Fire On The Mountain Podcast

09/06/2023

It's been ages since we've updated folks and, truthfully, we've just been too busy with Gina's Hendersonville City Council Campaign and Raphael's performance schedule to get the pod up and running again!

But we wanted to give a heartfelt thank you to everyone that voted us for this years Best Of WNC in the MountainXpress! We got 2nd place podcast and appreciate the consideration! See you soon!

04/12/2023

🚨SEASON 2 FINALE🚨

Our final episode of Season 2, "The Paper Mill & The Goons That Buried It" is available to stream for our patreon patrons now and will be live on all streaming platforms 3:30pm today!

Listen to important updates on the direction of the podcast heading into our third season, the closing of the Canton Paper Mill and its impact on the community, stormwater infrastructure discussion and updates for the city of Hendersonville and a discussion about a major housing project following a resident's receipt of a disclosure of conditional rezoning request.

Thanks to everyone for your ongoing support! We're excited to return for the third season following a short break! See you soon!

03/19/2023

Update! We were planning to be recording and producing our season 2 finale over the next few days, but Raph has had back to back performances since Thursday and, paired with crippling allergies from all the tree s*x, has lost his voice and needs the time to recover. Thank you all so much for understanding!

03/06/2023

Hey y’all! Some folks have reached out to ask when our next episode is coming out so we wanted to let you know that we are in a big ole period of transition right now. We are editing an episode that should be out soon, and we will keep you posted on future plans. We love and appreciate you guys and don’t want to leave you hanging. Thanks for your patience as we sort out our next moves. ❤️

02/24/2023

Someone waved and then left a flag with a sw****ka on it on the property of Temple of the High Country in

This response from police chief Lebeau is far, far from sufficient. While the police have reportedly been very responsive and supportive personally to the folks at the Temple, releasing an immediate statement that begins with why it is OK to fly a sw****ka outside of a temple is not the move.

We have got to be bolder about condemning hate in our communities, and blatant acts like this one should be easy to call out.

02/06/2023

Tomorrow at 5:30. Come out to this board of commissioners meeting in Henderson county if you can to voice your concerns around this resolution to identify party affiliation for school board candidates.

01/31/2023

Had the People’s Museum to myself this morning 😍

01/29/2023

01/22/2023

Our latest episode is now available on our Patreon before streaming publicly tomorrow! This one's a wild ride!

We discuss an upcoming request to the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority, a death at the Buncombe County Jail, and the second year of a new school in Asheville, as well as an interview with Robby Pitt, who is Jazzed on Birds, and a self-reflective t9 segment about whether or not we are the as****es. (spoiler: we are sometimes.)

01/19/2023

Local Action Item:

We now have until February 6 to get the word out. School Board Chair Blair Craven, the League of Women Voters, the Dem Party of HC, and many individuals have spoken out against going forward with this resolution without public input or transparency, and now commissioners are walking it back, giving us a chance to talk about it. Let’s use it.

Emails in comments.

01/17/2023

Time to get in touch with our county commissioners again, y’all.

Let them know that we don’t need to politicize school board and that if they insist on trying, the least they could do is allow public comment on the subject.

01/16/2023

Taking today to educate ourselves and make some new friends. We honor Martin Luther King Jr’s bravery, intellect, intentional language, and commitment, and we continue to learn by his example.

Pictured in slide 1 is Dr. James Ford, PhD, the executive director the Center for Racial Equity in Education, the keynote speaker at the MLK Unity Breakfast. In the second slide: community members of all ages.

01/16/2023

Happy MLK Jr Day y’all!! Todays episode features our second returning guest, sitting Town Of Fletcher Mayor Preston Blakely, who discusses the legacy of MLK. We also review a recent immigration announcement by the Biden administration, good news out of Buncombe County and Columbus County, as well as some input from former conservative House Speaker Paul Ryan regarding Congressman George Santos.

01/11/2023

This Saturday!

01/09/2023

Our newest episode covers the Asheville water crisis & successful mutual aid responses to it, recent legislation effecting the prison system in the US as well recent successful organizing efforts in Asheville regarding inmates of the Buncombe County Jail. We also have a conversation about cultural appropriation and our guest is Ronnie Pepper who discusses gathering black histories in Henderson County and beyond!

01/08/2023

We're honored to see our former guest on the podcast, Andrew Aydin, to be appointed Chief of Staff to Senator Elect Nabilah Islam for Georgia's Senate District 7!

01/02/2023

Our latest episode is now available to stream for our patreon donors and will be live to stream tomorrow!

Our last episode recorded of 2022 and first episode produced for 2023! In this episode we discuss the impacts of the most recent nation wide deep freeze and local mutual aide, Governor Abbotts most recent decision to use human bodies as political pawns, and the 160th anniversary of seldom taught and discussed historic national tragedy: the Dakota War of 1862- the largest mass public ex*****on in United States history.

Our guest is the FIRST EVER returning guest- Black historian, artist, organizer, activist and advocate: Crystal Cauley. We discuss Kwanzaa and wish you and yours a Happy New Year!

01/01/2023

New year, new Patreon post for tier 2 and up (the bonus content club).

We look at the Dakota Massacre of December 26 1862, exactly 160 years before we recorded this. We touch on it in the upcoming episode but felt it needed more attention.

Sorry not sorry to be a bummer, we gotta teach ourselves what they didn’t teach us in school.

12/22/2022

Happy Holidays from Raph & Gina! As a gift to everyone we've decided to produce this weeks episode early! Now available to our Patreon patrons, "Make A Big Deal Out Of It" is our latest episode with special guest, Jen Hampton of Asheville Food and Beverage United!

On this episode we discuss the mountain valley pipeline, a new substance use support collaborative in the area and how the Hendersonville Chik Fil A was able to make headlines YET AGAIN!

We only have one more episode before 2023 and we're honored to share these stories, experiences and events with all the folks in our community! This episode will be publicly streaming Friday at 12am! Enjoy!

12/16/2022

New episode, There's Nothing More Powerful, is now streaming everywhere!

12/15/2022

We're very honored to announce that our latest episode, "There's Nothing More Powerful" featuring former digital director and policy advisor to the late Congressman John Lewis, and accomplished author, Andrew Aydin, is available for our patreon donors now.

In this special episode Gina was enjoying a much needed vacation and Raph discusses the outcome of the government intervention in the rail workers' union impending strike over paid sick leave, and the most recent social media trend involving AI and the implications it has for the present and future. Enjoy!

12/07/2022

Warnock is the projected winner!

12/05/2022

We're streaming everywhere now! Apple users can now enjoy each new episode of our show, including this latest.

We discuss the "rural voter strategy", the creation of a service industry workers union in the south, a follow up on a fletcher elementary school incident and a shout out to Hendersonville Pride for their candle light vigil in memory of the victims of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs.

Our guest is the director of Hope Coalition , Julie Huneycutt! We discuss the life saving work the organization does and how our local government helps!

11/25/2022

If you celebrated thanksgiving in western NC, you likely celebrated on Tsalaguwetiyi (Eastern Cherokee), S’atsoyaha (Yuchi), Mánu (Catawba), and Miccosukee lands, among others.

This is the past and present of the land on which non-indigenous folks celebrate Thanksgiving, land that was stolen from indigenous peoples. November is Native American Heritage Month, which is an insufficient attempt at righting the wrongs of colonizers. This is the inconceivable loss of home. Talk about it, tell your family, and acknowledge that if you are not indigenous, you are on stolen land.

Find your map at:

native-land.ca

11/23/2022

ANNOUNCEMENT: Due to the recent tragedy in Colorado Springs, we've decided to produce next weeks episode immediately. The episode is available now for our patreon patrons and will be available at midnight to stream. We share the stories of the victims and heroes of the senseless violence ahead of our local vigil.

Our guest for this 27th episode, "Sit In The Quiet" is Asheville NC native, Lexington KY based affrilachian writer, Nita Jade.

11/22/2022

Hey folks! Just wanted to share on fb that we're currently accepting advertisers on the podcast! If you or anyone you know has an important announcement, event or just business promo to share on the platform, please feel free to reach out! We're always interested in lifting up local business and organizers where we are. Drop us a message anytime and we'll do what we can.

11/21/2022

The news about this shooting keeps hitting me harder and harder. The absolute bigotry that informs this type of action is unconscionable.

This is why we still keep our meeting places secret. This is why we are so passionate about protecting our own. This is why mocking celebrations of q***r identities with the whataboutism of “straight pride” translates to violence.

Because the narrative about “keeping it behind closed doors” was never about anything more than demanding that people conform to expectations of behavior that don’t align with their own truth.

Q***r people are targets even in their own spaces.

11/21/2022

Latest episode is available now!

11/21/2022

New episode available now!