Culture
CAMPUS MUSIC , .
Kay Logan appears for Logan Series anniversary
JOE GOETZ
staff writer
The Logan Music Series con
cert last Monday celebrated its
twentieth anniversary.
McGarvey Commons was
filled with students, faculty,
staff, and members of the com
munity all helping to celebrate
the occasion.
Probably the most notable
member of the audience, who
was entertained by a fantastic
performance from the Cavani
String Quartet, was Mrs. Kay
Logan herself. Mrs. Logan was
thrilled to be returning to
Behrend to help kick off the
twentieth year of the series.
As the principal flautist for
the Columbus Symphony for 20
years, Mrs. Logan has been ac
tively involved in music for
years. As a graduate of Ohio
State University and the Uni
versity of Illinois, Mrs. Logan
began a long career involving
music, including work with
Denniston Chamber Music of
America, and a second career
as a special education music
teacher.
Although this is the twentieth
anniversary of the series, Mrs.
Logan has been supporting the
performing arts for much
longer.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Student balances school and theatre
CHELSEA MARKLE
staff writer
Kevin Nelson lives for the
theatre. Nelson is a freshman at
Penn State Behrend, and an ac
tive member at the Erie Play
house.
Nelson is one of the lead
dancers in the show and the
youngest member of the cast at
only 19 years old.
Nelson has been doing the
ater and shows since he was
only seven years old.
“I couldn't imagine my life
without it,” he says.
This is his first playhouse
production. Nelson was asked
by the music director to audi
tion for Chicago.
The director is his old high
school choir director’s husband
and a good friend. When he
heard the Erie Playhouse was
doing the infamous Bob Fosse
themed show, Nelson “just had
to go for it.”
Many freshman find it diffi
cult to handle the transition
from high school to college. To
still be able to maintain their
schoolwork and extracurricu
lars is no easy task. The same
principal goes for Nelson. “It’s
been really hard,” he said.
THE PLAYLIST
Sci-Fi Crimes can't be incriminating
EVAN KOSER
culture editor
The end of August marked
the release of the fifth studio
album release from the
Chicago-based band, Chevelle.
Don’t say it. “Mainstream.”
Well of course they are; they
managed to take some of the
heaviest bass sound waves and
turn it into marketable money.
As with many of their songs
on every album, their new
album, Sci-Fi Crimes, focuses
heavily on the raptures of vo
calist Pete Loeffler. With a mix
ture of harsh vowels,
crescendoed sound and whis
pered [at times spoken] word,
Loeffler presents a sound
unique to Chevelle. I challenge
any reader to present a sound
comparable to theirs, and I
don’t mean just the genre.
I want actively heavy bass.
I’m talking absolutely in-your
face, indistinguishable bass.
The kind that takes the fore
ground of the music by storm,
overwhelming the charming
guitar openings with a clam
ourous thundering.
That’s where Dean Bernar
dini, the bassist for Chevelle
stands out among the ever
crowded population of musi
cians. Bemardini strays from
the constant support of stale
“One of the first grants we
gave out was to the Cavani
String Quartet. That was back
in 1985.”
After the death of her hus
band, Mrs. Logan decided how
to continue the work her late
husband began with his foun
dation to support the arts.
“I took a tour of Behrend and
started talking with administra-
Kay Logan has been the head subsidiary of the Logan Series which features many bands, such as the Cavani String Quartet.
“I have class pretty much
everyday from 8 a.m. to 5:30
p.m. and then I have to be in
the dressing room by 5:45
ready for hair and makeup,”
said Nelson. “It’s difficult to
maintain because they are both
such priorities in my life, but
somehow, I manage it.”
Being a member of the Erie
Playhouse has helped Nelson
get his foot in the door with
even larger productions. He is
now currently in the running
for the new broadway tour of
Spring Awakening.
Chicago has been running for
almost two weeks now and “the
audience just progressively
keeps getting bigger,” said Nel
son.
After a great review from the
Erie Times, the show has al
ready sold out completely for
this upcoming Friday. Tickets
are thirteen dollars and can be
bought at the door.
The Playhouse is in its 93rd
season of production this fall,
and their opening show this
year is Chicago. Chicago is a
show of “murder, violence, and
show business.”
“There’s nothing better than
a live production,” said Nelson.
bass lines and really takes his
instrument for a walk. The first
song on the album, “Sleep
Apnea,” more than exemplifies
just what Bemardini is capable
of.
However, Bemardini’s role is
only amplified by a duo of
stringed excellence. Their sin
gle, “Jars,” not only shows off
the bassist’s skills, but Loefflers
as a guitarist as well. Unlike
many of the bands in the satu
rated world of music, Loeffler
doesn’t rely on crazy-fast, ham
mer-on intensive solos. Rather,
he keeps things simple by com
plementing the bass, not over
whelming it.
But the trio doesn’t just owe
their brilliance to Bemardini, or
guitarist and vocalist Loeffler.
The band of brothers has drum
mer, Sam Loeffler, to thank for
quite a bit of their orchestra
tion.
[Sam] Loeffler approaches
his bass pedal and snare as if
he were a five-man drum core.
That is to say, he pulls no
punches. Incorporating every
element of percussion a typical
drumkit has to offer is no easy
task; even for geniuses akin to
Neil Peart. By no means am I
comparing Chevelle to Rush,
but I am calling into question
the skill of some of this music
saturated world’s less compe-
tors about what was missing
from campus,” she said.
Mrs. Logan decided to begin
a chamber music series on
campus that would be free to
the public and students. Her
goal was to show everyone that
chamber music was not just “vi
olins and cellos.”
From year to year, Mrs.
Logan is in close contact with
Marcus Yeagley / The Behrend Beacon
While finding it tough to balance play life and school life, Nelson
scrutinizes over his time management.
tent drummers,
It isn’t just hard-rock, or soft
metal, or post-grunge, or nu
metal-post-core-grunge-metal-
neo-natal-rock-core-post-alt
metal [that’s the joke] that
Chevelle serves as a perfect ex
ample for. No good “rock”
band is without their ballads,
and Sci-Fi Crimes is no excep
tion.
By ballad, I of course mean
that [Pete] Loeffler picks up an
acoustic guitar and plucks a
few chords for “Highland’s Ap
parition.” It’s here, little more
than halfway through the new
album, that listeners are
greeted by Loeffler’s lyrical
prowess. You can have as great
a singer as you want, as great
an instrumental part as you
can, but you’ve got nothing
without words to mean some
thing.
So often, you get mindless
dribble. The type of drama
you’d easily hear in every high
school [sometimes college]
hallway. The type of angst that
every teen tries to put on a
pedestal. Or those absolutely
cliche songs about love, and
struggle with depression.
“I don’t think you’re nervous
enough,” begins Loeffler in the
chorus, taking it further about -
get this - the “apparition.”
“It happened to show its own
those in charge of the series, in
cluding Dr. Gary Viebranz, Di
rector of Instrumental
Ensembles.
“We talk about what we’re
looking at, and how well they
fit with the idea of the series,”
said Viebranz.
There are so many aspects to
the Logan Music Series, but
Mrs. Logan claims the educa-
face / Search for the souless
ends / Now point him towards
What in the world does that
even mean, you might ask? Lis
ten to the song. It’s the ee
rieness of the guitar dropping
out combined with Loeffler’s
melodic, strident voice that can
and will make your spine tingle.
Of course, I could go on
about a myriad of different
bands that aren’t publicized.
Hundreds of underwhelming,
disappointing bands that fly
under the radar. I could do
that, or I could let them stay
there, until they find their ways
to the media spotlight on their
own.
Is that the goal of all bands?
Not at all, but that’s not to say
it isn’t helpful - that it isn’t
worth it. Besides, not everyone
is in it for the money and not
everyone is even happy when
their favorite band is suddenly
listened to two years after the
fact. Get over it. You can’t have
a monopoly on any sound, no
matter how unique it may be.
Unfortunately, that even in
cludes the trio of brothers from
Chicago known as Chevelle;
even they are going to lose their
shine. Eventually, nothing
stays golden forever.
Behrend Beacon I 7
September 25,2009 M
www.thebehrendbeacon.com | ■
tional value it represents for the
campus to be one of her fa
vorites. Those feelings are
echoed by the members of the
Cavani String Quartet.
“l remember once when we
performed here, there was a
women’s studies class in atten
dance,” said Cavani violist
Kirsten Docker. “I liked the
idea of interdisciplinary learn
SPEAKER SERIES
Author visits Behrend
to speak to students
NATHAN CARTER
staff writer
“I’m not quite sure about
what happens when you take a
raccoon pecker bone into an
airport,” M. Glenn Taylor pro
fessed between laughs. “I’m not
quite sure if they do a full body
search, or what.”
This might strike someone as
very odd, but it was a material
element used repeatedly in the
speaker’s novel, The Ballad of
Trenchmouth Taggart. To bet
ter understand the book and
the author’s visit to campus, it
is important to look at his roots.
“The first book I really got
into was called Somebody Up
There Likes Me," said Taylor.
“It tells his story of growing up
with a passion for underground
boxing, eventually bringing
him to the point of being a mid
dleweight champion. And at
nine years old, that was the
point where I began writing lit
tle stories.”
After much historical re
search and the acquisition of
the desire to publish his state
pride, he wrote his first novel,
The Ballad of Trenchmouth
Taggart. Published through
West Virginia University Press,
it was a Fall 2008 Barnes &
Noble Discover Great New
Writers selection and later be
came a finalist for the 2008 Na
tional Book Critics Circle
Award.
Taylor spent much of his time
advising many of the young
writers in attendance.
“It’s overheard and token,
but putting your ass in the chair
and putting pen to paper gets it
done” said Taylor.
As a teacher of English and
fiction at Harper College in
suburban Chicago, it seemed
odd to have a character like
Trenchmouth.
When one student question
his protagonist’s origin Taylor
said, “There wasn’t really a set
Free • Con
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ing that Behrend incorporated
into the series.”
“We got into some very in
tense discussion with that
class,” added Merry Peckham,
cello player for the quartet.
“We covered everything from
women in culture, to music in
culture, and even women being
musicians.”
“We want to continue striving
to get better,” said Logan.
As a group who has per
formed at Behrend several
times before, the quartet unan
imously agreed.
“We’d love to come back at
some point,” said Peckham.
“We stay involved with the se
ries because of Kay Logan. She
gave us a grant all the way back
in 1985 and we’ve worked with
her ever since.”
In addition to the Logan
Music Series, Mrs. Logan is re
sponsible for the purchase and
restoration of the Logan house
located on Station Road. Sev
eral banquets and special
events are held there through
out the year.
The Logan Series will con
tinue Thursday, Oct. 8 with Bas
soon in the Wind, bringing jazz
standards, bebop, rhythm and
blues, and original composi
tions to McGarvey Commons.
Taylor's book was a National
Book Critic Circle Award finalist.
origin, so I’m going to not an
swer your question in a sense
that the history I’ve researched
really pulled the character to
the surface. In my research and
writing, he just came to me.”
After reading the novel, read
ers were excited to attend the
speaker series in the REDC
when Taylor came to campus
on Sept. 24. After an introduc
tion by Dr. Noyes, Taylor began
with a reading from the middle
section of the book and brought
his vision of the character even
closer to the foreground.
Next, he decided to give a
speech on authenticity in the
realm of literature, bringing
several important aspects of
writing and history to the spec
tators. He finished with a read
ing of the prologue in his
upcoming novel, The Marrow
bone Marble Company, which
he had just sent to the pub
lisher.
His excerpt consisted of the
same stylized, history-filled as
pects as his first work, The Bal
lad of Trenchmouth Taggart.
After meeting author M.
Glenn Taylor and hearing him
discuss his novel and different
aspects of the writing world,
everyone should check out his
work. It’s very intelligently
written, yet simple to read. He
brings great characterization to
light and the return of the
American novel.
entia