The newly renovated Flying Frog at 1 Battery Park in downtown Asheville has already had its “soft opening,” premiering a new look and accentuated menu. However, owner Vijay Shastri says the event was anything but soft. “We about got killed” by all the work that night, he recalls, smiling. Another look: With a substantial revamp, … Read more
They’re the bane of many city residents: drivers who ignore the posted speed limits on Asheville’s residential streets. But outside of more police enforcement, the methods used to slow speeders down often is too costly and too slow to come about because of a complicated and time-consuming process necessary to erect traffic-calming measures such as … Read more
“I write songs because I have to, really, to document my own life and understanding of what’s going on and to process all those experiences.” So says pop artist James Blunt, sounding much like my former writing professor. (The professor claimed she rolled out of bed in the morning and wrote a couple pages before … Read more
Life is full of second chances. For thousands of Deadheads born too late to see the band’s legendary live shows, that second chance has come in the form of the Dark Star Orchestra. The musical necromancy of the devoted fan: Dark Star Orchestra has been bringing the music of the Grateful Dead back to the … Read more
conserA recent report by the U.S. Forest Service titled National Forests on the Edge lists North Carolina’s national forests as the fourth most-threatened in the nation due to development pressure along their boundaries. In fact, of the 10 most-threatened national forests in the United States, six are in the East, and three of those are … Read more
Arguably the most innovative bassist since Jaco Pastorius, Les Claypool has helped to redefine the role of his instrument perhaps more than any other rock musician of his generation. Best known as the leader of the quirky alt-prog trio Primus, Claypool has been widely heralded for his unique slapping style. Generally speaking, he pushes the … Read more
What exactly is dance? Sure, we all know about moving to a beat, but in the larger, artistic sense of the word, dance is a little harder to define. The art of movement: The Nelson Reyes Dance Company has a decidedly innovative and modern take on dance. From the deeply internal, careful practice of Japanese … Read more
The two-year Master of Fine Arts program in photography at Yale University is, to put it mildly, intense. Only nine students are admitted each year, and expectations for those few artists lucky enough to get into this exclusive program run very high. It’s interesting to note that four of the program’s graduates are now teaching … Read more
Factory girl: Mod- meets- ‘80s- meets- futuristic. High-waisted jeans, red belt, skyscraper pumps and a just-made Angi West band tee. Singer/songwriter Angi West (www.angiwest.com) is a relative newcomer to the Asheville music scene. She released her debut album, Orange Thread in a Blue Sea, late last year, and has been racking up local dates at … Read more
The brick walls and wooden fences at the now-abandoned McCormick Heights housing project tell a sort of a story: Simple spray-painted messages in muted or faded colors reveal a running dialogue between local gangs, each entry scrawled on top of the preceding one. In this particular case, notes Detective Louis Tomasetti of the Asheville Police … Read more
