Suspicion surrounds Tom Robbins. Is he serious, or is he merely having us on? Is he a literary artist, urging the reader into disjointed worlds wherein to ponder elementals, or is he merrily masturbating between the covers and laughing all the way to the bank? Or is it instead all four? And does it even … Read more
Despite the watered-down role accorded the harp in European classical music — the stirrings of spring, the tinkle of a waterfall — the instrument has traditionally been treated more akin to the guitar than the cello. That is to say, it’s been a portable pop accouterment used for accompaniment by wandering bards, court jesters, minstrels … Read more
The Brevard Music Center’s 68th-annual festival runs through Sunday, Aug. 8, in venues at and near BMC. Among the performances not to be missed: • Saturday, June 26, Ariadne auf Naxos, performed by the Janiec Opera Company, Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium Composer Richard Strauss’ answer to Mozart. The story line: A Viennese nobleman brings an opera company … Read more
Page Davis’ paintings recall the exuberance of a young child who’s just been handed a brand-new box of 120 Crayolas. Color is rampant, coming in pleasing but totally unexpected combinations. Davis’ work in the current multi-artist show at the newly refurbished Upstairs Gallery in Tryon suggests a theme of improvisation; the accompanying brochure quotes another … Read more
Of note • SinDependence Day Liberation After waiting more than two years, fans of the Asheville-based raw-rock orchestra The SexPatriates finally have a date for the release of the group’s first official recording: Double Live will hit local-record-store shelves early next month, following a July 4 release party at Emerald Lounge. According to front man … Read more
Growing up, I had this unfortunately memorable baby sitter, a sort of career Mary Poppins gone wrong whose house was painted — this is true — borscht pink. She was a real storybook spinster, with a fetish for ceramic turtles and an actual beehive hairdo. But her most grievous shortcoming as a child-care worker was … Read more
I’ve always been wary of family fun centers. Those big warehouses of coin-gobbling video games and other pay-as-you-go amusements are about as appealing to me as a trip to the dentist. But I’m not 10, and my opinion is colored by the fact that when I was that age, such kiddy casinos had yet to … Read more
I just love the American holly that lives at our house. It constantly brings pleasure and nourishment to our lives, to the garden, and to the land around us. This lovely tree is home to a pair of mourning doves, and bees swarm it when it flowers. (That’s also when the leaves drop, stinging my … Read more
In 1956, two years after Brown v. Board of Education had helped launch the postwar civil-rights movement, Eleanor Roosevelt agreed to speak in Western North Carolina — but only if she could address a racially mixed audience. The venue for the former First Lady’s talk was the Asheville YWCA — an emerging leader in the … Read more
