For three years, Swannanoa had been caught in a sometimes-tumultuous debate over whether to incorporate as a town. Proponents of the move said residents would have better services and more control over their own destiny, while opponents asserted that it would bring higher taxes and regulations unsuited to an area that remains largely rural. On […]
Year: 2009
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LiveWire Asheville opens online gateway for area performing arts
After two years spent researching, developing and designing the project, a consortium of artists, venues and supporters last week launched LiveWireAsheville.com, which is intended to be a one-stop shop for info about Asheville-area performing arts. One of its main goals? To create a brand for Asheville's performing arts, and help better market the local arts […]
Developer prevails in lawsuit over public land in downtown Asheville
Buncombe County officials were within their rights to sell a piece of public land to a developer, the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled on Nov. 3. The decision reversed a lower court ruling and leaves the land in the hands of Stewart Coleman. The decision also leaves open the chance that one day the property […]
Mission Hospital to begin search for new CEO
The president and CEO of Mission Hospital and Mission Health System, Western North Carolina's key health center and the region's largest employer, resigned recently amid tensions between hospital administrators and some staff members and physicians. Joe Damore notified the hospital's Board of Directors on Oct. 27 that he would resign effective Jan. 31, 2010. The […]
Corsage and limo not required
Hard as it may be believe, prom — for some, the pinnacle of the high school experience; for others, cruel and unusual punishment — is not a carefully documented artifact of American history. The etymology is simple enough: The name comes from "promenade;" though what hair-sprayed and tuxedoed high schooler ever attempted that square dance […]
The Green Scene
It's beneficial to protect natural systems as our region develops. That's the simple thought behind Linking Lands and Communities, a project that takes a big-picture look at the regional landscape to better understand where our most valuable natural resources are, what condition they are in, and how we can be more proactive about maintaining them. […]
Create the sound and the life you want to live
One of the more novel acts to emerge on the national scene in recent years, Matisyahu draws inspiration from his practice of Judaism and channels it into accessible songs about the human struggle for hope, peace and understanding. The traditionally clad Hasidic reggae singer, songwriter and rapper spawned a media frenzy in 2006 with his […]
These are the good old days
Everything about Woody Pines (from his feather-festooned fedora and his vintage resonator guitar to the grainy pictured of boxcars on his Web site and deep cut covers of long-forgotten blues musicians) harkens to another era. One of juke joints, clapboard shacks and coal smoke on the wind. Pines, whose early performances borrowed from vaudeville and […]
Sound Track
Open Windows, an eclectic rock-indie quartet, finished its debut album, Lanterns, in Orlando, Fla. and was looking to relocate to a city where the band could move forward in its endeavors. Since arriving in Asheville a few months ago, a chance vacancy at the Root Bar yielded a surprise first show, a relationship with the […]
Take a surprise trolley stop or two
Set against an industrial landscape, where the historic buildings are every bit as fascinating as the artists who work in them, the studios of the River District artists will be open this weekend for the twice-yearly stroll. To make it extra easy on guests, a free trolley service has been added this year. Melissa Morrissey […]
Asheville Transgender Remembrance Weekend
The Transgender Day of Remembrance is an international event to remember those who have been killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. Although not every person memorialized during the Day of Remembrance self-identifies as transgender — that is, as a transsexual, cross-dresser or otherwise gender-variant — each was a victim of violence caused by bias […]
There’s no shame in this bottle
It's probably not American wine drinkers' fondness for lots of alcohol and oak that most thoroughly confounds Old World wine lovers: It's their tendency to let fictional characters tell them what to drink. In one of the goofier episodes in American wine history, a film intended to celebrate the joys of oenophilia nearly decimated an […]
Outdoors
A group of restless t'weens and teens clowning around at Jean Webb Park on Riverside Drive usually means that something not-so-productive is about to happen. The isolated park — located in the shadow of the Haywood Road bridge — has a shady reputation. But this group of 19 Asheville Middle School students are members of […]
Pitrolo and Williams are cleaning up Buncombe’s air and politics
Melanie Pitrolo's courageous lawsuit and Margaret Williams' excellent investigative reporting ["Pollution, Politics and Gender," Oct. 28] open an unusually clear window on the murky back-room world of two power-brokers who have held local politics in a tight, secretive grip for many years: CIBO — the local business lobby that's more conservative than the Chamber of […]
Hats off to the Pumpkin Pedallers
I would like to say "hats off" — or rather, "helmets off" to the large group of bike riders — 100 or so — that rode up Beaucatcher Mountain on Halloween Eve. They were delightful. And they were very well organized, polite, friendly, courteous and very appropriate for the Hallow Eve. I truly enjoyed watching […]
It’s time for Asheville to adopt a pro-cyclist stance
After being an avid bicyclist in Asheville for, well, almost four years now, I haven't seen any change in either motorists' attitudes towards cyclists or an altered political view of the situation (except for Gordon Smith, who has advocated for bicyclists). Concerning the potentially economically and environmentally advantageous qualities, let alone personal benefits, of simply […]
Welcome the tourists, even when they move here
My family and I were tourists for five years, pumping thousands of dollars into the economy, until we moved here in 2009. When a downtown restaurant owner asked me where we finally settled and I said south Asheville, there was an uncomfortable silence between us. Did I say something wrong? Enjoying my Mountain Xpress from […]
America must confront its own fundamentalism
Most Americans are appalled at how primitively fundamentalist some Middle Easterners are. Yes, some are extremely primitive. But by far the greater causes of terrorism are the primitive and fundamentalist aspects of America and Western Civilization. After all, historically, it's Western Civilization's brutal intolerance that forced the Jews to create a country in the Middle […]
Small Bites
• Wasabi
• Lee Bros
• Green Man Brewing
• Pies In Disguise
Want to help reach 350 ppm? Stop eating meat!
With all the recent 350 ppm hoopla, I am astonished at the lack of mention regarding the effects of animal agriculture on, well, everything. The surrounding events hit all the basics — land, water, energy, pollution — yet nothing and no one focused on the biggest contributor to all of these topics. It was like […]
Say and eat what you want
In reply to Scott Smith's letter on vegetarians ["Vegetarians Are Too Pushy About Their Lifestyle," Nov. 4]: Dear Scott, I am sorry that you are so offended by vegetarians. No doubt this is a free country, and you can say and eat pretty much whatever you want. But lifestyle does come with a price. Despite […]