If spirit can live in a piece of cloth, fabric artist Peggie Hartwell has spent her life stitching miracles. A Quilter’s Spirit: An African-American Quilt Tradition, now on display at Asheville’s YMI Cultural Center, showcases the work of this remarkable master quilter — an artist who, through her rich choice of color and deft composition, … Read more
Chicago filmmaker David E. Simpson calls his latest work a love poem to his native city. This reporter wishes to stretch the metaphor. If Halsted Street, U.S.A. is a love poem, it’s a ripe ditty scrawled in ballpoint on a bathroom wall. No moldy sonnet ticking off indulgent cleverness in a neglected book, Simpson’s independent … Read more
Tuesday: The Grey Eagle It’s cold in here. Several folks have told me that this place was once an old barn, and tonight, you don’t need much imagination to believe it. In this big, drafty hall, the eight or so people lounging in the shady corners seem more like two or three. But if you … Read more
If the rosy glow of youth were not so evident in my face, this commentary might have been about the “olden days,” when music exploded in the parks and pubs of San Francisco. Or Seattle. Or Austin. Fortunately, the musical revolution is here and now, in Asheville. Welcome to the 21st century! We are having … Read more
Scrappy Hamilton manages to play swanky, uptown music without sounding aloof from the everyday, downtown blues. Frontman Scott Kinnebrew sings “Times are rough but they ain’t never been better … ” (from “Never Been Better”) — which pretty well sums up this Asheville group’s contradictory attitude. Although the band’s ragtimey sound sports a contemporary twist … Read more
One recent March morning, Jack Altamont told a judge how his children’s athletic coach had seduced his wife and wrecked his family’s life. For that, the Buncombe County man claimed he was entitled to cold, hard cash. Superior Court Judge Zoro Guice agreed, and ordered the coach to pay Altamont half-a-million dollars. “It could’ve been … Read more
Western North Carolina’s beleaguered Air Pollution Control Agency could become a county-run program, if the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners follow their staff’s recommendations. Buncombe County Manager Wanda Greene reported that staff members are “leaning toward keeping a local service” and “putting [it] in one of our [existing] departments.” Last month, the Haywood County Commissioners … Read more
Hard as he tried, Dr. Arlo Jennings just couldn’t pay someone enough money to work at Mission St. Joseph’s Health System. Jennings, the system’s vice president/chief information officer, recently offered his top candidate for a computer-security administrator’s job an annual salary of $61,000. Jennings thought he had a deal — but lost out to a … Read more
City planners are prepared to test-market their “smart growth” concepts on Charlotte Street, along a corridor stretching 10 blocks from Chestnut Street to Evelyn Place. Planners hope to entice what they call more urban development, by offering an incentives-based overlay-zoning district. If developers meet certain criteria favoring uses that combine residential and commercial spaces in … Read more
Tolerance and compassion: The next generation Faced with so much alarming or discouraging news, it’s all too easy to succumb to cynicism. But Asheville LEAP, a group of local teenagers, is taking a different tack: pooling their energies to make a positive difference in their community. The Come-Unity Asheville Festival 2000 is these teens’ attempt … Read more
