Volume 67: Issue 5
Brevard College
Wednesday, April 15,1998
For hearts and minds as large as the mountains
Jupiter Coyote Returns for Benefit Festival
BC Press Release
Jupiter Coyote, the “mountain
rock” band with roots in Brevard, N.C.,
will return home on Sunday, April 19, for
a special Earth Day Benefit Festival at
Straus Auditorium at the Brevard Music
Center. The festival, also featuring the
bands Nikki Talley and the Hobarts, For
merly Dorian Grey and Sister Moon, will
benefit the Straus Park Environmental
Scholarship Fund for students in the
Brevard College environmental educa
tion, wilderness leadership and experi
ential education programs. Doors open
at noon, rain or shine; tickets are $ 10 and
are available at King’s Creek Books on
the Brevard College campus,
Backcountry Outdoors in Pisgah Forest,
Headwaters Outfitters in Rosman, Es
sence of Thyme in downtown Brevard
and the Brevard Area Chamber of Com
merce.
The day’s activities will include
kayaking on Lake Milner, presentations
by Brevard College’s Voice of the Rivers
expedition team and food and refresh
ments from a variety of vendors.
Nikki Talley and the Hobarts,
singer-songwriters performing originals
and covers, will begin at Straus Audito
rium at 2 p.m., followed by formerly
Dorian Grey, a rock/altemative band from
Jupiter Coyote: David Stevens, Matt Mayes, Gene Bass, Sanders Brightwell,
ind John Felty —photo courtesy of The Brevard Magazine
Brevard College. Rockers Sister Moon,
called “one of the finest bands in
Asheville” by The Asheville Citizen-
Times, will play at 4;30 p.m. Sister
Moon headlined the Lexington Street
Stage at last year’s Bele Chere Festi
val to rave reviews, and is currently
recording its debut CD at Whitewater
Studios in Asheville.
Brevard will welcome Jupiter
Coyote for their retum to their roots in
Transylvania County when they take
the stage at 6 p.m. Though based out
of Macon, Ga., for years, the band was
conceived in Brevard by founding
members Matt Mayes (vocals, guitar
and banjo) and John Felty (vocals and
lead quitar). Together with drummer
Gene Bass, bassist Sanders Brightwell
and percussionist Robert Soto? the
group has toured relentlessly, produc
ing four CDs (which have sold over
100,000 copies) and building a large and
loyal fan base throughout the South
east. Their next CD is scheduled for
release in May.
Called “pure talent” by critics,
Jupiter Coyote blends rock, blues, coun
try, folk and bluegrass into a sound they
call“mountain rock.” Though they defi
nitely rock, the band’s disrinctive
sound seems to draw its strength and
energy from the Appalachian bluegrass
of the mountains, valleys, hollows and
ridgelines of the Blue Ridge. Often com
pared to the Allman Brothers (for whom
Jupiter Coyote has opened on several
occasions) and the Grateful Dead, Jupi
ter Coyote maintains a distinct musical
style driven by steady and strong
rhythm, intense and beautiful melodies,
and the use of the “guijo,” a half-banjo,
half-guitar instrument that Mayes in
vented and plays.
The music is not the only dis
tinctive feature of Jupiter Coyote; they
are also known for their uncompromis
ing artistic integrity. Launching Anony
mous Records in 1993, the band has
managed to control their own music (and
provide a launching pad for other art
ists such as Blue Miracle, Sister Hazel,
Strangefolk and Beth Wood) while still
working towards success in a business
driven by quick profits. Though ready
for the next level of commercial suc
cess, Jupiter Coyote is, at heart, a live-
music act that must be seen first-hand.
No coolers or alcohol will be
allowed into the festival; food and re
freshments will be available. For more
information, contact Curt Crowhurst at
(828) 883-8292, ext. 2290.
President Bertrand says, “This plan is a vision...
by Vivian Rivers
As Brevard College progresses
through the transition of becoming a four
year college, its face will be getting more
than a few touch ups. In order to accom
modate the needs and wants of, hope
fully, a student body of approximately
1000 full-time students, renovations of
the already present buildings is not
enough. That is where the Campus Mas
ter Plan comes into effect.
According to the Fall 1997 is
sue of the Brevard Magazine, “the Cam
pus Master Plan was developed by the
Campus Planning Committee, a presiden
tial committee composed of trustees, fac
ulty, staff, students, and alumni, in con
sultation with the College’s landscape
architect, Scott R. Melrose, ASLA, of
Asheville, North Carolina.” The plan
is to be implemented beginning with
its adoption in October of 1997 and
spanning piece by piece until its
completion in the year 2010. President
Thomas Bertrand says, “This plan is a
vision that we tmst will evolve over
time. In its detail and timing it will be
subject to improvements diat are sug
gested by interested parties, chang
ing campus needs, and the availability
of funds.” Staying true to this, the
plan has already run into problems.
The Federal Emergency
Management Agency released a new
set of flood maps for Transylvania
County that show changes in the 100-
year flood plain of both King’s Creek
and the French Broad River. Tliis has
limited the amount of building space
available to the college resuhing in the
construction of the large residential vil
lage being placed on the north end of
the campus and the new track and soft
ball fields being built on the flood plain
in order to prevent inhibitions of the
natural process of flooding.
The Master Plan is designed
in five year deadline increments, mean
ing every five years certain goals are to
be accomplished. For example, by the
year 2000, the Paul Porter Center for the
Performing Arts is to be completed and
equipped, a high-tech addition to the
J.A. Jones Library providing additional
space and collections, renovations to
Taylor Hall, to house faculty offices or
administrative offices, and create a new
entrance to the college at the intersec
tion of S. Caldwell and S. Broad Streets.
Those are just a few ideas. By the year
2005, the construction of a College
chapel will fmally take place along with
renovations to McLarty-Goodson and
Stamey Infirmary. That leads up to the
completion of the Master Plan by the
year 2010 with the continued upgrad
ing of campus facilities, parking, sys
tematic naturalization of indigenous
shrubs and trees, and lakeside hous
ing. Even though Brevard College will
be and already is going through major
physical reconstruction, the soul, mis
sion and purpose of the college remains
the same: for hearts and minds as large
as the mountains.