Find out more about the services that Dreamspider offers . . .

Dreamspider Publicity & Events Services:
Dreamspider has a diverse clientele and values uniqueness with a funky edge in music, art, theatre, cirques, & conscious businesses.

National Tour & Event Publicity:
One of the key components to effective publicity is personal outreach to the media. It is connecting with people in a positive way that leads to a memorable experience so that a relationship is formed. Reaching out to newspapers, magazines, radio, blogs, and TV is a great way to reach the public via a great write-up or interview, and also to really connect with the folks that are out on the front lines making it happen. Dreamspider will help you by creating fertile grounds for feature articles, studio sessions, interviews, and ticket giveaways.

Event Management:
Planning major events requires extreme attention to detail; fun and excitement are our specialty, but most important is safety. Dreamspider can help in many ways. Let us know if you need help in artist acquisition, stage management, administration, site operations, art vending coordination, food vending coordination, sponsorships, publicity, staff recruitment, volunteer coordination, and event greening.

Online Social Networking:
As we are all seeing, social networking is quickly becoming a main source of information and communication for bands, businesses and all types of people. Social networks offer a way to get to know the small fun details of those you network with on a daily basis. There is an art and design to effectively use these tools to reach people. Dreamspider can help with setup, layout, outreach & upkeep of your social networks. I can also provide mentorship on how to create the most effective use of your social media tools.

Promotional Materials:
All great performers, businesses, and events need great promo items. Dreamspider can coordinate with graphic designers, printers, and merchandisers to ensure quality designs at an affordable rate.

Database Creation:
Having an information matrix is extremely important to staying organized and keeping on track. Dreamspider can help to set up and maintain databases for more efficiency in self management for performers, businesses, and events.

Sponsorship:
This brings us back to connecting with real people. Businesses sponsor events and people that they care about. It is important to remember to reach out to those who have a vested interest in what you are planning, people that might want more exposure to your target audience. Matching up appropriate sponsors helps to build a strong community of supporters for various events. Having the right sponsors shows that you value what you do.

Volunteer Outreach:
All events and bands need a little extra hand sometimes. One way to find great volunteers to to start an outreach campaign through word of mouth, online resources, newspapers, and radio stations. Volunteering is a fun way to meet new people, network, help someone out, and maybe pick up a cool new CD or T-shirt. Volunteer outreach is easy to organize through online registration and scheduling.

Consulting:
Dreamspider works closely with event planners and performers to set up a system for marketing themselves and is available to look over any documents, forms, images and plans necessary for one to do their own publicity.

Advertising:
Sometimes you just want to buy an ad… Dreamspider can help you attain a great graphic designer, edit content, and coordinate with the appropriate media outlets.

These things just don’t happen by themselves, so contact Dreamspider Publicity & Events today!

You can also find Dreamspider on Facebook and Twitter!

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Larry Keel and Natural Bridge at Rivermen Whitewater

Article written by TJ Boley, music writer in Southern West Virgina

The folks at Rivermen Whitewater are rather proud of their new facility perched atop the New River George on Ames Heights Road. If you would like proof of their pride, just stop by and take a look around. You will soon be accosted by a friendly staff member who will more than likely insist on showing you what they have to offer. If you run into staff member Jim Heffernan as I did, your look around might take awhile.

Heffernan is quick to point out that Rivermen is “so much more than just a whitewater rafting company. Of course we offer the full gambit of whitewater experiences, but with the new facility, we have become a resort destination that a family, group, or individual could spend an entire week or more enjoying.” And if one partook of every activity that the New River Gorge Adventure Center (made up of Rivermen, Class VI, and Mountain River Tours) has to offer, it may well take more than a week.

And Heffernan has more. “Our guests can camp, stay in rustic cabins, or sleep in top of the line resort quality accommodations, ” he points out. “ And they can choose between three great restaurants on site, the newest being Bufflers Barbeque. We also have a masseuse on staff, and you can’t forget the Treetop Canopy Tour.”

The Tree Top Canopy Tour starts at the Rivermen facility, and after a short hike and a brief training period, you soon are zip lining through the magnificent foliage of the New River Gorge, under the watchful eyes of not one, but two highly trained guides. Jim points out that the Canopy Tour was recently featured in Popular Mechanics Magazine.

After another long list of activities too great to cover here in depth, Mr. Heffernan offers a nice segue to the real reason for my visit. I’m there to discuss this Sunday’s upcoming live show featuring Larry Keel and Natural Bridge. Jim leads me right to it.

“One of the things of which we are most proud,” Heffernan says, “is our 10,000 square foot entertainment area that features a game room, a lighted volleyball court, a viewing area for our in-house rafting videos, and a performance stage where we feature local and national artists.” And with that, we are at the crux of the matter, for Larry Keel and Natural Bridge are of the latter group, and truly have a national following. For those that follow acoustic Roots Music, Americana, or bluegrass, Keel and his band are a big deal, and the buzz around the area has been growing louder by the day since the gig was announced.

Photo By Jon C Hencock taken at the International Newgrass Festival

Larry Keel, internationally recognized as one of the foremost guitarists in the business, was equally enthused about his visit to the Gorge in a telephone interview on Tuesday. His travels have brought him from his native Virginia to our mountains many times, and he indicated a fondness for our locality in his conversation. But, as much as he enjoys the area, it is the crowd and the music that drive him in his pursuit of musical excellence.

Having grown up with a father playing the banjo and a brother playing the guitar, it was a natural thing for him to listen to Flatt & Scruggs and the Stanley Brothers, but he soon branched out in his musical tastes, and started listening to pop acts, as well as the early beat-box master Grandmaster Flash, and ranging afield to Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, and many classical and jazz artists. And he acknowledges that these influences have a bearing on his style of music.

“I’m influenced by all of the music I like, and the places I’ve been, and the people I have met,” Keel commented. “I hear different kinds of music in my head, and I need to get it out there.” And perhaps different is the best way of describing his sound, without trying to pigeonhole him into a certain category. And once you hear Keel sing, you will realize that he is far from being like anyone else you have ever heard.

Some might argue that Keel is a bluegrass musician, simply because he plays music that is identified with bluegrass, performs it on bluegrass instruments, and is frequently seen performing at bluegrass festivals. But there is a difference in his music that has to be heard to be recognized. And that difference is first of all found in his voice. If bluegrass is known as the “High, Lonesome Sound,” Keel might be disqualified from bluegrass immediately, as his voice is dark and smoky, soulful and of a far lower register than that of most bluegrass singers. But he shares the commonality of great singers in that, like all great voices, he has the ability to make the joy and the sorrow come out in his songs.

Add to the voice the fact that he is said to be by some the greatest flat-picking guitarist alive, and you have a truly incredible musical experience. Throw in mandolinist Mark Shimick and banjoist Jason Flournoy, along with Jenny Keel, Larry’s wife, on bass, and things just seem to come together. And coming together is the goal, according to Mr. Keel.

“We hope,” says Keel, “to achieve a commonness between everyone that listens to our music, and let the magic of the music take over the moment and bring everyone together. We want them to be pulled into the music.”

This Sunday evening at 8:00 no doubt the music of Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, along with the beautiful setting of the Rivermen Resort will bring out the magic of the evening, and it will be an event not to be missed.

For tickets to Sunday’s show, or more information about Rivermen, visit www.rivermen.com, or call 800-545-7238, and for more information on Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, visit www.larrykeel.com .

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AskAsheville interview with LAAFF organizer 2009

by AskAsheville

The Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Festival is going to be awesome! Here is Erin of http://twitter.com/dreamspiderweb Dreamspider Publicity in Asheville, NC telling us about the plans for the day. LAAFF is on September 6, 2009 in the downtown area. Thousand and thousands of people will be there. We expect a social bloom to happen in the area at this event. Make plans to come out and attend LAAFF in Asheville!!!

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What’s happening when at LAAFF All events take place Sunday, Sept. 6.

by Alli Marshall in Vol. 16 / Iss. 6 on 09/02/2009

The Mountain Xpress

www.mountainx.com

Greenlife Electric Stage (bottom of Lexington Avenue)

• The Swayback Sisters (singer/songwriter trio with Nikki Talley, Laura Blackley and Lyndsay Wojcik), 11-11:45 a.m.
• Eymarel (keyboard & drum duo), 12:05-12:50 p.m.
• Roberto Hess (spoken word), 12:55-1:05 p.m.
• U-N-I-Verse (reggae), 1:10-1:55 p.m.
• Hunab Kru (break dance),  2-2:10 p.m.
• The Poles (rock) 2:15-3 p.m.
• Hunab Kru (break dance), 3:05-3:15 p.m.
• Dehlia Low (bluegrass), 3:20-4:25 p.m.
• Parade (begins at Bobo Gallery, ends at stage), 4:15 p.m.
• Zabumba! (Carnival rhythms), 4:25-4:40 p.m.
• Mad Tea Party (vintage rock), 4:45-5:50 p.m.
• Melmacpink/Asheville Hoops (hula-hooping), 5:55 – 6:05 p.m.
• The Blue Rags (blues-ragtime boogie), 6:15-7:15 p.m.
• Jen and the Juice (folk rock), 7:45-9 p.m.

Mountain Xpress Walnut Stage

• Ceol Leinn (traditional Celtic), 11-11:50 a.m.
• Blackjack (kid rockers), 12:10-12:45 p.m.
• Asheville Dance Revolution (kids’ dance group), 1-1:30 p.m.
• Now You See Them (folk-pop), 1:40-2:15 p.m.
• Runaway Circus and Loose Caboose (comedy, music & sideshow act), 2:25-2:55 p.m.
• Galen Kipar Project (folk blues), 3:10- 3:50 p.m.
• Taylor Martin (singer/songwriter), 4:15-5 p.m.
• The Chx (female drummers), 5:15-5:50 p.m.
• Velvet Truck Stop (rock), 6-6:35 p.m.
• Brushfire Stankgrass (psychedelic bluegrass), 6:50-7:30 p.m.
• Baraka Mundi the Bandit Queens of Bellydance, 7:45-8:15 p.m.
• Modo (jazz rock), 8:25-9 p.m.

BoBo Stage

• Dip-N-Flip (DJs) 11:10 -11:45 a.m.
• Lulo (free jazz), noon-12:45 p.m.
• The E.Normus Trio (jazz), 1-1:45 p.m.
• Pierce Edens (gritty rock), 2-2:45 p.m.
• The Poetix Vanguard (spoken word), 3-3:45 p.m.
• Arundas (world) 4-4:45 p.m.
• The Secret B-Sides (soul) 5-5:45 p.m.
• Pilgrim (indie-folk) 6-6:45 p.m.
• Angi West (singer/songwriter), 7-7:45 p.m.
• Dip-N-Flip (DJs), 8-9 p.m.

LaZoom Tour Bus

• LEAF in Schools and Streets: Youth at Jazz (kids show), 2-2:45 p.m.
• Ash Devine (singer/songwriter), 3-3:45 p.m.
• Hillbillyonaire$ (alt-country), 4-4:45 p.m.
• Oso Rey (acoustic folk), 6-6:45 p.m.
• La Feral Zoom: Rollin’ Barks of Laughter (adults only), 7-7:45 p.m.
• Unitard: hilarious one-woman show from Kelly Barrow (adults only). 8-8:45 p.m.

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The beat of a different drum From the traditional to the alt, the myriad music of LAAFF

by Alli Marshall in Vol. 16 / Iss. 6 on 09/02/2009

The Mountain Xpress

www.mountainx.com

If LAAFF is a free pass to dress and act as our most wildly creative selves (keeping it PG, of course: The festival is for the kids, too), it’s also an opportunity for local musicians to get experimental.

That’s the case for The Swayback Sisters, which features singer/songwriters Nikki Talley, Laura Blackley and Lyndsay Wojcik. All three of these ladies have viable careers on their own. They also all have very different styles. Talley’s brand of indie rock is acoustic-instrument fueled — sometimes it’s driving, sometimes it’s mellow — and serves as the perfect backdrop for her dusky, comfortable vocals. Blackley’s bands over the years have run the gamut from folk-rock to country blues, but no matter the genre, Blackley’s rich and swampy vocals color the music. Her songs are a blend of folklore, family-inspired tales and love songs. Wojcik has a breezy-pretty presence, a relaxed banter with her audience and a penchant for roots and soul-tinged sounds. One thing to be said about this trio: There’s not a diva in the bunch. Just solid performers who know how to shine individually and blend their styles — and their voices — for something utterly fresh.

Of course, being experimental doesn’t have to mean a break from form. Alt-country band The Hillbillyonaire$, who claim to have started as a “three piece autoharp and dulcimer orchestra that catered to playin’ for the Ladies Auxillary,” puts its own unhinged and bass-heavy spin on chestnuts like the gospel tune “Ain’t No Grave.” Pilgrim shares little with the Hillbillyonaire$ beyond being a trio. Fronted by poet/musician Jaye Bartell, the slow-core band crafts atmospheric notes and haunting imagery. Themes of birds, nature and loneliness are palpable in these quiet songs.

And then there are the traditionalists (though it could be argued that, amidst the alt-ness of LAAFF, orthodoxy is new heterodoxy). Celtic band Ceol Leinn, from Hickory, plays traditional Scottish and Irish music. In kilts. With highland bagpipes, penny whistles and a marching snare. And, perhaps every bit as exciting (and immemorial) as a double dose of bagpipes is classic rock. Think: The Kinks’ “You Really Got Me” and AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds.” That’s what Hendersonville-based BlackJack brings to the stage. The departure for these rock purists is that the entire group is middle school-aged.

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LAAFFing all the way to the weird: Beloved Lexington festival celebrates eight years

by Alli Marshall in Vol. 16 / Iss. 6 on 09/02/2009

The Mountain Xpress

www.mountainx.com

Photos by Jonathan Welch

If memory serves, my eighth birthday involved a swimming party in our backyard pond and carob cupcakes that none of my friends would eat (but decades later still laugh about). For the Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Festival’s eighth, the day-long celebration promises costumes, a parade, a couple dozen performers, jam sessions, DJs, visual art, costumed revelers, bicycle jousting, local food and beer and spontaneous creative expression (and heck, maybe a carob cupcake, too). LAAFF knows how to throw a party.

So, as downtown Asheville’s most unique shopping district gears up for its most unique festival, what sort of tricks does LAAFF have up its sleeve? For starters, a new director. In July, Frank Bloom stepped into that leadership role, and really, who better? Bloom brings a wealth of experience (he’s managed food and beverage outlets for a NASCAR track, booked shows for Emerald Lounge, run sound for both Donna The Buffalo and Acoustic Syndicate, worked as drum tech for Mickey Hart’s Global Drum Project and performs with Asheville’s Thunderdrums).

Next on the roster of important deets: Beer. LAAFF has, since the beginning, taken a local-brews-only stand. This time around, better than a selection from a single local brewery, Asheville Brewers Alliance (comprised of eight beer crafters) is involved. Wash the suds down with an array of snacks from Crepes of Wrath, Rosetta’s Kitchen, Blue Daisy Cafe, Mela Indian Restaurant and more. You’ll need the sustenance — this is a marathon day of fun.

Speaking of fun, the best way to get into the spirit of LAAFF is to come in costume. Yeah, Asheville is pretty open to all manner of dress. Jeans and flip-flops are de rigeur, dresses are paired with boots, dudes wear skirts, wings and horns are perfectly acceptable accessories. Even so, why pass up a chance to spend a day in full festive regalia? Dress as your favorite alter ego and then cut loose with the newly added Big Wheels for Big Kids activity or saddle up for a round of bike jousting. (What not to look for this year: Daredevil Michael Mooney won’t go for a third attempt at a Guinness World Record for the three-story tall bike ride. Mooney — as “Medieval Knieval” — will lead the foam armor- and banana-seat bicycle jousts.)

Don’t have a costume? Never fear: Honeypot hosts Sew Your Own Art Clothes.

OK, LAAFF is a whole lot of activity, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of chances to cool your heals and just be entertained. Sit back and take in a (mobile) show on the LaZoom bus (LEAF in Schools and Streets’ Youth at Jazz and singer/songwriters Oso Rey and Ash Devine with Quetzal perform on the 40-minute tour loops. Tickets are $2 for kids and $3 for adults. Sketch comedy troupe The Feral Chihuahuas put on an adults-only show). Beat the heat in one of Lexington Ave’s shady courtyards where Celtic, bluegrass, old-time and DJ sessions take place.

There’s more, of course. LAAFF tends to morph the way organic, homegrown things do. Most of it’s mapped out (check the festival Web site for more info), but the street performers, musicians, artists and attendees who show up have a way of adding their own personal, unique and perfectly wacky touches.

Gracie May is adorable, but please leave dogs at home!

There’s more, of course. LAAFF tends to morph the way organic, homegrown things do. Most of it’s mapped out (check the festival Web site for more info), but the street performers, musicians, artists and attendees who show up have a way of adding their own personal, unique and perfectly wacky touches.

who: Lexington Avenue Arts & Fun Festival
what: All-local music and arts celebration
where: Lexington Ave. between the I-240 overpass and College St.
when: Sunday, Sept. 6 (11 a.m.-9 p.m. Free. http://www.lexfestasheville.com)

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All things kooky and independent pack Lexington Avenue for annual arts festival

By Carol Motsinger • August 30, 2009 12:15 AM
Asheville Citizen Times Sunday Edition
www.citizen-times.com

At the Lexington Ave. Arts and Fun Festival in 2007, Megan and Leslie Abernathy (sisters) hula-hoop. At the Lexington Ave. Arts and Fun Festival in 2007, Megan and Leslie Abernathy (sisters) hula-hoop. (Paul Balicky/special to the Citizen-Times)

ASHEVILLE — For Frank Bloom, directing the Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Festival (LAAFF) is more than a day job. The festival, which is taking over a few blocks downtown Sept. 6, is one of the reasons he moved to Asheville.

Before making the permanent move, Bloom traveled from his home in Charlotte to help with the sound for the festival’s stages. One group turned out to be a sound engineer’s nightmare: There were more people than square footage on the stage. The group of dancers and drummers had never performed together.

“They weren’t even a band,” Bloom said. “They were more like an experiment.” But despite Bloom’s handwringing, the performance went off without a hitch.

“It was really cool…it was a little welcome to Asheville,” Bloom said. “It was one of those experiences that was a decision-maker for me moving here.”

Four years later, Bloom is no longer behind the sound board; he’s up front at the helm of the 8th annual event celebrating all things arts, music and Asheville. The free festival will fill three blocks of N. Lexington Avenue between College Street and the I-240 overpass from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sept. 6.

And in a lot of ways, Bloom’s new gig isn’t too far removed from the afternoon he made sure the sounds of that 20-person band got the crowd dancing. “It’s organized chaos,” Erin Scholze, who booked the bands, said of the planning process.

The art at LAAFF, as seen at a previous festival, isn't dominated by paintings of fall colors and the Flat Iron Building.

But organized it is. In just one day, the festival will showcase more than 30 bands and 70 artists. Not to mention a kids area, a circus side show, street performers, a new stage in the La Zoom purple bus and whatever other spontaneous acts of creativity decide to show up.

“It’s a showcase,” Scholze said. “For us, it’s really about maxing it out and sensory overload.”

Forget the stages: Scholze’s favorite part of the festival is the “fabulously freaky” characters who make up the crowd.

“I always love seeing the people in costumes,” she said. “You might see the person who just served you at Zambra walking around in this random costume.”

“That’s the spirit of LAAFF…it’s very eye-opening,” she added.

Bloom’s primary goal this year “was to continue the spirit and the atmosphere of the festival,” he said. And what is that spirit? It’s celebrating everything that makes up Asheville: Local art, food and beer, he said.

“This has a party atmosphere,” he said. “We definitely want to keep that identity.”

A street performer entertains the crowd at last year's Lexington Ave. Arts and Fun Festival. A street performer entertains the crowd at last year's Lexington Ave. Arts and Fun Festival. (Erin Brethauer/Asheville Citizen-Times)

That certainly doesn’t mean there haven’t been changes. “In eight years, the area around the festival has definitely changed,” he said. “The festival celebrates that indie spirit that was the beginning of the re-birth of downtown.”

As the city center has flourished, so has the festival. When Scholze started working with LAAFF in its second year, some 3,000 people came out to the party. The event now draws 12,000 people downtown, she said.

Festival organizers also try to “integrate the evolution” of Asheville, Bloom said. For instance, they will be serving six local beers instead of just one, as they have in previous years. When the festival started, Asheville wasn’t known as a beer city, Bloom said.

There will be some subtractions this year as well. Michael Mooney will not be attempting to ride the world’s tallest bike this year, a stunt that’s so fundamental to the festival that it’s part of the official poster. They also won’t paint a donated car this year, Bloom said. But bicycling jousting (another Mooney original and crowd favorite) is still planned and they have some new surprises Bloom wanted to keep hush-hush.

But the most unique part of the festival may not be the break-dancing pirate or the kooky couple hula-hooping to funky beats. What makes this event special is the personal investment of the people who volunteer their time to make it happen, Scholze said.

“The community really takes ownership of it,” she said.

The same folks show up year after year. “It’s like a big family reunion,” Scholze added.

A kooky cast of characters entertain the crowds at last year's Lexington Ave Arts and Fun Festival. (Erin Brethauer/Asheville Citizen-Times)

Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Festival performers
Blue Rags, Dehlia Low, Eymarel, Hunab Kru, Jen and the Juice, Mad Tea Party, Melmacpink, Roberto Hess, Swayback Sisters, tHE POLES, U-N-I verse, Zabumba!. Asheville Dance Revolution, Baraka Mundi, Blackjack, Brushfire Stankgrass, Ceol Leinn, Galen Kipar Project, Modo, Now You See Them, Runaway Circus and Loose Caboose, Taylor Martin, The Chx, Velvet Truck Stop, Angi West, Arundas, Dip-N-Flip E.Normus Trio, Lulo, Pierce Edens, Pilgrim, Poetix Vanguard, Secret B-Sides, Ash Devine w/ Quetzal, Hillbillionaire$, La Feral Zoom: Rollin’ Barks of Laughter, LEAF in Schools and Streets: Youth at Jazz, Oso Rey, as well as a bluegrass jam, celtic jam and old-time jam.

LAAFF Performers Schedule

IF YOU GO
What: 8th Annual Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Festival.
When: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sept. 6.
Where: Three blocks of N. Lexington Avenue between College Street and the I-240 overpass.
Cost: Free.
For more
about LAAFF 2009 www.lexfestasheville.com
about Arts 2 People www.arts2people.org

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Scaling to New Heights

Written by Rob Moore Friday, 03 July 2009 14:59
Crankit Mag
www.crankitmag.com

Asheville-based Jonathan Scales Fourchestra has a uniqueness that is just theirs–steel drums and jazz. This cool combination is a product of Appalachian State’s alumnus Jonathan Scales. Taking the calypso-style (style of Afro-Caribbean music) sounds of the Caribbean steel drums, fusing then together with jazz and reggae, and putting them together is his signature. He manipulates the sound of his steel drum in ways that are refreshing, yet distinct in the island sounds.

Photo By Jon Leidel

His band is made up of Ryan Lassiter (drummer and fellow App alumnus), Duane Simpson (guitarist), and Shannon Hoover (bass). Simpson and Hoover are new to the band this year and in Jonathan’s words, “They are ripping it.”

“How do you mix the traditional Caribbean, jazz, reggae in your music?” I asked.

“Well, I’m influenced by everything I’m around, but I didn’t grow up listening to Caribbean music. I grew up like any typical kid, and when I went to college I listened to classical and modern music. That’s pretty much my musical influences,” said Scales.

He named one of his main influences as Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. He also has other influences like the Derek Trucks Band, Andy Narell, Pat Metheny, Cannonball Adderley, and Chick Corea to name a few. He has also had the opportunity to play with Jeff Sipe (most recently he has toured with Keller Williams with Moseley, Droll and Sipe and Jimmy Herring Band), Future Man, and Jeff Coffin (Bela Fleck’s drummer) and and he has woven all of that influence and knowledge into some cool sounding music.

“In playing with Sipe and Coffin, what inspirational growth have these two given you to help open new musical opportunities? I asked.

“Jeff Coffin in particular is a big influence on me,” Scales said. “I actually tried to get him to play with me on the first CD and he wouldn’t do it. I learned a lot about being professional and producing quality, and the second time around he said he would do it because I proved I could step up.”

Stepping up is exactly what Scales has done. He has produced a second CD, the first being One Track Mind in 2007, titled Plot Scheme. This CD features Jeff Coffin and others, but is full of that jazz, steel drums and Caribbean flavor that’s their signature style and a “more developed sound,” according to Scales.

Jonathan Scales Fourchestra will be at Music On The Mountaintop on August 29, in Boone, N.C. He played the inaugural event last year and put on a very good show. Very refreshing. This year he will move up the totem pole to a better stage.

“What are you going to bring to the table at Music On The Mountaintop? Anything cool?” Scales was asked.

“We’ve got some new music that’s still Jonathan Scales, but some of our newer stuff seems to be edgier than it was before and I don’t know why.” Scales said. “I am also bringing my new lineup. A new and improved band.”

Well, we are looking forward to his show in Boone. He will also have a tour coming to the upstate of South Carolina in the fall so be sure to catch a show. You can catch his sound and play dates online at his MySpace, www.myspace.com/jonathanscales and www.jonscales.com.

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A ‘Freak’ a Month Calendar, exhibit showcases Asheville’s oddballs

Carol Motsinger • August 14, 2009 12:15 AM
Asheville Citizen Times
www.citizen-times.com

A mermaid graces the cover of the A mermaid graces the cover of the "Freaks of Asheville" calendar that's being celebrated in an exhibit starting Friday at Pack Place.

ASHEVILLE — A nun with a bad habit and a mountain-living mermaid sound more like characters in a bizarre dream than glossy calendar girls. Yet these individuals have found a home in the Arts 2 People’s Freaks of Asheville Calendar.
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The images in the calendar, as well as photographs and artifacts from the organization’s Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Festival, will be celebrated in an exhibit opening 5-7 p.m. today at Pack Place.

The calendar features some of Asheville’s creative professionals, “a certain slice of the Asheville experience,” said Kitty Love, Arts 2 People’s executive director and driving force behind the calendar.

“I really just wanted to highlight who these people are,” she said. The calendar also features important dates in freak culture, such as moon phases and death and birth dates of some of the important people who contributed to the current community.

Love teamed up with John Elliston and Michael Traister, photographer for Sock Monkey Dreams and the Faces of Izzy’s project, to create a series of black-and-white portraits of Asheville’s “freaks.”

But what exactly is a freak? For Love, freaks “have been deformed by the power of their own creative potential,” she said. “They have an overwhelming creative urge, insatiable curiosity, but difficulty being amused.”

The calendar is essentially 12 months of performers and artists like burlesque performer Corky Bordeaux and folk artist Bob Seven.

“I mostly just wanted to celebrate the people who are constant contributors to the magic I see every day,” Love said.

Traister kept the setup simple — neutral background and no props other than what the subjects brought with them — to make sure the “subjects come out more,” he said. Traister thinks that part of what makes Asheville special is that there is a sense of freedom for people to be who they want and to express who they are, however they see fit.

It’s exactly that spirit that Love hopes the calendar will highlight — and help preserve. “It’s important that we retain this part of our culture as we develop into a bigger city,” she said. “I want to see the creative culture considered in terms of economic development, in terms of tourism and everything else Asheville does.”

The calendar is just the beginning for the project. Love hopes to produce a set of Asheville freak-themed Tarot cards and possibly a larger collection of portraits for a book. Organizers hope to have the calendar available for sale at the upcoming LAAFF, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sept. 6, and at downtown retailers soon. A portion of the proceeds will go toward Arts 2 People.

The Pack Place exhibit also includes images previewing next month’s LAAFF, an arts celebration organized by Arts 2 People. The exhibit will also host Michael Mooney’s bike jousting gear, a sport regularly featured at the festival. Mooney, also known as “Medieval Knievel,” a co-founder of LAAFF, also has a spot in the calendar.

Through all of its projects, “Arts 2 People has worked really hard to try to create something that can move the creative cultural experience forward,” Love said. “We want to create an opportunity for self-expression and community building.”

IF YOU GO:

What: Exhibit for the Lexington Ave. Arts and Fun Festival and the Freaks of Asheville Calendar.

When: Opening reception 5-7 p.m. Friday. The exhibit runs through Aug. 29.

Where: Pack Place Front Gallery at 2 S. Pack Square.

More information: http://www.arts2people.org or http://www.lexfestasheville.com.

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Asheville’s 1st Annual Rastafarian Ancient Living Arts and Kulture Festival September 13th at Lake Eden Event Site

“Strength can be achieved through UNITY, and success is the fruit of COOPERATION” –
Emperor Haile Sellassie I The First

RALAK Fest
Lake Eden Event Site
377 Lake Eden Rd
Black Mountain, NC
Sunday, September 13th, 2009

10am-9pm
$30 in Advance
(828) 669-4918
blackmountainarc@gmail.com
www.black-mountain-arc.webs.com
www.twitter.com/RALAKfest

Presented by: Black Mountain Asheville Rastafarian Collective and Mountain Roots Management.

The 1st Annual Rastafarian Ancient Living Arts and Kulture Festival (RALAK Fest), presented by the Black Mountain Asheville Rastafarian Collective (Black Mountain ARC), is to be held on September 13th, 2009 at the Lake Eden Events Site in Black Mountain, NC. RALAK is also a celebration of The Ethiopian (2002) New Year, which is actually two days before on Sept 11th. Tickets cost $30 and are available online at http://www.black-mountain-arc.webs.com.You may also purchase tickets at these outlets: Voltage Records on Lexington Ave, Harvest Records on Haywood Rd, Dynamite Coffee Roasters in Black Mountain, and at the Eagle Street Market on Eagle St. in downtown Asheville.

RALAK is an all day educational, interfaith, music and cultural event that will feature speakers from a vast majority of religious sects, local civic leaders, representatives within our community and national educators. This is a family friendly event with a kid’s village, live music, and local artisans. Ras Marley, Empress Iffiya, Congo Irice are the MC’s for RALAK and they will be welcoming the day’s events at 10am. The day will begin with spiritual blessings from various cultures as well as the United States and Ethiopian National Anthems. There will also be a moment of silence to honor oppressed peoples well as victims and casualties of all wars. Other activities include educational videos, Native American and African songs and drumming, Irish bag pipes and dance, as well as Nyahbinghi- the rallying call of Theocracy for humanity in the Divine force of truth and rights.

Speakers, including international educators, will be represented from many walks of life and faith, such as Carlo Hawk Walker (Native American Sun Dancer) and Dr. John P. Homiak (Curator of the Rastafari exhibit “Discovering Rastafari” & Director of Anthropological Archives at the Smithsonian International Museum of Natural History), Queen Mother Moses, George Rose (Dejazmatch of Baltimore Maryland, legal advisor to the Rastafari cause), and Debra Kiliru-Liontree (co-director of Motherland International Relations).

Live music for the day will be Ras Michael and the Original Sons of Negus (Jamaica), Harry Mo (St. Croix), Reggae Infinity (SC) and other WNC artists such as Lyndsay Wojcik, Crystal Kind, U-N-I verse as well as many local DJs.

RALAK is also a fundraiser for the following projects in Ethiopia.

* Ejersa Goro Ethiopian Orthodox Church Roof Rehabilitation (This is in Harar where the Founder of the Organization of African Unity, HIM Haile Selassie The First was born). Donations are also for agricultural purposes there.
* A water catchment for a school serving indigenous Ethiopians in Shashemene
* Clothing and Educational Aid for an orphanage in Addis Ababa
.
RALAK’s mission is to live the creed of Rastafari, “Let the hungry be fed, the naked clothed, the sick nourish, the aged protected and the infants cared for.” The vision the goes along with this is to establish outreach and educational programs, for the creed to be fulfilled.

Following this vision, the Black Mountain ARC initiated the 1st Annual Rastafarian Ancient Living Arts & Kulture Festival, to address the misrepresentation of the Rastafari Faith and to expand and establish relations amongst other faiths. The pressing issue that is being addressed by establishing the Black Mountain ARC is that the Rastafari way of life is being misrepresented as an alternative lifestyle, fashion, gang or any other societal labels placed on it due to ignorance. The Black Mountain ARC will illustrate the Rastafari Way of Life at RALAK through righteous action and behavior that is accessible to people of all faiths and walk of life.

RALAK serves as a Cultural Encounter of Faiths and People and serves to “enable the Rastafari Community here to enhance communication and establish good relationships with the greater African Diasporic Community and friends of Africa in the Western North Carolina region.” – Ras Aziz

“Do not fall into the narrowness which looks only to the borders of your nation… We must move ahead in concert with all mankind.”

“It is communications that relates and binds people together by ties of friendship”

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