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6 ^ THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, July 14, 2004® ^ ™CTUS MIX OSCAR WILDE:“Experien«^onefok^you E-mail us at gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu J_LX I J XT X11 X can’t get for nothing." PHOTO BY MELISSA WALLACE/THE GAMECOCK After recent renovations, the Art Bar is looking to become a live-music staple on the Columbia scene. BY MEGAN TREACY THE GAMECOCK The Art Bar recently underwent renovations and is preparing to be come a mainstay in the Columbia music scene. The Art Bar will play host to two bands for a $2 “starving musician do nation” every Saturday night. The first show July 10 featuring Yama and Bolt saw a packed house of 250 people. “It was great to see so many peo ple out. People are excited about the changes at the bar,” weekend talent buyer Marty Fort said. The changes consist of a larger stage in the main room and a second stage in the lounge that is backed by a wall of video screens. “It’s the kind of atmosphere you would find in a big city bar with its contemporary aesthetics,” Fort said. “A lot of bands, really credible acts like Danielle Howie, are specif ically requesting to perform on the lounge stage.” Other changes, with the help of Jam Room Studios owner Jay Matheson, have been made to add to the sound quality of the perform ances, including additional PA sys tems and monitors in each room and a sound man hired for the Saturday shows. Fort says this change is a per manent one and the stages are booked every weekend well into October. While most of the bands be ing booked are local, the bar has also confirmed a couple of national acts including Eleni Mandell and The Starvations, both based out of Los Angeles, and regional act Teen Wheat from Atlanta. Fort hopes this will bring the Columbia music scene “new oppor tunities for artists and an alterna tive place to go on Saturday nights for the audience.” “It’s no secret that Columbia is short on desirable live music ven ues, the recent closing of Sundance being yet another loss. We at Art Bar felt it was time to step up and help fill the void, giving musicians and fans another option,” assistant man ager Tim Bedford said. Art Bar will continue to hold its historic Sunday music festivals and continue to be a free nightlife option during the rest of the week. Other notable upcoming perform ances include Danielle Howie with 19 August 14, and the Art Bar hosts a singer-songwriter showcase with a lineup of 11 performers Saturday. The show starts at 8:30 p.m. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockfeatures@gwm. sc. edu %\ Surf Yourself 1 Uck $h>? | »rwv^ijy$am*oo<* - Get more information or check out upcoming ©a**, performancesatwww.artbarsc.com OPIN’ TO CALIFORNIA^ M SECOND IN A POUR-PART SERIES 9__J Let’s recap: I left my quaint Fort Mill, S.C., water ing hole for the plastic-sur gery Valhalla that is California. At the end of the first day, I ended up in a Hampton Inn without the sleazy vibrating bed I had dreamed of. Like the first day, I had a seemingly reasonable goal in mind: Albuquerque. In my _ simple brain, I as sumed that since I had gone a third of the way on the first day, I could do the same the next day. My dad’s words nasueu uauK iu me as i ieu Little Rock in the early morning hours of May 13: “I j drove 16 hours straight once, and I don’t remember half of it.” Naturally, I shrugged his tale off as impending senili ty. “I’m 20 years old,” I thought. “If I can handle three hours of ‘Meet Joe Black,’-1 can handle any thing.” Oklahoma was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Fields of swaying grains stretched into every horizon. I don’t think I’ll ever forget coasting up a gentle hill and feeling the innate sense of openness just be yond it. I exited 1-40 as my eyes tried to consume what I saw: empty space, with dis tant storm clouds telling of possible tornadoes, cut by a single road flanked with lonely trees beginning in front of me. I left before the silence bade me to stay. Before I knew it, I was at Oklahoma City around lunchtime. The only thing I could think to go see was the OKC Memorial. I won’t try to describe it. Just take four days, get in a car and go see it yourself. Whoever designed it encap sulated the quiet of Oklahoma’s plains into the still-standing foundation of the federal building, and no amount of my nonsense can tell you what it feels like to stand there. A few hours into the after noon, my dad’s words came back to bite me. Sitting here two months later, I don’t re member much between Oklahoma and New Mexico. I remember that any excuse to get off the road was always welcome, including getting gas, eating at various Cracker Barrels, stopping at rest stops, pulling off the road to snap pictures, and fighting off the abusive hitch hikers I so kindly didn’t run over. A great thrill for me was crossing into another state. Texas loomed like a 64-ounce steak, and soon I was in Amarillo at 3 p.m. with a grave decision to make. ♦ GOIN’, SEE PAGE 7 STEVEN VAN HAREN Second-year mechanical engineering student