The URTV offices were dark and the doors locked at 8 a.m. on Feb. 9, making it unclear if a planned special meeting of the public-access channel’s Executive Committee was inside. URTV board President Jerry Young originally called the special closed session for Feb. 6, without disclosing the topic. But in a Feb. 4 e-mail […]
Year: 2009
Showing 2542-2562 of 2958 results
Try this on for size
Several high-profile downtown buildings and proposed projects wouldn’t meet the standards spelled out in the draft Downtown Master Plan, a city planner told members of the Downtown Commission and the Downtown Master Plan Advisory Committee. In a Feb. 5 presentation, Urban Planner Alan Glines reviewed a short list of downtown structures’ level of conformity to […]
Smoky Mountain Brass Band
Now in its 27th year, the Smoky Mountain Brass Band continues to delight Western North Carolina audiences by performing concerts filled with great music—from pops to patriotic, orchestral favorites to big-band jazz, marches to beloved hymns. Dr. John Entzi, director of bands at UNC-Asheville, is in his second year as conductor of the band. Entzi […]
Stimulus Package
Welcome to A&E
“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 […]
The Green Scene
Elevated arsenic levels have been found in a preliminary sampling of water and sediment collected downstream from Progress Energy’s Skyland power plant and coal-ash pond. A water sample taken from an unnamed French Broad River tributary nearby contained arsenic at slightly above the permissible level for surface waters—and seven times higher than the U.S. Environmental […]
Pet sounds
“You never know with a song,” muses Toby Leaman, bassist for Philadelphia-based Dr. Dog. “You could have a great song and it just might not ever work, recorded. And you could have a song that you don’t feel great about, and all of a sudden it’s just kickin’.” Who let the dog out? Philly’s Dr. […]
Art from the heart
The Madison County town of Marshall holds sentimental value to Eric Legge. Zuma Coffee shop downtown was the last place Eric and his father, folk-art sculptor Joe Legge, shared a cup of coffee before the elder Legge died in January. Eric and Joe were close, spending a decade working together in Dillard, Ga., before Eric […]
A curious blend of Bacharach, countrypolitan and just enough rock
Valentine’s Day—the Hallmark holiday best known for chocolates, roses and trying to make “I love you” not sound like canned applause. One go-to tradition is the personalized mix-disc, songs culled specifically for you and yours because of their various PG-, R- and X-rated associations. And any worthwhile mix should probably include Lambchop, which plays the […]
Getting’ busy
Wondering how to woo your sweetie? Not that flowers and candy ever grow old, but when there’s so much else to do (take a hike, learn CPR, ogle a burlesque dancer, check out the symphony, a DJ or a soul group, or just ride around on a big purple bus); why not make the whole […]
Edgy Mama
I’m fairly crafty and enjoy big, messy kid art projects (in someone else’s house). However, for that craftiest of kid holidays, Valentine’s Day, I asked local kids’ craft expert Jean Van’t Hul for ideas. Jean’s an edgy mama of a 3-year-old girl I found through her rocking blog, www.artfulparent.wordpress.com. She ran a toddler art group […]
The Biz
Speed-Networking For Creative Pros This Thursday, Feb. 12: Asheville HATCHfest, a multidisciplinary arts festival that will come to the city in April, will host an event Thursday, Feb. 12, that’s geared toward both raising funds for the festival and connecting creative professionals—on the quick. “Speed Networking for Creative Professionals” takes place at Mobilia (43 Haywood […]
An avian valentine
I was a young yuppie with my first house, two young children and a third on the way. Of course, in the early ‘60s, no one used the word “yuppie.” But that’s what I was I believed in dressing well, acquiring all the material possessions I could and climbing the social ladder. Years later, the […]
URTV
Doing the wild thing
I miss Marlin Perkins and his softly instructional nature shows. But Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom and the like have become as endangered as the Rameshwaram Parachute Spider or the Borneo pygmy elephant. Long gone is a serene, omniscient host like Perkins, cozily narrating the love moves of tawny African lions. Despite the coital element, […]
A pearl of a prospect
When times are lean, both people and products have to work twice as hard. Anyone whose parents or grandparents survived the Great Depression has heard examples of this protean creed: cardboard shirt inserts that were turned into shoe soles, scraps of tinfoil re-used for a decade. Hop to it: The Lobster Trap’s Billy Klingel (left) […]
The missing faces of evangelicals
Evangelicalism, as Scott Lessing stated, is “truly a wide and disparate movement made up of people from varied and diverse backgrounds.” But I wish his photo essay, “The Many Faces of Evangelicals” [Jan. 28 Xpress] reflected that a bit better. The two-page spread gave us stock imagery of white, clean-cut, contempo-Baptist, sloganized, mall-church Christianity. The […]
Should local government bail out Biltmore Square Mall?
The headline in the front section of the Asheville Citizen-Times on Jan. 11, “Buncombe County Officials Seeking New Offices,” should raise concerns with every citizen/taxpayer of Buncombe County. Please consider the following: 1. The current owners of Biltmore Square Mall paid around $20 million three years ago and are now asking $37 million (a 76-percent […]
Asheville Disclaimer Page: 02/11/09
• Local pilot makes non-emergency landing
• $122 million wish list
• Valentine’s Day gestures
• Briefs
• Pentagon spending billions on PR
• Trustafarians
Not in my alt weekly
My eyes! My eyes! I read publications like yours to escape the Jesus nuts, so imagine my disappointment when I saw your recent cover! Ugh! Don’t these individuals have enough forums to spread their ridiculous message? What’s next? An article claiming that Barack Obama is not a U.S. citizen? Come on, Mountain Xpress! — Jennifer […]
Phishing for answers
Despite the severe weather, local Phish fans started lining up outside of the Civic Center on Wednesday afternoon [Jan. 28]. I arrived that evening, just after midnight, after getting a phone call that people were already in line. Those who arrived earliest had already called the Asheville Police Department to find out what rules needed […]