Deep into its second decade, the neo-burlesque movement appears to be approaching a critical mass of performers that combine the traditional, early-twentieth century blend of comedy, music and striptease with a strong contemporary sensibility.
Asheville’s Idol
We’re not saying 17 year-old singer Jesse Barry is or isn’t a contestant on this season’s American Idol. We’re just saying tune in to FOX this Tuesday and Wednesday.
From vampires to swans
Elizabeth Kostova, author of New York Times bestseller “The Historian,” launches her new novel, “The Swan Thieves” in Asheville tomorrow.
Edgy Mama: The future of parenting
Regardless of the fact that the world may end this year (or by 2012), I predict there will be some dramatic changes in parenting and family life.
Video a-go-go
Here’s this week’s round up Asheville video: the Lindy hop, the Chicken Stomp, aerial dance, stop-motion beer brewing and more.
New online map helps visualize North Carolina’s literary landscape
Use this online tool to find out what authors and books are associated with which counties or regions of North Carolina.
Zhivago
Lexington & College
Layers
Photo by Jonathan Welch
Winter flowers
Photo by Jonathan Welch
Red+green
Photo by Jonathan Welch
Book Report: High Anxiety
The latest novel by South Carolina writer Charlotte Hughes is a dizzying work of high energy, high speed, high spirited and highly entertaining hijinx.
Friday’s musical summit
Suttree, Pilgrim and The Awful Decade play the Grey Eagle on Friday.
There’s more than just beer at the Lexington Avenue Brewery
The Lexington Avenue Brewery invited folks to come out on a chilly Wednesday afternoon and sample its food as the new microbrewery prepares to open to the public.
Asheville native and Color Field artist Kenneth Noland dies
The renowned painter, whose work hangs at the Asheville Art Museum, was 85.
This weekend on a shoestring
Yes, it’s 2010. Shoestring begins its second year of budget-friendly weekend entertainment. Happily, there’s lots to choose from: Lounge singers, bluegrass, folk, rock and more.
Foresighted and farsighted
It's possible that visionary artist Gabriel Shaffer's paintings are enchanted: Images of birds reportedly fly off the wall and "I had a painting returned to me because one lady claimed it was haunted," the artist reveals. Then there's a piece called "Plantation Escape Plan," a 40 by 40-inch canvas featuring a a large and floating […]
"You could feel the chemistry"
For the Steep Canyon Rangers, 2009 was a remarkable year. The Brevard-based band — Woody Platt (guitar and lead vocals), Graham Sharp (banjo, harmony vocals), Mike Guggino (mandolin and harmony vocals), Charles R. Humphrey III (bass and harmony vocals) and Nicky Sanders (fiddle and harmony vocals) — released its fourth studio album, Deep in the […]
Wild Ones
Those Darlins play kick-ass rock and roll. Period. With Link Wray-style guitar riffs, three-piece harmonies delivered with a Loretta Lynn "Fist City" swagger, and songs full of booze, family, sex and food, Those Darlins are plowing a row through rock 'n' roll history. Girls just wanna have fun: Those Darlins share a common last name, […]
Artillery
For those of you who just can't shake that scene from Ghost — the one where Patrick Swayze's apparition cozies up to Demi Moore while she works at her potter's wheel — Odyssey Center for Ceramic Arts (in Asheville's River Arts District) is your kind of place. The studio is offering clay "date nights" every […]
Junker’s Blues
When we last left the junker, he'd just visited the condominium of a recently widowed woman. She was divesting the trappings of her culturally active life with her husband (they = the Bohemians of said fable), including hundreds of vinyl records. Most were no longer in vogue, but the junker set aside a number of […]