Josh Ritter is no stranger to war — at least as subject matter. He wrote "Girl In The War" on the 2006 album The Animal Years; the song "The Temptation of Adam" is set in the Army on 2007's The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter. And it was a song idea that couldn't fit onto … Read more
Asheville Independent Restaurants recently announced details of this year’s Taste of Asheville, the group’s biggest fundraising event at The Venue, 21 North Market St. in downtown Asheville. Taste will be held on Thursday Nov. 17, from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. The Venue is a perfect setting for the event, with enough elbow room to … Read more
About 30 people gathered outside the downtown Asheville Post Office Sept. 27 to rally against possible cuts to the U.S. Postal Service and the local mail-processing facility on Brevard Road. Organizers touted the USPS as the successful centerpiece of a $1.3 billion mailing industry that supports 8 million American jobs. They have an ally in … Read more
I suppose I should be grateful to Sen. James Forrester and his local political apologists for forthrightly framing the proposed state constitutional amendment on gay marriage for what it is: an excuse to legislate bigotry by hiding behind the cloak of religious respectability. I'm a dinosaur from the '60s when far too many churches defended … Read more
Leisa Wilson still remembers when her blond hair would fall out in chunks on the bathroom floor each morning, followed by a stream of her tears. And when she let her eyes wander down past her face, she’d see the rise of her right breast, but not her left — she’d had a mastectomy to … Read more
Our Blood, the 2011 LP from Brooklyn's Richard Buckner, resounds with conflict. Stripped-back guitars strum with nervy intensity, augmented by jagged slices of keys and noise and melancholy washes of pedal steel and organ that seem overcome by the stress. Over the top, Buckner's magnificent baritone, which somehow maintains a balance between breathy and burly, … Read more
N.C. House Majority Leader Paul Stam is certain of one thing: "There is no legal controversy" concerning the wording of a constitutional amendment that will appear on the statewide ballot next May. Voters will decide the fate of the amendment, which would make marriage between one man and one woman the "only domestic legal union" … Read more
I am an American. This country was founded on the principle that all people are created equal. As an American, I value this principle and will fight to defend it. This country is great because it guarantees those rights. That is why women are now able to vote, because that is their right. That is … Read more
Not be confused with the U.S. government's military-aided prohibition of illegal drug trade, The War on Drugs is a Philadelphia-based rock band fronted by and created around singer/songwriter/guitarist Adam Granduciel. While the Springsteen comparisons run rampant, the band is really about pushing boundaries: "overexposing studio limitations, piling tape upon tape to maximum density, and then, … Read more
Alabama-native self-taught folk artist Michael Banks has a style that's both alien and familiar. "He paints images as they occur, willing to paint contradictory ideas within a single painting; illustrating the complexities of being human, the beauty alongside the darkness," says a press release for Banks' upcoming show at American Folk Art & Framing. "A … Read more
