Last year, not long after I got to Asheville, I went to this little music festival, POPAsheville, that was held downtown. I had a lot of fun last year; I even blogged about it. Serendipity abounded and I surfed the weekend wave to completion, but not exhaustion. Musical highlights at the festival included Nerd Parade (they gave out condoms in awesome containers), Mad Tea Party and Heypenny. Heypenny is kicking ass — they sound great and they have a new album that I’m desperate to get my hands on. Their last album has been a constant favorite over the past year.
I had countless memorable conversations.
- Sally, thanks for the encouragement. Best of luck with your girlfriend from Alabama. I hope you made it home ok.
- Mark, you’re very well read. Now, just one more day!
- Good luck with that iBook, Siobhan. Hope Z’s advice helped.
After a short day of Saturday work at the office I had an awesome dinner at Nine Mile with colleague Sensible Kitty. Have to make this a routine.Then I returned to work only to find the place surrounded by firefighters. Turns out our landlords and owners of the building, Glazer Architecture, didn’t follow their own advice and they let their office get too cold and the pipes to the sprinkler system burst, but didn’t leak until the ice thawed hours later. Only the fire department can turn that off I’m told, but it was not before water damaged the Jerusalem Garden restaurant and the dance studio below. Thankfully, I had slept in the office and ran space heaters to keep it warm and I woke up to a balmy 68° that morning. So not only did I not have to drive home (thankfully) but I also kept the office safe.
There was so much more; maybe I’ll get to it later today.
If only my bad habits were as sporadic as my blogging.
Since I last updated, many changes have transpired. Foremost among them is moving to Asheville. Yes, the prodigal loser returns to Asheville, sans the constructive parable for the rest of you. Of course. I’m taking College Algebra (again! Saves on textbooks), Literature Based Research, American Music and Conceptual Physics (which prompted my grandfather to ask, “Isn’t that when a man and a woman…”). I love being in school. It gives me more satisfaction for living per hour than any other activity I do. Hmm. SL per H. Perhaps I should measure more of my life like that.
I also started a new job today, with Sensible City. I’m the online media intern. Basically, I write a lot of e-mails and figure out ways to use the web to promote environmental events. The one I’m working on now is the Eco City World Summit 2008. I know a first day isn’t much, but I like it a lot so far.
This past weekend was POPAsheville and I had a blast. To put it briefly: 2 Nights, 3 Venues, 1 Bus, 34 Bands, $15. Wow. So, I parked in downtown Asheville and went to Stella Blue. Saw Ruby Slippers. Good live, but electronic music like that is often better recorded, and I’d love to hear what they sound like on vinyl. Her voice was lovely though. Think Fiona Apple if she was a soprano and not an alto. Then I took the bus to the Grey Eagle and saw Future Islands. Had heard their name before and had no idea what to expect, but was really impressed. Crap yes! More please! Then I went to see Laura Reed and Deep Pocket at the just-opened Rocket Club, and they was great too. The Rocket Club is in West Asheville, so I made a phone call and arranged to stay at C.‘s house which was walking distance from there. Well this was fine and good but the next day I wake up (sore from lying on wood floor all night) and have to walk back to downtown Asheville to get back to my car. So I bundled up (-7° C ambient, –15° C windchill) and headed down to Sunny Point Café and had some great huevos rancheros, and many cups of strong black coffee. Then bought some RayBans and a 3-pack of black gloves. I only passed one person on the way back to town, and as chance would have it he needed a pair of gloves. So I gave him a pair. I bet he felt pretty lucky to be given a pair of gloves on the coldest day of the year. Below you can see my path.
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It’s really great to live in a town with such youthful culture. Leaving Tryon seems like a better idea everyday.
