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The Pittsburgh band talks to the Beacon about life as rockers
by Jen Henderson
staff writer
The Clarks have been around the
block enough to know what fans want.
They proved that last Friday night in Erie
Hall.
The Clarks have been together for
more than 15 years. Rob James (6 & 12
string guitars, vocals), Scott Blasey (vo
cals, guitars), Greg Joseph (bass, vo
cals), and David Minarik Jr. (drums, vo
cals) make up the band that originated
at Indiana University. The band is
mostly known in the Pittsburgh area, but
with growing success and rocking al
bums it's becoming a nationally recog
nized act.
James and Minarik met first, but, by
now, all members have grown together
like a family.
"We are all really good friends; we
have a nice mutual love and respect for
each other," said James. "It is a very
much a familial type of thing after we
have been together for so long.
"I was a music major studying the
French horn," said James. "But after I
met these guys I kind of let that go by
the wayside. I just focused on drinking
and playing my guitar."
The band said it doesn't really have
any idols, but it does find it has similar
aspirations to R.E.M. and U 2. These
comparisons are made often to the band,
along with that of Tom Petty.
"We got together in the era of U 2 and
R.E.M. Bands that were together for a
long time and everyone fit into the pic
ture," James said.
By now every hand member is mar-
Local haunted houses
are an Eerie good time
by Maria Barron
staff writer
Halloween is just around the corner.
Scared yet?
Believe it or not there are actually
ample opportunities to scare yourself
right here in Erie. No doubt there will
be something for every single one of you
sick weirdos to sink your bloody wax
teeth into. Here are a few options for
you to pick from.
For the extremely young at heart the
Erie Zoo is hosting "Zoo Boo" for chil
dren under the age 11. Maybe you have
to he a little more than "young at heart"
to trick-or-treat throughout the zoo, and
take a train ride with Little Dread Riding
Hood. Children 2 and under are free, so
for those of you who are overly imma
ture, you may still be able to attend as
long as you give the Zookeeper a copy
of your I.Q. scores.
On a scarier note, there are haunted
houses and other related events taking
place all over the city. Maybe because
this city is called Erie which by defini
tion (if you alter the spelling slightly)
means: A) inspiring inexplicable fear,
dread, or uneasiness; strange and fright
ening B) suggestive of the supernatural;
mysterious; see weird. Yes, that's right.
See weird. No wonder the only time there
is anything to do in this town is during a
holiday that was created to glorify the
frightening, and let's not forget weird,
atmosphere after which is fine city was
named.
The real question is why even set up
a haunted house when the entire city, in
essence, is one? Just something to think
about, but enough eerie trivia.
Where are all of these goose-bump
inducing activities going to take place?
Well, like I said, walk out your front
The Clarks' Scott Blasey is shown rocking Erie Hall last Friday.
ried; the exception is hot lead singer
Scott Blasey.
The music business is constant work
and touring and some do get homesick,
but to James it goes along with the job.
"At the risk of compromising myself
here with my wife, family and friends, I
don't get homesick. I really love what I
do and you hold the opportunity that has
Big scary houses here we come. No,
silly, I'm not talking about the TKE
house! "Halls of Fear," featuring many
creepy crawly attractions including a
torture chamber, is located in the Public
Improvement Area off Station Road,
across from Wesleyville Beer. It will be
open Oct. 25-30 from 7-10 p.m., and Fri
day and Saturday until I I p.m. Adult ad
mission is $5.
"The Haunted Gym" offers interac
tive, yet scary, fun for all ages every
weekend in October, Saturdays from 5-
9p.m., and Sundays 2-6p.m. with cost
at $5 per person, "The Haunted Gym"
is located in the Lake Effects Gymnas
tics School, 6813 W. Ridge Road.,
Fairview.
"The Haunted Garage," featuring
"The Witches of Macbeth" located at
11972 Thurston Road., Meadville (not
highly recommended if you were plan
ning on walking) will be open through
Oct. 31 from 6:30-8:30p.m. daily. How
ever, it is closed on Sundays and on Oct.
26.
Here's one for ya, "Finney's
Pumpkinville" featuring, "The Haunted
Forest of Bloody Butcher Hollow Corn
Maze." It is worth visiting just because
it has such a cool name. The proceeds
benefit the Ronald McDonald House
Charities. Pumpkinville will be open
Oct. 18-Nov. 2, from 7-llp.m. It's lo
cated on Rt. 99, between Edinboro and
Cambridge Springs (call 814-398-4590
for more info).
There are more haunted houses and
cemetery tours at www.goerie.com so
check it out. About 20 random Hallow
een events listed under Entertainment.
Have a safe, enjoyable, and freaking
crazy Halloween. Muhuwahaha!!
• ••••
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,4 4
•
Friday, October 25, 2002
come our way as exactly that - opportu
nity. I imagine if we had some level of
success and this was turning into a grind,
I would be homesick. As for right now
we are still on that side of our career
where we are still working towards
something, what exactly that is I don't
know," said James.
"Another Happy Ending" was the big-
Guns tr Roses have an appetite
for reunion
For the first time in almost a decade, Guns N . Roses will
tour the United States beginning, in November. on Nov.
22, they will perform at
Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena,
which will be followed by a
Nov. 24 show at Cleveland's
Gund Arena. These two dates
are part of a North American
tour that contains 25 dates.
The first Guns N' Roses tour
in nine years will contain many
new bands members, not to
mention new material from
GN'R front man Axl Rose.
The new material will be songs
from the long awaited release
of "Chinese Democracy,"
In an interview at the end of
August, Axl Rose was ques
tioned about when fans could
finally expect to see the new
album in their hands. "You'll
see the album, but I don't know
if 'soon' is the word," Rose
told MTV news.
Recently, it has been ru
mored the album should be re
leased just in time for the holi
day season. Dec. 3 and Dec.
10 are the two dates that are be
ing stated as the possible re
lease of the album. As of now,
however, nothing has been
made official.
Guns N' Roses, who were
out of the U.S. spotlight for
more than a decade, reemerged a television performance
Aug. 29 at MTV's video Music Awards. They performed
some of the hits that catapulted them to mainstream suc
cess. They began with "Welcome to the Jungle," followed
by "Paradise City." The performance ended with the per-
PHOTO BY JEFF HANKEY / BEHREND BEACON
by Zac Wassink
staff writer
Sweet hair o' mine. Axl Rose sports dreadlocks at
the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards.
gest selling record in the Pittsburgh area
and No. 143 on the Billboard album
chart the week it premiered.
"It is sort of a verification that all the
hard work, effort and time we put in has
really paid off for us," James said. This
is the Clarks ninth album, which James
considers his favorite.
Another favorite of many Clarks' fans
formance of their new ballad "Madagascar," which is from
the new album.
Fans attending the show will have more than just new mu
sic to learn. Many new faces will be with the group. In fact,
the only remaining member of the
original band is Axl Rose, him
self. Keyboardist Dizzy Reed has
been with the group since 1991,
when he was in the studio for the
"Use Your Illusions" albums.
The rest of the group is made up
of new additions. Added to the
group are keyboardist Chris Pit
man, guitarists Robin Finck, an
ex-Nine Inch Nails member,
Buckethead and Richard Fortus,
bassist Tommy Stinson (ex-Re
placements), and drummer Brian
"Brain" Mantia (ex-Primus).
Those expecting to see some
rust from the group for lack of
touring need not worry. Although
the band has not toured the
United States, they started a sum
mer tour over Asia and Europe.
The band appeared in Hong
Kong, Japan, Belgium, and En
gland.
exceeded our expectations."
Prices for tickets for the two local shows range from $27-
$52, but they are running thin for both shows. While the
shows have not sold out yet, it is believed that only a few
hundred seats are available for either performance.
Jackie Cavicchio and Kevin
Fallon, A & E Editors
The Behrend Beacon
is "Let it Go," which was released in
June 2000.
The group doesn't seem to get sick of
each other but there are limits to their
times together.
"When we're not working together we
really try and give each other a little bit
of space," James said.
However, time off seems to be scarce
these days. Most recently the Clarks
have been touring the college scene with
stops at places such as Slippery Rock
University, State College and later on
in November at Indiana University of
Pennsylvania.
James looks for the band to carry on
with their success.
"I think that we would all like to con
tinue doing it. I can see that after we
get done supporting this project, about
another year or so," said James. "We
might need to take some time, which
we hadn't done for ourselves in the past,
and start writing more materials and
take some time off."
One of the pluses with the current CD
is that 50 percent of sales are out of their
region. Things are definitely heading
in the right direction for the band to take
off.
Though Pittsburgh is their home, the
band enjoys traveling and performing.
"I think we really enjoy playing any
where," said James. "After having so
much success in one region we are re
ally excited about getting out and play
ing in places we don't have that much of
a following or any following and get
ting in front of crowds and turning
people on."
Sales for the tour have been
overwhelming so far. Tickets
went on sale for the Dec. 5 show
in New York on Sept. 30, and sold
out within 15 minutes. "We are
thrilled with the sales," stated
Arthur Fogel, president of Clear
Channel Entertainment's touring
division. "We knew this was go
ing to be a big tour but this even