Of note Bela never said there’d be days like this: Bela Fleck & The Flecktones bass ace Victor Wooten will be a “guest instructor” at Earth School’s upcoming “Wilderness Survival & Self-Reliance Skills” program, to be held in the woods of WNC (near Tryon). The weeklong camp runs Saturday, May 22 through Friday, May 28, […]
Author: Steve Shanafelt
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Buncombe County Commission
“I understand that we live in a diverse community today. But why do we need to allow diversity that is foreign to us?” — Pastor Jerry Young, Trinity Baptist Church At 4 p.m., the fear in the room was already so thick you could almost taste it. But many of those attending the Buncombe County […]
What an atonal impact sounds like
German noise-rock pioneers Einstuerzende Neubauten and fanciful neo-folkie Billy Jonas go together like chainsaws and apple butter. On paper, though, what they do is frighteningly similar. Asheville’s Jonas, a favorite with kids and folk-charmed adults, coaxes rhythms from the recycled remnants of society’s leftovers (plastic tubs, found objects, lovingly transformed metal scraps). Before him — […]
Fellowship of the ring
Once upon a time, a lonely young maiden pined all night and all day for true love to come her way. She was Rebecca (played by Rebecca Blum at the Mountain Renaissance Adventure Faire), the daughter of the kindly Baron of Tidmarsh (Stewart MacWilliam), who loathed seeing his daughter in such a lamentable state. To […]
Random acts
Of note The Doctor Is Way In. MerleFest 2004, the 17th-annual festival honoring the music of Doc Watson and his late son, Merle, broke attendance records two weeks ago: An estimated 82,500 festival-goers converged on the Wilkes Community College campus in Wilkesboro on April 29-May 2. See www.merlefest.org for details. Doorstep Delivery. According to the […]
Vital Signs
Jonathan Jones takes my cigar, sets it to his lips, and slowly starts puffing. In his hand he holds a slender stick of cedar, cracked down the spine to keep it alight as it rekindles the dying ember inside the cigar. His breaths are long, hollow pulls that seek to drag in as much air […]
Random acts
You decide What makes one band better than another? Talent? Dedication? Fancy gear? A good gimmick? For the next month, we’re soliciting readers’ picks in a Virtual Battle of the Bands contest. We provide the match-ups — all you have to do is go online, listen to each local act’s tunes, and decide which you […]
Random acts
Spring cleaning CDs for review tend to pile up fast around here. And like so many other winter-cluttered places, Xpress‘ local-music desk has lately been getting hard to see. So, in the spirit of spring-cleaning, this week’s Random Acts is all about finally getting around to those belated record reviews of 2003. • Debut, Boojum […]
Beyond the Subway platform
“There’s always plusses and minuses to everything, and losing my privacy in general has been one of the minuses,” declared Jared Fogle at the other end of the phone line. Fogle, the celebrity speaker for this week’s Sunset Stampede race in downtown Asheville, had by then been talking for a good five minutes about his […]
Second Sunset Stampede
The second-annual Sunset Stampede happens Saturday, May 1; its three races all begin and end at City/County Plaza. They are: • The Kid Mini Stampede, kicked off by Jared Fogle of Subway fame (see accompanying feature story), starts at 3 p.m. • The ultra-challenging 10 Mile Course, a scenic north Asheville route, starts at 5 […]
Pump up the voices
In general, plays about being a teenager flat-out suck. Very shortly, I’ll tell you about one that probably won’t — The Instant Theatre Company’s production of Voices From the High School. But before I do, let me set the stage with a simple question. How do you recall your teen years? Not in that high-school-summer-movie […]
Random acts
Front-row reviews What: The Blue Rags reunion w/Tyler Ramsey and Mad Tea PartyWhere: The Orange PeelWhen: Saturday, April 10 On rare occasions, when exceptional chemistry is involved, the performance of live music can actually transcend artistic taste. The Blue Rags took the Orange Peel stage April 10 after a two-year hiatus. And as they played […]
Random acts
Of note • The sounds of scavenging: Local producer and sound engineer Doug Mitchell of Scavenger Studios has recently been recording new material for local pop-punkers Zombie Attack, Brodeo (featuring former members of Red Penny Arsenal) and Maverick Saints (featuring former members of Bro-9). Although no release dates for any of this material have been […]
An ear for an ear
Not every actor would willingly trade pointy-eared celebrity for single-eared obscurity. But in March 1981, Leonard Nimoy debuted in Minneapolis as the star of his own one-man show about the life of Vincent van Gogh. It was an idea at which theater pundits initially scoffed: An actor like Nimoy — best known for portraying the […]
Random acts
A review Where: The Orange Peel parking lot When: Friday, March 26 “Aren’t you going to stay with us all night?” asked the man with the battered thermos. He’d been sitting outside The Orange Peel for Bob Dylan tickets since 10 p.m., and he was already late in line. At least three dozen people were […]
When AIDS is even less funny
When no one in the audience laughs at a comedy, even its most lighthearted jokes can take a dark turn. And when those gags are dark to begin with, the whole affair can sink further still. At a recent staging of Pterodactyls, the relative silence of the tiny crowd turned the play into an ominous […]
Random acts
Rocking Pritchard Park Last summer, a haphazard series of open-air rock shows held at Pritchard Park caught the attention of residents and tourists alike. Coordinated by members of local rock bands, the daylong shows were a haven for still-developing local talent that often found itself overlooked in the shadow of summer-event giants Bele Chere and […]
Random acts
Coming soon (album previews) After what seems like an unfairly long hibernation, the local-music scene is finally lumbering back to life. In the next few months, dozens of new albums will see release, many of them recorded during the winter by bands that seem ready for a breakout showing this spring and summer. This week, […]
Random acts
Front-row reviews What: The Not So Art Show Where: The New French Bar When: Tuesday, March 2 Between drinks, Thomas Browne informs me that this whole thing started because he’s a bad artist. Really bad. To hear Browne tell it, his works are somewhere beyond the mere aesthetically horrible, nudging into the realm of the […]
Random acts
Front-row reviews What: Dig Shovel Dig (opening for Los Straitjackets) Where: The Orange Peel When: Thursday, Feb. 26 Dig Shovel Dig shows are roughly the opposite of, say, Phish concerts. You’ll find no warm instrumental harmonies or hidden tones expressing the joy of simply being alive. Instead, there’s screaming, some startlingly good drumming, and a […]
Random acts
Front-row reviews What: Asheville Freestyle Formulators Presents “Get Open” w/Foundasia Where: Emerald Lounge When: Saturday, Feb. 21 Outside the Emerald Lounge, the night is bitter cold. “I’m not an MC, I’m just the host,” insists Ebanflo, his breath turning to white mist. In his world, being an MC dictates certain expectations. And even though he’d […]