Recommended diversions
“Fortunes of War” Based upon the autobiographical novels of Olivia Manning, this BBC production tells the story of Guy Pringle…
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Recommended diversions
Ali Farka Toure Guitarist Ali Farka Toure has been hailed for his distinctive mix of Arabic-influenced Malian sound and American…
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The Life Cycle: HART studio presents two shows in one night
By Michael Beadle A farm girl recounts her memories of a special calf named Rupert and a gravedigger tells of…
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Sheik’s musical soup takes swings with brutal honesty
By Chris Cooper Duncan Sheik demonstrates a sort of understated brilliance that’s almost alarming when you hear it. Ballads slip…
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Accessible art: Macon County Art Association makes strides to bring art to everyone
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Macon County Art Association publicity manager Pat Mennenger busied herself arranging crackers on a…
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Recommended diversions
Kindergarten The other day I went to a kindergarten class for “Career Day.” I had 15 minutes to talk about…
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Enter the mystery: World-famous extraordinist Craig Karges comes to Western Carolina University
By Michael Beadle OK, first things first — Craig Karges is not a comedian though he makes his audiences laugh.…
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Biggers on Appalachia: New book studies Appalachia’s national significance
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Travel writer and National Public Radio commentator Jeff Biggers spent 20 years collecting and…
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A well-crafted, if not adventurous, electronic trip
By Chris Cooper The brainchild of programmers Robert Smith (no, not the guy from the Cure) and Bill Walters, Blue…
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Recommended diversions
Joni Mitchell “Anything that moves me, influences me.” — Joni Mitchell
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Pivot points: WCU art museum presents poetry and painting from three inter-related generations
By Michael Beadle “Pivot Points” is not your typical art exhibit. Then again, the new Fine Art Museum on the…
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Boggs represents country music’s greatest hope
Though it’s become a standard target for critical blasting, not all of modern country music is bad. Keith Urban turned…
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Recommended diversions
“Bubble” Director Steven Soderbergh, the darling of the Sundance film festival, had an audacious idea. Take a bare bones script…
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New talent and old influences enter jam genre
By Chris Cooper Approaching the “jam band” thing from some very different angles, Umphrey’s McGee manage to bring shades of…
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Unto These Hills gets a facelift: Changes to include script rewrite, more Cherokee actors, better marketing plans, and more community involvement
By Michael Beadle For 56 years, the outdoor historical drama known as “Unto These Hills” has been a fixture for…
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A changing audience
“Unto These Hills” first opened on July 1, 1950, as an outdoor drama to celebrate the history and honor the…
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Recommended diversions
Runny Babbit by Shel Silverstein If you love the goofy wordplay of Spoonerisms — switching the beginning sounds of words…
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Hayseed’s latest falls flat on its grass
Some jokes are really, really funny. Some even get better with age, as if their repeated telling somehow increases the…
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Recommended diversions
Most Secret I was given this book over Christmas and finally got around to reading it. It’s a fascinating tale…
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A Mysterious Island: ‘The Tempest’ twists and turns in WCU’s Hoey Auditorium Feb. 8-12
By Michael Beadle The Duke of Milan and his daughter have been shipwrecked on a strange island far from civilization.…
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A little frisky — much better than fair
By Chris Cooper It’s harder than you would think to write a song. As a musician, it is tempting to…
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The art of forgery: Jackson County blacksmiths learn the art of their business and the business of art
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Deep in the mountains that surround Jackson County’s Tuckasegee community, the sound of metal…
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Recommended diversions
TV Yeah, fine: burn your television, TV is bad. It’s mind numbing and makes us lazy. Blah blah blah. But…
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Petal to the metal: Franklin metal artist Victor Raul Moraloza grows in art as in life
By Michael Beadle For Victor Raul Moraloza, each day is a gift. From being a high school wrestling champion to…
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A mysterious masterpiece
By Chris Cooper Beautiful and alarmingly odd, Andrew Bird makes music that ambles pretty far outside description or categorization. “Chamber…
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The sounds of Jackson County: Landmark collection of local performers bands together for Jackson County library fundraising event
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Backstage at Western Carolina University’s Fine and Performing Arts Center, the rehearsal room buzzed…
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The Sounds and the stories
By Michael Beadle In gathering the performers who would help make the Sounds of Jackson County a reality, organizers invited…
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Ordinary World: twisted, welcome catharsis
By Chris Cooper When the bio sheet for a band arrives with the greeting “Dear Pop Revivalists,” I feel a…
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Adam’s 29 falls short of past achievements
By Joe Hooten When it seems like you’ve heard all there is to hear from our Carolina troubadour Mr. Ryan…
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Recommended diversions
“Firefly” As a proud member of the Star Wars generation, I enjoy a healthy dose of otherworldly sci-fi plots and…
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Work in process: In life as in art, glass artist John Nickerson is a student of methodology
By Sarah Kucharski John Nickerson is a very exacting man. Tall and solidly built, he moves with efficiency, his speech…
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Recommended diversions
King of the Hill I picked up a nasty rumor that Fox is planning to terminate my favorite cartoon show,…
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An impressive collection from a bluegrass veteran
By Chris Cooper It’s not unusual in music circles for one’s sound to be recognizable but the name to be…
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Recommended Diversions – Best Albums of 2005 Edition
1) The Hold Steady, Separation Sunday If lead singer Craig Finn weren’t fronting this band, he’d be writing short stories…
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Gypsy Bandwagon plays true to the Appalachian tradition
By Joe Hooten Throughout the 1700s, immigrants from European nations began pouring into the 13 colonies with dreams that were…
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Recommended diversions
Christmas shopping Granted it’s four days before Christmas and those of you that haven’t yet gotten your shopping done are…
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Vocal and instrumental abilities carry through a wide variety of styles
By Chris Cooper If you didn’t know already, Jamie Cullum is that kid who was on Pay-Per-View last summer. It…
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In full swing: Appalachian banjo player and singer Laura Boosinger shares memories of an old-time mountain swing band in Canton with her latest CD, Let Me Linger.
By Michael Beadle Laura Boosinger was a student at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa in the late 1970s when she…
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A mutual enterprise
By Michael Beadle Sometimes John Grant sees a bear inside a rough block of soapstone. Sometimes he sees a buffalo…
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Giving art a hand
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer David Cozzo, director of the Revitalization of Traditional Cherokee Artisan Resources project, stands on…
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An Asheville trio’s mad swing-a-billy party
By Joe Hooten The Roaring ‘20s ushered in an era of looseness, flair, and simplistic decadence that would quickly diminish…
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(Un)RecommendedDiversions
Here’s the deal. I’m not going to be “recommending” anything in this installment of “Diversions.” I’m just going to tell…
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Larry Watson — a student of the song
By Michael Beadle It was Chet Atkins who really put the hook in Larry Watson. Atkins had that masterful style…
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Power guitar trio delivers
By Chris Cooper The G3 tours are a traveling celebration of the virtuoso rock guitarist. Joe Satriani developed the concept…
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Exploring the creative side with handcrafted jewelry
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Jewelry artist Debbie Higdon makes what she likes to wear — handmade pieces, created…
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Recommended diversions
Graham Greene Recently I have begun revisiting authors I read back in my 20’s — Thomas Wolfe, Hemingway, Faulkner, some…
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One year and all’s well: 2005 finale of Waynesville’s popular gallery stroll marks anniversary of Outer Spaces Gallery
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer On a cold, grey Sunday afternoon just before Thanksgiving, Polly Smith sits behind the…
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New Faces, Familiar places: Galleries old and new wrap up a successful year
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer This Friday (Dec. 2) marks the close of what Waynesville Gallery Association chairman David…
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NY rock quartet conjures a blast from the past
By Joe Hooten Scene: A Friday night, Firebirds and Camaros fill a Main Street parking lot after the big high…
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