8 I The Behrend Beacon Friday, April 10, 2009
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
/""\
A LOOK AT THE WORLD OF An.r.ic, FROM THE
OBSCURE TO THE OBSCENE, THE NEW AND THE OLD
The Sweet Brag Tour
definitely worth bragging
A FIRST-HAND CONCERT EXPERIENCE
Pushing and shoving, sweating and panting, singing and
screaming along with hundreds of fellow concert-goers, I see
the screen covering the stage rise, and Jonny Craig, along with
his fellow band mates of Emarosa, takes the stage and dive into
their first song, "Pretend. Release. The Close." Among the crowd
I can see only a few chanting the words along with Craig, as
many others push and shove, moving with the heat. The energy
stays high as Emarosa moves into their next few songs, includ
ing an old Emarosa classic "Casablanca." Craig takes lead
screaming duties, filling the shoes of former Emarosa vocalist
Chris Roetter quite well, spitting and jumping around with in
tense passion. After finishing the set with "Set It Off Like Na
palm," Emarosa leaves the stage as the screen comes back
down, showing the repeating slide show of future shows at The
House of Blues in Cleveland.
The crowd usually settles down by this point in the show.
Some people move out from in front of the stage, some go get
water or take a breather, etc. However, the pushing and shoving
didn't stop between sets. People were losing shoes and concert
newbies were throwing fits as even more people tried to cram
into the crowd. The lights go out as Sky Eats Airplane takes the
stage, accompanied by bass hits that rattle hones and shake your
insides. Jerry Roush livens the crowd up even more, two-step
ping and power-stomping to "Patterns" and "The Opposite
Viewed in Real Time."
His screams are searing as the Nintendocore heats in the
background complement the metalcore side of the group. The
crowd is as active as ever as Roush belts out "Photographs are
a mirror image, look deep and see yourself in them" during "Gi
ants in The Ocean." Exiting the stage along with more thunder
ing bass, the screen comes down signaling a rest period between
bands. But not this crowd, it was restless as it awaited the next
band, A Day to Remember, to take the stage.
I was reminded of the last time A Day to Remember and The
Devil Wears Prada played a tour together, along with Silverstein
last year. There was more action in the crowd when there was
no one on stage than during bands at other concerts I've been a
part of. Catching your breath while a band sets up was impossi
ble here. Fueled by others in the crowd and the two hands to
come, we waited in anticipation.
As the lights turned off and the stage was darkened, orchestra
music came flowing out of the speakers, as if we were at a gi
gantic movie premier. Vocalist Jeremy McKinnon came out on
stage along with the rest of the band, welcoming the fans there
in Cleveland. The lights came on as the band chanted the intro
of "Downfall Of Us All," along with the rest of the crowd, who
drowned out the vocals on stage. Immediately people were
thrashing and jumping along with Jeremy, as the pits filled with
kids throwing arms and legs with disregard to those around
them. Trying to stay in the same vicinity during the concert was
almost impossible. as one push from the hack would start a wave
until it hit the front of the crowd.
Segwaying nicely into "Fast Forward to 2012," the band played
some older material, until the crowd got what it was waiting for
in "Mr. Highway's Thinking About The End." The crowd knew
what was coming, as did I. The most brutal breakdown on their
most recent album, Homesick. As soon as Jeremy spoke the
words, "DISRESPECT YOUR SURROUNDINGS," people did
just that. The whole crowd became a pit: you couldn't escape it
from any area. A friend of mine came out bloody from an elbow
to the eyebrow, another almost passed out from exhaustion, and
I felt the same way as I moved after that song to a resting place
to enjoy the rest of the set.
A satisfied crowd applauded them off of the stage, and many
people filed out of the venue, not waiting around for the head
liner, The Devil Wears Prada. Those who staved however got to
see Mike Hranica at his finest, heating his chest and growling
to "Even Dogs Can Grow Beards All Over," "HTML Rulez
DOOD" and "Reptar, King of the Ozone." A cover of "Still Fly"
by Big Tymers got the crowd dancing, even though the vocals
came erupting in screams from the throat of Hranica. 'the band
left the stage after the set, only to he coaxed back out for an en
core by the crowd, where they finished with "Hey .John, What's
Your Name Again?," and exited for real this time.
Overall, it was one of the most intense shows lye seen, and
definitely recommend seeing any of those groups live if you
want to see pure power and intensity from a hand, as none of
them let up for one minute during the entire concert.
EDITOR'S NOTE
Last week under "The
Playlist" the image of
Silverstein's newest
album was not shown.
Shown was the cover
for Arrivals and De
partures and not A
Shipwreck in the
Sand. Pictured is the
correct album art.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
"Time crumbles things; every
thing grows old under the power of
Time and is forgotten through the
lapse of Time."
—Aristotle
-Th _
about
By Nick Kniseley
contributing writer
ntksoo6 pstLedu
Cabaret
li==l
April 16
newcomers and
professors alike
On April 16, the first musical
to be shown in the Studio The
atre since Spring 2007 will
The production will be Pro
fessor Chrystyna Dail's second
production at Behrend. Dail,
who is only in her second se
mester, stated last fall that she
was a "newbie" when it came
to directing student plays at
Penn State Erie. However, Dail
is no newcomer to the Penn
State system. In 1998, she re
ceived her B.A. in Theatre Arts
from Penn State University
moving on to receiving her
M.A. in Theatre History and
Criticism from the University
of Maryland.
Due to her busy schedule
during Cabaret's "tech week,"
Dail was unavailable for ques
tioning.
Cabaret tells the controver
sial story of a 1930 s Europe
during the eve of the Nazi
party's rise to power. The plot
focuses around a 19-year-old
English cabaret performer and
her relationship with American
writer Cliff Bradshaw. It will
he one of the biggest produc
tions at Penn State Behrend
with 20 people involved in its
overall production, including
Behrend's own Dr. John Cham
pagne.
Donning his own heels,
Champagne will be featured as
International film festival debuts The
An unfamiliar sound drifted
through the halls of the Reed
Union Building Monday.
Rather than rock, jazz, or the
bustle of students between
classes, the air was full of
French singer Marie-Louise
Damien 's mysterious voice. In
Reed 117, a large crowd of stu
dents gathered to view another
installment of the International
Film Festival at Behrend:
Claude Chabrol's The Flower
of Evil.
The French film, released in
2003, featured a plot which in
tertwined humanity and the
beauty within it with the ugli
ness of murder, corruption, and
sexual deviance. To an audi
ence of college students, a for
eign film might seem a little
out-of-context. For those who
came, though, they were
treated to a pleasant surprise in
the movie.
"1 really liked it," says
Behrend sophomore Meghan
Sherman. "I kind of expected it
to he a little more risque, be
cause foreign movies tend to
he. I really like foreign movies,
so I did enjoy it."
Sherman, like most of the
audience, found some aspects
of the film surprising, includ
ing an inter-family relationship
that was the center of the plot.
This, though, was by design;
the movie toyed with the as
pects of inappropriate relations
throughout the entire film.
The event was sponsored by
the Mary Behrend Cultural
Fund, and is part of a series
that has already begun at
Behrend, with the showing of
last week's The Black Book.
Throughout the movie, the
English-speaking portion of
the audience hung on to every
subtitle as the plot followed
Anne Charpin-Vasseur
(Nathalie Baye) as she ran for
public office. Her family,
By Evan Koser
arts editor
emksllo , / psu.edu
By Connor Sattely
managing editor
ci55060 , “ psu.edu
to debut
featuring'
The Master of Ceremonies.
"This is a role I've wanted to
play since I did the show when
I was 18," comments Cham
pagne, "only last time, I was
the musical director." The pro
fessor-turned-actor is no acci
dent nor was the change
caused by a shortage of stu
dent actors. At Behrend, along
with many other colleges, audi
tions are open to everyone: stu
dents and faculty alike. "Dail
had asked me about audition
ing," says Champagne, "hut
this was my choice."
"Under John's artistry, the
Emcee is not the flamboyant
Nazi supporter anyone who
has seen Grey's performance
will expect," Dail says on
Behrend's website. "Instead, he
speaks as the voice of those
Germans who actively strug
gled to subvert Hitler's politics,
or at least tried to fly under the
radar of the Third Reich."
Junior political science
major Alanna Stecura plays
Fraulein Schneider. Stecura, a
self-proclaimed "theatre vet
eran," has been involved with
Lysistrata and The Dispute,
which debuted last fall.
Though she is involved with
the community theatre pro
gram in Erie, this will be Ste
cura's first musical since the
last one at Behrend. The World
Goes Round was shown in the
Flower of Evil
though, was wrought with infi
delity, scandal, and sexual im
propriety. The film used humor
perfectly and tastefully. In one
scene, two female characters
were faced with the task of
dragging a heavy body up a
flight of stairs. Barely able to
do s th( coll led into
The Flower of Evil came out in 2003 under the original title La Fleur du mal
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iii. 41
spring semester of 2007. "I
heard Professor Dail was going
to be doing Cabaret." states
Stecura. "All I know about
[Cabaret] was Liza Minnelli,"
she says with a laugh, "and
that there are some good
songs."
Stecura, who played a male
part in Lysistrata and was part
of the production crew for The
Dispute says she's happy with
her role this semester. "I didn't
know it was a big part," she
says. "It's a hard character to
play because I'm so like this
character. Our personalities
are so alike, so it's difficult. It's
so much easier to pretend to be
someone I'm not."
For some, Cabaret is the first
theatre experience at a brand
new college. Michael Bilz, a
sophomore transfer student
and Arts Management major,
will be featured as Ernst Lud
wig. "Cabaret isn't my first
musical, but it's my first [musi
cal] and production in college,"
he says. "It's an interesting ex
perience to come into - espe
cially to me. "I assumed [the
show] would be a lot of flash
and glamour, but there's a lot
of politics behind it," he said,
referencing the often over
looked dark tone of the story.
"I think those who come to see
it will definitely he given a new
perspective of the political at-
laughter. The audience hardly
found it inappropriate to laugh,
either, at such a morbidly
funny scene.
Throughout the film, though,
the students assembled
seemed to enjoy the movie as
much as they would have en
other movie. Some
mosphere in Europe before the
outbreak of World War II."
Olivia Spears, a sophomore
theatre major, will also be per
forming for the first time at
Behrend. Spears says that the
difference in change from her
old theatre to the Studio The
atre "was real weird."
"I'm not used to such a small
space," Spears says. "It's so
cozy." For years actors have ei
ther complained about or ad
vocated the use of the space in
the Studio Theatre.
"Dail has a much more pro
fessional approach than I'm
used to," says Spears. "It's very
different, but in a good way.
When it comes to the world of
professional theatre, you have
to love it, because it's probably
one of the most judgemental
fields to get into."
Stecura also commented on
Dail's direction. "[She] has
perfected her vision into our
intimate theatre; I suggest not
seeing the movie first as the
two are absolutely different."
The show will begin at 8 p.m.
on April 16, and the following
weekend. An additional mati
nee showing on the 18 will
show at 2 p.m. General admis
sion seats are $lO ($7 for stu
dents) and are on sale now at
the RUB desk. Tickets may he
reserved over the phone by
calling 814-898-6242.
students stayed after the movie
ended to discuss the surprise
ending to the film.
Monday, March 13, the last
movie in the International Film
Festival will finish with a show
ing of The House of Sand in
Reed 117.