The Daily Collegian
‘Spamalot’ brings quest to Happy Valley
By Hannah Rishel
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Taunting Frenchmen who cata
pult cows and a killer rabbit made
their appearance in Happy Valley
Tuesday night.
The national tour of Monty
Python's “SPAMALOT” per
formed the Tony award-winning
musical last night to a packed
Eisenhower Auditorium. A second
performance will be held tonight
at 7:30 in the same venue.
The musical, based on the cult
classic film “Monty Python and
the Holy Grail,” stays true to the
movie, including famous scenes
like the Black Knight who gets his
limbs cut off, with splashy musical
numbers thrown in.
Some of these musical numbers
played off original jokes, like “I Am
Not Dead Yet,” while others broke
down the fourth wall, having the
actors sing to the audience direct-
Bar aims to revive original music
By Josh Bollinger
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Shifting trends in State College
have resulted in the death of the
original music scene with little
room for regrowth, local music
enthusiasts say.
One reason? There’s not a
demand for it, said Maria Agresti,
general manager of the 797
Lounge and host of a morning
radio show on 105.9/106.9 Qwik
Rock. Agresti said original bands
don’t last long in State College
because they simply aren’t mak
ing any money.
Much of the time, students
want to go to clubs to hear club
music, she said, but the 797
Lounge is trying to bring original
music back to State College with
its “Local Bands” series that runs
at 10 p.m. on Wednesday nights.
There’s a $3 cover and only peo
ple ages 21 and older are admit
ted.
Agresti said the quality of origi
nal music is better than some
thing on the radio.
“I don’t think someone can
cover someone else’s song as
good as they can,” Agresti said.
“If I want to hear Slipknot, I want
to go to a Slipknot show”
Original reggae band RT and
The Earthtones has been playing
in State College since 1985 and is
tonight’s featured local band at
the 797 Lounge.
Bandleader Rodney “RT”
Thompson said the group plays
some covers during its shows
because reggae doesn’t get much
radio play.
“It’s a little more different for
us than a rock band or alternative
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ly, like “The Song That Goes Like
This,” which pokes fun at tradi
tional musicals.
Penn State alumna Caroline
Bowman returned to Happy Valley
as the Lady of the Lake, who gives
King Arthur the sword Excalibur,
making him king of Britain. She
then helps him on his quest to find
the Holy Grail, appearing to him in
times of need and falling in love
with him in the process.
Bowman s fellow cast members
paid tribute to her alma mater,
and played to the State College
crowd, by working in a “We Are...
Penn State” cheer into one of the
scenes, that was met with a round
of applause from the audience.
Tessa Croft, who had seen
“Monty Python and the Holy
Grail” a few times before attend
ing the musical, said the Lady of
the Lake was her favorite charac
ter.
“It's pretty cool whenever she
“I understand that we’re a town that runs on
football and beer, but we’re also a town that
has a lot of talent around here.”
band because their music is on
the radio,’’ Thompson said.
“We’re playing stuff that people
would never hear unless they
hear a live reggae band.”
Thompson said it doesn’t mat
ter if it’s a cover or an original
tune that he’s playing just as
much feeling and passion go into
it. He said the band puts its own
spin on covers it performs by
changing endings or by segueing
back and forth between different
songs.
But Thompson said the bottom
line for him is that it's all about
the music and showing the crowd
a good time by coercing them to
dance and enjoy his band's music.
“They dance their way out of
their constrictions; forget about
their problems and stuff for the
evening,” Thompson said. “They
can always pick them up on the
way out.”
Songwriters Club President
Brian Walker said it’s sad there's
such a lack of original music in
town.
“I understand that we’re a town
that runs on football and beer, but
we’re also a town that has a lot of
talent around here." Walker (sen
ior-psychology) said.
Walker said cover bands take
away from the artistic aspect of
what a band should be, but the
exception is when bands like RT
and The Earthtones toy with the
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appears,” Croft (sophomore-ele
mentaiy education) said.
Stephen Trippett, a Monty
Python fan, also thought the Lady
of the Lake was an interesting
character. She is only mentioned
in passing in “Monty Python and
the Holy Grail,” but never makes
an appearance.
“I was worried they’d follow
the movie too faithfully,” Trippet, a
State College resident, said.
Scott Singer, also a State
College resident, said that he was
a little leery going into the show as
a Monty Python fan, but the show
exceeded his expectations.
“It was definitely far better than
I thought it would be," he said.
Croft said her favorite parts
of the show were when the entire
cast sang together, such as
the Vegas-inspired “Knights of
the Round Table” number
when Arthur and his knights
arrive in Camelot and the "Find
song and make it their own.
Walker said it’s harder for an
original band to get a gig around
town than a cover band, because
bars are fearful of not getting
enough business and losing
money.
But Walker said the blame
shouldn’t be pointed at just the
bars it’s the community’s fault
as well.
“The best way to make this
local music scene work is to not
look out for oneself, but to look out
for others,” Walker said.
He said the local music scene
could thrive again if bars, stu
dents, community members and
student music organizations get
together to discuss the problems
and share possible solutions.
“If everyone could get together
and actually bother to listen to
each other, it could work out,”
Walker said.
“But practically, that’s not
going to happen.”
To e-mail reporter: tjbs267@psu.edu
If you go
What: RT and The Earthtones
Where: 797 Lounge
When: 10 p.m. tonight
Details: Must be 21 or older
tiO.' Lfrtoveriits
The Mayor gets slapped in the face by fish in the “Fisch Schlapping
Song,” the opening song in Monty Python’s musical “SPAMALOT.”
Your Grail Finale-Medley” closing classic “Always Look on the Bright
song. After the actors took their Side of Life.”
bows, they led the audience in
a sing-along of the Monty Python To e-mail reporter: hmrso27@psu.edu
Brian Walker
senior-psychology
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SOMA to feature
diverse performers
By Sarah Becks
FOR THE COLLEGIAN
Students Organizing the
Multiple Arts (SOMA) hopes stu
dents are interested in an event
where they can see guitarists,
singers, poets, stand-up comedi
ans and maybe even jugglers
all in the same place
SOMA is hosting an open mic
night at 7 tonight at Waring Study
Lounge in West Commons.
“We allow anything and every
thing. If you can perform it,
you’re welcome to show up,”
SOMA Vice President Bill
Nechamkin said.
Sign-up is at 7 p.m. and per
formances begin at 8 p.m. The
open mic night is open to anyone
and is a way to have fun while
showing off talents, Nechamkin
said.
This is the first open mic night
of the semester, but it has been a
long tradition of SOMA.
The club has had an open mic
night about once a month since it
began, Nechamkin (senior-infor
mation sciences and technology)
said.
The purpose of an open mic
night is to give people an oppor
tunity to express their creativity
in front of an audience and have a
good time doing it, chairwoman
and host Amanda Earle (junior
psychology) said.
“I’m hoping the open mic night
will showcase a lot of unknown
talent that exists at Penn State,”
Because of the variety of acts that
Wednesday, Sept. 29,2010 I 7
show up at open mic nights
including magicians, rappers and
even ventriloquists it’s always
a fun event to go to with friends,
Nechamkin said.
“Personally, I’m hoping we get
some jugglers. We always had
jugglers show up my freshman
year,” Nechamkin said.
SOMA also plans on putting
spins on the open mic nights.
“We will even be hosting
themed open mic nights, includ
ing a Halloween one and our infa
mous ‘Find Your SOMA’te’ Open
Mic/ Date Auction for Valentine’s
Day,” Earle said.
Nick Miller (sophomore-film)
performed at an open mic night
last year.
“The most important element
of the open mic nights is that
when you perform you’re not
really looking to gain anything,”
he said. “You go there to learn
and share your talents.”
Performers can also perform
original songs if they want to get
their work out there.
“It’s an absolutely great expe
rience to perform and then listen
to feedback from people in the
audience who are usually fellow
performers,” Miller said.
SOMA gives students at Penn
State opportunities, such as the
open mic night, by involving arts
of all kinds into their events,
Earle said.
“Our club held some really
great events, such as the We Are
Scientists concert, Arts Crawl
and many more,” Earle said.