Video a-go-go

One of the best things about a heavy snowfall in Asheville is the strange peace and quiet that falls over downtown. It becomes a place of eerie beauty, very much contrasting the normal hustle and bustle. Of course, it’s hard to appreciate this if you don’t happen to live close enough to downtown to actually get out and see it for yourself. Thankfully, these days we have YouTube, which is the next best thing.

All that snow got you down? Getting a little cabin fever already? Remember those carefree days when you were young, and all you needed to entertain yourself was some free time and a group of friends to goof off with? How about the next best thing? That’s right, you can watch some local teens make a Breakfast Club-style dance montage to the MGMT song “Time To Pretend.”

Many of us are aware that Western North Carolina has a wealth of talented metalworkers, as metal sculptures and works of are surprisingly common in the region. But relatively few of us have ever seen these artists and craftspeople in action. So here’s a little window into that world. It’s a short video documenting a “iron pour” event (exactly what it sounds like) that happened outside the Phil Mechanic Studios in 2008.

Speaking of art, there’s a long and running debate in the city of Asheville over whether or not graffiti is a valid art-form, a blight-creating crime, or both. This video doesn’t address any of those points, but it does document a broad range of various kind of local graffiti in abandoned places many of us would never think to explore.

Ever wondered what Bizet’s “Habanera” from Carmen would sound like if it was performed by a dark, jam-powered band in a slightly jazzy mood? You’re in luck! Here’s The Dark Shave performing “Fundamentals.”

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.