#bele chere

[concertphotos]

Grace Potter and The Nocturnals Band Photo by David Oppenheimer Grace Potter and The Nocturnals Band Photo at Bele Chere Festival in Asheville, North Carolina -July 2010 Street festival photos by the Asheville event photography company Performance Impressions - © 2010 David Oppenheimer - All Rights Reserved

[chillypepperhothothot]

Two Riders and the Law by Michael Tracey Via Flickr: Traffic Safety.

[johnazara]

PHOTOS | Bele Chere

After 35 years Bele Chere will be no more. The final installment of this street festival of carny food, street preachers and over-priced crafts brought great musical acts like Wanda Jackson, Dan Deacon, The Mountain Goats and Kiski Bashi to downtown Asheville. Not to mention the bad-ass local and region bands like Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band, Matrimony and Doc Aquatic.

I pretty much ran myself sick by the end of the weekend trying to get to each show. With that, I bring you my Bele Chere music roundup — in photos.

View photos from the festival

[toaster30]

old school coke

[youremarvelous]

This weekend I went to Asheville to see the Mountain Goats play Bele Chere. It was so good; the Wilmington show was fun, but I think I was still a little jet-lagged from Italy and it was so fucking hot. This show was outside, but Asheville is up in the mountains so it's cooler and there was a constant breeze. It was nice to have the whole band together, too, and the setlist was great. I stuck around after on the off-chance that John would come out because I didn't in Wilmington (again, super jet-lagged!) and I really regretted it. He did come by for a minute or two, didn't get to talk to him much but he said he recognized me from dancing in the crowd, and that made me happy. The best thing about Mountain Goats shows is the staying power: I feel a residual warmth for weeks after and generally experience less trepidation towards life in general. A psychological faith healing, and maybe a physical one as well because I'd been suffering a migraine for a week and haven't had any recurrences since the show.

I'd also have to point out that going to shows alone is simply the best. I never feel that I'm surrounded by strangers, but rather a community of friends I've just yet to encounter. I always meet the nicest people and have made a lot of long-lasting friends (and sometimes more...) from it.

Anyway, I rarely take pictures or videos at shows because I've always been more interested in living my moments than recording them. I like to hold experiences in my mind, as one of the few private things I get to have in a society where we share everything, but I wanted to write about the show so the next time I'm stressed over my art, I can come here and remember the things that make life bearable, even beautiful.