A&E

Jane Kramer and Matthew Smith performing at The Grey Eagle on July 26. (photos: Garret K. Woodward)

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

‘Save Our Stages Act’ now in the hands of Congress

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD S TAFF WRITER

Standing in front of a microphone on Sunday evening, singer-songwriter Jane Kramer looked out onto the small, socially-distant crowd inside The Grey Eagle Music Hall in Asheville. Each table of patrons were several feet from the next table. Though masks covered the faces, the smiles and laughter could not be contained.

“What a beautiful occasion to play music in front of people — I can’t tell you how much I missed this,” Kramer noted between songs, making light of the moment all in attendance reveled in.

In the midst of the Coronavirus Pandemic and economic shutdown, the live music industry was the first to close, and will arguably be the last to reopen. Though small showcases are slowly returning to the stage, the live music business as a whole will not reappear for many more months, perhaps years, according to industry experts and health officials.

“When all live music stopped in March, I figured we would be open in some capacity for larger events by now,” said Russ Keith, owner of The Grey Eagle. “But, the [case] numbers [and state mandates] aren’t allowing for it, and I don’t see it getting better. At this point, I don’t see us opening back up to normal shows and a full calendar schedule until at least next year.”

During a normal year, The Grey Eagle plays host to over 350 performances from local, regional, national and international acts. The venue’s calendar has been pretty much wiped clean until next spring, with patio shows and the occasional limited capacity indoor gig dotting the schedule.

“Venues like The Grey Eagle are the heartbeat of a community and what it means to be part of an arts and cultural experience,” Kramer said. “These independent venues offer an intimacy between an artist and the audience that can’t be replicated. And what we’re starved for right now as a society is human connection, something that these stages provide — we can’t lose that.”

In the wake of the shutdown, The Grey Eagle (as with most venues) had to get creative to find new avenues of revenue to keep the lights on and the bills paid. Live streaming of performances has helped, so have donations and fundraising through online merchandise purchases. The Grey Eagle has even offered “The Golden Ticket,” which is a raffle (currently happening) for a chance to win a ticket for a year of free concerts at the venue.

“Right now, we’re just going month-bymonth. And we’ve been lucky to have such great

Want to help?

Supported by the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), the “Save Our Stages Act” is currently making its way through Congress in an effort to get passed.

The bill is aimed at supporting and preserving beloved independent music venues across the country who are currently facing harsh financial obstacles in the face of the current pandemic and shutdown.

To learn more about #SaveOurStages and to sign the online petition, please go to www.saveourstages.com.

As well, The Grey Eagle #SaveOurStages Golf Tournament will be held at noon Sunday, Aug. 30, at the Omni Grove Park Inn golf course in Asheville. The cost to play is $125 per person or $500 for a team.

To register for the tournament, go to www.thegreyeagle.com and click on the “Calendar” tab (scroll down to Aug. 30). “Our role as local, independent venues is an important part of the community, where our shows here bring in upwards of 500 people each night.”

— Russ Keith, owner, The Grey Eagle

support from the community thus far, but that can only last so long,” Keith said. “We’ve already lost one great Asheville music venue to these financial strains with The Mothlight [closing last month] — they probably won’t be the last one to disappear from our scene.”

On a national level, there are big strides being made to ensure the survival of independent music venues. Titled the “Save Our Stages Act,” the Congressional bill was introduced by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), which is also being championed by the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA). If passed, the bill would provide six months of financial support for venues and their employees.

“Our role as local, independent venues is an important part of the community, where our shows here bring in upwards of 500 people each night,” Keith said. “All of those [concertgoers] eat at the local restaurants and breweries, and stay at the hotels nearby — that’s a huge economic weight we won’t be able carry moving forward if we can’t get the help we need to be able to stay afloat and eventually reopen.”

Finishing up her set, Kramer set down her guitar and thanked the audience. Exiting the stage, she put on her mask and headed to the lobby to sell some merchandise and sign a few albums. Though sincere and genuine, the interactions are purposely at an arm’s-length. Kramer is grateful for the opportunity to once again step onstage, and do so within the hallowed walls of The Grey Eagle.

“Independent venues are the cornerstone of the Asheville music and art community,” Kramer said. “And for me, as an independent musician who makes my living playing shows, it’s these smaller venues across the country that give artists like myself a platform and a chance to perform and grow as a musician — these venues are vitally important to my quality of life and everyone’s quality of life.”

The Grey Eagle in the River Arts District of Asheville.

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

Cast your dancing spell my way, I promise to go under it

It was odd and surreal feeling to be watching live music this past weekend. As you probably read on the opposite page in this newspaper, I was on assignment for the #SaveOurStages initiative and how it being (or not being) passed in Congress will greatly affect the music industry moving forward.

That aside, I found myself constantly looking around at the absurdity of the scene unfolding before my eyes. No, there wasn’t some huge crowd of folks. And yes, stringent measures were adhered to in order to ensure the safety of the handful of people in attendance.

And yet, I couldn’t help but constantly think about this “new normal” we currently find ourselves in, and what that will mean for the one thing that I’m most passionate about in my life and career: live music.

While seated at my table for two at The Grey Eagle, I scanned the room at the halfdozen other tables with masked people sitting quietly and happily enjoying this extremely rare occasion to see a performer onstage and not through a computer screen or from an online archive.

And I began to wonder what our musical landscape would look like if places around Western North Carolina like The Grey Eagle (The Orange Peel or The White Horse, for example), these independent bastions of art and sound, were to disappear as a result of financial struggles faced in the midst of the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Where else would up-and-coming local musicians be granted an opportunity to get their start, to actually perform and hone their skills in front of people? Where would artists and bands from other parts of the country (or the world) be able to find footing in cities and towns they’ve never played before? Where would you be able to host fundraisers for a slew of local and regional causes that include that all-important factor in getting bodies through the door, which is live music?

The answer is nowhere else. Independent music venues are the bedrock of the music industry. It’s where it all begins for artists. And, most importantly, these beloved venues are usually the cultural beehive of a community, where the creative identity of a certain place is radiated outward from these locations around the corner or across town.

Personally, I’ve always championed the independent music venue. I realize their worth as a priceless asset to a community and its arts scene, this pillar of a town whose influence is a true ripple effect into the rest of the local economy.

They’ve always been the setting where I’d fall head over heels in love with my new favorite band on some random night. Or where I’d do a backstage interview with a rising act, knowing damn well this person or group will someday be headlining arenas, and yet how lucky are we to see them early in their career in such an intimate setting, eh?

Following The Grey Eagle show, I spent most of the drive back to Waynesville marveling at the mere fact that was my first live show since March 14. Over four months without being in the presence of live music. For some, that may not seem like a big deal. But, for someone like myself, that is pretty much an eternity (more so a personal hell) to go that long without a show.

March 14. Songs From The Road Band at the Wicked Weed Funkatorium in the South Slope district of Asheville. Even at that point, most of us in the Western North Carolina music scene knew that show would probably be the last gig in the city for the foreseeable future.

There was an uneasy sense in the Funkatorium of what our livelihoods and daily existence would look like once the last song was played and we all headed into the eventual shelter-in-place and economic shut

down of our communities. But, even in that mindset, those watching SFTRB soaked into the singular and universal healing power that is live music. The instruments and voices onstage hummed as we let our minds drift into a headspace of love and compassion.

Skip ahead some four months and here we stand, seemingly with more questions than answers compared to where we were in the spring. The Grey Eagle show was a small toe dip into a larger pool of unknown factors and situations that will continue to reveal themselves as we try and responsibly navigate what live music can be, and will look like, pushing ahead.

So, for now, don’t lose sight of your favorite local venue or local band. Every penny donated or spent on merchandise keeps not only these entities stable, it also

keeps the fire burning within to create and promote art and music in your backyard for all to see, hear and embrace.

Beyond that? Well, the outlook for a (possible) full recovery of the live music scene looks to be somewhere in mid-2021 (or 2022 by some estimates). In essence, nobody really knows. But, I remain optimistic. The urge to perform and the need to witness it will forever be part of our DNA as human beings.

If anything, this “whole thing” has emphasized why we have such a hunger for live music. It feeds and nurtures us in times when the world seems dark and bleak. It also holds us up in times of happiness and pure joy — it’s the glue that connects all of our cosmic, melodic souls.

Life is beautiful, grasp for it, y’all.

Smithsonian traveling exhibition

The Macon County Public Library, in cooperation with North Carolina Humanities Council, will host “Water/Ways,” a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street (MoMS) program.

“Water/Ways” will be on view through Aug. 24 at the library in Franklin. The exhibition explores the endless motion of the water cycle, water’s impact on landscape, settlement and migration, and its impact on culture and spirituality.

For more information, visit www.fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600. The library is open by appointment from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

• Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host

Amongst The Trees at 7:30 p.m., Aug. 1.

Free and open to the public. www.curraheebrew.com.

• Elevated Mountain Distilling Company will host The Darren Nicholson Band 7 p.m.

Aug. 1. Free and open to the public. www.elevatedmountain.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host

Isaac Corbitt 7 p.m. July 31 and Tea 4

Three 8 p.m. Aug. 8. For more information • Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing

Arts (Franklin) will host Grains of Sand

Band (classic hits/oldies) 7:30 p.m. Aug. 1. Tickets start at $15 per person. www.greatmountainmusic.com.

• There will be a free wine tasting from 2 to 5 p.m every Saturday at The Wine Bar &

Cellar in Sylva. 828.631.3075.

• The “Haywood County Medical Exhibit: 1870-1950” will be held at The Shelton

House in Waynesville. The showcase will run through October. ALSO: Admission is $7 adults. $5 students. Children ages 5 and under free. Admission includes Shelton

House. 828.452.1551 or www.sheltonhouse.org.

• The next “Dillsboro After Five: Wonderful

Wednesdays” will be held from 3:30 to 7 p.m. July 29 in downtown. Start with a visit to the Jackson County Farmers Market located in the Innovation Station parking lot. Stay for dinner and take advantage of late-hour shopping. Bring the family and enjoy small town hospitality at its best. For more information, call 828.586.2155 or visit www.mountainlovers.com.

Acclaimed Americana/country act The Darren Nicholson Band will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1, at Elevated Mountain Distilling Company in Maggie Valley.

Nicholson is a Grammy Award nominee and a recipient of numerous International Bluegrass Music Association’s Awards, including “Entertainer of the Year” (2014, 2018) and “Album of the Year” (2006, 2017).

SummerVoice Camp

The next installment of the Voices in the Laurel “SummerVoice Camp” will be held from 10 a.m. to noon July 27-31 on the Zoom platform.

This session will be for rising first to fifth graders and will feature special guests, games, recreation, arts, crafts, and so much more. Voices in the Laurel is an authentic program that focuses on providing young people quality choral education in fun and innovative ways.

Voices in the Laurel is a Haywood County-based nonprofit choir for young people ranging from first through 12th grade from Haywood, Buncombe, Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties under the direction of Martha Brown. www.voicesinthelaurel.org.

Artist grants now available

Artists in all disciplines are eligible to apply for grants to support their professional and artistic development through a partnership of the North Carolina Arts Council and Asheville Area Arts Council, Haywood County Arts Council, Arts Council of Henderson County, Tryon Fine Arts Center, Rutherford County Recreation, Cultural, and Heritage Commission and the Transylvania Community Arts Council.

Artist Support Grants will be distributed to eligible applicants by Haywood County Arts Council in the following counties: Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Polk, Rutherford and Transylvania.

He has appeared countless times on WSM’s Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium, CMT, GAC and many of the world’s most famous venues and networks. Currently, he records and tours as a full-time, founding member of Balsam Range with all sorts of collaborative efforts each year.

The show is free and open to the public. www.elevatedmountain.com.

Applications for the grants are available www.haywoodarts.org/grants-funding. The deadline is Sept. 30. Grants will range in awards from $500 to $1,000.

Emerging or established artists are encouraged to apply to support a range of professional and artistic development including the creation of work, improvement of business operations or expanding capacity to bring work to new audiences. Artist fees are also allowable expenses.

For information or questions, contact Leigh Forrester, executive director of the Haywood County Arts Council, at www.haywoodarts.org or 828.452.0593.

Cashiers Designer Showhouse

The annual Cashiers Designer Showhouse will be held Aug. 5 through Sept. 5 at 144 Cove Drive in Highlands.

Interior designers representing the Southeastern region will not only bring trending design to Cashiers, but will again create the magic that is the Cashiers Designer Showhouse.

Leading area landscapers are involved in redefining the areas surrounding the home and in turn creating serene and evocative late summer mountain gardens for showhouse strolling.

Throughout the week, showhouse attendees will admire the work of the talented designers; enjoy a variety of workshops, book signings and panel discussions from beloved creatives across the country.

Admission is $30. For more information, click on www.cashiershistoricalsociety.org/showhouse.