| Title |
Excerpt |
Author |
Date |
| The Avett Brothers to move New Year’s Eve show to Civic Center Arena |
The Avett Brothers announced this week that the band’s New Year’s Eve show, which sold out within minutes, will move to the Civic Center Arena. The arena has about 7,200 capacity, versus the 2,431-seat Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. Tickets for the new show will go on sale Friday at 10 a.m.… |
Rebecca Sulock |
11/17/09 |
| A conference unlike a conference |
Here’s how the event is billed on its Web site: “Every day ordinary people at home and abroad struggle to maintain their human dignity in the face of hunger, lack of adequate housing and health care, and the repressive and neglectful actions and omissions of their governments. What do these… |
Rebecca Sulock |
11/11/09 |
| A.A. Bondy at the Grey Eagle *VIDEO* |
Brian McGee of local country-punk outfit Brian McGee and the Hollow Speed interviews A.A. Bondy before his show at the Grey Eagle on Wednesday, Nov. 4. Videographer Jesse Hamm shot and edited the footage. Bondy opened for Elvis Perkins in Dearland, and has a new album out on Fat Possum,… |
Rebecca Sulock |
11/05/09 |
| Another Black Mountain College “happening” this Saturday |
Back by popular demand! The MAP and Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center sponsor WHAT’S HAPPENING?!, a fundraiser dance party in the heart of the River Arts District of Asheville. This event will raise money for the “Living Legacy: Living Artists of Black Mountain College” exhibition series, and is… |
Rebecca Sulock |
11/05/09 |
| Spork |
Last November, a buzz was in the local music scene air: Music industry veteran Bob Hinkley and his partner Kimberly Hughes were renovating a former Chevrolet dealership in Black Mountain into a new venue. One year later, their White Horse Black Mountain (the logo of which came to Hughes in… |
Rebecca Sulock |
11/04/09 |
| Keep that creepy feeling |
Elvis once asked why every day can't be like Christmas. We'd like to know the same about the Halloween season. A zombie record, a zombie author, a haunting release, some wild art and a Dias De Los Muertos celebration to keep you in the spirit. • Zombie boogie is the… |
Rebecca Sulock |
10/28/09 |
| Idiotarod comes to Asheville |
The Idiotarod — which has been a strange and hilarious success in New York City and Washington, D.C., among other locales — is coming to Asheville on Sunday, Nov. 22. Get your team, find your cart and start sewing the sequins on your matching capes. The event pits teams of… |
Rebecca Sulock |
10/26/09 |
| Reliving LEAF |
The cold and wet weather didn’t bring revelers down at last weekend’s Lake Edens Art Festival. Check out our photo gallery by Jonathan Welch for proof. This year the local music and arts festival featured Asheville favorites such as neo-soul swooners the Secret B-Sides, as well as a wealth of… |
Rebecca Sulock |
10/23/09 |
| Uniquely Asheville |
Asheville's best-kept secret 1. Not telling With so much media attention on our little bohemian enclave, it's no wonder Ashevilleans don't want to give away any more secrets. Everyone from the New York Times to AARP Magazine to Rolling Stone wants to let the country at large know how… |
Rebecca Sulock |
10/21/09 |
| Two DJs, two stages, one night |
Tomorrow night, two huge DJs, two stages, two different clubs ... but fans will likely be able to catch some of both, if they want. San Francisco-based Bassnectar plays the Orange Peel, and the official after-party is at Club 828 with UK-based Bonobo. Bonobo won’t start up until 30 minutes… |
Rebecca Sulock |
10/15/09 |
| You make it, they air it |
There are a few key points you learn at URTV 101, the free weekly orientation to Asheville's public-access station. No. 1: URTV is not paid for with taxpayer money. No. 2: The channel is set up as a First Amendment-flexing, free-speech forum. No. 3: There's only one thing you won't… |
Rebecca Sulock |
10/14/09 |
| UNC Coach Roy Williams coming to UNCA to promote upcoming book |
Malaprop’s bookstore and the UNCA Athletics department are hosting a visit from WNC native Roy Williams, head coach of the UNC Tarheels men’s basketball team. He’ll be in town Dec. 13. Details, from the Malaprop’s Web site: Coach Williams will be at UNCA’s Justice Center on Sunday, Dec. 13 from… |
Rebecca Sulock |
10/08/09 |
| Like your music green? Check out these two shows |
Asheville-based Dogwood Alliance will be partnering with Canadian band The Duhks at the band’s Orange Peel show Thursday. On Friday, two local outfits help spread the word about North Carolina’s new ban on plastic bottles in landfills at a show at the Emerald Lounge. On The Duhks: “They are one… |
Rebecca Sulock |
10/07/09 |
| First, the bad zombie news; then, the good zombie news |
Disappointing the town's legion of brain-starved undead, the annual Ashtober Zombie Walk has been postponed until next year. After an unprecedented turnout last year, likely due in part to vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's concurrent Asheville appearance, city staff applied regulations that were prohibitively expensive for its organizers, says Ashtober… |
Rebecca Sulock |
10/07/09 |
| Spork |
If this column were a city block, it might have a boutique hotel next to a yurt. If this column were a dinner, it might be mashed potatoes with a side of blueberries. Our point? Spork is often a mix of disparate stuff that doesn't necessarily go together. This week,… |
Rebecca Sulock |
10/07/09 |
| Avetts announce Asheville New Year’s Eve show |
Breaking with their tradition of playing a Charlotte New Year’s show, the catching-like-wildfire Avett Brothers announced today that the band will play the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium on Dec. 31. “As promised, we have just announced three new shows to end a great 2009 ... Help us ring in the New… |
Rebecca Sulock |
10/06/09 |
| The witches are back for one more weekend |
After suffering three rain outs, the Montford Park Players have added three more shows of its popular Macbeth. “We’ve had a lot of demand for it,” said the Players’ managing director John Russell. “People have been telling us, ‘If you could extend it, we’d come see it.’” The shows will… |
Rebecca Sulock |
10/05/09 |
| Spork |
Hoss Haley's new fountain at Pack Square Park is pretty fan-damn-tastic, and Asheville's latest art and craft fair will be staged around it and the recently completed Vance Monument area of the park. Art in the Park will complement the recently-renovated Vance Monument areas of the Pack Square Park, including… |
Rebecca Sulock |
09/30/09 |
| First, the bad zombie news. Then the good zombie news |
The annual Asheville Ashtober Zombie Walk has been postponed until next year, due to a new round of city regulations and fees made necessary by the event’s massive success last year. But never fear (unless you have tasty brains in your head), because other zombie events are still in the… |
Rebecca Sulock |
09/28/09 |
| Win two weekend passes to the Planet Caravan festival ***update: Tickets won*** |
From doom to stoner to psychedelic to experimental, Planet Caravan is two days and nights of all-heavy music. Featuring up-and-comers and veterans alike, the festival offers something for most every fan of serious hard-rock and metal. Planet Caravan is tomorrow, Sept. 18 and Saturday, Sept. 19, starting at 5 p.m.… |
Rebecca Sulock |
09/17/09 |
| Board chair, executive director of Asheville Area Arts Council step down |
In a press release issued today, the Asheville Area Arts Council announced the loss of its executive director and its board chair. Departing director Angela Martinez had been hired in Spring 2008; and departing chair Janice Lierz had taken the post in November 2008. The text of the release: “The… |
Rebecca Sulock |
09/16/09 |
| Spork |
Who knows what the weather will be like by the time you're reading this, but right now there's a chill in the air. September is here and summer's on the wane. One way to know for sure? This Friday, Sept. 18, is the last Downtown After Five of the season,… |
Rebecca Sulock |
09/16/09 |
| Serendipity! A nice story for your Tuesday, from Keowee Chamber Music |
Here’s a sweet story from Kate Steinbeck, flutist and artistic director of Keowee Chamber Music. “Something neat happened a few weeks back that I’d like to share with you. I was able to connect two of my favorite Asheville organizations: the main library, Pack Memorial, and our wonderful NPR station,… |
Rebecca Sulock |
09/15/09 |
| Something for a rainy day: Questions for a Trinumeral ticket giveaway ***update: Tickets won!*** |
Want to go to the massive, major, happenin’ Trinumeral music and arts festival this weekend at the lovely Deerfields amphitheatre? Of course you do. We’ve got a pair of tickets for ya — a chance to see Toubab Krewe, Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain and Edgar Meyer, RJD2, The New Mastersounds… |
Rebecca Sulock |
09/09/09 |
| Spork: Come celebrate Asheville FM |
It started with a group of dedicated volunteers with a massive amount of radio skills, talent and tech savvy betwixt them. Add to that a generous lease of studio space from the owners of Izzy's coffeeshop in West Asheville. Mix with a heaping of organizational know-how and an eager willingness… |
Rebecca Sulock |
09/09/09 |
| Meet the freaks |
Here's one for the annals: The first-ever Freaks of Asheville calendar, set to debut at LAAFF this year. Photographer Michael Traister (Sock Monkey Dreams, Faces of Izzy's), known for his stunning portraiture, turns his deft lens to some of our town's "cultural creatives," creating portraits of some local eclectic personalities.… |
Rebecca Sulock |
09/02/09 |
| Spork |
September is starting off the fall music season (is there such a thing?) right, with a couple of CD-release shows and the promise of a bunch more coming. Here's an abbreviated rundown, and our suggestions for where the music might be most appropriate. Americana songwriter Dave Desmelik debuts his new… |
Rebecca Sulock |
09/02/09 |
| Win a pair of guest-list spots for The New Deal **update: Tickets won*** |
Live electronica pioneers The New Deal hit the Orange Peel on Friday. Want to go? Xpress is giving away two guest-list spots for the show. Just e-mail the name of the city where the band hails from to giveaway@mountainx.com. The band has been playing packed shows for 10 years (just… |
Rebecca Sulock |
08/27/09 |
| Tuesday Spork: Two cool shows at BoBo, Craggie Brewing needs mural, Prefuse 73 |
Here’s a dispatch from local talent supreme Angi West, about Berklee bud Keppie Coutts playing at BoBo on Wednesday. West will join, along with Rebecca Perkins. From West: “Keppie’s crafted blend of folk, jazz, and roots, merges into quirky pop. Keppie plays with the fiery consequence of Ani DiFranco, and… |
Rebecca Sulock |
08/25/09 |
| Five reasons to go see the Fiery Furnaces Tuesday night |
Five reasons to go see the Fiery Furnaces at the Grey Eagle Tuesday night: No. 1: The new album from Eleanor and Matt Friedberger, I’m Going Away, is punchy and dramatic and witty and fun. One critic says it sounds like a collection of drunken singalongs (also: “Eleanor’s vocal cadences… |
Rebecca Sulock |
08/24/09 |
| Baseball and beers…well, sortof |
They shoulda called this event Boogies and Beer: Four of Asheville’s finest, hip-shakin’-est bands take the stage from 4 to 8 p.m. on Saturday at McCormick Field. While that’s happening, festival-goers can sample more than 30 craft brews. Good times virtually guaranteed. First up, the festive Firecracker Jazz Band. Then… |
Rebecca Sulock |
08/20/09 |
| Win tickets to DIG festival *** update: tickets gone *** |
The first-ever Downtown Independent Groove (DIG) festival kicks off tonight. Xpress is giving away three pairs of tickets that will get you into all four venues tonight and Friday. Just be one of the first three people to name three bands performing at the festival: Check out this week’s Xpress… |
Rebecca Sulock |
08/20/09 |
| Relive Transfigurations |
The shows may be over. Harvest Records has been properly anniversaried. But you can still relive the glory with these photos. Got more? Share your links, we’d love to see them. Here’s a photo gallery from the Thursday show, featuring Coathangers, Floating Action and Kurt Vile. The Friday late show… |
Rebecca Sulock |
08/19/09 |
| The final giveaway! Akron/Family, War on Drugs ***Update: Tickets gone!*** |
Win two guest-list spots for the final Transfigurations show on Saturday night at the Grey Eagle. Featuring Akron/Family, War on Drugs, Circulatory System and Jonathan Kane. Wow wow wow! Simply be the first to e-mail the correct answer to this question to giveaway@mountainx.com, and the spots are yours. War on… |
Rebecca Sulock |
08/12/09 |
| Win guest-list spots for The Books, Mount Eerie and Villages! ***Update: Tickets won!*** |
Only two giveaways left, and here’s one of ‘em: Win guest-list for the Saturday evening Transfigurations show at Diana Wortham, featuring The Books, Mount Eerie and (Asheville’s own!) Villages. All you have to do is answer this question: In which WNC town did The Books record part of the 2002… |
Rebecca Sulock |
08/12/09 |
| Win guest-list spots for Budos Band and Ice Cream! ***Update: Tickets won!*** |
More Transfigurations fun! Our second giveaway today is for Friday’s late show at the Grey Eagle. Be the first to e-mail your answer and win a pair of spots for the afro-soulful Budos Band and Asheville’s very own Ice Cream. Here’s the question: Which band does Budos share a label… |
Rebecca Sulock |
08/11/09 |
| Win guest-list spots for Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Brightblack Morning Light ***Update: Tickets won*** |
Win a pair of guest-list spots for the Friday night Transfigurations shows! First up: Friday’s evening show at the Diana Wortham Theatre, featuring the incomparable Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Brightblack Morning Light and Steve Gunn. Happy five-year anniversary, Harvest Records. All you have to do is be the first to answer… |
Rebecca Sulock |
08/11/09 |
| Be our guest at Thursday night’s Transfigurations show ***update: tickets won*** |
This marks the first of the giveaways for Harvest Records’ five-year anniversary festival, Transfigurations. In the spirit of Xpress’ local matters mission, we’ll ask questions with local connections for each show. Today, win a pair of guest-list spots for Thursday night’s show featuring Floating Action, the Coathangers and Kurt Vile… |
Rebecca Sulock |
08/10/09 |
| Watch for next week’s Harvest Records giveaways! |
We’re stoked about Harvest Records’ five-year anniversary celebration, Transfigurations. If you are too, be sure to keep your browsers at http://www.mountainx.com next week. It’s a three-night, three venue extravaganza, featuring a bevy of talented bands (also, a panel discussion/video screening with some fascinating independent record label heads). Akron/Family, Bonnie Prince… |
Rebecca Sulock |
08/06/09 |
| Appalachian history buffs and music lovers, don’t miss this one |
Catch the last weekend of the world premiere musical documentary Esley: The Life and Musical Legacy of Leslie Riddle. Riddle was an African-American Burnsville native who traveled with A.P. Carter of the Carter Family, searching out traditional mountain music and digging the roots of country music. Parkway Playhouse is honoring… |
Rebecca Sulock |
08/05/09 |
| Spork |
So this week the section is pretty man-heavy. We always try for a balance of genres and venues, but this week's A&E dudeness was striking — one of those things you don't necessarily notice until you're turning your photos in to the designer, and they're all dudes, standing, sitting, rocking,… |
Rebecca Sulock |
08/05/09 |
| Celebrate WNCW, WildSouth and Shannon Whitworth |
Looking for some Friday night entertainment with a purpose? Head to the Grey Eagle for a show from bluegrass/Americana artist Shannon Whitworth and you’ll be helping raise money for conservation organization WildSouth. You’ll also be helping celebrate the 20th anniversary of WNCW 88.7-FM. WildSouth is an Asheville-based nonprofit dedicated to… |
Rebecca Sulock |
07/30/09 |
| Spork |
Big news and big excitement for local playwright, actor, teacher and Xpress contributor John Crutchfield: His play, Songs of Robert, has been accepted into the New York International Fringe Festival. The mid-August festival spans 16 days, 200 venues and draws about 75,000 people. It's Crutchfield's first foray there, and a… |
Rebecca Sulock |
07/29/09 |
| Need more Disclaimer? Turn the dial over to 570-AM |
Straight from the woman (founding publisher Michele Scheve, pictured below) herself: “Like meth? Then you will love Disclaimer Radio News! Check out the Disclaimer Radio News podcast page or listen live to the 5 p.m. hour Fridays during Take a Stand with Matt Mittan. ...and keep a watch for the… |
Rebecca Sulock |
07/23/09 |
| Catch the second week of Folkmoot USA |
Things you might not have known about Folkmoot USA, the Waynesville-based international folk festival: It was started by a square-dancing surgeon in 1984. Groups from 100 different countries have performed. And each year, the festival features an entirely new program of performers. This year’s festival runs through July 26, and… |
Rebecca Sulock |
07/23/09 |
| Spork |
Here's a project that should be a boon for WNC media artists and professionals: A savvy online directory where artists can upload their portfolios, create profiles and get the word out about their skills. "We have such a huge amount of talent here," says Robert Zimmerman, whose company has developed… |
Rebecca Sulock |
07/22/09 |
| POPAsheville won’t happen in 2010 |
Sad news for the local music community, from the POPAsheville Web site: “Hello, fans of POPAsheville. Thanks for your support of the festival over the last several years. We’ve had a great time, haven’t we? And not only that ... the countless gig-swaps (one band plays for another’s crowd in… |
Rebecca Sulock |
07/21/09 |
| Free show! Blue Dragons at Pisgah Brewing Company tonight |
If you’ve been in Asheville a while, chances are you’ve seen Mountain Xpress ad director James Fisher rocking faces off in one of his many bands, including the legendary American Gothic. Catch him tonight with his new band the Blue Dragons at Pisgah Brewing in Black Mountain. Fisher describes the… |
Rebecca Sulock |
07/16/09 |
| Bele Chere basics |
• Where is Bele Chere, and when is it held? In Asheville's central downtown business area. Bele Chere is always the last full weekend in July. This year, the dates and hours are: Friday, July 24, noon to 10 p.m.; Saturday, July 25, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, July… |
Rebecca Sulock |
07/15/09 |
| Spork |
Yahoo, it's the middle of summer and prime Downtown After Five time. The next show in the free (free!) series kicks off Friday, July 17, with a lineup that ranges from gritty-blues-rock to local quirk-folk. Coverin' all the bases, they are. The show starts at 5:15 p.m. (though you can… |
Rebecca Sulock |
07/15/09 |
