Every year, they come for Bele Chere. The peddlers of plastic shoes, cheap jewelry and $3 magnets. The bunched-up teens in too-small skirts. The sellers of turkey legs, gyros and the funnel cakes. The schreeching street preachers. The zombie-fied tourists, shuffling through the streets of Asheville, sucking down too much beer and soaking up too […]
Opting out
It’s that time of year, when the days are long and the nights are cool. School is out, and work seems to get easier and easier to blow off when there is a good time to be had instead. There’s something about a long weekend enjoying the sights, sounds and even the smells of downtown […]
The Yellow Brick Road not taken
The display in Blue Spiral 1’s street-level gallery has a definite weight to it. Interconnected ceramic works by Kenneth Baskin hold a somber dialogue with Ward H. Nichols’ hyper-realistic paintings, creating a muted and sparse feel. Micah Sherrill’s “Evidence of Things Unseen” is just one of his series exploring the iconic characters and situations in […]
SoundTrack
Ambushes can be vastly underrated. Worthy waylays include surprise birthdays (sans the weak heart), a shot of whiskey in coffee and occasional opening-act rock bands. I headed to the Grey Eagle on Saturday, July 5, to review local upstarts The If You Wannas, with supporting acts The Baker Family Band and The Royal Bangs. The […]
Bele Chere offers deal for ticketed shows
If you’ve been holding out for the ticketed portion of the Bele Chere Festival here’s some incentive.
Sound Track (online edition): The kids are alright
Some of Asheville’s best rock music is being performed by musicians too young to get into the clubs. But these wise-beyond-their-years upstarts are definitely worth a listen.
Edgy Mama: Eat local, go hungry?
The challenge: Eat only foods grown or processed in North and South Carolina for one week. The results (at least for Edgy Mama): hunger, a broken budget, but unassailable “locavore” cred.
Remembering John Payne
There is a black hole in the local arts community. Yesterday, Asheville artist and River Arts District visionary John Payne died after suffering a massive stroke. He was 58.
Book Report: Web of Conspiracy
For those of you who enjoy wrapping your minds around addictively paranoid mysteries (Who was Shakespeare? Who Killed J.F.K.? Are there aliens?), I offer Web of Conspiracy: A Guide to Conspiracy Theory Sites on the Internet by James F. Broderick and Asheville-based author Darren W. Miller.
Forget the Chuckle Hut
Since last summer, Laugh Your Asheville Off has been challenging Asheville’s reputation as an uptight little artist’s village and attempting to turn it into a bustling burg of comedy. For its sophomore effort, the festival has stretched to three days and, according to organizers, has thus become the largest comedy festival in the Southeast. (Take […]
Can you say tensegrity?
Public sculpture has long played a role in Asheville’s ability to market itself to art-loving tourists. From Dirck Cruser’s “Energy Loop” (currently being restored) to the newly installed aluminum “Deco Gecko,” and from the various works on the Urban Trail to Albert Paley’s “Passage” in front of the Federal Building, sculpture seems to be everywhere. […]
Let freedom ring
“It seems like every summer, something else is going on. I guess that’s because our music is so summery,” says Jason Brewer, singer and guitarist for Charleston, S.C.-based rock outfit The Explorers Club. The sounds of summer: They may not be rich or famous, but the Explorers Club do know how to make a catchy […]
In good company
Anyone who remembers the propitious discovery of Tracy Chapman (she was a busker on the streets of Cambridge, Mass., circa mid-1980s) can probably relate to the more recent buzz around folk-soul artist Ruthie Foster. Yes, Foster shares more than a passing comparison to the “Fast Car” singer. There’s the long dreads, the luminous smile and […]
Second helping
Don’t even think about calling them a cover band. “I think that cover-band label is pretty lame in the first place,” says David Connor Jones, bassist for local rock band Custard Pie. Sure, the band does exclusively perform Led Zeppelin covers—but Jones sees their take on the music as something far removed from Elvis impersonators […]
Local Flavor: Tennessee Hollow and Johnson’s Crossroad
It’s not quite the weekend, but close to it. A breezy Thursday night beckons music lovers to West Asheville’s Rocket Club. Several drinks and many songs later, patrons will trickle out into the dark street, fortified for the last workday of the week. But for now, the crowd lounges on brightly colored stools, or stands […]
What have you done with my friends, baby?
The baby was having a bad night, and the three of us spent New Year’s Eve passing her around, hoping that one of our shoulders would prove to be the magical soporific.
Wedge Brewing looking for movie lore
Thunder Road is paved with stories of moonshine, mayhem and Mitchum, and Wedge Brewing wants to hear them.
Pat & Alli’s Weekly Winners
Each week Xpress reporter Alli Marshall and WOXL DJ Pat Ryan team up to bring you their entertainment suggestions.
Book Report: Mango and the Square Green Cat
This week is all about books for kids, including a new release and launch party. Want to talk about your favorite children’s books? Here’s the place to do just that.
The Big Crafty, this weekend
Indie-crafting isn’t just a hobby, it’s a way of life. Okay, sometimes, it’s a hobby, but local artisans have taking the crafting past-time to a whole new level, from the tea cosies of yore to wearable art, edgy visual art and much more.
Automatique for the people
Last year, a wave of post-flannel nostalgia gripped Asheville. The Smashing Pumpkins staged a nine-show residency at the Orange Peel that brought the attention of the rock world to Asheville, if only for a few days. While many locals (including this writer) drank Billy Corgan’s musical Kool-Aid and believed for a moment that the only […]