Feel like checking out some original reggae/dancehall/hip-hop this Friday? We’ve got 2 pairs of VIP tickets to catch Matisyahu at the Orange Peel this Friday night, July 24. Known for infusing Jewish themes with a plethora of musical genres, Matisyahu is performing this gig to benefit local nonprofit MountainTrue in its effort to save the French Broad River!
VIP tickets include a meet-and-greet with Matisyahu just before the concert, 6-8 p.m. at Pulp, catered food and complimentary Sweetwater beer!
Want to go? Leave a comment on this post by 4:00 PM on Thursday, July 23, telling us your favorite thing to do in, on, or by the French Broad River and you’ll be entered to win a pair!
I’m a recent Asheville transplant. Moved here a couple of months ago. This past Sunday for the first time ever I had the opportunity to go tubing on the river! The perfect way to spend a beautiful afternoon in nature to just take some time and float and be. And definitely one of my new favorite pastimes.
Love to float the French Broad! We Ashvillians are sooo lucky to have such a beautiful river with so many great put in / climb out spots. The kids and I also love a nice Bike ride alongside the river on one of our awesome greenways. The French Broad Rocks!
French Broad River
I sit by the edge of a French Broad River
Watching circles form
then, disappear, die, resurrect, be re-born.
As one circle of life expires, a new one appears,
again and again, gone again, in an instant.
i imagine the shapes of small tiny ragged planets, galaxies and spheres, soggy socks, and rustle tides
as they huddle up tight and take up their place on a magical hunchback whale ride
stumbling, colliding and falling like children just learning to walk,
Between her banks and whirl full circuits
She begins to murmur like a seriously pissed off impatient mother elephant
Today however, she’s far too proud, old and wise to comply
she begins orchestrating her own pulsating ballad, mediation, song
I listen in close—train my eye to a language not mine
as she her stories of
Awaking creatures from her underbelly beneath
resting from their hundred year old sleep.
The stories of a thousand years or more..
Of old hunched back women, gossips, and dangling rats
Whirlpool whistles, underwater frog tea parties, magicians, and 10 crossed eyes bats.
Of forest tribes on a quest of discovery and other fury-full adventurers
Stories that transform bland to wonder, of fire and thunder,
Spinning tales as old as this ancient mountain rock that we share
Of which she glides and slivers like a snake shedding it’s skin.
Flexing traditions that know no laws or boundaries
Collected by her majesty Broad the mountain’s oldest folklorist over many unwavering uncountable years.
Reminders of her presence return to me in the form of drops of storied rain.
I’m just one tiny spec of dust in the life of this ancient cobalt blue mother vein.
Listening, as she runs wild through this place, chief less and without need for applause
a river rebel runs wild without need or cause.
she teaches me it’s time to be still and observe.
Twisting her body in spirit of folkloric ancient dance,
sexy, naked, wild and untamed, she fixes me in a mindboggling trance.
She speaks HER own story, in her own way.
Of a once-upon-a-time, unlimited
The language of her own mother’s fluid tongue
Unwritten, endless, with no beginning, and without form
This River Broad, is our mountain philosopher,
And it’s just up to us to learn how to listen as she takes us home,
to the place of the story of where we were once born.
Tubing down the French Broad is my favorite.
Love to walk the dogs and bike along the French Broad River.
Waiting for my nephew so we can use our boards on the river next month.
Definitely whitewater kayaking down the French Broad River whether it be Section 9 from Marshall to Hot Springs (8 mile paddle) or just a park and play in Woodfin, I also enjoy “getting involved” locally by volunteering for various River Link events. I’m forever grateful to have such a beautiful piece of antecedence nature practically in the backyard!