World wide from Canton
By Sarah Kucharski — Staff Writer John Anderson’s boisterous voice streams out from the computer speakers.
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The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield Margaret Lea, the daughter of an antique book collector, receives a curious letter from…
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A hip, humanitarian collaboration
By Chris Cooper Some conclusions could be drawn after listening to Rhythms Del Mundo in its entirety.
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Joyful gospel: Harlem Gospel Choir aims to enlighten as well as entertain audiences
By Sarah Kucharski It was Allen Bailey’s aim to bring about a better understanding of black culture and the church’s…
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Small, but Big Something most retail stores do before a busy Christmas season is run some kind of “sales report”…
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I Got A Guitar For Christmas ... Now What Do I Do?
By Chris Cooper Christmas is one of those times where there’s a surge of buying in the instrument market, and…
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Start the year with some drama — HART style
By Michael Beadle What is art? What makes a relationship stand the test of time? How do you move on…
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Traditions It’s over now, but the 24 hours between Christmas Eve afternoon, say around 6 p.m., and the evening of…
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Five questions
Tell us about what you do. How did you learn what you do? What are your duties day-to-day? What about…
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Speace’s style still rings true
Something I’ve noticed over the years is that the longer you’re on this planet, the smaller said planet seems to…
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Then & Now: Project catalogs the ongoing artistic value of what was once mere necessity
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer The Craft Revival: Shaping Western North Carolina Past and Present Web site is located…
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“A Man for All Seasons” Robert Bolt’s award-winning play was released as a movie in 1966, winning six Academy Awards…
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NPR’s All Songs Considered Podcast Admittedly, I’ve been slow to catch on to the iPod revolution. I received a green,…
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Three from the vault
By Chris Cooper I’m beginning to notice a relationship between the acquisition of “new” used CDs at my place of…
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A Nose for Books Tiny, small-town bookstore attracts big-time authors
By Michael Beadle Cyrano’s Bookshop in downtown Highlands may be all of 700 square feet, but that hasn’t stopped its…
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Pickles and sun gods?
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer For Germanic cultures having a Christmas tree was all about finding the pickle.
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Deck the halls: Decorators’ diverse demands drive the ornament market
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Working her way past the miniature Christmas village homes and a star topped tree,…
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Nice threads: WCU Fine Arts Museum exhibit features fiber art instructors and professors from throughout the Southeast
By Michael Beadle Imagine hundreds of stainless steel threads woven together to make a scarf that looks like silk. An…
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Inspired effort from the Smiths has something for everyone
By Chris Cooper Inspiration comes from a variety of sources. And as much as a new love, a rainy day…
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Albert Race Sample, aka “RACEHOSS.” (Instead of listing several diversions, I have decided to devote the entire column to a…
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Body art: Exhibit at Gallery 86 in Waynesville fixates on the allure of the human form
By Michael Beadle The leg. The hand. The face. The breast.
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“Dexter” There is so much bad television that I’m usually way behind the curve on good new shows because I…
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Effortless extraction from the days of fusion
By Chris Cooper Music, and the artists that make it, have no choice but to evolve as time goes by.…
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Artists at work: Franklin downtown blooms with Art Quarter Gallery and Studios
By Michael Beadle Like artists inspired by the drama of their own lives, some art studios have their own back…
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The New Yorker Waynesville’s James Joyce is not only an excellent writer (as evidenced in his latest work Use Eagles…
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So, what is there to do around here?
By Chris Cooper Though Sylva might not qualify as a simmering hotbed of musical and cultural hipness, to a degree…
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Freakonomics OK, I’m often late to the game, but this book published a few years is just fascinating. While working…
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Old instruments sing again: Community band effort provides new homes for neglected instruments
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Jacob Clark, a sixth-grader at Waynesville Middle School, likes the trumpet. “It’s easy to…
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From the pick of the old time pickin’ litter
By Chris Cooper Rafe Stefanini: Ladies Fancy Rafe Stefanini is something of a walking encyclopedia of old-time fiddle and banjo…
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Book By Book Michael Dirda, a reviewer for The Washington Post Book World and winner of a Pulitzer Prize for…
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Raging rockabilly courtesy of Big Sandy and his Fly Rite Boys
By Chris Cooper “Timeless” is one of those words tossed around a lot in reference to music. Everybody wants to…
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The landscapes of our lives
By Michael Beadle Shafts of sun pierce through a misty forest. A thick river of fog rolls through ancient mountains.…
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A Tall One Earlier this month North Carolina won five medals at the 2006 Great American Beer Festival Competition —
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Makin’ tracks: Musician/traveler/artist Jim Stoltz brings his cross-country experience to life with a multimedia show and fund raiser for the Jackson/Macon Conservation Alliance
Growing up in the suburbs of Detroit, Jim Stoltz first learned to appreciate nature on family camping trips.
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Lauderdale’s Country Super is super country
By Chris Cooper The stellar songwriting talents of Jim Lauderdale have been tapped by a “who’s who” of country music…
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Sports I’m sorry, I am an unabashed sports fan. Not one of those people who paints themselves in their team’s…
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Southern Cross set to test its metal
By Chris Cooper If you can imagine an even more ticked-off Phil Anselmo fronting a hybrid of COC and Black…
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Art all day: 4th annual Bryson City Art Walk is Oct. 14
By Michael Beadle With the blaze of leaf season in full swing, inspiration is all around — especially for local…
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In the driver’s seat: ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ hits the Bryson City stage
By Michael Beadle Miss Daisy Werthan is an elderly Jewish widow who has gotten too old to drive herself, so…
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If you do a lot of surfing on the Internet, you probably know that astonishing changes are taking place there.…
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Haywood Open Studios Tour features more than 30 artists
By Michael Beadle The world where artists create can often be a private place off limits to the general public.
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New moon rising: Frazier’s long-awaited second novel is in bookstores now
By Michael Beadle It’s a gorgeous autumn afternoon in Asheville just a few days before author Charles Frazier begins an…
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The eighties uncovered
By Chris Cooper It’s all too easy to dismiss the ‘80s as an era of day-glow clothes, poofy hair and…
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When a book becomes an industry
By Michael Beadle “Where is Cold Mountain?” Nearly a decade after Charles Frazier’s debut novel became an international success, folks…
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Los Lobos: The Town and the City Remembered by most as “that band that revived ‘La Bamba’,” this criminally under-appreciated…
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Pickin’ and Tellin’ — Appalachian style ‘Smoky Mountain Gypsy’ Jerry Harmon plays Eaglenest Sept. 30
By Michael Beadle Appalachian storyteller and musician Jerry Harmon will perform at Eaglenest in Maggie Valley for one special performance…
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HART: Thinking outside of the (ticket) box
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer In most rural small-town communities, local theater isn’t known for being particularly racy, daring,…
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Fine playing on a Kinky collaboration
By Chris Cooper I have to admit — I really don’t know much about Kinky Friedman. I mean, most of…
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Bare necessities: HART pushes the envelope with staging of ‘The Full Monty’
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer It’s late at night and Georgie is standing at the door waiting for Dave…
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'An Inconvenient Truth’ Regardless of where you may stand on political issues, one very important truth is making itself abundantly…
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