Spanish moss draped lazily off the trees that lined route 576 as I departed Myrtle Beach and headed west up and over the foothills and into the Appalachian Mountains of North-Western Carolina. When I was a kid these hills and the people that inhabited them were of great interest to me through the eyes and writings of anthropology students in a series of books called Foxfire. It is from the pages of these books that I learned the simple joys (albeit tough for them) of mountain living and the ingenious techniques employed to home-build all the needs of daily living (brooms, butter churns etc..) as well as musical instruments, tanning leather, down feather beds, corn-husk dolls and on and on... As many of you who have known me in this life time know I am always up for inventing new tools and solving problems the solutions to which have come from this compendium.
I arrived at the exit for Asheville and decided that I would have a look around so I pulled off into downtown and took some random turns which ended me up in a parking lot across the street from 5Walnut (an amazing little wine bar that I had unsuccessfully tried to book a gig at for the tour). I wandered up the street on the phone and found a 20$ bill in the gutter! Reacting to this good fortune I walked into said wine bar and ordered myself a big Italian red which then turned into a great conversation with the gal who books the entertainment and a gig for a future date. I also found one of the nicest hostels I've ever set foot in; Sweet Peas.
Now back to the Firefox thing... It was a fantastically wonderful day that Monday the 4th of March and so taking a walk around town was in sure order. Along one of the streets up on the top of the hill there's a row of permanent booths that artisans rent to sell their wares. A guy selling dulcimer cigar box guitars another peddling terrariums from the miniature necklace pendant on up to very large glass-domed multiple species feature, wood turnings from bowls to funky lazy-Susans and last but not least a blacksmith who I had a very long conversation with about the ratio of heat and the color aspects that it brings out in different metals. I told him about etching with Muriatic acid... might have spawned a new line of work for him :) Great day.
My old friend and artist Stephanie, from my New Brunswick days, had moved down to Asheville in the last year and was kind enough to host a small gathering in her living room. Pot-luck style we hung out and drank great micro-brew beer ate home made pita and hummus and I performed songs from my album in between spurts of laughter and cries from the childrens.
Now back to the Firefox thing... It was a fantastically wonderful day that Monday the 4th of March and so taking a walk around town was in sure order. Along one of the streets up on the top of the hill there's a row of permanent booths that artisans rent to sell their wares. A guy selling dulcimer cigar box guitars another peddling terrariums from the miniature necklace pendant on up to very large glass-domed multiple species feature, wood turnings from bowls to funky lazy-Susans and last but not least a blacksmith who I had a very long conversation with about the ratio of heat and the color aspects that it brings out in different metals. I told him about etching with Muriatic acid... might have spawned a new line of work for him :) Great day.
My old friend and artist Stephanie, from my New Brunswick days, had moved down to Asheville in the last year and was kind enough to host a small gathering in her living room. Pot-luck style we hung out and drank great micro-brew beer ate home made pita and hummus and I performed songs from my album in between spurts of laughter and cries from the childrens.
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