Sugar Red Drive: Clean-cut
By PARK BIERBOWER
STAFF WRITER
PPBSO22@PSU.EDU
I attended the Millennium
Music Conference on Feb 14 to
check out a new and upcoming
band, Sugar Red Drive. Here is
a breakdown on the newest thing
out of Ploughkeepsie, NY.
The first thing you notice about
Sugar Red Drive is their sound.
Its compellingly melodic and
not an audio assault like you will
find with some rock bands. They
are clean-cut guys, you'd expect
to see them walking around
the hallways at class before
you'd expect to see them on a
stage. The music is refreshing,
especially in the sense that it is
rock the way it is traditionally
thought of. They listed Stone
Temple Pilots and Alice In
Chains as two of their influences,
and it definitely shows in their
music. The vocals are deep and
the melodies driving, there is a
clear potential for their music to
A feel-good Oscar ceremony for the recession era
By JOCELYN NOVECK
AP NATIONAL WRITER
Maybe it was the adorable smile
on that "Slumdog Millionaire" kid
in his pint-sized tuxedo.
Or best director winner Danny
Boyle bouncing in silly tribute to
Tigger of "Wmnie the Pooh."
The grinning, top-hatted dad of
best actress winner Kate Winslet,
whistling like a champion to get
his daughter's attention.
Or an entire crowd standing
together in remembrance of Heath
Ledger.
This year's Oscar telecast was
striking for its many feel-good
themes and moments and
perhaps exactly what we needed
from a recession-era awards show.
Certainly, it was a notable contrast
to last year, when darkness and
cynicism ruled the nominated
films, capped by best picture
winner "No Country for Old Men,"
about a homicidal sociopath. The
collective subject matter was so
bleak that host Jon Stewart was
inspired to say of "Juno," the one
comedy: "Thank goodness for teen
pregnancy!"
This year's host, Hugh Jackman,
had no such trouble. He presided
over a show filled with Cinderella
themes both fictional and real
life. And none was more poignant
grow and become much more on
a national level. The best way
to get to know their music is to
hear it though, so go to www.
myspace.com/sugarreddrive to
check out some of their songs.
The band is comprised of P.J.
Gasperini on drums, Jim Knauss
on guitar, Archit tripathi covering
vocals, and Davey Alexander
playing bass. Interestingly
enough, Archit. is the oldest in
the band at only 21. P.J., Jim, and
Davey were formerly in a band
called Mercury Rising before
their lead singer at the time up
and left without much warning.
They searched myspace for a
new lead and found Archit.
S.R.D has good stage presence;
one of the things that struck
me most was the quality of
their sound as compared to
their studio work. In many
instances you will go to a show
already familiar with the bands
music, but the live vocals and
sound don't add up to your
expectations; that is not the case
than that of the night's big winner,
"Slumdog Millionaire," with its
story of love triumphing over
desperate poverty, criminality and
pure evil.
Lost on no one at Hollywood's
Kodak Theatre, of course, was the
Cinderella-like story of the movie
itself, which nearly became a
victim of the tanking economy and
was headed for a direct-to-DVD
release before News Corp.'s Fox
Searchlight stepped in to distribute
it.
And there were the many personal
stories of those involved in the
film. As the cast stood onstage after
winning the best picture award,
the cameras focused briefly on a
beatifically smiling Azharuddin
Mohammed Ismail, 10, one of the
children who'd been whisked to
the Oscars from a desperately poor
neighborhood on the outskirts of
Mumbai, where he lives in a lean
to made of plastic tarpaulins and
blankets. One can only imagine
how the moment must have felt for
his friends and family back home.
It fell to Simon Beaufoy, who won
for the film's adapted screenplay, to
make the link between our troubled
times and the film's appeal.
"It's come out at a time when
the value of money, which has
been raised to this extraordinary
height, is suddenly being shown to
with S.R.D. Songs they played
like "Velvet Leash", "One More
Time", and "Red Machine" lived
up the standard of quality I had
expected from listening to them
beforehand.
After their set I got a chance to
talk with the guys from the band,
the following is an [edited]
transcript of the interview.
(Video available on Capital
Times Facebook page).
Park: So the first thing that
comes to mind is Sugar Red
Drive, where did that name
come from?
Archit: Basically the way we
came up with it was we needed
a new name, a new band, and
thought these days attention
spans are getting shorter and
shorter so we just decided to get
three words that captured what
we are about. Sugar, its sweets,
high energy; Red because its
like a color of passion, a color
of energy: drive because we're
extremely motivated, we're all
very young but very driven.
be a kind of very shallow thing,"
Beaufoy said. "The financial
markets are crashing around
the world, and a film comes out
which is ostensibly about being a
millionaire. Actually ... it's a film
that says there's more important
things than money: love, faith and
family."
It was a different family that
of the late Heath Ledger that
brought tears to many eyes in
the most emotional moment of
the ceremony, no less affecting
because it was expected: Ledger's
posthumous Oscar for his
diabolical Joker in "The Dark
Knight."
The entire theater rose along with
Ledger's relatives to pay tribute to
this deeply talented actor who died
last year at age 28, of an accidental
prescription drug overdose. They
heard his father express how much
Ledger would have wanted to be
there.
"This award tonight would have
humbly validated Heath's quiet
determination to be truly accepted
by all you here tonight, his peers
within an industry he so loved,"
said Kim Ledger, Heath Ledger's
father.
The moment was lacking only
one thing: A look back at Ledger's
stunning work as the Joker. The
new format for the acting awards,
Park: you guys all collaborate
on songs, there's no specific song
writer for these songs, how is
that working out for you? Is that
easier or harder than having one
or two people writing songs?
Jim: Its not exactly easier, but
the songs turn out better. Four
heads are better than one.
Archit: Exactly. We're pretty
fortunate because we seem to
compliment each other nicely..
Jim: Yeah, I say our song
writing is like musical chairs;
we're all floating around and
then someone will be like " yeah,
that's nice."
Park: So who are your specific
influences for each of you?
P.J.: For me it would definitely
be Alice In Chains, that's the big
one. STP (Stone Temple Pilots),
Velvet Revolver, all the old stuff,
jazz, funk..
Davey: Tool, anything from
poppy to metalwork...
Archit: Me personally, a lot of
the same stuff as P.J. like Alice
In Chains, a lot of the older stuff
with five former winners paying
tribute to nominees in short
speeches, may have added some
touching moments Shirley
MacLaine telling Anne Hathaway
that she had a great future was one
of them but it took away the
film clips, an omission some found
glaring-
"You've got all these wonderful
images so let's see this stuff
on screen!" said Jonathan Kuntz,
a historian at UCLA's film school.
"They could have done a better
job selling their films by actually
showing them. Not everyone has
seen these movies."
Last year, when "No Country
For Old Men" won best picture,
the telecast was seen by 32 million
people, the lowest on record. The
2003 telecast, with "Chicago" as
the best picture winner, was seen
by 33 million.
But back to the sweet moments,
which came in some unexpected
places. Certainly there was no
Cinderella story in "The Reader,"
the tale of an unrepentant Nazi
guard played by Kate Winslet.
But Winslet's win was touching
nonetheless the popular British
actress had been nominated five
times previously with no success.
Thanking her parents for their
faith in her, she called out, "Dad,
whistle or something 'cause then
rock
like Zeppelin and Black Crows.
Jim: Melodic stuff, U 2,
collective 50u1...
Park: Now are you guys still in
school or have you graduated?
P.J.: No, we've all just
graduated
Archit: I'm still in school. I'm a
senior at Vasser college.
Park: You guys are coming
out with an album this spring,
right?
P.J.: yeah, the tentative date
is May 19th and the album will
be uploaded onto iTunes within
about two weeks so you can
buy the record. We're going
with "One More Time" for the
single.
Park: Ok, so I have one last
question for you guys, a serious
one... In a fight between all four
of you, who would win?
P.J.: Um, probably Davey.
Archit: Yeah, I'm a lover not a
fighter.
Park: All right guys, well thanks
for your time and we'll keep an
eye out for you on MTV.
I'll know where you are." And
Roger Wmslet whistled back
heartily, for the world to hear.
Unlike the genial Winslet, Sean
Penn is known for a somewhat
prickly presence. But in keeping
with the night, the best actor
winner for "Mills" seemed a little,
well, softer around the edges,
virtually apologizing for some of
his trademark brashness.
"I want it to be very clear that
I do know how hard I make it to
appreciate me, often," Penn said,
to laughter. He went on to make a
passionate plea for legalization of
same-sex marriages.
Penn's portrayal of slain gay rights
leader Harvey Milk was striking
partly because the character was
so' much sweeter and full of
smiles than many he's played
before. His performance was so
convincing that it gave Penn's
friend, Robert DeNiro, one of the
night's best comic lines.
But for lines that epitomized
the feel-good nature of the 81st
Academy Awards, one could do
no better than 43-year-old Indian
composer A.R. Rahman, who won
Oscars for both original soundtrack
and original song from "Slumdog
Millionaire."
"All my life, I had a choice of
hate and love," Rahman said.
"I chose love, and I'm here."