Musician, wellness advocate and educator Kristin Luna Ray returns with a new album, One Shared Heart, which features much-loved performers like Wah!, Girish, Alvin Young (Sean Johnson and the Wild Lotus Band) and others. The songs on Heart, like on Ray’s last album, Where Heaven Meets the Earth, are informed by travel, mantras and deep […]

If you thought all the Bard could do was recite sonnets and soliloquies, here's a new take on the age-old playwright. Shakespeare Sings!, conceived by theatrical director Francis Cullinan, highlights "Shakespeare's words alongside famous operatic settings of Shakespeare by great composers … seamlessly weaving together spoken word with musical interpretations of such works as Romeo […]

Prog-electronic quartet Déjà Fuze formed in Buffalo one January, perhaps trying to get through the winter doldrums or to stay warm. Either way, the band (now based in Asheville) probably knows a thing or two about heating up a room. Or a set. "The four melody makers at the center of Déjà dial into each […]

"Whether one celebrates Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, yule or any other holiday, this will be the party to attend," promises illustration and pop culture art gallery/retail space ZaPow! Browse all things nerdy/geeky in comic book art and graphic toys while sipping Wee Heavier from French Broad Brewery (or fruit punch, if that's more your speed) and […]

Local electronic band Sonmi has been having a pretty great year, what with Bele Chere and Moogfest engagements. The instrumental outfit wraps up 2011 with one more local performance — this one as part of the RUN DMT show at the Asheville Music Hall. "RUN DMT began as an experiment in sonic debauchery in the […]

Singer/songwriter David Wilcox is an Asheville staple going back to the '90s when he played in Black Mountain's storied McDibbs, released his East Asheville Hardware album and his songs like "Eye of the Hurricane" were in heavy rotation. Though he's moved away from (and back to) the area, Wilcox's Thanksgiving shows are a thing of […]

Local music producer Andrew Schatzberg of Alive and Well Records (home of St. Solitude) decided last year to record a collection of his own songs (inspired by Radiohead, U2, Pink Floyd and Beck). After completing his album, Schatzberg took the brave next step, parlaying Worldline from the studio to the stage. The band plays its […]

Storytelling (the folk art variety, not the "dog ate my homework" variety) is an ancient and enduring form of entertainment, and it's just as viable now as it ever was. Which is why Tellabration!, held the weekend before Thanksgiving, is not just an annual event but an international celebration. Asheville joins the global telling of […]

L.A.'s eight-piece collective Breakestra is all about (by the band's own admission) "deep funk, good ol’ hip-hop breaks and psychedelic soul-jazz fever." And, the bio continues, a show entails "dancing and getting your wig flipped back by a non-stop throwdown." Breakestra formed from weekly jam sessions at a coffee shop called The Breaks, with founding […]

Bluegrass-influenced quartet The Bloodroots Barter may or may not actually live in the Kentucky cabin of a dead carpenter, with smoke wafting from the chimney and a deer hide tanning on the porch. Either way, that haunting, storied sound is what makes the self-described "voodoo grass" outfit so alluring. "If you thought that bluegrass music […]

It's that time of year again: Take the tux out of storage, re-pouff the crinoline and rent the limo — Prom!!! is back. The annual semi-ironic/semi-formal dance party fills the Grey Eagle with taffeta, hair spray and misplaced dreams. DJ Rob Castillo spins the dance tracks; slow jams come courtesy of Benji Hughes who, according […]