Book smarts

Although it seems as if Malaprop’s Bookstore and Café has been here forever, anchoring downtown Asheville with its unique brand of intellectual calm and anything-goes quirk, there was a time before Malaprop’s, as local author Wayne Caldwell (Cataloochee, Requiem by Fire) recalls: “A long time ago — March, 1980 to be exact — Asheville explored […]

Greetings from Kenya

Local producer Ben Gradison is traveling through Africa, helping to build studios, deliver equipment, and train youth and adults to create and record music. Follow his work (and listen to the music he’s recording with African groups) on his blog. Photo from the Likoni and Arusha Studio Projects blog.

Brothers in arms

Antique Firearms is an amalgamation of tastes, influences and proclivities toward experimentation, but there are also certain consistencies that serve as a foundation to the sound. There’s a moody, atmospheric quality — kind of Mazzy Star and kind of Sparklehorse — and a velvety lushness that underscores each song on the band’s self-titled full-length, whether […]

The road to Pitchapalo­oza, part 1

Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry, aka The Book Doctors and the masterminds behind “The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published,” are coming to Malaprop’s this Friday for Pitchapalooza, in which one lucky author will win an introduction to a literary agent. It all hinges on having the perfect book pitch. This is my story about working on the fail proof one-minute spiel.