North Carolina author Wiley Cash’s newest novel hits a home run. Cash will appear at UNC Asheville’s “Celebrating Madison County” showcase which takes place Oct. 25-26.
Photos: Southern Highlands Craft Fair
The Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands is ongoing now through Sunday at Asheville’s US Cellular Center. According to the website of the Southern Highlands Craft Guild, the fair will be open Thursday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. until 6 p.m., and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Admission is $8.00 and children under twelve are admitted free.
Cat Matlock and Japa: Kirtan Music for the Sacred Journey to Motherhood
Cat Matlock and Japa celebrate the release of their CD, Kirtan Music for the Sacred Journey to Motherhood, at the White Horse in Black Mountain Oct. 16. (Photo Lea McLellan)
Electric company: T. Williams and Matt Langston
Leading up to the inaugural Mountain Oasis Electronic Music Summit, we’re running a series of Q+A interviews with the festival’s artists.
This weekend on a shoestring
As always, Xpress brings you the best in low-cost weekend events.
Electric company: Half Japanese
Leading up to the inaugural Mountain Oasis Electronic Music Summit, we’re running a series of Q+A interviews with the festival’s artists.
Tricky, Delorean and Rudimental will not perform at Mountain Oasis
The Mountain Oasis Electronic Music Summit just posted, via Facebook, that three acts have canceled for next weekend’s festival. Replacements are in the works.
Booking it: Behind the scenes of LEAF’s extensive lineup
LEAF is held this weekend, Thursday, Oct. 17-Sunday, Oct. 20, at Camp Rockmont in Black Mountain. Today is the last day to buy tickets.
Local fashion company hosts film premiere Oct. 16
Royal Peasantry, a local fashion company specializing in up-cycling clothes, will entertain guests at Isis Music Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 16, with a new film, new art and new fashions.
Woodfin and Weaverville
Two of Asheville’s neighbors to the north — Woodfin and Weaverville — have truly come into their own in the past few years. Ensconced squarely between Asheville and Weaverville, Woodfin is quaint, blue-collar and sometimes overlooked. Everyone knows it’s there, but some don’t quite know where — just that it occupies some nebulously defined area […]
A dance for decent women: Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre’s provocative new production
In keeping with its commitment to producing provocative work, the company will present The Decent Women of Calle 58, a performance that strives to recreate the struggles and courage of Mexican women working as prostitutes in the Yucatán, a state in southeastern Mexico.
Black Mountain and Swannanoa
Lying at the edge of the Blue Ridge escarpment, Black Mountain and Swannanoa are known as "the front porch of the mountains." These towns have long served as a resting place for travelers coming to the Appalachians, as well as a pathway to points further west, such as Asheville. The beautiful valley has plenty of […]
Learning from mistakes
For all of its charms, the CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother doesn’t excel when it comes to music references. Ted Mosby, the protagonist searching for his true love, is ostensibly an indie-rock fan, but through nine seasons, all the audience knows of his taste is that he digs a girl who can play […]
Hot Springs and Marshall
Locals say that Hot Springs is where Mayberry meets the Twilight Zone. And neighboring town of Marshall is the kind of place where people shout out “happy birthday” to their neighbors as they walk down Main Street. The two towns are home to hundreds of creative artists, outdoor enthusiasts and out-of-the-box entrepreneurs.
Art rock with extra art
“Nobody who sees us isn’t entertained,” says Shawn Kilroy, frontman for Philadelphia rock outfit Weird Hot. The band was a long time in the making, partly because Kilroy also stays busy as a visual artist, filmmaker and actor. And partly because it took the group’s hometown music scene awhile to catch up. Kilroy, a native […]
Burnsville, Celo and Spruce Pine
Thanks to a brand-new widened highway, Ashevilleans are now less than an hour away from a trio of distinct towns that offer a broad range of mountain living. Burnsville, Celo and Spruce Pine are as varied from each other as they are from their nearest big-city neighbor, but they share a relationship with the mountains […]
State of the Arts: Target practice
It would seem that shipping containers are becoming a staple in the River Arts District. The Lego-like, steel behemoths, often temporary, are finding permanency in the neighborhood — for extra square-footage, storage and even forthcoming restaurants. Fortunately, they’ve also become a canvas to reflect RAD’s creative pulse. Randy Shull, who co-owns Pink Dog Creative with […]
Smart Bets: Home Movie Day
"Your home movies are probably a lot more interesting than you remember," insists a press release for the 11th annual Home Movie Day, a worldwide event. It originated as "a means to promote the preservation of amateur films" with two dozen locations across the U.S., Mexico, Canada and Japan. Since its inception, Home Movie Day […]
Smart Bets: Tommy Hays
Local author Tommy Hays, known for adult fiction Sam’s Crossing, In the Family Way and The Pleasure Was Mine, just published his first young-adult novel. The new book, What I Came to Tell You, is set in Asheville. It’s the lovingly wrought tale of Grover, who recently lost his mother. While dealing with his own […]
Smart Bets: Chic Gamine
Motown soul, '60s girl-group harmonies and Canadian indie-pop all meet in Chic Gamine. The powerhouse ensemble, from Winnipeg, has opened for Smokey Robinson and shared a stage with Mavis Staples. They won a Juno award for their 2009 self-titled debut and played the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. If that's not an impressive enough list of […]
Smart Bets: Comet West
Local indie-rockers Comet West (Samuel Robbins, Shane Bennet, Nick Rodriguez and Britt Benson-Greer) are set to release their new EP, Weaker Things. The six tracks range from the ardent "Strong Gust," on which Robbins pushes his vocals to their ragged edge, to "Busy Work," with its intricate percussion and jangling layers of guitars. (Look for […]