http://www.mountainx.com/ en webmaster@mountainx.com Copyright 2007 2007-04-26T19:02:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/duncan_on_medford_verdict_we_have_moved_on At a press conference this afternoon, Sheriff Van Duncan reacted to the conviction yesterday of his predecessor, Bobby Medford, on federal corruption charges. Duncan asserted that his office is busting illegal video-poker operators, has changed how reservists and volunteers are handled, and that evidence-room procedures have tightened. “The case has not really had much effect on our day-to-day operation here,” Duncan told the assembled media. “The case has been somewhat of a distraction. It has been quite sad to watch and sad for former Sheriff Medford’s family members, as well as thinking that will be the end thoughts of his 12 years of being sheriff in this county. But we have moved on.” He said that his office relies on public trust “and hopefully nothing of this extent will ever occur again in this county. It is tough to move past this point and ask folks to trust again, but we think by what we’re … 2008-05-16T21:49:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/blog_log_the_week_in_local_blogging16 We don’t know what day you are reading this, but as we write it, it is Friday, which means we are about to cast ourselves into the great unknown of the weekend. But we just can’t leave without checking in on what’s happening with bloggers. Real quick like ... Arratik is preparing to graduate then perform some shady caper involving an investor. Hangover Journals is having groundhog issues. How to Take a Fall re-lives the time when blogs w… 2008-05-16T21:43:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/cranky_hankes_screening_room_are_we_anti_anti_war_movies Over the past year, there’s been a variety of movies taking a stance against the War in Iraq — a war for which public support has been pretty constantly eroding. We’ve had Lions for Lambs, Rendition, In the Valley of Elah, Redacted (which got almost no release) and Stop-Loss clearly in the anti-war column, with The Kingdom treading some sort of weird middle ground that never quite made up its mind. These are all very different movies from nearly every standpoint but one — they’ve either tanked, or seriously underperformed at the box office. Stranger still, considering that movie critics (with very few exceptions) are supposed to be a bunch of pinko commie elitists, is that they haven’t exactly been embraced by the critical populace. Even the best reviewed of the lot, In the Valley of Elah, has an air of “close, but no cigar” tepidness in the responses. The question is w… 2008-05-16T15:54:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/25_cent_asheville_bus_fare_caps_strive_not_to_drive_week It will only cost you a quarter to ride the bus on Friday, May 16, the last day of this year’s Strive Not to Drive effort to encourage people to stash their cars, trucks and SUVs and find alternate modes of transportation With gas prices edging ever closer to $4 a gallon, the 25-cent fare is set to encourage people to use the Asheville Transit System and mark Strive Not to Drive week. Regular bus fare is $1. The promotion is timed with the kick-off of Asheville’s Downtown After 5 party, which features the Firecracker Jazz Band and Mamadou Diabate Ensemble starting at 5 p.m. on Lexington Avenue. There’s an added bonus: Bus riders on Friday will receive a little gift to welcome them — a special wallet to hold a bus pass. Here’s more information from the city about Strive Not to Drive and the Asheville bus system: ABOUT THE ASHEVILLE TRANSIT SYSTEM: Asheville Transit provides bus service throughout the ci… 2008-05-15T22:16:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/city_and_county_partner_for_waterline_extension At an April 7 Buncombe County Board of Commissioner’s meeting, it was announced that the drinking wells of several families living in The Oaks subdivision in south Asheville had tested positive for low levels of trichloroethylene, an industrial solvent. It is the same chemical that has been identified as the primary ground-water pollutant at the former CTS of Asheville plant, a hazardous-waste site located nearby the subdivision. In their respective meetings on Tuesday, Buncombe County Board of Commissioners and Asheville City Council voted to form a partnership to streamline the extension of a municipal waterline that would serve that neighborhood. County commissioners voted unanimously to allocate $220,000 to … 2008-05-15T22:13:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/book_report_two_local_authors_base_their_books_on_family_history Family Even though last year’s Family: A Century of Blood and Tears (Tate Publishing & Enterprises, 2007) by local author D.C. Force begins nearly a century ago, it comes across as semi-autobiographical. The novel is detail-heavy, thick with conversation, and reaches too far to be an actual family history (even if the author had access to extensive journals and records). But it’s the story of a family based to some extent on fact, and likely closely tied to some personal history. After all, the novel is set in the Northern Midwest (near Chicago) where the author grew up, and the final chapters in the book follow the character Celeste from the Midwest into N.C.; the same journey made by Force. More importantly, Family offers readers a glimpse into the s… 2008-05-15T17:07:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/local_blog_posts_the_parkside_files The local blog Scrutiny Hooligans posted scores of pages of government documents relating to the ParkSide condominium proposal today. The documents, obtained through a records request by Asheville-based activist Elaine Lite — who says she worked on the project with a number of like-minded ParkSide critics — include e-mails, meeting notes, reports and other materials relating to the controversial proposal, which is slated to be considered by Asheville City Council in June. Nearly 200 pages were released, according to Scrutiny Hooligans’ Gordon Smith. More than 100 of those pages, he estimates, are posted at the site. “While Scrutiny Hooligans are trying to sort through the FOIA documents related to the suspicious Parkside land deal, we&#8217… 2008-05-15T16:52:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/book_report_the_girl_who_stopped_swimming Going by the dust-jacket bio for author Joshilyn Jackson (she’s a native of the romantic but vague “deep South,” a mother of two and — oh yeah — an award-winning author), unassuming is the first word brought to mind. But from the first page of Jackson’s recently-released novel, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming (Grand Central Publishing, 2008), this author reveals herself as a force to be reckoned with. Swimming is a ghost story, a murder mystery, an examination of family dysfunction, a discussion of the third world living conditions that exist right here in the U.S., and how that form of poverty manages to touch us even in the most manicured and gated of suburban safety. It’s all of this, but with none of the self-righteous lecturing that could come from such socially significant themes. Instead, 2008-05-15T16:45:01-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/pat_allis_weekly_winners14 Each week Xpress reporter Alli Marshall and WOXL DJ Pat Ryan team up to bring you their entertainment suggestions. Here are Pat & Alli’s Weekly Winners for Friday, May 16 through Sunday, May 18. Click here to listen. 2008-05-15T15:41:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/medford_penland_found_guilty_on_all_counts Former Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Medford and former reserve Capt. Guy Penland were found guilty on all counts in their federal corruption trial this morning. After deliberating for just over two hours, the jury returned guilty verdicts for the two men on charges of extortion under color of law, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, five counts of mail fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to further an illegal-gambling operation. The court will now decide how much property they will each forfeit, and what their sentences will be. Given that the counts each carry from 5 to 20 years in prison, both Medford and Penland could easily spend the rest of their lives behind bars. Medford trembled, his hands on a table, as the verdict was read, while defense attorney Victoria Jayne put her arm on his shoulder. Friends and family of the two men, who filled several benches in the courtroom, burst into tears as they … 2008-05-15T15:40:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/board_unanimously_denies_concrete_plant After seven hours of testimony, public comment and deliberation Wednesday night, the Buncombe County Board of Adjustment voted unanimously to deny a conditional-use permit for a concrete plant proposed for north Buncombe County. Blue Ridge Concrete, an offshoot of a Savannah-based company, applied nearly a year ago for a permit to build a plant on Murphy Hill Road near the intersection with Old Mars Hill Highway. Since then, neighbors of the site have argued that the area, though open zoned, is actually a residential community unfit for a concrete plant’s industrial nature. (Pictured at right is the site of the proposed plant.) Community activist Martha Claxton, organizer of the North Buncombe Community of Concerned Citizens, said that she was elated with the 7-0 vote to refuse the permit. She’d expected a victory, she added, but not necessarily such a decisi… 2008-05-15T14:55:01-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/medford_trial_endgame_verdict_expected_tomorrow Medford trial endgame: verdict expected tomorrow Defense attorneys for former Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Medford and former reserve Capt. Guy Penland finished up their closing arguments today. Prosecutors shot back — and a verdict is expected tomorrow. Medford’s lead attorney, Stephen Lindsay, told jurors that Medford’s behavior had not fit in with the pattern of a man involved in a conspiracy to get money from illegal-video-poker operators, pointing out that after FBI agents alerted him that Penland had called in an undercover agent’s license plate in 2005 at the behest of operator Jerry Pennington, the sheriff continued his usual activities. “Is this how someone would behave after they’re aware an investigation is out there?” Lindsay asked. “Wouldn’t he have laid low, covered his tracks? Instead, he eased Guy Penland out so he wouldn’t be aware an investiga… 2008-05-14T23:49:01-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/crime_and_punishment_in_buncombe_county Arrests are up. Response times are down. There are more inmates at the detention center. Their detention times are shorter. These and many other items of interest can be found in the the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office annual report report for 2007. Released in the spirit of Sheriff Van Duncan‘s commitment “to be accountable to the people of Buncombe County,” the report was presented to the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners during its Tuesday, May 13, meeting. (Duncan is depicted in a trading-card-like illustration, along with “Major Mouse,” in the report.) The report is also available online as a PDF document. Click here to download it. — Kent Priestley, contri… 2008-05-14T21:50:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/suspended_jackson_county_teacher_makes_his_case_on_youtube What began as an individual decision by Cullowhee Valley School’s Doug Ward, who teaches fifth-grade exceptional students, soon resulted in action by the Jackson County School District, a news story and blog posts, and now a YouTube video that takes the suspended-with-pay teacher’s case to the public. On his YouTube entry, Ward explains to viewers why he refused to give the required test (the NCEXTEND1 Alternative Assessment — a standardized, task-based assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities) to an 11-year-old student who was functioning on a 1-year-old’s developmental level. “What are they asking of us teachers,” he asks, when a student has progressed developmentally by one year in 11 years of life, yet to pass the required test… 2008-05-14T21:17:01-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/city_council_swannanoa_incorporation_approval_delayed Swannanoa’s march to become an incorporated town will have to wait a little longer after City Council on May 13 postponed its approval of the controversial proposal. State law allows certain municipalities that lie adjacent to proposed incorporated areas to weigh in on such plans, based on the fact that a new incorporation next door could have a negative impact. Asheville’s approval is not necessary for incorporation proponents to succeed in their quest, but disapproval would mean that a three-fifth’s supermajority of both the state House and Senate would be required for the incorporation, said Dave Alexander, who leads the Swannanoa Incorporation Task Force. After considerable discussion and a bit of confusion on legal issues stemming from the absence of City Attorney Bob Oast, Council unanimously agreed to take up the matter again at its May 27 meeting. The delay is aimed to give city staff and incorporation proponents time… 2008-05-14T20:44:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/second_downtown_master_plan_meeting_on_thursday The second in a series of meetings on a new downtown master plan for Asheville will be held Thursday evening. This meeting’s focus will be a panel discussion titled “History of Downtown Asheville: Understanding the Context”; it will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the city’s Public Works Building, 161 S. Charlotte St. A kick-off meeting was held May 8. For an updated schedule of meetings on the Downtown Master Plan, go here. — Brian Postelle, staff writer 2008-05-14T18:44:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/prosecutions_closing_argument_they_all_say_money_to_medford The prosecution in the federal corruption trial of former Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Medford presented its closing argument today, asserting that the evidence against the former sheriff and one of his deputies is overwhelming. “[Imran ] Alam, [Jerry] Pennington, [Jackie] Shepherd, [Alvin Ledford], [former Capt. Tracy] Bridges, [Jim] Lindsey — they all say, ‘Money to Medford,’” Assistant U.S. Attorney Corey Ellis said, referring to former illegal-video-poker operators and a confessed bagman (Bridges), who all testified that the sheriff was receiving bribes in exchange for protection and favors. “The argument that all these people made it up — that’s laughable,” he said. On the stand Monday and early yesterday, Medford denied that he’d ever taken bribes. Ellis also presented bank records showing large cash deposits going into the accounts of Medford and his girlfriend, Judi Bell 2008-05-14T17:05:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/movies/review/salo_or_the_120_days_of_sodom I had passively avoided Pier Paolo Pasolini’s last film (he was murdered shortly after it was made) Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) for years. I didn’t go out of my way not to see it, though a copy of it sat on my desk for months and I never got to it. It’s not that I was afraid to tackle a movie that’s been called the most disgusting and disturbing film ever made, I just wasn’t all that interested. Now, I’ve been forced into seeing it—and I took three other souls into Pasolini’s hell with me. They may forgive me in time. Salo is everything you may have heard and more. It’s not merely disgusting and disturbing, there’s a sense of pure evil clinging to the film like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I do not believe this is unintentional, nor do I believe it is pointless. Pasolini took the Marquis de Sade’s 120 Days of Sodom and moved it to Salo, the town that served… 2008-05-14T15:48:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/movies/review/what_happens_in_vegas If you happen to be contemplating spending $8.50 on a ticket to see What Happens in Vegas …, save yourself the money and effort and just watch the trailer, which manages to cram the entire plot of this generic romcom monstrosity into 30 seconds. Compared to 99 minutes of overwrought slapstick, dull sitcom humor and Ashton Kutcher mugging for the camera in between bouts of yelling as a substitute for comedy, that’s what I call a bargain. Kutcher and his vast collection of V-neck T-shirts displays his cavernous range as an actor by playing a unmotivated slacker named Jack. Having just been fired from the family business, Jack decides to take a trip to Las Vegas, where he meets the uptight Joy (Cameron Diaz), who has just been dumped by her fiancé (Jason Sudeikis, Semi-Pro), a man so plain and dull that only the magic of script writing could have this guy marry Cameron Diaz, let alone dump her. After a night of drunken deb… 2008-05-14T15:46:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/movies/review/speed_racer Complaining that the Wachowski brothers’ Speed Racer is too noisy, too busy, too colorful and too over-the-top is a lot like visiting the Grand Canyon and complaining that it’s too big, or tackling a Wagner opera and kvetching that it’s too long and too bombastic. In other words, what did you expect? The Wachowski’s aren’t exactly known for their subtlety, so it oughtn’t be a big shock to find out that their film version of a frankly lousy cartoon isn’t Ingmar Bergman. It’s not a good movie. But I would call it a fascinating failure—and add that it’s at least 30 minutes too long for its own good. The running time listed is either 129 or 135 minutes, depending on the source. I didn’t time it, and was fairly quickly driven from the theater by the remonkeyed hip-hop-techno-rave-J-rock-dance-remix version of the cartoon’s theme song over the end credits. And there are parts of the movie that… 2008-05-14T15:37:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/movies/review/redbelt Once again, Sony Classics has set out to prove that they can kill any movie they get their hands on. Following the pattern that proved so successful in ruining whatever chances House of Flying Daggers (2004) and The Jane Austen Book Club (2007) had of becoming modest “art-house” successes, they’ve taken David Mamet’s Redbelt and dropped it into three local theaters, thereby assuring its speedy demise by cutting the pie into too many pieces. The shame of this is that Redbelt is a pretty good picture turned into something like a really good picture by virtue of Chiwetel Ejiofor’s performance. It is, however, an odd film, with a screenplay that won’t hold up to much scrutiny even while you’re watching the movie—never mind about later on. That David Mamet wanted to make a mixed martial-arts action-drama is perplexing in and of itself. His audience isn’t likely to be all that wel… 2008-05-14T15:37:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/movies/review/mountaintop_removal Michael Cusack O’Connell’s documentary with the self-explanatory title Mountaintop Removal (2007) is a slickly produced affair on an important topic that admirably covers the issue of this form of coal mining from both sides (with a decided slant toward the anti-mining standpoint). The problem is that it’s difficult to say that the film really brings anything new to the table. It’s pretty much of a piece with anything else you may have seen on the topic. That said, the topic itself hasn’t just gone away and still deserves attention. Moreover, O’Connell’s film provides an eye-opening look for anyone still unfamiliar with mountaintop removal—and that probably accounts for a surprising number of people. 2008-05-14T15:37:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/movies/review/the_black_room Columbia was one of the slowest—and most tentative—of all studios to hop on the horror-movie bandwagon in the wake of Universal’s success with Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931). They dabbled a bit with Behind the Mask (1932) and imported Bela Lugosi for an old dark-house thriller (and high-mortality “body count” prototype) Night of Terror (1933), but something always kept them from pursuing the genre the way the other studios did. So, it’s a bit of a surprise to find Columbia’s The Black Room (1935) in the running as one of the best horror pictures of the ‘30s. It’s actually something of an aberration on a couple levels. Even though it was cheaper to make a period picture in the studio era—standing sets and costumes were easily at hand—it still added to the cost, but perhaps the logic was that the studio had imported Boris Karloff from Universal, and so the extra expense… 2008-05-14T15:37:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/movies/review/the_gangs_all_here It opens with a disembodied head singing “Brazil,” then makes its way through Benny Goodman vocalizing, through chorus girls brandishing gigantic phallic bananas, past Carmen Miranda in a variety of peculiar hats, beyond Alice Faye stuck inside a kaleidoscope and more disembodied heads floating through space. What is it? Why, it’s Busby Berkeley’s The Gang’s All Here (1943), and it’s probably the most outrageous of all World War II musicals. In some ways, it represents the full flowering of Berkeley’s particular genius—and in incredibly saturated Technicolor, no less—even while being one of his lesser efforts as concerns the nonmusical portions of the film. For all the genius on display here, there’s also a remarkably dull mistaken-identity plot that isn’t helped by the necessities of what was called “victory casting.” That basically meant that most of the male talent available was … 2008-05-14T15:19:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/051408reenergizing_asheville About a year ago, the Asheville City Council set an ambitious long-term goal for reducing the city’s contribution to climate change: an 80 percent cut in city government’s carbon emissions by 2050. That means looking for ways to conserve, retrofitting city facilities with more energy-efficient technologies, and generally shrinking Asheville’s carbon footprint at a rate of about 2 percent each year. To help make it happen, the city hired Maggie Ullman as Asheville’s first energy coordinator. Working closely with the Sustainable Advisory Committee on Energy and the Environment, she focuses on finding ways to curb energy consumption. A 2006 UNCA graduate, Ullman is brimming with enthusiasm. But she’s also pragmatic, backing up every bright idea with hard evidence of not just environmental gains, but financial savings. “It’s their money,” she says about Asheville taxpayers. “We want to be responsible … 2008-05-14T05:00:53-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/051408buncombe_commish_the_democrats The suspense didn’t last long, but that wasn’t due to any lack of candidates in the Democratic primary for the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners. It’s just that the results came in so fast there was hardly any time for the tension to build among the nine contenders and others tracking the returns. Within two hours of when the polls closed on May 6, the numbers were in from all 77 precincts, and Holly Jones, K. Ray Bailey, Carol Peterson and Bill Stanley had made the cut to square off against four Republicans in the November general election. Although incumbents Peterson and Stanley made the grade, both drew fewer votes than a pair of newcomers to county politics (though Jones is a two-term Asheville City Council member). The remaining incumbents did not appear on the primary ballot: Commissioner David Young made an unsuccessful bid for state treasurer (see “Painting by the Numbers” elsewhere in th… 2008-05-14T05:00:52-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/051408mumpowers_the_word Beginning the evening with a somber group prayer and cautiously guarded optimism, friends, family and other supporters of GOP congressional candidate Carl Mumpower ended the night in banner-waving, balloon-floating joy as their candidate won a close race. Mumpower, 55, now faces the much more daunting task of unseating first-term incumbent Rep. Heath Shuler in the November election. Bring it on: Carl Mumpower (right, foreground) will take on Rep. Heath Schuler this fall. Above, he takes in election returns with Buncombe County GOP Chair Timothy Johnson (far left) and Mumpower’s campaign manager, Michael Muller. Photo By: Jason Sandford With all 15 counties reporting and 40,746 total ballots cast in the race, Mumpower had garnered 48.17 p… 2008-05-14T05:00:51-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/051408buncombe_commish_the_republicans A thin crowd had settled into Magnolia’s Raw Bar & Grille on election night. In one corner of the downtown Asheville watering hole, a muted TV flashed images of Dancing With the Stars—high kicks and twists, sparkle tights and stretch vests. Beneath the dancing, a crawler announced less frivolous happenings—the incoming results of the local primary races. 2008-05-14T05:00:51-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/051408fall_of_the_gambling_lords The federal corruption trial of former Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Medford continued this week with the prosecution bringing out an array of confessed illegal-gambling operators, who testified that they’d bribed Medford or his deputies—including former reserve Capt. Guy Penland, who’s also on trial—in return for protection and favors. Scene of a crime?: The parking lot of Tripps restaurant in downtown Asheville, where, a former video-poker operator testified, he met former Sheriff Bobby Medford to begin paying him bribes. Photo By: Jonathan Welch The government finished its case with video and audio evidence, alleging that the conspiracy surrounding illegal video-poker machines extended beyond Buncombe County, … 2008-05-14T05:00:49-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/051408painting_by_the_numbers It’s all over but the yard signs—those leftover bits of red, white and blue that still speckle the landscape in the wake of North Carolina’s May 6 primary. After crisscrossing the state, tailed by the national media and closely scrutinized by hometown crowds, the presidential candidates and their entourages have moved on. And though the glitter of their presence left the state-level races somewhat in the shadows, the slate for the Nov. 4 general election is now more or less set (see box). The Democratic contest for commissioner of labor was declared eligible for a runoff, but at press time the runner-up had not requested one. Making change: Barack Obama’s statewide success was mirrored in Buncombe County. Here, Michelle Obama makes the case for her husba… 2008-05-14T05:00:48-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/051408results_for_statewide_primary_contests Results for statewide primary contests Designated winners appear in bold type. The first percentage number listed for each candidate is based on the unofficial statewide vote totals available from the N.C. State Board of Elections on May 8; the second figure (in parentheses) is the Buncombe County percentage. PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE Democratic primary results: • Barack Obama 55.99% (54.67%) • Hillary Clinton 41.74% (43.68%) • No Preference 1.47% (1.02%) • Mike Gravel .79% (.63%) Republican primary results: • John McCain 74.01% (64.10%) • Mike Huckabee 12.18% (14.52%) • Ron Paul 7.20% (13.95%) • No Preference 3.98% (4.32%) • Alan Key… 2008-05-14T05:00:47-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/051408lets_get_physical The mere mention of exercise can conjure up images of sadistic P.E. teachers, striped gym socks and climbing ropes—though for those of us safely out of high school it’s unlikely that any of the aforementioned figure into our fitness regimens. For that matter, Nautilus equipment, ankle weights and chest expanders may seem equally laughable. It’s hard to separate the heart benefits from the hype. Use the force: Yoda got better with age, and tai chi instructor Robert “Tai Chi Bob” Feeser proves you can too. Photo By: Jonathan Welch Books like You: Staying Young: The Owner’s Manual for Extending Your Warranty, by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz, are topping national reading lists. Barbara Walters recently aired the special, 2008-05-14T05:00:40-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/051408hail_to_the_chiefs Ask Andrew McKeag, “guitbass” player for The Presidents of the United States of America, about his band’s early success, and he’s just as puzzled as everyone else. After all, he joined the band in 2004, a decade after the bands’ meteoric rise to the top of the charts. Elected to rock: The Presidents climbed to the top of the charts in the early ‘90s with hits like “Lump” and “Peaches.” Now on their sixth studio album, These Are the Good Times People, the group continues to play to crowds across the country. “Initially you had the massive success of Nirvana, and then there were a few years of that,” McKeag says, fishing around for a reasonable explanation. “Then the torchbearer of the m… 2008-05-14T05:00:39-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/051408magically_delicious “I’m of the opinion that the book is no longer mine once I quit writing it,” says Sarah Addison Allen, author of the just-released novel, The Sugar Queen (Bantam, 2008). It seems that Allen is not only willing to let her creative work become public property (ideologically, that is: the copyright still stands), she thinks her readers’ take on her novel often trumps her original vision. Queen, on the heels of Allen’s breakout literary debut Garden Spells, was a fairly dark endeavor for the author. For audiences, it’s light, fun, uplifting and ultimately magical. “It seems to have brought out something good in readers,” Allen notes. Queen is a multilayered read, fluffy at the outset but flowering into a deeply compel… 2008-05-14T05:00:38-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/051408all_the_clutter_is_gone Most musicians, when initially taking up their primary instrument of choice, are drawn to some romantic notion that the object invokes. The guitar, for instance, is generally viewed as modern music’s iconic and defining instrument. But for Galen Kipar, however, it was just a tool to achieve a grander vision. Small-scale symphony: The Galen Kipar Project brings big ideas into simple songs. “Composition was always the biggest thing for me,” recalls Kipar. “The guitar was just the instrument that was there, sort of a means to that end.” As soon as the young Kipar could play chords well and make smooth transitions between them, he began trying to add more. Writing and incorporating parts for vocals and harmonica, he soon achiev… 2008-05-14T05:00:37-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/seeing_the_forest_for_the_frieze The must-see work in the Asheville Art Museum’s latest exhibition, Time is of the Essence: Contemporary Landscape Art, is the film Hidden Inside Mountains by Laurie Anderson. Ken Fandell’s striking photo collage, “All the Skies Above.” Yes, that Laurie Anderson, the performance artist of 1980s “O Superman” fame. But fans of the pioneering musician know that violin and keyboards are only two of the media at which she is adept. As a person who migrates toward paintings, drawings or prints (and someone who can sometimes lose interest quickly in video works), I was surprised to find myself mesmerized by Mountains. Within the film (commissioned for the 2005 World Expo in Aichi, Japan), Anderson presents 12 stories … 2008-05-14T05:00:36-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/smartbets.php who: Montford Music and Arts Festival what: An all-day outdoors event featuring local music, visual arts and crafts, held in the historic Montford neighborhood where: Montford Ave. between Cullowhee and Waneta Streets when: Saturday, May 17 (10 a.m.-8 p.m. Free. http://www.montford.org or 777-1014) why: Now in its fifth year, this annual festival features Montford-based bands, a juried art show, foods, crafts and more. Musical acts include Buncombe Turnpike, Mad Tea Party (pictured), Firecracker Jazz Band, Every Mother’s Dream, Johnny’s Inhaler and many others. Find parking at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church (227 Cumberland Ave.). 2008-05-14T05:00:01-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/medford_trial_defense An expert witness called by former Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Medford’s defense attorney testified today that Medford’s gambling losses totaled $122,000 from 2002 to 2007, and under cross-examination agreed that Medford “put in play” more than $800,000 at casinos. Medford defense attorney Steve Lindsay questioned Erik Lioy, a Certified Public Accountant and certified fraud examiner for Grant Thornton, a large accounting, tax and business advisory firm. Lioy testified as an expert witness to determine if fraud had occurred, telling the jury that he had studied the bank statements, loan records, tax returns and other financial forms of both Medford and Medford’s long-time girlfriend, Judi Bell, so he could offer an opinion in court. Under questioning by Lindsay, Lioy first gave a year-by-year breakdown of Medford’s salary. With the aid of a bar chart presented to jurors, Lioy said that Medford… 2008-05-13T22:45:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/we_saw_you_at_leaf Despite the occasional dousing of rain, last weekend’s Lake Eden Arts Festival in Black Mountain was, by most reports, a heck of a good time. Taking it all in was Mountain Xpress staff photographer Jonathan Welch, who ditched his digital camera for a good, old-fashioned Polaroid, capturing images as unique as the festival itself. The Polaroid Corporation recently announced that it would discontinue the film, though stock supplies are expected to last for up to a year. Meanwhile, the Web site SavePolaroid.com has been a central gathering spot for Polaroid photo galleries — and the home base for a campaign to urge some other company to begin manufacturing the unique format again. Welch says he chos… 2008-05-13T21:54:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/concrete_plant_hearing_returns A hearing on a proposed concrete plant on Murphy Hill Road will be held Wednesday evening at North Buncombe Middle School. (Pictured at right is an intersection near the site of the proposed plant.) The location for the hearing was picked both for its capacity and its proximity to the plant proposed by Blue Ridge Concrete. A previous hearing in March was halted after a technicality, and opponents of the plant complained that there was not enough room to hold the crowd of people who showed up. With a capacity of 400, the North Buncombe Middle School will still probably see a heavy turnout. The hearing begins at 5:30 p.m. Since the last hearing was adjourned, Blue Ridge Concrete will have an opportunity to restate their case from the beginning. The opposition… 2008-05-13T21:52:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/win_a_solar_hot_water_system_or_5_grand According to the school’s Web site, only about 70 raffle tickets (at $25 each) have been purchased for Evergreen Charter School’s Go Green Raffle, which promises a solar hot-water system or $5,000 to one lucky winner. The raffle is being held as a fundraiser for the eco-conscious Asheville elementary school. The school aims to sell at least 300 tickets, and they’ll stop selling once they’ve reached 1,200. The system, donated by FLS Energy, includes two 4x8 panels and a hot-water tank, and it’s designed to run in series with an existing hot-water tank. Depending on your home’s solar orientation, it could lower the portion of your electric bill associated with heating water by as much as 85 percent. FLS Energy will guarantee the delivery and installation within a one-and-a-hal… 2008-05-13T17:45:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/medford_under_fire_bribes_denied After former Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Medford took the stand today in his own defense against federal corruption charges, he faced lengthy questioning from his own attorneys, followed by a barrage from the prosecution. He denied ever taking bribes from illegal video-poker operators. During questioning from his attorney, Stephen Lindsay, Medford flatly denied ever being paid bribes by any of the video-poker operators who testified last week that they’d given thousands to Medford in return for protection of their operations. Hunched over the microphone in a dark brown suit, hand gripping the witness stand, Medford said he’d only met Jerry Pennington, the former operator for Henderson Amusement in this area, twice. Both times, he said, he rebuked Pennington for being too close to former reserve Capt. Guy Penland (who’s also on trial), who, he felt was being used by Pennington. “I felt that it di… 2008-05-13T02:47:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/asheville_city_council_may_13_meeting_preview Facing a packed agenda, Council will receive an update on its finances at its May 13 meeting as budget writing season kicks into gear. Also on Council’s plate is discussion of the proposed Swannanoa incorporation and a resolution to change how the city handles event co-sponsorships. Council will conduct two public hearings, the first to consider an amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance to establish standards for digital billboards. The second will review an amendment to the conditional-zoning ordinance for property located at 1741 Hendersonville Road regarding signage for the Weirbridge Village Project. However, at staff’s behest, this item likely will be postponed until May 27. To access the entire Council agenda and background documents, click here. The meeting will take place at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 13 in Council chambers on the second … 2008-05-12T15:21:01-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/edgy_mama_end_of_grade_testing This week, my third-grader will take end-of-grade tests for the first time. She’s nervous and I’m irritated. For parents who aren’t there yet, end-of-grade tests are given to public school students in grades 3 to 8 in North Carolina during the last weeks of school. The tests are supposed to assess competencies as defined by the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. In other words, if your kid doesn’t pass the tests, your kid does not pass “go” and may not move to the next grade (forget collecting $200). After the first test failure, there’s remediation, then a second opportunity a week later. After the second failure, there’s summer school, a third opp, then it’s up to the principal whether or not the kid moves on. Basically, we test the kids least likely to pass as many times as possible and pray they figure it out along the way. The EOGs debuted in North Carolina in the 1990s as part of standards-ba… 2008-05-12T14:43:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/medford_takes_the_stand_in_his_defense Former Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Medford took the stand Monday morning to answer questions in his on-going federal corruption trial. Stephen Lindsay, Medford’s defense attorney, said on Friday that he planned to call Medford’s chief deputy, George Stewart, and Medford’s long-time girlfriend, Judi Bell, to testify. But after a conference with Judge Tim Ellis and the other attorneys in the case, Lindsay called Medford to the stand. Medford told the court about his law-enforcement career and described how his office handled the registration of video-poker machines after state lawmakers passed a law in 2000 allowing the machines in North Carolina. He said his office, strapped of cash, had not viewed video-poker registration as a top priority. “I’ve never seen one [a registration sticker for a video-poker machine], except on a machine,” Medford testified. He later added that at a… 2008-05-12T14:41:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/granted At the outset of Progress Energy’s Community Energy Advisory Council meeting yesterday, a handful of checks were presented to various community members to aid their organizations. These grant recipients had sent in proposals for energy-efficiency projects, and Progress’ CEAC awarded a total of $25,000 to fund them. Below is a breakdown of the projects. • The Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College Foundation received $2,500 for the installation of a photovoltaic, solar-generation system in the Engineering and Applied Technology Division at A-B Tech. The goal is to provide educational and training support for green technology. • The city of Asheville Housing Authority received $4,550 for the installation of solar hot water for at least 400 units of public housing. The grant funds will pay for a weeklong solar-energy training program, which 10 residents from public housing will complete as part of a contract with … 2008-05-10T19:14:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/jamaican_restaurant_to_open_in_historic_asheville_space_this_weekend The Jamaican restaurant One Love II opens its doors on Sunday. The restaurant is located in downtown Asheville, in the Market Street building that housed the soul-food eatery The Ritz since 1942. That restaurant held its last lunch buffet on Valentine’s Day. Now the new restaurant appears ready to open on Mother’s Day, boasting a menu of traditional Jamaican dishes like curried goat and jerk chicken. This is second incarnation of the One Love restaurant. This first is located in Hendersonville. — Brian Postelle, staff writer Pictured: Lloyd Bulgin outside One Love II on Market Street. 2008-05-10T19:01:00-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/blog_log_the_week_in_local_blogging15 So the long wait for the North Carolina primaries finally ended this week. As expected, Scrutiny Hooligans dominated the live blogging scene. In fact, from this pic at Liminal Screeds, you could say Scrutiny Hooligans carried Obama in Buncombe County. So now its back to the political waiting game, but hey — life goes on. Even the hooligans are moving to a new location, and What to Expect, typically a mainstay in the political discourse, 2008-05-09T21:56:01-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/cranky_hankes_screening_room_movie_going_malaise Yes, I’ve got it. Call it the movie-going malaise. The cinematic blues. The crummy picture collywobbles. Whatever you call it, it ain’t pretty. No, I’m not burned out on the movies. Far from it. In the past few weeks, I’ve watched: Abel Gance’s J’Accuse (1919) (all nearly three hours of it); Ernst Lubitsch’s Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife (1938); Victor Saville’s Evergreen (1934); Frank Tuttle’s Waikiki Wedding (1937); F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise (1927); Josef von Sternberg’s Shanghai Express (1932); Woody Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989); and David Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch (1991). And these were movies I didn’t have to watch. To this, you can add in the fact that I’ve picked up David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986) and Terry Gilliam’s Brazil (1985) and Tideland (2005). And there’s a copy of … 2008-05-09T15:30:01-05:00 http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/book_report_springtime_on_mars Drexel, N.C.-based author Susan Woodring‘s new book, Springtime on Mars: Stories (Press 53, 2008) is at once quirky, charming, confusing and comfortable. It manages to be all over the map, but also intricately rooted in family, dysfunction and place. Part of the scattershot feel of the book comes from its format: like the title suggests, it’s a collection of short stories. The longest of these is 20 pages and the rest weigh in at about half that length. Among the stories, the point of views range from a young girl to a middle-aged man. This is jarring at times, moving from one story to the next, but Woodring seems to revel in the disparate nature of her prose. She unravels, in each installment, a nugget of a story. A single, awkward moment arrived at through a maze of mu… 2008-05-08T18:25:00-05:00