Fabled peak: The view from Cold Mountain. photos by Danny Bernstein There are more than 30 peaks in Western North Carolina that are higher than Cold Mountain, but none more famous, thanks to Charles Frazier’s best-selling book and the subsequent movie. And while most people content themselves with viewing the mountain from the Blue Ridge … Read more
Don’t wait! While many seeds can be saved and planted at leisure, some popular perennials are best planted as soon as the seeds mature. Bleeding heart, winter aconite, trumpet gentian, Christmas rose, globeflower and sweet violet all benefit from direct sowing. And some biennials, like foxglove, can put on enough growth before frost to ensure … Read more
Anyone thinking root-beer float? • Who he is: Michael Cuccia • What he’s wearing: Faux-vintage A&W tee from Hot Topic (his friend works there, so he got a discount); retro polo from a thrift shop; retro track shoes from Journeys; jeans from Aeropostale. • Why we love it: Okay, so Michael got most of his … Read more
There goes the neighborhood? When a proposed 279-acre subdivision comprised of 123 lots raises concerns about traffic congestion, water-table depletion, soil erosion and habitat destruction, can surrounding neighbors take action to stop it? “We can at least try,” says Beth Woody, whose property borders the site of the Brittain Knob development in Weaverville, one of … Read more
Ellen Briggs, author of Are Your Kids Running on Empty? and Mom, I’m Hungry, What’s For Dinner?, brings her expertise in children’s nutrition to two Earth Fare locations on Friday, Aug. 4. Briggs will appear at the Westgate Earth Fare from 12 to 2 p.m., and again at Earth Fare South on Hendersonville Road from … Read more
Word Up Local blogger and creative deviant Devin Walsh is slowly making his way into the legit lit world. His elegantly disturbing short story, “Here’s to the Losers,” was recently published in the University of San Francisco’s online lit rag Switchback. Although he’s a relatively new name on the scribe scene, Walsh is anything but … Read more
Awww … they bonded over murder ballads: Patrick Fitzsimons and Eliza Lynn In 1999, world-music label Putumayo released Memphis to Mali, a collection of songs by American blues artists like John Lee Hooker and Taj Mahal, and Malian superstars like Habib Koite and Baba Djan. Four years later, roots artist Corey Harris responded with his … Read more
At 79 years and still counting, the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival has earned the distinction of being the country’s longest continuously running folk fest. And it’s not rife with hangers-on and wannabes: The event — a three-night staged version of the more casual Shindig on the Green — features genuine mountain singers, musicians and … Read more
Teetering toward heresy: The Rebelles are back! There are famous trilogies: David Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy, the Nova Trilogy written by William S. Burroughs and the original Star Wars trilogy. And then there are the Rebelles. Asheville’s guerilla-theater burlesque troupe has returned from a year-and-a-half hiatus with the final installment in the trilogy they’ve been creating … Read more
