Calendar of Events

Blacklist Improv continues in their wildly popular series, creating an entire show using suggestions from the audience. An improvised comedy show about Life’s Trials and Tribulations, from courtrooms to AOL free trial discs

Come out to the inaugural Totally Rad Trivia Night at The Southern Kitchen & Bar for the very best in Pop Culture Trivia! Drink & Food Specials, FREE to play, and a four $10 gift cards to The Southern for the winning team.

Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe presents Mike Gunter, Jr. author of “Tales of EcoTourist,” which combines humor and memorable anecdotes from five famous ecotourist destinations that offer a breathtaking backdrop to better understanding climate change. Held at The Collider, doors open at 5:30pm, and the book talk will begin at 6:00pm, following by a short Q&A. Free & open to the public.

Crossing the far corners of the globe, Tales of an Ecotourist showcases travel, from the hot and humid Amazon jungle to the frozen but dry Antarctic, as a simple yet spellbinding lens to better understand the complex issue of climate change. At its core, climate change is an issue few truly understand, in large part due to its dizzying array of scientific, economic, cultural, social, and political variables.

Mike Gunter Jr. is a Cornell Distinguished Faculty member and Arthur Vining Davis Fellow at Rollins College where he serves as Professor and Chair of the Political Science department and Director of International Affairs in the Holt School. He is the author of Building the Next Ark: How NGOs Work to Protect Biodiversity.

The Amazing Acro-cats Featuring Tuna and the Rock Cats are a troupe of REAL performing house cats. The Acro-cats experience all started with Chief Executive Human (CEH for short) and animal trainer Samantha Martin. She has not only rescued her own pets, but also has found happy homes for over 200 homeless cats and kittens. Using the magic of clicker training (a stress-free positive reinforcement method) Samantha and the cats take their newfound amazing abilities on the road, and tour the nation’s stages in the infamous Acro-cat bus! A portion of the proceeds always benefits our mobile foster and rescue efforts. They have cats riding skateboards, jumping through hoops, and Alley, our rising star, has even leapt into the Guinness Book of World Records, holding the record for the longest cat jump!

Showtimes
6/13 7PM

Tickets
VICP First Row $40
VICP Orchestra $25
Orcehstra $22
Discounts Available for Children, Seniors, and Military

Join BGA staffer Heather Rayburn as she hosts a special book club in celebration of Pollinator Month. Participants should read Dr. Erica McAlister’s “The Secret Life of Flies” before the event. Refreshments will be served as we discuss the book, review its highlights, and look at some slides about these fascinating insects.

Why this book? Everyone knows about the sexy bee pollinators, but the plant world also benefits from the pollination of other insects, bats, birds, rodents and even lizards. McAlister, a British entomologist, “gets under the wings of these crucial creatures as she ventures into the land of the fly. From hungry herbivores and precocious pollinators to robber flies, danceflies and the much maligned mosquito, she describes the different types of fly, their unique and often unusual characteristics, and the unpredictable nature of their daily life.”

Heather is the creator of www.MonarchLover.org, a website dedicated to promoting the planting of native milkweed to help the endangered Monarch butterfly. She’s worked at the Botanical Gardens for 10 years.

[This book will be available for purchase in the Visitor Center by April 2018. Members get 10% off the retail price.]

Call 828-252-5190 to register and pre-pay

On Friday, July 20^th, the Asheville Comedy Community comes together to raise funds for the family of the late local comedian Michael Roach. The benefit will feature Asheville’s best comedians with shows at 7:00PM and 9:30PM

The Asheville Comedy Community comes together for the benefit of the family of local comedian Michael Roach. Michael passed away suddenly in April, leaving his partner, Genevieve, who is expecting their only child this summer. Please join us as the Asheville comedy community comes together to support this great cause with an evening of hilarious stand-up from Asheville’s best comics.

Featuring performances from Cary Goff, Tom Peters, Hilliary Begley, Ben Atkins, Blaine Perry, Art Sturtevant, Kelly Morgan, Chesney Goodson, Moira Gorey & Special Guests!

For more information or to donate directly, please go to: https://www.gofundme.com/michael-amp-gen039s-back-the-baby-fund

$10 advance / $12 at the door
Tickets @ http://www.ashevillefunnybusiness.com/best-of-asheville-comedy-benefit-tickets/

Buying tickets in advance is highly-recommended. Parking is available at the Grey Eagle’s parking lot and on Clingman Ave. and Haywood Road. The Grey Eagle offers full bar service, and food is available inside the club at The Grey Eagle Taqueria. http://www.thegreyeagle.com/

About Funny Business at The Grey Eagle: Funny Business at the Grey Eagle brings live, nationally-recognized stand-up comedians to Asheville on a regular basis. The Grey Eagle offers full bar service, food and a selection of Asheville’s locally-made craft beers.

Menopause The Musical® is a groundbreaking celebration of women who are on the brink of, in the middle of, or have survived “The Change.” Now celebrating 17 years of female empowerment through hilarious musical comedy, Menopause The Musical® has evolved as a “grassroots” movement of women who deal with life adjustments after 40 by embracing each other and the road ahead.

Set in a department store, four women meet while shopping for a black lace bra at a lingerie sale. After noticing unmistakable similarities among one another, the cast jokes about their woeful hot flashes, mood swings, wrinkles, weight gain and much more. These women form a sisterhood and unique bond with the entire audience as they rejoice in celebrating that menopause is no longer “The Silent Passage.”

Performance schedule:

Tuesday, August 14 at 8 p.m.
Wednesday, August 15 at 8 p.m.
Thursday, August 16 at 8 p.m.
Friday, August 17 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, August 18 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Sunday, August 19 at 2 p.m.

Inspired by a hot flash and a bottle of wine, Menopause The Musical® is a celebration of women who find themselves at any stage of “The Change.” The laughter-filled 90-minute production gets audience members out of their seats and singing along to parodies from classic pop songs of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

Menopause The Musical® is a groundbreaking celebration of women who are on the brink of, in the middle of, or have survived “The Change.” Now celebrating 17 years of female empowerment through hilarious musical comedy, Menopause The Musical® has evolved as a “grassroots” movement of women who deal with life adjustments after 40 by embracing each other and the road ahead.

Set in a department store, four women meet while shopping for a black lace bra at a lingerie sale. After noticing unmistakable similarities among one another, the cast jokes about their woeful hot flashes, mood swings, wrinkles, weight gain and much more. These women form a sisterhood and unique bond with the entire audience as they rejoice in celebrating that menopause is no longer “The Silent Passage.”

Performance schedule:

Tuesday, August 14 at 8 p.m.
Wednesday, August 15 at 8 p.m.
Thursday, August 16 at 8 p.m.
Friday, August 17 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, August 18 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Sunday, August 19 at 2 p.m.

Inspired by a hot flash and a bottle of wine, Menopause The Musical® is a celebration of women who find themselves at any stage of “The Change.” The laughter-filled 90-minute production gets audience members out of their seats and singing along to parodies from classic pop songs of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

Celebrate the joy and magic of the holiday season with an evening of live music, dance, and comedy that’s sure to become an annual tradition! This family-friendly, Broadway-style show features the finest performers from Asheville and Western North Carolina and special guest artists. Directed by musical theatre veteran and funnyman Mario Morin, and choreographed by former Radio City Rockette Lucinda Morin, this professional production presents Christmas favorites including Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, O Holy Night, Let it Snow, and Go Tell it On the Mountain. Relax, unplug, and take time to share the joy, laughter, and peace of the season with your friends, neighbors, and families at The Asheville Christmas Show! Discounts for military and groups of 10+. Kids age 2 and younger sitting on lap admitted free.

Celebrate the joy and magic of the holiday season with an evening of live music, dance, and comedy that’s sure to become an annual tradition! This family-friendly, Broadway-style show features the finest performers from Asheville and Western North Carolina and special guest artists. Directed by musical theatre veteran and funnyman Mario Morin, and choreographed by former Radio City Rockette Lucinda Morin, this professional production presents Christmas favorites including Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, O Holy Night, Let it Snow, and Go Tell it On the Mountain. Relax, unplug, and take time to share the joy, laughter, and peace of the season with your friends, neighbors, and families at The Asheville Christmas Show! Discounts for military and groups of 10+. Kids age 2 and younger sitting on lap admitted free.

Join local author Jarrett Rutland as he launches his picture book, CHILLY DA VINCI, at the Hop Ice Cream Cafe!

Chilly da Vinci is a self-declared inventor penguin. What does this mean? While others do “penguin” things, Chilly instead builds machines that don’t work…yet! This inventive, funny book encourages young readers to keep on trying even when they encounter failure.

What happens when fossil fuels run out? How do communities and cultures survive?

Central Appalachia and south Wales were built to extract coal, and faced with coal’s decline, both regions have experienced economic depression, labor unrest, and out-migration. After Coal focuses on coalfield residents who chose not to leave, but instead remained in their communities and worked to build a diverse and sustainable economy. It tells the story of four decades of exchange between two mining communities on opposite sides of the Atlantic, and profiles individuals and organizations that are undertaking the critical work of regeneration.

The stories in this book are told through interviews and photographs collected during the making of After Coal, a documentary film produced by the Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University and directed by Tom Hansell. Considering resonances between Appalachia and Wales in the realms of labor, environment, and movements for social justice, the book approaches the transition from coal as an opportunity for marginalized people around the world to work toward safer and more egalitarian futures.

Tom Hansell is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work has been broadcast on public television and screened at international film festivals. Hansell has more than two decades of experience working with coalfield residents to create collaborative media projects. He began his career at the Appalshop media arts center, and he currently teaches at Appalachian State University.

Uncensored expression: anyone is invited to step up to share song, music, poetry, comedy, magic, stories, rants & raves, & other performances!
The most eclectic open mic around, in a welcoming gallery setting! 6 pm signup, perform 6:30-8:30 pm.

Uncensored expression: anyone is invited to step up to share song, music, poetry, comedy, magic, stories, rants & raves, & other performances!
The most eclectic open mic around, in a welcoming gallery setting! 6 pm signup, perform 6:30-8:30 pm.

Mark Warren, owner of Medicine Bow Wilderness School in Dahlonega, GA has been teaching the survival skills of the Cherokee for more than 45 years. Finally, all those years of teaching have culminated into his highly anticipated series of books called “Secrets of the Forest.”

Mark believes today’s society can — and should — learn some valuable lessons and skills from the Cherokee people who inhabited the southeastern part of the United States hundreds of years before European explorers ever landed on its shores. He will be discussing how some of the most common native plants and trees were used by the Cherokee for food, medicine, shelter and fire and he will bring along a few of his handmade crafts.

Quote from Mark, “All of us who live in the Southern Appalachians reside on land that once belonged to the Cherokees. While these native people led lives of intense daily interaction with their natural surroundings, most folks today have reduced nature to a backdrop of scenery. The great deficit in this scenario is our lack of understanding that we still depend upon nature. That dependency is largely hidden to us, especially to the new generations that come along to take over the ‘rules’ of how we behave with nature — air to breathe, water to drink, energy to consume for our daily actions. These are commodities that are easy to take for granted. If taken for granted, humans will have no reason to respect and conserve the pieces of the puzzle we call ecology”

Mark wrote the “Secrets of the Forest” books with three purposes in mind:
1) To provide clear instructions in primitive survival skills for anyone wanting to better his/her self-sufficiency in wilderness . . . by learning the old Indian ways of living comfortably in the forest.

2) To offer parents, teachers, scout leaders, and outdoor educators a guide to engage their students in Nature . . . at a time when our young ones so desperately need this connection, as does Nature itself.

3) To win over a new generation of environmental advocates who will look after this world.

Praise for “Secrets of the Forest”:
“If you’ve ever wondered how to transfer lost knowledge and skills to our next generation, this book series is your guide. Mark is no newcomer in the world of primitive skills and nature study. He’s been passing on his knowledge to young and old for over a half century. I’ve had the pleasure of attending several of his classes in Dahlonega, Georgia. Mark is a walking encyclopedia of earth-lore and the skills required to call Nature home.” ~ Todd Walker from Survival Sherpa

“Secrets of the Forest is an invaluable teaching tool for my staff at Buffalo Cove Outdoor Education Center. Countless times, I have seen them visit our library in the office and pull this volume off the shelf to aid them in planning classes. The structure and phrasing of Mark’s work really speaks to the experiential educator. The content, and breadth of knowledge, contained within the pages is a true gift to anyone seeking a greater understanding of the natural world and really nurtures a connection with the earth!” ~Nathan Roark, Executive Director Buffalo Cove Outdoor Education Center

“Mark Warren is an authentic educator who links his vast knowledge of plants and animals to skills necessary for survival, a combination that creates an active and exciting experience for children and adults. The series has begun to take our school in directions we never imagined possible.”~O.J. Morgan, Head of School at The Bright School, Chattanooga, Tennessee

“Through Mark Warren’s Secrets of the Forest, educators, leaders, stewards, interpreters, learners, and students of connecting with and through nature have access to his spirit, insight, and generosity. These [books] are a ‘must have’ for anyone wanting to inspire, and to be inspired by, ancient wisdom and knowledge based in a deep reverence for the Earth.” ~Joseph A. Pate, PhD Department Chair – Outdoor Leadership Assistant Professor Young Harris College

Check out this review for Secrets Volume 1 by Survival Sherpa: https://survivalsherpa.wordpress.com/2017/08/09/secrets-of-the-forest-the-best-outdoor-education-book-ive-read/

The “Secrets of the Forest” book series will be available for purchase and signing at the event as well as “Two Winters in a Tipi” a memoir, and his historical fiction series “Wyatt Earp, An American Odyssey.”

Mark Warren is also a Western historian,and has researched the Frontier West and especially the life of Wyatt Earp for more than 63 years. His trilogy, Wyatt Earp, An American Odyssey,” has met with the approval of a discerning group of Western historians as well as lovers of the historical fiction genre.

Synopsis for “Born to the Badge:”
In Wichita, Kansas, Wyatt Earp answers his most innate calling and returns to law enforcement, where he excels by sheer force and an utter lack of fear. When town leaders become disenchanted with his hardline methods, he moves to a place where an iron-rule is needed – Dodge City. With him comes Mattie, a runaway prostitute, who, like Wyatt, is searching for a chance at a new life.

As assistant marshal in Dodge, Wyatt stands at the center of a volatile arena, which pits celebratory cowboys against the economic security of the merchants. Wyatt’s performance as a proficient officer earns him respect among the citizens, but it does not provide the social standing he desires.

After a disappointing venture into the gold fields of Deadwood, Dakota Territory, Wyatt returns to Dodge to find no marshal’s job waiting for him. Mattie has fallen back into prostitution. Regressing to foot-soldier status, Wyatt takes a job as detective for the A.T. & S.F. Railroad to hunt down train robbers. Heading south from Kansas he once again tries to outride his failures.

In Texas he meets a man whose name will be forever linked with his own. Doc Holliday is a testy, Southern ex-dentist turned gambler, who is dying from tuberculosis. By giving Wyatt information about the train robbers, Doc offers the first thread in an unlikely friendship that will weave the two men’s lives into a common story that will be told through the ages.

READ CHAPTER ONE of “Adobe Moon” for free, now! www.wyattearpanamericanodyssey.com

Reviews:
“In 1896, Ed Colburn, who had been a Dodge City attorney during that town’s turbulent early years, remembered Wyatt Earp: ‘While there (Dodge City), I saw Wyatt Earp do things you wouldn’t undertake for a million dollars, and yet he did it every day just as a street car conductor rings up fares or a banker receives deposits.’ In Born to the Badge Mark Warren follows Earp through the Kansas cow-towns where he first makes a name for himself. They still talk about Wyatt Earp in Wichita and Dodge City. After reading this book, you’ll understand why.” ~Jeff Morey, Historical Consultant for the movie “Tombstone.”

Mark Warren is the first writer to illuminate the Earp story from the inside. Adobe Moon and Born to the Badge show you why Wyatt Earp became a legend and what that legend was born out of. ~Allen Barra, author of Inventing Wyatt Earp, his Life and Many Legends.

“Not every writer understands that the most important line in any book is the hook – that opening sentence which grabs your attention and makes you eager to read on. Born to the Badge opens with the following line: ‘Wichita, Kansas,was hell in the making…’ and there I went – engrossed for hours…Warren is able to convey scenes with a cinematic clarity. In this way, I can see the store room lit by the warm glow of a single lantern; and the prairie crossing at night, guided solely by the stars above and the subtle shapes of the land smudged on a distant horizon” ~Peta Stevalli, New Zealand Booklovers

“Warren’s novel paints a vivid picture of the lawlessness of the American Frontier…Although this book is a fictionalized account, its dedication to facts will keep history buffs satisfied, and its colorful similes will put a smile on any genre-fiction lover’s face.” ~ Booklist

“Historian Mark Warren’s second volume in his trilogy on the life and times of Wyatt Earp is an excellent story of Earp’s adventures and misadventures in Kansas, the Dakotas, and Texas. The dialogue is virtually true to life and gives the feeling the author must have been present when the words were originally spoken. This volume has been anticipated and meets all expectations. Whether one is new to the story of Wyatt Earp or a seasoned historian of the Wild West, there is something here for everyone who loves stories of adventure, law and order, and life on the western frontier of the 1870s. A most worthwhile contribution to the story of “Wyatt Earp, Wyatt Earp, Brave, Courageous, and Bold!” ~ Roy B. Young, author and Western historian, Wild West History Association

Uncensored expression: anyone is invited to step up to share song, music, poetry, comedy, magic, stories, rants & raves, & other performances!
The most eclectic open mic around, in a welcoming gallery setting! 6 pm signup, perform 6:30-8:30 pm.

If you’ve been playing small, then this month’s book is for you! Playing Big by Tara Mohr will help you find the methods and courage to play bigger in your life and stop living small. All womxn are welcome. If you are too busy to read the book, check out this podcast with the author and you’ll get a good sense of it from there. https://www.dontkeepyourdayjob.com/episodes/tara-mohr

Come to April Bookclub and check out at Firestorm Books. We’ll meet on the 3rd Tues, April 16th at 6:30pm. #bookclub #avl #828isgreat #womensempowerment #asheville

At 5’2″, comedian Jenn Snyder packs a whole lot of funny in her one-two punch style of comedy. Topics ranging from her days growing up as a lesbian in a “good ol’ boy” town, to her dealing with the public on a daily basis, this comedian will pull you in with her stories and leave you wanting more with her quick wit and hilarious observations. Born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, her ultimate goal is to unite all people through laughter.

ages 18+
Tickets $8 advance, $12 day of
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lazoom-comedy-night-jenn-snyder-tickets-61201280678