Events Calendar

Join thousands of animal lovers for a celebration of compassionate living in one of the top vegan-friendly cities in the country: Asheville, NC! Brother Wolf Animal Rescue’s 4th annual Asheville VeganFest, will take place June 8-10th. This year’s tagline “save the animals, save the earth” will focus on animal agriculture as the #1 cause of climate change, mass species extinction, and animal cruelty.

On Friday and Saturday, speakers from around the country will tackle the latest vegan issues at The Orange Peel. Speakers include Jane Velez-Mitchell (of Jane Unchained), Dr. Garth Davis (featured in Forks Over Knives, and medical director of Mission Hospital Weight Management Center), Sailesh Rao (co-producer of Cowspiracy), Earthling Ed (co-founder and co-director of Surge, a creative grassroots animal rights organization), and more!

This year during VeganFest weekend, Brother Wolf will also be hosting two nights of entertainment at The Orange Peel, featuring comedian Lee Camp on Friday and afrobeat musical guests Antibalas on Saturday. Tickets, starting at $14, can be purchased at www.theorangepeel.net. All proceeds will benefit the Brother Wolf Animal Sanctuary and the work Brother Wolf is doing to save thousands of animals each year.

On Sunday, enjoy an outdoor festival at Pack Square with over 75 vendors showcasing vegan food, beer, lifestyle products, educational speakers, and more!

Asheville VeganFest events are free and open to the public, except for ticketed benefit shows on Friday and Saturday nights.

All proceeds from Asheville VeganFest will benefit Brother Wolf Animal Rescue’s tireless work to promote Uncompromised Compassion and build No-Kill communities.

Visit www.veganfest.bwar.org for a full schedule of the weekend’s events, speakers, and vendors.

About the Festival:
Asheville VeganFest is a celebration of compassionate living in one of the country’s top-rated vegan-friendly cities. Now in its fourth year, Asheville VeganFest is better than ever, with a broad and diverse mix of A-list speakers and a great line-up of night time entertainment! Over 15,000 visitors from all walks of life are expected to attend this free, family-friendly, inspiring (and not to mention delicious) 3 day long celebration!
About Lee Camp:
From Redacted Tonight, Comedian & Writer Lee Camp comes to The Orange Peel to perform during Asheville VeganFest to Benefit Brother Wolf Animal Sanctuary. Lee is the head writer and host of the national TV show Redacted Tonight with Lee Camp on RT America. He’s a former contributor to The Onion, former staff humor writer for the Huffington Post, and his web series
“Moment of Clarity” has been viewed by millions. He’s toured the country and the world with his fierce brand of standup comedy, and George Carlin’s daughter Kelly said he’s one of the few comics keeping her father’s torch lit. Bill Hicks’s brother Steve said Lee is one of only a handful with Bill’s “message and passion.” For more go to LeeCamp.net.
“An incredibly funny man.” –John Oliver
“An amazing writer and a great political thinker. He’s the change you and I want to see.” -Janeane Garofalo
“Imagine Jon Stewart if he gave a damn. He’s like Howard Zinn after 12 beers.” -David Swanson

Property: Omni Grove Park Inn
Event Type: Hotel Event
Event Category: Couples,Entertainment
Contact: (800) 438-5800
Contact Phone: (800) 438-5800
Link: https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/asheville-grove-park/dining/elaines-dueling-piano-bar

Join the non-stop, rock n’ roll, sing-along party show at Elaine’s! Doors open at 8:00 pm, show starts at 9:00 pm.

NewSong Music and Blue Ridge Public Radio (BPR) are proud to present the ‘NewSong Sanctuary Sessions,’ a three part weekly concert series and fundraiser for BPR, featuring some of North America’s most talented emerging songwriters. These intimate concerts will be held in the beautiful and acoustically stunning Sanctuary of downtown Asheville’s Central United Methodist Church.
Max Hatt / Edda Glass have “an incomparable spook” (Nashville Scene) and a “unique sound” (Larry Groce, NPR) that’s taken them across the county from NPR Mountain Stage to NYC’s Lincoln Center, DC’s Kennedy Center, and the Sundance Film Festival. Praised for her “impeccable vocal command” (PopMatters) and compared to a gamut of singers from Astrud Gilberto to Billie Holliday, Glass’s voice ultimately “one of a kind…you cannot confuse her with another artist” (New York Theatre Guide). Hatt’s equally distinctive guitar work combines the harmonic innovations of jazz and classical with the melodic resonance of folk, creating music that’s “subtly poignant, elegantly funky, and haunting without trying to be” (Nels Cline, Wilco). Together with Glass’s literate lyrics, this Jazz Americana evokes the grandeur of the western landscape, telling intimate stories of little people on great plains, and leaving audiences with a feeling both light and deep.
maxhatteddaglass.com

Join us for an evening of amazing music and stand up comedy to benefit Brother Wolf Animal Sanctuary during Asheville VeganFest weekend! Featuring Antibalas, an American, Brooklyn-based afrobeat band and Lee Camp, comedian and independent news reporter!
About the Festival:
Asheville VeganFest is a celebration of compassionate living in one of the country’s top-rated vegan-friendly cities. Now in its fourth year, Asheville VeganFest is better than ever, with a broad and diverse mix of A-list speakers and a great line-up of night time entertainment! Over 15,000 visitors from all walks of life are expected to attend this free, family-friendly, inspiring (and not to mention delicious) 3 day long celebration!
About Antibalas:
The musical collective known as Antibalas (Spanish for bullet-proof or anti-bullets) was conceived of in Mexico City and formed in Brooklyn New York. The early nucleus of the group was composed of the band’s founder Martín Perna and included several members from the Soul Providers / Dap Kings band, performing their first show in May 1998 in Harlem, NY. Soon after, Lagos, Nigeria native Amayo joined the band after seeing the band at a neighborhood concert. Fluent in the afrobeat music of Fela, he began composing and performing lyrics and assuming the role of the group’s lead vocalist / frontman.
The band began rehearsing and composing at Desco 41st street studios and later at the first Daptone Studios at Amayo’s Afro Spot venue. They spent their first year performing exclusively in noncommercial spaces in lofts, community centers, parks, art galleries. In August 1999, they created a weekly residence called Africalia at Tribeca club NoMoore that ran for 18 months, where the band and repertoire expanded. In 2001, following their debut record (reissued independently, then licensed to Ninja Tune) they began touring internationally, from Glastonbury, Montreux to Newport Jazz and other renowned rock, jazz and world music festivals. Around 2003, following their third album “Who Is This America,” the Dap Kings and Antibalas both became very busy, each group developed its separate full-time lineup although the groups would remain close, later reuniting with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and Charles Bradley for the 2014 Daptone Super Soul Revue across summer festivals and theaters in Europe and culminating in a three night run at New York’s Apollo Theater. The group toured heavily performing over one hundred shows per year spread across North America and Europe between 2002 and 2007 with the releases of their third album, “Who Is This America”, and fourth, “Security”.
From 2007-2012 many members and former members of the Antibalas participated in the Tony-Award winning Broadway musical FELA!, including the show’s musical director Aaron Johnson, lead saxophonist Stuart Bogie, and assistant MD trumpeter Jordan McLean. In 2011, the group returned to the Daptone House of Soul to record their most recent album, “Antibalas” produced by emeritus member Gabriel Roth. The group toured heavily throughout the US and Europe, and later that year, performed songs from the album live on NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Antibalas has recorded five studio albums on the Daptone, Ninja Tune, Anti-, and Ropeadope labels as well as a number of singles and EPs. The band is currently finishing their sixth studio album due out in mid-2017. Though recognized for their fluency in Afrobeat and funk music, the band is known to collaborate with diverse groups and artists, from Angélique Kidjo to Jovanotti to Medeski Martin & Wood to Public Enemy, and served as the house band at Carnegie Hall in 2014 (Music of Paul Simon), 2015
(Music of David Byrne & Talking Heads) and most recently 2017’s Music of Aretha Franklin. The Antibalas horns have performed on Grammy award-winning albums by Angelique Kidjo, and Mark Ronson and dozens of albums, sound tracks and live guest appearances with artists including The Roots, My Morning Jacket, TV on the Radio, Santigold, Jovanotti, Nneka, Ed Sheeran, Alabama Shakes, The String Cheese Incident and numerous others. Former Antibalas members have gone on to record and perform with The Dap Kings, Arcade Fire, Mark Ronson, the Black Keys, the Arks, Menahan Street Band, the El Michels Affair, Iron and Wine, Bat For Lashes, and Imogen Heap.
antibalas.com

About Lee Camp:
From Redacted Tonight, Comedian & Writer Lee Camp comes to The Orange Peel to perform during Asheville VeganFest to Benefit Brother Wolf Animal Sanctuary. Lee is the head writer and host of the national TV show Redacted Tonight with Lee Camp on RT America. He’s a former contributor to The Onion, former staff humor writer for the Huffington Post, and his web series
“Moment of Clarity” has been viewed by millions. He’s toured the country and the world with his fierce brand of standup comedy, and George Carlin’s daughter Kelly said he’s one of the few comics keeping her father’s torch lit. Bill Hicks’s brother Steve said Lee is one of only a handful with Bill’s “message and passion.”
For more go to leecamp.com

“An incredibly funny man.” –John Oliver
“An amazing writer and a great political thinker. He’s the change you and I want to see.” -Janeane Garofalo
“Imagine Jon Stewart if he gave a damn. He’s like Howard Zinn after 12 beers.” -David Swanson

Property: Omni Grove Park Inn
Event Type: Hotel Event
Event Category: Couples,Entertainment
Contact Phone: (800) 438-5800
Link: https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/asheville-grove-park/dining/elaines-dueling-piano-bar

Join the non-stop, rock ‘n roll, sing-along party show at Elaine’s! Doors open at 8pm, pianos begin at 9pm. 

“No other record captures that period so perfectly,” says Elbow’s Guy Garvey. “The concerns of the songs. The stories, the experimental sounds. It was so brave for a band to record themselves at that time: it allowed a direct and undiluted account of the band as aspirational, big-hearted friends in love with making music and each other. It dared us to record ourselves. But they did it first. It’s the most deserving recipient of the Mercury Prize in its history: a breathlessly ambitious and lovingly crafted masterpiece. It should be called Bring It ‘The Fuck’ On.”
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Gomez’s Mercury Music Prize winning debut album, Bring It On will be re-mastered and reissued as a super-deluxe 4CD with an accompanying remastered double LP release. The 4CD 20th Anniversary edition of Bring It On contains the original, classic album remastered by Frank Arkwright @ Abbey Road studios and 35 previously unreleased tracks including 25 demos (recorded between January 1996 and August 1997) – 13 of which are appearing on an official Gomez release for the first time.
The band will be playing the album in its entirety on their forthcoming UK & Ireland tour (April/May 2018) plus Australian and US dates.
Twenty years on, the debut album by Gomez sounds not of its time, but ahead of its time. You can hear its echoes in so much of the music that followed it: not just in Elbow, but in any artist who heard Bring it On and realised the possibilities of combining indie and roots music with lo-fidelity electronics: a modern experimental sensibility with a love of the past. Bring It On was an album that synthesised styles in a way that seemed remarkable then, and now sounds utterly unforced and contemporary. Where so many of its contemporaries sound completely of their time, Bring It On sounds as if it could have come out to equal acclaim at any point over the past 20 years. It’s a record that thoroughly merits its expanded 20th anniversary edition.
gomeztheband.com

Property: Omni Grove Park Inn
Event Type: Hotel Event
Event Category: Couples,Entertainment
Contact: (800) 438-5800
Contact Phone: (800) 438-5800
Link: https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/asheville-grove-park/dining/elaines-dueling-piano-bar

Join the non-stop, rock n’ roll, sing-along party show at Elaine’s! Doors open at 8:00 pm, show starts at 9:00 pm.

The 30^th anniversary season of Downtown After 5, presented by Prestige Subaru, kicks off Friday, May 18 from 5-9pm. Downtown After 5 takes place the 3^rd Friday of the month May – September and is held on North Lexington Avenue. Events are free and open to the public.

Property: Omni Grove Park Inn
Event Type: Hotel Event
Event Category: Couples,Entertainment
Contact: (800) 438-5800
Contact Phone: (800) 438-5800
Link: https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/asheville-grove-park/dining/elaines-dueling-piano-bar

Join the non-stop, rock n’ roll, sing-along party show at Elaine’s! Doors open at 8:00 pm, show starts at 9:00 pm.

Join Studio Zahiya for an old school dance workout class. Get sweaty and start your Saturday with lead and follow dance fitness with Lisa Zahiya and DJ M.p. Pride at The Orange Peel.
All levels

You loved Beatles music when you were a kid. Now YOUR kids have a chance to experience the magic of the Beatles LIVE in concert. On the afternoon of Saturday June 16 at The Orange Peel, Abbey Road LIVE! will be playing a special all-ages family matinee show.
Abbey Road LIVE! is well known in the Southeast for their energetic concerts at clubs, theaters and festivals. This time, the focus will be on the kids. Expect fun classics such as “Octopus’ Garden”, “Yellow Submarine”, and “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”. Does your child have a a favorite Beatles tune? Abbey Road LIVE! loves to take requests, and has often been known to invite kids on stage to sing along.
This rare event will be big fun for the whole family!
abbeyroadlive.com

NewSong Music and Blue Ridge Public Radio (BPR) are proud to present the ‘NewSong Sanctuary Sessions,’ a three part weekly concert series and fundraiser for BPR, featuring some of North America’s most talented emerging songwriters. These intimate concerts will be held in the beautiful and acoustically stunning Sanctuary of downtown Asheville’s Central United Methodist Church.
Rose Cousins just might be Nova Scotia’s answer to Iris DeMent, or even to Kate Wolf. Says Lifestyle Nova Scotia:”Cousins writes songs strong on story, melody, and honest observations … that demand an unaffected but beautiful voice.” Her album “We Have Made a Spark” took home a Canadian Juno Award along with many other awards, including a spot on NPR’s Top 10 Americana & Folk Albums list. That album was recorded in Boston, where Rose spends part of her time, and where she’s found strong support from the city’s vibrant songwriting community. Rooted in authenticity and conviction of voice, the songs of Rose Cousins make you feel as though she sings for you, about your life. “We develop patterns that keep us from moving forward,” Rose says. “It takes a deep breath and a bucket of courage to face the uncomfortable, painful things we work so hard to avoid. Reward comes from recognizing the obstacle exists and pushing through fear.” Rose’s latest album, “Natural Conclusion,” was called “easily one of the most distinguished Americana releases of 2017” by the Los Angeles Times.

“one of the world’s premier Beatles cover bands”
-US News & World Report, Dec 2012
“unquestionably expert at what they do”
-Indyweek, Sep 2013
Since 2002, Abbey Road LIVE! has been rocking the music of The Beatles. Initially a tribute to the monumental “Abbey Road” album, the band has expanded its repertoire to include more than 150 Beatles tunes, from all eras of the Fab Four’s career.
This is not your typical Beatle look-alike tribute act; don’t expect mop-top haircuts and fake British accents. Rather, an Abbey Road LIVE! show is about bringing to life some of the more mature and complex Beatles material in a raw & spirited fashion, while remaining true to the original recordings. Combining attention to detail with a creative exuberance, the band always delights its audiences with its diverse repertoire of hits and more obscure favorites.
abbeyroadlive.com

Property: Omni Grove Park Inn
Event Type: Hotel Event
Event Category: Couples,Entertainment
Contact Phone: (800) 438-5800
Link: https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/asheville-grove-park/dining/elaines-dueling-piano-bar

Join the non-stop, rock ‘n roll, sing-along party show at Elaine’s! Doors open at 8pm, pianos begin at 9pm.