Roughly 7,000 tickets — poof! — gone in less than four days. On sale the morning of Dec. 2; sold out by the same time Dec. 5. If you haven’t yet committed your 37 bucks to the Asheville Civic Center box office or to Ticketmaster, your chances for getting yourself packed among the music-drunk sardines … Read more
First Night Asheville coordinators have jumped on the Crescent City bandwagon. The city’s biggest New Year’s Eve event has rolled around in a curious incarnation: This year’s celebration, co-dubbed “Mardi Party 2004,” takes its cue from New Orleans-style revelry. OK, so it’s going to be held on a Wednesday (and one that’s nowhere near Fat … Read more
In the wake of Charles Frazier’s hugely successful novel Cold Mountain, several regional books, both fiction and nonfiction, emerged or re-emerged. One of the brightest stars to reappear has been The Travels of William Bartram. First published in Philadelphia in 1791, it quickly became an American classic. Together with his father, John, William Bartram cataloged … Read more
“Dig a holeDig a hole in the meadowDig a hole in the cold, cold ground.” (from “Darling Corey”) I find myself humming this traditional tune while sitting on a ledge overlooking a dense stand of spruce, fir and hemlock. I heard it on the radio earlier in the day while negotiating the meandering back roads … Read more
Bowling for Kerouac I was irredeemably behind. And then, with the four final throws in the final frame, it was over. I lost a game of bowling to Kerouac or the Radio. Guitarist Matt Cavanaugh, smiling wryly behind his glasses throughout the game, was holding fast to the lead there at the end (with a … Read more
“We expect respect, and we expect them to pay attention. That’s a lot more than a lot of people have expected from them.” — art teacher Erika Schultz Todd tells me something I can’t understand. Amid his thick mumbles, all I can make out is something about a painting. “He said he wants you to … Read more
The holiday exhibit Altars of Alternative Religions enhances Asheville’s reputation as a mecca of diversity. Some of the installations at dirt & Sky People Gallery are kitschy, glitzy and brightly colored; others are quiet and somber. But a surprising number feature common materials: candles, incense, feathers, bones, stones. Michael and Kitty Love leave very little … Read more
Meet the house that Haynes built. As you turn into the cozy, six-building Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity development at East End Place off Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, look for the home still under construction. A sign out front proclaims it to be courtesy of Warren’s celebrated power trio and big annual concert. But … Read more
Margaret Lauzon just figured she’d ask. The worst they could say was no, and she never really expected yes anyway. They said yes. Since Margaret started at Ironwood Media Group last December, she’d hoped to steer the Asheville video-production company toward music-related projects, with Ironwood owner Kurt Mann’s blessings. So earlier this year, she put … Read more
