A rare double-header played out in City Hall on Sept. 28, as the Asheville City Council convened 90 minutes before the scheduled start of its 5 p.m. formal session to tackle items left unaddressed at the previous week’s work session. But unlike when the Tourists play two at McCormick Field, scant few showed up to … Read more
“We [aren’t] trying to portray this as an Asian cultural display, but as a horticultural art,” explains Arthur Joura, the bonsai curator at the North Carolina Arboretum. The facility boasts an extensive display of the ancient art – from the expected ficus pruned in the traditional Asian manner to trained bougainvillea and more radical creations … Read more
Thirty years ago, legendary Mississippi producer Jim Dickinson predicted the rise of his lineage with a shimmying statement: “World boogie is coming!” Today, Dickinson’s two sons, Luther (guitar, vocals) and Cody (drums, guitar, vocals), along with friend Chris Chew (bass), are redefining the parameters of the dance floor as the North Mississippi Allstars, a hill-country … Read more
Fashionable shops and bistros fill once-boarded-up buildings not just in Asheville anymore, but in Waynesville and Hendersonville, and even in many of Western North Carolina’s tinier outposts. You hear voices on our streets today hailing from Los Angeles, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Boston and New Orleans. For Luzene Hill, though, it was the voice of her … Read more
“I’ve had enough of being a backup musician,” declared Tyler Ramsey — everyone’s favorite backup musician — during a recent interview. Which is not to say that the award-winning multi-instrumentalist won’t still sit in with friends or jump on board a promising project. But these days, Ramsey is ready to make his own material a … Read more
News Check this week’s Smart Bets for the lowdown on the One Degree of Separation Music Festival, planned for Saturday, Oct. 9, at downtown’s Pritchard Park. A slew of Asheville-area bands and other special guests will highlight this all-day jam-a-thon, which is also an informal benefit for WNC flood victims. Admission is free, so take … Read more
One of the advantages of gardening 2,500 feet up in the Southern Appalachians is that this unique combination of elevation and latitude supports three growing seasons. As in the Pacific Northwest, there can be a second harvest of spring crops during this third season of cooling temperatures and shrinking light. Here in my eco-niche, Season … Read more
To many environmentalists, recycling seems a given — a way to conserve resources, curb pollution, reduce energy use, and avoid sending usable material to the landfill. It all seems so simple, and so right. But even dedicated local recyclers might be surprised to learn some of the realities that lie behind the recycling bin. A … Read more
In Asheville and Buncombe County, all recyclables now get tossed in together, whether you have curbside pickup (green and blue plastic bins in the city, blue bags in the county) or use the drop-off points located behind Asheville Pizza & Brewing Co., in the Tunnel Road Wal-Mart parking lot, at Curbside Management’s headquarters in Woodfin, … Read more
