Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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This Week in USC History Dec. 5, 1988 - There was a Picasso exhibit at McKissick Museum as part of USC’s celebration of the Year of the Arts. Redefining Spring Break ■ Alternative Spring Break gives students service opportunity by Kelly Hamilton The Gamecock Though many USC students plan to spend spring break relaxing, partying and drinking, a group of volunteers will instead participe in the Alternative Spring Break program oiganized by students in conjunction with the. Office of Community Service. According to Tim Miller, from the Office of Community Service, there will be three dif ferent trips this year. “I think all-of them will be great experiences. Each site was selected by a student and will be planned and run by these student leaders. They confirmed the sites, set a budget...it’s all student-initiated.” Miller said the program includes sites in Florida, Massachussetts and Kentucky. “Two students who are interested in the en vironment will be leading a trip to the St. Johns Water Management District in Sorrento, Fla. They will be participating in a restoration program in the forests and wetlands. It’s a good way to learn about the ecosystem,” Miller said. Students going to Richmond, Ky., a trip or ganized by senior Rob Jones, will work with Habitat For Humanity on housing construction projects. Students from other universities will T think all of them will be great experiences. Each site was selected by a student and will be planned and run by these stu dent leaders. They confirmed the sites, set a budget..it’s all student-initiated. * Tim Miller, member of the Office of Community Service also be involved in the project, which aims to build several homes during the week. Students traveling to Rutland, Mass., will help with Heifer Project International, an or ganization that focuses on issues of hunger and poverty. Participants do bam and farm work and will attend educational sessions. There, they will learn about sustainable farming and devel opment, discussing possible solutions to hunger, such as animal agriculture. Debra Hackney, a graduate assistant and member of the Alternative Spring Break Ad visory Board, said she has gone on many trips Service see rage 9 •-—- .- m—wwaBBaaamaBa . - -_as 3 as ■ Amy Goulding The Gamecock Manifest Discs and Tapes is known for its wide selection of music — just as the ‘90s was known for its eclectic mix of music genres. Decade shows music’s variety by Zeina Makky The Gamecock Yes, the ’90s are over, but it will perhaps be remembered as the most eclectic decade in music. Every genre had its share of success on the charts. In the early ’90s, the grunge ex plosion, fueled by Nirvana, put Seat tle on the music map. Grunge soon became mainstream and paved the way for bands like Alice In Chains, Hole and Pearl Jam. Gloom was the mood and greasy hair the fashion, until Kurt Cobain committed sui cide in April 1994. In Europe, there were hopes or finding the ultimate British band that could be the new Beatles. That’s why newspapers like the New Musical Express and the Melody Maker dubbed many bands “the best new band in Britain.” British pop was re born, but it wasn’t until Oasis’ phe nomenal success that it became a worldwide “event.” Oasis rose to the top of the charts in England in just six months, and • their pseudo-war with rival Blur made the UK the center of music again. Bands like Elastica, Echobelly, Sleep er and Supergrass achieved success, and the charts were packed with new or formerly underground bands. But like most movements, it soon died, as Britpop figureheads achieved mega worldwide success before letting us all down with poor song writing. However, Britpop wasn’t the on ly thing of interest going on in the Motherland. There was this new thing called trip-hop, a hip-hop/pop-soul hybrid. Massive Attack brought it in to the limelight, although it wasn’t called trip-hop at the release of their first album “Blue Lines.” In France, during the second part of the ’90s, die dance scene boomed, following the British sensation that brought bands like Chemical Broth ers, Underworld and Aphex Twin to the forefront of dance music. French DJs were becoming more and more popular, perhaps aided by the fact that the few lyrics they had were usu ally sung in English. Laurent Gamier and Daft Punk hit it big, and Air even collaborated with U.S. director Sophia Coppola for her debut film, “The Viigin Sui cides.” Here in the United States in the mid-’90s, something rather un usual happened — a song with the f-word in the chorus was on heavy rotation on MTV. Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” was a big hit for Trent Reznor and placed his “Downward Spiral” album on the charts. What came after him was pro tege Marilyn Manson, who redefined shock rock. With makeup like Kiss, an androgynous style and mu sic mixing NIN, goth-rock and glam rock, he not only became a famous artist but also a media scapegoat, ac cused of influencing teenagers to committing crimes (the Columbine incident, among others). Rap and hip-hop had big issues, losing gangsta rap icons like Biggie Smalls and 2Pac to drive-by shoot ings. Unfortunately, after Small’s death, friend, producer and Bad Boy Records boss Puff Daddy, stepped in to the limelight with an awful trib ute song and made money with his bad rapping. So it goes. Female rock was also alive and kicking. Three women ruled the singer-songwriter world — natu rally eccentric Tori Amos, with songs about masturbating in church; PJ Harvey, from England, made her own kind of dry-rock, raw and naked; and Bjork, who is probably the ulti mate female vocalist of the ’90s. Yet one genre clearly dominat ed the charts during the second half of the ’90s. Indeed, most people will remember this decade as being the teenage pop explosion. On one hand, there were the Spice Girls, Britneys, Jessicas and Chritinas in the girlie pop world. Then there’s N’Sync, the Backstreet Boys and 98 degrees in the boy band realm. Pop culture got worse in the ’90s; music lost the quality of indi viduals. Everything sounds pretty much the same, with Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, 98 degrees, the Backstreet Boys, N’Sync,” public relations sophomore Melinda Finu can said. “’80s music was more fun — people dressed weird but had more fun with words. Now that you can say anything in your songs, it loses a certain poetic value,” she said. The spotlight desk can be reached at gamecockspotlight@hotmail.com. 20 years later, Ernie Ellis still keeps USC safe by Jason Harmon The Gamecock Ernest Ellis, director of USC’s Division of Law En \JH||||j|P forcement and p Safety, sees a clear reason be hind his career path. “I guess I’ve always been in terested in helping people,” he says. Ellis, 50, is in his third year as director at USC, which he sees as his final stop in a 30-year career in law enforcement. A native of Greenville, S.C., Ellis is a graduate of the FBI Na tional Academy and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Cen ter. He served in the FBI and with SLED before arriving at USC in 1580. As assistant director, Ellis im mediately began working on im proving campus safety, assisting then-director Carl Stokes in get ting more burglar and fire alarm systems installed. The original systems were in stalled by outside vendors, Ellis says. He says he worked to get the department to cut costs by hav ing officers install the systems. After being promoted to asso ciate director in 1985, Ellis was ap pointed director in 1998. He says vast changes have been made since he first arrived in Columbia. “We’ve moved from being a de partment of night watchmen to be ing a fully functioning department with national recognition,” he says. The department was accredit ed in 1996 by the Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies and was one of the first 12 campus law enforcement agen cies in the nation to be so honored, Ellis says. “[Accreditation] has really helped us improve our standing in the community,” Ellis says. The process requires the department to comply with some 400 standards, resulting in a “very well informed and very organized department,” Ellis says. Ellis says he has also seen changes in the staff’s relationship to the community. “Twenty years ago, the police staff was considerably more senior. Now we have a much younger and more educated staff,” Ellis says. “It has helped to-increase the communication between the de partment and the students.” Ellis’ main goal is for the cam Elus SEE PAGE 9 Barenaked Ladies deliver average CD by Zeina Makky The Gamecock OUT OF * ☆ ☆ ☆ Barenaked Ladies, a Toronto based quintet, have released their fifth album, “Maroon.” Their current hit single “Pinch Me” might have been heard on the radio, or perhaps fans have seen the music video. It’s representative of the album to a certain extent — radio-friendly tunes, mainstream pop/rock and use lessly over-layered guitars. Lead vocalist Steven Page does a good job at not sounding the same all the time, and sometimes his voice is like The Housemartins’ Paul Heaton, but Page lacks the latter’s moving soul and depth. The opening track is one of the most annoying, owing to its unbear able riff. Many times, the songs start with at least an interesting intro but are spoiled within the following 30 , seconds. The album gets better toward the end with “Off the Hook” and the last two songs. “Off the Hook” doesn’t have an Special to The Gamecock Barenaked Ladies give an average showing in “Maroon.” “overdosed” melody, and the music is better when it’s turned down a lit tle. Overall', “Maroon” is a pretty messy album, with a not-so-subtle sense of humor (“Sell Sell Sell” with its Mexican rhythm and guitar verges on ridicule). The lyrics are average, just like the album that will still prob ably do well in the charts. The spotlight desk can be reached at gamecockspotiight@hotmail.com. What’s Happening WEDNESDAY, DEC. 6 ART BAR, NUVIBE BLUE MARTINI, Skipp Pearson and Jazzology DELANEY’S, Joal Rush DIANNE’S ON DEVINE, Ross Holmes ELBOW ROOM, Royal 7 GOLD RUSH, Open mic night w/Rick Stevens JAMMIN’ JAVA, Robert Gardiner Quar tet MAC’S ON MAIN, The 4th Element MONTERREY JACK’S, Lee Barbour Quintet NEW BROOKLAND TAVERN, Dash board Confessional, Hotrod Circuit, Mid town, Newfound Glory ZORBA’S, Tevfik Alici (Turkish mu sic) THURSDAY, DEC. 7 ART BAR, Motion Rotation with DJ Jean NEW BROOKLAND TAVERN, Thomas Reed Band ELBOW ROOM, Erector Set JAMMIN’ JAVA, John Cox FRIDAY, DEC. 8 ART BAR, The Art Bar Players ELBOW ROOM, Five Why Friday HUNTER-GATHERER, Tantrums HEMINGWAY’S, Captain Cook & The Coconuts. NEW BROOKLAND TAVERN, Verna Cannop JAMMIN’ JAVA, Phil Norman SATURDAY, DEC. 9 JAMMIN’ JAVA, ZuZu’s Petal with Brandon Whlden ELBOW ROOM, Blue Dogs WUSC Top 30 For the week of Dec. 6 1. Roni Size- In the Mode 2. Add N to (X)- Add Insult to Injury 3. PJ Harvey- Stories from the City 4. Pennywise- Live 5. V/A- Badlands 6. Dirty Beatniks- Feedback 7. Oneida- Come on Everybody, Let’s Rock 8. Less than Jake- Borders and Bound aries | 9. Twilight Circus Dub Sound System Dub Plates Vol. 2 10. Elysian Fields- Queen of the Mead ow 11 .Johnny Cash- American in 12. The Minders- Down in the Fall 13. Euphone- Hashin ’ it Out 14. Mouse on Mars- Instrument 15. V/A- Fifty 16. The Bevis Frond- Valedictory Songs 17. Jason Trachtenburg- Revolutions Per Minute 18. Slaves on Dope- Inches.. 19. Dressy Bessy- CalifomiaEP 20. Kreidler- S/T 21. Joesph Arthur- Live at the Gypsy Room 22. Mountain Goats- The Comer’s Gam- $ bit 23. Guru’s Jazzamatazz- Street Soul 24. Blackeyed Peas- Bridging the Gap 25. Versus- Hurrah 26. Silver Scooter- GoodbyeEP 27. David Holmes- Bow Down to the Exit Sign 28. Magnetophone- I GUess Sometimes... 29. Jejune- RIP 30. Alutnirium Group- Pelo Campus Notes Peer Leader applications ^ being accepted The University 101 office will be ac cepting applications on a rolling ba sis for fall 2001 peer leaders until Jan. 22 at 5 p.m. For more informa tion or to pick up an application, con tact the office at 777-3801 or 777 1941. Shakespeare Company to perform ‘Lion in Winter’ The South Carolina Shakespeare Company will be presenting “Lion in Winter” by James Goldman on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8 p.m. Admission is $5 for students, $8 for senior citizens and $10 for the general public. ^ Free champagne will be provided following the show.