Not too long ago, eco-minded attire consisted of shapeless pieces of clothing in uninspired shades of clay, putty and oatmeal. To the fashion conscious, earth-friendly clothes held all the appeal of a gunnysack (and not in the sense of Jessica McClintock’s Gunne Sax collection). Hat trick: Reversible wool cap ($55-$150) by Oosss Designs. Luckily, as […]

It’s possible that Asheville-based singer/songwriter Eliza Lynn took the lyric “good things come to those who wait, not to those who wait too late, we got to go for all we know” to heart. Not that her sometimes gritty, sometimes sweet songs bear much resemblance to those of Bill Withers (except for the surprising soul […]

Although the song’s lyrics declare that the tale is “as old as time,” the love-conquers-all story of Beauty and the Beast hasn’t actually been around forever. Try since the mid-18th century. And likely it was Disney’s 1991 animated-film version—later produced as a Broadway musical—that catapulted the story from quaint folk tale to household name. More […]

Can’t find Clubland in the print edition of this week’s Mountain Xpress? We goofed, but our user-friendly online version is there for you.

Downtown Asheville’s Lexington Avenue Arts & Fun Festival, now in its sixth year, is billed as a local festival for the locals. Locally based merchants sell locally made foods, microbrews, crafts and other products. Local talent pulls out all the stops when it comes to music, dancing, spoken word, performance and visual arts. In fact, […]

I’m not the reader for whom Diana Gabaldon’s Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade (Random House, 2007) was intended. “Almost all of the people reading Blade would have read the entire Outlander series,” the author admits, referencing her wildly popular six-book bevy that follows the adventures of 18th-century Scotsman Jamie Fraser and his […]

It’s ironic that kirtan music artist Jai Uttal’s 2002 recording, Mondo Rama, was nominated for a Grammy in the “Best New Age Album” category. Uttal, who’s been performing Asian-influenced world fusion for decades, considers that genre a bit outdated. A fire inside: Jai Uttal has spent a lifetime fanning the flames of cross-cultural devotional music. […]