Culture Watch

Tom Dudley’s Walk Is Anything But Lonely

“I tried to draw your sweet blue eyes, bright as the skies above/ but it’s no use, since you shook up my Etch A Sketch of Love.” How can someone listen to a song with lyrics like that and not crack a smile? Of course, that’s just a taste of the imaginative lyrics and all-around fun that went into creating the recently released Walkin’ to the Bridge, the side-project album by County Farm’s Tom Dudley. Interestingly, although the project is Dudley’s brainchild, the end result is more of a showcase of local talent, bringing together something of a dream team when it comes to regional bluegrass and old-time performers. (And jazz, for that matter, at least on a few tracks.) Collaborating artists include: Town Mountain’s Robert Greer, ex-Freighthopper Cary Fridley, One Leg Up’s Daniel Coolik, the Cavemen’s Lance Mills, sax player Bill Evans, banjo master Ryan Cavanaugh, Steep Canyon Rangers’ fiddler Nicky Sanders and County Farm’s Jay Mullenax and Paul Leech. And if that weren’t enough, the album was produced by Grammy winner Nathan Milner. For more information, visit www.HootHollerMusic.com

URTV As Summer Camp

Local public-access station URTV recently announced it would begin a Summer Video Camp for Youth starting in July. That means by the time school re-opens your children will be well on their way to making their first personal documentary about the unfairness of their curfew and the totalitarian regime of chores they live under. At $200 for the three-week course, it’s not the worst deal in town, and students should gain skills that will be of increasing importance in the YouTube age. For more information, visit www.URTV.org

More News From The Ashes Of Metabolism Productions

In April, Culture Watch reported on the uneasy splitting of local theater group Metabolism Productions. Part of the group, notably including co-founder Chall Gray, recently formed The Enigmatic Theatre Company, which appears to be doing quite well. But what about the rest? Recently, another Metabolism founder, Devin Walsh, wrote in with an update. Long Talks/Little Couch Productions is the second theatrical group to arise from what was once Metabolism; it recently announced plans to produce a full-length original play, Wordhouse, at the Asheville Arts Center in late July. According to Walsh, the play is about “a novelist in a kind of therapy session with a peculiar and flamboyant master of creative writing, filled with literary word games, a couple ridiculous songs, some exuberance involving quadratic equations, a laugh track, some anal probing, and everyone hopefully crying at the end.” Sounds like great fun.

[Contact Steve Shanafelt at unknowncity@hotmail.com]