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.
Support:
Anti-Flag
Skinny Lister
Ages 18+
Flogging Molly Tour Package
- One general admission ticket
- VIP early entry into the venue
- Exclusive Flogging Molly merchandise item (only available in the VIP packages!)
- Flogging Molly tour poster, signed by Flogging Molly!
- Limited edition tour specific Flogging Molly patch – 2023 version (only available in the VIP packages!)
- Commemorative 2023 tour laminate
- Limited availability
Support:
Anti-Flag
Skinny Lister
Ages 18+
Flogging Molly Tour Package
- One general admission ticket
- VIP early entry into the venue
- Exclusive Flogging Molly merchandise item (only available in the VIP packages!)
- Flogging Molly tour poster, signed by Flogging Molly!
- Limited edition tour specific Flogging Molly patch – 2023 version (only available in the VIP packages!)
- Commemorative 2023 tour laminate
- Limited availability
Here Comes The Sun Band & Friends is a crew of extraordinary vocalists and multi-instrumentalists that love to recreate the fun and excitement of the greatest Rock n’ Roll experience ever–The Fab Four. Celebrate The Beatles with a fresh, vibrant, and musically authentic act that keeps audiences on their feet with a thrilling recreation of a decade of Beatles Music! “We don’t impersonate, we celebrate!” Join some of your favorite Flat Rock Playhouse musicians and vocalists in this modern rock-and-roll experience. Returning to perform the music of this legendary band are Flat Rock Playhouse favorites Eric Anthony, Paul Babelay, Dustin Brayley, Ryan Dunn, Ryan Guerra, and Nat Zegree
Every Thursday
- Live Music with Aaron Lafalce at 131 Main Restaurant, 6:00 p.m.
Join us on February 23, 2023 at the Dana Community Center and register for a health event that can transform your life! Discover the power of a highly effective, simple, and pure diet (not a starvation plan!) as we explore how to reduce cholesterol, blood pressure, and unwanted weight.
Also, you can choose to participate in testing that will show you where you started and how far you progressed during the program. Normally, these tests are pricey, but in the 3R Daniel Fast program you get the initial and final tests for just $15/person.
The full program will include easy-to-follow food demonstrations and recipes, as well as Bible and science-based health lectures given by physicians. Learn how to pray fervently and effectively and take home daily devotional materials to help you grow.
This event is the perfect opportunity to take control of your health and start living your best life. Register at the Dana Community Center on February 23 and don’t miss out on this 21-day, life-changing experience!
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
The great ones endure, and Gladys Knight – the “Empress of Soul” – has long been one of the greatest. Very few singers over the last fifty years have matched her unassailable artistry. This seven-time Grammy-winner has enjoyed #1 hits in Pop, Gospel, R&B and Adult Contemporary, and has triumphed in film, television and live performance.
Gladys Knight and The Pips debuted their first album in 1960, when Knight was just 16. With Knight singing lead and The Pips providing lush harmonies and graceful choreography, the group went on to achieve icon status. Top 20 hits like “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” “and “If I Were Your Woman” set the stage for an amazing run. With Top 10 gold-certified singles like “Neither One of Us (Wants to be the First to Say Goodbye),” “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination,” and the #1 smash hit “Midnight Train to Georgia” established the group as the premiere pop/R&B vocal ensemble in the world.
In 1995, Knight earned her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the next year, Gladys Knight & The Pips were inducted into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame. She and the Pips have been presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, and in 2004, Knight received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual BET Awards ceremony.
In 2014, Knight released Where My Heart Belongs, an inspiration gospel that won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Gospel Album. All told, Knight has recorded more than 38 albums over the years, including four solo albums in the past decade. No stranger to performing, Knight joined the cast of ABC’s hit reality competition “Dancing with the Stars” for season 14 and has made numerous cameos and guest judge appearances.
Here Comes The Sun Band & Friends is a crew of extraordinary vocalists and multi-instrumentalists that love to recreate the fun and excitement of the greatest Rock n’ Roll experience ever–The Fab Four. Celebrate The Beatles with a fresh, vibrant, and musically authentic act that keeps audiences on their feet with a thrilling recreation of a decade of Beatles Music! “We don’t impersonate, we celebrate!” Join some of your favorite Flat Rock Playhouse musicians and vocalists in this modern rock-and-roll experience. Returning to perform the music of this legendary band are Flat Rock Playhouse favorites Eric Anthony, Paul Babelay, Dustin Brayley, Ryan Dunn, Ryan Guerra, and Nat Zegree

HITS! The Musical is a high energy production featuring America’s best young superstars. The cast of approximately 22 members will consist of the country’s most talented singers and dancers, ages 8-21. The show will take audiences on a musical journey through the decades, highlighting the biggest hits of all time in Pop, Country, Rock and Broadway. It will incorporate fast- paced production medleys, dazzling costumes, and is sure to thrill audiences young and old!
The Magnetic Theatre is thrilled to kick off its 2023 Mainstage Season with HappyLand, a fun and fantastical new musical by Brayden Dickerson and Zach Knox of Asheville’s blues-fusion band Smooth Goose, featuring live tunes and an exciting ensemble of quirky characters.
This non-stop rock opera tells the tale of a delivery person who doesn’t quite fit into the titular town of HappyLand. Tasked with delivering one last package before the vacation they have been dreaming of, our bicycling box-bearer embarks on an epic journey through the barren Neither, where a host of unsavory characters contrives to stay this courier from their appointed rounds. Nevertheless, our maudlin messenger is determined to make it to SadLand. But what will they find when they arrive? Could the addressee be the love of their life? What message does the all-important package contain? And can our hero deliver the earth from annihilation?
Directed by Jason Phillips and featuring an ensemble cast with rotating lead actors, HappyLand is a delightful extravaganza of song, silliness, dance, romance, and splendiferous space battles.
| 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+
Hailed by The New York Times as the nation’s most important quartet, the JACK Quartet is one of the most respected groups performing today. JACK is composed of violinists Christopher Otto, Austin Wulliman, and John Pickford Richards, and cellist Jay Campbell.
As part of BMCM+AC’s Morton Feldman Weekend, JACK performs Morton Feldman’s Piano and String Quartet. Composed in 1985 at the age of 59, it was among Feldman’s final major completed works. He wrote the composition with the Kronos Quartet and Takahashi in mind and the score was written out by hand, as he had done for most other compositions of that period. Less than two years after the premiere of Piano and String Quartet, Feldman died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 61. In a 1994 interview, David Harrington said the following about the Kronos Quartet’s work with the composer: “Morton Feldman was unlike any other composer we’ve ever worked with. He wrote pieces that have a sense of time and a kind of realm that is very particular to his music. And I think Piano and String Quartet is one of his great, great pieces. It’s almost like feeling these incredible, warm, slow, beautiful drops of water over a long period of time. Not like a water torture, but—for me—a kind of sensual experience. You begin hearing the passage of time differently after listening to Morton’s music.”
Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was part of the experimental New York School of composers that included John Cage, Christian Wolff, Earle Brown and David Tudor. One of his early teachers was Stefan Wolpe.
Early experiments in graphic notation and electronic music eventually led to fully notated pieces and his characteristic sound: rhythms that seem to be free and floating, pitch shadings that seem softly unfocused, a generally quiet and slowly evolving music, and recurring asymmetric patterns.
John Cage was instrumental in encouraging Feldman to have confidence in his instincts, which resulted in totally intuitive compositions. He never worked with any systems that anyone has been able to identify, working from moment to moment, from one sound to the next.
The works of Morton Feldman occupy a central place in the American experimental tradition, not just within the music world. Feldman was very often inspired by non-musical sources, including Persian rugs, abstract expressionist paintings by Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning and Philip Guston, and texts of Samuel Beckett, John Ashbery and Frank O’Hara.
His later works, after 1977, explore extremes of duration. The sixty-minute Triadic Memories (1981) and the eighty-minute Piano and String Quartet (1985) are both incredible examples of Feldman’s later work that challenge our perception of time.
After 22 years in comedy, Leanne Morgan has cemented herself as a must-watch comedian.
Leanne was feeling the lure of Hollywood after graduating high school, but the idea of moving there was unheard of and too daunting for a country girl who had never been away from home. She enrolled in college at The University of Tennessee, where she graduated (by the skin of her teeth) with a degree in Child and Family Studies.
Shortly after that, she married her husband Chuck and they moved to Bean Station, TN in the beautiful foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.
To stay busy after having her first baby, Leanne started selling jewelry at home parties. She was supposed to talk about the jewelry but instead conversed about breastfeeding, hemorrhoids and being a mama. The party guests thought that she was hilarious to the point somebody peed on a couch, and before she knew it, she was booked out a year in-advance.
The jewelry company saw what was happening and asked her to speak at their sales rallies. It was there that women started saying, “you need to do stand-up!” That gave Leanne the courage to really go for it! Leanne finally had access to comedy clubs when her family moved to San Antonio in 2001, and her career in comedy quickly started to skyrocket.
Leanne’s comedy has landed her at the prestigious Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal and has brought her development deals for her own sitcom with ABC and Warner Brothers, writer/producer Matt Williams (Rosanne and Home Improvement), TV Land and with Sony Television.
Leanne has garnered over 2 million followers across social media and her popular stand-up special, So Yummy has reached over 50 million views on YouTube.
Her fan base continues to grow with her relatability as she discusses everything from being a housewife to sharing Jell-O recipes to having a new grandbaby. She has appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show, The View, Nick at Nite’s Funniest Mom and toured with the Southern Fried Chicks.
Now that her three children are grown, Leanne is currently on The Big Panty Tour for her 100-city theater run across the North America with Outback Concerts.
Pianist/composer and Guggenheim Fellow Amy Williams performs Triadic Memories, a solo piano piece composed by Morton Feldman in 1981. Triadic Memories was jointly dedicated to the classical pianists Roger Woodward and Aki Takahashi; Woodward performed the world premiere at the ICA London, UK in 1 October of 1981.
This piece heralds the composers late period, as Feldman himself described this work as the biggest butterfly in captivity. This statement refers to its vastness, the duration lasting over an hour and a half. Why these enormous lengths? Feldman says: Personally, l think the reason the pieces are so long is that form, as I understand it, no longer exists. My pieces aren’t too long, most pieces are actually too short…lf one listens to my pieces, they seem to fit into the temporal landscape I provide. Would you say that the Odyssey is too long?
The nation’s largest comedy club network, this collective brings top-notch comedians to the stage for an all-new, multi-event series of unrivaled hilarity. Upon entering The Comedy Zone, be prepared to laugh so hard you cry, as some of the hottest stand-up comedians of today — seen in specials on Comedy Central, HBO Comedy, Netflix, Hulu and more — deliver witty one-liners, preposterous punchlines and hysterical anecdotes that you’ll never forget. Contains adult content.
Here Comes The Sun Band & Friends is a crew of extraordinary vocalists and multi-instrumentalists that love to recreate the fun and excitement of the greatest Rock n’ Roll experience ever–The Fab Four. Celebrate The Beatles with a fresh, vibrant, and musically authentic act that keeps audiences on their feet with a thrilling recreation of a decade of Beatles Music! “We don’t impersonate, we celebrate!” Join some of your favorite Flat Rock Playhouse musicians and vocalists in this modern rock-and-roll experience. Returning to perform the music of this legendary band are Flat Rock Playhouse favorites Eric Anthony, Paul Babelay, Dustin Brayley, Ryan Dunn, Ryan Guerra, and Nat Zegree
The Magnetic Theatre is thrilled to kick off its 2023 Mainstage Season with HappyLand, a fun and fantastical new musical by Brayden Dickerson and Zach Knox of Asheville’s blues-fusion band Smooth Goose, featuring live tunes and an exciting ensemble of quirky characters.
This non-stop rock opera tells the tale of a delivery person who doesn’t quite fit into the titular town of HappyLand. Tasked with delivering one last package before the vacation they have been dreaming of, our bicycling box-bearer embarks on an epic journey through the barren Neither, where a host of unsavory characters contrives to stay this courier from their appointed rounds. Nevertheless, our maudlin messenger is determined to make it to SadLand. But what will they find when they arrive? Could the addressee be the love of their life? What message does the all-important package contain? And can our hero deliver the earth from annihilation?
Directed by Jason Phillips and featuring an ensemble cast with rotating lead actors, HappyLand is a delightful extravaganza of song, silliness, dance, romance, and splendiferous space battles.
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.
Described as “one of the Titans of Irish-American music” by the U.K.’s The Living Tradition magazine, the former frontman of legendary band Solas has influenced the Celtic genre in ways that few contemporary artists can match. Through his latest self-titled touring project, Seamus and his band explore the further reaches of the Celtic tradition, blazing at spectacular speed through Irish reels, while also taking on compositions that enrich the culture’s ancient melodies.
- Live Music at Hickory Tavern, 9:00 p.m. until 12:00 a.m.
The nation’s largest comedy club network, this collective brings top-notch comedians to the stage for an all-new, multi-event series of unrivaled hilarity. Upon entering The Comedy Zone, be prepared to laugh so hard you cry, as some of the hottest stand-up comedians of today — seen in specials on Comedy Central, HBO Comedy, Netflix, Hulu and more — deliver witty one-liners, preposterous punchlines and hysterical anecdotes that you’ll never forget. Contains adult content.
As a tradition practiced since 1801, shape-note singing is one of the oldest forms of music in the United States. Rooted in the rural South, it thrived during the 19th century as a form of education and socializing. Today, it persists in Appalachia and across the world. Stefani will teach participants the basics of learning how to read and sing shape-notes in order to preserve this historical practice. She will also relay the history of the practice of shape-note singing. Participants will be provided with The Christian Harmony shape-note music book.
About Stefani Priskos: Stefani Priskos is a North Carolina-based folklorist and educator from Alabama. Stefani holds an M.A. in folklore from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received UNC’s Archie Green Fellowship for Occupational Folklife for her master’s thesis research for her work on hospice bedside singing. She also holds a B.A. in linguistics from Barnard College of Columbia University, with concentrations in French and Modern Greek. When not collaborating with communities to document, explore, and celebrate established and emerging traditions, Stefani enjoys hiking, traveling, and shapenote singing. She currently serves as the Programs Development Manager at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC.
Here Comes The Sun Band & Friends is a crew of extraordinary vocalists and multi-instrumentalists that love to recreate the fun and excitement of the greatest Rock n’ Roll experience ever–The Fab Four. Celebrate The Beatles with a fresh, vibrant, and musically authentic act that keeps audiences on their feet with a thrilling recreation of a decade of Beatles Music! “We don’t impersonate, we celebrate!” Join some of your favorite Flat Rock Playhouse musicians and vocalists in this modern rock-and-roll experience. Returning to perform the music of this legendary band are Flat Rock Playhouse favorites Eric Anthony, Paul Babelay, Dustin Brayley, Ryan Dunn, Ryan Guerra, and Nat Zegree








