The finalists in the Mountain Xpress 2011 Poetry Prize contest read their winning verses on Friday, April 8, at the Masonic Temple downtown. What a time it was — an attentive crowd of spoken and written-word enthusiasts filled the third-floor auditorium of the 1913 building. James Cox, James Davis, John Eells, Jessica Claire Newton, Randal […]
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Don’t lose momentum: repurpose the Momentum site
I live near the Momentum site on Broadway in north Asheville, and I read recently in a People Advocating Real Conservancy newsletter that Momentum will not be built after all, and that all those downed trees and chain-link fences will just remain there until someone else buys the land and develops it. I understand that […]
A symposium on the political power of big money in America
It is deeply distressing that during this time of economic recession a few very wealthy people in this country are growing enormously wealthier while millions of other people battle to hang onto jobs, homes, life-assets and retirement savings. The very rich are getting much richer, while large numbers of Americans are falling from the middle […]
Edward Chapman’s freedom — a worthy cause, ignored
On March 31, a benefit was held at the Grey Eagle for Edward Chapman, who had been wrongly convicted, sentenced to death and imprisoned on North Carolina's death row for 13 years. It was a great affair with a nice turnout of people who wanted to support Mr. Chapman spiritually and financially, since the state […]
Commercial radio pays its own way
I want to reply to Fred Flaxman's letter of March 30 [“Don’t let public Media Go to Static,” Xpress]. National Public Radio wants the taxpayers to subsidize [its programming]. I listen to Fox News Radio all day long, They use commercial advertisers, not corporate sponsors. Advertisers pay a lot more than sponsors. That is the […]
Weekly Picks
The fourth annual Music Video Asheville showcase, featuring films that pair Asheville musicians with filmmakers, will be screened on Wednesday, April 13 from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Fine Arts Theater, 36 Biltmore Ave. An awards ceremony will be held at the end of the screening for Audience Choice awards and the MVA juried […]
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Twelve WNC counties have 10.1 percent or higher unemployment
A dozen Western North Carolina counties in February had unemployment rates higher than 10.1 percent, the state’s overall unadjusted rate, according to the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina, according to a report from the nonprofit Carolina Public Press.
Review of Chris Cornell
The ‘90s rock icon played a solo show Wednesday at the Orange Peel.
Truth to Power: April 9 panel discussion targets America’s “perpetual state of war”
While patrolling in Iraq in 2007, former active-duty Marine Conor Curran came to question what he was doing and why he was there, when an Iraqi civilian served him tea. Curran will be one of several participants in an April 9 open discussion at the Diana Wortham Theatre — Truth to Power: A Permanent State of War (the program starts at 8 p.m.). Xpress editorial intern Forrest McDonald spoke to Curran and one of the keynote speakers, investigative journalist Gareth Porter, earlier this week. Here are a few of their remarks.
Elitist Bastards: Shall I wash your Hanke, sir?
In this week’s Elitist Bastards Go To The Movies podcast, Mountain Xpress film critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther discuss current releases Source Code, Insidious and Hop. The duo also talk about next week’s Asheville Film Society screening, Blonde Venus, and upcoming releases Arthur, Hanna, Soul Surfer and Your Highness. And just to cap it off, the critics also give us a brief preview of this weekend’s ActionFest film festival.
The commish report: Buncombe County commissioners’ April 5 session
From URTV’s funding to a proclamation recogizing Otto DeBruhl for his many years as Register of Deeds, here’s a meeting summary from freelance reporter Christopher George, along with his Twitter updates from the April 5 meeting of the Buncombe County Board Commissioners.
Om is where the heart is
Asheville is gaining recognition as one of the hippest yoga towns in the country. Locals see the threads woven throughout their day — from the ubiquitous Om-symbol bumper stickers to the checkout clerk who greets you with “Namaste” to your co-worker’s reminder to “take a deep breath” when you’re feeling stressed. This is not surprising, […]
Say “cheese”
Western North Carolinians may not don foam cheese hats at Tourists’ games, but we’re a cheese-loving and cheese-making region all the same. That’s why Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project is putting the focus on local farmstead cheese this month in its Get Local initiative, which brings together farmers, chefs and community members to celebrate a single […]
The Profiler
The Suspect: Mount Kimbie After releasing two well-received EPs in 2009, this duo from London came out with a full-length album Crooks & Loverson the Hot Flush label last summer. The band comes at its ambient trip-hop from a dubstep perspective and is possibly even the first band in the “post-dubstep” genre. Pitchfork says Mount […]
Widespread Panic gives back with Josh Stack
Have you ever been to a trippy canned-food drive? If not, here’s an example from an event organized by Widespread Panic’s own John Bell and The Sautee Community Association. Four months ago, a massive black-and-white labyrinth created from hanging colored spotlights shined on the floor of a gymnasium in Sautee, Ga. People entered the light-maze […]
Weekly Picks
The Sierra Club presents a forum on nuclear power and renewable alternatives on Wednesday, April 6 at 7:30 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place. Dot Sulock of UNCA, and Mary Olson, Southeast Regional Coordinator for the Nuclear Information and Resource Services, will be the featured speakers. Info: teachingnonproliferation.org. The community […]
May 1 is big enough for multiple holidays
I feel compelled to point out the hypocrisy in the recent letter “Green Capitalism Still Sucks” [March 30 Xpress]. The reader decried the Asheville Grown Business Alliance for co-opting a "120-year-old anti-capitalist holiday" with its May 1 Big Love Fest downtown. I would be remiss not to point out that the celebration of a May […]
One on one with D.G. Martin
Reynolds Price wouldn’t like what the 2010 census reveals about North Carolina. The great writer and Duke professor, who died in January, had a thing about our state's small towns. His last book, Ardent Spirits, was a memoir about his time as a Rhodes scholar in England and his early years teaching at Duke. But […]
A geek who knows how to wield a hammer
A brand-new mobile arts laboratory is in town. It’s called Easel Rider, and it’s Asheville’s first multimedia art facility on wheels. This Saturday, artist Mark Koven, who was instrumental in the development of Easel Rider, plans to use the vehicle to project temporary light graffiti (laser tagging) on the fabled Bauhaus Studies Building of the […]
I wonder if she felt the valley rise to envelop her, as I do
Though she lives in Roanoke, Va., Janice Lancaster has been connected to Western North Carolina through past projects with BMCM+AC. In 2009, she and husband Adam Larsen produced Black Whole, a multimedia dance performance that took place at the Food Lion Skate Park. Video projection transformed the skate park into an otherworldly […]