Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THEY SAID IT CONTACT l S DAN QUAYLE: “Illegitimacy is Story ideas? Questions? Comments? something we should talk about in E-mailusatgamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com terms of not having it.” Not a typical —troubadour BY MEG MOORE THE GAMECOCK Dimly lit tables rustle with cof fee talk, sentences tossed between sips of chai tea and cappuccino. The growing crowd converses, its interest vested in the stage, where a lone performer is setting up his keyboard and assembling his notes. And as he finally takes a seat at the ivory keys, silence unfolds, faces focus and the coffee crowd converges into a mass of rapt lis teners, entranced and enthralled. From the moment he takes the stage and begins to play, it is ob vious that Adam Cullum is proud to be a songwriter. An honors mu sic student at USC, Cullum said ^ he always had a passion for mu sic. During a recent show at the Lettuce Lounge, he demonstrat ed his enthusiasm toward per forming by extending his set past curfew for the sake of getting in few more songs.” Unlike a typical troubadour, Cullum is primarily a piano play er. “I took lessons in elementary school, but I didn’t like to practice or be told what to do, so I quit,” he said. He picked it up again in sev enth grade, he said, and figured out songs from the radio and tapes. He also taught himself the ba sics of music theory by analyzing an Elton John songbook. The les son has paid off, judging by the in tricate melodies within his songs. Cullum said the keyboard af fords him more options as a writ er than the guitar would: “I can play multiple parts on the piano, simulate bass and drums and ev erything. ... It’s just bigger and stronger, but it can be smaller and weaker when necessary.” During his live shows, he per forms on other instruments; he can also play the guitar, drums, bass, organ, harmonica and flute. Like any aspiring songwriter, Cullum has his own list of artists he views as exemplary in their craft. He enjoys the work of such bands as Eels, Radiohead and Counting Crows and cites the writings of Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan and Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson as particu larly in fluential. In his own songs, Cullum said he draws on personal experiences and observations for inspiration. “Songwriting is like creating little worlds where things can be like you want them,” he said. “I do tend to write about more negative experiences than posi tive ones,” he said. “When some thing sad happens, it usually leaves you a lot of time to sit and think and obsess over it.” Cullum said he often uses his songs to resolve situations that seem to be hopeless. “I write about situations that are like mine, but I tend to change details to be like I want them to be,” he said. Cullum has been performing live only for the past few years. Before January 2000, he said, he had written only “about four crap py songs.” But after spending some time poring over Weezer tunes at the piano, he was in spired to write, and “it just Orangeburg, which gave him his first real taste of performing his own songs. After the band broke up, Cullum performed as a solo artist. He played his first solo show this January as the opening act for Columbia band Courage Riley, “and I kept on from there,” he said. He shies away from an electric sound, preferring to let the energy in his voice carry his songs. “I think when you have to scream over distorted guitars and drums, you lose a bit of expression in the voice,” he said. “I like the sound of a voice that really means it.” Ultimately, Cullum hopes his honest approach will secure his music a place on radio playlists. Yet he said he gains fulfillment from simply performing. “I want to make a career out of it,” Cullum said. “I want my songs to be on the radio. If they ever will be, I don’t know. What’s impor tant to me is that I can do this and it touches people.” V m --— Comments on this story? E-mail gamecock mixeditor @hotmail.com Adam Cullum plays the piano, guitar, drums, harmonica and flute. He also writes and performs his own songs. PHOTO BY CHARLES TOMLINSON/THE GAMECOCK MOVIE REVIEW Third time just isn’t a charm for ‘Friday ’ “FRIDAY AFTER NEXT” Starring Ice Cube, Mike Epps ★ ★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆ BY WILL MISCHNER THEfiAMECOCK It was 10:30 in the morning on the day of the show, and tickets to the Russell House sneak preview of “Friday After Next” were al ready sold out. Does that mean the movie insure to be an Oscar win ner? I wouldn’t count on it. By 8, it was clear the massive gathering in the lobby was not there for Taco Bell. Hundreds of students had raucously piled around the door of the theater among a restless Carolina Productions staff. By the reactions of the mob, one might have thought they were waiting to catch the live Broadway production. But it was not until the USC Police Department came that the ram bunctious horde was allowed to file into its seats to preview the latest installment of the “Friday” series. Back to the movie. The opening scene unfolded the basic plot. A burglar dressed up as Santa Claus robs Craig and Day-Day’s apart ment, and the rest of Friday is spent trying to catch him: The characters smoke a few blunts, get their money back, pay the rent, smoke a few more blunts, have a party, save the day. You know the drill. The absurdly long credits, dis played in a cartoon sequence that received a round of applause at its conclusion, reveal that many of the same characters have re turned for the third go-round. Ice Cube, of course, stars as Craig Jones, who lives with his cousin Day-Day, played by Mike Epps. John Witherspoon and Anna Maria Horsford also resurface as Craig’s loving parents. There are a few fresh faces, however. Terry Crews plays Damon, a derivation of Deebo that -just is not the same, and Katt Micah Williams plays Money Mike, a pimp who’s possibly the only comically redeeming char acter. Unfortunately, Chris Tucker’s character Smoky is ab sent again for this installment. Finally, after the credits, it was movie time. Craig and Day-Day are again up to their antics that seem to make every Friday into a dangerously crazy adventure through the proverbial “hood.” While Struggling to keep my eyes open through the first 20 min utes of this movie, I suddenly re alized the film was being played upside-down. Thinking something crazy must have happened during my suspected catnap, I shrugged it off as normal. Wrong again. The reel was labeled wrong and would have to be fixed. It would just be a short 45 minute wait (probably longer than the entire movie, mind you). In this instance, standard proto col was to bring a microphone down to the front of the stage in case audience members had any talents they wanted to showcase. Luckily no one volunteered. An hour later, the theater reek ing of soft tacos and cinnamon twists, the film was rolling again. Oh, joy. During the next hour, it was business as usual. Craig comes up with the plan, escapes the wrath of an oversized villain and, as al ways, gets the girl. Oh, yeah, did I mention Ice Cube is both the writer and the producer? Hmmm. In the end, three is not a charm for the “Friday” movies. “Friday After Next” is merely “Friday” cut in half, with a twist of Christmas and minus any hints of humor. Can you say ho, ho, home video? Hey, at least it was free.. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Mike Epps, John Witherspoon and Ice Cube star in the movie ‘Friday After Next.’ This is the third movie in the ‘Friday’ series. PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK > A shot at the big time BY TITAN BARKSDALE THE GAMECOCK South Carolina’s recording artists could get their big shot at the music business without trav eling to New York or Atlanta, if - the staff at Columbia’s WHXT-FM Hot 103.9 has its way. The South Carolina Music and Entertainment Conference is the first step in achieving that goal. The conference, which is a one day music and entertainment seminar, is Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Embassy Suites Hotel on Stoneridge Drive. Erick Sermon, formerly of pi oneering hip-hop duo EPMD; Big Gipp, of Atlanta’s Goodie Mob; Swizz Beats, a multiplatinum selling producer based in New York: and Jazzy Pha, a surging Atlanta-based producer are scheduled to appear and give their stories about the business. Managers, talent scouts and other representatives from a va riety of national record labels are scheduled to appear and accept -* demos from attendees. Seminar topics will include information about getting material copy righted, record deals and pub lishing. Constant phone calls to the sta tion from aspiring recording artists requesting advice about breaking into the music business prompted the idea of a confer ence, said Candy Harrison, mar keting and promotions director of Hot 103.9 FM. “We want everyone in South Carolina who has dreams of get ting into this business to have the op •ortunity to get their questions answered, make contacts and possibly get to the next level,” Harrison said. But Chris Connors, the radio station’s program coordinator, said there’s much more that will come from this conference. “This conference will let na tional A&Rs (talent scouts) know that there’s talent in South Carolina,” Connors said. Although South Carolina has many independent artists, it doesn’t have major record labels in-state, which provide artists with the resources to gain na tional exposure. Connors, whose more familiar radio moniker is C Diddy, said it’s extremely difficult for an artist to make it big without con nections at a major label. “What South Carolina needs is for one person to hit or make it big, and then that person usual ly ends up creating their own record label under the major la bel’s imprint, like Ludacris did,” Connors said. “Artists and own ers of independent companies around the state now have the opportunity to get their foot in the door and start a path to do the same thing.” Wade Dean, a fifth-year music student at USC and former intern at the station, is one those inde pendent upstarts. Between study ing, he works along with others to manage an urban independent label called Diamond Skies Entertainment. He said it’s mandatory that people serious about music at tend the conference because it’s a great opportunity. “South Carolina has never had a music seminar of this magni tude,” Dean said. You’ve got to come to this because the label representatives are looking for the next big thing in genres from rhythm and blues to hip-hop, even alternative.” Taking the initiative to come to the conference is half the battle for up-and-coming artists, but it doesn’t stop there, Dean said. “Just making that step to come out is doing a lot,” he said. “But networking and talking face to face with these guys is a doing a lot more.” But up-and-coming recording artists aren't the only people the conference is geared toward, Connors said “There will also be represen tatives who will come out and talk about behind-the-scenes jobs in the business,” Connors said. He said the director of artist re lations and management at Universal Records and a writer for industry magazine Black Radio Exclusive are scheduled to appear. Connors said 350 seats are avail able for the seminar and he ex pects them to sell out by Saturday. Advance tickets can be purchased at Hot 103.9 until Friday at 5:30 p.m. and at the door for $35. “This conference is the biggest step a person can make other than going to New York, so if we can do this every year, it’ll be come th6 main conference every one must attend, which gets ex posure for Columbia and its artists,” Connors said. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmbxditor@hotmail.com Punk gets silly in Columbia BY WILLIAM MILLS THE GAMECOCK Sunday will be a night of black rimmed glasses, Converse All-Star shoes and straight-ahead rock at the New Brookland Tavern. Starting at 8 p.m., Columbia’s music scene will be overrun with the punky silli ness of Santa Barbara, Calif.’s Nerf Herder, along with Initial Records’ Ultimate Fakebook, Fairview and Columbia’s own Love Apple. Sunday night will be the first of Nerf Herder’s headlining tour. After playing some dates with Guttermouth on the Punk-O-Rama tour, the Columbia to see some old friends; promote its latest album, “American Cheese”; and show the Bible Belt how to let loose and rock out. “We’ll play a selection of songs that’ll all be pretty rockin’, we’ll try to make some jokes, and we always try to encourage public nudity and stuff like that,” said Nerf Herder singer and guitarist Perry Gripp. Nerf Herder is no stranger to Columbia; it has toured with Columbia’s Southern-rock power house Isabelle’s Gift. Over the years, Nerf Herder has poked fun at a wide range of public figures and musical icons from Courtney Love to Elton John. Gripp said Nerf Herders sound has not changed over the years and that the new album sounds much like their self-titled debut. “We tried to make this record sound like our first,” Gripp said. “I think our first record is.our best.” The band mixes the lightheart PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Nerf Herder will perform Its headlining tour this Sunday at 8 p.m. at the New Brookland Tavern. ed goofiness of the band’s lyrics with a pop-and-synth-punk sound, which happily encourages har monies and brings its strong Weezer influence to the surface. “I usually tell people we’re a Weezer rip-off band, but I think we’re actually kind of a pop-punk band,” Gripp said. These punk jokers have played with such acts as the Bloodhound Gang, Reel Big Fish and the Vandals. Nerf Herder also had a song on the “Baseketbafl” sound track and recorded the theme song for the “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” series on the WB Network. Ultimate Fakebook is another band that has a reputation for hav ing a fim-loving, big-show attitude to its music. “Most of our songs are coming from a pretty positive outlook. It’s usually music that’s kind of fun and more like a party vibe, rather than the deep, dark, personal kind of vibe,” said Ultimate Fakebook sineer and euitarist Bill McShane. According to McShane, the band is looking to expand its newfound quartet sound into fresher ter ritories and enhance its live show. “We’ve always real ly focused on the live show being exciting and raw,” McShane said. Love Apple, part of Columbia’s budding rock squadron, comes equipped with some new songs that it will out at the show. Jason Sposa, lead singer and guitarist for Love Apple, wrote many of these songs years ago, but the band intends to spice up the sound with the addition of key boards. Love Apple is also playing a free show Friday, at the Amphitheatre in Clemson with Stretch Armstrong. Sposa and Love Apple are looking forward to this Sunday’s show. “You sit in your room and lis ten to these records and blast them, and then you’re sharing a stage with them,” Sposa said about the Sunday show. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com