Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are in Asheville per Ashvegas reader

Just wanted everyone to know that Tim Burton is staying at Hotel Indigo (from someone who works there) and Johnny Depp is in town as well. Busy time for stars in AVL!

Link  Keep checking this link for more updates.  Their people are more out and about and informed about this than I but we're all checking sources re: JD and Tim Burton.

Lots of famous people visit with us. From what I've gathered through the years, they can keep their privacy quite well here.

Asheville, NC, is one of the world's best kept secret spots where visitors exclaim soon after they come here that they're moving here permanently as soon as they can make it happen.

We are a big blue dot surrounded by a red state and we have almost a communal vibe with all the friendly musicians, street performers, concerts, protests and other fun gatherings. We're also very gay-friendly.

Drive towards downtown, park your car, get out and mingle to the sights, scents, and sounds of Asheville, Johnny. I'll be looking out for ya!


UPDATE: they're scouting locations for the impending Dark Shadows movie,a Gothic soap opera, where Johnny Depp plays Vampire Barnabus Collins.  Tim has to be in LA today, May 28th, so don't know if he'll come back or if they're through.

World Peace is coming to Asheville!

On Wednesday May 4th, World Peace and Other Fourth Grade Achievements will be screened at the Diana Wortham Theater. Following the screening, there will be a Q&A session with the film’s star, John Hunter, followed by a regional education leadership dialogue.

WHEN: May 4, 2011 at 6:45 PM
WHERE: Diana Wortham Theatre
TICKETS: K-12 Educators: Free, Non-Educators: $16

To learn more about the film, as well as the screening, please visit WorldPeaceAvl.com.

TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/john_hunter_on_the_world_peace_game.html

Asheville film 'Solatrium' heads to Slamdance Film Festival

“Solatrium” by local director Chris Bower will make its world debut at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah Jan. 21-28.

Many Asheville-area residents know Bower from “Moon Europa,” the Asheville based science fiction film he produced with multimedia developer G. Craig Hobbs. But few know that “Moon Europa” was originally a short film, “Solatrium.”

For more on Slamdance, visit slamdance.com. Local links are www.solatrium.com, www.slamdance.com and www.chrisbower.tumblr.com.

link

The Graduates

The Graduates is a fun coming-of-age comedy about four friends who head to the beach after graduation. They go to party and chase girls, but end up growing up over the course of the week.

The Graduates features music from Asheville's Mad Tea Party and also features Robin Williams' son Zak Williams in his feature film debut. The Graduates was directed by Asheville's Ryan Gielen (also directed Larry Keel: Beautiful Thing) and will be in theatres nation wide starting May 8th and will run through the summer.

Here are the details:
Thursday, March 12th
Doors at 9:00pm
Screening at 9:30pm
Tickets $5

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT OUR SITE ONLY - Previous screenings have all sold out so get your tickets at the website soon.


The Graduates (Official Trailer) from Ryan Gielen on Vimeo.

The Asheville 48 Hour Film Project

Filmmakers Take to the Streets

The weekend of June 20 filmmakers throughout the Asheville area will take part in the 48 Hour Film Project.

Our list of teams for Asheville is posted to the right. At the Kickoff Event, each team will draw the genre for its film out of a hat. In addition, a character, prop and line of dialogue will be announced and must appear in each film.

All of the completed films will screen on the following dates: Tuesday - Thursday, June 24, 25 and 26!

It is not too late to participate in the Asheville 48HFP!

KICKOFF

Date: Friday, June 20

Time: 6-7pm

Place: Asheville Pizza & Brewing, 675 Merrimon

Notes: Teams arrive at 6pm and can leave by 7pm. You must have someone present to draw the genre for your film. Teams get their genre, character, prop and line of dialogue that must be used in their film. At 7 PM, teams bolt out the door to begin their 48 hours of filmmaking.

Pangea Day

It's Pangea Day
Local time: May-10-2008 14:00 EDT

4 Hours. 24 Films. A New Way To See The World
Thousands of people around the world will gather before their computers Saturday to view four hours of "Pangea Day" programming, brought to you by independent filmmakers, celebrities and the folks that organize the annual TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference.

...for the past two years, Pangea Day was planned as a way to bring the global community together. Over 2,500 independent films were submitted and the organizers picked out 24 short pieces that will be aired. There will also be music and celebrity talks, given by the likes of Queen Noor of Jordan, CNN's Christiane Amanpour, musician/activist Bob Geldof, and Iranian rock phenom Hypernova.

PANGEA DAY | LIVE FEEDS

**CELEBRATING IN DOWNTOWN ASHEVILLE @ 2:00 PM EST** ALSO AT THE FLOOD GALLERY AND AT FIRESTORM CAFE--48 Commerce St**

2-4pm, May 10th, 2008
Firestorm Cafe & Books
48 Commerce Street

On Saturday May 10th, Asheville will join thousands of cities around the world for Pangea Day, a program of powerful films, visionary speakers and uplifting music. The program will be broadcast live to the world through the Internet, television, digital cinemas and mobile phones in seven languages. In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, Pangea Day plans to use the power of film to bring the world a little closer together.

Asheville residents are invited to participate in this historic event locally at Firestorm Cafe & Books, a new community event space located at across from the downtown Post Office on Commerce Street.

For more information on Pangea Day, contact Laura Galloway at (212) 260-3708. For more information on Firestorm Cafe & Books, contact info@firestormcafe.com. link

A Celebration Of Southeast Whitewater

"On the Down Low" "LVM 26: The Southeast Issue"

World Premiere Thursday April 24th
Fine Arts Theatre in downtown Asheville, NC.
9:30pm, $8 at the door

Asheville Filmmakers, John Grace and Thomas Oliver, present a premiere film event at the Fine Arts Cinema in Asheville on Thursday April 24th at 9:30pm. Two films will premier showcasing the whitewater kayaking culture which is nestled within the creeks and rivers flowing throughout Western North Carolina and beyond.

“This premiere is for anyone who has ever seen a kayak on top of a car around here and wondered where it’s been. It’s an eye into the whitewater community which calls Asheville and the Western North Carolina mountains home.” Oliver states.

The first film is a short directed by Oliver and entitled "On the Down Low." It follows three characters as they make plans to break from their everyday routine to kayak the Green River, the home river of choice for many WNC paddlers. "This is the river that attracts so many paddlers to our region." adds Oliver. "On the Down Low" provides a brief glimpse into the lives of these kayakers while showcasing the beauty of the rivers they play on.

The second film for the evening will be the world premiere of Lunch Video Magazine's 26th DVD issue. Lunch Video Magazine, LVM for short, is a unique whitewater industry video magazine which features the freshest and most exciting video footage of the latest kayaking expeditions on a quarterly basis. "This business has always been about kayaking. More specifically, kayaking with our friends." Grace reflects.

Read More »
Filmmaker's Inc | View Trailer
LVM VIDEO | View Trailer

Activist/Artist 'Zine and Blog Workshop

6:00pm - 8:00pm

Pack Memorial Library

Free

Grrly Show by filmmaker Kara Herold is an 18-minute film about the feminist 'zine explosion of the 1990s.

Lori Horvitz, Associate Professor of Creative Writing and Women's Studies at UNC-Asheville, will discuss what evolved out this richly independent feminist media and the way blogs have erupted.

The event will include hands-on workshops with local artists in 'zine-making, blogging, screen printing and knitting in the spirit of Do-It-Yourself culture.

This event is being held in conjunction with the smArt Speak: Distinguished Artist Series.

link

Polis is This: Charles Olson and the Persistence of Place

Next Thursday (April 17th)

A film by Henry Ferrini & Ken Riaf
7:00 p.m., Thursday, April 17, 2008
Fine Arts Theatre, 38 Biltmore Ave., Downtown Asheville
Admission: $7 BMCM+AC members + students with ID / $9 non-members
Filmmaker Henry Ferrini will be in town for the screening and will answer questions afterward.

"A beautifully composed homage to one of the few truly monumental American poets of our times." Jack Hirschman, Poet Laureate of San Francisco

"The best film about an American poet ever made." Bill Corbett, The Boston Phoenix

"...an impressionistic, yet informative and moving document about the act of creation that neither shies away nor oversimplifies." Michael Kelleher, ArtVoice

Just in time for National Poetry Month in April, the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, The Captain’s Bookshelf and Western Carolina University present a striking new film about Charles Olson, poet and charismatic leader of Black Mountain College during its final years, at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 17th. Polis is This: Charles Olson and the Persistence of Place wrestles with the six foot eight inch 275lb colossus of poetry through an extraordinary mix of word and image. Filmmaker Henry Ferrini will be present at the April 17th screening at the Fine Arts Theatre to answer questions following the film.

Polis Is This combines interviews, archival footage, commentary and animation into a single voice full of insight and visual beauty. The film allows the audience access to the subject even as it captures the zeitgeist of a formative era in literary history. The 60-minute documentary features John Malkovich, as well as interviews with poets and scholars Robert Creeley, Ed Sanders, Diane di Prima, Gerrit Lansing, John Sinclair, Pete Seeger, Chuck Stein, Anne Waldman, Charles Boer, Susan Thackrey, Amiri Baraka, Robin Blaser, Michael Rumaker, Jonathan Williams, Ammiel Alcalay, John Stilgoe, Vincent Ferrini and the poet’s son, Charles Peter Olson.

Polis Is This illuminates Olson’s life and work by exploring such connections and imaginative journeys. The film traces Olson’s process of self- discovery and makes it clear why Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and many other literary figures traveled to Gloucester to sit with the father of post-modernism — the man they called the "big fire source."

An eclectic soundtrack puts together Boston’s grandfather of punk rock Willie "Loco" Alexander with Black Mountain College avant-garde composer Stephan Wolpe along with a little banjo picking from Pete Seeger. The film has screened to enthusiastic audiences in New York, Cambridge and San Francisco.

via BM

IVAW Storms UNCA

I have finally calmed down. There was an action in the Highsmith building of UNCA today. I arrived to be a quiet observer and film the action. It happened a little after noon today and now, at a bit after 2pm, I have finally calmed down.

Soldiers in camo and full gear stormed the student building across from the downstairs cafe. A handful of SDS students posed as Iraqis sitting in their home. As the soldiers swept the room, they screamed, "GET THE FUCK DOWN, DOWN ON THE GROUND NOW! MOVE! NOW! MOVE IT YOU STUPID BITCH!". A crowd started to gather, as it was lunchtime anyway. The Marine recruiters who had a table set up near by, acted like nothing was happening.

[Read More ...] | this photo and more taken by the Gaias Tears website.

Abuse of Power in Asheville?

The following post came from Gaia's Tears this morning
UPDATES at the bottom of post

Yesterday morning at about 9-9:30 am my husband called. This was the usual time he would call after he got to work. He left a little early to do some freeway blogging before he went to work as he had been doing off and on for the past couple of months. He says to me, "Hey, I need you to come pick me up...I got arrested." I laughed at him. We have often joked about similar things especially after what happened recently to another couple in West Asheville. He had to tell me three times before I took him seriously. In his own words, my husband relates what happened:

I am writing to tell you about an abuse of power in Asheville, NC by a police sergeant. I occasionally stand on an interstate overpass near my place of work in the mornings and hold a sign that says 'IMPEACH BUSH / CHENEY'. On Wednesday August 15, I was standing alone with my sign for about 10 minutes, when I was approached by Police Officer Russell Crisp. He asked me how long I was planning to stay there and I told him just a few more minutes because I had to go to work at 8:00. He asked for my ID and I obliged. I asked him if I was doing something wrong, and he said that his Sergeant was on the way and he was going to wait for him. SO, I went back to my sign holding over the interstate. A few minutes later Sergeant Randy Riddle showed up with a paper in his hand. He spoke briefly to Crisp, then walked over to me and told me to put down my sign, put my hands behind my back, and that I was under arrest! I was shocked and almost thought he was joking until he told me again to put down the sign and put my hands behind me and I was under arrest. So I peacefully agreed and he cuffed me. I asked him why I was being arrested, he told me I was in violation County Ordinance 16-2, (the print out in his hand that he didn’t bother to read to me or show me.) He told me I was obstructing the sidewalk. I told him I was not and that officer Crisp had witnessed a guy walk by me moments before. Riddle yelled at me, "You were obstructing the sidewalk!" and "I'm sick of this shit!" then he said, "Here’s your 15 minutes of fame buddy!" I looked back to see his name plate and he said in a mean condescending tone, "Yea, that's 'Sergeant Riddle’ get it right!" He then put me in Officer Crisp's police car. Riddle took my sign with him and I was taken downtown and booked by Crisp.

I was never read my Miranda rights. While at the jail I was asked several times about what groups or organizations I was with, like a local group Veterans for Peace. And more specifically the Southeast Convergence for Climate Action group that had protested at the Bank of America on Monday. I was told by officer Crisp that since that protest the police had pulled out this ordinance. I was searched, and they took pictures of me and my tattoos. Since I haven’t been in trouble in 15 years, I was given a court date and allowed to sign a written promise to appear in court.

This is an example of an American citizen having his/her civil liberties tread upon. In Asheville, you are allowed to protest on city sidewalks without a permit. The sidewalk is about 5 feet wide. I never blocked the sidewalk; I knew about that ordinance already and was not trying to be arrested. It was obvious to me that Riddle had a problem with my sign because there is no way I could block the sidewalk all by myself. I feel like my rights were trampled by this harassment from Riddle. I got the feeling that he was trying to scare me away, but he only strengthened my resolve to protest more!

By the way, I never got my sign back from Sergeant Riddle.

He stood on Haywood Road in West Asheville on the bridge that overpasses I240. At lunch time, after contacting all the local media about my husband's ordeal, I went to the Flint Street bridge downtown to do some freeway blogging myself. Other local activists often use this bridge with 'Honk to impeach' signs. Meeting me there was Barry Summers, co-host of Making Progress: News for a Change on WPVM 103.5FM, a local progressive radio station. I consider it one of the only sources of unbiased news in the area. He brought along a photographer friend. He came to catch it on film if I too were to be arrested. One and a half hours in the hot midday sun later and I had not been arrested. During an interview with Barry, he asked if my goal was to get arrested. I answered him, "No. Our goal has always been to get people to wake up to what is happening in our country and it still is."

At 4:30 PM my husband and I planned to return to the same bridge, on Haywood Road, that my husband was removed from, accompanied again by Barry. Joining us this time was Virato, host of Virato-Live!, and his wife, Dhiraja. Virato has planned a community action meeting at the West Asheville Library next Tuesday at 6:30pm. He will mention it on his show on Saturday.

We will continue to stand up for our freedoms and against the blatant abuse of power in our government, on the local and national level. Please join us!

link

**UPDATE: August 17, 2:49 AM
"We have an update on our situation. We have contacted the ACLU and they are very interested in our case and are searching for an attorney. They will be even more interested now."
[Read More »]

**UPDATE: August 17, 11:02 AM
"During an interview with Asheville Citizen-Times reporter Adam Behsudi yesterday evening, my husband Jonas was informed that the APD has plans to possibly change his charges. Apparently they want to charge him with a state charge concerning endangering motorists."
[Read More »]

**UPDATE: August 18, 2:08 PM
"A letter forwarded to me from the Chief of Police, William A. Hogan, to Gary Jackson, City Manager regarding my husband's arrest. Very interesting..."
[Read More »]

Asheville

This story is moving fast around the blogosphere.

Ecoheroism and John Cram

"Ecoheroism and the Beaucatcher Overlook, by James Dye"

The term ecoqueer, sporting an entirely superfluous hyphen, slipped into the language a few years ago. It is applied to intrepid environmental activists, incidentally gay, whose sexual orientation is somehow linked to social responsibility, in this case to ecology. As Australian documentary filmmaker Pip Starr, himself an ecoqueer, noted, “[N]ature created people to be queer for good reason...we tend to become artists, storytellers, and spiritual guides or leaders.”

Among the ranks of the ecoqueer is Stephanie Hillman, who, in a very visible protest, camped for several days in the pouring rain on a ledge high above the city of Rio de Janeiro, in the company of large, Amazonian rats. Or there is Eric Heijselaar, who leapt onto a derelict storage rig from a helicopter and spent six days on the platform, nursing a broken ankle but thereby compelling Shell Oil not to dump the rig into the ocean. The contributions of Hillman and Heijselaar are in every sense heroic, the stuff of books and film. But Asheville has her own ecoqueer, a quiet, soft-spoken, and modest hero who has, through his efforts, saved thirty forested acres within the city limits for use as a public park.

John Cram’s name is synonymous with Asheville’s renaissance. With his Blue Spiral 1 Gallery and the Fine Arts Theatre, he breathed new life into the city’s decaying downtown. His New Morning Gallery and Bellagio have done the same for Biltmore Village. That he has an eye for art is unquestioned, and it is doubtless this visual sensibility, perhaps combined with that gay Frodo-environmentalism of the 1970s, that drives his campaign to save western North Carolina from itself.

For Catherine

Asheville Based Film to be Released Wide-ish

"For Catherine," the first feature film from Asheville writer/director Ethan Hunter, will be available on Netflix and in stores on Tuesday, May 22, 2007.

Inspired by his bedeviled relationship with a young lady named, "Catherine," Hunter wrote the screenplay while still an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina Asheville, and he and his cast and crew would spend the next four years bringing to life this brutally funny, unflinchingly honest and ultra low-budget look at character and love in the twenty-first century.

Beginning with a satirical stab at the unbearable Hollywood Romantic Comedy paradigm, "For Catherine" quickly dispenses with the clichés of so many terrible films before flashing forward to show the viewer what happens after the leads in the Romantic Comedy walk off together into the sunset. Two years later we witness the young Duo Black (Grant "Stemage" Henry of Metroid Metal fame) feeling so suffocated by his life and so desperate for solitude that he Fed Ex’s everything he owns to himself. We watch as his friends and the delivery guy try to help him reclaim his life along with his belongings.

This uniquely sincere comedy, produced for less that the price of a decent used car and filmed entirely in Asheville, NC, has been fortunate enough to gather a devoted fan base and receive several awards, high acclaim and exceptional reviews in dozens of countries on every continent except Antarctica (and we’re working on that to be sure) and on May 22nd will be finally be available on Netflix and in stores everywhere.

Related:
Asheville Citizen-Times
Website | For Catherine
IMDB | For Catherine

Bicycle and Pedestrian Task Force Upcoming Events

KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR INFORMATION ABOUT STRIVE NOT TO DRIVE, APRIL 20!

Friday, April 20, is the big day, complete with prizes, promotions, and even breakfast!

Asheville Transit is offering 25-cent bus fare, the film festival will be at UNCA, and there will be prize drawings for folks who register at www.gettingaround-wnc.com and then do something besides drive alone on Friday.

If Friday, the 20th doesn’t work for you, you have until the 29th to register and complete your own strive not to drive day. So far, I know that prizes have been provided by Liberty Bicycles, Asheville Transit, Greenlife Grocery, the Asheville Citizen-Times, Malaprops, the Tweetsie Railroad, Asheville Regional Airport, and Chimney Rock Park. (There are seriously good prizes available.)

The bicycle workshop will be Saturday morning (see below), and on Sunday, April 22, the Beat the Bounds Ride begins at 9 (details available at www.blueridgebicycleclub.org), and then the earth day celebration will begin at 12:30 at the Cathedral of All Souls in Biltmore Village. Information (and prize registration!) will be on http://www.gettingaround-wnc.com/.

HOW TO LEAVE YOU CAR AT HOME – USING YOUR BICYCLE FOR TRANSPORTATION WORKSHOP IS SATURDAY, APRIL 21

This beginning transportation workshop will be from 9-1, with an optional short ride afterward. The workshop is free, but please reserve a space by contacting Claudia Nix. The workshop will include a panel discussion by folks who use their bicycle to get around, and sessions on safety, riding skills, equipment, and route planning. Asheville Transit is bringing a bus so there will be a chance to practice using the bicycle racks. At the end of the workshop, there will be a chance for a short group ride. Michael Sule rightly observed that by sending out news of the workshop to this mailing list, we are "preaching to the choir." He proposes we think of the workshop as a “bring a friend to church” activity. Tell someone you know who isn’t riding in Asheville about the workshop. Bring them if that’s what it takes.

Barb Mee, Transportation Planner
French Broad River MPO
P.O. Box 7148, Asheville, NC 28802
(828) 259-5457
http://frenchbroadrivermpo.org/

Capricorn Full Moon Gathering

Capricorn Full Moon Gathering
This event will take place at Pumpkin Hollow in Tennessee.

The full moon will be the final evening of a week-long celebration of the longest day and shortest night, of the summer solstice and the full moon, of balancing the male and female and the in-between...

The festival, "Higher Fire", will be from Friday afternoon June 17 through Wednesday June 22, 2005. The Full Moon Gathering will take place Tuesday, June 21st - Wednesday, June 22nd.

Music, ritual, food, games, films, song, storytelling, mudpeople, lake swims, and more...more information coming soon.

Link