The Overlook with Matt Peiken

In this dual episode, we have separate conversations with dancemakers Vanessa Owen and Gavin Stewart and emerging rap artist Luicya. Stewart Owen Dance makes duets, dances for larger ensembles and outdoor pieces, and collaborates with other artists. They're in residency next week at Trillium Arts in Mars Hill and performing next April at the Wortham Center in Asheville. We discuss how the pandemic changed their approach to their art and careers. You won’t find much online from the emerging local artist who calls herself Luciya. She’s the daughter of classical musicians, but she calls her own music goddess rap. We’ll meet her and hear about her impulses and influences in the second half of the program. She's stepping her up local performances, including an intimate Sept. 30 date through Pan Harmonia. Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

The Steep Canyon Rangers embody and evangelize the Asheville sound as much as any musical artist. They’ve certainly had success with it. Their collaborations with the actor, comedian and banjo player Steve Martin put them on the national map, and they won a Grammy Award on their own 10 years ago for best bluegrass album. Now, more than two decades into their career, the departure of co-founding vocalist and guitarist Woody Platt has pushed the Steep Canyon Rangers into new territory and compelled the band to find themselves all over again. My guests today are the band’s remaining co-founders, banjo player and songwriter Graham Sharp and mandolin player Mike Guggino. We talk about the band’s early years, their work with Martin, how they processed Platt’s departure and the making of “Morning Shift,” their new album with new vocalist Aaron Burdett. Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

If Asheville crowned a reigning native queen, Libby Kyles would certainly fall into the city’s royalty. She has lived all over the city, led educational efforts here as a teacher, administrator and nonprofit leader and been an unwavering voice around inequities she pins on race. In this conversation, she explains how the Asheville of today is different than the city of her youth. We get her thoughts on the city’s reparations process and run through her life’s work as seen through the vital programs and community resources she has helped create. Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

It’s no secret—Asheville has a housing crisis. Among the strategies to combat that, city planners are looking more closely at developing what’s called “middle housing.” These are townhouses, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and smaller apartment complexes—essentially almost anything other than traditional single-family homes. My guest today is Candra Teshome, a longrange planner for the City of Asheville. We talk about an extensive study the city conducted this year that looked at middle housing, put it in context with the larger housing supply and delve a bit into how Asheville and cities all over the US found themselves with a housing imbalance, along with the creative ways they’re trying to right the scales. Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

One of the most pitched rivalries in all of sports is probably taking place in your neighborhood: Tennis players vs. pickleball players. Outdoor public courts that tennis players had to themselves since the dawn of history are now the site of community turf wars. Today's episode features representatives from the Asheville Tennis Association and Asheville Pickleball Association. There are only 11 asphalt tennis courts in Asheville’s parks and recreation system. Pickleballers have made those courts their surfaces of choice. They’ve ardently lobbied city council for courts dedicated to their sport, but those don’t appear on the horizon anytime soon. Parks officials have brokered meetings between the two sides and come up with an even-handed, agreed-upon schedule of use that nobody seems particularly happy with. Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

Rebekah Todd is a seasoned songwriter and performer who moved from Wilmington to Asheville two years ago. On Aug. 22, she posted a video to social media talking about unwanted communication from an unnamed festival promoter, the blame he placed on her for the festival's cancellation and the avalanche of backlash that came her way. Hundreds of people commented on and shared it. Even before this episode, Rebekah made social media posts going back to March touching on other experiences she had with men in positions of power. Misogyny in the music industry is a difficult topic. Rarely do men address it, nor does the music press. But an Asheville music festival called Women to the Front happens Sept. 17. It’s founded by and exclusively featuring female artists. The timing seemed right to meet Rebekah and hear her story as a microcosm of what many women artists experience. Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

North Carolina legislators recently legalized sports betting in the state. Once enacted, that could funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue each year to the athletics programs of UNC-Asheville and Western Carolina and Appalachian State universities. Justin McGuire, a reporter with Mountain Xpress who has covered this development, talks about the forces that led to legalization and how concerns about gambling addiction shaped it. We also talk about the broader cultural tipping point of legalized gambling in this country and what this might forecast about the development of more casinos in North Carolina. Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

Passenger trains haven’t rolled through Asheville since 1975, but there’s a serious plan from the North Carolina Department of Transportation to bring them back. Daniel Walton's recent story for Mountain Xpress connects the tracks between three decades of studies and recent federal infrastructure funding to a planned 140-mile route from Asheville east to Salisbury. We talk about the environmental and cultural factors playing into the rekindled interest in passenger rail, how the proposed line out of Asheville would feed into a wider web of passenger lines and a long timeline that could leave the project prone to shifting political and economic winds. Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

When the Pactiv Evergreen paper mill sounded its final whistle on June 8, 115 years of continuous operation in Canton came to an end. 1,100 jobs were lost and some heavy questions remain about what will happen to those people, along with the 185-acre site and its buildings. Cory Vaillancourt and Holly Kays, reporters with the Smoky Mountain News in Waynesville, have led local coverage of the plant’s closure. We talk about the business trends that led to the closure, the environmental impacts and outlook for the site, along with how people in Canton are weathering the closure. We’ll also talk about possible next-lives for the facilities, the stakes for Canton and, perhaps, for people priced-out of Asheville. Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

The Overlook Live with Matt Peiken is my show's first event in front of a studio audience. It happens Wednesday, Sept. 27, inside the Tina McGuire Theater at the Wortham Center. I’ll be recording three episodes in one night: Get tickets here. Fresh episodes of The Overlook return the Tuesday after Labor Day. Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

Marcy Gallagher and her husband owned Kilwin’s Fudge and Ice Cream in downtown Asheville for 13 years before handing the store off during the pandemic. Then Gallagher did something a little crazy: She wrote a piece of musical theater from scratch. She found a composer, a director and a cast, then booked a theater. “At the Cafe” premieres inside the McGuire Theater at the Wortham Center Aug. 18-27. We’ll talk about Gallagher’s commitment, investment and bringing her vision to reality. We’ll also get into the story she wants to tell about middle-aged women and what success means for her as a late-stage creative. Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

The renovations needed at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium were well-known for many years to anyone who’s worked or performed there. Now, with the heating and air conditioning system out of order, the auditorium is closed at least until next spring and possibly longer. That’s forced a scramble to move some shows into the neighboring Harrah’s Cherokee Center. Still, the economic impact of lost shows is expected to be in the millions. Chris Corl, Director of Community and Regional Entertainment Facilities for Asheville, lays out the condition of the auditorium, the timeline for repairs and the costs of closure that go beyond financial. We get into the deeper issues that have plagued the auditorium for decades and what a state-of-the-art auditorium could mean for Asheville. Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

Homes and land with the highest market values are systemically under-assessed and under-taxed, while properties at the lowest market values are over-taxed. That's at the heart of findings uncovered by Asheville urban planner and consultant Joe Minicozzi. His research shows that’s true in Buncombe County and the 17 other counties in Western North Carolina. We walk through Minicozzi's research, the responses he says he received from county officials and the financial and social costs of these inequities. He talks about long-entrenched biases and arbitrary processes baked into how properties are assessed for taxation. We go through some stunning numbers and the economic costs in a cash-starved county. Minicozzi also answers this question: Why and how is this inequity allowed to continue? Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

In college, Lauren Yero found a way to marry up her interests in creative writing and ecological science. A handful of years later, Yero wed both those commitments into her debut novel for young adults, titled “Under This Forgetful Sky.” Yero lives with her husband and two young kids on a budding hobby farm in Madison County. We talk about threading her concerns with climate change into a near-future fantasy set in Chile. We also get into the thick of her creative process—turning disparate kernels of ideas and dreams into a cohesive story—and also why she only sprinkled in slivers of Spanish onto a story featuring South American characters but told in English. Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

In 2022, less than 3 percent of North Carolina workers belonged to a union. Only South Carolina had a smaller percentage. Still, in Asheville, food and beverage workers are organizing and seeing momentum. My guests today are Jen Hampton of Asheville Food and Beverage United; and Ariana Lingerfeldt, a chef at Green Sage Cafe South Asheville, who this past March led a successful effort to unionize that staff. We talk about their separate paths toward organizing, overcoming anti-union propaganda and confronting employment systems they say are designed to divide workers. We also dig into the industry-specific issues they’re fighting for beyond higher salaries. Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

The Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority just approved a budget of nearly $40 million for the next fiscal year. By state law, the TDA will steer about a third of that into a sort of discretionary bucket called the Tourism Product Development Fund. Many in the community have different ideas for how that money should be spent. This is the second half of our two-part conversation with Vic Isley, president and CEO of the TDA. We dig into that TPDF. I ask Isley why hoteliers and other vacation rental owners have such an outsized presence on the committee that chooses which projects to fund. I also challenge what I see as her broad definition of our local creative community and propose what Isley says has never before been proposed as a use for TDA funds. Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

This is the first in a two-part conversation with Vic Isley, president and CEO of the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority. We roll out Isley’s own background in tourism marketing, the TDA’s evolving priorities and how Isley sees the TDA as a partner in diversifying Asheville’s economy. I push back on Isley’s definition of who encompasses Asheville’s creative community. Isley also addresses this question: Can there be too much tourism in Asheville? Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

The Overlook spent last weekend at The Big Crafty. Matt Peiken roamed the floors and talked to local artisans, asking "How do makers make it work in Asheville?" A handful of makers offer up their stories, lessons learned and advice for other makers considering a move to Asheville. Voices in this episode are Jen Toledo, Mary Labianca, Kimberly Obee, Ashley Gandiza, Laura Wood, Edwin Salas, Bill Green, Maxx Feist and Cara Steinbuschel. Here are their Instagram handles: @jentoledoart, @infiniteselflove, @laurawoodstudios, @edwinsalasart, @otherdesert, @caramaeskincare, @maxx_feist, @tinymountain.clay, @wishingflowerpress Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

Hendersonville author Meagan Lucas is an emerging voice in the literary niche called Grit Lit. Her newest collection of stories is titled “Here in the Dark.” Much like her earlier work, these stories center on Appalachian women of simple means and complicated lives. We talk about Lucas' drive to portray women of this region with truth, dignity and complexity. Meagan also talks about how her own traumas play into her writing and how she maintains relationships with family members who aren’t thrilled with some of her language and subject matter. Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023

The North Carolina legislature has voted to turn school board elections into partisan affairs. That means, in Buncombe County, future candidates will have to run in specific districts as opposed to one at-large pool, likely diluting Asheville’s core advantage of population. Andrew Jones of AVL Watchdog, my guest today, breaks down the coming changes and their potential impacts. We talk about how new district maps could be drawn and also pull the lens back to the broader incursions by social conservatives into what happens inside public schools. Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign! Advertise your event on The Overlook. Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues. Podcast Asheville © 2023