DaisyI know the weather is going to be rainy and cold this week, but at least I’ll have the memory of today to get me through. What an awesome day! It was beautiful, and I was jonesin’ to get to work in the yard. Pretty pansy Me and Melissa went to Lowe’s after brunch at Tupelo Honey to start stocking.[Read More…]
My friend Tom has always wanted to put together a coffeetable book of those snappy church signs that are so clever they’re sure to save a few souls. I don’t know if Tom has collected any of said photos, so I’m starting. Here’s the first installment. If you see any good church signs, let me know. Tom, this one’s for[Read More…]
When a new friend, who was visiting from another country, asked me, “Why Ashvegas?” I had to pause for a moment. In God’s countryIt’s hard to explain to people who aren’t familiar with Ashvegas, especially people from another country. It’s ironic, I started. Ashvegas is a small mountain town in the Bible Belt. It has big dreams, and it thinks[Read More…]
It’s an open secret in Ashvegas that its top lawman is ailing and considering stepping down. As with any elected position, that means a lot of potential political intrigue. The High Sheriff has ruled with imperial power since he was elected way back in 1994. In North Carolina, the sheriff’s office has lingered with the register of deeds office and[Read More…]
I’m still worried about what ails Rashad. Because it’s as much about what’s in his head as it is anything else. In an earlier Tar Heel post (see link at bottom) I said that a player might need our extra thoughts and prayers. Now you know what I was getting at – the Citizen-Times reports today that Rashad’s mother has[Read More…]
Ghost of the NantahalaReady to crank up the Rudolph publicity machine? CNN is. The cable news company is already hawking a book about Rudolph by one of its producers, just in time for the scheduled start of the trial. If it weren’t for the King of Pop’s case being heard now, I might call Eric Robert Rudolph’s court proceedings the[Read More…]
Little GrinchGoodbye little February, short month of short days of short breath. Goodbye. You haven’t been so bad, although the Grinch did make an appearance in Ashvegas on your last day. sure sign of springAnd hello March. Hard March. Soft March. What will you bring us? Looks like snow, so far. But my daffodils are straining. The crocus are already[Read More…]
If you like country music, Kenneth Brian is your guy. Country, like Hank and Dwight and the old rockabilly boys of the ’50s did it. Real country music. Not the crap you hear on the radio these days, although there are a few artists I enjoy. I was showing a couple of visitors around town Saturday night and we ended[Read More…]
This post is mostly just an excuse for me to put up a bunch of cool photos I shot Saturday on the Nantahala River during the annual Glacier Breaker slalom. Way cool. It was a beautiful day. The water, frosty and frothy. Frosty race I made my way down to the water’s edge. The race was my first time watching[Read More…]
Tom’s house is a mansion, really, not a cabin. A mansion, by my standards, and bought for a song by Ashvegas standards. It’s what happens when you get a big promotion, and when you move to Marion, Ohio. It looks like an interesting little town. I’d never heard of it until Tom told me he was moving there. I’ve got[Read More…]
The water battle in Ashvegas just hit the boiling point today. It’s been simmering since last year, when Ashvegas City Council said it wanted out of an agreement that rules a regional water authority. Council is in with Buncombe and Henderson county commissioners. City and County have never really gotten along. But the only other issue that’s generated heat like[Read More…]
I’m starting to get worried about Rashad. Junkyard dawg The media has been reporting that Rashed has been suffering from some sort of flu-like virus, or gastro-intestinal problem. But he’s been down with that now for more than a week. He didn’t start the second half of last week’s Clemson game, and he didn’t make the N.C. State game last[Read More…]
Could Matt Doherty be coming to the mountains? Doherty was the talk of the basketball world a couple of years ago. Now there’s talk he’s ready to come back. An AP/Sports Illustrated story from earlier this month quoted Doh as saying he itching to get back to the sidelines. He’s been working in Charlotte and dabbling in a couple of other business[Read More…]
The Dean effect is being felt right here in Ashvegas. You’ve probably already read the news – up-from-the-trenches young lawyer Dem Jerry Meek whipped old guard lawyer Dem Ed Turlington over the weekend in the ballyhooed contest for top dog in the North Carolina Democratic Party. The press has used a lot of “R” words to describe the upset. Rebellion.[Read More…]
You’d think that publicly funded UNC-TV would stand as a bastion of free-thinking, responsible television run by smart people; a little bandwidth immune from the lowest-common-denominator mentality that pervades much of the rest of television. Malcolm, I feel ya You’d think that, but you’d be wrong. Tonight, I was all set to watch “American Experience” featuring the Emmy and Peabody[Read More…]
These people are beer snobs. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. They sip raspberry stouts, Belgian brews and German bocks. They crave intricate, flavorful creations. And some want a little more bang for their buck when it comes to their beer’s alcohol content. The Beer Guy has written about them, and I’m here to see what they’re up to.[Read More…]
I’m a Tar Heel basketball fan. If you didn’t know that by now, sorry. If you’re a Duke fan, you might as well leave right now. Ashvegas is tight with the Heels. I’m a UNC grad. Coach Roy, birthed over the mountain in Mac-Dowell County, cut his basketball teeth in the Swannanoa Valley. Rashad McCants went to school just down[Read More…]
Writers write. That’s what Tom and Bill told me, anyway. I visited Thomas Wolfe and William Sydney Porter, aka O.Henry, this afternoon, and they spoke quite clearly. Each had his own way. Wolfe stands as an autobiographical American classic. He immortalized his home, down on Woodfin street, as the Old Kentucky home. “Look Homeward Angel” was banned from Asheville libraries[Read More…]
Beaver Lake hasn’t changed much over the years – that’s why I like it. The sentinel trees. The stacked canoes. The trail filled with dog-walkers and day-meditators. It’s a nice little retreat. You forget about the shopping center shoving its shoulder into one end of the bucolic little setting, and the sad little strip malls starting further north up Merrimon.[Read More…]
One of the lonliest places to be on or near Valentine’s Day is a laundromat. The one I visited today – this morning, actually – was filled with three or four very forlorn looking men. They look lonely. They wash plaid shirts. They pump quarters into a video poker machine to pass the time. They stare at the washers and[Read More…]
Welcome to Ashvegas. We’re just getting off the ground, so please bear with us.
It’s a cold and windy night, but I’m ensconced in the Blue Room, working away on what is sure to be one incredible weblog. We’ve got lots of plans. Blogging about the vagaries of life in Asheville, the daily commute over the Smoky Park Bridge, who knows what else. We look forward to having you come visit often.