Pulp, the private club located under The Orange Peel, is occasionally open for special shows when the upstairs stage is closed. Among those performance gracing Pulp's intimate space is a series of local and regional underground bands. Wyla, the dreamy, experimental shoegaze project of Edward Madill, headlines on Thursday, July 25. Altered Zones wrote that […]

Toy Boat Community Art Space celebrates its first anniversary with a sock-hop spectacular. Both sock hop and spectacular are accompanied by a bunch of exclamation points on the show poster — keep that in mind when planning an outfit and polishing your moves for the themed dance (!). Little Diddy Know and Shangri Las provide […]

Colorado-based bluegrass-rock fusion act Yonder Mountain String Band is "more than just a musical party," according to press. "It’s bluegrass for the masses, acoustic tunes filled with dazzling chops, and it’s fun to boot." The band is a regular at festivals, but is also known for bringing something extra to the stage. On its current […]

The twice-annual Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands (which “began in 1948 as a way to provide a regional market for the mountain craftspeople,” according to press) returns to the U.S. Cellular Center with a long weekend's worth of clay, fiber, glass, leather, metal, mixed media, natural materials, paper, wood and jewelry. Almost 200 juried […]

The latest project from local hip-hop outfit CrazyHorse and Colston is Colston's Cold Cuts. It's a new collection of songs by Max Hupertz and Bryan Godleski, with contributions from Molly Kummerle of Paper Tiger, Austin Haynes and Johnny Reynolds from Free Radio, Foul Mouth Jerk and others. The release party, called "Shoulder vs. the System," […]

Although, of his most recent LP (2012's Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now), singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle said, "This time I’ve gone in a Memphis-soul direction," he did not head in a Memphis direction to make the album. The 10 tracks were recorded live, with no overdubs, in four days at […]

Here's something to do with the kids (especially if you have seven): Start a Mardi Gras Indian tribe and then travel and perform together in eye-poppingly ornate costumes of lace, satin, and enough oversized-feathers to take flight. The troupe was founded in '96 by Big Chief Kentrell Watson and has grown to 14 members, including […]

There was light, and sound, and action, and one quick weekend to complete masterful short films. Though the 48 Hour Film Project has come and gone for yet another year, the fruits of its labors remain. More to the point, the end results of the labors of 24 teams who began the endeavor, 19 who […]

If you missed the well-matched pairing earlier this year of local bluegrass-rock outfit Brushfire Stankgrass and Richmond, Va.-based rock-funk-jam ensemble The Shack Band, you're in luck. The two groups will reunite on the Emerald Lounge stage on Thursday, July 11. "Their last date together resulted in extensive jamming between the two bands (the first time […]

"Rebecca Pronsky could probably sing the phone book and bring out subtle nuances in the listings with her penetrating voice," said Blurt Magazine of the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter-guitarist. And Northern Sky said her sound is "as if The Smiths relocated to Nashville." Which is cool, but absurd, because just try to get a Smith to Asheville, […]

The Apothecary and Black Swan Theater are teaming up to support local playwriting. Or, as press for the inaugural meeting of the Eagle Street Playwrights says, "to encourage, refine, and produce local theatrical work." The playwrights group will gather on the first Thursday of each month to workshop and plan for upcoming productions. Sign up […]

February took a drummer/keyboardist from local instrumental/electronic collective A Ghost Like Me. But March brought a new drummer — Josh Newton (formerly of Dashvara) rounds out the band (with Brad Rogers on guitar, synths and loops; and Key Andrew on bass, flute, synths and loops) and has also helped to evolve the trio's sound. "A […]

Kudzu-boogie outfit Turchi (named for front man Reed Turchi) has been nonstop touring for the past year or so, and it's paying off. Like, with a feature in Oxford American (way harder to come by than a write up in, say, Rolling Stone), and a showcase for that Southern lit magazine. Though the band has […]

“As a biracial young woman, there is an innate lack of belonging,” writes local artist Liana Murray, a rising senior at Asheville High. “The need to shift between the black and the white world, and still understand the meeting between the two dictates the meaning behind my work.” Murray will debut her powerful, soulful collection […]

"Shop indie. Shop handmade. Shop fun," says the press release for The Big Crafty, which returns to the Asheville Art Museum and Pack Square on Sunday, July 7. The best thing about the summer arts and crafts fair is that instead of stocking up on Christmakwanzakah gifts for friends and family members (like you do […]

If the name Bethesda makes you think of either Maryland or video games, the band that shares that moniker is about to change your frame of reference. The sextet from Kent, Ohio, crafts folklore-infused indie-rock informed by storytelling traditions and resonant with strings (guitar, violin, banjo) and the rich vocal of lead singer Shanna Delaney. […]

Musician/photographer/actor/author Tav Falco has said his main artistic purpose is "to stir up the dark waters of the unconscious." He'll stir those waters twice this week when his tour beings him to Asheville for a show and a book reading (yes, that’s right). Tav Falco's Panther Burns (an "art damage" rock band, formed in Memphis […]

You know you've made it when your fans coin a term for themselves. For the followers of '90s jamband moe., it's "moe.rons." The group got its start in '89 while members were in school at SUNY-Buffalo; they released debut album Fatboy in '92. Now, 20-plus years later, moe. has put out a couple dozen live […]

Orchestral folk-pop outfit River Whyless may be local, but it's hard to catch the band on an Asheville stage. In fact, this week's West Asheville performance be be the band's only show on home turf for 2013. But it promises to be a good one: The band will perform new songs they've written for their […]

Secrets: Freeing the Hidden Story, this year's production by Community Choreography Projects, weaves together storytelling, drama, dance and multimedia. The performance troupe, led by artistic director Barrie Barton, guides locals (many without theater backgrounds) through the process of self-expression and movement. Film artist Erika Czerwinski, filmmaker and photographer David Huff, author Gregg Levoy, spoken-word poet […]

Who didn't get pumped up by "Pumped Up Kicks," that viral dance song by L.A.-based pop band Foster the People? The trio was formed by Mark Foster, who found little success as a commercial jingle writer but reached No. 1 on the Billboard alternative chart with that single from Foster the People's 2011 debut, Torches. […]