Asheville typically catches the attention of national audiences as a tourist destination, but a local filmmaker has documented the view of WNC from a boxcar.
Edgy Mama: How granola are you?
My family uses the word “granola” as an adjective. As in: “Anne Fitten’s my granola cousin who lives in Asheville and nursed her kids until they’d memorized their multiplication tables.” (Kidding!) A version of the “how crunchy are you?” quiz below has made the rounds of many of the mommy blogs and the Asheville Mamas Web forums. I’ve re-written it to make to more scientific.
New on newsstands
Two local magazines debut this month.
Book Report: Two local authors base their books on family history
Gari Carter’s Troubled State and D.C. Force’s Family both draw from inherited history.
Book Report: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming
Atlanta-based author Joshilyn Jackson comes to Asheville to read and discuss her newest novel.
Pat & Alli’s Weekly Winners
Each week Xpress reporter Alli Marshall and WOXL DJ Pat Ryan team up to bring you their entertainment suggestions.
Let’s get physical
The mere mention of exercise can conjure up images of sadistic P.E. teachers, striped gym socks and climbing ropes—though for those of us safely out of high school it’s unlikely that any of the aforementioned figure into our fitness regimens. For that matter, Nautilus equipment, ankle weights and chest expanders may seem equally laughable. It’s […]
Hail to the chiefs
Ask Andrew McKeag, “guitbass” player for The Presidents of the United States of America, about his band’s early success, and he’s just as puzzled as everyone else. After all, he joined the band in 2004, a decade after the bands’ meteoric rise to the top of the charts. Elected to rock: The Presidents climbed to […]
Magically delicious
“I’m of the opinion that the book is no longer mine once I quit writing it,” says Sarah Addison Allen, author of the just-released novel, The Sugar Queen (Bantam, 2008). It seems that Allen is not only willing to let her creative work become public property (ideologically, that is: the copyright still stands), she thinks […]
All the clutter is gone
Most musicians, when initially taking up their primary instrument of choice, are drawn to some romantic notion that the object invokes. The guitar, for instance, is generally viewed as modern music’s iconic and defining instrument. But for Galen Kipar, however, it was just a tool to achieve a grander vision. Small-scale symphony: The Galen Kipar […]
Seeing the forest for the frieze
The must-see work in the Asheville Art Museum’s latest exhibition, Time is of the Essence: Contemporary Landscape Art, is the film Hidden Inside Mountains by Laurie Anderson. Ken Fandell’s striking photo collage, “All the Skies Above.” Yes, that Laurie Anderson, the performance artist of 1980s “O Superman” fame. But fans of the pioneering musician know […]
Top Drawer: Fashion news and views
There’s something stylish about a homemade lunch: It’s healthy, it makes good use of groceries and reduces the dining-out budget (not to mention the number of takeout cartons). But carrying lunch in vintage Tupperware or a ratty shopping bag isn’t exactly aesthetically pleasing. Remember how much fun it was to carry your Dukes of Hazzard […]
We saw you at LEAF!
Xpress photo gallery takes a unique view of last weekend’s Lake Eden Arts Festival
Edgy Mama: End-of-grade testing
“This week, my third-grader will take end-of-grade tests for the first time. She’s nervous and I’m irritated.”
Book Report: Springtime on Mars
Short though these stories by N.C. author Susan Woodring may be, Springtime on Mars proves a compelling, engaging read.
Pat & Alli’s Weekly Winners
Each week Xpress reporter Alli Marshall and WOXL DJ Pat Ryan team up to bring you their entertainment suggestions.
Swing is in the air
The first stop on Richard Layman’s journey to radio was tragedy. On a morning in 1993, two years after he moved to Asheville from Boston, Layman was driving to work on Highwway 23 when a rear tire blew out. His car veered across an overpass and came to rest for a few seconds on the […]
Of the people, for the people
The Lake Eden Arts Festival has a proud history of bringing performers from around the globe to Black Mountain’s Camp Rockmont. This season alone boasts a Cuban jam session, salsa and Aztec dances, and artists from Ireland, the Virgin Islands, Japan, Iraq, Rwanda, Bangladesh and Russia—and that’s just for starters. Found In Translation: Malian star […]
Immigrant song
“Isn’t it irrelevant?” asks DeVotchKa drummer and trumpet player Shawn King, referring to how the Denver quartet’s music no longer comes with the printed message “Unauthorized duplication of this record is encouraged.” By comparison, the back cover of DeVotchKa’s new album, A Mad and Faithful Telling—the band’s first for the Anti label—bears the standard legal […]
After the blues, before the flood
Mark Olson’s latest album, The Salvation Blues (Hacktone Records, 2007), begins much like it ends—with the soft strum of acoustic guitars, the gentle caress of pedal steel, the slow churn of a snare drum and Olson’s nasal but engaging voice. What lies between the beginning and the end is the culmination of a tumultuous few […]
Show review: Josh Ritter at the Orange Peel
Singer/songwriter Josh Ritter brings barely controlled chaos, complex song writing skills and welcome sincerity to his stage show.