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The first time I heard Johnson’s Crossroad, it was this song (‘Tween You and I) and I got goosebumps.  Not many bands or songs do that to me these days, so I knew these guys had something special.  Maybe it was that haunting melody or maybe it was lead singer Paul Johnson’s gravelly voice.  I don’t know for sure, but they instantly rocketed into my favorites.  After I heard more of their songs, their place of honor in my music collection was solidified.

They will be playing Jack of the Wood on August 27th.  From the press release:

Johnson’s Crossroad is taking their love of the old time mountain music, bluegrass, and the Texas singer/songwriters of the 1970′s and putting their own stamp on the ever-widening and increasingly popular ‘Americana’ genre, nurturing a sound they like to call “Appalachian Soul.”

The band was born in the bars of small town Lewisburg, WV. Johnson’s Crossroad performed the old songs they love and began to craft their own material. As audiences began to grow founding members Paul Johnson and Keith Minguez decided to head south over the Blue Ridge Mountains to the budding music scene of beautiful Asheville, NC where they found like-minded musicians and formed a touring band.

Their debut album “Blood in Black and White” brings together some of Asheville’s finest musicians to perform JXR’s original material. The album is steeped in the traditional country themes of lost love, lost fortune, lost time, and overcoming hardships, but Johnson’s Crossroad have clearly found a unique voice. With “Blood in Black and White” they give country music fans an alternative to the “polished” sound, though staying true to the roots that have made country music great.

Johnson’s Crossroad
Jack of the Wood
Friday, August 27th, 2010

8pm, $5, 21+
95 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC‎ 28801
(828) 252-5445 ext 105

Those of you looking for a great musical experience should mark August 28 on your calendars.  Amelia’s Mechanics has announced that they will be presenting “An Evening with Amelia’s Mechanics” at Jack of the Wood on that date.

From the press release:

Amelia’s Mechanics is: Molly McGinn (vocals, acoustic guitar, lap steel), Molly Miller (vocals, electric guitar, ukulele), and Kasey Horton (viola)

Despite what the oil-and-iron name might suggest, the women of Amelia’s Mechanics swap that toughness for a more urban, sophisticated take on Americana music, using luxuriating harmonies and classical swells to temper their lyrical frustrations with love and life. The instrumentation and vocal harmonies of Amelia’s Mechanics result in a genre-busting sound best described as “vintage country with a moonshine concerto.”

The band released their debut album “North, South,” produced by Jim Avett (father, The Avett Brothers,) in February of 2010 to critical acclaim and embarked on an inaugural spring tour to the delight of audiences all across the southeastern United States. Amelia’s Mechanics is currently working on their second album (at Echo Mountain Studios) to be released Spring 2011.

Amelia’s Mechanics
Jack of the Wood
Saturday, August 28th, 2010

Doors 7pm
95 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC‎ 28801
(828) 252-5445 ext 105

Lately there has been talk of making some serious changes to the yearly Bele Chere festival that envelops downtown Asheville. Proposed changes include changing the dates of the festival and moving it to a different location.

Bele Chere is always a big weekend for Asheville Live Cam, due to our location right in the middle of the action. Bele Chere 2010 was no exception. Every year brings a slightly different layout to the festival. This year it was centered more to the west side of our building (the BB&T building). I recall years where it was mostly centered around City-County Plaza and years when it even enveloped Wall Street. The constant, though, is that it is always in the heart of downtown, and that’s where it should stay.

Make no mistake, this is not bias talking. Asheville Live Cam would probably benefit from the festival moving a little farther away, since our cameras can’t look straight down to the streets surrounding the building. Because of that, a lot of the action is missed. If it were a little further away, like around City-County Plaza or further west down Patton Ave towards the Westgate Bridge, we’d be able to get better views of the action. But to my mind, that’s not where the festival belongs. The heart of downtown Asheville is Pack Square, and that is where the festival should be centered.

Changing the dates is a bit more controversial. It wouldn’t really affect this site, since we’ll provide the views regardless of the dates. However, it could significantly affect the festival itself. The main drawback about the current dates at the end of July is that it is just SO HOT! Moving the dates to a cooler period such as the Spring or Fall would make for a cooler and possibly more enjoyable time for festival-goers, but it could also seriously affect attendance. Bele Chere is currently the largest festival in the southeast. That could change if the dates are moved.

From the Citizen-Times:

Others say that changing the season could impinge on other festivals that have staked out shoulder seasons, such as the Greek Festival in September.

Also, keeping Bele Chere running depends in large part on volunteers, many of whom may not be able to donate labor outside summer months, said Byron Greiner, president of the Asheville Downtown Association.

Losing the volunteers would be bad, but this is the quote that my mind keeps coming back to:

Greiner, a former Bele Chere committee chairman, favors changes but says they can be risky.

“Statistically, no festival of this size has had a date change and survived,” he said.

I’ve been doing a bit of traveling around lately, with business trips to Atlanta and a family vacation in Washington, DC.  When I was away, I felt like something was… missing.  I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I just knew that something was wrong, like a cloud hovering over me.  I finally figured it out on the drive back from DC.  The first time I topped a rise and caught a glimpse of those beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains silhouetted against the sky, the cloud was lifted and I felt a surge of emotion.  I was… home.

I’m not from Asheville originally, but I’ve lived here for a long time now.  I lived in several different places throughout my life, but I never really identified with any of them as my “home”.  They say “Home is where the heart is”, but my heart wasn’t in any of those places.  Each one was only my home in the sense that it was where I lived.

Finally, my journey brought me here to Asheville.  It wasn’t an immediate thing.  At first I thought it was just another place that I lived.  I didn’t really know that it had changed for me until that drive back from DC.  Cresting that hill and seeing that impressive vista of blue on blue mountains that Asheville natives know so well, and the tide of joy that came with it made it clear.  This is where my heart is.  This place is my home.

Every time I look out a window at work, I see that beautiful expanse of blue on blue, the same views you see here on our video streams.  Since I got back, I see them a little differently.  Now every time I look out my window, I smile a little.

Well, events conspired against me and I didn’t get out to Bele Chere as much as I’d planned.  Then when I did get out there I had a bit of a camera malfunction, so I didn’t get as many pictures and videos as I’d hoped.  Overall, the festival seemed to be a pretty good one, and while I was out there I had lots of fun.  Here is a small gallery of the pix I was able to get and some that my boys took.  Some are from Friday and some are from Saturday:

The video below is one I caught while strolling around Bele Chere on Saturday evening.  These guys were very entertaining.  I didn’t catch their name, but they posted a response to the YouTube video and let me know they are “Forty Fingers and a Missing Tooth”, which is an awesome name guys! You rocked!

Here’s another short clip of them.  I caught this just as I was walking up.

I took a little stroll around the block this morning and took some pictures and even a video of some of the many people out there getting ready for Bele Chere 2010.  This year looks to be a great one for the festival and I can’t wait to get out there this evening after it really starts to get active.

As for this site, you can expect us to be bringing you live views of the whole thing.

We’ll be resetting the views on our cams to provide you with great shots of the action as it happens, so if you can’t be here for the festival, at least you’ll get to see some of it.

I’ll also be out and about with my camera shooting some more pix and videos that I will be posting throughout the weekend.

Below are some of the pix and a video that I shot this morning as people were getting ready.