Commission passes undesirable-uses moratorium in wake of court action

At a special April 3 meeting, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners approved 5-0 a moratorium on 14 “undesirable” land uses in the unincorporated areas of the county. The move comes in the wake of a recent court decision that overturned the county’s zoning ordinance. Stumping for zoning: Erin Polzeretsky, president of the North Buncombe […]

Raising awareness of sexual assault

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Our VOICE, Buncombe County’s rape crisis center, has planned a host of events. The group served more than 1,000 individuals last year with counseling and crisis intervention, case management, medical and court accompaniment, and prevention and education programming. The message? Join the community in raising our voice against […]

Arts Journal

“It has come to my attention that a lot of people think that Menage has quit,” writes Mary Ellen Bush, bassist for the popular folk-rock group. Bush, whose projects of the past year also include old-time band The PitchSlickers and jazz group The Sireens, wants to dispel that myth. Menage hasn’t quit—the band will play […]

The Green Scene

These are names that only a congressional bill sponsor could love: the Tracing and Recalling Agricultural Contamination Everywhere Act, the Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act, the Food Safety and Tracking Improvement Act, and the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, a Democrat, has sponsored the latter bill, which has […]

From teapots to deck chairs, this craft is sexy

Looking for art at the edge? April is woodworking month and surprises abound. This is not your grandpa’s woodwork. Though plenty of woodworkers are, in fact, grandpas, the work they’re creating is anything but predictable. Current exhibits at Grovewood Gallery and Blue Spiral include everything from turned bowls translucent as glass to furniture that provides […]

Saving green by going green

“My job is to make it as easy as possible for people to make environmentally-responsible choices,” says Josh Dorfman, a.k.a. “The Lazy Environmentalist.” Since the 2005 launch of Dorfman’s alter-ego (a career comprising two books, an eco-furniture company, a radio show and the resource-rich Web site lazyenvironmentalist.com) Dorfman has noticed a profound impact on his […]

Watch out for robots

Two venues, two stages, 20 acts: Here’s what to know about Asheville’s first electronic music summit. Breakbeat livetronica group Pnuma trio plays Tron-A-Thon on Friday night. • The lineup is stellar. If you missed Eliot Lipp on his recent trip to town, or on his recent tour with Sound Tribe Sector 9, you can catch […]

Far from shore

Originally, Toronto’s Great Lake Swimmers was to be a solo project. Over the course of the past six years, however, Tony Dekker’s brainchild has morphed from country-boy-in-the-city-with-an-acoustic-guitar to a semi-collective with an alternating body of participants to a proper band incorporating a fairly solid lineup of friends and collaborators. Watery, wide-eyed wonder: Great Lake Swimmers […]