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Stand-up comedian, actor and movie star Sinbad will headline the popular Comedy Classic weekend. Sinbad has grown from appearing in comedy clubs to hosting his own HBO specials, appearing in several television series, and starring in the family-friendly films Houseguest, First Kid, and Jingle All the Way. Sinbad will be joined by popular syndicated radio hosts John Boy and Billy, as well as other comedians and musicians for a weekend of non-stop fun.
For more information on Comedy Classic 2010, please contact The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa at 800.438.0050 or 828.252.2711; visit www.groveparkinn.com, or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ewgrove and Facebook at www.facebook.com/groveparkinn
The holiday season in Asheville is a time for celebrations, a time for memories of the year about to pass, and a time to think about family and friends. Not everyone has a great time during this season. For some it is a more difficult time than the rest of the year put together. Holiday financial pressures can sometimes be overwhelming, especially in this economy. As a community, we try to keep the struggles of others in mind as well, and help where possible.
The is a culmination time for families who have went through the year together. For others, this time of the year is a reunion season for families and friends who are not physically or socially close. People travel all around the world to visit their loved ones and to celebrate during this time.
Asheville also respects people of all beliefs, meaning that it is not necessarily "Christmas" for everyone. For our Jewish community it is Chanukah. For Muslims in the community, it is not a holiday time... but they are taught to respect it as the holiday of their Christian neighbors and friends. Atheists sometimes celebrate the holiday season, but leave any religious annotations out of it. Then there are those families of interfaith which have several beliefs under one roof. People are different, but all seem to sort of "come together" during this time in Asheville and also around the World.
In Asheville North Carolina, we are doing several events to make the holidays leading up to Christmas day even more special. The Asheville Seasonal Sizzle at Seven is an event sponsored by the Grove Park Inn. At 7pm on the 5th, 12th, and 19th of December, the skies of Asheville will be lit up with fireworks exploding in celebration! People from all over Western North Carolina will be coming out to gather and enjoy the show.
On December 5th, 2009 we will be continuing the festivities at 8pm at Elaine's Piano Bar at the Grove Park Inn. This will be a great party with business networking that's consists of many folks from the social media and social networking realm in the Asheville and Western North Carolina area. The party has been announced over Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Blogger. Of course, you do not need to be on these platforms to attend, but this is where the celebration party was originally set. Everyone is invited! I believe several local Asheville publications, including the Mountain Xpress, Asheville Citizen Times, and WNC Magazine are also planning to assist with getting the word out about the fireworks and the December 5th party.
Elaine's Piano Bar: Many are wondering "what type of celebration is happening in a piano bar?" Well Elaine's in Asheville NC is a little different that other piano bars you may have been to. They have two dueling (like a battle) slamming (that get slammed) pianos that are rocking, bluesing, funking, and discoing hard until 1 am several nights a week. It is not surprising to see some of the Asheville musicians jumping on top of the pianos and screaming the crowd's participation on! It will get holiday wild in there for our Asheville Seasonal Sizzle party!
Then again on December 19th at 8pm, (after the 7pm grand finale fireworks downtown, and the dust has settled), many of us are heading over to Elaine's Piano Bar for another Asheville Holiday celebration night with lots of fun planned. Expect some seasonal cheer, good times, sing-a-longs and karaoke with songs for the season at hand. Wear your Santa hat for a special bonus that evening!
During the first 3 weeks of December we expect the streets of Downtown Asheville to be packed out with thousands of people shopping after work, and enjoying the local restaurant scene in such places as Nine Mile, Chorizo, Rosetta's Kitchen, Mela, and so many more. Also on our list, we will be heading over to Pomodoros Cafe in East Asheville for some great Italian food, and also to the buffet at the Blue Ridge Dining Room at GPI for the holidays. Shopping will be a wonderful maze of gift options in the downtown Asheville area. There are so many stores and little shops to choose from. You also have the Grove Arcade, which is the old Asheville Federal Building, now packed out with dozens of retail shops and a few great restaurants. Oh, and Haywood Street, Wall Street and Battery Park Ave are just a hop, skip, and a jump away; and packed out with plenty of things to do. Then we head all the way down Lexington, Broadway, and Biltmore Ave for the cutest little shopping excursion so many have grown to love whether we live here or are just visiting for a few days.
The holidays season in Asheville is going to be just wonderful. We invite you into our City to celebrate with us. The food, fun, shopping and fireworks are going to be amazing. Of course if you live in Western North Carolina, we expect you to come join us during this great time of celebration in Downtown Asheville. You are all Welcome!
I Stopped by the Grove Park Inn in Asheville NC on Christmas Eve with the family and had a great time. Santa Claus for the kids, live band, food, drinks, great people, such a nice place... need I say more? Everything we needed for a quick Christmas celebration. Thank you GPI! Here is some video that we took. For more videos of the Grove Park Inn, please visit www.YouTube.com/AskAsheville. Thank you.
They call it “The Barn” optimistically. A real barn would be more inviting.
The first entry for our blog Don’t Even Go There (www.dont-even-go-there.blogspot.com) is a tale from our town: Asheville, NC (aka “The Happiest Place on Earth”). Judge for yourself. —Mark Bloom & Jason Scholder
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Before we begin this story, remember that times change, as do memories. What was once true may no longer be and visa versa. Keep that in mind as you read . . . all our stories.
A-hem.
To find antique bargains, people travel to out-of-the-way places with historic pasts—places like Marblehead, Massachusetts, or Solvang, California. Asheville, North Carolina, is another choice spot. Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Asheville is a haven for outdoors enthusiasts. Home to the Biltmore Estate and the Grove Park Inn and Spa, the city also boasts a thriving arts scene, the South’s most impressive art deco architecture, and colorful local characters, such as “trustafarians” (trust-funded street people).
If you’re antiquing, you can do quite well there. Many stores offer authentic artifacts from the past, everything from candlesticks to claw-foot tubs. You can also find some kitschy fun, like plastic plates from the ’60s and a complete collection of Dale Earnhardt cups. Downtown has so many antique and second-hand shops, you can’t whip out a credit card wit hout hitting one.
Despite the plethora of choices, though, one place gets voted “Best of” more often than the rest. This place also has, in our opinion—from one ill-fated, wrong-turn visit a number of years ago—the most oppressive shopping experience of them all. The infamous Antique Tobacco Barn is a musty metal garage-like structure, larger than bowling alley but with less charm. Its aluminum facade inhibits breezes, thieves, and apparently, good taste. The environment is uncomfortably humid in the summer and seasonably uninhabitable the rest of the year.
During our visit, the items for sale inside were arranged chronologically, from oldest to ugliest. Some of the wares seemed too new to be considered antique. The rest were slowly disintegrating. The Tobacco Barn might be more accurately named “Garage Sale Outle t Center.” The merchants evidently believed that any old, dilapidated, or aesthetically irrelevant item must be an antique. Was there a really market for an original oil painting of plastic tulips on a Formica kitchen table? Perhaps it didn’t sell during the artist’s lifetime for good reason.
Like an Ikea store’s winding layout, the Barn’s entrance was easier to find than its exit. Once you wandered inside—through the narrow rows of “what was I thinking?”—you might feel compelled to keep going, believing that the night table you’ve always wanted waited for you just around the next bend. Don’t get us wrong; you might find a treasure there, especially if you’re looking for something … unusual, but the chances will seem to decrease with every turn you take.
Eventually, you’ll admit that the pounding in your chest is not love for the perfect affectation to place on your mantel. The quickening of your pulse, you’ll suddenly realize, isn’t joy at all. It’s fear! Fear that some of this bad taste will rub off on you. Fear that something heavy will fall on you, preventing your escape. Fear that asking for directions from the toothless “connoisseur” a pproaching you will lead to an unwanted conversation involving spare change. (He doesn’t need coins for the restrooms—they are free and worth every penny.)
When you emerge from the Barn at last, having wasted countless hours (but hopefully nothing more expensive than that), you will find yourself asking your partner questions that thousands of others have asked before you:
“Do you need a drink as much as I do?”
“When did I become someone who likes antiques?”
“Why do I feel like I should take a shower?”
Lessons Learned: Like cigarettes, the Tobacco Barn left a bad taste in our mouths. In the past, our government fought the tobacco companies and won. Someone should tackle the Antique Tobacco Barn next. Only then will the country be safe from the perils of antiquing gone south.
How We Saw It:
Blight-Seeing: 4
Communication Breakdown: 2
Customer Dis-service: 3
Discomfort Level: 3
Grunge Factor: 3
Inactivity Guide: 4
Rent-Attainment: 2
Spontaneous Consumption: 5
Fun Fraction: 2/5
Vibe-Rating: 1
If You Won't Listen to Us:
Nearest Airport: Asheville Regional Airport
Native Population: 75,000
Normal Attractions: The Biltmore Estate, the=2 0Grove Park Inn & Resort, downtown, the thriving arts scene, the outdoor activities, and antiquing (unfortunately).
Final Point of Interest: Bele Chere, a huge outdoor arts/music festival that happens every July, draws 300,000 people including some billies from the surrounding hills.
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Mark Bloom & Jason Scholder (Asheville North Carolina)
writers / editors / bloggers
www.dont-even-go-there.blogspot.com
"You'll laugh; you'll cry; you'll stay home more often."
