Friday, September 26, 2008
Dr. Bishop brings Young
By Mike O. Wehrer
staff writer
mnvso94@psu.edu
“A chorus reaches deep into
community life, crosses all sorts
of social and economic lines, and
makes a contribution not only to
a city's aesthetics, but also its
humanity," says Robert Shaw. If
that is true, than imagine how big
a contribution Penn State's own
Dr. Jason Bishop is making by
bringing three counties together
into one chorus.
“In Erie we have a city orches
tra, and a city marching band, but
no public outlet for talented
vocalists” says Bishop. “Right
now, the only place they have to
preform is in churches or with
their schools.”
In only his second year at Penn
Harmonix takes charge with Rock Band II
Everyone going in to play
Rock Band II has already played
at least a little bit of the first one
and enjoyed it at most some
what. Players of the sequel
won't be disappointed to find
that it’s basically an expansion
pack with more songs and a few
new additions. For instance, you
can now hammer-on and pull-off
chords (two fret buttons at
once).
As fun as it is, there aren't any
major changes to the instru
ments, and the gameplay is the
same. The standalone disc price
tag shouldn’t stand at $6O where
it does now. Rock Band II is cer
tainly quality though, as one
would expect. It definitely gets
a recommendation from, tue for
gaitiers and non-gamers alike.
Rock Band II takes a step baek
in the cartooney unreality direc
tion towards Guitar Hero 3 with
the new addition of your staff
that you can hire. Each charac
ter has a cute little description of
what he or she does for the band
and an engine-rendered picture
of a character model that looks
like a caricature.
Buckcherry’s Black Butterfly is
After the 2006 release of 15
by the band Buckcherry. 1 was
wondering what their new
album would bring. What it
brought was the typical “more of
the same.” With this new release
they blend with the likes of
Nickelback and Hinder - in lyri
cal ability - and a guitar-grind
ing version of Aerosmith. Their
lyrics are mostly chemical
induced love ballads that really
contain not one single precedent
in the world of modern rock.
They contribute to the blurred
boundary between the drug
crazed new bands and original
ballads by the likes of Aerosmith
and Bon Jovi.
Buckcherry never really had
that much ability to begin with,
but I saw something in them
with their release of the album,
15 - specifically “Crazy Bitch.”
They were setting a pathway to
an angry mainstream ballad
band, which the band, Stroke 9,
had earlier done for alternative
rock - with Little Black
Backpack. It’s not really making
the rock world progressive, but
it showed a movement to a style.
However, with this release of
Black Butterfly , I’m left wonder
ing what the intentions are in the
heads of members in
Buckcherry. They’ve left that
angry style - a necessity for
them to have widespread suc
cess, in my opinion - and have
State, he intends to fix this prob-
lem in a big way.
The Young People's Chorus is a
tri-county effort founded by
Bishop to bring together people
from grade school through high
school and help them to make
their voices heard.
We wanted to make sure
everyone, regardless of income,
could participate."
According to the the website of
The Young People's Chorus of
New York, they share the same
mission statement as YPC of
Erie. "To provide children of
diverse abilities and backgrounds
a comprehensive knowledge of
music as a way to further their
personal and artistic growth and
foster cross-cultural understand
Founded in 1988 by Fransisco
Nunez. The YPC of New York
By Jeff Kramer
staff writer
jskSlhl (" psu.edu
The feature is completely
optional: the characters do
things like get you bigger shows
or a little extra money—nothing
game changing or too major. As
I said, it's basically the same
game. Hammer-ons are still
harder than in Guitar Hem. you
can still make decked-out char
acters. and the filler songs are
still pretty fun to play. In the
beginning, in particular, there's a
lot of filler -sones from bands
you've never heard of that are
easv. Around the 35-409; mark.
the sones fans will know come
Some songs are just so fun:
you don't care who hears you
down the hall singing. I was
overjoyed vfrhen I selected the
"random sejlist"' ai«L "Psycho
Killer" by Talking Heads
popped up in the upper left cor
ner. In music game tradition,
there are plenty of songs that
you'd be ashamed to say you
like, but they're just so fun.
"Girl's Not Grey " by AFI on the
expert difficulty is just plain joy.
In the real world. I wouldn't
exactly go down the street shout-
mediocre at best
Bv Nathan Carter
contribuiinf> writer
mv.s()6 l K« psu.alu
merged with the likes of Hinder.
Nickelback. and Puddle of
Mudd.
The breakdown is simple. If
you're a Buckcherry fan. you’ll
probably like this album, but if
you're not - yet you're still
looking for an album to listen to
harness Buckcherry at their best
- then listen to 15. This album
probably won't do it for you.
As far as the track breakdown
goes, “Rescue Me" was proba
bly the best song on the album.
A couple other songs that hold
some shaky ground are:
serves all five boroughs in the
same way Bishop hopes to serve
the three northwestern counties
of Pennsylvania: Erie. Warren
and Crawford.
This has not been an easy proj
ect so far. with the primary diffi
culties being transportation and
simply getting the word out.
Bishop said that it will be diffi
cult for some students to attend
rehearsals when they have to
drive from as far away as warren.
"Some parents would find it very
hard to drive tw'o hours to a
weekly, minimum, rehearsal.” he
said.
The other major problem has
been communicating with such a
large group of potential singers.
Bishop's solution has been mail
ing every music teacher and choir
director he could find in the tri
county area.
ing "I enjoy listening to AFl's
first goth album.” but in Rock
Band, I couldn't care less.
The Rock Band II soundtrack
is all around fantastic, even
without all the Rock Band songs
(Harmonix. Rock Band ll' s
developer, allows players to
transfer all the songs from the
original Rock Band for $5).
though the transfer function
works perfectly. With songs by
the Mighty Mighty Bosstones.
Grateful Dead, Modest Mouse.
Red Hot Chili Peppers, and
Rush's first non-cover appear
ance in a music game, how could
it go wrong?
There's no doubt that Rack
Band II is a fantastic game.
Asking S6Q for the disc alone is
3. prettyrbefty fee: the price for
the Special Edition (containing
disc, guitar, drums and micro
phone) hasn't been released, but
it’s expected to be somewhere
around $l7O (the original
game's special edition price).
Despite the price lag being
slightly larger than the value of
the game itself. Rock Band II is a
great sequel to the first.
"Dreams." "Too Drunk." and
"Rose." As for all the other
songs. I would recommend noth-
ing more; otherwise, stay com
pletely away from them. They're
tacky, over-done songs - with
some even being poor attempts
at the styles of other bands. For
example, the sixth track on the
album "A Child Called It"
sounds oddly like The Misfits.
All in all. Buckcherry isn’t
that bad of a band. 1 just think
that this album is their worst.
\r i
,o
People’s Chorus to Erie
Any major project is going to
have to he funded somehow, and
Bishop says that the YPC has a
"solid fundraising foundation"
that is likely to expand as more
people become aware of the pro
gram.
Bishop, at present, is hoping
House Bunny bares it all
To Shelley Darlingson. played
by Anna Faris. living in the
Playboy Mansion is a fairytale
come true. However, things take
a turn for the worse, when
Shelley s told that Hugh Hefner
doesn't want her in the mansion
anymore
Someone even tells her that
"27 is. like. 59 in Bunny years."
and she is devastated. With
nowhere to go. a suitcase full of
skimpy playboy outfits and the
rusty, beaten-up station wagon
she arrived in. Shelley winders
the streets. Eventually she stum
bles upon a bunch of mansions
that she thinks look just like her
last home, the Playboy Mansion.
Little does she know they're fra
Janet Neff Sample Center
for Manners & Civility
a free society where standards
“In
of civility and manners are volun-
tary,
for about 100 children to join the
chorus from across Northwestern
Pennsylvania.
Bishop reeieved his doctorate
from Oklahoma University and
his Masters from Boston
University, both in the field of
By Bonnie Heyman
staff writer
brhso7(Xs’psu.edu
ternity and sorority houses.
In fact. Shelley doesn’t know
much of anything (like most of
Anna Faris's characters in the
majority of her movies) except
how to sell sex appeal. Lucky
for her. a sorority on campus
needs help in that exact depart
ment. The Zeta house is full of
the girls we all know and go out
of our wav to stay away from.
The sorority is very close is to
being shut down forever due to
their lack of new pledges.
The Zeta girls need a new
housemother, some fresh new'
style, and a lot of attention from
the opposite sex. Shelley, on the
other hand, needs a place to
crash and something to do with
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
few are signing up.”
Kathleen Parker
The Behrend Beacon I
Young People’s
Chorus of Erie
Bishop, in addition to being
founder and director of The
Young People's Chorus of Erie,
the Director of Choral Activities
here at Behrend. as well as being
interim conductor of the Erie
Philharmonic Chorus.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
herself now that she is no longer
living her “happily ever after”
dream. Together, the girls of the
Zeta house and ex-Playboy
Bunny are matches made in
chick flick heaven.
Living in the Sorority house
already are six complete differ
ent girls. Natalie played by
Emma Stone, who is a book
smart girl, uncomfortable in her
own skin. Mona is played by
rising star Kat Dennings: she is
the dark, punked-out feminist.
Harmony, portrayed by the
American Idol runner up.
Katherine McPhee. is the preg
nant hippie. Demi Moore's
daughter. Rumer Willis, plays
Joanne, the quiet girl inconve
niently strapped to a full-body
brace. Carrie Mae (Dana
Goodman) is the butch tomboy
with a deeper voice than anyone
wants to hear and Lily is played
by Kiely Williams, who texts
everyone her thoughts from the
closet she's always hiding in.
Playboy founder, Hugh
Hefner and “his girls" Holly.
Bridget, and Kendra make an
appearance. Colin Hanks also
steps in briefly as Shelley's intel
lectual love interest, but spends
most of his time watching her
play the lovable fool instead of
really taking over on screen with
her. This movie is defiantly rec
ommended for girls even though
some guys may enjoy watching
Anna Faris prance around in her
barely-there Playboy outfits. It’s
a fun movie for a girls night out
or just a movie you won't have
to think about. Anna Faris
makes the audience laugh and,
of course, all of the girls learn
lessons about life throughout the
movie.
If Revenge of the Nerds and
Legally Blonde got together and
had a baby movie. House Bunny
would be it.