This is {Re}Happening

The finalists in the 2011 Mountain Xpress Poetry Prize are: • James Cox, “By the Lake in Northern Michigan” • James Davis, “Sourwood” • John Eells, “Sleep And Dreams” •…

"I write poetry to stay current with myself. I read poetry to stay current with the world," says local poet, Asheville Wordfest organizer and Blue Ridge Parkway poet laureate Laura…

John Crutchfield always felt like he had to write by the rules. Restriction was second nature. But in 2003, he decided to throw out those rules and play around with…

The Suspect: Mount Kimbie After releasing two well-received EPs in 2009, this duo from London came out with a full-length album Crooks & Loverson the Hot Flush label last summer.…

Have you ever been to a trippy canned-food drive? If not, here’s an example from an event organized by Widespread Panic’s own John Bell and The Sautee Community Association. Four…

Travis Medford's art It's been awhile since graphic designer Travis Medford worked at Xpress (he's now a designer at Lark Crafts), but his posters still decorate the walls around our…

Weeks after Megafaun's inception, brothers Phil and Brad Cook — along with longtime friend and bandmate Joe Westerlund — booked a six-date tour with nothing more than "three loose ideas"…

The Sierra Club presents a forum on nuclear power and renewable alternatives on Wednesday, April 6 at 7:30 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place. Dot…

At last year’s Happening, Elisa Faires played a prank. Together with partner Chandra Shukla, she taped contact microphones to the tables in the dining hall so she could record the…

A brand-new mobile arts laboratory is in town. It’s called Easel Rider, and it’s Asheville’s first multimedia art facility on wheels. This Saturday, artist Mark Koven, who was instrumental in…

Though she lives in Roanoke, Va., Janice Lancaster has been connected to Western North Carolina through past projects with BMCM+AC.       In 2009, she and husband Adam Larsen…

The year is 1951. Dusk has fallen. Strains of music and conversation echo across the campus of Black Mountain College. Students and faculty dine on vegetables harvested from on-campus gardens.…

A decade of daily bread Ten years ago, West Asheville was a very different place. While it wasn't exactly a tumbleweed-filled ghost town, there was no U-Joint, Admiral or Desoto.…

Western North Carolinians may not don foam cheese hats at Tourists’ games, but we’re a cheese-loving and cheese-making region all the same. That’s why Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project is putting…

Asheville is gaining recognition as one of the hippest yoga towns in the country. Locals see the threads woven throughout their day — from the ubiquitous Om-symbol bumper stickers to…

Warm weather means gardens growing, breezes blowing … and daily email alerts from the N.C. Division of Air Quality (see box, “Airin’ Out”). Worse yet, poor air-quality days — usually…

Asheville thrives as regional center of integrative medicine "People from across the country now travel to attend Asheville's herbal medicine and massage schools, something economic development groups want to promote,…

Longtime party activist Henry Mitchell narrowly edged out Chris Eck to succeed Chad Nesbitt as Buncombe County GOP chair. The president of the Oakley Neighborhood Association, Mitchell’s been a substitute…

Asheville City Council March 29, 2011 meeting Residents call for more sidewalks Lack of population growth impacts city’s budget Even though Asheville City Council members occupied a lofty position for…

Tight budgets have made public officials’ salaries a sensitive issue. When the news broke in February that Buncombe County’s commissioners ranked among the highest-paid in the state, they unanimously voted…

Downtown Asheville was abuzz on March 29 — literally. Loud saws and other heavy equipment were used to remove several trees in the central business district, including a row of…

• Briefs • This Week in History • Alleged sighting of Isothermal community college convinces few of its existence • What you need to know about stricter cellphone-driving rules being…

I feel compelled to point out the hypocrisy in the recent letter “Green Capitalism Still Sucks” [March 30 Xpress]. The reader decried the Asheville Grown Business Alliance for co-opting a…

Reynolds Price wouldn’t like what the 2010 census reveals about North Carolina. The great writer and Duke professor, who died in January, had a thing about our state's small towns.…

Allow me to respond to Mr. Flaxman's recent letter bemoaning the proposed legislation in Congress to delete funding for public broadcasting, and urging folks to contribute to WCQS and UNC-TV…

I was actually a little incredulous that Mountain Xpress published Diana Ronald-Szabo's letter, which beat the old "abortion is murder" drum [“Call Abortion What It Is: Murder,” March 9]. I…

I find myself very confused by a huge contradiction in our city. We in the Asheville area see ourselves as forward-thinking, yet we continue to allow the Ringling Bros. and…

My husband, Don, and I have been married since 1967. We have two children and four grandchildren. Don has been sick with multiple chemical sensitivities since 1988. He is now…

UNC-Asheville cannot afford to put on its Concerts on the Quad series this summer. My group is trying to save this tradition. For 20 years, people have been bringing their…