Pride through pugilation­: The Original Toughman Contest

Living in a place like downtown Asheville, it can be kind if easy to lose perspective on what the rest of the country finds entertaining. Sure, there are those of us who like to dissect the latest arthouse flick, debade hidden bias in Chomsky’s latest tome, and spend the odd somber evening taking in a butoh performance. And yet, there are those who prefer their distractions to be less erudite, and more … well … concussed.

Asheville City Council

After years of haggling, stacks of recommendations and a whole roster of committees and task forces, the Asheville City Council found itself on June 13 facing the specter of yet another Civic Center study. In response to some Council members’ concern about the cost of the options endorsed by the Civic Center Task Force, city […]

Asheville City Council

Fresh from a weekend retreat where they outlined priorities for the coming year, Asheville City Council members bulled their way through a host of topics at the Jan. 24 formal session. Two new residential proposals — including a downtown high-rise condominium development — sailed through the approval process, greased by design details that Council found […]

From Hope to headache

June 23, 1974, was supposed to be a day of civic pride and an auspicious beginning for the just-completed Asheville Civic Center. After years of rancorous debate and political foot-dragging, the last brick was finally in place, the paint was dry — and the house was packed for the much-anticipated first show. The headliner was […]