Arts OUT ON THE TOWN Ashley’s Picks
MUSIC Thursday, September 30
The University News Talk to us: Ashley Jones 314.977.2812 arts.unews@gmail.com
Thursday, September 30, 2010
unewsonline.com
Concert attendance falls short SAB pleased with turnout regardless of numbers By ASHLEY JONES
Vampire Weekend to headline at Chaifetz By SHELBY ROZIER
Arts Editor
Staff Writer
7:30 p.m. Lady Antebellum The Fox Theatre For ticket prices visit fabulousfox.com Saturday, October 2 9 p.m. Field Music Union Tree Review & Old Lights The Billiken Club Admission is free Saturday, October 2 9 p.m. Vampire Weekend with Beach House and the Very Best Chaifetz Arena Tickets prices range from $25-33 Monday, October 4 9 p.m. Light Pollution with Prince Rama The Billiken Club Admission is Free Wednesday, October 6 8:30 p.m. Joshua Redman Trio Jazz at the Bistro Student tickets are $15 Thursday, October 7 9:30 p.m. Oh My God! Firebird STL Tickets are $10
After what proved to be a complicated process for Student Activities Board, the Homecoming concert took place as scheduled on Sept. 24 with ‘90s band Tonic as the headlining act. The band was joined by openers Building Rome and Javier Mendoza. “They were great guys, and they put on an engaging and exciting show. We have had excellent feedback from those that were in attendance. As I watched the show, I noticed the audience was very pleased with the music and danced along with it. I think everyone who was there truly enjoyed the performance. And those that were not in attendance missed a really great show,” SAB president Stephanie Hart said. SAB solidified Tonic as their headlining act 10 days before the concert. This was the resolution to what was a challenging process for SAB, with the original act backing out of their contract in July. According to Tim Janczewski, financial vice president for Student Government Association, SAB was allocated $84,000 from the Student Activity Fee for the entire Homecoming Week, $58,000 of which was for the performing artists. Hart said that an estimated 820 people attended the show. However, she explained that the attendance for this concert was lower than in years past. “The situation was very different this year, and considering all the circumstances, we were quite pleased with the audience,” she said. Coordinator of Student Activities Janelle Densberger said that, given the challenge SAB had this year, the crowd was as they expected it would be. “However, I must admit, I thought more students would be eager to enjoy the beautiful weather and concert environment. I could think of no better way to spend a Friday
Kati Cundari / Photographer
Shah (Yuqing Xia) / Photographer
Noah Berman / Photo Editor
Tonic (top and bottom-left) was the headlining act at this year’s Homecoming concert. Javier Mendoza and St. Louis band Building Rome (bottom-right) were the opening acts. Due to the late announcement of the acts, attendence was lower than that of previous years. night,” Densberger said. Among those in attendance were members of Students for Life. The group had a booth at the concert at which they sold funnel cake. They were charged a $50 fee to have the booth, but were able to make profit regardless. Sophomore Patrick Grillot was one of the members at the concert. He explained that this was the first homecoming concert
that he had attended and that he had nothing to compare the attendance to. However, he said that he heard from others that the attendance seemed poor for a number of reasons, such as the late announcement of the band. “I had people come up to me and say, ‘I just came because of the funnel cakes’,” Grillot said. However, he said that this was great exposure for Students for Life. Despite booking the artist
only 10 days before the concert, Hart said that she felt that SAB marketed the concert as effectively as it could. “Some promotional tactics were not options for us because of this time constraint, but I think that we used our time effectively,” Hart said. According to Densberger, the members of SAB utilized See “Homecoming” on Page 8
Did you attend this year’s Homecoming concert? THEATER Friday, October 1 and Saturday October 2 8p.m. Almost, Maine Xavier Hall Theatre Tickets are $7
“I saw the opening act. I thought it was pretty good, but there weren’t many people there.”
“No, because I have never heard of Tonic, and I’m not interested in that kind of music.”
Tim Truong Junior, College of Arts and Sciences
Michael Hughes Sophomore, College of Arts and Sciences
“No. I went home this weekend because I live off-campus.” Uma Ravipati Junior, School of Nursing
Vampire Weekend, along with Beach House and The Very Best will be at Chaifetz Arena on Oct. 3. Vampire Weekend is a fairly young Indie-rock band. The members Ezra Koenig, Chris Tomson, Rostam Batmanglij and Chris Baio formed the band in 2006 and signed with XL Recordings shortly after. For some people, it is hard to comprehend how a band could blow up in only four years; other people, such as ‘self-proclaimed Vampire Weekend super-fan’ Tynan Shevlin, is not surprised at all. “My brother, Colin Shevlin, first played ‘Blake’s Got a New Face’ for me. Right there and then, I was like “this is something special,” Shevlin said. Genevieve Knab is Another Vampire Weekend fan. “I heard about them from one of my friends, but my dad is who really got me interested in Vampire Weekend. We have really similar taste in music. It’s awesome!” she said. Vampire Weekend currently has two albums out: a self-titled album, Vampire Weekend (released in 2008) and Contra (released in 2010). Both albums gained popularity in America and the United Kingdom. Songs from both albums, such as “A-Punk”, “Cape Cod”, “Kwassa Kwassa” and “Oxford Comma” have all received high ratings including Rolling Stone’s Best Song of the Year, and Billboard Modern Rock and Billboard 200. “I’m really partial to “APunk”. I love the fast-paced, catchy nature of the song. Plus the slick guitar rift,” freshman Alex Bolano said. During this year’s Hollywood Bowl, lead vocalist Ezra Koenig announced that Vampire Weekend is back in the studio recording a new album, which is set to be released in 2011. “I like Vampire Weekend so much because they have really happy music. They are also so unique; there aren’t many bands out there like them. Also, their sound and lyrics are really interesting. They are so fun to sing along to,” Knab said. Beach House and The Very Best will be the openers for the concert. “Beach House and The Very Best are both really great bands. I haven’t heard too much from either of them, but I do like their music. I’m really excited for the line-up,” Shevlin said. Tickets can be bought at thechaifetzarena.com, and outside of the Griesedieck Complex on Sept. 30.
Social Network serves as cultural critique MOVIES Friday, October 1 The Social Networker The movie opens in theatres
OTHER Friday, October 1 8 p.m. No Reservations: An Eveing with Anthony Bourdain The Fox Theatre For ticket prices visit thefaboulousfox.com 7 p.m. Garba Raas Bhangra Night BSC Wool Ballrooms Admission is free
“I wanna have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul…”An eerie cover of RadioCommentary head’s “Creep” (by Scala and Kolacny Brothers) plays over the trailer for The Social T.J. Keeley Network, which is directed by David Fincher [The Curious Case of Benjamin Button]. The lyrics crooned by the choir sum up the motives of the character Mark Zuckerberg, who was created by writer Aaron Sorkin [Charlie Wilson’s War]. Fincher and Sorkin insist they made no effort to base their anti-hero off America’s youngest billionaire. Fincher even forbade Jesse Eisenberg [Zombieland], who plays Zuckerberg in The Social Network, from meeting the real inventor of Facebook. The resulting alienated hero stands as an icon for the “poke me” generation and tragic hero in the creation story of Facebook. The Social Network tells a uniquely American tale. Rather than using Facebook as a
5/5
The Good: Eisenberg and Garfield, sorkin’s script and the social commentary/timeless story
The Bad: Honestly can’t think of much
The Verdict: The best film of the year thusfar, and the movie of the moment
means for a slasher to stalk unsuspecting, idiotic teens in a cheap thriller, or as a backdrop for the next ensemble romantic comedy as some feared when they heard “the Facebook movie,” the SorkinFincher team crafted a tale about the founding of online social club. Their parable captures the American desperation to be connected to others in a modern, tech-savvy world. In the film, Zuckerberg creates Facebook in an angered, drunken-state after being dumped by his girlfriend (in a scene Fincher claimed took
99 takes). His entire pursuit is to be included in Harvard’s “exclusive” social clubs. “They lead to a better life,” he insists. It is precisely Zuckerberg’s wanting to be wanted and needing to needed that transforms him from an antihero to a tragic hero in the film’s two hours. I have 636 friends on Facebook. Some are siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles. Others are ex-teammates or fellow students. Some are former teachers. Some are even friends. Most of these “friends” I do not reach out to and never hear from. The irony of this, which Sorkin and Fincher tap directly into, is that a tool for bringing people together creates an illusion of connectedness and actually pushed its creators apart. After all, how connected are we really when our contacts become further and further removed from face-toface conversation and are replaced by instant messaging? Sorkin’s voice fits right into its Harvard-in-2003 setting. Though I counted zero walk-and-talks, his characters Photo courtesty of Sony Pictures
See “Social Network” on Page 9
Jesse Eisenberg (above) plays Mark Zuckerberg in David Fincher’s The Social Networker. His character creates Facebook out of desperation to be connected to others.