Raleigh native Tift Merritt still greets the trappings of success with a bit of neurosis. It seems that critical acclaim, a Grammy nomination and an ever-growing fan base have not gone to her head. In love with day-to-day life: After her last tour, Merritt wondered what to do next. So she went to Paris, and […]

Living in a bark house never seemed so cutting edge. As green building surges in popularity throughout Western North Carolina, a new book titled Bark House Style: Sustainable Designs From Nature (Gibbs Smith, 2008) highlights the rustic aesthetic of bark shingles, a traditional building material that’s making a comeback as an element of green design. […]

Only a handful of people in the world have orchestrated a live plant installation on the scale of the Biltmore House’s new flower carpet, says Travis Murray, Biltmore’s garden crew leader. They’re big in Belgium: The Biltmore brings a flower tapestry this side of the Atlantic. Photos By Anne Fitten Glenn Biltmore’s gardening crew recently […]

Why do we need a special occasion to put on a show? Does every community event really need to be organized festival-style, stamped with a cute name and printed up in travel brochures so that the tourists can come out and gawk at how “funky” our town is? Probably not, at least according to local […]

Wicker, the title of the debut solo CD by former Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band musician Josh Phillips, is a spin on the phrase “we care.” Which might be a hard sell amid the politically charged, hard-news-hungry post-9/11 cynicism—but from the disc’s opening organ strains on the song “You are Loved”, Phillips (fronting his […]

It’s hard to forget a man like John Payne. Not just because he was the man who turned the aging Wedge Building into one of the biggest forces driving the revitalization of Asheville’s River Arts District. Not just because he was a dynamic artist capable of breaking any number of rules about what sculpture should […]

“I write what I know,” explains bestselling author Jacquelyn Frank, who recently moved from New York to Asheville. “I write about certain things as I’m experiencing them.” While this isn’t an unusual claim for a writer – real-life experience has long been the jumping-off point for great fiction – Frank’s work is set in the […]

Can indie rock age well? Sure, the genre’s noodling guitars, laid-back beats and master’s-thesis lyrics often inspire listeners at that perfect age when irony and smugness trump everything else. But what about later on? You can dance if you want to: Elf Power recently opened for hip-hop phenom Danger Mouse. Hipsters, uncross your arms. Andrew […]

There’s one Mephistopheles in Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus. But for the Montford Park Player’s upcoming performances, two very different actors will share the role of Lucifer’s servant: local luminary David Hopes, and 11-year-old Amy Daugherty. Surrounded by sin: The cast of Doctor Faustus. Photo By William Lawrence The two will play the role on alternate […]