News flash: Mountain Xpress adds Twitter feed, and Flickr isn’t far behind. Or, in Twitter-speak—News: Mtn X adds Twitr & Flikr. See http://bit.ly/HTFVR. #mxnow. Bitly what? Flickr who? OK. Here’s the deal (with apologies to the English language): Social networking and news gathering have mingled. Twitter is a micro-blogging program that lets users exchange brief […]
Year: 2009
Showing 2122-2142 of 2958 results
Hot legal battling preceded Richmond Hill blaze; arson suspected
Five months before a devastating March 19 fire destroyed the historic Richmond Hill Inn, legal battles had been heating up between the current and former owners of the property. Investigators believe the blaze was intentionally set. A landmark lost: A devastating early morning fire March 19 destroyed the Richmond Hill Inn’s historic main building. Investigators […]
Cansler, Nesbitt forecast better days for mental health
Lanier Cansler, North Carolina’s new secretary of health and human services, minced no words, proclaiming, “I’ve made it clear: Mental-health reform is over.” Citing a pattern of “constant change and problems” since 2001’s failed attempt to transition patients from state hospitals into community-care networks that never adequately materialized, Cansler declared, “We’ve got to create the […]
The Green Scene
Perhaps you can’t quite picture a farmers’ market hosted by the local hospital, but to Molly Nicholie, it’s a perfectly green combination. Such a partnership is just one possibility raised by the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project’s Farm to Hospital program. The pilot project seeks to play matchmaker, linking local farmers looking to build their customer […]
Welcome to A&E
It seems that two of Asheville’s most-loved bands won’t be existing in the forms we’ve known them. Reports indicate that the Barrel House Mamas and Bandazian have disbanded. Both the sultry Mamas and the pop-wunderkinds Bandazian were seemingly at their prime—the Mamas developing a significant regional fan base, and Bandazian releasing O Pioneer last fall. […]
Trip the plastic fantastic
Everybody thinks Tupperware is “something for their grandmamma that’s tired and stale.” So says Dixie Longate, the 2008 top seller of the kitsch-iconic food-storage products. “People come up to me all the time and go, ‘I thought it was just that stuff you get at the grocery store,’ and I’m like, ‘No, hooker, that’s different.’ […]
John Cameron Mitchell gives an inch
I’ve never met John Cameron Mitchell, though I came close a couple times when he was in Asheville for the 2007 Asheville Film Festival. I’d hooked him up with a copy of Ken Russell’s TV film Song of Summer, and I sat behind him at the screening of The Savages—which filmmaker Don Mancini apprised me […]
Dress for (economic) success
While Asheville is no stranger to fashion shows, the upcoming Push Asheville Fashion is a runway event with a purpose beyond the posh frocks. Photos shot at Hip Replacements by Scott Lessing Photography. AB Tech student Sonia Hendrix is also the VP of projects for Phi Beta Lambda, the group coordinating the show. The idea […]
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 […]
The Xpress kids guide
No kidding: The economy is putting a crunch on moms, dads and children. But the Xpress kids section is back again, and this year we’ve collected stories that are both relevant to these tough times and full of ideas for keeping childhood fun. Reporter Anne Fitten Glenn, aka Edgy Mama, writes about the growing phenomenon […]
Leave steep slopes to the locals
The proposed state steep-slope law, which has been [on] the minds of state legislators in recent years, just doesn’t make sense. Common sense [argues] that cities and counties know how to better regulate development than the state. Local officials see, on a daily basis, the effects growth has on their communities. As a result of […]
Move over, mommy. It’s dad’s turn.
A typical day in the life of Matt Buys includes driving, cooking, laundry, cleaning, volunteer work at an elementary school, and when the weather’s bad, indoor soccer games with his four kids. Stay-at-home dad Michael Queeney with his kids, Annie, 8, and Ricky, 7, at Chimney Rock Park after a hike. Photo special to Mountain […]
The Practical Fly
Back in the late 1960s, a new trend arose in fly fishing that was known as “matching the hatch.” A hatch is the specific point where the larval form of an aquatic insect rises to the water’s surface (referred to as “emerging”), shucks its outer shell and metamorphoses into a flying insect. Check your fly: […]
Pass the Shakespeare, please
Even the most fervent hobbyists rarely have the opportunity to indulge two of their passions at once: The market isn’t exactly throbbing with demand for crafty mash-ups like decoupage decoys or stained-glass postage stamps. So Reynolds Mountain resident Joyce Miles, a baking instructor and amateur bookmaker, was understandably delighted when Asheville BookWorks put out a […]
The aging ageless jardin
I turn 50 this year, and it’s time for a garden redo. Last year, my husband acknowledged his own milestone birthday by examining his somewhat balding head (I like it) and his very graying beard (I really like that). Then he made an appointment for a physical—in the 20 years we’ve been married, the first […]
Feeding kids cheap: the new taste of value meals
Today’s “gastro-kids”—a generation of diminutive epicureans who can knowledgeably critique a recipe before they’re literate enough to read it—have been raised by foodies who’d rather risk their toddlers’ digestive comfort than expose them to an oh-so-unhip medium-well hamburger. These young eaters dote on sushi, goat cheese and quail, among other sophisticated offerings. Child labor works: […]
Face off
I rely on you for all my City Council and county commissioner news, and on that front, you have never let me down. But your choice of lead story in the last issue greatly disappointed me. Of all the news and material that’s floating about at this particular moment in time, you chose to cover […]
Free, baby, free
The economy’s tanking, and you’re trying your best not to let your family’s finances go down the tubes, too. Just in time: Here’s a (by-no-means-complete) list of free services and activities for the younger set in and around Asheville. Activities • Let your kids run free at the N.C. Arboretum on Tuesdays, when the attraction […]
Wish those docs well
On Oct. 30, 1990, President George Bush signed a resolution designating March 30 as National Doctor’s Day. Since the days of the Hippocratic Oath, the physician has been held in high esteem as healer, trusted confidant and patient advocate. Technological breakthroughs have done much to advance the science of medicine; however, the patient-physician relationship remains […]
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 […]
College walks a balancing act
It is unfortunate that Ms. Copley had a bad experience while visiting Warren Wilson College [“Not Just a Walk in the Park,” Letters, March 18]. Due to traffic congestion along Warren Wilson Road, we’ve found it necessary to restrict parking around the forest. There are also major safety concerns related to cars parked in front […]