“My art combines elements and sources to capture the essence of things that endure, things that last, ancient voices that speak to our hearts in modern times,” says Indianapolis-based wood artist Clay Foster. His fine-art wood sculptures will be displayed alongside local artist Brad Stroman’s contemporary realist paintings in an exhibition titled Ancient Voices. Stroman […]
Joseph Edgar Foreman, aka Afroman, launched his career by selling home recordings of his raps to his eighth-grade classmates. His first tape, which moved 400 copies, was about a teacher who’d had him kicked out of school. “It was selling to teachers, students, just about everybody,” he says in a press release. “I realized that, […]
Back in 2009, just before Durham-based folk-pop outfit Bombadil released Tarpits and Canyonlands, bassist Daniel Michalak was diagnosed with neural tension. The condition made it impossible for him to brush his teeth, let alone play an instrument. The tour was canceled and the album kind of fizzled. Happily, after years of treatment, Michalak and his […]
Local apparel company Bow + Arrow announces a pop-up shop in collaboration with Marfa, Texas-based Cobra Rock Boot Company. “There is currently a year long waiting list for their boots, but you can walk out the door with a pair at the pop-up,” says a press release.
The last time Americana rockers Truth & Salvage Co. rolled through Asheville was in 2013 when the band headlined a Downtown After 5 concert. It’s been nearly a decade since Scott Kinnebrew, Walker Young and Bill “Smitty” Smith — all former members of local swampy ragtime outfit Scrappy Hamilton — moved to L.A. There, they […]
Oskar Blues and Carolina Cinemas have teamed up for the CANnes Film Festival: A short-film contest. While submissions are still being accepted at press time (the deadline is May 21), the idea is pretty simple: “Make a short film featuring an Oskar Blues beer can (or two, or 10) and win a chance to brew […]
Daniel Ellsworth and The Great Lakes craft the sort of contagious, instantly familiar indie-pop songs that are right at home on a playlist. The band’s live show is infused with overcaffeinated enthusiasm. “They never look the same at the end of their set; a pair of hip horn-rimmed glasses breaks in half, buttons become undone, […]
Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre celebrates 35 years of modern dance while the New Studio of Dance marks its 45th anniversary of dance education. The local artistic strongholds commemorate those milestones with a performance of Alice in Wonderland. “You may already know Alice, the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts, but how long has it […]
Local acoustic trio Red June (Will Straughan on resonator guitar, guitar, mandolin and vocals; Natalya Weinstein on fiddle and vocals; and John Cloyd Miller on mandolin, guitar and vocals) recently released a new album. Ancient Dreams, out on Organic Records, was produced by Tim Surrett of Balsam Range. “Like your best dreams, nocturnal or daytime […]
There’s something refreshingly honest about the way singer-songwriter John McCauley of Deer Tick delivers his unapologetic lyrics. His brazen vocals are backed by upbeat instrumentals. In an interview on NPR’s “World Café,” McCauley said that a lot of personal turmoil provided inspiration for the band’s fifth album, Negativity, released in 2013. The Providence, Rhode Island-based […]
Chamber music company Pan Harmonia has “a reputation for giving our audiences a riveting experience. There is an immediacy, a visceral, zing-to-your-heart feeling that a live acoustic performance brings like nothing else,” according to a press release. Co-directors harpsichordist Barbara Weiss and flutist Kate Steinbeck have brought together all-star players for the intimate season finale […]
Although Moogfest took a decidedly technological turn (“geeky,” according to The New York Times) with this year’s festival reinvention, the Asheville electro-music festival has been immersed in that territory since its beginning. The two-day event brings experimental electronic musicians from around the world. Performers include Paul Vnuk Jr. (tribal ambient), locals Stereospread (dreamy electropop) and […]
Journalist and poet Paskie Pascua served as member of the media liaison staff for the late president Corazon Aquino’s “good government” commission in early ’90s and was a media specialist in coastal villages and farming barrios in his home country, the Philippines. But in Asheville, he is best-known as the publisher and editor of community […]
In Igor Stravinsky’s ballet, The Firebird, Prince Ivan enters a magical realm where all of the objects and creatures are represented by instruments — usually strings. Local electronic composer Sai, aka 9th Phoenix, is coordinating Heart of Fire, a production inspired by that Stavinsky work and produced electronically. “It features a wide range of electronica […]
The dress code is as whimsical as the event lineup at the Faerie and Earth Festival (F.A.E.). “Come and wear your fairy wings, your earth hat or sparkle up with glitter as we explore the magical realms,” says a press release. In addition to faerie dust and glitter, festivalgoers can expect an assortment of vendors, […]
The Dex Romweber Duo is “a creepy doll collection of surf, proto-rockabilly, garage, dark and vengeful blues, and nobody but nobody plays it like Dex,” according to a press release. Romweber, formerly of Flat Duo Jets, plays guitar while his “whip-wristed” sister, Sara Romweber (formerly of Let’s Active) finesses the drums. Together, they make music […]
It might seem to The Apache Relay that the road to national recognition is paved with tiny, hard-won steps. Still, the Nashville-based indie-rockers play each show as if it’s an audition for world domination, and songs — dating back to the unforgettable “Lost Kid” — pair roots swagger with pop savvy. Those tiny steps are […]
Fresh off their Adult Swim debut, Baltimore-based arts collective Wham City — the group responsible for the viral video “Drinking out of cups,” among others — is spreading its weird and wonderful comedy across the East Coast. The show is a “75-minute multimedia performance featuring four alt-comedians offering up all-original stand-up, videos, skits and monologues,” […]
Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932, the new novel by best-selling author Francine Prose, is full of the kind of characters that would be at home in a John Irving story. Weird, conflicted, flawed and pushing at the edge of believability. But Prose not only populates her fiction with adventure, artistry and Parisian scenes […]
“By the time every 30-something punk dude and their mom had picked up an acoustic guitar and started singing ‘This Land is Your Land,’ Brian had found his way back up to the East Coast, this time to Asbury Park, N.J.,” says the bio of songwriter/multi-instrumentalist and former Ashevillean Brian McGee. The Philadelphia native moved […]
The Weekend of Wonder is your “golden ticket into the world of pure imagination, perfect for children, families and everyone who loves magic,” according to a press release. The event begins at the Asheville Community Theatre, where the main performances will take place. The magic will then spread out into the streets where “a dream […]
