An eastern red cedar called my name the other day. It was hidden behind a group of other trees on a warm, dry slope at The North Carolina Arboretum. Overshadowed now by the brightly colored maples, sourwoods and dogwoods around it, this evergreen beauty will stand tall in the winter landscape. The eastern red cedar, … Read more
Old apples, new tricks: Tom Brown, heritage-apple enthusiast, collector and propagator, will talk about the virtues of Heirloom Apples, the importance of preserving them and his adventures scouting them out. He’ll also discuss and demonstrate grafting and more. The free seminar will be held at Reems Creek Valley Nursery (70 Monticello Road in Weaverville) on … Read more
Cloudy currents courtesy Mountain Voices Alliance When slope development or intensive grading projects go awry, leaving topsoil churned up and liquefied into a muddy eyesore, storm-water and erosion-control issues take center stage. A storm-water ordinance passed recently by the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners (see “Storming the Barricades,” Oct. 4 Xpress) will impose fines on … Read more
Now’s your chance to get up close and personal with “The Garlic Freak,” aka Hominey Valley garlic farmer Tom Sherry (he was profiled in the Sept. 27 Xpress, you might recall). On Thursday, Oct. 19, the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project will host a fragrant fund-raiser at Sherry’s Whistlepig Farm. Dinner will be cooked by local … Read more
Flavor: Native AmericanAmbiance: Rustic and riverside Ten minutes after arriving at Spirits on the River, also known as Spirits Native American Restaurant, my Picky Companion commented that “this is a distinctly Asheville experience.” How very true, I thought. The reasons for such an observation were numerous. For one, we were seated on a plant-filled wooden … Read more
From The Belly Of The Beast He may be a two-time Tony nominee, a former member of the cast of Cats (Rum Tum Tugger, in fact), and an Emmy nominee for his work on As the World Turns, but the thing most of Terrence Mann’s future students will probably never let him live down is … Read more
Clean, angry and awful at returning calls: George Carlin may have just gotten out of rehab, but couldn’t he at least send us a post-card? I was just starting to discover what I thought of as “adult humor” when George Carlin began to get national TV exposure on the Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas shows … Read more
Matron Saint of Multimedia: The evereccentric Laurie Anderson. In a pop-culture landscape where tried-and-true formulas often steamroll creativity and originality, Laurie Anderson stands out. There is simply no one else like her — not in pop music, not in the visual arts, not anywhere. For more than 25 years, Anderson has been smashing the boundaries … Read more
