arts 10,000 Maniacs are sane about their career By JEANNETTE GIBSON and RON SWEGMAN Collegian Arts Writers When a band's lead singer takes on the roles of chief songwriter and band leader, that person is usually attrib uted a variety of images and labels most of them false. Natalie Merchant, lead singer for 10,000 Maniacs, is just such a person. Where the haphazard descriptions originate from is unimportant peo ple are willing to offer those that they have heard. Recently, prior to a well anticipated interview with Merchant. the collective accounts of her that we received from roadies, fans and tech nicians had us looking for a woman who was at the same time short, medium, dark, not-so-dark, thin, fat and furthermore difficult to inter view. In the end she found us when a roadie alerted her to our presence. We converted a dressing room into a makeshift interview room and sat down to talk to Merchant as R.E.M. was swinging into - Moral Kiosk" for a sound check. While seated on the floor around a coffee table, we found Merchant to be a delightful, insightful spokesperson for her band not the contradictory, eclectic tough inter view we were expecting. Merchant views her band from a unique position. Since rhythm guitar ist John Lombardo left their band last year, Merchant has assumed the leadership role within the group. Now she is its driving force and the focal point of the Maniacs' growing popu larity. Despite the growing recognition that has accompanied their new, more pop-sounding album In My Tribe, the Maniacs don't consider themselves professional musicians as 'Grease' Cast takes on challenge of movie's legacy By KIM FRIEDMAN Collegian Arts Writer Editor's Note: This is the second part in a series celebrating the Penn State Thespians' 90th anniversary. This week's feature spotlight's this fall's production of Grease. Hard work and dedication. These are two of the qualities that have kept the Penn State Thespians going for the past 90 years and will continue to do so in the future. Under the advising of Carol Whit taker, the club is currently celebrat ing its 90th anniversary. Whittaker is very proud of her position as advisor, saying, "I feel quite fortunate in being able to advise the Thespians. It ~----- ------., I /. . ~.,,. ~,,,,,, , -- mptg 7 :l7,, - ' N_._..___t,i,„--:__,---/' She is frequently compared to folk singer Suzanne Vega, although closer examination tends to reveal that they are more different than alike. yet because they can't live by the means they have. "We still haven't arrived at that level," Merchant ex plains. Presently followed by largely an underground audience, they hope to expand the scope of listeners without losing the loyalty of those who first discovered them. "I think that if we do have an underground audience they are bright enough to listen to the music and not to what the production is like or to what our intention was when we recorded it," says Mer chant. The message in the music then is all-important to the band, and to Natalie who writes the lyrics. Mer chant's verse looks more like prose on the page and it reads better that way as well. She says she appoaches her lyric writing with the intent of telling stories, often about difficult issues. "What's the Matter Here" for instance relates Natalie's frustration with child abuse, while the theme of "Don't Talk" ( both from In My Tribe) is alcoholism. "I think I estab lish my opinions without being very preachy. Mostly through presenting allegories little situations with dialogue between characters I invent that kind of exemplify my point." was a big part of my undergraduate life." Whittaker, who did both her under graduate and graduate work here at the University, was a very active member of the Thespians as a stu dent. She participated both on stage and off, and feels that now she is ". . . the continuity with the past and the present." She is now able to acts as a resource person for all the younger members. Membership in the Thespians does not require that you are a talented actor, singer or dancer. Anyone who is interested in any aspect of the performing arts can become a mem ber. "It provides an outlet for artistic creativity in all aspects of the theatre. It also enables them to devel- Danny Zukko, played by Dan Jeck (junior•pre•law), and Sandra Dombrowski, played by Jayne Decker (senior•elementary education), take time out during a rehearsal for Grease, the Thespians' fall production. Natalie Merchant, lead singer of 10,000 Maniacs, writes most of the band's songs, but the rest of the group pitches in with the orchestration. This technique allows room for varied interpretation of meaning by the audience. "It's strange how a lot of people are interpreting songs, like 'Don't Talk' as a quarrel between two lovers where one is an alcoholic and one is not. I try to leave gender out of most of my songs no one knows who the character is." Actually Merchant derives a lot of what she writes about from her own life. The song "My Sister Rose" is a memory of hers from an old Italian op a lot of skills that they can apply outside Penn State: organizatizing time, operating within a budget and dealing with the community," Whit taker claims. In order to become a member, students must work on two shows in any capacity except usher. Then, along with the rest of the 'pledge class,' a pledge skit must be per formed and a pledge project must be executed. Once these requirements are completed, there is an official initiation ceremony at which new members receive their initiation cer tificate. The group now boasts a mem bership of over 50 students. Publicity Director Joann Kupstas explains that in the past year and a half the club size has doubled. The club takes up as much time as members are willing to give, explains Kupstas. Initiated members are re quired to attend monthly meetings, and to do what they can for the shows. Acting in the shows takes up more time than working the box office, but each member contributes what he can. "If you want to act and you're serious about acting, in any other club you're a member and that's it," claims Kupstas. "If you want a posi tion other than a main stage acting role then you have time." There are many other things to do besides acting in the mainstage shows. The 'mainstage shows' refer to the shows produced in Schwab Auditorium once a semester. These are generally "Book musicals that have been produced on Broadway." In addition to these shows, the Thes pians have recently begun to perform one children's show a semester. These are being produced in conjunc tion with the Kern Graduate pro grams, "In order to allow performance opportunities for those who can't sing and dance." This years childrens performance will take place the first weekend of De cember. "We're hoping to built up a following," says Whitakker. Also, there are many positions on the production staff open to students. Jeff Fortney, Scenic Designer, Tech nical Director and Teen Angel for the production of Grease, explains that through the Thespians he has the chance to do every thing possible. "You can have a lot more responsibil ity here." he says. "The experience here has been helpful. It's given me a lot of confidence." The Thespians manage to prosper despite the many obstacles they must face. Some of these difficulties have evolved along with the ever raising Broadway ticket prices and the popu larity of television, and others that have evolved as the University ex panded. The cost of putting on a production has incresed dramatically ( no pun intended) over the past few decades. The Thespians face the problem of wanting to keep production level up but ticket prices down. "It's amazing to me that they're still able to pro wedding, where her aunt Rose was married to a man named Rocky. Merchant describes the situation as "found poetry ... their life to me is like poetry." Other times her lyrics, she says, are more personal. " 'Verdi Cries' was a song I wrote and I was very possessive of it, so possessive that the band realized that they couldn't real ly fit into it, so we hired string play ers." Still. she says she has no set formu- Some of these difficulties have evolved along with the ever raising Broadway ticket prices and the popularity of television ... duce these plays," Whittaker ex plains, "given the obstacles they must overcome.•' The fact that they are still capable of putting on respect able shows she finds both encourag ing and rewarding. President Rob Russo agrees. He adds, "Theatre audiences have changed so much because of tele vision. Now they want to see high tech shows." It used to be that the Thespi ans performed many original shows. Within the last five years only one original show was produced, and for that show it was only the book and not the music that was student written The other area of difficulty the Thespians must deal with is the ex pansion of the University. Schwab Auditorium is home to the Thespians. It has housed their shows for as long as it has been standing, and it still has on its walls showcases of various Thespian decades. Now because of the change in the status of the build ing, the Thespians must compete both with classes and with other organiza tions for the space. Thespians also used to build their sets in a loft in the auditorium. In this loft, many of the club pledge classes initialled the walls and left their mark. It was a sort of historical room where the spiritof the Thespians could always be felt. None of these minor setbacks have stopped the Thespians,. however. Their performances are Mill a very high caliber, bringing joy to both audiences and actors. The mainstage shows are not lim ited to Thespian members. Any stu dent interested can audition and "Everybody makes them ( non-Thes pians ) feel welcome," says Russo. The actual rehearsals have nothing to do with the club. The cast of this fall's production. Grease. is very enthusiastic about the show. They are full of energy and excitement, and, Russo observed. "They can't stand to be away from each other." He feels that people have been giving the extra push, above and beyond the expected to make this production successful. Re hearsals are progressing smoothly, and the show looks as if it will be first rate. Grease will be performed in Schwab Auditorium Thursday Nov. 5 through Saturday Nov. 7 at 8 p.m.. and Sunday Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased in the HUB from 8:30 to 4:30 and are $5.00 each. la for writing songs, although in her opinion it is easier to fit words to Sometimes she will work with drummer Jerome Augustyniak until a song idea starts to take shape. When composing "My Sister Rose" she explains that, "Jerry started with a chord progression and I helped him switch it around a bit. He knew his tempo and his rhythm really well that was the strongest part of the song and we just changed the chord a Sting, R.E.M. The following lists compile the top ten albums for the week ending Oct 30 as indi cated by State College record store sales ARBORIA—USED BOOKS 8 RECORDS 151 S Allen St 1 Nothing Like the Sun 2 Document —REM 3 Tunnel of Love Bruce Springsteen 4 Lonesome Jubilee John Cougar Mellen camp 5 In My Tribe 6 Big Generator 7.H01d Your Fire B.Frank s Wild Years 9 King of the Delta Blues t 0 Music for the Masses 10.000 Maniacs Yes Rush CITY LIGHTS RECORDS 316 E College Ave 1 Pock INXS 2 Eye of the Hurricane 3 Nothing Like the Sun 4. Vampire Can Mating Oven Beethoven 5 Dublin Lady Andy Stewart 8. Manus Linny 6 Music for the Masses Depeche Mode 7 House of Dolls Gene Loves Jezebel 8 Document —REM 9 Kohuept Billy Joel 10 People Who Grinned Themselves to Death the Housemartins NATIONAL RECORD MART 226 E College Ave 1 Nothing Like the Sun Sting 2 Tunnel of Love Bruce Springsteen 3 Dirty Dancing Soundtrack Various Artists 4 Hysteria Def Leppard 5 Kohuept Billy Joel Puzzles for the patient By KIM ALISON DALINKA Collegian Arts Writer If the problems and puzzles of life don't phase you and you are itching for a greater challenge, here is a book for you. The Thinking Person's Book of Puzzles and Problems by Victor Serebriakoff is filled with mind twis ters and teasers which border on the impossible. Included in this collection are over 100 of the most wickedly difficult quizzes, word games, logic problems. anagrams and 3-D crossword puzzles to keep your head spinning. book review The author. Victor Serebriakoff. is the International President of Mensa. His title is synonomous with big trou ble. Mensa is an international society of approximately 70,000 people with especially high I.Q.'s. It's members, Mensans. are incurable puzzle ad dicts, and included in this book are the puzzles they found the toughest. The problems become increasingly more difficult as the book progresses. Beginning with a 3-D crossword puz zle by the name of "Trilogical Acrossdownthroughword''. the ambi tious solver must fit answers into the framework in their proper place, down, across, and through! Good luck! Problem 43. entitled "Operation Hara-Kirt - . presents the now tor mented. totured solver with a list of fragmented words. From a mere four to five letters. the reader is expected to guess a word by filling in the 20 The Daily Collegian Friday, Oct. 30, 1987 bit." Merchant writes the melodies but often collaborates with other members of the band to orchestrate the songs. Listeners noticed as well that the band collaborated with Michael Stipe of R.E.M. for a brief cameo duet in "Campfire Song:" both on the album and on stage during their Rec Hall performance. The Maniacs have been acquainted with Stipe and his band for nearly four years, and Merchant often sings with him although she explains that this is the first time they have record ed together. "Besides," she said, "I wrote that part of I the song) and it was way too low for me to sing." That's the simple reason for the guest vocal of Stipe says Merchant. "We didn't want to make a fuss about it because the comparisons between our two bands have been so thick for so long." Merchant's strong sense of self is apparent in both her music and her character. She is frequently com pared to folk singer Suzanne Vega, although closer examination tends to reveal that they are more different than alike. "To say that I am like Suzanne Vega is a lie," says Mer chant. She believes that they are com pared mostly because they face so cial issues such as child abuse in their Merchant and the rest of 10.000 Maniacs have the confidence that comes from believing in themselves and in their musical talents. "I think there are so many different dimen sions to our music, our lyrics and our performance and things that we're involved with right now that there is more to write about than most bands." 6. Vinyl Idol Billy Idol 7. In My Tribe 10.000 Maniacs 8 A Very Special Christmas Various Artists 9 Tiffany Tiffany 10. Document —REM WPSU NEW MUSIC TOP 20 The following records compose WPSU's new music survey for the week ending Oct 30 The New Music Top Twenty will be broadcast tonight at 10 p.m 1 •1 Can't Be Counted On pets Tom Waites Robert Johnson 2 In a Jar . ' Dinosaur 3 •Magic Sky' Volcano Suns 4 A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Hours the Smiths Depeche Mode 5 Columbian Necktie Big Black 6 "You're My Drug Dukes of Stratosphear 7 Outside My Window Angst 8 All Going Out Together Big Dipper 9 The Highway Talking Wooden Soldiers 10 Alien Nation Always August 11 Bad Vibes Nixon's Head 12 I Hate the Man Who Runs This Bar the Alarm Sting Camper Van Eugene Chadborn 13 Everything's Explothn 1 4 . Norwegian Wood 15 Weasel Face Rarnones 16 Offsprings Volcano Suns 17 ' These Boots are Made for Walking Nancy Sinatra 18 Welcome to the Occupation 19 Kill Surf City 20 'Good Idea remaining letters. The only other clue given is that the fragment was origi nally placed in the center of the word. Here is an example to help clarify. The letters given are "owgo." The word is SNOW-GOGGLES. Can you believe it? Unfortunately, there are many more where that came from to irritate you. So far, the reader has been babied and sheltered from the real fun. Com pared to what he is about to encoun ter, the previous puzzles were tic-tac toe. At this point the masochistic solver should be experiencing insom nia, bitten nails, and an inability to concentrate on anything other than the current problem. This was the intent of the author. He says so in the introduction. Really. Problem 85, "An Impossible Ana gram,•' is exactly that. Well. almost. The letters given are: LLPti S- S S S S E E E E. A word with five S's and four E's? Sure . . . sleeples- Problem A is called "They Are Unlettered Squares Throw Them Out! The solver is given what ap pears to be a completed crossword puzzle. The problem here is that there are no shaded letters to house the answers. The puzzled puzzler must eliminate those letters which should have been blackened. The puzzle is 13 squares by 13 squares. No clues are given. Serebriakoff takes his puzzling so seriously that he was careful not to put the answers in order. This makes it impossible for the solver to snatch a peek at the following answer when he checks his solution. If. after reading this article. there are still a few fairly confident souls who wish to to don their thinking caps . . . have fun and good luck! The Please see Puzzle, page 21 hang on the Meat Pup The Flaming Elector: Love Muffin Jesus and Mary Chain Screaming Broccoli compiled by Ron Swegman
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers