Of note Local band ChunkStyle is looking for a new drummer. The group’s previous drummer, Adam Clark, left the band last month for personal reasons. Interested percussionists can find out more at www.chunkstyle.cjb.net. Asheville-based rock acts Drug Money and The Makeout Room are due to be featured on the soundtrack to the indie film Shakers. … Read more
“I’m not that good of a singer, and I need my guitar to sing for me,” Robert Randolph confessed in a recent interview. “Everybody else in my family are great, great singers, and I just wasn’t given the voice,” he continues. “I try and sing anyway, though. When I’m struggling with notes, I use my … Read more
It’s not polite to diss the Academy. But I have nothing to lose. I’m not an actress — Hollywood can’t drop me from the A-list. I never much cared about being polite, either. I know it’s trendy to bash the Oscars. That said, the members of the Academy need to take a closer look at … Read more
Lila Downs’ music is otherworldly, and not just in the metaphorical sense. It’s true she can transport listeners to an aural world of lush, layered sound. But Downs’ music — particularly her mesmerizing vocals — also takes listeners to a literal world, one inhabited by outsiders: Indians living in “Spanish” Mexico, Mexicans of all backgrounds … Read more
The F-word: You want to be careful using it in mixed company, because you never know what reaction you’ll get. Some flinch. Others embrace the word, using it with grace and ease. This chasm in how the F-word is perceived is one of the reasons Lori Horvitz, assistant professor of literature and language at UNCA, … Read more
Until the late 19th century, all gardeners saved seed as a matter of necessity. Each year, they harvested seeds from the plants displaying the most desirable characteristics. A gardener might “select” the slowest-bolting lettuce plant, for example, or the longest-keeping onion plant, or the tomato plant that was the earliest to set flowers. In time, … Read more
If there was any question whether Asheville’s main roads are dangerous for pedestrians, those doubts were erased on Jan. 12. That’s the night when Bernard and Carol Budish of Minnesota — both 82 years old — were killed by a hit-and-run motorist on East Tunnel Road. The elderly couple was apparently attempting to cross the … Read more
Across America, cities are spending billions of dollars to correct their own costly errors. In Cincinnati, Boston and elsewhere, the futuristic highway projects of the 1950s and ’60s — once touted as these metropolises’ saviors — are now being painstakingly dismantled and replaced. Here in Asheville, one need look no farther than I-240 to comprehend … Read more
In the 1970s, the dominance of the automobile and the resulting lack of ridership sounded the death knell for Asheville’s passenger rail service. Now, however, the city is the most requested destination in the country that’s not served by Amtrak, reports Judy Calvert, who chairs the WNC Passenger Rail Corridor Committee. The group has been … Read more
For most locals, every attempt to navigate one of Asheville’s traffic-choked arteries — whether by car, bike or other means — is likely to bring the city’s transportation woes into sharp focus. How did we ever come to this? The long answer to that question begins at least in the 18th century, when travelers were … Read more
