Explore These Nostalgic, Heavily Layered, Mixed-Media Pieces It’s always exciting to receive new work from one of our artists. The anticipation of unboxing to see the months and sometimes years of work come together in a finished piece. This was no exception with the many works by Angela Johal, including her rare large-scale collages. While painting, Johal listens to music, and most of the time it’s 1970s rock. In her collages, the influence of her 1960s and 70s childhood is evident with the use of vintage advertisements of vehicles and beauty products, along with images of planets that recall the Space Age period. She effectively uses repetition and geometry in a similar way to her acrylic painting process. Eye of the Universe mixed media 48 x 48 in Most of these works are collages using a variety of media including different types of paper. These pieces by Johal are incredibly mesmerizing due to the subject matter, color palette, and exploration of scale within the elements of the composition. It’s difficult to allow the eye to pause as it wants to keep exploring the space. The straight lines intersecting effectively directs us from one area of the piece to another. Variations on a Theme No. 43 acrylic on canvas 60 x 60 inches This is one of Johal’s largest acrylic paintings to date. When one is in the presence of this painting, a sense of peace washes over them. While extremely active, each shape and color is placed intentionally to create unity and a feeling of harmony. Seven Tenths mixed media 48 x 48 inches Available Work

Historians estimate that skilled Black artisans outnumbered their white counterparts in the antebellum South by a margin of five to one. However, despite their presence and prevalence in all corners of the pre-industrial trade and craft fields, the stories of these skilled workers go largely unacknowledged.

Borrowing its title from a Black culture and politics magazine of the same name, Hammer and Hope celebrates the life and labor of Black chairmakers in early America. Featuring the work of two contemporary furniture makers – Robell Awake and Charlie Ryland – the pieces in this exhibition are based on the artists’ research into ladderback chairs created by the Poynors, a multigenerational family of free and enslaved craftspeople working in central Tennessee between the early nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Through the objects featured in Hammer and Hope, Awake and Ryland explore, reinterpret, and reimagine what the field of furniture-making today would look like had the history and legacy of the Poynors – and countless others that have been subject to a similar pattern of erasure – been celebrated rather than hidden. Hammer and Hope represents Awake and Ryland’s attempts, in their own words,  “at fighting erasure by making objects that engage with these long-suppressed stories.”‍

Robell Awake and Charlie Ryland are recipients of the Center for Craft’s 2022 Craft Research Fund Artist Fellowship. This substantial mid-career grant is awarded to two artists to support research projects that advance, expand, and support the creation of new research and knowledge through craft practice.

Come give blood to automatically be entered for a chance to win an exciting trip for you & a guest to Super Bowl LVIII in Vegas! Includes travel, hotel, $1,000 gift card, pre-game activities & more!   For an appointment, please visit RedCrossBlood.org and use the sponsor code “LandOfTheSky” Or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767)

Sigal Music Museum’s current special exhibition, Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred, highlights items from the JoAnn and Frank Edwinn Collection, which hails from all over the world. Showing November 2023 – May 2024, Worlds Apart uses a diverse range of historical instruments, objects, and visuals to bring together musical narratives from seemingly disparate parts of the globe.

 

Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred aims to increase public access to historical instruments from around the world and improve visitors’ understanding of musical traditions at the global level. Expanding beyond the typical parameters of the Western musical canon, Worlds Apart seeks to expose audiences to musical instruments and customs that are often overlooked or exotified. The instruments and other exhibit materials will offer visitors new perspectives on global music and a chance to consider how music is used for prayer and leisure in cultures around the world. By celebrating these stories, the museum intends to further its mission to collect and preserve historical musical instruments, objects, and information, which engage and enrich people of all ages through exhibits, performances, and experiential programs.

 

Displaying various objects from the JoAnn and Frank Edwinn Collection, Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred focuses on international musical instruments and cultures, celebrating rites and traditions with ancient histories and contemporary legacies. Frank Edwinn, a successful basso in the mid-20th century, studied and toured internationally, eventually settling in North Carolina, where he taught music at the University of North Carolina Asheville. Throughout his life, he purchased various objects from around the world, aiming to expose students, and himself, to the wide and wonderful world of musical instruments. This impressive collection occupies a unique position for educating audiences unfamiliar with the vast scope of global music.

And, UNCA’s Ramsey Library Special Collections is now processing the Edwinn’s papers and a few recordings that will be accessible next semester!

Recommended grades: 4-12
Performance duration: 60 min

With athleticism, grace, and unparalleled innovation, Parsons Dance creates unforgettable contemporary performances that amaze audiences.

Connect with the artists in a post-show Q&A.

Reservations for individuals (10 people or less): $12 each. To reserve, complete the Student Series Reservation Form, call the box office at 828-257-4530 ext. 1, or email [email protected].

Reservations for groups (11 people or more): $11 each. To reserve, complete the Student Series Reservation Form. Please note that all group reservations require a deposit of $1 per ticket. Please contact the box office if you have questions.

These early literacy programs for kids and their caregivers are designed to develop a joy for learning through books, songs, and activities.

Story time takes place in our library community room. This is not a ticketed event.

The Museum recognizes Western North Carolina youth for their original artworks Award winners will be featured in a student exhibition in the Museum’s Van Winkle Law Firm Gallery and Multipurpose Space from January 24–March 25, 2024. All regional award recipients will be honored at a closing reception on March 21. The Asheville Art Museum and the Asheville Area Section of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) are the Western North Carolina (WNC) regional Affiliate Partners of the National Scholastic Art Awards. This ongoing community partnership has supported the creative talents of our region’s youth for 44 years. The WNC regional program is open to students in grades 7–12, ages 13-18, across 24 counties. “I’m thrilled to witness the incredible talent showcased in the 2024 Western North Carolina Scholastic Art Awards exhibition,” said Susan Hendley, School & Teacher Programs Manager at the Asheville Art Museum.  “This is a celebration of original works by students across the WNC region and highlights the profound impact of arts education.” The regional program is judged in two groups: Group I, grades 7–9 and Group II, grades 10–12. Out of more than 500 total art entries, over 200 works have been recognized by the judges; Gold and Silver Key awards are featured in this exhibition, with select Honorable Mentions displayed digitally. The 2024 regional judges include Victoria Bradbury, Associate Professor and Chair of New Media at UNC Asheville, Andrew Davis, Studio Technician and instructor at Winthrop University, and Jenny Pickens, a native Asheville artist and educator. Those works receiving Gold Keys have been submitted to compete in the 101st Annual National Scholastic Art Awards Program in New York City. Of the Gold Key Award recipients, five students have also been nominated for American Visions, indicating their work is the Best in Show of the regional awards. One of these American Visions Nominees will receive an American Visions Medal at the 2024 National Scholastic Art Awards. Visit the Museum’s website for more information about the student exhibition. Thanks to our sponsors, Jon and Ann Kemske, Russell and Ladene Newton, and Frugal Framer. Download Student Artworks

Images: Left: Minna Wright Citron, Squid Under Pier, 1948, color etching, soft-ground, and engraving on paper, edition 42/50, 15 x 17 7/8 inches, 2010 Collections Circle purchase, Asheville Art Museum. © Estate of Minna Citron/Licensed by VAGA at ARS, New York. Right: Dorothy Dehner, Woman #2, 1954, watercolor and ink on paper, 22 3/4 x 18”, courtesy of Dolan Maxwell.

The Asheville Art Museum is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition American Art in the Atomic Age: 1940–1960, which explores the groundbreaking contributions of artists who worked at the experimental printmaking studio Atelier 17 in the wake of World War II. Co-curated by Marilyn Laufer and Tom Butler, American Art in the Atomic Age which draws from the holdings of Dolan/Maxwell, the Asheville Art Museum Collection, and private collections will be on view from November 10, 2023–April 29, 2024.

Atelier 17 operated in New York for fifteen years, between 1940 and 1955. The studio’s founder, Stanley William Hayter (1901–1988) established the workshop in Paris but relocated to New York just as the Nazi occupation of Paris began in 1940. Hayter’s new studio attracted European emigrants like André Masson, Yves Tanguy, and Joan Miró, as well as American artists like Dorothy Dehner, Judith Rothschild, and Karl Schrag, allowing for an exchange of artistic ideas and processes between European and American artists.

The Asheville Art Museum will present over 100 works that exemplify the cross-cultural exchange and profound social and political impact of Atelier 17 on American art. Prints made at Atelier 17—including those by Stanley William Hayter, Louise Nevelson, and Perle Fine—will be in conversation with works by European Surrealists who were working at the studio in the 1940s and 1950s. The exhibition will also feature a selection of domestic mid-century objects that exemplify how the ideas and aesthetics of post-war abstraction became a part of everyday life.

Throughout the history of painting from the mid-19th century forward, artists have used an endless variety of approaches to record their world. Beyond the Lens: Photorealist Perspectives on Looking, Seeing, and Painting continues this thread, offering an opportunity to explore a singular and still forceful aspect of American art. Photorealism shares many of the approaches of historical and modernist realism, with a twist. The use of the camera as a basic tool for organizing visual information in advance of painterly expression is now quite common, but Photorealists embraced the camera as the focal point in their creative process. Beyond the Lens presents key works from the collection of Louis K. and Susan Pear Meisel, bringing together paintings and works on paper dating from the 1970s to the present to focus on this profoundly influential art movement. The exhibition includes work by highly acclaimed formative artists of the movement such as Charles Bell, Robert Bechtle, Tom Blackwell, Richard Estes, Audrey Flack, and Ralph Goings as well as paintings by the successive generations of Photorealist artists Anthony Brunelli, Davis Cone, Bertrand Meniel, Rod Penner, and Raphaella Spence. Featured artworks in the exhibition include diverse subject matters, but the primary focus is on the common and every day: urban scenes, “portraits” of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, still life compositions using toys, food, candy wrappers, and salt and pepper shakers. All provide opportunities for virtuoso studies in how light, reflection, and the camera as intermediary shapes our perception of the material world. This multigenerational survey demonstrates how the 35-mm camera, and later technological advances in digital image-making, informed and impacted the painterly gesture. Taken together, the paintings and works on paper in Beyond the Lens show how simply spellbinding these virtuosic works of art can be. “Beyond the Lens offers a fascinating look into the Photorealism movement and delves into the profound connection between the artists’ observation and creative process,” says Pamela L. Myers, Executive Director of Asheville Art Museum. “We are delighted to present this curated collection of artworks encapsulating the creative vision and technical precision that defines this artistic genre.” Photorealism found its roots in the late 1960s in California and New York, coexisting with an explosion of new ideas in art-making that included Conceptual, Pop, Minimalism, Land and Performance Art. At first, representational realism coexisted with the thematic and conceptual explosion but was eventually relegated to the margins regarding critical and curatorial attention. Often misunderstood and sometimes negatively criticized or lampooned as a betrayal of modernism’s commitment to abstraction, the artists involved in Photorealism remained committed explorers of the trail they had blazed. In the decades of the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century, realistic and symbolic painting experienced a renaissance, as contemporary artists are increasingly drawn to narrative and storytelling. Concurrently, using a camera as a preparatory tool equally legitimate and valuable as pencils and pens has made the rubric of Photorealism increasingly relevant. This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and guest curated by Terrie Sultan. This exhibition is sponsored in part by Jim and Julia Calkins Peterson.

Exhibition and Public Programming

Vera B. Williams, an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books, started making pictures almost as soon as she could walk. She studied at Black Mountain College in a time where summer institutes were held with classes taught by John Cage and Merce Cunningham. Williams studied under the Bauhaus luminary Josef Albers and went on to make art for the rest of her life. At the time of her death, The New York Times wrote: “Her illustrations, known for bold colors and a style reminiscent of folk art, were praised by reviewers for their great tenderness and crackling vitality.” Despite numerous awards and recognition for her children’s books, much of her wider life and work remains unexplored. This retrospective will showcase the complete range of Williams’ life and work. It will highlight her time at Black Mountain College, her political activism, and her establishment, with Paul Williams, of an influential yet little-known artist community, in addition to her work as an author and illustrator.

Author and illustrator of 17 children’s books, including Caldecott medal winner, A Chair for My Mother, Vera B. Williams always had a passion for the arts. Williams grew up in the Bronx, NY, and in 1936, when she was nine years old, one of her paintings, called Yentas, opens a new window, was included in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. While Williams is widely known for her children’s books today, this exhibition’s expansive scope highlights unexplored aspects of her artistic practice and eight decades of life. From groundbreaking, powerful covers for Liberation Magazine, to Peace calendar collaborations with writer activist Grace Paley, to scenic sketches for Julian Beck and Judith Malina’s Living Theater, to hundreds of late life “Aging and Illness” cartoons sketches and doodles, Vera never sat still.

Williams arrived at Black Mountain College in 1945. While there, she embraced all aspects of living, working, and learning in the intensely creative college community. She was at BMC during a particularly fertile period, which allowed her to study with faculty members Buckminster Fuller and Josef Albers, and to participate in the famed summer sessions with John Cage, Merce Cunningham, M.C. Richards, and Robert Rauschenberg. In 1948, she graduated with Josef Albers as her advisor and sculptor Richard Lippold as her outside examiner. Forever one of the College’s shining stars, Vera graduated from BMC with just six semesters of coursework, at only twenty-one years old. She continued to visit BMC for years afterward, staying deeply involved with the artistic community that BMC incubated.

Anticipating the eventual closure of BMC, Williams, alongside her husband Paul Williams and a group of influential former BMC figures, founded The Gate Hill Cooperative Artists community located 30 miles north of NYC on the outskirts of Stony Point, NY. The Gate Hill Cooperative, also known as The Land, became an outcropping of Black Mountain College’s experimental ethos. Students and faculty including John Cage, M.C. Richards, David Tudor, Karen Karnes, David Weinrib, Stan VanDerBeek, and Patsy Lynch Wood shaped Gate Hill as founding members of the community. Vera B. Williams raised her three children at Gate Hill while continuing to make work.

The early Gate Hill era represented an especially creative phase for the BMC group. For Williams, this period saw the creation of 76 covers for Liberation Magazine, a radical, groundbreaking publication. This exhibition will feature some of Williams’ most powerful Liberation covers including a design for the June 1963 edition, which contained the first full publication of MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Williams’ activism work continued throughout her life. As president of PEN’s Children Committee and member of The War Resisters league, she created a wide range of political and educational posters and journal covers. Williams protested the war in Vietnam and nuclear proliferation while supporting women’s causes and racial equality. In 1981, Williams was arrested and spent a month in a federal prison on charges stemming from her political activism.

In her late 40’s, Williams embarked in earnest on her career as a children’s book author and illustrator, a career which garnered the NY Public Library’s recognition of A Chair for My Mother as one of the greatest 100 children’s books of all time. Infinitely curious and always a wanderer at heart, Williams’ personal life was as expansive as her art. In addition to her prolific picture making, Williams started and helped run a Summerhill-based alternative school, canoed the Yukon, and lived alone on a houseboat in Vancouver Harbor. She helped to organize and attended dozens of political demonstrations throughout her adult life.

Her books won many awards including the Caldecott Medal Honor Book for A Chair for My Mother in 1983, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award– Fiction category– for Scooter in 1994, the Jane Addams Honor for Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart in 2002, and the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature in 2009. Her books reflected her values, emphasizing love, compassion, kindness, joy, strength, individuality, and courage.

Images:

Cover of Vera B. Williams’ A Chair for My Mother, published in 1982.

Vera B. Williams, Cover for Liberation Magazine, November 1958.

The 54th Annual Upstate SC Boat Show is coming to the Greenville Convention Center on January 25-28, 2024!

The show will host the latest models of boats including:
Fishing, Pontoon, Speed, Ski, Cruisers, and Personal Watercraft. Additionally, you’ll find boating accessories and everything that you need to start the season off right!

Show Hours

Thursday & Friday: 12pm – 9pm
Saturday: 10am – 9pm
Sunday: 12pm – 6pm

Admission & Parking

Adults $7 • Seniors (60+) $6 • Students (7-18) $6 • Children (Age 6 and Under) FREE
Parking $5

Live Staking Workshop

Do you have a stream on your property that has issues with erosion? Are you losing more and more of your yard every time it storms? Then live staking may be an appropriate, and cost effective, solution to repair your stream bank.

Live staking involves using dormant cuttings of fast rooting woody native plants to revegetate a stream bank, holding it in place and preventing erosion as the plant’s roots grow. A vegetated stream bank is essential for a healthy riparian buffer and to prevent erosion.

In this workshop, we will introduce live staking and stream repair including best practices and species to use, when to install, and where to get live stakes. We’ll then have a hands-on workshop in partnership with Mountain Valley’s RC&D to repair a section of stream bank along the Swannanoa River in Azalea Park.

Date: Friday, January 26th 

Time: 1pm-3pm

Location: Meet at overflow parking lot at Azalea Park (the empty field between the last soccer field and the dog park). — Parking here can be tricky. The best place to park is usually by the last soccer field closest to the overflow lot, here.

For questions, please email [email protected].

In the wake of hectic periods in life, such as the holiday season, finding your way back to tranquility can be a gradual process. One effective path to reducing stress and mastering the art of handling challenges like anxiety is through the practice of mindfulness. Join us as Rosie Reeves, our Education Coordinator and Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Associate, delves into the world of mindfulness. Through her guidance, participants will explore the essence of mindfulness through a series of engaging gardening activities designed to foster a sense of well-being and calm.

Free and Open to All

Join us for the opening reception for Vera B. Williams / STORIES, hosted at BMCM+AC on the evening of the exhibition’s premiere. Refreshments will be offered.

An adaptation of Homer’s epic masterpiece into an evening of theater at its best: intimate, incisive, and urgent. The war in Troy is over – and the Poet saw it all. Back from the frontlines, he spins a tale of unquenchable rage, disputatious gods, and grieving widows. Telling the story of the war, like the war itself, both seduces and ravages the Poet; it emboldens, burdens, and threatens to overwhelm him. An Iliad weaves humanity’s unshakable attraction to warfare with the music of the muses, capturing the contradictory conditions of glory and violence with spellbinding modernity.

Adam Muller is a New York City based former finance professional turned stand-up comedian. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Adam’s clean, smart comedy blends the personal and the observational while being simultaneously clever and relatable.

Adam has featured in multiple comedy festivals including the New York Comedy Festival, the Asheville Comedy Festival, and the Boston Comedy Festival, amongst others. Adam has also qualified for the World Series of Comedy Main Event in Las Vegas each of the past six years reaching the top 14 (out of 500) in 2021 and 2023.

Adam’s first hour long stand-up comedy special “According to Plan” was released in September 2022 and is available on Amazon Prime. It has been watched over 135,000 times (but who’s counting?) and the album version is in rotation on Sirius XM. Adam recorded his follow up hour this past December in New York City.

Adam performs all over the United States and sometimes in Canada and is a regular at multiple New York City comedy clubs including the New York Comedy Club, West Side Comedy Club, Standup NY, the Comic Strip Live, and Gotham Comedy Club.

featuring Lauren Jones

Explore the dark side of Beer City on LaZoom’s Ghosted Tour!

Duration

1 hour

About

Come enjoy our most popular Asheville tour!

About

Bachelorette/Bachelor Parties are not permitted on this tour. The Fender Bender Bus is bachelorette/bachelor friendly!

Learn about Asheville’s strange, sometimes sordid past from our ghoulish guides. You’ll laugh! You’ll scream! You’ll discover mysteries and chilling tales of scandal and murder on the blood-stained streets of this picturesque town!

Ghosted runs approximately 60 minutes. Beer and wine are welcome onboard, but no open containers, and absolutely no liquor, please! All beer and wine must be purchased from the LaZoom Room. (Passengers must be at least 21 years old to drink on the bus, and must have valid ID.)

Age Restrictions

17 and up. No exceptions.

What’s Included

A bunch of bus seats
History of murders, ghosts and tragedies in the Land of the Sky
Tongue-in-cheek comedy
A live (not dead) tour guide

What’s Not Included

Bathroom breaks (It’s 60 minutes long – plan accordingly!)
Beer or Wine (Purchase at our bar, the LaZoom Room, and take on the bus)
Laughing (we’ll give you the funny, but it’s up to you to laugh)
Gratuity (guides only accept dead president currency)

Waitlist

If your desired time and availability is full, then please give us a call to be added to the waitlist.

Enjoy tales of growing up in extended and multi-generational families with Ashley McGee Whittle & Sherry Lovett. Sponsored by the Wilma Dykeman Legacy and Weaverville Center for Creative & Healthy Living

— The Magnetic Theatre presents: The Dummies Guide to
Murdering Your Husband (if you were going to…but you’re not) by Nathan Johnson, directed by
Mark Jones, with dramaturgy by Katie Jones. The reading stars Eric Martinez, Alex Parsons, and
Jason Phillips.
The Dummies Guide to Murdering Your Husband follows a pair of filthy rich and disgruntled
husbands who escape for a romantic getaway in a remote mountain cabin. Little do they
know…each has hatched a plot to murder the other!

Hailing from the North Carolina countryside, or “The Middle of Nowhere,” as it is lovingly dubbed on their debut album, the 6-headed musical monster known as ‘Big Something’ has steadily become one of the most unique and exciting rock bands to emerge from the Southeast. Huge rhythms paired with soaring guitars, E.W.I (electronic wind instrument), synths, horns and soulful vocals rise to the top of their signature sound taking listeners on a journey through a myriad of musical styles. With a diverse and growing catalog of timeless songs that tell stories, and a high energy live show fusing improvisational alternative rock with funk, reggae, jazz, electronica, heavy metal and more–it’s no secret why their fun-loving grassroots community of fans is so enamored with the band. After over a decade together with 6 full-length studio albums produced by Grammy-nominee John Custer and even their own Summer music festival The Big What?, Big Something have carved out their own niche in the live music community and continue to grow nationally landing marquee appearances at Bonnaroo, Peach Music Festival, Lock’n, Summer Camp and Electric Forest as well as critical acclaim from the likes of Billboard, Guitar World, Glide Magazine and Jambase.

PHONE RINGS, DOOR CHIMES, IN COMES COMPANY.

Winner of 5 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical, COMPANY “strikes like a lightning bolt. It’s brilliantly conceived and funny as hell” (Variety).  Three-time Tony^® Award-winning director Marianne Elliott (War Horse, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Angels in America) helms this revelatory new production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s groundbreaking musical comedy, at once boldly sophisticated, deeply insightful, and downright hilarious.

It’s Bobbie’s 35^th birthday party, and all her friends keep asking, Why isn’t she married? Why can’t she find the right man and isn’t it time to settle down and start a family? As Bobbie searches for answers, she discovers why being single, being married, and being alive in the 21^st-century could drive a person crazy.

COMPANY features Sondheim’s award-winning songs “You Could Drive a Person Crazy,” “The Ladies Who Lunch,” “Side by Side by Side” and the iconic “Being Alive”. Let’s all drink to that!

“Dazzling! So vibrant, so alive!” – Hollywood Reporter

“GLORIOUSLY TRANSFORMATIVE. A GODSEND.” – The New York Times

“HANDS DOWN THE BEST MUSICAL PRODUCTION OF THE SEASON!” – New York Post

Official Website

Jim Breuer is an American actor and comedian from New York. He was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1995 to 1998 and starred in the film Half Baked! He has a hit weekly podcast called, The Breuniverse, where he brings people from all walks of life together. Jim’s standup comedy tackles all subjects from marriage and relationships to current events to love and loss (and so much more) all with one goal in mind – to leave people with a little more hope than they arrived!

VIP MEET AND GREET 

Please Note: Pre-show Meet and Greet with JIM BREUER includes photo op and early merch shopping. Meet and Greet ticket holders get one-hour early access to merch; Lobby doors open one hour prior to theatre doors. MUST HAVE SHOW TICKET TO ENTER VENUE.

As one of the world’s premier contemporary dance companies, this talented troupe showcases a dynamic fusion of styles that combines athleticism, grace and unparalleled innovation. Through endless creativity and self-expression, striking choreography and powerful music, Parsons Dance creates unforgettable performances that push the boundaries of dance and bring life-affirming artistry to audiences across the globe.

Connect with the art and artists

• Dance workshop — details forthcoming
• Pre-show discussions: January 26 & 27 at 7 p.m.

For the fifth time in history, PBR’s (Professional Bull Riders) Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour will buck into Greenville, South Carolina, returning to the Bon Secours Wellness Arena for the fourth consecutive season on Jan. 26-27, 2024, with PBR Greenville.

For two nights only, some of the best bull riders in the world will battle the sport’s rankest bovine athletes in the ultimate showdown of man vs. beast in one of the most exciting live sporting events to witness.

PBR’s return to Greenville comes on the spurs of one of the organization’s most dynamic individual seasons in 2023, as the Velocity Tour broke and reset numerous attendance and competition records en-route to its most successful season to date.

The upcoming PBR Greenville will mark the eighth event of the new individual season for the PBR’s expansion series. Eventgoers will watch on as riders vie for crucial points in the race to be crowned the 2024 PBR Velocity Tour Champion.

When PBR’s Velocity Tour was last in North Charleston in February 2023, Mauricio Moreira (Gaviao Peixoto, Brazil) rode supreme, delivering a 2-for-3 effort inside Bon Secours Wellness Arena to win PBR Greenville.

Moreira first put points on the board in Round 1 when he tied for the second-best score, marked 86.5 points atop Grinch (C Check Bucking Bulls). The charismatic Brazilian then surged to the event lead when he rode Chubs (J Bar W) for 82.5 points in the second round.

In the championship round, Moreira drew Gold Standard (Mike Miller Bucking Bulls) as his final animal athlete opponent. While he was upended in 2.36 seconds, Moreira’s initial scores were enough to clinch the victory.

Moreira left The Palmetto State having earned a crucial 115.5 Velocity Global points.

The bull riding action for PBR Greenville begins with Round 1 at 7:45 p.m. ET on Friday, January 26, followed by Round 2 and the championship round at 6:45 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 27. All 40 competing bull riders will get on one bull each in Round 1. The Top 36 riders from Round 1 will advance to Round 2 Saturday evening. The riders’ individual two-round scores will be totaled with the Top 10 advancing to the championship round for one more out and a chance at the event title.

Tickets for the two-day event go on sale Wednesday, September 20 at 10:00 a.m. EDT, and start at $15, taxes and fees not included. Tickets can be purchased online at BSWArena.com, ticketmaster.com and PBR.com, or by calling PBR customer service at 1-800-732-1727.

PBR Elite Seats are available for avid fans who want an exclusive VIP experience while enjoying the world’s top bull riding circuit. These tickets, available in three tiers, offer premium seats, personal on-site concierge at the PBR fan loyalty booth, and more. For more on elite seats call (800) 732-1727, or to purchase visit Ticketmaster.com.

For more information about the PBR and the 2024 PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour schedule, or to purchase tickets, visit PBR.com.

Stay tuned to PBR.com for the latest news and results and be sure to follow the sport on all social media platforms at @PBR.

About the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour:

The PBR’s Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour (PWVT) began in 2014 as the premier expansion tour for the PBR. The Velocity Tour, the sport’s fastest-growing tour, brings the excitement and top-levels of cowboy and bovine talent that fans have come to expect from the sport to cities across the United States. The PWVT is proudly supported by Pendleton Whisky, Boot Barn, Cooper Tires, Rank 45, South Point Hotel & Casino, Tractor Supply, Kubota, the United States Border Patrol, Zip Recruiter and GovX. Every Velocity Tour event is carried on PBR RidePass on Pluto TV, PBR’s flagship digital network.

PERPETUAL GROOVE

At 2pm on December 19, 2022 — the dreaded final day of the year in the music business — The Record Company got a telephone call from the, um, record company. It was the head of the label, who’d been sitting on their new demos for months, while the band sat in limbo. It was a scene out of a movie about the bad luck bands sometimes have with big record labels: a pleasant “hello” led to a Charlie Brown’s teacher murmur that amounted to “you’re dropped from the label, Happy Christmas, fellas.”

Apparently, the label was going “in a different direction” — Hollywood code for “The Record Company’s many radio hits and Grammy nomination are no guarantee that you’re going to push further into their idea of mainstream, or that you’re great at TikTok.”

“It was tough to swallow,” says bassist Alex Stiff, “because we had already set out to write the most stripped-back and raw record we’d done in years, and they had demos of this new music, and ultimately dropped us. Combine that with some new economic realities, a canceled tour, and we really felt like everything was crashing down at once.”

On The 4th Album, The Record Company see that rejection as a rite of renewal, a way to cleanse themselves, to start over. They head back to their roots: creating the raw, self-produced, blues-based music that in past years earned them multiple Billboard #1 AAA songs, a Grammy nomination, and brought them from playing small clubs to arena tours supporting John Mayer and Bob Seger.

These “roots” would include half-working dumpster guitars, no-name drum sets from garage sales, no click tracks or studio tricks, all recorded in the bass player’s living room. “Almost every band you love at some point tends to drift away from that raw spark that made them unique in the first place,” says drummer Marc Cazorla. “They search for bigger sounds, bigger budgets, more expensive instruments, producers, mixers, etc. We’ve been subject to that as well, but now we’ve come back full circle to what matters most: making raw, honest music that moves peoples’ souls.”

The band titled the new collection “The 4th Album” to signify the start of a new chapter. When the needle drops, we hear TRC lead singer Chris Vos spit out an offhanded quip: “I ain’t ever givin’ up,” an impromptu line that is an instant touchstone for anyone who’s ever seen their dreams fading, and then been able to regain hope. That line quickly became a call-to-arms for the band and a rock-solid theme for this album.

The 4th Album finds the band at peace with themselves operating as outsiders in an ever- changing musical landscape. “You’re not going to find us posting goofy videos, salad recipes, or telling the internet what every song is about,” says Chris. “We’ve had some ups and downs, but we’ve managed to find a way through it, and put it all back into the music.”

JESSE AHERN

When Jesse Ahern walks onstage, he looks like a regular guy-albeit one with a six string strapped across his body and an anchor tattoo under his right eye. As he tears through his set, easily rousing brand new crowds to shout his choruses back in his face, it’s clear Jesse could be everybody’s friend.