When the CD Digital Duke (GRP) was released in 1987, it affirmed that the Duke Ellington legacy would ring true even into the digital age. Duke’s son, Mercer, who had conducted the Duke Ellington Orchestra since his father’s death in 1974, assumed that role for this album (the Digital Duke band included members of the … Read more
Many bands have amazing tales to tell detailing their genesis. How did such a talented group of musicians ever manage to find one another? is the unvoiced question they nonetheless seek to answer. Their minds a-hum with PR dreams, such folks may swear to an almost-unbelievable series of karmic events. But if you’re actually related … Read more
It’s summertime, and popular wisdom holds that this is the season for livin’ easy: We want our tea sweet, our tomatoes fresh-picked, our radios pumping, and our air-conditioning — period. Moreover, we want our entertainment gentle on the ear and mind. After all, the block in “summer blockbuster” isn’t the one sitting on your neck. … Read more
How many times have you heard someone lament, “You can’t get anything for nothing, anymore!”? As if, in the olden days, all interesting stuff was free, whereas now everything has its price. Well, obviously these modern-day cynics have never been to Asheville’s weekly summer hoedown, Shindig on the Green. This outdoor show is completely free … Read more
It seems you can’t throw a can of potted luncheon meat in Asheville without beaning a vegetarian. And you can expect your victim to protest not only your random act of violence, but also the very ethical and dietary nature of your chosen missile. Vegetarians (and their stricter kin, vegans) are heroes to some. To … Read more
While the region dangles dangerously close to federal designation as a “nonattainment area,” Asheville City Council may ask Gov. Jim Hunt to drop his lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency. “The only way to fight air pollution is regionally and nationally,” declared Vice Mayor Chuck Cloninger, who also chairs the N.C. Parks, Parkways and National … Read more
Opinions vary, and folks are decidedly divided about a dangerous and bland stretch of highway. With all the factions assembled under one roof, former Asheville Mayor Lou Bissette opined that “consensus involves compromise,” at least where the I-26 Connector Project is concerned. Those were fitting words to open a two-part design forum meant to garner … Read more
Some call it a garden, some call it a tree pit. Most trees in downtown Asheville are framed by metal grates; but on one side of Battery Park Avenue, garden-happy merchants have planted petunias, ivy, day lilies, and the like around the trees outside their shops. Trouble is, the city’s 1991 Streetscape Plan calls for … Read more
The stars must be in rare alignment, the cosmic harmonics in a once-in-a millennium convergence, because a pair of proposals has brought Asheville to the brink of making a whole new identity for itself. I’m talking about the separate plans to make the I-26 Connector eight lanes, and to tear down the Sayles Bleachery in … Read more
People of our community — people of stout hearts and good sense — have registered that, by acting cooperatively, we can stop behaving as collaborators in what has come to be our own oppression. The slow realization has dawned at last: We are a self-sufficient and hardy people who are fed up with the virtual … Read more
