Brenda Coates

Wed 9/20 – 4-9 PM White Sangrias and 7-9 PM Songwriters sessions return! Featuring John Longbottom, Lillie Syracuse, & Chris Wilhelm.  John Longbottom knows that a song is a story, an emotion, a moment in time. Sing me yours, I’ll sing you mine. Ars longa, vita brevis.  In velvet streams of joy, grief, and love, Lillie Syracuse’s voice and music fill the golden spaces of the in-between, exploring the stunning complexities and heart-scapes of the human experience. Her song-craft fosters shifts towards deeper self-love, acceptance, and magic. Chris Wilhelm plays Americana, folk rock that is infectious and insightful, and that brings positive vibes and an uplifting message to his audience. Based in the beautiful mountains of Asheville, NC, Chris appears solo or with a rotating cast of musicians. With hosts Mare Carmody and Charlie Wilkinson. Contact info:WNCsongwritersessions@gmail.com 

Thurs 9/21 – 4-9 PM –  Homage to the American Chestnut Cocktails – The corridor through Howard Gap leading from Spartanburg into Henderson County, in the 1780s and 1790s, was steep and narrow and lined with massive virgin timber of white oak, chestnut, red and black oak, five feet plus in diameter; mountain magnolia soaring 100 feet with leaves 2 to 3 feet in length (what the locals dubbed the “cucumber tree” because of its clean pungent fragrance). But what would have captured the early colonists’ wonderment as they hiked up the Green River Gorge would be the American Chestnut tree, which grew more than 150 feet tall and 10 feet plus in diameter. The American Chestnut comprised almost 25% of the total number of trees growing in the forest at that time. This glorious giant sadly would be eradicated by an Asian bark fungus that swept the country in the early 1900s. Although sprouts may still appear at the base of the former parent, they never reach more than 20 feet in height before dying out. The termite resistant wood became the best building material for housing, and the settlers fancied the nut for its sweetness and used it extensively in holiday festivities; its fruit also provided much of the fall mast for the white-tailed deer, wild turkey, the Passenger Pigeon (extinct 1890) and bears fattening up for winter. Occasionally forest trekkers may still find a chestnut carcass lying on the forest floor, and its massive size will fill them with awe and a deep sadness and regret for this native’s death. Several trees have been found in Northern Michigan where the weaker strains of the pathogen are less.  There are individuals and groups who gather to hunt for what they hope is a lone survivor hiding out in some remote hollow in the Blue Ridge Mountains and we wish them “good hunting.”  The chestnuts we roast “by the open fire” at Christmas are the Chinese Chestnuts, whose species evolved with the blight and developed a strong resistance. The American Chestnut and the “Allegheny Chinquapin” have little resistance. There is nothing sweeter than the small round nut of the chinquapin which grows in my back yard; although you are in competition with the squirrels to get to the nut first.

Chocolate Chestnut – Keeper Apple, Tia Maria, Chocolate syrup, heavy cream; Chestnut Old Fashion -Keeper Apple, Frangelico, bitters; Chestnut Cup – CB Frost, Gin, lemon juice, Campari, simple syrup; Chestnut Coffee –Brandy, Tia Maria, chocolate liqueur, Amaro; 1/2 price Fruit/infused flight

Wed 9/13 – 4-9 PM Red sangrias and from 7-9 PM – NC Writers Network as a part of the “In the Company of Writers” program presents guest authors Greg Lobas and Karen Luke Jackson. The program offers a series of personal and conversational dialogues featuring guest writers/poets followed by an open mic forum. These inspirational gatherings will elucidate and entertain those attending.  The guest author speaks from 7-8 PM with an open mic from 8 -9 PM. The Chicago blues music of “Mr. Jimmy” welcomes you, continues during intermission, and closes the evening. Sign-ups for the open mic visit: https://thebrandybar.com/writers-open-mic/

Karen Luke Jackson, winner of the Rash Poetry Award and the Sidney Lanier Poetry Contest, draws upon family lore, contemplative practices, and nature for inspiration. Her poems have appeared in Atlanta Review, One, Susurrus, Salvation South, and Friends Journal, among others. Karen has also authored three poetry collections: GRIT, chronicling her sister’s adventures as an award-winning clown; The View Ever Changing, exploring the lifelong pull of one’s homeplace and family ties; and If You Choose To Come, paying homage to the healing beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains. http://www.karenlukejackson.com/

Greg Lobas has been published as both an outdoor writer and a poet. His book of poems, Left of Center, won the 2022 Dogfish Head Poetry Prize and placed second in the Delaware State Press Association Awards. The Poetry Society of South Carolina and the South Carolina Writers’ Association have also recognized his work as award-winning. His poems have been published in numerous journals, including Tar River Poetry, Cimarron Review, Vox Populi and Kakalak. He lives with his wife Meg in the foothills of North Carolina, where he cuts a lot of wood and drives his dog Sophie around in her pickup truck.

Thurs 9/14 – 7-9 PM – Honoring 9/11 Heros:  ARE YOU GUYS READY? LET’S ROLL!  The battle cry was yelled by Todd Beamer as he and Thomas Burnett, Jr. charged the terrorists aboard United Airlines Flight 93, followed by all the other passengers, who had made the heroic decision to fight back against the terrorists.  This was the 4^th and last plane to be attacked on September 11, 2001. Worried that the passengers would break through the cockpit, the hijackers rolled the plane and crashed in a field at 580 mph in Shanksville, PA. The target is still unknown. The first plane, America Airlines Flight 11 was hijacked at 7:59 a.m. Hijacker Mohammed Atta makes an accidental transmission to ground control thinking he was communicating with the plane’s cabin thereby alerting control of the takeover.  At 8:46 a.m. the plane crashes into Floors 93-99 of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The 2^nd plane, United Airlines Flight 175, took off at 8:14 a.m. and at 9:03 a.m. crashed into floors 75-85 of the WTC’s South Tower. The 3^rd plane, American Airlines Flight 77, took off at 8:20 a.m. (it had been scheduled to leave at the same time as 1 and 2 but was delayed). At 9:37 a.m. Flight 77 crashed the plane into the western façade of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Flight crews and passengers in all planes totaling 265 were killed and 3,000 people on the ground lost their lives in these crashes. An unforgettable day in United States history and one to be memorialized each year. We will offer our 5 most popular drinks at a special price to our members who wish to join us to share in these significant honorariums:

9/11 Cocktail specials: Old fashioned – Brandy, mulled orange & cherries, sugar cube or no; Brandy Alexander – Brandy, crème de cocoa, heavy cream or substitute ice cream; Cosmopolitan – Brandy, organic cranberry juice, freshly  squeezed lime juice;  Pit Stop – Cherry brandy, Amaretto, freshly squeezed lemon juice; Brandy Martini – Brandy, a splash of gin, vermouth  – and a $5 pour from your choice: Ginger, coffee, or peach

REMINDER Songwriter Sessions comes 9/20 – 7-9:00 PM featuring John Longbottom, Lillie Syracuse, & Chris Wilhelm.                                                                                                               

 

 

 

Wed 9/6 – 4-9 PM – In keeping with our Thursday Native American Cocktails, we will be offering a Native American Punch $5 special: Fresh Cranberries, Fresh Rosemary, Sparkling Moscato topper, and CB Frost. A wonderful early fall drink with notes of fruit and spice.

Thurs 9/7 – 4-9 PM – Wealthier folks from the Charleston (formerly Charles Town) area found the Western North Carolina mountains to be the place to visit in the summer months. The mountains offered cooler summers, less mosquitos, and other insects, as well as beautiful greenery and mountain streams, all making their summer stay the place to be in hot weather. But generations before their entry, the Cherokee had discovered this paradise and developed their own path from their coastal villages into the cool and inviting mountains of Western North Carolina. They followed trails worn by bison, bear, deer and other wildlife searching for food, water, salt licks and shelter. Later the trails will be followed by the early colonists as they also trekked the 300-mile trail from Charleston to Western North Carolina and into their Cherokee hunting grounds in Cherokee, NC. The trail also was intersected by other trails of the Cherokee from Tennessee, Virginia, and northern Georgia. The game was plentiful, and the mountains offered a safe haven but that will also change later as the Colonists continued to intrude into the Indian lands and ignore the many treaties that followed, leaving the Cherokee with a small portion of their summer hunting lands which today we call “Cherokee.”  One of the areas of the trail around Ninety-Six, SC became an important meeting place where Chiefs and Government officials met, negotiated, signed treaties or deeds. Ninety-Six became a major trading and political center, protected after 1779 protected by a garrisoned fort called Fort Star with many forts sprouting up between 1740 and 1800 into the mountains. In 1968 Duke Power flooded Keowee Town to create a power station on what is now Keowee Lake, and the Cherokee path was lost. The information offered here was the result of the amazing couple, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Hale, who had retired to area and Arthur being an engineer with the Department of Transportation would each week explore the former location of the trail, trying to determine exactly where it ran and how much of it remains. Included is his suggestion as to the path. Their pamphlet was published by the Polk County Historical Association in Columbus, NC.

Native American drinks; Angry Indian – CB Frost, Calvados, Gin, Rum, Cointreau, lime-orange-cranberry juice; Cherokee Tea – CB Frost, Sassafras tea; Native Mint Tea – Leblon, Mint, Club Soda; Cherokee Cider – Keeper Apple Brandy, Lemon Juice, Simple Syrup, Maple Syrup; 1/2 Price on Fruit/Infused flight