September 19,2002
The Blue Banner
Page 3
Features
Jennifer Nettles blends styles in Grey Eagle perfomiance
Sarah Grano
Features Reporter
The Jennifer Nettles Band played
:o a packed house at the Grey Eagle
m Sept. 6. The standing-room-
only crowd was made up of both
men and women, college to middle
age. Nettles, wearing a messy po
nytail and jeans, was animated and
impassioned in front of the micro-
ohone.
“This evening we intend on tak
ing you back in time, taking you
forward in time, bringing you to
the present, and attempting to do
all that while blowing our minds on
crossing genre,” Nettles warned the
crnwfl
The band played re-tooled songs
from the days of their former band,
Soul Miner’s Daughter, and also
genre hopped with reckless aban-
The Jennifer Nettles Band is clas
sified by most as folk, probably due
to the fact that they are fronted by
a woman with an acoustic guitar.
This being said, the band followed
through with their threat and played
bluegrass, rock, blues and honky-
tonk country.
“I thought it was a nice mix,” said
Sarah Cleveland, a junior sociology
major. “It was music that makes
people feel good.”
Nettie’s voice settled well into ev
ery genre she sang.
“She’s got one of the most power
ful voices I think I’ve ever heard,”
said Mary Anne Bennick a junior
psychology major. “She’s right up
there, like a mixture of Morrisette,
Joplin and Fitzgerald. I mean, she
lays it out there for you, and she
brings it down. It’s good stuff.”
Tara Doll, a junior biochemistry
major, raved about Nettles’s voice,
and said her voice was different
than mainstream pop stars.
“She’s got a really good voice, and
she’s better live than on her CD,”
said Doll. “She actually sings, and
she doesn’t require a lot of technical
stuff”
It was clear that the
crowd loved the band,
and by the end every
one was up and danc
ing.
It started with two
women dancing together up front
while Nettle’s sang some of the
band’s livelier tunes.
Later on, people started dancing
in the corners and in the aisles.
Little by little, everyone w
their seats, and by the end of the
show, everyone was up and having
a good time.
“Thanks for dancing. Wow!”
Nettles told the crowd, “I’ll take
you on the road with us.”
Cleveland said her favorite part of
graphical lyrics created a strong
connection with her audience.
“Any female growing up in our
generation right now can listen to
her lyrics,” said Bennick. “They
alone are very powerfiil but, just the
way she puts together her music is
great, it just brings it together.”
After every song the Jennifer
Nettles Band was rewarded with
loud applause.
Nettles’s songs ranged from fun to
dark and confessional. She filled
the audience in on the inspiration
for many ofher songs.
Of the song “Grav
ity” Nettles said, “It’s
very, very dear to me.
It came from a dark
t, it’s impor-
have those
dark times,
the light.”
She also played the first song she
ever wrote.
college song,”
. college song it
be about one of two, and
that’s either sex or beer. Either of
which in the right quantity could
be a very nice inspiration.”
The older members in the crowd'
were divided equally between the
The band’s college-age fans.
in awesome per-
Review
1 recognize
“It’s definitely a
It of said Nettles. “If it’s
dancing around, being all uninhib
ited and having a good time.”
Not only was the crowd dancing
- SARAifGRANO/FEATl^ REPORTER they were
Jennifer Nettles was gettin’ it at her Sept. 6 show at the Grey Eagle. fhTtop Sell
the show was “everyone coming however, were made up of mostly
ogether and just getting up and women.
Andrew Thomason, a UNCA cre
ative writing major, was an excep
tion.
“I love Jennifer Nettles and I’ve
been following her since her Soul
Miner’s Daughter days,” said
Thomason. “She’s:
former.”
Nettles began performing while
attending Agnes Scott College,
where she graduated with a double
major in Spanish and anthropol
ogy-
She was one of two lead singers in
the band Soul Miner’s Daughter.
Just when the band was beginning
to garner national attention through
things such as Lilith Fair, they broke
up.
Nettles and several other mem
bers of Soul Miner’s Daughter
joined together to make a new band,
and so the Jennifer Nettles Band
was born.
The band is now touring to pro
mote it’s new CD, “Rewind” which
is redone versions of old Soul
Miner’s Daughter’s songs.
“We’re trying to give you just a lot
of the songs that we don’t play out
all the time, [songs] that are on this
new record, this new, old record,”
said Nettles.
The audience really enjoyed the
songs from the “new, old record.”
Nettles seemed happy to be play
ing in Asheville.
“Every time we come here, this is
the most wonderful area. I’ve de
cided it’s because it’s so temperate
here,” said Nettles. “Where I’m
from it’s like 5,000 degrees until
November.”
Judging from the crowd’s reac
tion, Nettles is certainly welcome
to come back soon.
She will be playing the Asheville
area again in October.
Underwater archaeologist lectures on remains of Civil War submarine
Douglas Davidson
Features Reporter
South Carolina’s underwater ar
chaeologist Christopher F. Amer
discussed finding the H.L.Hunley,
the first United States submarine to
ever attack and sink an enemy in a
time of war, at the Owen Confer
ence Center Sept. 6.
The Hunley was a mystery since
its disappearance in 1864, until it
was found in 1995 outside the
Charleston Harbor by archeologists
Ralph Wilbanks, Wes Hall, and
Harry PecoriUe, according to the
Triends of the Hunley” Web site.
Since then, everyone from Na
tional Geographic to the White
House has been interested in the
mysteries held within the vessel.
The H.L. Hunley was one of a
:ries of submarines designed and
built for the South during the Civil
War to help protect Charleston
harbor against northern aggression.
James McClintock, Baxter Watson
and Horace Hunley built the sub
marine “Pioneer” to defend New
Orleans, and then went on to build
both “American Diver” and the
‘H.L. Hunley.”
Amer explained in his lecture that
the only reason that the North de
veloped submarines to combat
against the southern submarines was
to make sure that technologically
they were balanced.
Being buried under sand for over
100 years has protected the subma
rine from barnacles, rust, and other
forms of deterioration.
Once the hull was cracked open,
the archeologists were able to see
the location of where each crew sat,
along with the placement of all the
mechanisms within the submarine.
One of the truly interesting things
about the preservation quality of
the submarine was that remains of
the crew were found along with
their paraphernalia.
By looking at some of the remains
of the crew, they were able to deter-
ine more may have been going on
the Hunley than was previously
thought.
COURTESY GOOGLE.COM
The H.L. Hunley, one of the first submarines ever built, was the first to sink an enemy vessel in war.
A foot was found and examined
which possessed certain stress mark
ings which established the fact that
the foot was broken in several places.
Amer illustrated the point by ex
plaining that when torpedoes ex
ploded, the shock waves often
rattled the inside of the small sub
marines, causing vibrations that
could break the feet of crew mem-
A coin, also found within the re
mains of the submarine, has sparked
the interest of historians studying
the Hunley.
A story had been told of Lieuten
ant George Dixon, a crewmember
of the Hunley, whose life was saved
by a single gold coin.
During the Battle ofShiloh, Dixon
was shot, but survived because the
bullet hit the gold coin given to him
as a good luck charm by the woman
he loved.
The coin found on the Hunley
has the initials G.E.D. and is bent
as if it had been struck.
Another artifact found aboard the
submarine is a dog tag, believed to
have belonged to a man who died
during the time that the Hunley
As the records of many who died
during the Civil War are not clear,
it is uncertain ifsomeone was merely
posing as this man or if he had
indeed been a member of the H.L.
Hunley crew.
Other mysteries surrounding the
Hunley lie in what actually caused
the submarine to sink. Many be
lieve the Hunley sank because it
was too close to the enemy subma
rine that it hit with a torpedo.
Others have a different theory.
They believe that the crew had a
death pact in case northern soldiers
caught them.
Had they been caught, they would
be tried as traitors against the Union,
and death by their own hands was
better than death by their enemies.
The H.L. Hunley itself has been
moved and excavated, and the bod
ies of the crew are the next to be
catalogued.
By 2003 they hope to have face
moldings, depicting how each crew
member of the H.L. Hunley may
have looked.
Mellon Fellowships in Humanistic Studies
Mellon Fellowships in Humanistic Studies provide fellowships for those pursuing careers in
teaching and scholarship. Approximately 100-125 fellowships of $15,000 each are awarded
annually. Fellowships are for one year only. Qualifications: be a senior or recent graduate;
present evidence of outstanding academic promise, and be seeking a Ph.D. in one of the
traditional humanities disciplines, including history. Those students pursuing work in the creative
and performing arts or social sciences, education, law or social work are not eligible. The
application deadline is December 21 (application must be requested by December 7).
Web Address; www.woodrow.org/mellon/ If you are interested in applying, contact Doug Jones,
University Honors Program, 140 Karpen Hall, 251.6607, djones@unca.edu.
Upcoming shows that wont ^ t suck
Stella Blue: Thurs./ Strut, Fri./Rebirth Brass Band, Sat./
Dr. Dan
Grey Eagle: 10/11-The Hackensaw Boys, 10/18-James
McMurtry
Get out there and boogie ‘till ya fall over.
Photographs from the features section of the Sept.
12 issue appeared with incorrect captions. We
would like to apologize for these mistakes, and
note the corrections here. The Reductio Ad Absur-
dum and demasiado pictures were switched, with
John Haynes appearing in the Glass House on the
right, and Reductio on the left. The photo below
appears with the correct caption.
Thanks, The Blue Banner staff
COURTESY HENRY STERN
Marcel Andrade, pictured at far right, attended a reception with
colleagues in the department of foreign language this summer.