March 28, 2011
www.theAccent.org
Life & Arts | Page 10
Arts → Music
Journalism professor rocks out off campus
STARFCKR – Reptilians
A name change is on the way. The new album is just as dance inducing as the first two.
The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
The first full-length album is a formidable force of good music. Containing elements of indie and heavier rock tones, the group delivers more than enough memorable songs.
R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now
The wait is over. Get ready to rock out to the best R.E.M. since their 2008 release.
Saul Hernandez•Staff Photographer
CURLS, SPUNK, AND A KAZOO — Torrisi is the front woman for the Austin band Jessie Torrisi and The Please, Please Me. The band was one of many that performed at this year’s SXSW. Jessie has played drums for 12 different bands.
Trap Them - Darker Handcraft
Heavy bass, speedy riffs, and the must-needed yelling-styled vocals, this is crazy face-to-face metal at its best. Trap Them has evolved into what heavy metal should be.
Jessie Torrisi and The Please, Please Me switch instruments during live show to create lively carnival-style vibe Bianca Flores
Staff Writer
By day, she is an Austin Community College journalism professor, but at night, she is a rock star. Jessie Torrisi is the lead singer in Jessie Torrisi and the Please, Please Me. She has played in about a dozen bands since her college days. Now that South by Southwest Music Festival is over, her band will start recording a follow-up to the previous album Brûler Brûler. It was recorded in 2009. “It’ll be both more rocking and more indie than the last album. I’m using my own band which’ll give it a cohesive sound, more like a band and less like a singer-songwriter. Also, I’ll be
playing the drums,” said Torrisi. Torrisi started playing the drums at 14. She played other instruments, but drums were her calling. While in New York for school, she played in dozens of bands. After the end of these bands, she decided to move from her comfort zone behind the drums, to leading the band and writing the songs. “Sometimes I’d write it three times before I’m like this is it, this is it,” said Torrisi. “You just somehow know and sometimes, you get to this point, and you realize this is going to make people feel something.” The band name Please, Please Me get a big kick from Torrisi’s publicist who was into another band with a name that rhymed. “I was totally smitten with
the fact that it rhymed. So, I started messing around with what would rhyme. Please, Please Me beamed into my head. I felt like it fit, because all our songs are about the chase, they’re about the desire, they’re about going for it,” said Torrisi. At the beginning of 2009, she left New Orleans to head to Austin. She realized at a past SXSW that she liked Austin. “This is a town where things are really accessible, and people can do amazing things. It’s sunny, and it’s friendly,” said Torrisi. Jessie Torrisi and the Please, Please Me is a four piece band, and can easily be described as a “carnival band” with a very nontraditional style. On stage, the members are move to different instruments: cellos, guitar,
trumpet, and keyboards. “The experience about going to a live show should be an experience. We pull the audience on stage. We switch places. I hand out kazoos. I sing a song while sitting on a table in the middle of the club. We try really to make it more of an experience and something different than you could even imagine by listening to the album, a little bit like a carnival playhouse,” said Torrisi. Torrisi even beatboxes, a skill she learned through online videos. “I typed in to YouTube ‘How to beatbox,’ and then you start watching the videos. I am a drummer, so I do understand the beats,” said Torrisi. “It’s given me some street cred with my little brother.”
Arts → Games and Tech
Students relax with video games
Arts → Food
Food for thought:Riverside Jessica Blair
Staff Writer
Figuring out what to eat between classes is an important decision for any college student. Most campuses have some form of a Simon’s Cafe. However, stepping away from the campus provides other choices to fill those tummies. Accent will feature several restaurants around the different campuses. In this issue, we feature Riverside.
Adrienne Sparks•Staff Photographer
QUAKE BREAK — ACC student, Kris Adams, takes a break from studying computer engineering to relieve some stress by playing online first-person shooter, Quake.
Scale: $ = 15 dollars and under an entree $$ = 15 to 20 dollars an entree $$$ = 20 to 25 dollars an entree
Student lounges, libraries abound with gamers Jason Witmer
Alonzo Tacos 901 Montopolis
Staff Writer
Alonzo Tacos 907 Montopolis Drive
This particular restaurant is a true hole in the wall. If people are not looking for it, they will miss it, because there are a lot of other buildings near it. This place is well worth trying to find. They have many specials. One of them is the crispy taco plate. This dish comes with two tacos, rice, and refried beans. The owners offer students a free drink to those that present their school ID at the register. Honestly, the people that work here are very friendly, fast, and hospitable. They bring a new meaning to the word fast food, being that the wait time is less than 10 minutes. Their hours of operation are 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday. For students that use the ACC Green Pass, the location of this restaurant is on the 350 bus route. If students want a quick bite and don’t have a lot of money, this is a place to go. $
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Saul Hernandez•Staff Photographer
Tin Cup Grill 1020 Grove St.
The Tin Cup 1020 Grove St
This is a great place to eat. They are on the Riverside campus so it’s easy to find. This is a typical sports bar with a TV, beer signs everywhere, and a fun atmosphere. They have many specials, but one of them is the chicken basket. This dish comes with three chicken strips, lots of fries, two pieces of toast, and a cup of gravy. However, a drink is not included. The staff is very nice and efficient at what they do. Customers might have to wait for food when there is a big game going on, but it is well worth it. Their hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, but are not open on Sunday. If students crave a sports bar, then this is the place to go. $
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Saul Hernandez•Staff Photographer
Gaming is all around Austin Community College. Students range from the play-to-passthe-time gamers all the way to obsessive-lifestyle gamers. It’s no surprise to find students in the student lounge talking about that new game, or overhearing that they are going to go stand in line for hours for the hot new console. “I like to consider myself as a casual gamer. I like to pass the time with games because I like to exercise my fingers while I watch my screen,” said Kyle Czarnecki, an engineering major at ACC. ACC Office of Student Life offers consoles such as Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, and Sony Playstation 360 for students to check out and play during their downtime in between classes. “The original concept is that people will have a place. If they have a couple of hours between classes, they can come in here,” said Dot Dearinger, Round Rock Campus student life assistant. Other clubs and organizations such as Student Government Association (SGA) and Men of Distinction (MOD) host events that give students opportunities for gaming. Last semester, MOD held a video game tournament with the Madden NFL 2010. In February 2010, SGA held the social event Blackout, which provided students with Nintendo Wii’s, Xbox 360’s, Alienware PC’s furnished by Dell, PlayStation 2, and Nintendo 64. On any campus, students will be sure to find some students playing together on their laptops in the student lounge. Across the campus in the library, students are getting
in a game of Bejeweled or Farmville before their next class starts, and just outside on the bus stop, someone is playing Angry Birds on their iPhone. ACC students have more options than ever to be play games whenever and wherever they want. While there is no time limit on checking out video game systems from Student Life, they don’t allow students to skip classes. “If we find out that they were gaming and not going to class, then they wouldn’t be allowed to game anymore,” said Dearinger. “Most likely, we would not allowed them to play anymore or make them show me their class schedule of when they’re supposed to be in class.” While some people tend to play just in their downtime, others tend to make time just to get their game on. For Czarnecki, gaming is just another extension of his schedule. “I play video games pretty much every day, whether it’s at home or on the bus on my way to work,” said Czarnecki. The excitement of gaming derive from the experiences they have from playing a game they love for 10 hours in their room, playing against their friends in the arcades, or being hooked to the Nintendo DS. Gamers attach to these memories which keeps them coming back. “I remember this one time -it was when Gears of War made its debut, said Czarnecki. “We took our gear to a local LAN center, hooked it up, and played it right there. We drew quite the crowd since Gears of War [was] a newly released game. We did a two vs. two, and the last kill I got, I tagged a grenade on the butt of my friend. Needless to say, many laughs were had,” said Czarnecki.