FEATURES
Foo Fighters and Chili Peppers Rock Eddie’s World
By Eddie Capozzi
and Thor Keck
Capital Times Staff Writers
Eddie’s World! Party Time!
Excellent! As my friend Thor
and I drove up to State College to
see The Red Hot Chili Peppers
on Wednesday night with two
press passes, all I could think of
was Wayne and Garth driving to
Milwaukee to see Alice Cooper.
The show at Bryce Jordan
Center started promptly with a
band named Muse opening for
the two main acts.
Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers
By Nicole Burkholder
Capital Times Staff Writer
I never thought that I would be
completely disappointed in a
John Cusack movie. High
Fidelity proved that I could.
When I first saw the trailer for
the supposedly hip comedy, I
was sucked in immediately. I
couldn’t wait until opening day,
March 31. The jokes were fresh
and witty and the actors seemed
cool.
The trailer was the best part.
Everything that lured me into the
movie in the first place was
there, it’s just that nothing else
was.
High Fidelity is in no way a
disaster. It’s cute, but that’s about
it. There are some great scenes
involving Todd Louiso and Jack
Black as the quirky music snobs
employed by John Cusack.
The banter that goes on inside
Championship Vinyl is superb
and obviously written by a class-
A music elitist. Jokes about
indie-gods Belle & Sebastian’s
overrated success and excessive
top-5 lists carry the entire movie.
Unfortunately, the movie is
Muse is a power-trio with a
great singer. The crowd was thin
at first but by the time they
played their last song the place
was full.
Using our press passes we
roamed backstage where Dave
Grohl of the Foo Fighters was
hangin’ out listening to Urban
Dance Squad.
Not wanting to bother the
guys 15 minutes before the show,
greetings were exchanged and
we decided to leave them alone
to concentrate.
Not 30 seconds later Anthony
Kiedis shows up two hours late
being escorted down the hall
briskly smiling.
The production was tight and
the show went off without a
hitch. The Foo Fighters played
much of their first album which
Dave Grohl wrote pre-Nirvana
and released post-Nirvana.
The Foo Fighters played with
exuberance and Dave worked the
crowd with ease. There were per
fect reproductions of “I’ll Stick
Around” and “Alone + Easy
Target” asMyell
more recent album “The Color
and the Shape.”
High Fidelity Gets Low Grade
not about indie-bands and vinyl.
The love story is ultimately the
framework of the movie, a
framework that feels like it is
built out of sticks rather than
stones.
The story meanders around
aimlessly with so much inside
information between the charac
ters that it could drive any audi
ence nuts. Countless comments
are made between actors that are
supposed to clue both the charac
ters and audience into the plot.
Well, the characters get it but
the audience just hopes they’ll
find out what it all means by the
end of the movie. You don’t.
Some of the strangest things hap
pen with absolutely no explana
tion.
The Fighters probably
could’ve played for hours but
with a headliner like the Chili’s
they were pressed for time. At
the end of the show Dave started
playing AC/DC but stopped just
when the crowd started to get
into it.
Dave stated that he only had
time for one more song so it
should be “one of ours.”
When The Peppers came out
Chad Smith and Flea started a
heavy drum and bass groove,
Kiedis howled into the mic for
30 seconds as John Frusciante
made his Jazz Master guitar
snarl, and then Flea slapped the
beat to “Around the World.”
The Peppers delivered on the
very first verse when Anthony
decrees, “Bom in the north and
sworn to entertain ya, ‘Cause I’m
down for the state of
Pennsylvania.”
“Scar Tissue” and
“Califomication” came and went
and it was soon evident to all in
attendance that the Red Hot Chili
Peppers were masters of their
domain.
Song after song the Peppers
played with style and freedom.
For instance, Rob (Cusack)
decides to sign two juvenile
punks to a record deal. Rob has
no record label, nor has he pro
fessed any interest in ever doing
such a thing during the movie.
To make matters worse, the
initial signing of the deal is
played up to be rather important.
It isn’t, because the record must
have been made during some
other movie, or so it seems.
The music is the saving grace
of High Fidelity. If you are a
music junkie then the movie is
worth withstanding.
Featuring the Beta Band,
Belle & Sebastian and Marvin
Gaye, the soundtrack at least
provides an interesting aside to
the action of the film. There are
definitely gems that you might
have never heard before or at
least not in a long time.
Although the acting isn’t bad
and some scenes are interesting,
at least to listen to, High Fidelity
is not what I was so anxious to
The book the movie is based
on takes place in London, not in
Chicago as the movie does, so
The songs played off studio
album Blood Sugar Sex Magik
were treats.
“Suck my Kiss,” “I Could
Have Lied,” and “Give it Away”
were perfect. But the chance to
mosh to the song “Blood Sugar
Sex Magik” was not lost.
As I delivered and accepted
punishment from the tame pit at
Bryce Jordan Center my
thoughts traveled back nine years
as I remembered moshing to my
then-favorite song.
The Chili Peppers in performance April 5 at the Bryce Jordan Center.
ihaybe it’s some weird cultural Hopefully Cusack will take
filing that makes High Fidelity note that this is no Say
incredibly boring and tedious. Anything!
The show was over after one
encore in which Anthony said
good bye and stepped off while
Flea, John and Chad whaled for
over 15 minutes on a jam that
could not be stopped.
Along with the great music,
Flea and Anthony thanked every
one repeatedly like this was their
last tour and filled the venue with
good feeling as they bantered
back and forth ending with “I
love yous.” The Chili’s really are
Red Hot.