Recommended diversions
Joni Mitchell “Anything that moves me, influences me.” — Joni Mitchell
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
Recommended diversions
“Bubble” Director Steven Soderbergh, the darling of the Sundance film festival, had an audacious idea. Take a bare bones script…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
A changing audience
“Unto These Hills” first opened on July 1, 1950, as an outdoor drama to celebrate the history and honor the…
Read More
Recommended diversions
Runny Babbit by Shel Silverstein If you love the goofy wordplay of Spoonerisms — switching the beginning sounds of words…
Read More
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…
Read More
Recommended diversions
Most Secret I was given this book over Christmas and finally got around to reading it. It’s a fascinating tale…
Read More
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.…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
Recommended diversions
TV Yeah, fine: burn your television, TV is bad. It’s mind numbing and makes us lazy. Blah blah blah. But…
Read More
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…
Read More
A mysterious masterpiece
By Chris Cooper Beautiful and alarmingly odd, Andrew Bird makes music that ambles pretty far outside description or categorization. “Chamber…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
Recommended diversions
“Firefly” As a proud member of the Star Wars generation, I enjoy a healthy dose of otherworldly sci-fi plots and…
Read More
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…
Read More
Recommended diversions
King of the Hill I picked up a nasty rumor that Fox is planning to terminate my favorite cartoon show,…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
Recommended diversions
Christmas shopping Granted it’s four days before Christmas and those of you that haven’t yet gotten your shopping done are…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
A mutual enterprise
By Michael Beadle Sometimes John Grant sees a bear inside a rough block of soapstone. Sometimes he sees a buffalo…
Read More
Giving art a hand
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer David Cozzo, director of the Revitalization of Traditional Cherokee Artisan Resources project, stands on…
Read More
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…
Read More
(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…
Read More
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…
Read More
Power guitar trio delivers
By Chris Cooper The G3 tours are a traveling celebration of the virtuoso rock guitarist. Joe Satriani developed the concept…
Read More
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…
Read More
Recommended diversions
Graham Greene Recently I have begun revisiting authors I read back in my 20’s — Thomas Wolfe, Hemingway, Faulkner, some…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
Bright nights in Dillsboro
By Michael Beadle Dillsboro becomes a village of glittering lights for the first two Friday and Saturday nights in December…
Read More
Pottery, naturally
By Greg Sessoms • Correspondent Upon entering Susan Balentine’s home off of Howell Mill Road in Waynesville, one could be…
Read More
Recommended diversions
“Elizabethtown,” Soundtrack From everything I hear, the movie turned out to be entirely less than it was cracked up to…
Read More
Lamotte’s work branches beyond music with non-profit
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer David Lamotte is a safe driver. Headed south to Columbus, Ga., last Friday afternoon…
Read More
Wide variety of influences leaves sump’m for everyone
By Chris Cooper Let’s just go ahead and say it: terrible title for an album. Thankfully, a lot of the…
Read More
Triumph from tragedy: Franklin film student premiers ‘Tragedy of Glady’ to rave reviews nationwide
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer The crowd held its breath, barely shifting in creaky metal chairs as a stunned,…
Read More
Superb acting highlights HART’s ‘Three Sisters’
In The Three Sisters, Anton Chekhov tells audiences that suffering, education and work will lay the foundation for a new…
Read More
Recommended diversions
Jack Russells I was surprised to discover that Jack Russell terriers bear the name of a 19th century English clergyman…
Read More
CYHSY makes their own way
By Joe Hooten Popular music is made trendy by sweaty handshakes, neon dollar signs, shady deals, and artificial relationships that…
Read More
