View The Mad Tea Party’s just released video for “Oh Sh*t It’s Christmastime.” (Warning: As the song title suggests, there is some strong language, as well as a bird-flipping Santa and a naughty elf. Not for the easily offended.)
Year: 2009
Showing 85-105 of 2958 results
Golf scandals
Choking off the smoke
A statewide ban on smoking in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants, takes effect Saturday, Jan. 2. But that same legislation, passed by the General Assembly in May, also boosts local governments' ability to restrict smoking in public areas such as parks — a move Asheville is already mulling over. Airing it out: Smokers at […]
Tiger by the tail
In Tiger Town, everything was supposed to be first-class. The stunning, 50-mile views high atop craggy mountains. The luxurious $3 million home sites. Private parkland, walking trails, a helipad. And a golf course designed by none other than Tiger Woods, the man many consider the greatest golfer who ever lived. Photo by Jonathan Welch Officially […]
Teed off? The shifting state of the Tiger Woods brand
Tiger Woods has been in high demand among top-dollar corporate clients seeking a celebrity to help peddle their products. But amid the mounting scandal and media frenzy surrounding his personal travails, various national authorities are assessing and debating the current standing and value of his personal brand, and those opinions are all over the map. […]
Volvo plant to close in March, slashing 278 jobs
The Volvo Construction Equipment plant in Skyland will shut down March 31, 2010, according to a Dec. 11 press release from the Stockholm-based company. An estimated 228 employees will lose their jobs in a facility that both Buncombe County and the city of Asheville had earmarked for millions in economic-incentive grants just a few years […]
Bothwell atheism "controversy" echoes around the Web
It seems the only place people aren't shouting about the Dec. 8 swearing in of new Asheville City Council member Cecil Bothwell is Asheville. Blogs, including one on the Washington Post's Web site, have lit up about the "controversy" over Bothwell, a "post-theist" who earlier identified as an atheist, taking his seat. The controversy began […]
Sweet Peas Hostel set to open in downtown Asheville
During an era when most new hotel-style lodging in Asheville has veered toward the higher end, a downtown business is poised to open a decidedly cheaper opportunity for overnight visitors: Sweet Peas Hostel, at 23 Rankin Ave., is slated to open on Saturday, Dec. 26. Bunks on the cheap: Steve Wilmans, co-owner, shows off some […]
Former Medford deputy asks judge to set him free
A reserve captain who was convicted of collecting protection money from illegal video-poker operators for imprisoned former Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Medford is asking a federal judge to set aside his five-year prison sentence, saying he didn't receive proper legal representation. In papers filed from the minimum security prison in Kentucky where he currently resides, […]
New Council members, re-elected mayor take their seats
Applause isn't typically allowed inside the Asheville City Council chamber, and those attending the regular Tuesday-night meetings are asked to refrain from emotional outbursts. But loud cheers and claps punctuated a special Dec. 8 session at which three new Council members and a re-elected mayor were sworn in. The new lineup: Following a short ceremony, […]
Homecoming
Go a-wassailing into the holiday season with A Swannanoa Solstice, and join the southern Appalachian's foremost bards of song, poetry, dance, and storytelling in an unforgettable celebration of Christmas and the winter solstice. In its seventh year, the event rejoices in the yuletide history of Appalachia and its Celtic origins. Rejoicing in the Yuletide history […]
The Green Scene
For neighbors of the contaminated former CTS site on Mills Gap Road, there are two key questions: What's to be done about it, and who's going to pay for it? The answers, say those residents, are clear: Force the Indiana-based company to clean it up and pay for it. But CTS has recently countered that […]
Hookers, bat wings, pigs’ feet and hair tonic
Central to the African-American experience of the 1950s and '60s was the juke joint. An unlicensed liquor dispensary, it was a place for people to get together, relax, dance and drink. Free of the pressures of home or work, the juke joint was in many ways the only place where people could be themselves. Artist […]
"Like playing naked"
"Just because the audience isn't dancing doesn't mean they don't like the show," says singer/songwriter/guitarist Jeff Markham. The musician admits that he, himself isn't "much of a dancer, but I'll get up and do the robot from time to time." Happy hour: Despite its name, this relatively new Asheville quintet is far from its last […]
Artillery
About 150 drawings comprise Nathanael Roney's exhibit Take Me Out, currently on display at Harvest Records in West Asheville. The sheer volume of work is impressive and when viewed as a whole, the mass of drawings tells a compelling story as strange and beautiful as each individual piece. Nathanael Roney doesn't compromise subject matter for […]
Soundtrack
When Arundas plays, the crowd is a mix of friends and family, belly dancers and the broad array of Asheville freaks who want to get down and boogie. Arundas plays a range of collaborative music that explores fantasy-like mystical rhythms, incorporating sitar, dun-duns, chanting and heavy, heavy drumming. Arundas tunes in to far-flung inspirations and […]
So many miracles to celebrate
As far as we know, humans have always been big on miracles. Always big on believing that more is possible than what we were taught. More than what we have experienced. More than we logically assume. We humans have consistently wanted to believe that sometimes things happen that are outside the laws of nature. (Assuming, […]
Turkey in the straw
When I attended UNC-Chapel Hill in the late '40s, most students viewed the holiday season as a time to relax. For me it represented economic opportunity. My parents had saved to pay my college expenses, but I was responsible for earning my spending money. My first year home from college, a close family friend gave […]
Keep some local gifts on hand
This is how it happens: You show up at a holiday open house or potluck or company party and some well-meaning person hands you a gift. A neighbor or co-worker or distant cousin — someone you totally like, yet never thought to shop for. What to do? Xpress has your back. Here's a list of […]
Bagging a holiday bird, part two
Editor's note: This is the second part of Raskin's two-part story on her first turkey hunt. See last week's Xpress for part one. Dowler warned me there was a good chance I wouldn't get a turkey. The difficulties of turkey hunting are compounded in the South, where thick forests compromise visibility and birds have been […]
Outdoors: For the birds
My twin sister Holly, a character who belongs to some long-ago time, shows an extremist compassion for pillaging rodents. She doesn't understand my harsh feelings toward the squirrels that daily raid my front-porch bird feeder. She'll even say maddening things like, "They need to eat too. And look how clever they are, jumping that high." […]