Friday, April 24, 2009
Headliners make pit
stop in Erie
By Lauren Dißacco
stuff writer
1ed5100 , ,, psu.edu
The Erie Civic Center was
deemed "awesomely painful"
Monday night by sophomore
Mike Nick. This dubious de
scription is courtesy of the
Music as a Weapon IV Festival,
which made a pit stop to Erie.
The festival was master
minded by the popular metal
band Disturbed.
The concert was supposed
to provide fans with more
bang for their buck, and it
seems that those in attendance
were not disappointed. Before
moving into the arena, a
plethora of outdoor events
were scheduled, including per
formances by bands such as
Suicide Silence, Crooked X,
Bury your Dead, and Mass Ca
sualty.
The hands weren't the only
attraction that had people
swarming to the area. The out
side venue was also host to
merchandise stands featuring
apparel with the bands logos.
To top it all off there was even
an area designated to gaming
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
"Only enemies speak the truth;
friends and lovers lie endlessly,
caught in the web of duty. "
—Stephen King
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
and extreme sports. Once the
outside festivities came to a
halt, it was time for the real
show to begin.
Disturbed, the headlining
group, explained the impor
tance of the festival on
www.goerie.com. They
wanted to provide adequate
entertainment to their fans
even with the current eco
nomic turbulence. The group
felt that the tour was the per
fect way to share their musical
interests with their fans in a
way that was both entertaining
and cost effective.
That's right, at 7 p.m. sharp
the festival moved indoors and
big name groups like Chi
maira, Lacuna Coil, and Kill
switch Engage performed, all
leading up to the grand fi
nale—Disturbed.
It seems that those in atten
dance enjoyed the show and
Nick summed up the whole
experience best by saying,
"The concert was outrageous,
the bands were crazy, the fans
were crazy. Killswitch Engage
had people fighting each other,
moshing, crowd surfin[g] and
[even] a wall of death."
Behrend's own African Odyssey
Shown on the left Andre Horton and his family take an action shot.
Below: Horton speaks to the crowd gathered in Dobbin's Gazebo about the necessity By Neil J. Peters
of the idea of unity in the world asst. arts editor
tpsoB3((t psu.edu
DANIEL SMITH The Behrend Beacon
A minor diversion: a review of Cellofourte
By Michael Bilz
contributing writer
mtb5095 ,, / psu.edu
Bruno's could barely contain
the intensity and vigor that the
Pittsburgh based Cellofourte
brought to the stage on Tues
day at noon. Part of the
Rhythm of Life series,
Cellofourte is comprised of
Simmon Cummings, Nicole
Meyers, and Tate Olsen, all
Carnegie Mellon University
graduates, as well as Ben
Munoz of Duquesne Univer
sity. They are all classically
trained cellists, but in 2004
they all decided to try some
thing different-combine cham
Above photo from left to right: Simmon Cummings, Nicole Meyers, Ben MuUoz, and Tate Olsen.
On the right: Meyers plays the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby." Her shirt is a tribute to the Beatles, as it states: "imagine peace
ber music with metal, and they
have done so superbly.
To define Cellofourte in one
word, one would only be able
to say: extreme. Not only did
they play nearly all original
works, but did so in a way that
put a new spin on how a cello
could be played- even to me,
who is a classical music enthu
siast and amateur cellist. If
one were to ignore the cellos
were even there, one would
think they were attending a
death metal concert. Although
the aura of Bruno's was proba
bly close to it. Even the one
classical piece they played,
Cellofourte never lost that anx
iety that they established with
the first piece.
Their set actually had me
fooled. It opened with a piece
called Path, which started very
serene and mellow, but one
could detect something was
going to change with the open
bass line-a repetitive sequence
of open fifths, but with out the
middle note to the chord, one
had no way of knowing where
they were going next. The di
rection was quickly established
when everyone came in with a
massive slide down on the
strings to land the melody. As
the piece progressed, the
minor keys eclipsed each other
with one after another, just
leading to subtle hints of major.
But as soon as this was accom
plished, they all stood up and
continued to play with heads
banging and bows smoking.
This led nicely into their sec
ond piece, "Troubadour,"
which had a similar bass line;
but it had minor melody with
In today's world, the con
cept of 'unity' is an increas
ingly unrealistic goal.
However, on April 16, inside
the walls of Dobbins Hall, a
group of students put on an
event of fantastic food, incred
ible insight and open em
braces; all for the sake of
sharing their culture with the
student body. This event was
the African Odyssey.
The event, run by Penn
State Behrend's Organization
of African and Caribbean Stu
dents, allowed the colleges
African foreign students a
chance to spread their her
itage with others. Each table
was topped with the flag of
each represented nation, from
Nigeria to the Cayman Islands.
Broken into three main parts
consisted of an excellent din
ner, a guest speaker, and a
fashion show.
The dinner, catered by Dob
bins, was a buffet of tradi
tional African food, such as an
assortment of rice and deli
cious spiced chicken. As the
guests and members ate, a live
musical performance by the
band Ewabo filled the hall.
Ewabo played modern pop
songs, but with a Caribbean
twist. Featuring a steel drum
mer and keyboardist, the band
played songs like Akon's
"Don't Matter" as well as tra
ditional Caribbean music.
After the dinner's conclu
sion, the floor was given to the
variations all over the place.
The players switched back and
forth between said variations,
and each one was more intense
than the next. It ended with a
culmination of all playing the
previous variations, ending a
fiery blaze as the bass line, like
a heart beat never stopped.
Originally a cover band,
Cellofourte then proceeded
into "Bring Me To Life" by
Evanescence. This one is the
one that most people recog
nized by haunting melody,
complimented by the subtle
harmonies that makes this a
fan favorite. The cello itself
was used as a percussion in
strument, and Mutioz was so
high pitched, he went off the
finger board and into viola
range, the cousin to the cello
and brother to the violin. They
also did a wonderful cover of
the popular Beatles tune
"Eleanor Rigby," which could
only be described as a sea of
flying hair. Even with a slower
peace, the passion that the four
members produced made it
seem like it was a piece by
Apocalyptica. Oddly enough,
they also did a piece by them
The Behrend Beacon 11
guest speaker, Erie's NAACP
chapter President, Andre Hor
ton. Horton's compelling
speech followed the event's
theme of unity. Drawing on
personal experiences of being
a leader in the community,
Horton spoke of his role and
impact on the disadvantaged
youth of Erie and how one per
son can make all the differ
ence. Making parallels with
the civil rights revolution of
the 1960 and the 2008 election,
he explained that only through
finding common grounds and
understanding each other
could our world be united.
After Horton's speech,
Frank Ndieffe led the other
members of OACS in fashion
show. Each student clad in the
traditional garb of his or her
homeland, strode with pride
along the isle and gathered in
the front of the gazebo. The
night was closed with Ewabo
and the students cutting loose
in a semiformal dance.
African Odyssey was a truly
special event. At one time
these students were complete
strangers, hailing from com
pletely difference parts of the
world, but that night they
danced and celebrated as one
community, the human com
munity. Not race, background,
social standing, or home coun
try mattered. What mattered
was that they were together.
African Odyssey was a life
changing event for every per
son involved and will surely
never fade from memory.
as well, during which, Cum
mings' bow broke. That's just
how much energy they put into
their music. Not to mention
that their entire set list was
played from memory.
They have toured all the way
to Kansas City, Missouri, up to
New Hampshire and down to
DC. They have thought about
coming to Erie, but the
weather often prevented them
from doing so, so when they
were invited to play in late
April, they jumped at the
chance. And don't even for a
second think they limit them
selves to just metal. They do
numerous outreach programs
to elementary schools, where
they play more of the classical
repertoire. As musicians, they
are out to prove that classical
instruments are not just for
playing Bach, Beethoven, and
Brahms.
Look for them on the web at
www.cellofourte.com, and
www.myspace.com/cellofourte.