As the first musical bars sing out across the hall, the crowd stops in their tracks, ears prick up and the 1-2-3 syncopated rhythms fall into place — Asheville’s Vertigo Jazz Project jumps right into the beat. The drums kick in, tight, loud and steady, with rolls on the snare and taps on the hi-hats. […]
The Suspect: Joe Pug and the Hundred Mile Band This singer-songwriter was a senior playwriting major at UNC-Chapel Hill when he realized he was profoundly unhappy with his life. He dropped out and headed to Chicago, where he practiced carpentry by day and music by night. His fan base grows daily, boosted in part by […]
Update: Clare Hanrahan ties herself to one of the pear trees the city is removing in a downtown-wide project..
EARLIER: The city of Asheville is removing some trees in the Central Business District, including these Bradford pears in front of the Haywood Park Hotel. Arborist Mark Foster has noted, ““People planted Bradford pears because they are attractive when they bloom and they are urban tolerant.” Foster says. “It wasn’t until they began falling apart 15 or 20 years later that people realized it wasn’t such a good idea.” …
The proposed Interstate 26 connector in Asheville is currently on hold for at least the next 10 years, barring further review by the N.C. Department of Transportation, a spokesman told the Carolina Public Press on Monday, March 28.
In this week’s Local Matters podcast, Xpress News Editor Margaret Williams talks to reporter Jake Frankel about the coming cover story on new perspectives on the “Marion Massacre” union strike, and with reporter David Forbes about Asheville City Council’s recent back-and-forth with the Ingles grocery chain, as well as their recent conversation with NC Treasurer Janet Cowell at a CIBO luncheon.
In this week’s Elitist Bastards Go To The Movies podcast, Mountain Xpress film critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther discuss current releases Limitless, The Lincoln Lawyer, Paul, Somewhere and Today’s Special.
Dark Horse Theatre’s most recent show pulls from three of the more recognizable tales, setting the action in a decidedly more grown-up atmosphere of gossip, gambling and happily-ever-never.
SMALL TOWN: It’s 1 p.m. The lead singer is standing on his porch smoking a cigarette. Practice was supposed to start an hour ago and his bandmates aren’t answering their phones. Then the drummer calls from Taco Bell. Blood sugar issue. Then the bass player shows up, his eyes still partly closed in the early afternoon sunlight.
It could be Austin or Asheville, but …
Signs good, lights bad — at their March 22 meeting, Asheville City Council members required Ingles Markets to place less bright lights than it requested for a proposed grocery complex on Smokey Park Highway, but they approved the company’s request for more signs. In other actions…
The traditional view of a kids’ summer camp is steeped in a nostalgic woodsy setting. There’s always a lake for swimming and canoeing and a nightly campfire with singing, swapping spooky stories and roasting various treats-on-a-stick. This classic design was the “forest” ushering in a growing acceptance of “trees” — or the rising tide of […]
When it comes to the explosive intersection of kids and chemicals, it’s not just about the baking-soda-and-vinegar volcano anymore. Solar-powered vehicles and other green-themed toys are on the rise; likewise modern adaptations of beloved classics. Xpress contacted local independent stores whose primary retail space is devoted to toys, and discovered the very latest in weird […]
Western North Carolina’s many summer camps are keeping up with the techie times. Some offer up-to-the-minute instruction in rocketry, robotics, ecology, Web design and music production, among other exciting subjects. Delve into the science of summer! Nature, Adventure, Health and Science Appalachia School of Holistic Herbalism offers an Earth Sprouts! Summer Camp August 1-5 from […]
The Suspect: Corey Smith He began his career playing the country bar circuit in Athens 10 years ago; his sixth and latest release, Keeping Up With the Joneses, produced by Russ-T Cobb (Butch Walker, April Lavigne) is full of radio-ready revelry. As one fan on his website says, “Corey’s music captures college in a nutshell: […]
Editor’s note: Roving local historian/photographer Bob Collins is on a mission to document the fast-disappearing remains of the area’s fascinating past. His book Hidden Historic Treasures: Henderson County, N.C., was produced, as he puts it, “to put the old structures that have been overgrown and forgotten for all these years together with the people who […]
“Orchids are not difficult to grow, just misunderstood.” That’s the description of the opening discussion at the annual Western North Carolina Orchid Society Show and Sale, scheduled for Saturday, March 26, and Sunday, March 27, at the North Carolina Arboretum. The event features three presentations each day, from the 11 a.m. opener to Sunday afternoon’s […]
It’s been a long winter, but a green glow at the end of the tunnel is finally visible. “My asparagus is starting to wake up,” says Danny McConnell of McConnell Farms in Hendersonville. While his exact harvest date is up in the air (literally; it depends upon the weather), he estimates they’ll be ready around […]
The document referenced in “State Health Assessment Finds Most CTS Neighbors Not at Risk” [March 2 Xpress] is a slap in the face to Arden residents by Sandy Mort of N.C. Health and Human Services. People who live near the abandoned CTS site have dealt with life-threatening maladies for years from contaminants such as vinyl […]
There are many things I'd like to say in response to Diana Ronald-Szabo [“Call Abortion What It Is: Murder,” Feb. 9 Xpress] and those who share her myopic and oppressive views regarding a person's right to choose when or if they will bear a child. Really, though, the last thing we need is a public […]
I actually felt hurt when I read Mr. Hanke's review of the recently released Gnomeo & Juliet [“Cranky Hanke,” Feb. 16 Xpress]. I took my children, ages 12 and 5, to see the film. The older one, a fan of Shakespeare, was skeptical. But, being young and mainly happy (read: easily pleased by a movie […]
It appears our commissioners haven’t accepted the fact that they are employees of the taxpayers of Buncombe County. Their travel allowance was just reduced from $650 every two weeks to $320 every two weeks, which is still unacceptable. Chairman Gantt wants the commissioners to be paid for the average miles they travel “as long as […]
Thank you, Vernon Hill, for bringing up the most annoying habit to grace our highways: cars residing in the fast lane, otherwise known as Fast-Lane Hogs [“Drive, He Said,” March 16 Xpress]. Nothing enrages me more than drivers taking up occupancy in the passing lane. On a recent trip, I was graced with a middle […]
