The Crackers of Comedy Comedians Matt Ward and Joe Pettis (AKA underground indie duo The Crackers of Comedy) plan to cover 14 states, 17 shows and 3,000 miles during their current tour. They'll perform at The Magnetic Field (with local comedians Tom Scheve and the Feral Chihuahuas' George the Bastard) on Tuesday, March 1, 8 […]
The Baker Family Former Asheville musicians The Baker Family (now based in Austin, Texas — but still Asheville locals in their hearts, they assure us) return to the Grey Eagle on Saturday, Feb. 19. The Bakers say they "witnessed a exceedingly awesome turnout and response last year" and "feel like there's a lot to catch […]
Jake Shimabukuro When Jake Shimabukuro's mother handed him a ukulele at age 4, she probably never imagined her son would become a virtuoso, known for complex finger work and renditions of classic rock tunes (a Hendrix-style "Star Bangled Banner," for one). Of his most recent album, Peace Love Ukulele, Shimabukuru says, "if everyone played the […]
Larry Keel at Pisgah Brewing Larry Keel's homegrown combination of Blue Ridge Mountain bluegrass heritage and innovative technical skill makes Larry Keel and Natural Bridge a vehement force to be reckoned with. The flat-picking virtuoso, along with his wife, Jenny (fiddle, lead and harmony vocals) and mandolin player/vocalist Mark Schimick, will be playing in Black […]
The wrong clues were published alongside the grid for the Jan. 26 New York Times crossword puzzle.
Western North Carolina has long history as a mecca for the written word. From Thomas Wolfe to Wilma Dykeman, O. Henry to Charles Frazier, our mountains have been home to a diverse group of esteemed authors, many of them poets. Is it coincidence that the last three poets laureate of North Carolina — Fred Chappell, […]
HAPPENING at The Wine Studio Black Mountain College Museum + Art Center's HAPPENING 2011 doesn't take place until April 9 (save that date!) but there's a chance to get excited and raise funds at The Wine Studio of Asheville's HAPPENING on Thursday, Jan. 27, 5-8 p.m. The event will showcase video from last year's HAPPENING […]
Western North Carolina has long history as a mecca for the written word. From Thomas Wolfe to Wilma Dykeman, O. Henry to Charles Frazier, our mountains have been home to a diverse group of esteemed authors, many of them poets. Is it coincidence that the last three poets laureate of North Carolina — Fred Chappell, Katherine Stripling Byer and Cathy Smith Bowers — are from the mountains? And we know there are more poets in these hills.
Fringe Fest Now in its ninth year, the dance/music/theatre/multimedia/performance art extravaganza known as The Asheville Fringe Arts Festival covers spans four days and multiple venues. BeBe Theatre, Asheville Art Museum, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center and the Wedge Building all hosts events. Thursday, Jan. 20-Sunday, Jan. 23. $12/$10 for senior and students for […]
Truth & Salvage Co. Ever since Truth & Salvage Co. relocated to the West Coast (four of the six members used to live in Asheville performing as Scrappy Hamilton), they've been playing local stages fairly regularly. The now-Los Angeles-based band opened for one of the Avett Brothers' two sold-out Civic Center shows, joined The Black […]
Asheville Playback Theatre Taking its material directly from its audience's personal experiences, Asheville Playback Theatre performs personal, improvisational shows. Four upcoming themed performances called Life Stage — Friday-Sunday, Jan. 7-9 —include a children's show (Saturday at 2 p.m.) and an all-women's show (Sunday at 2 p.m.). The 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday shows feature singer/songwriter […]
Fifty-one weeks of news, arts and entertainment may be difficult to summarize — especially a period as seemingly vibrant and active as 2010. This year, Xpress offers a review in parts, through a selection of stories and images that staff writers, designers, photographers (and, in some cases, the readers) found the most interesting and memorable. […]
Unsilent Night According to the event's website, "Unsilent Night is composer Phil Kline's free outdoor participatory sound sculpture of many individual parts, recorded on cassettes, CDs and mp3s, and played through a roving swarm of boom boxes carried through city streets every December." It debuted in New York in '92. Join the Asheville contingent on […]
A Christmas Carol Beginning both the holiday season and a winter residency at the Masonic Temple, Montford Park Players performs Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol. This is the story with Tiny Tim and Scrooge and the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future — we know it by heart, yet it never gets old. […]
Sheet Rock: The Poster Art of Subject Matter Studio Drew Findley is the artist behind Subject Matter Studio, and therefore a whole lot of the most eye-catching, locally made rock posters. (He's also the Production Manager at Xpress.) Gene Ween, Brett Dennen, Kings of Leon, The Avett Brothers and Ray LaMontagne have all been immortalized […]
As part of last week’s cover story, we published a Thanksgiving story from Sean McDonald, listing him as a member of the Moog Foundation. After four years of service to the foundation, McDonald stepped down from the board in late October this year. We apologize for the error.
Return of the Davids By "the Davids" we don't mean the awesome local garage rock band fronted by one David Clegg. Rather, we mean Davids Wilcox and LaMotte, both trailblazers during the 90s-era WNC singer/songwriter heyday, both moved on to other locales (D.C. and Maryland for Wilcox, Australia and India for LaMotte), and both returned […]
Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band Pervasive party act (because wherever they are, it's a party) the Booty Band takes a break from its tireless regional tour schedule to play on home turf: At the Orange Peel (which points out, "When the Booty Band hits the stage, everybody dances!") on Saturday, Nov. 20. 9 p.m., […]
The Big Bang with the Boom Chix How Asheville does this sound? Take the Boom Chix, our own all-female percussion and dance ensemble, add members of the Feral Chihuahuas, modern dancer Kathy Meyers, the one-woman show of Unitard and a host of special guests, and you’ve got The Big Bang, a two-night show at the […]
Last week, we reported that Chai Pani is holding a benefit for India-based nonprofit the Meher Free Dispensary. We misquoted Isaac Clay, the event organizer, as saying that the service aids roughly 250,000 patients a year. In fact, the MFD provides help to approximately 25,000 a year. We apologize for the error.
Dehlia Low Live CD release Local bluegrass act Dehlia Low, in its brief three-year tenure, has already become one of those bands that is so in demand elsewhere it's hard to catch them at home. This past year they played Merlefest and Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival — and also found time to put out a new […]
