H Entertainment Photo courtesy of jossstone.com K©unh WAY^gg By Kellye Way Staff Reporter kjw2o3@psu.edu Artist: Joss Stone Album: Mind, Body, and Soul Release Date: September 28, 2004 Number of Tracks:l4 (plus one untitled hidden track) **** Young, talented, and spunky, Britain’s princess of soul is tak ing the world by storm - one song at a time. Joss Stone’s Mind, Body, and Soul, the fol low-up album to her 2003 debut The Soul Sessions, can easily be summed up in one word: chillin’. Stone’s smooth, rich voice blends nicely with the accompanying music to pro duce a musical massage for the overworked brain. This album is great for sitting back and relaxing and could serve as the essentially calming soundtrack to a long night of cramming for midterms. In Mind, Body, and Soul, Stone certainly got the soul part right by bringing the musical genre to an entirely different and untapped market. At the tender age of just seventeen, she surpasses musical coun terparts in vocal ability and lyri cal subject matter. She explores so many different musical styles in her second album that she will probably have the opportunity to re invent herself in countless ways in the future. The most standout character istic to Stone is her ultra-low, cool alto voice. This ability has allowed her to stand out much the same way that Mariah Carey did with her octave-bust ing high notes of early 90’s pop. However, Stone proves herself worthy as a qualified soprano also on several tracks of her album. Her songs relate very independent, grown-up topics for a teenager and are relatable to every kind of love...new, old, good, and bad. The first track on the album “Got A Right To Be Wrong” especially demon strates a maturity on the part of Stone, who co-wrote eleven of the fourteen tracks. Overall, fans of Mary J. Blige, Macy Gray, and Nelly Furtado should add Stone to their diva soul collection. For those already familiar with her first single “You Had Me” it should be pointed out that this track is one of the only really upbeat, danceable songs, while the rest of the songs are more mellow and classically soulful. Regarding her second album, Stone says, “For me, personal ly, Mind, Body, and Soul is my real debut.” Photo courtesy of Google Images Not your average sports bar By Elizabeth Wingate Staff reporter eawl9l@psu.edu When I imagine a sports bar, I picture a dingy cave of nicotine yellow walls, ancient, faded memorabilia, and depraved men swilling beer, screaming at the television for practically no rea son while their waitress blows huge bubbles with her gum and looks too bored for words. In short, I am afraid. Thanks to our modern age of self-help books, however, l am enlightened enough to admit when I’m wrong. Enter KoKoMo’s Downtown, a sports bar that keeps the sports in the bar without keeping the ladies and all other non-sports fanatics away. KoKoMo's is a great place to grab a drink with friends and wile away chilly autumn evenings without draining your bank account to the point where you have to call mom and dad and beg for a loan. With a prime location at the cor ner of Second and Pine Streets, right next to the Hardware Bar, KoKoMo’s is where the action is on Harrisburg’s ever-evolving Restaurant Row. Plate glass win dows encapsulate a space that is at once intimate and rollicking, with booths along one length of thq, restaurant and a long, well stocked bar on the other. Neon beer signs, and yes, memorabil ia, cover the walls but the effect is more cheery than grungy, and at night the lighting is pleasantly mellow. Bar-height tables line the middle of KoKoMo’s and round out the seating ensuring that patrons never miss a play on one of the restaurant’s TVs. Speaking of TVs, what would a sports bar be without screens blazing every imaginable game? KoKoMo’s boasts more than 30 Monthly poetry reading theraputic for students, faculty Students and faculty recite poetry Tuesdays at night By Molly E. Kane Staff Reporter meklB7@psu.edu Writing poetry can be cleansing but reading it out loud can be downright therapeutic. Once a month a group of students, facul ty, staff and community members meet at Town Square to discuss their love of poetry. They each bring their favorite works or orig inal creations to share with the rest of the group. The meetings are growing in size and the members are grow ing together. “Sharing poetry is like sharing a part of yourself. You can’t help but feel connected to the people who now carry around a part of you” said Andrea L. Bierly, a junior English major who has reads her own work at the open mikes. Others introduce their favorite poems and poets. So far this semester Federico Garcia Lorca, Emily Dickinson, Pablo Neruda and Wilfred Owen have been read and warmly welcomed. Still others come just to listen or to offer their thoughts on these works. Some of the events tie the works together under a common theme, like response to war, TVs, from a 48-inch hanging plasma screen to 14-inchers at each booth and every size in between. Grabbing a booth ensures that at least one TV will be tuned to the channel of your choice, and one table of girls was watching Friends while their masculine counterparts took in Monday Night Football- every one was happy. Photo by Elizabeth Wingate Not to be overlooked is the game room at the back of the bar, where patrons can shoot pool or play an arcade game while they watch the game. This space gets crazy on weekends as college kids and other young revelers hang out before hitting the clubs. There’s a convenient ATM too- who wants to run down the street in the cold for beer money??? Because this KoKoMo’s is in the city, it lacks the square footage that is typical of its suburban sib lings, creating an almost frenetic, party-like atmosphere, even in while others are open readings where participants can read whatever they feel moved to share Dr. Patricia Johnson has been instrumental in organizing the ongoing events. She was moti vated by student suggestion and wanted to build an activity that would involve on and off campus students with the faculty and staff. “We’ve had a tradition of being a commuter campus and parts of that will continue, but now we have new dorms and more students on campus. I think this is an excellent time to start new on-campus activities to build community and to extend learning beyond the classroom.” Johnson hopes that the events will also be able to tie into the Tarnhelm, the creative arts and writing magazine published by PSH students in the Spring. While many of the core group are English or Humanities majors and faculty, all majors are invited to share their common interest in writing and creativity. Anyone who would like to explore their thoughts through poetry is welcome to join the group for one or more of the events. The groups meet on select Tuesday evenings from 5:00-6:00. The next meeting will be October 19. The optional theme of this reading will be Fall the middle of the week. The serv ice is friendly and brisque, and cute blond waitresses in jeans and t-shirts make sure the beer flows and everyone has a good time. Unless you live under a rock, you’re probably aware that as a sports bar, KoKoMo’s specializes in wings. They do. 19 kinds, to be more precise, running the gamut from plain to garlic honey bbq to super spicy “Sudden Death” to “Chicago style”, extra wet wings over fries in a bowl. Prices start at $3.99 for 6 and round out at $33.99 for 75, with a $1 charge for to-go orders. Specials include .35 cent wings Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 6 pm to 9 pm and Ipm to 9 pm on Sundays, while Wednesday night is .25 cent wings from spm to 9pm. As it may not be humanly pos sible to ingest wings without beer, KoKoMo’s has 14 beers on tap and many more by the bottle, Photo by Vincent Balistrieri ‘One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish’ - Students and faculty gather together to share in an ocean of poetic favorites. or Halloween, but any and all poems are welcome regardless of theme. John Stuart Mill once said that poetry is “the natural fruit of soli tude and meditation” and while it including Labatts Blue, Killians Red, and Woodchuck Amber to complete the rainbow of choices. There are daily beer specials, just ask your server. KoKoMo’s certainly does not want you to leave hungry. Classic American appetizers such as potato skins, cheese planks, fried ‘shrooms and steamed clams are just a few of the many offerings, and new menu items are always popping up. The 'tSamplerMer Twe” 4s a great way to get some variety if you’re out with a group, and when you get fries your way- Cajun, seasoned, or with melted cheese- they just taste better. The rest of the menu has so many options that you might get a little lost. I did and concluded that I couldn’t go wrong with a cheeseburger, which was right on- medium rare on a huge bun with lots of cheese, lettuce and tomato and a pile of hot fries. The menu also includes numer- can be this, to many people, the monthly open mic group strives to make the process and prod ucts of poetry into a community activity. ous salads, sandwiches, pizzas, chicken, soups and chili, as well as veal Parmesan, surf & turf, and New York Strip. Most of the items on the menu are under $lO, while entrees such as filet mignon are just a tad more. One of the best elements of KoKoMo’s Downtown is its rela tively diverse crowd. The bar was a mix of young profession als, lots of women out having drinks after work, and in the more colorful realm, a guy who probably moonlights as an Elvis impersonator. This eclectic group surprisingly represented Harrisburg in 2004- optimistic, evolving, and in the case of Elvis, a few kinks to be worked out, all in good time. Yes, there was considerable screaming at the TVs, and after a while, I screamed along. At KoKoMo’s, it’s all part of the game. CUISINE : American, Bar Food CREDIT CARDS: Amex, Discover, Diners Club, Mastercard, Visa HOURS: 11:00am-2:00am, 7 days a week. Kitchen open to 12:00am. RESERVATIONS: Not necessary AMENITIES: 30 Televisions, including three(3) large screen TV’s and five(s) satellite dishes. Featuring NBA & NFL Direct Ticket. NTN Trivia, Take Out Available, Wheelchair Accessible. PRICING: Inexpensive (Most entrees under $10.00) Kokomos Sports Bar and Grill 300 N. 2 ND ST. HARRISBURG, PA 17101 (717) 920-5651 ...It seemed that out of battle I escaped Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped Through granites which titanic wars had groined. Yet also there encumbered sleep ers groaned, Too fast in thought or death to be bestirred. Then, as I probed them, one sprang up, and stared With piteous recognition in fixed eyes, Lifting distressful hands, as if to bless. And by his smile, I knew that sullen hall,- By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell. With a thousand pains that vision’s face was grained; Yet no blood reached there from the upper ground, And no guns thumped, or down the flues made moan. ‘Strange friend,’ I said, ‘here is no cause to mourn.’ ‘None,’ said that other, ‘save the undone years, The hopelessness. Whatever hope is yours, Was my life also; I went hunting wild After the wildest beauty in the world, Which lies not calm in eyes, or braided hair, But mocks the steady running of the hour, And if it grieves, grieves richlier than here. For by my glee might many men have laughed, And of my weeping something had been left, Which must die now. I mean the truth untold, The pity of war, the pity war dis tilled... - Taken from “Strange Meeting,” by Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)