He’s a sociopathic, gun-totin’, ex-con redneck (charges include three counts of murder one, 19 paternity suits and random grave-robbing offenses) who’s purported to be a 400-year-old vampire. He’s a former carnival geek whose midway specialties were biting the heads off “certain barnyard fowls” and lifting 50-pound weights with his tongue. He boasts many grand titles, […]
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Buncombe County Commission
“I fundamentally believe this [zoning] is a serious, serious mistake for Buncombe County,” declared attorney Albert Sneed Jr., as he began a 25-minute presentation at the Oct. 19 meeting of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners. Sneed represents the anti-zoning group Citizens for Property Rights, who had requested equal time following a pro-zoning presentation by […]
Heritage, not hatred
H.K. Edgerton is not your regular, politically correct African-American activist. When he stood on the sidewalk last week, just a few yards from the NAACP office on Patton Avenue, holding aloft a Confederate battle flag, most of the passersby probably thought this was one wacky black man. That’s not the way Edgerton sees it. Edgerton […]
Notepad
Growing pains Asheville and Buncombe County aren’t the only communities in Western North Carolina that are grappling with the challenges of growth. Sustainable Henderson, a volunteer committee whose focus is helping Henderson County grow without compromising its future, will sponsor a community forum on growth and development on Wednesday, Nov. 3, in the auditorium of […]
Beyond permits
Donate to flood victims in eastern North Carolina? Establish a program to reduce car and truck emissions here at home? These and other ideas for spending excess funds evoked heated discussion at the Western North Carolina Regional Air Pollution Control Agency’s Oct. 11 board meeting. No sooner had Doug Clark announced the agency’s $831,000 fund […]
Buncombe’s battle
Pickup trucks were already starting to trickle into the North Buncombe High School parking lot by 7 p.m. on July 15. Most of them sported the now-familiar red “No Zoning” bumper stickers. A lot of folks wore coveralls. The auditorium was nearly filled by the roughly 160 people on hand for a meeting held by […]
An environmental perspective
In an effort to cut through the rhetoric, Xpress reporters waded bravely into the murky waters of the county’s draft zoning ordinance. Here’s our best understanding of what it says (it’s important to note, though, that the ordinance could still change — and that voters are being asked to judge the concept of zoning, not […]
Notepad
It takes a village For most kids, there’s nothing like a great playground: With slides, jungle gyms, catwalks and even — in the more ambitious parks — tunnels and telephone systems, there’s no shortage of opportunities for imaginary play. And for parents, there’s nothing like a quiet rest on a nearby bench, watching their little […]
The Limestone Township model
It all started with a junkyard on Mills Gap Road. That was the impetus for citizens of Limestone Township — a section of Buncombe County lying south of Asheville and west of Fairview — to institute the zoning ordinance that, today, is the model for Buncombe County’s proposed plan. Buncombe County is divided into 15 […]
Letters to the editor
Dance’s eternal gift The sad and marvelous thing about dance is that, like life, when it is gone, it is gone. That makes it exquisitely valuable. If you are present to experience dance, it can be infinitely satisfying — nourishment for the soul — a kind of immortality. If you are not present, it disappears […]
Maynard Ferguson’s jazz odyssey
Over the years, our neighbors to the north (that would be the Canadians, for the geographically challenged) have produced such stellar musical talents as exquisite pianist Oscar Peterson, quirky rock band Barenaked Ladies, Grammy-winning pop producer David Foster, and one of the all-time high-note specialists. No, not Celine Dion — I’m talking about renowned trumpeter […]
Dark Americana
David Olney is nothing less than a twisted American treasure — a booming narrator of dark topics usually spoken about only in hushed tones. He also wields a mighty wicked guitar. And though Olney’s tunes are often dubbed “story-songs,” the man himself begs to differ. “A lot of my songs don’t really tell much of […]
Gut-bucket blues
Two of the three headliners on Fat Possum Records’ current Juke Joint Caravan tour are grandfathers many times over (“I’d need a computer to figure out how many grandkids I have,” notes R.L. Burnside with a big laugh). But the blues they deliver is not your grandpa’s kind of music — unless he happens to […]
Buncombe County Commission
It was another late night of listening for the Buncombe County commissioners on Oct. 5, as a standing-room-only crowd of citizens packed the county courthouse for the commissioners’ regular meeting. Old business filled the agenda, and 30 citizens signed up to speak. Later that evening, the commissioners faced another 50 citizens gathered at the Erwin […]
Notepad
Forward to the past Though the immeasurable riches contained in the Library of Congress have long been available for everyone to use, there’s always been one big problem: You’ve pretty much had to go to Washington to access them. Not anymore. The Library of Congress’ American Memory Program has digitized 5 million of the country’s […]
Letters to the editor
Intelligent voting made easy Thank you so much for your special election supplement [Sept. 29] and the article, “In their own words.” As important as I feel local-level elections to be, I have never felt “qualified” to vote on anything other than presidential elections. You put it all together in black and white, and made […]
A time to reap
When I was a child, harvest always signaled a special time. Early in the season — when the southern-Ohio sun still promised many afternoons in the creek under the trestle bridge — we’d feast on mounds of green beans fresh out of the garden, drizzled with olive oil and Lawry’s seasoning salt. This simple dish […]
Falling for Henderson County
Why do an estimated half-million people visit Henderson County each year? “Probably the most important thing is the climate. Then there’s the scenery, and I think the friendliness of the people has a lot to do with it,” says Louise Bailey, a lifelong county resident and local historian. “There’s always a pretty drive, no matter […]
The mosaic of North Lexington
Boarded windows, broken glass, vacant storefronts — as recently as 1997, this was how the extreme end of North Lexington Avenue looked to most Ashevilleans en route to and from the thriving and colorful business centers closer to College Street, Broadway Avenue and Haywood Street. But today, a stroll along this block is a delight […]
Into the wild
Western North Carolina’s magnificent, mineral-rich mountains — estimated to be 500 million years old — support a rare and fragile biodiversity, from creekside bog to hardwood cove forest to grassy bald. Silhouetted against the Carolina-blue sky, the beloved peaks reach as high as the 6,684-foot summit of Mount Mitchell. The mountains are gilded with rubies […]
Up with Ani
Ani DiFranco revealed a seldom-seen timid side when she told me that she was out of the country (touring, of course) when her 12th album, Up Up Up Up Up Up (Righteous Babe Records, 1999) was released last January. “I honestly don’t know exactly what people are thinking or saying about the record, and it’s […]