Son of Leda and Tyndareus; brother of Clytemnestra; half-brother of Pollux and Helen, children by the same mother of Zeus, who seduced Leda in the form of a swan. Nine months later, she laid two eggs, each of which contained two children, separated by gender, one within each wholly-mortal (Castor and Clytemnestra) and the other with god's blood (Pollux and Helen of Troy).

Part of the Dioscuri or Hero Twins, the other of which was Pollux (or Polydeuces).

In his life Castor was a skilled horseman, but as a mortal upon his death he was consigned to Hades and the Elysian Fields while his brother was admitted to Olympus as befitting a divinity. However, Pollux interceded, saying that he could not bear eternal separation from his twin brother. Zeus couldn't bear to send his son to Hades but couldn't let Castor into Olympus, so instead he put them, together forever, in the sky.

The star Castor is the head of one of the two figures in the constellation Gemini - it is white, of the second magnitude and fittingly less bright than the head of his brother Pollux.

A rock band from Champaign, IL, circa 1994-1998.

Castor was:

  • Jeff Garber (guitar, vocals)
  • Ben Eversmann (guitar)
  • Derek Niedringhaus (bass)
  • Jay Vance (drums)

All the members of Castor moved to a big house in Champaign-Urbana from Collinsville, IL (the home of Suede Chain) and were almost immediately adored by the C-U fans. They had a nice mixture of Unrest, Sunny Day Real Estate, and really fucking loud, which fit snugly (and left a huge dent) in our little scene.

Depending on their sobriety, their live shows could sound like either Nirvana (high) or Sunny Day Real Estate (drunk) or sometimes even the Archers of Loaf (drunk and high). The variety always made the shows interesting (especially since they'd play every week or two). And it really was very, very loud. The vibrations from Derek's bass could almost cause internal bleeding in small organisms. Garber's glasses would almost always fly out into the crowd by the third song, though they rarely got broken since people grew to expect it.

They eventually were assimilated by the C-U scene, and finally fell into their own (but still very C-U) sound, something like Braid's sense of melody and attention to detail and Hum's fucking loudness.

They toured nationally a few times, with Braid, the Promise Ring, Dianogah, and Compound Red and became pretty popular with fans of the same (that nasty emo word). They recorded two full-length CDs and one 7", all released on the local Mud Records.

Jeff Garber was also involved in quite a few side projects, such as Morning Becomes Electric (with Bill Johnson of Honcho Overload), Days in December (with members of Braid and Very Secretary), and National Skyline (initially an experiment in making a 45-minute song, with Jeff Dempsey of Hum and Nick Macri of C-Clamp).

Castor broke up in January 1998. Since then, Garber has moved and restarted National Skyline (rather, recycled the name), now with Jim Minor (ex-Compound Red and Milk Magazine) and a drum machine/light show. Derek took the bass spot in Sarge until they finally broke up, and tends bar at the hip indie bar in town. (As for Ben and Jason, I don't think they're doing much of anything musically.)

Discography

Here's a nice, weird quote about Castor breaking up from Garber (from a long email he sent to the Signal Drench website, drench.simplenet.com):

"Being in a band is hard, it's a lot like being married, except you can cheat on each other and you don't have to fuck each other at night. But, after a while, all bands must break up."

Castor is the name of the train in which is currently transporting 85 tons of nuclear waste from the french reprocessing plant La Hague in France, to Dannenberg, Germany. There have been massive protests all along the tracks for the two days, by activist groups such as Greenpeace and Robin Wood, as well as local farmers.

There are 30,000 police deployed to deal with protesters, the biggest police operation ever in post-war Germany. Some protesters have chained themselves to the tracks, causing delays up to six hours. A group of five embedded themselves in a block of concrete between the tracks, and it took more than 12 hours to remove them and repair the tracks. On Tuesday 12,000 people demonstrated in Dannenberg, with smaller ones in Bielefeld, Hamburg, Leipzeig, and Essen.

Journalists with identification have been denied access to the sites, and an indymedia car reportedly had the windows smashed by police. Some mobile phone coverage in the area is down, supposedly due to a problem with the software. There are many reports of police brutality, at times even certain riot police had to intervene to stop extreme violence.

Huge protests are planned for today, as the waste will be loaded onto trucks and attempted to be stored in the repository in Gorleben.

Updates (in English) and video can be found at http://uk.indymedia.org/index.php3?resist=international

Cas"tor (?), n. [L. castor the beaver, Gr. ; of uncertain origin.]

1. Zool.

A genus of rodents, including the beaver. See Beaver.

2.

Castoreum. See Castoreum.

3.

A hat, esp. one made of beaver fur; a beaver.

I have always been known for the jaunty manner in which I wear my castor. Sir W. Scott.

4.

A heavy quality of broadcloth for overcoats.

 

© Webster 1913.


Cast"or (?), n.

See Caster, a small wheel.

 

© Webster 1913.


Cas"tor (?), n. [L.] Astron.

the northernmost of the two bright stars in the constellation Gemini, the other being Pollux.

 

© Webster 1913.


Cas"tor, Cas"tor*ite (?), n. [The minerals castor and pollux were so named because found together on the island of Elba. See Castor and Pollux.] Min.

A variety of the mineral called petalite, from Elba.

 

© Webster 1913.

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