The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 11, 2002, Page 5, Image 5
0 THE GAMECOCK * Monday, November 11,2002 • 5
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Behind the scenes
at Carolina
*i Productions
^ PHOTO BY JUSTIN BAJAN/THE GAMECOCK
George Raad, left, Carolina Productions’ Ideas and Issues commissioner, talks with Concerts Commissioner Josh Terry about the group’s upcoming events.
BY HOLLY DUTTON
THE GAMECOCK
% Carolina Productions allowed
Vance McNabb, now a USC grad
uate, to go from the organiza
tion's Concerts commissioner to
the tour manager for Jump, Little
Children, then for John Mayer.
Josh Terry, third-year public
relations student and current
Concerts commissioner, hopes to
do something similar. He wants
to springboard off his experience
with Carolina Productions as
well and one day work at a book
ing agency or marketing promo
tions for major labels. Terry’s in
volvement in Carolina
Productions has piqued his in
terest in the music industry.
“I started off (majoring) in
% print because, when I was in
high school, I did student news
paper. i found out through
Carolina Productions and other
outlets that I was more interest
ed in the promotional side of
things, so I switched” majors,
Terry said.
Terry heard about Carolina
Productions when he was a
freshman and showed up in the
office one day to ask how he
could help. He started off work
ing on a Jimmie’s Chicken
Shack show, and he has been in
volved with the organization
ever since.
Last year, he booked the band
Better Than Ezra, and he recent
ly co-promoted the MTV Clipse
and Ms. Jade concert with Special
Programs Commissioner Scott
Sowell. Segments from the concert
aired on MTV several weeks ago
and are now rerunning on MTV2.
“I am very pleased with the
Clipse and Ms. Jade concert we
had recently,” Terry said. “It was
great to see such high attendance
numbers and to see students re
ally having a great time at the
concert.”
Carolina Productions has six
commissions besides the
Concerts Commission: Cinematic
Arts, Homecoming, Traditional
Events, Ideas and Issues, Special
Programs, and Cultural
Awareness commissions, all of
which bring various groups and
entertainment to campus.
Second-year liberal arts stu
dent George Raad, Ideas and
Issues commissioner, along with
last year’s Ideas and Issues com
missioner, Chris Maner, orga
nized the Oct. 30 marijuana de
bate.
The debate featured Steve
Hager, editor in chief of High
Times magazine, and Robert
Stutman from the Drug
Enforcement Agency. This event
SURFYOURSELF
To find out more information, see:
www.sa.sc.edu/cp
brought so many students to the
Russell House Ballroom that some
people had to be turned away.
“The one thing that amazed me
was that people were willing to
give it a chance,” Raad said. “It
wasn’t a lecture. It was a lecture
performance. The guys were both
entertaining and informative,
which is a rarity. Everyone loved
the marijuana idea.”
And for this Wednesday, Raad
has planned the J-Spot, which he
said will feature “a sex educator
who tells all.”
The Carolina Productions office
is located in the Russell House,
suite 235. Suggestions, as well as
volunteers, are needed to help plan
events. The organization is ac
cepting applications through Nov.
20 for next year’s commissioners.
“It’s a great way to see how
events are put on from behind the
scenes,” Terry said. “You would
never know how much work goes
into bringing a concert, comedi
an or lecturer without seeing how
the whole process works.”
Raad said: “Students, please
come to the shows; this is your tu
ition. If you’re not satisfied with
what you’re seeing, please get on
the staff. We welcome any criti
cism.”
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MOVIE REVIEW
/«*»
‘8 Mile’ doesn’t go the distance
“8 MILE”
Starring Eminem, Brittany
Murphy, Kim Basinger
★★ out of
by pat cauley
the gamecock
^ When dealing with controver
sial superstar Eminem, anything
is possible. His latest jab at society
is the film “8 Mile,” a loose but in
spired biography of his rise to glory
— the story of an unknown trailer
park rapper trying to be heard.
The movie opens with Jimmy
Smith Jr. (Eminem) freezing up
and getting booed offstage at an un
derground freestyle-rap tourna
ment. The rest of the film deals
with
Jimmy’s trying to stir up enough
courage to compete again.
Along the way, Jimmy falls for a
girl named Alex (Brittany Murphy),
who is also trying to get away from
her underprivileged life in Detroit.
Alex hopes—as if we haven’t heard
this before—to go to New York and
make it as a model.
Kim Basinger plays Jimmy’s al
coholic mother, Stephanie, who is
struggling not to be evicted from
her trailer-park home and has to
deal with an abusive boyfriend.
The film also tells the story of
Jimmy and his best friend, Future,
played by Mekhi Phifer. Future
tries to inspire Jimmy and keep
him motivated to succeed in his
rapping dreams.
“8 Mile” features marvelous act
ing from Basinger; Murphy, of
W “Clueless” and “Don’t Say a
p|Ts| Word” fame; and Phifer, who
1 f starred in “Clockers” and “O.”
It is wasted, however, because
their story lines are the most
I underdeveloped elements of
! the film.
Jimmy and Future seem to
almost make a deeper connec
tion during their conver
sations, but they
never do. The rap
per’s relation
ship with his
mother is un
clear. Jimmy
even catches
Alex having sex
with another
man, but her
infidelity never
becomes a big deal.
Eminem’s performance is pitch
perfect, but why shouldn’t it be?
Jimmy (also known as Rabbit) is
almost a dead-on self-portrayal and,
therefore, does not require much
acting talent.
The uneven script from Scott
Silver (“The Mod Squad”) seems
like one big profanity. It becomes a
task for the viewer to decipher the
dialogue among all the swearing.
The script also involves a lot of
pushed humor in an attempt to
keep the audience interested; this
strained coihedy is painfully obvi
ous when one of Jimmy’s friends
shoots a gun in his pants. This is
something of a letdown, coming
from Oscar-nominated director
Curtis Hanson.
It sometimes appears that if all
the Eminem hype were taken away,
the movie would be utterly useless.
The ending is abrupt and open-end
ed. Also, the complications between
Jimmy and Alex, as well as between
Jimmy and his previous girlfriend,
are never resolved.
Still, with outstanding acting
from some key players and a num
ber of humorous freestyling mo
ments, “8 Mile” is worth a look. It’s
far from a classic, but it is not a
bomb. The potential for a great film
is there.
For Eminem fans, seeing “8
Mile” is a must. All other moviego
ers can wait until it comes out on
video.
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Hr -
PHOTO BY KEVIN TANAKA/KRT CAMPUS
Emblem plays his first leading role, as an unknown rapper
„ trying to make It big, In the movie “8 Mile.’’
The Latin
connection
Batanga Web site plays music
rarely heard anywhere else
BY KAMILLE BOSTICK
THE GAMECOCK
With the playlist of popu
lar music stations running a
little low on less-than-main
stream artists and music,
Latin-music lovers now have
Batanga, an online resource
where they can hear the
songs they enjoy.
Batanga, at www.batan
ga.com, features 16 genres of
Latin music and allows 24
hour access to hits and re
quests from fans of every
thing from mariachi bands
to hip-hop and reggae acts to
salsa groups.
Available online in ei
ther Spanish or English, the
site lets visitors tune in to
music that is mostly un
heard on other media
venues.
Based in Greensboro,
N.C., Batanga began two
years ago and has quickly
become one of the world’s
leading online Latin-music
broadcasters; it reaches
nearly 1 million listeners,
many of them young
Latinos.
Nancy Torres, an intern
with Rogers and Cowan, a
public-relations firm that
represents Batanga, said one
reason the site has become
so popular is its variety.
“There are only a few
broadcasters out there for
Latin music, and typically
they play only two different
types of Latin music,” she
said. “Batanga plays all
types: top 20, merengue, sal
sa, baladas. It’s very versa
tile.”
While Torres said versa
tility sets Batanga apart
from the other Latin-music
broadcasters, she said there
are other factors that also at
tract its visitors.
“The biggest draw is that
it can be accessed from any
where and it’s free,” Torres
said. “It’s excellent for col
lege students.”
Torres said the Web site
also serves a greater pur
pose.
“It’s a great way for stu
dents and people to get more
of Latin music,” she said.
Torres noted the Latin com
munity is the fastest-grow
ing community in the United
States based on U.S. Census
figures for 2000.
Torres said that, by 2006,
the Latino population will
equal the African-American
population and that, by 2010,
it is predicted that Latinos
will have become the largest
minority group.
♦ BATANGA, SEE PAGE 6
CD REVIEW
Original
rhymes
set emcee
apart
“ORIGINAL PIRATE MATERIAL”
The Streets
★★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆
BY JUSTIN BAJAN
THE GAMECOCK
Sometimes, when a unique new
artist or group arrives in the main
stream, critics draw comparisons
between the new artists and more
established musicians. This pro
cess helps critics better relate to
their readers, but ultimately un
dermines the artist’s creativity.
When Nas came out, critics
proclaimed him the second com
ing of Rakim, although Nas’ lyrics
and approach were nothing like
Rakim’s. Coldplay was unjustly
compared to Radiohead, and
Bruce Springsteen to Bob Dylan.
So when a wily garage kid from
England named Mike Skinner,
aka the Streets, came to disturb
the pop equilibrium, the compar
isons migrated with him.
Rolling Stone magazine called
Skinner the British Eminem.
This comparison is sound only
because Skinner is a white male
and he does rap. But the Streets
does little to perpetuate world
wide protest and rarely gets an
gry enough on, his debut,
“Original Pirate Material," to
murder his wife or mother.
Skinner does move the listener
with his unorthodox style of em
ceeing. He disregards rhythm
and focuses on his wry jab-and
move delivery. This uncharac
teristic cadence allows the lis
tener to absorb every line
Skinner delivers.
SKinner men comomes synco
pated two-step beats with his al
ready offbeat delivery to further
dizzy the listener. The result is
paradoxically pleasant as
Skinner chooses piano loops,
sampled string arrangements and
rhythm-and-blues musings to
take listeners from their head
phones to the club.
But Skinner does more than
provoke the listener to dance; he
also offers drug-flavored intellec
tualism — juxtaposing getting
high and playing PlayStation
while he raps about the criminal
justice bill passed in his native
Britain. For example, he raps on
“The Irony of it All,” “I take pride
in my hobby; I home-make bongs
using my engineering degree.”
What’s most intriguing about
Skinner is his unrapperlike
voice, a voice that sounds more
likely to be singing British punk
or hosting the “Naked Chef’ on
the Food Network. Skinner does
little to hide his accent and his
punk influences; he says “oi” on
almost every song on “Original
Pirate Material,” confusing the
listener about whether Skinner
is a punk singer or an emcee.
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rounded artist—he does his own
production, and his lyrics cover
a variety of topics. On “Let’s Push
Things Forward,” Skinner ad
dresses the stagnant world of pop
music, charging artists to be cre
ative. On “Don’t Mug Yourself,”
he addresses the problem of guys
trying to pick up girls, a struggle
that sometimes makes males try
too hard. And on “Stay Positive,”
Skinner offers the listener hope
on a bad day, ending the album
on an uplifting note.
“Original Pirate-Material” ex
cels because of the artistic hybrid
that is the Streets, with Skinner
combining brash rhymes, two
step beats and a punk rocker’s
sensibility. The album stretches
the genre of hip-hop, but also re
tains the genre's rebellious spirit.
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