I The Behrend Beacon
Music Column:
Hardy chats about upcomming CD "Hearts and Unicorns"
By Sean Mihlo
music columnist
~ mm4Bo(c/ r.u.eciu
She's got a tough-cookie atti
tude and a dangerously biting
voice. Born and raised in
California's Orange County, 24-
year-old Annie Hardy grew up
eschewing the drug-induced
lifestyles of her peers and focus
ing her attention on writing and
playing music. In 1998, at the
age of 18, Hardy escaped from
the o.C.'s magnetic grip and
moved to L.A., catching a few
gigs here and there as key
boardist for bands like
Shrinkwrap and Radio 4 (no, not
that Radio 4). Eventually, she
decided to go solo with her own
musical brainchild, Giant Drag.
in 2003. In the summer of 2003,
along with 27-year-old percus
sionist Micah Calabrese, the duo
played their first show at the
Scene Bar, accepted residencies
at various venues throughout
L.A. and put out "Lemona," a
five-song E.P. Over two years
later, the band signed with
Interscope-subsidiary Kickball
Records and released their debut
full-length, "Hearts and
Unicorns," with critics pro
claiming the rebirth of a grunge
nation. Songs like "Cordial
Invitation" and "This Isn't It"
affirm the band's sound some
where amongst the dirty riffs of
Nirvana, the lethargic vocals of
Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval
and the drone-saturation of My
Bloody Valentine.
The Behrend Beacon: Giant
Drag, it's just you and Micah.
Sex Column:
By Michelle Vera Suroviec
First, let's try to define what constitutes cheating. Hundreds of
years ago it was much easier to explain. To simplify things and to
possibly offend all lovers, anthropologists and historians, let's just
say cheating can be defined as relations with someone other than a
predetermined partner beyond courting, involving some level of
physicality. Call it a kiss or more, but some sort of physical
exchange is necessary.
Cheating is a purely physical act. Someone cannot think his or
her way into adultery. In the realm of the inner mind, many
thoughts, both clean and dirty, stream across and present them
selves. Everyone has their own fantasies, but not acting on these
impulses is what counts as faithfulness. For example, if someone
wishes someone ill will or even death, they are not a murderer.
What's new LEB?
By Erin Daquelente
contributing writer
eadsoo3 psu.edu
Do you have creative ideas and can use them in
a way to catch people's attention? Do you want
to get more involved on campus? If so, the Lion
Entertainment Board (LEB) is now accepting
applications for a new publicity chair to finish
out the rest of the semester and continue through
for the following spring semester. This is a paid
position, which is in charge of heading a com
mittee and meeting with them each week to pub
licize original ideas for all the events going on
that week. Applications are available in the
Student Activities office and will he due
Wednesday, Nov. 10. The LEB will be holding
interviews and hopefully have a new chairper
son selected by Thanksgiving. So come on and
join their team.
Here is what is planned for the rest of the
semester, check it out.
Spanky is performing this Saturday night at 9
p.m. in Bruno's. He made his first appearance
on MTV's Half Hour Comedy Hour, as well as
performing on HBO's "The Comedy Channel."
Spanky became a published author with his
book entitled Men are Sluts, a humorous look at
the male libido. In 1997, Spanky was seen on
the hit shows: ER, The Profiler, and the Jenny
McCarthy Show.
Buddy Wakefield will be here Nov. 18 at
9p.m. Wakefield is known for delivering raw,
rounded, high vibration performances of humor
and heart while shifting social paradigms and
assaulting cross-cultural barriers through pow
erful accounts of release.
sir
:',J
When and how did you two
meet? Was Giant Drag origi
nally intended as a solo proj
ect?
Annie Hardy: We met in 2001
when both of our best friends
were dating each other. At first,
Micah was helping me record
my songs at his home recording
studio. Then, I asked him to he
my drummer. He said yes and
then one day started playing the
synthesizer as a bass at the same
time as he played drums, only as
a joke, but it worked. So, we
didn't need a bass player.
BB: What was the recording
process like for "Hearts and
Unicorns"? Did you have most
of the songs written already?
AH: Some of them were old
and some were new. We record
ed every Giant Drag song that
we had (18 all together), and the
ones that we thought turned out
the best ended up on the record.
BB: What made you decide
to include most of the songs
from the "Lemona" E.P. on
the new album? I definitely
approve of the new version of
"This Isn't It," which empha
sizes the role of the synthesiz
er more than the original does.
How important are the syn
thesizers?
AH: We decided to put those The two-man hand "Giant Drag
three songs from the E.P.
because they are songs that a lot
of people like, including us. It
just seemed right. We have syn
thesizers on every song. That's
what we do live. They were
there on the E.P., too. They arc
on every song and always have
been. The synthesizer acts as a
photo editor
mi , ,l 21 Of psusedu
P ii . DEl\irr Li
Q&A with Giant Drag's Annie Hardy
BB: One music critic recent
ly described the hand as
"Mazzy Star for perverts,"
which is pretty accurate. I
know this question can get
pretty monotonous, hut what
are your favorite bands? Who
have you been influenced by?
What constitutes cheating?
Someone who wants to steal a box of chocolates and ex en if the
thought brings a smile to their face, it is not cheatinl2 unless the \
actually do it. Cheating and sex work the same way.
Phone sex has become a lucrative industry, where a person talks
with someone else, usually about acts that if actually performed.
would cause strenuous back sprains and illegitimate children. The
results of the experience may offend the other partner. hut the only
real harm, in most situations, is the weight on the credit card. A few
dollars a minute can wholly support that so-called sexy co-ed's gas
tric bypass of the month.
One can argue that all phone sex constitutes is the exchange of
thoughts. Intellectuals do the same thing over a game of
Backgammon.
The next frontier of man, not including outer space. is the
Internet, a medium originally designed for defense purposes.
Slowly, entrepreneurial minds began to corrupt the intellectual
design of the Internet to entertain the foolhardy masses.
Adam Ace is scheduled for Dec. 3 at 9 p.m. in
Bruno's. Unlike any comedy show you have
seen before, The Adam Ace Crazy Comedy
Show has to be seen in order to truly be
believed. Combining comedy, music, props,
costumes, wacky dancing, improv. and lots of
audience participation, Ace excites and ener
gizes crowds with his outrageous look and con
tagious personality.
In addition to the various comedians sched
uled for the upcoming weeks, The LEB
Nightclub offers various bands and special
events.
Sons of Pitches is planned to play Dec. 8 at 12
p.m. in Bruno's. Sons of Pitches is a group of
five classically trained musicians who perform a
wide variety of songs from pop, classic rock,
country and folk covers to many original songs.
Their engaging stage presence along with their
humor and energy make them highly charismat
ic performers. They are now making a full time
commitment to pursuing a professional per-
formance career.
The LEB's annual Battle of the Bands will be
held April 14, 2006 and is still being planned.
For more information or to join the planning
committee, e-mail Ben Raymond at
bar23s @ psu.edu.
Also, don't miss the movies shown every week
in Reed 117. They cost only $1 per student and
play Wednesday through Saturday night at 10
p.m. Scheduled to play for the next few weeks
are:
-Red Eye Nov. 9-12
-Four Brothers Nov. 16-19
-Cinderella Man Nov. 30 - Dec. 2
~frk
40
made up of Annie Hard) and Michah Calabrese (left to right)
AH: Neil Young is one of my
all-time favorites, anal the
Beatles of course. I guess I must
have heen influenced by 90s
music. since that's what wit\
going on when I was grow ing
up. I started getting into music
more than just listening to it I
remember listening to a lot of
r il l T i l l
Guns N' Roses when I was in
grade 5ch001...1 guess I never
really stopped listening.
BB: Have you taken the new
material out on the road yet?
And are you totally excited
about playing live?
We'‘ e been playing the
material from the record for a
With the Internet, things started to get more interesting. A new
medium emerged faster than Ron Jeremy's career. In addition to
annoying advertisement pop-ups, new websites featuring nude por
traits of anorexic women that could double as floatation devices (in
case of an emergency) flooded the web.
The unique interactivity of the Internet allowed everyone the
opportunity to experiment at a faster pace and show the beauty of
the human figure in a variety of ways. Fetishes for the strangest
things, such as Lego's or juice boxes, could he explored and satis
fied.
Instead of just the audio properties that the phone has to offer, the
web cams of the Internet allow visual entertainment as well.
Someone could do the raunchiest things in front of millions of oth
ers, but is it cheating? There's no physical exchange, and even if
there were, former President Clinton already has proven that BJs
don't count.
Friday, November 11, 2005
long time already. We have a
handful of new material that we
have been playing already, and
we're more excited about that.
We're excited about touring but
also nervous. We're leaving for
two months straigh and that's a
really long time.
ONTRIBUTED PHOTO