8 I The Behrend Beacon
A view of those who take humor seriously
Josh Sneed takes
the stage in Bruno's
continued from front page
the joint was hacked to the brim v ith how ling spectators.
Though he began with a much start. Sneed eventually picked up
steam. Viewers sat complacently, wondering v hether they should
he laughing or Wended. However, as the confidence of both per
former and \ iev ers grew . so did the laughs.
Sneed's performance was well put together. He opened \\ ith a set
of jokes tailored to the region, making quips on Behrend. then e -
panding into the rite of Erie and finally. the state of Pennsylvania it
self. His show style was quick and rant-like. How e\er. no matter
how far off topic he got. Sneed still managed to 5' rap up all loose
ends h\ the hit's finish.
In his arsenal were banters ranging from obese children and their
Chuck ie Cheese's pizza o‘ ens to road construction signs. Prohabl
Iris most popular . joke was a fine minutes rant of the double entendres
opportunities that are involved with the Nintendo Wii and how that
can get you in trouble with the older crowd.
As for Snced's style. he tOlkmed the footsteps of comedians like
Dare Chapelle and George Carlin by occasionally stepping user the
usual lines of cultural taboos that usually cannot be touched on by
,/(I,lh Sneed palLscs /or a photo with fellow comedian, Tina Fey, The
two acted along .side one another on Sattirda‘, Night
the aYerage Caucasian male. This deli\ ery \‘ as highly unexpected
not only from shock kalue, hut because the %%ere also unpredictably
sterical
Sneed's nest joke. a quip about a heckler in the audience. caught a
lot of attention. The moment a disgruntled viewer made a scene.
Sneed immediately shot them down with his quick wit and a des as
tating insult. After the destruction of the hecklers self-esteem. he
picked up the hit without missing a heat.
Toss ards the end of the show. he ins ited aspiring comedians front
the audience on stage to try their hand at comedy. Three intrepid
students took the stage with pride and dignity. disregarding the stage
fright that would ha\ e paralyzed most. The 's inner recei ed a free t
shirt and a healthy round of applause.
Oyer all. the slip \vas a success for hoth Sneed and the audience.
He tore up the stage and split the sides of the audience for a solid
hour. :\ successful FridaN night in an comedians hook. For any
more information on Josh Sneed. see his \‘. ehsite
\‘joshsneed.com.
Sneed celebrate., Silly Hat Day, po.sting pictures on his hlo'
Food For Thought
"Look, I really don't want to wax
philosophic, but I will say that if
you're alive, you got to flap your arms
and legs, you got to jump around a lot,
you got to make a lot of noise, be
cause life is the very opposite of
death. And therefore, as I see it, if
you're quiet, you're not living. You've
got to be noisy, or at least your
thoughts should be noisy and colorful
and lively."
—Mel Brooks
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
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Experienced North Coast Ballet reaches out
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.A plaza on the corner of French
St. and 12th k home to a little bal
let studio called North Coast.
North Coast is a program for all
age groups--though focused on
helping kids—to keep their lives
healthy through movement.
"It's pretty multi-leveled: . says
Sam Fargiorgio. executive direc
tor of the Pennsylvania branch of
North Coast Ballet. "(It is al
health program fur children to
has e a positive body image. It is
designed to avoid obesity and
other eating disorders."
The program, in conjunction
ith two daycares, Healthy Bod
ies and Early Connections, fo
cuses on working with families
and the food pyramid to promote
healthy lifestyles.
evening classes of dance
and yoga are "designed to create
life-long healthy eaters and to in
still movement within their
lives.' Fargiorgio says.
North Coast also has a program
with St. Martin's Center. and their
kids go work out once a week.
In the e‘ ening, artists go in and
teach. whether it he acting or
dancing. and the program does
'workshops in the community to
Editorial:
By Justin Pekular
( 0111/YI)llIi/11 11Tl1PI
Most people associate punk
rock vv ith kids that are young,
pissed off. and wearing Misfits
shirts. However. all of the miser
able weather it made it very ap
propriate to have a punk show in
Erie. The show was Saturday. Jan
31 at Forward Hall on Peach
Street. While the cold Saturday
didn't draw out a eery big crowd
it did draw a very enthusiastic
one. There were probably 50 peo
ple there and half of them were in
the hands.
At first. I ‘k asn't sure what to
really expect. I arrived late and
heard some rough chords. Walk
ing in and looking at the few peo
ple standing in front of the stage,
I noticed the first hand, Made Not
Born. from Oil City. I guess most.
if not all, of their members were
in high school. One of the com-
meats amongst my friends was.
"The drummer looks really
Noun 4 - And along those lines.
their skills were proficient at best.
None of the members seemed
ery enthusiastic about playing
and stood there emotionless while
the singer hopped around a hit
and sang repetitious songs with
memorable lyrics such as, "Love
me. heat me...
The next hand, Brain Dead
Happy. from Erie, appeared more
promising
The lead guitarist/singer had an
interesting looking guitar. I felt
By Kay Smith
copy ediloi
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Ei - oritmaii Bill Frackovviak of Kill People
to help educate children
introduce children to dance
Margo Wolfe, an English pro
fessor here at Behrend, has taught
acting to children at North Coast
for five years after working with
Fargiorgio on a project for her
high school students.
I continue to work on projects
One ►nun flaunts his performance in the studio
with North Coast and Artists In
corporated because I find the ed
ucational and social focus
inspiring:* Wolfe says.
Forward Hall gaining popularity
confident that With his mohawk
would come more interesting
songs. I was disappointed when
more than half of their songs were
covered from other notable punk
bands such as The Misfits and
The Circle Jerks. I felt that their
original songs were comparable
to horror punk with some ques
tionable and thought-provoking
titles like, "I Kissed Jesus with
My Fist - and other explicit titles.
Apparently for the band Erie's
Aggro Hippie there were personal
problems. Two of the members
got on stage, and the guitarist said
that they were going to play some
things from their side project be
cause the vocalist was absent. I
wasn't disappointed with it
though: probably because the gui
tarist justified themselves in stat-
they were very
improvisational.
They ended up playing music
that seemed more like progres
sive metal or some kind of hodge
podge of elaborating on various
ideas. At one point in their set,
they decided to play an Aggro
Hippie song missing half of the
lyrics. After that I was a bit upset
that their singer wasn't around.
Detroit's "DA" then went on
stage. These guys seemed pretty
serious, and the lead singer was
quite charismatic, talking to the
crowd in between songs. Al
though they actually had the
crowd moving, their set wasn't
that memorable to me. I couldn't
find their Myspace page later on
North Coast is also attempting
to create a larger theater program
and there is a performance at the
end of the Harding school year
that incorporates every class
within North Coast.
'We want our students to have
as much access to the entire cre-
ative process as possible:* Far-
giorgio says
The participants not only dance
and act in the show, but they also
to remind me of them. However, opinion, they were the best band
their music was heavier and I'd that played, showing a dynamic
go as far to say it was hardcore in their lyrics between the bassist,
punk. drummer, and lead guitarist in-
The next two bands were much eluding amusing song titles along
more interesting, and a lot heav- the lines of, "I got AIDS." I felt
ier. Six Six Sick and Iron Minds, an old school punk rock and hor
both from Cleveland, played on ror punk influence in their songs
the floor and had everyone crowd and apparently everyone else did,
around them. At this moment be- too, because the only people on
ginning with Six Six Sick's set, the floor were two guys with mo
punching , kicking, pushing, shov- hawks.
Drummer Dick Gardner of Kill People
ing, and anything else associated
with mosh pits began, and that's
what they wanted. The lead
singer/guitarist started off the set
by stating, "We are not a positive
band we are a negative band,"
followed with some other witty
statements that would offend
most senior citizens and scare
children. I really enjoyed their set
and was excited for the next band.
Then on to Iron Minds, with
two vocalists/screamers that actu
ally stood in the mosh pit, swung
their arms at people and got their
microphone cords tangled up.
The "hardcore" guys took the
floor and I stepped back, nar
rowly avoiding a chair that got
thrown into the mayhem. I defi
nitely liked their set, besides their
innate philosophy of hurting peo
ple with a song cleverly titled
"Kick (some guy in the audience)
as much as possible."
Finally, Kill People, the head
lining band from Erie, got on
stage accompanied with a Hal
loween bubble smoke machine
for aesthetic appeal. Their songs
returned to a less aggressive un
dertone, but still equally as inter
esting as the other bands. In my
Friday, February 6, 2009
collaborate and help with the cho
reography and script.
The students range from age
three to adults and people can en
roll by calling and going there to
fill out a registration form. Schol
arships are available, but, unlike
the norm in other ballet studios,
they are not talent based. The
scholarships are awarded based
on income and expenses. There
are multiple funding sources for
North Coast, including grants,
contracted funding, and good old
fashioned fundraisers.
Artist Inc., the managing agent
for North Coast Dance, also deals
in Social Services. About 25 per
cent of the enrolled population at
North Coast Ballet of Pennsylva
nia is from Social Service agen-
During the month of July, there
is a "Free Summer Performing
Arts" program that provides
classes in several performing arts
such as ballet, hip-hop, acting,
and tap. They are free to attend.
Students looking for volunteer
work or who are interested in
finding out more about the pro
gram should contact Sam Fargior
gio at (814) 456-4470.
The crowd was good and there
was even a table set up so people
could talk about going vegan, and
probably how to make your own
Misfits print trench coat. If you
went down in the mosh pit, some
one would help you up, and as
soon as the you were on your feet,
you'd be punched in the jaw. Ul
timately, everyone was there to
enjoy the music.
Bassist Kristen Bessetti of Kill
People