CHRISTMAS JAM BY DAY
We are pleased to announce the return of Christmas Jam By Day to downtown Asheville. We will have Music during Friday and Saturday Afternoon (At Stella Blue, The Emerald Lounge and Jack of The Wood), Film Screenings Thursday, Friday & Saturday (At The Fine Arts Theatre), an Art Show with an opening reception on Thursday Night that will be open all weekend (At The Satellite Gallery).

Music - Art Gallery - FILM SCREENINGS

CHRISTMAS JAM BY DAY FILM SCREENINGS

THE FINE ARTS THEATRE
39 Biltmore Avenue
Asheville, NC, 28801
Tickets Available Via X-Mas Jam Ticketing 11.25 @ 5PM - $10

Films:

Thursday December 11th
7:00 pm - Boogie Man | Synopsis
9:00 pm - In Prison My Whole Life | Synopsis

Friday December 12th
1:00 pm - The Wrecking Crew | Synopsis
3:00 pm - Electric Purgatory - The Fate of The Black Rocker | Synopsis

Saturday December 13th
1:00 pm - Blasted: The Gonzo Patriots of Hunter S. Thompson | Synopsis
2:30 pm - Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis - Live From Jazz At Lincoln Center Film | Synopsis
4:30 pm - Christmas on Mars | Synopsis

Film Synopsis

Blasted: The Gonzo Patriots of Hunter S. Thompson - This fun-loving but poignant film is a tribute to Gonzo journalist, Hunter S. Thompson, and a document of how his legacy continues to live on in the hearts and minds of his fans. Blasted!!! follows the many "Gonzo Patriots" across America that volunteered their personally owned artillery to fulfill the good doctor's last wish to have his ashes fired from a cannon. Before Johnny Depp became involved with the ceremony, and paid over 2 million dollars for a professional fireworks company to blast his friend's ashes from a 200 foot tall 'gonzo fist,' an essay contest was held by the Aspen Daily News (at the request of Hunter's family) to see who would be available to provide the service of firing his ashes. Over 50 private cannon owners applied, but eventually, these men and women, who had come forward to fulfill the dying wish of their hero...were forgotten. Until Now!

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Boogie Man - Boogie Man is a gripping political thriller about Lee Atwater, a blues-playing rogue whose rambunctious rise from the South to Chairman of the GOP made him a political rock star. He mentored George W. Bush and Karl Rove while leading the Republican party to historic victories, helping make liberal a dirty word, and transforming the way America elects our Presidents.

In eye-opening interviews with elite Republicans and friends of Atwater, Boogie Man sheds new light on his crucial role in America's shift to the right. To Democrats offended by the 1988 Willie Horton controversy, Atwater was a remorseless political assassin aptly dubbed by one Congresswoman "the most evil man in America." But he remains a hero to many Republicans for his irreverent sense of humor, his deep understanding of the American heartland, and his unapologetic vision of politics as war. This film builds to a moving portrait of a cynic's desperate deathbed search for meaning. After Boogie Man, you won't see American politics the same way again!

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Christmas On Mars - Psychedelic rock band the Flaming Lips present Christmas on Mars: A Fantastical Film Freakout Featuring the Flaming Lips, a glorious science fiction film that marks the directorial debut of the Lips' visionary frontman Wayne Coyne. Seven years in the making, Christmas on Mars features original music by the Flaming Lips ("The greatest US band today" - The Guardian), with acting performances by all band members, and many others from their Oklahoma City-based team. Comedian Fred Armisen (Saturday Night Live) and actor Adam Goldberg (Dazed and Confused, Two Days in Paris) also appear.

It's Christmastime, and the colonization of Mars is underway. However, when an oxygen generator and a gravity control pod malfunction, Major Syrtis (the Lips' Steven Drozd) and his team (including the Lips' Michael Ivins) fear the worst. Syrtis also hallucinates about the birth of a baby, and many other strange things. Meanwhile, a compassionate alien superbeing (Coyne) arrives, inspiring and helping the isolated astronauts.

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Electric Purgatory: The Fate of The Black Rocker - Electric Purgatory is a documentary that examines the struggles of black rock musicians and the industry's ambivalence towards them. Director Raymond Gayle spent the better part of a year traveling around the United States interviewing many of Black Rock's elite including Fishbone, Vernon Reid, Adam Falcon, Jimi Hazel and Cody Chesnutt. Distinguished journalists such as Flip Barnes, Darrell McNeil, Charlie Braxton, and Greg Tate, share their opinions and insight on the dilemma facing these artists. The film will explore the origins of the Black Rock Coalition and its relevance in the music industry. The project will also take a look at the stigma Black Rock musicians face in the Black community and more importantly how to bring the Black audiences back into the fold.

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In Prison My Whole Life - William Francome is a fairly typical, white middle-class guy. Typical except for the fact that he is about to embark on a journey into the dark heart of the American judicial system; the tangled world of renowned Death Row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.

The connection between these two characters is a simple one, and the pretext for this film, as Will explains:

"I was born in London on December 9th 1981. Over 3000 miles away Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Black Panther and radical journalist, was arrested for the murder of a police officer in Philadelphia. He claimed he was innocent but was sentenced to death and has been awaiting execution ever since. Over the years, he has attracted massive international support from organisations like Amnesty International and world leaders like Nelson Mandela amongst others. I'm now 24 years old and in that time Mumia has become the most famous and controversial death row inmate in America".

Despite his situation, and against all odds, Mumia has managed to penetrate the consciousness of people like Will. Through his writings and his web and radio broadcasts from Death Row, he has become known to many as "the Voice of the Voiceless".

"In Prison My Whole Life" takes us to some surprising places and brings us into contact with some of America's most original minds. Never-seen-before footage and brand new evidence create a prevailing case for reasonable doubt while exploring the socio-political climate of America - past and present. Angela Davis, Mos Def, Noam Chomsky, Alice Walker, Snoop Dogg, Steve Earle, Amy Goodman and many others take us through a decades-old struggle for equality, fairness and respect that so many Americans strive for to this day.

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The Wrecking Crew - The Wrecking Crew were a group of Studio Musicians in Los Angeles in the 60s who played on hits for the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, Sonny and Cher, Jan & Dean, The Monkees, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Mamas and Papas, Tijuana Brass, Ricky Nelson, Johnny Rivers and were Phil Spector's Wall of Sound. The amount of work that they were involved in was tremendous.

They were also involved in groups that I like to call, The Milli Vanilli's of the day. A producer would get the guys in and lay down some instrumental tracks. If it became a hit, they would record an album and put a group together to go on the road. This happened many times with groups like the Marketts, Routers, and T-Bones. The next day they would do the same thing and call it another name. Same musicians, but different group Name.

At the time the record industry was primarily in New York, London and Detroit in the late 50's and early 60s. Then there was a surge towards the mid-60s that pushed the recording to the west Coast. So these musicians were recording around the clock for a good 8 years. It's hey day for this group was in 1967 when the charts turned to the west.

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Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis - Live From Jazz At Lincoln Center - "These songs, heard this way with this group - that's never been done before. Whatever I'm doing, if you put Wynton and these guys around it, that brings it up to a different level." - Willie Nelson

A first-time collaboration between two American icons, Willie & Wynton discover common ground in their love of jazz standards & the blues on this sparkling set that brims with spontaneity, congeniality & fun.

Willie Nelson - vocals and guitar
Wynton Marsalis - trumpet and vocals
Mickey Raphael - harmonica
Walter Blanding - saxophone
Dan Nimmer - piano
Carlos Henriquez - bass
Ali Jackson Jr. - drums

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Music - Art Gallery - FILM SCREENINGS