April 14,2006 — The Clarion
ARTS & LIFE
Page 9
BC hosts iron pour outside Simms Art Building
by Lange Eve
Staff Writer
On March 18, Brevard Col
lege hosted an iron pour for three
other schools just outside of the
sculpture department at Sims Art
Building. Both the weather and
the show of people were gener
ous; and besides some inconve
nience with heating issues, the
event was quite successful.
This was the third iron pour
that Professor Kyle Lusk’s sculp
ture classes have attended.
While the demonstration began
at 12:00 p.m. that day, the reality
was, like most public events,
preparation began several weeks
in advance.
Students had been design
ing and casting sand molds for
iron pouring since the semester
started. Sculpture and 3-D De
sign students made a chore out
of breaking old radiators and
other metal scraps for hours at a
time as well. The latter task was
neither painless nor quiet, but
by Saturday, enough iron was
broken for a pour.
While many of Brevard’s
students did not have molds
ready for this particular pour,
everyone helped in the event
making a smooth and organized
operation.
Students and teachers from
Blue Ridge Community College,
East Carolina University, and
Appalachian State University
arrived early that morning with
their own sand molds and plenty
of skill in the art and process of
pouring.
Kyle Lusk was in charge of
heating the iron, and Brian Glaze,
head of the Art Department at
Blue Ridge, directed traffic con
cerning the molds.
Although a good crowd
showed, this was a relatively
small pour. We only had about
fifteen molds to fill, while a typi
cal pour would fill about 100.
Such was the case at the latest
event at ECU, which also in
volved many more students and
teachers working together.
The only downer, which
was not too terribly mentionable
if you had nothing else to do all
day, was that the iron was not
heating to the necessary tem
perature to become molten. Ev
erything was seemingly done
correctly: the crew charged the
cupola (their hand-built furnace)
with 8 lbs of‘coke’ (refined char
coal) and 40 lbs of broken down
iron.
Then, once the iron ap
peared hot enough to test, some
one would break the ceramic
cork which was blocking the
spout, and the iron would pour
out onto sand on the ground.
Each person with a designated
job, the ‘hotter’ would then close
the spout, and the ‘shovelers’
covered up the iron with sand to
prevent people from getting
burned. But the iron was not
completely molten, so the molds
would have to wait to be filled.
This process of testing and
trying to get the iron hot enough
went on for hours. It was not
until 4:37 p.m. that the iron was
finally hot enough. By 7:30 p.m.,
the molds were filled and the
iron pour was finished at last.
Only two students from
Brevard made iron sculptures
that day. Many have already
made some at the previous iron
pours at other schools
That 1 Guy plays his funky magic pipe
by Zack Harding
Staff Writer
Hailing from California is
one of the most distinctive and
exceptional musicians that I have
had the pleasure of seeing live
in a long time, the name? That 1
guy.
That 1 guy is a one man
band that is completely incom
parable to anyone or anything
else in the music business. Mike
Silverman was trained as classi
cal bassist and started his musi
cal career in traditional ways,
studying classical upright bass
in San Francisco.
At one point, he was asked
to perform a gig by himself,
which began a journey of musi
cal invention and genius that
marks him as a unique figure in
modern music.
For his solo performances
Silverman constructed a an in
strument he dubbed “the magic
pipe,” which consists of nearly
ten feet of galvanized steel pipe
sporting two different sections
fitted with one upright bass
string a piece. He
slaps, taps, strums,
pops, fingers, and oc
casionally bows the
strings in traditional
classical style. The
pipe is covered in trig
gers and buttons
which are hooked
through various effect
loops and layering de
vices. Attached to
the bottom of the pipe
are three different
bass drum pedals
hooked to different
drum pads.
Silverman also
made use of a small
snare drum, an ampli
fied saw, and a cow
boy boot with an elec
tric guitar pickup in it.
Using all of these vari
ous gadgets, he would lay down
thunderous, funky, genre defy
ing sounds and songs. He
would also make use of looping
his vocals and singing creative
and odd lyrics over the thump
photo by Zack Harding
ing pipe.
That 1 guy creates songs
that are bubbly and bouncy,
popping his hands over the
strings while keeping a steady
pulsating rhythm on the bass
pedals.
Of particular highlight was
the song “Weasel Potpie,”
which featured a squeaky dog
toy type sound in place of a
snare drum, and the catchy, bril
liant wordplay in “One.”
At one point, Silverman
pulled out a credit card and
started strumming a heavy lead
guitar type rhythm on one of the
strings, even dipping into
teases of “Iron Man” and
“Smoke on the Water.”
That I guy is a great visual
experience as well as a sonic
one. Silverman constantly
moves and writhes about, which
is necessary in the playing of
the pipe. He is very funny in
the way he uses the instrument
and jokes with the crowd. He is
an absolute blast to watch and
is never tiring or boring.
He mostly played songs
off of his debut album Songs in
the Key of Beotch, but also
played some new material that
he had recently written. That I
guy’s show is like nothing else,
but it comes recommended.