“We’re playing totally traditional songs on all-traditional instruments, and somehow it’s knocking people off their asses,” marvels Turku member Ted Monnich. The multi-instrumentalist understands that world music’s ancient beat has a limited appeal for many modern American audiences. And though the Columbia, S.C.-based musician plays such music himself, he’s certainly not blind to the challenge […]

Blue Plate Special’s latest multicourse extravaganza is a tasty collection of comedic sketches that combines the famous (several of brilliant satirist Christopher Durang’s works) with the found (Winston Weather’s “Chevrolet Garden,” the story of a family who create a garden out of junk cars), crowned with the usual outlandish finale. Having sworn not to divulge […]

Bassist Corey Parks was thrilled to see one of her musical heroes attend a recent Nashville Pussy concert — although Parks has already outscorched her fire-blowing predecessor in one crucial category. “My flames are two or three times the size of [Kiss lead singer] Gene Simmons’ flames,” she says in a throaty drawl. That should […]

Who says there’s no musical diversity in Asheville? From ear-friendly R&B to full-on sonic distortion, new bands are popping up all the time in our fair city. Trouble is, many of them linger in obscurity for years — and some never quite catch on, no matter how great their music might be. How come? Lack […]

Asheville’s newest festival boasts a heat that has nothing to do with its steamy, dog-days-of-summer calendar date. Even though La Fiesta Latina is slated for the last Saturday in June, it would no doubt be smokin’ even in January. The idea for La Fiesta Latina got its modest start a year-and-a-half ago. “The North Carolina […]

After searching a moment, David Reed finds the words he’s looking for: “It’s a primal thing,” he confides. Utilizing stone — as tools, furniture or even decoration — is a concept almost as old as the material itself, yet it appears to have lost none of its considerable appeal. Reed regularly leads workshops about his […]

At a time when the very notion of an issue-free rock band seems to be on the skids, it’s beautiful to witness the durability of a group whose sole ambition is providing a serious party. “You can’t [save the world] by singing about saving the world,” declares Southern Culture on the Skids lead singer Rick […]

It’s Irish dance, to be sure, but this show is hardly a frisky jig on the shores of the River Shannon. Spirit of the Dance director/producer David King warns staunch traditionalists: “People that like a narrow interpretation of traditional Irish dance won’t like Spirit of the Dance. … Our funky music turns it into a […]

Like any ’90s band with a following even a fraction as zealous as the one attached to these explosive noise-rockers, The Jesus Lizard’s cult status can be easily confirmed without reading a review or seeing a show: A brief cruise on the Internet reaps a litter of affectionate Web sites (some more interesting than others […]

It’s to her credit that when local playwright Christine Lassiter decided to make art out of her four-year stint working in a homeless shelter, she avoided the emotionally tempting route of telling one person’s sad story. Instead, Only the Dance is a complex play exploring eight people’s lives in the fictional Grail Street Shelter. Perhaps […]

Their collective resume would boast almost 50 years in the music business — but expecting mainstream-music renegades Cris Williamson and Tret Fure to pen such a traditional document would be absurd. Fure recorded her first album in the early ’70s, when she was only 19 (Mousetrap, with Spencer Davis) — during the same time period […]

Anyone who begrudges the growing popularity of electronic music needs only to listen to local DJ and musician Jon 7 for 30 seconds — listen to him talk, that is — to realize that a man this illuminated by his art could have nothing less than his soul invested. “I’ve lost my [equipment] and had […]

Her songs hold no suggestive entreaties or slick, come-hither rhythms. In fact, Dayna Kurtz isn’t sure why her CDs are so often exalted by reviewers as ideal soundtracks for evenings spent sizzling in the throes of passion. “I don’t [understand] sometimes,” admits the New Jersey native. “It’s not like I’m Barry White, talking about getting […]

The plot goes something like this: After her sister, Rosalie, is killed in a bicycle mishap, Betty moves to New York with her 13-year-old son, Bert, and promptly inherits her dead sister’s apartment, lifestyle and job (or, rather, jobs — Rosalie worked at a bogus travel agency by day and moonlighted as a porn star). […]

“The first time I saw The Fantasticks, it was [because] one of my friends called me up and said, ‘This is one of the best plays I’ve ever seen in my life. It has the whole meaning of life in it,’” recalls Bill Dreyer of his initial encounter with the world’s longest-running musical. Asheville Community […]

Skepticism is the natural reaction, Mary Verdi-Fletcher confirms, when one first encounters the concept of wheelchair dance. “When you hear ‘wheelchair’ with ‘ballet’ and ‘dance,’ none of it goes together,” the co-artistic director and principal dancer with the Cleveland Ballet Dancing Wheels admits. “You have to see to believe.” The misconceptions are rooted in language […]

In your torment of impatience for spring, that perennial temptress, consider this: It took local nature sculptor Tom Jordan seven years to finish his first piece (which he describes as an “unnamed dragon”). What’s more, the earthy fodder for Jordan’s art is actually the harvest of the winter months. The dried vine tendrils, seed pods, […]

Just because they’ve been extinct for billions of years doesn’t mean they can’t still wreak a bit of havoc every now and then. “When you bump into the hipbone of a T-rex, it hurts. You can tell that by the bumps on our heads,” says Carl Felson with a laugh. The recently transplanted Chicagoan has […]

‘Tis the season to stock up on four-leaf clovers, commune with leprechauns and, generally, party till you, uh, turn green. What follows are a few area St. Patrick’s Day highlights. • In a joint display of the true Irish spirit, Highland Brewery and Fine Friends Restaurant (946 Merrimon Ave.) toss aside their shillelaghs this year […]

With a spectrum of subjects ranging from jealous lovers to alien invasion, there appears, at first, to be no common theme binding the issues explored in JD Project’s modern-dance extravaganza, “Elements II.” Everything is included. Everything and everyone — which may, in fact, be the point. Julie Gillum and Dana Davis, co-founders of the innovative […]