Who hasn’t sifted through a collection of old photos, hungry for familiar faces, younger selves or long-dead kin? Memory is uncertain and painted portraits always lie, but a photograph constitutes evidence — legal evidence, in fact, up until the computer age and its easily morphed digital images. “This is how we were,” we tell ourselves. … Read more
While not romantically rendered, the figures in Warren Dennis’ paintings are certainly romanticized. Dennis has described his work as a “meditation on the American spirit. “I have seen this spirit in its humor, its complexity, its struggle, and above all, in its unquenchable determination to triumph over adversity,” the Mississippi-based painter noted in the artist … Read more
“I had so much racism and ill feelings toward whites that I had to back up a lot to gain perspective once I decided to follow Jesus. “Anyway, now I’m able to see what and where the true issues are at,” writes Speech, front man and mastermind of the recently reunited hip-hop group Arrested Development, … Read more
You can’t accuse Jed and Boyd of dreaming small. Their vision involves condensing the history of the world into a sweeping musical epic, starting with the Big Bang and winding up somewhere in the 20th century, and hitting all of history’s highlights in between. A few snazzy dance numbers thrown in will be just the … Read more
The winners! Democracy in action is a beautiful thing. For the past month, Random Acts has been holding an online battle of the bands, a contest with no prize save for bragging rights. Of course, we couldn’t have been expected to judge something this important all by ourselves. So we called upon you, the reader, … Read more
Jay Curwen is one of a hundred or so athletes who will take off running, canoeing and biking in the eighth annual RiverLink Triathlon, slated for Sunday, June 6. The 21-mile event, in which participants run four miles, paddle five miles and cycle 12, runs down- and up-river on the French Broad, starting and ending … Read more
Known as bellworts, merrybells, haybells, wild oats and (to a few die-hard wildflower lovers) cowbells, these beautiful wildflowers are members of the great lily family. They bear the genus name Uvularia, based on the Latin word “uva,” meaning a bunch of grapes; the name refers to the fruits in some species (it’s also the source … Read more
I am a laissez-faire gardener. Decades of experience have taught me that the surest path to successful horticulture is to watch and wait. As they thrive or migrate or languish or die, plants tell me what works and where. And the deeper my understanding of what nature has “in mind” for a given plot, the … Read more
“This does not diminish our regional commitment.” — Mayor Charles Worley on the city’s decision to renegotiate or terminate the Water Agreement In the aftermath of the Asheville City Council’s May 25 formal session, two things are crystal clear: City leaders are sufficiently fed up with the Water Agreement that they’re prepared to walk away … Read more
