Josh Stack, founder and executive director of Funding America Through Entertainment, first began combining his passion for music with his mission to end hunger two decades ago. “Back in the early ‘90s in the Southeast, everybody went to see Widespread Panic,” he says. “The band let me set up a table and raise money at […]
Known as Asheville’s village witch, Byron Ballard practices what she calls “hillfolk hoodoo,” a form of Appalachian folk magic. Ballard came by hoodoo naturally, growing up in a poor community in the mountains of Western North Carolina where hoodoo was practiced. She laments that the practice is disappearing: “Local hillfolk are no longer practicing hoodoo, […]
The first official day of winter isn’t until Dec. 21, but Western North Carolina has already received an abundance of cold and snowy weather this year. And if a wealth of long-range predictions comes true, the early shots of snow could be harbingers of much more to come.
Are you packing on those extra pounds after gorging on office holiday cookies and sugared paraphernalia? Are you spending your evenings hiding under your blankets and waiting for spring? Then you may be missing out on the great outdoor events Western North Carolina has to offer. We’ve rounded up some options for activities and great-outdoors clubs that will keep you moving well into the early […]
WHAT: Mustacheville’s Ugly Christmas Sweater Holiday Party Fundraiser WHEN: Friday, Dec. 19, 9 p.m. WHERE: One Stop, 55 College St., Asheville WHY: Benefit organizer Nikki McClane and her Mustacheville friends wanted to throw themselves a holiday party, but for some reason this year felt different. “We really wanted to give people a chance to celebrate […]
A pair of recent interactive info-graphics published by the New York Times and Wall Street Journal highlight troublesome economic statistics for Buncombe County.
The new year will bring a fresh dinner theater experience to Asheville — one that will be of particular interest to fans of the British television series “Downton Abbey.” On Sunday evenings starting Jan. 4, downtown restaurant Lex 18 will offer live viewings of the popular BBC program while re-creating an aristocratic 1920s meal in […]
Flat Rock Playhouse‘s new production, A Motown Christmas, is a tight two-hour show. It covers a number of predictable holiday classics — “Jingle Bells,” “Frosty The Snowman,” “Santa Clause is Coming To Town” and religious standards like “Go Tell It On The Mountain,” “Silent Night” and “Joy To The World.” The show features the vocal […]
It’s not just a holiday party, it’s a fashion statement. And while ugly Christmas sweater parties are hardly a rarity, Kipper Schauer‘s annual fete — now in its sixth iteration — takes kitsch, irony and seasonal revelry to a whole new level. “There will be drinking, merriment and awesome clothing. Appearances by Santa Claus. Immortalize […]
Looking to deck the halls, sing a carol, give a gift, take a stroll, see a play, make a craft or pass a wish list on to a man in a red suit? Here’s where to do all of those things. For more ideas, visit the Community Calendar and mountainx.com. • The FTW Burlesque Christmas […]
Country pop rocker Chris Carpenter first picked up a guitar at age 11 and shortly after extinguishing his 30th birthday candles felt a need to assuage his newfound existential unrest with “a little therapy.” Carpenter aims to reconnect with fans in 2015 by sharing the personal stories that inspired select musical works through posts on […]
Back in the day — 2005, to be precise — Josh “J2K” Young and Curt “Autobot” Cameruci began DJing parties under the name Flosstradamus. Armed with four turntables and two mixers, they packed out a tiny Grateful Dead bar in the Boystown neighborhood of Chicago with genre-blending, mash-up heavy sets. In the subsequent decade, the […]
Walking through the streets of downtown Asheville on a chilly Sunday morning, it’s hard not to be tempted by the smell of fresh-roasted coffee wafting from inside cracked doors. Outside, eye-catching rows of sandwich boards line the sidewalk. “Lobster omelette; local eggs,” reads one. “Fresh-squeezed pomegranate mimosa,” reads another, adorned with a colorful chalk-drawing of a tasty-looking […]
“We just want to show West Asheville peeps a good time before they go into their holiday family hangs,” says Javi Bolea of RBTS WIN. “The goal is a sticky floor by the end of the night.” Bolea, along with bandmates Cliff B. Worsham and Josh Chassner, follows a multifarious musical recipe — one influenced […]
In Theaters. And so it begins. The first flood of Christmasiana — clogging theater screens with Hobbits and Ben Stiller, a trickle of singing tots and one art title. And don’t forget, there’ll be another six titles hitting us on Christmas Day. These are perilous times we live in. Unsurprisingly — especially since […]
OPINION by Sarah Kellogg: This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will finally release the first-ever rule regulating the storage and disposal of coal ash, a toxic byproduct of burning coal. For years, communities and environmental groups across the country have pushed the EPA to finalize the regulations, and now, due to a court ordered mandate, the […]
“Jim Crowe is dead, but he left his children, including James Crowe, Esq.,” said Rev. Dr. Keith Ogden, host pastor at Hill Street Baptist Church. “He’s got the ‘esquire’ after his name because he’s writing policies to keep folks disenfranchised.” The church hosted a Black Lives Matter service Dec. 14 to remember black lives lost […]
A Woodfin native, Grammy-winning rocker Warren Haynes returned home this weekend for the 26th annual Christmas Jam. Over the course of the 7-hour concert at the U.S. Cellular Center in downtown Asheville, Haynes was joined onstage by Jason Isbell, Billy Kreutzmann, Caleb Johnson, Jackie Green and many more acts. Concert-goers posted photos and other dispatches from the Dec. 13 event via Twitter late into the night.
It takes two, as the saying goes. Local musician Darren Nicholson is a member of bluegrass group Balsam Range and the leader of his namesake band. Singer-songwriter Mark Bumgarner is a solo artist, as well as half of the duo Calico Moon and a contributor to multiple Balsam Range projects. Together, Nicholson and Bumgarner will […]
There’s something inexplicably cheery — and not ironically so, despite the prevalence of seasonal sweaters — about the Christmas specials of Bing Crosby and Lawrence Welk. These shows of decades past delivered holiday medleys and warm sentiments that spanned giddy good times to reflective moments. They conjured seasonal memories with traditional carols and festive standards. […]
This past weekend marked the 10th anniversary of the North Carolina Grand Prix cyclocross races. Lees McRae graduate — and Banner Elk native — Kerry Werner, took the win on both days in the professional men’s race, while BethAnn Orton doubled up in the women’s professional field.
