"I write poetry to stay current with myself. I read poetry to stay current with the world," says local poet, Asheville Wordfest organizer and Blue Ridge Parkway poet laureate Laura Hope-Gill. It's her motto, as a writer, but it's also an especially poignant dictum: Lately, Hope-Gill has been writing poetry about Japan and its recent […]

Drama sells. So does violence — and we're not just talking True Grit here. Themes common to nearly all the enduring operas are revenge and opposing forces, says stage director David Carl Toulson. However, the production he'll direct for Asheville Lyric Opera (ALO) has neither. And, says Toulson, "It's arguably the most famous opera." It's […]

"I don't feel cynical at all. I feel as vital and valid as ever," says musician Peter Murphy. Over the years he's been many things to many people: The frontman for British post-punk band Bauhaus, the harbinger of gothic rock, an underappreciated solo act, a world-music maverick. If his career began on a lark (according […]