Seemingly in the Goombay! spirit, two bands — world/jazz group The Brand New Life from Greensboro/Chapel Hill and locally based Afro-beat band The Klavenauts — share a bill and an Afro-funk focus at One Stop on Friday, Aug. 26. The evening showcases the Klavenauts' Sean Smith on trumpet and Brand New Life's Mamadou Mbenge, "a […]
Author: Xpress Staff
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Smart Bets: Turquoise Ball
The color ball — Asheville Area Arts Council's annual fundraiser — returns this year in grand style. And in turquoise. The Turquoise Ball (start planning your wardrobe accordingly) takes place at the Orange Peel on Saturday, Aug. 27. Entertainment includes a fashion show, Eternity dance troupe, music from Paper Tiger, DJ Marley Carroll, Franklin Keel […]
Smart Bets: SoundCheck at Altamont
Happily, swapping songs is far more elegant than, say, swapping clothes. Or spit. Appropriately, singer/songwriters Malcolm Holcombe (Asheville), RB Morris (Knoxville) and Paco Shipp (Nashville) swap their songs in the elegant setting of the Altamont Theater. Holcombe recently released To Drink the Rain, Morris just completed Rich Mountain Bound (recorded in Asheville) and Shipp's latest […]
Smart Bets: Vance
Local author/artist/actor David Hopes showcases yet another talent: that of playwright. His most recent play, Vance: Civil War Governor, is on stage at the Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre in Mars Hill through Sunday, Aug. 28. Says Hopes, the production is "based on the life of N.C.’s Civil War governor (and later senator) Zebulon Vance." The […]
Smart Bets: The Mumbles CD release party
The Mumbles used to be a Brooklyn-based trio and now they're a New Orleans-based duo. All that change, and they still managed to pull off a solid effort with just-finished album Annunciation St. The 11-track collection is certainly rooted in New Orleans influences from the horn section to the jazz percussion (that's Ethan Shorter manning […]
Smart Bets: Art of the Book
Asheville BookWorks, a studio space in West Asheville that focuses on print and book arts, is well represented in the newest exhibition at UNC Asheville’s Blowers Gallery. Art of the Book: Process, Product and Community at Asheville BookWorks is a collection of works by students and instructors from sculptural books and journals to one-of-a-kind pieces […]
Smart Bets: The Lee Boys at DTA5
Just because sacred steel has its roots in the church doesn't mean a sacred steel band can't also get a little funky at a street festival. The Lee Boys are proof of that. The six-man band from Miami, Fla. not only got its start at the House of God Church but is a close-knit group […]
Smart Bets: The Stereofidelics
Hot (probably literally) off a Bele Chere appearance, local power duo/off-stage couple The Stereofidelics plan a show at the LAB on Friday, Aug. 19. Except for Bele Chere, the LAB event will be the first time the band (Chris Padgett on keys/guitar/vocals and Melissa McGinley on drums/violin/vocals) will play on home turf since they launched […]
Smart Bets: Johnny Winter
Blues guitarist Johnny Winter is a man of both legend and infamy. He's known for his high-energy performances as much as for his unique look (Winter was born with albinism, he wears his platinum hair long and he's covered in tattoos) and his battle with drugs. He began his recording career at age 15 and […]
Smart Bets: The Last Laugh
The Magnetic Theatre's artistic director, Steven Samuels, returns to the stage for the first time in two dozen years in The Last Laugh, which he also wrote. In it, he portrays lead character Chuck Wiles, "the outrageously gay, pot-smoking leader of a renowned but impoverished comic theater troupe that teeters on the edge of ruin […]
Smart Bets: Tim Reynolds
Tim Reynolds is best known as the guitarist for The Dave Matthews Band. In addition to guitar, Reynolds also plays piano, sitar, drums, violin, bass, keyboards, djembe, harp and he sings. Reynolds formed his own electric funk trio, TR3, prior to meeting Matthews — that band is still a strong side project and will be […]
Smart Bets: Songs of Water
Greensboro, N.C.-based Songs of Water describes its music as "a spiritual conversation of eclectic sounds and instrumentation." There's also talk of the fusion of ancient and modern, about acoustic grassroots jam sessions meeting classical training, jazz stylings and organic compositions. The eight-member band features the songwriting of Stephen Roach; it also includes Luke and Molly […]
Smart Bets: Thomas Wolfe Memorial furniture
If furniture is, to you, simply something under which dust bunnies breed, then the upcoming special program at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial might not be your thing. If, however, you've often wished armoires could talk and sideboards could reveal all the long-forgotten suppers over which they presided, then get thee to the Old Kentucky Home […]
Smart Bets: Robin Hood
"Sweeping adventure and diabolical villainy collide in this fast-paced swashbuckler," says Parkway Playhouse of its latest production, Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood. The new take on the famous archer-turned-outlaw tale is written by Jeff Douglas Messer (with Robert Akers), who also directs (with Andrew Gall) the production. Asheville Lyric Opera veteran Dominic Aquilino stars […]
Smart Bets: The Secret B-Sides and ArtOfficial
Local soul/funk/hip-hop outfit The Secret B-Sides headlines the One Stop stage on Thursday, Aug. 4, performing its brand of "flower-powered-future-soul for your earholes." They're joined on the bill by ArtOfficial, an underground hip-hop act from Miami. According to ArtOfficial's website, their "setup alone beckons the question, 'What does a live band with two emcees sound […]
Smart Bets: I Killed My Mother at NC Stage
Edgy, contemporary play I Killed My Mother opens at North Carolina Stage Company on Thursday, Aug. 4 (with complimentary tiramisu in the lobby on opening night). The production, by Theatre-Y, runs through Sunday, Aug. 7, with a talk-back with the actors after each performance. The Romanian play (playwright Andras Visky, with English translation by Alisha […]
Smart Bets: Djembefola Bolokada Conde
It's not every day you get to meet a West African djembefola (master drummer), but on Friday, Aug. 5, Bolokada Conde — a percussionist and performer from Guniea — will appear at Jubilee! He'll play with Asheville's Chikomo Marimba and the Skinny Beats Drum Crew at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6, he'll do another show […]
Smart Bets: Sew Moe
Need another fashion fix this weekend? Moe Erin Donnelly (aka Sew Moe) shows a number of new pieces from her fall/winter collection during a gallery art opening for I Never Promised You a Rose Garden at Pump in the Phil Mechanic Studios. The show combines Sew Moe’s apparel design work with a brief fashion show. […]
Smart Bets: Gift of Gab at Mellow Mushroom
If you missed underground MC Gift of Gab last time he performed at Mellow Mushroom, you're in luck, the rapper returns on Thursday, July 28. California-based Gift of Gab is known for his work with Blackalicious and for his collaborations (check out his verse on local hip-hop artist Agent 23's Monkeywrench). He'll be supported by […]
Smart Bets: Seussical
Part Broadway musical, part Dr. Seuss send up, Seussical (on stage at The Parkway Playhouse from Thursday, July 28-Saturday, Aug. 6) is based loosley on Dr. Seuss' popular Horton Hears a Who and Horton Hatches an Egg. Characters from the Dr. Seuss repertoire, like the Grinch and Yertle the Turtle, make a showing and the […]
Smart Bets: Pierce Edens at Jack Of the Wood
Local singer/songwriter Pierce Edens is best known for his hoarse, gravelly, smoke-booze-and-late-nights voice; that raw growl that makes every song an anthem. But Edens, along with fronting The Dirty Work, is also a fine guitarist, plays a mean harmonica and (if his album notes are anything to go by) likes to bang on Dumpsters, too. […]