There’s a rumor that when author F. Scott Fitzgerald took up residence at the Grove Park Inn, he weaned himself off hard liquor by downing dozens of bottles of beer each day. He also insisted on a room overlooking the main entrance so he could scope out arriving debutantes, and, in a drunken fit, shot […]

Is 2007 the year of The Avett Brothers? Too early to call, perhaps, but there’s no denying the regional trio’s public profile is undergoing a definite upgrade this year. Their first tour of Great Britain in February earned them kudos from The Guardian, one of the UK’s best dailies, plus a sell-out in Glasgow, and […]

He even played Radio City Music Hall wearing a ball cap, country singer Rodney Atkins admits to Xpress. There’s a note of unapologetic everyman to his confession. Rough beginnings add to Rodney Atkins’ “realness.” “More people in country music wear cowboy hats,” he says. “But more real people wear ball caps.” Not that he’s always […]

Cute American Idol analogies are to be avoided—because when eight of the area’s most exhibitionist singers go tonsil-to-tonsil during Asheville Community Theatre’s Diva*licious musical-theater sing-offs, it’s not TV-addled teens doing the voting, but actual theater buffs with plenty of drama-directed dollars. Asheville Community Theatre’s first major fund-raiser is a Great White Way-worthy gala. The winner […]

For Catherine Gets Released To DVD … Again Almost exactly a year ago, Culture Watch reported that local film company 207 Pictures was releasing its debut film For Catherine to DVD. The very low-budget flick (their official press release claims that the budget was “less than the price of a decent used car”) is essentially […]

There’s an old gag about the relationship between technology and music, which goes something like this … This appropriately mercurial photo of Dig Shovel Dig is a still from their URTV show “Mount Dungeon.” A man goes into a fancy electronics store to buy a new stereo. The salesman explains that they only carry top-of-the-line […]

The best thing about the latest Louvin Brothers’ revival is that this time around, Charlie Louvin’s smack in the middle of it. The surviving Louvin brother is riding high on this year’s Charlie Louvin, a collection of collaborations with Louvin Brothers’ fans young, old and famous—ranging from George Jones and Tom T. Hall to Elvis […]

There’s a pretty logical starting point for an article about a band with an unpronounceable name—in this case the California-cum-Brooklyn based !!! (which they verbalize as any repetition of a monosyllabic word or sound, such as “pow-pow-pow,” or more commonly “chk-chk-chk,” the clicking sound made by the Australian tribespeople in the film The Gods Must […]

Memories can be stirred by the strangest of things—the whistle of a faraway train, an acrid whiff of burning leaves, or, as for Proust, a madeleine soaked in a decoction of lime flower. “Eclipse,” a Mijanovich work quilted from pieced vintage cotton clothing, 46” by 49”. Quilters Libby and Jim Mijanovich do it with tiny […]

Clyde Meadows Readies New Release There’s a slim chance that surprisingly good high-school rockers Clyde Meadows are almost, finally, nearly done with their debut CD. Unmastered recordings from the jazzy pop-rock group have been circulating online for months, and the band recently released a four-track demo (entitled Precum) a few weeks ago. The full-length album, […]

• Phyllis Sultan reports that although her painter son Donald has received honorary doctorates from two other prestigious universities, he is especially thrilled to have one from UNC-Asheville. “In spite of what Thomas Wolfe said, it is really nice to come back home,” she says. • Haen Gallery has new work by two area artists, […]