July 22 "Whaledreamers" Doc Supports Local Activist's Dream

From a press release:

WHALEDREAMERS documentary to be shown at Fine Arts Theatre, July 22, at 7pm.

"Indigenous wisdom has never been more relevant for humanity than now" - Julian Lennon

(Asheville, NC) Local artist and activist Katie Kasben will be traveling to Australia in August to begin researching the possibility of a cultural exchange program between Aboriginal Australians and Native Americans. While there she will attend the GARMA Festival in the Northern Territory of Australia, which is a festival of traditional Aboriginal culture.

To raise local awareness of Aboriginal issues as well as the future exchange program Kasben hopes to accomplish, the documentary WHALEDREAMERS, produced by Julian Lennon, will be shown at the Fine Arts Theatre on July 22, at 7pm.

Trailer: http://www.montereymedia.com/independent/whaledreamers_trailer.html

The ancient sound of the yidaki (didjeridu) is a call to all people to come together in unity, for the sharing of knowledge and culture, and to learn from and listen to one another. Local musicians will be on hand to play this sacred instrument and hopefully inspire our community of Asheville to learn from ancient peoples on the other side of our planet. This event is free to the public, but a suggested donation of $10 will defray film costs.

To keep the Asheville community involved, Kasben will be posting updates on her blog during the trip to Australia, culminating in a future discussion in Asheville later this year. The blog address is www.katiekasben.blogspot.com

For information about the GARMA festival:

www.garma.telstra.com

For information about the documentary WHALEDREAMERS:

www.whaledreamers.com

Leading Innovation: Implementing Effective 1:1 Learning Technology Programs

I'm sitting, listening to David Warlick at The William and Ida Institute in Raleigh, North Carolina, talk about technology and innovation in the classroom. Wow! If you are an educator, I highly recommend checking out The Landmark Project as well as David Warlick.com.

This is all a part of the 1:1 Laptop Intiative for the state of North Carolina; a very exciting program which makes technology available to students in classrooms all over our fine state.

Just a side note: David spoke at Asheville High School about 5 years ago, during which he mentioned his book about blogging in the classroom. At the time, I was teaching students how to blog using blogger, and it was refreshing to learn that other folks were pushing the technology envelope with students!

Flat out, check him out!

Thank you, David!

Vortex Cabaret July 15th

The next Vortex Cabaret is happening July 15th. It will feature the comedy rantings of Sister Discordia, and the avant garde music of Forrest, the avant garde puppetry of Madison, and the good ol' fashioned burlesque of Theatre de Fetiche.
The Vortex Cabaret is a series of live variety shows, staged at the Boiler Room on 11 Grove Street. They feature the most interesting performers in Asheville, with acts ranging from musicians, to belly-dancers, to comedians, or performance artists, to poets, to puppeteers, to burlesque artists, and more. It is a show that must be seen to believed.
The Vortex Cabaret is a production of Pleasure Saucer Productions. Please visit the Pleasure Saucer for more information.

Transfigurations!

Friends, I want you to know, if you don't already, about what our friends at Harvest Records are doing this summer. Its big. Really really big. I'm so proud of them. Listen up:
(from a recent press release from Harvest):

*Transfigurations 2009: Celebrating five years of Harvest Records*

*3 days of your music in the mountains of Asheville, NC August 13th-15th*

Asheville, NC--Harvest Records celebrates five groundbreaking years as one
of America’s best independent record stores with Transfigurations--an
intimate first time music festival outside the norm of large, multi-stage
summer festivals in Asheville, NC. Transfigurations is bringing together
an incredible lineup of independent artists from all over the country August
13-15th including Akron/Family, Bonnie Prince Billy, The Books, Budos Band,
Circulatory System, Mount Eerie, Espers, War on Drugs, Brightblack Morning
Light, Kurt Vile, Ice Cream, Jonathan Kane, Coathangers, Villages, and Steve
Gunn. In addition to live music Transfigurations will present a panel
discussion and films from three record label heads who, through their own
unique methods, are at the forefront of documenting musics, new and old,
from the United States & around the world.



Transfigurations is a down-home gathering consisting of three venues (550
capacity or less) with virtually no overlap of artist performance. The
gathering is a culmination of co-owners Matt Schnable and Mark Capon sharing
a mutual love for creating a space dedicated to the discovery of music in a
supportive community. “Transfigurations brings together the spirits of the
musicians that we have brought to this city, the artists who have displayed
on our walls, the sounds people have found in our shop and the togetherness
that we have attempted to breathe into the community...hour by hour, day by
day," says Capon.



Over the last five years Harvest Records has brought new and old musicians
to Asheville as well as fresh ideas and an inclusive attitude. Through hard
work and a do-it-yourself business style, Harvest Records gained Honorable
Mention in Spin Magazines America’s Best Indy Record Stores in 2009 with, “a
savvy selection to rival any big-city shop, in a comfortably sleepy mountain
town.” Harvest has also been awarded “Best Music Store” in Western North
Carolina for the past four years by the Mountain Xpress readers’ poll.



Harvest Records has filled an important niche in Asheville, in the
southeast, and among record stores. “You may have been in a small,
independent record store, but we feel Harvest Records is unique and we want
everyone who walks through the door to have a satisfying exchange and an
inclusive experience,” says co-owner Matt Schnable. “That fresh perspective
has kept us going every day, and that same attitude of sharing a love of
music and creativity is what we are bringing to Transfigurations.”



Tickets are on sale now--Regular weekend passes ("Regafigurations") are
limited, and special weekend passes ("Megafigurations" ) are extremely
limited, so hurry!



For more information, please visit
http://www.harvest-records.com/transfigurations.php
or contact:
Matt Schnable or Mark Capon
828-258-2999 or transfigurationsasheville@gmail.com

Hoss Haley's fountain at Pack Square

That big pile of rocks in the Oates Plaza in the center of the Pack Square is going to be a fountain and sculptor Hoss Haley is doing beautiful brass welding with a precision of 1/16th of an inch all around to it. It's some amazing work that'll be a great addition to the square.

Here's a view of the fountain from above, and Buncombe's e-gov site where you can scroll down and see where it's going.

Chihuahuas Summer Season Opens

Click the pic to embiggen.

Attention Folks!

Beer City Bash

Jason Sandford, a.k.a. AshVegas, has a stellar story in this week's Mtn. X. Go read the whole thing. Get your tickets to Friday's Beer City Bash to celebrate a strong local industry and some of the best beer in the nation.

From Sandford's story:

Buncombe County alone now boasts seven craft-brewing operations, with two more set to open later this summer. Related businesses have benefited from those operations. Restaurants with dozens of beer taps buzz with locals and tourists alike. The dozen-year-old Brewgrass Festival is one of the toughest tickets in town. Asheville's beer boutiques ship local product nationwide. Another local business leads brewery tours, and farmers in the area are being urged to grow hops as an alternative crop. Even local bakeries and ice-cream shops are getting into the act, incorporating handmade beer into their recipes.

Asheville has more breweries per capita than such standout U.S. beer destinations as Portland — which Asheville tied in a recent online poll conducted by beer guru Charlie Papazian, the founder of the Great American Beer Festival, the American Homebrewers Association and the Association of Brewers. The unscientific poll, which named Asheville the East Coast's "Beer City USA," carries little actual weight. But seeing Asheville hold its own against a city eight times its size did send beer enthusiasts atwitter. And for local beer producers and consumers alike, the designation has become a point of pride and celebration — 15 years after Asheville's sewage pipes were christened with a mediocre batch of handmade brew.

He wraps it up with a fascinating timeline of beer history in Asheville. Thanks Jason. Thanks to all the zymurgists. Thanks to the people in Asheville who have created a connoisseur culture while jumpstarting this homegrown industry.

The Beer City Bash is a $10 ticket that gets you two beers, three bands, and a heapin' helpin' of civic pride. See you there.

Music, Mystery & Mojitos

A Reading with David Pereda
July 2 - 5:30 PM
Fiore's Ristorante
122 College St., downtown Asheville.
$20 cover, gets you:
- a signed copy of Havana:Top Secret
- delicious hors d'oevres
- one real Cuban mojito (with ground hierba buena)
- live music
- a reading like you've never had before
And, of course, stimulating conversation, and the warm and familiar company of good friends.

Afterwards, if you wish, you can stay for dinner on your own.

For reservations, you can either respond to this email or call Anthony at Fiore's --828-281-0710.

If you have already purchased my book from Amazon, bring it and I'll sign it for you. You won't have to pay the $20 either, only for what you drink. Likewise if you only want one book, one of you just pays for what you drink.