v

just went to farm burger downtown. I could tell the sweet potato fries were not hand cut anymore and upon tasting the regular fries, they are not hand cut anymore either. the website no longer says “hand cut“. they are both frozen now. such a bummer

Hey r/Asheville,

A couple of months ago I posted AVL.LIVE here, a free calendar that tries to catch every live music show around Asheville and the surrounding towns. Then I posted an update. Between the two threads you gave me 50+ pieces of feedback, and I've built about 90% of it. Receipts below.

AVL.LIVE is now on iPhone and Android

• iPhone / iPad: App Store
• Android: Google Play

They're free, with no account and no ads. They're also a work in progress and will get better fast. Shows, search, the map, genre filters, artists and venues all work well right now.

Notifications are the rough part, and I'm about to overhaul them. If you have opinions on what a "music near you tonight" alert or a followed-venue alert should look like (how often, which shows), tell me in the comments. That's what I'm building next.

New: Asheville Stages coverage, built in

As part of a partnership with u/mecca_lecca (more below), Asheville Stages coverage now shows up right on the listings it's about. If they've previewed, reviewed or interviewed a show, shot photos, or put it in their weekly picks, the show gets a badge, and their articles appear on the show, venue and artist pages, linked back to the full piece.

This weekend (Fri 10/16 – Sun 10/18): 162 shows at 84 venues

A few that jumped out:

Friday

• The Tallest Man On Earth – The Orange Peel, 8pm
• Joshua Ray Walker w/ Cecilia Castleman – The Grey Eagle, 8pm
• LaMP (Russ Lawton, Scott Metzger, Ray Paczkowski) – Revival, 8pm
• Phuncle Sam's Bob Weir birthday celebration – Pisgah Brewing, 6pm
• Third Annual Beatles Hymn Sing – The Mule at Devil's Foot, 6pm

Saturday

• The Infamous Stringdusters w/ Broken Compass Bluegrass – Pisgah Brewing, 7:30pm
• Luna – Asheville Music Hall, 9pm
• Carsie Blanton w/ The Burning Hell – The Grey Eagle, 8pm
• Maya De Vitry w/ Lyle De Vitry – AyurPrana Listening Room, 7pm
• Canaries / Tanner York / Blooming – Static Age Records, 8pm (Asheville Stages pick)

Sunday

• Bluegrass Brunch – Jack of the Wood, noon
• Peggy Ratusz & Daddy Longlegs – The Meadow at Highland Brewing, 2pm
• Empire Strikes Brass, benefit for Homeward Bound WNC – Pisgah Brewing, 5:15pm
• Cor de Lux / JD Pinkus Triptych – Static Age Records, 8pm (Asheville Stages pick)

Everything else, including free patio shows, brewery sets, and stuff out in Brevard, Black Mountain, Hendersonville, Saluda and Hot Springs: avl.live/shows/weekend

You asked, I built it

• u/cubert73 caught shows listed at 12AM (the Ginger's Revenge show was actually 6pm). Fixed. Shows with no posted time now say TBA and sort to the bottom instead of pretending to be at midnight.
• u/HanBro44 asked for a week/month calendar view, a map, and a list that updates automatically to whatever's visible on the map, Zillow-style. All three are in.
• u/leaky_eddie wanted shows within X miles, venue info without jumping tabs, and to stop losing their place when going back. Done. There's a map plus a Nearby radius filter in the apps, address/directions/phone/website open right in the listing, and Back puts you where you were.
• u/BatAgreeable5559 asked for the date to stay visible while scrolling on mobile, reported broken map taps, and spotted missing venues. All fixed. One World Downtown, One World West, The Odd and Fleetwood's are all in, and every one has shows this weekend.
• u/corgiobsessedfoodie asked for genre filters. Done, plus a new Artists section.
• u/CrackerJackKittyCat asked for autocomplete after three letters, prefix matches first ("hen" → Hendersonville). Done, and it now finds near matches when you misspell things. Still no accounts, as you recommended.
• u/minimal-camera wanted to follow venues in an app. The apps let you follow places. Making those alerts good is the notification overhaul.
• u/thesilverdoors and u/mecca_lecca flagged the name overlap with AVL-Live.com. Happy ending: I partnered with u/mecca_lecca, who graciously handed over the AVL-Live.com domain. Old AVL-Live.com venue and event links now point to AVL.LIVE, I handle the show schedules, and their journalism at Asheville Stages is built right into the listings. One calendar, real local coverage on top. Huge thanks.

Still in progress

• u/FlyByPie: genres. About 60% of shows now get a genre tag, but there are still gaps (the Crown Magnetar + To The Grave show slipped through). I'm looking at the Last.fm API next to fill in the rest.
• u/Impossible-Library32: auto-generated festival posters for big weekends. I built a first version, but I didn't like that it leaned on AI-generated art. I'm reworking it into simpler posters with no AI art at all. Still working through it.
• u/CrackerJackKittyCat: an "I'm going" button to surface popular shows. Not built yet.
• u/minimal-camera: sorry I never got the AVL FM fundraiser in. Community and pop-up events are still a gap.

Thanks to u/MetaverseSleep, u/flyingfishyman, u/iguessiwaspunkonce, u/Bollopelao, u/thesilverdoors and u/cereal_killer_828 for the kind words. And respect to the folks behind LiveMusicAsheville.com, whereyatavlmusic.com and ashevilleconcerts.com, who were doing this long before me. More ways to find shows is good for everybody.

Keep it coming. Missing venues, wrong times, app bugs, notification wishes: drop them here.

— Josh

Hey everyone! Elijah Skipper here, investigative reporter with News 13. It’s been a little while since I’ve posted, but I wanted to share something I’ve been working on and hear what people here think.

I know this story is in Forest City, but with the conversations happening around data centers in Western North Carolina, I think there’s something here for Asheville too.

The question I started with was pretty simple: What has it actually been like living next to one for more than a decade?

News 13 reported on Facebook’s Forest City data center in 2013. Neighbors said the backup generators were so loud they could barely have a conversation outside. I wanted to find those same people and see what happened after those reports.

I managed to track down Jim Bennett and Tommy Doggett. We started by watching the old story together, then went back into Jim’s backyard, which backs up to the site.

They say it’s quiet now. They believe the sound-absorbing material and trees helped, and both say the company became a better neighbor.

One thing that really stayed with me was how much credit they gave the original reporting. They believe getting their concerns on the news finally got Facebook to listen.

But the improvement took time. In our 2015 follow-up, neighbors were still saying the noise bothered them.

So I went back through the coverage and records, spoke with the Data Center Coalition, and kept following up with Meta. I wanted to understand what changed here and whether that experience shaped how the company works with other communities.

There are still things I couldn’t verify. Facebook was already describing daytime testing hours in 2013. We haven’t obtained a current schedule or written agreement showing what applies now. At publication, Meta’s spokesperson was still trying to get answers to our questions.

I’m sharing this because I think the experience of people who have already lived through this belongs in the conversation before another community makes these decisions.

What would you want Asheville or nearby towns to require before approving a data center near homes? And if you’ve lived near one, I’d be interested in what your experience has actually been.

As always, feedback on the reporting is welcome too. If there’s something you think deserves a closer look, I want to hear it.

I’d only really heard negative things about this venue but wanted to share how awesome the experience was seeing Knocked Loose there last night! Huge space with plenty of room to mosh, move and breath, 4 or more food options, a number of bars, and bathroom trailers instead of porta potties!! Lines were not long anywhere! Didn’t buy beer so can’t speak to those prices but their liquor drink prices were reasonable for a venue and on par with our local bars. I’d mostly heard bad things about the parking situation but I paid for one of their lots and it was easy peasy-we drove right out of there no prob. They had a ton of staff directing traffic and it was very efficient! Hell yea Hellbender I’m so glad we have this new addition to our venues!!

Let's hope it works.

If you saw the internal APD memo circulating from the Q2 2026 ALPR "audit", you probably noticed the headline number: 2,756,648 searches of Asheville’s network conducted by external agencies in just three months.

Naturally, you might wonder: Was my car tracked? Did an out-of-town agency run my plate while I was driving down Patton or Merrimon?

You are legally barred from ever knowing, and APD is legally forbidden from telling you.

Here is how the law actually works, in plain English:

1. The Database Is a One-Way Blackout

When the North Carolina General Assembly authorized Automatic License Plate Readers, they built a wall around the data. Under N.C.G.S. § 20-183.32(e), captured plate data is explicitly classified as confidential and not a public record.

Unlike standard city records under NC Public Records Law (Chapter 132), you have zero statutory right to inspect your own file. Under N.C.G.S. § 20-183.32(b), the data can legally only be accessed by:

• A criminal justice officer for an active law enforcement purpose.
• A judge issuing a court order or search warrant.

2. Handing It to You Is a Crime

This isn't just APD hiding behind red tape or exercising discretion. Under N.C.G.S. § 20-183.33, knowingly releasing ALPR scan data to anyone not authorized by statute is a Class 1 misdemeanor. If a records clerk or officer looked up your plate and handed you your driving history, they could face criminal charges.

3. The Catch-22 of "Oversight"

The leaked memo boasts "100% compliance" because external users entered something into a text box labeled "reason". But as the public:

• You cannot audit whether the searches of your vehicle had actual reasonable suspicion.
• You cannot see if your plate was caught in those 2.7+ million external queries.
• You cannot get a judge to order the records released unless you are already embroiled in an active lawsuit or criminal case.

By design, everyday drivers can never verify how they are being tracked. The entire system is built to grade its own homework.

saw on fb, every shop in brevard had a raid. anyone have more info?

mods: the reason I'm asking for this to be posted in Asheville is I need the help of somebody who is local who is here in Asheville is there anywhere else I don't think I could do it thanks.

hello everybody, hope everyone is doing well. I am one of the homeless people here in Asheville that is trying to better themselves, I just trying to overcome many of the obstacles in their life, and I need some help to continue doing that. now, don't get me wrong I'm not downing my other fellow homeless, they have a lot of issues and some are doing better than others some are trying harder than others but everyone of them still a person. even I have to try hard to remember that.

so one of the things I'm doing is taking various online classes doing programs and trying to improve on my programming and photography so I can Network as well as create a portfolio etc.. no this morning when I went to open up my laptop I noticed an extremely serious problem. it was dead and as I tried to find my charger I realized I could not. as a homeless person I don't have many places to look, I basically looked at my book bag and at the plug that I was near, it wasn't there. I had either left it somewhere or somebody had grabbed it. not good. I did a quick backtrack of many of the places I had been yesterday and to no avail. I asked a couple people if they had one no one did. and this is where I need the help of you guys.

does anyone have an extra Lenovo laptop charger not with the square tip but with the circle barrel tip? I need one of the ones that have the yellow on the end of it. and I really really need to try to find one today as my assignment is due this evening. I could also use one of those universal charging kits with the correct tip I believe the 65 watt would work I know it's supposed to be 19.5 volts and like 3.25 amps so I could use basically any of the universe ones I think. anyways if anybody has one of these lying around somewhere they could donate to me or one of the universal kits or if they'd be willing to get one for me you guys you have no idea how grateful I would be! I'm sorry for asking for helping this thread again. but I just I don't know where else to turn is I don't know many people here in asheville and it's it's difficult for me to talk to people in real life due to anxiety. also my fellow homeless aren't really going to be much help there and yeah.. so anyways thank you so much with you guys do or don't you're all beautiful people!!!

To the cement truck that turned left on Old Shoals Rd off Airport Rd in front of the ambulance that had lights on and siren going….hope you stub your toe on the couch tonight and your cement gets hard.

heyyy, i'm new to the area and looking to meet other likeminded folks!

i go to local shows about twice a week, but i have pretty severe anxiety on top of being shy and short. i don't stand out in a crowd and i'm usually in the back corner of the room hyperventilating.

i'm alternative and dress scenemo/emo most days, and i'm trying to figure out where the folks like me in town hang out. i'm at the odd/third room fairly often but the times i've been there i haven't really met anyone in my same corner of the internet/music genres.

i'm big on prog house, high energy edm (think frost children, ninajirachi, jane remover) and pierce the veil. i draw, paint, and produce house music. i'm also learning guitar and starting up my own business selling my art online. i'd love to connect with other artists as well!

i draw sci-fi horror concepts primarily, i was heavily influenced by mortis ghost when i was learning to draw.

if you think we'd click shoot me a message and maybe we could get coffee or something! i'd also love to know what fb groups/discords are accepting new people in the wnc/asheville area.

Hey I have a bunch of perfectly good food my fussy, spoiled cat won’t eat and I want to give it to a group or shelter that can use it, I know lots of them prefer to stick to certain foods so the cats aren’t just being fed random stuff so I thought I’d check in and see if you all had suggestions. I’ll drive it out but would rather stick to East Asheville.

Topo Chico is rolling back out, starting with stores in Texas. Supposedly it's heading our way soon. I keep an eye on instacart and big box hardware stores online, but if you see any around town and remember this post, I'd love to know about it.

Thank you.

Like wtf, why would they completely block the steps connecting the two parking lots? Can something be done to petition for a gate or walkway for access? Seems like one of the dumbest decisions...

Does anyone have experience with Dr. Harris at Emerge Ortho? I’ve seen him for a hip issue I have that I desperately need surgery on. He seemed like a nice guy but other than that I don’t really have an opinion on him. I’ve never been put to sleep before so the thought of being put to sleep and having a pretty major surgery causes me extreme anxiety. Has anyone had a surgery performed by him? If so, what was your experience?

my psychiatrist has recommended carolina psychological assessment center for an evaluation that i desperately need, but unfortunately theyre booked out into february. im on a cancellation list right now but was wondering if there are any more recommendations anyone has? i do live in the hendersonville area but willing to travel up to asheville area. my psychiatrist also mentioned carl mumpower but i called and hes not doing a full evaluation at the moment. i have anxiety and ocd with unexplained psychosis as well as adhd and looking at possible other neurodivergent conditions, if anyone knows a good place please let me know. thank you!!

This is a shot in the dark obviously. I had my daughter’s lacrosse stick on the roof of my car. Colors blended and I didn’t see it when I drove. I think it fell off as I was turning in a roundabout by the river district. I say that because someone beeped at me but I had no clue why. I drove around last night but didn’t see it. Long story short, I lost my daughter’s stick. She loves that one and it was a fancy one. I offer $50 reward if you had picked it up

Thank you