The Blue Banner September 12, 1996 Speakers discuss realities of AIDS Band's innovotive sound addresses Generation X Jason Wicks Staff Writer An AIDS victim and one of his college frater nity brothers will share their personal experi ences with the disease during a lecture spon sored by the Greek Council and Special Events Committee in Highsmith Center Lounge on Sept. 12. They will address living with HIV via personal stories, a video presentation, as well as a time for audience discus sion and questions. In the presentation,Joel Goldman shares his ex periences as a fraternity member at Indiana Uni versity and the risks of mixing unprotected sex and alcohol. An old col lege friend, T.J. Sullivan, teaches students about the workings of the HIV virus and ways students can reduce risk and pre vent infection. “Just about everybody these days is touched by AIDS,” says Emily Head, member of the Greek Council, “and I think [this event] is something that could help them deal with it. From living on campus I know how people are promiscuous...hopefully [the presentation] will make them think twice.” According to Head, Goldman learned of his illness several years after college. After calling his friend Sullivan, they both began to attend help sessions and soon realized how they could make a difference in peoples’ lives. The two men put together a presentation and now speak at conventions and colleges all over the U.S. Since they began traveling in 1993, more than 150,000 students have seen the program. Goldman and Sullivan travel full-time with their program to more than 80 campuses each academic year. “This is our generation’s Vietnam. We are going to be losing our friends if we don’t get busy and start protesting. We have to make sure our campuses and our friends are dealing realis tically with this issue,” said Sullivan. The presentation is designed to help people befriend AIDS victims as well as to help the victims deal with the disease. According to Head, “other people are out there having to deal with this and hearing [Goldman and Sullivan’s] story is something that could help them along.” Head, required to plan an educational event for the students, heard excellent reviews of the two men and asked them to speak at UNCA. “I’ve heard so much good informa tion about these two speakers. We felt that it was directed toward a college audience...It’s something that is defi- '[•'// nitely here and we’re living with it,” said Head. Head handled the preparation for the event through the Greek Coun cil, who, along with the Special Events Com- m i t t e e , sponsored the Greek Week pre sentation. ‘ Joel Goldman and T.J. Sullivan will present "Friendship in the Age of AIDS" tonight in Highsmith Center. Folk musician Stephen Taylor will perform in Highsmith Center Lounge on Friday at 9 p.m. free of charge. Jay Malinoski Staff Writer ThKind, a New Jersey- based rock band known for intense performances and originality, has released a self-titled album on Swami Records. The album is a refreshing alter native to the post-teenage, “life sucks,and so do money and fame” genre that seems to have dominated popular music for the past few years. For once, there exists a modern rock band that doesn’t make sacrifices to Kurt Cobain s whin- ing. Musically, ThKind show innovation that is far beyond such rock gods as The Offspring and Nada Surf. Their drummer. Tommy Dillon, displays some of the best percussion I’ve heard m recent years, with beats that reflect the styles ot Neil Feart ot Rush and even Stewart Copeland of The Police. Stirring acoustic and electric riffs, similar to bands like Blind Melon, provided by lead gui tarist Joe Serin and rhythm guitarist Kevin LaCarubba, combined with the bass of Sam Magill make ThKind’s sound one of the most innovative heard in recent times. It is hard to relate the overall sound to much of anything that’s come out recently. GOOD! Lyrically, ThKind do address the Generation X attitudes of depressing self-unfulfillment in their debut, but do so in a more lighthearted way. In the faster paced “Insanity Knocks,” LaCarrubba writes “Cast your fears off and lose your doubt/ Where we’re going you can do without those bags,” and then “Come through my TV/ Can’t take no more/ Here’s what to wear and what to think/ Don’t stop to ponder just take the drink.” With such quick moving songs as “Tale of Two Heads,” “Casual Killer,” and the more Rafrica Adams Staff Writer This weekend an Asheville-based theater com pany will perform a former Broadway play in Lipinsky Hall. The theater group The Players will be per forming “A Streetcar Named Desire” five times this week, according to Jane Paige, founder and artistic director of The Players, and the play’s director. “A Streetcar Named Desire” was written by Tennessee Will iams in 1947. It ran for two years on Broadway before becoming an Oscar-winning movie,starring Marlon Brando. “This is one of the theater’s greatest classics,” said Paige. “It’s a very challenging, very powerful drama. That’s actually what made Marlon Brando. It’s a wonderful work for students of theater and communication to study because it’s written so well,” Paige added. Paige said that a lot of preparation makes up the pre-production of this play. The company has been rehearsing the play for eight weeks.”Normally we can get a play done in maybe five or six weeks,” she said. “This will need so much work to really tring good perfor mances out of the people,” said Paige. ThKind lighthearted “Cybill,” about a guy who is (big shocker) dumbfounded by a woman, the self titled debut by ThKind is an album that kicks a@# without causing the neighbors to call the cops. On a more mellow note, ThKind do give us a slower look at relationships and life in general in songs like “Marshmellow Head,” but the majority of the album is rife with quick tempos and swift chord changes that remind us that yes, talent really can rock. ThKind, scheduled in the past at venues up and down the eastern seaboard from Burlington, Vermont to Key West, Fla., play on circuits ranging from colleges to clubs. They’ve played at The Stone Pony in Ashbury Park, NJ, The Bitter End in New York City, and the 1994 and ’95 Woodstock festivals in Bethel, New York. Their next album is scheduled for release in December of this year. ThKind are originals. They don’t fill your head with tragic tales of wasted youth, nor do they play three-chord progressions with the distortion so loud it cracks windows, and then call it creative “genius.” They are a good, solid band that have talent and a knack for original ity. Of course, that’s iust the wav / see it. \- Tlvc Univcrsiiy of North Caroliita at Aslieville I IM1N ll'd H5I, JiiK Company to perform theater classic Cast members are from left to right: Mercer, Lane Hollifield, John Stanton The Players have been operating in the Asheville area since April of 1995- They will publicly perform ‘Streetcar’ for the first time as a group this weekend. Paige recalls acting in the play before with another theater company. “I did it in Florida under the direction of somebody else and got the "best actress of the season’ for it,” said Paige. “Tennessee Williams’ works are really fantas tic. They get right to , the very depths of each character. You’ve got to have top quality ac tors and a real strong commitment to do this one,” said Paige. The players have done about ten pro ductions since they formed, including “Deathtrap,” which they performed in Photo courtesy of Jane Paige April. Kim Shetlin, Jane Page, To«y >>“"''"T' ' ( Deathtrap ) was an- other great, great play. It had a lot of special effects.” The company plans to remain based in Asheville. However, they do plan to perform plays elsewhere. “We’ve been asked to do some festivals, but our base is Asheville. This is our home, and UNCA is our home too,” said Paige. The play will have five showings beginning on Sept. 12. Tickets can be purchased by calling 683-9928 or 683-9893. UNCA students may purchase tickets for $2.50 with their student identification card. Rosh Hashanah Begins Friday Night, September 13 Yom Kippur Begins Sunday Night, September 22 Congregations Beth Israel and Beth Ha-Tephila invite students to attend services For information on services or home hospitality for holiday meals, call or visit Rick Chess (251-6576, Karpen Hall 219) or Sharyn McDonald Groh (251-6669, Highsmith Center 27)