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The Blue Banner
April 10,2003
Features
‘Thirsty Thursday’brings crowd to baseball game
Diana Kostigen
Features Reporter
A handful of Asheville Tourists’
baseball fans probably go to the
ballgames because of their endur
ing love of the sport. Even more
may go just to see really hot men in
skin-tight pants. But let's be hon
est, most fans brave the crowds,
fight over parking spaces and wait
in excruciatingly long lines for one
main reason- dollar beers. The cold,
cheap beer has become the founda
tion for what could be the biggest
social events of the season, "Thirsty
Thursday."
"I like Thirsty Thursday’ because
you get to see everyone," said Mel
issa Doyle, an undeclared senior.
"Everyone in town comes out,
and it’s the first game of the year.
And more people are going to come
out than not come out because it’s
dollar-beer night."
Fans had to arrive early; tickets
sold out quick.
A crowd totaling approximately
4,392 piled into McCormick Field
for the Tourists’ first game of the
season, and breaking all previous
opening day records. An over
whelming feeling of excitement
permeated throughout the stadium
with the sellout crowd cheering on
the home team, ensuring the ulti-
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DIANA KOSTIGEN/FEATURES WRITER
Thousands of people attended “Thirsty Thursday” to see the
Asheville Tourists home opener and to drink cheap beer.
tal City Bombers.
Even with reduced beer prices, the
ballpark must have made impres
sive profits on the first "Thirsty
Thursday" of the year . General
admission tickets sold for $6 and
box seats for $8.
Multiply that by
more than 4,000
fans, and you’ve
got some serious
cash.
The food might
be the best part of
the night. What
could be better
than a super long
hot dog on a
slightly stale bun,
slathered in
ketchup, mustard
and relish? Hot dogs
only taste good while
drinking beer and
watching baseball. It’s
a known fact.
Besides the normal food like pizza
and popcorn, the ballpark offers
chocolate dipped cheesecake and
“With over six types of
domestic beers on tap to
choose from and a plethora
of snacks and treats, ‘Thirsty
Review
funnel cakes to
satisfy fans.
With over six
types of domes-,
tic beers on tap
to choose from
and a plethora
of snacks and
treats, "Thirsty
Thursday"
could very well
be the cheapest
date in history.
Fans barely
noticed the 38-
minute game delay
because of a malfunc
tioning public address
system on the first
"Thirsty Thursday." Heck, just one
trip through the beer line took twice
that long. The opening ceremony
ended up being worth the wait.
the cheapest date in history.”
The moving ceremony started with
a prayer for our troops overseas
and ended with a magnificent fire
works display.
The fans started out pumped up,
but a combined 17 total strikeouts
throughout the game, and only
two hits from the Tourists proved
that unwavering support and loud
cheers may not be enough to bring
it home. But, at least they won,
even if it didn’t constantly enter
tain. What could be better than a
win on this opening game? Plus,
with only thrfee returning players
on this year’s roster, it may take a
few games to get their groove back.
To a sports novice, the game felt
pretty standard. The crowd sa
vored the night, rather than the
game. UNCA students sat scat
tered among the crowd, proving
that college students and beer
drinking go hand in hand.
UNCA college students got the
party going before the game, and
kept it strong well into the night.
The fun didn’t just stop at the
game. Students even have parties
that last all day around "Thirsty
Thursday" games, visiting one or
more popular local bars such as
Rio Bravo, Magnolia’s, The Bier
Garden and Hannah Flannagan’s
Irish Pub.
Bands kept the "Thirsty Thurs
day" crowd dancing until closing
at bars like Magnolia’s and Rio
Bravo. The Carribean Cowboys
started off their first set at 8p.m. at
Rio, giving plenty of time to warm
up before large crowds trickled in
following the game. Many fans
even cut out of the game early to
move on to bigger and better party
COURTESY OF DIANA KOSTIGEN
Banner reporters Diana Kostigen and Caroline Soesbee cozy up to
Ted E. Tourist at this seasons inaugural “Thirsty Thursday” Apr. 3.
prospects. drama unfolded. Tourists’ starting
For that handful of fans that pitcher Ben Crockett proved his
actually did watch the game, mo- ability by pitching six innings of
ments of suspense occurred as the three-hit baseball.
Campus art exhibit explores aging process
Rhiannon Richard
Features Reporter
Skip Rohde’s recent Owen gal
lery exhibit looks at aging in the
modern world. Rohde, a senior art
major, used the gallery to display
his larger-than-life paintings of se
nior citizens.
"It was about life, not death," said
Rohde. "Once I realized this, I de
cided to tackle the subject of being
old in a more direct manner. So I
started this series, focusing on older
people and aging."
The series, titled "Old Times"
came as a progression from works
that he had already produced.
"I had been working on a series of
landscape paintings. I was trying to
make a landscape that was more
than just a field and barn," said
Rohde, "I wound up doing a num
ber of paintings of the Forks of Ivy,
which is a wide spot in the road at
the Madison-Buncombe line."
He eventually realized that his
paintings focused on the older
things in life, objects that still had
some life left in them, but that
obviously looked aged.
Four of the paintings have their
roots in paintings by Titian,
Michelangelo, Manet and Renoir.
"The old masters had depicted
idealized young people," said
Rohde. "I
turned that
around. An
attractive
young per
son in the
prime oflife
is certainly a
fine thing to
see, but
older
spects, far
Rohde based his pamtmg
David” on Michelangelo’s
sculpture of the same name.
COLLEEN HOBE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Skip Rohde, a senior art student, painted vibrant images of the elderly.
"Michelangelo's ‘David’ still holds
the stone that will kill Goliath,"
said
Rohde.
"So, he's
justagood-
of their life is certainly a fine thing to see,
but older people are, in many respects, far
more interesting and far more worthy of
Skip Rohde,
senior art major
esting and usually fai
of being idealized."
Rohde’s painting, "David," comes
from the statue with the same name
by Michelangelo.
done any
thing yet.
My‘David’
already
fought a lot
of battles.
He hasn't won them all, but he's
still standing and still proud."
Manet’s "Olympia," Titian’s "Ve
nus of Urbino" and Renoir’s "Lun
cheon of the Boating Party" each
guy
show their older faces in Rohde’s
depictions of aging.
"Each of my paintings, I think, can
be appreciated on their own terms,
but ifyou're familiar with the origi
nal version you'll get a deeper mean
ing out of them," said Rohde.
J.P. Ammons, a senior multime
dia arts and science major described,
the paintings as "simple people do
ing simple things."
"They are new expressions of an
older painting with the artist’s own
twistonit,"saidAmmons' "Iwould
really like to know the order in
which they were all painted, and
have them shown in that order to
show time in another fashion."
Rohde later gave more informa
tion on the order of completion.
"Half of these paintings are about
a particular concept, such as illness.
relationships between generations,
dignity or my own aging," said
Rohde. "The other half are por
traits of friends, family or acquain-
When asked which painting he
likes best, Rohde said, "My favor
ite? All of them! They're all my
offspring, and I like them all for
very different reasons."
The gallery show helps Rohde
come one step closer to achieving
his degree in fine arts.
"One of the requirements for a
degree in fine arts is to produce
enough work for a one-person show
in the university gallery or equiva
lent space," said Rohde. "That's a
big job. I've been working on this
Rohde’s view on getting older
shows hopefulness.
"Barring illness, accident or war,
most of us will live to become se
nior citizens," said Rohde on his
Web site http://www.skiprohde.
com. "Society, however, teaches us
to dread old age. Media floods us
with images of the young. Older
people, when depicted at all, are
often ill, grumpy.”
Artists and speakers express
views at Teach-In for Peace
Mary Wyatt
Features Reporter
"It was a small turnout, smaller
than we had hoped," said Morris.
"But there was a positive response
from the people that did c
Amnesty plans on hosting another
educational for peace May 6, pro
viding more time to advertise and
encourage a larger turnout.
Although a little late, the teach-ii
began with a powerful performance
by local poet Carrie Gerstmann ir
which she "screamed" for peace.
Singers and musicians followed her
expressing their desire for a more
peaceful world.
Middle Eastern belly dancers fin
ished off the performance with a
veil dance, not only t(
UNCA’s chapter of Amnesty In
ternational hosted a low-attended
Teach-In for Peace in Iraq Satur
day, Mar. 29.
"Everybody’s bending over back
wards to show both sides, which is
commendable," said Amnesty
member Katie Morris, an unde
clared freshman, at the event. "But
today we’re going to go ahead and
state a position. That position is
peace."
The day started off with music,
poetry and art. Later, speakers en
couraged peace through education but also share a foreign culture with
and discussions on issues such as the audience.
U.S.-Iraqi relations, the inspection
system in Iraq and the role of the
U.N. in the
conflict and
post-conflict
"Events like
this educate
people to bet-
stand issues
and them
selves relating
to the topic of
what future
participate in
"War is such a dehumanizing
force," said Jordan. "Art gives ui
insight
'War is such a dehumanizing
force. Art gives us an insight
on who our neighbors are.”
Sid Jordan,
Universal Relief Team
said speaker Sid Jordan, president
of International Board of Ananda
Marga Universal Relief Team.
"We have speakers from all walks
of life," said Elmoiz Abunura, a
former prisoner of conscience in
Iraq and director of African studies
at UNCA. "It’s not a platform just
against the war. It’s a platform for
learning and teaching, and I think
that’s the heart of UNCA."
Unfortunately, the event did not
get advertised until late in the week
and began a little late, resulting in
lower attendance than hoped for.
More people filtered in throughout
After the
p e r f o
mances, the
small audi
ence dis
persed
various lec-
Abunura and
Jordan led a
discussion oi
U.S.-Iraqi re
lations fol
lowing
video on Iraq.
The video, "Journey to Iraq,"
showed clips of Iraqi people tc
tune of an anti-war song by Bob
Dylan.
One photo showed people carry
ing a banner saying "Inspections
yes, invasion no."
Following the movie, Abunura
related the history of Iraq from ^
to present. Then, Jordan proposed
a multi-layer approach to under
standing foreign policy.
Meanwhile, Dot Sulock led a dis
cussion on the inspection system in
Iraq.