To view them in the rarefied atmosphere of a greenhouse is to newly appreciate the insistent personality of bonsai trees. Encountered in a garden shop or someone’s home, they may seem nothing more than cool oddities — exotic icons from an incomprehensible culture. Viewed in a group, though, they brim with a gentle clarity, humbling […]

Tinsley Ellis’ hot, showy guitar playing has earned him numerous comparisons to the likes of Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. And while the critically acclaimed musician has no quarrel with boomer-friendly power blues, he balks at being labeled a bluesman. “It’s OK if people say my music sounds like the blues to them, but I […]

Galactic’s steady touring schedule last year “tightened up” the band, reports keyboardist Rich Vogel — but not so much that a little fresh inspiration couldn’t seep in. On the heels of all that road time, the band’s second release, Crazyhorse Mongoose (Capricorn, 1998) strays from their debut effort (Coolin’ Off — Capricorn, 1996) in ways […]

What began as an inexpensive vacation in Cuba for Canadian saxophonist Jane Bunnett has turned into a life’s mission. Fusing Cuban rhythms with her own brand of ’60s- and ’70s-style improvisational jazz has been the deepest focus of Bunnett’s work for more than a decade, as the performer has increasingly immersed herself in that country’s […]

Far from casting a pall over the ninth annual Thomas Wolfe Festival, the July 24 fire that severely damaged Wolfe’s boyhood home on Market Street has sparked a surge in attendance, says festival Director Ted Mitchell. “Right now, we’re accommodating an overflow at hotels,” he reports. With the acclaimed novelist’s Old Kentucky Home off limits […]

Gene Wall Cole may well be the luckiest man alive. In the introduction to his recently published memoir, The Chameleon: A Spiritual Journey Through Wine, Women & Song (Awakening Imaginations, 1998), the traveling musician/author/lecturer confesses that, throughout his life, more than one person has given him that nickname. That’s not surprising, considering the varied and […]

Beer and bluegrass would probably make a happy marriage anywhere, but here in Asheville, it’s an effortlessly joyful union, maintains Barley’s Taproom co-owner Doug Beatty — the proud sponsor of the second annual Brewgrass Festival. “Asheville is an oasis in a conservative desert,” he proclaims, pointing out that the only other beer festival in North […]

The word means “central place” or “gathering place.” In fact, legend holds that Kituwah was the ancient Cherokees’ first permanent settlement. It’s pronounced Gih-DOO-wuh — and that’s just the first of many lessons visitors can learn during this year’s intertribal celebration. Kituwah ’98 boasts a strong educational focus, says Gail Gomez, director of the High […]

For my money, nothing eases the shock of summer’s demise more sweetly than a scalding funnel cake consumed in the September twilight. Like the need for new shoes and virgin notebooks for the looming school year, scarfing down deep-fried dough in the open air is a venerable annual urge. Then there’s the ominous creak of […]

The story’s difficult moral issues are a given; but bringing this acclaimed book to the stage presents some unique challenges. So says Betsy Bisson, director of the upcoming Flat Rock Playhouse production of To Kill a Mockingbird. To evoke the shifting time strata, the Playhouse will make shrewd use of screens to depict a semimaterialized, […]

“There’s more of an appreciation for craftsmanship [in Asheville], as opposed to where I came from, says local artisan Randall Ray. “Although I had a good, successful business [on the N.C. coast], that wasn’t where my heart was. There are a lot more craftspeople and artists in the western part of the state.” At The […]

Displaying photography together with painting and sculpture has often proved a risky endeavor for galleries, but Where’s the Art?, a new show at Asheville’s Zone one contemporary gallery, deliberately lights the fuse, forcing works in these often-warring media to exist side by side. The show, insist co-presenters Connie Bostic (a painter, as well as the […]

Birthed as a humble attempt to highlight a genre unfairly downplayed in the region, JAZZbrevard — now a year into its second decade — has managed to turn the region’s reputation upside down by hosting premier jazz artists. Even the festival’s promoters still seem a bit dazed by its success. Artistic Director Gene Berger recalls […]

You can get a glimpse of Francois Manavit’s dazzling painted tiles at the Arts Alliance Front Gallery on Biltmore Avenue. But it’s hard to confine the scope of the native Frenchman’s “work” within a given boundary. Tiles are measurable; not so the blissfully expansive range of this man’s vision. His projects range from the near-outlandish […]

“It’s a strange time,” muses Todd Spahr, a genial (if battle-scarred) pop veteran currently fronting the critically favored (but as-yet commercially ignored) Boston band, The Gravy. “The record industry is always looking for the next big thing,” the singer/double-necked-Gibson guitarist elaborates, “but everything has been beaten into the ground. They’ve made a really good system […]

It’s easy to be snide about Third Eye Blind. First, there’s the mild absurdity of the heavy name (a gem of determined intellectual vagueness) juxtaposed with their decidedly bantamweight music. And then there are the songs. Though “Semi-Charmed Life,” their biggest hit to date, is a fraction more than semi-charming, and certainly catchy enough to […]

If you’re a house-music fan who’s wrung all the fun available from Asheville’s meager offerings in that department; if your ears are bored and your feet simply aching for a new outlet, this party’s for you. If your late-night shift serving trout to tourists keeps you hustling tables too late to let you enjoy much […]

Her low, arresting voice puts you in mind of those weirdly beautiful chestnut hues you used to puzzle over in the 64-count box of Crayolas. Yes, if Ann Rabson’s mellifluous singing style were a crayon, it would definitely be burnt sienna. In a recent phone interview from her West Virginia hotel, though, the pianist’s vocal […]

A guitar picker since childhood, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown has been a professional ambassador for American roots music for more than half a century. And with retirement still far from view, the 74-year-old virtuoso doesn’t take kindly to those who color his musical contributions with a single shade. Consistently heralded as a blues maestro, Brown has […]

Unlike the frantic inspiration that precipitates one of Keith “Scramble” Campbell’s improvised-in-midconcert paintings, the psychedelic, 3-D effect they create doesn’t necessarily “just happen.” Specific techniques, such as juxtaposing particular colors, are employed to produce the artist’s signature, eye-teasing resonance. Questioned further about his method, the Orlando-based Campbell (he’s in Asheville for the summer) tries to […]