It’s time to fall in love… with learning! Join us this month to learn about Asheville’s tuberculosis sanitarium boom era, everything you’ve ever wanted to know about signs, and the rich cultural background of Hip Hop.
February 13th, 2025 doors 6pm, show 7pm at River Arts District Brewing Co.
Pre-sale tickets $10, door $15 (cash preferred, Venmo etc. available). Get your pre-sale tickets here: https://events.humanitix.com/nerd-nite-asheville-february-2025
This month’s lineup:
David O. Freeman
Asheville’s Tuberculosis Tourism Era
Asheville’s rapid growth and wealth prior to the Great Depression was based on its reputation as a wellness destination that began in 1870. The very lucrative Tuberculosis Sanitarium Era was followed by vigorous efforts to promote Asheville as a healthy place for healthy people that were led by the Vanderbilts and Grove. Many current buildings, such as BPR, sit on the locations of former TB sanitaria. Efforts to control spitting in the early 1900’s were comical.
David O. Freedman, MD, originally from Montreal, Canada, birthplace of William Shatner, is a recently retired Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama (UAB). He has spent his career traveling around the world in search of new infectious diseases organisms and how travelers spread them. He remains as an Editor of CDC’s Health Information for International Travel (the Yellow Book). He is thrilled to have moved to Asheville in 2023 after vacationing frequently here for over 25 years.
Super Rob
The Super Signguy Presents the Science of Signs
This engaging presentation dives into how shapes, colors, and fonts influence our decisions and behavior, from navigating traffic to choosing a product. With fun anecdotes, interactive elements, and surprising insights, you’ll discover the power of signs in shaping our daily lives and the future of branding and design.
With over 30 years in the sign industry, I’ve learned signage isn’t just about trends—it’s a science. My career started in Chicago, took me to Florida, and eventually landed me in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where the scenery hooked me, and the people made me stay. I jokingly call what I do “advanced kindergarten” because signage is a basic business need that’s often overlooked, but my superpower is making it simple, effective, and affordable. When I’m not creating super solutions, you’ll find me and my superhero crew in parades, hosting 12V rallies, or out in the community helping local businesses shine. FB/IG: @thesupersignguy http://thesupersignguy.com/
Nex Millen
The Elements and Principles of Hip Hop Culture
Hip Hop is a distinctly American art form birthed from the ingenuity of Black youth in the 1970s. Today, the cultural roots of Hip Hop have been obscured by stereotypes, corporate greed, and a preoccupation with image. In this presentation, we will learn the eight elements of Hip Hop and seven principles of the culture, how they worked in harmony together in the golden era, and the disconnect created by corporate control today.
Nex Millen is a Hip Hop Scholar and Cultural Curator from Philadelphia. He is also a music producer whose career spans three decades. In Asheville, Nex is on the board of directors for the YMI Cultural Center, the oldest operating Black Cultural Center in the country, He also leads a successful lifestyle and cultural arts brand called OG Synergy. OG Synergy, along with music business consulting, nightlife curating, creates middle school to collegiate level lectures, workshops and activities to bring awareness to the culture of Hip Hop. IG: @nexmillen
With your host, Von
This month’s Star Trek mini-feature: Far Beyond the Stars
Deep Space Nine, the second series of the 80s-90s Star Trek revival era, gave us many fun, campy episodes (including the episode that gave Nerd Nite Asheville its rallying cry–Allamaraine!). But in its sixth season, it delivered possibly the most moving episode in Star Trek history, Far Beyond the Stars, which turns Captain Benjamin Sisko, Star Trek’s first Black captain, into a segregation-era science fiction writer who dreams up the story of Deep Space Nine.
Von (they/them) is a local performer known for their radioactive style, political commentary, and inability to shut up about Star Trek. A lifelong nerd of both science and theater, they were an avid lover of Nerd Nite in Los Angeles before moving to Asheville and starting the local Nerd Nite Chapter.
Von claims this show for the Romulan Empire. (IG: @nerdniteAVL)