Veggie Booty Recalled

The Associated Press is reporting "A popular snack food sold nationwide is being recalled because of concerns about contamination.

All lots and sizes of Veggie Booty Snack Food are being recalled, the company said, following a report of 51 cases of salmonella poisoning that may be associated with the product.

Georgine Hertzwig of Robert’s American Gourmet in Sea Cliff, N.Y., said the company acted after the Food and Drug Administration contacted them about the illnesses in 17 states..."

"...The company said consumers who purchased Veggie Booty and still have the product in their homes should discard the contents and contact the company at 1-800-626-7557 for reimbursement...."

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Read the rest of the article.

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Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Beautiful...

Photograph by Lowell Allen

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You can see more of Lowell Allen's work at Lowell Allen's Serial Photo

Makes Me Wonder

So a friend of a friend was robbed last night at gunpoint near the Wachovia Bank in West Asheville around 12 midnight.

Now, I don't want to scare anyone unduly, but I have been waiting all day for the Citizen-Times or WLOS to report on this incident, but as of 7:17pm, neither had.

I understand Asheville is a tourist town, and some folks want to keep the news like this under press, but people live here as well, and not knowing what is going on is dangerous.

Heads up, West Asheville. Don't be scared, just be aware!

Vicious Rumor

So, I go to 12 Bones BBQ today, again; and of course the line is understandably snaked around the front of the building because the food is so damn good.

One of the staff was afixn' a large umbrella to a plant stand, apparently to help shield those hungry line-standers from the June sun. A woman and her husband, who had just left the restaurant, stop and ask, "I heard ya'll were going to start opening on Saturday."

To which, the staff member smiled and replied, "I think that is probably a vicious rumor."

SIDES
mac n cheese
smoked mushroom salad

jalapeno cheese grits
baked beans

mashed sweet taters
cucumber salad

collard greens
cole slaw

buttered green beans
corn pudding

CHECK BOARD FOR TODAY'S SELECTIONS !

I hate to promote 12 Bones as it will mean the line is longer everytime I go; however, I will state for the record, that you will be hard pressed to find a finer plate of rib BBQ and sides anywhere, short of South Alabama.

12 Bones
Serving Lunch
Monday through Friday 11am to 4pm
5 Riverside Drive Asheville NC, 28801
Western North Carolina
phone: 828-253-4499 fax: 828-253-4426
Worth the Wait!

Want To Know Why Property Values Are So High? It's the Gay!

You may find this sort of thing obtuse, but to me it's fascinating. Richard Florida of George Mason University and Charlotta Mellander of Jonkoping International Business School have studied how "artists, bohemians, and gays" have a positive effect on property values across environments. It's an interesting article.

Read it here.

So, How Big a Smashing Pumpkins Fan Are You?

It's nowhere near the same fanfare that met The Beatles when they landed in New York City in 1964, or even when Foghat headlined Bele Chere a few years ago for that matter, but the nine-show residency by The Smashing Pumpkins at The Orange Peel, starting this evening, has a bunch of people drooling all over themselves. Even the Citizen-Times have gotten into the adoration act, setting up their own website for the occasion called Smasheville (Get it? Smash + Asheville? Clever!), where fans can exchange pictures and audio/video clips and look at banner ads. Their shows are on the heels of their first album in seven years, Zeitgeist.

Apparently, since some Pumpkins fans seem willing enough to travel all the way from Canada to see them play live, I guess the band and their record company seem to think that they'll also buy Zeitgeist four times from four different retailers in order to obtain all of the songs.

Some food for thought via Pitchfork Media:

Billy and company would like you to know that they fully support the extinction of the American independent record store at the hand of large, faceless, little-guy-crushing big boxes. They also support bleeding their fans dry. How? By releasing FOUR different versions of Zeitgeist.

Best Buy and Target each get a version with an exclusive bonus track. So does iTunes. Like, a different one for each. Everybody else gets the regular version with no bonus tracks. So if you want all of the bonus tracks, you have to buy an album at Best Buy, an album at Target, and an album at iTunes.

So, a money-grubbing corporate juggernaut is coming to Asheville. Not really big news anymore - we already have two Wal-Marts and a Target (where you can buy the version of Zeitgeist that has the title track). It's sad to see that The Smashing Pumpkins, who were pretty much the standard bearers of the "alternative sound" of the 90s, have transformed themselves into the sound of brick and mortar.

But if you are one of the lucky ticket holders, enjoy the show! I'd go, but I can't afford the $300/ea scalper price. And Billy Corgan creeps me out. He looks like the main character in that movie Powder. ::shudder::

[cross posted by mistake from modernpeasant.com]
ain't it amazing? after running around like the archtypal headless chicken this morning - mainly to beat the mail departure time on saturday, and leaving every room in the house with floor covered with papers, i took some time out and created the above which i like very much. easy. no effort. flowed.

i seem to be in daily mode of chossing old foto and seeing what happens.

now i'm going to shovel all the paper off the floor and wash the dishes.

Appalachia Rising

These chicks rocked LEAF. They have some serious pipes. For more on them, scroll down and read Uptown's post.

On Buncombe County: The Political Graveyard

Buncombe County has had it's share of great politicians. From R.B. Vance to Zebulon Weaver to Thomas L. Clingman, Buncombe politicians are held in state at the strangely appointed The Political Graveyard. The Political Graveyard offers lists of:

Politicians who were born in Buncombe County
Politicians who lived in Buncombe County
Politicians who died in Buncombe County
Cemeteries and Memorial Sites of Politicians in Buncombe County

The site actually offers dead politicians from across the nation. This is just the Buncombe piece. Check it out if you're into necrophilia, history, politics, or some combination of the three.

Asheville Skyline

On Buncombe County: Bunkum

Wiki:

"In 1820, a U.S. Congressman, whose district included Buncombe County, unintentionally contributed a word to the English language. In the Sixteenth Congress, after lengthy debate on the Missouri Compromise, members of the House called for an immediate vote on that important question. Instead, Felix Walker rose to address his colleagues, insisting that his constituents expected him to make a speech "for Buncombe." It was later remarked that Walker's untimely and irrelevant oration was not just for Buncombe--it "was Buncombe." Thus, buncombe, afterwards spelled bunkum and then shortened to bunk, became a term for empty, nonsensical talk."

HATCHfest Coming To Asheville

AC-T: For four days this spring, Asheville could be on the map as the creative capital of the U.S.

The city has landed a new festival that will showcase more than 50 leaders and aspiring newcomers in arts, architecture, film, music, fashion and other creative disciplines.

HATCHfest was born in Bozeman, Mont., growing into a $5 million economic engine for that community in just three years. Asheville has licensed the festival here for 10 years, with seed money from AdvantageWest and others.

"It's a mentoring event that brings together seasoned professionals along with aspiring artists we call Groundbreakers," explained Lesley Groetsch, former manager of The Orange Peel, who has returned from New Orleans to serve as the executive director of the new festival.

What do you all know about this thing? It sounds fascinating, but I also imagine the jetsetters descending on the town like it was a weekend in Antigua.

"But it will take the same kind of commitment as if Asheville and Buncombe County were going for the Olympics. You can't do it on the cheap. It will take high energy and high focus."

Rising Appalachia Among Us

At LEAF festival a few weeks ago, we stumbled upon a fiddler and banjo player going to town on some terrifyingly good, old tyme, arse-kicking jams. They sat in two old chairs, facing one another, and jammed for what must of been hours, on the hill facing beach. The fiddler player I have seen in Asheville before, but the banjo player...



....I learned later.... was from a group called Rising Appalachia, which we missed sadly, but whose internet presence allows for at least a glimpse of the goddessy goodness that is these sisters.

“we like a good bit of hootenanny and hoedowns that tickle the gizzards way down to their sultry inner depths...little bit of good boot stompin' fiddle banjo/tunes passed down from many a mountain hobo...what tunes we can carry on long journeys we do- and travel frequently in old dusty backpacks and vagabond hammocks, throwing out a hitch hikers glorious mark as often as possible. We came from hip-hop to hick-rock and love every minute of it...” Leah

On a even happier note, it seems that between canvasing the states and europe, they have set up a semi-permanent residency here in West Asheville.



Rising Appalachia on myspace

Rising Appalachia on web



Additionally, they have just released their sophomore effort,Rising Appalachia - Scale Down. You can hear it and purchase it, HERE at CD Baby.

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Welcome to Asheville, Ladies!

New Blogroll Additions, and the Return of Goodbye Neverland

Some great new additions to the BlogAsheville blogroll!

Et in Arcadia ego

and

Asheville on the Ground

Ya'll check em out. Additionally, S.E. has returned to blogdom, relaunching her blog, Goodbye Neverland.

Give em some blog love,

City Council Gets Weirder

Matt Mittan was escorted out of the City Council meeting by police on June 12. Mittan stood in opposition to the plan for partisan elections, but the public comment period had been abruptly closed beforehand in order to ensure that the measure will apply to this year's ballot.

Bryan Freeborn told me he'd gotten his first real threat, "that me and Brownie Newman are going to need bodyguards", over the partisan election plan. Freeborn, Newman, Jones, and Cape pushed the partisan elections plan through on a 4-3 vote.

It looks like a plain and simple power grab to me. Asheville's voters are 1/2 Democrat, 1/4 Republican, and 1/4 Unaffiliated. By putting a little (D), (R), or some unidentifiable letter next to a candidate's name, it's a lot more likely that people will vote their party. This puts Democrats at a big, fat advantage. I think it's also an opportunity for some others to run and win this year as Asheville Independents, but on the whole it's simply a way for Democrats to remain in charge. Not pretty. Tim Peck has a cogent argument against the plan here at Et In Arcadia Ego.

Carl Mumpower is losing his mind. Now he's calling for folks to photograph homeless people and panhandlers, turn the photos over to him, and he'll "take care" of the problem. From Asheville On The Ground,

"Councilman Mumpower has an obvious compassion deficit. Now he is asking folks with cameras to patrol Pritchard Park looking for incidents of "vagrant misbehavior." It is a mean-spirited and highly intrusive effort to further criminalize the unhoused poor and the untreated addicts who gather there, among many others. This city councilman has already attempted to ride the wave of public fear and misinformation about undocumented immigrants and certain classes of illegal drug users."

Mumpower has been throwing tantrums during meetings and turning to face the camera every time he says, "Open Air Drug Markets". He's a martyr with some causes - arrestin' hippies, stealin' crack, bashin' hobos, and makin' the Mexicans disappear.

Jan Davis and Terry Bellamy are the only two left who haven't been involved in some unseemly shenanigans, cementing their places in the political center. What am I leaving out?

GEM FEST AT THE COLBURN THIS WEEKEND!

It's Gem Fest time again at Pack Place, y'all. For the next three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Pack Place will be taken over by dealers of beads and rocks and gems and minerals and jewelry and books and fossils and all kinda cool groovy SHINY stuff. And that's just the beginning - there are also kids activities - Crack a Geode! Pan for Gold! Mine for Minerals! - out front, a silent auction in support of the Colburn Earth Science Museum downstairs, free admission to that same museum AND two free talks on Saturday afternoon. So come down. See the shiny things! Buy cheap and incredibly cool stuff! Bid on the silent auction! (Except not on the blue lava lamp because that sucker is MINE.)

It's all cool and did I mention SHINY? You owe it to your inner magpie to at least stroll through. There's a door prize and a raffle TOO. And you can see it all for FREE. See you here!

Carl Mumpower hates the Internets

From the Mtn Express Letters to Editor:

"On Tuesday, Dec. 13, WLOS-TV 13 broadcast a news report on the Asheville City Council's 6-1 vote approving the placement of wireless Internet antennas on a city-owned tower by the nonprofit Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN).

The report quoted only one source, City Council member Carl Mumpower, who objected to the Council's vote because, he claimed, MAIN is a political organization with a liberal and progressive political agenda. He said public property should not be made available to a political organization, especially at a discounted rate.

The news story also stated that the monthly tower rent is $200. The overall impression of the WLOS news story was that the City Council had made a special concession to a local political organization. The news story was incomplete and thus misleading.

First, MAIN is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization in full compliance with all federal, state and local nonprofit regulations. Tax-exempt nonprofits are prohibited by law from endorsing candidates for political office.

However, nonprofits are not prohibited from engaging in political speech, as the nonprofit media empires of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell amply demonstrate.

Second, the city of Asheville has an established tower rental rate for nonprofit organizations. The city created that rate last spring for another local nonprofit. Third, that nonprofit rate is $200 a month per attachment. MAIN will be placing three attachments on the city's tower, putting our monthly rent at $600, not the $200 quoted in the WLOS story.

Fortunately, the city of Asheville does not apply a political litmus test to determine who qualifies to rent space on city property. Its commercial and nonprofit rates are available on a nondiscriminatory basis.

While Councilman Mumpower is entitled to his view that the city should have a litmus test for tenants on its tower, viewers of WLOS are entitled to more than one viewpoint on questions of public policy."

-Wally Bowen, Executive Director
Mountain Area Information Network

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I thought this was worthy of further exposure! Gotta love the Mtn Xpress!

Asheville City Budget

Joel Burgess at the Asheville Citizen-Times gives us an overview of the city's budget. Click here for the article. Click here for the .pdf of the propsed budget. Here's a snippet from Burgess' article:

"The City Council is hammering out a proposed $129.9 million budget to cover yearly operating costs and a $17.5 million capital reserve fund for long-term projects. The public may speak for or against the proposals at a meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, off College Street. The council must vote on a balanced budget by June 30, according to state law. The fiscal year starts July 1."

Mountain Voices Alliance Fun-Raiser Tonight!

Mountain Voices Alliance has been feverishly working to promote sensible development and land-use planning. From the Woodfin Power Plant to steep-slope regulation, MVA's volunteers go to the meetings that you won't go to, and they stand up to the greedy, bullying developers who would rather be left to their own egocentric devices. They're bona fide bad-asses.

Watch the video. Come out to the event!

Feral Chihuahuas Tonight

Bloggers, Step Up

I stumbled across this forum the other day (via a google search for what exactly the sales tax is in the city right now, go figure) and I think me it needs some blogger input. I keep planning to write something but I get all choked up and start heaving and freaking out and all and so I just haven't managed to say a word to the mostly incredibly clueless and some not all that damn pleasant people who are slanging our fair city. So, uh, I want y'all to do it for me. 'Kay? To your keyboards, ready, set - go!

Faces Of Asheville

See Larger Image or visit Faces Of Asheville website for information. If you're part of Asheville, you may want to be part of this upcoming exhibit.

- entire post ripped from Around Asheville

Congratulations Hooligans!

Scrutiny Hooligans' Third Blogiversary!

Hey everyone!

I know things have been a little slow around these parts, but over at ScruHoo we're celebrating the end of our third year in blogtopia. Come on over and w00t!.

Tales From the Woods

Well, here's something we don't see every day!



This attractive, outdoorsy lass arrived in our garden sometime this morning. She is in the process of laying approximately 82 eggs which will hatch out in 9 - 18 weeks. It will take her all day to finish but she should be gone by tonight.

I'd never seen a snapping turtle before. She's a big girl at about 24" long. Her alligator tail is nearly as long as her shell.

It's hard to tell if she got herself knocked up recently as she can store sperm in her body for several years.

So I've circled July 27th on the calendar as the day we start watching for the hatchlings. They'll have quite an ordeal as they have a good ways to go to get to the creek.