Cynthia West’s play Jar the Floor has been likened to an African-American take on TV’s The Golden Girls — a misconception local actor Janet Oliver is quick to correct. “People don’t know how to characterize a play that’s all women,” she observes. “You’d be closer to compare it to [the stage version of] Steel Magnolias,” … Read more
One bygone night in a Key West bar, after exactly the right number of gin-and-tonics to polish shame into confidence, I took to the stage. And beneath the not-all-that-bright lights, and guided by the little bouncing ball on a TV on a nearby wall, I sort of held the assembled several, bathed then in the … Read more
Now that there are more styles of jazz than Louis Armstrong box sets, it’s necessary for the young (34 — a baby in the jazz world) tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander to define where he fits in the messy genealogical charts of jazz musicians and their influences. But when asked the question, Alexander pauses and then … Read more
“I believe that poetry is a long piece of hungry momentum. It’s a living organism,” declares Asheville-based poet Keith Flynn. He truly believes that poetry is as fundamentally human as a heartbeat. The words are propelled like blood to a heartbeat rhythm. The rhythm is in our bodies, those giant liquid drums, and the melody … Read more
Of Note Rockin’ in the Teen World: Rumors can be a nasty business. Yet for the Teen Rock benefit on Saturday, Dec. 13, they may just help a good cause. Word’s circulating that once-local guitar god Warren Haynes may be on hand to check out the three headlining local teen-rock groups — No Comply, Lost … Read more
“MMF created a community network — people cheering for you and giving you new ideas.” — Julie Stehling, Early Girl Eatery “Entrepreneurs are made, not born,” proclaims Executive Director Greg Walker-Wilson of the Mountain Microenterprise Fund. Since 1989, the nonprofit has helped a diverse array of WNC residents — low-income people, women, minorities, rural residents … Read more
“Respondent believes that such things occur with more judges than her alone.” — attorney Robert Long, responding to the state attorney general’s complaint regarding Judge Brown The N.C. Supreme Court may soon get a chance to decide what, if anything, to do about the conduct of Buncombe County District Court Judge Shirley Brown. On the … Read more
Plan Colombia comes to Asheville Luis Gilberto Murillo is the former governor of Choco, Colombia’s poorest state. His election as the youngest governor in that country’s history followed years spent organizing on behalf of environmental and ancestral-lands issues. During his tenure, Murillo became one of the most recognizable Afro-Colombian figures in the country, renowned for … Read more
