The Overlook with Matt Peiken
Local newsmakers, civic leaders, journalists, artists and others in the know talk with host Matt Peiken about the growing, complicated city of Asheville, N.C. New episodes are available Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Episodes
186 episodes since 2023
Kevan Frazier | Asheville City Council Candidate
Kevan Frazier can probably put his knowledge of Asheville history up against anyone’s. But the city native and tour guide, entrepreneur and educator hopes his encyclopedic recall of Asheville’s yesteryear can shape his approach to the city’s to...
September 18, 2024
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37:00
Bo Hess | Asheville City Council Candidate
This episode begins our six-part series of interviews with each candidate for Asheville City Council.Most candidates for state and federal offices started in politics at a local level. Bo Hess took a different approach. In 2020, he says...
September 16, 2024
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30:18
Judicial Values | Martin Moore, Candidate for NC Court of Appeals
No matter how attuned you believe you are to the upcoming election, there’s a strong chance you have no idea who’s running for the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Today’s episode should help solve that problem.Martin Moore moved to Ash...
September 05, 2024
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Episode 179
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34:18
Running Uphill | Caleb Rudow and His Campaign for Congress
Caleb Rudow is attempting to do something no Democrat has done in more than a decade—represent North Carolina’s 11th District in the US House of Representatives. A gerrymandered map has seemingly kept this district comfortably in Republican han...
September 03, 2024
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Episode 178
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40:41
PART 2: Sub-Mission | State Sen. Julie Mayfield, Retired Dr. Bruce Kelly, Chaplain Missy Harris of Reclaim Healthcare WNC
In the second half of this two-part conversation, founders of the coalition Reclaim Healthcare WNC talk about their pressure campaign with HCA Healthcare to dramatically and demonstrably improve conditions for patients and staff at Mission Hosp...
August 15, 2024
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Episode 177
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32:55
PART 1: Sub-Mission | State Sen. Julie Mayfield, Retired Dr. Bruce Kelly, Chaplain Missy Harris of Reclaim Healthcare WNC
So much has been written and said in the five years since the corporation HCA Healthcare purchased Asheville’s nonprofit Mission Hospital. Doctors, nurses and other staff have fled amid what many see as the company’s push for profits over peopl...
August 13, 2024
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Episode 176
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38:11
State of the City | Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer
Esther Manheimer is serving her third term as Asheville’s mayor. The challenges this city faces today—and the strategies deployed to tackle them—have evolved a lot during her time in office.Today, we check in with Mayor Manheimer around ...
July 31, 2024
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Episode 175
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41:55
Fighting the War at Home | Asheville chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace
Jewish Voice for Peace is a nonprofit with chapters in Asheville and around the U.S. and beyond. Except for the name of the organization, you won’t find much about Judaism on their website or in the...
July 29, 2024
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Episode 174
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53:08
A Building Block of Community | Jefferson Ellison
Jefferson Ellison is the first to say he grew up with privilege. His father was Asheville’s vice mayor and ran his own law firm for 40 years, and his mother holds two master’s degrees. Still at 31, Jefferson isn’t taking shortcuts ...
July 23, 2024
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Episode 173
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37:53
The Brunt of Ballet | Heather Maloy of Terpsicorps
Like most leaders in the arts, Heather Maloy spends far more time raising money, hunting for rehearsal spaces and recruiting dancers than she does immersed in the work she’s so committed to—cultivating the ideas and creating the dances that are...
July 16, 2024
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Episode 172
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37:44
Telling it Like it is | Storyteller Carolina Quiroga
Carolina Quiroga moved to Asheville only about a year ago, but she’s already a distinctive storyteller here, blending folk tales and her own experiences from her native Colombia with newer stories born from observations of her newly adopted hom...
July 10, 2024
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Episode 171
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34:32
Passing the Torch | New Asheville Fire Chief Michael Cayse
Michael Cayse has only been Asheville’s Fire Chief since the start of the year, but he came here with more than three decades of experience in Cincinnati and, as part of that, working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.Ashevil...
July 08, 2024
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Episode 170
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32:49
Hear Here | Detective Blind in performance and conversation
Who says rock music is dying out? A trio of sisters from Asheville are doing their part to bring rock to a new generation. Detective Blind takes the spotlight in the second episode of The Overlook drawn from our May 28 evening of He...
June 26, 2024
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Episode 169
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42:16
PART 2: The RAD's Uneven Flow | Hedy Fischer, Gail McCarthy, Stephanie Monson Dahl
This is the second half of my conversation with Hedy Fischer and Gail McCarthy, who along with their artist husbands bought buildings in the River Arts District early on and are committed to keeping those buildings open and affordable for other...
June 20, 2024
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Episode 168
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33:28
PART 1: The RAD's Uneven Flow | Hedy Fischer, Gail McCarthy, Stephanie Monson Dahl
Hedy Fischer and Gail McCarthy have been in Asheville since the late 1970s and, along with their artist husbands, played critical roles in the evolution of the River Arts District from a neglected, polluted wasteland of warehouses into the thri...
June 18, 2024
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Episode 167
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35:23
Hear Here | O•VAD•YA in Performance and Conversation
Hear Here is a performance and podcast series designed to elevate conversation around local rock and indie music. I invited two all-female bands to the May 28 evening of Hear Here at Citizen Vinyl. The bands...
June 13, 2024
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Episode 166
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49:52
The Queen Bee of Pollination | Phyllis Stiles of Bee City Asheville
There are about 400 Bee City USA programs across 47 states, all with a mission to sustain pollinators by increasing native plants and nest sites while reducing the use of pesticides. The entire Bee City movement started in Asheville 12 ...
June 10, 2024
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Episode 165
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37:54
The Lens of Reflection | Pete Candler, Author, Photographer and Filmmaker
Pete Candler wears many creative hats. He’s a photographer and maker of short films—all of it self-taught—and he’s also an author and recovering academic.His new book, titled “A Deeper South," is both an internal and external travelogue ...
May 31, 2024
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Episode 164
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28:56
Authoring Mid-Life Shifts | Madison Brightwell and Don Silver
Madison Brightwell and Don Silver are local novelists who don’t know each other but have similar creative trajectories. Both spent early years behind the scenes—Brightwell in film production, Silver working for music mogul Clive Davis—before tu...
May 29, 2024
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Episode 163
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42:04
Reading the Room | Literacy Together
Most people reading or listening to this likely take their literacy for granted. But for thousands of youth and adults throughout Buncombe County, literacy is a hurdle impacting nearly every element of life.My guests are executive direc...
May 27, 2024
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Episode 162
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37:53
Hear Here | Caged Affair in Performance and Conversation
April 27 marked the debut of "Hear Here," a series presented in tandem with Citizen Vinyl to elevate conversation around local rock and indie music. The premiere featured talk and performances with the bands Pink Beds and Caged Affair.T...
May 17, 2024
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Episode 161
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41:15
Spaced Out | ArtsAVL Town Hall on Affordable Arts Workspaces
We all know the impact of Asheville’s skyrocketing housing costs. What we don’t hear nearly as much about is how artists and arts organizations are finding it more challenging to do their work in Asheville.Affordable workspaces was the ...
May 15, 2024
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Episode 160
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43:37
Babies Need Bottoms | Meagan Lyon Leimena and Alicia Heacock
We hear a lot about pervasive social issues in our community—homelessness, addiction, racial inequities, affordable housing, liveable wages. All of those play roles in one particular need we rarely hear about—diapers.My guests today are...
May 13, 2024
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Episode 159
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45:09
'Hear Here' May 28 Preview | Detective Blind and O•VAD•YA
It’s a female-powered, multi-generational, one-of-a-kind lineup for the next Hear Here—Tuesday, May 28, feat...
May 12, 2024
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3:25
Hear Here | Pink Beds in Performance and Conversation
April 27 marked the debut of "Hear Here," a series presented in tandem with Citizen Vinyl to elevate conversation around local rock and indie music. The premiere featured talk and performances with the bands Pink Beds and Caged Affair.T...
May 10, 2024
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Episode 158
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43:36