BlogAsheville

The Age of Suspicion, by James Wechsler

2012-01-21T19:48:00.001-05:00

I read the book The Age of Suspicion last week.

It is written by James Wechsler, who was
- smart enough to be admitted to Columbia University in 1931
- joined the Young Communist League and rose in the structure
- left it in 1936 (at the age of 25) after a trip to the Soviet Union when he felt like
the stories just weren't adding up
- worked for the Nation with communists
- was VERY critical of the Hitler-Stalin pact in 1939 (he thought Hitler was a huge threat to democracy)
- worked at PM leftwing daily newspaper 1941-'48 with communists
- worked at the Daily News where he was very publicly critical of Communists (who he didn't feel were trustworthy) AND Joe McCarthy and blacklisting

He's a good writer, and it seemed like the story of smart strategic guy trying his best to be ethical in a flawed world.

I read it because I'm trying to understand the 40s and the creation of the United Nations.

Have you listened to We Think We're People lately?

2011-11-02T23:36:00.000-04:00

John & Ben Robinson, of the past podcast Supertalk (which you probably never heard of) on the late, lamented URradio (which you probably never listened to), are back with the fantastic new podcast, We Think We're People. No topic is too extreme, no recording equipment is too low-tech. For guests, we have comedians, sex columnists, maybe even you! (Seriously, we could use some more guests. If you're interested, drop us a line.) We Think We're People- the strange and funny podcast for people on the edge.

Listen to the latest episode here!

A New Asheville Podcast

2011-09-25T16:46:00.000-04:00

From the wild and crazy guys who brought you Supertalk, a new podcast: We Think We're People.

Share and enjoy.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

2010-10-20T11:11:00.002-04:00

Tony Kiss at the Asheville Citizen-Times writes "The world's best-known vampire, Dracula, has a way of rising from the grave. And now the same thing is happening for a Halloween production of “Dracula” at Asheville's historic Masonic Temple.

The new Dauntless Productions theater group will perform the Halloween classic Oct. 22-24 and 29-30 at the landmark temple, 80 Broadway St. The Dauntless group includes some members of the Montford Park Players ensemble..."

Read the rest of the article

-------------------------

Sounds like a great event! Hope to see you there!

Annual Vance Mum Sale!

2010-09-30T08:20:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow, Oct.1, Vance Elementary will be having our annual Mum sale! First Step Farms will be dropping off gorgeous mums, daisies and asters at 9am and we will be selling them out in front of the Vance Elementary marquee on Sulphur Springs Rd. in WAVL until 4pm! Support Vance! Support First Step Farm! Get amazing fall gorgeousness!

Local Asian/Mexican fusion: Hickory Nut Gap chorizo with mung bean noodles

2010-09-21T10:57:00.004-04:00

We're going for getting all our meats and produce either out of our own backyard or local farms. This year we started buying meats at Hickory Nut Gap Farm which is only 10 miles from our home in Oakley. It's wonderful to drive there and pick our own meats and eggs.

I also recently bought some mung bean noodles at a local asian market. I don't know the name of the market but it's on Tunnel Road. Mung bean noodles are a wonderful alternative to pasta and they are free of grains which some people are allergic to.

I cook by thinking of what is on my shelves and in my fridge and go from there. This recipe was born out of staring at a package of loose chorizo sausage.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb chorizo loose sausage (the delicous sausage I used was from Hickory Nut Gap)

1 small cabbage shredded, I used a food processor so that it was very fine

1/2 onion sliced fine

1 bunch green onions

Tamari and red chili flakes to taste

2 bunches (about 3 oz) mung bean noodles (purchase at any Asian market)

I first cooked the sausage until crumbly and lightly browned. I removed the meat and used the juices to cook the sliced onion and cabbage. Once it was cooked to a tender consistency I added the meat back in. I used some tamari to keep the cabbage cooking nicely ala stir fy.

I prepared about 3 oz of the mung beans. I put them in water in a pot on the stove. They do not need to come to a boil. They cook very quickly. When they are softened I simply put them in a collander and cut them up with scissors. They are infinitely long so if you don't cut them up they will be very difficult to eat.

I plopped the cooked mung beans into the veggie and meat mixture and mixed them all up. The noodles grow A WHOLE LOT. This was a first time experiment for me so I will be perfecting the experiment and if you use this idea play with it as thought it's an experiement too. The noodles are deceptive when cooked before you add the veggies. They expand! So I suggest not having too many expectations and just having fun.

Fresh green onions added at the last minute was a nice touch as well.

Below is essentially what it looked like, though I forgot to take a photo so I snagged this off of google images. This photo looks like perhaps there is no meat in it.

Also published at Cucina Naturale

Intro 1 - Lexington Avenue Arts & Fun Festival #LAAFF 2010 Asheville

2010-09-01T23:39:00.000-04:00

Lexington Avenue in Asheville is about to explode this Sunday with LAAFF taking over the streets. Watch the video and we will see you there!

Asheville Vaudeville Auditions Sept 11th & 12th

2010-09-01T06:26:00.000-04:00

BlogAsheville has moved to BlogAsheville.com

2010-07-08T21:18:00.002-04:00

BLOGASHEVILLE HAS MOVED

TO BLOGASHEVILLE.COM

Thanks to Ty Hallock and Top Floor Studio for setting up our domain name
Thanks to Eric Sopp and InsideDesign for designing our NEW site (top-down redesign with Twitter and Facebook functionality, plus a NEW and updated listing of all the local blogs...)

Thanks to YOU for reading!

If you are a BlogAsheville contributor, you need a new login for our new WordPress site. Just send email to jennifer (dot) freelance (at) geemail daht cahm. Except spell Gmail right...

See you on the internets on our NEW HOME at BlogAsheville.com

Gulf Oil Spill Podcasts Recorded in Asheville

2010-07-04T18:45:00.002-04:00

Podcasts that discuss research underway on the effects of the Gulf Oil Spill were recorded in Asheville at 2Bruce Studios. I produced and directed these podcasts (Part I and Part II) on behalf of a non-profit, Silicon Valley-based R&D organization. In them, Larry Langebrake, the director of the firm's Marine Technology Program, talks about aspects of the spill that haven't been discussed in any other medium. The ocean research being conducted will have far-reaching implications for marine life in the Gulf for decades to come. I'm proud that this podcast was produced and directed in Asheville.

Ken Klehm and the Rocket Club

2010-06-30T21:22:00.001-04:00

ken and rocket club
Originally uploaded by zen

By now you've heard the West Asheville news, the main East West-Asheville music venue will be closing doors this Saturday. I got a chance to talk with Ken Klehm and he said he could "wax poetic for hours" about why it didn't quite work out, and he headed the list with the large number of Asheville venues, including those that had very deep pockets and those that were willing to resort to unorthodox activity. But it wasn't sour grapes for Ken, as he included the downturn in economy and size of the venue, with it's high ceilings and wide open spaces not providing quite the cozy and intimate atmosphere that he imagined.

Ken also talked about what he wanted to do now, and he honestly hadn't thought much about it, but scrunched up his face at the thought of putting together a resume to pitch to the 9-5 workforce. "My favorite all-time job was as a SCUBA dive instructor. I was good at it and loved making it fun and exciting for people." Ken has the kind of self-effacing egoless manner that would make a good teacher and he said that "in the 5 or so years i taught he only got one complaint." Which was why the establishment he worked for gave him free rein to teach his style. Ken also reminisced about cave diving - an activity that would scare the crap out of me. His 'final exam' for cave diving certification was to go 1/4 mile into a cave where no surface exits were and buddy-breath with a partner all the way back to the entrance in darkness and while the instructor messed with the return line and undid fin straps to unnerve him. He loved it and never got rattled. Which is the way ken is - unflappable. I don't doubt whatever he does do he'll do with all his heart and soul.

We'll be seeing Ken around East West Asheville probably at the DeSoto Lounge which was started by one of his protogees and is "a fine bar, indeed."

Tomato Jam Cafe changes owners, farewell party Sat June 26

2010-06-25T23:07:00.003-04:00

Tomato Jam Cafe, one of my favorite lunch spots, undergoes a change in management as owners Rebecca and Charlie move their family back home to California.

It's a sad, sad day for Asheville Twitter Nation (who met there frequently for chicken gyros, spoonbread and Charlie's killer cupcakes), for all their Asheville fans, and for me.

The cafe will continue under the same name with new owners Deb and Cory. Meet them and say goodbye to Rebecca, Charlie and Willow at a "Passing-of-the-Spatula" pot luck get-together in the Tomato Jam parking lot Saturday night at 6:30.

The goodbye party even has its own Eventbrite site where you can register your covered dish!

From the Eventbrite site:

Tomato Jam Cafe

Passing of the Spatula Party

Come celebrate with us as Tomato Jam Cafe enters a new era!

WHAT: Meet new owners Deb and Cory and their family, passing the spatula to them with Jose and Mago, Marsa and Daniel. Send off Charlie, Rebecca and Willow Mae on their new adventure to California to live near family.

WHEN: Saturday, June 26th from 6:30 to 9 or so

WHERE: Tomato Jam's parking lot

BRING: A covered dish * what you want to eat on & with * chairs to sit * something to drink if tea and lemonade are not your cup of...tea.

***

Goodbye Charlie and Rebecca (and Willow), and good luck! I wish Deb and Cory well, but it's not going to be the same without you. See you on the Twitter, and thanks for friendship, good times and good food. We are really going to miss you.

YWCA New Choices

2010-06-24T14:05:00.004-04:00

Cross-posted from the YWCA of Asheville's blog.

In this video, Jodi Rhoden talks about how the YWCA of Asheville’s New Choices drop-in childcare program helped her when she was starting her business, Short Street Cakes. The YWCA New Choices program supports the economic empowerment of women with one-on-one case management and the “Circles of Hope” support group in addition to drop-in childcare. Find out more about New Choices at www.ywcaofasheville.org.

Video by Sabrina Nizzi, www.sabrinanizzi.com.

New CD in the works from Asheville guitar god Aaron "Woody" Wood

2010-06-24T08:00:00.002-04:00

(Aaron Wood photo by Jason Sandford of Ashvegas)

Call him Woody or call him Aaron, the Asheville guitarist Aaron "Woody" Wood (Blue Rags, Hollywood Red, Custard Pie) is generally regarded by local musicians and music fans alike as one of our city's most talented rock guitarists.

I lucked into a copy of his outstanding new solo EP, and it turns out he can sing AND write great songs as well as tear up an electric guitar.

Aaron Wood bio quote: "The skinny white boy from the mountains Western North Carolina carries around more soul in his restless bones and battered guitar than most of us ever dream of." Word.

Check his soulful new self-titled EP out online here: enter the site and click on music to hear the whole thing streamed.

Turns out Wood made some musical connections at HATCHfest, found a new manager and is on the road to recording a new CD. He's doing it in a way I find completely fascinating: he's using kickstarter, a website that calls itself "a funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors, explorers."

Kickstarter lets fans pledge money towards a pre-stated goal. If the goal is met, the work goes forward. If it's not met, everyone keeps their money. From Wood's blog:

That’s the great thing about the site, you aren’t just asking people to give you money, you create different tiers of what you as an artist will give to them for a certain dollar amount. So, someone can support you for as little as say, $6 and get a download of songs, or they can get something for $25, up to a private show for say, $1000. Here’s the kicker though…It’s all or nothing. You set the budget, the time frame, and the different incentives you’ll give for the different level of money but if you don’t raise your goal by the end of your time then you don’t get any of it.

I don't yet know how much Wood needs to raise, but I listened in to his radio interview this week on WNCW and heard him mention private concerts, recording a cover of a fan-selected song, some neat stuff. He really seems to plan a fan-centric effort with real interactivity with fans of his music -- "You hold my hand, I'll hold yours," he said.

I've been a fan of Wood's since seeing him play the first time and wondering who the hell it was that was shredding the guitar like that. I think I'm gonna pony up.

The kickstarter effort starts this month, and I'll link to it when it goes live. There should be a press release soon for Wood's recording efforts. I'll post it here when I get it.

I work tangentially in the music business as a social media marketer for a local company that provides art and designs to musicians. It's brought me in contact with some new music models that fascinate me utterly: Amanda Palmer and OK Go mindfully and intentionally leaving their labels, Sxip Shirey financing his own CD on kickstarter... OK Go now sells content-filled custom USB drives at concerts, and Amanda Palmer and band have fans cook them meals on the road.

Over at Ashvegas blog, local musician Ami Worthen commented that her own band, Mad Tea Party, did something very similar to Kickstarter with PayPal back in 2006 for their release "Big Top Soda Pop." It's looks like Wood is traveling down the same road.

I'm on board for the ride and I hope it takes him all the places he deserves to go.

***

Twitter: @AaronWoodyWood

Aaron "Woody" Wood on Facebook

Aaron "Woody" Wood blog

Aaron Wood Music website

Great June 22 Ashvegas post on how Wood is using kickstarter to fund his CD

Volunteer group to clear sidewalk to closed Hillcrest bridge, Sat 8:30-noon

2010-06-23T07:37:00.003-04:00

(Z-Link volunteers clearing a neglected sidewalk in Montford)

From the Z-Link blog, some information about a community effort to clean the sidewalk leading to the closed Hillcrest bridge. Z-Link calls itself a "volunteer sidewalk clean-up effort kicked off by city council member Cecil Bothwell and Asheville PARC (People Advocating Real Conservancy)":

Upcoming Events
Bring a flat bladed shovel, hoe, rake or push broom if you have one, but PARC and my campaign are providing tools and blue bags.

Saturday, June 26, 8:30 a.m. to noon, Chicken Hill
Can you volunteer ONE HOUR to help recover Asheville’s sidewalks? We’ll be clearing the sidewalk to the closed Hillcrest pedestrian bridge, on the city-side of the span. This sidewalk also connects to a stairway leading down to the River District. We’ll meet at the end of Roberts Street near the church. (Turn off Haywood Road at the east end of the French Broad River Bridge, where all the road construction is going on, continue to the sharp curve where the road heads down to the river again.) Contact me.

***

More about Z-link in this June 22 Ashvegas post that includes a 6-minute video telling more about Z-Link's efforts to clear walkable but hard-to-navigate sidewalks covered by grass and dirt from years of neglect, and to note areas that don't yet have sidewalks but need them.

As Bothwell points out, we all pay our share of taxes, but we don't all get our share of sidewalks.

Pedestrian death/Hillcrest bridge news and info roundup

2010-06-19T18:06:00.011-04:00

(Hillcrest bridge photo by Jonathan Welch of Mountain Xpress)

A pedestrian was struck by a car and killed Wednesday as he attempted to cross 240 near the Smoky Park bridge.

Here's a photo, video and news roundup of what happened and what people in our community are saying about a young man's senseless death. Some background: a pedestrian bridge connecting the Hillcrest area and downtown would have allowed the man to cross safely, but was closed down 16 years ago.

According to a 1999 AC-T article quoted on Ashvegas, police sought the bridge's closure because, they said, suspects could slip out over it during drug raids.

The Swannanoa man killed, Anthony Ray Gilmore, was 25. He was not the first person to be killed crossing 240 in this area.

I believe I read that his father has since collected approximately 300 signatures requesting the re-opening of the Hillcrest pedestrian bridge -- can anyone verify?

Here's a roundup of articles, pictures and info.

Citizen-Times, June 17: Man fatally struck near Smoky Park Bridge

Gilmore was running across the highway toward Hillcrest Apartments just west of the bridge around 9:30 p.m. when he was hit by 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier headed west in the far right lane, police said.

Gilmore was dead at the scene.

Ashvegas blog, June 17:

This isn't the first time a person has been struck and killed while trying to cross the highway at this location - generally just on the downtown side of the Smoky Park Bridge, where Patton Avenue turns into an interstate on-ramp, and where drivers exit to take the new I-26 north toward Weaverville.

Gordon Smith, Scrutiny Hooligans blog, June 17: Not To Be Repeated

I’m going to listen to neighborhood residents and the police department in order to make an informed decision, but my initial reaction is that we’ve got to give Hillcrest residents a direct route downtown.
We also need an I-26 Connector that will rejoin Hillcrest to downtown in a permanent and meaningful way. Isolating neighborhoods doesn’t make things better.

Ashvegas blog, June 18:

There's no need to keep Hillcrest cut off from the rest of the world any more than it already is. Surrounded by a tangle of interstate highway, there's only one way to drive in and out of the complex, and if police want to go after somebody there, they can just station a couple of officers at the back, where the pedestrian bridge connects.

Facebook photo album: Hillcrest/I-240 pedestrian bridge

(Hillcrest Bridge photo by Jason Sandford)

June 18, Mountain Xpress: In wake of death, city officials look at re-opening Hillcrest bridge

“When you’re standing right here, it looks like the cars are really far away, then you realize how fast they’re going,” he says, adding that re-opening the bridge and clearing off the sidewalk — after consultations with the Asheville Police Department and Hillcrest residents — would be a temporary measure until a the construction of the Interstate 26 interchange better integrates the apartments with downtown. “Open the bridge, clear the sidewalk and we’re good ... this has been going on too long, it’s time for Hillcrest to be part of the city again.”

June 19: Zen Sutherland's 39-second video of the bridge

An article on lack of sidewalks in Asheville mentioning the Hillcrest bridge appeared in the Citizen-Times 15 days before Gilmore was struck and killed.

My questions: are infrequent pedestrian deaths worth the benefit of cutting off escaping suspects from Hillcrest? (I'm having a hard time seeing any way the benefit could possibly outweigh the cost.) How do the people who live there feel about having the bridge closed, and having it re-opened? What are the community benefits to reopening the bridge, aside from offering safe crossing? Are there other closed pedestrian bridges in town we all need to look at reopening?

Asheville, what do we do now?

***

Added June 20: May 1998 Mountain Xpress article on closing the bridge

Maybin, president of the residents' group at Hillcrest, remembers how things were before the bridge was closed: Drug dealers and gamblers gathered near the walkway and in nearby vacant apartments at night; children found discarded syringes and condoms littering the area during the day; residents discovered apartments vandalized, with feces smeared on the walls; drug dealers paid little kids a couple bucks to carry drugs up the hill to waiting cars.

"You could reassure people here all you want to about reopening this bridge," Maybin said. "But when people are afraid, they're afraid."

Dripolator Asheville first anniversary 6/19: specials, music, art, free coffee

2010-06-19T13:01:00.003-04:00

Win $200: Asheville Brewing beer label design contest

2010-06-17T14:38:00.004-04:00

An Asheville company, Creative Allies, joins with Asheville Brewing to create a new local artisan beer. $200 contest to design the label (disclosure: I work for Creative Allies). The contest ends June 23, so get designing...

From a press release:

The Creative Allies crew is always hanging out backstage at the best music festivals throughout the year and we've decided to celebrate the next one with our very own creative ale, "Backstage Betty."

We just need you to design a wicked label that epitomizes the perfect Betty hanging out with us behind the scenes. Think "Almost Famous" meets a Vargas pin-up gal.

Download the supplied beer-label template and start your creating your designs for the "Backstage Betty" ale.

Label Requirements
• Creations must be uploaded on the official template (download support files above)
• Must have the name: Backstage Betty Ale
• Use the reference images and description as inspiration
• All beer labels need to be approved by the state alcohol commission - because of this, avoid any offensive language or imagery

Learn more about the contest here.

Fun Late Night Friday Option

2010-06-16T15:19:00.002-04:00

Mad Tea Party with Aaron Woody Wood this Friday at the LAB. 10 pm show. Only $5. Poster by Jason Krekel.

Asheville High School, Roberson ranked in top 1,600 schools

2010-06-16T11:07:00.002-04:00

...Just 6 percent of public schools nationwide made the ranking.

Asheville High was ranked at 602. The two schools were the only Western North Carolina schools making the list. Roberson, which was ranked 1,351 out of just over 1,600 schools, was one of two local high schools making the recent Newsweek list.

The rankings are based on the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge tests given at a school divided by the number of graduating seniors, according to the Newsweek website..."

Read the rest of the article.

BlogAsheville goes to Bonnaroo 2010

2010-06-14T21:25:00.014-04:00

(Conan O'Brian at Bonnaroo. Photo by Josh Rhinehart)

Bonnaroo looks like this.

(people gathering for the Stevie Wonder show)

It's a portable, break-downable multi-acre tent city with tour buses for musicians and air-conditioned office trailers for staff and VIPs. Golf carts and on foot is how you get around, on dusty dirt roads, avoiding the stench of the porta-johns.

Topless hippie girls with flower-painted breasts mince through the grass. Hoop dancers sway. Sweat and mud and the threat of heatstroke, sunburn, prickly heat and monkey butt surrounds.

Bonnaroo is a feudal city-state powered by pot, beer, pizza, funnel cake and filtered water. There are no police (only security), and billows of weed are always on the wind, day and night. You don't go anywhere without your trusty water bottle.

The crowd is young, the heat hideous and oppressive. And the music on SIX STAGES never stops.

I wandered from Daryl Hall to the Flaming Lips Friday night at about 1 a.m. On Sunday I passed Regina Spektor and Lucero on my way to Jamey Johnson, caught a great Weezer set as an afterthought on the way back. About 150 bands play, and the music lasts from lunchtime to nearly dawn.

(Daryl Hall by Josh Rhinehart)

76,000 people bought tickets this year. Most of the festival's 700 acres in Manchester, TN is devoted to housing tens of thousands in tents. If you look out over the general camping area where most of the attendees set up, I hear there's an endless sea of Easy-Ups as far as the eye can see. A hippie tent nation.

76,000 tickets probably means about $22 million in ticket sales, not including mega-sponsorships from Canon, Garnier Fructis, Vitamin Water, Ben & Jerry's, etc. The festival is put on by the Dave Matthews Band's manager, and I hear it's him in the mysterious helicopter that flies over us on occasion.

There are mist tents to cool you down, water stations, an air-conditioned tent cinema, carnival-style midway vendors selling veggie hot dogs and turkey legs and lemonade in the shadow of a ferris wheel. There's karaoke and comedy and movies and vendors selling paintings and clothing and jewelry and sky chairs.

I bounced like a sweat-soaked pinball from show to show, taking in several years' worth of genre-hopping concert-going in one grueling weekend.

GWAR turned the Bonnaroo center fountain into fake blood at 3 am with Margaret Cho. The Avett Brothers serenaded the crowd in rain that cooled a beastly afternoon, reaching the sweet crescendo of "Perfect Space" along with the weather. Jack Black and Jack White both performed. (The Avetts thanked the crowd for bringing the rain; Jack White said his band had brought it.)

(Jack White playing with his new band, The Dead Weather. Photo by Josh.)

Steve Martin and Conan O'Brien. John Fogerty and John Prine. Tori Amos and They Might Be Giants. Weezer and Ween. Jay-Z and Jimmy Cliff. The Flaming Lips doing Dark Side of the Moon in the sweaty, weed-scented midnight dark as I picked my way through the mud and prone bodies on beach towels. (Yes, Wayne Coyne brought his giant hamster ball and surf-rolled the crowd.)

(Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, photo by Josh)

(Jay-Z, photo by Josh)

IMO Stevie Wonder and Daryl Hall OWNED Bonnaroo -- even my jaded, music-biz co-workers thought so -- with outstanding performances that showed there ain't no school like the old school. Hall teamed with dance duo Chromeo to rock out updated versions of Hall and Oates songs for a new generation.

Stevie left his lame-o easy-listening side behind to rock out with "Don't You Worry Bout a Thing" and "Living for the City."

(Stevie Wonder killing it, by Josh)

I loved Americana act Dave Rawlings Machine (with Gillian Welch), and can't get their song "Sweet Tooth" out of my head. They covered The Band's "The Weight" (to die for, GORGEOUS four-part harmony) and Neil Young's "Cortez the Killer." Swoon.

I sat in the hot shade in my straw hat, drinking the good music in.

Me and my co-workers broke down our tent and loaded up Sunday as Phoenix played at sunset and the Dave Matthews Band played at dusk, and four insane days of sweat, debauchery and music ended as a fleet of fire balloons sailed over the camp in a flaming constellation.

NPR's archived Bonnaro webstreams

YouTube Bonnaroo Channel

Incredible Bonnaroo 2010 Flickr photoset from Josh Rhinehart

2010 Bonnaroo schedule

Critiquing the city of Asheville's growing social media presence

2010-06-04T07:54:00.002-04:00

From the Jason Sandford/Ashvegas column today in the Citizen-Times:

Asheville city government has launched an aggressive plan to communicate with residents in cyberspace. The problem: The city's trying to run before it knows how to walk.
The city on Thursday invited a group of about 30 people, including local reporters, bloggers, marketers and social media experts, to City Hall to hear details of its new social media strategy. It's a significant public relations push for local government, which is spending thousands of taxpayers' dollars to boost its online presence.
City spokeswoman Dawa Hitch says the goal is to increase “citizen engagement” by having government workers sending out and receiving information on social media platforms like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. That's a fine target, but Hitch admitted that the city would concentrate first on getting information out and probably wouldn't be responding much online to residents.
If you're not going to be social on social media, why bother? The benefit of interacting with people online is the ability to provide valuable information quickly and the ability to show people that you're listening. If you don't do that, you won't gain many cyberspace pals.

***

Full column here. May require C-T login.

I sent my own ideas to Dawa Hitch in an email to her. Here's what I had to say as a social media marketer and experienced social media campaign leader:

As for me, I'd love to see the city of Asheville cultivate citizen
partners -- people who are willing to gather info (news, photos, etc)
and use that to engage social media users directly. I know there isn't
a huge budget in place for city social media (a shame -- it deserves
FT attention), but the street team/guerilla way of doing things can be
very effective. An example of a way to engage citizen users might be
to have a team of people livetweeting, webcasting and photographing
city events like Bele Chere, all using a hashtag. I think people would
LOVE to do that.

I would also love to see more meetings like today's, but with an
agenda and structure more clearly defined (I know today's goal was to
start things, and to listen). Maybe even have a networking event,
where local social media people can meet city employees (and each
other), and learn what they really do.

I'd love to see some very specific social media GOALS for Asheville
(use social media to educate people on accessing and understanding
budget data, have a regular schedule of budget data release, with
pre-publicity; post and share minutes from city meetings; create a
city Flickr account, maybe even with citizen access; create an
actionable, assigned social media plan for info-sharing and response
during emergencies/disasters) and it'd be lovely if they were created
in collaboration with citizen social media users.

I've wanted for MONTHS to have a disaster-response forum in which the
APD, Fire & Rescue, Charter, the city, Progress Energy, all got
together and decided how to best leverage social media in times of
disaster. Pre-create hashtags, have action plans in place for power
outages, snowstorms, flooding, you name it...

What else do we bloggers of Asheville have to say to the city about how it's using its growing new social media presence?

Please comment!

Asheville graphic designer creates new BP logos

2010-06-04T07:45:00.002-04:00

From the excellent local blog Pollinating Asheville, designs from Jenny Greer of SoundMind Media.

Full post here:

Neil Young solo in Spartanburg May 30: Pics and setlist

2010-05-31T10:21:00.005-04:00

Asheville represented at Sunday night's mindblowing Neil Young solo show in Spartanburg. I saw Missy from Luella's, Rebecca from Mountain Xpress, Mary Ellen from Menage...

About 3000 of us experienced rock and roll communion with Neil Young. Unforgettable.

Pics from Ken Toney Photography:

(Young playing "After the Gold Rush" on the organ. It was AMAZING, a real highlight.)

Setlist here from sugarmtn.org:

"My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)" / "Tell Me Why" / "Helpless" / "You Never Call" / "Peaceful Valley" / "Love And War" / "Down By The River" / "Hitchhiker" / "Ohio" / "Sign Of Love" / "Leia" / "After The Gold Rush" / "I Believe In You" / "Rumblin'" / "Cortez The Killer" / "Cinnamon Girl"

(Encore)// "Heart Of Gold" / "Old Man" / "Walk With Me"

My impression is that most there are on board with me that Young's facemelting, emotional version of "Cortez the Killer" was a highlight of an unforgettable show. Young moved effortlessly from VH1 singer-songwriter mode with acoustic guitar to hard, feedback-heavy rock and roll in full-on Crazy Horse mode.

He played the hits and wasn't going through the motions.

***

WNCW favorite Bert Jansch, an amazing acoustic guitarist stuck with the thankless job of opening for a towering rock and roll talent, was also great.

Thanks Bert and Neil for an unforgettable night.

Exhibit Opening: Mike Belleme Photography at Pack Place on Sunday, May 30th from 2 - 4 pm

2010-05-28T09:34:00.003-04:00

My brother, Mike Belleme has a photography show this month at the Side Gallery at Pack Place in Downtown Asheville. The official opening is taking place on Sunday, May 30th from 2 - 4 pm.

The show presents images shot during Mike's three month adventure in Southeast Asia. Mike spent time immersing himself in the cultures of the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam documenting daily life and finding stories.

Visit the Facebook event if you want more details about the show. I hope so see you on Sunday afternoon.

Thanks,
Justin Belleme

Local CD Review: Sirius.B, Monkey Robot Soldier

2010-05-28T07:11:00.003-04:00

Brent Fleury of Bold Life reviews a release from a local band with a great live show, BlogAsheville favorite Sirius.B, who played our 2008 Blogapalooza event:

By now, most of us around here with a musical bent have encountered Sirius. B. Describing themselves as an "absurdist, gypsy, folk, funk, punk" band, not only are they unique to the Asheville scene, but I don't think I could add much to their description of themselves - they hit the nail on the head. Grabbing you up from your chair with infectiously toe-tapping tunes (even the dirge-like "A Cloth and Some Rain") Sirius. B takes you on a crazy dance through their delicious take on the festive music of the Gypsies with Monkey Robot Soldier. For some reason I kept envisioning Chaim Topol in Fiddler on the Roof. Maybe it's the accordion. Besides the excellent rendition of "Hava Nagila", there are two other standout tracks on the album. The aforementioned "A Cloth and Some Rain" has some great vocal wailing reminiscent of the more angst-ridden cuts from Pink Floyd with a little Peter Gabriel thrown in for good measure.

Full review & link to Sirius.B's website here.

Michael Franti video blog, May 24 2010

2010-05-27T08:31:00.003-04:00

Michael Franti live from Asheville -- great vlog includes Franti talking about doing yoga in Asheville & how its one of his favorite cities, an Orange Peel history lesson from Artemus Pyle, One Eskim0 doing their hit "Kandi" with Franti in the Peel parking lot, and Franti playing live.

Seven minutes, worth watching.

ACS Uniform Policy Meetings

2010-05-27T08:25:00.002-04:00

Earlier this year the school board for Asheville City Schools assembled a task force to explore the possibility of implementing a uniform or "standardized dress" policy in Asheville City Schools. The task force has had several meetings where they have reviewed articles and data about the effect of uniforms in other school districts and started the conversation about whether uniforms would make a positive change for Asheville City Schools. The task force is now expanding that conversation to include the Asheville community at large. There are to be four community forums where parents, students, teachers and other stakeholders can learn more about the possibility of uniforms or "standardized dress" in Asheville City Schools and voice their opinion on the issue.

Montford Community Center-Thursday, May 27, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
West Asheville Community Center--Friday, May 28, 8 - 9 a.m.
North Asheville Community Center- Tuesday, June 1, 8 - 9 a.m.
Reid Center--Thursday, June 3, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.

The school board has been very clear in stating that they have not made their minds up about this issue and will take recommendations from the task force as well as the feelings of the Asheville City School community very seriously when making their decision. If you have an opinion on whether uniforms are a good fit with Asheville City Schools, please consider attending one of these community forums, gathering more information and making your voice heard!

The Asheville Miracle: How downtown Asheville went from boarded-up wasteland to what it is today

2010-05-26T08:21:00.003-04:00

A May 25 presentation at the Wortham explored what natives already know -- that downtown Asheville was once a wasteland of empty, boarded-up buildings. There was no nightlife, and downtown shut down at 5pm.

Mountain Xpress covered the presentation and shares photos and a Twitter-based explanation of how and why Asheville emerged from its chrysalis, and who helped make our downtown into the vibrant adult playground we all love.

Here's an excerpt of the Xpress article. Longtime residents will remember the days when most of downtown was untenanted and largely abandoned.

Full article here.

***

The Asheville miracle: A startling look at downtown 20 years ago and the folks who transformed it

by Michael Muller on 05/25/2010

Related topics: downtown Asheville, downtown, Bob Carr, revitalization, Julian Price

The Grove Arcade, boarded up and abandoned, before it was renovated in the 1990s.

About 200 people attended “The Asheville Miracle: The Revitalization of Downtown,” a presentation sponsored by the Downtown Asheville Residential Neighbors (DARN) on May 25 at Diana Wortham Theatre.

Xpress reporter Michael Muller covered the meeting as it took place via Twitter, starting at 6:45 p.m. and ending at 9:05 p.m.

“Pack Square is the living room of our community,” says Lesley Anderson in her opening remarks. Anderson is talking about history of Bele Chere, the downtown design review process.

The Southwest corner of Patton & Biltmore, where the Noodle Shop and Sisters McMullin now do business.

Anderson: “We now have the largest percentage of income-producing buildings of any county in the state.”

Anderson is talking about the hundreds of people involved in the public/private partnership whose efforts revitalized downtown.

Karen Tessier is now going through turn of the (20th) century photos of Asheville: trolleys, francy-shmancy. And now, in contrast, showing pictures of downtown Asheville all boarded up, pigeons and proverbial rats everywhere. Tessier says she could walk downtown all afternoon and “not see another person.”

Here’s the building where Malaprop’s is now located.

Tessier is showing a photo of Eagle Street. The YMI Center looks like a decrepid, burned-out shell. She’s showing shocking pictures of Wall Street, Haywood Street. No people in pictures. Tessier is talking about kids who are now in their 30s and 40s, who grew up only learning about downtown Asheville at “Discovery Day,” because otherwise they’d never come downtown.

Looking down at Wall Street, the current site of Early Girl restaurant.

Pat Whalen, executive director of Public Interest Projects (PIP), is saying: “There were more pigeons than people,” and that most buildings were covered in aluminum siding. “That will never work here, don’t even try,” was the unofficial motto. Whalen notes that there were five restauarnts downtown in ‘80s, compared to to over 60 today.

He says Mark Rosenstein, owner of the Market Place Restaurant, was a leader in Asheville’s restaurant scene.

In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, the construction of Pack Place and redesign of Wall Street were completed.

John Lantzius and his sister Dawn renovated buildings up and down Lexington, and fought against a plan to turn a multi-block section of downtown in a mall, Whalen says.

And yet the city & county had the foresight to keep all of downtown’s public buildings, Whalen says.

Site of the condos next to the Woolworth building on Haywood Street in downtown Asheville.

Julian Price was shy, and so many people didn’t know that he gave lots of money to nonprofits to fund revitaliztion. Price invested millions of his own money, and literally gave away his money to make Asheville a livable city. He wanted to get residents to move downtown; he believed the key to doing this was revitalizing the city. Downtown residents were “The real secret weapon,” Price said.

Asheville wins Beer City USA poll: an open letter to Portland

2010-05-24T12:00:00.000-04:00

Portland haters, don't take it so hard that we we won the Examiner Poll. Asheville loves beer. We're not unworthy.

Asheville takes its craft beer VERY seriously. Readers, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Asheville has about seven breweries in our city limits, and two more in neighboring cities.

Even excluding the breweries outside of town, we have about one dedicated, quality, local craft brewery for every 10,000 residents. Portland would have to have 58 breweries to match our per capita numbers. I believe y'all have 28 breweries, is that right?

And our beer is GOOD. Asheville loves and SUPPORTS small, independent, quality makers of food and drink, and it shows in the quality of the beer we make, drink and celebrate at beer festivals.

Highland Brewing's Cold Mountain Winter Ale, an ever-changing winter offering, sells out faster than our local shops can keep it in stock.

The #1 search term on this blog is "LAB Asheville," where "LAB" is the Lexington Avenue Brewery, the hot new brewery-centered downtown eatery so popular it could barely keep up with demand for its (tasty, local) beer in its opening weeks.

Asheville is home to Bruisin' Ales, a beer-only retail shop rated the #3 Best Beer Retailer Worldwide by RateBeer Best 2010. Bruisin' Ales -- a frequent contributor to this blog -- has been featured in All About Beer, BeerAdvocate magazine, Ale Street News, Southern Brew News. It was recently named One of the Top Ten Bottle Shops in the US by Imbibe Magazine.

When the president of our country vacationed here recently after falling a little in love with Asheville while prepping here for a McCain debate, we made a special brew for him and for the occasion, President's Spring Break Ale from Asheville Brewing.

Do we sound like beer amateurs? We're not.

We're a city that loves and supports its microbreweries and craft beer industry, where high-quality craft ales are made, drunk and appreciated by a beer-loving city. (We're also a city with a remarkably powerful Twitter presence. You may have noticed. We love our Twitter, too.)

It's human to get all territorial and fight over dumb shit like beer polls. But it's also human to get over yourself when you truly encounter your opponent.

Portland haters, encounter us. We are worthy. You got beaten (to whatever extent anyone gets "beaten" by an internet poll) by a city full of high-quality local craft brews and ardent, vocal beer lovers.

Sound like any city you know?

What to do with injured or orphaned wildlife in WNC

2010-05-24T08:21:00.000-04:00

Image from Nicki817 on Flickr

It's spring, and spring always means injured wildlife and baby critters that need help.

Here are resources for what to do when faced with an animal that needs help, including contact information for wildlife rehabilitators, people who nurse injured animals back to health.

WHAT TO DO

From Wild for Life: What to do if you find an animal

A few tips:

* Experts tell me that scratches and bites, even if they are mild, can be deadly for small animals. If the animal is bleeding, get it to a wildlife rehabilitator (rehabilitator listings follow below).

When my cats catch animals, I check for injuries. If there's not even a scratch and the animal behaves normally and is old enough to care for itself, I release.

If not, I get the animal to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, someone who is trained to treat and heal injured wildlife.

* If you have indoor/outdoor pets that catch animals, keep a shoebox handy for transporting injured or orphaned wildlife. When you need it, you won't want to hunt for it.

* Rehabilitators commonly do not charge, but do take donations. If you can't donate now, get a brochure or mailing address and donate later.

WILDLIFE REHABILITATORS

My first place to call for help is the WNC Nature Center at 298-5600. They can commonly put me in touch with a rehabilitator, and I just drop my injured animal off to them for transport.

If the Nature Center can't help, try these online resources:

Buncombe county rehabbers

NC rehabilitators by county

Wildlife rehabbers in NC

Wildlife rehabbers by state

Video: Band of Horses on Letterman

2010-05-24T00:00:00.000-04:00

Here's Band of Horses on Letterman performing "Laredo."

The CD this song is from, Infinite Arms (free webstream, check it out), was recorded here in Asheville at Echo Mountain Recording Studio. BOH guitarist/Ashevillean Tyler Ramsey, an excellent local musician and songwriter, is the guy on the right.

I am LOVING Infinite Arms.

Vote ASHEVILLE for BeerCity, USA 2010!

2010-05-22T12:18:00.002-04:00

[UPDATE: The poll is getting tight. Tell your family, friends, and enemies to vote ASHEVILLE!]

The poll is OPEN for Charlie Papazian’s “BeerCity, USA” 2010. Help us keep Asheville on top! Spread the word near and far about all the beer culture we have in a little mountain city.

Last year Asheville tied with Portland, OR—a city with many more breweries and many more people. But I think Asheville’s beer passion speaks for itself. We’re not resting on our laurels!

GO VOTE!

Oh, and check out the Portland smack-talker from the newspaper: "We’ve got to take them down. We’ve got more "beer city" in the backwash at the bottom of our pint glasses than can be found in all of their pubs and breweries." Boo!

Downtown After 5 Fri, Montford Music & Arts Festival Sat

2010-05-21T09:24:00.002-04:00

(Image of Stephanie of stephaniesid totally snitched from Ashvegas)

Two fun local events are back: Downtown After Five and the Montford Music & Arts Festival. Here's the scoop from the Citizen-Times (Asheville resident Harry Anderson to appear at the Montford fest!):

Check any city map, and Montford Avenue and Lexington Avenue never quite connect in Asheville. But there's a sort of musical intersection happening this weekend, as both city streets host lively music parties, each sure to pull big crowds.
Advertisement

Downtown After Five is back for another season's worth of free shows, once again presented on Lexington Avenue near the Interstate 240 overpass and presented by the Asheville Downtown Association. The first show is Friday night.

A few blocks away, the seventh annual Montford Music and Arts Festival returns Saturday on historic Montford Avenue between Cullowhee and Waneta Streets. There's lot of entertainment throughout the day, plus an appearance by Montford's most famous resident, comic and magician Harry Anderson, star of the long-running TV sitcoms “Night Court” and “Dave's World.”

New Music Video from The Enemy Lovers

2010-05-16T10:45:00.002-04:00

IMO one of Asheville's best live bands.

Fanaticon 2010

2010-05-16T09:47:00.002-04:00

Cross-posted from the Deaver Park Press blog, a great local art and design blog run by musicians/comics creators Brent and Tiziana. Fanaticon 2010 was PACKED, filled with people with great costumes, and had some fabulous art from local and national talent.:

So, I think it’s safe to say that that inaugural Fanaticon festival was a success! We had an absolutely fantastic time. We got the chance to hang out with some of our local favorite creators, like Hope Larson, Evan Dahm, and Raven Perez, and we met a ton of fantastic people. Here’s hoping that Fanaticon becomes a yearly tradition in our little town.

Here are some pictures we took over the course of the day.

Here we are at our little table, with Tiziana looking radiant, as usual, and me looking, well, perplexed.

We got some shots of some of the fantastic cosplayers in attendance with their matching Zodiac posters. Here are a few.

There were so many people in costume at this convention, it was astounding. We got a lot of cool shots, but there was one picture that reigned supreme…

I freaking love the expression on Kid Mario’s face.

No now, with Fanaticon behind us, we begin preparations for HeroesCon, June 4-6, in Charlotte. Thank you, Asheville, for all of the support you gave to us today. We love you!

****

Asheville, if you have pics or blog entries about Fanaticon, won't you share in the comments section?

Vance Elementary Seedling Sale

2010-05-13T16:01:00.001-04:00

Hey Asheville Peeps!

Tomorrow Vance Elementary is having a big fat seedling sale to fund programs and projects at Vance! We did a work trade with local seed company Sow True Seed for some amazing heirloom seeds and planted them in the greenhouse at Asheville High School where they were lovingly (and organically!) tended and watered by the kids and teachers from the special education program. Our little babies have gotten big and are ready to find new homes! All of the seedlings were raised organically, but some were also grown from organic seed where noted. We have:

* Organic Cherry Sweetie Tomato
* Organic Cherokee Purple Tomato
* Pink Brandywine Tomato
* Arkansas Traveler Tomato
* Organic Marketmore Cucs
* Lemon Cucs
* New Mexican Big Jim Mild Hot Pepper
* Golden California Wonder Sweet Pepper
* Italian and Genovese Basil

All of these seedlings are $3 each or 2/$5. The basil is the same price for a 4-pack of plants!

In addition to these fabulous and yummy veggie starts, First Step Farm in Candler will be coming by ear-lie in the morning to drop off a great selection of flowers. They will have annuals and perennials in flats, pots and hanging baskets. Prices will vary on these.

We will be up there from 9-4 in front of the Vance Marquee on Sulphur Springs Rd. Come by and see us!

Green Opportunities: Warehouse Dinner/Dance Party May 22

2010-05-13T10:37:00.002-04:00

What are you doing Saturday, May 22? What if I told you that you could spend $30 and have an awesome night, including:

-Organic dinner from ROOTS Cafe

-Organic beer from Pisgah Brewery

-Organic wine from Wine Studio

-A live acoustic set by Laura Reed (Laura Reed and Deep Pocket)

-Three sets by three amazing DJs AND

-All while supporting non-profit Asheville Green Opportunities?

Find out more at Pollinate Asheville

Black Mountain Library announces writing contest -- for bloggers!

2010-05-11T21:17:00.002-04:00

From buncombecounty.org. Deadline is May 17. $50 prize. "The blog can be real or imagined" (?):

The Friends of the Black Mountain Library will sponsor a writing contest for bloggers during the month of May. "Calling All Bloggers" writing contest is open to people of all ages. Participants must submit five (5) type-written blog entries plus the name of your blog, the blog can be real or imagined.

Entries must be submitted to the Black Mountain Library by 6 p.m. Monday, May 17. The winner will be announced at the Friends' program on Monday, May 24, at 6:30 p.m. First prize is $50.

For more information, contact the Black Mountain Library at 250-4756 or blackmountain.library@buncombecounty.org.

Size Comparison: If the Deep Horizon Oil Spill Happened Over Asheville

2010-05-10T20:46:00.007-04:00

This is what it would look like:

The spill would stretch into three states and reach from the mountains to the Piedmont.

Image via David McConville and the website paulrademacher.com, a site that lets you see what the oil-spill footprint would look like over any metro area. Google Earth plugin required.

Please share.

Asheville Beer on The Happy Guys!

2010-05-10T10:02:00.002-04:00

Great info from the Downtown Market

2010-05-07T21:42:00.002-04:00

Funky new downtown shopping spot (Downtown Market on S. French Broad, home of the new Amazing Savings site) has a cool newsletter, thought I'd share.

***

Sunday, May 9^th Noon to 4pm- YUM for MUM, Ice Cream & Puppet Social -at the Downtown Market. Sponsored by Ultimate Ice Cream, hi-fi Café, Amazing Savings and the Downtown Market - Every Mother who visits on Mother's Day between Noon and 4pm receives a FREE ULTIMATE ICE CREAM CONE! Bring the kiddos to see Ellen Weiner’s Sassy's Storytime Marionette Theater show “Circus on Strings” performed at 1:30 and 3:30. Drawing for 2 great prize packages for Moms who register! AMPLE FREE PARKING is always available at The Downtown Market - 45 S. French Broad Ave. in Downtown Asheville.

Mother’s Day Weekend (5/7-5/9) is Merchant FACEBOOK Training Weekend! Have you named your business and created a fan page on FACEBOOK? This is a phenomenal way to keep in touch with your customers and the Downtown Market’s 1600++ Fans. Last week, the market’s page received almost 900 unique visitors who were tuning in to see what was going on at the Market. Merchants who post updates about their products on the DTM FACEBOOK page report more interest and questions from customers. Consider it a FREE website page for your business, a living brochure really. Post pictures of your product and you – let folks get to know you. Run special sales for your FACEBOOK fans. It only takes a few minutes to get set up a page. But maybe you feel a little unsure about the process. The Market wants to help you boost your business. If you are a current merchant (weekend of 5/7-9) and need help setting up a FACEBOOK page, we are here to help you. Beginning Friday 5/7through Sunday 5/9 (11a-4pm) – Pepper and Josiah will be on hand to work personally with you to help set up your fan page and get your first “biz” post up on the DTM FACEBOOK page. Simply check in that weekend and schedule a 30 minute session. We’ll even make sure your booth is covered during your appointment! Come prepared with your business name/email address, photos on a CD or jump drive and, if possible, your own computer, though that is not required. If you are not going to be a merchant during Mother’s Day weekend, don’t fret…we are going to help you too! Stay tuned for more details about a Thursday evening TBD in May when you can attend a special 5-7pm seminar providing training on setting up FACEBOOK pages. But if you are a current merchant, DON’T wait! Let’s get your business cooking the weekend of 5/7-5/9.If you already have a page, fan up with us at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Asheville-NC/The-Downtown-Market/159681789918?ref=ts

Saturday, May 22, 2010, 11am-Noon, The Downtown Market and Heaven’s Rain Boys & Girls presents…Pediatric Homeopathy - A Better Way. Dr. Cornelia Franz, a board certified pediatrician, born and raised in Asheville and author of the bestselling book “Common Sense Pediatrics, Combining Alternative and Traditional Medicine in Everyday Practice” will present a one hour seminar helping parents to understand children’s health from different perspectives, providing broader and more body-friendly choices and resources for restoring harmony and balance….good health. Tickets are $10 prepaid and $15 at the door on day of the event. To reserve your seat call: 828-273-4478 or on line www.drcorneliafranz.com. In addition to Dr. Franz’s presentation, our very own Rosiland Whiteley of Heaven Rains, as well as staff Allergy Specialist for Asheville Integrative Medicine, will share a brief presentation entitled “Allergy Drops vs. Allergy Shots, discussing alternative treatments for food and inhalant allergies. Don’t miss this exciting and information presentation!

Friday, May 23, 2010 at 5PM - May Merchant Meeting and Potluck . Everyone who has or will sell in the market is welcome. Bring your favorite dish to share like veggies, fruit, dips & chips, salads, desserts, etc – the more food, the merrier! Market will provide drinks, plates, napkins & silverware. We will be establishing Committees to help coordinate YOUR ideas for making the Market a better place for merchants AND shoppers. Find out what’s coming up and how you can make a difference.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND (5/28-5/30) - The Eclectic Flea Market GRAND OPENS - - First 40 FLEA MARKET tables will lease for $10 on Saturday, May 29^th. Meet Ms. Flearena, the Market’s Eclectic Flea, who will be here to greet the kids with candy and prizes. Tell everyone you know to start cleaning out their closets, the cabinets, the storage unit, the shed, the garage or the basement! Then grab a table at the Market and make some summer spending money. Buddy up with friends to share a booth and sell the whole weekend!

Saturday 6/5 10a-5pm Jump, Jivin’ Children’s Street Festival at the Downtown Market - A fun-filled Children's street festival (rain or shine) introducing Ms. Flearena, the Market’s eclectic flea and featuring shows by Ro-Bone the clown, Sassy’s Marionette Puppet Theater, along with exhibitions of jump ropin’, dancin', hoola-hoopin’ and join in for the Children’s Bazaar Percussion March up to the Grove Arcade and back. Fun prizes, about a ton of Ultimate Ice Cream and lots of good eats. A day of great fun, rain or shine! FREE PARKING at the Downtown Market, 45 S. French Broad Ave in downtown Asheville. More details on the web at www.DowntownMarketAsheville.com

West Asheville tailgate market gets serious

2010-05-07T07:57:00.002-04:00

Cross-posted from the Ashvegas/Jason Sandford column in the Asheville Citizen-Times (appearing twice weekly on Tues and Fri, BTW):

The conditions are right for the West Asheville Tailgate Market to flourish.

It's been a long time coming. The tailgate market has been “kind of dying on the vine” for about the past seven years in the lawn behind the Westville Bakery, Jim Gordon told me recently. Some weeks, the market had just seven or eight vendors.

Gordon is the market's senior manager. It's been his leadership that's kept the market going. And he's excited about this year.

The market moved to its current location in the Grace Baptist Church and SunTrust Banking parking lot on Haywood Road late last year. It's roomier and much more visible from the road. Gordon said the market also reorganized by creating committees and getting more people involved in the market's operation.

Gordon says there's a waiting list now for vendors. Hickory Nut Gap Farm is now an anchor vendor, said Gordon, who farms at Graceful Growers in Leicester. “I think we have a better chance of making it here,” Gordon said.

***

Read the rest of the article here. Asheville Citizen-Times link, may require login.

The West Asheville Tailgate Market is on Facebook. Just search West Asheville Tailgate Market.

Your Pantyhose Needed to Clean Up Oil Spill

2010-05-05T08:57:00.003-04:00

Wildflower Studio, owned and operated by cosmetologist and clinical herbalist Amanda Seta Lawton, is collecting used (holey, ripped or otherwise) nylons for San Francisco-based, international environmental non-profit, Matter of Trust. Matter of Trust is using the hair-filled sacks to combat the spreading oil slick along the Gulf Coast.

Hair is an efficient and abundant material for absorbing petroleum. Lawton has been sending all of her hair clippings to Matter of Trust for the last two years. Wildflower Studio is offering $5 off a haircut for every two pairs of nylons contributed through June 30, 2010.

Asheville Press Creates "Comic-Book Zodiac"

2010-05-04T22:38:00.003-04:00

LOVING the new "Comic-Book Zodiac" from West Asheville's own Deaver Park Press!

Click the link above to see the whole thing.

Vortex Cabaret 5-6-10

2010-05-04T19:53:00.000-04:00

From the Vortex Cabaret:

Come on by.

Impotent Cowards Nerd-Rage Downtown

2010-05-02T00:51:00.003-04:00

"Police were scouring downtown Asheville looking for a horde of people suspected of breaking out multiple car and storefront windows.

About 10:45 p.m. Saturday, a group of between 20-30 people wearing dark clothing, some wearing masks and carrying backpacks, threw items, including newspaper boxes, through windows of several businesses along O'Henry Avenue. A front window of the Asheville Citizen-Times was shattered, as were multiple storefronts at the Grove Arcade. An ATM was smashed at the RBC on O'Henry..."

Read the rest of the article

------------------------
So a bunch of wannabe anarchists decided to run amok downtown tonight and destroy random businesses and individual's cars.

Of course, no statement is made, and no one could understand their shouted slogans, so they basically just nerd-raged on their own city for no reason.

If you wanna make a difference and change the world, get some courage and go volunteer with one of the thousands of international organizations trying to bring about change. Donate your life to something important. Channel that outrage into something productive.

But stop nerd-raging - it's pathetic.

Take Me to Your Cake Lady!

2010-04-27T11:59:00.000-04:00

Or: The Official Call-out to Find Southern Cake Ladies.
Or: I'm Writing a Book!

I am very pleased, happy, and proud to announce that, by the forces of serendipity, good luck, and clean living, I have signed a book contract with Lark Books! This summer, I will be researching and writing a book about the lives and recipes of Southern Cake Ladies. This is an idea that has been germinating for quite some time, and there will be more information about it to come, but for now, I will just say that I really do feel that it was a magical alignment of the spheres that led me to this point, aided by the support, advocacy, and general awesomeness of Lark Books in general, and Nicole McConville in particular. I'm very grateful, very honored, and very excited to take on this project, and I vow to put my heart into it, to do my very best to represent the beauty and depth and breadth of what it means to love people in this one particular way.

But.
I need your help.
All my cake ladies live in Georgia.
I need more.

I need names, phone numbers, and directions to the women in the backwaters and big cities of the South who are making cakes for their families and loved ones; the women who hold the culinary secrets passed down to them in deathbed confessions by the matriarchs of their families. I need introductions to the women who brought their recipes to Chicago, Detroit, and New York City when they moved there mid-century to build a better life, and the women who know the history of your hometown because they've made every single birthday cake for sixty years. Rural and urban, young and old, professional and labor-of-love, of every one of the many cultures- Black, White, Latina, rich, poor (you get the picture) that make up the South- I want to meet them, interview them, bake with them. Jasper and I (and hopefully Gracie and Susan) are going to Texas and New Orleans and Alabama and Miami and Virginia, and everywhere in between and beyond. We're going on a soul journey to hang out with Mountain Cake Ladies, Piedmont Cake Ladies, Atlanta Cake Ladies, and Bayou Cake Ladies. I hope to spend some time camping and hanging out in rivers, lakes and streams, too, along the way.

So... I need your help, in two ways.

1) Would anyone like to lend me a camper for this very worthy endeavor? Something like this, perhaps:

Just putting it out there.

2) But very most importantly: take me to your cake ladies! Below find a brief questionnaire. I would be so grateful if you would fill it out and return it to me if you know a special Cake Lady that you think I should meet. Also, please pass the questionnaire along to friends and family who you think might be able to put me in contact with special Cake Ladies. Really, y'all, this is going to be amazing. And don't worry, the Cake Shop will be in very capable and competent hands during the days when I'll be on the road, and I'll be there to bake your wedding cakes on the weekends.

Cake Ladies Questionnaire!
Copy it! Print it! Hang it on bulletin boards! Fill it out! Re-Post to your blog and your facebook!

And please return it to:

Jodi Rhoden
Jodi@shortstreetcakes.com
Or mail to:

Cake Ladies
225 Haywood Road
Asheville, NC 28806

My name is Jodi and writing a book about Southern Cake Ladies for Lark Books. I am seeking contact information and introductions for Cake Ladies to interview. If you think I should meet a cake lady from your town or community, please fill out and return the following questionnaire to me at the address above. Specifically, I am interested in meeting and interviewing women in and/or from the Southeastern US who bake cakes; professionals and amateurs, young and old, of every racial, ethnic, geographic and socioeconomic background. I am interested in women for whom cake baking is a meaningful part of their family and community lives, and livelihoods. Please note that I am only interested in women who bake traditional, scratch-made cakes. While cake design and decorating using boxed mixes, fondant, and food coloring is a worthy discipline, it is not the subject of my study. I am interested in traditional table layer cakes of the various cultures of the American South.

Your Name:
Your Address:
Your Phone:
Your Email:

Cake Lady Name:
Her Address:
Her Phone Number:
Her email (if applicable):

What is your favorite cake that she makes?

What is unique about her or her story?

Please give some biographical information- (age, ethnicity, etcetera)

May I contact this person and let her know that you referred me to her?

Are there any barriers that I should be aware of (language, literacy, disability, geographical access, etc?) I am committed to meeting a very diverse group of women, and I will work to accommodate special needs in order to do so.

Gratefully,
Jodi Rhoden

Asheville dandelion soup - as local as you can get

2010-04-17T10:16:00.002-04:00

An Italian friend of mine and I were discussing the meals of our youth (we are both American-Italians) when she mentioned a dish I'd never had. Dandelion soup. I grew up eating lots of dandelion but it was generally sauteed in garlic and olive oil and then served as such. The simple sauteed dish remains my very favorite vegetable dish. We've been growing domesticated dandelion for a couple of years since I love it so much and could eat it daily.

In any case dandelion soup caught my attention. We'd never eaten it. My friend told me it was Sicilian. I am not of Sicilian descent. In any case she told me it was the same sauteed version I make but then it's thrown into chicken stock with egg and parmeggiano cheese.

Our garden is not yet planted. But if you're blessed, as we are, with natural, local Asheville dandelion, wild in the backyard...otherwise known as weeds...then you just might have a meal waiting for you.

My husband picked a big bag of it. It wilts quite a bit once it's cooked so I don't know how to say how much I used, but I can assure you to use more than you think you need.

So this is what I did to make it. I am not assuming this is authentic at all. I only had the ingredients to go by and then I did my own thing.

64 oz chicken stock

5 eggs beaten

1/2 cup grated pecorino cheese

1/2 a grocery bag half full of packed dandelion (how's that for a measurement?)

5 cloves of chopped garlic

salt to taste

red chili flakes to taste

olive oil for sauteeing

I sauteed the garlic for a few minutes and then tossed in the dandelion. Sauteed until completely wilted.

Heat chicken stock to boiling. On a simmer start stirring the stock in a steady fashion while slowly pouring the egg in a steady stream. Stirring the stock during this process is important so that the egg cooks the right way. This part is much like my Egg Drop Soup recipe here.

Following the egg, put in the dandelion and then the cheese. Salt to taste along with the red pepper flakes.

Original post at Cucina Naturale.

Songstress Laura Reed Kicks Off Warehouse Dinner/Dance Party on May 22

2010-04-16T08:50:00.003-04:00

Dinner and Warehouse Dance Party fundraiser for Green Opportunities on May 22! GO is an Asheville-based, community-based development organization dedicated to building a strong and just green economy through job training and placement, community education, and green micro-enterprises.

Soul/funk songstress, Laura Reed from Laura Reed and Deep Pocket is playing an acoustic set! It’s her first time playing in Asheville in more than a year.
Details on Pollinate Asheville.

Garden Help While Supporting Social Justice.

2010-04-15T10:22:00.002-04:00

Bob White at Pisgah View Peace Garden and a team of landscape experts, including Farm Girl, has a team to help you:

1. Get Your Garden Started (planning, tilling, soil resources, seed resources, and more)

2. Take Your Garden to the Next Level (soil assessment, making the best use of your space, finding reusable materials, and more)

3. Here’s the Best Part: It is done on a sliding scale, based on your ability to pay, and while providing jobs for those in need of employment. What you are able to pay in turn pays those in need of income. Yes. Very Cool, I know.

More at Pollinate Asheville

Pack's Tavern opening Monday

2010-04-14T23:02:00.001-04:00

packs from above
Originally uploaded by zen

Helen and i were lucky enough to be invited to a pre-opening of Stewart Coleman's Pack's Tavern and the food was pretty darned good! (Ok, it wasn't the Admiral, but it was better than Tripps or similar franchises). The theme is 1932, just after prohibition was repealed with a real 30's tavern look and license plates abound from nearly every state in the year 1932.

We decided to be fair to it and not wear our "Save the Magnolia" T-shirts and even spoke to Stewart Coleman about the compromise and he really either isn't much of a conversationalist or didn't care much to talk about it, but most of the wait and other staff were excited about the place, the theme and the food.

Click here to see more photos of our visit.

2010-04-13T12:31:00.000-04:00

squirrel spotted while strolling sunset mountain yesterday. anyone know anything about this critter?.

Stand Against Racism April 30

2010-04-13T11:58:00.004-04:00

Cross-posted from the YWCA of Asheville's blog:

We put together this video to encourage people to join us in the Stand Against Racism on April 30th. You may see someone you recognize in it! Any group can sign up, and there is no cost to participate. The deadline to sign up is April 23, 2010. Get more info and sign up here: www.standagainstracism.org.

You can click here to see all of the Asheville groups and businesses that have already agreed to participate, and what they are planning to do. It's an impressive list, but many of you are missing from it. Right now Asheville has the second highest nuumber of sign-ups in the country. It's not too late for us to move to number one! Please help spread the word.

It is going to be a powerful day.

Last Round of Sponsor Shout-Outs

2010-04-10T18:30:00.000-04:00

One last round of sponsors to thank for our Spookypalooza event!

Like BlogAsheville? Support our local sponsors!

Arts2People is...

...a non-profit social service organization devoted to promoting the role of the arts as an integral part of our culture by serving the entire community through arts outreach, bringing the arts to those in need of the healing power of art, supporting the careers of artists, and through community cultural development.

Our major projects include the Lexington Ave Arts and Fun Festival (LAAFF), the Asheville Mural Project (AMP) and The REACH educational programming. For more information, please visit our website at www.Arts2People.org

Mission

1. We believe everyone should have access to the transformational power of creative expression. We offer classes to the general public on a sliding scale, and provide arts-in-education opportunities to underprivileged populations.

2. We see a need for local career artists, musicians and craftspeople to learn more about marketing themselves and networking with others in their field. We offer a variety of showcasing, networking, and mentoring opportunities for these professionals to increase their ability to be financially self-sufficient.

3. Lastly, we are committed to strengthening the reputation Asheville has as a haven for the arts. We want to make the arts so firmly established here that the future growth of Asheville will not weaken our identity as an artistic community.

Greenlife Grocery is a full service natural foods store dedicated to bringing you and your family the freshest and healthiest foods and products available. No artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, or hydrogenated oils. We are committed to supporting local foods and local economy.

We believe a healthy environment starts with a healthy community. We strive to offer as many organic options to our customers as are available. We pride ourselves in being the first store in the East Coast to implement the sustainable seafood program Fishwise, the first grocery store in our area to ban shopping plastic bags, and the highest volume independent natural foods retailer on the Southeast.

Social media class Thurs April 8

2010-04-07T15:10:00.000-04:00

Yes, there was a social media workshop just last week -- but this is a new one!

Hope to see you there!

Looking for social media skills? Mountain Xpress offers a new workshop series for small businesses, nonprofits and anyone who wants to learn the ins and outs of so-called social media from a local expert.

Local star tweeter Wendy Lou (2009 Blogapalooza winner for both most retweetable AND best hashtags) leads an interactive workshop. Disclosure: I work for Mountain Xpress, a sponsor of this workshop series.

Social Media Jams
Mountain Xpress presents Twitter/Facebook for the Small Business Owner: An Intro
Thurs. April 8, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Tomato Jam Cafe
$20, RSVP required, PLEASE NOTE CLASSES FILL UP FAST!
email jsaylor@mountainx.com to request a space
Facebook: search Social Media Jams
Twitter: http://twitter.com/SocialMediaJams, @socialmediajams
Social Media Jams blog here

From a press release:

Social Media Jams, a new monthly workshop series offering education in how businesses and people can use blogs, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for fun and profit, continues March 31 at Laurey's Catering Gourmet To-Go and April 8 at Tomato Jam Cafe.

Co-sponsored by the Mountain Xpress, Tomato Jam Cafe, Laurey's Catering and Skyrunner (a local internet provider), the Jams offer homegrown social media expertise in everything from how small businesses can use Twitter to how to use Facebook to manage a sales or nonprofit campaign.

"We want to harness local talent and expertise from people already using social media effectively right here in Asheville," said Social Media Jams organizer Jennifer Saylor, who leads community initiatives for Mountain Xpress. "These workshops are presented by local experts, for local users of all levels."

Leading both workshops is Wendy Lou of Creative Imp Works, whose social media clients include Monkeywhale.com, TEDxAsheville, Twestival Global Asheville, the Susan Fisher campaign and Asheville Vaudeville.

"It's a beginner-friendly introduction for all levels, for anyone looking for new avenues to grow their network and reach new clients," Wendy Lou said. "Twitter and Facebook aren't difficult, they're for all ages, and they're easy to master when you have a little help with the nuts and bolts."

Cost per person is $20 (dinner graciously provided, but not included in the workshop price). An RSVP is required as there is limited seating, and space is first come, first served. Participants should RSVP via e-mail to jsaylor@mountainx.com.

As well as RSVP-ing, participants should bring a laptop or web-enabled device.

Vote Daily

2010-04-07T13:21:00.001-04:00

Let’s Go To Church–The Lee Boys in Asheville-Thursday April 8th- with Hill Country Revue

2010-04-07T07:48:00.004-04:00

From the Garage at Biltmore's blog:

"We are really excited to have The Lee Boys at The Garage, this coming Thursday (April 8th). Anyone who has seen these guys should be prepared for the experience. There will be no sitting down; strictly boogieing down, as their music is infectious."

"As if a feet stomping ensemble like The Lee Boys weren’t enough to get you out of the house and into this lovely spring weather, they are bringing with them, Hill Country Revue. So all you North Mississippi All Stars fans, here’s a special treat for you."

All Ages

tickets are $15 (under 12 are free if accompanied by their parents)

Doors open at 8pm and music starts at 9pm

The Lee Boys will go on first, then Hill Country Revue, then they will have an All-star Jam!! Woo-hooo!!

For more, go to the Garage at Biltmore and its blog.

Vortex Cabaret this Thursday

2010-04-03T23:47:00.000-04:00

From the Vortex Cabaret:

Taste That! Restaurant Reviews from a local foodie.

2010-04-02T17:06:00.006-04:00

Yes, I'm one of those annoying foodies who pays attention to every detail of my meal when I go out to eat. I can't help it. My first real job was busing tables in a humble comfort food restaurant in South Asheville; from there I went on to wait tables over the next fifteen years or so in a vast array of establishments, from Pizza Hut in Asheville to Frederick's of London, where I placed a napkin in the lap of Tony Blair and had my first taste of Krug. I have served Cambodian, French, Indian, Latin, Italian, Southern food and more; I've opened hundreds of bottles of wine and wiped and reset thousands of tables, I've done dishes, cleaned bathrooms, prepped food and spilled my fair share of drinks on people. I've eaten almost every dish on each menu I've served, and to this day dining out is one of my greatest pleasures.

Hence I offer my thoughts to you, dear readers of BlogAsheville. Having grown up in Asheville, I've seen lots of places come and go, and may have waited on you during my past life as a server.

So for my first review, I chose Chai Pani, a fairly new addition to the Asheville smorgasbord whose tagline is "Namaste, Y'all." Just like this phrase does so well, I can describe this whole experience in just a few words: sweet, light, and fun! The front door, decorated with charming hand-painted flowers in bright festive colors, opens up into a cozy space with a menu filled with traditional and not-so traditional Indian dishes with a price point for every budget and a portion size for every appetite. They have done two very unique things with their quality ethnic offering to the downtown scene: they have created a walk-up counter to expedite the ordering process, and they've combined local color with some of my favorite Indian dishes. Probably the best example are their already famous okra fries ... they also use sweet potatos and other local ingredients to please the palette.

As far as the service, every time I've walked in, I've been greeted by a friendly server in a black t-shirt, designed to match the hand-stamped menu style. There's nothing pushy about this place, and it adds to the casual easy feeling I like when I am looking for a simple meal.

I had the chicken Thali platter, an item that at $9.99 was one of the most expensive on the menu (not a lot considering a burger costs that much these days), and I was presented with (literally) a silver platter with a wide variety of flavors and textures. Each item was obviously prepared with care, nothing was over the top intense, and the lack of heavy ingredients left me feeling light and healthy. Though it may have looked like a small portion, I was completely satisfied and even left a little bit of pickle on the plate! Two cups of chai (which I got to sweeten myself) and a friendly conversation later, I was telling the owner how much I enjoyed the place.

There's movement and energy here, people sit in a row of booths or at one of the several tables, but often get up and down to order drinks and desserts. It makes for a very social atmosphere, one in which the customer is in control of the things that can sometimes make eating out really time-consuming or frustrating. This place is great for a light lunch, and its location makes it a perfect destination for any downtown event at night; especially if you just want a samosa to go. Highly recommended!

Don't Be A Fool! Hilarious Video From LaZoom

2010-04-01T11:46:00.003-04:00

Check out this hilarious video from LaZoom!

Ride Local, $10 tickets on LaZoom for Asheville residents April 15-30. Asheville Vaudeville performers on the bus.

April Fool's Day Shows!

2010-03-31T12:53:00.002-04:00

Asheville's monthly dose of cabaret, juggling, magic, marionettes and more returns! Featuring ALL NEW MATERIAL from our acts -- that's right folks, this time we've got foot archery, bizarre feats of magic and skill and - if the rumors be true - that maestro himself, Charlie Chaplin (just to mention a few)! We've got new routines, new faces, new puppets and new songs all from the explosive local talent of:

Tom the Magician!
Rosa la Contortionista!
Forty Fingers and a Missing Tooth!
The Erogenous Melodies of Sirius.B!
Strings Attached Marionettes by Madison J. Cripps!
Charlie Chaplin: Risen From the Grave!
The Siren Songs of Vaudevie!
Bretian the Hungarian Accordionist!
Seven Ball Jim, Juggling Sensation!
Woman Who Shoots Bows and Arrows With Her Feet!
Gypsy Reels from the Carolina Music Band!
Comedic Sketches by Thomas Butler!
and your host... Baron Von Sneeden!

And that's not all: Vaudeville has gone LATE NIGHT! Can't make the early show? Aren't satisfied by just one performance? Come to our 10:00pm show! (Warning: late-night Vaudevillians may be more prone to lewdness, rumpotting, and down-right abscondery--- not to mention...eroticism

$12.00 advance tickets on sale at Malaprop's Bookstore and Cafe.
$15.00 at the door.

Remember: Asheville Vaudeville gives A THIRD of all ticket prices to benefit MANNA Food Bank, voted #1 do-gooder group by the Mountain Xpress' "Best Of" 2009. Every ten dollars we raise feeds 25 people, which means 600 meals for every sold-out performance!

Come: be entertained! Feed hungry people! Feed hungry artists!
No one does April Fool's like Vaudeville...

The Vaudeville Revival Manifesto by Brian Sneeden

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that vaudeville and the variety theatre is, by its own peculiar and inclusive nature, a theatre of the People; that variety performance by, for and of a community is a potent and deliberate vehicle for the expression of local needs and concerns; that fun is inherently medicinal; that community theatre lends itself to acts of charity, philanthropy and community awareness; that human beings, by their very biological and chemical makeup, crave the experience of performance; that the medium of vaudeville as found in the variety show extends as far back as that craving, spanning numerous millenia of actors, writers and spectacle performers devoted to developing the craft, and - lastly - that it is in their footsteps we humbly direct our endeavors, performing - as indeed they performed - to amuse, delight, wow, impress and inspire audiences from all walks of life.

April Fool's Subgenius Devial Blowout at the Vortex Cabaret!

2010-03-29T00:51:00.000-04:00

From the Vortex Cabaret:

"Freedom Ball" Thurs 4/1 celebrates Death Row exoneree

2010-03-28T09:29:00.002-04:00

(AC-T photo of Edward Chapman by Leslie Boyd)

From a press release:

The Freedom Ball at the Grey Eagle Music Hall:

Celebrating Edward Chapman's Life After Death Row

WHAT: The Second Annual Freedom Ball for Exoneree Edward Chapman with bands Ras B. & Friends and Current Invention
WHEN: Thursday, April 1, from 7 pm till midnight
WHERE: The Grey Eagle Music Hall, 185 Clingman Avenue, Asheville, North Carolina
CONTACT: Alex Cury (828) 253-5088; Edward Chapman (828) 989-4074; Pam Laughon (828)712-2114; Frank Goldsmith (828) 230-6977

Asheville -- Don't miss the second annual Freedom Ball at the Grey Eagle Music Hall on Thursday, April 1, from 7pm till midnight, featuring the bands Ras B & Friends and Current Invention, celebrating the second anniversary of Edward Chapman's release from North Carolina's death row after spending more than thirteen years there for two murders he did not commit. The fundraiser for Chapman costs $12 at the door and includes a silent auction.

Chapman was released from death row on April 2. 2008, after a judge ruled that police had withheld evidence of his innocence and lied at his trial, his lawyers were "ineffective" and one of the women Edward allegedly murdered probably wasn't murdered at all.

Chapman was the seventh man exonerated and released from North Carolina's death row, and the 128th death row exoneree across the nation.

The cases for which Chapman was convicted and sentenced to die took place in Hickory, North Carolina, where Edward was born and spent most of his life. Upon his release, Chapman was encouraged to move to Asheville by UNC-Asheville Professor Pam Laughon, who served as the mitigation specialist on the defense team that finally won Edward's freedom.

Asheville seemed like the right place to start a new life, Chapman concluded, and with the help of Laughon and her vast contingent of students and friends, he did just that.

Besides his job at the Renaissance Hotel and any odd job he can get, Edward has volunteered his time to speak to troubled youth, college students, churches, and other groups and organizations, and to lobby for criminal justice reforms. Chapman was featured in the powerful video that helped win passage last year of the NC Racial Justice Act. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiCZK7AxUCQ

"Don't look at me as a victim," says Chapman. "Look at me as a survivor."

Chapman's lead attorney, Frank Goldsmith of Asheville, says of him, "What a remarkable man! Never did Edward give up, in his many long years on death row, when it seemed no one cared about him or his case."

About his case, Chapman's other attorney, Jessica Leaven Friedman of Chapel Hill, says, "Everything you can imagine going wrong in a capital case went wrong."

Chapman's forthcoming book, "Life After Death Row", tells the full story of biased jurors, inept attorneys, crooked cops, and lying witnesses.

Call for Type-A Mom Conference Speaker Proposals

2010-03-27T11:40:00.004-04:00

Type-A Mom Conference 2010 is accepting speaker proposals. We are looking for topics related to blogging and social media. The conference is geared to moms and dads who blog, as well as the companies looking to engage bloggers. The conference will be held Sept. 24-26 at the Asheville Renaissance.

New this year is Type-A Mom Business (with tracks for companies and bloggers), a dad track and tribes, small group power sessions for specific blog niches.

See the call for speaker proposals to submit.

Official Google Blog: Next steps for our experimental fiber network

2010-03-26T21:24:00.000-04:00

Official Google Blog: Next steps for our experimental fiber network

Area Artists Add Handmade Elements to River Arts District Development

2010-03-26T11:18:00.003-04:00

Mountain Housing Opportunities, Inc., an Asheville based community and housing development corporation, has commissioned five local artist entrepreneurs to create handmade elements for the multi-use and re-use development, Glen Rock Depot in the River Arts District. Two artists have studios in the River Arts District.

Read more about the artists and the development at Pollinate Asheville.

Test your broadband connection and compare it to the world

2010-03-25T14:53:00.004-04:00

Test your connection right now and compare it to the chart below.

Average download speeds by country*

1. South Korea, 11 Mbps
2. Japan, 7.3 Mbps
3. Hong Kong, 6.9 Mbps
4. Romania, 6.2 Mbps
5. Sweden, 6.0 Mbps
6. Netherlands, 5.1 Mbps
7. Latvia, 5.1 Mbps
8. Switzerland, 5.0 Mbps
9. Czech Republic, 4.9 Mbps
10. Denmark, 4.7 Mbps
11. ...

18th: United States 3.9 Mbps

Asheville with Google Fiber: 1000 Mbps (Note that this is a top speed, and the others actual average speeds)

Not happy with the speed number you just saw? Nominate Asheville for Google Fiber.

*source: http://www.govtech.com/pcio/articles/738833

The official Google Moment is today and Asheville needs you!

2010-03-25T00:02:00.004-04:00

Calling all Asheville citizens, friends of Asheville, bloggers of Asheville:

The city has set aside 1:30 PM today, Thurs, March 25th as a "Google Moment." It's a time to pause whatever you are working on and go nominate your town for the Google fiber project. You can both nominate and learn more on googleavl.com.

Here is the official announcement:

Asheville Encourages Citizens to Take Part in “Google Moment”
ASHEVILLE – Be part of the moment! At 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 25, Asheville citizens — including school children, employees, and business leaders — are encouraged to participate in a “Google Moment” and fill out online applications to make Asheville home of the Google Fiber Initiative.

On Thursday afternoon, area residents are encouraged to go to this website and nominate Asheville to receive the fiber network. Nominations can also be submitted at www.googleAVL.com, a locally coordinated site managed by advocates for the program.

On March 23, the Asheville City Council unanimously approved a resolution supporting Asheville as a target city for the Google Fiber initiative. In addition to that resolution, Council made a formal proclamation designating the “Google Moment” as a way to draw even more support from area residents.

Cities across the U.S. are competing for the Google Fiber Initiative project to win the installation of a fiber optic networkby Google estimated to be 100 times faster than current internet availability. The installment would come with no additional cost to the city.

Since the announcement in February, Asheville citizens have rallied to build momentum for the initiative. A March 18 Town Hall meeting on the topic at the Asheville Civic Center brought out community members, business owners and elected officials championing the addition to the city. Pictures of the event are posted on the City of Asheville Facebook Page.

Bringing Google Fiber to Asheville is compatible with the city’s strategic operating plan in both job growth and economic community development, as the fiber optic network is anticipated to attract technological companies to the area and increase the competitiveness of companies located here.

Alongside the citizen nominations, the Economic Development Coalition has been working with the City of Asheville and other local organizations to prepare a municipal application for the initiative.

The deadline for community nominations is Friday, March 26.

Google Asheville!

2010-03-22T17:25:00.002-04:00

Sweet potato falafel salad

2010-03-22T08:17:00.006-04:00

I was recently encouraged to post another recipe on BlogAsheville. I'm a local food blogger and this is cross posted at Cucina Naturale.

I got the idea for this dish on the blog Eats Well With Others. I made some changes in how it was prepared but all credit for inspiration and virtually all of the ingredients goes to Joanne.

For the falafel:

3 large sweet potatoes

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp cayenne pepper

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 tsp ground coriander

1 bunch cilantro

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup chickpea flour

salt to taste

I cut the potatoes up in thirds before roasting as I like the meat to get that caramelized yumminess that happens when you cut them up. After cooking for about an hour at 400 degrees I let them cool. I then peeled them but saved the peels. Joanne says to eat the peels at this point. What I did was toss them into a food processor with the lemon juice and the cilantro and garlic. I made a paste out of all that. I'm all for eating potato skins and this worked just fine. I put the paste into the potatoes and mashed it all up with the spices and the chick pea flour. The only thing different in ingredients in this part from the original is the addition of the cayenne pepper.

Once the potatoes/chickpea flour mixture was done I simply stuck it in the refrigerator. Joanne put hers in the freezer for 20 minutes, which I imagine is so that it's easier to roll in balls. I couldn't get back to mine in 20 minutes so a few hours later I took them out and since it was still soft I oiled my hands each time I shaped a ball and that worked okay. I oiled a pan and then sprayed the balls with my olive oil spray. I baked them for about 20 minutes and then I broiled them for about 5 minutes. They didn't seem to want to cook, but finally the broiling did the trick.

The tahini/yogurt dressing I actually used kefir and it came out more like a salad dressing and in fact it was so good I'm going to be making it for salad dressing in the future. I blended all the below ingredients in a small food processor.

1 cup kefir

3 cloves garlic

1/4 cup tahini

juice of 1/2 lemon

salt

This was a very nice and somewhat different sort of dish for me that me and my husband very much enjoyed. I hope you like it Asheville!

How to track news about your town's Google fiber bid for free.

2010-03-20T17:27:00.070-04:00

There are two kinds of March madness this month. I know where to watch basketball. But where can I watch cities pitching themselves to Google? Pull up a chair (Especially if you are a reporter or a news gatherer) and I'll link you to some simple ways to follow the Google Fiber conversation!

List of Google fiber bids by city

This list, on the Wired Pen blog, is the best I've found.

Measure of each town's social media presence through March 15th

A Grand Rapids marketing firm takes in all the data and boils it down. Pdf download.

Using Twitter search

Monitor all Twitter mentions of #googleavl, the official Twitter hashtag for Asheville and Google fiber.

Monitor all Twitter mentions of #googlefiber, the unofficial Twitter hashtag for all things Google fiber.

Monitor them both in one search.

On Youtube

All videos tagged with mentions of Google Fiber

All videos tagged with mentions of Asheville and Google Fiber

On Twitter Using Tweetdeck

You'll have to join Twitter and install Tweetdeck (both free)- but the payoff is tracking any twitter topic in real time, using Tweetdeck's columns. You can set it and forget it.

All Social Media, Using UberVU

Use the free search feature they offer. It aggregates Twitter with other sources. It has some other features worth playing with, like graphs of two terms.

Search all mentions of Google Fiber in Uber Vu

Use Google Trends

Google Trends charts major search terms, including some geographical data about who is searching.

Watch the term Google fiber ebb and flow over time. Google Trends only tracks shows terms with large traffic.

Fancy Google Searches and Google Alerts

I've saved the best for last. By learning to use Google search operators, you can get better results from the search page and from Google Alerts, which are basically saved searches.

The parts you should type in the search box are written in italics. The words you should replace with your own keywords [are in brackets].

Shows links to a site:
link:[insert keyword/URL]

Shows link anchor text:
inanchor:[insert keyword/URL]

Shows all instances a phrase is used in the sites text:
intext:[insert keyword]

Show keywords if they are used in a page title
intitle:[insert keyword]

Show keywords used in a URL:
inurl:[insert keyword]

Show a URL used in the text of a site:
intext:[insert URL]

Show all mentions of a URL in the last 24 hours, except where those mentions are on the same site

[domain name] -site:[same domain name]

Then, after the search runs, hit the “show options” link and choose “past 24 hours” This way you’ll get two peeks at what Google thinks is important – overall, and then just in the last day.

Bingo! Now you have all links to a site published in the last 24 hours, not counting links on the site itself.

Examples of fancy searches. Use searches like these, but save them as Google Alerts. Then you can get emails updating you on exactly what you want to know.

All sites linking to Mountain Xpress newspaper in the last 24 hours

List of sites talking about Google Fiber and Asheville other than Mountain X, Citizen Times (local newspapers), or Ashvegas (local news blog).

Who is in the lead?

Of course, no one knows. Really. And the things we can measure are probably not important to Google’s decision making process. But, using these tools, you can follow along - and I bet next week gets a little crazy.

Google fiber has a theme song: "Hava NaGoogle" Sirius.B

2010-03-19T18:31:00.004-04:00

If you haven't heard it yet, beloved local absurdist gypsy folk-funk-punk band Sirius.B joins the "bring Google fiber to Asheville" fray with an anthemic cover of "Hava Nagila."

Only this time it's "Hava NaGoogle." It's my favorite #googleavl publicity stunt yet.

Click the image to play. Enjoy! (You won't be able to get this out of your head.)

How 'bout some internet?
High-speeding internet?
How 'bout some internet, ve-ry fast?

Blogger Meetup: Let's Do This Again

2010-03-19T16:41:00.002-04:00

The blogger meetup last night was great! Big turnout, great food, fabulous company.

Thanks to Posana Cafe for putting up with us, and bloggas Clark Mackey and Gordon Smith for talking Google stuff. Thanks also to Justin Belleme and Jonathan Daggerhart for a demo of a new social media tool.

We drank, we talked, we networked, we listened to "HavaNaGoogle," I learned about the Field Day of Awesomeness, and lots of people asked me if we could do it again soon.

I think we can. What do we want to do? Meet again to network and drink? Bowl? Play Rootball?

Leave a comment! Best suggestions wins a FREE lifetime subscription to BlogAsheville!

PS: if you took pics, please leave a link to your set in the comments, and tag them #blogavl.

Thanks for last night, Asheville! You were great.

Sow True

2010-03-18T19:50:00.004-04:00

As the winter weather finally breaks and we all scramble out into the sunshine to start planning out our Spring gardens I want to take a second to remind you that we Ashevillians have an amazing local seed company in our midst! Sow True Seed is committed to supporting sustainable seeding and only sell open pollinated and untreated seeds. They have a great organic and heirloom selection and you can take a peek at their online catalog here. I had the pleasure of doing a little work trade at Sow True HQ downtown for the Vance Elementary Peace Garden last week and I can't say enough about how awesome these folks are! They really care about what they do and work hard to build community here in Asheville.

You can find Sow True seeds at various stores like Earth Fare and the West Village Market (I'm sure you can call them for a full list of retailers) or order directly from them online, by phone or by mail.

18 reasons Asheville is a perfect fit for Google's Fiber Network

2010-03-17T21:43:00.010-04:00

Dear Google,

I think you should build the fiber network in Asheville. It's more than a hunch. Here's why:

We are working hard on our own to make the world a better place. TEDx Asheville is one example of that push, as is Hatchfest. Check out the highlights from our 2009 TEDx.
We've been working with fiber already. ERC Broadband is a nonprofit that runs a fiber network in our area. We need more help though; the ERC network does not serve enough people. But they do know the ropes and could make your planning easier.
Asheville's green building/green technology sector is growing fast and is full of ideas that need bandwidth.
It's cheaper to build a network in areas where the population lives close together. Since we mainly live in valleys here, our town is more dense, in a good way, than most people realize.
Good ideas are the product of fertile minds and fertile minds come from good schools. Asheville is the hub of a network of colleges and universities - The University of North Carolina Asheville, Warren Wilson College, Montreat College, Asheville-Buncombe Technology Community College and Blue Ridge Community College are all within a 20 mile radius. Western Carolina University, Mars Hill College and Brevard College are also close (within a 60 mile radius).
Your friends are already here! We have a Google data center 70 miles away in Lenoir. And there's another big private data center, Netriplex, already in town.
We have a sympathetic, business friendly city council willing to work with you. The politics of the city and the region will work in your favor.
Our town is not sweaty in the summer (average temp is around 70). To put it in further perspective, the average summer temperature in the mountains above us is lower than it is in Buffalo, NY. The weather is so unique we have an independent regional forecaster - Ray's weather.
We have many technology-savvy workers and businesses. Check out this video, or look through some directories of local talent: the MAP and Meet the Geeks. Database programmers, software engineers, network engineers, LAMP gurus - we are already here.
The National Climatic Data Center is in downtown Asheville. Their archives are the largest accumulation of climate data in the world and I think your network would help bring their data to life. Wouldn't it be nice if your fiber network experiment also played a hand in limiting global warming?
Asheville residents earn enough to pay for reliable broadband while being diverse enough for you to learn about how different groups would use the network. We all live here together.
We are strategically located, close to other major pools of programming and technology talent. Build it here and you can dip into those pools without locating in those places - Knoxville/Oak Ridge, the NC research triangle, or Atlanta. Build it there and you'll lose the other not easily duplicated advantages you'd have in Asheville.
People like to be here - we are on nearly everyone's top place to live list. Winning awards is nice, but I like to focus on the "why" part. Cities don't win awards without hard work. That is Asheville's secret sauce: good ideas, talented leaders, and good businesses working hard together. I think the same recipe can help Google.
Asheville is not a likely terrorist target. We are not prone to natural disasters; we are virtually immune to widespread damage from earthquakes, hurricanes or tornadoes.
Cheap electricity. Yes, nobody talks about it, but we have it. Check out the yellow dots (that represent hydro power) in Western North Carolina on this map. Now checkout our electric rates vs those in other states!
Tourists can help spread the word - the city of Asheville has 2.9 million overnight stays per year. When these folks go home, they naturally take a fresh look at the world they are returning to. All these visitors will help spread the impact of your fiber project even further by putting pressure on the broadband providers in their hometowns to give them what they have just experienced in the mountains.
We have an interesting regional history that fosters creativity and an independent mindset. People have come to the mountains to build their fortunes, to hide, to train, to study, and to create. Two hundred years of those patterns have helped create a certain entrepreneurial spirit that is deeply rooted in everything we do.
We've paid our debts in the past even when virtually no one else did the same. "By 1929, both city and Buncombe County had incurred over $56 million in bonded debt to pay for a wide range of municipal and infrastructure improvements... Rather than default, the city paid those debts over a period of 50 years." Why pay your debts? Come to Asheville and we will show you the answer.

Sincerely,
Clark Mackey

Asheville Vaudeville is opening for The HellBlinki Sextet and The Cripps Puppet Spectacular TONIGHT at The Grey Eagle!

2010-03-17T14:10:00.003-04:00

Asheville Vaudeville opens for The HellBlinki Sextet and The Cripps Puppet Spectacular TONIGHT! At The Grey Eagle. The show starts at 8:30 pm. Do your St. Patties day up right and join us for an amazing show!

Tonight's vaudevillians include: 40 Fingers & A Missing Tooth, Tom The Magician, Bretian the Hungarian Accordionist, Vaudevie, Strings Attached Marionettes by Madison J. Cripps, Canned Feud by Thomas Butler, and as always your host Baron Von Sneeden! See you there!

Blogger Meetup and Google Town Hall on Same Day?

2010-03-17T09:11:00.003-04:00

Looks like the town hall meeting for Google fiber got scheduled at the EXACT same time as the blogger meetup: Thursday 3/18 at 6 p.m.

No worries.

If you want to support Google 1 Gbps fiber in Asheville, go to the town hall meeting in the Civic Center ballroom. So long as you cut out before 6:50-ish and walk over to the meetup, you can see city councilblogger Gordon Smith addressing the blogger meetup at 7.

The meetup is also 6 p.m., at Posana Cafe (1 Biltmore Ave, top of Biltmore in the same spot where Cafe on the Square was). Walk on over after the town hall meeting. We'll be there until 8 or 9.

Google Fiber in Asheville Town Hall Meeting
6p.m., Civic Center Ballroom
Check out the GoogleAvl blog here.

BlogAsheville Blogger Meetup (public meting open to ALL bloggers and friends of the Asheville blogging community -- don't be shy!)
6p.m. Posana Cafe (Gordon Smith addresses the gang at 7)
there will be beer-drinking and hanging out before and after, we're there until 8 officially and probably later

You CAN support both events. And I'm already hearing requests from the Google-Asheville brain trust to record bloggers in support of Google fiber (come on out!), so I won't be at all surprised if a video crew shows up to our blogger meetup.

So: support Google in Asheville if that's your thing, then drink local at Posana. Problem solved. See you there!

BlogAsheville ADMINISTRATORS Wanted!

2010-03-16T16:03:00.002-04:00

Anyone want to help run BlogAsheville? You get a platform to improve community health and give local people a voice. You get serious cool points. And you get to be friends with some of the smartest and most civically engaged people in town.

It's fun.

Back in the day BlogAsheville had many admins, but now it's just me. Back in the day we had posts about all kinds of things, but now we mostly have events.

I'd love to have more admins, more opinion, more reviews, more roundups of local blog entries... More posts about transit and city concerns, local festivals and family-friendly stuff.

BlogAsheville has too much community capital to lie fallow when I'm too busy to help.

If you're interested in becoming an admin (and doing more than just post things, but helping run BlogAsheville, and grow and improve it), email me at BlogAsheville (at) hotmail daht cahm.

I'd want to hear your ideas about what YOU think needs to be done.

- Jennifer

PS: See you at the blogger meetup Thurs at Posana! And at the Google town hall meeting!

Celebrate the YWCA at UNCA Thursday

2010-03-15T13:23:00.003-04:00

Cross-Posted from the YWCA of Asheville's Blog

Celebrating Advocacy: Asheville YWCA
Working to Empower Women and Eliminate Racism

A chance to hear a brief history of the deep roots and current stories of the Asheville YWCA, its mission, its accomplishments and it vision, all highlighting its true “staying power” in our area.

A chance to say THANK YOU and
HOW CAN WE BE INVOLVED.

UNC-Asheville, Laurel Forum, Wednesday, March 17, 6:45 pm

Sarah Judson, UNC Asheville Associate Professor in History, will contextualize the theme of celebration of work well done, through a brief history of the YWCA in Asheville. Holly Jones, YWCA Executive Director, and Catherine Peck, YWCA Program Director, will introduce the panel of four or five dynamic and effective YWCA program directors telling their stories of why they are committed to the YWCA’s goals and how people in their programs over the years exemplify real progress.

The focus is on the YWCA programs advocating for children and youth, health and economic empowerment, including the following:

• New Choices: Strategies for Success
(Displaced Homemaker Program)
• Preventive Health
(Diabetes Wellness and Health Outreach Programs)
• Future Vision for students ages 12-18
(Dropout Prevention and Mentoring)
• School Age for students K-12
(After School and Summer Camp Programs)
• MotherLove/Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention

Some examples of ways in which the YWCA and UNC Asheville are already partnering will be given. Students (and others) will learn of upcoming opportunities to make significant contributions in selected events or initiatives. The evening will end with a question and answer period.

The public is cordially invited to join UNC Asheville in this celebratory and informative gathering, exploring the following questions and more:

• What is and has been the significance of the Asheville YWCA in our wider community?
• How successful has it been in fulfilling its twin goals of combating racism and empowering women?
• How long has it been active in the Asheville area?
• What are some of its current or near-future initiatives?

Sponsored by UNC Asheville’s Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program, Africana Studies Program, Center for Diversity Education, Ramsey Library Special Collections, NEH Professor in the Humanities, History Department, Career Center, and the Key Center for Service Learning.

Photo from the YWCA Archives, 1964

Sewerage break at French Broad Park?

2010-03-15T00:45:00.002-04:00

sewerage break
Originally uploaded by zen

I know this venue is mostly for announcing events and usually the more positive vibes about Asheville, but there appears to be some kind of greywater sewage break near the dog run area of the French Broad Park (the one at the corner of Amboy Road and Riverview Drive). I've emailed Asheville city people from their website and gotten no response.

I know the water treatment pipeline goes thru this area - hence the pumping station just above the park - and frequently the smells are a bit rough, but this is open, sludgy water. There are rubbers, tampons and toilet wads burbling up slowly. I'd avoid the spot until something gets done as it doesn't just smell, it seems like a disease vector.

EDITOR'S NOTE FROM JEN SAYLOR:

This blog is not just for events and positive vibes. It's for us. It's for Asheville. I'm SO glad Zen posted this & I welcome more posts like it... Thanks, Zen.

Ride Local! LaZoom Thanks Asheville Residents with $10 Tickets

2010-03-14T23:15:00.003-04:00

The LaZoom krewe loves Asheville and is grateful for the support from our community. To say thanks and kick off their fourth season, LaZoom is offering a Ride Local special from April 15-30^th. Asheville residents can ride the purple comedy and performance bus for just $10.

More info at Pollinate Asheville.

Tonights Show (3/13/10) on AshevilleFM

2010-03-13T18:51:00.002-05:00

I am pleased to announce that the award winning local author Jake Bible will be appearing on the show(Machine Made of Birds) (at 8:30pm ish) and honoring us with a reading and other good things. Tune into AshevilleFM for all your local radio needs, but especially this evening 8-10pm. I will also be playing all your favorite hits!

Vance Elementary Rocket Run 5K

2010-03-13T17:03:00.003-05:00

The first Annual Vance Rocket Run 5K is coming up April 24th at 9am! Join us on a 5K run through the neighborhoods of West Asheville to benefit Vance Elementary. The race will begin and end at Vance Elementary on Sulphur Springs. Following the 5K will be a Fun Run for the kids. Runners are encouraged to stay and hang out for the 2nd Annual International Children's Festival starting at 11am, featuring juggling troupe 40 Fingers and a Missing Tooth and music by local favorites Sirius B. All proceeds from the race and the festival benefit programs and projects at Vance.

Visit the event web site to see the course map or register online.

If you are more comfortable registering via a paper form, please email us at contact@vancerocketrun.com and we'll get one in the mail to you.

Register soon- the first 100 registered runners get an event tee shirt!

Vortex Cabaret this Thursday

2010-03-13T09:20:00.000-05:00

From the Vortex Cabaret:

Google Fiber and Asheville: recent coverage heats up!

2010-03-11T16:30:00.009-05:00

There has been a lot of recent coverage and encouraging talk regarding Asheville's bid to become a test market for Google's build-it-to-your-door fast broadband project. We want Google Fiber.

Even if you don't use Twitter, you might like monitoring the chatter on Twitter about Asheville and Google Fiber.

Here is the rundown:

Tune in to the temporarily renamed "Google Edge Radio" on 880 AM at 5:20 PM on March 11 for talk and interviews about the project.
Town hall style meeting at 5 PM March 11th at Francis Delaney Middle School, 119 Brevard Road. Jason Hill, founder of the Google Asheville Facebook group, is hosting and will answer questions from local educators and anyone else who comes by.
Check out the recent Mountain Xpress coverage about Asheville's Google fiber bid
Watch the WLOS segment from Tuesday, March 12th, which does a good job explaining things for such a short video segment.
Show up and talk with the veterans in Asheville's green technology industry during this week's Asheville Green Drinks, March 12th, Bobo Gallery, 22 N. Lexington Ave. 6:00 – Social Mix; 6:30 – Program. This week the meeting is all about Google fiber and the implications for our local green technology companies.
Check out the blog, googleavl.com, for ongoing coverage of Asheville's push to attract Google.
Great blog post about the reasons for Google fiber from the blog, "The Model is Not Reality." Here's the link.
March 18 town hall meeting in the Civic Center ballroom (with some city council members to be present, I believe).

And, if you haven't already, go and nominate Asheville to be Google's chosen winner!

BlogAsheville's Uberblogger leaves Xpress for hardcore blog life

2010-03-10T21:05:00.004-05:00

Cross-posted from Asheville's alt-weekly, Mountain Xpress. BlogAsheville wishes the Chuck Norris of bloggers well on his latest endeavor.

Everybody, you know what to do now. Support Ashvegas sponsors, buy Ashvegas ads and spread the word.

Multimedia editor Jason Sandford leaving Xpress for Ashvegas

by Jon Elliston in Vol. 16 / Iss. 33 on 03/10/2010

After serving as Mountain Xpress' multimedia editor for the past two years, veteran local journalist Jason Sandford is moving on to pump even more lifeblood into Ashvegas, his popular blog about all things Asheville.

Eye on Asheville: Xpress' outgoing multimedia editor, Jason Sandford, who's preparing to pump up the volume of his blog, Ashvegas. Photo by Anthony Bellemare

Sandford, who was born and raised here, studied journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has worked as a reporter at publications including the Elizabethtown, N.C., Bladen Journal; the Elizabeth City, N.C., Daily Advance; the Florence, S.C., Florence Morning News; and European Stars & Stripes (while based in Germany). He also worked for nearly a decade at the Asheville Citizen-Times, as both a reporter and editor.

Now he's leaving Xpress to focus on Ashvegas, which Xpress readers voted Best Local Blog in our last two Best of WNC polls. He started the blog in 2005 to feed his hunger for spreading news and what he calls "rumors of news," and in the years since, it has grown into a lively forum for local scoops of all stripes. (See the blog at http://www.ashvegas.squarespace.com.)

Sandford leaves behind a rich and varied body of work at Xpress, from in-depth articles on local matters to scores of photo galleries and videos on our Web site. Given the Xpress' focus on collaboration and civic dialogue, he says working alongside community activists on stories such as the challenges facing the Burton Street neighborhood have been among the most rewarding.

"I'm proud to have worked with Mountain Xpress and its employees, who share my love of this community," Sandford says.

Vortex Cabaret 3-11-10

2010-03-09T21:37:00.000-05:00

From the Vortex Cabaret:

The Eagle Flies on Sunday: Grey Eagle benefit party with desserts, music, burlesque

2010-03-06T11:24:00.003-05:00

I love this event, one put on annually by my friend Steven Liebenhaut (Amazing Savings shoppers will know him as the friendly silver-haired checkout guy). He turned his 50th birthday into a benefit, a tradition he's continued in the years since.

What a guy. See you there!

The Eagle Flies on Sunday: A benefit for Loving Food Resources
Sunday, March 7th
6:00 PM, The Grey Eagle Lounge
$15 dollars at the door. Raffle tickets are $5 or 5 for $20.

Gas House Mouse, Bombs Away Cabaret, a silent auction, a raffle for a weekend getaway and more…

• Kitty Love will be creating a live painting for a “live auction”
• An expanded Silent auction raises the stakes.
• We will have free deserts from some of Asheville’s finest bakeries.
• Food is available from Twin Cousins Restaurant in The Grey Eagle.
• Bombs Away Cabaret opens the show with magic, dance, satire and burlesque.
• Gas House Mouse starts the dance with their high energy blues/rock Asheville sound.
SteveNyou Presents
is a grassroots approach to organizing benefit concerts for Non-Profit Organizations to raise awareness and funds for specific causes.

The Grey Eagle will open its doors on 185 Clingman Ave. at 6:00 with the first act performing at 6:30 in this benefit concert for Loving Food Resources. Now in it's 19th year, Loving Food Resources is a Non-Profit Organization which provides basic needs to people living with HIV/AIDS and those with terminal illnesses in home hospice care through food, health and personal care items.

Steve in his own words:
“I have been involved in many levels of giving over the years and steveNyou Presents has been the culmination of such humanitarian work. We had a concert on my 50th birthday, and we raised over $5000 and last year $6,000! I realized how we as a people can make a difference communally. How each person has something very special to contribute to a cause…and how it’s not always money. Please come and join me for my third annual 50th birthday party.”

Mother Earth Brewing launch in WNC! Next Thursday!

2010-03-05T10:30:00.001-05:00

Another Carolina brewery will launch next Thursday in Asheville: Mother Earth Brewing from Kinston, NC. Owner Trent Mooring and Brewmaster Josh Brewer (great name, eh?) will be coming along to chat beer and put beverages in your hands. The evening starts with a tasting at the humble storefront from 5:00-7:00 p.m. followed by four Mother Earth taps at The Thirsty Monk. Please join us, beer people, as we welcome a new North Carolina brewery into the mountains! We had the great opportunity to share a beer with Brewmaster Josh way back in late 2009 and we’re excited to have him back.

About the brewery: “Take the goodness of garden-grown products, the warmth of small town life, the earthy ethic of rock ‘n roll, a deep respect for a time-honored craft…and you have the ingredients of Mother Earth Brewing. Born in the summer of 2008, Mother Earth is the dream-child of Stephen Hill and Trent Mooring, two guys from Kinston, North Carolina, a sweet southern town in the heart of the old tobacco belt.”

Endless River Kölsch
“A clean, crisp beer, Kolsch offers a very slight fruity flavor and aroma. It is light gold in color, with a delicate head. This light-bodied beer appeals to nearly everyone who samples it. Expect to enjoy a slight tang in the finish.”

Weeping Willow Wit
“This beer style is over 400 years old, and continues to enjoy overwhelming popularity. Offering low hop bitterness, it is easy to enjoy. It pours very hazy, with a light gold color… we say it’s like summertime in a glass. Bitter orange peel and fresh coriander add zest and depth to this refreshing beer.”

Dark Cloud Munich Dunkel
“Steeped in a long history dating back hundreds of years, this “old-fashioned” beer is again in vogue. Lager is the German word meaning “to store,” so this beer ages three times longer than our ales do. “Dunkel” means dark in German, but don’t let the color fool you, it is by no means heavy, overbearing or bitter. In fact, it proves to be a very drinkable session beer.”

Sisters of the Moon IPA
“Made with hops grown in the good ‘ol USA… you’ll proudly support American farmers when you drink this beer! Light copper in color, it has an intense hop aroma and strong hop bitterness. Our hopback process uses fresh hop cones to take this IPA to unexpected places. Prepare for a mouthful of flavor.”

And Still MORE Sponsor Shout-Outs

2010-03-05T10:01:00.000-05:00

If you like BlogAsheville, support the local people and businesses who helped us party at Spookypalooza!

Jolene Mechanic and Flood Gallery @ Phil Mechanic Studios

Thanks to Jolene Mechanic for generously letting us online folks use her building for our Spookypalooza benefit event!

The big brick building on the corner of Haywood and Roberts in the River Arts District is a hub of affordable studio space and incredible local art. It’s also an event space that’s fun, reasonably priced and full of funky Asheville character.

Check out the Flood Gallery Fine Art Center @ Phil Mechanic Studios on the River District art stroll this spring. When you do, remember it’s a great space for parties and events – like Spookypalooza 2009 and Gordon's campaign events.

Social media peeps love Asheville nonprofit hero Jolene Mechanic and her party-friendly studio space! Thanks Jolene!

Bruisin’ Ales

Asheville's renowned beer-only store, boasts over 800 hand-selected brews from around the world (and around the corner). This small, colorful boutique shop in the heart of downtown is a treasure trove for beer lovers-specializing in Belgians, Belgian-style, select American craft brews, and the very best from around the world.

Here you'll find rare brews, exceptional seasonals, and other hard-to-find limited releases. The unique bottle shop set-up allows customers to "Mix-a-Six." Voted "Best Beer Store" in the MountainXPress Best of WNC 2009 | Voted #3 Best Beer Store in the World by RateBeerBest 2008 | "One of the Best Bottle Shops" in the US by Imbibe Magazine.

Colorful Palate

Not everyone loves to cook, entertain or plan events. But we do! And we do it all for the love of food.

Our food is made by hand with fresh seasonal ingredients and a creative flair sure to impress everyone from your friends to your most discerning clients. Our aim is to be Deliciously Unpretentious, because down-to-earth is Downright Delectable!

Contact The Colorful Palate for your next event.

Ragan Evans & Tara Letts
828.242.3352
colorfulpalate.com
information@colorfulpalate.com

BlogAsheville Meetup 3/18

2010-03-04T06:51:00.000-05:00

Just a reminder about our meetup: 6pm-8pm at Posana Cafe, Thursday March 18.

We'll meet, drink beer, have dinner, hang out, catch up and at 7pm city councilblogger Gordon Smith offers a brief address that was initially going to be about how we can out how to use social media to effect change in Asheville, but now that the Google initiative is tempting all us geeks with 1 Gbps internet (my speed at home is about .02 Gbps)... I'm thinking we'll talk about that, too.

If you're on Facebook, RSVP here.

Bloggers are welcome, as are Facebookers, tweeters and anyone who reads BlogAsheville.

PS: Are you following us on Twitter (@BlogAsheville) and Facebook?

BlogAsheville blogger meetup

6-8 p.m.

Posana Cafe

Thursday March 18

Google fast internet in Asheville: here are the possibilities

2010-03-03T09:46:00.002-05:00

Google 1 Gbps fast internet could be about so much more than downloading movies. Cross-posted from the Google Fiber Asheville blog:

If you’re here at googleavl.com, then you likely know what the Google Fiber Initiative is all about. If you don’t, then check this out

Google is planning to launch an experiment that we hope will make Internet access better and faster for everyone. We plan to test ultra-high speed broadband networks in one or more trial locations across the country. Our networks will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today, over 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We’ll offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.

From now until March 26th, we’re asking interested municipalities to provide us with information about their communities through a Request for information (RFI), which we’ll use to determine where to build our network.

You all heard about the Information Superhighway of the internet back in the day. Compared to a superhighway, this network is like a teleportation device. It’s so far beyond what anyone else is using that it gives Asheville the opportunity to dream big.

We are Health Care Providers

We’ve got health care, education, biotech, climate science, data visualization, music, arts, data centers, internet firms, energy companies and an inordinate amount of extraordinarily talented people in this city. Imagine the possibilities if we had the hottest pipes running to every home and business.

Health care providers could network with hospitals all over the region. Mission’s Cancer Center and Cardiac Units could become global centers of research and healing. You could receive top notch medical care right in your home.

UNCA, A/B Tech, and Warren Wilson could become international centers of learning with the ability to perform the highest degree of technical modeling anywhere. Our public school system could become entirely connective and offer students learn-at-home options that parents can only dream of.

We are Green Technology

Our biotech leaders at the Bent Creek Institute could partner with the colleges involved in the All Taxonomic Biodiversity Index of Great Smoky Mountains National Park to research and catalogue the new species they’re discovering every day. Sharing the data with individuals and institutions could bring mean leaps forward in our understanding of the natural world.

Our climate sciences could collect more data, visualize more climate scenarios, and map possible solutions to our climate crisis in partnership with the schools and data visualization leaders like RENCI and The Elumenati. Academic Institutions could get in on the process in ways heretofore impossible.

Our musicians could pipe out live concerts around the world and engage in collaborations that would not be limited by the space between us. Our artists would have the best iteration of the online medium in the world to expand their audiences and their imaginations.

Our internet firms would explode overnight, quite suddenly having enormous advantage over everyone else. Our online community, already bursting with collective effort, could do more, raise more money for charities, and pioneer new ways of interacting via the internet.

Google Fiber in Asheville will give us the opportunity to change the world.

We are Information Technology

We need your help to let Google know that Asheville is the right home for their Fiber Network. While our governmental bodies are working on the nuts’n'bolts application, Google is asking individuals and community groups from the contending cities to submit applications of their own. Application page is here. Asheville needs to have the highest number of applications and the highest quality. That won’t happen without you.

In addition to applying, we also need to let Google know that Asheville is thrilled at the prospect. Social media, YouTube, blogs, audio, internet radio – can help by raising a ruckus. Make videos about how Asheville will change the world with this network. Write songs. Optimize local sites so a search for Google Fiber brings people to Asheville based content. Trumpet our community’s strengths and your own ideas.

In considering messages we want to send to Google, we can unify our theme based on information we have about what Google wants to see in its host city. Here are some ideas regarding ways to talk about our community’s great fit for Google.

We are:

Diverse and involved
A community of innovation
Ready and accelerating

Uniqueness
Fertile, diverse, culture, unified, Best place to… quality of life, intellectual capital, creative, non-profits, eclectic, charming, vibrant, involved, engaged.

Readiness
Go, expand, sustain, connect, head start, accelerating, momentum

Business Friendliness
Scalable, entrepreneurs, infrastructure, center, vibrance, transformational, moving, exponential, expand, grow

We want to make the world a better place, and the Google Fiber Network will help us do that.

Thank you in advance for all of your hard work. If we land Google Fiber, we will have outshone hundreds of cities across America, and it will have been due to your energy, creativity, and passion.

via flickr : Bill Rhodes

Asheville Vaudeville-2 New Shows!

2010-03-02T17:23:00.002-05:00

On Thursday, March 4th, Asheville Vaudeville will be presenting 2 new variety shows @ 7:30pm & 10pm @ The BeBe Theatre! We invite you all to come to celebrate some of the finest talent Asheville has to offer. The acts for this month include: Cookie LaRue, Sirius B, Strings Attached Marionettes by Madison J. Cripps, Carolina Music Band, Tom the Magician, Bretian the Hungarian Accordionist, Rosa la Contortionista, Comedic Sketches by Thomas Butler, A Brand New Act - The Juggling Sensation - Seven Ball Jim, and your host...Baron Von Sneeden!

Tickets are available at Malaprops Bookstore, or reserve them by emailing us at: ashevillevaudeville@gmail.com

Visit: ashevillevaudeville.com for more information.

Vaudeville, a mission - by Brian Sneeden

Firstly, let me begin by saying that we are not a nostalgia organization. Though we utilize and embody the genre of vaudeville as explored in the variety show, we are best labeled as “Asheville vaudeville”: a multi-talented collective of playwrights, jugglers, magicians, puppeteers, musicians, dancers, and more – who follow in the traditions of these historic arts while demonstrating, as indeed their originators did, a dedication to uncovering and devising new expressions of acts traditionally associated with vaudeville.

While it is our sincerest pleasure to dedicate ourselves to this vital antiquity of American theatre, our purpose in doing so is less a decision to preserve through imitation than one to revive through innovation: the very nature and infrastructure of old vaudeville being one of ‘perpetual renaissance’ for the performers and the refinement of acts, we too seek to craft such an environment through a policy of no-repeat material. Everything heard or seen on the Asheville Vaudeville stage will be its first and only appearance on our stage.

In short: we aim not only to astound, to please, and to entertain, but to do so with alarming consistency; to craft a troupe of continually-developing performers and provide exposure to noteworthy new performers and acts; to build and nurture an audience who feel constantly reminded of why they live in Asheville; to offer work, exposure, and artistic collaboration to all our performers; to provide 500 meals to hungry members of our community for every sold-out show and – ultimately – to instigate a new artistic movement in Asheville in celebration and continuation of such fine American institutions as variety theatre, burlesque, sideshow and, particularly, vaudeville.

The Asheville Currency Project needs Paper

2010-03-02T13:18:00.000-05:00

From the Asheville Currency Project blog:

The Asheville Currency Project is producing a local paper currency for the Asheville area, with a projected launch date of September 2010 (If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know this. If you're new here, welcome!) In our quest to use local resources for this local currency to help the local economy, we are looking for a source of local paper. If any one is a producer of artisan paper, knows a producer of artisan paper, wants to become a producer of artisan paper, or has any ideas on the production of the paper for the currency, please let us know.

Bountiful Cities Call to Artists!

2010-03-01T00:51:00.001-05:00

The Bountiful Cities project is now accepting donations of handcrafted birdhouses, bat houses, birdbaths, and yard art for its 8th annual birdhouse auction! Deadline for submission is May 1st. This year’s auction will be held on May 15th at 307 Flash Studios (behind the Rocket Club in East-West Asheville) and will be emceed by Jen Lauzon of LaZoom Tours! Submissions can be dropped off at Short Street Cakes, 225 Haywood Rd. in West Asheville; or at Honeypot at 85 N. Lexington Ave Downtown. Artists most fill out submission form at drop off location. Submissions will be displayed and juried: prizes will be awarded for the top 3 birdhouses. For specs on creating birdhouses for specific species of birds, go here.
The mission of the Bountiful Cities Project is to create, on urban land, beautiful community spaces which provide food in abundance and foster a learning environment for social justice and sustainability. Ashevillebcp@gmail.com 828.257.4000 www.bountfulcitiesproject.org

Vortex Cabaret on March 4th

2010-03-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

From the Vortex Cabaret.

Haitipalooza: From Asheville With Love

2010-02-28T08:56:00.002-05:00

featuring Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band, GFE, Asheville Horns & Vertigo Jazz Project
Sunday, February 28th
9:00 PM (8:00 PM doors)
$10.00 - All proceeds go to Haiti Relief
All Ages

Buy tix here

The Laudanum Express: Bootstraps Burlesque March 5 and 6

2010-02-27T06:44:00.001-05:00

Bootstraps Burlesque: The Laudanum Express
March 5 and 6, Fri and Sat
Club 828
Doors 9:30, show 10:30

with
Keith Campbell
Sneaky MCFly
Carolina Music Band
Strings Attached Marionettes

"It is a tribute to silent film and all takes place on a train."

More Sponsor Shout-Outs

2010-02-26T16:02:00.000-05:00

We're got three more Spookypalooza sponsors to thank! We'll say it again: a great way to support BlogAsheville is to support any local business, especially one of our sponsors.

Thanks fans! Thanks sponsors! See everybody AGAIN at Posana Cafe on March 18 for the Revived Blogger Meetup!

Short Street Cakes

Short Street Cakes is a local, mama-owned Cake Shop and Bakery specializing
in Southern Style, handcrafted, all natural wedding cakes, cupcakes, and
whole cakes. We strive to make celebrations more meaningful by creating
beautiful, natural, delicious works of art. The cake shop is located at 225
Haywood Road in West Asheville between the river district and I-240, and is
open from noon until 6pm Wednesday though Monday.

Mountain Xpress, AVLLive.com and the WNC Online Ad Network (coming soon!)

Do we at BlogAsheville need to say more about Mountain Xpress other than it's the true hub of Asheville's digital culture, has KICKASS local coverage, and it's free? Read it in print or online for all the haps around town.

And check out Mtn X's newest digital offering, AVLlive.com. AVLlive.com is a work in progress by Mountain Xpress. Suggestions are encouraged as we add to and evolve the site.

AVLlive.com is a one-stop portal site for Asheville's emerging online voices and content showing a wide spectrum of participants: from newspapers and television to blogs, forums and Tweets. In addition to text it shows the most recently uploaded local videos and photos.

The WNC Online Ad Network (coming soon...) is designed to help area blogs and Web sites generate ad revenue by offering local merchants a simple way to get their advertising message out locally. The network allows merchants to buy ads on WNC’s most active and creative blogs and Web sites.

The network is a collaborative project spearheaded by Mountain Xpress, based on the belief that by organizing from the grassroots up, the area's blogs and web sites work together to strengthen our own voices and connections. Ad revenues will be split among the participating sites based on impressions served.

ohia design

designohia@gmail.com

ohia has been composing visual art since she was a small girl. Her art strength has always come naturally and absolutely and so is passed on to each of her creations with fluidity and passion. ohia design creates award-winning graphic design for a collection of varied clients. her strengths include branding, print layout and web design and development. Please visit her website at ohiamakesart.com.

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