Picks and Pans – Boone, NC

Upon wandering around this mountain college town, we happened upon Green Eggs and Jam, a music store in downtown Boone. Lucky for us, Christian was there manning the store and he gave us advice on basically all the Boone necessities….cheap motel (we all really needed a shower, or at least I did), good eats, places to see music and where to get a good cup o’ joe in the morning. Some more awesome Southern hospitality….we’re lovin’ it!

There may have been stains on the carpet and possibly a vermin side entrance in our room’s wall, but at $29 for a bed for Ian and a shower for all of us, we had nothing to complain about. Plus, we could park the van and have a short, easy walk to all the happenings in downtown Boone….and we’re pretty sure there were no actual fleas at this flea bag motel.

“Stone baked pizza, fresh daily” is the motto of this restaurant and we were happy to partake of their offerings. The toppings were plentiful and fresh and the atmosphere (as we’ve come to expect) was relaxed and friendly.

So it was a Thursday night in a small NC mountain town and we had no expectations about the night life…and we certainly couldn’t have predicted the funktastic night we had at the Boone Saloon. The minute we walked in the door we were greeted by Neil (a Boone local) who filled us in on his back spin (yes, as in spinning on the floor old school style) skills and welcomed us to Boone. We then proceeded to meet a whole bunch of the other saloon patrons who gave us travel recommendations, offers of places to stay (including driveways to park in and yurts to crash in) and helped us dance the night away to the Atlanta funk group that played the saloon that night….and, oh, the music!! Entropy started out strong and kept the funk/jazz/hiphop fusion going into the wee hours of the morning. By the time they were winding down, I was so worn out from the dancing, it was all I could do to nod my head with the beat and stumble up the hill to our van.

This coffee shop roasts its own coffee, has internet and even a comfy bookshop upstairs (Mosaic Books). Needless to say, I was a happy girl that morning. When Ian walked up the stairs and roused me from my curled-up, David Sedaris-fueled, laughing-quietly-to-myself book fix, I was not ready to go…but the road waits for no one and I have a feeling this place will still be there the next time we come around Boone.

Wow! Amazing art museum in this almost tiny town! Lots of really good stuff, but Charlie Brouwer’s works, Hope Remains Part I & II, were surely the highlight for me. http://www.charliebrouwer.com/install.html
Part I had ladders jury-rigged together, reaching high into the gallery space, giving a visceral feeling of the crazy and sometimes sketchy constructs that we create in this life. Part II examined how our media reflects on us the way leaves reflect on the tree. Some quotes from the exhibit:
“As the leaf recalls the tree, we are the memory of God.”
“My purpose in making this wonderful journey is to discover myself in the objects I see.”  – Goethe

Good contemporary art. Also check out http://www.myspace.com/unitedmindnc/