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The Asheville Music Scene recently received the following submisison from local local musician, Don Rawson.    Don offers the following  as a commentary on the challenges local musicians face in regards to being compensated for their skills and labor.

(With apologies to John Steinbeck for quoting sections of "The Grapes of Wrath" where Preacher Casy tries to motivate his fellow workers and Tom Joad to hold out for decent wages. I find a few similarities to Asheville and its music scene in reading this-this is also one of my favorite books of all time-just substitute "peaches" for "gigs"-Enjoy!)

Tom said, "We struck. This here's a strike." "Well fi'(five) cents a box of peaches ain't much but a fella can eat."

"Five cent?" the wizened man cried. "Fi' cents! They payin you fi' cents?"

"Sure. We made a buck and a half."

A heavy silence fell in the tent. Casy stared out the entrance, into the dark night. "Lookie, Tom ," he said at last. "We come to work there. They say it's gonna be fi' cents. They was a hell of a lot of us. We got there an' they says they're payin' two an' a half cents. A fella can't even eat on that, an' if he got kids- So we says we won't take it. So they drove us off. An' all the cops in the worl' come down on us. Now they're payin' you five. When they bust up this here strike- ya think they'll pay five?"

 "I dunno," Tom said. "Payin five now."....

Few Asheville bands have acheived the national and international following of Asheville-based heavy metal rockers Sanctity.   Sanctity boasts one of the strongest followings on MySpace of any Asheville band with the possible exception of Secret Lives of the Freemasons. 

As of Feb 11, 2008 Statistics on the Sanctity MySpace site showed: 
MySpace Views:   314,900     
MySpace Plays:  397,826    
MySpace Fans:   22,461

The band keeps up a grueling tour schedule with appearances across the nation and into Europe where they've built a large and  loyal base of followers.  Keeping up such a heavy touring schedule is a difficult life, especially when you have family and other concerns at home.  In the past few days, two core members of Sanctity made the tough decision to leave the immensely successful band and devote more time to the home front.   Lead vocalist and guitarist, Jared, became the father of a beautiful baby girl in December of 2007 and as any parent knows, your whole life changes when that child comes into your life.  Bassist, Derek, has also left the band to tend to devote more attention to needs at home.  Fellow band members have voiced their total support Jared and Derek in their decisions. 

Fortuitously, Sancity had already planned to add a new member to the lineup early this year.  Brian Stephenson (ex Annihilator) was already scheduled to join the band on the current tour and is performing with the band now.

The 2nd Annual Asheville Music Jamboree will proudly return to Deerfields this coming Memorial Day Weekend, May 23-25, 2008. The Asheville Music Jamboree (AMJam) was a major success in 2007 and has quickly emerged as a major player on the regional festival scene, drawing audiences and musicians from across the country.

AMJam recently released a partial list of participants for this year’s event and headlining AMJam 2008 will be Asheville’s native son, Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule!

Other artists announced thus far include:

• Burning Spear
• Ivan Neville’s Dumptsaphunk
• The Lee Boys
• Jason Isbell
• RAQ
• Afromotive
• Barrel House Mamas
• Laura Reed and Deep Pocket
• Jaime McLean Band
• Josh Phillips and Folk Festival
• Kellin Watson
• New Familiars
• Jeff Sipe Trio

Advance Tickets go on sale Wednesday, February 13 at 10am.