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5 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, November 15, 2002 CONTACT US THEY SAID IT L(U1\ lALt 1 Uo _ OGDEN NASH: “Parents were Story ideas? Questions? Comments? ^invented to make children happy by E-mail us at gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com ” giving them something to ignore.” xiimiiniiiiiiiiiiiiL j Carolina Alive \ 41111 fin inmmnnt is bringing music to life BY ERIN CLINE THE GAMECOCK Whoever said music is the lan guage of the soul wasn’t kidding. Just ask third-year public rela tions student Allison Skipper, choreographer of USC’s show choir, Carolina Alive. On the group’s past trip to Cuba for a music festival, Skipper saw how music broke language and po litical barriers in the country. “Even if we are performing for different people in different coun tries, music can always be a com mon thread,” Skipper said. Carolina Alive will perform its fall consert Sunday at the USC School of Music building. The group is composed of about 40 stu dents who perform a variety of songs: Pop, gospel, jazz, show tunes and even Beatles music can be heard at its concerts. Carolina Alive, however, sepa rates itself from other choirs on campus because it incorporates singing and dancing, Skipper said. “You can always go see a dance company or a concert choir. We are unique because We give you both,” she said. Carolina Alive President and fifth-year music student Kia Faison finds the stage irresistible. “The best part of being in the choir is when we are on stage and the audience is clapping and is ex cited,” Faison said. “Afterwards, it’s so nice when someone comes up and says that they enjoyed it. The people’s responses are the hest thine.” Skipper said traveling is an other valuable part of being in volved with the group. The trip to Cuba two summers ago for an in ternational music festival was many members’ favorite trip. Faison said it included the most exciting performances of her life. “When it was time for the finale of the festival, people were wait ing on us to perform. We felt like superstars there," she said. Third-year music student Jason Flores, the group’s treasur er, also said Cuba was the best trip of his life. “The people were so accepting despite the trade embargo be tween Cuba and America. When it came to music, it all came to gether,” he said. ._tm....li __ PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK USC’s show choir, under the direction of A.G. “Chip” Williams, will perform its fall concert Sunday at 4 p.m. at the School of Music. The group is composed of about 40 students who will perform show tunes and pop, gospel and jazz songs. The group has also performed on a cruise line and plans to travel to New York this spring and possibly perform on “The Late Show with David Letteiman.” Carolina Alive not only pro vides students with an outlet for singing and dancing, but it also provides a home away from home for the members. Flores said it helped him JLA IV/llCtO uu a freshman, created a family en vironment and gave him a sense of belonging. Faison has similar sentiments; she said Carolina Alive helped her break out of her shell. “Being in Carolina Alive has given me a lot of opportunities, but the group is also just a big fami ly,” she said. “It’s a great way to get to know people,” she said. First-year international busi ness student Stephanie Alger said the group helped her make the transition to college. “I am from New York, so I don’t have any family here, but these guys are my family,” Alger said. “We work really hard, but it is fun most of the time.” Carolina Alive recently got a new director, A.G. “Chip” Williams, a fac ulty member at USC and the Choral Depart ment’s accompa nist. “I am so proud of this group. I think they have the po i-nniinl kn aha of the best in the country,” he said. Williams said Carolina Alive is an important force at USC. “They represent USC in the city, the state and the nation,” he said. “They represent the univer sity well, musically and profes sionally. They are the ambas sadors for the school, and they at tract people to USC. They really give USC a good name.” Some students see Williams as a father figure. “Our director is amazing. He’s like a dad to us,” Alger said. Williams said: “I want to take “You can always go see a dance company or concert choir. We are unique because we give you both.” ALLISON SKIPPER CAROLINA ALIVE CHOREOGRAPHER care of them all because they are all important to me. I appreciate their hard work and would do any thing to help them out, in the group or personally.” While members admit it has been a major transition year with the new director, Faison said the group remains solid and true to its mission. With try-outs at the beginning of next month, Skipper encourages those interested in singing, danc ing and performing to audition. “We want the most talent the university has to offer. I know a lot of people would be great in the group and just don’t know about it,” Skipper said. Carolina Alive’s fall show will be at 4 p.m. in the School of Music recital hall. The show is free. Williams said he thinks the group will prove its abilities with the show. “We want to show the School of Music how talented this group is, and I think this concert will prove it,” he said. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com DVD REVIEW ‘Star Wars’DVD set is action-packedfun “STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES" Starring Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen out of ☆☆☆☆☆ BY SHAWN ROURK THE GAMECOCK The “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones” DVD from Lucasfilm Ltd. is one of the most action packed DVDs this Christmas season, and makes oth er DVDs look like bantha fodder on the shelf. The two-disc release features the original 142-minute feature on one disc and another disc with more than six hours of bonus footage on the making about the movie. The complete feature is being hyped as digitally mastered for improved picture and sound qual ity, but it makes no major differ ence in the visuals. Maybe it will show better on high-definition televisions; however, the clarity lean be attributed to Jhe DVD for matting. On the other hand, THX did an excellent job mastering the sound for the movie. Anyone with even a small stereo that has surround-sound capabilities can hear the difference during the fight scenes and explosions. Crank up the bass loud enough, and viewers will swear they are in the theater. A good portion of the special features focus on the special ef fects and digital animation that went into the making of the film. One of the documentaries follows the Lucasfilm team and the Industrial Light and Magic digi tal-animation team as they cre ate fully digital aliens that can walk, talk and interact with the other characters on the screen. It also follows the process of creat ing all the digital backgrounds and settings for the movie and concludes with the final chal lenge of Yoda and Dooku’s saber JLlglll. The second disc also features the eight deleted scenes complete with director, producer and edi tor comments to introduce each scene. Frankly, when you finish the almost 30-minute trek through the scenes, you want to pat George Lucas on the back and say, “Thanks, George, for not putting those unnecessary scenes in the movie and making it any longer to have to sit through without going to the bathroom.” Fortunately, there is a pause but ton on a DVD-player remote. Other extras feature Lucas and other members of Lucasfilm as they give their spins on the action sequences and love story through out the second installment of the preqiiel trilogy. Each featurette is about 30 to 40 minutes and goes into great detail about the making of the movie. The only problem with the longer docu mentaries is that, in some parts, they use the same clips from cast and director interviews, which can make some of them redun dant. The second disc fea tures the “Across the \ X Stars” music video, which 4 shows cuts from **4 John Williams’ * performance in the studio and ^B clips from the movie. It also fea- JM tures theatrical w trailers, teasers 1|MB^B and television fl spots. Finally, for those who H enjoy the lighter side of the Star Wars universe, H Lucas has put in a mock H documentary on R2-D2 that is quite funny. Although the 10 minute clip is only a preview from www.starwars.com for the full-length fea ture, it still makes for some good laughs <xz> 11 anuwa a film career in a sort of “E! True Hollywood Story.” For tijose who are looking for bundles of fun and extra information about the world of Star Wars this Christmas season, this DVD will surely quench their thirst. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK One of the major features in the two-disc set is a documentary about how Lucasfilm made a completely digital Yoda. WUSC to hold ’80s Weekend BY WILLIAM MILLS THE (JAMECOCK Once again, WUSC-FM is putting the university in a time warp and sending us back to the ’80s. Friday, WUSC will kick-off its annual ’80s Weekend fund-raiser with two shows. First, Friday af ternoon from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Working Title, Owen Beverly and David Adedokun will put ofi a show on Greene _ Street in front of the Russell House. Later that night, the ’80s Weekend will step into full gear at New Brookland Tavern with perfor mances by Confederate Fagg and Sammy and the South Holes. The sta tion will play iuc gicaicoi hits of the ’80s from noon Friday to midnight Sunday. The station. will withdraw its non-top-40 mu sic policy for the weekend. For a minimum $5 donation, callers can request their favorite ’80s songs and even make a dedica tion. The listener who donates the most money during each show will win a prize donated by numerous sponsors throughout Columbia, like a new bike from Outspokin’, concert tickets, movie passes, pizzas, body pierc ing, and CD prize packs. The donations that are made in exchange for your favorite ’80s songs go straight into keep ing WUSC alive and kicking. “Fund-raisers are the main way we stay afloat, so this is im portant to us,” said second-year music student Alana Robles, the public affairs director for WUSC. WUSC has gone to the trouble of importing two quickly rising Charleston acts, Owen Beverly and the Working Title. Owen Beverly is a singer/songwriter who sounds a little like Jeff Buckley, according to Robles. The Working Title is another Charleston rock outfit that is quickly gaining favor locally, mainly because its sound ap peals to a large audience. “It’s basically a combination of five different people’s musical tastes. When you put that in a blender, it comes out to be our brand of rock ’n’ roll,” said Adam Pavao, guitarist for the Working Title. These Charleston rockers have recently entered the studio to record songs for a new release that is rumored to be out by March 2003. The new recordings are being looked at by some major record labels that would pre fer to remain nameless, Pavao said. New n_l.l_l • ui v/umcuiu Tavern will play host to a night of ’80s gay metal with Confederate Fagg and Sammy and the Southholes. “We are kind of like an ’80s hair metal band without the hair,” said Jay Matheson, lead singer for Confederate Fagg. The concert will be full of cos tumes, contests, cover songs and chaos. In the midst of the ’80s metal cover songs, the band and DJs from WUSC will give out prizes for various contests. Also, Confederate Fagg will be shoot a video produced by Carolina students during the show. The real trick will be trying to stay clean for the video. The Confederate boys are planning some messy antics and fun, de structive metal. "They will probably have to close the place down for a cou ple of days, it’ll be so messy when we finish,” Mathison said. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditorfgjJwtmaiLcom “Fund-raisers are the main way to stay afloat, so this is important to us.” ALANA ROBLES WUSC PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIRECTOR Jam-rock dynamos to play Senate Park BY DENNIS MING NICHOLS THE QAMECOCK Americana powerhouse Cast' Iron Filter will bring its vigor ous performance to Senate Park tonight at 8. Its music is eclectic; the band borrows from grass-roots folk and bluegrass, Southern rock, and jam rock and wraps it all in a package of pop sensibility and ex pert skill. It sounds something like String Cheese Incident meets Counting Crows meets Allman Brothers, but brings an unex plainable uniqueness to the stage. Cast Iron’s mandolin player, Mike Orlando, describes the band’s stage show as “just plain fun,” and anyone who has heard its latest album, “Live from the Highway,” would agree. “Highway” is a live performance recorded in August in Georgia. It consists of 10 live songs, as well as one new studio track, “T nuioirillo TTY ” “ ‘Live from the Highway’ cap tures our live sound, which is both unique and high in ener gy,” Orlando said. The ensemble consists of Orlando, Tim Helfrich on drums and percus sion, Dustin Edge singing and playing acoustic guitar, and Mason Bisset on bass guitar. Each member brings a differ ent element to the group’s sound. Orlando takes cues from Warren Haynes and Eric Clapton and ap plies them to the mandolin. Helfrich’s drum patterns and fills are subtle but perfect. Bisset often introduces a jazz or funk flavor to songs. And Edge’s vo cals are clear, charming and un deniably Southern. Cast Iron produces lyrics com mon to folk music. “Rick Dunbar” traces the story of a small-town drag race, and “27 Dollars and a Wedding Ring” is abcut a couple escaping to Mexico. The new al bum also includes an instrumen tal piece that features each mem ber’s technical abilities. All four are graduates of Davidson College and have made a name for them selves on the North Carolina col lege circuit. They are touring the Southeast to promote the new al bum. “What you will realize about Cast Iron Filter is that not only are we four guys that shared a common interest in music, but we are also just damn good friends,” Orlando said. The band has not signed with any record label, and that is the way it wants to stay for now. It has turned down many offers from recording labels and decid ed to harvest a grassroots follow ing instead. Cast Iron Filter’s past two albums were self-funded and produced by Mark Williams (of Hootie and the Blowfish and Southern Culture on the Skids). Furthering its attempt to as semble a grassroots following. Cast Iron Filter is campaigning on its Web site to perform at the 2003 Bonnaroo Music Festival, a massive three-day summer con cert in Manchester, Tenn., that features Americana and jam bands. This summer, featured artists included Bela Fleck, Les Claypool, Acoustic Syndicate and Widespread Panic. Cast Iron Filter is literally a band on the run. It is diligently perfecting its sound, promoting its music and touring the small club scene. These 20-somethings create a high-power performance and a clean, refreshing sound that pumps you up but doesn’t leave you drained, and the technical skill evident in Bisset’s bass and Orlando’s mandolin is impres sive. Cast Iron Filter will open for Acoustic Syndicate. Comments on this story? E'mail gamecockmixeditorQJwtmailcom