Page JO - The Behrend College Collegian - Thursday, April 30, 1998
The Bicentennial Tower
provides beautiful view of Erie
by Kevin Otteni
staff writer
The Bicentennial Tower was built
on the newly constructed Dobbins
Landing for Erie’s 200th Birthday
Celebration in 1996. Construction
began in September of 1995 on the
first of the tower’s phases. It has six
teen main stations to view Erie’s har
bor history and geography. The sur
rounding area can be viewed from the
observation deck, which is 138 feet
from the ground or 210 steps up. This
gives quite a view and is not recom
mended to anyone who is afraid of
heights.
The observation stations at the top
of the tower have four stations for
each main direction. They are laid in
place according to apparent compass
direction because the city was laid out
parallel to the lakeshore, which is
about 40 degrees away from true east
west. Quite simply the side of the
Summer listening suggestions
by John Amorose
staff writer
If this is indeed the last opportunity
for me to blab my big mouth to the
citizens of fair Behrend, I’m going to
give you all an extended summer as
signment (don’t laugh, there will be a
quiz in September).
. First of all, start listening to new
music; especially those of you
who think music died with ““
Lennon. Don’t snuff acts just
because they come from a par
ticular genre. In fact, don’t
Subscribe to types of music,
fust listen to it. If you don’t,
you’re really going to miss out on ex
periences, emotions, and feelings that
white rock bands can’t give. Because
as George Clinton said: Free your
hind, and your ass will follow.
Second, STOP making fun of eight
ies music. You all listened to it. Don’t
try to hide it. Poison sold over ten
million albums, so somebody's got to
have at least one. Just play it. Put
Warrant “Cherry Pie” in your CD
player over the summer and let it rock.
Drive around with your windows
dfown and jam Prince’s “Little Red
Responsible student
by Melissa Roberts
staff writer
As we all know, the school year is
finally ending and we are ready to
spend our last weekend here at school.
It is both exciting and sad. Many of
us are ready to go home, but saying
good-bye to friends is going to be hard
for everyone. “Summer ... leads to
more social activities,” says Patty
McMahon, Coordinator of Health and
Wellness Services, and many of these
activities include drinking.
McMahon says, “People need to
Patty Pasky McMahon, Coordinator of the Health and Wellness Center.
tower that faces north actually faces
northwest,
The most interesting view from
each direction are as follows: Station
#4, Perry Monument; Station #B, East
Slip; Station #lO, State Street; Station
# 16, The Head.
All the stations have something inter
esting about them but these four are
the ones that I felt stuck out the most
and had the most history about them.
The north station shows a view of
not only Perry Monument but also of
Crystal Point, Misery Bay, and the
Long Point Lighthouse. The monu
ment commemorates the Perry and
Dobbins victory in the 1813 Battle of
Lake Erie, and the bay is referred to
as Misery Bay because of the hard
ship that Perry’s crew suffered there
in the winter following the battle.
The East Slip was the home of
Erie’s historical fishing industry. The
fishing industry developed quickly
Corvette.” People may look at you
funny, but then they’ll go home and
fish out Run D.M.C’s “Raising Hell”
or Beastie Boys’ “Licensed to 111.”
Next thing you know, everybody will
be pegging their jeans and wearing
cardigan sweaters and turtlenecks
again. Isn’t that a pretty picture?
Finally, since most people have a
Don’t snuff acts just because they come from a particular genre
In fact, don’t subscribe to types of music, just listen to it.
few extra bucks lying around over the
summer, here are some keen ways to
beef up the CD collection (if you buy
all of these, you will have indeed
come full circle, musically speaking).
I) Marvin Gaye’s “Great Songs
and Performances...” is true and clas
sic Motown. This album’s got it all.
Starting off with “What’s Going On”
and concluding with “Got to Give it
Up,” the album spans Gaye’s career.
He preaches on tracks like “Mercy
Mercy Me” and “I Heard it Through
the Grapevine,” and provides the ul-
realize the law and be responsible for
their actions,” and although
McMahon is not promoting drinking,
she realizes that drinking does occur
and she “encourages responsibility.”
Since 25% of young adults know
someone with a drinking problem
everyone must realize that with sum
mer coming and drinking becoming
more prominent, we must be more
careful and look out for friends at so
cial events.
Being in college, students all know
that drinking takes place, but that
The only way to help yourself have
an enjoyable summer is to play it safe.
Know your limits and look out for
Alt
after the introduction of gill netting
in 1854, and by 1920 Erie was pro
claimed the freshwater fishing capi
tal of the world. This area also housed
other businesses such as shipbuilders,
boatyards, and fish processing build
ings. Nowadays this area houses the
Library and Maritime Museum, the
leftover structures and generating por
tions of Erie’s Electric Company, and
the steeples of many churches includ
ing St. Stanislaus, St. Patrick’s, and
Orthodox Church of the Nativity.
State Street was not always Erie’s
original main street; it became Main
Street when the Erie extension canal
replaced the Indian Portage trail as the
main commercial route in the early
1800’s. State Street was then ex
tended from Front Street to the end
of Dobbins Landing and the East and
West slips along with it. This street
was also home to many passenger lin
ers, ferries, and excursion ships.
timate musical aphrodisiac with
“Let’s Get it On.”
2) Faith No More’s “Angel Dust”
is one of the most eclectic and pro
gressive albums that most people have
probably never heard. The two mea
ger hits, “Midlife Crisis” and “A
Small Victory” only scratch the sur
face of the true genius displayed by
Faith No More. There are Vegas
lounge songs like “RV” and accordion
led cuts like “JizzLobber,” along with
some all out rockers.
3) 3rd Bass’ “Derelict of Dialect.”
I’m sure a lot of you have this already,
but rarely listen to it, or get past “Pop
Goes the Weasel” or “Portrait of an
Artist as a Hood.” But if you get into
the latter half, there is some amazing
hip hop, driven by DJ Daddy Rich,
who’s an absolute maniac on the turn
tables, matched with old school, but
still rough rhymes by Pete Nice and
drinking
doesn’t mean people don’t get hurt
because of drinking. Here are some
facts about drinking:
♦Alcohol is a major factor in 45.1 %
of all fatal traffic crashes.
♦One person dies in an alcohol re
lated crash every 30 minutes.
♦Driving impairment begins with
the first drink.
*34.2% of fatally injured drivers
under 21 have had known blood con
centrations of .01 or above.
to by Jason
Features
The area at the entrance to Presque
Isle was commonly referred to as
“The Head” because it was Erie’s first
popular recreational spot. This was
when the peninsula was shorter due
to a one mile wide and 15 feet deep
western channel that cut the peninsula
in two for ship navigation. The old
West Channel was about one mile
wide and can be identified by a mini
peninsula that juts south from that
direction.
This is just a portion of the histori
cal and geographical information that
can be read about and seen from the
upper observation deck on Erie’s Bi
centennial Tower. It costs $2 to get
up to the top of the tower by stairs or
the wiser choice of the elevator, and
on Tuesdays it is free. The tower is at
the foot of State Street which can be
reached from the Bayfront Highway
and is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
seven days a week.
MC Search (Yeah, some white guys
can rap).
4) Every Tool CD that you can get
your hands on. Tool, to me, is the best
all around band of the 1990’5, and
their 1996 release. “Aenema” is the
best album of the last twenty years.
Tool’s music is driven by the amaz
ing Maynard James Keenan, whose
voice ranges from a soft croon,
to an all out metal scream.
Keenan is more than ably
backed by Danny Carey, Justin
Chancellor, and Adam Jones,
whose music is complete and
extremely moving. Tool’s
songs are long and drawn out, like
mini metal symphonies that paint a
picture of desolation, anger, and
apocalyptic eminence.
Well, that should about cover it. 1
wish everyone out there the best of
luck in health, wealth, and happiness,
especially to those of you graduating
from our fine campus (‘job, Benson).
Just remember, “the music is your
special friend. Dance on fires, if you
dance. Music is your only
friend...until the end." (Thanks, Jim)
photo by Jason Blake
The Go Go Rays performed last Wednesday at Bruno’s as part of an Earth Day
celebration sponsored by Eco-Action.
-- *Maj|