The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 14, 2001, Page 6, Image 6
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