Modelface Comedy presents Eyes Up Here Comedy at Ginger’s Revenge!

Eyes Up Here Comedy is a night featuring all femme comedians and this month we have a special show featuring comedians from Asheville and around the South East. Hosted by local favorite Erin Terry.

ages 18+

doors at 7:30pm, show at 8pm

The project of Jamie Stewart and Angela Seo, Xiu Xiu confronts difficult emotions with music ranging from harsh to tender. Using an intense mix of post-punk, synth pop, folk, Asian percussion music, experimental music, noise, modern composition, and more, the group explores the complexities of love, sex, death, and injustice. From the beginning, Xiu Xiu combined these sounds in striking ways, whether on their brass and percussion-dominated 2002 debut album Knife Play or the hushed electro-acoustic experiments of 2003’s A Promise. Starting with 2004’s Fabulous Muscles, their pop elements became more prominent, but Xiu Xiu’s viewpoint — and Stewart’s impassioned vocals — remained uncompromising. While they often expressed alienation brilliantly, Stewart and Seo frequently worked with artists such as Mary Halvorson, Merzbow, and Charlemagne Palestine. Over the years, the band’s music spanned the rousing synth pop of 2012’s Always to the cathartic darkness of 2019’s Girl with a Basket of Fruit. In the 2020s, the empowering collaborations of 2021’s Oh No and the stark dualities of 2023’s Ignore Grief reaffirmed that Xiu Xiu’s emotional honesty was still as genuine as ever.

Ignore Grief is a record of halves.

Angela Seo sings on half of the record. Jamie Stewart sings on half of the record.

Half of the songs are experimental industrial. Half of the songs are experimental modern classical. Half of it is real. Half of it is imaginary.

The real songs attempt to turn the worst life has offered to five people the band is connected with into some kind of desperate shape that does something, anything, other than grind and brutalize their hearts and memory within these stunningly horrendous experiences. The imaginary songs are an expansion and abstract exploration of the early rock and roll “Teen Tragedy” genre as jumping off point to decontaminate the band’s own overwhelming emotions in knowing and living with what has happened to these five people.

Old friend and new member David Kendrick (Sparks, Devo, Gleaming Spires) joins Angela Seo and Jamie Stewart through whatever this may be and whatever it may mean and why ever it may have occurred. The point of aesthetic examination is to see if there is any way to come out the other side or if there is even any reason. In either case there may not be but to simply turn away would be yet a further act of destruction.

Secret Shame

The members of Secret Shame are driven by their collective passion for creativity, experimentation, and the understanding that some feelings can only be expressed through music.

They’re not decidedly comfortable with those feelings- but no longer afraid of them.

https://secretshame.bandcamp.com/album/autonomy

This is an 18+ event

By: Henrik Ibsen

Director: Patricia Sands

Approximate Run Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Rating: G

Written in 1879 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House is about a housewife who becomes disillusioned and dissatisfied with her condescending husband. The play raises universal issues and questions that are applicable to societies worldwide, including gender inequality, materialism, and corruption. Presented in a reader’s theater format, actors don’t memorize scripts but read them to the audience while using their voices and upper bodies to convey the roles they are playing.

R.Carlos Nakai, of Navajo-Ute heritage, the world’s premier performer of the Native American flute, joins pianist/composer Peter Kater for two evening performances, possibly their last live performance together. Piano and Native American Flute, however an unlikely combination of instruments, when performed by two of the worlds most sensitive performers of those instruments, produces a powerful and profound musical chemistry, of an almost spiritual nature, and unlike any two instruments ever played together! Their music has been described to be of a sacred quality. Kater with two recent Grammy wins for best New Age album, produces a sound on piano often described as hypnotic and healing. Nakai approaches each performance in a ceremonial manner, singing ancient Navajo chants while playing his flutes and blowing his Eagle Bone whistle. “Every concert they have played together in Asheville, leaves audiences in absolute awe. The chemistry of these two musicians and their instruments does something to us all that is impossible to describe in words”. They have numerous recordings together over the last 30 years and have performed in Asheville 10 previous times to always SOLD OUT audiences. Their recording “Improvisations In Concert” was recorded live at their breathtaking 1995 performance at Diana Wortham Theatre. You can find samples of their music on Spotify and Amazon. Their award winning albums, Migration, Natives and Improvisations in Concert are great examples of the music you will experience at their performances.

The Heat Is On is an explosive yet moving solo musical production which celebrates and reveals the woman behind the “Love Goddess,” Rita Hayworth.

Join Tori the Tortoise, in this Appalachian retelling of Aesop’s “Tortoise & the Hare” as she stands up for her beloved town, Fable Farms, and races a big city hare with even bigger plans. In this musical for all ages, Tori and her friends, Ruben the Rooster and Bea the Bee, must learn to embrace what makes them unique and the importance of community.

Written and Performed by Paula O’Brien
Accompanied by Steve Sensenig

Singing has always been one of Paula’s first loves. After attending a cabaret show at the Irish Arts Center in NYC, she thought, “I could do that” and went about putting together what would become Who Does She Think She Is?: one woman’s journey from Ireland to WNC, with many stops along the way. The show includes original songs (from the songwriting part of the journey) as well as many favorites that tie in with Paula’s stories. It’ll be an evening of caint, ceoil, agus craic (stories, music and fun)! There may or may not be guitar playing. There will most definitely be a keyboard!

WELCOME TO MUSICAL COMEDY HEAVEN!

Featuring one of the most iconic scores of all time by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, an updated book from Harvey Fierstein based on the original classic by Isobel Lennart, tap choreography by Ayodele Casel, choreography by Ellenore Scott, and direction from Michael Mayer, this love letter to the theatre has the whole shebang!

The sensational Broadway revival dazzles with celebrated classic songs, including “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” “I’m the Greatest Star,” and “People.” This bittersweet comedy is the story of the indomitable Fanny Brice, a girl from the Lower East Side who dreamed of a life on the stage. Everyone told her she’d never be a star, but then something funny happened—she became one of the most beloved performers in history, shining brighter than the brightest lights of Broadway.

For the making of his fourth album If I Were a Butterfly, Rayland Baxter holed up for over a year at a former rubber-band factory turned studio in the Kentucky countryside—a seemingly humble environment that proved to be something of a wonderland. “I spent that year living in a barn with the squirrels and the birds, on my own most of the time, and I discovered so much about music and how to create it,” says the Tennessee-bred singer/songwriter. “Instead of going into a studio with a producer for two weeks, I just waited for the record to build itself. I’d get up and go outside, see a butterfly and connect that with some impulsive thought I’d had three months ago, and suddenly a song I’d been working on would make sense. That’s how the whole album came to be.”

The follow-up to 2018’s critically acclaimed Wide Awake, If I Were a Butterfly finds Baxter co-producing alongside Tim O’Sullivan (Grace Potter, The Head and the Heart) and Kai Welch (Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull), slowly piecing together the album’s patchwork of lush psychedelia and Beatlesesque pop. In addition to working at Thunder Sound (the Kentucky studio he called home for months on end), Baxter recorded in California, Texas, Tennessee, and Washington, enlisting a remarkable lineup of musicians: Shakey Graves, Lennon Stella, several members of Cage the Elephant, Zac Cockrell of Alabama Shakes, Morning Teleportation’s Travis Goodwin, and legendary Motown drummer Miss Bobbye Hall, among many others. In an especially meaningful turn, two of the album’s tracks feature the elegant pedal steel work of his father, Bucky Baxter (a musician who performed with Bob Dylan and who passed away in May 2020). Thanks to the extraordinary care and ingenuity behind its creation, If I Were a Butterfly arrives as a work of rarefied magic, capable of stirring up immense feeling while leaving the listener happily wonderstruck.

Baxter’s debut release as a producer, If I Were a Butterfly bears a dazzling unpredictability that has much to do with his limitless imagination as a collector and collagist of sound. “Sometimes the bullfrogs in the pond outside would pulse in a certain tempo and I’d apply that to a song, or I’d hear a bird chirping and it would inspire me to add harmonica in a particular place,” he says. “I could be walking around this massive building in the middle of the night and the air-conditioning would turn on, and it’d give me the idea to include a synth part that holds a similar note. I’d wait for those moments to happen and whenever I tried to force anything, the music usually rejected it.”

A perfect introduction to If I Were a Butterfly’s elaborate sonic world, the album-opening title track begins with a recording of a Baxter singing at age four, then drifts into a delicately sprawling reverie ornamented with so many lovely details (lavish flute and cello melodies, radiant horns, the hypnotic harmonies of Lennon Stella and Baxter’s girlfriend, Sophia Rose). “I liked the idea of the first voice on the record being me as a little kid, not knowing where I’d be today,” notes Baxter, who embedded newly unearthed audio clips of himself and his older sister Brooke all throughout the album. Graced with the combustible guitar work of his bandmate Barney Cortez, “Billy Goat” kicks up a potent tension with its restless grooves and hot-tempered gang vocals. “It’s a breakup song about being with someone who’s on a different life path—one side wants to influence the other, and inevitably you part ways,” says Baxter. From there, the album takes on a feverish momentum with “Rubberband Man,” a delightfully frenzied track channeling a wild and giddy freedom. “There’s rubber bands all over the property at Thunder Sound—in the earth, in the concrete, used as insulation for the studio,” says Baxter. “I took a mishmash of images in my head and it turned into a song about staying flexible, rolling with the punches.”

In its searching reflection on love and loss and striving for transcendence, If I Were a Butterfly reaches a quietly glorious intensity on “Tadpole”: a piano ballad threaded with childhood memories at turns oddly tender (catching frogs and crawfish in a nearby toxic creek) and nightmarish (hearing the gunshot when an across-the-street neighbor took her own life). And on “My Argentina,” If I Were a Butterfly closes out with a piano-driven and painfully raw outpouring, its starkness intermittently broken by soulful strings and gospel-esque harmonies. “One time at the studio I stayed up all night and played that song maybe 100 times; we ended up using the last take, which was recorded at about five in the morning,” says Baxter. “It’s a song that represents the thoughts one might have about a perfect love life, and I love how it ends the album in a big angelic cloud of reverb.”

For Baxter, the act of self-producing such a sonically and emotionally expansive body of work proved both exhilarating and arduous. “It really wore me out to spend all that time alone at the studio, editing the hell out of this record; my heart definitely suffered,” he says. “But I also had the guidance of my dad, who was in my dreams all the time—if I was moving too fast, I’d hear him telling me to slow down.” Another profound influence on the album-making process: the 2018 deaths of Baxter’s close friends Billy Swayze (a musician whose parents owned the rubber band company that became Thunder Sound) and Tiger Merritt (the vocalist/guitarist for Morning Teleportation, who worked with Swayze in constructing the studio). “Billy and Tiger had been going up there since 2015, and finally they turned it into a legit recording studio,” he says. “It’s a very special place to me, so they’re two of the four angels I decided to dedicate this record to.”

Even in its most somber moments, If I Were a Butterfly wholly fulfills Baxter’s mission of imparting a certain purposeful joy. “It’s been a weird few years, but I think the big picture is for us to just exist and find love and be loved, and try to see that all the daily bullshit is simply bugs on the windshield,” says Baxter. “I hope that this album makes people feel the way I do whenever I listen to my favorite records, and that it gives them a platform to dream on.”

With multiple parks featuring ballfields and volleyball, pickleball, tennis, and basketball courts, Asheville has plenty of opportunities to join pick-up games or play with organized sports leagues. Asheville Parks & Recreation (APR) offers a broad line-up of youth athletics programs, adult sports leagues, and special events throughout the year with an emphasis on fair play and enjoyment for any level of experience, including the fall opportunities below.

Search Current Asheville Sports and Athletics

Limited spots available, so advance registration at AVLREC.com required. Some activities offer discounted registration for early sign ups. Most team sports also offer “looking for a team” options for free agents. Some activities charge a higher rate for participants who do not live in Asheville.

Leagues

6v6 Indoor Volleyball League, $200 per team

Registration opens November 27, games begin January 16 for winter season

Upper, middle, and lower divisions play at Tempie Avery Montford Community Center.

Over 40 Basketball League, $60 per player

Registration ends August 24, games begin September 12

Asheville’s newest team sports league provides an opportunity for community members over 40 who want to get back into the game or prefer to play with others around the same age. Sign up as an individual to be placed on a team based on height, position, and skill level for games played at Linwood Crump Shiloh Community Center.

Flag Football League, $600 per team

Registration opens August 30, games begin October 17

Upper, middle, and lower divisions play at Asheville Middle School on 211 South French Broad Avenue.

Winter Basketball League, $600 per team

Registration opens October 10, games begin November 27

Upper and lower divisions play at Linwood Crump Shiloh Community Center. Middle division plays at Stephens-Lee Community Center.

Clinics and Tournaments

Tennis Clinic, $20 per player

Registration ends September 6, clinics held each Tuesday and Thursday from September 12-21

Instructional clinics for beginners and intermediate players teach the basics and build on skills each class at Murphy-Oakley Park.

Doubles Grass Volleyball Tournament, $20 per team

Registration ends September 5, tournament on September 16

Six sets to 21 in pool play for advance and intermediate divisions in which all teams advance to the playoffs on a day of music, fun, and volleyball at Carrier Park.

Intro to Golf, $10 for series with players responsible for their own green fees

Registration ends September 28, games played each Wednesday from October 4-25

Travel to a different golf course each week for one-on-one coaching to learn the game. For more info, contact Colt Miller at [email protected] or (828) 707-2376.

Pumpkin Ball Softball Bash Tournament, $150 per team

Registration ends September 30, tournament on October 7

All players hit a 16-inch softball in games played on a 200-foot distance field with unlimited home runs with a three-game guarantee. Winning teams receive prizes and trophies. For more info, contact Zack Stewart at [email protected] or (828) 545-1644.

Late Night Wiffleball Tournament, $5 per team

Registration ends November 9, tournament on November 16

Five-player teams play in this two-game guarantee tournament at Tempie Avery Montford Community Center. For more info, contact Kiley Pritchard at [email protected] or (828) 507-3357.

The WNC Farmers Market is the premier destination for buying and selling the region’s best agriculture products directly from farmers & food producers to household & wholesale customers in an environment that celebrates the region’s diverse culture, food & heritage.

House of Operation:

WNC Farmers Market: 24/7, 361 days a year market access for farmers
Office: Monday- Friday, 8am-5pm
Market Shops: 7 days a week, 8 am-5 pm
Wholesale and Truck Sheds: 7 days a week

• WNC Farmers Market, 570 Brevard Rd., Farmers Truck Shed #1, daily, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.

• Even though it’s getting colder, you can still find fresh, local food at area farmers markets. Nine markets in Buncombe County will offer extended seasons or special holiday dates in November and December. In addition to seasonal produce, meats, cheeses, eggs, and bread, these markets will feature local artists and handmade goods, such as wreaths, pottery, jewelry, and more.
• ASAP’s Double SNAP for Fruits and Vegetables and Farm Fresh Produce Prescription. Both programs offer participants free market tokens that can be spent on fresh fruits and vegetables. That includes in-season fall produce such as root veggies (including carrots, beets, radishes, and turnips), tubers (potatoes and sweet potatoes), brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage), winter squash, greens, and fruits like apples and persimmons.