Chocolate sensation
By Michael Beadle Come March 24, sink your teeth into blueberry truffles, fudge cookies, and mocha cheesecake.
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Newly formed Balsam Range features some of the finest
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Balsam Range, a newly formed group of all-star pickers, will play a free concert…
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Y’all come back
By Michael Beadle The annual foot-stompin’, hand-clappin’, kick-up-your-heels music-and-dance show known as the Summit Country and Western Show at Tuscola…
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Recommended diversions
Battlestar Galactica Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a Battlestar fanatic. A few weekends ago, my wife and I glued ourselves…
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Chapin channels something powerful in The Calling
In 1992 Mary Chapin Carpenter released Come On, Come On, and though it’s a little hazy as to how I…
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Nature Deficit Disorder Sometimes, you read an interview and it hits home, hard. Last month’s issue of The Sun, a…
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The Broken West nails vintage pop — in all the right ways
It’s the tambourine that gives it away. Those insistent eighth notes from the piano during the chorus, the sparkly harmonies…
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The Fine Art of Being Wrong (sort of...)
I spend a considerable amount of time being disappointed by music. It’s sad, because I also happen to love music,…
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Mountain Heart serves up musical surprise
By Chris Cooper To say that Mountain Heart isn’t exactly your “average” bluegrass band is more than a slight understatement.…
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Broadway comes to Cullowhee
By Michael Beadle He’s been a Beast. An alien bounty hunter. A Rum Tum Tugger and Inspector Javert. And now…
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“The Painted Veil” Kitty (Naomi Watts), a bored London socialite, marries Walter Fane (Edward Norton), a doctor and student of…
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As her craft evolves, Jones’ spirit remains true
By Chris Cooper When Norah Jones swept the 2003 Grammies, it was more than just a victory for a new…
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Peaceful sounds: Bryson City woman organizes local musicians for a cause
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Downtown Sylva will host a non-partisan stand for peace on Saturday, Feb. 17, with…
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Honeymoon Edition So my husband and I celebrated our three-month anniversary by finally going on our honeymoon this January. We…
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Stone Black aims high with a familiar formula
Expectations are tricky things. You can crack open a CD with basically one of two mindsets: “This is going to…
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The world according to glass
By Michael Beadle Glass dazzles. It bears no secrets. It illuminates the world around itself.
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Green gas heavy metal: Jackson’s County’s Green Energy Park offers methane-fired blacksmith forge
By Anna Fariello • Guest Writer William Rogers has been a professional metalsmith for more than 25 years, but nothing…
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The Grey Eagle Over the last four years I have had the great opportunity to work with David Holt in…
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Recommended Diversions
As you probably know by now, we are on the verge of another “revolution in technology.” Specifically, your current DVD…
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Elana James: A fiery violinist takes it solo
By Chris Cooper Swing can take many forms. It can bop and bounce like Calloway and Ellington, or it can…
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Listening to the stone
By Michael Beadle A goddess rises through ribbons of translucent alabaster. A pair of doves flutters from bronzed hands. An old,…
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Recommended Diversions
In putting together my annual list of the year’s best albums, I was reminded of what a terrific year 2006…
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Darren Nicholson: Darren Nicholson
By Chris Cooper Yeah, it’s a quip that’s terribly overused — the one about “... there must be something in the…
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In your Internet ear
Just before Christmas, singer/songwriter Ashley Chambliss of Sylva got an email from the online music site where her music is…
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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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Recommended diversions
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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