The first stop on Richard Layman’s journey to radio was tragedy. On a morning in 1993, two years after he moved to Asheville from Boston, Layman was driving to work on Highwway 23 when a rear tire blew out. His car veered across an overpass and came to rest for a few seconds on the … Read more
Need to get outside? There are 113 options in Buncombe County alone, according to a new map of parks and recreational facilities compiled as part of the Year of the Park project. The newly launched promotional campaign aims to call attention to the area’s many opportunities for getting a little cultural stimulation and fresh air. … Read more
If you’ve seen a small sedan tooling around town with a 4-foot-tall pole strapped to its top, don’t be alarmed. The car, which has a camera mounted atop the pole, is part of Google Street View, which aims to give Internet users a street-level, panoramic vista of streets and neighborhoods. Asheville from the ground up: … Read more
I recently spent a month at home with my 4-month-old daughter, Eleanor Marie. During this time, I learned many things, some of them totally new to me. She’s my first child, and I’ve found out why every little girl is a daddy’s girl. And like every parent, I know my child is the most beautiful … Read more
The Lake Eden Arts Festival has a proud history of bringing performers from around the globe to Black Mountain’s Camp Rockmont. This season alone boasts a Cuban jam session, salsa and Aztec dances, and artists from Ireland, the Virgin Islands, Japan, Iraq, Rwanda, Bangladesh and Russia—and that’s just for starters. Found In Translation: Malian star … Read more
“Isn’t it irrelevant?” asks DeVotchKa drummer and trumpet player Shawn King, referring to how the Denver quartet’s music no longer comes with the printed message “Unauthorized duplication of this record is encouraged.” By comparison, the back cover of DeVotchKa’s new album, A Mad and Faithful Telling—the band’s first for the Anti label—bears the standard legal … Read more
Mark Olson’s latest album, The Salvation Blues (Hacktone Records, 2007), begins much like it ends—with the soft strum of acoustic guitars, the gentle caress of pedal steel, the slow churn of a snare drum and Olson’s nasal but engaging voice. What lies between the beginning and the end is the culmination of a tumultuous few … Read more
The Joli Rouge—a popular hangout for countercultural Asheville—has closed its doors for the last time. Many a punk show, drag show, fashion show and even fetish freak show played out within the cavernous black-and-red, two-story bar on College Street in downtown Asheville, which opened in 2005. Up in flames: Fire spinners were a regular spectacle … Read more
Outdoor patios may be a fair-weather rage in Asheville, with culinary ratings that go sky-high, but their proximity to sometimes stupid-busy traffic tends to keep them off lists devoted to scenic mountain-area dining. Such a list follows here, although it is by no means exhaustive: Pre-emptive apologies go out to all the regional restaurants that … Read more
One of my favorite destinations, regardless of the time of year, is a venerable chestnut oak—at least 200 years old—that sits on a steep slope right on my property line. The fact that it’s a boundary tree on a very steep slope is the only reason it’s still with us today. Had it been almost … Read more
