A special Thanksgiving message As Thanksgiving approaches, we are often reminded to think of the many things we are thankful for. I have had a unique, wonderful, eventful year, for which I am extremely thankful and which leads me to writing this message. I am an adoptee. I have been aware of this for most […]
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Observers see positive change at air-pollution agency
Our skies may be getting hazier, but the workings of the long-criticized agency charged with monitoring them are becoming noticeably clearer and more open. Veteran observers of the WNC Air Pollution Control Agency praised the changed climate at the APCA’s Nov. 8 board meeting. “It doesn’t feel like a cover-up anymore; it feels like they’re […]
The Horses of Madison County
Dan and Dolly came down from Madison County early this month to help out with some selective logging at The Asheville School. They came in their Sunday-best work clothes: brass-studded, well-worn leather harness, brass hames and steel shoes. The brother-and-sister duo are 4-to-5-year-old Percherons, whose combined weight totals just over a ton. They came to […]
Notepad
Saving Lake Logan, part II Last month, this paper reported that U.S. Sen. John Edwards had helped pass an appropriations bill allocating $2 million to buy Haywood County’s Lake Logan. The 4,374-acre tract (including several thousand acres of forested land) is owned by Champion International, which has put it up for sale to the highest […]
Letters to the editor
Isaac Dickson’s gift of chaos Why am I, a volunteer at Isaac Dickson Elementary School (having helped under three administrations), having to bear witness to yet another contest for the right to enter the school’s doors? I chose this school for my kids, in part, because it is so easy to volunteer here! For years, […]
Celtic convergence
Growing up in Scotland, Fiona Ritchie never dreamed of the splash she would one day make, whose ripples would reach far across the Atlantic, courtesy of her weekly Celtic radio show The Thistle & Shamrock. The show is now heard by hundreds of thousands of listeners in the United States, but few of her neighbors […]
No boundaries
For a musical image of Tony Trischka, imagine a banjo player who’s some glorious amalgam of Charlie Parker, Ravi Shankar, Eric Dolphy, John McLaughlin, the Allman Brothers and Bill Keith. The innovative player had a major role in breaking the banjo’s so-called “acoustic barrier.” And finally, with his 12th album — Bend (Rounder 1999) — […]
Burnin’ to shine
He sprang from the steamy Los Angeles suburbs, a skateboard punk whose very first release — in 1994, when he was a mere 24 years old — came out on a major record label hand-picked by the artist himself. Yep, Ben Harper turned down offers from several other major labels before settling on Virgin Records […]
Raging roots
Gumbo, Grits & Gravy is not a new downtown eatery. Instead, it’s a three-headed evening of acoustic American music — featuring some of the top young voices in the Cajun, blues and bluegrass genres. Balfa Toujours provide the gumbo, opening the show with their soulful Cajun sounds. Bluesman Guy Davis brings the grits, and Laurie […]
Where the heart is
Maura O’Connell’s Wandering Home (Rounder Records, 1998) is a trip back to the music she grew up singing in County Clare, Ireland — traditionals like “Down by the Salley Gardens” (based on a poem by Yeats) and the impish “Down the Moor.” But the CD really attests to an artist not contained by any kind […]
Buncombe County Commission
“With a meeting that short, I can go vote three or four more times,” quipped Buncombe County Commissioner Bill Stanley, following a brief agenda-review session in the commissioners’ offices. It was election day, and the controversial question before Buncombe County voters was countywide zoning. Later that evening — with about 33 percent of the 114,691 […]
Asheville helps hurricane victims
Lt. Walt Robertson of the Asheville Police Department never figured he’d be staying in the Edgecombe County jail. But that was only part of an experience the 27-year veteran says he’ll never forget. Robertson was one of 30 APD volunteers who pitched in with relief efforts, in the wake of Hurricane Floyd’s assault on the […]
Connector controversy
Do we need an eight-lane superhighway through West Asheville? The North Carolina Department of Transportation says yes, proposing that very thing as part of ongoing construction of the I-26 Connector. But a group of concerned citizens calling themselves the I-26 Connector Awareness Group — while recognizing the need for improvements, including building a new bridge […]
Notepad
True believer Ray Anderson, chairman and CEO of carpet-tile-industry giant Interface, says he used to be “a plunderer of the earth.” Now, however, Anderson — a passionate advocate of sustainable development — is coming to WNC to help other manufacturing leaders see the light. As the head of a $1 billion-a-year leader in the carpet-tile […]
Letters to the editor
Heritage facts Thank you for the information on the activities of H.K. Edgerton [“Heritage, not hatred,” Oct. 27]. I fully agree with the views he expressed in the article you published. I really must admire his public display of support for Confederate heritage. He seems to know more about Confederate flags than your reporter does. […]
Letters to the editor
Nonvoters take note Neale Donald Walsch, the author of Conversations With God, has written the following in his new book, Friendship With God: “I’ve searched for years to find a political party or movement based soundly on life-affirming principles. To put it bluntly, I needed a reason to vote. I could not find much of […]
Lightening up
Theater people seem to get extra pleasure out of poking fun at one of their own. Such is the case in Consider The Following’s latest production, Light Up The Sky, a fast-moving backstage spoof wherein a troupe of planet-size egos threaten to destroy a play that’s about to open in Boston. While the recent film […]
Glory days
If Edwin McCain felt any trepidation or writer’s block at the daunting prospect of following up his 1997 breakthrough release, Misguided Roses (Atlantic/Lava), it’s well-hidden behind his brand-new CD’s 12 well-crafted folk-rock numbers — a mix of the intimate and the upbeat, of ballads and party tunes. Messenger (Atlantic/Lava, 1999) is the third major-label release […]
A witch’s Halloween picks
The Asheville region and the ancient mountains that loom over us are a natural for Halloween. Haints and boogermen roam the back hollows of our mist-shrouded forests. We boast the only Transylvania County on this side of the globe. And no one can spin a spookier tale than our native storytellers, whose ancestral Cherokee and […]
White noise
Though it’s undoubtedly popular in terms of cash flow and “units” sold, country music may be the most misunderstood art form in America today. Mocked and marginalized by the urban cultural elite, it’s the last social phenomenon about which blatantly racist and classist epithets — such as “white trash” and “trailer trash” — are tossed […]
Soaring sounds
If there’s a single theme that drives Martin Sexton’s musical vision, it’s freedom. The Boston-based troubadour’s first full-fledged studio recording, 1996’s Black Sheep (Eastern Front Records), was filled with literal homages to that theme: On “Glory Bound” and “Freedom of the Road,” for example, he sings about the singular pleasures of packing up and hitting […]