Clarion
www.brevard.edu/clarion
THE
Volume 76, Issue 25 Web Edition SERVING BREVARD COLLEGE SINCE 1935
Carolina Chocolate Drops play BC
Honors and Awards Day
is Wednesday, April 13
April 8, 2011
By Park Elliot Baker
Staff Writer
Grammy Award winning group “The Carolina
Chocolate Drops” will perform at BC Thursday,
April 14. The group won Best Traditional Folk
Album for their release “Genuine Negro Jig.”
Formed in 2005, the band’s moniker is a nod
to the Tennessee Chocolate Drops, three black
brothers who played together in the 1930’s.
Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens and Justin
Robinson met online in a Yahoo! Group called
“Black Banjo: Then and Now.” The three
committed themselves to traveling to string
legend Joe Thompson’s home in Cedar Grove,
NC every Thursday to play with and leam from
him. They have even coaxed him on stage a
few times. Thompson is revered as one of the
few post-slave era blacks to keep the traditional
In this issue...
Campus News:
SGAbios 2
This week on campus 2
News:
BC at geological convention 3
Earth Day Earth plays 3
This week in history 3
Sports:
student athletes of the month 4
BC student named to NCCSIAteam.. 4
Football spring game announced 5
Men's tennis undefeated in SAC 5
Opinion:
Devil's Advocate 6
How not to end up in the friend zone.. 6
Comic by Karam Boeshaar 6
Arts & Life:
Iron pour at BC 7
Comedian Jeff Havens to visit BC 7
Odds and Ends:
Translation contest 8
African string culture alive.
As Robinson puts it, “It’s something you can’t
get any other way than by learning at the feet of
somebody who’s been doing it for a very, very
long time, who’s been completely immersed in
something.”
Having seen them before, I can assure the
Brevard College campus that they are in for a
treat. People were packed into the Orange Peel
like sardines. More people were at that show
than a few international headliners, and their
performances were incredible. Folk music
met the modem beat box in a mix of banjos,
mandolins, harmonicas, jugs and kazoos.
Giddens’ voice has the deep resonance of a
much older woman, and her anima shines in
the bands rendition of “Hit ‘Em Up Style,” a
Blu Cantrell original. She is not the lead singer
for the group however Robinson gives up the
beatbox that adds modem flare to “Hit ‘Em Up
Style” and picks up the mandolin in “Combread
and Butterbeans,” a cheerful homage to
southem culture, where he sings “Combread
and Butterbeans and you across the table/eating
beans and makin’ love as long as I am able....”
The Carolina Chocolate Drops are an eclectic
foray to keep the traditions of Africa alive.
Jovial as the music is, we can not forget that
the trio from Raleigh, North Carolina embodies
a culture that was robbed, and its language
suppressed. Anyone who has an appreciation for
the foundations that support our modem society
will enjoy their performance.
“We are the first and foremost entertainers and
musicians,” Giddens emphasizes. “The other
stuff enriches, deepens the experience. If you
can’t enjoy the music on the surface, we aren’t
doing our job. That’s been the problem with
some historical-based music. Sometimes it feels
like a lesson injected rather than just something
to be enjoyed.”
The Drops released two independent
albums, “Dona Got A Ramblin’ Mind” (2006)
and “Heritage” (2008), before signing with
Nonesuch, and began work on “Genuine Negro
Jig.”
Tickets are $20 to $25 and are available online
at www.etix.com. The show starts at 7 p.m.
SGA E-board runs unopposed
SGA passed an amendment Tuesday forgoing
elections if all executive board positions are
unopposed.
Voting scheduled for April 14 through the 18
is tentatively canceled, as no executive board
position is being contended. Lucy Matthews
will continue to serve as SGA president, Mark
Moseley will take over as vice-president, and
Dorothy Buff will step in as treasurer More on
these students can be found on page two.
Secretary and Speaker of the Clubs are both
currently vacant positions.
A question and answer session with next
year’s executive board members will be held
in the Reserve Dining Room on Wednesday,
April 13 at 6 p.m. All students are encouraged to
attend and voice their questions and concems.
At the next SGA meeting, Tuesday, April 12
at 7 p.m., SGA will host a question and answer
session conceming the BC presidential search
committee with two senior consultants at
Academic Search, Inc., the firm hired to conduct
the search for BC’s next president. Students
W
SGA will host a question and
answer session concerning
the BC presidential search
committee at the next SGA
meeting, Tuesday, April 12 at
7 p.m. in the RDR.
//
who wish to voice their questions and concems
about the search should do so here. Questions
may be submitted in advance to SGA president,
Lucy Matthews.
SGA will hold a fomm with Joseph Brown,
Director of Facilities at Brevard, and Jason
Djuren, Director of Community Living, on
Tuesday April 19 at 7 p.m. Students will
have a chance to voice their concems about
maintenance and housing at BC to Brown and
Djuren and vice-versa.