Don’t write the Asheville Film Festival's obituary just yet. Photos by Jonathan Welch In the wake of City Council's recent vote to discontinue funding the event, private interests are stepping up to breathe new life into it. After exploring the idea of taking over the city festival, local filmmaker Tom Anton instead decided to launch … Read more
[Editor's note: This story contains detailed allegations couched in sexually explicit language.] Attorneys for both the Asheville Police Department and Sgt. Eric Lauffer have filed defenses in the sexual harassment suit brought by former APD Officer Cherie Byrd. While admitting that Lauffer sent Byrd explicit text messages, both defenses (which often use identical wording) deny … Read more
The Downtown Market will partner with the Buncombe County Department of Social Services to host a free wine-and-cheese event and raffle on Friday, July 9. All proceeds will benefit DSS enrichment programs that provide the opportunity for children in foster care to attend summer camp and specialty programs that could not be afforded otherwise. According … Read more
Asheville’s own type-A mom Kelby Carr snagged a $12,000 grant from the McCormick New Media Women Entrepreneurs initiative. Carr is one of four winners, selected from a whopping 576 proposals received this year, the third for the initiative. Applications increased 32 percent over last year’s 435, signaling the degree of imagination and market opportunities surfacing … Read more
There was good news this week for outdoors lovers. In "Blue Ridge Parkway to be Open End to End for First Time in More Than a Year," the Asheville Citizen-Times reported that a long-closed section of the scenic road near Mount Pisgah opened just in time for the July 4 holiday weekend. All clear: Landslide … Read more
Craft fairs, despite the deceptively straightforward name, sweep the spectrum from the cutesy (macrame owls! crocheted toilet paper covers!) to the quirky (monster dolls! recycled metal buckles!); from the high-end (handmade books! blown glass!) to the down-home (strawberry preserves! coffee mugs!). And rightly so: There's a craft aesthetic not just for every maker, but also … Read more
Ever wonder what goes on in the mind of an artist? Asheville actress Elisabeth Gray and her director, Oxford classmate Anthony Wilks, sat down in the lobby of 35Below surrounded by Luke Hayne’s American Nostalgia quilt show to share a bit of insight while cooking up Gray’s next performance. Her own one-woman show: The play … Read more
Mates of State is not your ordinary rock band. From their highly energetic, quirky keyboard/drum arrangements to their family-friendly touring entourage, the married duo is redefining the sound and face of rock ‘n’ roll—and they’re bringing the kids along for the ride. We’re all mates: The spunky duo have an Asheville connection: Harvest Records co-owner … Read more
When local painter Anna Jensen overheard a man in a restaurant tell his server, “There are no tomatoes in the corn salsa,” she thought about the game “Telephone,” and how pronunciations and meanings of words are altered over time. Thus the name for her current exhibit at PUSH Gallery was born: There Are No Potatoes … Read more
In the last episode, the Junker, while digging around the outdoor tables at Smiley’s Flea Market, learns that a new shop has opened in the generally fruitless indoor booths. This shop is rumored to have large numbers of his favorite type of junk, old records. Anxious to beat the other wax-hounds to the new stash, … Read more
