Beer and food pairings offered at May 30th RiverMusic concert

RiverLink's 2014 RiverMusic summer concert series kicks off May 30 at 144 Riverside Drive in the River Arts District with great music from two outstanding bands -- West Coast funksters Orgone, and locals The Horse You Rode In On. RiverMusic is also celebrating Asheville's great craft beer and food scene with an equally outstanding lineup of breweries and food trucks. On May 30, Catawba Brewing will offer eight different beers, including a witbier, a pale ale, a brown ale and porter, a saison, IPA's and more.

With eight different brews as inspiration, the five local food trucks for May 30 have stepped up with some mouthwatering creations and pairings.

Taste & See NC is offering a RiverMusic exclusive -- a BBQ pulled-pork slider with mango habanero sauce and sriracha cilantro slaw, to be consumed (ideally) with Catawba's renowned King Coconut Porter. The chef in the Root Down truck suggests Le Sexxxy Saison as the perfect complement to their pork and pimento cheese sandwich and Brown Bear Ale to help you finish that roast beef debris po' boy (a New Orleans classic!).

Farm To Fender is offering Hickory Nut Gap Farm smoked brisket sandwich with their world-famous Yeti sauce, tobacco onions and homemade bread, and recommends Catawba's refreshing Firecracker IPA. Bill at Avery's Hot Dogs is going to cook some of Catawba's Brown Bear Ale right into his chili and create a hoppy, IPA-infused slaw. Local faves El Kimchi will also be there serving their incendiary mashup of Korean and Mexican street food.

RiverLink invites everyone to join them in supporting all of these really creative beer and food folks who help keep our concerts free and fun for all. So please come hungry, come thirsty, come for the music, and come to celebrate our beautiful river. Future events will offer new pairings of local beer and food.

RiverMusic consists of five Friday nights of free live concerts at 144 Riverside Drive by the French Broad River in the River Arts District of Asheville. Gates for all events open at 5:00 p.m. and the party goes until 10. Visit http://riverlink.org/experience/rivermusic/ for more information.

Four Seasons to receive $9.5 million to pilot medicare reform through innovative community palliative care model

Improved outcomes, increased quality of care and decreased hospital readmissions decrease costs for patients and families during serious illness or at end of life, while reducing tolls on Medicare

Four Seasons Compassion for Life today was notified they are the prospective recipients of a $9,596,123 grant award from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, a program of the federal Department of Health and Human Services. The non-profit agency emerges as the sole hospice and palliative care provider nationwide chosen to implement health care reform over a three year period through its innovative community care model designed to deliver better care outcomes and lower costs.

An award-winning, hospice and palliative care industry leader, Four Seasons maintains a consistent track record of reducing costs while improving patient outcomes during serious, life limiting illness. In conjunction with its collaborative partner, Palliative Care Center and Hospice of Catawba Valley, Newton, Four Seasons will test a new model for community-based palliative care across the continuum of care spanning in-patient and outpatient settings.

The Four Seasons community palliative care model (CPC) removes barriers to patient care due to location, socio-economics, ethnicity or minority status, and fragility of medical condition. The model features interdisciplinary collaboration and the integration of palliative care into the health care system, continuity of care across transitions, and longitudinal, individualized support for patients and families - with the ultimate goals of increased quality of care and decreased hospital re-admissions.

An estimated 8,000 Medicare beneficiaries and their families will receive integrated health services in western North Carolina through the project. Of these, 78 percent will receive care through Four Seasons, and 22 percent will receive care through Palliative Care Center and Hospice of Catawba Valley.

"Historically, the CPC model has been shown to improve outcomes for patients as well as the experiences of family and professional care providers," says Dot Moyer, chairman of the Four Seasons Board of Directors.

"Four Seasons is being given an opportunity to prove the value of palliative care, and not only to the healthcare industry," says Moyer. "The patients and families we serve report high satisfaction with their care experiences. Now the high quality of care for which we're known will become increasingly valued and more widely available, not only in western North Carolina, but nationwide."

Clinical and financial results of the project will be monitored through partnership with Duke University. The findings will translate into potential finance models to assist Medicare beneficiaries who struggle with advanced, life-limiting illnesses. The data generated will also provide national benchmarks for other palliative care organizations to improve patient outcomes.

Hilariously irreverent musical "Spamalot" opens June 6th at Asheville Community Theatre

Lovingly ripped off from the classic film comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the award-winning Broadway musical Spamalot will open next on the Asheville Community Theatre Mainstage. With  book and lyrics by Monty Python member Eric Idle and an entirely new score created by Eric Idle and John Du Prez, Spamalot is the highly irreverent retelling of the Arthurian legend. Among its other accolades, it was the winner of the 2005 Tony Award for Best Musical. Spamalot runs from June 6-29, 2014 with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2:30 pm. Directed by Jeff Catanese, the show will be held on Asheville Community Theatre’s Mainstage. Tickets are $25.00 for adults, $22.00 for seniors (65+) and students, and $15.00 for children 17 and under. Tickets can be purchased online on the ACT website, by phone, or in person at the ACT box office located at 35 East Walnut Street in downtown Asheville. 

Spamalot follows King Arthur (Rock Eblen) and his trusty servant Patsy (Pat LaCorte) as they recruit an army of knights to assist in the quest to find the Holy Grail. Between killer rabbits, taunting Frenchmen, flying cows, and a Lady of the Lake (Nana Hosmer) who laments being left out of the actual quest, the Knights of the Round Table do routines and chorus scenes in this big, silly musical.

“Even the preparations for Spamalot are fun,” said Susan Harper, Managing Director of Asheville Community Theatre. “Our scenic designer, Jill Summers, already had a lot on her plate between designing and building hand trees, a cow cradle drop, and an exploding rabbit mound, but she’s also going to be building and rigging God. That’s hard!”

ACT’s production of Spamalot features a large cast of new and veteran ACT performers including newcomers Corey Link as Robin, Strother Stingly as Sir Galahad, and Skyler Goff as Sir Lancelot.

Bradshaw Call appears as the Historian, as well as a fistful of other roles. Spamalot is directed by Jeff Catanese (RENT, The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) with musical direction by Daniel Hensley and choreography by Chanda Calentine.

For more information about Spamalot or the rest of ACT’s Mainstage season, please visit

www.ashevilletheatre.org or call 828-254-1320.