University of South Carolina Libraries
f; THEY SAID IT MERYL STREEP: “The boy who shot President Reagan to get Story ideas? Questions? Comments? attention was by all accounts Write us at gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com from a happy family. And it destroyed them.” —- - 7 wc Band looks to rule the music scene BY WILLIAM MILLS THE GAMECOCK With a name like King Hippo, it’s hard to know what to expect of this Co lumbia band. Three of its four members crowded into the ^mall WUSC studio on Wednesday and began chatting with the DJs of “Under the Covers,” a weekly show that airs from 6-8 p.m. every Wednesday. They were confident in a reserved way, but loosened up once they started talking about what could be their biggest show ever. Tonight at the Elbow Room, King Hippo, whose name comes from a charac ter in the Nintendo game Mike Tyson’s Punchout, will play with members of The James Brown Horn Section — the very trumpet, trom bone and saxophone ensem ble that backed the Prince of Cool. It was King Hippo’s talent and ticket sales record that led the Elbow Room to set up this one-night-only combi nation — the band usually plays to a full house. Open ing the show will be Charleston’s Double Stack. While the James Brown Horn Section will piay tonight only, King Hippo plans to become a Columbia staple. The four-piece band is made up of Jeff Kozelski on guitars and vocals, Dennis Ware on drums and vocals, Justin Banks on keyboards and Tom Eden on bass. Their jam style fuses jazz, funk and rock into one graceful, yet party-fueling medley. Kozel ski describes their sound as “taking every part of music and combining it into one.” This subtle combination of styles creates an atmosphere of good-time euphoria. Melodic grooves on songs such as “Crown,” from the band’s 2000 release Friday Night, can induce a trance like state. Its jam band sound is mi nus the monotony plus a drop of high-octane rock. Whaling guitar work shines through on almost every track, showcasing Kozelski’s talent. His vocals, though infre quent, also add a polished feel to the music. Little needs to be said when a bassist like Tom Eden, a USC graduate, makes his instrument speak. The lead is also picked up by Banks, a new addition to the band. The more jazzy feel is most apparent in the beats and fills of drummer/vocal ist Ware. A long list of influences paves the way for the well rounded music of King Hip po, including The Beatles, Frank Zappa, Trey Anasta cio, The Greatful Dead and countless other jazz bands. King Hippo’s intricate guitar solos and funked-out jazz ex emplify the prevelance of these influences in their playing. Friday Night is a nine track funkfest, great for grooving to in the car. The CD can be found at any Man ifest Disc location as well as at their shows. The band’s next album is in the works and will have the addition of keyboard. WHO:King Hippo with The James Brown Horn Section WHERE: The Elbow Room, 812 Harden St. WHEN: Friday, Sept. 14 at 11p.m. COST: $7 Though King Hippo fre quents the Elbow Room, oth er venues are catching on to their talent. They will be playing at the Battle of the Bands at New Brookland Tavern on Oct. 11. Banana Joe’s is also bringing in the King on Oct. 17. Other local bands that King Hippo could be seen playing with in the ♦ HIPPO, SEE PAGE 7 PlayStation2 game beats competition BY ANTHONY EVANS THE GAMECOCK Gran Turismo has long been con sidered the epitome of racing games. The third installment in the series, Gran Turismo 3, continues that legacy, meeting nearly all expecta tions. This version has done away with the used-car feature, making it the version with the fewest cars, even though it of fers more than 100 models. The soundtrack features such no table artists as Jimi Hendrix, Motley Crue and Snoop Dogg. Unfortunately, though, vou can’t upgrades weren't enough, players now have the option of buying an actual steering wheel and pedals for $100, a purchase most say height ens the experience of the game ten fold. The game offers beginner, ama teur, professional, rally and en durance events in simulation mode. The main differ ences in the levels be tween beginner and professional are the difficulty (obviously), prizes and number of laps. Once players com plete a series or cup, they are awarded money and a random car. Some cars can only be obtained this way. The rally races are based on many of the World Rally Circuit adjust the game's audio enough to courses. Gran Turismo 3 has cer hear the music above the whine of tainly taken it up a notch here, as the engine. well as in the endurance mode. These complaints are minor, In that mode, you can race for however, when you consider the more than an hour, sometimes two. game's precision. Though this might sound ex As if the amazing graphics, smooth game play and multiple car ♦ TURISMO, SEE PAGE 7 ab°ut Zt%ct%kZ*uc*se Says contract amounts to ‘indentured servitude’ LOS ANGELES (AP) - A day after telling the Legisla ture a law locking musicians into recording contracts amounts to indentured servitude, Courtney Love took her case to Los Angeles Superior Court. Love, who founded the band Hole, is trying to break her contract with Vivendi Universal. She has delivered only two of the seven albums she promised when she signed with Geffen Records in 1992. Geffen was later sold to MCA, and after subsequent corporate shuffling, Love found herself signed with Vivendi Universal, the world’s biggest record com pany. Love is among a number of recording artists seeking to break contracts and have the freedom to negotiate less restrictive deals to capital ize on their success. Both sides delivered ar guments during Thursday’s hearing before Judge Fu miko Wasserman. "We’re with a company we didn’t want to do busi ness with," said Love’s at torney, Barry Cappello, re ferring to the sale of her con tract to Vivendi. A lawyer for Vivendi Uni versal countered that Love’s initial contract with Geffen is enforceable. Attorney Rus sell Frackman also chal lenged her constitutional challenge to a 1987 amend ment exempting musicians from the state’s labor laws. Wasserman took the ar guments under submission and said he would issue a ruling before an Oct. 17 sta tus conference. In a legislative hearing Wednesday in Sacramento, several recording artists, in cluding Love, Don Henley and LeAnn Rimes, painted pictures of a mega-industry that locks in hungry, naive Courtney Love, who founded the band Hole, wants to break her recording contract and go independent, photo SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK. artists with contracts that bind them for their entire ca reers. Hollywood halts after terrorism Some movie, TV releases involved scenes of attacks LOS ANGELES (AP) - Real life terrorism has led Hollywood execu tives to postpone at least two movies and consider rescheduling other films and TV shows that involve ter rorist plots against Americans. NBC announced it would push back the start of its new fall TV sea son, set to begin Monday, at least one week, regardless of the show content. Other networks were considering similar delays. Warner Bros, will indefinitely postpone the release of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s latest film, Col lateral Damage, in which a terror ist bombs a Lps Angeles skyscraper. It was to have debuted Oct. 5. The Tim Allen comedy Big Trou ble, in which one scene involves a bomb on a plane, was also pulled from its Sept. 21 release by Disney’s Touchstone Pictures. Both studios said they acted out of respect for victims of the terror attacks Tuesday in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. "Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by this terrible tragedy," Touchstone spokeswoman Vivian Boyer said. Warner Bros, said it would re trieve all commercials, posters and ads for Collateral Damage and dis connect its Web site, all of which fea ture phony newspaper headlines about the fictional attack. Meanwhile, Sony Pictures re moved a trailer from theaters and the Internet for the adventure Spi der-Man because of a scene in which a helicopter carrying fleeing robbers gets trapped in a giant spider web strung between the two towers of the World Trade Center. The sequence was created only for the ad and not for the film, which debuts May 3, Sony spokeswoman Susan Tick said. Even the new Internet game Ma jestic, an interactive mystery in volving conspiracies and bombings, was suspended. "Given the recent national tragedy, we feel that some of the fic tional elements in the game may not-, be appropriate at this time," said , statement by creator Electronic Arts. As for television, ABC canceled a showing Saturday of the movie The Peacemaker, about nuclear terror ists, and replaced it with the ro mance Hope Floats. Fox replaced broadcasts of The X Files movie Friday and the film In dependence Day on Sunday with the comedies Nine Months and Mrs. Doubtfire, respectively, spokesman Scott Grogin said. Fox feared such scenes could dis turb many viewers. "We’re looking at programming that is more family oriented so people can watch it to gether," Grogin said. On one Fox drama just s' months ago, the World Trade Cen ter was threatened. The premiere of the series The Lone Gunmen fea tured a U.S. government plot to boost arms sales by crashing an air liner into one of the towers, then blaming terrorists. Scenes from the cockpit showed the struggle to disengage the plane’s suicidally programmed navigation al system. The plane managed to clear the tower by inches. The Lone Gunmen was quickly canceled. But among the new crop of shoot-’em-up series in the fall TV season, which starts Monday, are three — ABC’s Alias, CBS’ The Agency and Fox’s 24—that deal with terrorism at war with the CIA. One story line in 24 involves a tei rorist blowing up a passenger plane. On the premiere of The Agency, ter rorists plot to blow up the London department store Harrods. Promos for those shows may be withheld. "We’re taking this one day at a time," Grogin said. Do viewers still have an appetite for violent escapism? "All this time, we’ve been conjur ing with this deck of violent images. ♦ HOLLYWOOD, SEE PAGE 7