Blue Banner issue 7

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Thursday, March 26, 2009

University of North Carolina Asheville

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News Thursday, March 26, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

New emergency alert system warns students of potential risks

By Michelle Peck Staff Writer mwpeck@unca.edu

In the event of a life-threatening emergency, a new emergency alert notifies students via text messaging and a warning siren about potential threats on campus.

“An emergency alert would be issued for significant campus emergencies, such as an active shooter, major fire, etc,” said Dean of Students Jackie McHargue. “Other communication mediums will still be used as well, such as campus e-mail and faculty/staff office phone messages. The emergency text/voice messaging system provides another avenue in which we can get emergency information to our campus community in a timely manner.”

The siren alert is for safety as well as large campus events, according to McHargue.

“We are presently working with the company to determine proper campus placement for our two sirens,” McHargue said. “The siren/emergency announcement component will only be use in a significant campus emergency. It will also have the capability to be used for amplified sound needs on the Quad for events such as graduation.”

McHargue says in the next week the opt-in system, where faculty, staff and students can sign up to receive emergency messages from the university via text or voice message on their cell

phone, will be available.

“We would not use our emergency text/voice messaging system to deliver information regarding minor or short-term water outages or normal snow-related information, as those situations do affect campus, but do not require an immediate, emergency response from the campus community,” McHargue said. “Snow-related information would still be available via campus e-mail and the UNC Asheville Web page. There will also be a new icon link on the Web page, Safety and Emergency Information, which will provide information regarding the campus status as well and campus and community resources and information related to safety, emergencies and crisis management.”

McHargue says there will be full instructions posted on OnePort so that students, faculty and staff can click an icon on the UNCA home page and sign up for the emergency text/voice messaging alert system.

“I believe this new technology, the siren system, the emergency text/voice messaging system and the new Web page link will increase awareness and provide information,” McHargue said. “In the case of an emergency, the multiple levels of communication allow for us to deliver information to students as fast as possible, which will allow for the university community to respond to the issue in a more timely manner.”

Sophomore student Julianna Moore and campus-resident Kenny Paradido both say they have some reservations about the new systems.

“Campus is lacking security-wise, in other areas that they might want to focus on before they hire someone to install this,” Moore said. “E-mails are pretty effective in raising awareness about possible safety hazards. I would say if it is going to take a lot of school funds to do this then it’s not worth it. With the way the economy is, I think more effort should be put into preventing safety hazards such as the break-ins in Zeis and Zaiger last semester where thousands of dollars of equipment were stolen.”

“Although I do not think merely informing students faster will necessarily prevent crime, but it could help prevent matters from escalating and I’m sure it

See ALERTS Page 7

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Amnesty International shines campfire light on human rights issues

By Heide Penner Staff Writer

hmpenner@unca.edu

Amnesty International students raise awareness and money to combat local and global hunger through fasting, camping and fun.

“There are a lot of starving people and we can do something to make a difference,” said Ben Radford, Amnesty International co-president.

Amnesty International works to promote knowledge on global human rights issues, such as the hunger crisis. The UNC Asheville chapter is hosting a free hunger camp out on the quad, in efforts to shed light on these troubles this Friday starting at 11 a.m.

“We eat everyday, and that’s something we take for granted. The camp out is to raise awareness about hunger; some are fasting and some are not,” said Leah Smith, Amnesty International’s other co-president.

Canned food donations support Loving Foods Resources, a local food pantry for those living with HIV/AIDS or those in hospice care. Cash donations go to Heifer International, a non-profit organization whose goal is to help stop world hunger and poverty.

“The idea is to attract people to come and donate money who aren’t necessarily fasting,” Radford said.

Amnesty provides tents and will have baked goods for donations, as well as all-day games and movies starting at dusk. A concert at 9 p.m., sponsored by Alliance, features North Carolina native band, Midtown Dickens.

“Bring guitars to jam and play,” Radford said.

On Saturday, Amnesty partners with Arts4Meds to raise money for Doctors Without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organization aiding nearly 60 countries threatened by violence, neglect or catastrophe.

Camping out will make people think about these issues, freshman Jennifer Mozingo said.

“It’s easy to push ideas like this to the back of your mind, where you don’t think about them everyday, things like this just remind you that, ‘Hey, I should be thinking about other people and what their lives are like instead of just my own,’” she said.

The camp out also encourages a sense of community.

“I hope that we get a good sense of community just being together with our peers on the quad, knowing that we’re all thinking about the same thing, feeling like one body of students,” Mozingo said.

Heads up!

Disc golf course coming to campus

By Rhys Baker Staff Writer

rdbaker@unca.edu

Be prepared to duck if you hear someone shout “Fore!” on campus next semester. The university plans to construct a 9-hole disc golf course on campus by summer, with plans for 18 holes by the fall semester.

“From my understanding, disc golf is a combination of Frisbee and golf. Frisbeegolf might be a better name for it,” said Cassady Burke, president of the eventprogramming board Underdog Productions. “I like the idea of disc golf, especially the ability to combine nature and sports, without tearing up land to make a course.”

The UNC Asheville Disc Golf Club leads the initiative for an 18-hole disc golf course on campus. Director of Disc Affairs for the UNCA DGC Peter Carpenter helps design the course.

“I’m working closely with Executive of Campus Affairs Cortland Mercer and local course designer James Nichols of the WNC Disc Golf Club,” Carpenter said.

“The hardest part about designing a disc golf course is trying to meet the needs of our campus and community. Safety is our main concern.”

The front nine will start in Mullen Park. The planned location for the back nine is in the experimental forest, according to Mercer.

“As a player, I want the picturesque long bomb, but as a designer you realize it’s just not possible. You have to give up some really good looking shots because they aren’t safe or don’t logically flow, but we still have some awesome holes deIan Shannon - Staff Photographer signed,” Carpenter said. “We also have to Junior Peter Carpenter plays disc golf at the Richmond Hill course. make sure we don’t alienate any specific player. It must be playable by a begin“As president of the student-program- ways for them to interact with the vibrant ner, enjoyable for an advanced player and ming board, I fully support anything that campus community. For commuter stuprovide a challenge for every skill level, helps get students involved on campus, dents, it seems like there are very few opwith opportunity for improvement and especially commuter students,” Burke tions on campus for them when they’re success.” said. “If you live off campus and drive to not in class. They can go to the library or The course layout needs approval by Richmond Hill or one of the other cours- the Fitness and Health Center to work out, the facilities department before construc- es, you should have the option of playing but besides that, there aren’t many options tion can begin, according to Carpenter. it on your own campus, especially since for them. This is one of those projects that “After the design stage we will move there is clearly UNCA interest.” would create a healthy and fun outlet for onto construction, which includes instalMercer agrees with Burke that the disc students.” lation of baskets and tee-pads and the golf course is a good way for commuter Carpenter started playing ultimate forming of trails to facilitate the flow of students to get involved with campus Frisbee and recreational disc golf in the the course,” Carpenter said. life.

8th grade.

The course will help get students in“Two-thirds of our campus population “After leaving Ultimate in December volved on campus, Burke said. lives off campus, and there aren’t enough 2007, I quickly took up disc golf and be-

gan playing with friends and more seriously in local tournaments,” Carpenter said. “My favorite local course is Richmond Hill, but it is soon to be the course on campus.”

Richmond Hill is an 18-hole course near campus, which, according to Nichols of the WNC DGC, measures 6,093 feet, and is arguably the most challenging and exciting woods course in the country.

There are five other courses in the WNC region. They are around Western Carolina University, Waynesville, Black Mountain, Mars Hill College and Fletcher.

Carpenter represents UNCA, along with other members of the UNCA DGC, in the monthly WNC Intercollegiate Disc Golf Challenge. UNCA DGC are fivetime defending champions of the WNC IDGC, but lack the top seat this season.

“UNCA is currently four points behind WCU in the season standings, with two events remaining,” Carpenter said.

UNCA DGC disc golfers consistently end the round in the top five, but WCU consistently brings more than ten people to compete when UNCA brings around five. According to Carpenter, this gives them an advantage.

“Anybody can come out and play for UNCA and record a point for the school by just finishing a round,” said Carpenter. “In the competition rules it states that two points are recorded for every girl that comes.”

Burke said that she doesn’t have time to pick up a new hobby, but she thinks disc golf teams should get more girls interested in competing.

{The Blue Banner}

Thursday, March 26, 2009

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With migration to Gmail, campus e-mail takes flight

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Rocky the Bulldog Go UNC Asheville!

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By Lorin Mallorie Staff Writer

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ampus officials are optimistic and energized regarding the ‘Google Migration,’ a technological upgrade promising more space and added features to student and faculty e-mail accounts.

“This is one of those rare win-win situations,” said Jeff Brown, ITS user services director. “We save the university money in a very challenging fiscal environment, we expand and increase services to our users and we reduce the time and effort needed to manage these services all at the same time.”

Migrating to the Google Apps Education Edition is easy, said ITS officials, with help available online and on campus.

“We hope that this change will facilitate better, easier communication and collaboration between all the members of the UNC Asheville community,” Brown said.

The old e-mail system was problematic to maintain and expensive in terms of software licensing, hardware and staff.

The old Sun Java Enterprise System allocated students only 20 megabytes for storage while faculty and staff had 50 megabytes, according to Brown.

“We didn’t feel that it was offering the functionality and stability our users wanted, so we started looking for alternatives,” Brown said.

Immediately upon migrating, Brown said, students will see the benefit of the more than seven gigabytes of storage allotted to each e-mail account, which is more than 350 times space than the old system.

“This is a good because we won’t have so many issues with deleting old e-mails and bounce-back problems,” said Cantrell Brown, 19, Student Government Association sophomore senator.

One appealing Google App feature allows students to share classmates’ calendar information, she said.

In addition to the increased storage, migration to Google Apps includes Google Docs, an online site providing word processing, spreadsheet and presentation programs similar to Microsoft Office programs, Brown said.

“The benefit here is that you can edit, share and collaborate on documents online, in real time,” Brown said. “Google Docs is compatible with the Microsoft Office products as well as the Open Office applications, so existing documents can be imported to Google Docs.”

Jim Kuhlman, university librarian and chief information officer, said he and the university became interested upon realizing the financial and efficiency benefits of outsourcing student and faculty e-mail.

UNCA is the first in the state to convert both faculty and staff to Google Apps, according to Kuhlman.

UNCA sculpted the migration after UNC Greensboro, Kuhlman said.

Migration to Google Apps is “opt-in,” meaning students choose when it is convenient for them to switch accounts. Migration is open now, accessible 24 hours a day, and will run through late June, according to ITS. “We think that the increased storage and added features in Google Apps will motivate people to migrate sooner rather than later, but we won’t force anyone to migrate before the end of June if they don’t want to,” Brown said.

So far, officials said there have not been many major issues with the migration. The majority of problems have been a result of accidentally skipping a step in the instructions or needing to reset a password.

“If someone tries to migrate and has a problem they can always contact the ITS Help Desk, and we’ll help get them back on track as quickly as possible,” Brown said.

Located in Ramsey Library, the ITS Help Desk works with librarians to help students with both research and technical questions, Kuhlman said.

“When I went to library school in the ‘70s, we were even then talking about paperless societies,” Kuhlman said. “But there was no concept of the Web, so the vision was similar to what we have now.”

The biggest change came in the late ‘90s when technology granted libraries incredible access to journals, newspapers and other scholarly texts, according to Kuhlman.

In the ‘80s, UNCA students would likely have access to about 1,700 of these texts. This meant a student would be lucky to find five or six articles on the topic of their choice available in the building, Kuhlman said.

“Today, we provide access to 25,000 to 30,000 full-text journals and newspapers, all of which you can get delivered to your computer anywhere. It’s just an amazing difference,” Kuhlman said.

Kindle, Amazon’s new wireless reading device is further evidence of technology’s promise in the research and literary academic world, according to Kuhlman.

“I can imagine, in not too many years, students receiving a mini-laptop and a Kindle as a part of their tuition,” Kuhlman said.

All of the course readings and textbooks, which could be rented for a semester in electronic form, would be interactive and compacted into two wireless devices, he said.

“We are able to do all that with less cost than paper textbooks,” Kuhlman said.

For more information about Google Apps and the migration process, visit sites.google.com/a/unca.edu/googleapps/

Seniors anxious as graduation nears Thursday, March 26, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

Career Center offers ways to stay sane, find jobs

By Cassady Sharp Assistant News Editor cbsharp@unca.edu

With graduation swiftly approaching, seniors express their anxiety about finding a job during this recession.

“I planned on working for a year or two to pay for grad school myself, but now I don’t now if I’ll be able to find a job,” said Maggie Ulrich, a senior majoring in sociology and anthropology.

February’s national unemployment rate hit 8 percent, a 3-percent increase from the annual average, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

North Carolina exceeds the national average with an unemployment rate of nearly 10 percent, according to the statistics.

“Our local job postings are down, but our national postings are up,” said Career Center Director Eileen Buecher. “ There are still jobs out there. It depends on the industry, the company itself, how well they’ve invested and the location in the country.”

Anxiety about the economy is just part of a larger web of concerns, according to Sarah Davis, a physician assistant in the counseling center.

“So many of our students must work to afford college and find jobs while enrolled in classes, so it’s not just a focus of seniors,” Davis said. “Generally, there are so many stressors students are dealing with that the economy and money worries are part of a stack of concerns.”

Anxiety affects nearly half of students, making it the most common mental condition on campuses, according to the Jed Foundation, a national organization working to reduce the rate of suicide and emotional distress on college campuses “Students who come to us with symptoms of mild or moderate situational anxiety usually need someone knowledgeable to talk with and guidance in self-care and calming techniques,” Davis said. “Approaching graduation results in self-doubt, and reassurance is usually enough.”

MTVU and the Jed Foundation launched the Peabody award-winning campaign “Half of Us” in 2006, exposing the prevalence of mental-health issues on national campuses.

The campaign currently seeks stories from students, including UNCA students,

“It’s a horrible time to be looking for a job, and I’m super anxious about it. I’m hoping moving to a bigger city will provide some opportunities, but there are no guarantees right now.”

Emily Knollman Senior psychology and Spanish major who feel especially stressed and anxious about graduating during a recession.

“It’s a horrible time to be looking for a job, and I’m super anxious about it,” said Emily Knollman, a senior majoring Emily Knollman in Spanish and psychology. “I’m hoping moving to a bigger city will provide some opportunities, but there are no guarantees right now.”

The Career Center didn’t notice increasing anxiety until about a month ago, Buecher said.

“Watching the news everyday can cause a lot of negativity,” she said. “However, if you start your career in this kind of market, you tend to be more prepared in the future.”

Ulrich said she worries about finding a job with her sociology and anthropology degree.

“Right now I’m a glorified button pusher in the mall,” she said. “I anticipate working there for a little while after graduation because at least it’s a job.”

Buecher said she encourages graduates to use this time as a transition period to really decide what they want to do and to explore their options.

“You still need to self-assess, get experience, build your credentials, test your ideas and, then, commit to something whether that be graduate school or work,” she said. “It’s the same process, but now there is an emotional level of anxiety to deal with.”

Buecher said she warns students about going to graduate school just because of the economy.

“Graduate school can have a lot of dif-

ferent motivations,” she said. “Students need to ask themselves if they are doing it because of the job market or because they’re sincerely interested in a graduate program.”

Ulrich said she remains interested in graduate school, but doesn’t have a particular school in mind and has yet to apply.

“It is definitely still an option for me because I understand that school is the safest place to be during a recession,” she said.

Many of the positions on the Career Center’s job search sites seek temporary or seasonal employees and internships.

“Internships pay more because the company saves money by not having to provide benefits, and it also provides a training ground for a couple years while the economy changes,” Buecher said.

Knollman and Ulrich said these types of jobs do not help because they don’t offer benefits, particularly health insurance.

“I really need insurance, so I need a job with benefits. In May I will be dropped from my parent’s insurance, and I need it because of an ongoing medical condition,” Ulrich said. “Hopefully I can find a government job or a job in social work that provides insurance.”

Knollman said she splits insurance costs with her mom, who will extend her coverage for a year while Knollman finds a job with coverage.

Buecher said the most important characteristic for students to cultivate right now is flexibility.

“Every 10 to 12 years there are major dips in the market. If you trace history, this happens,” she said. “It’s a trying time, but we have to work harder, be in the right place at the right time and be open to possibilities.”

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Weather

compiled by Morgan Weeks and Sarah Jessop

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Thursday, March 26, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

Conference addresses politics, art and action

By Heide Penner Staff Writer

hmpenner@unca.edu

People from across the country and overseas come to Asheville this weekend, representing an increasing interest in the academic field of queer studies.

“It is important that queer subjects are accepted into the academy, and feeling a community of like-minded folks inspires people to do this type of work,” said second-year intern Casey Ellingsworth, one of the six for UNC Asheville’s Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transsexual Queer Conference. “It is ultimately about demanding a space in which queer academics are not only tolerated, but also celebrated.”

The GLTBQ Conference highlights queer topics and also addresses the overarching themes of basic human rights.

“All human rights are connected, and no one is free until we’re all free,” said Amy Lanou, social justice activist and one of the organizers of the conference.

The conference, free for UNCA students, features a wide array of presentations, panel discussions and workshops, which provide something of interest to everyone, according to Flinn Gillan, another intern.

“It is an interdisciplinary event with presentations from many different fields of study­: psychology, health and wellness, literature, political science, mass communication,” he said. “The conference is not strictly for queer individuals. No one will be turned away. We encourage that students and community members attend the conference as a way of expanding their horizons.”

Providing a forum to discuss these topics creates an essential outlet for conversation, according to Ellingsworth.

“Queer issues are pressing. Homophobia is somewhat normalized in our culture,” she said. “We can see this in little things such as the rampant use of the word ‘gay’ as a euphemism for ‘stupid’ in high schools nationwide, or the fact that individuals will say they’re OK with gay people as long as they ‘keep it in the bedroom.’”

The conference works toward dispelling some of the homophobia and educating everyone on GLBTQ rights.

“I hope that the conference generates new thoughts and provides individuals with a vocabulary that enables them to discuss queer topics,” said Gillan.

The theme for this year’s conference

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Queer Conference Keynote speakers John Cameron Mitchell Thursday 7 p.m.

Humanities Lecture Hall Free for UNCA students/faculty with ID; $10 for general public Joan Larkin Friday 7:30 p.m.

Reuter Center Free admission Dean Spade Saturday 10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.

Celeste Shadoan - Staff Photographer

Amy Lanou, an organizer of the GLTBQ conference works at her lap top.

is Queer Art/Queer Action: The Politics of Possibility. Under this, the conference offers a broad spectrum of topics.

“The exciting thing about the conference is not that it focuses on one specific topic, but that it represents the multitude of voices within the queer community,” Ellingsworth said. “We will have musicians and artists, as well as activist groups, writers and scholars presenting on practically anything you can imagine.”

The conference received a large response from a variety of applicants.

“There are not a lot of queer studies conferences; the field is not that big yet. I think people are excited to see about it,” Lanou said.

One of the conference’s many speakers, Leisa Rundquist, assistant professor of art history at UNCA, will present on Nick Cave a gay, black artist who experiments with different textures to create costumes called sound suits, generating talks about race, gender and sexuality.

“This conference challenges how we ID ourselves and others according to sex and gender,” Rundquist said. “It challenges how we normally think about these issues.”

Other subjects include talks on queer themes in literature, queer student safety in the dorms, inter-partner violence, ag-

ing GLBT, media representations of the queer community and even ancient sexuality.

“One area looks like it’s going to have some emphasis on what it is like to be a queer student in a classroom, what it is like to teach a class that’s dealing with sexuality and gender issues,” Lanou said.

While the conference remains purely academic in nature, queer issues ultimately remain political, Ellingsworth said.

“Whether someone talks about their experience of being deaf and queer or about the need for housing on campuses that does not discriminate on the basis of gender, these perspectives are all inherently political because they are infused with a resistance to our culture’s fear of queer people and their ideas,” she said.

“A lot of queer activism starts at a local or grassroots level, so not much of the focus will be contemporary national politics.”

The conference also provides a safe environment for discussion of tolerance toward the queer community.

“Everyone knows queer people, too.

We live in a society that doesn’t fully embrace people who are queer, which prevents a lot of individuals from coming out,” Ellingsworth said. “Even if you think you might not, it’s likely that someone you know just has not told you.”

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Alerts

Continued

from

Page 2

would deter activity from going on,” Paradiso said. “I won’t feel safer personally, but the student body as a whole will probably rest easy knowing they could be informed more instantaneously.”

Currently residence halls are monitored by community directors, resident assistants and night assistants.

Each residence hall remains locked 24 hours a day with access OneCard access with the exception of Governors Village, which locks by a combination keypad.

“I feel that with information technology and instant communication via text messages would be a great idea to stay upto-date and informed,” Paradiso said. “I can think of many times when either my internet was down or I couldn’t get a hold of an R.A. and I really would like to know about an event on campus or about issues of safety.”

Paradiso suggests to use campus television as a means of alerts too.

“The university could also post updates of matters of security on their Web site, possibly our cable TV channel, and if they could thoroughly inform our professors and campus workers then it could help spread the word,” Paradiso said.

Moore says that she feels well informed about campus security and happenings at UNCA. “Having R.A.’s stay alert to the going on’s around campus and leaving fliers or even sticky notes on the doors would catch my attention. maybe flyers on cars in the resident student lot. I always found if Ii didn’t physically see a notice then I would hear about it from roommates or in the caf.

I feel like our campus is pretty connected and in touch with what’s going on.”

{The Blue Banner}

Page 7

Arts & Features Thursday, March 26, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

Page 8

An evening of trans-genre offerings with EOTO Brass band brings New Orleans to Lipinsky

By Nick Robinson Staff Writer

nhrobins@unca.edu

Lydia See - Contributing Photographer

Left, EOTO fans step outside of the Rocket Club for a smoke break during the show last Friday. Percussionist, Jason Hann plays a drum kit along with samplers and synthesizers during the duo’s performances.

Duo play to small but energetic crowd at the Rocket Club Music Review

By Lydia See

Contributing Writer lydia.see.photography@gmail.com

EOTO, featuring two members of the popular jam band, String Cheese Incident, played to a small but enthusiastic crowd on Friday at the Rocket Club.

Jason Hann and Michael Travis are seasoned musicians who artfully allow the audience to feed into the progression of their live performance with each show because they improvise each show.

Hann and Travis seem to communicate on a telepathic level with one another and the crowd during their shows, and that intuition allows them to effectively tailor their sound to that specific night or set.

They utilize varied analog and electronic elements, including a live drum kit, hand percussion, sampler, bass, guitar, keyboards and live mixing to achieve their unique sound. The dynamic

aspects of this Dub-Step-Electro-House unification can only be fully appreciated at a live show, though the band does offer recordings of most live sets the next day via livedownloads.com, a payby-the-show music downloading site.

Both musicians come from varied musical backgrounds. Travis simultaneously plays hand-drums and kit, emulating the electronic beats of DJs and programmers, while Hann plays with a range of world and fusion influences due to his own international study, and played with everyone from Loreena McKinnet to Isaac Hayes.

Although some would say EOTO stood for “Elephants Only Talk Occasionally (2006)” or “Each One Teach One,” when asked about the origins of the name EOTO in “The Madison Music Review,” Hann replied, “It did actually did stand for End Of Time Observatory at one point. It was a lot to explain, and many

thought we meant the End of the World Observatory – completely different philosophy, kind of dark sounding, and one that made interviews and casual questions complicated.”

“At some point, we recognized the first letters spelled a kind of made-up word that meant nothing and everything at the same time, and the name cemented itself when Japanese fans said that our pronunciation of the word (Ee-oh-toe) means ‘good sound’ or ‘good music’ in Japanese. If that’s not a sign...”

Unfortunately, despite the Eymarel opening, and then a solid two hours from EOTO, their show was not very well-attended, which always affects the ferocity of a band that exchanges so much energy with the audience.

However, after a slightly slower first set with more of a house feel to it, EOTO came back in their second set a little See MUSIC Page 13

A smiling audience made up of both students and visitors filled Lipinsky Auditorium to see the Hot 8 Brass Band play Friday night.

“It allowed me to experience a culture that I’ve never seen because I’ve never been to New Orleans,” said Wes Holloman, freshman UNC Asheville student.

Spike Lee featured the internationally known band in his documentary “When the Levees Broke.” The band consists of three trumpets, two trombones, a saxophone, a sousaphone, a snare drum and a bass drum. Active for more than a decade, the band lost four members over the years, including two members who died on the violent streets of New Orleans.

The group actively involved itself in spreading awareness of the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina. A room in Lipinsky opened this week with a show filled with painted depictions of the tragic events.

The band’s members, many of whom have nicknames like Harry “Swamp Thang” Cook and Bennie “Big Peter” Pete, at one point described their sound to the audience as “feel-good music.”

“They have a good mix of different styles: New Orleans, some bebop, some spiritual,” said Josh Reed, a UNCA freshman who attended the show.

The Hot 8 currently tour the United States. According to band saxophonist Wendell “Cliff” Stewart, Asheville was not the band’s first stop in North Carolina.

“We just came from Wilmington. It was cute also, but (Asheville) is beautiful,” Stewart said.

For more information, visit www. myspace.com/hot8brassband

Thursday, March 26, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

Accomplished jazz pianist honors friend and UNCA alumnus in April concert

Page 9

The UNC Asheville

Career Center

Presents...

By Alyssa Spencer Staff Writer

afspence@unca.edu

Renowned jazz pianist Vijay Iyer will perform a free concert April 4 in Lipinsky Auditorium in honor of UNC Asheville alumnus Dan Lucas, who died a year ago.

The Dan Lucas Memorial Fund sponsors the concert.

Iyer, who started playing piano by ear when he was six years old, met Lucas through his former co-worker Greg Lucas, Dan’s older brother. Dan Lucas, a first-year candidate for a doctorate in chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley, was a jazz and classical piano player during his years at UNCA. Iyer, who holds degrees in mathematics and physics from Yale College and an interdisciplinary Ph.D in technology and the arts from UC Berkeley, bonded with Lucas over science and music.

“I felt that Dan was a kindred spirit,” Iyer said. “I was deeply affected by his passing and am glad to have this chance to honor his memory.”

Lucas said this is the first performance the Dan Lucas Memorial Fund is sponsoring. He plans on making the concert an annual event that is free to the community.

“When Dan died, his family and friends decided the best way to honor his life would be to keep his passion for music, science and the outdoors alive through a memorial fund,” Lucas said.

“We established the fund through the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina and continue to receive money and distribute it to good causes as much as possible.”

Although now a well-respected pianist, Iyer said his love for music began with the violin.

“Growing up I played violin in orchestras, learned the solo repertoire and had fun, but basically did what I was told,” Iyer said. “So piano was sort of the creative antithesis of that. I just messed around on my sister’s piano for fun, picking out songs off the radio and improvising, making music on my own terms.”

In college, Iyer focused on music, although he thought his life calling would be in the field of physics or mathematics.

Sulkiro Song - Staff Photographer

Renowned jazz pianist, Vijay Iyer plays in Lipinsky Auditorium on April 4th.

The concert is free and open to the public. Doors open at 7 p.m.

“By the time I went to college I was more serious about jazz piano,” Iyer said.

“Still, I didn’t know at the time whether I had a chance at a musical career. I think the main moment that hit me like a lightning bolt was when, in the fall of 1994, the world-renowned saxophonistcomposer Steve Coleman invited me to go on tour with his band to Europe. That opportunity shook me out of my comfort zone and made me take music that much more seriously.”

Aside from a few theory, harmony and ensemble high school classes, Iyer never received formal training on the piano.

He attributes his artistic education to his collaborations with other musicians.

“Mainly I learned from dissecting my favorite recordings and from the professional opportunities I’ve had, on-the-job training, you might say,” Iyer said. “I’ve learned a huge amount from my experiences collaborating with experimental jazz artists Coleman and Butch Morris, poet-performers Mike Ladd and Amiri Baraka and a number of stellar classical Indian musicians and contemporary South Asian American musicians.”

Iyer said he is very influenced by the music he grew up with – rock, pop, hip-hop, western classical music – and also by African drumming, American experimentalists and Indian classical music.

“Vijay is so multifaceted,” Lucas said. “He regularly collaborates with

hip-hop artists like Mike Ladd and can lead a classroom discussion on cognitive behavior or West African music. My brother (Dan) loved the complexity and newness of Vijay’s piano style.”

Iyer’s albums include “Door,” a collaboration with the experimental threepiece band Fieldwork, and “Tragicomic,” both from 2008.

“I’ve listened to a few pieces off of Tragicomic and thought they were very captivating,” said Andrew Hardy Williamson, UNCA music student.

“The piano parts are so fresh, and the accompanying instruments are just as innovative. It’s full of passion.”

Iyer’s April performance marks his first visit to Asheville, and he said he is eager to perform in the city.

“I’ve been hearing about Asheville for years from my manager, Steve Cohen, who has made that his base,” Iyer said.

“More and more people swear by the place, so I can’t wait to see what all the hype is about!”

Iyer said his current projects include touring with his longtime associates Stephan Crump, on bass, and Marcus Gilmore, on drums, and recording some material that should be available later this year.

“I recently created a bunch of music for ESPN, which will hit the airwaves soon,” Iyer said. “So if you hear some breakneck-fast jazz quintet theme to Sports Center, that might just be a little something from me and the guys!”

UNCA hosts the 2nd Big South Undergraduate Research Symposium Friday and Saturday.

Students from nine Big South schools present their research.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

Vernal Equinox UNC Asheville students celebrate the first day of spring on the Quad with music and bellydancing.

Photos by Susan Terry

Page 10

Thursday, March 26, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

Page 11

Craft market kicks off monthly series Thursday, March 26, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

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Campus Events Multicultural Event

MOVIE: NO! (discussion after movie) Highsmith 104 March 26, 8 p.m.

No Class Friday Susan Terry - Staff Photographer

Left, Ellen Fletcher Knight displays her quilts from her business Fishy Fishy Quilts. Katie Elkins of Asheville works on a banner for next year’s Howard Street Handmade. Elkins’ business is Scrumdidlyump.

By Erin McWhorter Staff Writer emmcwhor@unca.edu

Local artisans pack their crafts and head west for the first Howard Street Handmade craft market hosted by Short Street Cakes. Located on the corner of Haywood Road and Howard Street in West Asheville, the indoor craft market was the first in an anticipated monthly series.

“There are a tremendous amount of crafters in Asheville, so it’s great to have a venue for them,” said Roberta Mattson, crafter behind Piece Blossom’s needlefelted dolls. “There are lots of spaces for small artists, but for crafters there aren’t as many things.”

The craft market housed 20 local artisans, each paying a $10 vendor fee.

Artisans displayed a unique variety of crafts and skills, ranging from jewelry to ceramics and hand-sewn journals to traditional Waldorf-style, needle-felted dolls.

“It’s a great thing to happen in West Asheville. I don’t feel like we have a lot of fun stuff happening here,” said Hannah Dansie of Laverie, a handmade clothing line. “It’s great for us to be able to come here and not have to pay a commission.”

Owned by Jodi Rhoden, Short Street Cakes Cake Shop sold coffee and cupcakes in honor of the first Howard Street Handmade, which took place in a renovated building located next door to the Cake Shop.

“A show like this is a great way for people to do something together that they wouldn’t have been able to do by themselves,” said vendor Beth Respress. “There is nice variety in that there’s something here for everybody, and we don’t feel like we’re competing with each other.”

Respress, a former Chicago resident, handcrafts both original and custom jewelry in her Candler home. She sells her jewelry under the name Dejahmi, which also features jewelry made from sustainable materials.

“My stuff is recycled and fair trade. I think a lot of times independent crafters really have an eye toward that in their own lives, so it comes into the crafts as well,” Respress said. “You’ve got stuff here that’s for sale for $2 all the way up to $200. So there’s a lot of variety in being able to buy local from people where the money is actually going back to your neighbors.”

Throughout the day, Juliet Clawson sold raffle tickets and winners chose from a selection of craft goods from the fair.

All proceeds support the organization of future Howard Street Handmade fairs, according to Clawson.

“It’s really awesome that West Asheville is coming alive like this. West Asheville is a much more welcoming environment for artists and crafters,” said Naydeehn Messier, jewelry vendor of Aphotic Rosary. “There are so many artists in this area, and we all need to get exposure, not just the downtown (artists).

Plus, it is so much cheaper to do stuff here than downtown.”

Messier, who currently lives in down town Asheville, says a problem with the downtown art scene is the expenses to live and work as an artist far outweigh the repayment, making it hard to survive.

“I’d love to move away from the downtown area, and I think West Asheville has sort of a different feel and different flavor,” said Mattson, a vendor and resident of West Asheville. “It’s a little more unique, a little more edgy, and I appreciate the feeling that West Asheville has.”

As a crafter and Asheville resident for eight years, Mattson enjoys being a part of such an event as Howard Street Handmade. West Asheville caters to a completely different clientele than the downtown area, which Mattson said was a main point in participating in the event.

“I price all of my things to try to keep them very affordable, and that’s the difference of having a craft space versus an artist space,” Mattson said.

“Having things so that the average person can walk home with something in their pocket makes it a lot more fun to come and look. I know that I don’t tend to enter shops where I know that I can’t take anything home.”

The second Howard Street Handmade craft market is scheduled for April 18.

“I’m really glad that this is starting, and I really hope we do get to do it every month from now on,” Respress said.

Spring Research Symposium Friday, All day Saturday, All day

Movie Night

Shortbus HU - 104 Friday and Saturday 7 & 9:30 p.m.

Multicultural Event

SGA Inauguration and Inaugural Ball HU - Rooms 221-224 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.

March 31

Call for Entries

Submit work for the 42nd Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition Sponsored by Art Front Deadline for submissions: April 6 & 7

For more campus activities, visit: www.unca.edu/ barker/

Thursday, March 26, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

Event places creative minds under the incubator Page 13

By Taliaferro Pollock Staff Writer

mtpollock@unca.edu

Next month, Asheville becomes the second city to host HATCHfest, a multidisciplinary event bringing together top professionals from a variety of creative fields to network with aspiring artists, writers, photographers, and filmmakers.

“I feel that Asheville is the perfect sister-city to allow HATCHfest to expand that much more,” said Greg Lucas, board of directors of Asheville HATCHfest and sponsor through Music Allies. “Not only will it open up many doors for local artists, but it will also introduce outsiders to what Asheville has to offer.”

Lasting April 15 through 19, the event’s agenda consists of some of the world’s most unique artists in music, film, architecture, technology, design, journalism, photography and fashion.

Throughout the festival’s five-year history in Bozeman, Mont., where it originated, HATCHfest became a catalyst Photos Courtesy of HATCHfest for economic development designed to foster growth of creative minds through After five years in Bozeman, Mont., the creatively diverse festival aimed at cultivating future artists from all disciplines comes to Asheville for a weekend of workshops, panels, professional mentoring and much more. mentorship.

Various downtown Asheville locations set to go, we’re continuing to build our benefits artists and introduces them to demand. Tickets for showcased films, concerts, fashion exhibits and showcases, are set to host the festival’s events, roster of rising and well-known artists promising opportunity.”

Some of the past mentors from VIP passes and the closing night awards including the Asheville Area Arts Council who will share their talents and mentoring (front gallery), Echo Mountain Studios, abilities with aspiring artists from our Bozeman’s HATCH include filmmaker part are available to the public for a cost.

Rodrigo Garcia (Gia, Four Rooms, Lola, “Although I’m not going to be able to Fine Arts Theatre, Pack Place and The community and other locations.”

Watson said that it did not take long Mi Vida Loca), actor Rick Schroder participate in the festival, as a local artist Orange Peel.

Film screenings, concerts and exhibits during her visit to HATCHfest in Bozeman (Black Cloud, NYPD Blue, Lonesome I am very excited to see what new ideas from ground breaking artists from around last October to realize Asheville offered Dove), filmmaker Chris Eyre (Smoke HATCHfest has to bring to the table for Signals, Edge of America) and Erica Asheville’s art industry,” said Anthony the world will appear at these venues, the perfect venue for the event.

“By attending HATCHfest in Huggins (producer, and senior exec Visconti, an Asheville visual artist. “I according to Lucas. know that HATCHfest will learn a few “The fact that some of the best artistic Bozeman, I was shown that possibilities Imagine Entertainment).

While many of the workshops, one- new things and grow from Asheville, as venues in Asheville are participating are endless when talent is taken from is a promising step toward taking this various artists and collaborated,” Watson on-one mentoring sessions and other well.” unique event to its fullest potential,” said said. “The extension of HATCH in events are open to the public free of For more information, visit Alison Watson, co-chair of Asheville Asheville is going to help further develop charge, people are encouraged to make www.hatchasheville.org HATCHfest. “While the festival dates are a connection in the (art) industry that reservations in advance because of high

Music

dirtier, grittier, with more of a jungle feel through drums and bass.

The last song ended with an epic double bongo jam over an escalating key loop, all culminating in a rousing cymbals breakdown à la Goldie or LTJ Bukem, and then a statement from the band: “We have played up until the end, just so we wouldn’t miss a minute of it, so thanks so much for coming out!” No messing around or wasting time with leaving the

Continued

stage and waiting for an encore, these guys pushed it up until past last call in a solid presentation of musicianship.

As the constant evolution of the music genre progresses, bands who cross pollinate musical influences are emerging as the new fusion, whether it’s live-electronicanalog house or alt-country-rock-indie.

EOTO stands strong a forerunner in the fusion of live jam with electronic dance music, with a fun and movable result.

Lydia See is a freelance photographer and writer based in Asheville. More show, record and music reviews, as well as photography and local happenings in the music and art community can be found at www.lydiasee.com

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Lydia See - Contributing Photographer

Jason Hann of EOTO sets up a sample for a song with band mate Michael Travis.

Sports Thursday,

March 26, 2009

Women’s basketball season wrap-up Page 15 {The Blue Banner}

Women’s tennis falters against Liberty

By Ryan Burtner Staff Writer

rrburtne@unca.edu

Liberty University denied the UNC Asheville wimen’s tennis team its second conference win Saturday; the Bulldogs lost 2-5.

Sophmore Stephanie Schon said they were expecting it to be a tough match in the first place.

“Liberty has always been a tough team,” Schon said. “We went out there, and we were just expecting to do our best.”

Schon defeated Nadia Solomon-Burgess in the No. 2 singles match 6-3, 7-6.

She and her partner Tania Mateva lost the No. 3 doubles match, 2-8, to Lais Souza and Fabiana Gouveia.

“We lost a doubles point at the beginning which was an uphill battle from there, but Photo courtesy of UNC Asheville after that we fought as hard as we could in Sophomore Stephanie Schon returns the ball against Liberty on Saturday. singles,” Schon said. “It was pretty close, but we were just unlucky.” well in those.” some people.

She said recent injuries, which led to She said the important thing is to stay Whether they reach the NCAA tournachanges in the lineups, are the reason for healthy and keep working hard. That’s im- ment or fall in the first round of the consome of the struggles against Liberty. portant if they want to do well in the con- ference tournament is not a concern right “One of our players, Tess Darling, just ference tournament, she said. “We have a now, she said. got injured a week ago,” Schon said. “She few more matches before the Big South “Right now I think we’re just going sprained her ankle, and she was out, so Conference Tournament, and that’s what to focus on the conference and go from we had to change our doubles teams all we’re expecting to do well in,” Schon said. there,” Schon said. “Everybody’s pretty around.”

“We’re going to do the best we can.” good now. You’re not going to run into a She said the whole team dealt with miSophomore Nicole Schon said she team that’s not good.” nor injuries all season. played her doubles match with a different She said the fact that there are no se“We only have six girls on the team teammate on Saturday due to the current niors on the team doesn’t put them behind now, so we pretty much have to play string of injuries affecting the team. at all. She said they have a good balance through that,” Schon said. “Besides Tess Schon and her teammate Leslie Smith of youth and experience. being hurt, I think we’re going to be fine lost their doubles match, 3-8, to Liberty’s “We have a couple juniors, a few sophfor the rest of the season.”

Nadia Solomon-Burgess and Valeriya omores and two new freshmen on the Schon said the coaches are working with Klintsevich. team,” Schon said. “We have some very the players to not only help them prevent “This was the first match we actually talented players who are competitive. injury, but improve their overall game. switched things up,” Schon said. “It was a The energy we bring is really good.”

“Coach tells us to change certain things bit of a challenge just trying to work with Freshman Devon Cavanaugh said in our game,” Schon said. “If we each start a new partner, but I think as long as we’re because of injuries, she and her partner doing that, in the short run, we’ll get the working hard and get used to each other’s had to step up and play the No. 1 doubles results that we want. If we keep it up, we’ll game, we’ll be a good doubles team.” match. eventually win those tough dual matches She said the team, despite the loss, is off “For my partner Louise and me, it was that are expected to be close.” to one of its best starts to a season yet. our first time playing in the No. 1 match,” She said even though the team played “We’ve won two or three matches al- Cavanaugh said. “We played really well. some tough matches this season, they ready that we lost last season,” Schon said. We weren’t as aggressive as we would managed to keep them close.

“I think we’ve definitely overachieved, but have liked to be, but we picked it up and “I think we’re in there, and we’ve been there’s always room for improvement.” came back, but unfortunately we didn’t a really solid team this year,” Schon said.

She said the team continues to work pick up the pace quick enough.”

“We still have three more teams to play for hard in preparation for the conference See TENNIS Page 15 the conference, and we’re expecting to do tournament, where they hope to surprise

Page 14

Men’s season gives hope for future

By Randi Kitts Staff Writer

rjkitts@unca.edu

After falling to the Radford Highlanders 94-86 in the semifinals of the Big South Conference Tournament, UNC Asheville’s men’s basketball team hopes that newfound experience and future improvements will bring better results to the team next season.

“We were picked to finish last, and we ended up finishing fourth, which is a tremendous accomplishment for a young team like ours,” sophomore center Eric Stubbs said. “It’s just a disappointment because we wanted more and knew we were capable of winning it all.”

The Bulldogs finished 15-16 this season, going 10-8 in its conference and 11-3 at home.

“Staying consistent with our regime and getting in the gym more will ultimately help put this team where it needs to be,” said red-shirt sophomore forward John Williams.

The team showed its offensive firepower as it averaged 44 percent from the field and 36 percent from beyond the arch for the season.

“We did a lot better than most people expected,” said freshman guard J.P. Primm. “We have a lot more experience now that we, as freshman, have gained some game experience, and that will help us out tremendously next year.”

Youth filled the Bulldog’s roster this season as it boasted two sophomores and eight freshmen.

Two freshmen, Matt Dickey and Primm, became starters throughout the season.

“It was a good experience, and now I know what I have to work on to improve my game as a college player,” Primm said. “I now know what it takes to play against teams like Duke, North Carolina, Tennessee and Ohio State.”

The men agree they all have individual facets that require attention and improvement if the team plans to succeed in its next season.

See SEASON Page 15

Thursday, March 26, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

Page 15

Youth, experience define women’s season Tennis

By Dan Weller Staff Writer djweller@unca.edu

The UNC Asheville women’s basketball team recently wrapped up a season filled with inconsistencies that left the team dissatisfied and eager to hit the court next season.

“Overall, it was a disappointing year with ups and downs; we had a chance to finish second or seventh in the league at one point, and we finished seventh,” said Head Coach Betsy Blose. “We have a lot of work ahead of us; sometimes you have to take a few steps back to move forward.”

The Bulldogs finished their season with a 10-20 overall record and a 7-9 conference record.

Some of the highlights of the year came from the only two seniors on the squad, both finishing their careers strong.

“The emergence of Ana Baker was one of the positives this year; she capped off her career with first team all-conference,” Blose said. “Senior Jessica Monroe is one of the hardest workers I’ve ever coached; she did what we asked her to do all year and throughout her career.”

Baker led the team in scoring, assists, minutes played, steals and finished second in field goal percentage.

Baker attributes her success this year to her work in the offseason.

“I worked really hard this summer knowing that this would be my last college season,” Baker said. “It is the people who work the hardest during the offseason that become the best overall players in the league. And most of all I wanted to leave here with no regrets.”

As one of two seniors, Baker’s leadership role proved vital to the Bulldogs hope

Season

to challenge for another conference title.

“Leading the team as one of two seniors was difficult since we have to get everyone on the same page,” Baker said. “However, what we lacked in experience we made up in our work ethic.”

Although the season frustrated her at times, Baker said she holds no regrets.

“I am very disappointed on how things turned out,” she said. “but I left my heart on every court I Photo courtesy of Sarah Goldenstein played on, and that’s all I Freshman Linda Aughburns strong play during the season gives the team hope for success next year. could do.”

Freshman forward scheduled,” she said. “Starting with our Linda Aughburns, who led the team in re- tournament, I think we kind of dug a hole bounding, gives Blose reason to be opti- early, and we faced five teams that are mistic. playing in the postseason early.”

“Linda worked her way into the startAfter the 0-4 start, the Bulldogs picked ing lineup towards the end of the year and up wins in three of their next five games. made the all-rookie team,” Blose said.

UNCA then fell into a losing streak, “I think we have a good nucleus coming but the Bulldogs recovered to reach a 7-6 back; our freshmen and sophomores have conference record and the opportunity a year’s more experience.” for a top seed in the Big South ConferAughburns is only the 14th Bulldog to ence Tournament. be named to the Big South Conference allUNCA then dropped its last three confreshman team. ference games, a trend that followed the UNCA began the season 0-4 and didn’t team into the playoffs as the Bulldogs see a winning streak until the middle of the lost in the first round of the Big South year.

Conference Tournament 67-72 at High Blose attributes the team’s rough start Point. to the difficult schedule that the Bulldogs “There are really no excuses,” said faced.

Blose. “We had the opportunity there “This was one of the toughest sched- to finish strong and just couldn’t get it ules we’ve ever played. I might have over- done.”

“I think I just need to get stronger, and the other parts of my game will improve, accordingly,” Stubbs said. “As a team we need to learn to play hard all 40 minutes of the game, and things like experience and team maturity will take care of themselves.”

Although the Bulldogs lost four of their players this season, including the unexpected loss of senior center Kenny George, the men hope next year’s freshmen will bring additional strength and energy to the team.

“We have three guys coming in for next year, so far,” Primm said. “Two have committed, and one has already signed.”

Continued

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The team also said they understand the importance of team bonding and plan to continue building the strong chemistry that a successful team demands.

“I’m going to work out with my teammates a lot more in hopes to gain more and more comfort with them so that we can be a more experienced team,” Williams said.

Primm said the team is going to remain focused in the offseason to prepare for a better turnout for next year.

“We know what we have to work on as a team,” Primm said. “As long as we improve those things, we’ll be more than ready for next season.”

Continued

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Despite her misfortune in doubles, things went better for her in the No. 3 singles match defeating Liberty’s Lais Louza 6-0, 7-6.

“In the first set, I was just trying to keep the ball in play and structure some points together and figure out what my opponent’s weaknesses were,” Cavanaugh said. “During the second set, she picked it up, so I just had to stay mentally tough. It ended in a tiebreaker, but I stayed mentally strong and I was able to pull it out in the end.”

Cavanaugh said it’s really nerve-wracking being one of only two freshmen on the team.

“As freshmen, we really have to step up and prove ourselves,” Cavanaugh said.

She said the older players’ leadership and encouragement help them get past it, though.

“They’ve really helped us step up our game,” Cavanaugh said. “They believe in us and that helps, because, being new to the team, it’s scary going out there competing against top division one teams.”

She said she and her teammates hope to finish as one of the top Big South Conference teams this year.

According to her, they not only hope to do so, but expect it.

“We know that we can finish that high,” Cavanaugh said. “So it’s just a matter of going out there and getting it done. I have faith, my teammates have faith and our coaches have faith in us. We just have to go out there and prove it to ourselves.”

UNCA’s women’s tennis team continues their conference play Friday when they travel to Rock Hill, S.C. to face Winthrop University.

Comics, Etc...

Thursday, March 26, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

What Killed the Dinosaurs

Page 16

Sudoku

The rules to play Sudoku are quite simple. Fill in the blanks so that each row, each column, and each of the nine 3x3 grids contain one instance of each of the numbers 1 through 9.

Puzzle answers published in the

Comics, Etc

online section weekly at

thebluebanner.net

Campus Voice Thursday, March 26, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

Page 17

CDs continue steep decline as listeners adjust habits Smaller music hile the release of the new reaches a market? venues struggle in iPod Shuffle continues a You might not know any of the techBy Tom McLean trend in music, it also signals nical aspects; in fact, the questions really tough economy the death of another format only concern those who truly care about

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and a way of business.

A comparison of the third quarters of 2007 and 2008 reveals CD sales fell dramatically, according to the NPD Group, who conducts market research for all kinds of businesses.

The NPD reports the number of CDs sold during the above timeframe fell 19 percent. While CD sales fell, and continue to fall, the group reports younger listeners obtain more of their music from the Internet.

For example, in 2004, users downloaded approximately 140 million songs off the Internet. By 2007, this number grew to 810 million, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

During those same years, CD sales fell from 767 million to roughly 512 million, according to the RIAA. “CD sales have been down since MP3s have been booming online,” said Mel Vail, an employee of F.Y.E. at the Asheville Mall. “We do more DVD sales than we do CD.” As this trend continues over time, it could mean death for CDs. And if CD sales continue to drop, then music stores will shut their doors. An unprecedented and depressing event, the closing of record stores shows the power of continually growing MP3 technology.

“Because we offer the used program here, that helps out with CD sales a lot,” Vail said.

If you think about all the format changes for music, they not only changed the quality of music delivered, but the medium in which people played them. For example, when the music industry went from cassettes to CDs, the change kept music stores alive because people still bought a tangible item. With digital downloads, the transaction occurs electronically.

According to the NPD, 15 percent of Internet users got their music from stores like iTunes and AmazonMP3 during the 2008 third quarter. The iPod can carry so many songs because of the MP3 format’s small file size.

While most of the online downloads are MP3, listeners lose quality in exchange for having so many songs on their players.

“MP3s are horrible. The sound quality

Staff Writer

tjmclean@unca.edu

is bad,” Vail said. “It just doesn’t sound the same to me.”

MP3 works by compressing the audio information from a track by throwing out redundant information, according to Walt Crawford, a well-known author and speaker on technologies and media, in addition to other topics.

Crawford ran his own informal tests comparing MP3 quality to CDs. He acknowledged his audio system as mediocre and found most of the MP3 music acceptable, but not of CD quality.

Of course, we can go into the quality at which he played the MP3s and what’s available today, but such a topic wastes time.

If today’s music listeners cared more about quality over portability, which MP3 players champion themselves on, then the huge amounts of digital downloads simply wouldn’t occur.

This concern of portability over quality might be a generational thing because the NPD reports more young people embrace this compared to older people.

The Group reports that last year, teens bought 34 percent more digital music than in 2007 during the third quarter. And with peer-to-peer file sharing, fewer teens burned shared files to CDs, which the group attributes to teens preferring digital music.

Also, many young users might not be concerned with quality at all. For example, do you know the difference between analog and digital signals in music? What about high-fidelity systems?

And do you know why vinyl music still

audio quality. So, most people, while they may enjoy music and portability, certainly don’t appreciate good quality audio.

If MP3 technology eventually becomes the main way for people to get their music, this not only affects music stores closing, but bands as well.

Consider how bands must promote themselves. Realistically, they must go on the road and push an album in order to get a following. The sale of music directly online undercuts lesser-known bands because they can’t get as much exposure.

“I’m very, very supportive whenever I listen to music,” Vail said.

“I usually buy it directly from bands to keep them going.”

The direct purchase of music from bands not only keeps them alive and able to cut more albums, but also maintains a standard in the music industry.

If people continue to use MP3s, an entire generation may never know what quality music sounds like. If people keep this low standard of quality, then our society loses a unique form of expression.

And if you think an MP3 is good quality, check out a vinyl on a decent system; it might surprise you.

Of course, technologies change over time, and products fall by the wayside as they become obsolete. But we value music quite a bit in this country. Certain parts of society exist simply because of their music. By turning to compressed music, we not only lose quality, but also a part of ourselves.

We can only expect the trend of MP3s to continue over time. But if you want portability, don’t worry. As time goes on, we’ll start to compress MP3s. And then we’ll compress that, too. So keep it up, and enjoy the noise. Most won’t know the difference anyway.

“If people continue to use MP3s, an entire generation may never know what quality music sounds like.”

By Sam Hunt Staff Writer

schunt@unca.edu

While The Orange Peel thrives during rough economic times, Asheville music lovers should not forget about the dozens of other places to see live music. Large venues thrive during hard times because people need to escape everyday life and see their favorite bands. But is The Orange Peel really Asheville’s best place for people to spend money on shows?

The 942-capacity concert space has its perks. Ticket sales usually fall between $16 and $25, a modest price range for a club that consistently hosts names as popular as Ben Folds, The Avett Brothers and 311. The high ceiling, the wide standing room and top-notch sound system undeniably make The Orange Peel a premier music club.

Yet, there’s something unsettling about the Orange Peel. Extensive drug searches often occur at the doors, security guards bully people out of the club right after the headliner ends, and the surplus of watered down tribute and jam bands give Asheville’s music scene a bad name.

“I like The Orange Peel, but it feels like a corporate stadium,” said Ben Melton, a junior music performance major at UNC Asheville. “I like the Grey Eagle more, but there are a lot of bands that play there that I’ve never heard of.”

Melton, who plans to see Mastodon at The Orange Peel on May 14, said that concerts are about the artist, not the venue. “(The Orange Peel) is getting smarter and savvy on Asheville’s scene, so I’m not surprised that tickets are selling out,” Melton said. “But it’s all about the artist in the end. If I support the artist, I’ll go see them regardless. But, I do like the Grey Eagle’s sound and environment better.”

AC Entertainment, a Knoxville-based

See Orange

Peel Page 18

Thursday, March 26, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

Page 18

Viewers turn to television for relief in trying times

W

ith a gloomy economy, people losing their jobs daily and members of Congress attacking one another, we should at least be glad that there are some decent television shows to watch.

Not to trivialize what’s going on in the United States and across the world, but since there’s not much we can personally do about Bernard Madoff or the greed of AIG and Citigroup, let’s at least try to get our mind off things for an hour or so and enjoy some TV. The NCAA tournament is going on right now, but if basketball isn’t your style there are plenty of other things on television for you to enjoy.

First of all, I must say the biggest surprise of this television season so far is HBO’s “Eastbound & Down,” which is probably the funniest show on TV. For those who don’t get HBO or have never watched “Eastbound,” the show stars Danny McBride (“Pineapple Express”) as Kenny Powers, a down-and-out former baseball pitcher who recently moved into his little brother’s house in Shelby.

The show, which wrapped up its first season Sunday (but can still be seen as repeats on HBO), focuses on Powers’ struggles with no longer being a big shot major league pitcher and now being a nobody in a town full of nobodies.

For those who aren’t crazy enough to

ing of David and Goliath. Based on the commercials, the show will be good or

By Patrick Zarcone painfully and hilariously awful. Also, Staff Writer starting on April 9, Amy Poehler’s (“Satpwzarcon@unca.edu urday Night Live”) new show “Parks and Recreation” will premiere.

There really isn’t much on CBS unless you’re older than 60 and/or enjoy actually pay for HBO, there are plenty falling asleep on your couch. “How I of other good shows on network televi- Met Your Mother” is a funny show and sion and basic cable that will help get there is also “Two and a Half Men” for those who had a lobotomy but still like your mind off the crumbling economy.

FOX also has new episodes of “The to sit in front of the television. CBS late Simpsons,” “Family Guy” and, in its fi- night, though, is actually quite respectnal season, “King of the Hill.” They’re able with David Letterman and Craig Ferguson, who are both also coming out with a great. new variety show called If you’re a fan of Osbournes: Reloaded, “Lost,” you already which features Ozzy Os“The biggest know that it’s on ABC bourne, his wife and kids surprise of this right now. If you’ve doing God only knows what. If you’re a fan of television sea- never watched, don’t bother because you’ll train wrecks, the show son so far is never catch up with the premieres on Tuesday at HBO’s “Eaststoryline. For those 9 p.m.

Some of the best bound & Down.” who want to watch something mindshows are actually on less, “Dancing with NBC, which is home to the Stars” is also on one of the top three funniest shows on television – “30 Rock.” ABC, as is the possible final season of NBC also has new episodes of “The “Scrubs.”

As for The CW, I made a promise to Office,” “My Name is Earl” and “Hemyself years ago to never watch anyroes.”

NBC also broadcasts Jimmy Fallon’s thing on that channel, but from what I new late night show and the new show can tell, “Gossip Girl,” “One Tree Hill” “Kings,” which is a modern-day retell- and “America’s Next Top Model” are

Orange Peel promotion corporation, books every national touring act that comes to The Orange Peel. The company, best-known as the coproducers of the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, apparently has great influence on The Orange Peel, given that the venue usually hosts national touring acts.

Universally acclaimed artists are great to see in town, and The Orange Peel is only one of a few places to see such acts. But the best overall show-going experiences occur at places like the Grey Eagle and The Rocket Club, which have friendly staff, equally strong sound quality, cheaper door prices and a wider variety of music, both local and national.

Ken Klehm, owner of the Rocket Club

the big shows. I know I’m probably missing out, but a promise is a promise.

Aside from network TV, there is also Comedy Central, which has “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart, “The Colbert Report,” “South Park” (which I don’t think has been funny since about 2002) and the new show “Important Things with Demetri Martin.” Of course, if the goal is to watch some mindless television to stop thinking about everything that is going wrong in the world, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert may not be the best options, nor would the brilliant PBS series “Frontline” or “Bill Moyers Journal.” But if you’re a glutton for punishment, there are plenty of great news shows on television to watch.

I have to say, though, while the point of this article is to let you know about some TV shows that will help get your mind off work and school and all of the problems we’re facing right now, you can always go outside and enjoy what Asheville has to offer. If the weather is still a little too chilly for you, though, hopefully you now have a whole list of things to watch instead of just staring at the news while in complete and utter shock.

For those who don’t have a lot of time to watch these shows when they’re on, check out www.hulu.com where you can watch almost every one of the shows I’ve mentioned in the article for free, and with limited commercial breaks.

Continued

in West Asheville, said that large venues have a different business model than small, independent venues.

“I can take risks and book bands that I like, whereas The Orange Peel can host local music showcases,” Klehm said. “(The Rocket Club) is open every night, whether we have a show or not. The business models are just so different.”

Yet the corporate nature of The Orange Peel distracts its patrons from the music, whether concert-goers realize it or not.

Some people may not care about the plethora of stern-faced staff in orange “Krewe” attire, but their presence disturbs the venue’s atmosphere, which is otherwise easygoing.

In essence, The Orange Peel is indicative of Asheville’s overall disappointing music scene. In a struggling economy, it makes sense to frequent other music clubs that host local talent to comfortable audience sizes and accommodate the community with a loose vibe.

“My overall sense of Asheville is that the quality of musicians is amazing. This town could easily be another place like Athens or Austin. The only thing that’s missing is a fan base,” Klehm said.

The Orange Peel’s role in Asheville, then, should not be the most acclaimed haven of live music, but rather a place where big-name favorites can easily accommodate large crowds while maintaining a somewhat intimate atmosphere.

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Thursday, March 26, 2009

{The Blue Banner}

Page 19

A Word From Student Government

Student Government Election Results Find out who YOU elected for: President Vice President Senior Senator Junior Senator Sophomore Senator Residential Senator Commuter Senator For election results before anyone else, visit www.thebluebanner.net

The

Blue Banner Editorial Board

Karpen Hall 019 (828) 251-6586 banner@unca.edu www.thebluebanner.net Aaron Dahlstrom, Editor-in-Chief

Emily Gray, Business Manager

Jonathan Walczak, Managing Editor

Cassidy Culbertson, Photo Editor

Pam Stringer, News Editor

Cassady Sharp, Assistant News Editor

Dylan Schepps, Arts&Features Editor Sam Hunt, Assistant Arts&Features Editor Greg Hicks, Sports Editor

Matt Starkey, Assistant Web Editor

Jason Herring, Design&Web Editor

Michael Gouge, Faculty Adviser

The Blue Banner is UNC Asheville’s student newspaper. We publish each Thursday except during summer sessions, finals week and holiday breaks. Our office is located in Karpen Hall 019.

The Blue Banner is a designated forum for free speech and welcomes letters to the editor, considering them on basis of interest, space and timeliness. Letters and articles should be e-mailed to banner@unca.edu. They should be signed with the writer’s name, followed by year in school, major or other relationship to UNCA. Include a telephone number to aid in verification. All articles are subject to editing.

SGA pushes for sustainability, prepares for Greenfest

D

o you know why that orange fencing keeps a corner of the Quad blocked off? Well, I’ll tell you. The blocked off corner of the Quad represents an unrivaled commitment to sustainability not found on just any campus in this state. UNC Asheville maintains one of the greenest campuses in the UNC system. UNCA uses less energy per square foot than any other campus.

And that corner of the Quad? That patch of land becomes our campus’s next site for renewable energy. No, no plans exist for constructing a wind turbine or solar panels (not yet, at least). The facilities staff planned something a little less conspicuous: geothermal wells for Rhodes Hall. These wells sit deep in the ground and use the heat of the Earth for energy.

With two buildings already using geothermal energy, it is nothing new on campus, and neither is UNCA’s commitment to sustainability. Throughout our school’s history, individuals took steps to reduce our resource consumption. This year, while we sit amid an upwelling of environmental consciousness and green sensibilities, UNCA celebrates its 20th year of Greenfest, a weeklong event that promotes learning about and giving back to the environment that provides so much for us.

This year, student government, along with a coalition of other organizations, brings Greenfest to the campus community once again. The event lasts a week and will begin on April 1. As a variation on every prankster’s favorite holiday, April Fool’s Day, we plan to kick Greenfest off with the international celebration of Fossil Fool’s Day, a day of raising awareness about the detrimental effects of fossil fuels.

We move into the month of April, and away from fossil fuels, with Bike to School Day on April 2. Join the UNCA Bike Shop on the Quad for bike tune-ups and tips, free of charge, as always. In addition to the events on the Quad, there will be opportunities to get your hands dirty by removing some exotic-invasive plants and planting native plants. Just meet at the Dining Hall between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

April 2 and 3.

April 4 will be a really exciting day full of events that no one wants to miss.

By Ellie Johnston

Student Body Vice President aajohnso@unca.edu

“UNCA uses less energy per square foot than any other campus.”

The day features the annual Great Bus & Bike About, a citywide scavenger hunt using bikes or buses to find local businesses holding prizes for speedy teams. This year teams weary of traveling get some relief with one of two service-oriented activities during the competition, which gives back to the community.

If finding your way around Asheville sounds a little too energetic for your Saturday, then join Chuck Marsh, an internationally-recognized horticulturist and permaculturist, for a day of gardening and fun. Marsh will teach a series of sessions introducing the basics of permaculture, soil preparation, garden layout and edible landscaping. Participants will get to be part of the creation of UNCA’s own permaculture garden on campus and gain experience putting their skills to use.

In addition to those events already mentioned, activities on April 4 will begin at 9 a.m. with a yard sale to support the Southern Energy Network and then conclude with the Earth Jam. Both events take place on the Quad. The Earth Jam includes the live bands St. Solitude, Arielle Bryant and King Tut. Greenfest festivities will overflow into the beginning of that following week with a panel on food and the film “Flow” on April 6. The events mentioned here represent only a fraction of all the events planned for Greenfest 2009. Please check the UNCA Web site for a link to the complete agenda of events for the first week of April.

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