When you're Warren Haynes — which means you're a badass rock-and-blues guitarist, a member of The Allman Brothers and The Grateful Dead, and you have your own band, Gov't Mule, for playing your own crowd-pleasing songs — you can pretty much jam with anyone you like. Which might be part of what inspired Haynes' annual … Read more
Everything old is new again — at least for New Orleans-based funk/jam outfit The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, who have been making records and touring longer than many of their fans have been alive. According to saxophonist Roger Lewis, who has been with the group since its official start in 1977, today's Dozen is a … Read more
What it is: The Warren Haynes Christmas Jam is an annual concert that brings together rockers from many bands and genres. Proceeds benefit Asheville Area Habitat For Humanity. "Like a family reunion, the annual, one-of-a-kind, semi-structured marathon of music brings together old friends on stage and in the audience at the Civic Center Arena for … Read more
A September piece in the New York Times giddily distilled Asheville’s bohemian mindset and happy whirl of cosmic happenings. Zipping from drum circles to Moog to colonics to Navitat canopy tours, it crowned all the expected high points; the reporter even gave a sound bite to the “enormously influential” legacy of Black Mountain College. It’s … Read more
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band (Roger Lewis) What's your favorite holiday drink? Cranberry Juice. What was the best Xmas/Hanukkah present you ever bought or received? I usually don't get anything, maybe some pajamas. What are your plans for the holidays this year? I'm looking forward to spending time with family since we're on the road … Read more
Magic and theatricality are key words of inspiration for the dancers involved in Asheville Ballet’s annual production of The Nutcracker. “The story is really important to us because it’s aimed at young people and families,” says Ann Dunn, the director of the dance company, now in its 51st performance season. The curtain rises on a … Read more
Traditional Christmas music can be downright boring. Each year, radio and television trot out the same standards recorded to celebrate what is supposed to be a joyous and heartfelt season. When contemporary musicians get in on it, too, it sometimes seems like a blatant attempt to cash in on an unfortunately bland yet lucrative genre. … Read more
The Suspect: Carolina Chocolate Drops It all started at the Black Banjo Gathering; three young musicians committed to weekly jam sessions at the Mebane, N.C. home of old-time fiddler Joe Thompson. Five years later, the band is truly an international success, having just spent most of November touring (and selling out shows) in Europe. They … Read more
A Christmas Carol Beginning both the holiday season and a winter residency at the Masonic Temple, Montford Park Players performs Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol. This is the story with Tiny Tim and Scrooge and the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future — we know it by heart, yet it never gets old. … Read more
Under various names, the plant now known as Blue Ridge Paper Products has been discharging wastewater into the Pigeon River for more than a century. And in recent decades, the brown, foul-smelling waterway has been the focus of an ongoing fight. Environmentalists maintain that both the discharge permit issued by the North Carolina Division of … Read more
