Phuncle Sams, LAAF.Organicfest, Malaprops

FORGIVE MY GUILT. I guess, my abject aloofness has sunk me deeper down my internet limbo and 70 Woodfin Place shell. I dont know if that's good though. It's not that I'm hiding in the dark--of course, you still see me at Beanstreets on a Thursday night open mic, sharing new and old poems--with Jarrett Leone, Matt Mulder, Kelly Lee Phipps, Rena Wright-Daugherty, Joshua Watson, among others. And I still am present during our Bonfires coffeeshop gigs at Malaprops, recent downtown festivals tent/tablings, Old Europe early-evening coffee chill-out, one or two PBR jaunt at Bearly Edible, and my consistent Pack Library-Blockbuster Tunnel Rd visitations, and regular inspection tour of Indie outlets. As usual, I'm not the hang-out buddy... whenever Indie/Bonfires business is the subject, people seek out Marta The Nicer Osborne. I like it that way, as usual--I'm more peaceful when I'm quiet, "noisy" with my written words.

So let me share some notes in regards Bonfires "madness" experiences--in the past month, or so. Of course, you are aware that I prefer to do this because I simply am not the formal/organizational-meeting kinda dude. Besides, I get to share what's going on with Indie/Bonfires souls from all over, not just in our neck-of-the-Appalachian-woods brainstorms and updates -- without getting through the drained motion of agenda, debates, marked-out calendar dates, endless-waiting-before-we-preside-the-meeting bullshit. You see... I had a first "meeting" with new volunteer Heather Duncan yesterday--while we did personal errands at Blockbuster and Ingles; I gave out Indie assignment to new UNCA-based intern Brett Alders and Courtney Allen while Phuncle Sam was performing at our Bonfires gig at Malaprops last Thursday night. That works better for me...

Okay, first, let me thank the entire Phuncle Sam homeboys--esp. Woody Henkle--for all the wonderful help that they've done, so far, and have been selflessly doing for The Traveling Bonfires. They did a late night show for us last Aug 20 (am I correct?) at Bearly Edible--on that surreally humid night when a witch dropped by the counter and caused a bit of a hassle over a one-dollar-worth of PBR, but it's okay. To tell ya the truth--I've encountered a whole lot more of weird souls in Asheville than I did in New York City, notwithstanding the East Village! But I'm not complaining... a graffiti down Lex Av says, "In downtown Asheville, being normal is weird." How true... Anyways, that was a hot August night (at Be), I was so tired, down, and still, apparently, emotionally slowed down (I still am) by my Mom's passing... so I went back to my cave after a Pabst or two...

Oh yeah! While Katrina was wrecking havoc in New Orleans, some ghostly kick messed up my laptop and crashed it as I was rushing the Sept issue of The Indie. Now you know the story... friends Rachelle Arrowood and Stephanie Morgan have generously lent their hand, equipment, and heart to the problem, so things went smoothly, we beat the printing deadline--the Kinko's midnight guy didnt even charge us for printing 35+ Indie proofs! As usual, Bill Taylor and Iwanna's efficiency and professionalism help us a lot.

We had a great time at the Lexington Avenue Arts & Fun Festival last Sunday, Sept 4. It was a LOT MORE exciting, fun, enlightening than Bell Chere--and I am not just saying that because I obviously hate the corporate halo that dictates Bell Chere. Man, it's so colorful, so diverse, so downtown! Woody H drove us to the site early in the morning (near-autumn chill and all) and loaned us his new tent, then Agent Mulder drove us back in the night, apart from bringing wife Mary Beth's dinner food, esp. cooked for us...

We gave out close to 100 copies of Sept Indie, excluding back issues, we had a page-ful of new names in our mailing list, and we even earned $60+ in tip jar donations. Friends dropped by to say hello and hang out a bit: Julie Umanova, Cicada Brokaw, Claire Hanrahan, Aja Hamden, Noah Wilson, Chris Malz, Thomas Humphrey, Malaprops' Andrew, Rosetta's Drew, Dale and Loretta Hoffman and kids, Debbie Athos, Sarah Benoit, Coleman Smith, Ian Bryan, Vince Junior, Ash Devine, Jarrett Leone, Susan Williams, Marta's UNCA student buddies, and a number of beautiful people whose names I never seem to memorize, some of them we just met--most of them know The Indie/The Bonfires, and just dropped by to say that they support us... Today, Sept 10, is Organicfest at Pack Square, so we expect to see more friends, acquaintances, homeys, supporters--and create new ones.

Oh, by the way, Marta has already officially resigned from her cashier job at UNCA, last Friday (Sept 9), to transfer to a better-paying job with a cleaning service. Ah, some UNCA student buddies of hers, gave her a well-wishing $25 gift... She will be visiting the school, anyways, to distribute The Indie and continue the hook ups with student groups.Phuncle Sam's first Malaprops gig turned out good, and the bookstore people loved it. Intimate crowd, intimate moments... As I said, we do monthly shows at Malaprops, it's like our "coffeeshop home"--we held our first Traveling Bonfires show at Malaprops in Sept of 2002. The store's owner, Emoke B'Racz and her right-hand person, Linda Knopp--as well as its longtime employees like Andrew and Gary--remain as some of our most consistent supporters in Asheville.

So these days, organizational work has been confined with marketing/planning/organizing for our big fundraise events for Oct, Nov and Dec: the "Harvest Bash/Bonfires for Peace in Mars Hill" (Mark of Bearly Edible as coproducer/organizer) from Sept 30 to Oct 2, the two-concert/event "Bonfires for Peace in Manila" (Jaja Campos as line producer/organizer) on Oct 14, and the Nov 18 and Dec 3 shows at the Grey Eagle. But all these will be updated later...

So it's 7am, a Saturday here. I just cooked a chicken stewed dish with mushroom paste, Chinese style. Woody just emailed me, he's supposed to drive us to Pack Square this morning for the Organicfest. I expect Heather, Dale, Loretta etc to join us there... So, see you. Gracias!

--Pasckie
The Indie Crib
Asheville NC
09-10-05