Buzzworm news briefs

Theremin 101: How to make it sing

Good vibrations: Theremin master Pamelia Kurstin will lead Moog’s upcoming clinic, a rare chance to become familiar with the electronic instrument. courtesy MOOG

Properly played, few instruments are as eerily haunting and ethereally beautiful as the theremin. Improperly played, few are as annoying.

Of course, that’s part of the instrument’s charm. Created by Russian physicist Leon Theremin in 1919, the theremin was the world’s first truly electronic musical instrument. By manipulating magnetic fields around two antennae, one controlling pitch and the other volume, the performer plays the machine without touching it, seeming more like a sorcerer than a musician. In the hands of a master it can sound sweeter than a violin and as warm as a human voice. In the hands of a novice, however, it can sound like an inconsolable robot-voiced baby with a raging case of colic.

How can a would-be master of the theremin go from obnoxious to enchanting? Apart from the “on/off” switch, the basic version of the instrument is free of controls, and as a relatively uncommon instrument, finding skilled teachers can be difficult. Even in a town like Asheville, which is home to Moog Music, the world’s leading theremin manufacturer, finding a person who can actually play the thing can be a challenge.

Thankfully, the folks at Moog Music have pretty good connections in the theremin world. The company has arranged for one of the world’s most noted thereminists, Pamelia Kurstin, to lend her considerable skills to would-be players in Asheville. Kurstin, a trained cellist and bassist who has played the theremin with notable acts like Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, will present a 2-hour “How to Play the Theremin” clinic on Saturday, March 10, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Moog Music factory (2004-E Riverside Drive). Tickets are $20, and space is limited.

For more information, call 251-0090.

— Steve Shanafelt

Asheville Police launch graffiti crackdown

In Asheville, graffiti is a either a bane or a boon, depending on your perspective. Some see it as a serious problem, a symptom of urban decay. To others, it’s means for self-expression, a form of so-called “urban art.” For many local businesses and residents, graffiti is a nuisance crime that adds an unwelcome cleanup bill—and one that the local police give a fairly low priority to. Until now, that is.

On March 2, the Asheville Police Department announced the arrest of three people—John Molnar, 24; Brandon Teffner, 17; and Jesse Scott-Zinni, 18—all accused of “graffiti-related charges” in the downtown area. According to the press release, the APD recently formed a task force to “target the graffiti problem plaguing the downtown area.”

Is this a true crackdown on graffiti? To find out, Xpress spoke with APD spokesperson Capt. Tim Splain. Excerpts of the interview are below; for the full text, visit www.mountainx.com/news/2007/apd_launches_graffiti_crackdown.

Mountain Xpress: When did the antigraffiti initiative start, and what started it?

Tim Splain: It’s been a topic of conversation for a very long time, and we wanted to formalize what our effort was. We’ve always arrested people for damaging private property or defacing public property. But, with such an increase in visible graffiti in the downtown area, we wanted to make sure that we had some kind of formal mechanism in place to enforce those laws. …

MX: How [is the new task force] addressing the graffiti problem?

TS: What we’ve done is to supply them with digital cameras so that they can document the graffiti on a daily basis. They can catalog it, which allows us to compile a database of tags and graffiti work. We’ll also be doing surveillance work, so that we can not only catch people doing it, but so that we can backtrack and attribute their tag or symbol for however many cases we have outstanding.

MX: What kind of sentences or penalties are being faced by people who are arrested for graffiti?

TS: It’s a fairly minor misdemeanor. Generally speaking, people get probation for it, and it doesn’t usually carry an active jail sentence. But, the thing we’re concerned with getting is the restitution that can be imposed by the courts. That can help the business owners and residents get reimbursed for the cleanup of their property. …

MX: Is [graffiti] art?

TS: To some it’s art, and there is some legitimately impressive work out there. But, if you are doing that work on other people’s property where they don’t want you to do it, it’s a crime. …

— Steve Shanafelt

Values clash in Jackson County moratorium debate

Some 1,300 people crowded into the auditorium and hallway of Southwestern Community College in Sylva on Feb. 27 to debate the idea of pulling back the reins on a galloping pattern of growth in a county with no existing subdivision regulations.

The event was a public hearing on a proposed Jackson County subdivision moratorium, which is intended to allow time to create rules for one of the most rapidly growing regions in the state. The moratorium would halt new subdivision approvals for six months—or until regulations are adopted, if that happens earlier.

County commissioner Tom Massie, who made the original motion to draft a moratorium ordinance in order to hold a public hearing on the subject, says he thinks the five-and-a-half-hour hearing went very well, and he was pleased with the show of citizen interest, which included people from Buncombe, Transylvania and Macon counties.

“We’re so far behind the eight-ball,” Massie says of Jackson County, which saw an increase of 5,500 new subdivision lots between 2000 and 2005 without regulatory standards. “We’re trying to buy enough time to get some reasonable things [in place],” he says, mentioning conservation, storm water, property setbacks, lot size and public safety as some of the items on the planning list.

But while public interest has been great, local opinions are polarized, with mountain preservation and private-property rights frequently positioned in opposite corners.

For example, Vera Guise, who testified for the moratorium, told Xpress: “I see the rural landscape, including the steep slopes, disappearing to gated communities [while] property taxes are climbing.” A moratorium, she feels, would “put developers on notice that free license to destroy the mountains is no longer going to be permitted.”

But while Marty Jones, a Cashiers realtor for the past 21 years, supports some land-use controls, he thinks that the reasoning behind the moratorium itself is “flawed.” Commissioners are basically reacting to reports of numerous new subdivisions recorded in Buncombe County while steep-slope regulations were being put in place, he feels, and such a reaction is not merited.

Jones quotes an e-mail message from Buncombe County Board of Commissioners Chair Nathan Ramsey telling him that of the 23 development proposals approved during the period in question, many involved only small additions to existing subdivisions, and more than half the total lots belonged to just one development—the Cliffs at High Carolina. “The Cliffs have since agreed to abide by the county’s steep-slope and storm-water ordinances,” Ramsey told Jones.

A property-rights advocate, Jones also feels a moratorium would negatively affect the construction business—the county’s fourth-largest industry.

Guise, on the other hand, points out that her father grew up in Peaks Creek—the Macon County community devastated by floods and debris in 2004—and she wants to see the environment protected. “Fish are dying, streams are muddy, the view is ruined,” she says. “Yes, stimulate the economy, but at the same time protect and inform local citizens.”

The proposed ordinance is on the agenda for the March 8 meeting of the Board of Commissioners, slated to begin at 6 p.m. in the Commissioners’ Chambers in Sylva.

One speaker at the public hearing pointed up an interesting historical irony. Perry Eury noted that 188 years ago, the Cherokee Nation signed the “Treaty of February 27, 1819,” ceding more than 5,000 acres of land that included much of current Jackson County. “They hoped that a piece of paper would be enough to protect them,” Eury testified, “so they could continue to live and enjoy this special part of the world.”

— Nelda Holder

All dressed up and nowhere to go

The inside of downtown Asheville landmark Chicago Hi Fashions was a forlorn setting last week. What once was perhaps the city’s most colorful mens’ clothier had been reduced to bare, colorless walls and just a hint of the vivid dress suits and accouterments that defined a place that catered to folks ranging from African-Americans to young hipsters.

“It’s really sad, man,” said James Fisher, a staffer at Xpress, which shared space with the store in the historic Miles Building. “It’s the end of an era,” he added, showing off a pair of snazzy blue shoes he had bought the day the store closed on Feb. 28.

The reason for the closure? Rising downtown rents, said 58-year-old owner Nick Kirpalani, a native of India, who opened the store with his brother, Nari, nearly 29 years ago. Kirpalani, the sole owner of the store since 1983, said that his upcoming lease renewal would have forced him to pay an extra $1,000 a month in rent. And though he did not divulge names, Kirpalani says that he knows of at least three other downtown business owners who will be forced to relocate because of the increasingly high rents and the changing downtown-shopping culture.

But the store may not be gone for good. Kirpalani will consider his options, he said, with an eye on possibly relocating his store, most likely near the Asheville Mall or perhaps in West Asheville.

  “If I can find a place with reasonable rent and a long-term lease, I’ll consider opening again,” he said.

Not only have rents increased, but downtown has changed, and businesses such as his just don’t get the volume they used to when downtown was dominated by four department stores, which created the crowds of shoppers a store like Chicago needs to thrive. The opening of Interstate 240 has also had an impact, he added, since no one has to drive through downtown anymore to reach the mall and other outlying shopping areas.

“That hurt when they opened 240,” he said. “Right after it opened, [downtown] was like a ghost town.”

But regardless of his new circumstances, Kirpalani says he still loves Asheville and its people, and he’s not bitter.

“I feel good,” he said. “God has plans. God will show the way.”

— Hal L. Millard