The Other Side of Barstools
August is here and my parents will soon be visiting. Porscha and I are looking forward to their arrival; we haven’t seen them since New Year’s. My mom is wanting to have fun while she’s in the Asheville area and I told her like I tell y’all every month, there’s plenty of fun to be had in the Carolinas, especially in Asheville.
After Bele Chere, a lot of our great local musicians seem to be taking a little break. And a bunch of the great performance poets in the region will be off to Madison, Wisconsin for the National Poetry Slam during the first week of August. (I think it’s actually warm in Wisconsin in August.) But that still leaves plenty of other entertainment for the rest of us.
Club Hairspray is presenting a traveling drag troupe from South Carolina on Friday August 1. The Sugar Daddies, Greenville’s premiere drag king troupe, will perform at 11pm. You can find the Sugar Daddies on MySpace at www.myspace.com/sugardaddiesdrag.
Hartigan’s Irish Pub & Restaurant in Charlotte is starting the month off with a whole weekend of partying. They are celebrating their Grand Re-Opening after finishing some remodeling and renovations to make a great nightlife destination even better. They’ve re-connected the upstairs with the downstairs, added free Wi-Fi, expanded live music to include both the basement and the upstairs patio, added new beers and food items to the menu, and much more. For everyone who like to go out but hates to come home smelling like an ashtray, Hartigan’s is now completely non-smoking, upstairs and down.
The Grand Opening Weekend will start off on Friday, August 1 with a Landshark Luau to help introduce one of the new beers recently added to the offerings, Landshark. They will have a Tiki bar and a variety of drink specials, DJ Jill will be spinning tunes in the Basement, and there will be a ticket giveaway for the September 11 Indigo Girls concert (more about that later).
The fun will continue on Saturday, August 2 with more ticket giveaways including the Indigo Girls, Madonna and more. DJ Little Betty will be rocking the house from the Basement on up. If you’re in Charlotte looking for some fun over the first weekend in August, check out Haritigan’s at 601 South Cedar Street. Check out www.haritgans.com for more information about the pub and upcoming events.
On Saturday, August 2, you can catch the Leigh Glass Band at one of my favorite venues, the Acoustic Coffee House in Johnson City, TN. The drive across Buckner and Sam’s Gaps is breathtaking and the traffic is usually very light on I-26. The Acoustic Coffee House has a nice selection of beer and offers some by the pitcher so take a couple of friends with you. Just make sure that the designated driver gets one of their tasty coffee blends. They also offer sandwiches, pizza, cookies, and some other snacks.
The Leigh Glass Band is an Asheville-based rock, blues, and Americana band. Leigh has been described as having an “Elvis thing” going on when she sings. She is a bluesy singer with a healthy dose of jazz thrown into the mix. Trust me, she is well worth the drive over the gaps to hear but if you want to stay a little closer to home, the Leigh Glass Band will also be playing at the Green Sage in Asheville on August 8. Both shows are at 8pm. For more info, visit the band’s MySpace at www.myspace.com/leighglassmusic.
Rodi, down in Gastonia, NC, has two good shows scheduled for August. Laura Blackley will be playing there on Friday, August 8. And on Saturday, August 16, Stephanie’s Id will take over the Rodi stage. If you missed either one of these great local musicians, seeing them at Rodi is a perfect opportunity. Rodi is an all-in-one venue; a great restaurant and a listening venue rolled into one. Rodi is located at 245 West Garrison Boulevard in Gastonia. For more info, please visit www.rodiworld.com.
When I was little, I watched the roller derby every Saturday with my Uncle Jack. At some point, I wanted to be a roller derby queen (well, maybe not so much a queen…) when I grew up. Then roller derby faded away. And I wrecked my knee on a roller rink my freshman year in college, so much for my roller derby dreams.
In recent years, roller derby has made a comeback. The rules are a little different as most teams skate under the jurisdiction of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, but the thrill is the same. And in Asheville, we have our very own roller derby team, the Blue Ridge Roller Girls.
On Saturday, August 9, the Blue Ridge Roller Girls will be skating against the Memphis team. The bout will be held at the Asheville Civic Center with doors opening at 6 and the action starting at 7pm. I can’t think of a way to have more fun and excitement on 8 wheels than roller derby, unfortunately, I don’t think my mom would be into it. You can find the Blue Ridge Roller Girls at www.myspace.com/blueridgerollergirls.
One of Asheville’s hard-working singer/songwriters, Jazz Salm will be performing at Club Hairspray on Friday, August 15 at 10:30pm. If you haven’t heard Jazz before, imagine that Dave Matthews and Alanis Morrisette had a love child…that would be Jazz Salm. Jazz has all the right ingredients in her music: awesome lyrics, real emotions, and rocking guitar riffs. She is a one-woman band, a hot girl with a guitar. Learn more about Jazz at www.myspace.com/jazzsalmmusic.
Way over to east of Asheville, at Club Steel Blue in Durham, you can catch an amazing evening of laughs and entertainment with the Queer Queens of Qomedy. They are performing as part of Club Steel Blue’s Anniversary Bash in August.
Club Steel Blue is the hottest LGBT club in the Triangle! Steel Blue is a Private Membership Club for the LGBT Community and their guests. Club Blue Steel was voted the Best Lesbian Bar in the Triangle and the Best Bar Staff in the Independent.
And to celebrate their anniversary, The Queer Queens of Qomedy are coming to Club Steel Blue on Friday, August 22. After a successful run in North Carolina last year the comedy troupe is returning for an encore performance. Poppy Champlin one of Olivia’s newly favored comedy performers and leader of this all lesbian review will bring a new troupe to Steel Blue this year.
This show proves to be a hot and sexy rendition of the Queens. Sandra Valls, who was a hit with the Queer Queens in Dallas Texas, was recently showcased on Showtime’s Latina Divas of Comedy. She is featured in the latest edition of One Night Stand Up on the LOGO network. Hold onto your seat belts for this very high energy, sexually charged, hot blooded, lesbian comedian. The next and youngest comic to join the queer queens is Bridget McManus. She was recently nominated for the “Brink of Fame: Comic” NewNowNext Award on the LOGO network. Her weekly comedy vlog, Brunch with Bridget, also garnered a Logo NewNowNext Award (“Best Lesbian Vlog Ever”) nomination, and can be seen on Afterellen.com. Look for her this summer in the Universal feature Wanted, and in the comedy documentary, Laughing Matters: The Next Generation.
The doors of Club Blue Steel will open at 6:30pm for this very special event. The Queer Queens will start their show at 8pm and DJ LV will be spinning after the show. Tickets for the Queer Queens of Qomedy are $30. Seating is limited so it’s first come, first served. Tickets are available at the club located at 1426 South Miami Boulevard in Durham, NC or by phone, 919-596-5876. For more information about Club Blue Steel, visit their Web site www.clubbluesteel.com. And to learn more about the Queer Queens of Qomedy Tour, go to www.queerqueensofqomedy.com.
And last but certainly not least, I want to mention one other Club Hairspray event. Hairspray has be working on some renovations and revamping of the club in order to provide its diverse and eclectic clientele with a better space in which to enjoy even more entertainment.
On Friday, August 22 at about 11pm, that entertainment will be provided by Hot ‘N Ready. Hot ‘N Ready is one of Hairspray’s premiere drag troupes. The troupe consists of four kings; Krisp E. Kreme, Papa Ren, Oliver Twist, and Shawty and two GoGo Girls; C-Low and Kinky Kreme. Hot ‘N Ready performs songs from every genre from New Kids on the Block to The Cliks to Nelly to even country favorites like Tim McGraw. Of course, this is drag; so Hot ‘N Ready puts their own twist on each song as well as their own original choreography. All this adds up to a performance you shouldn’t miss. For more information about Asheville’s Club Hairspray (38 N. French Broad) visit them on the web at www.myspace.com/clubhairsprayasheville.
That’s about all for August but September is already shaping up to be an exciting month in the Carolinas. One of the events coming up next month is the return of the Indigo Girls to the area. They will be playing in Spartanburg, South Carolina at the Spartanburg Memorial Stadium on September 11 at 8pm. They will be bringing Missy Higgins with them as well.
The Indigo Girls haven’t played in the Upstate in more than 10 years. This special concert will be a benefit for the Music Foundation of Spartanburg. I will let you know more about this upcoming concert as the details become available.
Until next month you can find me on OIA’s blog, Outloud (www.outinasheville.com/outloud). I hope to see you on the other side of barstools.
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