Bartram’s should take a walk No doubt the Buncombe County Planning Board has the growth interests of the community at heart, but they have, in my opinion, made a judgment error in granting Town Mountain Road access to the Bartram’s Walk developer. Town Mountain Road is a two-lane [one for each direction] route that snakes […]
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A real helping hand
Panhandling is about more than homelessness. … The homeless make up only a very small percentage of the people panhandling on our downtown streets. I was both encouraged and disheartened by the recent feature article “Homesick: the Many Faces of Homelessness in Asheville” (Aug. 2 Xpress). On the one hand, it was gratifying to see […]
Talent show
It’s hip to be (on Pack) Square Busk’er n. (perhaps from the obsolete French “busquer,” meaning “to prowl”): “to play music or perform entertainment in a public space, usually while soliciting money” — thefreedictionary.com Soulful white boys in black (a mainstay of busking towns) We at Mountain Xpress are subjected to more than our share […]
His large wit
Iron Weed: Lyle Lovett has been mauled by bulls, played Owsley in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and even survived a short-lived marriage to failed stage actress Julia Roberts. “It’s just more of my songs.” That was Lyle Lovett’s deadpan, tongue-in-cheek reply when asked to describe the music on his last album, My Baby […]
Cartoons
But is ink art?
Color me impressed: “Hot Ass Baby,” 2000, by Sherri Wood; embroidery and mixed-media on found doll. Tattoo design by Denise de la Cerda. If you have an all-consuming obsession to learn all there is to know about tattoos, Asheville Art Museum is the unlikely repository of a good deal of information. Under the Skin: Tattoos […]
Always a sideman, never a star?
Doors are opening for Randall Bramblett. Randall Bramblett has kept some fairly righteous musical company over the years: This Southern-rocking soul man — an adept singer, keyboardist and sax player — was a member of the Sea Level, the ’70s-era Allman Brothers spinoff band, and has also gigged with the likes of Gregg Allman, Levon […]
Gallery gossip
• Seems that Asheville painter Bob Godfrey spent the day after his retirement party riding around Asheville in a chauffeured Town Car with an internationally famous artist. What fun! • Bill Clemmons’ thesis exhibit at the Fine Art Museum in Cullowhee was the most outstanding show by a contemporary artist seen in these parts in […]
Cartoons
Reading the book of the woods
photo by Cecil Bothwell When the summer air wraps around you like a heavy winter blanket, the very thought of a mountain forest’s cool shade can be absolutely thirst-quenching. Running streams, mossy banks and the forest’s many shades of green are all balms for the overheated mind, body and spirit. For many people, August may […]
Friends on the water
Such relationships, defined by a common passion, are sealed through shared experiences. photo by Shelton Steele As quick as some folks are to label kayaking an “extreme sport,” any longtime kayaker will tell you that there’s much more to it than an adrenaline rush. The sex appeal of the word “extreme” masks what truly drives […]
Step Up
There’s gotta be something right about a movie when half the audience dances up the theater aisles when it’s over. They aren’t complaining that Step Up is a generic, paint-by-number teen dance movie. They weren’t around when Fame (1980) and Flashdance (1983) created the mold a generation ago. Nor do they care that Step Up […]
Letters to the editor
Will the real shaman please stand up? I’d like to respond to Cecil Bothwell’s scathing review of 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, the latest work of recent Asheville guest and acclaimed author Daniel Pinchbeck [“Like Kohoutek,” July 19]. With his “been there, done that” attitude, Bothwell dismisses the younger Pinchbeck’s explorations as retro, redundant and […]
Sex, drugs and stereotypes
Several weeks ago, the Asheville-Buncombe Drug Commission barraged my neighborhood with a series of peculiar posters. Full color, they clung to every other tree and pole leading up Hanover Street and into the concrete horizon of the Pisgah View Apartments. The commission apparently intended the trail of posters as a public-service announcement for female pedestrians […]
The Fitzsimon File
There was good news and bad news for criminal-justice policy this legislative session, and both were on display as the N.C. House gave final approval to legislation that will establish the Innocence Inquiry Commission to review inmates’ claims of actual innocence. The commission is the brainchild of I. Beverly Lake Jr., former chief justice of […]
Letters to the editor
And the beat goes on Who moves to an inner city for peace and quiet anyway? Besides, people who complain about drumming don’t know what they’re missing. There’s a magical, subconscious spirituality among drummers that’s more spontaneous than anything you’ll find in most churches. It’s a different-drummer thing. It beats watching television — and it’s […]
All in the family?
After serving as a volunteer victim advocate in Buncombe County criminal court each week, I find myself in the grip of conflicting emotions: disheartened by the complex problem of domestic violence, yet humbled by the strength some of these women display. On Wednesdays, Courtroom 4 is where cases are heard in which the defendant was […]
Cartoons
Walking point
photos by Jeff Brodsky Edwin Kieffer peers over his Lennonesque glasses, grins and strokes his silver-streaked, blond ponytail. “B+ or higher: 30,” drones a tattooed-and-pierced high-school student, holding out his hand for Kieffer to shake on the deal. Sometime later, the student returns and hands his exam to Kieffer, who stoically proceeds to the front […]
The sound of one wheel slipping
To dream the improbable dream: Mountain unicyclists Bill Spears, left, and Adam Masters don’t care that their sport is weird. photos by Kent Priestley Riding a unicycle can be a lonely endeavor. This is partly because of the extreme concentration it requires, but mostly because it’s hard to find anyone else who does it. The […]
Barnyard: The Original Party Animals
This anatomically incorrect tale of party animals in the barnyard may be the best CGI-animated flick of the year. It stands out from the herd with clever action, witty dialogue, a fantastic string of musical numbers and some good old-fashioned messages about heroism and taking care of others. I loved it. My critiquing criteria were […]