Fisher Meehan must have wondered what would have happened if Jeff Lynne had set out to make early ’90s Seattle sound like mid-’60s Liverpool. MTN CTY JNK, the big-indie-label debut from Fisher and crackerjack band DrugMoney, takes 1990s West Coast alt-rock and gooses it with heavy orchestral pop a la Lynne’s Fab Four-fixated ELO. What […]

Roughly 7,000 tickets — poof! — gone in less than four days. On sale the morning of Dec. 2; sold out by the same time Dec. 5. If you haven’t yet committed your 37 bucks to the Asheville Civic Center box office or to Ticketmaster, your chances for getting yourself packed among the music-drunk sardines […]

Margaret Lauzon just figured she’d ask. The worst they could say was no, and she never really expected yes anyway. They said yes. Since Margaret started at Ironwood Media Group last December, she’d hoped to steer the Asheville video-production company toward music-related projects, with Ironwood owner Kurt Mann’s blessings. So earlier this year, she put […]

Meet the house that Haynes built. As you turn into the cozy, six-building Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity development at East End Place off Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, look for the home still under construction. A sign out front proclaims it to be courtesy of Warren’s celebrated power trio and big annual concert. But […]

The holiday exhibit Altars of Alternative Religions enhances Asheville’s reputation as a mecca of diversity. Some of the installations at dirt & Sky People Gallery are kitschy, glitzy and brightly colored; others are quiet and somber. But a surprising number feature common materials: candles, incense, feathers, bones, stones. Michael and Kitty Love leave very little […]

“Dig a holeDig a hole in the meadowDig a hole in the cold, cold ground.” (from “Darling Corey”) I find myself humming this traditional tune while sitting on a ledge overlooking a dense stand of spruce, fir and hemlock. I heard it on the radio earlier in the day while negotiating the meandering back roads […]

In the wake of Charles Frazier’s hugely successful novel Cold Mountain, several regional books, both fiction and nonfiction, emerged or re-emerged. One of the brightest stars to reappear has been The Travels of William Bartram. First published in Philadelphia in 1791, it quickly became an American classic. Together with his father, John, William Bartram cataloged […]

[Ed. Note: This story contains the full interview that Xpress conducted with Rick Morris; the printed version was greatly abridged.] What could be better than ringing in the new year with Southern Culture on the Skids? “Sex with a centerfold?” suggested Rick Miller, the band’s guitarist and front man. “But how many of us are […]

“I note the obvious differencesbetween each sort and type,but we are more alike my friendsthan we are unalike.” Maya Angelou Kwanzaa ignores religious and national boundaries, says John R. Hayes, president of the Asheville chapter of the NAACP. The seven-day celebration is about bringing together a diverse group of people who share a common heritage. […]

Books are the preferable Kwanzaa gift, says local NAACP President John R. Hayes. Below are a few suggestions, most of them available at the library, or at local independent bookstores. • Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture, by Maulana Karenga. • Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America, by Lerone Bennett Jr. […]

Haven’t made plans yet for New Year’s Eve? It’s time to get crackin’! Here are some options for you lollygaggers (check Clubland for complete listings): • Akumi (28 Wall St.; 236-2577): The sake will be flowing all night long (or at least until 2 a.m.). A DJ will spin dance music and there’s no cover. […]