How old were you the first time you heard "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"? Or, better yet, saw the video on MTV — Cyndi Lauper with her asymmetrical, multi-colored hair and party dress leading a conga line of oddballs, misfits and wallflowers? With the release of She's So Unusual and the first notes of … Read more
Rosetta’s Kitchen, though a delightful place to grab a bite, is not what most would consider a music venue. Door-to-door tables crowd the limited floorspace, and narrow hallways amplify the sounds emanating from the bustling kitchen. But, on a cool Sunday night, Rosetta’s was transformed as Hello Hugo tucked into the far corner of the … Read more
Joe Zimmerman is an accomplished poet who resides somewhere in the Biltmore Forest, without permission. He has many accolades and credentials (and resumes) and has graduated from many prestigious poetry colleges, including (but not limited to) Harvard, Oxford, Cal Polytechnic State and San Luis Obispo Community College. In his spare time he enjoys bird watching … Read more
The Suspect: Sam Quinn and the Japan Ten This band is the new project of former everybodyfields frontman Sam Quinn. According to Quinn, he has, “…somehow culled the talents of some of the region’s most talented musicians to play my whiney, three minute, tales of self-loathing and dismay.” Earlier this summer, the Americana singer/songwriter released … Read more
The voters may have spoken, but the State Board of Elections is still trying to figure out what they said. Although North Carolina's first stab at statewide instant-runoff voting should avoid the trouble and expense of a conventional runoff election, the winner in the 13-candidate N.C. Court of Appeals race won’t be decided until sometime … Read more
With the hard-charged atmosphere of the 2010 election fading away, what do we do now? First, we can remember two things: 1) Elections make a difference; but also 2) They don't change things all at once (or, really, all that much). Meanwhile, North Carolinians looking for changes for the better will still be demanding help … Read more
The recent announcement that Internet giant Facebook will be creating a data center in Rutherford County was the big news at AdvantageWest’s Nov. 15 Economic Summit. Just before the panel discussion began in the Diana Wortham Theatre, Thomas Jenkins, board chair for the public/private regional development agency, referenced the good news, joking, “I want you … Read more
Buncombe County Board of Commissioners Nov. 16 meeting Conservation easement preserves Upper Broad River farmland County finances sound, auditor reports At their Nov. 16 meeting, the Buncombe County commissioners held off on adopting an incentives policy for developers building work-force housing, saying it needed further tweaking. The policy was written in response to last month’s … Read more
As Western North Carolina becomes ever more developed, a large tract of wild land has come up for sale, creating a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to conserve it for posterity. In June, the Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy and The Conservation Fund announced that they’d reached an agreement with former U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor and his family to … Read more
Local online As the manager of the West Asheville Tailgate Market for a number of years, Jim Gordon is familiar with the difficulties farmers face. "To get your produce to market and try to make a living doing it, well, it's tough,” he says. So when Gordon caught wind of an online tailgate market out … Read more
