Friday, February 4, 2005 Roadhouse Theatre delivers zany fun By Lori DeFabio student life editor If you're interested in edgy and strange shows, there is an attrac tion in Erie that you would enjoy: the Roadhouse Theatre. The Roadhouse Theatre opened in 1988 by Scott McClelland, an off-Broadway actor and a native of Erie, and his wife, Kim. The Roadhouse has been showing everything from edgy and strange productions to Shakespeare plays and is a host for concerts and ben efits. The Roadhouse was chosen in 2002 as "One of the Best - in the Erie Choice Awards for Comedy, according to the Eric Times- News. The Roadhouse Theatre is a 200+ seat venue that is famous for its "very bizarre, off the wall shows that you rarely see per formed," according to Dr. James Kurre, associate professor of Economics and the president of the Roadhouse's Board of Directors. The Roadhouse Theatre pro duces off-Broadway comedies, including - Picasso at the Lapin Agile" by Steve Martin and many adaptations from films and hooks some of the more famous include "Reservoir Dogs," a film by Quentin Tarantino and - Night of the Living Dead." `Scott McClelland got the rights from Quentin Tarantino and did Reservoir Dogs live on stage. No one else had ever done that before," said Kurre. Currently showing at the Roadhouse Theatre is "Bat Boy: The Musical," a comedy/horror about a half-bat/half-boy who is found living in a cave and is taken rir GOERIE.COM/ROADHOUSE "Bat Boy: The Musical" will he showing at the Roadhouse Theatre until Feb. 26. to the town's veterinarian to he put to sleep. He is instead accepted as a member of the veterinarian's family. Batßoy and the veterinar ian's teenage daughter fall in love and run away together and are happy until the two are found and secrets of Batßoy's origin arc revealed. Beginning Feb. 12. the Roadhouse is having an "Edible Film Feastival," showing "three great food movies" with chefs preparing the actual meals. "Big Night" will he showing on Feb. 12 with an Italian feast prepared by Chef Matthew Sarhak of Matthew's Trattoria, "Babette's Feast" will he showing on March 19 with a French meal created by Chef Pierre Zsa Zsa and "Eat Drink Man Woman" will he showing on May 7 with a Mandarin meal prepared by Chef Tony Lee of the Golden Wok. Admission to these productions is $3O at the door or $2O in advance, $5O for VIP seating or $5O for all three films if purchased in advance. The hack of the theatre holds a I'UDEITI' LI 50+ seat coffee house in a "funky setting" that is open before and after the shows. The atmosphere of the coffee house is very unusual. "There is art all over the walls," said Kurre. "One wall has a Jimmy Hendrix LP and the other wall has stuff from Star Trek. There is also a sculpture made from hands; it's hard to explain." Tickets to shows at the Roadhouse are $lO for general seating, $l2 for rised seating, $l5 for VIP tables and students can gain admission for $5 when show ing a student ID. The Roadhouse is always looking for volunteers to help usher, collect tickets and clean up after the show and volun teers are allowed to watch the shows for free. The Roadhouse Theatre is located at 145 West 11th Street. Tickets can be purchased by call ing the Roadhouse box office at (814) 456-5656. For more information about the Roadhouse Theatre or to sign up to he on the mailing list, contact Dr. Kurre at kl2(Opsu.edu. Ask ASCII: Is using my credit card online safe? By Logan Stack staff writer Dear ASCII, How do I know if it's safe to give my credit card information to a web site I want to buy something from? - Cautious Dear Cautious, The short answer is that you don't. But then, you also don't know if it's safe to give your credit card to the waitress at a restaurant either. She could steal the information more easily than some one working for a secure web site. Still, there are a couple of things to look for when giving out credit card information on line. First, make sure the web site is secure. A secure web site has the prefix https:// instead of http://. The means the connection between your computer and the web site is very hard to spy on, making it extremely difficult for an eavesdropper to get the information. (The "s" means the web site likely has a 128-bit encryption, so it would take years for the average hacker to get into it.) In addition to the "s" in the prefix, many web browsers, like Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, will display a little picture of a lock somewhere at the bottom of the browser window when you're on a secure page. The latest version of Mozilla web browser highlights the web address in yellow to alert you that the page is secure. Unfortunately, a scam artist could run a secure site. Anyone can set one up for a couple hundred dollars, then pretend to sell the sure-bet-chocolate milkshake-diet and that one-day-ab-enhancer cream. You surrender your credit card number in the hopes of getting the quick fix you've always wanted but just couldn't afford before finding this web site. Then, the fix fails to arrive, but your credit card is maxed out. To check out the site's credibility, you can use Google or sites like resellerratings.com to see if the company has a good reputation or is a known scammer. Just because the address of the site looks reason able, that doesn't mean it is. If you're at a site called www.pncbanking.com, it may not be affiliated with PNC. Anyone can buy domain names, and they're Battle Ro r i t r i i F . F. not expensive either (probably cheaper than that ah cream). PNC could sue whoever bought the domain and set up a site to look like theirs, hut what usual ly happens is that whoever set up the site disappears whenever lawsuits start getting mentioned. That's because a site can he registered to an address like 123 Ab Cream Lane with an e-mail like abcream6969o'hotmail.com, so that when someone searches for the web site owner, they'll have van ished faster than weight loss on a milkshake diet. In this sort of scam they usually are trying to get your banking or financial information. It's called "Phishing" (pronounced "fishing - because the Ny eh owner is the angler hoping to reel in suckerr Your hank isn't performing a security audit. Really. Never. It probably doesn't even have your e-mail address. It doesn't want you to tell anyone you account information. Don't do it. grandma! (That's what I loudly urged my grandmother when she asked me about it last week.) If you think your hank really does want infimna tion from you. call the hank or go there yourself to hand it over. If you find out the hank isn't seeking anything from you, forward the e-mail to them. In addition to watching out for had weh sites. carefully check your credit card hill. Sometimes people who steal credit card information don't make big charges to the card. They may just make a $2l) charge every month and hope you don't notice it. If you find charges you didn't make, alert the hank that issued your card immediately. Often they won't make you pay the fraudulent charges and they'll send you a new card. In a world of milkshake diets, it's best to he cau tious, as your signature suggests you are. Look for the "s" in the prefix and check the reputation of the weh site where you want to buy something. just be he sure it's not the Internet equivalent of that guy selling watches out of his coat. In the end, you're safer giving the credit card number than cash to the watch hawker. Just like the fraudulent web site owner, you won't be able to find the watch man when yours fails. But if you buy the timepiece with a credit card and it doesn't arrive, Master Card will likely take the hit in the end. Do you have a computer question for ASCII' Send it in! E-mail lws IBWpsu.edu with "Ask ASCII" in the subject line. ale' entertainin The Behrend Beacon I
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