For lovers of local food, the new year is off to a sweet start — sorghum and honey are the first featured local items on Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project’s Get Local calendar. For the area beekeepers behind the sugary stuff, 2011’s snowy, how-low-can-it-go start isn’t exactly ideal. “There is a little finger crossing involved,” admits […]
So the Republicans are back in control of the North Carolina General Assembly and immediately they began to speak in code. The most egregious local example was an interview in the Jan.19 Mountain Xpress, "Front Row Seats: A New Start for N.C.'s Grand Old Party.” Former Buncombe Republican chair Bill Keller's first advice to the […]
Wellness as we know it means an active exploration of any and all ways we can each seek to be healthier and happier, whether we’re battling an illness, tending to someone who’s ill, or looking for a little tenderness in our later years. In this week’s Wellness from the Ground Up: Part Two, we go […]
In your Jan. 19 [article] “Front Row Seats,” I read about [former GOP chairman] George Keller. I was astounded by his top two priorities: To require photo identification for voting and to work on redistricting. He stated he was embarrassed about “the division of this state.” I agree he should be embarrassed, but the embarrassment […]
As a percentage of gross domestic product, the U.S. spends more on health care than any other country, and one of the main objectives of health care reform is lowering costs. Right now, however, health care costs are being lowered on the backs of physicians and other care providers. Here in Buncombe County, Project Access […]
I am a downtown employee who uses an electric wheelchair. I disagreed (and still do) with the decision to require handicapped drivers to pay for parking. The financial hardship that accompanies the most severe disabilities is being ignored. One in three disabled Americans live at or below the poverty line. A few individuals abused parking […]
To some, the phrase “senior citizen” may evoke images of volunteering at polling stations, doing laps around the shopping mall or perhaps amassing a substantial collection of antique cracker boxes or porcelain ducks. But who’s to say that behind the bifocals of your friendly neighborhood bridge champion don’t lie the lusting eyes of a veteran […]
I have owned a downtown bead store, Beads and Beyond, for 27 years. The business is somewhere between retail and wholesale. I support the "Buy Local" [campaign] and feel I provide a service to the crafters in this area. Lately I have had a growing number of artists who complain about [my] prices. "I can […]
In Asheville, it’s easy to find good health in a cup of tea, whichever variety you crave. But which tea to choose? “We first ask a customer if they prefer something grassy, sweet, floral, bitter, oceanic, salty, bold or fruity,” says Andrew Snavely, owner of Dobra Tearoom, downtown Asheville’s newest teahouse. In other words, savoring […]
• Drive in the snow
• Profiles in WNC-ness
• Briefs
In this week’s Local Matters podcast, reporter David Forbes discusses the controversial passing of the 51 Biltmore project’s parking deck by Asheville City Council, and reporter Jake Frankel discusses the recent appeal “full equality for all Asheville citizens” by People of Faith for Just Relationships, as well as several wellness-related stories from the current issue.
Thomas Rain Crowe, of Tuckasegee, is a poet, translator, editor, publisher, anthologist and recording artist and author of 30 books of original and translated works. He talked to Tuckasegee Reader co-publisher Bill Graham about his latest collection of poetry, Crack Light.
Due to bad weather, Claire Barratt’s multimedia art installation at The Flood Gallery went a little under the radar when it opened three weeks ago. If you still haven’t seen it, don’t worry: Barratt will be hosting a special closing reception this Saturday, Jan. 29, from noon to 4 p.m.
In this week’s Elitist Bastards Go To The Movies podcast, Mountain Xpress film critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther discuss: Blue Valentine, Tiny Furniture, No Strings Attached and The Way Back, A Nightmare On Elm Street (this week’s Thursday Horror Picture Show), Unfaithfully Yours (next week’s Asheville Film Society screening) and Black Death (a special, free pre-festival screening for this year’s ActionFest).
It's no surprise that one of our hippest City Council members, Gordon Smith, has such eclectic — not to mention current — musical taste. But it wasn't always that way. "There wasn't any music in my house growing up — everyone read," says Smith. "Besides at Christmas, when they would crank up the Perry Cuomo." […]
Over the last several years Asheville has fostered a blossoming electronic music scene. The arrival of Moogfest in October, bringing some of the biggest national names in electronic music, seemed to solidify Asheville as a burgeoning center for electronic music. Still, the community suffered a loss last year when Club 828 closed. The venue had […]
The name's your first clue. The second, the pre-trivia warm-up music: an awesomely cheesy mix of ‘80s, fist-pumping anthems like Joe Espisito's "You're the Best" (from which classic movie¹) and that one from the original cartoon Transformers movie that goes "You got the touch! You got the power!" (sung by which guy²). Then your […]
The Suspect: Taylor Moore Taylor Moore has found a mentor and admirer in Edwin McCain (Moore has opened for McCain at the Orange Peel.) McCain says, “I want to see myself in him … but I could never play electric guitar like Taylor. I have promised myself not to hover over him like a big […]
I recently had the experience — fortunate, I guess — of being with my mom when she died. I had to write the obituary shortly after she exhaled her last breath, before the funeral directors came to retrieve her body. And though I wrote that my mom had died "peacefully" at home, in truth, I […]
As the 2011-2012 biennium of the North Carolina General Assembly convenes in Raleigh on Jan. 26, Xpress is unveiling a new online feature designed to help Western North Carolina residents stay in touch with their representatives. This feature — NC Matters: The State Beat — offers a convenient way to contact members of the WNC […]
Coming in on the heels of the story “Hidden Hazards” in the Jan. 12 Mountain Xpress, an old fight is re-presenting itself in our community. It’s not hidden, and reminds me that what we don’t know can kill us. The prospect is not only for a neighborhood nuclear-waste dump but, at the very least, what […]
