Seen through the right lens, downtown Asheville is a nearly ideal location for practitioners of Parkour, a kind of urban obstacle-course running. With all kinds of handrails, ledges, short roofs, stone walls and various things to climb on and jump off of, a “traceur” could easily find endless ways to pass the time in the city. But like many outdoor sports, someone has to come up with courses by which one participates and compare one’s skills to another’s. So, in an attempt to do just that, Linus Matusik made this little video showing off some of the possibilities offered in downtown.
These days, practically every niche market and shared-interest group has at least one significant community website where interested parties can come together to share information. Such is the case for straight-razor shaving, a hobby being kept alive thanks to sites like StraightRazorPlace.com. Recently, the group held a small convention in Asheville, and one of the resulting events was a kind of demonstration of basic straight-razor shaving techniques. Here’s part one of the video.
While the Carolina Stompers are mostly known for promoting their own brand of conservative politics, it doesn’t mean that’s all they’re interested in. Recently, members of the group attended the Toughman Contest held in Asheville, and posted this video on their official site. What did they do while attending? According to their own description of the video, they spent the evening “heckling” the fighters. Let’s take a look.
One of the things that makes Asheville’s music scene so interesting and dynamic is the interplay between musicians of various genres, helping to create the eclectic sound that characterizes the city today. Punk music is clearly a part of this scene, and it probably comes as little surprise that there was a time in the mid-to-late 1990s when various East Bay punk musicians regularly came through the city through the DIY venue and house show circuit, influencing many local bands in a way that can still be felt nearly two decades later. But what you might not know is that Asheville also influenced those bands as well. Part of that conversation is evident in this recently uploaded video of the song “Asheville” by Pinhead Gunpowder (featuring members of Green Day, as well as noted punk ‘zinester Aaron Cometbus).
And speaking of Asheville’s unique music scene, let’s close with a performance by the Firecracker Jazz Band performing “I’ll See You In My Dreams” at the celebration of Django Reinhardt’s 100th birthday tribute, held at the Grey Eagle last month.
Each week, dozens upon dozens of interesting local videos are uploaded to YouTube. It’s a lot to keep up with. Did we miss a particularly interesting, recently uploaded local video? Share it by leaving the videos URL (but not the embed code) in the comment fields below. Also, please mark it Not Work Safe if there’s any controversial content to the video.
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