Woodfin is pursuing an annexation that would increase its population by almost 50 percent, bringing 3,360 people from the Erwin Hills and Leicester areas into the town. The stated reason is to keep Asheville from annexing the area first, which the city has denied is a goal. Residents of the 3.4-square-mile area have objected to […]
Year: 2009
Showing 1198-1218 of 2958 results
Hard times? Must laugh
The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, ongoing war and perhaps even more disturbingly, a national media frenzy over the untimely death of Michael Jackson — it's enough to bring anyone down. However, if laughter truly is the best medicine, Asheville is a good place to be these days. The town might not yet […]
The Green Scene
Time is not on Dot Rice's side. On a gray day in June, she stood in the shadow of the Federal Building and voiced her disappointment that Gov. Bev Perdue hadn't made time to meet with her during an Asheville visit. "My family's still in danger," said Rice. For decades, they've lived near the contaminated […]
"I have learned nothing"
"Oh my god, the guy across the street needs to put some f**in' clothes on!" Todd Snider is sitting by the front window of his house in East Nashville, Tenn., enjoying a break from touring behind his latest album, The Excitement Plan. Apparently his neighbor has decided to step outside sans shirt and pants. This […]
Junker’s Blues
For those of you who've been enjoying this column over the last couple of months, it's time to let you know that you need to take the whole thing with a large grain of salt. Illustration by Nathanael Roney Because I'm a junker, and all the junkers I've ever met are liars. Well … "liar" […]
Spork
Yahoo, it's the middle of summer and prime Downtown After Five time. The next show in the free (free!) series kicks off Friday, July 17, with a lineup that ranges from gritty-blues-rock to local quirk-folk. Coverin' all the bases, they are. The show starts at 5:15 p.m. (though you can come right after 5, if […]
Artillery: Learning through scissors and books
Ginger Huebner believes all children should grow up with a foundation in the arts. All her life, she's known she was meant to teach art. So it was a natural move to open Asheville's first visual arts preschool, The Roots + Wings School of Art. "Most of how we learn history is through the art […]
What can an artist do with $1,500?
Jennifer Callahan needed to fix the letterpress. The machine was broken, and without it, the literary and visual artist couldn't produce broadsides of her hand-bound journal, Pig. Money from a Regional Artist Project Grant helped her, and now the elegantly designed broadsides will be on display at Harvest Records in August. Visual artist Jennifer Callahan […]
Outdoors: Twitching for the tufted titmouse
I'm a random, somewhat lazy twitcher. That's British for bird watcher, Marilyn Westphal of the Elisha Mitchell Audubon Society told me many years ago (see "In Search of the Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker," March 11, 1998, Xpress). These days, however, the North Carolina Birding Trail has piqued my interest in all things avian: The Western North Carolina […]
The Dirt: Winging it
Cheap beer and chain saws are a troubling combination. I haven't been able to enjoy sitting on our back deck since my husband, Scott, acquired his latest outdoor toy. A winged cap: Scott Bianchi's head proved as good a spot as any for a butterfly to take a break. Photo by Melanie McGee Bianchi The […]
Teaching vino
If you're wondering whether the recent dry spell in Mendoza will mean trouble for the next round of Argentinian wines, Jess Gualano will gladly geek out with you. But the 30-year-old owner of Asheville Wine Consulting — and the resident wine expert at West Asheville's Hops & Vines — would rather field questions like the […]
Don’t believe the EMP hype
In response to Bill Forstchen's desire to terrify America ["Apocalypse WNC," July 8 Xpress], scaring people with false information is not admirable. Only three countries — the United States, Russia and China — could explode a large enough nuclear weapon high enough, higher than the International Space Station, to cause a national electromagnetic pulse problem. […]
An impassioned retraction
Recently in the Xpress online forums, I made several comments about the Mountain Area Information Network's use of funds meant for WPVM, and suggested WPVM only exists as a source of funding for MAIN. Afterward I was personally contacted by Wally Bowen, executive director of MAIN, calling me out to prove the accuracy of these […]
Kudos and complaints
Kudos to Josh Kelly, whose letter regarding the Brushy Ridge Project (North Mills River area) land-use plan appeared in your July 1 issue. Kelly's summary of a local environmental concern was well researched, concise and effective. He gave the reader a brief explanation of a situation of concern and directed the reader to where to […]
Let POPAsheville fend for itself
I am extremely offended and affronted by "Saving POPAsheville" [July 1 Xpress]. Never have I ever read such a thinly veiled advertisement for a failed financial venture masked as a piece of journalism. Why are we responsible for $15,000 that is essentially paying for one person's salary ("As [Stephanie] Morgan explains it, $12,000 would pay […]
Don’t bankroll POPAsheville
Regarding your recent article on POPAsheville ["Save POPAsheville," July 1 Xpress], I think that it's insane that anybody would think that this is journalism or that an event's planner should be bankrolled because of poor financial planning. This is a shining example of how overgrown the egos are in the music scene here in Asheville. […]
Small Bites
• Heatherlane Farms
• Wink
• Luella'S
• Mountain Ale And Lager Tasters
Cutting down on meat diets
I'd like to commend Stewart David on his recent commentary ["Greenwashed," July 1 Xpress] for exposing a meat-based diet for what it is: unsustainable, inefficient and potentially harmful for human, animal and planetary health. With all of the information available these days about reducing our carbon footprint, I would hope that people, even of the […]
Watch those invasives
Cinthia Milner's article on shrubbery ["Into the Shrubbery," July 1 Xpress] did not give sufficient warning against the continued introduction and use of nonnative invasive plants. There are thousands of better choices! Burning Bush (Euonymous alatus) was introduced in the 1860s from Asia and is now at the infestation level in seven states, according to […]
Protests
