Asheville, NC’s US Cellular Center
Round 1 announcement:
Aquarium Rescue Unit
Phil Lesh Quintet
Gov’t Mule
Sco-Mule
Michael Franti
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Keb Mo
OAR (Of A Revolution)
The John Scofield Uberjam Band
special guests: Bill Evans, Ron Holloway and Kevin Kinney.
More band announcements to come…
All proceeds to benefit Habitat For Humanity
xmasjam.com/#top
I think me and the Mrs. might be hitting this up this year. Been wanting to for some time now.
OAR!
I was talking to Ollie’s Holt about this… The Q is very nice.
I’ve been to a couple of these with my husband. Not sure about the 2-nighters, but the single-nighters last from 6 or 7 pm and run as late as 4 am. There’s also a pre-jam at a club called The Orange Peel the night before the jam and a lot of the musicians show up and play. The peel only holds maybe 1000 people MAX. You kinda have to know someone for that though. I think pre-jam passes only go to supporters of WNCW radio station at $250 a pop. There’s also the"Xmas Jam By Day" usually hosted by Kevin Kinney of Drive By Truckers. I’m definitely not going, but if anybody decides to do this, let me know and I will be happy to give you the non-touristy recommendations for your trip 
Widespread Panic added to Friday night.
Gregg Allman added to both nights.
Shaping up to be a nice weekend.
I’ll take any reccomendations for places to eat & drink.
Most people like The Wedge Brewery in the River Arts District near downtown and Asheville Pizza and Brewing on Cox Avenue, I think. There’s also an Asheville Pizza and Brewing on Merrimon Avenue that has a game room and a $3.00 movie theater you can eat, drink, and watch a movie. It’s usually movies that just left theaters, but aren’t quite on dvd yet.
You might also wanna check out Jack of the Woods (pub) and One Stop Deli and Pub.
Good eats:
Farm Burger has a delicious burger albeit sorta pricey.
Sushi/hibachi=Wasabi on Broadway
Pizza=Mellow Mushroom (can’t remember street name) or Barley’s Taproom on Biltmore Avenue.
Vegetarian= Plant on Merrimon or Laughing Seed (think it’s on Wall street, but I know it’s above Jack of the Wood)
Pricey seafood/steak= The Lobster Trap (college street or haywood, they intersect at Pritchard Park where they have a huge drum circle every weekend. You can hear it from several blocks away. No this is not spontaneous lol)
My favorite pre-civic center show eatery is Havana’s, a super delicious cuban restaurant on Battle Square. Their cheese deep is heavenly and comes with wedges of the shell taco salad is served in. YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY. They have a wide variety of dishes from sandwiches to rice and beans and “bbq”. It’s like a 2 minute walk to the venue max. I wonder if I’ll end up there eating with my hubs before he heads over to the jam. I’m sitting this one out.
Good places to check out/waste time in, Malaprops bookstore/Cafe on Haywood Street (a few shops down from the Civic Center), Green Sage Coffee Shop on Broadway, Dobra Tea House on N. Lexington (there’s some good shops on Lexington too if you feel like walking around), and Harvest Records on Haywood Rd.
I’m not sure what the weather is like this weekend, but the Blue Ridge Parkway has some great hikes. I can ask my hubs if you’re interested. He’s a wealth of knowledge on all things Asheville where I just barely scratch the surface. He’d be happy to help you guys out with any other suggestions.
Enjoy your trip!
Lobster Shack / Crab House for sure.
While the pizza was goo, Asheville Brew was the worst of the drinks.
Best beer in the area when I lived there was from the Pisgah Brewery in Black Mountain.
ready to rock. 