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. THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, November 9, 2001 6 _ _ TTT1 11 /TTT7 they said it I_I ■ J 1 II / I I mf NANCY COEY: “When work, CONTACT US I I M . 1/1 I \ commitment and pleasure all 1 1 I ■ / ■ ■ / become one and you reach that Story ideas? Questions? Comments? I I I k I W 11/ deep well where passion lives, Write us atgamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com ■ ■ f ■ m nothing is impossible.” Stephen Malkmus: BACK FOR THE FIRST TIME BY DAVID JACK DANIELS THE GAMECOCK Former Pavement front man, Stephen Malkmus, and his band, the Jicks, are coming to Columbia in promotion of his new album, Stephen Malkmus. In the beginning in the ‘90s, Malkmus articulated the listless humming of disenchanted rock fans and, like Michael Stipe of R.E.M.before him, further tight ened the gap between math nerds and bleary-eyed punk rockers. ^ He is an ambassador for American underground music, which, depending how close you are to the center of the earth, seems less stuffy these days, and serves as a big brother to many — a hip guidance councilor for di sheveled admirers all over the world. Some tans approacn MaiKmus with the same nervous admiration as Catholics would the Pope. But Malkmus responds to the praise of his creative harvest, a decade’s worth of nose-dripping brilliance, the same way Lou Reed would if he were thanking a small town wel coming committee for a Piggly Wiggly Christmas fruit basket. His aloof but harmless de meanor is best illustrated by a re cent account in Spin magazine of his reply to a fan that approached him with the often-heard accolade, “Your first album changed my life.” Malkmus responded with a deadpan, but facetious, “What about the second one?” The first one, Pavement’s Slanted and Enchanted, is regarded as a rock masterpiece, and was pro claimed “Best Album of The Year” by Spin in 1992. Whenever he is in the press, the prevailing impression rendered is one of unaffected, but seemingly Malkmus and his band, the Jicks, will play Uncle Doctor’s on Friday, photo special to the GAMECOCK unobtainable, coolness. This “for the subterranean in-crowd only” stigma bred an entire generation of self-conscious and judgmental music snobs in the ’90s, who con stantly worried about their street credibility, and trampled over one another in a seething race to be the first kid on the block with the ul tra-rare, limited to 378 pressing, Holland import record, which would feature something like the elusive song, “Swedish Meatball,” theme from an obscure 1930s Russian porno.” Though Pavement never re leased such a bizarre song, they might as well have. Malkmus thrives on the absurdities of every day life. Much like a Magritte painting, he strings bric-a-brac and ordinarily dull themes into sub lime, messages of hidden, thought provoking beauty. From the Pavement song, “Perfume-V,” Malkmus sings, “Grip-force the vials, strip the locks, smash the set and slash the beds, and when it looks like a wife’s ex-plot, we’ll cov er all the rugs with cheap perfume. Like a docent’s lisp, like a damsel’s spit, like a dry gin’s twist...” Like Bob Dylan, Malkmus hides in the fuzziness of his clever lyri cal puzzles and delivers them with the same indifference as a high school psychopath would, leading his class in a wonderfully flaccid version of the pledge of al legiance. But Malkmus’ music maintains a pop tone that isn’t tainted with the bitter, self-refer ential seriousness that many singer-songwriters over-indulge. He is able to entertain and en lighten the listener solely on his terms. Malkmus isn’t, and never has been, a door-to-door song writer, pleading with you to ♦ MALKMUS, SEE PAGE 2 PLAY PREVIEW Hamlet characters go on ‘comedic journey’ BY AUBREY FOGLE THE GAMECOCK The play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, directed by Karl Rutherford and starring John-Patrick Driscoll and Stephen Cone, is coming to USC’s Longstreet Theatre. Opening tonight at 8 p.m., the play is a comedic look at William Shakespeare’s most critically renowned play, Hamlet, through the eyes of two of the supporting characters. The play, created by Tom Stoppard, Oscar winning author of Shakespeare in Love, pre sents the two title characters who find them selves in the middle of many conflicts. Gloria Hicks, public representative for USC’s Theatre Productions, said the char acters are “caught in the intersection of three worlds: their own, isolated and con fused: Hamlet’s, shown in small glimpses; and the Players [the actor’s characters in Hamlet], where everything is painted pa per, movement and silliness.” The play draws a lot of its appeal from its basis on such a famous play. Marcella Kroeker, second-year MFA acting candi date who plays as part of the Troupe, said, “Everybody that we know had to read Hamlet in high school. If they hate Shakespeare, they still had to read it, and if they love Shakespeare, they’ve probably seen a million versions of Hamlet. This show takes two minor characters in Hamlet and creates an incredible philo sophical discussion and comedic journey... for someone who doesn’t normally go to the theater, it’s gonna be a really funny twist on something they probably had to ♦ PLAY, SEE PAGE 7 Hamlet characters star in their own play, photo SPECIAL TQ.THE GAMECOCK DJs mark fifth year DJs throw party in celebration of Columbia’s club music scene BY JENNIFER BOWEN THE GAMECOCK Ten of the Southeast’s best DJs will celebrate five years to gether as the group 2deep tonight at The Elbow Room. The DJs who comprise this clique have been playing sepa rately and together in Columbia for most of the ’90s. Though they lead very different lives and find it hard to play together, they will come together to culminate five years of trying to keep the club and house party music scene alive in Columbia. The group showcases the differ ent genres of house and club music. Each DJ has his own style and sounds, but they are all joining to celebrate the music they love. “Once a year, we try to throw a big blow out bash with all of us to gether,” said Jason Wilson, a 2deep DJ in charge of promotions. The concert will also include the Second Room Crew. These four DJs --— ■ .. • : are guys who always got put in the back room of clubs. So, rather than trying to make it to the main rooms, they made the second room their home. Now, they prefer it to the main room because it’s where they feel they belong. “That’s where they like it, and they get their crowd out there,” Wilson said. The DJs, including Chris Cue, Joshua, Ryan Cronin, Jason Wilson, Cooney, Timothy Degroot, Jason Paddock, Goldwin and Joey, try to stay true to their music’s jazz roots and old-school sound while being individuals. Joining them will be some drum and bass acts. These acts will play outside. Each will have an hour-and-a-half set, so lots of different sounds will be heard during the evening. Mobile Energy will give a light show. Because Columbia doesn’t usually see this kind of club mu sic, this event attracts many kinds of people. “All the old school people come out. All the young kids come out. It’s a great mingling of crowds,” Wilson said. The show, called the 5th Chapter, will be taped. 2deep hopes to create a compilation CD of the performance and some of the group’s best work. -—— -1 2deep 5th Anniversary When: Friday, Nov. 9 Where: The Elbow Room Time: 10 p.m. Price: $10 771-1502 Listen toyour mind, heart DENISE LEVEREAUX GAMECOCKMIXEDITOR@HOTMAIL.COM Sorry about the lack of a column last week, faithful readers. I had a column written; one I dashed off in a blaze of editorial fury. The only problem was, I sounded like a complete moron and a self-righteous hypocrite. That’s generally not a good thing for a columnist. So, in the interest of saving my sorry butt from looking stupid, my editors decided it would be better if that particular piece of wit didn’t run. I just wanted to thank my editors for saving me from my own stupidity. It probably won’t be the last time. dui, enougn aDoui last weeK. On to the week at hand. I came to college expecting to change. I expected to leave behind everything I was as a child, and when I came out of the other end four years later, diploma in hand, I would be a grown-up. I expected the great institutions of higher learning to mold me into whatever I was supposed to be. The longer I was in college, I figured, the more “normal” I would become. When I started out, I didn’t know what —or who—I was supposed to be. I just figured that, whatever I was, it was the absolute wrong thing to be, and that college would fix me. It’s not entirely my fault for thinking I was in the wrong, though. I would get caught writing science fiction, fantasy and fan fiction in math class. The teacher would confiscate my work, glance at it with a look of disgust on her face and refuse to give it back. A couple of hours later, in a different class, the assistant principal would come and drag me to her office. What followed after that was pretty much always the same: “Denise,” the evil assistant principal would say, “why do you waste your time writing this crap?” I wnuld stand there and sputter something about class being boring. I never would tell her the reason I wrote those things was because it felt like what I was supposed to write. I never would tell her that writing science fiction, horror and anything “out there” was what made me genuinely happy. Judging from her classically unstylish magenta power suit (you know, the kind with the shoulder pads that rival football players’ uniforms) I didn’t think she would get it. And she never did. Neither did any of my other teachers, my high school counselor, the principal or, sometimes, even my friends. So, I graduated and headed off to college, convinced I was wrong and determined to exorcise the crap-writing demon that lived inside my head. I wouldn’t hold back; I would pull out all the stops. I decided to be a business major. If anything can kill undesirable urges, I reasoned, the Moore School of Business could. +Viip U1UU1 ) *■***•' proved too strong for even the vibes that emanated from the B.A. building. I started doing it again at the beginning of this semester — my eyes glazed over, ♦ LEVEREAUX, SEE PAGE 7