HomeBaked Beats

By wpengine | September 20, 2001

This week, daze had a chance to sit down with Eric Aceto, an instrument builder and member of the popular Ithaca-based band Mectapus.

daze: When and how did you get into building instruments?

Eric Aceto: It was in the very early ’70s, 1970 and ’71. I was attending art school and I wanted to put the music and art together. I had played music my whole life and then I got into building basic instruments. I had done a lot of repair work and work on friends’ instruments. And later, when I got into it more, I started constructing instruments more in a bigger way.

D: When did you build your first electric fiddle?

EA: That was in 1974, early on.

D: So many accomplished musicians use your instruments. Who are you most proud to build for?

EA: Wow. Well, probably Darol Anger [fiddle player who has performed with David Grisman, String Cheese Incident, and others]. He’s a great player and he’s been a great supporter of the whole project.

D: If, for whatever reason, you could no longer be either a musician or an instrument-maker, which would you choose?

EA: You know, it’s not like that for me. I guess part of being a Gemini is that dual nature. They really go hand in hand. Plus, I began building violins because I was playing violin and looking for a certain sound. I really don’t separate those two at all.

D: Do certain musical styles and approaches influence the design of your instruments?

EA: Well, certainly the instrument we’re most interested in building is an amplified instrument, so yes. The reason I came to it is because I’m into acoustic music, and acoustic instruments. I’m trying to translate that feel, and that timbre, to an amplified situation, and it’s been tough over the years but I’m feeling pretty good about it.

D: You certainly should. Roughly, how long does it take you to build a single instrument?

EA: Well, it’s not just me. My partner Dan Hoffman has a huge amount to do with it. We pretty much work on each instrument together. Dan does all the plate carving, and what’s called the corpus, so he’s working the plates and the garling and the voicing of the air chamber and everything. And then I work more on the neck, the setup, the feel, and the peg-head carving. All the electric work and that stuff. So, we really both work on them and not just one instrument at a time. Different things are in different stages of development. But we can deliver a violin, right now, in about 10 weeks.

D: After all that, does the whole trend of rock stars smashing their instruments on stage make you cringe?

EA: Are they doing that again? Oh no. See, I’ve never wanted to smash an instrument, even in my most frustrated moments on stage. Why? I’ve never understood it.

D: Anything new in store with Ti Ti Chickapea [a folk trio consisting of Hank Roberts on cello, Richie Stearns on banjo and tenor guitar, and Eric on violin and guitar]?

EA: Yeah, right now we’re working on album with Kevin Kinsella [lead singer and guitarist of reggae outfit John Brown’s Body]. We’re doing a bunch of Kevin’s material, and that’s been really fun. And we’re hoping to do some gigging with that kind of group. It’s tough working around Richie’s schedule [he’s now on tour with roots-rock group Donna the Buffalo] and Kevin’d been on the road quite a bit with John Brown’s. But we’re going to try to do a more scaled back, amplified acoustic thing. It’s been really fun working with Kevin. He’s such a beautiful guy.

D: Will we ever see more from Mectapus [an eclectic and notorious local band with which Eric played violin, mandolin, and guitar] in the future?

EA: Yeah. Definitely. Joe [Palermo, Mectapus drummer and professor of history and English at Cornell] took a gig out at the University of Santa Cruz. So he’s not here during the year, but he may still teach here at Cornell during the summer. And we’ve talked about doing the acoustic thing with just hand percussion.

I actually got a chance to play with my dream band at the Rongo not too long ago. It was Mike Cerza [of Mectapus] on percussion, Joe on drums, my brother Harry on upright bass, and Mich

Bush Promises Nation He Will Not Yield in Face of Terrorism

By wpengine September 21, 2001

“To our military: be ready. The hour will come for you to act and you will make us proud.” These are the words President George W. Bush told the Congress last night. He called the U.S. and other nations to service, he cited NATO’s charter to emphasis that “an attack on one is an attack on all,” and he urged Americans to avoid “singling out on the basis of religious background.” But yesterday, Cornell joined over 140 colleges and universities across the country that had organized in solidarity for a “peaceful justice” removed from military action. The pro-peace events, which included various combinations of rallies, vigils, marches and teach-ins, all took place around noon and received national media attention. Students at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. began organizing the peace effort just after the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center last week. They enlisted the cooperation of other campuses nationwide to get the attention of the President to express opposition to “retaliatory violence.” “We should work on a peaceful solution as opposed to continuing the global cycle of violence … we shouldn’t answer the deaths of thousands of innocent people with more deaths of innocent people,” Harvard University student Jessica Gould told ABC News. Gould, a sophomore, participated in Harvard’s rally, which involved a peace march in Boston, Mass. Ho Plaza was the site of Cornell’s rally, which also involved a peace march of approximately 125 students throughout campus, according to Dana Brown ’02, one of the event organizers. Community members spoke to an estimated one hundred people who participated in the activities — some on their way to class, some skipping class to be part of the rally despite the rain. “A substantial amount of students were present and it seemed like each person stayed for the entire time. We had a variety of powerful speakers and each one presented crucial insights and an emotive reaction to the present circumstances,” said Lindsay Kaplan ’02, who had addressed the crowd earlier. Students also tabled on Ho Plaza to post contact information for their local political leaders. Brown also noted that the group provided stamped postcards for students to write messages to their representatives. During the course of the day, about 125 postcards were handwritten and the group plans to provide additional cards today in the lobby of Willard Straight Hall, according to Brown. “People have responded so positively. I just hope Bush is listening,” Brown said of Cornell’s efforts. Brown also noted that members of both the activist and non-activist communities were present, sitting in Ho Plaza, as another group sold flowers to benefit the relief effort. “It was good because there were people that you don’t typically see — not everyone was necessarily part of the activist community. It was nice to see people coming out of the woodwork,” Brown said. “I think it’s good to see a lot of people out here. It’s good to see all the different faces … it seems to be a pretty diverse crowd. I like the different creative approaches people are taking [with displays of peace],” said Kimberly Webster ’03, who attended the demonstration. Members of the faculty as well as students presented their opinions at the rally. “Most of the faculty has been really supportive of a peaceful solution,” said Lindsey Saunders ’03, one of the event planners. Saunders said she felt that faculty members at the University teach-in, which occurred at the beginning of the week, seemed to be “advocating justice rather than anger and revenge.” “Non-violence must be the answer,” said Prof. Shawkat M. Toorawa, Near Eastern studies. “We have to resist the urge for military violence.” Toorawa also presented a speech at the teach-in on Monday. “As a nation we are more hurt and confused than we have ever been in our history. It is not a time for blind retaliation, this is far too dangerous a situation. It is a time for thought and evaluation, a time to contemplate what justice is … we simply cannot achieve justice while angry … if you want justice, work for peace,” Kaplan said in her speech yesterday. Brown said she felt that the rally was a “fantastic success” and that response was positive. “I didn’t really see anyone outwardly opposed to us … it was really inspiring to see people flood out,” she said. “I understand that there is a time and a place for non-violence but I also understand that in certain instances you need to defend yourself and if you don’t make those who are responsible pay in some way, you are encouraging further violence because you are going to be seen as weak. If you commit something wrong you better be willing to accept responsibility for it,” said Amber Massa ’02. However most students said they felt that the dialogue on campus was imperative in the wake of the national tragedy. “I think that to have this rally is necessary because the [media] is really for war. A lot of people don’t understand the foreign policy behind this, a lot of speakers have touched on that, and it’s really important that people understand why this happened. Overall, I think it’s great,” Tomer Malchi ’03 said. Carlos Perkins contributed to this article.Archived article by Alison Thomas
West Campus, Collegetown Rep. Resigns

By wpengine September 21, 2001

Josh Glasstetter ’01, the first undergraduate Cornell student to be elected to Ithaca’s Common Council, resigned from his position last week in an unexpected move, after only two years in office. Glasstetter cited a family member’s ill health as well as his desire to set a precedent for two-year de facto terms as reasons for his Sept. 12 resignation. A government major, Glasstetter ran for his seat in the fourth ward in November 1999. The fourth ward jurisdiction covers Collegetown and West Campus. “Setting the precedent of being a student on [Common] council is my biggest accomplishment,” he said. Aside from personal reasons, Glasstetter resigned in hopes of encouraging students to serve on the Common Council for two-year de facto terms. Common Council representatives currently serve four-year terms. “If students are going to be a regular feature, a regular presence in government, they should create two-year terms since it will be more practical with the schedules of students,” Glasstetter said. There are problems with this idea that Glasstetter acknowledged. “[People] probably won’t support it because the other wards like the idea of continuity. There won’t be exemptions for special cases,” he said. “I don’t think that would really work,” Susan Blumenthal ’78 (D-3rd) agreed. “It takes a while to get up to speed on things and once you get it, it’s time for a new election. There would be a lot of transition.” Before the November election where constituents will vote on a replacement for Glasstetter, some people believe that the interests of the fourth ward will still be represented. “We’ll still be represented well,” said Alexandra Sanchez ’03, president of the Cornell Democrats, referring to Glasstetter’s departure. “There [still] is a good mix of students and permanent residents [in the fourth ward].” Glasstetter said he felt that being a student on Common Council brought many challenges. “It puts pressure on a student because unlike being on an extra-curricular activity, you have to conduct yourself differently,” Glasstetter said. “Meetings at 10 or 11 [p.m.] are common, but difficult to make. I did have some problems with being with the [Common] council, … with my own personal conflicts and activities — balancing it all.” Other Common Council members noticed the problems Glasstetter had with meetings. “There is a tremendous lot of work we’re involved in and he was absent enough that it was noticeable,” Blumenthal said. “It is a very active body. There are expectations about commitment.” Even with managing a busy schedule, Glasstetter learned a lot through the Common Council. “By being around I could insert new thoughts, ideas they never thought of before. It was good to see things from other people’s perspectives and bringing that back to the students,” Glasstetter said. Blumenthal also commented on Glasstetter’s contribution to the council. “When Josh was able to be there, he made contributions to conversations. We all appreciated the fact that he was a student. We valued the opinions of a student,” she said. Glasstetter was highly involved with development in Collegetown. He focused on student concerns with parking, housing and bus shuttles. Glasstetter wanted to make the bus shuttle from downtown Ithaca to the Cornell campus more accessible to students. He also wanted to make housing in Collegetown more competitive. “The rent is exorbitant and the quality of the housing and everything else is extremely poor when you take into account how much money [the landlords] get,” Glasstetter said. “Making landlords compete by lowering their prices, people would be more concentrated in Collegetown and won’t need a car as much. They will be less inclined, less able to bring a car since they will be closer to campus.” The Cornell Democrats are now considering a candidate to endorse to succeed Glasstetter. Sanchez said the organization hasn’t divulged the candidate’s name yet. “It’s true; we’re looking at somebody right now,” Sanchez said. Archived article by Kelly Samuels