2004 was a year of many wonderful and unforgettable films, including a goodly number aimed at audiences who can appreciate mature themes and subtlety. There were also some unhappy misfires that should have been left on the cutting-room floor. Here are my takes on the best and worst of the lot. The best 1) Phantom […]
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The junk journal
Jimmy Buffett vs. Patterson Hood Tuesday, Jan. 11 and Thursday, Jan. 13 at Cheeseburger in Paradise and Asheville Pizza & Brewing Company, respectively. Hard to believe, but this reviewer doesn’t really fit in easily at Jimmy Buffett concerts — a fact brought home at the beach-bum hero’s recent private gig that doubled as a charitable […]
Cartoons
Nothing but the truth
At the outset of every conditional-use-permit hearing held by the Asheville City Council, City Clerk Maggie Burleson whips out the Bible. Sure, some Council meetings would try the patience of a saint. But Burleson isn’t seeking solace in scripture — she wields the Bible because North Carolina law requires it. It’s a sight familiar to […]
A Standing Ovation for cleaner air
As any good manager knows, the carrot is often as important as the stick. And for the second straight year, the agency that regulates Buncombe County’s air polluters put that precept into practice by handing out awards to businesses and organizations that have gone above and beyond what the law requires in reducing their contributions […]
Letters to the editor
All in a day’s job? This letter is in response to your article [“What’s in a Name?” Nov. 17] on Sheriff Medford. I am not writing to badmouth anyone, I just want the record set straight. I am a former employee of the sheriff, and until I started getting transferred around, the sheriff had always […]
The revolution will be … broadcast
Expose a breast on television — particularly when it competes with scantily clad cheerleaders during the Super Bowl — and the Federal Communications Commission will make a stand for decency and fine you silly. Welcome to the new morality: Television, radio and print media now live in fear of invoking the wrath of FCC Chairman […]
The one that (almost) got away
“Here’s the metaphor: … You find this fish. You prepare. You know what you’re going to catch. You get your bait, your tackle box — you get in the boat. You go out there. You catch it. It starts fighting. You’re like, ‘Wow, this is great.’ It’s pulling on your drag. You pull it out […]
The junk journal
Views Night of the Living Wood: Hollywood Red says goodbye to Woody Wood at Jack of the Wood; Thursday, Jan. 6. The first time I saw Aaron “Woody” Wood sing and play guitar was a couple years back at a fine summertime installment of Downtown After 5 featuring the Big Easy soul of the Dirty […]
Cartoons
Coach Carter
Comic/social critic Bill Cosby and northern California high-school basketball coach Ken Carter have much in common. Both men acquired great success and an equal amount of vilification. Coach Carter tells the true story of a man who wanted to make a difference in the lives of boys and did it, despite public outcry and a […]
Letters to the editor
How many wrongs will make it right? With some exceptions, we will never know for sure who voted Mr. Bush back into office. That’s because the polls were wrong. The exit polls were wrong in many cases, and the actual poll — i.e., the vote — was so cooked it made the exit polls appear […]
Courtship by fire
Years ago, I had two friends who were married to each other. As a single person, it’s rare — and totally delightful — to be friends with both partners in a marriage. It wasn’t the usual setup, where I was a friend of one person and the other got thrown in as an extra. Each […]
Size counts
Tiny universe: Formal societies of miniaturists have a lot of rules. And Rita Dils of Burnsville, who applies acrylic paint to feathers, doesn’t necessarilt follow them. ****************************************************************** Connie Bostic It’s easy to feel like Gulliver in Lilliput in the gallery at Black Mountain Center for the Arts. The Center is hosting its sixth-annual exhibit of […]
The junk journal
News/updates Vincent’s Ear is dead. It’s official, it’s a shame, and — barring some unforeseen act of divine intervention — I think we can finally (and I mean finally) put the club’s dead, bloated corpse into the ground. But perhaps it’s best to instead burn the thing in the desert (like they supposedly did with […]
Cartoons
Fried chicken on Sunday
Bands like Whitewater Bluegrass Co. are in woefully short supply. Here’s a veteran crew of WNC-mountain natives, playing in a seriously top-notch bluegrass outfit now in its 21st year of operation — but with little or no mainstream success to speak of. There are no big-label record contracts looming in their future. There are no […]
Sculpture among sparkplugs
The 76-year-old Walker Service Station sits just a block off of Main Street in Waynesville. Its windows are lined with old iron tools — and, less predictably, metallic fir trees and steel star ornaments. A mix of the functional and the visionary is at work here, and Grace Cathey’s metal sculptures balance and complement the […]
The junk journal
Views The Warren Haynes Christmas Jam, Asheville Civic Center; Saturday, Dec. 18. The super-sized wooly mammoth that was last month’s Christmas Jam tested the Class of 2004’s rock mettle more than most attendees probably bargained for. This year’s rendition clocked in at about 9 hours: a new Jam record, as far as I know. And […]
Cartoons
Fat Albert
“Hey, hey, hey!” Fat Albert’s become real, at least for a day. See him quick, I say, the big boy can’t stay. Fadin’ away, he is, fadin’ away. “Hey, hey, hey!” It’s modern-day North Philly, a buzzing, energetic mecca so it seems, where multiethnic students live and study together in reasonable peacefulness and there’s not […]