Asheville physician Clay Ballantine delivered a grim message during the Asheville City Council’s Feb. 18 work session: Degraded air quality is causing a health epidemic, both in Western North Carolina and nationwide. Speaking not just to Council members but to everyone in attendance, Ballantine took off the gloves, giving an intense presentation that vividly highlighted … Read more
We still jump Who: Jump, Little Children w/The Borrowed Angels & Tinkers Punishment Where: The Orange Peel When: Saturday, Feb. 15 Along the wall, near the big club’s coat-check stand and exit, a few dozen people sat and waited patiently for the show to begin. Many were middle aged, or at least approaching it, and … Read more
Q: Who’s the tougher audience, Robert Fripp or God? A: Oh, pu-lease! Our Lord never fired Bill Bruford, the drummer’s drummer. If you opted for the Divine, then you’ve obviously never taken a serious ride on the roller coaster that is King Crimson, the on-again-off-again 35-year vehicle for founding member Fripp’s vision of music as … Read more
Gods and Generals may boast the best-trained extras in Hollywood film history. On Feb. 21, the Civil War epic — including thousands of faceless actors who bring battle scenes to life — opened nationwide to what has become, today, an unprecedented abundance of history buffs, re-enactors and Southern sympathizers who find validation in Civil War … Read more
“I don’t tour that much anymore,” claimed Alejandro Escovedo when I finally caught up with him by phone while he was in Chicago. It’s a relative assertion: Escovedo is currently in the middle of a three-week string of U.S. dates following a month-long stint in Europe. He’s not an easy guy to reach, and his … Read more
Still looking for an antidote to Valentine’s Day? You could do worse than check out Asheville Community Theatre’s current production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. The play, which opened, ironically, on the official Day of Love, runs through March 2. Love, however, has precious little to do with Woolf, which chronicles both the alcoholic … Read more
“It’s a small road in a big world,” says Cactus, a rapper and lyricist for GFE. Cactus and the rest of the nine-member Asheville group are headed home to play a free show after an extended tour of both coasts that’s found them in venues ranging from inner-city hip-hop stages to out-of-the-way punk clubs. Long … Read more
Most of us are unhappy about paying our bills once; but a flap between the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners and the county school board raised the specter of the county’s paying certain bills twice — an idea that didn’t seem to sit well with the commissioners. At their Feb. 18 meeting, Child Care Services … Read more
Outside downtown, many parts of Asheville today give little hint of the past. In these areas, new development has transformed the urban landscape almost beyond recognition, leaving barely a trace of the landscape, the farms, the neighborhoods that have been displaced. But Asheville City Transit Route 9 provides a window into what’s been lost and … Read more
A Buncombe County Planning Board recommendation on community-based planning may be legally problematic — but for a different reason than was anticipated. On Feb. 3, the Planning Board decided, on a split vote, to recommend that the county commissioners allow local communities to create their own planning districts. The draft ordinance calls for letting only … Read more
