When he’s not out touring, rising zydeco star J.J. Caillier can be found working on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. At night, he tries out new material on the crew. “I bring my accordions offshore and practice,” he revealed during our recent interview. “[I spend] 14 days in the middle of the … Read more
Of all days to visit the Asheville Art Museum, I choose field-trip day. Winding my way through a wobbly line of third graders, I head into the museum’s inner depths in search of its current exhibit, Making Pictures: Contemporary American Photography. But by the time I reach the museum’s third floor, the kids’ real-life merriment … Read more
Trapped under glass or frowningly tagged “Do Not Touch,” the woolen pieces displayed in the Southern Highland Craft Guild’s latest conservation-minded exhibit clearly weren’t crafted for everyday use. Yet California weaver Barbara Kent Stafford claims that her “Red Karakul Rug” (named for the breed of sheep that gave up its coat for the project) could … Read more
If one were forced — at plastic-butter-knife-point, say — to describe Stereolab’s entire nine-year history of musical exploration, a single word might rise from the crisis: organic. Not organic as in tofu, but in the sense of something vital, something alive. An odd description, maybe, given that Stereolab’s sound is most often classed with European … Read more
English nearly failed 21-year-old Diana Chepkwony on May 11. That was the day the Kenya native won the $1,500 Asheville Hospitality Excellence and Development scholarship — the Chamber of Commerce’s first-ever award for local tourist-industry students. It seemed she couldn’t even manage to think in her native Swahili, but Chepkwony offered a breathless “thank you” … Read more
Quality-of-life issues and failing infrastructure loomed large at the Asheville City Council retreat, back in January. Now, for the first time in a decade, Council members are preparing to cross their fingers on their re-election hopes and jack up taxes, in order to meet many of those needs. When the numbers are crunched and the … Read more
Asheville City Council members waded through a lengthy agenda on May 23. But by the end of the five-hour session, they had given the Civic Center a crutch to stand on, held touchy annexation hearings, unveiled the makings of a new air agency, and approved both a controversial planned community and the city’s Strategic Plan … Read more
Most North Carolinians have put the recent primary elections aside. They’ve forgotten the losers — and some of the winners, too. Truth is, this year’s primaries never did get many North Carolinians all that excited — even though there were strong candidates competing in several important races. In almost every part of the state, voting … Read more
I had an uncle who was a wino, happiest man I ever knew. Sat like a Buddha in the back yard of his daddy’s place and watched the strawberries grow and drank wine dark as ox blood, right from the bottle. I don’t know how long he was a wino or when he began or … Read more
