Bun

Buncombe Commission­ers approve incentives­, new hires, zoning regulation­s

At their first meeting of 2014 on Jan. 7, Buncombe County Commissioners unanimously agreed to give $1.12 million in cash grants to Jacob Holm Industries to help it expand local operations. They also agreed to spend $213,726 to hire 17 new county workers at the Health and Human Services Department and approved new zoning regulations governing renewable energy facilities.

2013 at the movies: For better or worse and sometimes both

Here at last are our picks for the ten best films of the year — and they’re sure to be the cause for much wailing and gnashing of teeth. One notable omission is sure to raise eyebrows and even hackles. I mean everybody is supposed to have 12 Years a Slave on his or her list, right? Here’s the thing (and I think I can speak for Mr. Souther, too), I have the utmost respect and admiration for the film. I think it is brilliant. I am cheering for Chiwetel Ejiofor to win that Best Actor Oscar, and I’ll be cool with it if 12 Years a Slave takes Best Picture. I think it’s a fine film and a powerful one, but something about the film feels just a little at arm’s length and keeps it from engaging me fully on an emotional level. That aside, here are the lists

Smart Bets: Mean Mary

Florida native Mary James didn't earn her stage name, Mean Mary, from kicking puppies or pantsing bandmates. It's all about her musical skills, namely her "lighting-fast fingers and raw, unmistakable vocal sound." James could read music before she could read words and co-wrote songs at age 5, according to her bio. She recorded her debut […]

Stand and Deliver

The Steep Canyon Rangers threaten to break some bluegrass rules with their eighth LP, Tell the Ones I Love. Following a succession of increasingly sparkling productions, the new album is the group’s most freewheeling affair yet — it may also be itsbest. The performances were captured live as the Rangers played together in a circle, […]

Rethinking mental health

It was good to see that “Rethinking Mental Health: Local Practitioners, Groups Reject Mainstream Treatment” [Feb. 6 Xpress] was your fifth most viewed post in 2013. In 1978, Judi Chamberlin published the book On Our Own: Patient Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System. In 2013, Allen Francis published Saving Normal: An Insider’s Revolt Against […]

Cooperativ­e cuisine

Neighbors may share greetings and laughs, and they may share stories. More concretely, they may even share a sidewalk, shrubbery or a fence. However, neighbors don’t often share ownership of a community restaurant. But those are not the neighbors of High Vista, a golf-course community on the border of Buncombe and Haywood counties. From pub […]

Smart Bets: Basil King

"Today I go back and forth between painting and writing, on two different floors of my house in Brooklyn," Basil King says on his website. "One feeds the other and in both I bring disparate things together." An immigrant to the U.S. from England, he discovered Black Mountain College at age 16. He went on […]

Personaliz­ed punch lines

Trucker-turned-comedian Julie Scoggins describes her comedy as observational — a day-to-day take on things. And, while she admits her husband is often the brunt of her jokes (“I can tell by how much he rolls his eyes whether it’s a keeper or not”), on a five-hour drive from her hometown of Charlotte to a performance […]

Grow Down for the little guy

The Grow Down Kitchen is located in an unassuming building nestled on a side street in Black Mountain, directly across from the post office. As I navigate the street-side parallel parking, I am greeted by a gang of six or seven enthusiastic young men. Friendly introductions are made as we enter the commercial kitchen these […]