[A note to the reader: This article is best accompanied by jazz — say, Chet Baker, circa “I’m Through with Love” — and coffee. Strong, black coffee … we’re about to check the Beats.] I’m talking Kerouac rewriting Buddhism, Cassady stealing cars, and Ginsberg letting out a howl. But of course they were more than … Read more
“If you give away the ending, we will kill you,” announced Jess Wells, director of the Immediate Theatre Project’s latest offering, Edward Albee’s The American Dream. I tried a nervous giggle. “I’m not joking,” Wells insisted. Theater people sometimes scare me. So I’m not going to tell how this play ends — you’ll just have … Read more
For the uninitiated, few genres can carry more stigma (and thus more stereotypes) than the various manifestations of “Christian music” found floating around the airwaves nowadays. Sure, gospel still has healthy legs to run on — and plenty of respect, at that — but pre-eminent bluegrass figures like Del McCoury help fight that holy battle … Read more
Christmastime brings not only good cheer (at least in theory), it also brings an onslaught of good movies (again, in theory). Hollywood wisdom decrees that this is the time of year when “important” movies should make their appearance. It doesn’t hurt, of course, that Christmas Day is the big movie-going day, a phenomenon grounded in … Read more
Views Back in my hometown of Chattanooga, Tenn., situated atop a gentle rise skirting that city’s now booming downtown, there sits a cozy little beer bar called the Stone Lion Tavern. For more than 20 years, the Lion has scored as Chattanooga’s finest, down-to-earth beer-drinker’s paradise. To some, that’s an odd, even useless, accolade to … Read more
At the corner of the bar, beneath a thin, blue haze of cigarette smoke, the mood has turned bitter. Black coffee steams in worn mugs; thoughtful patrons hold half-finished cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. They stare around the bar and take drags from cigarettes, saying nothing. Things have been grim here at Vincent’s Ear … Read more
New controls on smokestack and tailpipe emissions appear to have reduced the area’s high ozone levels, making threatened federal intervention unlikely. But concerns about local ozone pollution’s potential health effects remain. Computer modeling predicts that mountain-area ozone levels will stay in “attainment” with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards for the foreseeable future even if local … Read more
Buncombe high school develops organic-farming career program Buncombe Community School East is the county’s alternative high school for at-risk students. For a few years, the Swannanoa school has offered an organic gardening class as an elective — a basic course in how to grow a garden organically and why organics are a good option. Instructor … Read more
What’s the rest of the story? In reference to the Medford article [“What’s in a Name,” Nov. 17] and response [“Sheriff: Medford Article Was Spin and Innuendo,” Dec. 1], a reader who is not acquainted with the article’s author, nor with Sheriff Medford, can find it difficult to sort out facts and motivations. I wondered … Read more
