The streets of jazz/funk have flooded. The modern inception of the genre first drew attention in the early ’90s when Manhattan’s Medeski Martin and Wood began composing funk-heavy grooves dressed with jazz instruments and improvisation techniques. Quickly, as West Coast pioneers such as The Greyboy Allstars fell in line, the back-alley urban fans of jazz … Read more
The Wau Wau Sisters (say “vow vow”), nee Tanya Gagne and Adrienne Truscott, are no strangers to a little transgression. A look-see on any Monday night in the Williamsburg-neighborhood Brooklyn, New York, bar and performance space that hosts the Wau Wau’s weekly show tells all: Their multifaceted act — a martini-tart distillation of the duo’s … Read more
“Part of the reason for the tour is to prove that Celtic rock is a huge genre,” says Keith Roberts, front man for the Young Dubliners. And why must something already huge be proven to be so? It’s all in how you choose to define the sound, according to Roberts. “It’s any blending of rock … Read more
Of note News from the Ether: Asheville-based avant-garde rockers The Ether Bunnies are set to begin work on their new album. According to percussionist James Owen, the group is building their own home studio to record the currently untitled project. For more information, e-mail the band at bunnylist@hotmail.com. East meets West: A recent acoustic show … Read more
Close Harmony, A History of Southern Gospel by James R. Goff Jr. (The University of North Carolina Press, 2002) Inarguably, Close Harmony is the new bible of Southern gospel music. There’s not much within these pages to tempt the unconverted, but aficionados should be more than satisfied with this well-researched book. Black and white gospel, … Read more
I have never worn a kilt. My brother Mark handles the traditional duties of our Scots-American clan with more fervor, wearing the colors well, whereas my familial role revolves around one-liners delivered in a bastardized brogue and my attempts to create musical form from our ever-growing troop of players. Most of my six siblings play … Read more
Whenever I look at video coverage of the Middle East, I am reminded of man’s effect on the environment. Today, much of Iran, Iraq and southern Turkey is barren country. But it wasn’t always that way: Ten thousand years ago, the region between and near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers was a fertile land of … Read more
Mention Asheville Community Theatre around town these days, and you’re likely to get mixed reactions. In late April, ACT’s board of directors asked Peter Carver, the group’s most recent executive director, to resign. Since then some folks in the artistic community — and even some ACT board members and volunteers — have asserted that the … Read more
Hard times make for tough choices. Such was the case on June 27, when the Asheville City Council convened a special meeting to consider the adoption of an interim budget. Typically, the city would have adopted a final budget by mid-summer, but this year’s budget planning was anything but typical: The state withheld $2.7 million … Read more
In the space of one 45-minute meeting, Buncombe County Commissioners Vice Chairman Bill Stanley sought to put two contentious issues to rest: a hefty proposed tax increase and the specter of countywide zoning. At the June 29 continued meeting of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, Stanley asked to speak just prior to County Manager … Read more
