Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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This Week in USC History 1995 - USC Junior Robert “Matt” Kim Lawing Jr. died in a automobile accident during the Thanksgiving holi day near his home in Chesnee, S.C. Houseplant runs for office ■ by Erin O’Neal The Gamecock On April 26 in Morristown, N.J., filmmak er Michael Moore presented his candidate for the 2000 Senate race in New Jersey’s 11th Dis trict against Republican incumbent, Rodney R Frelinghuysen—a ficus houseplant. “All ficuses running for Congress across the country meet the constitutional qualifica tions: each ficus is at least 25 years old, each has been in the U.S. for at least seven years and each is a resident of the district where it seeks elec tion,” Moore said. Along with this announcement, Moore de clared that ficuses nationwide were campaign ing for congressional seats in districts where in cumbent candidates were met with little or no opposition. Among these districts was the 4th District in Greenville, S.C. In that district, a ficus ran for the House of Representatives against incumbent Republican Jim DeMint, who was elected for a second term on Nov. 7. Carolyn Ballard, Ficus 2000 Campaign Man ager in the 4th District, volunteered in March to take part in Moore’s satirical protest. “I tried to enlist people in [the] effort and got no takers. So, I did the minimum that Moore asked for: buy a ficus tree, take it around and photograph it in front of spots that could be iden tified with the state,” Ballard said. Ballard and her ficus plant made stops at Mi Mart, the Capitol building and the University of South Carolina. Ballard said she had hoped Moore could con vince Hootie and the Blowfish to perform a ben efit concert in honor of the ficus’ congressional bid, but unfortunately the lack of interest and support from Moore kept the Greenville ficus campaign from generating much attention. Though its name didn't appear on the ballot, Moore encouraged voters to write-in “ficus” in protest against incumbent candidates. Interest ingly enough, South Carolina Sen. Strom Thur mond was first elected by tliis method to Con gress in 1954. If a candidate receives more than 25 write in votes, their name may appear independent of die general write-in category. Apparently diere were not enough votes for the ficus plant in the 4th District to separate it from votes for other write-ins. “Unless there were more than 25 write-in votes given to that particular candidate, they are not totaled,” Elections Committee member Michael Cinnamon said. “It would take pages to record votes for all the different write-in votes, like Mickey Mouse or Lou Holtz.” South Carolina and New Jersey weren’t the only states in which these photosynthesizipg can didates placed their bids for a seat in Congress. In fact, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Geor gia, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming all had at least one ficus plant running for public office. The ficus was most noticeable this election in its New Jersey campaign against Frelinghuy sen, a third-time Republican congressman-elect. According to Moore, New Jersey has sent six Frelinghuysens to Congress, including Rep. Frel inghuysen’s father. With the 2000 presidential election still unresolved, perhaps more voters might feel more inclined in the next election to give their sup port to a potted houseplant that needs fresh air, not hot air, to survive in Washington. The spotlight desk can be reached at gamecockspotiight@hotmail.com. Ron Batzdorff Special to The Gamecock The Grinch (Jim Carrey) conspires with dog Max in Universal Pictures’ 2000 release of Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” ‘The Grinch’ remake falls short of original by Chris Wright The Gamecock ft ft ft OUT OF ft ft ft ft Jim Carrey plays the villainous Grinch in Ron Howard’s live-action remake of the classic cartoon and story by Dr. Seuss. Like the problem that plagues all remakes of classic movies, the question of how to surpass the orig inal lies in Howard’s hands. Unfortunately, in spite of Car rey’s comical appearance and jokes, this big budget remake falls short of the wonder of the original. Dr. Suess’s original story cen tered around the citizens, the Whos of the tiny town of Whoville. Their most beloved holiday, Christmas, is approaching, and the town is all abuzz in preparation. The one being who hates Christ mas, the Grinch, lives on a nearby mountain and decides he is tired of their celebrating. Thus, he embarks on a mission to destroy Christmas by robbing the town of all its holi day food, toys and decorations. He soon learns, however, that there is more to Christmas than just gifts. Because the original cartoon is only 26 minutes, Ron Howard had to take certain liberties and add a good bit of content in order, to make it the standard film length of about an hour and a half. He introduced the Mayor of Whoville (Jeffrey Tambor) and the Grinch’s could-have-been child hood sweetheart of Martha May Who-vier (Christine Baranski), as well as characters from the original book and cartoon, like Little Cindy Lou Who (Taylor Momsen). Saturday Night Live castmem ber Molly Shannon did an admirable job as Betty Lou Who, mother to Cindy Lou Who. And, Anthony Hopkins, known for his portrayal of Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs, lent his voice as narrator for the film. Carrey’s antics give a side to the Grinch unseen in the cartoon. When the movie expounds on why the Grinch went to live on the mountain in the first place, he earns enough sympathy that he seems to be a dilferent creature than the one in Dr. Suess’s book and cartoon. The mayor is such a negative character that he, not the Grinch, seems to be the true evil creature of the film. Perhaps that was Howard’s in tent, but it deviated too far from the original. Many of the added parts at Ron Batzdorff Special to The Gamecock tempted to use Suess-like rhymes, which worked for the most part. Overall, the film’s special ef fects were dazzling. The comedy was right on, as Carrey put his heart and soul into being a believable char acter. The biggest problem, in fact, was that he was too convincing. The Grinch seemed to be more human than could be allowed in the story. There’s always a risk when re making a classic, and in this case, the original wasn’t bested. The spotlight desk can be reached at gamecockspotlight@hotmail.com. Yoakum’s album redefines country by Tug Baker The Gamecock -& & OUT OF ☆ ☆ ■& Forget everything you know. Faith Hill is not country. Dwight Yoakum is. Yoakum’s newest album, his 11th, is entitled “Tomorrow’s Sounds Today.” The truth, however, is quite opposite from that title. While most of today’s country music is nothing but warmed-over pop, Yoakum’s approach, as always, is to redefine the music of his coun try ancestors. “Tomorrow’s Sounds Today” is a rambling, honky-tonk album.in fluenced not only by country artists like Hank Williams Sr. and Merle Haggard but also by rock bands like Queen. In the end, though, the album is pure country bliss, songs of heart break and rejection told in the way that only a seasoned country vet eran like Yoakum can. However, the album cover doesn’t prepare listeners for an al bum so drenched in classic coun try. The image of Yoakum, sitting in a futuristic chair, wearing a pink leather cowboy shirt and sur rounded by women with painted speakers on their bare skin, brings to mind memories of David Special to The Gamecock Country singer Dwight Yoakam releases his eleventh album entitled ‘Tomorrow’s Sounds Today.” Bowie’s glam-rock days. And per haps that’s the best description of Dwight Yoakum — he is the glam that country never knew. “Love Caught Up to Me,” “What Do You Know About Love” and “Free to Go” are catchy, rol licking, honky-tonk songs that re ally show off Yoakum’s talent with a tune. However, “For Love’s Sake” slows the honky-tonk down a bit, giving listeners a clue as to what Paul McCartney writing country might sound like. “Time Spent Missing You” is a sad ballad that really conveys the feeling of an endless wait for a lost Yoakum seepages Doors tribute album doesn’t light any fires by Zeina Makky The Gamecock ft ft OUT Of ' ft ft ft ft Paul Ferrara Special to The Gamecock Robbie Krieger, John Densmore, Jim Morrison (deceased) and Ray Manzarek, the original mem bers of The Doors. Here is “Stoned Immaculate: the ' Music of the Doors,” a tribute album that includes some obscure Doors tracks on which the remaining band members collaborated. Many times, tribute albums are pointless, and the cover versions add nothing to the originals or are musi cally inferior to them. And some times, tribute albums can yield in teresting covers or even great versions. “Stoned Immaculate” includes both categories. Good covers include Days of the New’s version of “L.A. Woman,” Perry Farrell & Exene doing “Chil dren of Night” and Tlie Doors doing their own “Under Waterfall,” which is simply divine. Creed is surpris ingly good except when Scott Stapp sings. Thankfully, his voice can hard ly be heard. There are average covers here too — “Touch Me” by Cult front man Ian Astbury and “Love Me Two Times” by Aerosmith. “Wild Child” by goth band The Cult is average as well, but Astbury deserves credit for his amazing voice. But what is really annoying about cover versions is when artists don’t add a single tiling to the original ver sion, merely copying it or just sound ing impersonal. Stone Temple Riots’ “Break on Through” and Smash Mouth’s “Peace Frog” are two prime examples of that. All in all, however, this isn’t a bad tribute album, complete with some original Doors songs. The spotlight desk can be reached at gamecockspotlight@hotmail.com What’s Happening WEDNESDAY. NOV. 29 ART BAR, Coup BLUE MARTINI, Skipp Pearson and Jazzology CROCODILE ROCK’S, Du eling Pianos Ladies Night DECISIONS, Muddy Quar ters DIANE’S ON DEVINE, Ross Holmes ELBOW ROOM, Chupacabra GOLD RUSH, Open Mic with Rick Stevens GROUP THERAPY, Wild Wild Wednesdays JAMMIN JAVA, Robert Gardiner Quartet KNOCK KNOCK CLUB, College Night MACS ON MAIN, The 4th Element MONTERREY JACK’S, Lee Barbour Quintet NEW BROOKLAND TAV ERN, Brother’s Keep PALOMINO CLUB, Karaoke with Tootie SANDRA’S CORNER POCK ET, Rick and Tina’s Karaoke _ ■P ZORBA’S, Tevfik Alici (Turkish Music) THURSDAY. NOV. 30 DELANEY’S, Loch Ness Johnny NEW BROOKLAND TAV ERN, Mandible PAVLOV’S, Rev-7 FRIDAY, DEC. 1 DECISIONS, No Stage Fright Karaoke ELBOW ROOM, Dick Deli cious & The Tasty Testicles PICKIN PARLOR, Bluegrass Jam SATURDAY. DEC. 2 DECISIONS, No Stage Fright Karaoke ELBOW ROOM, Soul Mites with S-Tribe SUNDAY. DEC T DECISIONS, Blues Jam with Brainstorm