What’s the rest of the story? In reference to the Medford article [“What’s in a Name,” Nov. 17] and response [“Sheriff: Medford Article Was Spin and Innuendo,” Dec. 1], a reader who is not acquainted with the article’s author, nor with Sheriff Medford, can find it difficult to sort out facts and motivations. I wondered […]
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Making the grade
Not one of these factors purports to measure the thing that academic quality is centrally about — learning. A number of North Carolina schools figure in this year’s edition of U.S. News & World Report‘s “America’s Best Colleges” rankings: Duke was tied for fifth, Wake Forest 27th, UNC-Chapel Hill 29th, and N.C. State 86th. UNC’s […]
Knocking at the gate
It’s not every day that a former chairman of the UNC Board of Governors (and a man with a distinguished professorship named after him) takes a complaint to the Regional Water Authority of Asheville, Buncombe and Henderson. But that’s what Philip Carson found himself doing at the Authority’s Nov. 16 meeting, when frustration and even […]
Letters to the editor
Sheriff: Medford article was spin and innuendo Re: Vol. 11, No. 16, Nov. 17, 2004, pp. 8-9. Note that this letter is copyrighted. It may be republished in total; however, no part may be reproduced without the whole. Cecil Bothwell’s article referenced above clearly illustrates why I will only communicate with your publication through legal […]
It’s time to rethink mental health reform
County managers are now reporting that the new system will cost taxpayers three times as much per year as our time-proven public system did — while providing only about half as much care for patients. North Carolina is in the throes of a crisis in mental-health care. Tragically (and shamefully!), this is a human-made disaster, […]
This ain’t no stinking Phish
Perhaps it’s best to clear the air about one little thing before delving into the remarkable intricacies of Umphrey’s McGee. When the band’s meaty new disc — Anchor Drops, on SCI Fidelity Records — hit shelves this summer, longtime Rolling Stone critic/editor David Fricke opined that the Chicago-based sextet had “become odds-on favorites in the […]
The junk journal
Views Well, it was bound to happen eventually, especially without Xpress‘ two former music men — ’80s-luminary Frank Rabey, gone now the way of the Dodo, and indie-Obi-Wan Steve Shanafelt, dislodged from this post by yours truly in August — to cry foul. (Actually, SS helped me land the gig, and I’m happy to note […]
Cartoons
Here’s looking at you, America
A secret Masonic cult of wealthy bankers called the Illuminati has been plotting for centuries to take over the world. And they’re keeping their eye on you from the back of the dollar bill. He sees you: But who, really, is “he”? The All-Seeing Eye that decorates the back of the dollar bill has been […]
Bumps and all
Among artists, attitudes vary about the creative life and its difficulties. Some artists think things should be done for them that other members of society do not expect. They expend endless energy complaining bitterly that they can’t sell enough work to make a living. They whine that they are misunderstood. Other artists don’t have time […]
Turkey Day blues
For most kids, Thanksgiving’s like a big, fun family picnic. For them, it represents the seemingly harmonious reunion of cousins and kinfolk around pumpkin or pecan pie. It even carries subtle humanitarian undertones, what with all that “accepting people of all stripes” and “being thankful for what you have” business — drawn from those cheery […]
The junk journal
Boarded-up blues With the frigid onslaught of another Asheville winter opens the latest chapter of a rather depressing local-business trend. In recent memory, at least, our icy winters inevitably freeze out a few arts-minded establishments in their wake. Barring Almost Blue, a mainstay with locals for many years, the casualties this time around were mostly […]
Cartoons
Letters to the editor
We’re talking N.C., not N.Y. Sam, please, take it back. Mr. Wardle’s commentary [“Local Restaurant Workers Need a Union,” Nov. 3] generates concerns that, quite honestly, scare the hell out of me. As a food-and-beverage professional, I … agree there do need to be reforms in the health-care opportunities for all employees and citizens, but […]
The day we celebrate—and worry
“Just wanted you all to know it’s official: They have counted all the provisional votes, and I have won.” The call came to my wife and me on Nov. 11 from our son Grier, who’d been a candidate for the North Carolina House of Representatives from a district in Raleigh. Until then, he’d insisted that […]
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
You don’t have to be the elementary-class cutup to love SpongeBob — adults are also perfectly capable of being goofy, manic, subversive and slightly demented, you know. SpongeBob (voiced by Tom Kenny) is an optimistic, proudly absorbent square sponge who lives under the sea in the top half of a pineapple and wears a pair […]
Asheville City Council
What a difference a couple of years makes. In 2002, concerns about traffic congestion threatened to derail a massive, highly controversial east Asheville development project. Toward the end of a 14-hour public hearing and Council debate that played out before a standing-room-only crowd that overflowed into three adjacent rooms, however, the developer volunteered to scale […]
Letters to the editor
Crossing the great divide Isn’t it interesting how the red and blue states showed up on our cultural map? Kerry carried the industrial North, into the upper Midwest and the West Coast — the three greatest urban centers along with the more sophisticated and progressive populations. But Bush won with the “heartland” — Southeastern and […]
The other side of the mountain
As Francis Bacon observed, “Things alter for the worse spontaneously if they be not altered for the better designedly.” “Strong communities are built on local dialogue: diverse people talking and listening to one another, breaking through the stereotypes,” Mountain Xpress Publisher Jeff Fobes wrote recently (see “A Raucous, Joyful Noise,” Aug. 4 Xpress). Yet after […]
Call it contemplative music set below the Mason-Dixon line
My daddy played poker on a stump in the woodsBack when the world was grayBefore black and white went and chose up sidesAnd gave a little bit of both their way The only blood that’s any cleanerIs the blood that’s blue or greenerWithout either you just get meanerAnd the blood you gave gives you away. […]
A brief history of time, Southern-rock style
• 1955: Sam Phillips introduces the world to Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash through his Memphis-based Sun Records, “and the money came in sacks.” (from “Carl Perkins’ Cadillac,” The Dirty South) • 1962: One of “The Three Great Alabama Icons,” George Wallace, wins his first term as governor in a landslide victory. “He’s […]