Anthony Bourdain's Saturday, Nov. 5 appearance at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium is approaching. After the speaking event, Cúrate will host 125 people for a private, ticketed book-signing featuring Bourdain and a selection of about 20 hors d'oeuvres. (For ticket information, visit avl.mx/62). Xpress has secured a copy of the proposed menu, and it looks pretty … Read more
It’s the region’s most epic display of hip-hop culture, and it’s gonna be bigtime. This Saturday, b-boys and b-girls from seven states will congregate at the Asheville JCC for a chance to win cash and bragging rights (prizes range from $300 to $800 cash). Last November, when B-Boy Frantic (aka Michael Pelletier) put on this … Read more
The Asheville Chamber Music Series has been raising funds for a new piano throughout the year. “Well, I shouldn’t say a new piano,” says Richard Wrightson, president of ACMS. “It will be a used piano, but a very good used Steinway piano.” ACMS set a funding goal of $50,000 to acquire the instrument. “To date, … Read more
You may have heard that the upscale steakhouse Ruth's Chris is coming to Biltmore Village, offering another answer to a question posed by visiting parents citywide: Where do I get a steak in this town? In Asheville, we know that nearly every restaurant that serves meat usually provides one cut of beef or another. Granted, … Read more
I think it’s only fair and just to actually look at the facts that escaped Mr. Ramsey in his letter in the Oct. 5 Xpress [“Don Yelton, Problem Solvent”]. I am an environmental-systems engineer with a concentration in water-quality management. I have a master’s degree in environmental-systems engineering from Clemson University and a master’s degree … Read more
There's something inherently American about the songwriting of Blitzen Trapper's Eric Earley. A deep longing for freedom, the inquisitive fearlessness of exploration and a stoic realism on matters of the heart permeate his craft. The instrumental vehicle for his expression is more eclectic, but it too is deeply rooted in the the country's history. Whether … Read more
It's one thing to channel the cool, dusty, boots-and-aviators California country rock of the '70s, filtered through a 21st-century aesthetic. It’s really something to effortlessly evoke that Laurel Canyon sound (the stomping grounds of Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Gram Parsons and Crosby, Stills and Nash, among others) and then temper it with punk sensibilities. … Read more
a href=“http://www.stutteringhelp.org”I enjoyed your [Oct. 6 online] article "WCU Professor's Passion for Helping People Who Stutter Leads to Penning a Textbook," not only because it discussed WCU Professor David Shapiro helping people who stutter, but also because of his training of speech-language pathology students so that they, in turn, can help people who stutter. The … Read more
Charles Frazier seems bemused that his new novel, Nightwoods, has been described as a backwoods thriller or Appalachian gothic with a touch of Flannery O’Connor. To be honest, he says, it’s more the influence of mountain murder ballads and film noir of the 1940s and ‘50s that shaped the gritty, character-driven, honed-down narrative, a distinct … Read more
A fascination with fermentation started early for Paul Kovacich, co-owner of Falderal Winery in Hendersonville. Kovacich says he began experimenting with the alchemy of sugars and yeast as a boy, when he was about 10 years old. Having received a more formal education in wine-making at Thistle Meadow Winery in Laurel Springs, near Boone, Kovacich … Read more
