Students arrested for literary terrorism on campus
Hon. Felix Frankfurter
Staff Writer
Public Safety and the SDPD apprehended three female USD students last Thursday evening around 7:30 p.m. for posting poetry in a manner that disrupts the "aesthetic quality of the campus" according to C. Ensor, a nighttime Public Safety officer. Officials have released the names of the students, claiming their involvement in the vandalism is a form of literary terrorism.
Two seniors, Kate Sullivan and Molly Tustison, as well as freshman Natalie Earnheart were taken into custody after a student reported seeing them stalking around campus with cans of spray paint.
As Public Safety officers tracked down the girls near the Aromas lawn, they immediately called for backup from SDPD since the girls were armed with stacks of poems and had begun to tag the lawn with "Anecdote of a Jar," by Wallace Stevens, according to a report released by Public Safety on Monday.
When Public Safety tried to corner the students, Sullivan allegedly ran toward Colachis Fountain and, while stripping off clothes, screamed "I am a Promiscuous Daughter" repeatedly.
Tustison succumbed most easily and reportedly muttered something about finding "a place for poplars" and "words on skin" while being walked to the Public Safety vehicle.
Earnhart threw her stack of poems in the officers’ faces and shouted, "Thou villainous hell-hated giglets!"
Later that evening, AS President Rhett Buttle was found bound and gagged and told officials, "The girls broke into my office, tied me up and threatened to take away my gold name tag if I didn’t give them access to the USD student listserve."
Apparently these vandals had planned to send poems by William Blake, Walt Whitman and T.S. Eliot to each and every student at USD.
Upon further investigation, it was determined that all three young women have pledged allegiance to The Promiscuous Daughters, an underground writing club on campus that allegedly meets in the Cropper Writing Center.
Public Safety raided the small room in Founders and found stacks of poems by established poets and members of the club.
Plans for further guerilla action were uncovered on the book shelves F190 which included posting poems on the newly acquired electronic signs, tagging lawns and sidewalks with sonnets, and replacing table tents with excerpts from Tennyson’s "In Memoriam."
The students have been released from custody, but await trial in front of school officials for "vandalizing school property and attempts to enrich the minds of students."
Dr. Peter Kanelos, Professor of English, was unavaible for comment last Friday due to temporary incarceration for similar charges. However, upon his arraignment, he was contacted and responded to the incident saying, "I'm in full support of the girls' action, there's just one thing that puzzles me: Stevens? Why Stevens?"
The probable punishment looks to be an extra full semester at USD for each student—on their own dime—whereby each must take 15 units of business credit.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Ted. Please.
Do you like intelligent and politically driven lyrics? Are you a sucker for tireless sprinting guitars à la Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty?
Do yourself a favor and check out Jersey’s best contemporary-rock dissenters, Ted Leo/Pharmacists, who just released their fifth album, "Living with the Living."
Known for their nasal, tenor vocals and rollicking rhythms, these former hardcore punks stayed true to the sounds of 2004’s "Shake the Sheets," but opted for cleaner riffs and more slick production to keep the kids a-rockin’.
The album synthesizes political rants and nostalgic love songs, but not as seamlessly as the nuanced Leo-lover might want.
More than a handful of the songs on the album are beyond good. Fiery lament, "The Sons of Cain," "La Costa Bravo" with a punked-out intro, and falsetto-infused "Who Do You Love?" team up to carry the album, but overall the flat transitions between subject matter don’t feel logical.
Leo and friends even jump back to their moshing days with songs like "Bomb, Repeat, Bomb," but that’s to be expected since the album was produced by Fugazi’s Brendan Canty. The bottom line: Ted, I think you can do better.
Do yourself a favor and check out Jersey’s best contemporary-rock dissenters, Ted Leo/Pharmacists, who just released their fifth album, "Living with the Living."
Known for their nasal, tenor vocals and rollicking rhythms, these former hardcore punks stayed true to the sounds of 2004’s "Shake the Sheets," but opted for cleaner riffs and more slick production to keep the kids a-rockin’.
The album synthesizes political rants and nostalgic love songs, but not as seamlessly as the nuanced Leo-lover might want.
More than a handful of the songs on the album are beyond good. Fiery lament, "The Sons of Cain," "La Costa Bravo" with a punked-out intro, and falsetto-infused "Who Do You Love?" team up to carry the album, but overall the flat transitions between subject matter don’t feel logical.
Leo and friends even jump back to their moshing days with songs like "Bomb, Repeat, Bomb," but that’s to be expected since the album was produced by Fugazi’s Brendan Canty. The bottom line: Ted, I think you can do better.
Andrew Bird....and the Vista
Few have developed their own sound more completely than violin songster Andrew Bird. Last Tuesday Bird released his seventh full-length studio album, "Armchair Apocrypha." Instrumentally complex, the songs serve as an ideal soundtrack for long drives alone. Audibly similar to Devotchka, the arching melodies and melancholic violin solos are ripe for repeated spins and subsequent dissection.
Formally trained as a performance violinist, Bird began his career playing pre-war jazz, blues and traditional folk; he even got swept up in the late 90s swing revival. In 2001, with "The Swimming Hour," he found a new and unique jukebox blend of all genres and even threw in some classy rock.
Although the traditional violin, glockenspiel, whistling and drums are still present, on "AA," Bird infuses guitar and piano more completely to create layered songs. The music works two ways: as great background noise for a mellow party and as a knot of troubling lyrics, incandescent harmonies and synergistic instruments to untangle and stretch out for increased comprehension. Key tracks include "Fiery Crash," a rolling opener straight out of cinematic opening credits, radio-ready quot;Heretics" and the graceful, poignant quot;Scythian Empires." The bottom line: If you liked the soundtrack to "Little Miss Sunshine," check this out.
Formally trained as a performance violinist, Bird began his career playing pre-war jazz, blues and traditional folk; he even got swept up in the late 90s swing revival. In 2001, with "The Swimming Hour," he found a new and unique jukebox blend of all genres and even threw in some classy rock.
Although the traditional violin, glockenspiel, whistling and drums are still present, on "AA," Bird infuses guitar and piano more completely to create layered songs. The music works two ways: as great background noise for a mellow party and as a knot of troubling lyrics, incandescent harmonies and synergistic instruments to untangle and stretch out for increased comprehension. Key tracks include "Fiery Crash," a rolling opener straight out of cinematic opening credits, radio-ready quot;Heretics" and the graceful, poignant quot;Scythian Empires." The bottom line: If you liked the soundtrack to "Little Miss Sunshine," check this out.
Vista Love?
As an avid Badly Drawn Boy fan for the last half decade or so, I was looking forward to finally catching a live set from the British songwriter responsible for the soundtrack to "About a Boy."
Damon Gough, a.k.a. Badly Drawn Boy, cemented a place in my musical heart via an eclectic but at times disengaging set at the House of Blues last Wednesday.
An insider friend tipped me off about the set times and warned me that BDB planned to play a two-hour set, so I rationed my energy and showed up just as the final opener trailed offstage.
The small crowd huddled close as the perpetually-beanied Gough took the stage following his touring band.
After Gough said, "We’re going to play a whole lot of new songs first to get them out of the way," the band launched into tracks from the 2006 release "Born in the UK," which Gough admitted was a tribute to Bruce Springsteen.
Highlights included "Journey from A to B" and an instrumental version of "Welcome to the Overground," which was "too difficult to play live."
The night was chock full of anecdotes preceding songs and complaints from the band about monitor sound.
I personally have never been a fan of the sound quality at the HOB, and this opinion was solidified as members of the band continually asked the sound board for decreased volume.
Audio problems and the recent death of his grandfather may have contributed to Gough’s mood swings throughout the show, which featured wry jokes, poignant stories, smoking onstage and angry shouts at those talking through the sets.
After a slick transition from "Like a Virgin" into "Silent Sigh," Gough stopped mid-song to the surprise of his bandmates saying, "I hate playing that song, so I won’t."
Regardless of Gough’s attitude, his performance was solid musically, and I was thrilled to hear an intro about Santa for "Donna and Blitzen" as well as the stories behind some of my favorites like "This Is That New Song," which is about the death of a friend.
A good chunk of the crowd filtered out early as the set moved into its third hour, but these deserters missed out on a whale of an encore topped off by a 10-minute cover of "Don’t Stop Believin’" as Gough wandered through the crowd. For a Steve Perry cover, I can forgive Gough’s cranky comments.
Damon Gough, a.k.a. Badly Drawn Boy, cemented a place in my musical heart via an eclectic but at times disengaging set at the House of Blues last Wednesday.
An insider friend tipped me off about the set times and warned me that BDB planned to play a two-hour set, so I rationed my energy and showed up just as the final opener trailed offstage.
The small crowd huddled close as the perpetually-beanied Gough took the stage following his touring band.
After Gough said, "We’re going to play a whole lot of new songs first to get them out of the way," the band launched into tracks from the 2006 release "Born in the UK," which Gough admitted was a tribute to Bruce Springsteen.
Highlights included "Journey from A to B" and an instrumental version of "Welcome to the Overground," which was "too difficult to play live."
The night was chock full of anecdotes preceding songs and complaints from the band about monitor sound.
I personally have never been a fan of the sound quality at the HOB, and this opinion was solidified as members of the band continually asked the sound board for decreased volume.
Audio problems and the recent death of his grandfather may have contributed to Gough’s mood swings throughout the show, which featured wry jokes, poignant stories, smoking onstage and angry shouts at those talking through the sets.
After a slick transition from "Like a Virgin" into "Silent Sigh," Gough stopped mid-song to the surprise of his bandmates saying, "I hate playing that song, so I won’t."
Regardless of Gough’s attitude, his performance was solid musically, and I was thrilled to hear an intro about Santa for "Donna and Blitzen" as well as the stories behind some of my favorites like "This Is That New Song," which is about the death of a friend.
A good chunk of the crowd filtered out early as the set moved into its third hour, but these deserters missed out on a whale of an encore topped off by a 10-minute cover of "Don’t Stop Believin’" as Gough wandered through the crowd. For a Steve Perry cover, I can forgive Gough’s cranky comments.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Mama, today we learned about Jee-zus
Ok, quick grammar lesson for everyone out there posting pictures or shooting their mouths off (like I am doing) on their blogs.
Me = object pronoun
I = subject pronoun
When you were little you were probably taught all about saying "My imaginary friend and I jumped down into the ravine filled with snakes" rather than "Me and my imaginary friend were not attacked by the snakes because we spoke their language." There is nothing wrong or informal about the word me, it's just an object pronoun and can receive the action of a verb but not perform the action of a verb.
Say you have a classy picture of yourself with someone really cool, and you want to post a caption.
None of this:
Bruce Springsteen and I
Bruce Springsteen and you what? What did you do? "I" is a subject pronoun and remember subjects have to DO something. This is why we have verbs. Ostensibly you are saying "This is a picture of me with The Boss." So in this statement, you are one of the direct objects.
Thus:
Bruce Springsteen and me hanging out because we are cool like that.
Hanging is a participle, not a verb, so this is fine and dandy.
OR:
Bruce Springsteen and I hang out because we are cool like that.
Hang = verb, so me becomes I again. YAY!
Or if you are talking about having something done to you, use me after the verb. Why? Because "you" become either the direct object or the predicate nominative or the object of the preposition.
Examples:
Wrong- Skyler took Lisa and I to his house for the Swayziest dance party of the century.
Correct- Skyler took Lisa and me to his humble abode to discuss Jim James and Hogzilla.
Wrong- TBS tripped on her way up the stairs while trying to give a present to Jax and I.
Correct- TBS fell and rolled down a hill while trying to pass her homemade Olympic torch to Jax and me.
That's all for our grammar lesson today. Next week, tune in as we explore the improper use of commas and other forms of punctuation.
Me = object pronoun
I = subject pronoun
When you were little you were probably taught all about saying "My imaginary friend and I jumped down into the ravine filled with snakes" rather than "Me and my imaginary friend were not attacked by the snakes because we spoke their language." There is nothing wrong or informal about the word me, it's just an object pronoun and can receive the action of a verb but not perform the action of a verb.
Say you have a classy picture of yourself with someone really cool, and you want to post a caption.
None of this:
Bruce Springsteen and I
Bruce Springsteen and you what? What did you do? "I" is a subject pronoun and remember subjects have to DO something. This is why we have verbs. Ostensibly you are saying "This is a picture of me with The Boss." So in this statement, you are one of the direct objects.
Thus:
Bruce Springsteen and me hanging out because we are cool like that.
Hanging is a participle, not a verb, so this is fine and dandy.
OR:
Bruce Springsteen and I hang out because we are cool like that.
Hang = verb, so me becomes I again. YAY!
Or if you are talking about having something done to you, use me after the verb. Why? Because "you" become either the direct object or the predicate nominative or the object of the preposition.
Examples:
Wrong- Skyler took Lisa and I to his house for the Swayziest dance party of the century.
Correct- Skyler took Lisa and me to his humble abode to discuss Jim James and Hogzilla.
Wrong- TBS tripped on her way up the stairs while trying to give a present to Jax and I.
Correct- TBS fell and rolled down a hill while trying to pass her homemade Olympic torch to Jax and me.
That's all for our grammar lesson today. Next week, tune in as we explore the improper use of commas and other forms of punctuation.
Richard and Blue
I've always been a sucker for covers, and I can't help myself with this one. If only they would have played it at the Casbah, then I might not have minded the destruction of my hearing
Monday, March 26, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Pools of Sour Patch Kids
I'm ready to find the stats on my life iTunes stylee.
How many times in my life have I eaten macaroni and cheese? (infinite?)
How many times have I run through Hat Park on the Bear Creek bike trail? (~800)
How many times have I watched Fight Club? (~100)
So who's been keeping track? Lisa? Jax? TBS? Anyone?
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Lovely locks
(dude and his fist)Courtesy of the Vista...also Christine Osborn (whoever that is) talked about profs
I’m never going to the Casbah on a Saturday night again. Last weekend, I journeyed to that endearingly dirty little venue near the airport to catch a sold out set from Brit indie rock quartet Razorlight.
The band is touring in support of their garden variety 2006 release—which pales in comparison to sleaze-rock debut “Up All Night.” As I walked into the venue, I noticed that the band had brought two tour buses. To the Casbah. I suppose to each his own, or in this case, to each half a bus. They must be bigger in England. Rock and roll excess aside, Razorlight failed to impress anyone under the age of twenty-seven, but for those over that magically arbitrary age, this generic rock proved more epic than a Deep Blue Something show in 1994.
Most of the time I get annoyed by obnoxious kids at all-ages shows or fashionistas at the über-indie shows, but as of Saturday, this musical curmudgeon has a new group to shout about. Settling into the back just before the set, I wondered what lead singer Johnny Borrell would climb on. After his scaffold scaling at Coachella in 2005, the padded walls lining the stage seemed limiting for death-defying acrobatics.
Then, the music started, and they were in front of me. That couple. Around age thirty, this pair came complete with a nearly blacked-out, spastic, rump-shaking Carrie Bradshaw look-alike and a balding man in designer jeans who could not help but use her booty as a drum throughout the set. Oh, and they brought their friends: two fist-pumping dudes who spilled as much beer as they drank. I guess a late Saturday night is about all they're allowed in that working world I’ve heard so much about.
Usually, a concert-rusty crowd like this wouldn’t ruin an entire show for me. But normally, the music is powerful enough to hold my attention and keep me from smacking these imbeciles. The only word to describe Razorlight’s performance is generic. Minus a few intriguing drum solos, the band could have easily played at the Battle of the Bands on Friday—eager young lads looking for a big break.
So, I was left watching this group of wasted young professionals dance and cling to any scrap of youth they have left. You’d think they could have picked a better soundtrack though. The rest of the crowd was split between the just-legal quiet ones and rowdy stereotypical bros dancing like they got lost on their way to Safari in TJ. My decision? Bail after forty minutes or so.
The saving grace of the night was the opening set by Mohair, a SXSW-bound, and Watford, UK native piano pop group. Lead singer Tom Billington sports an auburn set of curly locks that would put Annie to shame, and the rest of the band brought British sexy back with ascots, vests, and entirely too tight button-downs. Their bouncy stage presence and three-part harmonies had the listless wandering in to see what all the fuss was about. Billington’s staunch classic solos—complete with his jaw-dropped open and a few bangs of his white-man fro—plus Alex Richards’s vamping keys combined to dance around the audience pied piper style. I’m just glad I got there early and left early.
(Mohair)
Quarterly Love
From Boze after she left my apartment...
p.s. #2 we took Eugene pics and I’ll send them to you.
What a great friend...I didn't even have to remind her.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Where have they gone?
Last week, my bar buddy and fellow chem nerd, Joanna, and I took off on two separate weekday nights down to accursed Mission Beach with hopes of running into a few people we know and getting our minds off PCAT scores and play packets. Banking on our success the previous week (Joanna: "So when did we walk there?"), we made the usual rounds and ran into the usual USDers. Normally, I would avoid seeing people from my campus at pretty much any cost, but the past few weeks it's been fun to run into some trashed Toreros down on their turf (Mission Beach).
Then we realized...every time we've gone out there we have run into the same people and had the same conversations with said people. That or we meet tools who wear shirts like this:
complete with carefully mussed and gelled: 
who get belligerent enough at Luigi's to pick fights with well everyone.
Yes, Joanna. I agree. "i hate you mission beach for stealing precious hours of my life when i could have otherwise been sleeping." Nothing of significance to anyone's life is discussed at those bars. Unless mitigating circumstances dictate, no more of this semi-tourist beach scene for me. I told people I hated the USD party scene, and that when I reached the magical age I wasn't going to do the Sandbar thing. Well, I got suckered in a few times, and even admittedly had some fun, but that river soon dried up.
I tried to give thema chance, but "dudes" who live in Southern California are now on the shit list. I'm sick of your Vans, your semi-designer jeans, your surf/skate brand shirts (most of you don't surf or skate), your 'hawks, your love of Sublime, and your solipsistic (there's a world outside of SoCal?) attitudes.
I need a place like the Castle here. What's that you say? Free pool? $1 beers? I'm there.
Then we realized...every time we've gone out there we have run into the same people and had the same conversations with said people. That or we meet tools who wear shirts like this:
complete with carefully mussed and gelled: who get belligerent enough at Luigi's to pick fights with well everyone.
Yes, Joanna. I agree. "i hate you mission beach for stealing precious hours of my life when i could have otherwise been sleeping." Nothing of significance to anyone's life is discussed at those bars. Unless mitigating circumstances dictate, no more of this semi-tourist beach scene for me. I told people I hated the USD party scene, and that when I reached the magical age I wasn't going to do the Sandbar thing. Well, I got suckered in a few times, and even admittedly had some fun, but that river soon dried up.
I tried to give thema chance, but "dudes" who live in Southern California are now on the shit list. I'm sick of your Vans, your semi-designer jeans, your surf/skate brand shirts (most of you don't surf or skate), your 'hawks, your love of Sublime, and your solipsistic (there's a world outside of SoCal?) attitudes.
I need a place like the Castle here. What's that you say? Free pool? $1 beers? I'm there.
Underage Annuals Rock Socks
Last week's Vista ramblings...
If you weren’t at the Casbah on Sunday night, you are now officially a latecomer to the Annuals' indie takeover. I sidled up to the show, looking forward to seeing headliner Aqueduct, synth-based indie-pop outfit who hails from Seattle by way of Tulsa. As I walked in, a bunch of kids with shoulder length hair were walking off stage, and I took them to be the first opener, Inberst. I have a feeling I didn’t miss much.
The six-member pop outfit, Annuals, donned a hodge-podge wardrobe of Texas baseball cutoff shirts, American Eagle prep-ware and boho-chic as they took to the stage cramped by the large number of instruments. Underage and entirely unpretentious singer-songwriter Adam Baker led the rest in most songs from their first full-length album, 2006’s “Be He Me,” out now on Ace Fu records.
“BHM” draws parallels with indie powerhouses Broken Social Scene and Animal Collective, but once you’ve seen the band live, you can’t deny the Annuals' original sound and vibrant energy. Baker’s vocals vault between screams reminiscent of Brand New circa 2003 and indie-tastic harmonies with band mates. The band, though squeezed on stage, found plenty of room to pump their rhythm-addled tunes into the veins of a highly appreciative crowd. Baker, drummer/rhythm guitarist Zack Oden, and pianist/synth siren Anna Spence danced around each other from song to song, switching instruments between each piece, and even in the middle of the song.
Drummer Nick Radford provides the backbone of most tunes, and he is even supported in his efforts on some songs when Oden joins him at an adjacent kit. At points, like the end of “Bleary Eyed,” Baker and lead guitarist Kenny Florence hop on a pair of extra toms to join Oden and Radford and drive the song home with a fine cadence. On “Fair,” Baker, Florence, Spence and funk-worthy bassist Mike Robinson harmonize for a vocally-centered track. Each song left me turning to my friend with expletives of excitement and incredulity. There was something entirely pure about their energy, and their music was endearingly earnest. After 40 minutes, the band manically struck their set so Aqueduct could try to follow this act.
As the Seattle headliner, Aqueduct, walked onstage, I couldn’t help but feel their age gave them an air of haughtiness that juxtaposed the Annuals magnificently. A good chunk of the crowd had abandoned the venue, but a handful stuck around to shake to the synth sound. Largely a one-person effort, front man David Terry brought some friends on for this tour in support of 2007's “Or Give Me Death.”
The band opened the show with a cover of the theme song to 80s detective series Simon & Simon, a tribute that largely flew straight over the crowd’s heads. Terry led the band through a lackluster set of new songs where his trademark sneering vocals have given way to that of a generic tenor. Highlights included songs from 2005’s “I Sold Gold,” including “Hardcore Days & Softcore Nights,” “Heart Design” and “The Suggestion Box.” Terry and company closed the show with a “non-core” where they didn’t leave the stage, played the theme to "Walker, Texas Ranger" and “Growing Up with GNR.” All in all, youth prevailed, and Annuals proved to be the most talented group in the room. I can’t wait to see what they do at Bonnaroo.
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