This weekend on a shoestring

Thursday, March 7

• “The Asheville branch of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School is a radical mix of traditional life drawing and saucy cabaret,” explains the group’s website. “Join your sassy headmistress, Queen April, for class every first Thursday of the month. Grab your sketch pad, get yourself a drink and let’s make some art!” Hosted by Club Eleven on Grove, 11 Grove St. 7 p.m. $10/$7 students. Bring art supplies.

5 Walnut Wine Bar, 5 Walnut St., has become one of Asheville’s premiere venues for local jazz, hosting live music five nights a week. Catch one of the region’s best on Thursday as Big Nasty brings its horn-heavy hot jazz to the intimate downtown stage. 8-10 p.m. Free.

• From the band’s Facebook, “Playing a blend of downtempo reggae, chugging Jamaican rocksteady and upbeat ska, Common Foundation fills the air with infectious danceable rhythms and an easygoing atmosphere. Soaring vocal harmonies and a four-piece horn section add distinct flair to this North Carolina band.” Common Foundation plays Isis Restaurant and Music Hall, 743 Haywood Road, immediately following a New Belgium Brewing Neighborhood Open House, an opportunity for the community to ask questions, view architectural renderings and hear about the company’s plans for stream restoration, greenways, creative repurposing and multimodal transportation. Open house from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Music at 8 p.m. Free.

Friday, March 8

• From Montford Books and More‘s website, “Back by popular demand: Jim Taylor and Friends present acoustic songs and stories. Tap your toes, sing along and enjoy the repartee. Jim and Friends are creating quite a following. Newcomers always welcome. Free refreshments.” Held as part of the store’s ongoing end-of-the-week soiree. 31 Montford Ave.

• The Anam Cara Theatre Company invites the community to share stories, drinks and laughs at Tales and Ales, “an open-mic-style night of storytelling” at 203 Haywood Road. “… Hear some humorous stories — and maybe even tell one of your own! Anyone can take the mic to tell one. If that isn’t enough, there will also be some local beer and some wine available for a suggested donation.” The evening kicks off with local folk pop outfit The Wootones. 7 p.m. Free to attend.

Toy Boat Community Arts Space, 101 Fairview Road, presents a family-friendly magic show starring local, professional magicians, to benefit the WNC Magic Club and Swannanoa Valley Montessori School. $7/$5 children 12 and under. Refreshments available. 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 9

• The Asheville Wholistic Integrative Fair will feature more than 70 intuitive practitioners, body and energy workers, acupuncture and chiropractic professionals at the Renaissance Asheville Hotel, 31 Woodfin St. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. $5.

• The Polk Folk Farmer Day and Poultry Swap boasts a poultry swap/sale, seed swap, indoor farmers market, quilt display, craft demonstrations, a presentation with columnist and writer Bill Thompson and more. Held at the Mill Spring Agricultural Center, 156 School Road, Mill Spring. Free to attend.

• The Rural Route Film Festival, hosted by Mechanical Eye Microcinema, will include 11 short films about rural people and places at Phil Mechanic Studios’ Courtyard Gallery, 109 Roberts St. From the festival’s website, “The creators of Rural Route Film Festival leave it up to the film and video artists to express their unique definitions of ‘rural’ — whether it be a documentary about an organic turnip farm in West Virginia or a fictional backpacking drama set in Peru.” 8 p.m. $5.

• From a Smart Bet in this week’s Xpress, “‘The show is to be an old tyme rock and raw hazing venture,’ say Athens, Ga.-based garage rockers The Humms. The trio’s bio recounts their evolution through influences like ‘their Cramps-esque B-horror flick shtick … vintage psychedelic lo-fi pop (à la The Troggs) and Gothic blues-rock (think Flat Duo Jets).’ The Humms’ 2010 full-length, Lemonland, is 18 tracks of pithy, hard-hitting and (mostly) super-short grunge-tinged psychedelia. They play the Double Crown on Saturday, March 9 with The Vaygues. 10 p.m. $7.”
Story by Alli Marshall

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