Tigers roaming the streets of Asheville? It's not an animal-rights demonstration, and the circus isn't in town: It's the top item in the political platform of local blogger/mayoral wannabe Shad Marsh. Tongue, meet cheek: Local blogger and mountainx.com forums regular Shad Marsh has announced a bid for mayor of Asheville with a highly unusual platform. […]
Year: 2009
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Sneer campaign
“I'm not as much of a jerk as I make myself out to be,” says essayist David Sedaris. Then, “Maybe I'm worse.” Known for his bitingly hilarious (as in he's laughing at you, notwith you) nonfiction, Sedaris's stories revolve around the misfortunes of others and his own sardonic observations. When You Are Engulfed In Flames […]
“It blows your hair back”
Talk about jazz towns and people think New Orleans, Chicago, New York. But Asheville? According to local musician Shane Perlowin (of math-rock outfit Ahleuchatistas and punk-jazz trio Mind vs. Target), Asheville is making a name for itself among touring jazz musicians. “They go to Columbia, Lexington and New York,” he says. “They tour overseas,” because […]
The Green Scene
The Marshall Senior Center serves nearly 300 meals a day and offers a variety of activities for Madison County's elderly population, but the facility needed an energy face-lift. Enter the green team, led by the Global Institute for Sustainability Technologies, a new A-B Tech program that tackles special projects and holds workshops on such topics […]
Economic demi-détourné
This year has been a hard one for dance companies. According to Heather Maloy, artistic director of Asheville's Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance, “across the country dance companies are folding or laying off large numbers.” Terpsicorps, which draws its cast from professional dancers on summer break from their regular companies, isn't facing layoffs, but these are […]
Spork
Here's the set-up for A Beautiful View, now running in repertory at N.C. Stage, according to the show's press: L and M meet in a camping-goods store. Their tentative friendship seems doomed to fail before it begins, each with preconceived notions about the other. Rather than hurt each other's feelings, they have a drink. Their […]
Artillery
Cloaked characters, burning branches, mystical symbols and desolate landscapes comprise the evocative paintings of Asheville artist Chris Sedgwick, on display this month at Gallery Minerva on Biltmore Ave. Linking themes of spirituality and science, what is most remarkable about Sedgwick's paintings is the indecipherable era they inhabit. While the characters perform what appear to be […]
Soundtrack
Black Mountain-based musician, former Choosy Beggar and he-of-late-with-the-oddly-named bands, Seth Kauffman shows off his mastery of many genres (bossa nova and dub among them) on the most recent Floating Action album. Before the CD-release show at the Grey Eagle, many Kauffman fans were already raving over the hyper-original, entirely catchy passel of songs. But as […]
High stakes cooking in the high country
There are probably people playing hockey in Utah. Surely there's a football player biding his time on an Arizona gridiron, and a point guard fated to punch a clock in Maine. But as anyone who lives in a monosports culture like Quebec, Alabama or North Carolina can attest, games somehow mean more when played in […]
Outdoors: Trial by white water
Whenever someone asks whether I've kayaked before, I always reply, “Of course,” with a certain bravado. But as soon as that weak lie in a lion's suit springs from my lips, I have to suppress some embarrassing memories of flipping my kayak in the French Broad River's gentle waters (and even in a few still […]
The Dirt: Learning from the masters
All right, I confess: In my neglected garden, the arugula has bloomed, the spinach survives only because of our cool mountain nights, my three tomato plants are only now sporting their yellow blooms, and my tatsoi begs to be picked before it goes to seed. I didn't have the time to plant a garden as […]
Correction
In our June 10 issue, Robert McGahey's commentary, “Just Remnants,” identified Tom Peterson of the National Climatic Data Center as a Nobel laureate. The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was actually awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, of which Peterson is a member.
A life spent on a chain is unacceptable
A well trained, loved dog will give you back far more than he ever asks for. A dog will put his life on the line for its owner and will gladly help both the blind and disabled. All it asks for, aside from the basics, is a little attention, some exercise, a warm, dry bed […]
Basilica’s big idea makes good sense
Kudos to parishioner Matt Mores for the hotel plan on the city-owned property across from the Basilica. It makes a great deal of sense. I hope something like it actually gets built. Good luck to the Basilica, the McKibbon Group and the city. — Steve Woolum Asheville
For whom the cell tolls
It was last Halloween when I first knew something was wrong. I was at my friend's house, talking with her 7-year-old daughter, who was dressed as Superman (she didn't dig Wonder Woman's "invisible plane"). Me: "So, when you come out of the phone booth, who are you going to be? Claire Kent?” Her: “What's a […]
Let the living honor the dead in Pack Square park
A lot of people are in an uproar — well, maybe it's just me, and you other folks are mesmerized by your televisions — about our downtown park, Pack Square, being fenced off for renovations for years, while the projected cost of this curiously noncity project escalates from 6 million to 27 million dollars. A […]
Small Bites
• The Dripolator
• Firestorm Cafe
• Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project
• Madison County Farmers Market
• Grovewood Cafe
The de-greening of Asheville
Have you noticed all the concrete being poured in and around Asheville? It's got to be enough to build a couple of small Third World cities. For starters, the amount spent on the architectural monument to bad taste that will soon replace all the green space that once graced City/County Plaza would surely have been […]
Bring it on! Chairman Johnson is ready
Buncombe County GOP Chairman Dr. Tim Johnson has been extremely successful in growing the Buncombe County Republican Party, pushing technology and increasing diversity. You can hear the passion in Tim's voice when he speaks of conservatism. And you can hear his passion when he speaks to today's youth and minorities about the lies the Democrats […]
Start from within to build your utopia
Christopher Webb, your commentary [“A Stranger in Paradise,” June 10 Xpress] is brilliant. And, I appreciate your ability to believe that idealistic realities still exist — especially after having returned from an unarguably hellish circumstance. I, too, have held on to this belief that a utopian idea lives and breathes here in this region of […]
