The annual downtown street festival gears up for what may be its last year as a city-sponsored event. But even if that is the case, the three-day event is wrapping up more than 35 years with a memorable (and largely local and regional) roster of musical acts.
“Kiss Me Kate” runs on Friday and Saturday evenings with a Sunday matinee through June 30th. This Cole Porter musical opened on Broadway in 1948 and it earned the Tony for Best Musical. The story within a story weaves together a musical production of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew with the on and off-stage relationship between Fred Graham, (played by John C. Hall) the show’s director, producer, and star, and his leading lady, his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi (played by Wendy Morrison.) Mother-daughter reviewers Becky Upham and Cicely Upham discuss the local production.
Last year Xpress profiled Patrick Littlejohn, a formerly homeless composer who pulled himself out of poverty through music. He recently received a full scholarship to the Practical Schillinger School of Music.
Photos by Rich Orris.
Asheville’s Alien Music Club releases a playful-dark exploration through jazz, pop and lyrics that project whimsy, acrimony, wit and oddity, funhouse-mirror style.
The Philadelphia-based orchestral pop collective discusses sea changes, perfect eras and new album “Golden Age.” They’ll play Apothecary on Monday, June 17, 9 p.m.
Dawes talks about going indie, recording in Asheville and committing to the long haul. The band plays The Orange Peel with Shovels & Rope on Tuesday, June 11.
This weekend offers music, comedy, film, animals and outdoors. As always, Xpress brings you the best in low-cost weekend events.
Mechanical Eye Microcinema and the Asheville Art Museum host a weekend of screenings and other events where the material is the message. (Pictured, a still from “Madame Winger Makes a Film” by Helen Hill.)
Children from the local nonprofit Children First/CIS performed a wide range of dance routines at LEAF this spring. This short video shows off their moves. Photo by Jodi Ford.
Summer camp is to kids what Vegas is to adults: what happens there (between the canoeing and the s’mores), stays there. Sort of. Campfire-building skills and lifelong friends — those things you take with you. Try-on personas, a penchant for popsicle-stick crafts and first kisses — those things remain in the camp vault. Summer camp […]
Amid the flood of new books marking the Civil War’s 150th anniversary, one tells a uniquely North Carolinian story — that of a desperate prison break in the Piedmont and a flight through the state’s mountains, where neighbors sometimes fought neighbors with the fury of rival armies. In Junius and Albert’s Adventures in the Confederacy: […]
While most bands are looking to upsize, working from small stages to full-on arenas, Baltimore, Md.-based Peals is taking a smaller-is-better approach. “We recently played a tea room in Philadelphia,” says guitarist William Cashion. “It was the smallest venue I’ve ever played. I could reach my arm out and touch somebody. But it ended up […]
“I don’t think this is our breakout record,” says Tay Strathairn, keyboardist for Americana/rock band Dawes. He’s talking about the group’s recent release, Stories Don’t End. The record is Dawes’ third, but it was their last album, Nothing Is Wrong, that pushed the band into the national spotlight with critical acclaim, exhaustive touring, radio play […]
A new exhibition in Firestorm Café & Books approaches the news with a different pace. Asheville artists Chelsea Ragan and Adam Void’s dual exhibition features works that use printmaking methods to replicate traditional news-media aesthetics, that is to say the “paper,” not the screen. New Prints/Newsprints*Black Male/Blackmail: D.I.Y. Political Printmaking, opens Friday, June 7 from […]
Most circus troupes use elements of theater in their productions, and most theater companies could probably benefit from a ring or two of the circus in theirs. The Fox and Beggar Theater, founded by impresario Nat Allister, is using parts of both for its pseudo-inaugural event, Ovo: A Lunar Masquerade Party. Proceeds from the party […]
Local rockers Elijah Hooker (vocalist Caleb Johnson, drummer Frank Skulski, Wade Wilson on bass, guitarist Josh Sawyer and Brian Turner on keys) claims that their "sole purpose is to spread the gospel of hard rock ‘n’ roll to the masses." Which, for a band, is a worthy purpose to have. The quintet is set to […]
Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre and White Dog Dance Project International are set to stage The Decent Women of Calle 58, "Inspired by the exhibit by social anthropologist Christian Rasmussen and his 22 interviews of sex servers." Artistic director Susan Collard "wanted to focus on the humanity of these women’s stories, putting them in intimate settings […]
String and bluegrass bands take over Pisgah Brewing Company, and the lineup — though steeped in tradition — boasts some new configurations. Namely, the collaboration between singer-songwriter Keller Williams and The Travelin' McCourys (the backing band for guitarist/vocalist Del McCoury). Williams released Pick with The Travelin' McCourys to instant acclaim; this will be the first […]
More than a year after a weekend-long film shoot at the Masonic Temple wrapped on Ben Lovett's Black Curtain, the music video/short film is set to screen during a night of live music performances at Isis. A preview of the lush, dramatic video reveals a slick, professional work of art. But it's also rife with […]
Sweaty mess: Electronic dance-pop trio SONEN has a reputation for keeping crowds moving with its driving analog beats, male/female vocal harmonies and post-punk atmospheres. Creative Loafing's “Best Electronic Act of Atlanta” visits Asheville to steam up the Odditorium on Thursday, June 6. "Psychedelic drowning": Apothecary hosts a night of subdued, experimental electronics featuring the melodic […]
