Shows
The Overlook with Matt PeikenAsheville Improvises its Way to a New FestivalLike a lot of artistic corners of Asheville, the city’s improv theater scene is far more robust than you’d expect in a town this size. A natural extension of the scene's growth is the Asheville Improv Festival, debuting May 7-10. Longtime Asheville journalist Matt Peiken is also a longtime improviser. He used the occasion of the upcoming festival to gather four important players in the scene—Gillian Bellinger, founder of Misfit Improv; Laurie Jones, co-founder of Adesto Theater, Tim Hearn of Speakeasy Improv and Tom Chalmers, the founder of Asheville’s longest-running improv troupe, the Reasonabl...2025-04-0644 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenSpaced Out | ArtsAVL Town Hall on Affordable Arts WorkspacesWe all know the impact of Asheville’s skyrocketing housing costs. What we don’t hear nearly as much about is how artists and arts organizations are finding it more challenging to do their work in Asheville.Affordable workspaces was the topic of the latest ArtsAVL Creative Space Town Hall. Matt Peiken moderated a May 10 panel at Asheville Community Theater and recorded it to bring it to you here.Joining Matt on stage were DeWayne Barton (Blue Note Junction), Ashleigh Hardes Koslow (Lexington Glassworks), Jeffrey Burroughs (River Arts District Artists), Tamara Sparacino (Asheville Community Theatre) and...2024-05-1543 minThe Overlook with Matt PeikenFinding the Missing Middle | A Housing Panel Discussion from Mountain TrueMiddle housing is all the rage in planning and urban development circles—that is, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, clusters of homes with no garages but maybe a shared park, in walkable neighborhoods close to transit. Basically, it's housing with many of the functions of traditional single-family homes but developed with equity, the environment and affordability in mind.This past week, the Asheville nonprofit Mountain True convened a panel to discuss what’s called the "missing middle"—the absence of the kind of developments proponents believe can turn the tide of Asheville's affordable housing crisis. That conversation happened in front...2024-04-0352 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenThe Front Lines of Violence and Abuse | Jackie Latek of the SPARC FoundationIf the nonprofit world awarded medals for bravery on the battlefront, the counselors and volunteers for the SPARC Foundation could be the most decorated in Asheville. SPARC works with people who’ve committed child abuse, domestic abuse and street violence to find other paths of behavior.My guest today is Jackie Latek, the founding executive director of the SPARC Foundation. We get granular about how she and her team work to change behaviors that can span generations. Latek talks about racial and economic inequities and other circumstances that often fuel violence in the home, and the...2024-03-2039 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenAsheville City Schools' Deficit and Decisions | Greg Parlier of Mountain XpressJust last week, Asheville City Schools voted to merge Montford North Star Academy into Asheville Middle School. The move will reduce the district’s $4.5 million budget shortfall by as much as half, but it also raised a lot of anger, sadness and questions from affected parents. My guest today is Greg Parlier, a reporter who covers education for the Mountain Xpress. We look backward and forward at this decision, along with underlying trends that loom large for public schools everywhere. We talk about the impacts of charter and private schools, where things stand with a potential merger of...2024-03-1835 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenCatching Plein-Air | Landscape Artist Chris JehlyChris Jehly says he used to mock artists who painted the natural landscape. At the time, he was a graffiti artist inspired by BMX and metal music. Since his move to Asheville, he’s become one of the artists he used to dismiss.The plein-air paintings documenting his local hikes and other sojourns into the woods are on through the end of March at Tyger Tyger Gallery, in the River Arts District. We talk about his path from graffiti artist to plein-air landscapes and how he sees himself as documenting specific places and time....2024-03-1528 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenThe Beauty in Death | Performance Artist Edwin SalasWatch any of his performances or study his visual art, the easy takeaway on Edwin Salas is he's one disturbed artist. And how could he not be?When I profiled him in 2019 for Asheville's public radio station, he told me about the rape he suffered 30 years earlier and about the murder of his mother when he was just 5 years old. Indeed, much of his creativity blooms from what he labels his “dark happy place” and is directly shaped by those traumas. The Asheville Fringe Festival is just around the corner, and Edwin Salas is about as F...2024-03-1332 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenWon't You Be My Neighbor? | One Couple's Path Through Eminent DomainLast year, the North Carolina Department of Transportation began the process of claiming properties through eminent domain for the widening of Interstate 240 and construction of the I-26 Connector. Rob and Sarah Shearan noticed the NCDOT offering their neighbors full replacement value on their properties. Not so for them. While the project maps show construction and expansion happening within mere yards of their property, NCDOT right-of-way agents said they only need a “partial take," offering less than $100,000.Rob and Sarah talk about their ongoing battle with NCDOT, their emotional and financial turmoil, what they see as th...2024-03-1132 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenStrings Attached | Violinist Noah Bendix-BalgleyNoah Bendix-Balgley is a revered violinist—concertmaster with the Berlin Philharmonic and a soloist who performs with orchestras internationally. He’s also a native of Asheville.I talk with him about the details on his ambitious, weeklong residency with the Asheville Symphony, beginning March 11. We talk about his training and career path and how his Jewish roots play into his music-making. We also talk about his long connection to ASO music director Darko Butorac and the personal significance he feels in showcasing a broad range of violin-centered works in his native city. Help "...2024-03-0120 minThe Overlook with Matt PeikenPART TWO: City Council Candidates | Iindia Pearson, CJ Domingo, Kim RoneyThis is the second of two episodes recorded from the Feb. 20 Asheville City Council candidates mixer at Citizen Vinyl, thrown by the Asheville Downtown Association. You'll hear my short conversations with candidates Iindia Pearson, CJ Domingo and Kim Roney.The previous episode, posted Monday, features my conversations with candidates Bo Hess, Kevan Frazier and Sage Turner.Three seats on the council will be filled in November’s general election, but to get there, we need to first get through the March 5 primary. The seventh candidate on the ballot, Tod Leaven, couldn’t be at the mixe...2024-02-2832 minThe Overlook with Matt PeikenPART ONE: City Council Candidates | Bo Hess, Kevan Frazier, Sage TurnerThree seats on Asheville’s City Council will be filled in November’s general election, but to get there, we need to first get through a small-stakes primary. I say small stakes because of the seven candidates on the ballot, only one will drop off after the March 5 primary.Still, that didn’t keep locals from packing Citizen Vinyl last Tuesday for a casual mixer thrown by the Asheville Downtown Association. Six of the seven candidates showed up, chatted up prospective voters and sat down with me for quick conversations about their candidacies.In this episod...2024-02-2630 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenMission Control | Andrew Jones of the Asheville WatchdogAndrew Jones of the Asheville Watchdog is so busy covering Mission’s past, present and future, he has nine bylined stories about the hospital so far in February alone. I talked with him just yesterday to get the latest, including details of alarming findings from the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the so-called Immediate Jeopardy Mission faces in potentially losing its ability to receive Medicare and Medicaid payments.We talked about Mission’s formal plan of correction in response and why regulators approved a plan that many argue doesn’t address the root of the pr...2024-02-2335 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenPriming the Polls | Voter Outreach in Western NCThe North Carolina primary election is March 5 and early voting is already underway. But the Republican supermajority in the stage legislature has passed laws making voting more difficult.My guests today are Robin Lively Summers of Indivisible Asheville and Leslie Boyd of the Poor People’s Campaign. They’re part of a coalition of nonprofits working to educate and engage prospective voters in Western North Carolina. Others working in this effort are the YWCA of Asheville, Just Economics and Asheville Food & Beverage United. We’ll talk about their work on the ground, overcoming challenges presented by new...2024-02-2128 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenPsychedelic Evolution | Asheville Journalist Daniel WaltonIt should surprise no one that Asheville and other parts of Western North Carolina have become launching pads for a nascent industry of psychedelics. What is surprising is the recent state-sanctioned research into psychedelics and the legislative openness to legalization.My guest today is Daniel Walton, an Asheville journalist who reported and wrote an engaging story about this for the online publication The Assembly of North Carolina. We talk about how the culture around psychedelics has evolved over the past half-century. Daniel tells us about the increasing interest in psychedelic therapy and a utopian retreat i...2024-02-1932 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenHugging Community | Artist and Activist Dewayne BartonDewayne Barton is an artist, activist, social entrepreneur and voice of vision—all from the vantage of uplifting his Burton Street community. He escaped the scourge of crack cocaine while growing up in D.C., moved to Asheville after time in the U.S. Navy and devoted his life to building up community. He co-founded the nonprofit pathway to employment called Green Opportunities. He developed Hood Huggers International and the Peace Garden in his beleaguered Burton Street neighborhood.His latest initiative is a business incubator called Blue Note Junction. We’ll talk about all of that...2024-02-1433 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenWage Against the Machine | Vicki Meath and Jen Hampton of Just EconomicsIf you’re not earning at least $22.10 an hour, you can’t afford to live in Asheville. That’s according to Just Economics of WNC, which last month updated its living wage rate for Buncombe County. It climbed $2 an hour in less than a year.My guests today are Vicki Meath, Director of Just Economics, and Jen Hampton, the organization’s Housing and Wages Organizer. Just Economics has a living wage certification program that only a fraction of local employers participate in. We talk about the struggles facing Asheville's workers amid increased cost of living and tiny wage inc...2024-02-1238 minThe Overlook with Matt PeikenPART 1: Restoring Better Healthcare in WNC | An Asheville Watchdog ForumThe exodus of doctors and nurses, the mountains of complaints from patients, the lawsuit from North Carolina’s Attorney General. Those are just the broad areas of fallout in the five years since HCA Healthcare purchased Asheville’s formerly not-for-profit Mission Hospital.The Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit investigative news outlet that has been out front on the local reporting on this. A few hundred people came out Jan. 23 for a Watchdog forum at A-B Tech designed to answer a single question: What can we do to restore better healthcare in WNC?This episode features the...2024-01-3054 minThe Overlook with Matt PeikenPART 2: Restoring Better Healthcare in WNC | An Asheville Watchdog ForumWhat Can We Do to Restore Better Healthcare in WNC? The nonprofit investigative news outlet the Asheville Watchdog posed that question in a Jan. 23 public forum at A-B Tech. In this episode, Watchdog editor Peter Lewis moderates a panel with Drs. R. Bruce Kelly and Clay Ballantine, Brevard Mayor Maureen Copelof, nurse and patient advocate Karen Sanders and Democratic State Senator Julie Mayfield of Asheville.The opening comments at the forum from the same panelists are featured in a separate episode of this podcast. Help "The Overlook with Matt Peiken" p...2024-01-3029 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenA New Moon Bride | Singer-Songwriter Carly KotulaCarly Kotula is an Asheville singer-songwriter who has gone through two name changes in the time I’ve known her. First to her married name—she first made her way in music as Carly Taich—and now to her new artistic persona, Moon Bride.We talk with Carly here about her new album, “Insomnie,” and preview some songs from it. We delve into the motivations and symbolism behind her name change, the eclectic and personal nature of her music and how she’s expressing her music visually. We also talk about her commitment to her faith and about a bad...2024-01-2726 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenPART 2: Demand Over Supply | Childcare in Buncombe CountyThere’s a childcare crisis in the United States. First, the cost is enormous. Second, parents of infants are meeting waitlists of many months, even up to a year, just to land openings. In Buncombe County, where incomes are pretty modest, parents often weigh whether they can afford to go back to work.My guest today is Jenny Vial, Director of Child Care Resources at Buncombe Partnership for Children. We go through the growing demand and dwindling supply for quality childcare providers. We talk about a new partnership with the Biltmore to open more slots for infants an...2024-01-2433 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenPART 1: Demand Over Supply | Foster Care in Buncombe CountyThere are far more young people in need of foster homes than there are homes to take them in. This is true all over the country, but it’s particularly acute in Buncombe County.More than 100 local youth are now in homes outside the county because there’s such a shortage of spaces here. The challenge is greater when two or more kids from the same family need homes. These siblings are often separated for months at a time or even longer.My guests today are Amy Hunstman of Buncombe County Health and Human Services and...2024-01-2240 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenNativity Seen | Jared Wheatley of the Indigenous Walls ProjectJared Wheatley will tell anyone who asks, he is Cherokee. But it took him decades to begin the deep exploration of what it means to be Cherokee—the history of his people, his family, and how to live his layered lineage and heritage in the world today.Wheatley’s quest led him to create the Indigenous Walls Project. He and other Native artists he has invited have painted more than 15,000 square feet of outdoor walls in Asheville with Native syllabary and other cultural symbols and imagery.In this episode, we’ll take a journey through Wheatl...2024-01-1947 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenThere Goes the Neighborhood | Reclaiming the Southside from 'Urban Removal'Before there was a South Slope or River Arts District, those neighborhoods were wrapped into a swath of Asheville called Southside. Southside still exists, but its formal boundaries are tighter, separated from more prosperous neighborhoods.People fighting for Southside’s identity and relevance are asking city leaders for something some might find audacious—to roll the French Broad Association, South Slope and River Arts District back into the branding of the Southside.Shuvonda Harper and Sekou Coleman of the Southside United Neighborhood Association detail the damage done by what Harper calls “urban removal.” We’ll learn some...2024-01-1738 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenPART 2: Homegrown Leadership | APD Interim Chief Mike LambThe Asheville Police Department hasn’t had a homegrown chief in 20 years. Local native Mike Lamb hopes that soon changes. Lamb grew up in Asheville and has been on the force since 1997. In December, city officials named him the interim chief with the sudden retirement of Chief David Zack. This is the second half of my conversation with Interim Chief Lamb. Part One posted January 10. Today, we bore into the often-stated statistic that Asheville Police is down 40 percent of its budgeted officers. We talk about elements of the job Lamb says don’t get the attent...2024-01-1527 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenFarm to Funny | Improvisational performer Joe CarrollJoe Carroll is a one-of-a-kind comic talent in Asheville: Part Charlie Chaplin, part Robin Williams, part Don Knotts. He's on the eve of his first solo theatrical production, called “Quality Service.” It runs Jan. 19-21 at the Masonic Temple.We’ll talk with Joe about his upbringing on a rural North Carolina farm, the personal exploration he’s making in the new show and why he has chosen to build his stage career in Asheville.Help "The Overlook with Matt Peiken" podcast reach its very reachable goal: Just $1,000 in monthly contributions by Election...2024-01-1223 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenPART 1: Homegrown Leadership | APD Interim Chief Mike LambMike Lamb grew up in Asheville and joined the city’s police department in 1998. Over the years, he worked under six different chiefs until last month, when he was named the interim chief with the sudden and surprise retirement of David Zack.Today, I begin a two-part conversation with Interim Chief Mike Lamb. He tells us about his path to law enforcement and what he believes he brings to leadership atop the Asheville Police Department. We also talk about how a carousel of leadership has affected the department, how Chief Lamb views his department’s partnership with Bunc...2024-01-1025 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenTo Flip a District | NC State Representative Caleb Rudow vs. Congressman Chuck EdwardsFrom one perspective, Caleb Rudow is relatively new to public office. Only two years ago was he first appointed to his current seat and, later in the year, won his first state house election, representing NC’s 116th District. But from another perspective, Rudow has spent much of his life in public service. So the North Asheville Democrat says he sees it as a natural step to challenge first-term Republican Chuck Edwards for his seat in the U.S. Congress.Today, we talk with Rudow through his path to elected office, why he’s challenging Edwards in a st...2024-01-0838 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenCelebrating Our First Year | 'The Overlook' Returns Jan. 8Since launching The Overlook with Matt Peiken this past February, I produced 118 episodes enlightening you about the news, arts, issues and trends of Asheville, NC. I’d like to think I give to my community with every episode. If you’d like to show your appreciation in return, please consider supporting the show through my Patreon crowdfunding page. I’ll be back with fresh episodes Monday, January 8.Help "The Overlook with Matt Peiken" podcast reach its very reachable goal: Just $1,000 in monthly contributions by Election Day. Membership at our Patreon campaign starts at just $5/month. Sup...2023-12-1801 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenPART 2: Antisemitism and the American Left | A Discussion with Asheville's Jewish LeadersThis is the second half of my conversation with four leaders in Asheville's Jewish community: Rabbis Batsheva Meiri of Congregation Beth HaTephila and Mitchell Levine of Congregation Beth Israel, along with Frank Goldsmith, who is on the steering committee of Carolina Jews for Justice; and Sharon Fahrer, who has documented much of Asheville’s Jewish history.In the vapors of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in Israel and the ensuing war, we delve deeper into the impact on local Jews, the documented rise of antisemitism across the U.S., particularly at colleges, and the distinctions and double standards of how...2023-12-1534 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenPART 1: Antisemitism and the American Left | A Discussion with Asheville's Jewish LeadersIn the days after Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel, some of the fiercest criticisms in this country were directed at Israel, from self-identified liberals and progressives. At the same time, I heard nary a whisper of outrage directed toward Hamas for the attack, its treatment of hostages taken that day and their use of civilians in Gaza as shields.This is the first episode in a two-part conversation with local Jewish leaders: Rabbis Batsheva Meiri of Congregation Beth HaTephila and Mitchell Levine of Congregation Beth Israel, along with Frank Goldsmith, who is on the steering committee of...2023-12-1334 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenSolidarity from Afar | The Islamic Center of AshevilleSince Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, Islamophobia and antisemitism are on the rise across the United States. That inspired me to reach out to leaders of the Islamic Center of Asheville and two of Asheville’s synagogues. I’m devoting this week’s episodes to those conversations.Today, I speak with Nasser Ostah, who moved from Jordan a little over a year ago, to become the imam of the Islamic Center of Asheville. Joining us is longtime center member and community leader Khalid Bashir.From both the Islamic and Judaic angles, I wanted to understand their...2023-12-1139 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenHeavy Mettle | Singer-Songwriter Hannah KaminerAsheville singer-songwriter Hannah Kaminer has established a pattern of processing and naming the heaviness in life through her music. On the heels of her previous album, “Heavy Magnolias,” comes “Heavy on the Vine,” a new collection of lush music underscoring lyrics born from personal turmoil and evolution.Today, Hannah guides us through her departure from organized religion and her societal observations born through song. We’ll also talk about tacklung her anxiety by studying and performing theatrical improv. And we’ll preview cuts from a record before anyone else hears them. Hannah launches “Heavy on the Vine” with a January 4...2023-12-0831 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenBeer Smart | A-B Tech's Craft Beverage InstituteTourism officials want people to think of Asheville as Beer City, USA. Never mind that breweries now dot the downtowns of even the smallest of cities. Still, there are only a handful of schools in the country like Craft Beverage Institute of the Southeast, on the campus of A-B Tech.Today, we talk with Jeff “Puff” Irvin, the institute’s director. Every semester, people from throughout the South and far beyond study at the Craft Beverage Institute, many pursuing a career change. While the school teaches the facets of winemaking and distilling the gamut of spirits, this convers...2023-12-0631 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenThis Land is My Land | Eminent Domain and the DOTOne of Asheville’s iconic concert venues will vanish in the coming years—not because of poor business, but because of eminent domain. Salvage Station on Riverside Drive is on the map of businesses that will be forced to sell and give way to the I-26 Connector. A number of homes are also on the map for clearance.Nathan Moneyham, a division construction engineer based in Asheville for the NC Department of Transportation, talks about eminent domain and how today’s DOT works with affected communities and steers away from the practices and policies of yesteryear, which partic...2023-12-0431 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenThe Collage of Memory | Visual Artist Nabil El JaouhariNabil El Jaouhari grew up in a village outside of Beirut, Lebanon. Even amid post-war cycles of sectarian violence, Nabil followed a path of artistic expression. His fine art studies eventually led him to the United States. Since moving to Asheville, about eight years ago, he has regularly shown at Mark Bettis Gallery in the River Arts District. In today's conversation, we learn about his life in Lebanon, how moving to the U.S. affected his art and his explorations of memory through visual collage. Help "The Overlook with Matt Peiken" podcast reach its...2023-12-0130 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenTwo Issues, One Nonprofit | Can Thriving Tourism and Affordable Housing Co-Exist?It took the formation of Thrive AVL, a relatively new nonprofit here, to formally connect tourism and affordable housing—and the policies and practices around them—as affecting one another.Casey Gilbert and Kate Pett of Thrive AVL go into detail about what’s called sustainable tourism—that is, encouraging tourism that enhances all avenues of life. They also dissect a recent Thrive AVL study that, among other surprises, found that much of the affordable housing initiatives in Asheville leave out those who need help the most. Help "The Overlook with Matt Peiken" podcast...2023-11-2935 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenMission Inhospitable | HCA, NDAs and For-Profit HealthcareThe Hospital Corporation of America purchased the nonprofit Mission Hospital four years ago in a deal shrouded in secrecy. Since then, hundreds of doctors, nurses and support staff have resigned. North Carolina’s attorney general has joined them in protesting what they see as an unflinching profits-over-people business model. The Asheville Watchdog has written many stories detailing much of the decimation of Asheville’s once-vaunted hospital. Recently, the Watchdog’s executive editor, Peter Lewis, wrote an extensive column that asks “What can be done?”Lewis walks us through a purchase that, from every angle, appears nefarious...2023-11-2737 min
The Overlook with Matt PeikenWriting on Two Wheels | Asheville Folk Musician David WilcoxAsheville guitarist-songwriter David Wilcox has been at the vanguard of American folk music since the late 1980s. His observational storytelling and lyrical turns of phrase have earned him a loyal following throughout this country and beyond. Sixteen studio albums into his career, he’s still finding new things to say.Today, we go deep with Wilcox about his songcraft, his vein of inspiration through the pandemic and the range of emotion he mined for his newest record, “My Good Friends.” We also get into his obsessive compulsion about a particular make and model of motorcycle. Wilcox...2023-11-1736 min