NEWSLETTER

JANUARY, 2006

There are at least two things that you need to know and remember as we lurch into 2006. FIRST, THE PURPLE ONION WILL BE CLOSED FROM JANUARY 1 UNTIL THE 14TH. Believe me, I share your pain and oncoming sense of loss more than you know but we need the time off to get ready for another great year. SECOND, WE HAVE LOADED OUR JANUARY MUSIC LINE-UP WITH FIVE OF THE BEST SINGER/SONGWRITERS IN THE COUNTRY WHO JUST HAPPEN TO LIVE IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. You can spend all month listening to great music made by your neighbors.

JANUARY 14 – CHUCK BRODSKY. 2006 opens with a bang with one of the country’s best singer/songwriters.

JANUARY 19 – CAT’S EYE BLUE. Saluda’s own Scott Allen returns with other former members of Seconds Flat.

JANUARY 21 – JIMMY LANDRY. We like the energy and enthusiasm of this Asheville singer/songwriter as he returns to us.

JANUARY 26 – GOVE SCRIVENOR. A great singer/songwriter now based in Flat Rock returns with his guitar and autoharp.

JANUARY 28 – JIM TAYLOR. Jim, also from Asheville, has been delighting Purple Onion audiences for many of the years we have been doing this.

JANUARY 30 – ROBERT SEILER. Returning from a self-imposed exile to the woodshed offering piano music for your dining pleasure. All tips go to the Children & Family Resource Center in Hendersonville.

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All of the newspapers and magazines are full of summaries of what happened in 2005. I had thought about writing about similar events in my life and that of the Purple Onion during the year but my wife assured me that would be a yawner. So I am taking her advice except for the following quote from Stephen Colbert (“The Colbert Report”). He says that this has been a year of “truthiness” which he defines as “sort of what you want to be true, as opposed to what the facts support.”

So I offer some of the favorite quotes I have accumulated during the year as well as some new bumper stickers and license plates.

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“I’m startled or taken aback when people walk up to me and tell me they are Christians. My first response is the question “Already?” It seems to me a lifelong endeavor to try to live the life of a Christian.”
Maya Angelou

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“No is a complete sentence.”
Anne Lamott

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Some bumper stickers and license plates:

I MISS BILL
SAYCBONE
LITN UP!
HAUDI2U

Nobody is ugly at 2 a.m.

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“Most of us don’t know what we want in life but we’re sure we haven’t got it.”
Alfred E. Neuman

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From our 3 ½ year old granddaughter, Kate, who had visited us over Thanksgiving: “Can I take [a picture of] Grammy and Poppy for show and tell? It would make me so happy.”

Not nearly as happy as it made us Kate. It reminds me of this quote from Marilynn Robinson’s book, “Gilead”: “Love is holy because it is like grace – the worthiness of its object is never really what matters.”

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Once again because of your continued support and patronage, we have had another wonderful year at the Purple Onion, a year full of great food (and staff), music (thanks to the performers who have graced our “stage”) and community (Saluda and environs). We hope that 2006 fills you with whatever grace and hope that you need to keep an open heart. AND we want to see you often at the café. It won’t be the same without you here.

Robert Seiler