lobby level of the hotel. A reception for the artist will be held toward the close of the show, on March 31, from 5 to 7 p.m. The hotel is located at 42 Town Square Blvd., just off Long Shoals Road (I-26, Exit 37). For more details call (828) 231-5355.

CLASSES ~ AUDITIONS ~ ARTS & CRAFTS ~ READINGS Vol. 15, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2012 35

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36 February 2012 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 15, No. 6

MAGGIE VALLEY MA

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fine art INTERVIEW WITH

INTERVIEWED BY

Brennen McElhaney

DENNIS RAY

rennen McElhaney was born in Santa Barbara, California and studied at the Rhode Island School of Design. In 2005, Brennen, along with his wife and their three children, relocated from California to Western North Carolina. He is currently working on a series of landscape paintings of Western North Carolina and the surrounding areas.

Rapid River Magazine: When did you

Green Fields by Brennen McElhaney Acrylic on canvas, 11 x 14 in.

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Landscape artist Brennen McElhaney

begin to think of yourself as an artist?

Brennen McElhaney: As far back as I

can remember I’ve processed things visually and spacially and consequently expressed that in drawing and painting.

RRM: How did you develop your unique style?

RRM: I notice figures crop up in some

of your landscape paintings, were these figures introduced at the time of painting or were they present in the scene?

BM: If a figure

Winter Views by Brennen McElhaney, Acrylic on canvas, 14x18 in.

BM: I’ve developed my style through

lots of drawing, painting and careful observation. My “style” is simply a result of what I see — filtered through my understanding of light, color, form and composition.

RRM: When you are painting do you

work en plein air or do you work from photos?

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more keenly (including sketching or doing preliminary studies) is beneficial.

appears in one of my paintings it was there at the time I was working. I don’t tend to “make things up” or introduce elements that are not present in my subject.

RRM: I love your color palette. The colors all seem a bit muted, as if from brilliant sunlight. Is there any meaning or influence behind this? BM: (Thank you!) My color influ-

ences are from a variety of sources: My art school training (especially painting with a limited palette) and

CZVg 7^aibdgZ HfjVgZ BVaa ^c 6h]Zk^aaZ Carriage Classic by Brennen McElhaney Acrylic on gessoed paper, 8.75x12.25 in.

early California plein air painters who prized the golden light of late afternoon (which accentuated warm light and cool shadows). Also, I have worked in Photoshop (for illustration and design) for more than 15 years, which has undoubtedly affected my understanding of color and color theory.

RRM: Have you created a painting and sold it and wished that you still had it in your collection?

BM: When I sell a painting I am

delighted and flattered that the buyer chose to add my artwork to their collection. Works by Brennen McElhaney can be seen at The Gallery at Studio B in North Asheville, 171 Weaverville Highway, Asheville, (828) 225-5200.

more often I work in my studio from photos and sketches.

WORKS BY PERRY WINKLER

RRM: How important do you think

ow through February 29, the Hotel Indigo is featuring “Crossing Wonderland”, a show of masterful watercolors by former resident artist, Perry Winkler. The title painting, “Crossing Wonderland,” depicts the determination of two belgian workhorses weathering a blizzard. “Crossing Wonderland” was inspired by events in his recent past and is charged with emotion and an appreciation of our physical world.

BM: Painting (for me) is an exercise

in active seeing seeing. (Many times we think we see something, but we don’t really.) To that end, any exercise that helps an artist observe his subject

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IF YOU GO: Hotel Indigo, 151 Haywood St. in

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Vol. 15, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2012 37

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unique shops + performance INTERVIEW WITH

Angelyn Messer

Winter Specials MONDAY NIGHT – Howdy Neighbor!*

Present local Asheville area ID and receive your choice of appetizer or salad, choice of entrée & dessert, all for $25 per person. Dinner only.

TUESDAY ALL DAY – Half-Price Wine

Celebrate the fruit of the earth! Every Tuesday enjoy half-price wine with the purchase of an entrée. Excludes bottles priced over $50.

WEDNESDAY LUNCH – Three’s-a-Crowd!*

LUNCH ONLY – Must present coupon. Three eat for the price of two. For every two adult entrees purchased, third guest receives FREE entree.

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15% OFF entire check for local Asheville area First Responders, Teachers, Active Military, Social Services, City & Government Workers. Must provide ID. Excludes alcohol. Good at lunch & dinner!

MONDAY-thru-THURSDAY Half-Price Appetizers in our Lounge, 4-6 p.m. *Discounts available to local Asheville area residents only! Please present your Asheville area ID. Special offers not applicable during holidays, nor may they be used in conjunction with other pricing discounts, promotions or contests.

Bistro 1896

7 Pack Square SW, Asheville, NC 28801 (828) 251-1300 | www.bistro1896.com

Thank you for supporting Bistro 1896, our staff appreciates your patronage.

PG.

Owner of Strains of Music

trains of Music is a full service music store providing everything from new and used instruments, rentals, consignment items, sheet music to instrument repair, music instruction and sound system installation. Strains of Music is located in downtown Waynesville, North Carolina. It is a family business now owned by the third generation. Their many rooms are packed full of instruments, accessories and more; all are ready to be played. They encourage their customers to come and play anything they are interested in.

come from?

AM: The name Strains of Music comes from our family name Strain. My father named the business in l959. He began with a modest inventory but over the years we have grown into quite a large business.

RRM: How important would you say music is to your family?

AM: Music is very important to our family. Everyone should give it a try.

RRM: Do you offer

music lessons at your shop?

AM: Yes. We have two

Rapid River Magazine: Tell us a little

about Strains of Music.

instructors who teach here on Saturdays and two afternoons during the week. Please call for more information.

Angelyn Messer: We

RRM: What will cus-

are a locally owned business and offer everything in the music line from guitar picks to digital pianos.

RRM: Where did the

name Strains of Music

tomers expect when they visit Strains of Music?

AM: When custom-

The shop carries a wide selection of instruments and accessories. Photo: Liza Becker

ers come in we want them to feel at home. We invite everyone to

Pan Harmonia

38 February 2012 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 15, No. 6

Photo: Liza Becker

come in, look around, sit and play or just visit. We invite people to check out our prices as we offer very good discounts on everything. When you come to Strains of Music you will be treated like family.

Strains of Music 67 Academy St., Waynesville (828) 456-3331 Hours: Mon-Fri: 9-5:30 p.m.; Sat: 9-5 p.m.; closed Sunday.

Music to Welcome Spring! Kate Steinbeck, flute; Amy Brucksch, guitar and Elizabeth Gergel, cello.

an Harmonia artistic director/flutist Kate Steinbeck and pianist Fabio Parrini perform a delightful program of “American Valentines,” beginning Sunday, February 12 at 5 p.m. The two will perform exquisite works by Aaron Copland, Arthur Foote, Joseph Schwantner and Paul Schoenfield. For “dessert” (the second half of the program), Steinbeck and Parrini will be joined by another gifted and awardwinning musician, 14-year-old cellist Maria Parrini, Fabio’s daughter, in a trio by French Romantic composer Louise Farrenc. Tickets are $12 in advance and available at Pan-Harmonia.org or $15 at the door.

Strains of Music is located at 67 Academy St. in Waynesville

March 11

at the Altamont Theater

PG.

INTERVIEWED BY DENNIS RAY

April 8 An Easter Bouquet – Pianist Kimberly Cann in solo concert.

May 13 Fabio Parrini & Kate Steinbeck. Photo: Lisa Ringelspaugh-Irvine

Celebrate Mother’s Day in the “reeds!” Rosalind Buda, bassoon and Scottish smallpipes, with EJ Jones, Scottish smallpipes, and Vance Reese, piano.

February-May 2012 Schedule

February 12 Valentines – from American composers Paul Schoenfield, Lukas Foss, Joseph Schwantner, Aaron Copland and Arthur Foote. Added sweetness by French composer Louise Farrenc. Kate Steinbeck, flute; Fabio Parrini, piano and introducing Maria Parrini.

www.Pan-Harmonia.org

IF YOU Pan Harmonia at The GO Altamont Theatre, 18 Church

Street, Asheville. For more details call (828) 254-7123, or visit www.myaltamont.com.

R A P I D

R I V E R

A R T S

PG.

performance

Hendersonville Chamber Music 2012

f you think of chamber music BY ROBERT WILEY as old-fashioned and stuffy, think again. Because Hendersonville Chamber Music brings chamber music up to date and then some! Featuring four quite different groups, this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s schedule is sure to attract audiences who thoroughly enjoy live performances of fascinating music, both classical and jazz.

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March 4 The poetic sound of the Fire Pink Trio â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Just as each instrument has its uniquely beautiful voice, each member of the Fire Pink Trio - Jacquelyn Bartlett, harp, Sheila Browne viola and Debra Reuter-Pivetta flute -brings to the group a multitude Acclaimed Fire Pink Trio to lead off of accolades inHendersonville Chamber Music series. cluding top prizes in international competitions, concerto performances and critically acclaimed recordings.

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March 18 The award-winning jazz of the Bill Gerhardt Trio â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A modern jazz icon, pianist, arranger and Down Beat Magazine award winner, Bill Gerhardt performs regularly in New York clubs and Europe but now calls Asheville home. Add Mike Holstein on bass and Justin Watt on drums and then sit back for incredibly smooth and mellow listening!

April 22 The exhilarating music of the Kontras String Quartet â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Winners of a Chamber Music Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highly coveted residency, Kontras is becoming one of the most vibrant young string quartets performing today. Featuring a truly international flavor, violinist Dmitri Pogorelov is Russian, Francois Henkins, South African: violist Ai Ishida is Japanese and cellist Jean Hatmaker is American.

May 6 The energetic programming of Pan Harmonia â&#x20AC;&#x201C; An exhilarating selection of world music, mixing genres, styles and flavors from Baroque times to the 21stcentury. The group features flutist/artistic director Kate Steinbeck, harpsichordist Barbara Weiss, percussionist Byron Hedgepeth and bassoonist-bagpiper Rosalind Buda. IF YOU Hendersonville Chamber Music Concerts take GO place at the First Congregational Church, corner of

Fifth Avenue and White Pine in Hendersonville. Performances are on Sunday afternoons at 3 p.m. Tickets are $17, available at Hendersonville Visitors Center and at the door on day of performance. Subscriptions for all four concerts are $60, available by mailing a check payable to HFCM, PO Box 271 Hendersonville, NC 28793. More information at hendersonvillechambermusic.org.

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PG.

Vol. 15, No. 6 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE â&#x20AC;&#x201D; February 2012 39

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