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(01/24/08 5:00am)
If there is one band in the world qualified to be presented in 3-D, it is U2.
No other band in the world is as outsizedly larger than life as the Irish foursome.
So it makes good sense that the first ever live action digital 3-D movie, "U2 3D," finds Bono, The Edge and company preaching and posturing and rocking harder than any 40-year-olds should be capable of.
The performances are constantly entertaining, as Bono owns the four Latin American stadiums featured in the film in a way no other lead singer can.
Like an unavoidably impetuous court jester, the man, whether you gleefully accept him or outright despise him, is completely galvanizing in his political frolics, as portrayed in the film.
When the band plays "Love and Peace or Else," it's hard not to stare in awe as he covers his eyes with a blindfold adorned with a Muslim crescent, a star of David and a cross.
But the real star of "U2 3D" is the film technique of directors Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington.
Seamless and all-consuming, the movie is the closest anyone could get to the orgy of political spirituality that is a U2 concert without actually being there.
The close-ups in gigantic IMAX, however, are a bit much.
No one needs to be that well acquainted with The Edge's stubble.
And the sensory overload of pop-up words that pervade "The Fly" is likely to give the viewer an epileptic seizure.
But when confronted by the powerful mass catharsis of the closing performance of "With or Without You," it's hard to nitpick.
Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu
(01/24/08 5:00am)
A couple of weeks ago when I went to cover a show by Chapel Hill garage-blues duo The Moaners at the Local 506, I got a different experience than I bargained for.
I expected it to be a fairly low-key event where I could just stand there, hands in pockets, soaking in the music.
However, Robosapien, the infectiously dance-happy party-rap group that hit the stage first, had different plans.
The group turned the 506 into a regular dance club, rapping quirkily over flashy beats and demanding that the audience get up and shake it.
And the audience failed to disappoint them, shaking, gyrating and cavorting with fervor.
As I stood there, hands firmly in pockets, observing the affair, I couldn't help wishing I was having as much fun as the ones dancing.
I've never been one to dance. In fact, I typically avoid it as though it is an incurable disease.
And when I think about it now, I'm not sure why.
Perhaps it's because I grew up with the hard-rock machismo idea that dancing somehow makes a man more feminine being drilled in my head.
Perhaps it's because my friends can't seem to stop laughing whenever I find the courage (or, more correctly, the desire to make a fool of myself) and start moving to the music.
Whatever the reason, it doesn't really matter to me now.
When I look back on all the proms, all the nights out with friends and all the fun I've let slip through my fingers, all I can do is wish I had danced.
Every time I actually let all my insecurities go and do it, I feel alive in way I can find through no other vehicle.
And whenever I find myself in a place where people are dancing, I envy those who have enough confidence to join in.
I know it's a bit late at this point to declare a New Year's resolution, but I'm going to go ahead and make this one anyway:
When I get the opportunity to let go, have fun and just let the music take me over, I'm going to go ahead and dance. No matter how bad I might be.
So, if you see me at a show where everyone else is dancing, please pull my awkward, protesting figure out of the corner and shove me onto the dance floor.
I might fight you at first.
But I promise I'll thank you later.
Contact Jordan Lawrence at lzjordan@email.unc.edu
(01/17/08 5:00am)
Black Habit - the debut outing from New York experimental pop trio Rings - seems to come at the listener from far away.
The three women's voices compete for attention as they layer together in washed-out desperation.
Interweaving pop melodies and abrasive noise elements then are piled on top, creating the impression that the singers are struggling against an onslaught just to be heard.
On a record that sets its sights on isolation and overcoming personal conflicts, the aesthetic works well.
The middle section of opener "All Right Peace" finds the voices fighting through a wave of what should be complementary piano and guitar melodies, proclaiming, "My insides have outsized our lives."
In this song, melodies that should create peaceful serenity clash and explode like an aerial dogfight, creating a sonic tumult the singer strives to overcome.
The rest of Black Habit follows a similar pattern. Soft pop melodies are piled up to become insular and caustic. The singers seek to triumph and grow while the music continues to beat them down again and again. Though it works most of the time, Rings' approach can become annoying.
The overly repetitive piano and shrill vocals of "Tone Poem" grate on the listener too heavily to be excused as soul searching.
And though the propulsive, distorted guitar overload of "Scape Aside" is the closest the album gets to catchy, at six minutes the song drags on too long to take full advantage of its engaging rhythm.
But it's easy to overlook such faults once the listener gets swept away in the record's all-consuming impressions of isolated desperation brought to their full height by closer "Teepee."
In frail harmonies set over lonely piano, the lyrics bemoan the plight of trying to find a close connection with anyone in this world, until the singer concludes, "Letting go of a life of two/This world's too big for me and you."
After experiencing the struggle and isolation Rings' music creates, it's hard not to agree.
Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
(11/29/07 5:00am)
If you haven't heard by now, Led Zeppelin is releasing its entire catalogue via iTunes.
To celebrate (more accurately to cash in), the band is releasing two new, yet amazingly unnecessary items.
The first, a new "greatest hits" collection titled Mothership, is the best overview of the band's career to date.
However, this doesn't mean it comes close to being the best way to hear Led Zeppelin.
With a few exceptions, the band never released any fluff, so key tracks will always be missed when attempting to make a concise compilation.
The collection narrows the band's range down to its hard rock material, ignoring the band's folk and experimental sides.
But for those interested only in the group's classic-rock-radio material, this is the best collection out there.
Still, anyone who gets this collection instead of investing in Led Zeppelin's back catalogue will be missing some of the band's best material.
In addition to Mothership, the band is re-releasing the soundtrack to its film "The Song Remains the Same."
Pulled from a 1973 performance at Madison Square Garden, the bloated affair was superfluous even when it was Zeppelin's only official live album.
On head-scratchers such as "Moby Dick," with its sleep inducing 8-minute drum solo, the band takes what were excellent studio recordings and stretches them until all their riveting power is gone.
It's like spreading butter on too much bread. The substance is spread so far here that all the wonderful taste is gone.
It is when the band revs up the engines and keeps it below 10 minutes that the album takes off.
The version of "Rock and Roll" is a reminder of the force Led Zeppelin could be live.
Gritty and chaotic, yet also ruthlessly contained, the song is a potent distillation of the band's raw fury.
It is unfortunate that sparkling gems like that one are dragged down by overstuffed pomp that inhabits the rest of this disappointing affair.
Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
(11/15/07 5:00am)
Country music legends guard the bathroom doors at Raleigh's Hideaway BBQ.
If ladies want to use the facilities they must first get past Maybelle Carter. Gentlemen must wrestle with the ghost of Johnny Cash.
In a venue where the traditions of country music are held in the highest esteem, these two images encompass the club's mission of remembering where the genre has been, and where fresh voices can take it.
It is strange, though, that a venue so concerned with tradition would be the new kid on the block in terms of Triangle music clubs.
Opened within the last year, the club was the vision of owner Stacey Palmer, who envisioned the club as a bastion for country music in the Triangle.
Longtime Triangle resident John Howie Jr. said his band Two Dollar Pistols fits the profile Palmer was looking for.
"When the owner was starting the club he got up with me and said he wanted to focus on the music he liked: The kind of music we play," Howie said.
"I wasn't sure how something like that was going to work, and it seemed like a cool idea. But we've always done well there."
The Pistols played the club Saturday night in a show that Hideaway's general manager Scott Harmon said did well despite its competition that night for Raleigh concertgoers.
"We did pretty well, but we were up against Hank Williams III, so that's always tough," Harmon said.
Most nights, though, there is no competition. For the fans of the Triangle's nationally recognized country and Americana scene, Hideaway is the place to be to enjoy a hot meal, a cold beer and good music.
Yes, unlike many venues, Hideaway serves food.
There is a full dinner menu consisting of barbecued meats and Southern sides. The menu runs from 5-9 p.m., when the shows start.
While eating a meal of pulled pork or barbecued chicken, patrons sit under chandeliers made out of antlers and watch artists play on a stage backed with the famous "Don't Tread On Me" flag from the Revolutionary War.
"The nice thing about the music is that people will come in just to eat and then see the show list and say, 'Oh, I didn't know so and so was playing here,' and stick around," Harmon said. "The combination really works."
In accordance with Palmer's vision for the club, Howie said he is committed to upholding the traditions of a genre that North Carolina has been so instrumental in shaping.
"There is such a legacy here, with people like Earl Scruggs and Don Gibson and even out of the realm of country with Coltrane or George Clinton, it's something special," he said.
"I'd really love to be remembered as part of that."
Howie said he is content where he is, the community where he has lived his whole life.
"I don't want to go to Nashville where you just find a bunch of guys in cowboy hats playing Telecasters in little bars," Howie said.
"My music is too important to me to have someone misunderstand it just for some nebulous idea of success."
For some, though, the Triangle serves as a launching pad for their careers.
Thad Cockrell is a singer/songwriter who honed his craft in Raleigh but now makes his home in Nashville. He said he can't quite put his finger on what it is about the Tar Heel State that inspires such country-music productivity.
"There is something about North Carolina that has just birthed great music," he said. "And more than anything it's just great songs.
"These people have made some great songs."
The people he's referring to, Ryan Adams and his band Whiskeytown, helped put the Triangle on the map in the mid '90s, ushering in a new movement toward alternative county -- whatever that means.
And while Howie said he doesn't feel like Two Dollar Pistols were part of that scene, the exposure helped.
"I think that happening kind of helped us," he said.
"I never really thought we were a part of it like Whiskeytown was, but the good thing was that it brought attention to people like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard and George Jones as potential influences."
Howie sees those performers as his own influences, but said that in today's changing musical climate it would be difficult to achieve success with a young band rooted in traditional country.
"It's really important for young people to be exposed to this music and move forward with it, but with the way things are going now I think that would be tough to do," he said.
Harmon said Hideaway wants to be part of that vision in the Triangle, giving artists interested in country and Americana music a chance to play, all while building on an audience base that is continuing to expand.
"We definitely have our regulars and that's great, and our owner is a hard-core country fan, so don't expect anything to change any time soon," Harmon said.
The venue is and will continue to be a standing reminder of country music's legacy in North Carolina.
"We like to think of ourselves as the last honky-tonk," Harmon said.
Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
(10/26/07 4:00am)
When Frank Hensley rushed into his brother's room on Feb. 22, 1957, to steal a jacket just before school, he had no idea the impact that article of clothing would have on his life.
(10/11/07 4:00am)
Judging by the myriad pops and beeps contained on its new LP, Heaven, paradise for Brooklyn-based electro-pop act Mobius Band would be contained in an Atari.
Mobius Band takes a skittery indie-pop style and dumps on it a superfluous metric ton of electronic chirps and buzzes.
The approach is charming enough at first. Elongated, distorted synth parts and popcorn popper beeps give "Hallie" a simple, youthful vibe for the first few spins.
But when the album is taken as a whole, the grating onslaught of electronics ruins solid melodies.
The effect of this album becomes much what the mother of a 7-year-old who has just been given his first video game console must experience: hearing the overly electronic and incredibly annoying soundtrack of Nintendo's newest platform adventure over and over again until she rips the cord out of the wall.
This is not to say Heaven doesn't have its moments.
In fact, it has quite a few times when all the disparate elements reach a kind of synthesis, creating grand, melodic quirkiness.
But these moments last no longer than 30 seconds, and then the chaotic din of electronic nonsense swallows up any promise Mobius Band had of making a listenable record.
There would have been many more moments of glee if the band had pulled back just a tad.
In fact, the only truly solid track on the record is the one with a more simple sound.
"Tie A Tie," though it might not display the best songwriting, is the best thing here because of its stripped-back arrangement.
With the only electronic element a sweet, subdued synth line in the background, the band's respectable melodic skills are allowed to come to the forefront as lead singer Peter Sax's pleasingly earnest voice is heard for the first time.
On Heaven, Mobius Band buries its noticeable promise under so much electronic drone that most listeners will have trouble mustering the effort to dig it up.
Contact the Diversions Editor
at dive@unc.edu.
(10/11/07 4:00am)
The 21-member chancellor search committee will hold its first meeting Friday. The committee and UNC-system President Erskine Bowles will outline criteria for UNC's next top leader.
The committee formed after Chancellor James Moeser announced last month that he will step down June 30.
University officials, who plan to have a replacement by July 1, said the committee members will bring together different viewpoints based on a range of experiences.
"This committee's task is probably the most important the University has to face," said Nelson Schwab, chairman of the trustee and search committee.
The committee - which includes members of the Board of Trustees, the UNC faculty, the business community and the student body - will draw on its collective background to consider the major issues the next chancellor will face.
Dollars for petri dishes
With more than half of the search committee members having ties to the business world and the sciences, that makeup indicates that Carolina North, UNC's planned research satellite campus, will rank high on the list of priorities.
Committee member Roger Perry, chairman of the Board of Trustees, has had experience working with town and development officials, leading the building of a mixed-use development, Meadowmont, about 10 years ago.
Carolina North aims to increase UNC's research efforts and improve its relationship with private firms.
Perry said the new chancellor must be prepared to make Carolina North a reality.
"That will be a big role for the new chancellor," he said. "The new chancellor is going to have to deal with a whole bunch of issues in terms of how we fund Carolina North."
Finding the funds
Committee members said Moeser's successor also will be charged with launching new fundraising initiatives.
And some of UNC's most prominent fundraising leaders are on the chancellor search committee.
Several members - including trustee Rusty Carter and alumni Mike Overlock and Julia Sprunt Grumbles - are involved with the Carolina First Campaign, UNC's private fund drive that will conclude in December.
Overlock is one of three co-chairmen for Carolina First, and Carter and Grumbles are on the campaign's steering committee. Grumbles also leads a campaign focus committee.
"Fundraising ability has achieved a place of prominence for chancellors and will continue to do so," said Joe Templeton, chairman of the faculty and search committee member.
John Ellison, a trustee serving on the search committee, said the new chancellor will need to be a creative, strong leader in order to develop a fundraising initiative of the same caliber as Carolina First.
"I don't think that you need to put the chancellor in a box," he said. "The person has to create consensus and has to be able to lead."
Lack of community voice
One group not directly represented by the committee is Chapel Hill policymakers.
Although some members have past experience with the community, none comes from active leadership roles in Orange County.
Schwab said the lack of community influence isn't a concern. "We didn't purposefully leave that out," he said. "(It's) covered well by the people who are on that committee."
Ken Broun, a law professor and former mayor of Chapel Hill is on the committee. He is the only member who has held an administrative position in the county.
"I've had a great deal of experience within the University and the community," he said. "I bring both of those perspectives to the search - for better or worse."
Focus on faculty
Apart from trustees, the group with the largest representation on the committee is the faculty. Six members are UNC professors.
Ellison said faculty opinion will be crucial in the decision. "I think we just have to have a person who is well respected by the faculty."
Templeton also said faculty input will weigh in on the search.
"The things that I would hope we'll find in our next chancellor very much reflect my view as a faculty member."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(09/21/07 4:00am)
View the slideshow
Barry Keith, known better to Chapel Hill and Carrboro as Surplus Sid, believes his daughter, Nicky, has the best description for his army surplus store.
Keith said she tells him his store is filled with "junky junk and stuff from the military channel."
Located at 309 E. Main St. in Carrboro, Surplus Sid's International Military Surplus has been doing business for almost 20 years.
(09/20/07 4:00am)
Since my sophomore year in high school I've told people that San Francisco is one of the best cities in the U.S.
I act as though I know the city intimately. I tell people how beautiful it is. I tell them how great the trolley cars are. How awesome the Golden Gate Bridge is, and how I bought some great junk on Pier 54.
Confession: I've spent only 60 hours in San Francisco.
When I look back at my experience in San Francisco I feel disappointed in all the hidden, local specificities I missed.
I think about mom-and-pop restaurants, quirky little activities and all the local color I could have squeezed out of San Francisco if I had been there two weeks or a month - or four years.
When I think about it this way I realize I don't know the city at all. Because when you get down to it, San Francisco isn't the Golden Gate Bridge or the Wharf or any of the tourist stops.
But when you've got a whole country to see, sometimes it's hard to stop and take a closer look.
Throughout the course of my grade school career, my parents made it their mission to take me to every state in the Union.
We started our quest with a nine-day trip to Hawaii the summer after my fifth-grade year and ended with an eight-day venture to Alaska the summer before I came to UNC.
It was an experience I value and always will love my parents for providing me, but it is impossible to get to the heart of any community in this country when you're visiting it for two or three days on a whirlwind, two-week tour of 10 states.
The things that make any town what it is are all the holes in the wall, the local artists, the great little places to hang out.
But thinking about San Francisco makes me realize that I really don't know any place I've ever been at all intimately - including my very own hometown of Spartanburg, S.C.
Growing up in lovely "Sparkle City," my only real hangouts included the mall and Barnes & Noble. I went to one of the local coffee shops a couple times a month, but other than that I stuck mainly to the type of establishments you'd find in any town.
Even when I first got to Chapel Hill I did the same things for my first year - always eating at the dining halls or the chains on Franklin Street.
I didn't go explore or see any of the bands in this hotbed of great music. I had never been to Open Eye Cafe or Local 506 or any of the cool, artsy places around the area - a sad admission for a Diversions writer
This year I'm trying to change that. I think I'm finally starting to get it.
But when you get right down to it, I could find the same kind of enjoyment anywhere. In the end it doesn't matter if you're in Chapel Hill or Spartanburg or San Francisco. There are gems to be discovered at any spot on the globe.
So wherever you are, whether a student in Chapel Hill, a visitor in San Francisco or a kid growing up in Spartanburg, go ahead - dive in, get out and discover everything there is around you. I promise you won't regret it.
Contact Jordan Lawrence at lzjordan@email.unc.edu.
(09/17/07 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>At UNC you can help the environment just by going to the bathroom.
In several buildings around campus, men's restrooms have water-free urinals installed.
There are about 160 urinals in campus buildings including the Student Union and the Undergraduate Library. The devices save water by disposing of liquid waste without a flush.
The urinals are one of several sustainability measures that the University has in place to conserve water.
"Water-free urinals are a quick infrastructural change that can be made to reduce water consumption," said Cindy Shea, director of the University's Sustainability Office.
The first of the urinals were installed in 2002 when the area was experiencing an extreme drought.
Each water-free urinal saves an average of about 21,300 gallons each year as compared with a standard one-gallon flush unit. Altogether the urinals save the University 3.4 million gallons of water a year, Shea said.
Although the University has no plans to continue retrofitting older buildings with the water-free units, the urinals are being installed in newly constructed buildings.
Shea said student feedback about the urinals is mixed.
"A lot of people love them, and a few people hate them," she said adding that some users complain that the urinals splash them or that they clog frequently.
"We're investigating all those concerns so we know if we want to employ more water-free urinals or not," Shea said.
The University has implemented several other measures to save water around campus.
Dual-flush toilets have been installed in five campus buildings, including Hinton James Residence Hall and the new Global Education Center. Users pull up on the handle for a smaller flush for liquid waste and push down for a larger flush to take care of solid waste.
Rain sensors also have been installed in the campus's irrigation system.
"It tells the irrigation controllers how much rain there has been recently and when the next rain is predicted, and then the irrigation controllers know when to turn on the irrigation or not," Shea said.
Another water-saving technology in place is closed-loop cooling systems in four of the campus's labs. The cooling systems use extremely cold water for sterilization. The new system conserves water by cycling the used liquid back through the system, where in the previous system it just went down the drain.
The University of Virginia uses many of the same measures to conserve water as UNC, including water-free urinals, faucet aerators and low-flow shower heads to reduce water usage in faucets and showers.
All in all, Virginia's water conservation measures save the university about 200 million gallons each year, allowing the campus to keep its total usage to 500 million gallons per year.
Shea said that especially during a time of drought it is important for people to conserve water.
"We encourage everybody to decrease their water usage," she said.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
UNC water by the numbers
(08/30/07 4:00am)
"What happens to a dream deferred?/That never makes it to the world to be seen or heard," Talib Kweli muses in the first verse of "Everything Man," the first song on his most recent album, Eardrum.
Despite achieving acclaim from both critics and his peers, mainstream success has evaded Kweli so far.
With Eardrum, Kweli has pulled in every resource at his disposal to make a record good enough that it seems unlikely that the public will defer his dream again.
The album is a smoothly polished and vibrant affair informed in large measure by the R&B and gospel infusions of Kanye West.
West appears on the album, contributing production and a verse to the excellent "In the Mood" that takes Motown back-up singers and horns and transforms them into an irresistible groove.
Thanks to the record's impressive collection of producers that also includes Just Blaze, Hi-Tek and Pete Rock, the beats are universally great, providing a consistent level of quality that few rap albums can match.
The church piano and choir-driven fire and brimstone of "Hostile Gospel Pt. 1" gets the pews rocking, and the soul anthem duet "The Nature" with Justin Timberlake is incredibly smooth despite its weighty lyrics.
Despite the large amount of outside talent on the record, it is Kweli's commanding persona that drives the album. With gritty lyrics and a caustic yet addictive flow, his verses are challenging, but smooth enough to keep listeners pleased.
In "Eat to Live" he bemoans a boy left at home with his sister in the ghetto with nothing but "40-ouncers" in the fridge.
"Give 'Em Hell" is an informed and incisive attack on conservative Christians.
While the album is successful, there are no knock-out hits here. This is largely because the R&B inspired style employed on almost every track isn't new and refreshing the way it was a few years ago.
This is not to say that Eardrum isn't good, the entire album works well. It's just tough to digest all 20 tracks of the album in one sitting.
Though Kweli's latest outing may run longer than necessary, it's still a rewarding listen with just the right combination of accessible sound and hard-edged lyrics to please the eardrums of a new mainstream audience and the fans who loved him already.
Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
(08/22/07 4:00am)
CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, the Wednesday page 8 story, "Academic Support created from merger," incorrectly identified a UNC program. The correct name for the program is the "Academic Success Program for Students with LD/ADHD." The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
The UNC department formerly known as Learning Disabilities Services has a new name and location.
The department, which was one of seven University academic services, has merged with the Learning Center, donning the name Academic Support Program for Students with LD/ADHD.
(04/20/07 4:00am)
Though members of the senior class are nearing the end of their time at UNC, the group's yearlong project soon will give others a new beginning.
Senior class officers will hold a dedication ceremony Saturday afternoon for the Habitat for Humanity house they finished building last month.
The house will be given to the Martinez family, which came to Carrboro from Mexico in 1993 and has been living in an apartment.
Jose Gerardo Martinez, the father of the family, said that he enjoyed working with the students and that he and his family are excited to move in this June.
"I am happy because of my children," he said in Spanish, adding that the house will hold more than their apartment.
"My son has always wanted a dog, but I can't have one in the apartment - now we can."
The family consists of Martinez, his wife, Florinda Cervantes Martinez, and their three children, Linda, Ivan and D'Arlene, who was born in November.
Senior volunteers began work on the house in November, working in groups of 30 for 16 weeks.
The cost of the house - about $60,000 - was funded by a senior class campaign that raised $30,000 and pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, which covered the remaining costs.
Meg Petersen, senior class president, said working on the Habitat for Humanity house was a valuable activity because of its hands-on nature.
"I think that it's an experience that is unique from other charities," she said. "It's something that's a lot more physical."
Working with the house day-to-day allowed senior volunteers to see immediate benefits from their work, she said.
"It has a lot of instant gratification," Petersen said. "You go in the morning and there aren't walls up, and you leave in the afternoon and they are."
The project gave seniors a chance to reach out to the Chapel Hill community in a way that many had not had the chance to do before, said Eric Schmidt, senior class vice president.
"It got us involved with the community in a long-term manner," he said, adding that it showed the group a side of the area many didn't realize existed.
"Overall, Chapel Hill is a very wealthy area," Schmidt said. "To realize that there is a part of the community that is not up to par, it was good to see that and to see that students can help."
Seniors got the chance to work closely with the family as the parents worked toward the 325 hours of labor that Habitat for Humanity requires of future residents.
The family managed to log 332 hours even though Florinda Martinez' pregnancy with D'Arlene kept her from working a majority of the time.
Next year's senior class officers plan to continue working with Habitat for Humanity.
Ashley Shores, next year's senior class president, said that Don Click, associate development director for the Orange County division of Habitat for Humanity, is excited about UNC students continuing to be involved in the project.
"He was really positive in agreeing that he hopes that this will be something that continues," Shores said.
"We've decided that we want to carry it on and maybe make it a tradition for Carolina."
Staff writer Sergio Tovar contributed to this article.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
ATTEND THE DEDICATION
Time: 2:30 p.m. Saturday
Location: 1708 Rusch Road
Info: studentorgs.unc.edu/07seniors
(04/17/07 4:00am)
Howard McLeod has a passion to reduce the amount of drug-related deaths in the United States.
"Adverse drug reactions are the fifth-leading cause of death in the United States," said McLeod, the director of the new Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy at the School of Pharmacy.
"It's really inexcusable that we have so many people dying."
McLeod's desire to alter this trend was one of the main factors in the decision to bring his talents, and his grant money, to UNC.
McLeod previously was a professor at Washington University in St. Louis before coming to UNC. He brought with him a $10 million grant he earned from the National Institutes of Health during his tenure at Washington, which will be used to fund startup operations at the new center.
A new facility - to be located at the Genetics Medical Building on Mason Farm Road - will house that program, which officials say will endeavor to find new ways to better tailor medicines to its individual recipients.
The institute will consist of an interdisciplinary team from UNC's schools of pharmacy, medicine and public health, as well as the Lineberger Cancer Center.
Research in this area is important, McLeod said, because of the immense amount of options Americans have when it comes to drug choices.
"We now have some very difficult choices to make, and we need tools to do that," he said. "Even our rich country can't afford to give them to everybody."
The institute, the first of its kind to take such a broad look at the issue, will address the scientific problems and the legal and logistical issues involved with individualizing medicine to remove the different obstacles that get in the way of this progress.
"We looked at the main bottlenecks to getting individualized therapy," McLeod said. "We put the institute together to change them."
As part of the institute's legal pursuit of more tailored pharmaceuticals, its leaders will work with the offices of U.S. Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., to draft legislation promoting this practice.
"The idea of putting together individualized therapy legislation is one thing, making sure it's going to help people is another," McLeod said, adding that it was for that reason Obama came to him for help with the initiative.
McLeod added that the key to removing these bottlenecks is to work with multiple disciplines.
"The key thing about individualized therapy is that it can't be done by any one discipline," McLeod said.
Because of UNC's strength in a variety of disciplines for this research including business, law, public health and information science, McLeod said the University is a great place to carry the program out.
"You have to go to a place that has all of those elements," he said. "It's going to be places like UNC that have all the elements at a very high level."
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(04/17/07 4:00am)
Click here to view the list of awards given
Although awards ceremonies usually are a cause for celebration, Monday's ceremony to honor University leaders started with a somber announcement.
"Good afternoon, and welcome to this festive occasion," Chancellor James Moeser said at the opening of Monday's Chancellor's Awards for Excellence in Academics and Student Activities and Leadership.
(02/14/07 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Greek community soon will have a new leader to oversee UNC's sorority and fraternity life.
The selection committee appointed to find the next assistant dean for fraternity and sorority life announced Tuesday its list of four finalists.
The candidates will interview for the post during the next two weeks. The four vying for the position are:
Roy Baker, director of fraternity and sorority life at Syracuse University; Dean Harwood, director of Greek life at George Washington University; Jenny Levering, the interim dean for fraternity life; and Kyle Jordan, coordinator for student leadership and programming in the Department of Housing and Residential Education.
The post has been vacant since Jay Anhorn, former assistant dean for fraternity and sorority life, left this summer to take the same job at Elon University. Levering has overseen Greek affairs in the meantime.
The selection committee is expected to deliver its recommendation by the end of the month, with a final decision set for the beginning of March, said Winston Crisp, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs and final decision-maker.
The selection committee began looking at applicants in December, narrowing the pool down to 10 candidates. Phone interviews were held to select the four finalists.
Applicants were judged on experience with Greek life at a large public university and an ability to work with integral organizations, said Don Luse, chairman of the search committee and director of the Carolina Union.
Crisp said the candidate should have a clear vision for Greek life.
"We need someone who is going to want to come in and make the Greek system here a system that everyone in the country can be envious of," he said.
Though Luse said he expects a decision to be reached quickly, he cautioned that the process is stringent and could take some time. "Everyone that has a chance to interview the candidates will have the chance to write an evaluation."
Baker said he is excited at the prospect of taking the job.
"I have a lot of experience in fraternity and sorority life, and UNC is a great institution," he said, adding that his two-and-a-half years experience at Syracuse qualify him.
Levering and Jordan could not be reached for comment Tuesday, and Harwood declined to discuss his candidacy.
Those who have worked with the two UNC candidates said they are hopeful one will get the job.
"He's been a really great adviser for (National Residence Hall Honorary)," said Laura Malmberg, secretary of UNC's chapter of the NRHH, adding that, under Jordan's guidance this year, membership has increased more than 50 percent.
Matthew Ilinitch, president of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity, said that after working with Levering regularly this year, he thinks her work as interim director qualifies her.
"I think it's just a vitally crucial, important position," Ilinitch said.
Assistant University Editor Whitney Kisling contributed to this article.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
Assistant dean for fraternity and sorority life
The responsibilities of the position include organizing and coordinating the Greek organizations on campus, from advising students to engaging in crisis management planning to holding teaching seminars.
(01/12/07 5:00am)
Although Residence Hall Association President William Thompson will not complete his term, his colleagues say he will leave behind a full legacy.
Student Body President James Allred commended Thompson, who will vacate his position Tuesday to travel abroad with a Kenan-Flagler Business School scholar program, on his ability to work with other organizations.
"It's important for a RHA president to be a good collaborator," Allred said, adding that this ability made Thompson a great person with whom to work.
"One thing we talked about a lot was ways we could improve storage options for people in housing," he said. "He was able to give me a great understanding of the situation and suggest ways I could proceed."
Thompson campaigned last year on a platform that emphasized rebuilding the foundation of RHA by recruiting and supporting better elected officials. He also aimed to define RHA's responsibilities.
RHA treasurer, and soon-to-be interim president, Denny Lyons was impressed by Thompson's efforts to familiarize students with the organization.
"He put a lot of work into advertisement for RHA," he said.
During Thompson's tenure, the RHA Web site was revamped. Lyons said the redesign made RHA's agenda more accessible to the student body.
Thompson also defended the RHA president's position on the Carolina Union Board of Directors when the board was considering opening four of its permanent seats to other student organizations.
"He fought really hard to make sure the RHA's voice would stay on the board," Lyons said.
The RHA retained its seat, but the other three groups with seats in jeopardy lost their permanent board member statuses.
Thompson said he thought that his greatest accomplishment was getting the group more involved with campus events, citing its birthday celebration for Old East Residence Hall on University Day in October and the blood drives it has sponsored at residence halls.
Though Thompson said he was pleased with his presidential experience, he said there were a few goals he was unable to accomplish.
"I was not able to motivate the organization to look past the way things have been," he said, adding that some of his staff seemed interested in maintaining the status quo instead of moving forward.
"Sometimes we were just not able to look at ourselves critically," Thompson said.
Lyons said he has been working hard to get ready for the takeover, meeting regularly with Thompson and working with RHA adviser Kyle Jordan.
"I would like to fix all the final, small details before the next president and executive board comes in so that they can focus on expanding RHA," Lyons said.
As Thompson prepares to leave office he had some advice for future RHA presidents.
"I would say expect the unexpected," he said. "Stay true to where you really think the organization should go."
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(01/10/07 5:00am)
The sound of a music education at UNC just got sweeter, thanks to a history-making grant.
An $8 million gift from the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust is the largest-ever donation given to a single department in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Richard Krasno, executive director of the Kenan Trust, said the gift will enhance a key part of the University. "This will bring the music department up to par with other departments in the College of Arts and Sciences," he said.
The donation also will be counted as part of the Carolina First fundraising campaign, which has collected 99 percent of its target amount.
Tim Carter, chairman of the music department, said the grant recognizes the importance of the arts in a university setting.
"The music department has been lacking in facilities and lacking in other means to support its outstanding students," he said. "The gift helps remedy all these issues."
The department will use half of the funds to establish a scholarship program and will allocate the rest to building the Kenan Music Building.
The Kenan Music Scholarship will be awarded to four members of each entering class, beginning with the class of 2011. The award will cover tuition, fees and housing and also will provide a $6,000 allowance for summer study and travel.
"Our current scholarships are very low and barely cover any simple expenses," Carter said.
He said the new scholarship "will give opportunities to talented undergraduates to take advantage of the Carolina experience and to bring their abilities to the campus as a whole."
The Kenan Music Building - slated to be a key part of the planned Arts Common - will provide a state-of-the-art home for the music department, which is currently located in Hill Hall.
"Hill Hall is very old," Carter said. "It's a ramshackle and, as music students well know, lacks any proper acoustical treatment."
The new facility will alleviate these problems by providing new rehearsal rooms, classrooms and a recording studio.
The Kenan Music Building is the first step in a three-stage building plan. The second stage will add a new 650-seat performance hall, and the third stage will entail the construction of a new fine arts library.
"The music library will be moved. . and be merged with the arts library to form a new fine arts library, which will be tremendous," Carter said.
Krasno said a great liberal arts department has three key factors: faculty, students and facilities.
"We have a fine faculty and fine students, but we need better facilities," he said, adding that the grant will help remedy this problem.
The Kenan Music Building is scheduled to be completed in 2008 at a cost of $31.4 million, with the Kenan Trust covering $4 million.
The remaining funds will come from the University and funds from the state's higher education bond.
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(11/20/06 5:00am)
UNC senior and club ice hockey team captain Luke Russ would know all too well the danger of playing the game with a concussion - if he could only remember it.
"What happened was I got knocked out during a game and didn't remember anything until several hours after," Russ said. "I ended up playing and not remembering it."
At a game two years ago, Russ was allowed to return to play after assuring his coaches he was fine, a decision which he said could have resulted in serious injury if he had sustained another blow.
Because of this experience Russ said that he is excited to take part in a new research project by UNC professor Kevin Guskiewicz that aims to prevent this kind of incident.
The project, a joint venture between Guskiewicz and Bill Montelpare of Ontario's Lakehead University, is placing wireless sensors into the helmets of two junior hockey teams to measure the force of impacts to the players' heads.
"We're trying to better understand the impacts to the helmets that cause concussions," Guskiewicz said.
Guskiewicz is working with Team Pepsi Gold 1993 in Raleigh while Montelpare conducts research on the Junior Canadiens in Toronto.
Guskiewicz's team uses data from the sensors to discover what kinds of impacts correspond to concussions.
Funding for the $230,300 project is provided by the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation.
"This is the first opportunity we've had to study the biomechanics of head injury in the real environment," Guskiewicz said. "It has potential to help us better understand the different thresholds for injury and make better return to play decisions after injuries"
The hockey research is aimed specifically at concussions in children because of the growing number of young hockey players.
"A lot of questions have been answered about the adult population but we wanted to focus on the young population," Guskiewicz said. "I think children's brains respond differently to concussions than adult brains."
Russ and his teammates will participate in research beginning next year on back injuries.
"We are trying to figure out the most effective way to attach someone with a serious spinal injury to a spine board so we can transfer them safely," said Jason Mihalik, student assistant to Guskiewicz. "We expect the study will be finished by the beginning of May."
The hockey project will accompany a similar project Guskiewicz has been conducting for the last two years with the UNC football team.
"Six accelometers in football helmets allows us to measure the impact of hits to the head," he said.
The hockey project is expected to conclude by spring 2008 with football research ending in 2009.
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