Longtime music and video store Karmasonics will close at the end of the year

Press release:

For 22 years, making it’s home in downtown Asheville, Karmasonics Music Video has endeavored to bring great music to the Asheville community. And now the time has come for a change. Owner and founder John Ludovico has moved to the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York and has continued regular treks to Asheville to maintain Karmasonics business responsibilities. As time has revealed the next chapter for Karmasonics, the iconic music store is phasing out of business by the year’s end. The store will be open until the end of December and will feature various sales as the month progresses. On December 22, Karmasonics, with appreciation to all our customers for over two decades, will host an all day event with food, sales, freebies and music to say goodbye to the community. Join us in saying farewell and best wishes to John, his brother George who has been with the store since 2003, and Jack McKnight, our newest intrepid staff member. Come and share your memories and support while listening to some fine music and remembering what made Karmasonics Asheville’s longest lived independent music store.

The history of Karmasonics in Asheville began in 1995 with lifelong friends and business partners John Ludovico and Richard Brown at the helm. The two shared a love of music, having formed a rock band in the late 60’s, so opening a music store was a natural move. Richard left in 2000 to move to CT and marry, and Karmasonics continued under the direction of John. Karmasonics moved to 19 Biltmore Ave from its original Haywood St location and opened its new doors on August 8, 2008.

Karmasonics was at the forefront of presenting live music in Asheville, opening the store with an in-store performance by national touring singer-songwriter Carrie Newcomer and followed through the years by such notable acts as The Roches, Cluster, Peggy Seeger, and many more. On the local music scene, Karmasonics presented a regular weekly music series in the 1990’s and 2000’s, giving local musicians a place to play and sometimes workshop new music. The store regularly presented musicians who were part of the local scene, including local and regional notables like Jim Taylor, Menage, Jimmy Landry, Aaron Price, Beth Wood, Chris Rosser, Jim Magill, Billy Jonas, Woody Wood, Wanda Lu-Greene, Malcolm Holcombe, The Muses and many, many more.

Over the years, many well-know artists were welcomed at Karmasonics as they came in to chat, check out the local independent retail scene and shop. Among them were Brian Eno, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Erikah Badu, Walter Parks, Richie Havens, Joan Osborne, Kris Kristofferson, The Avett Brothers, and Steve Earle.

For many years, Karmasonics was a regular sponsor and performance venue for First Night Asheville and folks in the community will also remember the Karmasonics annual birthday party, free to community members as a thank you for buying local and for their patronage of the store.
It is with a heavy heart that Karmasonics closes its doors and says goodbye to its Asheville home.

SHARE
About Alli Marshall
Alli Marshall has lived in Asheville for more than 20 years and loves live music, visual art, fiction and friendly dogs. She is the winner of the 2016 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize and the author of the novel "How to Talk to Rockstars," published by Logosophia Books. Follow me @alli_marshall

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.