10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2003 T NEWS ... · PDF filebehind her black...

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There are characters from Japanese animation, a Diego Rivera-style mural of farmworkers, and a dark twist on Grant Wood’s famous “American Gothic,” with pitchfork-wielding farm- ers, instead depicted as robot figures with scary, machinelike faces. One barn, painted by prominent graffiti artist Stephen Powers (tag name “ESPO”), echoes a Marlboro cigarette ad, reading, “Welcome to Flavor Country,” the ubiq- uitous red and white pack labeled “Five- boros.” To the stranger who stumbles upon the place, the barns seem like the result of a surprise raid whose operatives dramatically alter the landscape, then quickly retreat to base camp. But this raid was welcomed. The woman stands in front of her barn, which has been painted to look like a baseball stadium teeming with people. She smiles, extends her hand and says, “Hi, I’m Jane Rogers, and I’m a Barnstormer.” She wears a sports jersey emblazoned with an orange Barnstormers logo, a Barnstormers hat shielding her eyes from the sun. Rogers is a blueberry farmer, a re- tired librarian and a woman who has spent her entire life in or around Cameron. Four years ago she became a major player in the North Carolina en- deavors of the Barnstormers, a collec- tive of artists — painters, photogra- phers, printmakers, filmmakers and graphic designers — based in New York City and Tokyo. At the urging of lead Barnstormer David Ellis (“SKWERM”), the artists D SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2003 Sunday Dinner: A cooking class with the kids. PAGE 10D www.newsobserver.com/sundayjournal C M Y K C M Y K 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1D, SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2003 She’s got that swing RALEIGH S ometimes the most unlikely friendships come zinging into your life, arriving with the sweet force of a song. “’S Won- derful,” the brothers Gershwin would say, these chance meetings that can jazz up your whole perspective. Bobby Moody’s mood has been swinging up since The Lady Byron rolled in to Raleigh- wood in her big Mercedes a few months back. Moody is like most local jazz musicians who lament the paltry venues available. His band, Mo- ment’s Notice, plays weddings and events, restaurant gigs, and the jazz mass at St. Ambrose Episco- pal Church. If it’s not exactly fame, the 42-year-old Durham native, who plays tenor sax and now lives in Raleigh, had at least found a fine, steady rhythm. Then a fellow parishioner at St. Ambrose told Moody that her aunt, a jazz organist, had temporarily moved to town and was looking to play. They call her The Lady Byron, the niece explained. Doesn’t read a note of music, but she’s been playing gospel since she was 3 and jazz since the 1930s. She was married to the late jazz organist Brother Jack McDuff and she knows everybody in the jazz and gospel music world. Past 70 now — how much so is as variable as one of her soaring musical riffs — she still tours with her Lady Byron Trio, and calls Washington, D.C., home. She came to North Raleigh to help her brother recuperate from an illness, but was missing the chance to make music. So The Lady met Moody one morning before mass. Since she is old enough to be his grandmother, Moody expected a grandmotherly type. Then she appeared, a laughing fireball in an auburn wig and skyscraper stilettos, with ringed fingers that can send chords curtsying or cannon- balling off the key- board. Two minutes they talked. She allowed that she was known for her gospel rendi- tion of “The Lord’s Prayer.” He invited her to play during the service and “she tore up the church,” he says with a delighted laugh as he tells the story, “I mean, the people were rockin’.” It’s been that way for Moody ever since. With bassist Ernie Donadelle, The Lady formed a Raleigh trio and found herself two devoted fans and friends. “I can’t say enough about her,” Moody says. “She has so much energy and so many great stories. I think she’s really just changed my whole outlook.” Every other Thursday night, these three cook up several hours of jazz at April & George, the wine bar-cum-art gallery in Glen- wood South that has become one of Raleigh’s see-and-be-seen spots. They play all old standards like “Take the A Train,” “It Don’t Mean A Thing,” “Misty,” and “Georgia.” Dolled up in long sequined gowns or slinky tops with spaghetti straps, The Lady parks a glass of Chardonnay on the floor by the pedals and greets everyone as they walk in with her ivory keyboard grin. Moody sings, and the later it gets, the better they sound. Name nearly any crooner or cool cat and The Lady’s got a story. Basie, Ellington, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, even Lena Horne, and Frank, Sammy, Dean and the rest of the Rat Pack. The Lady says she has played with all of them over the years, al- though her name doesn’t appear on any record labels. But she does keep a current credential behind her black upright piano. The mayor of Washington declared April 19 this year “Lady Byron Day,” and issued a proclamation extolling her many contributions to jazz. Her real name is Evelyn Latham, but that is her other persona, she explains, and saucily warns, “Ooooh, you oughta meet her; honey, she’s a real...” then leans over and whispers a naughty word. Outrageous, raucous, The Lady vamps to the music and stomps the pedals when she really gets rolling. Moody and Donadelle, fingers flying over strings and keys, smile as though they just got hired as gatekeepers of heaven. They bring their families along to this gig and between sets, pepper Lady By- ron with questions. On a recent night, Don- adelle, who is 45, yelled to his mother, “Who did Grandma sing with?” “Jimmie Lunceford,” she answered, and at that, The Lady slapped the piano and gig- gled. “Oh, yes, yes, I knew that old Jimmie.” WRITING HOME Mary E. Miller Her real name is Evelyn Latham, but they call her The Lady Byron. STAFF PHOTO BY COREY LOWENSTEIN SEE MILLER, PAGE 5D Out of view of passers-by, a graphic mural by members of a New York artists’ collective dresses a barn on N.C. 24-27 West in Cameron. CAMERON A woman waits for a visitor at a rural crossroads, two ribbons of blacktop that divide the acres of green, arrow-straight tobacco rows. The mosquitoes hover in the air, and only the occa- sional pickup speeds by to break the quiet. The late morning sun beats down on several old tobacco barns that distinguish this place from hundreds of others. From ground to roof, the barns are covered with paintings — not faded Lucky Strike logos or old advertisements for Grape NeHi, but art. THE NEWS & OBSERVER SundayJournal a mural with many dimensions A towering barn on Red Hill Road wears a different interpretation of ‘American Gothic.’ Painting the town STORY BY CAITLIN CLEARY PHOTOS BY TRAVIS LONG SEE PAINTING, PAGE 4D Southern Extracts: Ghosts in Beaufort, S.C. PAGE 3D Sunday Reader: “The Eyes of the Fat Man” by Deno Trakas. PAGE 2D

Transcript of 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2003 T NEWS ... · PDF filebehind her black...

There are characters from Japaneseanimation, a Diego Rivera-style muralof farmworkers, and a dark twist onGrant Wood’s famous “AmericanGothic,” with pitchfork-wielding farm-ers, instead depicted as robot figureswith scary, machinelike faces. One barn,painted by prominent graffiti artistStephen Powers (tag name “ESPO”),echoes a Marlboro cigarette ad, reading,“Welcome to Flavor Country,” the ubiq-uitous red and white pack labeled “Five-boros.”

To the stranger who stumbles uponthe place, the barns seem like the resultof a surprise raid whose operativesdramatically alter the landscape, thenquickly retreat to base camp. But thisraid was welcomed.

The woman stands in front of herbarn, which has been painted to looklike a baseball stadium teeming withpeople. She smiles, extends her handand says, “Hi, I’m Jane Rogers, andI’m a Barnstormer.” She wears a sportsjersey emblazoned with an orangeBarnstormers logo, a Barnstormers hatshielding her eyes from the sun.

Rogers is a blueberry farmer, a re-tired librarianand a woman who hasspent her entire life in or aroundCameron. Four years ago she becamea major player in the North Carolina en-deavors of the Barnstormers, a collec-tive of artists — painters, photogra-

phers, printmakers, filmmakers andgraphic designers — based in NewYork City and Tokyo.

At the urging of lead BarnstormerDavid Ellis (“SKWERM”), the artists

DSUNDAY, JULY 27, 2003

Sunday Dinner: A cookingclass with the kids.PAGE 10Dwww.newsobserver.com/sundayjournal

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1D, SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2003

She’s gotthat swing

RALEIGH

Sometimes the most unlikely friendshipscome zinging into your life, arrivingwith the sweet force of a song. “’S Won-

derful,” the brothers Gershwin would say,these chance meetings that can jazz up yourwhole perspective.

Bobby Moody’s mood has been swingingup since The Lady Byron rolled in to Raleigh-

wood in her big Mercedes a fewmonths back.

Moody is like most local jazzmusicians who lament the paltryvenues available. His band, Mo-ment’s Notice, plays weddings andevents, restaurant gigs, and thejazz mass at St. Ambrose Episco-pal Church. If it’s not exactly fame,the 42-year-old Durham native,who plays tenor sax and now livesin Raleigh, had at least found afine, steady rhythm.

Then a fellow parishioner at St.Ambrose told Moody that her

aunt, a jazz organist, had temporarily movedto town and was looking to play.

They call her The Lady Byron, the nieceexplained. Doesn’t read a note of music, butshe’s been playing gospel since she was 3 andjazz since the 1930s. She was married to thelate jazz organist Brother Jack McDuffandshe knows everybody in the jazz and gospelmusic world.

Past 70now — how much so is as variableas one of her soaring musical riffs — she stilltours with her Lady Byron Trio, and callsWashington, D.C., home. She came to NorthRaleigh to help her brother recuperate from

an illness, but wasmissing the chance tomake music.

So The Lady metMoody one morningbefore mass. Sinceshe is old enough tobe his grandmother,Moody expected agrandmotherly type.Then she appeared, alaughing fireball inan auburn wig andskyscraper stilettos,with ringed fingersthat can send chordscurtsying or cannon-balling off the key-board.

Two minutes theytalked. She allowedthat she was knownfor her gospel rendi-tion of “The Lord’s

Prayer.” He invited her to play during theservice and “she tore up the church,”he sayswith a delighted laugh as he tells the story, “Imean, the people were rockin’.”

It’s been that way for Moody ever since.With bassist Ernie Donadelle, The Ladyformed a Raleigh trio and found herself twodevoted fans and friends.

“I can’t say enough about her,” Moodysays. “She has so much energy and so manygreat stories. I think she’s really just changedmy whole outlook.”

Every other Thursday night, these threecook up several hours of jazz at April &George, the wine bar-cum-art gallery in Glen-wood South that has become one of Raleigh’ssee-and-be-seen spots.

They play all old standards like “Take theA Train,” “It Don’t Mean A Thing,” “Misty,”and “Georgia.” Dolled up in long sequinedgowns or slinky tops with spaghetti straps,The Lady parks a glass of Chardonnay on thefloor by the pedals and greets everyone asthey walk in with her ivory keyboard grin.Moody sings, and the later it gets, the betterthey sound.

Name nearly any crooner or cool cat andThe Lady’s got a story. Basie, Ellington,Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, even LenaHorne, and Frank, Sammy, Deanand the restof the Rat Pack. The Lady says she hasplayed with all of them over the years, al-though her name doesn’t appear on anyrecord labels.

But she does keep a current credentialbehind her black upright piano. The mayor ofWashington declared April 19 this year“Lady Byron Day,” and issued a proclamationextolling her many contributions to jazz.

Her real name is Evelyn Latham, but that isher other persona, she explains, and saucilywarns, “Ooooh, you oughta meet her; honey,she’s a real...” then leans over and whispers anaughty word.

Outrageous, raucous, The Lady vamps tothe music and stomps the pedals when shereally gets rolling. Moody and Donadelle,fingersflying over strings and keys, smile asthough they just got hired as gatekeepers ofheaven. They bring their families along tothis gig and between sets, pepper Lady By-ron with questions. On a recent night, Don-adelle, who is 45, yelled to his mother, “Whodid Grandma sing with?”

“Jimmie Lunceford,” she answered, and atthat, The Lady slapped the piano and gig-gled. “Oh, yes, yes, I knew that old Jimmie.”

WRITINGHOME

MaryE. Miller

Her real name is EvelynLatham, but they call her

The Lady Byron.STAFF PHOTO

BY COREY LOWENSTEIN

SEE MILLER, PAGE 5D

Out of view of passers-by, a graphic mural by members of a New Yorkartists’ collective dresses a barn on N.C. 24-27 West in Cameron.

CAMERON

Awoman waits for a visitor at a rural crossroads, two ribbons of blacktop that divide the acres

of green, arrow-straight tobacco rows. The mosquitoes hover in the air, and only the occa-

sional pickup speeds by to break the quiet.

The late morning sun beats down on several old tobacco barns that distinguish this place

from hundreds of others. From ground to roof, the barns are covered with paintings — not faded

Lucky Strike logos or old advertisements for Grape NeHi, but art.

THE NEWS & OBSERVER

SundayJournal— a m u r a l w i t h m a n y d i m e n s i o n s —

A towering barn on Red Hill Road wears a different interpretation of ‘American Gothic.’

Paintingthe town

STORY BY CAITLIN CLEARY ■ PHOTOS BY TRAVIS LONG

SEE PAINTING, PAGE 4D

Southern Extracts: Ghostsin Beaufort, S.C. PAGE 3D

Sunday Reader: “The Eyesof the Fat Man” by DenoTrakas. PAGE 2D

made their first pilgrimage south fromNew York City in the summer of 1999to paint Cameron’s barns.

Ellis had grown up in there in the ’80s,the son of the pastor at Cameron Pres-byterian Church. He painted his firstbarn there at age 12, and a wall at UnionPines High School (Go Vikings!) duringhis sophomore year. Shortly after, Ellisleft for the N.C. School of the Arts inWinston-Salem, then for a career as astruggling artist in New York City.

After more than a decade living inNew York, Ellis decided to return homewith two dozen fellow artists in tow.He wanted to give back what he couldto his hometown, to teach local kidsabout mural painting, and to knit to-gether what he has described as “thetwo sides of my soul — rural Cameronand urban New York.”

With help from Rogers and others inthe community, the Barnstormers paintedtobacco barns, tenant shacks, farm equip-ment and 18-wheeler tractor-trailers, pay-ing tribute to the aging architecture ofCameronand making their own markupon it.

The old barns that once dried tobacconow served as the peeling, ramshacklecanvases of the Barnstormers, the coun-tryside as their art gallery.

“To me this is a treasure,” said Rogers,surveying the structures around her.“This is an extension of an art museum.”

Soul of an artistEllis says he always felt the need to

express things in a way that was biggerthan on paper. And so it was that themorning his neighbor let him paint abarn, and the school bus arrived, andeveryone looked and saw what he hadpainted, Ellis knew exactly what hewanted to do with his life.

“The change to the physical landscape— it was almost theater,” he said, speak-ing from his studio in New York.

Ellis came back to Cameron with afriend to see that same barn.

“It was such a good experience beingthere that we decided to go down again,on a large scale,” he said. “Some peopleI knew very well, and some I just askedand they surprisingly jumped in a vanand went down with us.”

The way most people tell it, Ellis hasalways been one of Cameron’s favoritesons, even after he left for New York andnews of him came less frequently.

“And then out of the blue, he called[my husband] and asked if he had anybarns he could paint,” said Judy Loving,who taught home economics at UnionPines.

“David felt like he got so much from thiscommunity that he wanted to give some-thing of himself back. And I thought thatwas real good.”

In New York, the Barnstormers’ workon private property might have beencalled vandalism, greeted with a ticketand a fine. But Cameron, affected bythe downturn in the tobacco economy,had reinvented itself using antiquetourism, and people’s old barns wereshabby and obsolete anyway. All of thismade for a warm welcome for Ellis andhis collaborators. The town of Cameronimmediately got to work preparing for

the Barnstormers.Neighbors volunteered their barns;

businesses offered paint, scaffolding,lights and generators. Residents openedtheir homes to artists who needed a placeto stay. Rogers, a lifelong friend of Ellis’family and the self-described “denmother” of the Barnstormers, coordi-nated volunteers and fussed over theyoung artists, packing them lunch cool-ers with ice, water and fruit.

“The first year, we went a little crazy,”she said. “I was very excited.”

Artists storm the barnsThey came into town like a storm, said

Judy Loving, and they brought theweather with them.

Their plan was to paint 50 barns, butit rained all day for several days. Frus-trated by the pace and eager to paint asmuch as possible, the Barnstormerspainted by night. Cameron residentsrigged up lights and generators, broughtout their tractors and trained the beamson the barns.

The artists took inspiration from thefunniest places, Rogers said.

Some went to the supermarketandsaw a butchered pig, splayed out and di-vided into various cuts of pork. A few

days later, Rogers saw the barn mural,which featured a diagram of a pig withlabels: sirloin, boston butt, pig feet, etc.

In general, Cameron residents weresupportive and judgment-free when itcame to the Barnstormers’ art. But therewere a few dashed expectations, a fewphone calls and disgruntled letters to theeditor, Rogers said.

“Some people thought that they werejust going to be pretty pictures,” Rogerssaid.

A local nursery commissioned the Barn-stormers to paint some of itstractor-trailers.

“The people at the nursery wantedthem to paint plants,” she said. “Andwell, that didn’t happen.”

Instead, the nursery got a mural featur-ing a graffiti-skewed version of the Tele-tubbies, their heads spelling out the letters“ESPO,” courtesy of Stephen Powers.

But the week spent in Cameron was nota lark for the Barnstormers, or an op-portunity to make flippant art. ArtistMartin Mazorra, for one, felt a sense ofprofound responsibility to the people ofCameron.

“If you make something in your studiothat flops, you don’t have to go show itto anyone,” Mazorra said. “Here, you’regoing to leave these people with some-

thing they’re going to have to live with.”

Cross-cultural exchangeThe Barnstormers might have left their

mark on Cameron, but the town trans-formed them as well. Most were strangersto rural life, many of them vegetarians yetto enjoy a good old-fashioned pig pickin’,some of them a little, well, out of their ele-ment.

Tommy Loving enjoys telling the storyabout a couple of Barnstormers, paintingat night, alone. They hear a rooster.

“They thought it was some sort of wildbeast!” Loving guffawed. “They got downoff their ladder and hustled into their ve-hicles until somebody could come andget them.”

The Barnstormers appreciated the de-parture from their New York norms. Notonly could they paint outside in the freshair, they could paint largeand paint foreveryone to see. Which sometimes madeit difficult to get much work done.

“Truckers were blowing their horns,people were stopping and sharing theirstock car stories,” said Mazorra, whopainted a barn mural that was a tributeto Richard Petty. “People would justpull up: ‘Yeah, I remember this racedown in Rockingham back in ’72 …’ It

was a much slower pace. People hadmore time to talk.”

One day, volunteers put on a big pig-pickin’ at the crossroads, and everyoneshowed up, almost stopping traffic alongRed Hill Road.

Artists, children, farmers — even somemigrant farm workers passing throughstopped to eat, chatting with the Spanish-speaking Barnstormers.

“It was amazing,” said Judy Loving.Mazorra and other Barnstormers

learned the history of Cameron from peo-ple like Earl Harbour, who owns severalof the barns. He would tell the artiststhe stories of his family farm, when eachbarn was built, how tobacco was put up.

“You really start to appreciate the his-tory of the place and the sense of com-munity they developed there,” said Ma-zorra, who didn’t experience muchculture shock, having grown up in ruralWest Virginia.

“And we developed a sense of com-munity, too. If anything, Cameron in-stilled that in us, and we took it homewith us.”

Rogers asked all the Barnstormers towrite down an interpretation of theirwork, or a response to their experiences

Sunday Journal4DTHE NEWS & OBSERVERSUNDAY, JULY 27, 2003

PAINTINGCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1D

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4D, SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2003

The Barnstormers painted tobacco barns, tenant shacks, farm equipment and 18-wheeler tractortrailers, paying tribute to the aging architecture of Cameron, and making their own mark upon it.

The old barns that once dried tobacco now served as the peeling, ramshackle canvasesof the Barnstormers, the countryside as their art gallery.

I f you develop a rash within hours ofstarting a new medicine, you don’tneed Sherlock Holmes to help you

make the connection. But some drugside effects are harder to recognize.

Psychological reactions can be insidi-ous, appearing slowly over weeks ormonths. Distinguishing between the

normal ups anddowns of life and adrug-induced depres-sion can be difficult.

One reader sharedher experience: “Iwas stopped at anintersection on an icyday waiting for asand truck to passwhen I almost pulledout in front of him —intentionally.

“When I saw theyoung man’s face, Isaid to myself, ‘I

cannot do this to him.’ After the truckpassed and I drove on, I wonderedwhat in the world was going on. I wasnot depressed.

“When I arrived home, I was stillshaken from what I had almost done. Iread the daily newspaper while I atelunch. The first article in your columnthat day was from a lady whose hus-band had committed suicide whiletaking Reglan.

“That was the medication my doctorhad prescribed for my stomach. I

jumped up and emptied that bottledown the toilet and wrote on it in largeletters, DO NOT TAKE AGAIN. Ithank God and the lady who wrote youthat letter.”

Reglan (metoclopramide) carries awarning that it can cause mental de-pression and suicidal thoughts. Pa-tients should always be cautionedabout such a serious complication.

Sometimes a medicine is essential,and any psychological reactions itcauses can be handled with anothermedication.

But often, rather than piling one drugwith potential side effects on top ofanother, it makes sense to re-evaluatethe original treatment.

That is how a nurse reacted to a ques-tion about a teenager who became de-pressed while taking birth control pills:

“The 16-year-old girl in the columnwas smart not to want to use Paxil. It’ssad that her doctor is trying to treatthat side effect with another drug in-stead of taking her off the pill.

“I was given Paxil a few years ago foranxiety mixed with depression. Takingit was an awful experience. I was moreanxious than I had ever been. I decidedto get off it and then found out aboutthe horrible withdrawal.

“No one had warned me about thisproblem. The doctor did mention I’dhave to taper off, but there wasn’t evena hint how hard this is.

“I had night sweats, dizziness and

electrical shocklike sensations in myextremities. I ended up takingKlonopin to help with the withdrawal.”

Antidepressants save lives. Fightingdepression and preventing suicide arecrucial. But doctors and patients mustbe in close communication aboutmedi-cines.

When the cure causes more psycho-logical distress than it relieves, it istime to examine other options.

Our Guides to Psychological SideEffects and Antidepressant Pros &Cons describe drugs that can triggerdepression or other symptoms such asnightmares, confusion or forgetfulness,and discusses issues of withdrawal andinteractions.

For a copy, send $2 in check ormoney order with a long (No. 10),stamped (60 cents), self-addressed

envelope to: Graedons’ People’s Phar-macy, No. MX-23, P.O. Box 52027,Durham, NC 27717-2027.

QI really appreciate the tips, updatesand news in your column. When I

read advice about halting hiccups, I’mreminded about the only surefire wayI’ve ever found to stop hiccups — and Ilearned it from “The Bullwinkle Show”when I was a kid. Honest!

Bullwinkle’s advice? Take seven sipsof water while holding your breath.This simple trick has always workedfor me — and everyone I’ve evershared it with — for more than 20years. Make sure each of the seven sipsis completely swallowed.

AMany hiccup remedies involvesipping or swallowing. In one, the

hiccup victim must drink from thewrong side of the cup. (It’s necessaryto bend over.)

In another, the sufferer drinks severalswallows of water while an accomplicepresses on both ear flaps (technicallycalled the tragi).

Hiccups are thought to happen whena signal to the phrenic nerve goesawry. Stimulating that nerve in theroof of the mouth by swallowing aspoonful of granulated sugar or suck-ing on a lemon wedge soaked withAngostura bitters seems to interruptthe hiccup cycle. That is probablywhat Bullwinkle’s adviceaccomplishes. Thanks for sharing it.

QIs it all right to crush my dailyvitamins and mix them into soup,

yogurt, salad dressing or other foods?Also, when I am cooking for manypeople, is it safe to put ground-upvitamin supplements into the foodbefore serving?

APutting vitamins into food forother people is a bad idea. If they

are taking supplements, you couldsupply an overdose.

And some medicines interact badlywith certain nutrients. In addition, itwould be very difficult to distributeground-up vitamin pills evenly through-out your dish.

Crushing your own vitamins mightbe acceptable. Some vitamins are de-stroyed by heat, though, so keep themout of soups, casseroles and hot bever-ages. Sprinkling them on yogurt orcold cereal might work.

Make sure none of the pills you crushis time-released. If you are grindingthem because they are too large, buy-ing a smaller size pill would be mucheasier than using a mortar and pestle.Another option would be a liquid vita-min formulation.

Write Joe and Teresa Graedon, KingFeatures Syndicate,

888 Seventh Ave., New York, N.Y.10019 or send e-mail to them via their

Web site: www.peoplespharmacy.org.

King Features Syndicate

Patients should know side effects of antidepressants

Paxil and other antidepressants cansave lives, but doctors must monitor

the medicines’ effects.FILE PHOTO

PEOPLE’SPHARMACY

Joe & TerryGraedon

A playful sumo wrestler dominates the side of an old barn at Red Hill and Nickens roads in Cameron. Above, an 18-wheeler buzzes by a barn paintedwith graphic images by the Barnstormers, a group of New York artists who have brought art and creativity to this rural pocket of North Carolina.

SEE BARNSTORMERS, PAGE 5D

Sunday Journal 5DTHE NEWS & OBSERVERSUNDAY, JULY 27, 2003

in Cameron. Mazorra wrote this: it is soo! dark …what was that noise …this barn is old …these shapes looklike a car … no wello.k. an abstract car …

Lasting connectionsThe Barnstormers havereturned twice

since ’99 to paint. Most have formed con-nections with the people of Cameron, con-nections that compel them to send JaneRogers and others personal letters and post-cards of upcoming shows.

Rogers, ever the careful librarian, collectsthese things in a file six inches thick, alongwith newspaper clippings and volunteer lists.She calls the Barnstormers her kids, andthen remembers out loud that they’re not.

“We have made an impact on them,”Rogers said. “And they have sure made animpact on us.”

Rogers, retired after 30 years as librarianat Cameron Elementary School, now has agraffiti tag name (“HE IS”). One localwoman, inspired by the Barnstormers, de-cided to go back to school to teach art. Nota few Cameron residents think of them-selves as Barnstormers, partners in theartistic enterprise.

This summer, the Barnstormers are com-ing back to North Carolina for a groupshow at Raleigh’s LUMP gallery. It startsFriday.

Rogers is getting a small contingent ofCameron residents together to travel toRaleigh to see the installation, called “HiveMind SoundSystem.”

There’s a possibility a few Barnstormerswill visit Cameron and paint a few morebarns while they’re in the neighborhood.

But according to Ellis, this might be thelast year for Barnstormers. The artists thinktheir collective work is done.

It’s a prospect that saddens Rogers andother Cameron residents, who have cometo expect the artists’ arrival and an infusion

of creativity.“I won’t say it’s over ‘til it’s over, that’s for

sure,” Rogers said.At the crossroads inCameron, nestled in

the overgrown grasses by the side of theroad, is a mailbox with no address, and analmost unrecognizable name scrawled ingraffiti: Barnstormers. People stop and putin a note whenever they have something tosay about the barns.

That day there is nothing in itexcept acobweb and an empty beer bottle, butRogers makes sure to check it every now andthen.

“David said he wanted to give somethingback,” Rogers said. “So. He has. Oh, wehad such fun.”

Staff writer Caitlin Cleary can be reachedat 836-5799 or [email protected].

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5D, SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2003

Anotherstory began.“She’s amazing,” Donadelle gushed out of The

Lady’s earshot. “Playing with her is always a sur-prise; you don’t know where she’s going to go, andshe can do any of these songs. You look for catswho can play like that, and she can because shewas there when it was all being written.”

Not that crowds are exactly beating down thedoor.

Word’s gotten out that The Lady’s been playing,and some local jazz musicians have showed up topay respects. Chris Keller, who met theLady whileshe was living in D.C. and Baltimore, dropped byand wound up crooning “Satin Doll.” Later thesame evening, saxophonist Pee Wee Moore ofDurham shuffled up from his gig at Sullivan’s SteakHouse to say hello, causing someone at the bar toask, “Is that Bo Diddley?” Moore, who played andrecorded with Dizzie Gillespie and James Moody,might be one of the biggest jazz musicians to callthis place home. The Lady took him to the couchfor a tête-à-têtethat sang of old friendships andgood memories.

“People don’t even know what they’re hearing,what we’ve got here,” April Emanuelson Barnett,one of the bar’s owners, said on a recent night.She’s right. The two times I’ve been there, thecrowd was young, white, hip and they seemed tofind the music good background to their conversa-tions. Customers streaming into Sullivan’s(including the ones climbing out of their Bentleysand Ferraris) stopped and stared in the doorwayfor a least a few bars. But few people made re-quests and almost no one left money in the tip jar.

And maybe that’s why The Lady decided not tomove to Raleigh permanently. She’s booked inD.C., and will join her regular Lady Byron Trio inEurope for a month at the end of August.

But how’s this for friendship?For awhile at least,The Lady’s promised to drive down every other

Thursday evening, just to play with Moody andDonadelle at April & George, 414 Glenwood Ave.The Thursdays when she’s not performing, Moodyand Donadelle will add other musicians who playgospel and Latin. But catch them and The Ladythis week. And don’t forget the tip jar.

Staff writer Mary E. Millercan be reached at 829-4818

or [email protected].

Neighbors volunteered their barns; businessesoffered paint, scaffolding, lights and generators.

Residents opened their homes to artists who needed a place to stay. Rogers, the self-described ‘den

mother’ of the Barnstormers, coordinated volunteersand fussed over the young artists, packing them

lunch coolers with ice, water and fruit.

The Lady Byron, playing the piano, performsThursday at April & George in Raleigh.

STAFF PHOTO BY COREY LOWENSTEIN

MILLERCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1D

Tools of the Barnstormers’ trade, paint cans by the dozens, sit idle inside a barn stall on Red Hill Road in Cameron.

The Barnstormers are a looseand constantly evolving crew,with members who rotate in

and out from project to project,bringing their different skills to bear.Besides storming Cameron’s barns,they have made time-lapse videos,done collaborative projects in mu-seums from Puerto Rico to Mon-treal, and painted live on a stagewith DJs in Osaka.

“Barnstormers has always beenmore about collaboration,” said leadBarnstormer David Ellis. “Like aband, almost. Weaving and layer-ing our styles. Sometimes it’s moreabout that than the final product.It’s art as performance.”

The Barnstormers work off theidea of improvisation, listening tomusicians like Duke Ellington forinspiration. They figure out how topull 30 artists together and makesomething work.

Along these same lines, they’recreating a work in Raleigh called“Hive Mind SoundSystem.” It in-volves a motif common to Ellis’work: speakers, music and sound. ALUMP gallery wall will be stackedfrom floor to ceiling with tweetersand woofers; huge speakers, andsome the size of your hand.

Artists will customize their speak-ers with paint, wood and found ob-jects, and the speakers will butt upagainst each other, play off eachother. The Barnstormers will choosetheir favorite 20 tunes, to be playedrandomly from all the speakers. Sortof like a giant mix tape.

“The joys of the iPod,” Ellis said.“We’re going to see what happenswhen those sounds battle it out.”

On another gallery wall will be

silkscreen prints and collaborativedrawings (one sketchbook passedfrom artist to artist, collaged by thecrew’s printmakers).

But every great band eventuallydisbands. So it goes with the Barn-stormers, “so that it ends on a goodnote,” Ellis said. “We all really loveand respect each other, but it is a lotof work,” he said. “It’s almost unbe-lievable that we’ve had 30 artists go-ing over each other’s work withoutmore misunderstandings going on.”

The News & Observer

Fort Bragg

MOORE

CHATHAM

LEE

HOKE

RANDOLPH

Asheboro

Sanford

Aberdeen

Robbins

Southern PinesPinehurst

211

705

5

15 501

15 501220

421

64

1

110 MILES

Cameron

RALEIGH

Area shown

BARNSTORMERS’ ARTWHAT: “Hive Mind SoundSystem,” an in-

stallation by the Barnstormers.WHEN: Friday-Aug. 24. Reception Friday,

7-11 p.m.WHERE: LUMP Gallery, 505 S. Blount St.,

Raleigh.Call 821-9999, www.lumpgallery.com.

Storming withmusic and sound