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