Hollywood has degraded the fascinating Venus flytrap, turning it into a silly monster. Consider the bloodsucking Audrey II in the macabre 1986 musical Little Shop of Horrors. Or Cleopatra, the prey-strangling pet of Addams Family matriarch Morticia. Sticking around: This sundew lies in wait for its insect prey. Upon landing, the hapless bugs find themselves […]
Author: Melanie M. Bianchi
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Hearing is believing
It took two years for Ed Subkis to snag StoryCorps for a local residency—a long time, considering how ripe Asheville is for such an endeavor. The Airstream cometh: At long last, NPR’s popular StoryCorps program rolls into Asheville. The mobile storytelling booth will be parked in front of WCQS for six weeks. “Our number finally […]
Summer camps
Kids used to return home from summer camp with little more than mosquito bites and bad folk songs bouncing through their heads. But the experience has grown considerably more sophisticated. Many local camps emphasize themes: writing, herbalism, stagecraft, robotics. Kids who attend the vastly eclectic array of Asheville-area programs will be chasing after insects (see […]
Spring Break is just around the corner—here’s a sample of camp offerings
• Asheville Arts Center grabs the limelight this year with two spring-break performance camps. “Once Upon a Time …” is an exploration of fairy tales old and new for young ones age 2-6, and “Lights, Camera, Action!”, for kids 6-15, teaches movie-making from script to screen. Both programs will be held April 13-17. For rates […]
The Dirt: Getting your goat
Powerful, potentially harmful herbicides like clorpyralid are not only creepy, they’re downright déclassé. An infinitely kinder and hipper form of kudzu control is Marvin, a veteran weed eater from Wells Farm in Horse Shoe. Kudzu? What kudzu? In two weeks, Ron Searcy’s weed-eating goats munched through most of the overgrowth plaguing this Madison County hillside. […]
Doing the wild thing
I miss Marlin Perkins and his softly instructional nature shows. But Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom and the like have become as endangered as the Rameshwaram Parachute Spider or the Borneo pygmy elephant. Long gone is a serene, omniscient host like Perkins, cozily narrating the love moves of tawny African lions. Despite the coital element, […]
A pearl of a prospect
When times are lean, both people and products have to work twice as hard. Anyone whose parents or grandparents survived the Great Depression has heard examples of this protean creed: cardboard shirt inserts that were turned into shoe soles, scraps of tinfoil re-used for a decade. Hop to it: The Lobster Trap’s Billy Klingel (left) […]
Outdoors: Small wonders
My son’s passion for heavy equipment is rivaled only by his recent desire to be playing outdoors at all times. They tell me the dumper obsession is a common phase among toddler boys, who seem to have it mysteriously hard-wired into their little bodies. For 2-year-old Beau, “dumper” is a multitasking noun that he uses […]
Outdoors: Spooky outdoor spots
Any old ghost can haunt a house—and some don’t require even that much real estate. I lived in one West Asheville apartment for six years, despite a thick, uneasy presence. If you stood at the kitchen sink for any length of time, you found yourself whipping your head around in defensive confusion—the better to catch […]
Gallery to go
In a city blessed with more artists than spaces to show their work, repurposing restaurants to double as galleries makes sense. Stephen Lange has fashioned a career displaying his figurative watercolor paintings and collage wall hangings inside local businesses, including Ananda Hair Studio and a slew of local eateries. Would you like some art with […]
The Dirt: Sweet deal
Sorghum syrup once flowed like creek water in the Southern Appalachians, and there are signs that this ultimate “slow food” may be flowing again. With help from the state, several local farmers have revved up production of the rich, old-fashioned syrup (sometimes called sorghum molasses). An old-fashioned juicer: This well-worn, horse-powered mill comes with directions […]
Rise ‘n Shine Café
Flavor: Breakfast favorites from local sources Ambiance: Diner in organic clothing Price: $1.25-$7.75 Where: 640 Merrimon Ave. (Merrimon Square) Contact: 254-4122 or www.risenshinecafe.com Hours: 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Mon-Sat; 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Sun Know where your food comes from. Such is the rallying cry that unites locavores and the restaurants that hope to serve them. Photo […]
Outdoors: Stings and slithers
It’s dry, it’s fall, the flowers are almost gone. And the bees want meat. Correction We had to shorten Jeff Ashton’s Outdoors column, “A Little Trout With Your Drought,” last week due to space constraints, and it resulted in distortions of the author’s meaning. For example, Ashton points out that in times of drought, water […]
The Dirt: Barrel fever
Keeping up with the Joneses also typically means keeping up with the latest trends. It used to be that only folks who spent a lot of time digging in the dirt wore Crocs. Today, almost every major brand of footwear offers a version of the chunky rubber shoe, and almost every brand of human—from just-walking […]
No rules, just (what feels) right
Like capri-length pants, the “ladies first” edict is always stylish, in my opinion. This should hold true in any restaurant, whether its tables are set with plastic forks or with crystal goblets. But today’s emphasis on trendy atmosphere and table flipping often trumps the classic rules of service. Seeking to understand the current flavor of […]
Food with a view
Outdoor patios may be a fair-weather rage in Asheville, with culinary ratings that go sky-high, but their proximity to sometimes stupid-busy traffic tends to keep them off lists devoted to scenic mountain-area dining. Such a list follows here, although it is by no means exhaustive: Pre-emptive apologies go out to all the regional restaurants that […]
Don’t look back
Australians don’t go in much for pat sentiment. With sandy wit, Waifs singer Vikki Thorn tells Xpress just how profoundly the experience of having two children in two years influenced her art. Americana from Down Under: Originally from Australia, The Waifs are Bob Dylan-approved folk rockers. Photo by Jason Ierace “My creative processes came to […]
Counterfeit Southern gothic?
It’s nice to see WCU’s Ron Rash included in the new Oxford American. But what’s up with the rest of the issue?
Appetite for Destruction turns 20
… So is it OK to like GN’R again?
Through Rags-colored glasses
Local rockers Woody Wood and Scott Sharpe start ugly-eyewear trend
This panda was not made in China
Younger readers shouldn’t dismiss the upcoming Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands.