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.
Three weekly farmers tailgate markets in Buncombe County will operate through the winter in 2022. Though smaller, these markets will continue to offer the freshest seasonal produce in addition to meats, eggs, cheeses, bread, beverages, and artisan foods. Expect to see storage crops, like sweet potatoes, potatoes, and winter squash, plus cold-weather veggies like turnips, radishes, and dark leafy greens.
Buncombe County farmers markets with weekly dates January to March are:
ASAP Farmers Market, outdoors at A-B Tech Community College, 340 Victoria Rd., Saturdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m. Averaging 45 vendors each week with more than two dozen produce farms, half a dozen bakers, several meat and cheese producers, coffee, and a wide variety of artisan and prepared foods.
River Arts District Farmers Market, outdoors and indoors at Plēb Urban Winery, 289 Lyman St., Wednesdays, 3–5:30 p.m. Two dozen weekly vendors, including two produce farms, mushrooms, cheese, bread and baked goods, and more.
Weaverville Tailgate Market, indoors at Weaverville Community Center, 60 Lakeshore Dr., Wednesdays, 3–6 p.m. Bread, cheese, and fermented food makers alongside a small lineup of craft and artisan vendors.
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You can also attend one of our weekly garden workday events:
Pearson Garden and Nursery Garden workdays Wednesdays from 3-5pm. Located at 408 Pearson Dr. in Montford. Please click this link to sign up. Contact [email protected] for more information.
Hall Fletcher Elementary School FEAST Garden Wednesdays 2:45-4:00pm, 60 Ridgelawn Rd. Please click this link to sign up. Contact [email protected] for more information.
Lucy Herring Elementary School Peace Garden (formerly Vance Elementary School) in West Asheville. Workdays Tuesdays 2:45-3:45. The garden will again be closed to the public from 8 AM- 2:30 pm so that classes can use the garden for outdoor learning. Please contact [email protected] for questions and to RSVP
**We give away free produce donated by Mother Earth Food every week at our Sharing Table Mondays after 3 pm
Three weekly farmers tailgate markets in Buncombe County will operate through the winter in 2022. Though smaller, these markets will continue to offer the freshest seasonal produce in addition to meats, eggs, cheeses, bread, beverages, and artisan foods. Expect to see storage crops, like sweet potatoes, potatoes, and winter squash, plus cold-weather veggies like turnips, radishes, and dark leafy greens.
Buncombe County farmers markets with weekly dates January to March are:
ASAP Farmers Market, outdoors at A-B Tech Community College, 340 Victoria Rd., Saturdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m. Averaging 45 vendors each week with more than two dozen produce farms, half a dozen bakers, several meat and cheese producers, coffee, and a wide variety of artisan and prepared foods.
River Arts District Farmers Market, outdoors and indoors at Plēb Urban Winery, 289 Lyman St., Wednesdays, 3–5:30 p.m. Two dozen weekly vendors, including two produce farms, mushrooms, cheese, bread and baked goods, and more.
Weaverville Tailgate Market, indoors at Weaverville Community Center, 60 Lakeshore Dr., Wednesdays, 3–6 p.m. Bread, cheese, and fermented food makers alongside a small lineup of craft and artisan vendors.
Montford Pre-Teen Afterschool Program
Pre-registration required. FREE for the 2021-2022 school year
August 23, 2021 – June 3, 2022 | Monday-Friday | 3:30-6pm
5th-6th graders.
New program designed to meet the needs of your pre-teen.
Providing time dedicated to school assignments, life skills, arts,
communication, leadership, fitness, nutrition, and loads of fun.
Location: Montford
Teen Leadership Program
Pre-registration required. FREE for the 2021-2022 school year
August 23, 2021-June 3, 2022 | Monday-Friday | 3:30-6pm
6th-9th graders.
Looking for a cool and enriching alternative for your Teen to attend
this school year? We offer creative activities, diverse projects,
field trips, and more.
Locations: Grant, Shiloh, Stephens-Lee
Before you even begin thinking about volunteering, ask yourself – Am I well enough to volunteer?
Your safety and limiting the spread of COVID-19 is everyone’s main priority. We encourage you to review and adhere to the recommendations on the Buncombe County readiness site on how best to avoid COVID-19 and what to do if you think you might have it.
Literacy Together (formerly the Literacy Council of Buncombe County) is a nonprofit organization working with children, youth, and adults to increase comprehensive literacy and English language skills through access to literacy resources and specialized instruction by trained volunteer tutors. Literacy Together relies on volunteer tutors to offer students personal instruction and high-quality materials through various programs.
The Youth Literacy Program is seeking tutors to meet with students K-5 twice a week for 50 minutes, between 3:30 pm and 5:30 pm. The Youth Literacy Program works with two after-school programs that primarily serve youth of color. The two locations are in Asheville.
Youth Literacy tutors work with children from low-income families who read, write, and/or spell below their grade level. Tutors in this program complete an initial orientation and a 16-20 hours training, which includes some pre-course work and/or homework (short articles to read, short videos to watch). They then receive follow-up support and the option to attend in-service training throughout their tutoring commitment. Youth Literacy tutors commit to working with their students for at least one school year.
Time Commitment:
- Twice a week for 50-minute sessions between 3:30 pm and 5:30 pm.
- Youth Literacy tutors commit to working with their students for at least one school year.
Requirements:
- GED or High School diploma
- Excellent customer service skills
- Ability to work patiently with various levels of literacy skills
- Access to reliable internet
- Ability to navigate virtual meetings with minimal distractions
- Complete a background check
Training:
- Tutors must complete 16-20 hours of training prior to being assigned a student
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Space is limited.
Book an appointment at FairyKimSparkles.com/calendar
Children of all ages love the circus — especially the Hejaz Shrine Circus, Upstate South Carolina’s premier family entertainment extravaganza! Held at the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium, this family-friendly event is incredible fun for the whole family and should not be missed! It brings in families from all over the Upstate!
The circus offers lots of fun, but it is also an annual fundraising event for the Hejaz Shrine. The profits of the circus support the operations of the Hejaz Shrine and allow us to effectively serve the Hejaz Charities in the Upstate.
When you attend the Hejaz Shrine Circus, we know you and your family will have lots of fun — all while helping local children and families.
When you buy a ticket … it’s more than just a ticket.
Wednesday
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm
All beginning students receive 45 minutes of group instruction and 45 minutes of singing/storytelling.
Group song & story: Gaye Johnson (known for having the sweetest voice in the region) gives students the strong foundation they need for learning an instrument. To learn music most effectively, students must know the songs before they play them on an instrument – then the learning becomes intuitive. This fun class equips students with the classic songs and stories of the region and helps launch their musical abilities.
Instrument options:
Age ranges are suggestions. Please email Julie if your child is outside the age range for the class they wish to take.
Option 1: Beginning ukulele, ages 6-8
Option 2: Instrument Survey, ages 8-14
Continuing from last semester, this instrument survey class will focus on clawhammer banjo, plus one additional instrument to be chosen by the students.
Option 3: Beginning guitar, ages 8-14
Option 4: Beginner mandolin ages 8-14
Option 5: Beginner fiddle ages 8-14
*Please be sure to select the student’s 1st and 2nc\d instrument choices when registering.
Enjoy a $6 glass of wine and 1/2 off bottles every Wednesday night!
Does your little kid have a big imagination and lots of energy? Then this class exploring the fundamentals of theatre is just for them! During this 8-week class, students will explore favorite storybook characters and bring them to life through acting, creative movement, and music! This high-energy class will celebrate your young artist’s creativity, develop skills in improvisation, public speaking, and expression, and release creative energy in a meaningful way. With new material every semester, this class can (and should) be taken multiple times!
Instructor: Tania Battista
Notes: This class will be held outdoors when the temperature allows. When indoors, all students and staff will be required to wear masks.
Our Youth Production Classes offer youth theatrical instruction from the first audition to the last curtain call! All productions listed are performed by youth in middle and high school. We will be offering TWO sessions of The Giver – 1 session for middle school students, and one session for high school students. Classes will meet afterschool, and each session will end with two performances on the Mainstage!
Registration for both sessions will begin on Tuesday, February 8, 2022. Tuition will be $350.00 – payment plans and scholarships will both be available.
Directed by: Janice Schreiber
Classes/rehearsals: Meet Monday and Wednesday afternoons March 7-May 4, 2022 from 4:30-6:00 pm
Tech Week: Monday, May 9 – Thursday, May 12, 2022; 4:30-6:30 pm each night
Performances: Saturday, May 14, 2022 at 2:30 pm and Sunday, May 15, 2022 at 6:30 pm
Our Youth Production Classes offer youth theatrical instruction from the first audition to the last curtain call! All productions listed are performed by youth in middle and high school. We will be offering TWO sessions of The Giver – 1 session for middle school students, and one session for high school students. Classes will meet afterschool, and each session will end with two performances on the Mainstage!
Registration for both sessions will begin on Tuesday, February 8, 2022. Tuition will be $350.00 – payment plans and scholarships will both be available.
Middle School Cast:
Please note: Advanced level memorization is required for this class. Most roles will not be split and the number of lines each performer will be expected to memorize may be larger than in past middle school Youth Performance Classes.
Directed by: Michael Jorizzo
Classes/rehearsals: Meet Monday and Wednesday afternoons March 14-May 11, 2022 from 4:30-6:00 pm
Tech Week: Monday, May 16 – Thursday, May 19, 2022; 4:30-6:30 pm each night
Performances: Saturday, May 21, 2022 at 2:30 pm and Sunday, May 22, 2022 at 6:30 pm
Wednesdays
4:30 pm-6:00pm
All students with some experience under their belt will take an intermediate or advanced group instrument class, and a band class.
- 4:30-5:15
Jam Band: Phil Jenkins & Carson Moore help young musicians find their voice in a band environment.
- 5:15 – 6:00
Option 1: Intermediate Guitar
Option 2: Intermediate Fiddle
Option 3: Intermediate Mandolin
Option 4: Three-finger banjo- all levels
Clover Pickers: 4:00- 6:00
PacJAM’s house band gets rigorous coaching this semester from Emily Wait and special guest coaches. Clover Pickers will spend 5 weeks of the semester practicing their teaching skills from 4-4:45 weekly, and 5 weeks working on choosing and arranging songs for Clover Picker performance. Band rehearsal and coaching last from 4:45-6 for all 10 weeks. Clover Pickers band is by invitation and the commitment requires extra rehearsals as determined by the group.
Cook teams of 4-6 individuals are invited to bring ingredients and prepare meals onsite or bring meals that have been prepared elsewhere. To meet our dietary standards, we ask that each meal provides a meat, vegetable and starch.
Requirements:
- Background Check
- Brief orientation prior to service
- Ability to Multi-Task
- Friendly Demeanor
Health & Safety:
- We are asking volunteers to wear/bring their own face mask if you have not been fully vaccinated
- Temperatures will be checked and a COVID-19 disclosure will be signed at the volunteer entrance
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Before you even begin thinking about volunteering, ask yourself – Am I well enough to volunteer?
Your safety and limiting the spread of COVID-19 is everyone’s main priority. We encourage you to review and adhere to the recommendations on the Buncombe County readiness site on how best to avoid COVID-19 and what to do if you think you might have it.
ABCCM Transformation Village provides up to 100 beds of transitional housing and will provide emergency shelter beds, post Covid-19. Transforming lives is through four developmental phases called Steps to Success including stabilization, life skills, education and reintegration. We are honored to report that 8 out of 10 leave us with a living wage job and permanent housing.
Transformation Village gives hope, healing, health and a home to single women, mothers with children, and female Veterans experiencing homelessness. We provide residents a fresh start and a place to heal surrounded and supported by Christian love, trust, education and companionship.
We are seeking energetic volunteers to prepare and serve meals for our residents for lunch and dinner. This opportunity provides you with the chance to prepare meals in our commercial kitchen alongside our trained staff while serving the women and children of Transformation Village.
• 1-2 shifts: Event t-shirt
• 3 shifts: Event t-shirt + one appreciation party invite
• 4+ shifts: Event t-shirt + two appreciation party invites
• 4+ shifts, including at least one late shift: Event t-shirt + two VIP appreciation party invites
• Volunteers also receive beverage tokens to use after shifts (when applicable)
While participating in the Lights program, students can develop their songwriting, performing, and musicianship skills while exploring music from around the world. They will have extensive performance opportunities with a focus on music that inspires, uplifts, and spreads a music of unity and hope. Students will record their music in the One Mic studio and learn about the music industry and explore topics such as audio engineering, stage presence, graphic design, videography, website development and more while learning to use their music to be a force for change. Advanced students will have the opportunity to work towards touring locally and regionally with the Lights concert tour. They will also have the opportunity to regularly interact with and learn from LEAF resident artists. Students will be exposed to music from a diverse range of genres and cultures. Students will have the opportunity to see how music connects us on a deep level and how it can create joy, bring people together, and instigate change. LEAF lights will lift young leaders and give them a platform to make a difference in the lives of others.
Wednesdays at 5pm (Junior Group) & 6pm (Senior Group) at LEAF Global Experience (19 Eagle St, Asheville, NC, 28801)
Dates/times subject to change – interested in attending this class but unsure if it works with your schedule, or if it suits your student’s skill level? Reach out to us at [email protected]! We are always looking to adapt and expand our class schedules to accommodate new students!
Hone your acting, singing, and dance skills in this class that dives into Broadway repertoire. With a focus on vocal technique, storytelling through song, and ensemble-based performance, this class will celebrate each actor’s individuality and boost their confidence to make more bold choices on and off stage. With new material every semester, this class can (and should) be taken multiple times!
Instructor: Anna Kimmell
Notes: This class will be held outdoors when the weather allows. When indoors, all students and staff will be required to wear masks.
This is a hybrid event, meaning there is an option to attend virtually and a limited amount of seats available to attend the event in-store. Registration is required for both in-person and virtual attendance.
Please click here to register for the VIRTUAL event. The link required to attend will be emailed to registrants prior to the event.
Please click here to register for the IN-PERSON event. Note the important event details on the RSVP form.
If you decide to attend and purchase the authors’ books, we ask that you purchase from Malaprop’s. When you do this you make it possible for us to continue hosting author events and you keep more dollars in our community. You may also support our work by purchasing a gift card or making a donation of any amount below. Thank you!
About Chasm:
Two months have passed since Patch Collins narrowly escaped the Board, leaving her loved ones behind to navigate the escalating tensions in America. Patch finds herself in an unfamiliar world, struggling with her mental health, and surrounded by those who abandoned the very idea of American diplomacy long ago. When a familiar enemy resurfaces and she learns the previously unknown fate of a loved one, Patch must make a choice: stay and live a life of relative safety, or risk everything to expose the Board’s actions to the world.
Jacqui Castle is a professional freelance writer and novelist. She lives and writes in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville, North Carolina. Jacqui was selected as the 2020 Indie Author of the Year by the Indie Author Project(in collaboration with Library Journal and Biblioboard). Her debut novel, The Seclusion, is a Foreword Indies Book of the Year Award winner in Science Fiction and the winner of the North Carolina Author Project. The sequel to The Seclusion hits shelves on March 1, 2022. When not writing, Jacqui can be found consuming too much caffeine, and spending time with her husband and two children.
Rachael Sparks is a local Asheville author whose first novel, Resistant, was published in 2018, which was the same year that she met Jacqui here at Malaprops, and it was the beginning of a friendship peppered with pranks, bets, and an expanding group of author buddies. Rachael is a microbiologist with a background in transplants, who now leads marketing for a healthcare startup. She lives in North Asheville with her incredibly attractive and talented husband, her brilliant young daughter, and her amazing mother.
you all!
$8.00 for 3 games and shoes and 20% off on food.
Come socialize and get to know your group members. We will be enjoying our lives. “To enjoy is to be happy, To be happy is doing what makes you smile/laugh.” Come have fun. Please be on time so we all can have fun and enjoy our lives.
My EYLA Family, it about time to give back to our community. the temperature is changing, and nights are getting colder. If you have any old coats, sweaters, hoodies, and winter hats please bring them to this Wednesday’s Event. We will have time and date where some members may want to volunteer and hand out coats or any articles of clothing to homeless people downtown Asheville. Thank YOU!!
Asheville’s longest running comedy open mic is back. Every Wednesday, 8pm to 10pm (doors open at 7) at The Asheville Music Hall in downtown Asheville. The best in hit-or-miss comedy. Come grab a drink or a pizza and watch comics work on their stuff or try it for the first time. It’s always fun and always free. Sign ups open to everyone. Come on out!
Children of all ages love the circus — especially the Hejaz Shrine Circus, Upstate South Carolina’s premier family entertainment extravaganza! Held at the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium, this family-friendly event is incredible fun for the whole family and should not be missed! It brings in families from all over the Upstate!
The circus offers lots of fun, but it is also an annual fundraising event for the Hejaz Shrine. The profits of the circus support the operations of the Hejaz Shrine and allow us to effectively serve the Hejaz Charities in the Upstate.
When you attend the Hejaz Shrine Circus, we know you and your family will have lots of fun — all while helping local children and families.
When you buy a ticket … it’s more than just a ticket.
Damon Akins, Professor of History at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, will give a talk focused on the history of writing about Native California, Indigenous sovereignty, and settler colonialism. Atkins’ recent book (with William J. Bauer), “We Are The Land: A History Of Native California”, will serve as the backdrop for his remarks.
Register for the talk through Zoom
Seattle’s Naked Giants burst onto the national music scene with their 2018 full-length debut, SLUFF, a candied and insanely catchy blast of unhinged pop-punk-grunge-surf-rock. But if that record was the sound of, as one reviewer labeled them, a trio of “affable miscreants just out of high school” getting their musical rocks off, then The Shadow, the band’s new and second studio effort, is in comparison a decidedly more—what’s the word?—mature offering.
That is, if “mature” is the appropriate term for an album where one member is credited with playing a fun machine, and another merely with “charisma.”
And so, welcome once again to the extraordinary and eccentric world of Naked Giants. They might be older (average age: 23) and wiser, but the band members—singer and guitarist Grant Mullen, singer and bassist Gianni Aiello and drummer Henry LaVallee—are still out to conjure a rip-roaring good time.
In fact, cue up The Shadow, and within little more than the first five minutes you’ve already careened through the throttling “Walk of Doom,” a blitz of post-punk riffing, wastoid gang shouting and toms-heavy drumming; the singalong anthem-for-the-disaffected “High School (Don’t Like Them),” in which Mullen aloofly intones of former class mates, “Now you’re lying on the couch and life’s busted / Never made a big sting or erupted” over waves of ratty, distorted chords; and the taut, falsetto-flecked “Take a Chance,” a Talking Heads-ish funk-rock workout with bits of shimmery synth and lo-fi slide guitar riffing thrown in for good measure.
“It’s all about how many smiles can we crack on the people that are listening to this music,” LaVallee says by way of something like a mission statement. “And also on the people that are playing it.”
And to be sure, The Shadow is an energetic and exhilarating musical rollercoaster ride. But there’s also a whole lot more to it.
Take, for starters, “Turns Blue,” an ‘80s-tinged dream-pop torch song that floats along on an undulating bass line and heavily reverberated dew-drop guitars before erupting in a soft explosion of pounding drums and harmonized na-na-na’s in the chorus.
Or “The Ripper,” a slice of mellowed-out, dark-toned psych-folk that, in lines like “wash me away ‘til my color’s gone,” explores, as songwriter Aiello puts it, the “effects of Western cultural domination and colonization attitudes from the large scale onto the small scale” (even if, LaVallee admits with a slight laugh, he interpreted those same lyrics as being about “ripping bong hits”).
Subject matter aside, the point, of course, is that The Shadow reveals new and welcome layers to the Naked Giants sound, both musically and lyrically. For every anthem like the wiry, slamming “(God Damn!) What I Am” (“I’m feeling all right / I’ve got my band and my song is playing all night”), there’s a “heartfelt acoustic ballad” (LaVallee’s words) like “Song for When You Sleep,” a junkyard-blues workout like “Better Not Waste My Time” and a socially-conscious new-wave jam like “Television,” where over a loopy, hypnotic groove Aiello laments, “Eighteen, nineteen dead this week / But have you seen this fucking meme?”
And yet, for all its wide-ranging sounds, The Shadow is also an extremely focused set. Credit this in part to producer Chris Funk, who got the band out of their Seattle hometown to work closely with him at his own Halfling Studios in Portland, Oregon.
“We were pretty much isolated there for two weeks, which was different from SLUFF, where we were recording in Seattle and going back and forth from our homes to the studio,” recalls Mullen of working with the Decemberists multi-instrumentalist. “This time, we were totally immersed in the process.”
And what did Funk bring to the proceedings?
“A lot,” says LaVallee. “I don’t know if you’ve seen Game of Thrones, but there’s this one character who’s, like, Stannis’s guide, and he kind of looks like Chris Funk. I told Chris, ‘You’re kind of like that guy—an older warrior who’s seen the road,’ you know?”
Mullen picks up the thread, offering some clarity in the process. “Chris is such a creative guy, and such a musician himself, that it felt more like we were working with another songwriter and collaborator as opposed to just a producer,” he says. “He was guiding the project, but he was also just enjoying himself. So the sessions had a real nice and easy flow. We were all very inspired the entire time.”Regarding the variety and depth of the music on The Shadow, Mullen continues, “We realized we didn’t have to immediately go to ten on every song, which is what we may have done in the past.” Rather, he says, “we were able to lay back and focus more on the details of the music as opposed to just writing the catchiest, most energetic things we can think of.”
As for what led to this development?
“It’s life experience, and the sort of conscious awareness that comes with that growth,” Aiello says.
Much of that experience and conscious awareness came courtesy of the band’s exhaustive tour schedule over the past year and a half. Naked Giants have always been known as a band that truly comes alive on the stage, and they only further solidified that reputation since the release of SLUFF, playing sold-out, sweaty club shows on their own and also hooking up with Car Seat Headrest for a long outing where they pulled double duty as both the opening act and backing band for the Will Toledo-led headliners.
In terms of what they gleaned from the experience, Mullen says, “I think it gave us a perspective on how we want to craft music, and how we want things to actually sound. Because you’re playing the same songs hundreds of times and you’re watching how the crowds respond to them, and a lot of times these are people that have never even heard of you before. It was a valuable lesson.”
And also a fun one.
“It’s so awesome to finish your set, have a 10-minute break and then go out for another one,” LaVallee acknowledges. “Also I’d be a fool not to mention it was a dream-come-true to play at some of those venues in front of big crowds, and to also be a part of the headlining act.”
Which is very different from Naked Giants’ earliest experiences, playing house parties around Seattle when Aiello and Mullen were students at the University of Washington. “The crowds were just crazy 19-year-olds, loving our heavy kind of music,” Mullen says. “I remember a feeling of high risk at every show, because everyone was right up against the band, and there was always some drunk guy stepping on your pedals or bumping into your gear. It definitely influences how you attack the music.”
Aiello concurs. “We kind of got our schtick by being this opening band that was throwing everything we had at the audience. But as our set time started to get longer and as we started playing with Car Seat Headrest, we started to notice the importance of having a little bit of cool-down time. It helps to switch things up instead always going for it full-on.”
Which brings us back to The Shadow, and also to “The Shadow” itself, the epic title track that seems to encapsulate everything great about Naked Giants ca. 2020. It’s a slow-burning behemoth of a song, creeping along on crashing drums, a fuzzed-out, bloated bass line, skronky distorto-chords and acid-freakout guitar squiggles and then building to a massive chorus in which the members chant, almost as an incantation, that they “want to see the shadow.” Halfway though, the song erupts into a Sabbath-damaged, double-time metal chugger, with all three Giants bearing down hard on their respective instruments and bringing the whole thing to a glorious, noisy climax.
And what, exactly, is the Shadow?
“It’s the core of what we’re dealing with on the album, which is facing the darkness,” Mullen says. “It could be your past, or some guilt that you’re holding onto, or an issue in the world around us—it could be anything.”
These are concerns, Aiello adds, like “information overload, social media anxiety, racial injustice, all this terrible shit that people have to deal with and that we as young people are struggling to navigate in our own lives.”
But whatever the particular shadow is, Mullen continues, “it’s about looking it in the face and embracing it, and having the desire to deal with it.”
All that said, LaVallee also adds that “a shadow represents darkness only in the presence of light. So even if there’s this innate darkness, The Shadow is also a story of light, and an expression of life.”
And it’s an expression the band looks forward to sending out into the world—and then, hopefully, beaming into each and every audience member’s skull from the stage.
“When we’re playing we always have to give it 100 percent, because otherwise why even bother doing it?” Mullen says. “There’s such a power in making that emotional connection.”
“The way I look at it, people are coming together for the music, and we’re the conduits,” adds Aiello. “And sometimes people are going through something amazing, and sometimes they’re going through something terrible. You have to be aware of the energy in a space and give the people what they want and let them have a good time.”
It’s a credo that LaVallee describes as “setting fire to the darkness.”
“Like, ‘Let’s get some flood lights on all these dark places in our audience’s lives and our own lives,’ ” he says, then laughs. “Let’s illuminate all of it and let’s flush out that darkness—with the power of rock!”
The weird world of Wombo is a kaleidoscopic journey of sharp turns and surprising visions, a melting pot of influences with a cheeky cheshire-cat grin that coalesce into a trippy but infinite universe, a portal into their unique vantage point without limitation. Already committed to living outside the traditionally-heralded country sound of the music scene in their hometown of Louisville Kentucky, Sydney Chadwick (vocals) and Cameron Lowe (guitar) had previously played in punk pop band the Debauchees, and with the addition of Joel Taylor (drums) in 2016 they found a winning combination of more straightforward indie rock combined with Chadwick’s pitched up, oscillating vocals and unpredictable shifts in melody that see the band moving forward at an impressive pace. Their 2018 album Blossomlooksdownuponus is a snapshot of Wombo’s wide-ranging aspirations that careen across avant pop, psych and wonky post punk interludes with a sky’s-the-limit approach to translating the mundanity of regular life into their own high-frequency language.
In a generation where pop has come to be defined as anything but, Wombo have spearheaded their own definitive sound that avoids genre classification but is impossible not to tap your foot along to. “Usually if the babies like it, we like it”, admits Chadwick, and it speaks to the band’s bass-driven song structures that pivot through a whirlwind of instrumentation at rapid speeds that they are still able to land on a winning formula that strikes the sweet spot between effervescent overload and razor sharp intention. In 2019, the band toured with White Reaper, Dehd and The Nude Party, bands whose affinity and dedication to strange experimentation have won them fans across a wider audience, and Wombo are poised to follow suit. In a careful balance where no one instrument overwhelms, Chadwick’s vocals are the cherry on top of a decadent dessert that explodes with personality and ingenuity.
Comedy Open Mic at Asheville Music Hall in downtown Asheville. Every Weds. 8pm. Doors and comic sign up at 7pm. Free
Ages 18+
“We stick to the archetypes. A literal world isn’t interesting. We’re trying to put a skin around the symbols and myths that civilization has told itself for 10,000 years. The better the symbol and the more universal the myth, the more people can create a world for themselves from their memories and desires. That’s the goal: Give the audience enough raw material to make the world their own.”
— Tyler Lyle of The Midnight
What makes a place idyllic?
Start with an emerald river that flows from ancient mountains. Add an abundance of living creatures that co-evolved over millennia. Bring in humans who honor their place in the interconnected web. And rebuild a vital stream that supports us all.
Your support and engagement helps ensure the health of this watershed for the ages! We can’t do it without you.
The YELP Assistant position is an 11 week paid internship between May 23 – August 5 for young BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) adults aged 18-22.
Interns are responsible for helping to lead an educational, environmental service work internship for BIPOC high schoolers. Interns work in the field locally in the greater Asheville area, as well as in the Great Smoky Mountains, completing environmental service work, learning from experts and relevant community partners, and developing their own group initiatives.
The intern does not need to arrive with these skills. Part of their internship will include learning to canoe and kayak, how to collect scientific data, hiking etiquette, and nonviolent communication leadership training.
More information can be found through the Job Description linked above.
Questions? Email [email protected] or [email protected]