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Vital signs
He looks so much like me, my aunt is convinced I’m his reincarnation. Take away the beard, and it’s my face staring out from the antique, sepia-toned photograph. But who are those equally dark-complexioned men standing next to him, all of them wearing those little white caps? Could the old family rumor be true? Was […]
Garden sorrel
Americans have gardened with sorrel for a long, long time. In 1672, a cheerful traveler named John Josselyn, a man possessed of great curiosity and a pleasing literary style, published a book titled New England’s Rarities Discovered, etc.. Another volume, recounting his sea travels, followed two years later. Among Josselyn’s many accomplishments was compiling a […]
Runaway Jury
If you’ve read John Grisham’s bestselling novel about jury tampering, you’ll be underwhelmed by the movie version. Runaway Jury has been Hollywood-ized (surprise, surprise) — but in director Gary Fleder’s attempt to dramatize the story for the big screen, he’s dulled it into an over-simplistic, sanitized, flattened, cardboard version of its former self. Instead of […]
Good Boy
In his feature-film debut, director John Hoffman delivers a hopelessly endearing young male lead, a few guffaws from goofy pooch antics, and even a throat-lumping moment or two about human-canine bonding. But in the end, Good Boy is about as exciting as watching Rover roll over and play dead. Owen Baker (Liam Aiken, Road to […]
The House Of The Dead
What can you say about a movie where, when the hero addresses the bad guy with, “So you did all this to become immortal — why?,” he’s answered with, “To live forever”? Apart from marveling at the obviousness of the response, I’m not sure there’s a whole lot of needed comment. One acquaintance dubbed The […]
Thirteen
The official movie-industry-rating description for Thirteen sums up why this film makes adults squirm: It’s rated R “for drug use, self-destructive violence, language and sexuality — all involving young teens.” In other words, this is one of those movies about teenagers that we don’t want teenagers to see, and they probably will anyway. All we […]
And then there were six
Asheville is home to more than 50,000 registered voters; 16 percent of them expressed their preferences in the Oct. 7 City Council primary. In other words, less than 12 percent of the city’s 69,000 people decided which Council candidates will be on the ballot on Nov. 4. And unless those numbers significantly shift, an equally […]
Buncombe County Commission
All told, the new legislative measures will cost the county an estimated $80,000 to $100,000 per year. A wave of unfunded state mandates is putting more pressure on Buncombe County’s already-strained budget, County Manager Wanda Greene told the commissioners at their Oct. 7 session. Since Aug. 26 of this year, reported Greene, the state has […]
Letters to the editor
Your help needed The 415 inmates of the Buncombe County Detention Facility (BCDF) would appreciate donations of paperbacks and games. We are isolated in individual cells [for] 17 hours per day and never have access to the outdoors, or to physical recreation. Please mark donations “To BCDF” and bring to [the administrative offices of the […]
Royal voices three
The Mahotella Queens know hardship, though their full, sweet voices are like a trio of joyous bells. In the early 1960s, the group Mahlathini and The Mahotella Queens surfaced in urban South Africa, a light in the dark, dark years of apartheid. Backed by the Makgona Tsothle Band (“The Band Who Knows Everything”), the group […]
Creating tomorrow’s treasures
Wander through any of the world’s great art museums and invariably you’ll find yourself in front of a glass case, face to face with what were once the simple objects of a lost people’s ordinary life. Bowls, baskets, hair combs and earrings are often displayed amid the massive paintings and statuary that we tend to […]
Long, strange trip
To hear her plaintive voice on a song like “Red Clay Halo” — “The girls all dance with the boys from the city/ But they don’t care to dance with me/ Well it ain’t my fault that the fields are muddy/ And the red clay stains my feet” — you’d swear Gillian Welch sprang straight […]
Random acts
Of note • The Junkadelics — those local, self-declared practitioners of “all-original rhythmic rock with jazz, blues and white-boy reggae influences” — have announced they are now Soapbox. They’ll be playing with the Laura Blackley Band for the big annual Halloween bash at the Grey Eagle on Friday, Oct. 31. • The One Degree of […]
Cartoons
The tulip poplar
Biltmore Estate wants to chop down the tulip poplars. Sadly, these magnificent trees are only one-third of the way through their journey along life’s pathway — surviving five years of drought only to be cut down before their prime! That both Washington and Jefferson grew this splendid tree merely adds yet another credit to its […]
Death in the details
It’s not unusual for an artist to be deeply inspired by a tragedy that happens halfway around the world. But the resulting work can be a miserable failure. Making art about foreign cultures and experiences isn’t easy; the specter of “otherness” sometimes rears its ugly head, and good intentions go down in flames. And though […]
Droppin’ the hammer
Advice on how to live from an Alabama house painter to his aspiring-musician son: Don’t call what you’re wearing an outfit. Don’t ever say your car is broke. Don’t worry about losing your accent; a Southern man tells better jokes. Have fun but stay clear of the needle. Call home on your sister’s birthday. Don’t […]
Random acts
They say it’s their birthday What separates the “Be My” Babies from the “Hit Me (One More Time)” Babies? Depends on whom you ask. The ins and outs of recognizing a good pop song “is all subjective,” declares multi-instrumentalist Aaron Price, who’s one-half of local production company Collapseable Studios, along with bassist Bill Reynolds (of […]
Cartoons
Vital signs
If a naked fat guy snores in a sensory-deprivation tank, does anybody hear? Well, the naked fat guy sure does. And when his own sinusy snorts startle him awake amid the unbroken blackness and sumptuous stillness to find himself floating effortlessly inside a molded-plastic cabinet pumped with oxygen-rich air and Dead Sea-salty water, he will […]