Big names, big ink, big weekend
Volume
19
/ Issue 34
Cover Design Credit:
Kimi Leger / Diamond Thieves. Art created for Xpress with tattoo ink.arts
Asheville Tattoo Fest
This year marks the second Asheville Tattoo Fest. Bailey is a featured artist for the festival, which draws in big names both local and national. Bailey will lead the “Tattooing…Color outside the lines
Photos by Artemus Jenkins “We were all born with a purpose and a special gift,” says Miya Bailey, and his own life is proof. As founder of City of Ink,…Unleash the beast
Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside’s front woman (and namesake) was recently featured in a Teen Vogue Q&A. Which is great, except it takes approximately 10 seconds of listening to…Ten pounds of that minnow
Like a captivating story, Connie Regan-Blake is subtle and grounded. She maintains a balance, as good storytellers do, between what is the larger story — the setting — and what…ART BETS: Tom Pazderka
Reclaimed wood, electrical equipment and stuffed animals are among the materials you’ll find in Tom Pazderka’s new solo exhibition at the ARTery. The works have a nostalgic aesthetic, defined by…ART BET: Samantha Carter
Samantha Carter, who holds a BFA from Florida State’s photography program, presents a strong body of work with Swish and Fade, a collection whose interest lies in its mingling of…ART BET: John Urbain
Throughout his career, the late artist John Urbain was concerned with the concept of matière — a French term emphasizing the visual and physical properties of materials. This is evidenced…ART BETS: Connie Bostic
It is not often that an artist has two solo shows exhibiting at the same time in the same town, but this month Connie Bostic exhibits The Gun Show at…State of the Arts
For the first time, the N.C. art museum and Penland School of Crafts have partnered: the project, 0 to 60: The Experience of Time Through Contemporary Art. It focuses on…Smart Bets: Hisham Mayet
Libyan-born globe-trotter Hisham Mayet is (among other things) a founding member of Seattle-based recording label Sublime Frequencies (home of eclectic world music including rock and soul from Saigon, Gnawa music…Smart Bets: Pinocchio
The Strange and Tragical Adventures of Pinocchio or Why Didn't I Just Stay a Damn Puppet? is the final production to be held at the Magnetic Theatre's Glen Rock Depot…Smart Bets: Tuatha Dea
Tuatha Dea (whose name is taken from Celtic Mythology) plays a special St. Patrick's Day show at Emerald Lounge on Saturday, March 16. "We're rolling in with our African drums,…Smart Bets: The Revelers
Southwest Louisiana-based Cajun, blues and swing outfit The Revelers is made up of members of The Red Stick Ramblers and the Pine Leaf Boys (including fiddler Daniel Coolik, a former…Smart Bets: Pilobolus
"Pilobolus makes art to build community," says the website for the contemporary dance company that traces its genesis to a 1971 class at Dartmouth College. These days, Pilobolus is not…Smart Bets: Alex Krug
Local singer-songwriter (and Brown Bag Songwriting Competition host) Alex Krug recorded her live album, Divers, during a performance at The LAB. Krug is a self-proclaimed conservationist, a theme that can…Capturing the moment: Local Natives
L.A.-based Local Natives got their start in Orange County, Calif, where Taylor Rice (vocals/guitar), Kelcey Ayer (vocals/keys/percussion) and Ryan Hahn (vocals/guitar) went to high school together. These days, they live…Old-time twang and ease
Three women in skirts and leather boots sit in a circle, instruments settled in laps and beers in hand. They talk fast and laugh easy, discussing the chords for the…“We are both mad men”
On paper, Howard Levy and Joe Craven seem like mismatched candidates for collaboration. Levy is a formally trained musician and a founding member of Béla Fleck’s Flecktones who has spent…Calendar highlights: PARI meteoroid presentation, Friends of the Smokies hike and the Banff Mountain
Clubland features: Benavides and Wolf, Hisham Mayet and The Last Vegas
food
Haute honky tonk
Seven Sows Bourbon and Larder opens Tuesday, March 19, on Biltmore Avenue.A-B Tech culinary students head to Vegas
The A-B Tech culinary team emerged from a near-sleepless weekend of cooking, plating and butchering with a gold medal. The six-student team traveled to Louisville, Ky., in early March to…‘The things we never have…’
Get Ethiopian eats while you still can: Desoto Lounge will discontinue its Tuesday Ethiopian special at the end of March. Asheville diners crave the spicy stews and fermented flatbreads of…Pizza parlour
After two years on Patton Avenue, Favilla's New York Pizza is growing with a new dining room. Until now, the restaurant's pizzas, pasta dinners and sandwiches have been available by…A firkin good time
What if Oskar Blues made a beer with papaya? What if Green Man served its IPA with a few extra ounces of Simcoe? And what if French Broad shoved Krispy…living
In the garden
Raised beds for beginners and beyond If you have limited space and big garden dreams, a raised bed is a great place to start. Raised beds can be filled with…news
Stress busters
A rain stick creates a soothing ambiance as the students settle onto the props at Asheville Community Yoga. An African kalimba evokes a delicate higher tone while the didjeridoo sends…Walk your talk
“Local” is not just a buzzword in Asheville. It’s a way of life — a sometimes radical way of life. Like, if we think big, maybe we can establish our…Power down: Residents contest Progress Energy rate hike
Public sentiment at a March 6 hearing conducted by the North Carolina Utilities Commission overwhelmingly opposed Progress Energy’s proposed rate hike.Financial aid: Commissioners consider new Asheville schools
Asheville wants to replace two schools, but Buncombe County commissioners question the $65.8 million price tag and say they don’t know where the money will come from.The creative good: Local advertisements showcase creativity and earn honors
The video opened with the sound of a running river and the image of a pair of jean shorts swaying on a clothesline — and by the end of the…You say #AVLSNOMG
When it started snowing on March 6, locals documented the flurries and snow-day fun firsthand with their phones. Here’s a collection of photos.Opposing lines: Owner, groups, utility disagree about placing power lines through Box Creek
Months of debate, studies and discussion about where Rutherford Electric Membership Corporation should build 2.5 miles of power lines have come to a halt: In January, REMC asked for an…opinion
McCrory and the Poor
Asheville Disclaimer
West Asheville Macaroni Art Club is NOT a sanctioned Asheville Macaroni Art Club!‘A paradise to live in or see …’
Is Asheville in a state of cultural and economic prosperity or capitalist malaise? In his March 6 Opinion piece, “Long Live Asheville: A City Dying to Be Reborn,” Martin Ramsey…Brent Brown and Xpress should apologize
To say I am disappointed in Brent Brown’s March 6 cartoon hardly covers my sentiment. I think it is extremely disturbing that the KKK is referenced in a comic strip…Cartoonist Brent Brown responds
The premise of the comic is that two local K-marts really are closing (Asheville and Hendersonville), and I used the idea of a third one closing to produce a situation…Rethink “Rethinking Mental Health”
In your Feb. 6 article, Rethinking Mental Health, the overall tone was quite critical of modern psychiatry and the use of psychoactive medications to treat various forms of mental illness.…Those good ol’ days
I would like to personally thank Mountain Xpress and Commissioner Mike Fryar for highlighting everything that is wrong with, and will spell the ultimate demise of the Republican Party [“Building…Are the inmates running the nuthouse?
I wonder how long Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy would last in office if she ran the munici- pal government the way Washington, D.C., is run? She is constricted to a…