UNC-Asheville senior Ellie Johnston wonders what her world will be like in the year 2050. That's the target date currently bandied about by world leaders for halving greenhouse-gas emissions. By that time, most of those world leaders will be, well, dead and gone. Johnston, on the other hand, will be a spry 63, she calculates. […]
Year: 2009
Showing 547-567 of 2958 results
You make it, they air it
There are a few key points you learn at URTV 101, the free weekly orientation to Asheville's public-access station. No. 1: URTV is not paid for with taxpayer money. No. 2: The channel is set up as a First Amendment-flexing, free-speech forum. No. 3: There's only one thing you won't see on the channel: Commercials. […]
Put a bow on it
A Mountain Homecoming is the name of the Asheville Symphony's Saturday, Oct. 17, concert. The description reads, "We continue to present music of exotic regions." Featured composers include Estonian-born Arvo Part, the Germans Felix Mendelssohn and Johann Sebastian Bach and French Impressionist composer Joseph-Maurice Ravel. Is it a bit of a contradiction to feature such […]
Basement vigilantes
"We're kind of like the hardcore band for not hardcore people," says Just Die! guitarist and de facto front man Matt Evans. You'll know it's a Just Die! song because it’s spastic: The new record’s got something for everyone, says front man Matt Evans. Photo by Brian Dubin But don't be fooled. Evans is referring […]
A good-natured bird
For Phillip Brown, an old-time carver, and Judi Harwood, an innovative maker of clay drums, the Southern Highland Craft Guild's biannual fair is as much a meeting place as a marketplace. "It's one of my favorite things to do," Brown says. "I'll run into old friends and craftsmen I haven't seen in years." Brown, Harwood […]
Junker’s Blues
"I say, 'How much you want for that?' (I go into a store). Man says 'three dollars.' 'All right," I say, 'will you take four?'" – Bob Dylan, "Po' Boy" When the junk is on the table and the deal is about to go down, there's an endgame before the money changes hands – the […]
Soundtrack
If it seems like Asheville music has evolved into a heady brew of world beat, experimental, indie rock and quirky pop, these four discs — all recently released by well-respected Asheville-based songwriters and musicians — prove that roots music (namely Americana) is alive and well. • Long Days Above Ground by Pierce Edens and The […]
The Basilica Centennial and Rafael Guastavino
Architect Rafael Guastavino lived for 66 fruitful years and, while he's not exactly a household name (public relations and "branding" were not his strong suit), he should be counted among the most prolific and inspired people of the past two centuries. He didn't live long enough to celebrate his own centennial, but his mortal remains […]
Exporting Asheville’s know-how
To achieve the goal of eating closer to home, last month some food activists took a trip to a very faraway place. Asheville's Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project this fall hosted its first-ever Local Food Institute, designed to familiarize local-food-market developers from Tennessee to Toledo with ways to energize their economies. For three days, participants tromped […]
Outdoors: Forty years exploring the Smokies
The book cover got my attention when 3,000 Miles in the Great Smokies landed in my in-box: a black-and-white photo in which author and Weaverville native William Hart leans against the Siler Bald trail sign. It's a scene from 1967, not long after the then-young man set out to explore the Great Smoky Mountains National […]
The Dirt: Seed rush
I'm feeling a little panicked. It's the end of the garden season at Xpress, and I have so much I want to share in so few words, from seed-gathering to garden clean-up. Gather ye seeds: Identify, gather, separate and store properly; come spring, you'll get to plant seeds from your own garden. Photo by Marvin […]
Small Bites
• Hard Lox Cafe
• The Green Sage
• Grove Park Inn
• The Lobster Trap
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Like a Maverick
Morris Broadband
Citizens from around the world — and in Asheville —will demonstrate for 350 ppm
This December, the United Nations will hold a climate-change conference in Copenhagen, as they do annually. However, this year the stakes are at an unprecedented high. James Hansen, a NASA climate scientist, recently released a study showing that the highest concentration of CO2 the Earth's atmosphere can maintain is 350 parts per million, above which […]
Weekly Asheville Disclaimer Page: 10/14/09
• Shuler/Obama Pickup B-Ball
• New WLOS weatherman
• Briefs
How I learned to respect Robin Cape and why you should write her name on your ballot
When Council member Robin Cape was elected four years ago, I was upset. I couldn't understand how Asheville could elect someone with her radical ideas about energy, the environment and a paternalistic model of government. … With that span of time now passed, I have changed and I could indeed vote for Robin Cape. But […]
Robin changed her mind, but she’s got my vote
Earlier this summer, Robin Cape faced what appeared to be an "either-or" situation: Either mount a City Council re-election campaign, or step aside to focus on the concurrent crises of her father's death and her divorce. As a mother, she chose to focus on protecting her children during that difficult time. Thankfully, she and the […]
Drive-by noise pollution is driving me crazy
I live in east Asheville, in Haw Creek. Before moving into a house on a busy street in east Asheville, I lived on a mountain in Candler. I had to move for financial reasons. The bass used to be my favorite instrument. I even thought about taking lessons once. Now I deplore the bass. Why? […]
Thank you, Grant Millin. Motorcycle noise needs to be curbed
I would like to express my sincere gratitude for Grant Millin's commentary, "The Motorcycle Community Needs a Tune-up" [Sept. 30]. I picked up the Mountain Xpress on Wednesday and, after reading the article, decided I needed to speak out in support of Mr. Millin. I had been putting it off, but today is Saturday and […]
Dogs and restaurants don’t mix
I am writing this letter to address what I see as a growing concern in Asheville. While I am an animal lover, there are some places that dogs simply should not be, in my opinion. Restaurants are my concern. I have numerous times encountered dogs tied up outside local restaurants in all sorts of weather. […]