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g THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, February 6, 2002 THEY SAID IT t t DAVID LETTERMAN: “The whole coun CONTACT IIS try is experiencing a newfound sense of patriotism. For instance, Puff Story ideas? Questions? Comments? Daddy has changed his name from P. E-mail us at gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Diddy to P. Doodle Dandy.” — mpress i_■ one you love BY ERIC SUTTON THE GAMECOCK This Valentine’s Day is your opportunity to really impress your loved one - but you’re going have to make plans and reservations now. To help you make next week ex tra special, here is a list of top quality fine dining that can go a long way in increasing your chances of landing Cupid’s arrow in the heart of the one you love. Note: Prices listed are esti mates, and wine selection can make a big difference. Try to get reservations or see if the restaurant offers call-ahead seating. This will save you some time. Most of the places listed here will take walk-ins. Times listed mean they’re only letting peo ple sit down at those times. LEXINGTON ARMS 316 W. Main St., Lexington, 359-2700 For Valentine’s Day, Lexington Arms will serve a four-course din ner at $35 per person. VILLA TRONCO 1213Blanding St., 256-7677 Villa Tronco is Columbia’s old est Italian restaurant. It features menu items from both Sicily and Naples, and the wine list is exten sive. Great desserts include a va riety of cheesecakes and tiramisu. As always, Villa Tronco will offer a dinner-for-two package. You can get out of here at around $50 for two. MANGIA MANGIA 100 State St., 791-3443 Mangia Mangia is also an Italian restaurant. Look to spend about $50 per couple. The menu for Valentine’s Day wasn’t definite at press time, but look for raspberry risito on the dessert menu. RESTAURANT 1-2-3 7001 St. Andrews Road, 781-0118 Restaurant 1-2-3 requires a reser vation. The food is continental. According to the chef, it will be very romantic but pricey, about $70 per couple. She recommends the chateau briand. CALIFORNIA DREAMING 401S. Main St., 254 6767 California Dreaming serves American cui sine. It offers call ahead seating and rea sonably priced dinners, for about $40 per couple. This place is big, so if you forget to plan ahead, this is the place to go. THE MELTING POT 1410 Colonial Life Blvd. West, 731 8500 The Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant. It’s fun and romantic, but if you don’t have a reservation yet, start praying. HENNESSY’S 1649 Main St., 799-8280 Stuffed veal chops, steak, seafood, creme brulee ... it sounds pretty good, I know. Hennessy’s is offering a special Valentine’s Day menu, and the prices are reasonable. DIANNE’S 2400Devine St., 254-3535 Dianne’s is another Italian restaurant that’s made a name for itself in the city. For dessert, check out the salty crunch cookie. Plan on spending about $50 for two people. HAMPTON ST. VINEYARD 1207Hampton St., 252-0850 Hampton St. Vineyard offers re ally delicious American selections. It’s doing a five-course dinner for Valentine’s Day. It costs $45 per person, and seatings are at 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. It has received recognition from Wine Spectator magazine for its wine list. CELLARS 108 Columbia Northeast Drive, 736-8865 Cellars serves up continental fine din ing. It holds seatings at 6 p.m., 7 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. For dessert, recommendations include chocolate terrine with raspberry sauce, and the rasp berry cheesecake. GARIBALDI’S 2013 Greene St., 771-8888 Garibaldi’s offers continental and Mediterranean dishes and a lot of fresh seafood. It offers choco late-covered strawberries for dessert. About $60 should get you through the meal. SALUDA’S 751 Saluda Ave., 799-9500 Saluda’s menu is fusion (a type of cooking). The chocolate truffle is rec ommend for dessert. The food and loca tion are nice, but it’s going to cost you about $80 per couple. ✓ WUSC Top Ten Albums FOR THE WEEK OF JAN. 27-FEB. 2 1. “BLOODSPORT” Sneaker Pimps 2. “WASHED UP AND THROUGH THE RINGER’” _ Catch 22 3. “MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE ‘OCEAN’S ELEVEN’” Various Artists 4. “PUSH IT TO THE MAX” EP Zap Mama 5. “I’M WAKING UP TO US” Belle and Sebastian 6. “THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS’ MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK” Various Artists 7. “DEAD MEDIA” _ Hefner 87“A COUPLE OF TRICKS” EP Aphrodite 9 “I AM SAM’ MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK” Various Artists 10. “COME WITH US” Chemical Brothers CD REVIEW Shannon McNally’s powerful voice sends ‘Sparrows’skyward I * ■ JUKEBOX SPARROWS Shannon McNally ★ ★★*1 out of ☆☆☆*☆ BY CARRIE PHILLIPS THE GAMECOCK Remember about eight years ago when, all of a sudden, the world went nuts over a raspy-voiced girl with a guitar singing, “until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard”? She now has a rival. Shannon McNally’s homespun voice immediately evokes visions of Sheryl Crow and back-porch summer days. Her first full-length release, “Jukebox Sparrows,” is a mix of folksy guitar rock and soft piano ballads. The album is hard to classify by genre. Alternative country-rock is probably the most comprehensive way to put it, but the infusions of blues and jazz give the sound a sophistication that transcends simple classification. McNally grew up on Long Island and, until recently, was a denizen of the The song’s simple lyrics are complemented by the raw power of her voice, which has the power of Sheryl Crow, the range of Joni Mitchell and the jazz/blues sensibility of Rickie Lee Jones. coffeehouse scene. Since being signed by Capitol Records, however, she has performed on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien" and is scheduled to perform on David Letterman in March. She is now on tour as the opening act for Five for Fighting. The album’s 11 tracks are a soulful mb of blues, rock and folk. McNally’s lyrics lack pretension but they aren’t simplistic or sophomoric. The album opens with “Down and Dirty,” a blues-infused song that softly chastises her lover: “Don’t you know I love you when you’re down and dirty? Don’t you know I love you when you’re clean.” The song’s simple lyrics are complemented by the raw power of her voice, which has the power of Sheryl Crow, the range of Joni Mitchell and the jazz/blues sensibility of Rickie Lee Jones McNally softens her sound for “I’ll Always Be Around,” in which she sounds like a female Ryan Adams. The lilting vocals in the chorus paired with the cool mix of an organ and steel guitar create an easy country air that’s simply relaxing. “Bitter Blue” and “Now That I Know” continue the easy alternative country feel, but if you listen closely, the overall complexity of the music is awesome. Anyone who can work a toy piano into most of her songs and make it an indispensable part of the sound is incredibly talented. “It Could’ve Been Me” is Nick-Caye eerie; it recounts the tale of a girl who is attacked after having to leave her car on the side of the interstate. While the story is simplistic and the chorus leaves something to be desired technically, her voice’s raw power makes this song worth it. In “Colorado,” McNally puts on her Jones/Tom Waits mantle. The song is simply a showcase for her vocal talents on a backdrop of whispered guitar, piano and strings. In the middle of the song, she switches to spoken word poetry, aging her character and making the song even more powerful. The shimmering guitars of “Bolder than Paradise” and the simple blues balladry of “Bury My Heart on the Jersey Shore” (“Sha la la la la la”) transition nicely into the title track. The song is experimental; spoken word, toy pianos, bongos and a baritone sax create a song as weird and fascinating as anything Waits or Jones have ever done. “Jukebox Sparrows” can be a light little alternative country album or a complex explosion of talent, depending on how you listen to it. Either way, listen! McNally is a formidable new talent, and she promises to blast her way into jukeboxes everywhere. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Stupidity reaches errant heights DAVID STAGG GAMECOCKMIXEDITOR@HOTMAIL.COM Earlier this week, I managed to attain a new height in stupidity. The ever-reaching ladder of folly had kindly lent me a new rung on which to climb. I’d like to say I did something else; something I wouldn’t have a problem admitting to (insert friend’s name here) when I had the imminent “How was your day?” conversation. FRIEND: So what did you do today? ME: Well, you’ll never believe what happened to me. Remember that fake ID I bought last weekend? FRIEND: Of course, my aunt paid for it. ME: Right, well, I went down to Five Points in hopes ot making use of my newfound freedom, only to have the waiter question me as to whether it was mine. FRIEND: That bad of an ID? ME: No, it’s just that, as it turns out, their bartender had lost his ID a week ago, and the guy we bought it from had stolen it from him. FRIEND (attempting a concerned look, only to be overridden by sputtered laughter): Dude, that is terrible. ME: It gets worse. The guy had a warrant out for his arrest. At least that story has some incident of helplessness on my part. I couldn’t help some of the coincidences that ensued, and therefore, part of the story was nut nf nnntrnl But not this time. No, my stupidity was exceeded only by its intention (or lack thereof). It was eatfy in the morning (at least for a college student), and I was parked in my garage spot, reading a textbook chapter I definitely should have read the night before. But for some reason or another (mainly my practicing dance steps in my attempt to hit the big time on MTV’s Becoming O-Town), I had put it off. When I realized it was time for me to make my cross-campus trek, I simply got out, locked the door, moved around to the backdoor of the car, removed my backpack, put it on, locked that door, shut it and took my place next to the partridge in the pear tree. And as sure as the pope is Catholic, every single one of you know what I did -1 locked my dang keys in my car. I walked 10 steps away, put my hands in my pockets (the common reaction on a cold, windy day), and realized my keys weren’t in their normal resting place. And as quickly as Enron CEO Kenneth Lay reneged on his promise to testify, I made an about-face. The world went dark and the spotlight shone on my car, now an indestructible safe guarding my passage home. It ruins your day. It really does. /aiiu i iviiuw wuat pu ic 11 inii\uig now. Where’s your cell phone? You could just call someone. Well, as sure as Mariah Carey falls one note short of a full scale, I locked that sucker in the car, too. I wept through each one of my classes that day like a high pitched pre-teen girl named Brittany who didn’t get ‘N Sync tickets. I tried to think of the way in which I was going to overcome the boulder in my path, but it seemed as hopeless as Robert Downey Jr.’s recovery. I had to think of something to do. I honestly considered breaking my window with my fist, ironically, to salvage some dignity and not let anyone know what I had done. At least this way, I could blame it on the passing motorist I cut off who later caught up with me. I eventually ruled it out, given the fact that my hand would be split open and I’d probably spend the rest of my day in the hospital. ♦ STUPIDITY, SEE PAGE 9