Like most artists, Steve McMurry is more eager to discuss his current project than his last one. Acoustic Syndicate’s second CD, soon to be released, will be decidedly peppier than their self-titled debut (Little King Records, 1996), McMurry revealed in a recent interview. “The [first album] moved slowly,” notes the band’s guitarist, vocalist and mandolin […]

By more than one account, Come On In (Fat Possum/Epitaph Records, 1998) has already enraged (or at least confused) a host of blues purists. R.L. Burnside’s latest release is nothing less than a series of dance remixes, featuring the 71-year-old Mississippi native’s boiling, elemental blues chopped up and wantonly married to hip-hop beats and a […]

How do they do it? Many rock quartets lose members like dryers lose socks — never mind keeping twice that many people together and happy over a two-year stretch. The eight-headed groove beast known as Gran Torino could almost be its own baseball team; their four-piece horn section, alone, sets them apart from other groups […]

What do you do when everything turns boringly predictable? If you’re Asheville Art Museum guest curator Michael Klein , you go for something off the wall. Klein says the world of conceptual art had grown stagnant for him. So he went hunting salvation elsewhere, and found it in the work of eight sculptors — some […]

They’re purported to be famed vampire chronicler Anne Rice’s favorite band. If it’s true, the dark novelist must be exploring her sunny side, these days, because the seven-year-old New Orleans quartet Cowboy Mouth is about as far from gothic as, well, dead is from undead. Think bouncy, not brooding. To be sure, the band’s latest […]

“We pissed a lot of people off, and I’m glad we pissed them off.” In the soft cadence of Steve Riley’s southern Louisiana accent, this malediction comes out sounding strangely appealing. Others, however, would probably disagree: Riley readily acknowledges that when he and his band, The Mamou Playboys, started straying from the strict Cajun formula […]

Linus was never Ben Mackel’s favorite member of the Peanuts gang. “I always liked Snoopy,” he confesses. But on-stage, the 16-year-old exudes the sweet resignation of Lucy’s blanket-dependent, philosophizing little brother splendidly — proving you don’t have to be loyal to your character to understand what’s made Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip such an enduring […]

It’s a small exhibit, filling just one room, but what Beyond Likeness: Contemporary Considerations of the Portrait lacks in quantity, it replaces with an astounding diversity: This handful of paintings, carefully chosen by the Asheville Art Museum from the permanent collection of the North Carolina State Museum in Raleigh, spans five centuries. “It’s about as […]

Some musicians trace their careers back to, say, a particularly moving performance by some childhood hero. For Celtic singer Mary Jane Lamond, though, it was a “milling frolic” (an event in which a heavy woolen cloth is beaten rhythmically against a table, while people sing and keep time) that sparked her true calling. Lured by […]

What’s new about the Moscow Ballet’s production of the holiday classic The Nutcracker is, well, something old. Never before have Americans had a chance to see a version of the ballet so close to the original vision of Tchaikovsky’s 1892 work, contends Moscow Ballet producer Akiva Talmi. American productions tend to highlight drama over dance, […]

If the unlikely pairing of weird, oversized musical instruments with wild trapeze dances brings to mind a riot of fun-but-ultimately-meaningless activity — think again: The Lela Performance Group uses just those elements (and more) to access what they call “the body’s wisdom.” Through the sheer physicality of their performance of Body Soul Food, Leah Mann […]

North Carolina sculptor Carol Gentithes was never quite happy with the ending of Aesop’s venerable fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare.” “I [always thought] of the rabbit winning,” she reveals. So she reshaped the fable to her liking, in the form of “Won by a Hare,” now on display at the Odyssey Gallery, as part […]

“I do know the difference between fantasy and reality,” swears Kiss frontman Paul Stanley’s local clone, Bill, a 30-something Weaverville man of singular vision who doesn’t care to disclose his identity in the lackluster offstage world. This performer’s favored place is behind the scary makeup and inside the seven-inch platform boots of Kiss’ flamboyant singer. […]

The inaugural edition of One Planet Cafe offers a mere taste of what’s to come, hints Lynn Rosser of the lovingly conceived project she terms “a service to the greater community.” The cafe will be held in Asheville’s Baha’i Center, but it’s a determinedly nondenominational project, she contends. That’s not to say that the mission […]

From flappers to rappers, Halloween night in Asheville this year offers something for every ghost, ghoul and goblin. To wit: Don your best flapper duds and visit the Asheville Art Museum’s Roaring Twenties Party. Or, if rock ‘n’ roll (and one hell of a house party) is your thing, don’t miss Asheville’s 20th annual Freakers’ […]

Flourishing a full quarter-century in the music business would be an impressive feat for any act with spiritual substance; what’s amazing about Sweet Honey in the Rock, though, is that these women have survived while purging their souls in a barely recognized genre. “I believe our fans have a secret will for the group to […]

Painless Productions’ latest show — an updated version of Sicilian playwright Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of An Author — raises many intriguing spiritual dilemmas. But Sheldon Lawrence, who plays the pivotal role of the father, also notes a more practical difficulty. “The main challenge in playing the father is that the guy has […]

“Whatever gets people off is what gets me off,” is Todd Horn’s altruistic view of his regionally famous band’s wild gigs. This vague (and vaguely combustible) statement seems somehow appropriate to the Spider Monkey frontman. With his boyish manner and flirtatious evasion of duty (at one point during a recent phone interview, he seemed more […]

As the season turns, so does Decline Worldwide Productions. But never fear: The scrappy local multimedia company is far from offering a gentle outing centered on watching the leaves turn. Decline’s latest live show serves up a bracing clash of local talent, for an evening of refreshing political incorrectness. Headliners Luvsix have long been local […]

It’s no secret that the Lake Eden Arts Festival puts on a dandy show. The weekend gala, held twice a year in Black Mountain, regularly features a lineup of world-renowned musical luminaries. This fall is no different, with such artists as Ricardo Lemvo and his band Makina Loca, Pinetop Perkins (playing with the Steady Rollin’ […]