You Say Theatre, I Say Theater … It should come as no surprise that the super-professional team at the Flat Rock Playhouse would be able to create a topnotch theater education program — they are the State Theatre of North Carolina, after all. But, having a solid program and getting recognized for it are two … Read more
Flamboyant? You bet, but Ric Flair’s larger-than-life ring persona is part of the reason he’s a pro-wrestling legend. (c) 2006 World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Before we start, let’s get something out of the way: Professional wrestling is not real. I know this, you know this, the people in the ring know this, … Read more
Rasputina appears to have cornered the market on dark cello rock played in gothy Victorian fashions. There was a time when a cello in a rock arrangement was practically a novelty. A cello may have provided the beating heart of the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” and iconoclasts like Eno, Nick Drake, David Bowie and John Cale … Read more
Scott Nygaard (left) and Darol Anger (right) are truly a dynamic duo. photo by Anne Hamersky Darol Anger is nothing if not ambitious. And adventurous. And curious. He s also fascinated with new musical paths and hybrids that just seem to demand further exploration. Hence his decision to make a record with the all-female classical … Read more
Sure, he’s a Latino Elvis impersonator, but El Vez is more than the sum of his gimmicks. While it’s probably true that your grandkids’ grandkids will still be able to find an Elvis Presley impersonator in Memphis or Vegas, it’s probably also safe to say that the heyday for Elvis impersonators has long since left … Read more
URTV Director of Programming Jen Mass believes in the station’s locally oriented mission. photo by Jonathan Welch “Van Burnette’s show is funny,” laughs URTV program director Jen Mass. “He’s always doing things with those praying mantises.” This is probably not the sort of comment you hear from the average television station head, but URTV — … Read more
The first portion of the Asheville City Council’s Nov. 21 work session was enough to turn your stomach. A graphic and unsettling presentation by Grier Weeks, executive director of the Asheville-based National Association to Protect Children, focused on child pornography. Weeks advised any parents watching the proceedings on the local-government cable channel to make sure … Read more
“We need to enforce the ordinances and get the trucks off the street, not micromanage how they do it.” — Council member Robin Cape Deliveries yet to come?: This Maxwell Street sidewalk, damaged by Greenlife delivery vehicles, has now been repaved with 10-inch-thick cement — a possible harbinger of continued truck traffic. photo by Jonathan … Read more
In a carefully staged demonstration Nov. 21 outside Staples on Merrimon Avenue in Asheville, an unidentified chicken, a woman calling herself Tammy Banks (“President of the Poultry Defense League and Miss Asheville Speedway 1989”) and a flock of poultry partisans gathered to peck at the city’s lack of action on the office-supply store’s noncompliant red … Read more
The greening blues: King Transmission and adjoining small businesses will be forced out to make way for the Wilma Dykeman RiverWay. photo by Jonathan Welch In a meeting characterized as “historic” by more than one resident in attendance, Buncombe County took giant steps toward preserving viewsheds and watersheds on Nov. 21. Most visibly, the commissioners … Read more
