The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 04, 2002, Page 6, Image 6
CD REVIEW
Poor-quality CD lacks creativity
included on “Spend the Night.” It
is possible that the record compa
ny didn’t foresee “Spend the
Night” as selling many copies, so
it decided the DVD might be a way
to enhance the album’s sales.
The best group to compare the
Donnas to would be the Go-Gos.
Granted, it is fun music, but most
people want to forget the music of
the ’80s, which the Donnas seem
to embrace. Maybe “Spend the
Night” is a genius concept album
and the reason each song sounds
the same is beyond comprehen
sion.
The Donnas’ album is obvious
in letting people know it is not in
nocent, with such songs as “Take
It Off,” “Dirty Denim” and “Take
Me to the Backseat.”
A lot of the lyrics completely
lack any significant message, with
cheesy lines, such as “I must have
had too many Diet Cokes because
I’m laughing at all your stupid
jokes,” “You look like you only
slept for an hour and smell like
you haven’t taken a shower,” and
“We could go out; you don’t have
to be such a Boy Scout.”
Amid the 13 songs, most of
which listeners will swear are the
same song, three tunes stick out
as the best songs and are actually
different from the others on the al
bum. The backing vocals on
“Dirty Denim” and the catchy gui
tar parts on “Please Don’t Tease”
and “You Wanna Get Me High” el
evate the songs above the
monotony of the rest of the album.
But just as much of the blame
for a poor album can be put on the
album’s producers. Jason Carmer
and Robert Shimp produced the
album for Atlantic Records. How
can any producer approach a band
and suggest using hand claps and
a cowbell, an instrument used on
the album more often than not? It
is impossible to conceive how
Carmer and Shimp viewed “Spend
the Night” as something that
could be commercially successful.
The element of fun is never lost,
though, and that’s evident in the
bonus DVD’s section on the mak
ing of the album. The Donnas call
the making of the album a “five
month slumber party.” But, to put
that in perspective, five months is
almost the amount of time the
Beatles spent on “Sgt. Pepper’s
Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
The “Do You Wanna Hit It”
video is animated, and again
showcases the song’s lackadaisi
cal, smiling aspect. The Andy
Dick video is interesting at best,
but the band acts as if it has to
stick to an image mandated by its
recording contract. And the
Donnas probably didn’t get inter
viewed by Andy Dick because he
liked the music.
The only reason listeners
should purchase this album is if
they love fifth-grade poetry and
all-female ’80s rock.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com
‘Potter’ makes world premiere
BY ED JOHNSON
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Dressed in wizards’
hats and witches’ robes, hundreds
of screaming fans greeted the
stars of the new Harry Potter
movie at its glitzy world premiere
Sunday in London.
“Daniel, Daniel, Daniel,” chant
ed a crowd of teenage girls, as
Daniel Radcliffe, the young actor
who plays the boy wizard, arrived
for the screening of ‘ ’Harry Potter
and the Chamber of Secrets.”
“It is really strange, but very
exciting,” Radcliffe said of the en
thusiasm that greeted him upon
his arrival at the Odeon cinema
in London’s Leicester Square.
Fans waited several hours,
braving rain and wintry weath
er, in the hope of getting a
glimpse of the film’s cast.
They cheered wildly at the ar
rival of Rupert Grint, who plays
Harry’s ginger-haired friend Ron
Weasley, and Emma Watson,
who stars as schoolmate
Hermione Granger.
Robbie Coltrane, who plays the
half-giant Hagrid, also received a
warm welcome from the crowd,
which lined the famous square
and stood in a specially construct
ed stand decorated in the colors of
the story’s Hogwarts School of
Witchcraft and Wizardry.
One star absent from the pre
mier was the late Richard Harris,
who played the role of Professor
Albus Dumbledore. He died late
last month of Hodgkin’s disease.
“He would have liked to
have been here tonight,”
Radcliffe said. "He liked a
good party. We did some
very emotional scenes to
gether. It is very hard.”
In the film, based on ._
the novel by J.K.
Rowling, the
young maestro
Harry enrolls for
his second year at
Hogwarts.
But soon he
must confront a
sinister force
that is intent on
terrorizing the
school. Aided by
his friends Ron
and Hermione,
Harry rides to
the rescue.
Actor Ken
neth Branagh has
joined the cast as
Gildroy _
Lockhart, professor of defense
against the dark arts. Alan
Rickman, Maggie, Smith, Harris
and Coltrane take the roles they
played in the first Potter film,
“Harry Potter and the
Philosopher’s Stone.”
Director Chris Columbus has
described the new film as
t “darker and funnier” than
the last, with the charac
ter of Harry exuding
“more confidence and
strength.”
The film will go on
general release in
Britain and the
United States on
Nov. 15.
The first Potter
film has grossed
$975 million world
wide.
| Daniel
Radcllffe stars
In the latest
Harry Potter
film, which will
be released
Nov. 15 In the
United States.
PHOTO BY PETER
MOUNTAIN/KRT
CAMPUS
PHOTO BY NHAT V. MEYER/KRT CAMPUS
Brett Anderson, lead singer “Donna A,” and the Donnas perform In San Francisco on Oct. 9. The
Donnas’ new album, “Spend the Night,” suffers from monotony and Inane lyrics.
Web Site
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
drums, asked his band to open for
it. And soon thereafter, Maddox
was playing with Tykes With
Guns, also.
“It’s a good resource for new
bands in the area,” Kirincich said.
He said the site should be used by
“students who are just coming in
each semester to find out about lo
cal bands and find out what shows
are coming to their favorite
venues in Columbia.”
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Comments on this stoiy?E-mail The Southcarolinabands.com message boards let fans and
gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com musicians communicate and even find potential bandmates.
Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst star In “Spider-Man,” released on DVD and video this past week.
‘Spider-Man’
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
interest for some people, howev
er, would be the hints for the
PlayStation2 Spider-Man game.
The other half of the second
disk is directed toward those
who collect Spider-Man comics
and were interested in the action
hero before the movie made him
‘I Spy’
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
best of friends.
Even though it predictably
follows the rest of its genre, “I
Spy” succeeds because of the
surprising chemistry that de
velops between Murphy and
Wilson. In the big picture, their
impossible situations and comi
cal banter make forgivable the
somewhat weak plot and the
completely forgettable bad guy,
unimpressively played by
Malcolm McDowell.
I
popular again. There’s a docu
mentary about the evolution of
the comic book, archives of
Spider-Man comics from each
decade since the ‘60s, biographies
of Peter’s love interests and
Spider-Man’s enemies, and a
gallery of Spider-Man artwork.
These extras are all fun and
games for those who love Spider
Man, but probably will not spark
much interest in those who just
want to watch the movie.
Famke Janssen fits in nicely,
too, as Alex’s spy colleague and
love interest, whose loyalty to
her fellow spies is questionable
at best. Alex’s pursuit of her
leads to the best gag of the
movie: Robinson, in a Cyrano de
Bergerac style, feeds lines from
Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing”
to Scott via earpiece to give him
a chance with the beautiful
femme fatale.
Another nice supplement to
the plot is the looming presence
of Carlos, the hilarious Antonio
Banderas-meets-James-Bond su
perspy who will come in and re
place Scott if things don’t go as
planned.
With any DVD, there is a
chance for theme overload.
“Spider-Man” definitely takes ad
vantage of this overload without
supplying much substance to ac
company it You’ll come away from
it knowing more about Spider-Man
than the average person probably
wanted to and ever will. At least
until the sequel comes out.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com
So even with its highly for
mulated style and negligible bad
guy cast, “I Spy” works because
it doesn’t take itself too serious
ly. It was made for the laughs,
and it succeeds in that depart
ment. Plus, along the way, it
manages to squeeze in a little bit
of satire of the spy movie genre:
Scott himself becomes confused
by all the twists and turns in the
plot.
For moviegoers trying to find
straightforward, simple fun, “I
Spy” is definitely worth a look.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecockmixeditor@fwtmail.com
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Skydiving dog makes
jump despite protests
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE,
CALIF. (AP) - Sporting custom
made goggles, Brutus the skydiv
ing dachshund plunged from a
plane flying at 6,000 feet and
parachuted before spectators at a
military air show.
Animal rights activists had
condemned Saturday’s jump as
cruel and exploitative. But Ron
Sirull, the dog’s owner and diving
partner, said Brutus gets a kick
out of freefall—or “fleafall, ” as he
calls it.
“I love Brutus. I wouldn’t do
anything to hurt him,” Sirull said.
“It turns him on.”
Brutus makes the jumps tucked
into a pouch fastened to Sirull’s
chest.
Sirull says the 4-year-old dog
has logged 100 jumps since his first
dive at age 1.
Sirull said his dog’s veterinari
an and the Arizona Humane
Society have signed off on the ac
tivity as being safe.
“The part he hates the most is
the sound of the plane taking off,”
Sirull said. “I cup his ears.”
garnet&black
LOOK FOR IT
NOV. 18
ft
“SPEND THE NIGHT”
The Donnas
★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆'
BY MIKE LUKE
THE GAMECOCK
Most people are familiar with
the saying that coincides with in
flation: If you have a wheelbarrow
full of money, the wheelbarrow is
worth more. Likewise, the back of
the Donnas’ new CD is better used
as a mirror than as a medium for
listening to music. •
The Donnas’ album, “Spend
the Night,” is the female equiva
lent of Andrew W.K.’s music,
which is pure fun rather than
something that strives for one
ounce of originality. Surprisingly,
all the music is written by the
Donnas, which means they are
not 100 percent the product of
record-label spending.
The second disk, a DVD, con
tains an interview by Andy Dick,
a segment documenting the mak
ing of the album and a video for
“Do You Wanna Hit It,” a song not