Two days after President Obama signed the stimulus package into law, DeWayne Barton and Dan Leroy were in D.C. for the “Good Jobs, Green Jobs” conference. But the two men—co-founders of the Asheville Green Opportunity Corps—were not content with merely attending the event and eyeing the new funding possibilities. With help from Barton’s D.C. brother […]
Year: 2009
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Welcome to A&E
The news spread faster than a drunken two-step: That longtime Black Mountain institution the Town Pump tavern was for sale. What would happen to the historic bar and community gathering spot? Town Pump changing hands: It seems fitting that the Xpress file photo of the decades-old tavern was undated and sepia-toned. “Maybe it’ll get cleaned,” […]
Weekly Asheville Disclaimer Page: 03/04/09
• Economic crisis
• Kimberly ave
• Briefs
• Kid care with Arnold
Zombies
Writer’s block
You can’t help but notice it when driving across the Smokey Park Bridge into Asheville: A bright wall of color in the middle of the River District’s industrial landscape. It started when local guerrilla outfit Eyesore Studios asked about filming a graffiti-writing scene on one of the property’s old silos. Modernist developer Whit Rylee gave […]
Back from the island
Julian Koster’s devotion to the singing saw borders on the religious. “The first time I heard it I thought it was magic in every way, like a magician’s magic. I don’t know if I’ve ever been so taken with the sound of a musical instrument, and I love musical instruments a whole lot. I was […]
King Khan and the Shrines
There may be better bands than King Khan and the Shrines: bands with calculatingly unparalleled prowess, capable of bloodless technical precision. But King Khan and the Shrines aren’t interested in that fancy-pants conservatory graduate stuff. Their playing is expert, but balances right on the edge of chaos. Should-be classics like “(How Can I Keep You) […]
Boy blue
I have a vivid memory of a friend—circa 1986—pouting, “‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now?’ Give me a break! The guy could have any woman or man he wanted.” That Morrissey refused to come out as gay or straight or anything, really, other than vegetarian, cemented his idol-worthiness in my mind far before the major press […]
Waterboy
Cultivating organic growers
As recently as 20 years ago, organic farming was a rather shaggy enterprise. Its practitioners were a freewheeling bunch of mostly self-taught visionaries who sometimes surfaced at tailgate markets with a limp head of kale or soil-caked radishes. When the mainstream media took note of them at all, it usually mockingly depicted them as Luddite-leaning […]
WPVM’s vision stays strong
A group of volunteers at WPVM, a radio station founded by the nonprofit Mountain Area Information Network in 2003, have come to believe that their vision should trump MAIN’s bylaws, governing board, employees and strategic vision. This is a familiar pattern in the life cycle of community radio. It goes like this: A new station […]
Diversity: the healthy alternative
I am a consistent listener of WPVM (at home, in car, at my studio) and have been so since it came on air. This exceptional station has greatly added to my quality of life—it’s creative, authentic, real, intelligent. It’s magnificent! Nowadays, media is [mostly] geared to make a profit and appeal to the lowest common […]
Time for new ideas
I thank David Forbes for his article regarding the current uproar at URTV [“Whose TV?” Feb. 25]. I and my wife, Valeria, have been URTV producers since before URTV even opened. To date we have submitted well over 40 original documentaries. Our productions focus on cross-cultural awareness. From my perspective, the current issues with the […]
Mountain Xpress changing?
Mountain Xpress got it wrong with David Forbes’ flagging piece on the so-called internal disputes at URTV [“Whose TV?” Feb. 25]. For starters, the title on the cover—“Changing Channel?”—is a convoluted double-entendre that ultimately does not work. Is Forbes suggesting that the channel is changing its philosophy midstream because it is not doing more to […]
Outdoor Journal
A cinematic celebration of the bicycle: As a benefit for the Mars Hill College Cycling Team, three eclectic cycling films will be screened at Asheville Pizza and Brewing Co. on Thursday, March 5, at 9:30 p.m. Klunkerz chronicles the birth of mountain biking during the 1960s and ‘70s in northern California. Chris Hoy: Just a […]
Proposed guidelines honor the public realm
I hope architect John Rogers was misquoted in Mountain X regarding his concern about regulations proposed in the new Downtown Master Plan: “If you follow the letter of the plan, you’re never going to get a building anybody likes” (emphasis mine) [“Try This on for Size,” Feb. 11]. While he may be speaking as an […]
Small Bites
Taqueria Jalisco: The tacos and tortas featured at West Asheville’s newest Mexican restaurant are rooted in a cuisine associated with a place 1600 miles away, but the eatery got its start a little closer to home: Taqueria Jalisco last month relocated from east Asheville to the Patton Avenue storefront vacated by 28806 Deli and Catering. […]
How about some real change?
The Obama administration has decided to stay the course of increasing the federal debt by yet another $787 billion in passing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which merely perpetuates and compounds our economic crisis. There is apparently little to no difference between the lack of economic leadership of the Bush and Obama […]
The Asheville City Schools Foundation
The Asheville City Schools Foundation is an independent nonprofit that works to ensure the promise of quality education for all Asheville City Schools children. The foundation also serves as a conduit for community involvement in school success. Through a partnership among donors, community leaders and schools, the foundation is able to provide relevant and responsive […]
WPVM’s interim station manager quits
The interim station manager at Asheville’s low-power FM community radio station has resigned, likening herself to a Band-Aid stuck on a mortal wound requiring immediate surgery.
Appalachian Mountains preservation hits a double in N.C. Legislature
Joint bills in the N.C. Senate and House filed in the past week would prohibit the use of coal from mountaintop-removal mining for electricity generated by the state’s public utilities.