Contra Dancing at the Old Farmer’s Ball

Forget that soap opera dribble of “So You Think You Can Dance” and “Dancing With the Stars.” Get on out to the Old Farmer’s Ball on Thursday nights at Warren Wilson College’s Bryson Gym and do some real contra dancing yourself. It’s $5 to get in, beginner lessons start at 7:30 p.m., and the fun goes on late into the night. Grab a hand, listen carefully to the caller, and pretty soon you’ll stomp, twirl, swing your partner and do-si-do with the best of them. There’s good old-fashioned mountain music from a live band, a patient caller who goes over the steps before each dance, and lots of people having a great time.

Most of the dances have simple steps with pairs and circles of four set in lines. Some dances can get complicated, so pay attention to the caller. I found myself twirling when I should have been moving in the opposite direction, but since the steps are repeated over and over, you tend to work out the kinks as you move down the lines and dance with new partners.

Advice to beginners: come early and bring a sturdy pair of dancing shoes (no sandals, clogs, or flip flops) unless you enjoy tiptoeing around in blisters the next day. Also, bring a water bottle or two and a change of clothes. Dancing for two to four hours with a gym full of people will leave you soaked.

Unknown Hinson | The Future is Unknown...

Picture a mutton-chopped Elvis zombie with vampire fangs wearing a bejeweled cowboy suit and tie. He sings twangy country/western songs with white trash themes (for example, “I Ain’t Afraid of Your Husband” and “I Cleaned Out a Room in My Trailer for You”). He covers Jimi Hendrix anthems like “Voodoo Chile” and writes hilarious lyrics with rhyming words like “Dracular” and “spectacular.” Check out his UnknownHinson.com Web site.

Hinson has a growing grassroots following throughout the South. Having seen him live at The Grey Eagle in Asheville, I watched with a mix of awe and bizarre curiosity as he rocked out to songs like “Hippie Girl,” crooned about a stalker in “Foggy Windows,” ranted at audience members, and randomly fired a cap gun pistol on stage. All that and he’s escorted around by a silent sidekick chauffeur who’s supposedly been raised from the dead.

Traveling Light | Brian Andreas

I’ve always been a sucker for quotes, wacky sayings and witty remarks. Brian Andreas, an artist and writer from St. Paul, Minn., captures peculiar, playful quotes in a series of mini-make-believe stories and paints childlike drawings to go along with them. His seventh book, Traveling Light, continues this theme of capturing wonder, humor, frustration, and originality in a quick quote. One page reads, “Of course, I want to save the world, she said, but I was hoping to do it from the comfort of my regular life.” Another declares, “I have so much less stress, he said, now that I’ve given up on ambition.” Still another recalls, “I’ve had some of my best conversations with strangers, she said, because they have no idea who they’re dealing with.” Packed into the innocence of these childlike quotes is a lot of advice we could take into our daily lives. Realizing we’re all a little insecure about life, Andreas likes to ease the tension of fear by accepting wonder and dancing with whatever comes along.

— Michael Beadl