19 The Daily Collegian A skewed look at your arts options Picks of the week The good BACON! How can you go wrong? This leftover piece of the pig is really making it big lately in the microwave! Finally, after all these years of slimy, disgusting microwave bacon or slimy disgusting stove-cooked bacon, the gods of microwave cookery have come up with not one but two ways to cook bacon quickly and easily In the microwave! The Bacon Wave and Bacon Magic! Personally, we prefer the Bacon Wave as it can be stacked and cook up to 14 pieces of bacon at once, com pared to a mere five for Bacon Magic. The only thing that can really be said about the whole thing, though, is "Only in Ameri ca." The ugly Insane Clown Posse The half-serious pseudo-rappers made a name for themselves in State College a few months ago by passing out tapes of their sin gle on the streets. The whole gag seemed so ridiculous that The Asylum decided, for entertain ment's sake, to book them for a fun-rap show this weekend. The talented outfit, however, took the gag a bit too far by ask ing to spill 22 liters of soda on the crowd, saying it was part of their act. When The Asylum asked them to cut the amount down to six liters, for reasons of safety and clean-up, the perform ers canceled. It's respectable to try to maintain artistic integrity, but don't you have to be artistic first , Celebrity Dirt Jackson denies 'selling' Beatles music catalog NEW YORK Michael Jack son denied he's strapped for cash and said he didn't "sell" his Beat les music catalog to Sony Corp. He called the $95 million deal a "merger," not a sale. "It's just a great move, a cor porate, entrepreneurial thing to do," Jackson said in yesterday's USA Today. "It's smart business. It's about growth. Everything in life to me is about growth." • The deal had led to reports that Jackson was spending too much on lawsuits and luxuries and needed the cash. Jackson lawyer John Branca said Jackson originally wanted to buy the rights to father-in-law Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel," but Sony's U.S. chief, Michael Schulhof, reportedly told him the rights weren't for sale, inquiring instead about the 250 Beatles songs Jackson owns. Revolt The Three-Minute Revolution RPM Records is looking for orig inal songs of three minutes or less for a compilation release entitled The Three Minute Revo lution. If you're influenced by Gum ball, Buffalo Tom, Big Star, Matthew Sweet or Revolver era Beatles, send a professionally recorded cassette with one to three songs to: RPM Records, P.O. Box 10216, Baltimore, Md., 21234. ,Pt l / 4 Ton''Ten Jazz Albums 1. Here's to the Ladies, Tony Bennett 2. MTV Unplugged, Tony Ben nett 3. Pearls, David Sanborn 4. Joe Cool's Blues, Wynton Marsalis and Ellis Marsalis S. Giving Myself to You, Gerald Albright 6. The Bridges of Madison County, various artists 7. At the Blue Note, Saturday, June 4th 1994 Ist Set, Keith Jarrett 8. First Instrument, Rachelle Ferrell 9. 7th Ave. Stroll, Mark Whit field 10. Time After Time, Etta James Courtesy Billboard Magazine The Playground is compiled by Collegian staff writers and the Associated Press. Plunging into 'The Great Divide' Some think Atherton Street divides the student population into two distinct halves By STEVEN GARRELTS Collegian Arts Writer A journey along the length of downtown State College's main drag is a study in differences. College Avenue, the one-way westbound street crowded with bars, trendy clothing stores, restaurants and book barns, under goes a metamorphosis as it unfolds from east to west. The metamorphosis is evident and manifested in the lifestyle of its residents the so-called freaks, hippies and punks of the west end contrasted with the Greeks, blue-and-white bleeders, and party-til-dawners of the east end. On the west end of town, the traf fic lights thin out and the neon lights begin to fade as the west bound cars on College Avenue cross Atherton Street. Towering shady trees and brick houses mail-ordered from 1920 s Sears-Roebuck catalogs and brought in on freight line the street. Barking dogs and people kicking footbags litter the front• lawns of houses with porches decorated with colored lightbulbs and the occasional aspiring acoustic gui tarist. On the east end of town, beer spills from initialed plastic cups dangling from high-rise balconies. Underclassmen travel in packs in search of the ultimate parties and the lines outside bars wind around the block. The glare of neon lights winks the commercialized atmosphere of East College Avenue as women wink their mascaraed eyes at eligi ble bachelors. Living on either side of College Avenue can quickly reduce stu dents to two stereotypical groups those who live on the west side, and those who live on the east side. "West Collegers" typically bring to mind the rather artistic and secluded subgroups living in hous es west of the "great divide" Atherton Street. Many relish the out-of-sight, out- Waits' tribute By DAVID SCHONFELD Collegian Arts Writer Jimi Hendrix. Neil Young. Led Zeppelin. Now it's Tom Waits' turn. If it's not like they're making enough tribute albums for popu lar rock legends, now they're making them for legends who have an esoteric, cult following like Tom Waits. Step Right Up: the Songs of Tom Waits features a group of musicians almost as diverse as the man they're pay ing homage to. Violent Femmes, Magnapop, 10,000 Maniacs (including Natal ie Merchant) and Frente! are among the better known bands on the album. Waits, best known for his growling voice and Grammy win ning 1992 album, Bone Machine, is a musician definitely deserv ing of a tribute. Waits' songs are probably more popular then he is. "Downtown Train" and "Tom Traubert's Blues," both original compositions by Waits, are best known for the versions sung by Rod Stewart. "01' 55," covered by numerous artists including the Eagles, Sarah McLachlan and, on the tribute, Dave Alvin, is per haps his most widely known song. But no one knows the beau ty and feeling of a Tom Waits composition until they hear it performed by the man himself. That is the problem with the tribute album. Unlike "01' 55" and "Downtown Train," some of Waits' songs don't lend themselves as easily to other artists. Many of the musi cians sound out of place on the album, not knowing how to han dle the complexity of Waits' songs. The Violent Femmes, an exceptional band, offer a horri ble version of "Step Right Up." The original version, appear ing on /Waits' 1976 release Small Change, features Waits vocally improvising to a set bass tiff and drum beat. Femmes frontman Gordon Gano's tenor voice does not lend itself well to the song one meant for Waits' raspy pitch. Perhaps the Femmes intended the song to be awful. "Tom Waits was unavailable to produce one of our albums, so we wanted to pay him back by muti- ///''ecess of-mind attitude they can have in a house where Beaver Stadium is far, far away. "Down here on the west end, it's more open, more about hanging out," said Chris Marini (junior-film and video) from his porch on the 600 block of West College Avenue. Inside his three-story, four-cat house, his roommates napped before dinner. Marini finds that a lack of inter est in football seems to be almost a defining characteristic between the east and the west ends. "I don't have any Penn State A symbol of the east end looms at a fraternity district intersection. isn't best starting point lating one of his compositions," said Femmes bassist Brian Ritchie in Step Right Up's liner notes. The album, on a whole, is not bad. Drugstore delivers a deli cious version of "Old Shoes," and Tindersticks play well with "Mockin' Bird." Both songs are excellently executed, proving that Waits can write songs that can be performed well by others, but not as good as by himself. The most original cover is def initely the rap version of Small Change's "Pasties and a G- String," by Jeffrey Lee Pierce. The song, which in its original version is almost rap itself, bene fits from the full hip-hop beat on the tribute. The new version does not eclipse the old, but rather demonstrates that it can be per formed in a different vein. Another disturbing facet of the tribute is that the most recent Tom Waits does some of his visionary studio stuff. 'Step Right Up The Music of Tom Waits' pays homage to the great. pride in the traditional sense," he said. "I'm pleased with my friends, classes." Natalie Wilson (senior-political science) is another student who enjoys living in the more laid-back atmosphere on the west side of town. "The east end is rowdy," she said. "Loud cars going down the street with the bass blaring. The west end of town is much prettier." Prettiness aside, the east side of town offers the closeness to the downtown scene. But the lack of neighboring bars and extended play parties pleases some west enders. "I've come pretty close to getting a couple of beers dumped on my head," said Kim Knepp (junior accounting) of her east-side experi ences. "People expect that down there, and it would be strange if that hap pened here (west end). They're not as obnoxious as they can be down town." John Ziegler, a west-side resi dent who teaches in the Bellefonte Area High School, has a theory for the celebratory atmosphere of the east end. "The atmosphere alone (on the west side) is different, and maybe it causes the young people to be more respectful," he said. As for his opinion of the east side, Ziegler has a term for the East Beaver strip where gray and tan buildings tower over the street from Pugh Street to High Street. "People refer to it as 'Beaver Canyon,' " he said. "That doesn't appeal to me, to take a town and slap up dull boxes." In the depths of the canyon dur ing a weekend, the atmosphere changes in almost direct propor tion to the impersonal nature of the residences. "I had to live down there over the summer once," West College resident Alasdair Riddock (senior economic) said. "It's just mayhem." Don Addington (junior-broadcast cable), a resident of Beaver Hill, 340 E. Beaver Ave., said he thinks students are truly more controlled 11 11SUW 01111ew Step Right Up: The Songs of Tom Waits song covered is from Heartat tack and Vine (1980). Waits' best albums, Swordfishtrombones (1983), and Rain Dogs (1985) and Bone Machine are completely ignored. It's confusing why a tribute wouldn't want to include the artist's best material. For anyone interested in inves tigating Tom Waits, the tribute album is not the path to follow. As a supplement to his own albums, Step Right Up is a fine display of alternate takes on Waits songs. For a full and satis fying experience, the albums by Waits himself are far superior to the tribute. Bernadette Carroll (senior -integrative arts), left, and Kristen Tarrant (senior-art education) walk a dog on West College Avenue. due west of "Beaver Canyon." "Over there, you feel like you're going to more of a residence," Addington said. "You have a yard and a porch." He finds his end of town hectic, filled with energy and minus of some of the older students who have moved to the west end. Amelia Baxter (senior-speech communication), a three-year resi dent of the west side, said she enjoys the added safety of living across Atherton Street. "I think - it's a lot safer down here. We're not so close to the bars," she said. Dirges record live disc Cqs+ By DAVID SCHONFELD Collegian Arts Writer The lights dimmed, the crowd erupted into cheers and The Dirges took the stage. "In case you didn't know," said singer and guitarist Eric Zimmer man, "We're recording a live CD tonight, and you're all going to be on it." Playing three short sets, The Dirges performed in front of a large, energetic crowd at the Crow bar, 420 E. College Ave., last Thursday night as the first part of a two-night recording stint for a live CD to be released in January. The second show was recorded at Pittsburgh's Graffiti last Friday night. Sean Spudich (senior-architec tural engineering) said he was "pumped" for the show. "We've been waiting for this about a year." The Dirges drew heavily from their two albums, Fiber and Splin ter. They also performed four unreleased songs, two that would be on the album as studio tracks, and the other two as live tracks. The CD will tentatively include the studio songs and live offerings. As The Dirges plunged into their first set, the amplifiers responded with a loud crackling sound. Zim merman and bassist Tom Salamon laughed at each other and shrugged without stopping. Thus began the amp problems plaguing the first set of the night. The amps continued to crackle through the first few songs, and the sound was so loud that it took away from the performance. Luck ily for The Dirges, the problem seemed to soon right itself. "I think we've got the problems worked out," Salamon told the crowd, "Now we can really get started." Then the amps crackled once more, almost defying his remark, before finally settling down. But the band wasn't vexed by the tech nical difficulties, and Salmon said he did not think the recording Friday, Nov. 10, 1995 "We used to breath a sigh of relief when we crossed Atherton." But although Marini said he appreciates the respect people pay to each other's differences on the west end, he added that he is wor ried what will happen when the University begins its West Campus Expansion a plan that will virtu ally wipe out the residential feel of the buildings on the far side of West College Avenue. "It's pretty much going to be redone just so they can pack more students in," Marini said. "I won der where our kind' is going to migrate to." Frontman Eric Zimmerman and the rest of The Dirges recorded for a live CD. would be affected by the noise. "We had some problems," said Salamon. "I don't know what it was. We never figured it out, but we got rid of it." Perhaps the best set was the sec ond. The Dirges began with "Lost Yourself," from their debut album, Fiber. The song showcased an extended solo by drummer Brian "Scooter" Hassinger, and the band seemed to ride a wave of energy through an inspired second set. They ended this set with a song Zimmerman said the audience "could sing along with." As they kicked in to "I Walk Alone," the audience jumped around and sang. By the time The Dirges finished the show, including another go at "I Walk Alone," the crowd screamed for "one more song." And the band obliged, playing "Cry" from Fiber. The crowd responded enthusias tically, the fact that they would be involved with a live recording adding to the excitement. "I'm really excited," said Bill Moore (senior-electrical engineer ing). "I got both the CDs. They're probably the best local band." He said he would probably buy the live album when it was released. "I'm amazed at how well the fans responded," said manager John Myers. Salamon said that when putting together the CD the band would try to use more material from the State College show. "State College is our home," he said. "The more stuff we can use from this show, we will."
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