Downtown Asheville Blog

One of Asheville’s free concert events, Downtown After Five, starts Friday at North Lexington Avenue near I-240 and Hiawassee. The monthly series begins with Mamadou Diabate Ensemble and the Firecracker Jazz Band.

The Mamadou Diabate Ensemble, from Mali, Africa, plays intoxicating, rhythmic music in their native tradition. The Firecracker Jazz Band plays swinging Dixie/New Orleans jazz with a lot of energy and flair.

As usual, there will be beer trucks on hand, serving microbrews and domestics alike. This year, the festival is going green, with compostable cups, plates, utensils and bowls.

The music starts at 5 and ends at 9.

Posted by Mark Vanderhoff, a local Realtor who always enjoys concerts outdoors - especially when they’re free.

The latest addition to the downtown dining scene in Asheville caters to environmentally conscious patrons and wi-fi loving coffee drinkers. Green Sage, at 5 Broadway, has a menu that varies from espresso to organic, grass-fed buffalo burgers.

Located in the former C.F. Chang space (which was also a long-time coffee establishment in yet another life), this new restaurant will no doubt receive many benefits from its central location. The decor is modern and simple, and the generous windows encourage people watching. Patrons order at the front counter.

The menu is rather expansive for an otherwise simple idea. Drinks range from coffee concoctions to fresh juices to beer from Pisgah Brewing Company. Breakfast includes full-blown omelettes. Lunch and dinner consists of sandwiches with organic and local ingredients.

My wife and I stopped in for a mint brownie recently. It tasted good, but it was cold - not soft and fresh like I prefer. The menu was very intriguing, so we plan to stop by again. Check out Chowhound for more in-depth reviews.

Another interesting note: There is very litte disposable dishware, and the takeout boxes are environmentally friendly. One waste can for food and napkins is labeled “Compost,” while the general trash is labeled “Landfill.”

Posted by Mark Vanderhoff, a certified ECO Realtor in Asheville.

There are a few dance performances that ardent fans can drag laymen and skeptics to - Riverdance and Stomp are two of them. Another option, playing at Downtown Asheville’s Diana Wortham Theatre, is called the Koresh Dance Company.

The intensity of their moves can almost be compared to a sport. Certainly, the physiques of the men and women would be admired by any aspiring athlete. And there’s an edge to this troupe that carries power and weight, as if they were engaged in one of the most graceful and elegant brawls that could be choreographed without violence.

Maybe its the Asian influence – think of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Perhaps its the background of company’s founder and director, Ronen Koresh, who served in the Israeli Army before finding a less hazardous career in dance.

Whatever it is, it’s different. It’s playing May 2 & 3, and tickets are still available.

Posted by Mark Vanderhoff, an Asheville real estate agent at Coldwell Banker Kasey & Associates.

With several new exhibitions and a screening of a great art history film, there will be plenty happening with the Downtown Asheville arts scene this weekend. The variety of mediums and subjects will surely offer something to please your unique taste.

Here’s a wrapup:

May 1 - The Blue Spiral gallery will unveil new artists for the month, including Ken Carder’s seductive glass, Robyn Horn’s intricate wood sculptures, Suzanne Stryk’s ethereal mixed media and Rob Pulleyn’s modern-yet-antiqueish ceramic.

May 2 - The Asheville Area Arts Council changes up its Front, Back and Boardroom galleries. Perhaps the most interesting exhibit will be the “Quatro Vetro,” a display of various forms of glass art by four specialists, each with their own style.

May 3 & 4 - Whether you are a serious student of great painters or just someone who appreciates a good movie, you won’t want to miss the screening of “Frida” at the Asheville Art Museum. Salma Hayek did an amazing job capturing this distressed but talented woman’s life.

Posted by Mark Vanderhoff, a real estate broker in Asheville who believes your home should be a work of art.

A hike at popular rock climbing spots such as Looking Glass will show just how popular the sport is in Western North Carolina. Similarly, a visit to the Climbmax indoor climbing gym on Wall Street will show how popular the sport is right in the middle of town.

This Saturday, the facility will host the Southern Appalachian University Climbing Invitational, in which college students tackle tough routes on the indoor walls. If you’ve never watched a competition like this, you should stop in and have a look. The manner in which these athletes scale vertical surfaces, clinging to the tiniest foot- and hand-holds, will impress anyone.

Indoor climbing is actually a great way to work out, and the convenient location of Climbmax makes it a popular getaway on lunch breaks and in the evenings. Rates vary, depending on membership and whether visitors plan to climb with a rope or without a rope. Those who do the latter can only scale the walls to a certain height to prevent major falls.

For more information about Climbmax, visit their website.

Posted by Mark Vanderhoff, who occassionally visits the climbing gym when he’s not helping people buy and sell homes in Asheville.

One play will end its run and anothe will have a brief three-day run in Downtown Asheville this weekend. One is a well-staple of American theater, and another is a lesser-known but equally deserving candidate.

Kimberly Akimbo plays at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Asheville Community Theater. Tickets cost $10 and $15. Here’s a capsule:

“Set in the wilds of suburban New Jersey, this is a hilarious and heartrending play about a teenager with a rare condition causing her body to age faster than it should. When she and her family flee Secaucus under dubious circumstances, Kimberly is forced to reevaluate her life while contending with a hypochondriac mother, a rarely sober father, a scam-artist aunt, her own mortality and, most terrifying of all, the possibility of first love.”

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible shows at 7:30 Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday at the North Carolina Stage Company. Tickets cost $10. This timeless story satirizes a community gripped by paranoia at the height of the Red Scare.

The NC Stage Company’s performance is part of its (For) Play Series, in which actors have three days to rehearse a play and then perform it on a bare stage with no set, props or costumes. It’s theater stripped down to the essentials, in an intimate setting.

Posted by Mark Vanderhoff, an Asheville real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Kasey & Associates.