Day: July 27, 2010
Benched
The benches outside the Vanderbilt Apartments in downtown Asheville has been removed by Roman’s deli owner Roman Braverman due, he says, to landlord and customer complaints. Benched: Vanderbilt Apartment residents lost their bench recently; building management say it was Romans’ decision; Romans’ says building management pushed for removal. photo by David Forbes Often used by … Read more
The Biz
Pisgah Legal Services is doubling the size of its full-time domestic-violence legal team. Lynne Davis, Martin Jarrard, Gabriella Volkomer and Lily Peifer are joining the Mountain Violence Prevention Project, an initiative that helps victims of domestic violence and their families. More than 60 volunteer attorneys assist with the program, which helped 2,667 domestic-violence victims, including … Read more
WCU grad earns student-achievement award
Nicole McRight, who graduated from Western Carolina University’s communication sciences and disorders program this spring, recently received a statewide award for student educational achievement. Presented by the North Carolina Speech, Hearing and Language Association, the award is given on the basis of academic excellence and merit. The student recipient must have a grade-point average of … Read more
Doing it for ourselves
These days we like to do it ourselves. At Country Workshops, a school for traditional woodworking in Madison County, you can do just that. Edged against a forest of tulip poplar, oak and maple, Drew and Louise Langsner’s 100-acre homestead provides respite from the busy world, and a place to experience “slow craft” at its … Read more
Grimy, gritty and influenced by monsters
“I haven't shown it to my father yet,” director David Kabler tells Xpress. “I don't want to upset my father, because it's definitely a story about fathers.” A dark fantasy: The film is part gory horror flick, part art film, part Grimm’s fairy tale and part allegory. The story in question is Wanderlost, Kabler's recently … Read more
“We’re calling it Middle Eastern Kentucky”
"This could really be a Ricky Skaggs odyssey," the musician tells Xpress by phone. Skaggs (who started his career as an elementary-schooler when bluegrass legend Bill Monroe called him up on stage and placed his own mandolin around Skaggs' neck) could classify most of his half-century in music as an odyssey. He was still a … Read more
Freddy Cole: elegance at the piano
When Freddy Cole sits down at the piano, he carries listeners away with the story of his song. Whether it’s one person on his piano bench or 3,000 listeners at a festival, he’s got a tale to spin with his smoky baritone voice and deft fingers. While he never had the pop stardom of his … Read more
The Profiler
The Suspect: Tommy Emmanuel Born in 1955, this Australian guitarist has been playing professionally since the age of nine. As a child, he heard Chet Atkins on the radio. “Travis picking,” that is, playing bass with the thumb and melody parts with the first two or three fingers at the same time, became the basis … Read more
SoundTrack
It was hard not to feel like an outsider as I took my seat atop a barstool at the French Broad Brewery. As the pre-show banter between the audience and band indicated, I was a stranger amongst friends. Family members dominated the makeup of the dozen attending and I felt a bit out of place, … Read more
