20 minute read
A&E
Brothers of a feather
New acoustic duo to make WNC debut
BY GARRET K. WOODWARD S TAFF WRITER
With the current pandemic and economic shutdown, the music industry was the first business sector to close its doors and will most likely be the last to reopen when all is said and done.
Musicians and bands across the country immediately stopped touring and performing, their lives in the bright lights and on the road coming to an abrupt halt: physically, sonically and financially. And while many acts didn’t know what to do and, perhaps, where to go, Seth Taylor and Shaun Richardson buckled down and tapped into their bountiful creative waters.
Born and raised in Bryson City (and calling Nashville home in recent years), Taylor is the renowned guitarist for beloved bluegrass/jam group Mountain Heart. Like Taylor, Richardson is an in-demand studio session guitarist and producer, with his current gig being a member of legendary bluegrass ensemble Dailey & Vincent.
As young and talented pickers in the Nashville scene, Taylor and Richardson eventually gravitated toward each other, which, just before and during the shutdown this spring, has parlayed itself into an off-and-running solo project for the budding duo.
A blend of whirlwind acoustic guitar instrumentals and intricate songwriting, their soonto-be released debut album is a melodic stamp in time and place for two six-string aces with long-term artistic visions and an unrelenting urge to keep digging deep: onstage and in the studio.
Smoky Mountain News: How did the quarantine treat you, not only as a creative person, but also in general?
Seth Taylor: I’ve been doing good. It’s been kind of weird not being able to travel [and be on tour]. But, other than that, [Shaun and I] have been working on music, which has been good. At first, it felt weird to even try and work on anything, I think everybody [in the music industry] was just trying to figure out what to do next. Once I got used to [being home], it became easier to work on [music].
Shaun Richardson: At first, it was a kind of
Shaun Richardson and Seth Taylor.
Want to go?
Guitar duo Shaun Richardson & Seth Taylor will be performing an outdoor patio show at 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 9, at The Grey Eagle Music Hall in Asheville.
The concert is all ages. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 day of show. The performance will be limited capacity with social distancing guidelines in place. Advance ticket purchases are encouraged.
For more information and/or to purchase tickets, visit www.thegreyeagle.com. To learn more about Richardson and Taylor, visit www.shaunrichardsonmusic.com or www.sethtaylormusic.com.
traumatic time to regroup. And then we eased into working on stuff to try and make up for lost time or utilize our time better.
SMN: What have you been working on? Is it more songwriting or more toward instrumentals?
ST: We started working on a little guitar project last year about this time. We cut all of the tracks last year and this past February. We didn’t really have a plan for the recordings, but we did think it would be cool to have something ready for a [solo project] at some point. Now, we’ve had the time to kind of wrap this [album] up and we’ve been trying to book little shows and play studios sessions wherever we
—Shaun Richardson
can. But, it’s been really hard to do because there aren’t very many shows happening.
SMN: What is the dynamic? I mean, it’s two guitar players, but is there a singing component? What can people expect to hear?
SR: I’d say a majority of the music is instrumental guitar music we’ve collaborated on together. It’s about finding that balance between playing off each other — being a counterpoint to one another. There are songs that I’ve written that feature lyrics and some covers, too. It’s a nice mix of both. So, by the time [the audience] gets tired of hearing the instrumental stuff, we’ll switch to the vocals and vice versa. [Laughs].
SMN: Seth, you’ve been able to play a couple shows during this pandemic. What’s that been like for you as a performer, being part of this “new normal” for live music?
ST: Man, Mountain Heart played two shows a couple of weeks ago in Virginia. That was the first time I’ve played live since our last Mountain Heart show on Feb. 28. It was strange getting back onstage. We did The Harvester [Performance Center] in Rocky, Mount. They had little pods for the people, you had to wear a mask and get your temperature taken. It actually went really well. Everyone followed the rules and stayed in their area and we [as musicians] didn’t have to be around people at all.
SMN: Both of you are in popular, nationally-touring bands. Why is this solo project an important outlet?
SR: It’s nice for us, because oftentimes we’re behind the scenes helping other people’s artistry come to life. With this, we have a creative outlet where we’re playing the songs we’ve written and playing songs that we really care about — that means a lot to us.
For ourselves, we can have that personal artistry through this project. I’ve always enjoyed playing guitar, so this project is a long time coming. Seth and I really enjoy playing with each other. Now, we have something we can call our own and try to push it out into the world the best we can.
BY GARRET K. WOODWARD
past Saturday afternoon, I stood in the parking lot of the Maggie Valley Town Hall.
In the front entrance of the building were an array of local law enforcement agencies from around Haywood County. Underneath the big trees in the front yard were Black Lives Matter protesters. On the lawn next door, with eyes aimed at those under the big trees, were the counter protesters.
With all the emotional lead-up to the BLM march on Aug. 1 seen online, I honestly didn’t know what to expect: as a journalist and as a proud resident of Haywood County and greater Western North Carolina.
Over 100 folks marched along Soco Road from town hall to the fire department (a mile or so each way in the hot sun). With one lane of the road marked off for the march, a few hundred counter protesters were scattered along the sidewalk for the entire route through the heart of Maggie, with innumerable vehicles passing by either honking for or against the march.
Safety was the main concern and was upheld by the local law enforcement agencies onsite to walk with and protect the protesters. Hats off to those town and county officers who, in full uniform and gear belts, strolled alongside the protesters to ensure everything went smoothly, which it did.
Both sides were mostly peaceful and respectful, truth be told. Yes, I heard some vile things shouted at the protesters here and there. And yes, there were countless motorcycles revving their engines to drown out the protest chants. But, I also witnessed incredible compassion and unity among those marching, many of which are folks who live in Haywood County and who I’ve called friends for several years.
While I observed and photographed those familiar faces in the march, I didn’t see or experience people trying to upend their own backyard. Nobody was there to physically destroy local businesses in a riot-like scenario. Nobody was there to fight and disrupt peace. If anything, it was a display of courage and personal conviction to seek out a better tomorrow, perhaps today.
At one point, I wandered across Soco Road to snap a few photos of the counter protesters. An older lady in the crowd saw my media badge dangling from my neck and called me out on it.
“You with Smoky Mountain News?” she shouted at me. “Yes ma’am.” “Well, I heard y’all are a bunch of Communists.” “Well, ma’am, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but that isn’t true.” “Y’all are a bunch of fuckin’ Communists.” Cue my exit from that interaction.
Sorry lady, I don’t have time to deal with the constant barrage of insults hurled at my newsroom on a daily basis. For the thousandth time: your local newspaper isn’t out to get you.
We are journalists, editors and publishers who live in your communities. We choose to live and work here. This is our home. And with that, we work hard day in and day out to accurately cover and properly interpret the issues that are affecting all of us in these ancient mountains. To that point, I did The Black Lives Matter find many folks within the counter protesters march in Maggie Valley. that weren’t angry or (photo: Garret K. Woodward) pissed off. These are folks that sincerely believe in their side of the issue, who stood firmly and in silence with their signs or just mere presence in solidarity for their cause. Meandering around, I kept noticing the invisible line between the protesters and counter protesters. Though the BLM marchers did make it clear beforehand to not engage with irate counter protesters, there was not one person who stepped over the invisible line with a welcoming gesture to find common ground or understanding. In my 14-year career as a journalist, and one mainly working in Small Town USA, I find most folks — regardless of political persuasion, religion, etc. — want a lot of the same things, either simply for themselves or their families, or for their community, too. Your neighbor isn’t your enemy. Your neighbor is an often-missed opportunity to find common ground and to work together.
So, can’t we just tone down the yelling a few notches to what my mother called “an indoor voice”? Can we actually stop, listen and hear what the other person has to say? When will we stop pointing fingers and offer a helping hand instead? When will the anger and division be turned into a place where actual positive, tangible change can occur?
The march ended with an eight-minute and 46-second moment of silence in front of town hall for the late George Floyd (the exact amount of time he had a knee pressed into his neck by a Minneapolis police officer). It was a genuinely powerful thing to stand there amid the protesters, the only sound being a slight afternoon breeze of a bird chipping nearby.
I must say, I will never be the same after attending that march. I’m still trying to digest and process what I saw and heard, for good or ill. If anything, I remain optimistic for the future of our society and this country, in general. I do.
And I will continue to wake up each day and aim to bridge this great divide that only seems to get bigger as we push into the unknowns and uncertainty of this era in American and world history.
Your neighbor isn’t out to get you, nor is your local newspaper
Stepping out of my pickup truck this
Life is beautiful, grasp for it, y’all.
Spend Your Summer With Us!
Visit Boojum for Craft Brews, Delicious Food & Live Music.
We're following all safety precautions and will be offering more seating and events as the state allows. Hope to see you soon!
Open call for artist grants
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 Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center.
Artist Support Grants will be distributed to eligible applicants by Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center in the following counties: Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Jackson, Macon, Swain, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
Applications for the grants are available at www.coweeschool.org. The deadline is Sept. 30. Grants will range in awards from $500 to $1,000.
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. Artists in all disciplines are eligible to apply.
Informational online workshops with the N.C. Arts Council will be held via Zoom at 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 17, and at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 19. To learn more, visit www.coweeschool.org/nc-arts-council.
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 Emerging or established artists are
County Arts Council in the following counties: Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Polk, Rutherford, and Transylvania.
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, visit www.haywoodarts.org or call 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, visit www.cashiershistoricalsociety.org/ showhouse.
Part of the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville, the Kids at HART program will offer classes in acting, directing and musical theatre dance.
Registration is currently underway. Classes will run Sept. 14 through Nov. 16. In November, HART will hold registration for spring classes.
Classes will begin virtually via Zoom and will transfer to the theatre as soon as it is deemed safe to return to face-to-face instruction. Classes have a minimum number, so tell your friends.
To register, visit www.harttheatre.org or visit the Kids at HART Facebook page. If you need further information, email Kids at HART at kidsathartwvl@gmail.com.
“Art After Dark” will continue from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7, in downtown Waynesville.
Each first Friday of the month (May-December), Main Street transforms into an evening of art, music, finger foods, beverages and shopping as artisan studios and galleries keep their doors open later for local residents and visitors.
Participants include Burr Studio, Cedar Hill Studios, Haywood County Arts Council’s Gallery & Gifts, The Jeweler’s Workbench, Moose Crossing Burl Wood Gallery, T. Pennington Art Gallery, Twigs and Leaves Gallery and The Village Framer.
It is free to attend Art After Dark. For more information, visit www.waynesvillegalleryassociation.com.
• Elevated Mountain Distilling Company will host the “Western Carolina Writers” songwriters showcase with Nick Mac, Jon
Edwards and Jesse Frizsell at 8 p.m. Aug. 8.
Free and open to the public. www.elevatedmountain.com.
• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host
Shane Meade 7 p.m. Aug. 7. For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.
• Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host Shane
Meade 5 p.m. Aug. 8. Free and open to the public. www.nantahalabrewing.com.
• The Great Blue Farms Brunch & Blooms will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays from Aug. 8 through Sept. 12 at 1101
Briartown Church Road in Nantahala/Topton.
Admission is $75, which includes a tour, brunch, all flowers, supplies and container to take home your floral masterpiece. To register, visit www.greatbluefarms.com or call 828.508.1502. • The Haywood County Arts Council “Artist
Member Show” will be held through Aug. 29 at the HCAC Gallery & Gifts showroom in
Waynesville. Featuring 42 artists, the show is a celebration of our community, allowing locals to share their great work at the height of the summer season. www.haywoodarts.org.
• There will be an artist demonstration with
Richard Baker from 1 to 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7, at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville. Baker’s art ALSO: pays homage to the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the same way that works of the Hudson River School movement captured the pastoral wilderness of
America in the mid-nineteenth century. A disciple of this movement, Baker produces landscapes in oil that are studied in realistic detail and radiant light. www.haywoodarts.org.
• The “Haywood County Medical Exhibit: 1870-1950” will be held at The Shelton
House in Waynesville. The showcase will run through October. Admission is $7 adults. $5 students. Children ages 5 and under free.
Admission includes Shelton House. 828.452.1551 or www.sheltonhouse.org.
On the shelf Why we need honest journalists right now
The ancient philosopher Diogenes used to stroll about Athens holding a lantern to the faces of those he met and claiming he was looking for one honest man.
In the public square of modern America, truth can be just as hard to find.
Consider COVID-19. Hard facts about this virus, its prevention, its effect, and its fatality rate, are as rare as water on the moon. We are told we must follow the “science” regarding coronavirus, but that science has become so politicized that it is as useless as some of our governors. Recently, for Jeff Minick Writer example, a group of doctors who have fought on the front lines of the pandemic, treating actual patients, held a news conference Washington, D.C. One of them pointed out that Americans are needlessly living in a spider web of fear. A pediatrician stated that not one student worldwide had infected a teacher. Another had successfully used doxycycline to treat 350 patients, most of them elderly or with underlying health conditions. The number of people watching this video on social media was enormous.
Then YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter pulled the plug on it, which brings a question. Did these platforms ban the video because the medical information was wrong or because the organization sponsoring the event was the Tea Party Patriots?
On another front, we read articles and see pictures of mobs in cities like Portland and Seattle trying to burn federal courthouses, destroying property, and assaulting the police, which some of media and politicians insist are “peaceful protests.”
Once again, facts and truth get twisted out of shape.
In Just The Truth (Winged Victory Press, 2020, 227 pages), novelist Gen LaGreca holds a mirror to our troubled times by telling the story of Laura Taninger, an intrepid journalist who adheres fiercely to the slogan of her grandfather, founder of the Taninger news organization: “Find the truth wherever it hides.” As an investigative reporter and host of the television news show “Just The Truth,” Laura has stumbled onto evidence that the new electronic system being set up for presidential elections may be corrupt. When one of her sources is murdered, and when the federal government begins pressuring Taninger Enterprises, Laura becomes more convinced than ever she is on the right track.
Unfortunately, her father and two of her siblings, Irene and Billie, who serve on the company’s board with Laura, want her to tone down her nightly broadcasts. The government suddenly decides the seats in the new sports stadium built by Taninger Enterprises, Billie’s project, are in violation of federal regulations, and Irene finds the advertisers on her entertainment network backing away because of her sister’s broadcasts. Eventually, they give Laura an ultima
tum: either quit this story altogether or face dismissal from her position in the company.
Meanwhile, Laura’s sister Kate, editor for her college paper, writes a piece defending her sister and asking whether the highest officials of the government, including President Ken Martin, are involved in possible voting fraud. Paid protesters appear on campus, occupy the office of the university’s president, and demand the paper be closed and Kate Taninger thrown out of school.
Other characters and situations in Just The Truth seem to spring from today’s headlines. Darcy, adviser to President Martin and author of a guidebook “The New Leader,” makes Machiavelli look like Pollyanna. Sean, a journalist and Laura’s friend — he’s secretly in love with her — leaps at the chance to work in the White House and quickly finds himself forced to issue misinformation and lies about Laura’s broadcasts. Along with Irene and Billie, Laura’s father Clark finds himself torn between allowing Laura her investigation and the sinking advertising revenues and threats via different government agencies.
Just The Truth also addresses language and the way we can twist words and euphemisms to do harm to others or to conceal our real intentions. A demonstration by the “Advocates for Peace and Democracy” leaves ten people hospitalized, dozens of stores looted, and police cars overturned. The mob that wrecks the campus and surrounding area in protest of Kate’s defense of her sister rides under the banner the “Foundation to Enrich Student Life.” The administration doxes Laura, looking into her past for some misdeed to damage her reputation, and when nothing turns up, they simply label her a racist. In his collection of essays The Leaning Tower of Babel, Richard Mitchell includes this chilling quote from Lenin, who has just received a letter from Kautski: “Why should we bother to reply to Kautski? He would reply to us, and we would have to reply to his reply. There’s no end to that. It will be quite enough for us to announce that Kautski is a traitor to the working class, and everyone will understanding everything.” Because of our technology, we can all play Lenin now. We can dox our opponents, practice cancel culture, or savage them in social media.
Though the ending of Just The Truth is a little too neat — there is, however, a humorous moment when two government officials shoot and wound each other — this book brings a sharp spotlight on mainstream journalism, the corruption in our political system, the hidden forces behind “spontaneous” riots, and the way we use words to smear our opponents.
At the end of the novel, a journalist says to his television audience, “Journalism is the antidote to tyranny. Without it, the liberty we hold so dear will die.”
At this point in our history, we need journalism — real journalism — more than ever. (Jeff Minick is a writer and teacher. minick0301@gmail.com)
Join us for our first Virtual Author Discussion
Author Ron Rash will be discussing his new book Tuesday, August 25 th at 3PM
"In the Valley: Stories and a Novella Based on Serena." now available in store!
TO REGISTER CALL OR EMAIL blueridgebooks@ymail.com
Magazines - Newspapers 428 HAZELWOOD Ave. Waynesville • 456-6000
YOGA Join us for ’ ’ ’ BASICS: 5 DAY ZOOM SERIES with Jake Gilmore
AUGUST 24-28 AT 7PM
Are you new to yoga - or recently recovered from an injury- and want to refresh the basics to deepen your yoga practice? This 5- day virtual series is designed for beginners or those looking to re-learn the the fundamentals of a yoga practice, and is a solid way to deepen your understanding of your body + your wellness journey. PLUS - you can practice from the comfort of your own home!
This small class will also give you plenty of space for dialogue with a teacher who can offer modifications and advice on what will help you in your unique practice. This will be a small group experience to make sure everyone gets personalized attention: to save your spot, register below. $125 for program // $75 for those who are brand new to WYC.
Call 828.246.6570 or email us at hello@waynesvilleyogacenter.com
