Live Music This Weekend: Local Gossip party band just wants to have fun
Steve Wong, Times-News correspondent
As an observer of all things live music, especially in Hendersonville, I get the feeling that after suffering through the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, people are ready to party and dance.
I’ve noticed more party bands in the local venues - bands such as newcomer Local Gossip, which will perform Saturday at Point Lookout Vineyards. Let’s just hope what health officials are calling the COVID “fourth wave” is just a trickle in WNC.
When I mentioned my observation to Allen Wittman, drummer and spokesman for Local Gossip, he agreed.
“I think you’re correct,” he said, adding, “We all like the bigger rock shows of the ‘80s. So we spend extra time bringing in a light show and big speakers that pump out the bass. People like a big show in a small space!”
Local Gossip formed in December 2019, when Allen was in a holding pattern after his band of five years - Vintage Vinyl - was on an indefinite pause. With time on his hands and needing deck work done, Allen called upon Tripp Jeter with Tripp’s Renovations.
Tripp had been a singer with another band, Justified Vibe, which had just broken up. Allen had been thinking about starting a party band, and Tripp liked the idea, too, and Local Gossip was born.
“Tripp and I were talking about the band on the phone,” Allen said. “He mentioned his neighbors were already asking when we were going to play. I asked how they knew, and he said it was already the ‘local gossip’ in Hendersonville. I said maybe that should be the name!”
Like a lot of startup bands, the members of Local Gossip have musical history and day jobs. In addition to playing drums for Vintage Vinyl, Allen was an electrical engineer in Fort Wayne, Indiana. These days, he enjoys selling his invention Liquid Ass, a novelty fart spray.
Eric Alston plays keyboards for the band, but he, too, is an ex-Vintage Vinyl member. He works at Chimney Rock State Park.
Rich Hendrix plays the guitar and has a long list of bands that he has played with. He’s also a freelance IT specialist.
Darren Stepehns plays bass. His previous band was Kalus, but you might know him better as the owner of Amazing Pizza Company in Mills River.
“We get along great,” Allen proclaimed. “Every rehearsal is like walking into a locker room!”
That camaraderie is evident in the Facebook posts and pictures where creative graphics depict the band members at play with their mascot - a sasquatch - which is said to be roaming the band’s base in Mills River.
“I had to learn graphic design software to create labels and web design elements for liquidass.com, so I used that to create our promotional posters. The guys in the band never know what the next poster will look like until it’s posted," Allen said.
Together, these wild and crazy guys play the popular and danceable music from the ‘70s forward, including tunes from Bon Jovi, INXS, Journey, Outfield, Boston and Fleetwood Mac.
“When you come to see Local Gossip party band, expect to see a high-energy band playing danceable covers from your favorite bands,” Allen said. “Expect exceptional sound and an awesome laser-light show.”
You’ll also see the band’s logo/mascot standing by. “The squatch with a guitar was created based on the local gossip of sasquatch in the area. Plus, sasquatches are pretty cool especially when playing a flying V!” Allen said.
“Darren and I decided to cut an 8-foot-tall squatch on my home-built router. This sasquatch silhouette is also a chalkboard that we encourage our fans to draw on and sign their names. At the end of the night we take a picture of it and post it on our Facebook page. Each show starts off with a clean squatch ready to party!"
So far, Local Gossip has played locally at Bold Rock, D9 Brewing and Greenhouse Moto Café.
“We’re excited to hear nothing but good feedback,” he said. “It’s nice to know we are onto something big. Each show gets bigger and better.
“We’re just having a great time here in WNC and excited to be able to play in a vacation hot spot,” Allen continued and wants people to know “We accept tips and beer. Dancing shoes are required! No parking on the dance floor!”
Point Lookout Vineyards
408 Appleola Rd., Hendersonville
Friday, July 30, 7:30-10 p.m., The Tams, classic beach music, $30 cover
Saturday, July 31, 6-9 p.m., Local Gossip Party Band, ‘80s and ‘90s hits
Sunday, Aug. 1, 2-5 p.m., Patty M, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, eclectic, originals, covers
305 Lounge & Eatery
305 N. Main St., Hendersonville
Every Tuesday and Thursday, 1-3 p.m., Bob Sherrill, singer, songwriter, guitarist
Every first and third Friday night, 5-7 p.m., Geriatric Jukebox, husband and wife sing oldies but goodies
Every Wednesday, 1-3 p.m., Mark Fisher, classic country, southern rock, oldies rock
Appalachian Ridge Artisan Hard Cider
749 Chestnut Gap Rd., Hendersonville
Friday, July 30, 6-9 p.m. Scott Moss and the $100 Handshakes, Americana
Saturday, July 31, 3-6 p.m. Hummingtree Band, three-man string band
Sunday, Aug. 1, 2:30-5:30 p.m., Myron Hyman, acoustic soloist, singer, guitarist, eclectic
Block Party on Main
201 S. Main St., Hendersonville (Visitors Center)
Saturday, July 31, 7 p.m., husband and wife Joe Lasher and Kaitlyn Baker, country music; party band Commodore Fox opens with Motown, classic rock and country, (part of Ingles’ Down Home Series); free, but please donate nonperishable food for those in need
Burntshirt Vineyards
2695 Sugarloaf Rd., Hendersonville
Friday, July 30, 3-6 p.m., LyriSmith, Florida duo, acouist, singers, songwriters, originals, covers
D9 Brewing Company
425 N. Main St, Hendersonville
Friday, July 30, 7 p.m., Andrew Wakefield, folk, rock
Dry Falls Brewing Co.
425 Kanuga Rd., Hendersonville
Friday, July 30, 7-10 p.m., 28 Pages, rock ‘n’ roll
Etowah Valley Golf & Resort
470 Brickyard Rd., Etowah
Thursday, July 29, 6-9 p.m. Howie Johnson, classic rock
Saturday, July 31, 6-9 p.m., Country, acoustic Americana
Guidon Brewing Co.
415 8th Ave. E., Hendersonville
Thursday, July 29, 7 p.m., drum circle, bring your drum, bells, maracas and make some noise
Friday, July 30, 7 p.m., Tim Lee, guitarist
Saturday, July 31, 7 p.m., Collin Cheek, soft rock, alt rock, acoustic, singer, guitarist
Hendersonville Farmers Market
650 Maple St., Hendersonville
Saturday, July 31, 8 a.m.-1 p.m., Apple Country String Band, bluegrass
Monday Night Live series
Main St., Hendersonville Visitors Center
Mondays, 7-9 p.m., Free
Aug. 2, Johnnie Blackwell Band
Music on Main series
201 S. Main St., Hendersonville
Fridays, 7-9 p.m., Free
July 30, The Rewind House Band
Oklawaha Brewing Company
147 1st Ave. E. Hendersonville
Thursday, July 29, 7-9 p.m., Izzi Hughes, popular Hendo songstress, eclectic
Friday, July 30, 8-11 p.m., Blue Ridge Pistols, classic rock filtered through WNC
Saturday, July 31, 8-11p.m., Abbey Elmore Band, blend of pop and classic rock
Sunday, Aug. 1, 3 p.m., Blues Brunch Concert Series, Ron Hoeben, blues
Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards
588 Chestnut Gap Rd., Hendersonville
Saturday, July 31, 3-6 p.m., The Last Full Measure, Jamie Gorsuch and karen Corn, singers, folk, blues, covers, originals
Sunday, Aug. 1, 2:30-5:30 p.m., David Payne, soloist, guitarist, eclectic
Sawyer Springs Vineyard
124 Sandy Hill Ln., Hendersonville
Friday, July 30, 2:30-5:30 p.m., Myron Hyman, singer, guitarist, soloist, eclectic
Saturday, July 31, 2:30-5:30 p.m., Threee (sic) Hour Tour, solo acoustic ‘70s music
Southern Appalachian Brewery
822 Locust St., Ste. 100, Hendersonville
Thursday, July 29, 6-8 p.m., Carver, Carmody, and McIntire, solid local musicians, eclectic
Friday, July 30, 7-9 p.m., Jeff Michels Folkadelic Jam, socially conscious folk rock originals, covers
Saturday, July 31, 7-9 p.m., Letters to Abigail, duo, acoustic Americana, folk, originals, covers, old-time music, spirituals
Sunday, Aug. 1, 4-6 p.m., The Dan Keller Trio, jazz, swing, Latin, bebop, soul
South Rock Sports Grill
830 Greenville Hwy., Hendersonville
Saturday, July 31, 8 p.m.-midnight, Twisted Trail, rock, bike night
St. John in the Wilderness (Espiscopal church)
1905 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock
Sunday, Aug. 1, 3:30 p.m., Accent on Youth III series, tenor Alexander Harrelson sings Scarlatti, Barber, Beethoven, Lehar, musical theater; free but donations accepted
The 2nd Act Coffee, Wine and Craft Beer Bar
101 E. Allen St., Hendersonville
Thursday, July 29, 6-9 p.m., Mr Jimmy, Chicago-style blues, singer, guitarist, songwriter
Friday, July 30, 7-9:30 p.m., Izzi Hughes and Eric Congdon, powerhouse singer pairs with acclaimed guitarist
Saturday, July 31, 6 p.m., Sunlight Drive, two men singing with guitars, easy
The Center for Art & Entertainment
125 S. Main St., Hendersonville
Saturday, July 31, 7 p.m., Hendersonville Symphony Quintet: The American Songbag, woodwind quintet, music of Simone, Sandburg, Dvorak, Dylan, $33 at the door
The Dugout Sports Bar & Taphouse
430 N. Main St., Hendersonville
Thursday, July 29, 8 p.m.-midnight, open jam,
Friday, July 30, 8 p.m.-midnight, Ricky Gunter Band, country, danceable
Saturday, July 31, 1-4 p.m., Myron Hyman, soloist, singer, guitarist, eclectic
The Greenhouse Moto Cafe
4021 Haywood Rd. (Highway 191) Mills River
Friday, July 30, 7:30 p.m., Unpaid Bill and the Bad Czechs, blues, rags, jazz, folk, shocking, titillating
Saturday, July 31, 8 p.m., Jupiter Coyote, mountain rock (sold out)
Sunday, Aug. 1, 3-6 p.m., Tools on Stools, cool hang groove
The Poe House
105 1st Ave. W., Hendersonville
Friday, July 30, 7-10 p.m., Bill Altman, acoustic blues
Saturday, July 31, 7 p.m., Reunion Show with Eric Congdon
Triskelion Brewing Company
340 7th Ave. E., Hendersonville
Thursday, July 29, 7-9 p.m., open mic
Friday, July 30, 7-9 p.m., Supatight, snappy funk, reggae, country
Saturday, July 31, 7-10 p.m., Fine Line, Hendo rock band
Want to be included in “Live Music?” Send your information via email to Steve Wong at Just4Wong@Gmail.com by Monday at 8 a.m. for the coming Thursday-Sunday. Don’t forget to send details on your performing artist along with a good high-resolution photo.
New South Perry Lantern offers eclectic food and craft beer in a restored, historic space
Courtesy photo The latest version of the Lantern debuted in early July.
New ownership has brought a popular neighborhood hangout back to life in Spokane’s thriving South Perry District.
Local restaurateur Jeremy Tangen signed a lease for a historic building at the corner of Grant and Perry early this year, and reopened the fully remodeled space as the South Perry Lantern on July 1.
Tangen’s hospitality group also includes Borracho Tacos & Tequileria, Fast Eddie’s, Boombox Pizza, The Red Wheel and River City Brewing. While he didn’t purchase the business assets for the former Lantern Tap House operated by Mike and Melinda Dolmage, which the couple had hoped to sell last year, Tangen did seek to bring a familiar vibe back to the Perry District.
“We ended up going through with a transaction [to lease the space] knowing that there was a lot of opportunity with the community, and the growth that Perry and the South Hill has been seeing,” Tangen says. “I thought it would be a good opportunity to take something that’s been a local establishment and upgrade it and hopefully have a lot of similar offerings, but also be brand new.”
Tangen says the biggest changes to the space include moving the bar from a back corner to the center of the all-ages dining room, which was also expanded. New windows were also installed to bring in more natural light.
The new South Perry Lantern offers an eclectic menu that goes beyond what’s typically expected from standard gastropub-style fare. While, yes, there are classics like wings ($18) with several house sauces, a hearty Caesar salad ($12), fish and chips ($16), and an outstanding burger ($15), South Perry Lantern’s executive chef Alex Szambelan has flexed his creativity with several internationally inspired dishes.
Szambelan, a Spokane native, most recently ran a high-end hotel kitchen in Boulder, Colorado, and had been looking to move back home last year when he became connected with Tangen.
“When we started talking, it was the perfect fit with what we were looking for, and his culinary style and what the area will appreciate,” Tangen says.
Among the Lantern’s many menu innovations, Szambelan crafted the seasonal Tropical Tuna ($18), an entree of sesame-crusted ahi tuna over a bed of fresh quinoa pilaf with pineapple salsa. The flavorful, bright dish is heartily portioned, yet won’t have most diners asking for a to-go box. There’s also a Korean-style ramen bowl ($16) with black pepper beef and kimchi, a vegan cauliflower curry ($15), smoked oysters ($16), and an eggroll with Philly sandwich fillings ($14).
Tangen says the sheer diversity of dishes seems to be a hit among customers. While some menu items will rotate with the seasons, items like the house burger — two smash patties with bacon jam, garlic aioli, choice of cheese and fresh toppings — will be a mainstay.
“When [Szambelan] originally proposed the menu, I said ‘I’m good to go,’ and we’ll see what works and adjust as needed,” Tangen says. “We have been monitoring sales to see what people are gravitating to, and it’s showing almost a perfectly balanced menu as far as ordering goes. That was 100 percent a surprise to me. I thought people would gravitate to certain items, but it’s better balanced than I would have expected.”
Courtesy photo New owner Jeremy Tangen completely overhauled the historic space, moving and rebuilding the bar and adding more windows.
At the bar, South Perry Lantern has 14 rotating tap handles of craft beer from local purveyors like Lumberbeard Brewing Co., River City Brewing and some larger, regional operations like New Belgium, Lost Coast and others. Two taps are reserved for house wines custom-blended for the Lantern by local winery Barili Cellars.
Weekend brunch — service starts Saturday and Sunday at 9 am — at the Lantern is also already off and running with an equally creative menu, ranging from a brunch “charcuterie” ($15) with yogurt, granola, fruit and mini pancakes, to a classic eggs-bacon-toast-pancakes breakfast ($13) and sweet blintz ($12), or crepes filled with sweet cheese, strawberry and a balsamic compote.
While the Lantern plans to be open until 2 am daily, the kitchen winds down during late hours with an abbreviated menu of wings, a fry basket, chicken strips and a handful of other snacks.
Tangen hopes the Lantern will become a hub for more than just food and drink. The first regular community event to kick off is the return of the Lantern Run Club on Tuesdays at 6 pm, for which local running enthusiasts gather to go on group runs around the neighborhood, capped off by beer and eats.
Happy hour, a mug club and other events like trivia night and special beer dinners will also be rolling out once the venue’s staff are more familiar with the ebb and flow of neighborhood activity.
“Right now, we’re having an awesome reception from the neighborhood, and we’re working hard to get everyone trained and dialed in,” Tangen says. ♦
South Perry Lantern • 1004 S. Perry St. • Open Mon-Fri 11 am-2 am; Sat-Sun 9 am-2 am • lanternspokane.com • 509-473-9098
Cape Cod restaurants: Brothers serve eclectic food, local flair when you ride The Rail
At The Rail, a new restaurant in Orleans on the way to Nauset Beach, “locally grown” refers to the chef as well as much of the food and drink.
“Both Cameron and I started working at The (Chatham) Squire when we were teenagers,” said chef Tyler Hadfield, 27. He opened The Rail in mid-April with his brother Cameron Hadfield, 29, who manages The Rail’s bar and dining service.
Tyler worked his way up from bussing tables to cooking at Chatham Squire and then helped open La Bella Vita, down the road in Orleans. When the opportunity came up to buy the spot at 222 Main St., home to the Nauset Beach Club for many years and Toast to the Coast for one season, the Hadfield brothers jumped at the chance.
“I was working as a manager for several properties in Cambridge that were owned by MIT, but I missed my little brother, so I bought him a restaurant,” teases Cameron.
The new breakfast, lunch and cocktails place is located in what was originally a 1930s-era cottage (and the original home of the Goose Hummock Shop) on a curve, across from Barley Neck Inn. Although the cottage has had many renovations, it still has the red-brick hearth, which, even without a fire, lends a warm, cozy feel to the bar. There, patrons will find local beer (Hog’s Island, Devil’s Purse and Cisco), Shoal’s Hope cider from Provincetown, and specialty cocktails.
The Rail has a total of 55 seats spread over two dining rooms and a nine-table patio that was full when we visited on a recent sunny day. Several windows, including a bay, combined with pristine white walls, make The Rail sparkle.
The main dining room, up a few steps from the bar, features the work of local artists: a fish mural by Alex Curtiss and a whale painting by Lucas Alden Baybutt, a Boston-based artist who markets himself under LAB Fine Arts.
Off the dining room is a small kitchen, where a crew of five turns out a creative menu with daily specials. Elvis French Toast was a recent offering, featuring two slices of brioche bread slathered with the king of rock ‘n roll’s favorite peanut butter, crumbled bacon and banana. The fruit got an upgrade, served as part of a sweet bourbon sauce reminiscent of Bananas Foster, a New Orleans classic.
The Rail specialties
Although you can order basic eggs and bacon, or oatmeal, many of The Rail’s specialties are more like brunch dishes, a little richer and more complex. Chef Tyler’s homemade lemon curd adds a bright, citrusy flavor to blueberry pancakes with sweet blueberry syrup ($9), and the Marmalade French Toast with orange creme anglaise and triple sec marmalade sauce ($10) takes fancy up a notch.
Tyler’s homemade orange marmalade, thinned to a syrup, also makes an appearance in The Rail’s breakfast martini. Named in honor of restaurant predecessor Toast to the Coast, the martini has marmalade, Beefeater gin and a vanilla-infused vodka that bar manager Cameron makes by toasting vanilla beans and soaking them for four days.
One of the restaurant’s most popular items is Corned Beef Hash & Eggs ($15), featuring Tyler’s homemade corned beef. “The hash takes five or six days to make because I butcher it (the beef) myself and then brine it in the cooler for four days, then shred it and mix it with the potatoes and other ingredients.”
The menu includes a breakfast salad and two others for lunch; one chicken and one turkey sandwich; and five hot sandwiches: lamb-and-beef gyro ($13); Philly cheesesteak ($15); chicken — either buffalo or barbecue at $14 each; and The Rail burger ($15), with homemade sauce and a following, judging by the burger takeout orders coming in by phone.
The only thing The Rail doesn’t do is baking from scratch. “I just don’t have room in this kitchen,” Tyler says, noting that the restaurant’s popular Apple Croissant sandwich is made on a pastry from Pain D’Avignon in Hyannis.
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Raw bar on the patio
The brothers are working on adding a raw bar of seafood on the patio.
The Rail has a surprisingly large workforce of more than four dozen, the Hadfields say, because their friends and former colleagues are willing to put in a few shifts each week. The part-time help has allowed The Rail to get around the Cape’s labor shortage.
As for the name, The Rail, it refers to the bottom of a surfboard that is customized depending on the surfer’s style. The Hadfields are not big surfers, but say, on their website, that they like the idea of having food and cocktails that allow guests to customize each visit — whether it is a work lunch or day-at-the-beach adventure.
The Rail
222 Main St., Orleans
774-561-2161; therailorleans.com
Hours: 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays-Sundays