Before last Saturday night at the Carolina Asheville Cinema, it had been about 30 years since I last attended a public screening of Jim Sharman’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) with a live cast. Back then these midnight shows were pretty common. A group of fans would dress up as the characters in the […]
Because it’s Halloween weekend and you have the fab costume and you’re all raring to go, Shoestring brings you a few extra bonus pre-weekend events at which to revel. All budget-friendly like. Lots to do, so pace yourself.
The civil-justice system has its own grinding, seesaw pace, as Buncombe resident Melanie Pitrolo has discovered. In the space of four years, she has lost her case, won an appeal and prevailed before a jury — only to lose again when the judge overruled. She has filed her second and final appeal in the case, […]
In June, state Sen. Martin Nesbitt (D-Buncombe) had something to say to his colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee. "This is about the town of Swannanoa, and I know you don't want to know anything about it, but I'm going to tell you anyhow," he said, introducing legislation to put the General Assembly's stamp of […]
Wednesday, Oct. 28: Meet and Greet for Asheville City Council candidate Robin Cape, 6:30 p.m., West End Bakery, 757 Haywood Road. Friday, Oct. 30: Get There Asheville early-voting event. Meet at 5 p.m. in Pritchard Park to walk, bike or bus to the polls. Meet-up follows at Asheville Pizza and Brewing, 77 Coxe Ave. Saturday, […]
When the Asheville Design Center first proposed Interstate 26 connector Alternative 4B in 2007, the idea was to run the highway beneath Patton Avenue so as to separate highway and local traffic and to allow for a boulevard connection from West Asheville to downtown. But when the North Carolina Department of Transportation finally acquiesced to […]
The Buncombe County Sheriff's Office is seeking information about the slaying of Misty Lynn Carter, 21, of Mountain Home. Carter's nude body was found early Oct. 19 on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Around 6:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 19, the sheriff's office received a call from a motorist who found Carter's body — at that time […]
A promised conference between government officials and Mills Gap Road area residents who live near the contaminated site of the former CTS of Asheville plant has been canceled, and the residents are crying foul. "As best we can figure out, as soon as they heard that we were inviting media to come, they bailed out," […]
Two more key pieces have been added to Pack Square Park, the new $20 million park still under construction in the heart of downtown Asheville. Asheville artist Hoss Haley began the installation of a stainless-steel pergola over the park's main stage last week. The structure, designed to echo the outlines of mountains on the horizon, […]
The technology may be cool, but it's the dirt that's the common denominator. So says Riceville resident Charlie Hopper, who recently launched the Botany Buddy Tree and Shrub Finder interactive database for mobile devices such as the Apple iphone. It's a love of dirt and the green that grows from it that brought Hopper and […]
Builders are always happy to construct million-dollar "green" mansions for the wealthy, and the government is already helping low-income families with weatherization projects, but what are middle-class homeowners and renters to do if they want to go green? Let the caulking begin? The middle-class needs some help with weatherization and energy-efficiency projects, such as the […]
Dress up or just slap on a mask, grab your biggest trick-or-treat bag and head out — there are entertainment options for every age and persuasion of Halloween-celebrating ghost, goblin or fairy princess. Xpress tracked down four days' worth of plays, parties, bike rides, concerts, tours, carnivals, family-friendly gatherings and adult-specific indulgences. Start noshing on […]
Here it is, the eve of Hallows Eve, and you don’t have a thing to wear. But never fear, your friendly neighborhood vintage and costume shops are rife with possibilities — and not just your typical witch hats, vampire fangs and fairy wings, either. Xpress challenged some of downtown Asheville’s most alter-ego ready boutiques to […]
Elvis once asked why every day can't be like Christmas. We'd like to know the same about the Halloween season. A zombie record, a zombie author, a haunting release, some wild art and a Dias De Los Muertos celebration to keep you in the spirit. • Zombie boogie is the latest craze, indeed. Ukeabilly dynamos […]
When award-winning author Barbara Kingsolver was searching for the perfect place to set the American scenes of her new novel, The Lacuna (Harper, 2009), she considered D.C. and Virginia. Then, "It hit me that Asheville was perfect," she tells Xpress. Photo by Annie Griffiths Belt. Because of its long history as a tourist town, Asheville […]
"I certainly thought that would be it for the band," Ahleuchatistas frontman Shane Perlowin says matter of factly. He's referring to the loss of drummer and founding member Sean Dail last year, weeks before the band was scheduled to leave for tour. Ironically, as he talks about the band's near demise, Perlowin is preparing to […]
I see them all the time in the record bins at the thrifts or in the dollar bins at record stores – in the '50s and '60s there was a subgenre of LPs designed as incidental music for specific activities. "Music to study by," "music for dining," music for "that special feeling" (a subgenre dominated […]
What is it about F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald that continues to inspire the Asheville imagination? Is it that their contradictory love of money and rebellion, glamour and destitution, beauty and darkness, says something peculiar about the Asheville of the past and the present? Similarities also are apparent between our ability today, as much as […]
Like most homegrown cuisines, Appalachian cookery is rife with makeshift techniques and food-stretching ingenuity. But for pure resourcefulness, no mountain dish can match buried cabbage, an underground delicacy for which the preservation period starts this month. The recipe for buried cabbage sounds like the punch line to a "How poor was he?" joke: In the […]
