NCAA Basketball Championship 2005
Growing up in North Carolina, from birth through high school, I have a deep affection for Carolina Basketball. Monday night's championship game was the culmination of one of the program's greatest moments. Four years ago, when Jawad Williams, Melvin Scott, and Jackie Manuel were freshmen, the team went 8-20, and the tradition of consistent excellence that Dean built looked shattered. Since then, those three players, along with the next year's blockbuster recruiting class of Sean May, Rashad McCants, and Raymond Felton, have gone through a steady growth period, as each year they got a significant step better. Saturday and Monday night they reached the apex. Not living in North Carolina anymore, there was no one with which to exchange high fives, so in a desperate attempt to find someone to celebrate the win with, I contacted Dave Brylawski (Polvo, Idyll Swords, Black Taj), who once wrote a song devoted to Carolina Basketball using traditional Indian instrumentation (see the Cognitive Mapping Vol. 2 compilation on Friction Media). Most of the interview is the exchanging of fives, but it also proved a good opportunity to find out about the status of Dave's newest band Black Taj, who are getting ready to (finally) release their first album on Amish.
fakejazz: How awesome was the game last night?
Dave: After that second half against MSU in the 1st Final Four game, it was clear that when the Heels played up to their talent and potential, it would be pretty tough to beat them. The 1st half of the Illinois game looked a lot like that half against MSU. I was relaxed and actually enjoying the game, instead of freaking out, which is my usual mode. When Illinois staged their inevitable comeback at the beginning of the 2nd half, it was pretty stressful - I had to watch the game at home because I knew I'd be a nervous, beer-pounding, cursing, angry misanthrope. I, like many of my friends and family who are Heel fans, take the games personally. We get too caught up and emotional. We love them so much it is painful. It's not very healthy.
I used to cry when they lost when I was growing up - that loss to Marquette in 1977 absolutely crushed me. I went to Carmichael Auditorium when that team came back from Atlanta, and I vividly remember the crowd going insane when Tommy LaGarde lifted up his crutches. That was a great time to be a kid in Chapel Hill. Phil Ford, Walter Davis, Mike O'Koren, Dudley Bradley. I remember I was riding the F bus downtown when I overheard two guys talking about this recruit coming to UNC. They refered to him as 'Magic' Jordan! Cue the sentimental music. But, back to last night, although all my nails are bitten off, it was extremely satisfying. Critics and pundits were down on the Heels all year as chronic underachievers that could not gel as a team, and at times it was hard to disagree. However, and I said this even before the game last night, there is something about this team that makes me love them even more than the Rasheed/Stackhouse/Vince Carter/Antawn Jamison era teams. They rose from the ashes. I put this team up there with the ones from '82 and '84. My favorite all-time Heel is James Worthy, but this may be my favorite team.
How excited were you when Carolina rallied at the end of the first half, and then Rashad made that diamond hand sign after he hit that 3-pointer?
I must have missed the diamond sign, but I was glad that Rashad got his that 1st half. I was worried that Deron Williams, who previously shut down Garcia and Stoudamire, was going to give him fits. I wasn't sure which Rashad was going to show up. At one point in the year I would have said he was the best athlete on the team, but he gets so down on himself when he isn't playing well. After the game, when the camera did a close up on Rashad and he was on his back, not saying a word, eyes open looking up at the ceiling, the crowd swirling around him - he looked like he was in rapture. It was intense. It was a great moment. I'll never forget it.
Does Raymond going 4-for-5 from 3s make up for Dante going 1-for-10 in 95? What about for Shammond going 1-for-13 in 97?
Yep. Well, actually, that Shammond thing was Dean's last game as a coach, so it doesn't exactly cancel it out, but it makes it easier to commence with living. I think the Utah game the next year was the most disappointment I have ever felt regarding the Heels.
How clutch was his step-back 3-pointer towards the end?
With two guys in his face. Double dutch clutch.
Sean May!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I couldn't be happier for him. Probably the most improved Heel in my memory. Roy got him in great shape so he could run the floor. He really did carry the team in stretches this year. My wife thinks he is cute and has a kind, if maybe a little forlorn, face. "Why so sad, Sean?", she would say. The way he came on, he went from maybe a 2nd rounder to a possible lottery pick this year. He reminds me a little of Brad Daugherty, who wasn't expected to have a big NBA career (by me at least), but he did and so will Sean. It is weird to think that he may be posting up against Shaq or Kevin Garnett next year. But he'll probably be a forward anyway. I like that his dad had to leave his seat and watch the game on TV in the mezzanine because he was too nervous.
What do you think their chances for next year are, assuming (hoping?) 2 of the big 4 underclassmen stay, with Hansbrough coming in and hopefully Terry, Noel, and QT stepping up into bigger roles?
I want to savor this year! They probably haven't even cleaned up Franklin Street yet and ESPN and SI are already picking Connecticut, Kentucky, and... ugh... Duke to be the teams to watch next year, because the expectation is that the Heels are going to have to rebuild. I have a feeling that Sean and Marvin will join Raymond and Rashad in the draft. If you can go in the lottery, you are crazy to stay. It's easy for fans to think that the rational choice is to stay in school, but who are we to say? I mean, even though it seems like it would be more satisfying to play for UNC than, say the Hawks or the Warriors, you can't blame someone for wanting to better themselves or their family. Of course William Avery and Joseph Forte could have used another year or two, for example, but Marvin is different than those two. I think Marvin would be one of the best Heels since Antawn and VC if he stayed another year or two, but he may go the highest of all the Heels, so I am resigned to thinking that he is one and done. Rashad could improve too, but the Magic 8 Ball says "it is decidedly so." Mazel Tov. I'm no hater (maybe a little), but QT needs to slow it down a little. He makes me nervous, running the show. Hey, I never got to mention Jawad. So - Jawad!
Speaking of lineup changes, there is a Black Taj album scheduled to be released on Amish. What is the lineup for Black Taj for this record? When were the recordings done?
Black Taj is Grant Tennille from the Idyll Swords, my friend and Inexperience drummer Thomas Atherton, and Steve Popson, who was in Polvo with me, on bass. The record is going to have a few different recording sessions on it. The earliest was from 2002, which we did at Trans Am's studio - NRS - in D.C. Ash Bowie and Brian Quast did a session in Raleigh this year with Brian Walsby on drums. Jerry Kee did a recent session as well. I think we are going to go back to Quanic in Raleigh and get Ash and Brian to re-record a couple of songs this summer. We'll cull the "best" from all those sessions for the album.
Why has there been such a long gap between the tour with Trans Am and demo recording from 2003 and the upcoming release of the first album?
The frustrations of being in a long-distance band are hard to overcome. I get home to Chapel Hill quite a bit, but it still isn't enough. We have been a band for almost 5 years, but when you practice once every two months, it feels like you start over every time. Nobody's fault but mine. We have recorded many sessions that just weren't up to scratch, and just scrapped them. Money down the taj-hole as I say. Polvo was a long distance band too, but when Ash would come home, we could get really focused and spend two or three weeks getting ready for a tour. Black Taj doesn't have that luxury. We are getting ready to play a couple of shows in New York with The Fucking Champs, so I hope that we can at least pretend to be a real band this summer. I may be old but I still have rock feelings.
How has the band's style changed or developed since your tour and demo recording from 2003?
Hmm. I hope we are a little better. That tour was a little weird. We didn't play that well, and I don't think Trans Am's audience cared for us that much, which I understand. And I sliced off the tip of my finger on my fretting hand right before the Boston show. That was a bummer. We've certainly had our share of setbacks. Chuck Johnson once joked that it was a curious idea to name your band after a historical folly that was conceptualized but never brought to fruition, and sometimes I think he was right. But, hey, Black Taj just might be a second half team...
