The 3,500 beer lovers lucky enough to have tickets will descend on the 13th annual Great Smokies Craft Brewers Brewgrass Festival this Saturday, Sept. 19, at Martin Luther King Jr. Park; hopefully on foot. Here's some of what's new with our Western North Carolina breweries and what to expect from them at Brewgrass: • Asheville […]
Keeping the Sabbath holy
In a feat of rare alchemy – one often repeated throughout the band's career – Black Sabbath turned four measures and a mere six notes into one of the most recognizable phrases in rock music: the main riff of "Iron Man," from 1971's Paranoid. Hard rock, soulful swagger: Friday night headliners Clutch follow the riff […]
In shape to show
Things have changed for The Kingsbury Manx. In the past three years, the Chapel Hill foursome have all gotten married, signed to a local upstart label, dropped a rigorous touring schedule, and until recently, mostly disappeared from the public eye. The one thing that hasn't changed, though, is the band's knack for writing dreamy, Kinks-inspired […]
Junker’s Blues
One of the many ideas in Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? that you won't find in its movie adaptation, Blade Runner, is the concept, the spiritual warning, the call-to-arms against the relentless, creeping presence of kipple in our lives. Illustration by Nathanael Roney. According to Dick, kipple is "useless objects" — […]
Spork
Who knows what the weather will be like by the time you're reading this, but right now there's a chill in the air. September is here and summer's on the wane. One way to know for sure? This Friday, Sept. 18, is the last Downtown After Five of the season, so you best get your […]
Serendipity! A nice story for your Tuesday, from Keowee Chamber Music
Kate Steinbeck, flutist and artistic director of Keowee Chamber Music, shares a story about a wayward piano.
Musically uninhibited
Asheville’s Floating Action and Portland’s Run On Sentence join forces for a free show at The Rocket Club on Thursday, Sept. 17
Siouxsie
Review of Peter Pan at ACT
Huzzah! Peter Pan at ACT is an enormous, meticulously-crafted production.
Brews News
If you missed out on Brewgrass tickets, you may have the chance to attend another locally run beer festival this spring.
Edgy Mama: Autism Society of North Carolina helps families cope
Supporting a family member with autism is a full-time, often life-long challenge.
Friends
LAAFF street style
Photos from the Xpress photo booth at this years’ Lexington Ave. Arts & Fun Festival. Brooke & Ryan Juggler with The Runaway Circus & the Loose Caboose Kim & Nathanael Sam & Aja
Something for a rainy day: Questions for a Trinumeral ticket giveaway ***update: Tickets won!***
Win a pair of tix for the massive Trinumeral music and arts festival this weekend at Deerfields, featuring a huge lineup of world music, electronic artists and much more!
C’mon and LAAFF with us one more time
Did we immortalize you in photos or video at the Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Festival? Check here.
This weekend on a shoestring
Electronica and indie pop to country-punk and good ol’ soul. Stick to downtown Asheville or head for the Mountain State Fair — either way you can dance your booty off without coughing up more than five bucks.
“When I heard the banjo, bingo”: Steve Martin trades comedy for clawhammer
Steve Martin (yes, the comedian) comes to Brevard’s Mountain Song Festival, touring his album The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo.
The midway escape
All the details • Friday, Sept. 11. Free admission until 6 p.m. for students grades K-12. noon Grand opening ceremonies — Entrance C 6:30 p.m. Hands on workshop: Children's soap carving by W.N.C. Woodcarvers (Expo building) 6 p.m. District junior feeder calf show (Livestock Sales Arena) 7 p.m. House Autry Mills "Make it quick and […]
World beat to breakbeat
This year's Trinumeral Music & Arts Festival boasts a heady lineup: World beat trio Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain & Edgar Meyer headline, along with experimental jazz collective Sun Ra Arkestra, "new funk" act The New Mastersounds and Asheville's own rock/Afro-beat quintet Toubab Krewe. But, before you start comparing Trinumeral's extensive long-weekend lineup to that of […]
Cleared for takeoff
"It's a big world out there," says Harrison Stafford, the vocalist/guitarist of roots-reggae outfit Groundation. Stafford should know: Already this year the nine-member group has toured South America and Europe and headlined Tel Aviv's Open Air Festival in July. But it's not all jet-set vacation for Stafford and company. "We call ourselves road warriors," he […]
Just the right amount of raunchy
In the name of comedy, there isn't a subject that's off-limits for Margaret Cho. Her stand-up routines plow over sensitive topics like race and sexuality, G-spots and drugs, with just the right amount of raunchiness. She also does a hilarious impersonation of her mother and her ode to being a fag hag brings me to […]