Asheville Music Tours offers a stroll through downtown, highlighting the city’s rich musical past, as well as celebrating its present day achievements. Meanwhile, in the River Arts District, Asheville Art Studio Tours leads guests through a series of workspaces and galleries while sharing tales of the area’s former industrial days.
LEAF Downtown enters its second year
LEAF Downtown, which returns on Saturday and Sunday, July 30-31, has a decidedly local focus.
Smart bets: Teen Bandstand series
White Horse Black Mountain hosts the teen takeover on the last Sunday of each month at 6 p.m. The next headlining act is Neesh on July 31.
Theater review: “Tarocco: A Soldier’s Tale” by Fox and Beggar Theater
Tarocco is a quintessentially Asheville production. Part play, part dance and part circus, it uses the fool’s journey of the tarot to tell the story of a wounded World War I soldier, played by Ross Daniel, as he lies dying behind enemy lines.
Tuesday History: Thomas Wolfe and his “queer talk,” 1938
We were never taught, for example, to question the life around us, which was the little world of Asheville, which in its turn is the whole world of America.
Robert Beatty launches the second Serafina novel
According to Cindy Norris, the event coordinator at Malaprop’s, anyone interested in the author appearance should buy their tickets ahead of time, because it’s likely to sell out — a mark of the best-seller status of Serafina and the Black Cloak, the first book in the series.
Smart bets: Bob Mustin
Upcoming readings by the author are at Sylva’s City Lights Cafe on Saturday, July 30, and Battery Park Book Exchange on Saturday, Aug., 13.
Kettle Black (members of The Mumbles, Toubab Krewe, Antibalas) at Pisgah Brewing, July 28
Keith Burnstein is penning tunes for a new project that “fans out the African and Cuban influences found in New Orleans music and adds some really groovy North African guitar to my songs.”
Smart bets: Barbed Wire Suit
Productions of the socially charged play are at Toy Boat Community Art Space Friday, July 29 through Friday, Aug. 12.
Conscious Party: An art gathering for wounded wildlife
Animal-themed artwork, wine, raffle prizes and scenic views are all part of Appalachian Wildlife Refuge’s next fundraiser, which will support the opening of a rehabilitation center. The event takes place at Addison Farms Vineyard on Saturday, Aug. 6.
Smart bets: Ellis Paul
Following his workshops on stage techniques at The Swannanoa Gathering’s Contemporary Folk Week, the prolific music maker will put his own lessons into action. Isis Restaurant and Music Hall hosts his performance on Sunday, July 31.
“I don’t need no consolation, I don’t want your reservation”
“I don’t need no consolation, I don’t want your reservation” from lyrics to “Dirty Love” by Frank Zappa
Indie 500 Flash Fiction Contest winners announced
The winning stories will be published in the August 24 and 31 issues of Xpress.
30 Days Out: a look at upcoming concerts
This week’s suggestions are all free shows. Check out Chuck Brodsky, Tin Foil Hat, Dana Massive and the Justina Shandler Trio.
Equal releases new Asheville-based collaboration
Heller’s latest effort, the single “Postcards,” featuring singer Sam Island (an Asheville native, now based in LA), just came out this week.
Listening in to local free-media programs
Whether you’re a podcast newbie or an enthusiast, these local podcasts are worth a listen.
In photos: Dr. Dog at Pisgah Brewing Co.
During indie-rock outfit Dr. Dog’s recent performance at Pisgah Brewing Co., lead guitarist Scott McMicken asked if anyone in the crowd played lead guitar. He selected from the eagerly raised hands and invited an audience member to come up o stage and jam on a song with them. It turns out the lucky person McMicken […]
Folkmoot expands programs, adds Asheville events
Folkmoot USA — an annual cultural festival, now in its 33rd year — brings about 200 folk dancers and musicians from around the world. The chock-full schedule, which includes the Many Cultures Kids Carnival, a global issues forum and a number of Asheville-based happenings (a parade, a theater performance and a dance party) runs from Friday, July 22 to Sunday, July 21.
Smart bets: The Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands
Now celebrating its 69th year, the Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands takes place at U.S. Cellular Center Thursday-Saturday, July 21-23, from 10 a.m., t0 6 p.m., and Sunday, July 24, from 10 a.m., to 5 p.m.
Tuesday History: Thomas Wolfe v. the state of North Carolina, 1924
N.C. needs honest criticism—rather than the false, shallow “we-are-the-finest-state-and-greatest-people-in-the-country”—kind of thing.
Love and murder: Barbara Bates Smith brings Ron Rash stories to the stage
“It’s [Rash’s] material,” Smith says. “What I take the most credit for is knowing good material when I find it.”