Calendar of Events
Upcoming events and things to do in Asheville, NC. Below is a list of events for festivals, concerts, art exhibitions, group meetups and more.
Interested in adding an event to our calendar? Please click the green “Post Your Event” button below.
Trivia, Singo, tailgate games, and more! Our games are sure to challenge you, but c’mon… it’s not rocket science!
In the late 19th century, the church became a gathering place for the Black community and impacted the development of what’s now considered soul food. Fried chicken, fried fish, sweet potato pie, red drinks, black-eyed peas, cornbread, and more were served during Emancipation celebrations and church gatherings. Celebrate 100 years of Stephens-Lee HIgh School at this dinner sponsored by school alumni and the East End/Valley Street Neighborhood Association with down-home cooking that’s been passed down through the generations. Advance registration is requested to help with planning. Please call (828) 350-2058 for more info.
Hops Around Comedy is a rotating show presented by Modelface Comedy that takes place in all your favorite Asheville breweries. This week we are at Ginger’s Revenge in the South Slope with Gwen Sunkel!!!
Gwen Sunkel is an Indianapolis comedian, emcee, and character actor. She performs regularly at Helium Comedy Club and The White Rabbit Cabaret where she is a cast member with An Evening With The Authors*. You’ve seen her at Cincinnati Brew Ha-Ha, Yuckfest, and Limestone Comedy Festival and on the Vice TV Series ‘Hunters.’ Gwen is also contributing writer for AWF Magazine. She is a producer with Rocketship Comedy and co-hosts a series of benefit shows that have raised over $15,000 for reproductive health organizations in the Midwest.
Featuring TBA
ages 18+
doors at 6:30, show at 7p
| Electric Kif are a Miami-based power quartet that explore the boundaries between rock, jazz fusion and electronic drum & bass. Made up of bassist Rodrigo Zambrano, keyboardist Jason Matthews, drummer Armando Lopez and guitarist Eric Escanes, Electric Kif have garnered attention of the live music scene for their eclectic take on groove and their own brand of ‘post-nuclear music’. Within the past year, they released their 4th full length LP ‘DREAMLIKE’ featuring international heavy hitters Aaron Parks & Chris Bullock of Snarky Puppy. Their latest stand alone single ‘CODE GREEN’ also features Chicago rapper, Mick Jenkins and Miami’s own Wrekonize.
Socials: http://www.electrickif.com http://www.facebook.com/electrickif http://www.instagram.com/electrickif https://www.youtube.com/user/Electrickif
“From deep keyboard riffs to edgy electric guitar plucks and punchy drums, “Sonar” is an out-of-this-world triumph that rejects genre queues and embraces the abstract nature of sound itself.“ – Casablanca Sunset
“Track after track, Dreamlike pulls listeners back and forth between dense rhythmic passages and ethereal stretches of space making this one of the more creative and intricate albums of the year so far.” – This Song is Sick
“Electric Kif is one of the most compelling new bands around.” – Secret Eclectic
“Marrakush… jazz and downtempo experiment at its finest.” – Indie Criollo
“…hypnotic and intriguing, the band lay down their blistering musicianship…” – Plastic Magazine
“…this power quartet [will] become the “next” thing on the national scene” – Ground Up Music
“Unmissable” – Miami New Times
“With a tight dynamic attack and blend, the Miami-based Electric Kif offers up the challenge of jazz fusion without the confusion. It’s high spirited and extremely high energy but doesn’t seem hell-bent on confounding as others may do.” – Rochester City Paper “Simply as good as it gets…” – Music Fest News
“…dreamy but melodically engaging listening experience from start to finish.’ – Live For Live Music |
– STANDING ROOM ONLY
MIDNIGHT NORTH
There’s Always a Story represents a new chapter for Midnight North. Ten stories told through song on their most polished album to date.
Reflecting on the time since their origin, Midnight North is ready to tell the world its story. A group of multi-instrumentalists with songwriting roots in Folk and Americana, Midnight North is a mainstay on the stages of the national touring circuit. Rolling Stone hailed Midnight North as the “Best New Act” in its review of 2018’s Peach Music Festival saying the band “takes the best parts of roots music and weaves them into a tapestry of rock and Americana.”
Grahame Lesh, Elliott Peck, & Connor O’Sullivan began playing together in San Francisco. In early 2012 they played their first show as Grahame Lesh & Friends. Grahame & Elliott both brought a repertoire of original music to this new project that was a perfect marriage once the band began performing in earnest. In late 2012 the band went into the studio for the first time, tracking the entirety of their debut album End of the Night in just 2 days. End of the Night (mixed & produced by Connor) was released in June 2013 as they officially debuted the name Midnight North.
The band began touring in June 2015, with the release of their second album Scarlet Skies. That began a five year run as a touring band, playing in 36 states in front of thousands of people across the country. They released Under the Lights, their most successful studio album to date, in summer 2017. “Across all of the tracks, when you think you have the band pegged for a style or a genre, all of a sudden a chorus, or a new solo or new instrument altogether, diverts the music boldly but smartly to a new sound and feel,” said The Poke Around in their review of Under the Lights. They also released two live albums including 2018’s Selections From the Great American Music Hall which featured Bob Weir & Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead plus members of Twiddle as special guests.
A pivotal moment for the band came when Grahame met drummer Nathan Graham at a benefit show in Philadelphia in 2016. A month later Nathan sat in with the band for a show, eventually joining the band for their longest tour to date in the Spring of 2017. Bringing on the well seasoned drummer as a full-time member of the band (and learning about his banjo playing, singing, and song-writing skills) represented the next step forward as plans were made to record their fourth studio album.
In January 2020, the band went into a California studio with producer David Simon-Baker to craft their fourth studio album, There’s Always a Story, released in 2021 on Americana Vibes. As the world shut down in March and the band quarantined separately around the country, the album was finished remotely in California and Pennsylvania. As the months ticked by they let the rest of the newly written & recorded songs sink into their consciousness so that when work resumed on the album in June the entire album became even better than they could have hoped.
2022 and beyond is a new beginning, and while Midnight North longingly looks ahead, hand-in-hand with the rest of the world, There’s Always a Story will serve as a collective and reflective narrative.
Support:
Ashland Craft
Ages 18+
Register for our Cuba Agroecology Tour!
April 4-13, 2023Want to learn from farmers and food activists about Cuba’s transition to agroecological farming practices and its national policies that prioritize sustainable farming and hunger remediation?
This is your opportunity to join our 9-day tour of Cuba’s sustainable farms! On our tour, we visit with farmers, NGOs, policymakers, and experts to learn about the history of Cuba, their transition to organic agriculture, and ongoing initiatives to support farmers and expand agroecological practices.
Many have heard of “love languages”; the ways we share and receive love from those most important in our life. One of those love languages? Acts of service. What better act of service than donating blood with The Blood Connection (TBC) and their partner organizations? Donating blood is a compassionate way to show our neighbors and community just how much we care. This February, TBC is partnering with Texas Roadhouse to provide fun and rewarding opportunities to donate blood.
On February 23 and March 2, TBC is once again partnering with Texas Roadhouse for the “Hearts as Big as Texas” campaign. Now in its fifth year, Hearts as Big as Texas brings more than 20 bloodmobiles out across the Carolinas and Georgia to make blood donation convenient and fun for community members. As a thank you for donating, all blood donors will receive a $20 Texas Roadhouse Gift card, a free appetizer coupon, plus a bonus $30 eGift card! Participating locations include:
- Anderson, SC
- Asheville, NC
- Augusta, GA
- Columbia (Columbiana), SC
- Columbia (Two Notch), SC
- Durham, NC
- Florence, SC
- Gainesville, GA
- Gastonia, NC
- Greenville, NC
- Holly Springs, NC
- Macon, GA
- Myrtle Beach, SC
- North Charleston, SC
- Savannah, GA
- Spartanburg, SC
- Taylors, SC
- Wake Forest, NC
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Free Family Education classes from Bounty & Soul. Each month, Bounty & Soul educators share practical information with parents and caregivers to support your child’s health and development. Classes are FREE, but please register on the Bounty & Soul site under the Schedule tab. Quick access HERE. |
Included with admission
Back by popular demand, The Vanderbilts at Home and Abroad exhibition offers guests:
- An opportunity to view rarely-seen treasures from the Biltmore collection
- A first-hand look at the Vanderbilts’ lifestyle
- Deeper insights into George, Edith, and Cornelia’s personalities, both at home and on their extensive travels
Access to exhibitions at The Biltmore Legacy is included with Biltmore daytime admission.
Join us for a relaxing ride through quiet countryside on your way to small town life in western North Carolina on the Tuckasegee River Excursion. Departing from Bryson City, this 4 hour excursion travels 32 miles round-trip to Dillsboro and back to the Bryson City Depot. Pass by the famous movie set of The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford!
- About This Trip
- Things To Do
- Itinerary
- Classes of Service and Pricing
- Class Comparison
- How to Purchase
- Schedule
- The Tuckasegee (tuck-uh-SEE-jee) River Excursion includes an 1 hour and 20 minute layover in the historic town of Dillsboro, where you’ll find more than 50 shops, restaurants, a brewery, and country inns. There is time to shop, snack, and visit the many unique shops before returning to Bryson City.
After a lifetime of crafting finely-wrought, heart-touching songs, singer-songwriter Pierce Pettis feels that he’s finally found his comfort zone. “The biggest change,” he says of this point in his career “has been getting over myself and realizing this is a job and a craft. And the purpose is not fame and fortune (whatever that is) but simply doing good work.”
“From the time I was very little, I always had the music going in my head,” Pettis explains. “Like my own personal soundtrack or something. I also come from a fairly musical family: my mother went to music school and was an excellent organist and pianist. And my sisters all played piano and other instruments. In school, I met other kids who wanted to be rock stars, just like me. From the time we were around 10 or so up through high school, we put together various bands — all of them horrible.”
His “horrible” bands didn’t deter him though and even though he had a nagging feeling (“I thought I was supposed to be a doctor or something.”) he persevered, not only playing music but writing songs in a mix of rock, folk, country and R&B genres that landed him an unpaid position as a staff writer for Muscle Shoals Sounds Studios. While there, his track “Song at the End of the Movie” found its way to Joan Baez’s 1979 album Honest Lullaby.
Pettis hit the road and became a member of the “Fast Folk” movement in New York in the mid-1980’s. He released one independent solo album, Moments (1984) before signing with High Street Records, a division of Windham Hill. There, he released three albums: While the Serpent Lies Sleeping (1989), Tinseltown (1991), and Chase the Buffalo (1993). His relationship with Tinseltown producer Mark Heard transcended the album. After Heard’s untimely death in 1992, Pettis committed to including a song of Heard’s on every one of his own albums, a practice that continues to this day.
Pettis was a staff songwriter for PolyGram from 1993-2000 and when his High Street contract ended, Pettis signed to Compass Records where he has released Making Light of It (1996), Everything Matters (1998), State of Grace (2001), and Great Big World (2004). Pierce Pettis’ songs have been recorded by artists including Susan Ashton, Dar Williams, Garth Brooks and Art Garfunkel.
His album, “That Kind of Love” on Compass Records was released January 27 2009. In 2013, “New Agrarians –Songs & Stories of the Southland” was released, a co-effort by Pierce Pettis, Kate Campbell & Tom Kimmel. “Father’s Son”, Pettis’ newest solo project for Compass Records Group, was released January of 2019 to widespread critical praise in the US, UK and Europe.
- Live Music at Hickory Tavern, 9:00 p.m. until 12:00 a.m.
Register for our Cuba Agroecology Tour!
April 4-13, 2023Want to learn from farmers and food activists about Cuba’s transition to agroecological farming practices and its national policies that prioritize sustainable farming and hunger remediation?
This is your opportunity to join our 9-day tour of Cuba’s sustainable farms! On our tour, we visit with farmers, NGOs, policymakers, and experts to learn about the history of Cuba, their transition to organic agriculture, and ongoing initiatives to support farmers and expand agroecological practices.
TFAC invites all artists: painters, sculptors, writers, performers & more — to a casual weekly drop-in gathering on Saturday mornings at 9 AM to share your works in progress, alert others, and chat about art and what’s happening in your community.
The first weekly Coffee is Saturday, August 20 at 9 am.
No RSVP needed, just drop by!
Free parking available on Melrose Avenue, behind and alongside TFAC.
Included with admission
Back by popular demand, The Vanderbilts at Home and Abroad exhibition offers guests:
- An opportunity to view rarely-seen treasures from the Biltmore collection
- A first-hand look at the Vanderbilts’ lifestyle
- Deeper insights into George, Edith, and Cornelia’s personalities, both at home and on their extensive travels
Access to exhibitions at The Biltmore Legacy is included with Biltmore daytime admission.
Join us for a relaxing ride through quiet countryside on your way to small town life in western North Carolina on the Tuckasegee River Excursion. Departing from Bryson City, this 4 hour excursion travels 32 miles round-trip to Dillsboro and back to the Bryson City Depot. Pass by the famous movie set of The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford!
- About This Trip
- Things To Do
- Itinerary
- Classes of Service and Pricing
- Class Comparison
- How to Purchase
- Schedule
- The Tuckasegee (tuck-uh-SEE-jee) River Excursion includes an 1 hour and 20 minute layover in the historic town of Dillsboro, where you’ll find more than 50 shops, restaurants, a brewery, and country inns. There is time to shop, snack, and visit the many unique shops before returning to Bryson City.
Nobody’s Darling String Band is here every Saturday from 4-6! Stop in for an afternoon libation and enjoy the ladies picking’ away on the stage!
March 25, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. – VIP Dinner
March 25, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. – Concert
Arthel “Doc” Watson was one of the most influential and beloved music artists of the 20th century. Born in 1923 in Deep Gap, North Carolina, Doc overcame his loss of sight as an infant to become a legendary performer of numerous music forms on a wide variety of instruments including guitar, banjo, mandolin, and harmonica.
Doc combined his warm baritone voice with virtuoso talents on the guitar and other instruments to put his unique stamp on ancient ballads, modern American show tunes, gospel, blues, and a remarkable range of popular and traditional music. His virtuosity on guitar was revealed through his pioneering work demonstrating that the acoustic guitar’s capabilities extended well beyond simply being a background rhythm instrument, to include blazing instrumental lead work, especially with traditional fiddle tunes.
DOC AT 100 is a fundraiser concert for FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge that celebrates the life and legacy of Doc Watson by those who performed with Doc, were profoundly influenced by his music, and called him a friend. This includes T. Michael Coleman and Jack Lawrence, who performed, recorded, and toured with Doc longer than any other musicians he worked with. Joining T. Michael and Jack, are fellow guitarists Wayne Henderson and Jack Hinshelwood, who were both heavily impacted by Doc’s music through his many recordings and performances, and Wayne counted Doc as a close friend, especially in Doc’s later years when he enjoyed visiting Wayne in his guitar making shop in Rugby, Virginia.
Ted Olson, Professor of Appalachian Studies at East Tennessee State University, is the author of “Doc’s World: Traditional Plus,” the book that accompanies the 4 CD compilation of recordings from Doc’s career released in 2022 by Craft Records called “Doc Watson, Life’s Work: A Retrospective.”
DOC AT 100 begins with a pre-concert talk led by host Ted Olson on the legacy of Doc Watson followed by stories shared by the artists who knew Doc as a friend and fellow performer. The audience will also be encouraged to share their stories of Doc and the impact he had on them.
The VIP ticket includes premium seating to the concert and the VIP Dinner.
Dave Brubeck, Art Blakey and George Benson are legends in the jazz world, but they’re not exactly household names to the typical high school student.
It’s safe to say Wilson Vest, Gabe Glasser and Espen Raustol are not typical high school students. The trio of 17-year-old juniors recently formed the Altamont Jazz Project, which has secured a weekly gig at Finch Gourmet Market & Wine Bar in Biltmore Village.
Along with Brubeck, Blakey and Benson, the musicians cite Buddy Rich, Ryo Fukui, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass and Bill Evans as influences.
“By the time we decided to start the jazz trio, we had all seen, heard and experienced jazz in varied degrees and in different spaces and styles,” says guitarist Raustol, who attends the School of Inquiry and Life Sciences at Asheville. “We try to branch out to play many varieties and many colors of jazz — fast, slow, happy, sad.”
The three started playing together in the sixth grade as part of a rock/funk band called the Seven Lemonz, before shifting their focus to jazz. Vest and Glasser attend Carolina Day School.
Vest plays drums and Glasser plays keyboard for the Altamont Jazz Project, which takes its moniker from Thomas Wolfe’s fictional name for Asheville in his classic novel Look Homeward, Angel. “We wanted something that referenced where we are from,” Raustol explains.
Ages 18+ PARTIALLY SEATED SHOW
This show was originally scheduled for Feb 25, 2023.
Paul Thorn
St.Owsley is THE modern day Jerry Garcia/ Grateful Dead tribute
St. Owsley is composed of some of the most intuitive and empathetic musicians the Jam Band scene has to offer. With thunderous bass, soaring leads, grooves of steel and improvisation that borders on insanity, St. Owsley not only wants to play the songs you know and love, but to also elevate and take them to the next level through new sounds and directions enveloped by a truly one of a kind experience. The care and attention that they put into their renditions of these timeless tunes is unmatched and unrivaled by any other tribute out there today.
St. Owsley is:
Davvy: Lead Guitar/ Vocals
Toby: Keys/ Vocals
Joel: Sacred Steel/ Vocals
Atlas: Bass/ Vocals
Taylor: Drums/ Heartbeat
Register for our Cuba Agroecology Tour!
April 4-13, 2023Want to learn from farmers and food activists about Cuba’s transition to agroecological farming practices and its national policies that prioritize sustainable farming and hunger remediation?
This is your opportunity to join our 9-day tour of Cuba’s sustainable farms! On our tour, we visit with farmers, NGOs, policymakers, and experts to learn about the history of Cuba, their transition to organic agriculture, and ongoing initiatives to support farmers and expand agroecological practices.
Included with admission
Back by popular demand, The Vanderbilts at Home and Abroad exhibition offers guests:
- An opportunity to view rarely-seen treasures from the Biltmore collection
- A first-hand look at the Vanderbilts’ lifestyle
- Deeper insights into George, Edith, and Cornelia’s personalities, both at home and on their extensive travels
Access to exhibitions at The Biltmore Legacy is included with Biltmore daytime admission.
Think you have what it takes to win the Chili Master Apron? Step up
and join up to 12 chef contestants who will battle to win our 1st Annual Chili Cook-Off title! Prizes for each category winner
(Traditional, Vegetarian, and Most Creative.) Register now in the tasting room or Email [email protected] for an
entry form. The deadline for contest entry is Sunday, February 19th, Chili Chef Entry Fee: $25, Chili Tasters will vote for each
category and prizes will be awarded.
Or…
Become a Chili Taster! If you are looking for a spicy warm weekend event, then this is for you! Come try all kinds of chili – hot or
not – vegetarian – beans or no beans – taste them all and VOTE for the BEST Chili Chef! It’s going to be a great competition to
see who wins the Black Apron and the MASTER CHILI CHEF title! Chili Taster Tickets are available online, $32 (Cost of ticket
and Tax)(Includes Chili, Cornbread and a Glass of wine), Limited Amount of Tickets Available and must be purchased in advance
at https://checkout.square.site/buy/R2DY4JKBNMA6FKONZHRV57KS
Figure Drawing Salon-
Live nude model, art instructor host, bring your own art supplies. We have a limited supply available. Some community supplies available for use. We ask for a $15 donation at the door to support the instructor and model.
Format may vary but usually consists of- 5-1 min
2- 5 min
1- 10 min
2- 20 min each pose different 10 min break in between
2- 20 minute poses same pose
Come learn and mingle with a fun and friendly community of artists! Normally hosted the last Sunday of every month.
A fun ban with a wide ranging repertoire of early jazz and other favorites.
The boys in the Blue Lighting Jazz Band do a bunch of great old songs that most listeners will recognize or know and want to sing along with — some folks might even want to get up on the dance floor and get down with their bad selves!
Expect to hear some of your old favorites like:
After You’ve Gone, Sweet Georgia Brown, St. Louis Blues, Up A Lazy River, Basin Street Blues, Bourbon Street Parade, Corrine Corrina, Dark Eyes, Bring It On Down To My House Honey, He’s In The Jailhouse Now, Four Or Five Times, I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, I’m Confessin’, Bye Bye Blackbird, Lonesome Road, Washington and Lee Swing, Wild Man Blues, Wabash Blues, Somebody Stole My Gal, Just A Closer Walk With Thee, Columbia Gem of the Ocean, Battle Hymn of the Republic, The Blue Lightning Blues .
The band is comprised of local all-stars including:
Rich Willey on trumpet and tuba and does some of the vocals.
Bill Reichenbach on trombone and tuba.
Walt Kross on clarinet and tenor saxophone.
Russ Wilson on tenor banjo and drums plus he does almost all of the vocals.
Register for our Cuba Agroecology Tour!
April 4-13, 2023Want to learn from farmers and food activists about Cuba’s transition to agroecological farming practices and its national policies that prioritize sustainable farming and hunger remediation?
This is your opportunity to join our 9-day tour of Cuba’s sustainable farms! On our tour, we visit with farmers, NGOs, policymakers, and experts to learn about the history of Cuba, their transition to organic agriculture, and ongoing initiatives to support farmers and expand agroecological practices.