“There are no one-size-fits-all solutions in planning: Each place is very different,” says Todd Okolichany, who began work as Asheville’s new planning director Sept. 8. “That’s a key value for me as a planner: recognizing the differences and uniqueness of each place.” Okolichany, 36, comes to Asheville from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he was principal […]
“The California Honeydrops don’t just play music—they throw parties,” says the website for the San Francisco Bay area band. The group performs on The Lakeside Stage Friday, Oct. 16, at 6:15 p.m. and in Eden Hall, at 9:15 p.m.
Press release: Nano Stern Sun, November 1, 2015 Show: 8:00 pm New Mountain Asheville $10.00 – $13.00 NANO STERN TOURS USA IN SUPPORT OF NEW ALBUM RELEASE, MIL 500 VUELTAS (#1 ITUNES MAINSTREAM CHILE) FEATURING JOAN BAEZ, JORGE DREXLER AND MANY OTHERS Nano Stern launches into his 2015 USA TOUR in support of his new […]
Local jazz-swing-folk-old-time outfit The Resonant Rogues have two shows in the works for Saturday at LEAF. They’ll perform in The Barn and on the Roots Family Stage.
In advance of this season’s LEAF, the 41st bi-annual iteration of the festival, we’re talking to performing artists from the LEAF lineup about the festival’s New Orleans-meets-Western North Carolina theme. Local singer-songwriter Jeff Thompson talks about his NOLA roots.
The streets and squares of Asheville were quieter than usual on the afternoon of Monday, Aug. 24. Despite brilliant sunshine and pleasant temperatures, some of the city’s best-known street performers crowded into a meeting room to give City Council members an earful about proposed busking regulations in three high-traffic areas downtown.
Each week, Xpress highlights notable WNC crowdsourcing initiatives that may inspire readers to become new faces in the crowd. This week features a fortuitous recording opportunity for local busker Chelsea Lynn La Bate and an alternative religious text by Dale Allen Hoffman.
After years of unfortunate accidents involving pedestrians at a higher rate than any other metro area in North Carolina, Asheville will be participating in a new education and enforcement initiative from the the state Department of Transportation dubbed “Watch for Me.” Beginning on the evening of August 4th, city Transportation and Police Departments will be […]
Taking notes from Spotify’s theorem that people are willing to pay more for on-demand music, two buskers have positioned themselves as Asheville’s ‘ Human Jukebox.’
The inaugural LEAF Downtown AVL, a free festival in Pack Square Park, takes place on Saturday, Aug. 1, noon-10 p.m. (opening ceremony at 11:45 a.m.) and Sunday, Aug. 2, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Other events include a cocktail party, a pre-party, a 5K race and more. Press release from organizers: LEAF Downtown AVL 2015 | Events […]
All are welcome to attend the free pop-up craft fair, which the Bywater hosts on its riverside lawn on Saturday, July 18, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
On Sunday, June 12, between playing numbers for a growing and excitable crowd, the Soggy Po’ Boys finally explained the band’s name: “It’s like the sandwich. Or the state of being.” Soon after, the spirited musicians also explained their presence aside College Street. The New Hampshire-based group is in town for several shows in Asheville, […]
The fourth annual Battle of the Bywater was packed with what may be “the biggest crowd we have ever had,” wrote the owners of the bar on Facebook — with cars lined up and down Riverside Drive (more so than usual).
Although the Bywater’s outdoor atmosphere usually meanders along at approximately the same pace as the bar’s closest neighbor the French Broad River, patrons’ adrenaline will be pumping on Sunday, June 21. At 3 p.m., the Battle of Bywater: Summer Solstice Water Balloon Fight commences, and organizers say this year’s event will beat the previous record […]
In this roundup, there are two touring acts — one of that writes and plays classic guitar pop, another creating modern psych-folk — and two local acts, one serving up glam rock, the other featuring a woman who plays the spoons. Who says Asheville doesn’t have it all?
WNC has a long and rich storytelling tradition, but the craft is finding new applications (mediation, recovery) and new outlets (story slams, open mics and busking). Meanwhile, long- held festivals are still going strong.
Woody Pines, who returns to Asheville on Friday, May 29, for a show at Jack of the Wood, honed his craft on the streets of New Orleans. His new, self-titled album, released by Muddy Roots Music in June, delves even more deeply into the swing, ragtime, folk and jazz lexicons of the American songbook that gave defined his sound.
From funk to soul, roots to rock ‘n’ roll, here’s the full lineup of bands playing free sets in Carrier Park Friday through Sunday, May 22-24.
It’s hard to say whether Midnight Snack’s infectious busking sets are more likely to add a bit of pep to the pedestrian pace or to halt it altogether. Either way, the self-described art rock quintet, which made the move from Boston to Asheville several months ago, has been steadily building a presence among downtown’s streetside stages.
From an Asheville Buskers Collective press release: Asheville Buskers Collective to draw attention to proposed city ordinance changes The Asheville Buskers Collective has announced its plans to host a “Music Walk” culminating in a superband performance this Friday at 5 p.m. The walk will begin at the U.S. Cellular Center at 87 Haywood St. in […]
Asheville-based “Appalachiacana” quartet Tellico will independently release the band’s debut album this summer on Tuesday, June 2. Relics and Roses, produced by renowned guitarist Jon Stickley, explores themes of natural disasters, family relationships, busking, the meaning of ‘home,’ growing up and more. “Tellico is well schooled in bluegrass but with an unbridled organic ‘Appalachiacana’ sound, […]
