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.
This performance is free of charge and requires a ticket for admission. Tickets may be reserved online, at the Wortham Center Box Office, or by phone at 828-257-4530 .
The Jazz Ambassadors is the official touring big band of the United States Army. Formed in 1969, this 19-member ensemble has received great acclaim at home and abroad performing America’s greatest original art form, jazz.
Concerts by the Jazz Ambassadors are programmed to entertain all types of audiences. The band’s diverse repertoire includes big band swing, bebop, Latin, contemporary jazz, standards, popular tunes, Dixieland, vocals, and patriotic selections, many of which are written or arranged by members of the Jazz Ambassadors.
The Jazz Ambassadors has appeared in all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, Japan, India, and throughout Europe. Recent notable performances include concerts at the Toronto Jazz Festival, the Richmond Jazz Festival at Maymont, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Jazz Education Network Conference, and an appearance on the Colbert Report. Gordon Goodwin, Bobby Shew, Ernie Watts, and the Dave Brubeck All-Star Quintet are just a few of the outstanding jazz artists who have shared the stage with the Jazz Ambassadors. The band has been featured in joint concerts with Marvin Hamlisch and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony Pops, the Colorado Pops Orchestra, and the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. The Jazz Ambassadors’s rigorous touring schedule and reputation for excellence has earned it the title “America’s Big Band.”
Ticketholders should be seated by 3:45 PM
Unclaimed seats will be released to non-ticketholders at 3:50 PM
MA based Folk troubadours Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards will perform Friday October 19 at 7 pm at Isis Music Hall. Mandeville & Richards offer some new material and songs from their CD “Live in Manitoba” featuring original songs and stories recorded live during a two week tour of house concerts throughout the province of Manitoba, Canada.
The duo were invited by the organization Home Routes to complete a route during their fall 2017 season. Home Routes/Chemin Chez Nous was initiated by the founders of the Winnipeg Folk Festival and the West End Cultural Centre, (Mitch Podolak and Ava Kobrinsky in collaboration with Tim Osmond) to create new performance opportunities for French and English speaking musicians and audiences in rural, remote and urban, communities across Canada, hosted by volunteers in their homes and other community venues.
Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards have just completed their 10th Annual walking tour of Massachusetts. Each summer since 2010 they have organized the “Massachusetts Walking Tour” where they hike the roads and trails of the Commonwealth, more than 100 miles in less than two weeks, in support of the arts in local communities along the way. Each evening they stop over in yet another Massachusetts town, putting on a free concert there, along with local performers and fellow artists who accompany them on their journey. These annual two-week treks also raise awareness of the trails and greenways in Massachusetts, using music to make important connections. In the fall of 2017 Mandeville and Richards received official recognition before congress and were added to the congressional record by Senator Ed Markey for their efforts in the community through the Massachusetts Walking Tour.
After 8 years together, DEPARTURE has become the most respected Journey tribute band in the nation. DEPARTURE replicates the look, sound and feel of the original 80’s rock super group. The five band members are from the original line-up and have been together from the very beginning. These veteran musicians have developed an amazing on-stage chemistry and pride themselves on giving their audience an incredible high-energy, qualitative stage show from start to finish. DEPARTURE plays all the hit songs that everyone knows and loves and was voted “Best Local Entertainer” for 2011, 2012 and 2014 by Gwinnett Magazine. Performing approximately one-hundred shows annually, DEPARTURE brings the very best of Journey to audiences of all ages.
Ticket Prices: $18, $20
Desert Dwellers is the convergence of music producers Amani Friend and Treavor Moontribe, who honed their individual skills in the mystical deserts of New Mexico and California, long before electronic music reached the mainstream. Amani and Treavor combine the raw sounds of the natural world, wrapped in dance-floor and chill-out productions; blending deep bass, earthy percussion, etheric voices, and cross-cultural instrumentation into a sonic incense for the mind and body. Desert Dwellers’ unique global sounds are a bridge between worlds, and their label Desert Trax has become a platform to spotlight similar alchemical artists.
Ticket price includes applicable sales tax.
August 23, Appalachian Ridge Hard Cidery in Hendersonville
August 24, HiWire Brewing Company at the Big Top
Sept. 22, UpCountry Brewing on Haywood Road
Sept. 28, Southern Appalachian Brewery in Hendersonville
Oct. 4, Garden Deli in Burnsville
Oct. 6, Emmanuel Lutheran Church and School in West Asheville
Oct. 10, Highland Brewing Company and
Oct. 20, Saint Paul Mountain Vineyard in Hendersonville
The 1st LEAF Festival premiered Fall 1996, and has become a tradition twice a year, May and October. The name Lake Eden Arts Festival (LEAF) was chosen to honor the lake and the former Lake Eden Inn & Resort. “Arts” embraces a broad creative palate and of course it was to be a “festival”. In envisioning LEAF, we sought to embrace world cultures, reflect the creativity of the Asheville area, and to complement the stunning landscape. The location and size, attendance is limited to 6,000 people on site per day, makes LEAF Festival one of the best small festivals in the world. The right place, the right size.
- Length of the fake movie trailers must be between 30-60 seconds.
- The fake movie trailers can be any of any genre, but must follow the rules and content guidelines to qualify (link below). Please stress this.
- It is open to all ages, and any resident of Western North Carolina.
- Submissions are now open and the deadline to submit a video is Sunday, November 10th at 11:59pm.
- Qualifying entries will be shared on our Facebook/Instagram pages and also will play in our pre-show entertainment before movies at our Merrimon movie theater.
- JURY AWARDS = $300 for 1st Place / $150 for 2nd Place / $100 for 3rd Place
- PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS = We’ll post all of the qualifying videos to both our Facebook and Instagram pages, and let the public vote on their favorites. The winners receive Asheville Brewing Co. gift cards.
Meet the artisans of the Southern Highlands exhibiting contemporary & traditional works of clay, wood, metal, glass, fiber, natural materials, paper, leather, mixed media, & jewelry.
Thursday – Saturday, 10 – 6pm
Sunday, 10 – 5pm
A great afternoon at the vineyards with a German twist! Bring your Lederhosen and Polka shoes. We’ll have the wine and German party atmosphere ready.
Jack of the Wood : Sunday-Irish Session
Sundays
1 till who knows when?
Traditional Irish music is kept alive at Jack of the Wood with our unplugged Sunday session.
Jack of the Wood
95 Patton ave
Asheville, NC 28801
(828) 252.5445
Raymond Charles Jack “Ray” LaMontagne is an American singer-songwriter and musician. LaMontagne has released seven studio albums, Trouble, Till the Sun Turns Black, Gossip in the Grain, God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise, Supernova, Ouroboros and Part of the Light. He was born in New Hampshire and was inspired to create music after hearing an album by Stephen Stills. Critics have compared LaMontagne’s music to that of Otis Redding, The Band, Van Morrison, Nick Drake and Tim Buckley
Our free Jazz Hour is back for the fall season! Please join us in our auditorium to listen to an hour of jazz from Steinway pianist and composer Michael Jefry Stevens and his musician friends. Each performance is different and will take place on the third Monday evenings of each month. Everyone is welcome.
Unique techniques of leaf manipulation will be demonstrated by Suzanne Dillingham of the Ichiyo School. Leaves can be changed beyond recognition and provoke a bit of mystery.
A ‘Friendship Through Flowers’ workshop will follow and is open to members and non-members with a paid RSVP. This is an unusual opportunity for non members to participate with skilled ikebanists and stretch their imagination.
Demonstration is free. For workshop participation, contact Suzanne Dillingham by October 18 for details and payment of $20: [email protected]
For more information on our programs, teachers and workshops, contact Lynn Forbes, Chapter President, 828-273.2222; [email protected] or www.ikebanaasheville.org
Help us celebrate the Fairview Public Library’s 20th anniversary with three films from 1999. When a computer programmer and hacker (Keanu Reeves) begins to question his reality, a chain of events is unlocked that could save the human race. To find the answers he seeks, he must trust a mysterious group of strangers who promise to show him the hidden secrets of an unusual entity known as “The Matrix.” With groundbreaking special effects techniques that are still in wide use today, The Matrix was a runaway hit that changed how the industry, and the public viewed action films. Also starring Laurence Fishburne, CarrieAnne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano. All screenings will be hosted by North Carolina Film Critics Association member James Rosario (THEDAILYORCA.COM), who will introduce each film and lead a discussion after. Free popcorn provided by Grail Moviehouse. Rated R. 136 minutes.
PULP presents
Breakfast Cigarette
Wed, Oct 23
Show : 8pm
at 
Doors : 7pm
$5 members
$7 non-members
$2 surcharge for under 21
CLINT BLACK
It is one of the most storied careers in modern music. Clint Black surged to superstardom as part of the fabled Class of ’89, reaching #1 with five consecutive singles from his triple-platinum debut, Killin’ Time. He followed that with the triple-platinum Put Yourself in My Shoes, and then a string of platinum and gold albums throughout the ’90s. Perhaps most impressively, Clint wrote or co-wrote every one of his more than three dozen chart hits, including “A Better Man,” “Where Are You Now,” “When My ShipComes In,” “A Good Run of Bad Luck,” “Summer’s Comin’,” “Like the Rain” and “Nothin’ But the Taillights,” part of a catalog that produced 22 #1 singles and made him one of the most successful singer/songwriters of the modern era. Along the way, Clint has sold over 20 million records, earned more than a dozen gold and platinum awards in the U.S. and Canada including a GRAMMY, landed nearly two dozen major awards and nominations, and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Clint continues to tour throughout North America in 2019 as he celebrates the 30th Anniversary of Killin’ Time.
In this Halloween-themed program, ballad singer Saro Lynch-Thomason shares Appalachian songs and folklore of ghosts, death, magic, and mystery.
THE BEST MONTY PYTHON MOVIE EVER
THIS WILL SELL OUT IN ADVANCE!
Fifty years ago on October 5th, 1969 the first episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus aired, and comedy around the world was changed forever. Celebrate their birthday with us!
King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table embark on a surreal, low-budget search for the Holy Grail, encountering many, very silly obstacles. Considered one of the funniest movies ever! (RUNNING TIME = 1 hour 31 minutes)
Chris Staples is a Seattle based multi-instrumentalist and song maker. His songs are narratives that are plainspoken and universal, with simple, disarming arrangements and delicate melodies that seemed to float on air. His music has been covered by NPR Music, Washington Post, NY Times, American Songwriter, and Apple Music. Staples tours relentlessly and has played over 500 shows since he started releasing solo material in 2012. His newest record “Holy Moly” came out June 28th on Barsuk Records. He’s worked as a side-man for Father John Misty, David Bazan, Jeremy Enigk(Sunny Day Real Estate), and Telekinesis.
This show is an intimate performance, hosted by a fan in their home. A truly unique environment to hear music and a great way to meet people in your own community. Online tickets sales only. When you buy a ticket you receive the address and other pertinent info via email.
Clint Patrick Black is an American country music singer, songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and actor. Signed to RCA Records in 1989, Black’s debut album Killin’ Time produced four straight number one singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. Although his momentum gradually slowed throughout the 1990s, Black consistently charted hit songs into the 2000s. He has had more than 30 singles on the US Billboard country charts, twenty-two of which have reached number one, in addition to having released twelve studio albums and several compilation albums. In 2003, Black founded his own record label, Equity Music Group. Black has also ventured into acting, having made appearances in a 1993 episode of the TV series Wings and in the 1994 film Maverick, as well as a starring role in 1998’s Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack.
Mt. Joy w/ Special Guest SUSTO
Show: 9pm
Doors: 8pm
$23 – $73
Ages 18+
Tickets & Info: www.theorangepeel.net/event/mt-joy/
“These dreams are more than paper things,” sings Matt Quinn on Mt. Joy’s infectious folk-rocker “Astrovan,” a warm, yearning bit of road-trip philosophy that posits the existence of a Deadhead Jesus cruising the dusty highways of the countryside, nursing a roach on his way to only He knows where. It’s an auspicious line from a band predicated on the revival of teenage dreams.
Mt. Joy started off as a rekindling of shared musical ambitions between Philadelphia high school friends Matt Quinn (vocals, guitar) and Sam Cooper (guitar). Reunited in Los Angeles thanks to the ebbs and flows of adult life, the pair met multi-instrumentalist Michael Byrnes through a Craigslist ad. They named themselves Mt. Joy as an ode to a mountain in Valley Forge National Park near Sam’s childhood home, and together, with Byrnes’ roommate Caleb Nelson producing, they recorded three songs and sent them out into the world, hoping for the best. “I knew I still wanted to write songs, but the realities of life made that dream seem pretty impossible,” Quinn says.
Much to the band’s amazement, “Astrovan” accomplished the impossible. Without initial promotion or fanfare, the song took off on Spotify, racking up 5 million streams to date. “The irony of ‘Astrovan’ was that song was really about being stuck in a life and wanting to have the opportunity to pursue a dream, and in an instant it gave us that opportunity. ” Quinn says. Mt. Joy quickly transitioned from a part-time calling into a full-fledged band rounded out by Byrnes on bass, Sotiris Eliopoulos on drums and Jackie Miclau on keyboard.
Come 2017, Mt. Joy hit the road, and hit it hard: They played tour dates alongside the likes of The Shins, The Head and The Heart, The Lone Bellow, and Whitney, and popped up at some of the summer’s biggest festivals, including Bonnaroo, Newport Folk Festival, Lollapalooza and Made In America. “We were put on some big shows very quickly,” Quinn says. “The growth for us has been exponential – we’ve really just become a family that’s constantly pushing each other and the live show to be great.” They eventually caught the attention of Dualtone Records and began work on their debut album.
Steeped in folk-rock tradition and powered by the intuitive creative connection between Quinn and Cooper, the songs on ‘Mt. Joy’ depict Quinn wrestling with his own conscience, where the mundane and the fantastic collide as he processes tragedy, society, and love. Opener “I’m Your Wreck” describes “monsters in (the) closet, using up the wi-fi” as it cycles from its desperate, spiraling verses to its swinging, stubbornly optimistic coda, while the loping, plaintive chords of “Younger Days” meditate on a frayed psyche and the fear of choosing the wrong path. “Sheep,” with its collapsing, hoarse-voiced cry of “freedom was paid in blood,” is a post-Trump salvo on the responsibilities of the fortunate to overcome political and social despondency. And on “Silver Lining,” perhaps the album’s brightest moment, Quinn surveys the damage of hard drugs and the vicious cycle of addiction, as the song’s melancholic sentiment kicks into its fervid, defiant chorus, all shout-along vocals and trilling guitars.
Taken together, the self titled ‘Mt. Joy’ LP is a startlingly open document, wracked with the anxieties and fears that come just as life seems to start working out. It’s a natural reaction from a wary band like Mt. Joy – the result of a sort of professional vertigo, as they’ve gone from virtual unknowns to hot young commodity in little over a year. But there’s a sense of hope underlying everything, girded by the fact that the Mt. Joy LP is an impressive, honest portrayal of a young band facing that moment where dreams become reality, and finding beauty in the exhilarating uncertainty of it all.
www.mtjoyband.com
https://www.facebook.com/events/1096683710504247/
The REEL ROCK Film Tour, one of climbing’s greatest celebrations, returns this fall with four new world premieres. In a battle for El Cap’s coveted Nose speed record, rock legends Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold go head to head with Yosemite dirtbags Jim Reynolds and Brad Gobright. Highball bouldering ace Nina Williams flexes her guns and tests her nerves well into the no-fall zone. In rural Utah, conservative Mormon coal miners collide with an influx of out-of-town climbers – with surprising results. And two adventurous Brits, Hazel Findlay and Maddy Cope, pursue first ascents in wild and remote Mongolia. REEL ROCK visits 500 locations across the world this fall.
On Friday OCT the 25th, DJ AUDIO + Brent Brown are coming to Ole Shakey’s to kill everything! Get ready to dance that ass off to big beats under the most amazing light show ever . Music Powered by the Hottest Dj’s in the city. NO COVER. 21+. RSVP NOW & Tag a friend!
- Length of the fake movie trailers must be between 30-60 seconds.
- The fake movie trailers can be any of any genre, but must follow the rules and content guidelines to qualify (link below). Please stress this.
- It is open to all ages, and any resident of Western North Carolina.
- Submissions are now open and the deadline to submit a video is Sunday, November 10th at 11:59pm.
- Qualifying entries will be shared on our Facebook/Instagram pages and also will play in our pre-show entertainment before movies at our Merrimon movie theater.
- JURY AWARDS = $300 for 1st Place / $150 for 2nd Place / $100 for 3rd Place
- PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS = We’ll post all of the qualifying videos to both our Facebook and Instagram pages, and let the public vote on their favorites. The winners receive Asheville Brewing Co. gift cards.
This Fall outdoor market will feature over 25 local artists and small businesses. Watercolor paintings, wire bonsai tree art, jewelry, organic clothing, natural home cleaning products, locally sourced seasonings and herbs, leather goods, home décor, Hemp/CBD Products and much more!
October 26th 10am-4pm
Asheville, North Carolina, and its surrounding communities are well-known for its vibrant art scene and historic architecture. From the dome-topped Basilica of Saint Lawrence, to the 19th-century Biltmore Estate, and an Art District filled with galleries and museums, Asheville is an excellent place to host up to 150 renowned Juried Artists. Come join us and see for yourself why the Asheville Fine Art Show was voted as one of the Top 100 art shows in America!
Meet renowned glass artist, Jack Pine, and preview his new collection featured at Bellagio Art to Wear in Historic Biltmore Village.
Saturday, Oct. 26th 10am – 6pm
Sunday, Oct. 27th 12pm – 5pm
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Having grown up in Southwestern Ohio, which is the birth place of the North American Studio Glass Movement, Jack was constantly exposed to glass artists and their varied techniques. As a child, Jack would experiment with molten bottle glass in campfires on his family’s farm. Today he is the creative force behind Jack Pine Studios, which has become a mecca for talented soft glass artisans. At the heart of the studio are the designs and techniques developed by Jack.
“I enjoy the intense demand on my skill and the focus involved with working with molten glass. All the energy I use to create a piece is captured in the glass, and thus is frozen in time forever.”
— Jack Pine
Join us for a free watercolor class with local artist Joan Doyle. Class limited to 10 participants – teens over 15 and adults. No group sign ups please. All materials provided.