Page 4
The Blue Banner
April 4,2002
Features
Jump, Little Children performs at Asheville Music Zone
Scott Adams
Features Reporter
Jump, Little Children’s March 28
show at the Asheville Music Zone
demonstrated the band’s incred
ible talents. Their rich, authentic
sound stems from their fantastic
vocals, instruments and styles rang
ing from hard, driving rock to tin
whistle Celtic folk music.
A full house came out for Jump,
Little Children, but also enthusias
tically responded to Carbon Leaf,
an opening Celtic-rock band from
Richmond, Va. One
flaw which dampened
the evening was that
whoever was doing the
sound for both bands
needed to turn down
the bass. People want
their music good and loud, but
when audience members feel the
thump of the bass drum in their
bodies every time it takes a pound
ing, and is quite annoying.
Aside from Carbon Leaf s overuse
of their bass drum, the five-man
group’s mandolin, drums, guitars,
tin whistle and tambourine charmed
the crowd. Their set ended with a
rousing song called “The Boxer”
which rested on a lone, strong-
sounding bagpipe.
Jump, Little Children then took
the stage with rock-star prowess as
lights flashed and fast-paced guitar
music reverberated throughout the
club. They opened their set with
“Vertigo,” the title track off their
latest album, featuring full-on gui
tar sections and cello riffs which
delve in and out of soft reflective
tones.
Breanna Ledford, an undeclared
UNCA sophomore, talked about
the band’s unique sound.
Review
“It has really developed in the few
years that I’ve followed them,” said
Ledford. “It takes you for a ride.”
Jump, Little Children has a regu
lar group of fans who follow their
tours. Maybe on a much smaller
scale than fans ofThe Grateful Dead
or Phish, but they are dedicated
fans nonetheless. So what are these
fans called? Jumpheads?
“The people that follow them
around. I’m going to call them ‘The
Little Children,’” said Ledford.
May Wahdan, an undeclared
UNCA junior, said “I’ve lost count
at 15,” as to how many JLC shows
she has seen.
Whatever Jump,
Little Children’s fans
are called, they are a
lively group of
people. The band
launched into “Vio
lent Dreams” as the
floor crowd bounced around two
giant inflated condoms above their
heads.
I’ve never seen anyone so wildly
play a stand-up bass as JLC’s
Jonathan Gray. Think “heavy-
metal-guitarist-meets-stand-up-
bass-player.”
The mixed audience of high school
students, college students, and a
few older people packed the entire
flooroftheclub. Evan Bivins’ drum
beats backed up his brother. Mat
thew Bivins’ pulsating vocals and
multitalented work on guitar, tin
whistle and accordion. Many of
their songs seem fitting for a
soundtrack to a great love story or
when you are having a really good
day.
They played a mix of old and new
songs, with songs off “Vertigo”
emphasizing the accordion and
cello, producing a warm, earthy
sound. Singer and guitarist Jay
Clifford sometimes sounds like the
COURTESY OF WWW.JUMPLITTLECH1LDREN.COM
Jump, Little Children band members Matt Bivins, Ward Williams, Jonathan Gray, Evan Bivins and Jay
Clifford on the cover of their latest album, Vertigo.
British bands Travis and Star Sailor,
yet maintains a unique edge.
The crowd erupted into a frenzy
of cheering and dancing when the
band played “You Can Look But
You Can’t Touch.” This song de
scribes the tricky quirks of eyeing
someone that you fancy without
getting in trouble for it.
They also played “Angel Dust,” a
song off of “Vertigo” played with a
steady trip-hop beat behind it. This
song catches your ear as the band
steadily adds instruments for a richly
textured, building sound. Aside
from their various instruments, this
band has a few lead singers, with
Clifford and Matthew Bivins
switching off at the mic.
Another multitalented band
member is Ward Williams. He
played a cello, guitar, and even
used his ringing cell phone to open
up an impromptu, mock-cover of
Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.” His
Sarah-Vance Goodman
Features Reporter
Andrew M. Manis recounted the
interesting story of why he spent
twelve years of his life writing a
book about someone who laid the
groundwork for the Civil Rights
movement. UNCA’s Owen Con
ference Center hosted the third lec
ture in a series of talks sponsored by
the Religious Studies department.
Manis, author of “The Fire You
Can’t Put Out: The Civil Rights
Life of Birmingham’s Reverend
Fred Shuttlesworth,” gave the lec
ture on “Religion in the Civil Rights
Movement.”
The audience, gravi
tating toward the rear
seats of the room, was
made up of a few fac
ulty, some student
groups who may have
been there for a Hu
manities cultural event, and a few
community citizens.
Although the crowd was anything
but impressive, Manis delivered a
fascinating account of the process
he went through while writing his
biography on Fred Shuttlesworth,
a dynamic preacher who led inte
gration efforts, far from the lime-
light.
“It is about the personal reasons
that energize a person to take on a
project like this,” said Manis. “I
wrote about Fred Shuttlesworth
because I grew up in Birmingham,
Alabama and I remember feeling
like something was brewing. I re
member the ambivalence that
memories created in my nine-year-
old heart.”
He had the opportunity to meet
Shuttlesworth after talking with his
uncle about a thesis paper he was
writing at the time on the Civil
Rights movement. His uncle ar
ranged a meeting with the preacher,
the first time Manis met him.
After meeting this controversial
preacher, Manis said, “I wanted
someone to give him credit. I’d
never met a person who is as com
mitted to something as he was. I
wanted to participate in the move
ment vicariously.” So began the
dedication of twelve years of his life
to compose a biography on
Shuttlesworth.
Although not an extremely dy
namic lecturer, Manis silenced the
audience, who sat compelled and
curious to find out about
Shuttlesworth.
Manis proceeded to
tell the listeners about
his book through pic
turesque stories detail
ing Shuttlesworth’s
life.
“By 1963 he was one
of the nation’s most courageous
Civil Rights Movement advocates,”
said Manis. No one more regularly
put himself in a position to be
killed.” In his book, Manis quotes
Shuttlesworth saying, “kill segrega
tion in Birmingham, or be killed.”
People around Shuttlesworth be
came convinced he had been
anointed by God, and by the mi
raculous tales which Manis re
counts, it would seem probable.
The black pastor had a stick of
dynamite slid under his bed one
Christmas night, and walked away
with only a bump on his head,
declaring, “God saved me to lead
the fight.” His home church. Bethel
Baptist Church, was bombed three
times, yet continued to lay ground
work for the Birmingham move
ment.
cello work on the song “The Singer”
perfectly accompanies Matthew
Bivins’ almost spoken-word lyrics.
The following song, “Cathedrals,”
contains particularly moving vocals
and tones. Several crowd members
raised lit lighters. Despite this being
an inherently cheesy tradition, the
song awed the audience. What
makes “Cathedrals” so popular?
May Wahdan said, “I know that
song was played up North a lot.
That was their first major radio
song.”
“Dancing Virginia” belted out a
rollicking Celtic rock sound. Mat
thew Bivins’ tin whistle carried this
song. The women in the audience
particularly cheered for this song.
Friends of mine have jokingly called
Jump, Little Children a “girl band”
because of its fan-base. Are they 3
“girl band?”
“I’ve definitely noticed that from
my friends from home,” said
Wahdan.” All our guy friends are
like, ‘Well, all the girls are going out
to the Jump, Little Children show,
what do you guys want to do in
stead?”’
Jeanine Ammirati, aseniorUNCA
management major, commented
on the “girl band” question. “I think
that guys like them, but they don’t
want to admit to other people that
they do.” She joked about the
things guys say sometimes like,
‘Yeah, I like a few of their songs that
are punk-rock, but not the girly
ones’
This guy thinks Jump. Little Chil
dren has an incredible array of styles,
ranging from blues to rock to folk
and everything in between. Their
new album marks a change from
their last album “Magazine.”
Speaking about “Vertigo,
Wahdan said, “It’s not dark, it’s
just mellow. It just shows them
growing as a band. They’re not
always gonna be ‘poppy’ all the
Aroimd the campus
Manis recognizes major
Civil Rights leader in book
In an effort to integrate the school
system, Shuttlesworth enrolled his
daughter in Phillips High School, a
white public facility. Despite
threats, the family drove up and
faced a mob in front of the school,
were beaten and bruised, and later
in an interview stated, “Well, this is
just the price you pay for freedom.”
Manis paused, then to a quiet
audience said, “That’s not even the
best story,” and proceeded to un
ravel the tale of Shuttlesworth
standing up to Birmingham Police
Chief Bull Conner. In 1959, the
chief attempted to stop the move
ment in Birmingham by calling a
stop to the rallies and meetings
Shuttlesworth was organizing.
On one particular evening,
Conner dispatched the fire depart
ment to disperse the meeting at the
church, declaring that the mass of
people created a fire hazard.
“Ya’ll think there’s a fire in here?
There ain’t no fire in here! The
kind of fire in here is the kind that
you can’t put out with hoses and
axes,” said Shuttlesworth, facing
the crowd and the firemen.
Shuttlesworth was obviously a
man of integrity and a speaker with
gusto. He took blows to the face,
being sprayed backward against a
brick wall with a fire hose, and was
ready to die for what he believed.
He was a forgotten man who laid
the groundwork for the eloquence
of people like Martin Luther King
Jr. and the innocence of women
like Rosa Parks.
“Martin knows how to say it, but
Fred knows how to do it,” Manis
said of Shuttlesworth. He later
added, “If Rosa Parks deserved a
Presidential Medal of Freedom for
one act, then Fred Shuttlesworth
deserved a medal for his whole
movement.”
RACHEL CRUMPLER/NEWS EDITOR
Non degree-seeking art therapy student Mara Upenieks works on an oil painting in Owen
Hall April 3. Upenieks is doing the painting as part of Virginia Derryberry’s Painting 2 class.
Eventually, after reading Manis’
biography. President Clinton
awarded Shuttlesworth the Presi
dential Citizens Award.
“I thought (Manis) was very good
and I appreciate the entertaining
style of telling stories,” said
Intervarsity Christian Fellowship
sponsor Dawn Everette, “I think it
is really interesting that no one
knows who (Shuttlesworth) is.”
Shuttlesworth, who recently
turned eighty years old, is respectful
of Dr. King but humbly knows that
if it had not been for him, there
likely would not have been a Bir
mingham movement or Nobel
Peace Prize for Dr. King. Manis
presented a view of this man that
left the audience curious for more.
Gail Councell, a sophomore his
tory major, said, “It is interesting
that Fred Shuttlesworth made such
a big impact, but only lives in King’s
shadow.”
The public is invited to comment on a proposed ammendment to
the Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program, a sched
ule of transportation projects to be carried out during fiscal years
2002-2008. The Asheville Area Metropolitan Planning Organiza
tion is considering an ammendment to the MTIP which reads as
follows: 1-4700 (FS-0113A) - 126,1-40 to NC280, Buncombe
County. Add additional lanes. Scheduled for planning and
environmental studies only (Planning to be funded using High
way Trust Fund balance). Comments may be submitted in
writing to Dan Baechtold, City of Asheville, P.O. Box 7148,
Asheville, NC 28802, or by email to
danb@mail.ci.asheville.nc.us. Comments will be accepted until
April 5, 2002. The ammendment will be discussed at the regula
tory scheduled meeting of the Transportation Advisory Commit
tee to be held on April 18, 2002 at 12:10 p.m. The meeting
location is room A-109 of the City of Asheville Public Works
Building at 161 South Charlotte Street. The meeting is open to
the public. Special provisions will be made for persons with
disabilities, if necessary, provided that a request is received 48
hours in advance of the meeting.
For more information please call 259-5943.