A shot at the spotlight Sick of obscurity? Tired of unappreciative karaoke-bar audiences? Hard at work on a brilliant clogging routine to “Dancing on the Ceiling”? Or maybe you have particularly talented chickens but no place to show them off? Well, here’s your chance. The Instant Theatre Company is looking for talented folks to audition […]

Ghosts of vanished Asheville “It’s debatable,” says Felicity Green, talking about whether the extensive renovation of Southside Avenue in the 1960s was altogether a good thing. “You look at the community of people in these photographs; it’s very poignant to think that this whole community has vanished and is now South Charlotte Street.” Green is […]

Summer: sun, fun — and voting? When I think about late July, my mind usually turns to hiking, picnicking and the like. But this year, I’ll have to add “voting” to my list of hot-weather pursuits. Last week, the State Board of Elections unanimously voted to delay the North Carolina primary from May 4 until […]

Get on board A new local group, URTV Inc., is seeking applicants to serve on its board of directors. The private, nonprofit organization will set up and manage the new public-access channel that will serve city and county residents. URTV Channel 20 will be available to all Charter Communications subscribers in Buncombe County, provided the […]

Children’s essay contest A new movie, The Adventures of Ociee Nash, will be released on Feb. 13. The film tells the story of a courageous 9-year-old girl who lived in Asheville in 1898, and the producers are sponsoring an essay contest for children Ociee’s age — third through fifth grade — answering the question, “What […]

CSI: Cullowhee In the recent CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode “Eleven Angry Jurors,” it’s the forensic experts who discover the murder weapon: peanut butter secretly added to the unsuspecting 12th juror’s chili (he had a fatal allergy). Meanwhile, in the “Stalkerazzi” episode of the spinoff CSI: Miami, it’s the forensic experts who discover foul play […]

The Guantanamo Bay question Can people be detained indefinitely without a hearing or access to a lawyer? Has the right to habeas corpus been suspended? These and other questions will be addressed in Behind Barbed Wire: Prisoners of the Bush Administration, an educational forum featuring panelists Bruce Elmore and Frank Goldsmith of the American Civil […]

Fit for a King When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. accepted the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, he said: “Sooner or later, all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace. … If this is to be achieved, man must evolve — for all human […]

As a new year emerges from the melted puddle of the old, it can be instructive to glance backward, surveying the landscape we’ve just traversed, and make some course adjustments ere we roll on. In this year’s edition of our annual tradition, Xpress has gathered fruit and pits from our 51 weekly editions in 2003 […]

A chip off the old tree Over the holidays, I heard about a community that recycles its Christmas trees by hauling them to the local zoo and letting the resident elephants chow down on them. Henderson County is a bit short on elephants, but it does boast an annual Christmas-tree recycling project coordinated by the […]

Red Cross Needs Holiday Blood Donations The American Red Cross has issued a request for blood donations as soon as possible. “The recent blast of winter weather caused the cancellation of several blood drives, preventing the collection of approximately 360 units of blood,” reports Randy Edwards, chief operating officer for the organization’s Carolinas Blood Services […]

Water you doing on Saturday? Rivers are only as clean as the myriad creeks that feed them. But how do you take care of a creek? Sounds like a job for creek keepers (trained volunteers who do just that). French Broad Riverkeeper Phillip Gibson wants to deputize a boatload of such folks to help him […]

The MAIN connection When the Mountain Area Information Network was founded back in 1994, only two Western North Carolina counties had commercial Internet service. Today, MAIN provides reliable, low-cost Internet service to some 5,000 subscribers in 14 counties. The nonprofit also offers other services, such as the Blue Ridge Web Market (which gives hundreds of […]

Plan Colombia comes to Asheville Luis Gilberto Murillo is the former governor of Choco, Colombia’s poorest state. His election as the youngest governor in that country’s history followed years spent organizing on behalf of environmental and ancestral-lands issues. During his tenure, Murillo became one of the most recognizable Afro-Colombian figures in the country, renowned for […]

West Asheville in a nutshell When I heard about the west Asheville slogan contest sponsored by the Haywood Road Corridor Committee, I walked around the office soliciting ideas. Here are some of the slogans my co-workers came up with: “How the west is one,” “Baptists, bakers and good coffee makers,” “Asheville’s Five Points,” and “It’s […]

What price violence? Despite the brilliant sunshine on Oct. 30, the mood at Pritchard Park could not have been more somber. About 30 people — including a half-dozen law-enforcement officers — gathered for the first Domestic Violence Victim Memorial Walk in memory of those who’ve died over the past 10 years due to family violence. […]

Edible architecture Get ready to don your apron and dig out your spatula — and, while you’re at it, brush up on your engineering skills! The Grove Arcade is holding a cake-baking contest as part of its first-year anniversary celebration from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22. Participating cake creators are asked to […]

Fueling the learning curve The city of Knoxville will soon debut four hybrid propane/electric-powered trolleys to serve its downtown area. And within the next five years, the Tennessee city aims to replace most of its fleet of buses, trolleys and vans with alternative-fueled vehicles, according to Barry Greenberg of Knoxville Area Transit. “These [trolleys] are […]

On Tuesday, Nov. 4, Asheville voters will choose three of the six people vying for a seat on City Council. Xpress asked each candidate the questions listed below. Their answers appear in the grid on the following pages. We first asked the six how much each plans to spend on the campaign. Terry M. BellamyWill […]