A bit of Marshall trivia for you: Marc Hosler of experimental band Negativland lives in the tiny town north of Asheville. Also, Tony Torn, son of actor Rip Torn, has a venue called The FBI (the French Broad Institute of Time and the River). The French Broad Institute will show the area’s only screening of […]

Asheville has, by some accounts, become a haven for New Orleans ex-pats. Perhaps it’s a shared enthusiasm for dressing in costumes. Or a love of great music and a lot of dancers. Or maybe it’s a sense of community—that ethereal, much-lauded and oft-coveted state—that pervades both places. Feathers, beads, face paint: Mardi Gras revelers dress […]

How cool would it be if Asheville had a Moogseum? That’s a current goal of the Bob Moog Foundation: To create a museum of electronic music pioneer Moog’s extensive archives and have space for interactive instrument-based exhibits. To that end, the foundation, along with jam-favorites Umphrey’s McGee, will hold a benefit Saturday, Feb. 21, at […]

“God wanted man to be happy, so he gave him the power to drum. I play my drum to spread peace and love throughout the world. This is what I have come to do,” says Madou Dembele. Baby he was born to drum: Madou Dembele leads a workshop at Terpsicorps studio and performs with his […]

For all this world-at-the-keystrokes opportunity, how often do we truly go somewhere foreign? Not physically, just moving the mind from its sometimes small, selfish place—how often do we give over to the meditation of listening? Wise, sweet, cunning: The poet Taha Muhammad Ali is pictured in the center shot. From left to right, visiting poets […]

Listening to Tom Godleski’s Fresh Preserves is kind of like being invited to browse a friend’s weathered photo album or watch his old home movies. It’s the same intimacy but without the obligation—Godleski’s ballads, spun from the tales told to him by family members, are actually interesting. Grampy and Granny were tough: Above, Buncombe Turnpike […]

Like a first love, eight out of 10 people remember their first opera, says David Craig Starkey, director of Asheville Lyric Opera. Soprano Angela Brown performs as Verdi’s Aida. Photo by Marty Sohl / Metropolitan Opera. “It becomes personal to them,” he says. “You just never forget it. There’s something about somebody singing their love […]

could we keep track of everything? But it’s also bad because there’s never enough space for All the Awesome Stuff Happening in Asheville every week. Velcroheads: The “how-did-they-think-of-that” choreography of performance art troupe Galumpha. The Diana Wortham Theatre, for example, has a great-looking roster of events planned for the spring. But Galumpha may take their […]