“A mother shouldn’t watch this,” groans a woman leaning on a low concrete wall that lines the Skater’s Choice roller rink in Hendersonville. The mom in question has just seen her daughter—a rollergirl named KaPOWie! who’s preparing for her team’s first official bout—get knocked to the floor as she rounded the pack at a Blue … Read more
The keynote speaker at Time for Our Power!: Women Bringing Change to the World will be (drum roll, please) … Academy Award-winning actress, author and activist Jane Fonda. The conference, which aims to inspire women to bring about change in the world, will be held in June of 2008 at the Asheville Civic Center. Fonda … Read more
The quintessential tale of segregationist injustice will come to the Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre stage this week. Forty-seven years after Harper Lee published her only novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the racism, white privilege and strained ethics of rural Alabama circa 1935 remain as timely as the nightly news. Think Susan Smith—who murdered her children … Read more
Standing together on stage at The Orange Peel, their last round finished and their hearts bared raw before the live audience, the five surviving contestants stare out into the crowd with a unique expression of sheepish relief. They have sung their lungs out tonight, and all they can do now is wait for the final … Read more
A sense of loss and potential loss runs deep in the lyrics of Nashville singer/songwriter Mary Gauthier, though it looks like she’s on a winning streak of late. Mercy Now (Lost Highway, 2005), her fourth album, gained high praise from reviewers across the country and found the singer lauded as “New/Emerging Artist of the Year” … Read more
Some artists can only create if they have the finest materials—or at least the finest funds from fellowships, grants or corporate sponsors. Others will only exhibit their art in the most dedicated and pristine surroundings. “Forgiveness,” multimedia. DeWayne Barton is not among them. Once, art was not a thing apart but a part of daily … Read more
• Just a couple of days (or evenings) left to see Larry Turner’s colorful mixed-media paintings at BoBo Gallery: Think Larry Rivers meets Basquiat. • Another show closing in the next few days is that of New York artist Cory Bradley at Pump in the Phil Mechanics Building in the River District. His competent works … Read more
Tom Dudley’s Walk Is Anything But Lonely “I tried to draw your sweet blue eyes, bright as the skies above/ but it’s no use, since you shook up my Etch A Sketch of Love.” How can someone listen to a song with lyrics like that and not crack a smile? Of course, that’s just a … Read more
Halter dress with emerald-green silk from India, $90. Designer Rachel Stack has been putting in too many late nights, trying to complete her collection which she hopes to sell at that other fashion week: Bonnaroo. But while flowing skirts, halter tops and loose-fitting unisex cropped pants are perfect attire for festival fans, Stack’s creations may … Read more
I recently bought a set of clipless pedals and a pair of those stiff-soled cycling shoes that look like something a second-tier superhero might wear. It’s tempting to pass these things off as necessities, but the truth is I don’t ride my bike much, and they’re probably the first dim flickerings of a midlife crisis. … Read more
