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        Dear EarthTalk: Recent NASA photos showed the opening of the Northwest Passage and that a third of the Arctic’s sea ice has melted in recent years. Are sea levels already starting to rise accordingly, and if so what effects is this having?                
    — Dudley Robinson, Ireland

        Researchers were astounded when, in the fall of 2007, they discovered that the year-round ice pack in the Arctic Ocean had lost some 20 percent of its mass in just two years, setting a new record low since satellite imagery began documenting the terrain in 1978. Without action to stave off climate change, some scientists believe that, at that rate, all of the year-round ice in the Arctic could be gone by as early as 2030.
        This massive reduction has allowed an ice-free shipping lane to open through the fabled Northwest Passage along northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland. While the shipping industry — which now has easy northern access between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans — may be cheering this “natural” development, scientists worry about the impact of the resulting rise in sea levels around the world.
        {mosimage}With about a third of the world’s population — and 25 percent of Americans — living within 300 feet of an ocean coastline, sea level rise is a big deal. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, made up of leading climate scientists, sea levels have risen some 3.1 millimeters per year since 1993.
        The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reports that low-lying island nations, especially in equatorial regions, have been hardest hit by this phenomenon, and some are threatened with total disappearance. Rising seas have already swallowed up two uninhabited islands in the Central Pacific. On Samoa, thousands of residents have moved to higher ground as shorelines have retreated by as much as 160 feet. And islanders on Tuvalu are scrambling to find new homes as salt water intrusion has made their groundwater undrinkable while increasingly strong hurricanes and ocean swells have devastated shoreline structures.
        WWF says that rising seas throughout tropical and subtropical regions of the world have inundated coastal ecosystems, decimating local plant and wildlife populations. In Bangladesh and Thailand, coastal mangrove forests — important buffers against storms and tidal waves — are giving way to ocean water.
        Unfortunately, even if we curb global warming emissions today, these problems are likely to get worse before they get better. According to marine geophysicist Robin Bell of Columbia University’s Earth Institute, sea levels rise by about 1/16” for every 150 cubic miles of ice that melts off one of the poles.
        “That may not sound like a lot, but consider the volume of ice now locked up in the planet’s three greatest ice sheets,” she writes in a recent issue of Scientific American. “If the West Antarctic ice sheet were to disappear, sea level would rise almost 19 feet; the ice in the Greenland ice sheet could add 24 feet to that; and the East Antarctic ice sheet could add yet another 170 feet to the level of the world’s oceans: more than 213 feet in all.” Bell underscores the severity of the situation by pointing out that the 150-foot tall Statue of Liberty could be completely submerged within a matter of decades.

        CONTACTS: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), www.ipcc.ch; WWF, www.panda.org; Earth Institute at Columbia University, www.earth.columbia.edu.

        GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.

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        Life is a cabaret, old chum.
        It’s also fleeting, beautiful and often brutal, as shown in the wonderful adaptation of the musical Cabaret, which debuted at the Gilbert Theater on Thursday, June 5.
        The musical, which is set in pre-World War II Berlin, is a metaphor for the downward spiral of that country as the Nazis came into power.
        The performances are exhilarating and grand, especially the characters of Master of Ceremonies (Timothy Lee Lloyd) and Sally Bowles (Alexis Chieffet); but throughout, there is an undercurrent of tension and darkness, because as the boys and girls dance gaily and drink and love passionately at the Kit Kat Club, we know a storm of epic death and destruction is tap-dancing on the horizon.
        The action starts in the Kit Kat Club — the kind of place your mother warned you about — in 1930s Berlin. Lloyd, as the Master of Ceremonies welcomes the crowd, surrounded by beautiful cabaret girls and boys, dancing and frolicking, unaware that Germany is on the precipice of the worst case of mass murder in history.
        Lloyd is spectacular, with just the right mix of decadence and playfulness, intimating he loves a good time at all costs — whether it’s with the boys or the girls. His singing and dancing — as is that of the cabaret boys and girls — is spot on.{mosimage}
        The story segues to a train station where we meet two key characters, an expatriate American named Clifford Bradshaw (Jonathan de Araujo) who is traveling restlessly across Europe in search of inspiration to write his novel, finally settling on Berlin. He is joined on the train by Ernst Ludwig (Tom Bresley), the perfect picture of an Aryan — tall, blond and impossibly handsome. Ludwig is smuggling money for the Nazi cause from France and recruits his new friend Bradshaw into the game.
        After Bradshaw settles into the rooming house of Fraulein Schneider (Leslie Craig), he hustles down to the Kit Kat Club where he meets Sally Bowles. They’re obviously attracted to each other, though we know immediately this union will not end well. As Bowles, Chieffet is pitch perfect, displaying a wonderfully husky singing voice and projecting an exceedingly convincing portrait of decadent sexiness, cooing and purring while wearing the slinky clothes of a true chanteuse.
        A subplot running through the musical is the romance between Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz (Paul Wilson), a Jewish shop owner. It’s both sad and beautiful to watch these two older lovers take a final chance on love, while we as armchair historians know exactly what’s going to happen to Schultz.
        As the requisite Nazi, Ludwig destroys any chance at love between Schneider and Schultz by reminding her that marrying a Jew could have serious consequences.
        More tragedy ensues when Sally becomes pregnant with — possibly, we never know — Clifford’s baby. Clifford wants the couple to return to America and raise their child in a proper setting, as he sees Germany beginning to crumble. But Sally loves the spotlight too much and sells her prize fur coat to a doctor to abort the baby, returning to her job at the Kit Kat Club.
        Clifford eventually leaves for America, gaining the inspiration to begin his novel as he takes his seat on the train: he writes the story he has just lived through — his damned union with Sally, as well as the cursed engagement of Fraulein Schneider and Her Schultz.
    Through it all, the music never stops at the Kit Kat Club, though the performances become increasingly darker, with the ultimate foreshadowing of what’s to come when the Master of Ceremonies dances on stage in a full Nazi regalia, assisted by the Kit Kat girls and boys in the brown shirts of the Nazi youth.
        Standout musical numbers included the performance of the title track by Chieffet, in which she’s dressed like a satin doll and sings like one too.
        Lloyd is masterful in everything he does, giving a randy, raucous performance in which he seems permanently amused by the state of things — life may be going to hell around him, but he’s going to keep on dancing, damn it.
    de Araujo shows off a fine singing voice, even if I did find him just a touch too earnest in his role as the not-so-naive American who sees the swastika on the wall, though he can’t convince Sally that the party is about to end.
    The entire cast gels as if they’ve performed together for years.
        Highly recommended, old chum.
        The production of Cabaret runs through June 22. You can get show times and ticket information by calling 678-7186, or checking out the theater’s Web site: www.gilberttheater.com.

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        Could you forgive a person who murdered your family? Could you live with them in the same neighborhood? This is the question faced by the survivors of the brutal 1994 Rwandan genocide. 
        The Church of Apostles in Hope Mills will host the film As We Forgive on Wednesday, June 11 at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., at the Cameo Art House Theatre in downtown Fayetteville. The 54-minute documentary is a 2008 finalist in the Student Academy Awards and is narrated by Mia Farrow. The film’s mission is to expose people across America to the untold story of Africa with the intention of inspiring a wider discussion of the need for reconciliation in our personal lives, institutions and government.  
        {mosimage}The movie revolves around the journey of two women whose families were murdered in the 1994 genocide. The prison systems in Rwanda were overcrowded and there were so many cases that the government chose to release more than 50,000 prisoners back into the community. The women were forced to live in the village with the people who were responsible for killing their families.       
        “The documentary tracks their stories of forgiveness and reconciliation,” said Leigh Ross, director of mission development at The Church of The Apostles. “One woman’s killer really tries to show his remorse by helping build her a home.”
    Ross added that the film captures how the people are trying to live after the genocide.
        The filmmaker, Laura Waters Hinson, was engaged in a conversation with Anglican Bishop John Rucyahana and he described a project that seemed unreal.
        “Wilson’s interest was peaked as she imagined a film that could capture the profound message communicated by genocide survivors and perpetrators who are reconciling and living together as neighbors,” said Ross. “Wilson returned to Rwanda with a small crew of student filmmakers and friends to witness the claim that reconciliation was happening.”
        Ross added that Hinson interviewed women and families in the community. 
        Rwanda is a very poor country located in east-central Africa. In 1994, more than 1 million people were killed during a 100-day rampage. Throughout the genocide, Tutsi women were often mutilated, raped and tortured before they were murdered. The genocide created a generation of orphans. 
        The film is free and open to the public. Donations are welcome. Fair trade Rwandan coffee will be sold during the event as a means to stimulate the Rwandan economy.  
        “We invite everyone to come and view the documentary,” said Ross. 
        For information, call 425-2561.

    Contact Shanessa Fenner at editor@upandcomingweekly.com

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        A pair of sharks swam just feet from my face, suspended amid a turquoise sea that rippled gently with waving seaweed.
        A few moments later, I traveled the pathways and alleys of a small Portuguese town, balancing precariously on a rock wall, looking down into a boiling, raging river.
    And then I was off to Darfur, Sudan, checking out the interior of an ostentatious $1 million apartment, peeking into the bathroom and examining the contents of the medicine cabinet.
    Calm down Trekkies, I had not somehow tapped into the technology of the Star Trek franchise, with Scotty beaming me from place to place as effortlessly as you would change a TV channel: I had discovered the latest technology at Fayetteville Technical Community College — its new 3D imaging system that will be utilized starting this month at FTCC’s Advanced Visualization and Interactive Design Center.
        {mosimage}The center, located in the  Harry F. Shaw Virtual College Center, is a $4 million project funded by Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, the BRAC Regional Task Force, Microsoft, Dell and the state community college system. The system brings 3D technology to the masses, allowing all 3D images created by the computer to be loaded into an online Learning Resources Depository, where any student in North Carolina — K-12, community college, or the state university system — can retrieve the objects for study on computers equipped with inexpensive digital viewers similar to Adobe Acrobat.
    Before taking the virtual tour of the ocean floor and the quaint Mediterranean village, which took place in a subterranean section of the Harry F. Shaw Virtual College Center called “The Cave,” Bob Ervin, FTCC vice president for learning technologies, took a group of faculty members to a screening room — the nerve system of the new technology — where he provided special 3D glasses that allowed the viewing of virtual objects created by the system.
        Leave behind your preconceptions of those cheesy paper glasses your grandmother and a theater full of movie goers wore while munching buttered popcorn and watching the 3D version of The House of Wax in the ‘50s, or the spectacles that come in cereal boxes allowing you to view Tony the Tiger or Toucan Sam in three dimensions — these glasses were sleek and high-tech: imagine the love child of Microsoft and Oakley.
        As a roomful of rapt instructors and administrators looked on through their cyber specs, Ervin’s assistant produced a beautiful blue Suzuki motorcycle that leaped off the projector screen and into our laps. The motorcycle hologram was constructed by California-based Eon Reality — the software company helping bring this technology to FTCC — to be used as a holographic display at a convention in Las Vegas. A prototype of the motorcycle had been taken apart by Eon Reality, allowing the company to scan each part and recreate an exact virtual duplication.
        “With this type of technology available, why would we give a student in a classroom a 2D picture of a heart and say learn the parts of the heart?” said Ervin. “Now, we have the capability to render that heart, put it on a screen, take a pair of glasses and turn that heart, take it apart and look at the ventricles; I can engage that student and help him see things he’s never seen before.”
        Ervin says the same technology will be used at FTCC to give dental assistant students a virtual human head, complete with muscles, nerves, blood vessels, bones and teeth to work from while learning their craft.
        “That same model, I’m also giving to our funeral service restoration folks, because they teach a class on restoring bodies,” said Ervin, “That way, when a relative gives them a photograph and says this is the way I want the departed to look, they can go in and learn facial reconstruction. It can also be used in anatomy and physiology and biology.”
        And it can also be used for military and industrial applications.
        After the floating motorcycle zoomed back into cyberspace, Ervin showed a suspended 3D model of an M-16 made from a training manuscript and a photograph. Just like any GI in training, the person manipulating the computer controls could strip the whole rifle down to its separate parts and rebuild it on-screen — minus the screaming drill instructor.
        The military applications for this technology are as numerous as the number of lives that could be saved on the battlefield with the system, said Bill Griffin, dean of business programs at FTCC
        “Just imagine, rather than sending soldiers into a hostile town they know nothing about, with this system you can recreate that town and they will know every inch of it before they go into battle,” said Griffin as he met with FTCC faculty and representatives from Fayetteville State University to discuss the technology and how it could be shared between the schools. “Another area we want to focus on is the Wounded Warriors program; this would give disabled soldiers the training they would need to move on in their careers.”
        Other possible applications Griffin said students at FTCC and FSU could glean from the 3D program include video gaming, Geographic Information Systems, engineering, architecture and forensic science.
    “You could use this to recreate a crime scene for forensics students to study,” said Griffin.
        The grouping of faculty and administrators were particularly intrigued by the computer gaming possibilities, which could serve as the “hook” needed to make this technology attractive to a generation raised on PlayStation and Nintendo.
        Ervin also pointed out the manufacturing and fabricating possibilities, referencing the need for outdated aeronautical parts.
        “We’re working with Golden Leaf on the aging airline industry in North Carolina,” said Ervin. “In the eastern part of our state they have a lot of aging aircraft and the parts are no longer available, so how do we build parts? We advocate taking a 3D scan of that part and turning it into a CAD drawing that I can hand off to a machining company that can reproduce that part.”
        Ervin said FTCC students, who will learn over a period of 16 weeks how to create the 3D images and other virtual applications, could use the knowledge gained from the technology to land jobs paying in excess of $200,000. At the end of that 16-week period, students may also transfer to Wake Community College to work on a degree in creating computer games.
        Or they can simply slink down to The Cave and swim with the sharks.


    Contact Tim Wilkins at tim@upandcomingweekly.com

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        In my last article I made a mistake... ouch. I said that the highest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway is Mount Mitchell. Actually, Mount Mitchell is north of Asheville and is the highest point east of the Mississippi at 6,684 feet near Burnsville. The highest point on the Blue Ridge is Richland Balsam Overlook at milepost 431 and is 6,047 feet. So, having gotten a little wet with that mistake, I though I’d tackle what you need when it really is raining outside.
        If you ride you will eventually get wet. Riding in the rain brings a new perspective to your riding experience. The better prepared for rain you are, the better off you will be. Finding the right gear is a very personal endeavor. I will tell you from experience that I have found a nice setup, but it was from trial and error. So let’s break it down from top to bottom.
        The helmet. Some helmets are better than others in the rain. Obviously, an opened face helmet will do nothing for you in the rain. Every drop of water feels like a bee sting until your face becomes numb. First option for the open face helmet is to carry a face shield for your helmet. Full-face helmets are the safest; however, they may leak. They usually leak through the vents or around the shield but they will protect your face. Fog is another problem with full face helmets so make sure you have good vents. There are helmets that do not leak or fog up but you have to do some research.
        Next is the face. Of course if you do not have a face shield you should always have eye protection. A bandana or scarf will help cut down the stinging of the rain as it hits your face.
        The jacket. I have three different jackets for different seasons. All have elbow, shoulder and back padding for additional safety in the event of an accident. One is fully waterproof and the other two, not so much. For them I carry a yellow rain jacket. I choose yellow to increase my visibility. You should also make sure your jacket has a reflector. When you get a jacket you might want to get one with a hood. This is handy in the event of a heavy rain. Put the hood on under your helmet to prevent the rain from running down your back.
        Gloves. I have several pairs of gloves for different seasons and some are waterproof and others not. Make sure that your gloves are waterproof by reading the tag.
        Pants. The most protection is from a pair of waterproof pants with pads in them. If you don’t have them you will want to have a pair of waterproof pants that will slip over your pants. Make sure the pants go down far enough to cover your boots.
        Boots. It is hard to find a pair of riding boots. I have not found the perfect pair that is waterproof, comfortable for walking and stylish. Be sure to get a boot that will cover your ankles and fit under your rain pants. Also, make sure the soles have the traction to hold you and your bike up at stops. Nothing is worse than putting your foot down and dropping your bike because the pavement is slick. Remember that at red lights or at the check points at the base, those areas are especially slippery because of cars dripping oil.
        I think the hardest part about rain gear is storage. If space is a problem consider getting some compression bags to shrink the gear as small as possible. Even on a summer day being wet plus wind will turn a pleasant drive into survival trip. If you get caught in the rain with no rain gear, just pull over under an overpass or at a safe space for cover. Most heavy downpours will pass within 20 minutes. So stay dry and stay safe.

    Contact Jim Jones at editor@upandcomingweekly.com 

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        Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (124 minutes) is bound to disappoint the really hardcore fans. Screenwriter David Koepp did a commendable job in managing a workable script from the somewhat ridiculous premise. In fact, it is entirely to Koepp’s credit that he managed to find a compromise in writing that satisfied Spielberg (who insisted on the crystal skulls plot) and Harrison Ford (who didn’t like the crystal skulls). The previous three installments are powerhouse action/fantasy classics, and the concept still works nearly 20 years later. Spielberg uses a nice light touch with this material, and unlike his more emotionally manipulative work, he manages to avoid aiming for the obvious tearjerkers in the story. 
        {mosimage}The year is 1957. Colonel Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) uses Indiana Jones and a never-before-seen partner, Mac (Ray Winstone), to infiltrate a military base in Nevada. At first, all the mysterious clues point to the reappearance of a relic from a previous adventure. Soon after, Irina is revealed as a prototypical new-ager, concerned with strange powers and mysterious energies. Following a better than expected escape sequence, Indiana finds himself barely surviving a series of harrowing encounters. 
    Upon his return to his day job, we learn the fate of several characters from the previous films. Then, Indiana is waylaid by Mutt Williams (Shia LeBeouf) and agrees to assist him in rescuing his mother, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) and a man named Oxley (John Hurt). In classic Indy style, there are fights over ancient relics, improbably dramatic escapes and other crazy hijinks, all while Indiana Jones attempts to solve the mystery of the crystal skull.
        Despite the excitement of seeing a new Indiana Jones movie after so many years, Ford seems pretty bored with going over the same plot twists and reciting the same tired old retorts to a rather lackluster villain. Koepp made a serious error when he used the communists as the antagonists, forgetting that Indiana was always at his best when fighting larger than life evil. One wonders who talked Blanchett into playing such a one dimensional, smaller than life nuisance. 
        Overall, this is the weakest entry in the franchise. This is not due to the weakly written villains or completely unrealistic stunts or plot (Temple of Doom was at least as burdened, but still a fun movie). It was nice to see Marion Ravenwood, but the absence of many Indiana Jones regulars was glaring. Would it have killed Spielberg to insist on a part for Ke Huy Quan (better known as Short Round to Indy fans)? 
        The Good: Shia LeBeouf is growing on me like fungus, but he seems to spend an awful lot of time on the verge of tears. The Bad: The plot, but especially, that ending! I left the theater completely stunned at the complete and utter destruction of a once great mythology. The Reason to See the Film: Indiana Jones! The Fedora! The Whip! Crazy Archaeological Trap Niftiness!  You may not agree with the direction of the movie, but you will enjoy the ride.   

    Contact Heather Griffiths at editor@upandcomingweeekly.com

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        Hip-Hop’s live band, the Roots, returns with its staggering eighth (can you believe it?) full length studio album, titled Rising Down. The title could not have been more appropriate because over their illustrious career it almost seems like the better the situation gets for the Roots, the more things remains the same, or get worse.
        {mosimage}They’ve been making excellent music for the past oh, 15 years. The crew boasts Grammies, hundreds of sold-out shows across the world, classic albums and gold record sales, etc.; however, they are still largely overlooked by the mainstream public. The lead vocalist MC, Black Thought, is arguably one of the Top 10 rappers walking the planet. Musically, they are led by drummer/composer, Ahmir ?uestlove Thompson, who with the band always delivers some jams that are hot if not unique to groove to.
        One of best aspects of the group has been that the vocals of Thought. The sounds of the band are always on the same page, neither one outshining the other to a large extent and this LP offers no exception. The heavy drums and aggressive bassline of Get Busy and the upbeat melodic tone of The Show with its pulsating drums show the Roots at its best. Not only is the music a feast for the ears but the sound quality is exceptional as well. Anyone who listens to music heavily often notices that no matter how great the music may be, if the sound quality (mixing, mastering) of the presentation is just “average,” it leaves the listener a bit unfulfilled. Because the production of the Roots is orchestrated by a live hip-hop band vs. the usual hip hop record where much of the sounds originate from a sampler or an MPC, most of the Roots records sound much better sonically then the usual.
        Lyrically, Thought is utterly peerless on Rising Down. He spits battle ready raps, he story tells, he provides social/political insight, and he gets personal, showcasing his versatility and range on each track. One of the unique qualities of Black Thought’s persona is the fact that he has been rapping for so long that he still sounds as hungry and as passionate as a new jack in the game and each track he spits on he sounds as if it will be his last. One of the first things many Roots fans will notice when picking up this CD is the abundance and the diversity of guests featured on the disc. Out of 14 tracks only two feature BT rocking for delf on the mic. The usual Roots family of Dice Raw and MLK B appear as well as the fellow backpack rappers such as Mos Delf and Tallinn Quell are featured. However, the Roots also look for help outside the usual gamut and enlists street hard rock Styles P, mix tape new jack Saigon and R&B songbird Chrisette Michelle as well as others. Many of the guests on the album strengthen the disc.
        The album kicks off with the title track featuring Thought, Mos Delf and Styles P. All rappers deliver quotable verses with a slow but moving beat provided by the band. The beat is very epic yet it is so minimal that it provides each MC to voice their social commentary and political views about the present world without being overshadowed by the music. Other highlights of the album include @15, which is a long lost a capella recording about one minute long featuring Black Thought rapping at the age of 15. One can only marvel at this track because in truth the teenage Thought’s delivery, vocal dexterity, and wordplay is better then most rappers nowadays that are adults. Immediately following is 75 Bars, where BT simply explodes over a minimal drum beat with an errant horn.
        As aforementioned, one of the weaknesses of the LP is the fact that Thought is such a great MC, that many of the songs the guest rappers simply don’t bring their A game and rather then riding shotgun with Thought they are simply asleep in the back seat. Tallinn Quell is also a brilliant rapper in his own right, but he comes up short on Lost Desire. The band provides an eerie moving rhythmic beat on Singing Man but the direction of the song is confusing and Mercedes Martinez gives the listeners a reason to press the fast forward button.
        Fortunately, a few of the guests actually make their own splash, as Common spits an exceptional verse on the aforementioned The Show,and Saigon gets deep on Criminal. The Roots save one of the best tracks for last on the album’s closer, Rising Up, featuring Wale and the aforementioned Chrisette Michelle. This track is not only hot because of the music, but with a closer listen it defines the integrity of the group and also gives us a deeper meaning about the state of hip-hop and music in general. This album is not perfection, but two or three duds out of 14 is definitely worth a trip to the record store. In fact, the group is so agitated that the album opens and closes with real conversations (not a skit, but actual arguing and cursing) between group members and their label about the marketing and promotion of their music, or lack thereof. Perhaps one day the Roots will finally get fed up with being underappreciated by the masses and hang it up.

    Contact Jay Howard at editor@upandcomingweekly.com

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    Dear EarthTalk: The 2008 Summer Olympics in China are drawing a lot of attention right now for political reasons. I’ve heard, though, that one ray of light is China’s effort to make the event as green as possible. What’s going on in that regard?       
                                                                                              — Josh Rogers, Concord, NH

       {mosimage} It’s true that China is using the upcoming Beijing Olympics as a sustainability showcase, going so far as to dub the event the “Green Olympics.” Through a partnership with the U.S. government and the Maryland-based International Center for Sustainable Development, China is giving Beijing a green makeover to make the city a model for net zero pollution, green building generate some 1.2 million tons of carbon dioxide, in large part because of the flying the world’s athletes will do to get to and from the games. To offset these potent greenhouse gases, China will take a series of measures, Wan says, including planting trees, closing 1,000 small coal mines before and during the games and banning up to 1 million cars from city streets.
        Beijing’s Olympic Village, where the Chinese government has been busy erecting dozens of stadiums and other structures according to rigorous green standards, is emerging as quite an example of sustainable community development. The steel-looped Beijing National Stadium, for instance, includes a rainwater collection arrangement, a natural ventilation system and a clear roof with inflatable cushions made from ETFE (Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene), a kind of plastic that increases light and heat penetration.
        Another example is the “Water Cube,” a spectacular-looking structure that looks like a building made of bubble-wrap. Officially known as the National Aquatics Center, it is completely surrounded with ETFE pillows and is expected to cut energy use by 30 percent. And when it has finished serving its purpose as an Olympic venue, it has been built to be converted to a shopping area and leisure center with tennis courts, retail outlets, nightclubs and restaurants.
        All seven main Olympic stadiums are equipped with solar generators capable of outputting 480 kilowatts of energy at any given moment. Ninety percent of the lighting outside the stadiums, as well as the entire hot water supply for the Olympic Village, will be powered by solar energy. Also, the main stadiums will receive power from Beijing’s first wind farm.
        While the Olympic Games will only last for two weeks, environmentalists hope the greening of Beijing will indeed continue beyond the summer of ‘08. Some proposals include building 14 wastewater treatment facilities to achieve a 90 percent treatment rate in Beijing, and extending potable water to the entire city.
        Also, the municipal government of Beijing has invested in expensive energy-efficient heating and transportation equipment that will greatly improve environmental quality for decades hence. Beijing, where 1,000 new cars roll onto the streets every day, also plans to source clean energy from other parts of China and through the purchase of pollution offsets on a quickly expanding international market.

    GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.

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    {mosimage}Swingtown (Thursday, 10 p.m., CBS) is CBS’s attempt to sink to depths of depravity.
    The series is set in 1976, at the height of suburban swinging. A square couple named Susan and Bruce (Molly Parker, Jack Davenport) move to a go-go Chicago neighborhood where everybody’s sleeping with everybody. The leering husband and wife next door are apostles of open marriage, and they talk Susan and Bruce out of their clothes within five minutes. Our squares simply pop a quaalude, roll a joint and join the orgy. The screen fills with writhing bodies — that’s right, soft-core copulation smack in the middle of prime time. Clearly, American viewers are about to get aroused on a mass scale.
    But wait. Just when you think Swingtown will be a wicked romp, CBS pumps in socially redeeming value. God forbid we could simply enjoy the bare-naked sex. No, it must be incorporated into a stern morality tale about the corruption of decent values. The soundtrack cues up an earnest Seals & Crofts song as the squares look searchingly into the ether, meditating on what they’ve lost.
    Suddenly, American viewers are no longer aroused. If the series succeeds in bringing back Seals & Crofts, some of us may never have sex again.

    She’s Got the Look
    Wednesday, 10 p.m. (TV Land)
    It’s yet another modeling reality show, with pouts, tears and weekly eliminations. But this one has a twist: contestants over 35. And you wouldn’t believe how enjoyable it is compared to, say, America’s Next Top Model. That show asks us to hang out with callow young skeletons who have nothing between their pretty little ears. By contrast, most of the models on She’s Got the Look seem like substantial human beings. They’ve been around the block with marriages, kids and careers and that tends to make them more interesting.
    It feels like spending time with your mom — that is, if your mom had the world’s most perfect rear end.

    Sybil
    Saturday, 8 p.m. (CBS)
    This new adaptation of Flora Rheta Schreiber’s book stars Tammy Blanchard as the troubled young woman with multiple personality disorder and Jessica Lange as her patient psychiatrist. It’s the mid-1950s, and the medical establishment scoffs at the idea of multiple personalities. But Lange’s Dr. Wilbur is stunned to watch Sybil change from one persona to another — 16 in all.
    We, on the other hand, are not so stunned. The story is familiar from Sally Field’s 1976 TV-movie version of Sybil, not to mention countless other psychological-disorder movies in the intervening years. There aren’t a lot of surprises as Dr. Wilbur peels back the layers to discover Sybil’s abuse by a cruel mother. On the other hand, both Blanchard and Lange give powerful performances, and the movie treats the potentially heavy-handed subject with finesse.
    So part of me liked Sybil, while another part of me was bored. Part of me was moved, while another part of me laughed hysterically. Part of me.

    The Circuit
    Sunday, 8 p.m. (ABC Family)
    This car-racing TV movie finds a pretty young newcomer (Michelle Trachtenberg) trying to make her mark in a male-dominated sport. She’s living in the shadow of her estranged dad (Billy Campbell), a racing star whose bad behavior has ruined his career. And she’s pitted against a devilishly handsome rascal (Drew Fuller) who’s become the sport’s latest sex symbol. Will she beat him or fall in love with him? And if she falls in love with him, will she break the heart of the regular-guy mechanic (Tommy Lioutas) who’s always been sweet on her?
    No, The Circuit doesn’t overlook a single cliché. But, dammit, I like it anyway. The actors aren’t just gorgeous, but lively, witty and substantial. Though, admittedly, they had me at gorgeous.

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        They say life imitates art.
        But what about when work imitates art?
        For Shani Gates, owner of Curbing Creations, her heart, soul and creative juices go into her work, which is creating custom concrete curbing for homeowners and businesses. Each piece of curbing and custom drain she constructs is stamped by her own well-tanned hand, making for a totally unique design.
    {mosimage}Gates has been in business here in Fayetteville for about four years. She combines an artistic background as a painter and sculptor — she has had her work featured at the Fayetteville Museum of Art — with the sweat and aching muscles produced by 15-hour days to make functional art.
    “I look at person’s house and give them what they need,” said Gates. “I do about 90 percent of the design.”
        After her two assistants —  Jason Dalton and Jeremy Petty — lay the concrete with a curbing machine, Gates has 30-45 minutes to imprint her vision before her medium grows hard.
    However, her work doesn’t keep her from doing other artistic projects on the side. A native of Washington State who majored in art, she paints, sculpts and draws. At the most recent Fayetteville After Five, she built a detailed sand sculpture of a beach babe that drew quite a crowd. Perhaps her most visible work is the corporate logo for the local Partnership for Children which includes a group of her portraits of children. She even had some of her artwork on display at the offices of Up and Coming Weekly.
        However, her artistic ways and career in decorative concrete almost fizzled  before she made her first sculpture or dropped paint on canvas for the first time.
        “I went to college to get my accounting degree,” said Gates. “Since I paid for it myself I decided I was going to get something out of it. But I took one art class and fell in love with it.”
        She first got into creating curbing about six years ago when some folks in her native Washington wanted something other than the blah, bland gray concrete curbing everyone else had. She taught herself how to work with concrete, and after she created her first curbing she fell in love with the medium of water, gravel and sand.
        She says the concrete curbing business is getting more and more popular, so popular in fact that when she does one house in a neighborhood, she often ends up doing the entire subdivision. Now, contractors are asking Gates to put in her one-of-a-kind curbing as a perk to help sell their houses.
    Despite her love for art and all things artistic, Gates says no one artist has influenced her work, saying she loves “too many to name.” Though she does admit a soft spot for artists who dabble in the medium of charcoal, such as Yvette Dede, who has an ongoing exhibition at the Fayetteville Museum of Art, and Rembrandt.
        “Rembrandt’s paintings were great, but I love his drawings,” said Gates.
    Gates has acclimated well to Fayetteville, having been here 14 years with her husband Keith, who is a 19-year veteran of the Special Forces. Together they have produced the most beautiful of all artworks — four children.
        Fayetteville has been very good to me,” said Gates. “I never dreamed when I took that first art class that I would someday make art for a living. I count anyone extremely luck who can make a career out of doing what they love.”

    Contact Tim Wilkins at tim@upandcomingweekly.com

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        The C word. Cancer. It is an ugly, scary word; a thief in the night coming to steal vitality and ruin lives. The statistics are heart breaking. According to the American Cancer Society, about 565,650 Americans are expected to die of cancer this year. That is more than 1,500 people a day. Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the U.S., exceeded only by heart disease. In the U.S., cancer accounts for one of every four deaths. How can an enemy like that be overcome?
        Well, the American Cancer Society is all over that one. Their numbers show that the five-year relative survival rate for all cancers diagnosed between 1996 and 2003 is 66 percent, up from 50 percent in 1975-1977. The improvement in survival reflects progress in diagnosing certain cancers at an earlier stage and improvements in treatment.
        Finding the funding to support the research and development is no easy task, not to mention all the programs that support and inform those in the midst of their battle with cancer. That is where Dineen Morton comes in. A cancer survivor herself, Morton exudes energy and enthusiasm. Everything from her bright yellow car to her vivacious smile smacks of life and victory — a worthy opponent for such a tough disease if there ever was one. These days, Morton is putting that energy into the American Cancer Society’s fund-raiser, Relay for Life. She has been doing it for the past six years.
        “I got involved with Relay because I was working with a hospice company, and I became a team captain through our company; but because I am a survivor is really … that’s what got my heart in it and I lost my mom to cancer,” said Morton. “Because I was excited as a captain … I was recruited to be a vice chair for relay and the next year they asked me to be the chair of the event. I have been involved in running the event for four years now.”
        This year’s theme is celebrating, remembering and fighting back.  
        “And really that is what it has been because every year that I am cancer-free is a celebration and I am fighting back because we want to eradicate cancer,” said Morton. “I don’t want anybody in my family or anybody that I know to be touched by cancer. What I focus on every day is how important it is for us to educate and how important it is for us to do everything we can to earn as much as we can. The money that we raise allows for research — it allows for programs (to fight cancer).”  
        Save the date, it starts at 6 p.m. on June 6 and goes through 2 p.m. on June 7.
        This year, Morton plans to raise $100,000.
        “We raised $78,000 last year,” she said, emphasizing that,“This money stays in our community. There is not a place you can go, not the hospital, not the cancer center, anywhere that you don’t see literature from the American Cancer Society and we pay for that through Relay for Life.” 
        There are also several programs that the hospital has adopted that utilizes American Cancer Society trained volunteers.
        “Those are American Cancer Society volunteers that provide the services to the cancer center. Such as the Look Good Feel Good program, Reach to Recovery, Road to Recovery, Man to Man, there are several of them and we could actually have every one of them implemented in Cumberland County if we could just get the volunteers to do it,” noted Morton, explaining the Look Good program provides wigs for individuals who have lost their hair from treatment. “We provide wigs, make-up, and makeovers for cancer survivors through the American Cancer Society. There are stop smoking programs, there are many things that could be implemented in the school systems, all free through the American Cancer Society. 
        Morton and the rest of the planning committee have quite a party planned. 
        “Just imagine an all-night carnival where there are vendors set up; I say vendors, but they are actually teams. Each team is selling something, whether it is food, scarves, raffles, silent auctions... We had a team that did nothing but stuff for children — face painting all of these kinds of things that are going on and the people come to the tent and they purchase,” said Morton.
        There are 58 teams, but Morton says it’s not too late to sign up. 
        While the carnival is going on the track will be busy too.
        “The reason they say Relay is that cancer never stops, so we walk all night for cancer. There is somebody on the track from your team at all times is the idea,” said Morton. “Some people camp out all night while some people may just show up when it is their time to walk. All night long there will be entertainment. I think right now we have more than 30 acts that will be performing.” 
        {mosimage}The event kicks off at 6 p.m. with the survivors lap, followed by the caregivers lap. Everyone else can join in after that.
        “At 9 p.m. we have the luminary ceremony, which is the most awesome part of the event,” said Morton.
        The luminaries are to honor cancer survivors and are also in memory of those who lost their battle. Anyone can purchase a luminary either to honor somebody who lost their life or someone who is surviving. They cost $10 each and have the person’s name on it.
        “At 9 when it gets dark, the lights go out; there is total silence and we pay tribute to those people and it is lit up and it is the most moving part of the event without question; to see all these bags lit for either survivors or someone who lost their life is just so powerful,” said Morton. 
        At 10 a.m., Saturday morning, there will be a kids’ relay, along with games and other activities.
        “We are going to have games to play and different kinds of events for them,” said Morton. “We will have clowns and other things out there and we’ve got a lot of the mascots coming, I think we’ve already secured the FireAntz mascot.”
        Contact Dineen Morton at 778-9107 to purchase a luminary. Go online and register at www.relayfay.com or just show up at Methodist University’s Monarch Field. Walk a lap, have some food, buy a T-shirt, support the cause and have great time doing it. It is free and open to the public. 

    Contact Stephanie Crider at editor@upandcomingweekly.com 

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        The national organization ALIPAC (Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee) is launching a special effort in North Carolina to get state legislators to cut off all taxpayer resources from illegal aliens in this year’s budget negotiations with the exception of emergency medical care and vaccinations.
        {mosimage}The group, established in 2004, is known for many national and state level successes fighting illegal immigration. In North Carolina, ALIPAC played a key role in defeating in-state tuition for illegals in 2005 and helped pass state laws that cracked down on illegal immigration in 2006 and 2007.
        “We have an illegal immigration emergency in North Carolina and must cut off all incentives for illegal aliens immediately,” said William Gheen of ALIPAC. “North Carolina is still one of the top destinations in America for illegal aliens and we have larger numbers inbound because Georgia and South Carolina have cracked down. We must take emergency action in North Carolina.”
        The group says there is a mass exodus of illegal aliens from Georgia and that many are headed for North Carolina, which is perceived as welcoming to illegal aliens. South Carolina is on the verge of passing similar legislation.
        Despite multiple polls showing approximately 80 percent of North Carolinians oppose taxpayer resources, including college access and licenses for illegal aliens, several Democrat lawmakers announced a push for college access for illegal aliens this week.
        “We hope to thwart the radical pro illegal alien agenda of Democrats once again as we have before,” said William Gheen. “We need to get North Carolina lawmakers of both parties moving toward enforcement like the majority of other states are doing.”
        ALIPAC will work with other state and national groups such as N.C. Listen on this project and will release more details soon.

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        During the last several weeks, millions of young people have graduated from America’s high schools, some facing the world of work and some going on to higher educations. Thousands have also graduated from our nation’s colleges, and most of those are indeed facing the reality of life in the working world, if they can find a job.
        Particularly one that suits them.
        I finished college and found myself in one of the most competitive job markets in American history. Other baby boomers and I descended on the American workplace just like we had descended on public schools, then on colleges — in droves. My wave came at a time when our national economy was taking a bit of a dip, not unlike today, and most of us took what jobs we could land and started working our way up.
        I started my first post-college job as the “traffic girl” at a radio station in Winston-Salem, a lowly typing job if ever there was one. Today’s graduates, the children of my baby boom generation, seem to have a somewhat different outlook. I had begun to notice this, so it was no wonder that a recent piece in the New York Times by Lisa Belkin caught my eye. She has noticed it as well.
        My generation’s children — many of them loved, pampered, nurtured and highly educated by their parents, are looking not just for any job, but for one that fulfills and challenges them, one that is both meaningful and an adventure, one that uses their intellect and skills and does good for others. Whew! I hope each and every one of these job seekers achieves that goal, but I certainly never felt that way about my traffic job.
        The Timesarticle did get me thinking, though, about where this attitude originates, and I think it came from us, their parents. We are the folks who worried about their self-esteem to the point that everyone on the elementary-age soccer team got a trophy and everyone in the baby class at the horse show got a blue ribbon. Same for field day. We have talked to them about having passion for their work and of leaving the world a better place than it was when they started, even if none of this was true for us in our workplaces. We have told them it is all about them. We have made them very, very special.
        The danger in all this, of course, is that we have so elevated their expectations that they will inevitably be disappointed, because employers are almost always more interested in providing their product or service than they are in fulfilling the career expectations of their employees. To be fair, the children of we baby boomers are likely to be more in demand than we were for the simple reason that there are far fewer of them than there were of us, so employers may very well value them more and cater to them in some ways. But my guess is they will still have some adjusting to do as they settle into the working world.
        I spent most of my working career in radio broadcasting, a wonderful and creative industry. It was a third generation family business, and working with my family for our mutual benefit was a fun, sometimes character-building experience. But I was not fulfilled every day. Serving in the North Carolina House of Representatives is a profound honor and a daily challenge, where compromise — not individuality, is the operative word. I think, though, that an early job during college summers probably laid the foundation of work for me.
        Waiting tables at a swanky private club in New England let me know without a doubt that there is value in doing a job — any job — well, and that going home at the end of the day knowing you did so is a great satisfaction. It taught me that the customer is almost always right, even when he is wrong, and that a good, understanding boss makes the difference in any job. The chance of getting that waiting job in that particular part of the world taught me that in some cases finding work is less a plan than an accident, more a matter of persistence than of talent, and that sometimes you just have to go with it. Most importantly, though, it taught me that I could support myself — keep a roof over my head and food in the fridge, and still aspire to a higher standard of work and of living in the future. 
        As I look at the young adults I know, part of me is envious of all they have ahead, and part of me quakes for all they must learn as they move along the often scary path of adulthood. And I am certain of two truths. We baby boomers desperately want them to find work that does challenge and fulfill them and which leaves the world a better place for their having done it.We also want them to be able to pay the rent.

    {mosimage} 

    Contact Margaret Dickson at margaretd@ncleg.net



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        It seems somewhat ironic to me that a men’s magazine based in New York City would run an article about the “Best Places to Raise a Family.” The irony comes in the fact that New Yorkers have the longest commute of anyone in the country. The unemployment and violent crime rate in New York is through the roof and the city has consistently been at the top of “Most Stressful Places to Live” list. I seem to remember someone somewhere saying something about people in glass houses.{mosimage}
    But I digress. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Fayetteville was recently named one of the    “Worse Places to Raise a Family” by Best Life, a New York-based men’s magazine. This comes as news to those of us who are raising children in the community, and probably to those who have already raised their children here and are watching their children raise their children here. Of course, who are we to question the wisdom of the big city journalist (who probably has never stepped foot in our city or any of the cities they dubbed as losers).
        The list was put together by pulling statistics on things that are important in family life: safety, schools, teacher to student ratio, above average test scores, museums, parks, pediatricians on the good side and multi-hour commutes, expensive houses and divorce rates on the negative side. The magazine pulled statistics about 257 cities in the United States from a variety of sources and based solely on the numbers created their list. And, as someone once said about statistics — Lies, damn lies and statistics.
        Are the publishers of Best Life asking us to believe that Los Angeles, which is home to gridlock traffic, poor air quality, a teeming homeless population and all out gang warfare really a better place to raise a family than Fayetteville, N.C.? Really?
        Fayetteville and Cumberland County have its share of problems. Yes, we do not spend as much per student on education as do some bigger cities. Why? We don’t have the tax base to do it. And yes, we have a high divorce rate. We also have families who are living in pressure cookers faced with deployment, after deployment, after deployment. Do we have a shortage of pediatricians? It wouldn’t surprise me. North Carolina as a whole has long had a shortage of physicians. But our community and its people are more than what we aren’t.
        We are a community of neighbors. Yes, we know the guy who lives next door and across the street and two houses down. We borrow tools from each other and our kids play together. And at our churches, our children don’t have just one parent — every adult in the church claims them as their own. Our teachers know our children by name. They aren’t just the kid in the third row. When my husband deploys, my son’s teachers hang his picture on the wall so my son can have that piece of him. When my son was struggling with reading, it was his teacher who fought alongside me to get him the help he needed. She was the one who started her day praying for my child.
        We’re still a town where people take food to their neighbors who are sick. We grill out on the Fourth of July and invite everybody over. We still have Veteran’s Day Parades and festivals in our parks. We are a community where art lives. You want a museum — just turn a corner and there’s one right there. Look at our library system and see how it thrives. Fayetteville is a community that embraces learning in all of its different facets. There are three centers of higher learning within our city’s boundaries. No, I don’t think Fayetteville is that bad of a place at all.
        We are a city that is gracious — even to big city journalists who wouldn’t know a community with heart if it opened its doors and invited him in.

    Contact Janice Burton at editor@upandcomingweekly.com 

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        “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
        Those were words that one of America’s favorite sons, Benjamin Franklin, uttered more than 200 years ago. Today, many people still agree.
        Beer and the brewing of it has become a cultural phenomenon in America. Home brews, once the product your weird uncle made in his basement, have now reached the mainstream and can be found on grocery store shelves alongside their traditional counterparts.
        On Saturday, June 7, Fayetteville residents will get the opportunity to celebrate beer and music as the Cape Fear Regional Theatre brings the fifth annual Blues and Brews Festival to Festival Park. The event, according to Cassandra Vallery, the coordinator, has outgrown its former home at Campbellton Landing.
    {mosimage}“We loved the location at Campbellton Landing,” said Vallery. “But we feel that we are growing so we needed a little more space. It’s kind of bittersweet.”
    Vallery noted that people coming from outside the community to attend the festival found the Campbellton Landing site hard to find — even while they found it beautiful. “A lot of people say, ‘Oh, I loved the river,’” she explained. “But as we continue to grow we had to take a look at a different locale.”
        If the name of the event doesn’t give it away, the event features great blues music and some of the southeast’s best brews. In total, there are 17 breweries participating in the event. While some of the breweries are local, other brewers are bringing their blends from the mountains and the coast. Just as diverse as their locations is the different types and blends of beers the brewers will be offering.
        As a rule, beers fall under two distinct categories: lagers and ales. While there are two categories, there are literally thousands of varieties of beers. What sets the categories apart is the type of yeast used to brew them and the temperature at which they are brewed. Lagers use special yeast that ferments at cooler temperatures, while ale uses yeast that ferments at warmer temperatures. What then separates them into their various varieties?
        It’s the types of hops and barley used. Lagers tend to be light in color as well as in taste. Ales include porter and stout beers. Porters are darker and more full bodied. Porters usually have a more noticeable barley flavor that is reminiscent of chocolate, along with a mild hop flavor. Stouts are the darkest type of beer, almost black in color. They are thick and taste strongly of the barley and hops that they are made from.
        While many people have a distinct taste for one or the other type of beer at the Brews and Blues Festival, they’ll get a chance to taste a variety of both.
        Leigh Rangel, the brew master at the Asheville Brewing and Pizza Company, will bring her offerings from the mountains. Rangel will offer her Shiva, an Indian Pale Ale, as well as Rocket Girl, a golden ale with a light and hoppy finish. Her main offering will be a Ninja Porter, which she describes as a dark ale with chocolate undertones. “It’s very good,” she said. “It’s actually my favorite beer — it’s outstanding. Twice a year we direct 5K races to raise money for nonprofits. Last fall we had the Night of the Ninja. We had 300 people running downtown dressed like Ninjas to raise money for the local food bank. It’s probably one of the most popular beers.”
        Paul Philponne tends to wax philosophical when it comes to his beers. Philponne, the master brewer at the Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery in Farmville, has something of a following in Fayetteville. His beers are sold at two locations in town, including Bob’s Wine Shoppe. Prior to becoming a brewer, Philponne was a philosophy professor. His days in the classroom gave him the idea for the brewery’s logo. The picture came from one of his philosophy books — if you look at it one way, it’s a duck. If you look at it another way, it’s a rabbit. His ability to look at things in a different manner lends itself to the making of his beers.
        Philponne started brewing as a hobby while teaching in Michigan — that was in 1987. In 1988, he chose a different path and left academia to return to school for a different kind of learning — that of becoming a brew master. Upon completion of his brewing education, he went to work at a number of different breweries, which led him south. In 2004, he opened Duck-Rabbit in Farmville. “The stars aligned to allow me to open my own place, and I felt I had the background and experience that I need to go on my own brewery,” he said.
    Beers at the Duck-Rabbit run to the dark side.
        “Our flagship beer, the one that allows me to pay my utility bills, is the Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout,” he explained. “The beer is brewed with lactose milk sugar, which gives it sweetness and a full body. It’s really delicious.”
        Another beer that Philponne will be sharing is a traditional English Porter. He said it is an espresso-style dark beer. An American Brown Ale, with a “malty, complex grain” is also on the menu. He said it is heavier on the hops and has a significantly more bitter taste. For this particular beer, Philponne used American hops, which gives it a piney, citrusey bitterness. The last beer he will showcase is an Amber Ale. “It’s the lightest of the beers we make,” he said. “It’s really dominated by caramel malt flavors — there are no sharp edges, it’s a round, full-bodied beer that won’t scare anybody off.”
        Philponne said his participation in the Blues and Brews has become an annual event. “Fayetteville is quite near to us, and this is one of the festivals we attend. It is, in a manner of speaking, in our backyard,” he said. “There are definitely a lot of people who enjoy craft beer, and if the festival promoters are willing to put out an effort to make it happen, we’re willing to pour a little beer and talk about it.”
        You might even get a little philosophy thrown in.
        Closer to home, Julie Bagget, the new master brewer at Huske Hardware House will be on hand to talk about her beers, but won’t have any to offer. Baggett said the restaurant is still in the process of developing its brews and perfecting the recipe, but they are willing to talk about their beers. When the brewery is up and running, the restaurant will offer seven beers: a German Blonde, a Pale Ale, an Irish Red, a Nut Brown Ale, a stout and a French Farmhouse Ale. Baggett said the taps should start flowing some time this summer.
        The Mash House will be well represented with a number of beers, as well as food. Zach Hart, the master brewer, was instrumental in the organization of the first Brews and Blues. Vallery said he gave the theatre a lot of direction and connected them with other breweries. These days, he doesn’t have to worry about that too much, he just concentrates on his own beer. Hart has been brewing beer at the Mash House since it opened in 2001. His love for beer developed in college when he was bar tending. The bar he worked in transitioned to a brewery, and Hart began his love affair with hops. He would tend bar all night and then stay until 4 a.m. when they started brewing. A couple of years later, the owners asked him if he wanted to be the brewer’s assistant. He had to return to school — the American Brewer’s Gill in California — where he learned the necessary skills and then went back to work at his art.
    Prior to The Mash House’s opening, he came to Fayetteville to close down the brewery and change over the recipes. “It’s not like a kitchen, you can’t just throw some seasoning on a steak and throw it on the grill,” he said. “You don’t brew for today or tomorrow — you brew for down the line.”
        Hart said the beers are brewing for two to four weeks at a minimum before they are ready to be consumed. So needless to say, he’s been busy preparing for the festival. The Mash House will offer its Summer Brew, which is a wheat ale that is fermented with a Belgian yeast. “The yeast creates a citrus character, so the beer has a tart twang to it,” he explained. “A lot of our regulars compare it to a Corona with the lime already in it.”
        They will also offer an Irish Red, which has a caramel character. “It’s one of our staples,” he continued. “It’s slightly sweet, but very light and refreshing.”
        The star of the show will be their Big Daddy — the brewery’s flagship — which is an India Pale Ale. It is very hoppy, very bitter and higher in alcohol than the average beer. “It has a nice floral, lemony taste — flowers and lemon altogether in smell and aftertaste,” he said.
    The restaurant will also be smoking 12 briskets and serving sandwiches with barbecue sauce, baked beans and cole slaw — not your usual fair fare.
        Other breweries participating in the event include New South Brewery from Myrtle Beach, S.C., the Weeping Radish, Foothills Brewing, Rock Bottom Brewery from Charlotte, Old Hickory, Terrapin Brewery from Georgia, Front Street Brewery from Wilmington and Ham’s Brew House from Greenville. Local distributors Harris, Healey and Empire will also be showcasing several beers.
        That takes care of the Brew end, but when it comes to the Blues, the CFRT has you covered as well. Three bands will perform throughout the afternoon, with Chapel Hill’s Jule Brown kicking off the show. They will be followed by Greensboro’s Holy Ghost Tent Revival, with the headliners Elliott and the Untouchables coming from Columbia, S.C. Vallery said the musicians offer a great mix of blues and will put on great show.
        Gates open at 3 p.m., with the first beer pour and entertainment beginning at 3:30 p.m. Vallery said a children’s entertainment area will be set up from 3-6 p.m. “There will be face painting, a bouncy house, puppets and games like sack races and hula-hoop races,” she said.
        Families are encouraged to bring blankets and chairs to sit back and enjoy the music. She added that they can even stay for dinner as a variety of concessionaires will be on hand. “We will have everything from pizza to polish sausage and chicken strips,” she said. “One of the brewers is from the old country. He raises free range pork and makes his own sausages and hot dogs.”
        In addition to the beers, soft drinks, water and ice cream, energy drinks will also be for sale.
        Tickets for the event are $25 and can be purchased at the CFRT Box Office or on the day of the event. With the ticket you get a three-ounce beer glass that can be used to sample beers from all of the brewers. A VIP ticket can be purchased for $40. The VIP Ticket includes parking adjacent to the park, a special VIP tent and free food. Children under 12 are admitted free, and you must be 21 to sample the beers.
        Vallery said while the event does spotlight beer, it is family-friendly. “People don’t get crazy,” she said. “It’s a very relaxed, laid-back event.”
        Funds from the event support the theatre’s operations. Vallery noted that while there are numerous partners who help sponsor shows throughout the year the cost of putting a play on stage is huge. “The money helps us bring talent to the stage and offer programs throughout the year,” she said.
        For more information, visit the theatre’s Web site at www.cfrt.org.


    Contact Janice Burton at editor@upandcomingweekly.com

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    I disagree with your advice to “The Hunted,” the woman who said a co-worker was stalking her at work. I agree she should be more direct, but what about “He’s been asking co-workers about me and finding me on breaks” says this guy’s harmless? Sometimes those “little things” turn ugly fast. A woman should heed that warning bell that something’s wrong. Yet, you mocked her, saying, “Come on, a guy at work gives you reason to believe he has a crush on you and the shower music from Psycho comes into your head?” Do you really think “Thanks, but no thanks” will deter him? She needs to say it ONCE in front of witnesses. Then it’s Human Resources time.

    -- Wary Woman 


    Yesterday, I asked a stock boy at the supermarket to help me get a jar off the top shelf. Before he could, another stock boy handed it to me. The first stock boy pouted, “I wish I coulda’ helped you.” Later, he circled back and complimented me on my skirt. So, I tased him.

    OK, I didn’t exactly tase him. I thanked him and kept shopping - probably a dumb move, since, as you point out, “Sometimes those ‘little things’ turn ugly fast.” Yeah, you never know when the stock boy’ll follow you to your car, clock you with a can of tomato paste, drive you to your place and make you watch as he gets your Wheaties down for you.

    I’m not saying women shouldn’t be careful. I’m saying they shouldn’t go hysterical the moment they get attention from a man. Take this woman, who claimed she was being “stalked.” The U.S. Department of Justice defines stalking as “repeated and unwanted attention, harassment, (or) contact...that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear.” Whoops! There’s that warning bell you mention. Only, if this woman heard one, it was “Ding! Ding! Ding! He’s beneath me! He’s ugly and socially awkward, and he’s asking me out!”

    Sure, he asked co-workers about her - a quaint thing people with crushes used to do in the days before Googling. And sure, he’s tried to bump into her on her breaks. A few times, not 300. That’s probably why she wasn’t seeking advice on protecting herself, but snarky ways to tell a loser she’s out of his league. Do I really think “Thanks, but no thanks” will deter him? Well, probably better than “Shoot me an e-mail” - her response when he said he hadn’t stopped thinking about her. Most obediently, he complied, and invited her out for a meal. She still didn’t turn him down. Instead, she e-mailed me, telling me she’d reported the guy to her boss: “This man asked me to lunch! Or dinner, if that was better for me.”

    Now, I’m guessing the guy wears button-downs, not a jeweled turban, and uses Word for Windows, not Word for Crystal Ball. If so, the telepathic “no” won’t cut it - you actually have to tell him you aren’t interested: clearly, firmly, the sooner, the better. If, after you shut him down once or twice, he keeps after you, that’s when you call for reinforcements. But, stalking expert Gavin de Becker advises in The Gift of Fear, if more women would “explicitly reject” advances, “stalking cases would decline dramatically.” Meanwhile, more women should also recognize that the “gift of fear” is the gift of appropriate fear - being alert to danger, but understanding that, most of the time, “Have a nice day” means “Have a nice day,” not “Have a nice day bound and gagged in my trunk.”


    Got a problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA╩ 90405, or e-mail AdviceAmy@aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com)

    (c)2008, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved.

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    Freddie Johnson, 49, was arrested in New York City in April, for the 53rd time after he allegedly once again rubbed up against women on crowded trains. He is such a menace (a 57-page rap sheet) that a special NYPD detail follows him around, certain that he will re-offend. Shortly after the arrest, the New York Daily News reported that his twin brother, Teddy, is now serving an eight-year sentence in upstate New York for a series of subway gropings of his own. A retired police officer told the Daily News that he saw the brothers almost every day and could tell them apart only by their clothes. Freddie, he said, was “blue collar” while Teddy conducted his fondlings “always dressed in a blazer and slacks.” 


    Government in Action! 

    In April, Army medic Monica Brown was awarded the Silver Star for bravery for selflessly subjecting herself to enemy fire in order to treat fallen comrades in battle in Afghanistan. However, two days after her heroics, she had been ordered home, against her will, because generals were nervous that a female appeared to be “in combat,” which violates Army rules.  

    By contrast, in April (according toThe Buffalo News), the Army, citing personnel shortages, ordered honorably discharged soldier James Raymond back to duty, even though he is on medical disability for a knee injury and loss of hearing suffered in Afghanistan. (Soldiers on “Readiness Reserve” are still eligible for duty if necessary.) 

    Kinder, Gentler Government: The county government in Tampa, Fla., revealed in April that because of its unusual interpretation of state law, all of its inmates on work-release programs during the last 15 years have been accruing pension and post-retirement healthcare credits. 

    London’s Daily Telegraph reported in April that the Dutch government has begun assigning some of its hard-core unemployed (who are repeatedly rejected for jobs) to “regression therapy,” in the hope that coming to terms with negative aspects of their past will help them present themselves better.  


    Fine Points of the Law 

    Gary Weaver, 41, arrested on a disorderly conduct charge in Cincinnati, was discovered to have an outstanding theft warrant from 1990 involving $21.64. The temporary bond on Weaver in 1990, based on his prior record, had been $1 million, and the 2008 judge refused to change that. (Extra fact: The $21.64 theft was based on Weaver’s paying a store in part with a roll of dimes that were really pennies but with a dime at each end.) 

    Representatives of about 300 Islamic madrassa schools, meeting in New Delhi in April, decided that Muslims could not buy health insurance because the Quran forbids gambling (although they said they would continue to explore ways of reconciling Sharia law with healthcare financing). 


    Family Values 

    Joseph Manzanares, 19, pleaded guilty in April to disorderly conduct in Commerce City, Colo., after police were called to a domestic disturbance, as he and his ex-girlfriend, who are the parents of a toddler, fought over which local street gang’s colors (hers or his) the kid would wear. 

    Least Competent Criminals 

    Should’ve chosen another career: Joshua Crowley, 22, was charged with robbing a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Camas, Wash., in March after being chased down, wrestled with, and subdued by passerby Mary Chamberlain, 66. 


    COPYRIGHT 2008 CHUCK SHEPHERD   

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    {mosimage}This summer is turning out to be the absolute worst motorcycle accident season that I have ever seen as a biker. I am gauging my analysis on the number of calls coming into my office, and reports of motorcycle accidents that I get from all over the world.

    I assume that the rise in gas prices and the increase in motorcycle popularity are the main factors in the vast increase in accidents. However, I am getting calls from guys with many years of riding experience!

    Whatever the cause of the vast increase in motorcycle accidents this summer may be, I will again reiterate some basic motorcycle safety tips:


    (1) Do not ride your motorcycle untilyou take a certified MotorcycleRider Safety Course.


    (2) If you are an experienced rider, or you have purchased a new motorcycle, take an advanced Motorcycle Rider Safety Course. Remember you do not really know your motorcycle until you have ridden it at least 1,000 miles.


    (3) No matter how experienced you think you may be on your motorcycle, practice makes perfect. You must be careful all of the time.


    (4) Assume that cagers and people in other motor vehicles do not see you!


    (5) Always wear a helmet, leathers, gloves, boots, and proper riding attire, even if it is hot. You may not look as cool, but if the meat hits the pavement, the pavement wins. It is always better to go home to ride another day.


    (6) Do not tailgate cars.


    (7) Keep your motorcycle in gear when stopped and always monitor your rear view mirrors for someone who looks like they are going to rear end you. Always plan an escape route at stop lights.


    (8) Always cover when going through intersections. Assume that someone will turn left in front of you or blow through a red light. 


    (9) Make sure that your insurance is up to date and that you have at least $500,000 in liability, underinsured, and uninsured motorist coverage. It may cost a bit more, but if you do go down, you want to have enough insurance to cover your passenger, and you.


    (10) Always keep an emergency card with you while riding. The emergency card should contain emergency contact names and numbers, relevant medical information such as blood type, medications, health problems, etc.


    (11) NEVER DRINK ALCOHOL OR USE DRUGS WHEN RIDING YOUR MOTORCYCLE, PEROID!


    (12) Always inspect your motorcycle and tires before riding. Look for loose screws, bolts, nuts and tighten them. Check your tires for pressure and wear.


    Riding your motorcycle can and should be one of the most pleasurable things in your life. Take it easy out there. Remember it is not the destination that matters; it is the ride that counts!

    You can read many more safety tips here on the Biker Law Blog by clicking on the Safety Tips button on the top of the Blog.

    Keep Both Wheels on the Road!

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    Rated 3 stars: Rated 2 stars for fans of the book

     

    {mosimage}Prince Caspian (147 minutes), why weren’t you awesome? The first big budget adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ epic Christian allegory,The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, started the franchise off slow, making no substantial box office impact. Even so, in the first movie, director Adamson got more right than he got wrong╔little details different from the source material actually added to the impact of the first movie.  Sadly, in this sequel, the touches are not little.  Moreover, when director Adamson (who also co-wrote) veers from the novel, he makes several horrible missteps. He mixes up the chronology of events, he inserts romantic subplots and inexplicable pop music, in short, he defaced a fantast classic in the name of crass commercialism. Despite my lasting and eternal love forShrek, I now find him utterly, utterly useless. Bad Andrew Adamson. No Cookie for You!  

    The Pevensie children - Peter (William Mosely), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Susan (Anna Popplewell) are drawn from our world into Narnia while waiting to catch a train. Once there, they meet the captured dwarf Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage) and journey with him to the encampment of Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes). Once there, the children learn that Caspian’s Uncle Miraz (Sergio Castellitto) seeks to usurp the throne. They pledge to help him defeat Miraz and restore Narnia to non-human creatures that Miraz drove into hiding. Caspian’s supporters include Glenstorm the Centaur (Cornell John), Trufflehunter the Badger (Ken Stott), Reepicheep the Mouse (Eddie Izzard), and of course, Aslan (Liam Neeson). The Narnians make their final stand during a single combat between High King Peter and the usurper Miraz, and the Second Battle of Beruna commences.      

    So that doesn’t sound so bad╔and its not. For those unfamiliar with the source material, the second adaptation is a decent follow-up to the first, with lots of action; some wonderfully realized animated characters and an epic scope. Susan even gets an active role in battle, with a strong focus given to her unparalleled archery skills. In fact, this is the only alteration to the story truly justified, in the sense that it is important to show girls a young, skilled woman in a leadership role. Of course, any benefit derived from allowing Susan an active role in fighting for a righteous case is immediately lost through the forced romantic subplot that has her gazing in rapt adoration at Caspian while uttering such inanities as, “Keep it [a magic horn]. You might need to call me again.” 

    Admittedly, some of the alterations probably stemmed from the commercial need to begin the movie with some action, rather than lingering on the childhood and education of Prince Caspian. Unfortunately, most of what got left out included the bits that established the character of Prince Caspian. So, his character is drained of his youth and appeal before we get anywhere with the plot. In fact, in what passes for character development, Peter and Caspian spend most of the movie sniping at each other about military tactics, engaging in battles amidst soap-opera style revelations. And glaringly absent, some of the best writing in the book╔in this version, Aslan does not take Lucy and Susan on a ramble through the blighted Narnia, waking the wood spirits, restoring wildness to the land and rescuing the persecuted. This is one of my favorite books, and you overcooked it. Shame on you Andrew Adamson.

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    {mosimage}In Plain Sight (Sunday, 10 p.m., USA) introduces us to a new kind of TV heroine. Mary Shannon (Mary McCormack) is a tough U.S. marshal who helps relocate people in the witness-protection program. Mary has to handle both the witnesses (often nasty criminals) and the folks who want them dead, and that puts her in a perpetual bad mood. All day long she throws out insults and punches, using sarcasm to keep her sanity.

    McCormack creates a memorable character, but the script could use fine-tuning. Mary’s incessant “pissiness” č to use one of her favorite words č can become grating. And her wisecracks are sometimes just old-fashioned bigotry masquerading as a gutsy challenge to political correctness. The premiere episode’s villain is a Native American, giving Mary a chance to tell him that “the great white father back in Washington will go all Little Big Horn on your a**.”

    The episode also elicits groans when it tries to show a heart beating under Mary’s hard shell. It goes all earnest on us, suggesting that she’s just an old softie looking for L.U.V.

    “We all live in hiding,” she says in a suddenly gentle voiceover. “In one way or another, each of us conceals pieces of ourselves from the rest of the world.”

    Pissiness, all is forgiven.


    Scripps National Spelling Bee

    Friday, 8 p.m. (ABC)

    Admittedly, the kids who make the finals are amazing. But one can’t help but ask a question: Why make these smart students waste their time memorizing nutty words that no one ever uses? Wouldn’t it be better to apply their brainpower to, say, solving the oil or healthcare crises?

    To me, the whole thing is simply mastrosniffapoolicious.


    MTV Movie Awards

    Sunday, 8 p.m. (MTV)

    Every year, the MTV Movie Awards shames the Oscars by honoring films that audiences actually liked. The 2008 Oscars were dominated by grim, pseudo-profound movies painstakingly engineered to win Academy Awards. By contrast, MTV’s show picks cheeky, earthy, shamelessly fun flicks, bristling with energy and eccentricity. The nominees includeSuperbad,Knocked Up,HairsprayandTransformers, all refreshingly free of pretension. Can you imagine how much better Atonement might have been if it included a car that transformed into a giant robot?


    Million Dollar Password

    Sunday, 8 p.m. (CBS)

    CBS revives the old game show, in which contestants help their partners guess a word revealed only to the audience. CBS promises a sleek, modern production, with higher stakes, new twists and a grand prize tied to 2008 inflationary levels. But to most of us,Passwordwouldn’t bePasswordwithout one very old-fashioned element: a deep-voiced announcer who addresses the audience in an absurd stage whisper. “The password IS╔.”

     

    Denise Richards: It’s Complicated

    Sunday, 10 p.m. (E!)

    Denise Richards never got any respect as an actress, probably because she didn’t deserve any. Now that she’s too old for bosomy sexpot roles, it’s time for the next phase of her career: a tawdry reality series. One wonders if Richards will seem wooden even in the role of herself.

    Here, she allows the cameras to record her life as a single mother in Hollywood. You know the drill: picking up the kids from school, shopping for groceries, stealing rocker Richie Sambora from best friend Heather Locklear.

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    {mosimage}Motorjunkie is well known on the Fayetteville music scene. The band, comprised of Chris Cox (vocals, rhythm guitar); Billy Varga (guitarist, back-up vocals); Marty Zellers (drummer); and Josh Hancock (manager) will be on stage at the Special Forces Association Festival on Saturday, May 31.

    The band has been together in one incarnation or another since 2000. The current lineup has been together the last two years. In April 2007, Motorjunkie releasedThe Plan, which has garnered some national attention, with two songs on the album holding spots in the Top 40 at Garageband.com for the last six months.

    Up & Coming Weekly took this opportunity to talk to the band. If their answers don’t convince you to come out to the SF Association Concert, we’re sure their music will.


    UCW: How long has the band been together and how did you come together?

    Cox: We were just all friends and we all knew each other played. None of us were in bands at the time a gig was offered to us to play just for fun. We got a show together, it went off well and the rest is history. 


    UCW: Give me some background on each member of the band.

    Cox: I’ve been a working musician for 16 years and have played in numerous bands in North Carolina and Virginia, including the Southern Outlaw Band, More Than Nothing, 4 Foot Bus, 421 Underground, Bad Monkey, The Chris Cox Band and Motorjunkie. I’ve geared my life towards becoming a professional musician or just a rock star. My favorite music is “blues with balls.”

    Varga: I am a master sergeant in Special Forces with 19 years of active duty. I have been playing guitar for 22 years. I love skydiving, motorcycles, and a good time. 

    Zellers: I am from Pennsylvania and moved here about three years ago and am currently going to school at Fayetteville Tech for carpentry. I’ve been in and around music since I was in fourth grade. My first instrument was the slide trombone and I have experimented with a variety of instruments until I figured out I like beating the drums best. 


    UCW: Motorjunkie is a pretty interesting name č what does it mean? (There were a couple of different takes on this question.)

    Cox: “Motor,” suggesting movement č “Junkie” the obvious addiction to music causing movement. I am a race fan. At the time the band first formed, three of the members rode motorcycles. All-around appreciation for going all out, and giving everything you’ve got. 

    Varga: Motorjunkie is a pretty interesting name č what does it mean? Our name was given to us by our close friend Gator who used to manage Smoking Guns Tattoo and was also a fellow member of the Wingmen MC. At the time, 3/4 of the band rode Harleys. One late night drinking session, he was joking around and said,”you guys are like a bunch of Motorjunkies.” The name stuck. 


    UCW: How would you describe your music? What are your influences?

    Cox: Groove metal č Tool, SRV, Gov’t Mule, Screeming Cheetah Wheelies, Pantera, Black Label Society, Clutch.

    Varga: Everyone in the band has a little different musical background. That is what makes it work so well. With hard rock/metal music, you see the same formula and sound from 90 percent of the bands out there. I think we distinguish ourselves from the norm. My influences include Metallica, Pantera, Van Halen, AIC, and Zakk Wylde. 

    Zellers: I have a very complex and diverse musical influence. My influences range from black metal/death metal to metal, there is a title for every genre of music these days but a few bands that I am influenced by are, Metallica, Pantera, Lamb of God, Slipknot, Korn, Dimmu Borgir, and Devil Driver. I’m starting to get into some extreme metal bands like Divine Heresy (former guitarist of Fear Factory, Dino Cesarez and drummer Tim Yeung) and Meshugga. Some of the things that are done with that type of music are very technical and almost inhuman. I will also play to rap, rock and anything else I can inject a lot of double bass drum stuff into. I would describe us as metal... period... end of story. Not nu-metal or hardcore metal or any other diluted version of metal, just straight up metal. 


    UCW: How has the band developed over the past few years?

    Cox: Battle of the Bands winner č went from playing local clubs, to playing out of town, then to out of state. Changed drummers and changed a whole bunch of bass players. Currently getting to play for venues such as the CQC fights at the Crown Arena, the Cape Fear Harley Davidson open house and opening for national recording artists. Getting support and having good people around us.

    Varga: We have seen the departure of a few members which is always difficult to deal with. The members we have now are getting tighter both musically and with regard to friendship and trust. 

    Zellers: Around 2000, the type  of music in this area was very blues heavy. We were one of the first bands that brought to the scene a much harder-edged type of sound that the rest of the world would call “rock.” However, as in all things, change was eminent. A couple of years went by and some changes were made to the lineup and that brings us to today. We are faster, tighter and much heavier than when we first started this project. We are experimenting with different tunings and the guitars and drums are matching in the way of syncopated rhythms. In this business there is constant change and you have to change with it all the while keeping true to yourself and your craft. The future looks very bright.

    UCW: How often do you play and how do you mix the music with other jobs?

    Cox: Music, work and life are a juggle at this point for everyone, we just pull off the best we can and still make the ends meet. I personally work as a carpenter Monday through Thursday, play music Thursday through Sunday. Varga: Due to recent re-structuring of the bassist, we have only been able to play a few shows a month but they have been big, important shows. We anticipate being able to pick up the pace very soon. In the past, my deployments would halt our performances and progress for extended periods. Fortunately, I have a little more relaxed job which allows me to focus more on the band. 

    Zellers: We practice about two nights a week and play shows on Friday and Saturday nights. When Huske Hardware was open we would go down there and play on Wednesday evenings. As far as working this around our day jobs, we are fortunate enough to only have to work during daylight hours and never on the weekends unless we absolutely have to. So that leaves a lot of room for practice and shows in the evenings. Personally, I practice just about every day, I do that because mediocrity can get you passed over by someone who can help you further your career, and that is what we are here to do. 


    UCW: What’s your take on the Fayetteville Music Scene?

    I’ve watched it grow over the years, and I am very pleased about the direction in which it’s heading. The fans are great; they are what make it happen. 

    Varga: This is a very hard town to be a musician in. It seems that the number of bands out there has just exploded in recent years. Regrettably, many don’t make it very long. I feel fortunate that we are still around and making new fans along the way. 

    Zellers: Ever changing, that could go either way. It seems there are too many bands around here that only want to copy their musical heroes and play exactly what they are playing and don’t want to branch off and make something different. Anything you can possibly imagine has been done by someone, so by saying “different” I mean taking all styles and aspects of music and combining them so that it doesn’t go over everyone’s heads. Or don’t write something so complicated that you can’t put on a show when you go out to play. Who wants to see someone just standing there playing guitar or sitting on their ass just playing drums? Music is an energy exchange, the more we give away, the more gets returned back to us. This town is ever changing also. The 200 fans that you had last weekend that came to your show may not be here the next weekend because of deployments. So it’s kind of difficult to get a real good fan base because of that. First and foremost, this is a business, just like anything else. 


    UCW: Where do you see the band five years from now? 

    Cox: Hopefully on the road with a big bus, lots of killer gigs, lots of roadies, and a whole lot of fans. 

    Varga: Hopefully, on the road touring. We have big dreams and will do what it takes to make it happen. 

    Zellers: Under contract with a label, or at least having serious talks with one. 


    UCW: Why did you choose to participate in the SF Festival?

    Cox: Members of our band have served, lost, and suffered; we understand the depths at which these times hit ours families, and want to show our support any way possible. 

    Varga: I work in the Special Forces community and am good friends with so many great guys out there. The proceeds will benefit SF Warriors and their families. This is a special show for me and I am looking forward to help make an impact in support of this event. 

    Zellers: It’s for a good cause; it helps the people who are giving us the freedom to be able to come out here and play music on our own terms. 

    The Special Forces Association Festival begins at 11 a.m. and runs until 10:30 p.m. Tickets, which gain you entrance to the day-long concert (seven bands are performing before the main event) are $20 at the gate or $17 online at www.ticketalternative.com.

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    {mosimage}Dear EarthTalk: What initiatives are taking place on college campuses to reduce the footprints of these large users of energy and other resources?       -- Shawna Smith, Hamilton, NY


    Microcosms of the world at large, college campuses are great test beds for environmental change, and many students are working hard to get their administrations to take positive action. The initiatives that are emerging are models for the larger society, and the students pushing for them will be taking these lessons with them, too, as they enter the work force after graduation.

    Foremost on the minds of green-leaning students today is global warming, and many are joining hands to persuade their schools to update policies and streamline operations so that their campuses can become part of the solution. Largely a result of student efforts, for example, nearly 500 U.S. colleges and universities have signed the American College and University Presidents (ACUP) Climate Commitment.

    This agreement requires schools to put together a comprehensive plan to go “carbon neutral” in two years of signing. (Carbon neutral means contributing no net greenhouse gases to the atmosphere either by not generating them in the first place or by offsetting them somehow, such as through tree-planting or by buying “offsets” from companies that fund alternative energy projects.)

    ACUP also commits schools to implementing two or more tangible (and easily implemented) policies right away, such as improving waste minimization and recycling programs, reducing energy usage, providing or encouraging public transportation to and from campus (and switching campus buses over to biodiesel fuel), constructing bicycle lanes, and implementing green building guidelines for any new construction.

    Signatory schools also pledge that they will integrate sustainability into their curricula, making it part of the educational experience.

    One place where students are forcing green changes on campus is the dining hall. According to the Sustainable Endowments Institute’s 2007 report card, which looks at environmental initiatives at the 200 colleges and universities with the largest endowment assets in the U.S. and Canada, 70 percent of such schools now “devote at least a portion of food budgets to buying from local farms and/or producers,” while 29 percent earned an “A” in the “food and recycling” category. Yale University even has organic gardens that are student-run and that supply an on-campus farmer’s market for use by campus food services, the local community and students alike.

    Another area where college campuses are leading the way is in water conservation. Colleges consume huge quantities of water in dormitories, cafeterias, at athletic facilities and in maintaining their rolling green grounds. According to Niles Barnes of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), most of the 3,800 institutions of higher education in the U.S. have engaged in some sort of watersaving program. Low-water-volume toilets and urinals, as well as low-flow sho


    GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php. 

     

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    Rated 3 stars 

     

    {mosimage}My first visit to Beef O’Brady’s came a few weeks ago when an artist friend from Raleigh and I had just finished hanging his art show. It was mid-afternoon and we were both starved and in need of caffeine. My mind was set on buffalo wings as part of some research to find the best wings in town.  

    After perusing the menu, the salad section caught my eye. Beef’s has a selection of eight salads to choose from. They all sound so tasty: Asian Mandarin, chicken salad with teriyaki chicken, crispy rice noodles and mandarin oranges, beefy taco salad with shaved beef seasoned with southwestern spices, with chili and warm queso, and buffalo chicken salad with fried chicken tossed with buffalo sauce on a tossed salad with cilantro ranch dressing are just a few of the choices.  

    Who would’ve thought that one of the best places in town to get a not so run of the mill salad would be at a family sports pub? A sports pub that sports at least 15 TVs and serves up ice cold beer at that. Beef O’Brady’s is just that place.

    That’s not to say that you wouldn’t want to go there for the baskets full of wings or chicken or burgers or wraps. But the salad selection is very tempting, especially this time of year when some of us may be dreaming of washboard abs or fitting into that new monokini that was purchased one size too small as incentive to lose 10 pounds before summer vacation.

    The Buffalo Chicken Salad was my first choice. It was just plain satisfying. The boneless chicken in the slightly spicy sauce paired with the cool crisp lettuce and cilantro ranch make a perfect combination. It is like having wings without having to suck the sauce off of your fingers in public. My friend had the Fish ‘n’ Chips basket with pineapple coleslaw. He loved the slaw and was impressed that the meal came with a complimentary side salad that was big enough to have been an entrÄe salad.  

    Our friendly waitress gladly made us a pot of fresh coffee upon request. We drank the whole pot. After having pleasant conversation, satisfying food and a recommended daily allowance of caffeine, my friend commented that Fayetteville has changed since the last time he has been here. He enjoyed the experience so much that he said that he will make Beef O’Brady’s a destination restaurant for himself  and his family whenever he’s in our neck of the woods.

    Upon first reflection, one might wonder why anyone would put another restaurant downtown. There are already how many in that half-mile radius č nine or 10, including coffee shops? One might also wonder why anyone would want to put yet another chain restaurant anywhere. Don’t we have enough already? However, after stumbling into a chance conversation with a well-traveled older woman a few weeks ago, a suitable answer was offered. The downtown area needs an anchor, a draw č a destination that many people may be familiar with. Beef O’ Brady’s is downtown Fayetteville’s restaurant anchor. (For anyone in the driver’s seat in the area of downtown development, please note that a clothing store anchor would be nice, as well, maybe something like a Steve & Barry’s.)  

    Lunch time during the week is a busy time at Beef O’Brady’s, with a mix of active duty military, business people, and families. One of the appealing things about the restaurant is that you pick your own seat. It’s nice to be able to get a window seat without having to slip the host or hostess a $20 bill. A note of warning about the window seat č be on the lookout for a man who looks like he is accustomed to slipping $20s to get the best seat in the house to come over and jokingly tell the waitress that that is his seat and he wants it.  

    The atmosphere is relaxed and the wait staff is friendly. Expect about a 15-minute wait for lunch. The seating is open and spacious. The prices are the same for lunch and dinner. Expect to pay about $20 for an entrÄe and drink for two people. Beef’s also has a light menu that offers smaller portions of some of the items on the regular menu. They have a typical kid’s menu with nothing priced over $3.99.

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        Dichotomy best describes the work of Herb Parker and Yvette Dede, two artists exhibiting at the Fayetteville Museum of Art in the exhibit titled Fused and Divided: Life and Art. Both artists are from Charleston, S.C., and bring qualities of contradiction and circumstance to their work.
        Herb Parker is best known for his large scale installations of habitat-like-dwellings covered with natural materials to evoke a renewed look at the environment, space and place. In this exhibit, the majority of his sculptures are relatively small compared to his site-specific installations. {mosimage}
        The largest sculpture in the exhibit is titled Fatherhood. In this work, two heads float atop tri-wheeled, bicycle-like, open forms. In contrast to the open form of the wheels, the heads are massive, yet hollow, their eyes are empty holes. Haunting, as in all of his work, visitors to the museum will enjoy the experience of trying to unravel meaning.
        As you go through the exhibit, visitors will see how Parker has repeatedly used chains, surface rust and wheels as a theme to situate the human figure. The situations according to Parker are “works that reflect the insecurities, fears and exhilarations of life; fueled by social, political ideas, as well as interpersonal and familial relationships.” Unlike his serene installations, the exhibit at the Fayetteville Museum of Art errs to the side of corrosion and antagonism, yet is still relatively playful.
        Perhaps it is the sense of play in Parker’s work that is the most insidious. We don’t respond to actual horror or anxiety, but always the possibility that is present. That is the attractiveness of Parkers’ work, he doesn’t describe anxiety, he evokes it.
        For this exhibit, Parker’s work ranges from the oversized in scale to doll-size. He uses found objects, mixed media, carved or found wood and cast metal to conjure meaning — a mix of spirituality and humanism, humor and horror, each piece alluding to the dichotomy of a situation.
        Examples of the human condition are in the sculptures titled Son of the South #1 and Son of the South #2. In both works, rust is used as a color and element of time. In Son of the South #1, an undraped, rusted figure stands doll-like, wrapped in an enlarged rusted chain; the head of the figure is a rusted revolver. At the end of the chain is a rusty wheel.
        Similarly, Son of the South #2 is rust in color; the rust covers a child’s toy pickup truck. A serpentine brown rod snakes upward from the back of the pickup truck, covered in shell remnants, the rod then bends over, towards the viewer, to reveal an obscure human hand.
        In the sculpture titled Dialogue, two heads, a male and a female, mouths open, glass eyes with a distant gaze are connected by a chain from the tongue of each head. As in many of the other works, the two heads are mounted on wheels. Complex and situational, we are uneasy about the probability (past and present) that exists in each of Parker’s works.
        Parkers’ work was consistent in content, material and his investigation of the human condition. Opposite to Parker, the work of Yvette Dede is somewhat confusing in content.
        When visitors enter the museum, they will see a series of True Value brown bags on the wall. Dede has taken the time to draw an image on each bag in graphite pencil; then she placed a symbolic object that appears out of the top of the bag.
        In the work titled Beach, a graphic image of the beach is drawn to look as if someone is standing, approaching a pair of stairs that lead towards the shore, where we can look out into the ocean. The red letters of True Value lie just beneath the graphic drawing. Three white-pointed shapes are in a line above the edge of the bag, emerging from the bag.
        The True Value bag series is visually and conceptually pleasing. Dede explains it clearly: “The logo provides a conceptual base that helps direct the choice of image and form. Generally, the bag is a container for purchased goods. Yet, I wanted to suggest that most things — whether it is natural material or concept — might be transformed into a fictitious product . . . it is an observation of how commodities reflect what our society values.”
        Other than the bag series, Dede’s work in the exhibit is convoluted with a variety of meanings. On one wall, visitors to the museum will see large descriptive drawings of objects — a bell, glove and fishing lure — on plain and underdeveloped backgrounds. Compared to the other drawings in the exhibit, I didn’t’ get it.
    In Egg Meditation, an entirely different series hangs among the highly rendered drawings of objects and drawings on brown bags. Egg Meditation is a series of nine small drawing framed within weathered wooden shadow boxes. Each delicate drawing is an interpretation of “egg-ness.” Like a Mandala, each drawing is the essence of what the form means to the artist — radiating and mystical.
        {mosimage}In exact opposite of Parker, Dede’s body of work is inconsistent in meaning. Upon some reflection, and although she did not state this, I only felt as if Dede was trying to convey a series of drawings about memories. What does resonate in all of Dede’s drawing is the essence of what drawing can be. The essence of drawing is associated with intimacy and investigation. No matter what the style or subject, we use drawing to denote ourselves.
        This is an exhibit that most visitors to the museum will enjoy. Fused and Divided: Life and Artwill remain at the Fayetteville Museum of Art until July 13. For hours of operation, call the museum at 485-5121.

  • Details
        Children with disabilities face a number of challenges. Often, school proves difficult and extracurricular activities are off limits. For many children with disabilities, art opens doorways, allowing them to express themselves in ways they never could before. The Fayetteville Museum of Art is hoping to help them open that door, and a very special event on Saturday, May 31 is a first step.
        {mosimage}The second annual Spectacular Arts Festival on Saturday, May 31, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., will be held at the Dorothy Gilmore Recreational Center. The festival is designed for children with disabilities. The event gives them and their families the opportunity to participate in an entertaining and creative environment.
        “We gear it for pre-school children ages 0-5,” said Lisette Young, director of education at the Fayetteville Museum of Art. “We will have six art tables set up for the children to create art.”
        Young added that the tools used are designed for the diverse students and their different types and levels of disabilities. Disabilities may range from mild, moderate or severe.
        “We will have resource tables, too,” said Young. “I contacted local agencies that offer help or assistance to children with disabilities and their families.”
        Young added that there will be 13 agencies on site. Beyond putting families in touch with those agencies, the staff at the museum hopes the community will begin to see the museum as a resource. Young explained that the FMA has a special needs educator who goes out to Cumberland County Schools and other organizations to share with educators and others the kinds of artistic projects that can be done with students with disabilities. The fun-filled activities include a bubble machine, face painting, balloons, tattoos, trackless train rides, a paint wall and tents for children to sit inside if they are sensitive to heat.
        The Fayetteville Symphony Duo will provide musical entertainment. They will play children’s songs with their string instruments. the Fayetteville Fire Department, The Fayetteville Police Department and the Cumberland County Headquarters Library mascot will be on hand. The Grey Seal Puppets will present a puppet show entitled Salsa Cinderella. Lunch will be provided by CiCi’s Pizza and a cool treat of ice cream will be provided by Cold Stone Creamery.
        “This is a comfortable and fun event for children with disabilities and their families,” said Young. “Children with all disabilities are welcome.”
        Admission is free. The Dorothy Gilmore Recreational Center is located at 1600 Purdue Drive. For more information call 485-5121.

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