The Gospel According to Jerry

I’ve been taken to the woodshed by some animal-rights folks after describing my experience buying a lot of old horses and mules at the Asheville stockyard to be processed in my father’s rendering plant (see “The Gospel According to Jerry,” Nov. 26, 2008 Xpress). There was no truck available to haul these animals. My father […]

Small Bites

Sugar Beet Cafe: The hardy sugar beet, a plant known for successfully sprouting in seemingly adverse conditions, lent its name to Sugar Beet Café, a breakfast-and-lunch spot that last month bravely opened in the face of a deteriorating economy. But the recession has proven no match for the casual restaurant’s sandwiches and egg plates, which […]

SoundTrack

How many artists, besides the late Johnny Cash, open with a prison song? Roots and blues musician Woody Pines probably found himself in an exclusive club when he started off a recent Orange Peel set with the song “99 Years.” The thing about Pines (whose band borrows its front man’s stage name) is that he’s […]

Phish tickets error explained

Demand had never been so high for an Asheville Civic Center show, said Sherman Bass, the venue’s executive director. Staff had put a hold on tickets through the computer system, live operator phone system and through sales at Ticketmaster outlets (such as record stores). But because they didn’t also restrict sales through Ticketmaster’s automated system, the tickets still sold out.