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^ THE GAMECOCK * Monday, February 10,200.3 - 5 CONTACT TJS ' THEYSAIDIT LU.N LAI* 1 L O ,SAAC NEWT0N. .Tact ^ ^ Story ideas? Questions? Comments? knack of making a point with E-mail us at gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com out making an enemy.” r* COMEDY’S SURPRISE ft On the heels of his new television show, Dave Chappelle brings his ‘Blackzilla ’ tour to Columbia BY KRISTIN CHANDLER TIIKIiAMKCOCK Dave Chappelle’s “Blackzilla” tour, on its way to Columbia, is set to arrive tomorrow for a 7 p.m. performance at the Roger Center. Chappelle will ride into town on the success of his recently in troduced television show, “Chappelle’s Show.” The sketch comedy program made its debut Jan. 22 on Comedy Central and has been talked about ever since. “Think ‘Saturday Night Live’ with a smaller cast and mo— — edg Thi Source magazine said about the show in its February issue. “Chappelle’s unique point of view on the world provides a hi larious, defiant and sometimes dangerous look at American cul ture,” Comedy Central said in a news release. “Drugs are bad,” Chappelle told The Source, “but if you’re go ing to do anything, marijuana is the thing to do. It comes right out of the ground, ready to roll. I even wear hemp clothes. It’s as good as linen, and cheaper, too.” Fueled by the popularity of his new show, Chappelle kicked offhis national tour Friday at Caroline’s Comedy Club in New J.U1A. Heading down the East Coast, the tour will stop at Virginia Tech University before heading to Columbia. The “Blackzilla” tour is Chappelle’s first ma jor tour in more than two years because of his busy career. Besides co-writing “Chappelle’s Show,” he recently appeared in “Undercover Brother” with Eddie Griffin and Denise Richards. Chappelle’s other movie roles are varied. After his debut in “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” Chappelle appeared in box office hits such as 1996’s “The Nutty Professor,” “Con Air” with Nicolas Cage, “You’ve Got Mail” with Tom Hanks and “Blue Streak” with fellow comedian Martin Lawrence. “I used to think, every time I did a movie, ‘This is it, this is the one I’m going to star in,”’ Chappelle said in The Source. “I’ve been in a lot of little things, but I’ve never been that guy who just had one big break.” Chappelle’s first starring role, and perhaps his best-known char acter, was in the cult hit “Half Baked,” which he co-wrote at age 23 with Neal Brennan. He played janitor Thurgood Jenkins, aka Sir Smoke-a-Lot. Inbetween films, Chappelle found time for an hourlong stand up comedy special for HBO that aired in August 2000. Additionally, Chappelle has be come a favorite on the late-night talk-show circuit, appearing fre quently on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and “Politically Incorrect.” Recently, Chappelle took on a recurring role as a commentator for “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” covering events such as the Winter Olympics and the Mike Tyson-Lennox Lewis fight in Memphis, Tenn. There might have been an ear lier television version of Chappelle’s stand-up comedy had the comedian not been so firm with his beliefs. In 1998, Chappelle a sitcom deal Fox of fered. All was going well until the executives, in a move Chappelle publicly described as racism, wanted to add more white cast members to the show based on Chappelle’s life. “When (TV execs) say , ‘Put more white people in your show,’ it’s because of money,” Chappelle told The Source. “But that funda mental belief that if you’re black, you’re less marketable is wrong.” Chappelle thought his tv career was over—until Comedy Central stepped in and allowed him the control of being the writer, pro ducer and star of his new show. “For me, this is the only kind of show I can do that would re flect my act,” Chappelle said. “There’s no comparison to the freedom I would not have had on ♦ CHAPPELLE, SEE PAGE 7 PHOTOS SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Dave Chappelle has been appearing on Comedy Central in “Chappelle’s Show” since Jan. 22. SHOW REVIEW Rock acts put Senate Parkin, motion CHEVELLE, 30 SECONDS TO MARS, PACIFIER, CINDER, TRUST COMPANY Senate Park ★★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆ • BY MIKE LUKE the camecock Senate Park enjoyed a packed house Saturday night when it played host to hard rockers Trust Company. The band’s heavy, fast-paced music, evident in its single “Downfall," was the show's ener getic high point after Chevelle raised the bar after an entergetic performance earlier. Many fans, including second year business student Lindsay Martin, were skeptical about Trust Company's position as the show's closing act. “I didn’t think Trust Company would perform better than Chevelle, but they were an amaz ing band to see live,” Martin said. Trust Company traveled from _ Chattanooga, Tenn., where it * played a concert Friday night. The band is touring in support of its current album, “The Lonely Position of Neutral,” which was released in July. Trust Company is headlining a tour of small venues and clubs, which started this month and ends in March. Five bands have hit the road with Trust Company for the club tour: Cinder, 30 Seconds to Mars, Pacifier, Chevelle and Depswa. ■Depswa, from Modesto, Calif, opened the show. This band ♦ FOR REVIEWS OF CHEVELLE AND PACIFIER’S CDS, SEE PAGE 6 might be the perfect opening act because its music is full of ener gy. The band started playing be fore many ticket holders were even inside. Ben Havird, a first-year busi ness student, said Depswa “had a lot of screaming and was much more hard rock than I expect ed.” Pacifier, from New Zealand, is touring in support of its new re lease, “Bulletproof.” Bringing Pacifier's popularity from down under to the States has been a challenge. “We were used to playing in one town, where everybody loved us, to playing in a town where no body had heard of us,” Pacifier drummer Tom Larkin said. “It makes you better because you are going out and proving your selves to a new audience every night.” Pacifier's rise in popularity has been slow, but its success has been a direct result of the band's hard work. Pacifier signed to Arista Records six months ago. The move to a major label has helped the band with pub licity and tour planning, Larkin said. Pacifier, which mixed quiet songs with songs just as hard as any of the other bands', was the night’s most diverse band. Chevelle had almost as many supporters at the show as Trust Company did; both bands receive radio play on local rock station WARQ-FM. Chevelle was criti cized for lackluster performances during this past summer's Ozzfest tour, but that criticism was de fied Saturday night. “Chevelle really knew how to pump the crowd up,” said Nick Guidry, a second-year public-re lations student. “There wasn't a person in the house that wasn't nodding their head, jumping up and down or singing along at the top of their lungs.” CheVfelle played mostly new material, such as “The Red” and “Send the Pain Down Below” from its most recent album, “Wonder What's Next,” but the band also played songs from its debut, “Point #1” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Chevelle —r from left, brothers Sam, Pete and Joe Loeffler — played Senate Park on Saturday. CD REVIEW Wilco ups the ante on latest album “YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT” Wilco ★★★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆ BY COREY GARRIOTT THE GAMECOCK Wilco has departed from its roots to compose something ephemeral. Named for the codes used by shortwave ra dio operators, “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” isn’t what would usually be expected from for mer members of alternative . country powerhouse Uncle Tupelo. The shortwave might even have influenced the opening song “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart,” which begins in a Radiohead-esque electronic dub. It sounds out of place in a band that usually stays down to earth. Wilco’s lead singer, Jeff Tweedy, seems as weary with his genre as Thom Yorke was with rock in his modernist “Kid A.” Could “Foxtrot” be a second herald of the “new” music we’ve been hearing about? Well, Wilco still uses melody, which goes missing in action on later Radiohead. And Wilco is gracious enough to include two smiling pop songs, like “Kamera”, with Tweedy’s non committal voice singing, “I need a Camera/to my 6ye/to my eye/reminding.” But they’re ironic enough — or is it post-ironic? beyond iron ic? too ironic? — for other themes, each of them suitably modern. Electronic noises now popu late sparse songs such as “Ashes of American Flags,” which is, in fact, empty enough for a verse like, “All my lies are always wishes/I know I would die if I could come back new.” “Poor Places,” near the end of the album, also waxes digital with a pleasant buzz that evolves through the song, now powering on, now switching off. ~ ’‘War on War” is amusing sophistry, playing with modem themes like irrationality and powerlessness. To fight a war on war, Tweedy says, “You have to lose/You have to learn how to die/if you want to want to be alive, OK?” But Wilco, what with its al ternative country roots, isn’t self-obsessed. “I’m the Man Who Loves You” is just too nice for the grumbling, melodra matic Radiohead aesthetic. “Pot Kettle Black” has too many likable pianos and shak ers to be lamenting the waste land. “Crazy rides rockets,” Tweedy sings, “who has a mag ic wand.” Even songs like “Poor Places” and “Ashes of American Flags,” which are bravely anti-melodic in parts, make sense after one gets to know them. Songs like these are ultimately the best on any album because they don’t wear thin after repeated listen ing. The band’s album twists the old into a very successful new — enough to top Amazon.com’s Top 100 Editors’ Picks of 2002. It suc ceeds because it feels natural. Wilco doesn’t try to be modem any more than it tries to stay al ternative country. In fact, Wilco doesn’t seem to care that it’s straddling the beat en path and the path less trav eled. It has made all the differ ence. Comments on this story? E-maii gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com