Arts + Entertainment
Living off the grid for 40 years
In a book written in a first-person, vulnerable and intimately entertaining narrative oral storytelling voice, Ken Smith takes us through his entire life — of youthful globe-trotting adventure and hardship, to an eventual life of self-sufficiency and spiritual awareness in Scotland.
In this book, old-time means good time
Over 30 years ago, I read Helen Hooven Santmyer’s “And Ladies of the Club,” a doorstopper of a book chronicling life in a small Ohio town from the post-Civil War era to the early 1930s.
Spread it heavy: WNC rockers Porch 40 return
It was a special time and place when rock-n-funk act Porch 40 emerged onto the vast, vibrant Western North Carolina live music scene. In a landscape of mostly bluegrass, Americana and country acts, to see something of local origin with loud electric guitars and amps cranked to 11 was, well, refreshing.
A scary, page-turner of a story
Sometimes life seems too short to read every novel and author on your list. Oftentimes, I tend towards classics and literature. After all, you only live once so why would I not go straight to the greats?
‘An Imaginative Proclivity’: Gary Carden and “Stories I Lived to Tell”
In “Stories I Lived to Tell: An Appalachian Memoir” (The University of North Carolina Press, 2024, 152 pages), 89-year-old storyteller and writer Gary Carden spends much of his time revisiting his youth and childhood.
Jokes, laughter, happiness and good health
As part of my gifts for Father’s Day this year, my daughter bought me a book. She apologized before handing it to me, saying “It’s really terrible and silly, and I almost didn’t give it to you.”
Love you madly: A retrospective on rock rebels Cake
In the vast annals of American rock music, alternative rock act Cake remains a beacon of eccentricity — this sonic love letter to quirky individuality and creative freedom. It’s a unique blend of rock, country and funk, the sum of which swirling around the spoken-word prose of lead singer John McCrea.
‘The Anxious Generation’ — Part 2
Editor’s note: This first part of this review was published in the July 24 edition of The Smoky Mountain News The evidence is clear that social media is not healthy for girls under the age of sixteen.
Carry this together: Zoe and Cloyd
With their latest album, “Songs of Our Grandfathers,” rising Asheville Americana/folk duo Zoe & Cloyd decided to take a different approach to this most recent musical endeavor.
