Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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V ~ CONTACT US ly/TTY THEY SAID IT ■ / I I IMMANUEL KANT: “Thoughts without Story ideas? Questions? Comments? I W I I / content are empty; intuitions without E-mailusatgamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com JL T _l-H__m. concepts are blind.” ^_ ,_ * » Straightforward poetic style of > ‘Donkey Gospel ’ surprises readers BY MITCH FRYE THE GAMECOCK Readers unprepared for the straightforward nature of Tony Hoagland’s “Donkey Gospel” might stop and,ask themselves, “Is this really poetry?” While the short answer is, “Yes, it is in credible poetry,” some initial confusion is forgivable. Hoagland’s poems are so dis armingly casual that they seem alien compared to the ornate, in tellectual verse that typically passes as poetry. Hoagland’s writing style is simple, and, refusing to draw > upon literature’s pre-established stock images in his writing, he of ten references pop culture, tele vision, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. A less capable poet would weave such material into slop, but Hoagland’s wry wit and good met rical sense allowed him to create 36 short, kinetic bursts of genius. “Donkey Gospel’s” conversa tional tone and concrete subject matter make its poems supremely applicable. Hoagland seldom tries to pin down topics as ethereal as faith or morality; instead, he grounds himself by tackling more worldly dilem mas. “Jet,” “Dickhead” and “Muy Macho” find him wrestling with his own mas culinity, and in “Self Improvement,” he explores the concept of suffering via oral sex. The fact that, through it all, he never stoops to gimmicky lin eation is commendable. Some sparks of academia do appear throughout the volume, but they are, fortunately, filtered through Hoagland’s friendly, comedic voice. “Auden” and “Lawrence” are rough-and-tum ble odes to W.H. Auden and D.H. Lawrence, respectively, and he faux-pedantically describes his mother as “Sisyphus,/ Struggling to push/ A blue Ford station wagon full of screaming kids/ Up a mountainside of gro ceries” in “Mistaken Identity.” But even in his most colle giate moments, Hoagland ♦ POETRY, SEE PAGE 6 Overlooked role-p earns respect aftei BY NICK YOUNG THE GAMECOCK Amid last year’s Christmas rush, many video games were re leased with incredible hype, high expectations and millions of copies waiting to be sold. With games such as “Final Fantasy X,” “Grand Theft Auto 3” and “Metal Gear Solid 2,” there were sure to be many phenomenal releases that flew onto shelves only to be over looked in the holiday rush. A little-known game by the name of “Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance” was released in the win ter of 2001 by Snowblind Studios exclusively for the PlayStation2 console. An earlier version of the game was released for PC in 1998. “Baulder’s Gate” is an ac tion/role-playing game — the last of a dying breed. Gaming compa nies have recently been swayed from action/RPGs and have cho sen to go one way or the other. “Baldur’s Gate” mixes the two el 'ements beautifully with its “Dungeons and Dragons”-style gameplay. The game is set in the popular “Dungeons and Dhigonf’-iifepfired Forgotten Realms Universe, which is a Middle-Ages style world where swords, shields and heavy armor rule. It is one of the few RPG games with aft option, to play in a cooperative mode with a friend. Gone are the days of play ing an RPG alone with no one to share the fun with. After selecting your game type, you can choose to start your jour ney with one of three warriors: a human archer, a dwarven fighter or an elven sorceress. All three of these warriors bring a different fighting style to the table, and tak ing on the game with each of the three players results in three com pletely different stories and end ings, giving this game great replay value. Overall, this is a great game with incredible graphics, sound and gameplay. Although it was once overlooked, it is on its way to becoming a respectable series with one sequel on the way and a ♦ VIDEO GAME, SEE PAGE 6 PHOTOS BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK John Sfe/nZKifc’s le. -known ‘East of Eden’still a rnasterpiece BY COREY GARRIOTT THE UAMECOCK Everyone knows John Steinbeck’s 1939 “Grapes of Wrath," the 1940 Pulitzer Prize winner. But its younger, mythi cal brother, 1952’s “East of Eden,” won the Nobel Prize and remains the lesser known. “East of Eden” growls with primordial energy. You wouldn’t guess it from the apparently sim ple characters. Two families, the Hamiltons and the Trasks, farm on two U.S. coasts. Samuel Hamilton, a farmer and inventor, lives on marginal farmland with his Puritan wife and diverse chil dren. Adam Trask is born the son of a phony Civil War general, tortured by his older brother Charles and forced to enlist in the Army. Trask, dumbed by years of military life, finds a disillusioned way to the West Coast and even tually to the Hamilton farm. It’s another story about farmers and settlers, but rather than distin guishing the haves and the have nots, “East of Eden” stars the loved and the loved-not. If “Grapes of Wrath” is gloomy, “East of Eden” is brutal. Hamilton and Trask are giant character types enlisted in a grand war. Steinbeck casts the simple environment of Salinas Valley, Calif., into the eternally recurring story of man’s fall. Mere descriptions turn into sym bols and the characters them selves. Early in the book, Cathy is in troduced, a third giant, but evil, personality. As a woman, she is corrupted, a foil against Trask’s weak but essential humanity. He begins her section by asserting that some human beings are bom different — bom abnormal — born as monsters. Cathy, as with all his charac ters, is both all too human and a high poetic device. Above all, Cathy represents the absence of love, the life of “enlightened” self interest. Whereas Adam Trask is weak, she and his brother Charles 'are realistic and are in touch with the world — and, therefore, less ♦ EAST OF EDEN, SEE PAGE 6 BEYOND THE OBVIOUS Deserving lyrics thrive outside the mainstream BY MEG MOORE THE GAMECOCK Honing his or her craft in rela tive obscurity, the 21st-century singer-songwriter is an underrat ed yet persistent breed of artist. Amid a mainstream scene marked by manufactured music, the troubadour has become an out cast, a throwback to past musical eras when lyrical integrity was valued. Despite the frustration of receiving critical acclaim while being rejected by the mass media, today’s singer-songwriters con tinue to churn out earnest tunes that — even more so than the lat est Avril Lavigne song — deserve to be heard. Filling the top spots on the “Singer-Songwriter Spun Songs for the 21st Century” list, several notable tunes define the best of the too-eloquent-for-airplay best. Ryan Adams’ “Oh My Sweet Carolina” is arguably one of the top troubadour-type songs ever writ ten. Found on his “Heartbreaker” album — a must-own for any singer-songwriter fan — “Oh My Sweet Carolina” is as earnest as a song can get as it rambles through instances passed. Although he wrote it while fronting his former band Whiskeytown, Adams’ acoustic number, “Avenues,” also salutes the effectiveness of sparse instrumentation amid an era of generally overproduced music. South Carolina’s own Edwin McCain — a former Gamecock —' generally crafts more inspiring tunes than the average emotional songsmith, yet he generates hope without sacrificing quality. Still, his best songs remain not his wed ding-ready radio hits but his more melancholy creations, such as the acoustic “Prayer to St. Peter.” Besides being a poetic storyteller, he puts on a nearly incomparable liva show — and plays in Columbia quite often. In typical troubadour fashion, his concerts are rarely front-page news, but his performances rock, ramble and ache as well as any. A bevy of singer-songwriters showcase their skills within a band — Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows remains the poetic leader of the pack. While the Crows have cer tainly scored their share of radio hits, including “Long December” and “Hangin’ Around,” their more obscure tunes are equally engag ing. Songs such as “Another Horsedreamer’s Blues” and the pi ano-driven “Colorblind” — among others—mandate playtime. Buried amid the synthesized sounds of today’s mainstream mu sic scene, honest, candid music is still being created; it just takes a lit tle digging to find it. MP3 sites also contain a score of stellar live and unreleased tracks from today’s top songwriters. For starters, check out Ryan Adams’ “Dear Anne” and the Counting Crows’ extended live ver sion of “Anna Begins.” Showcasing their abilities on various albums, whether top-selling or more ob scure, the singer-songwriters of to day continue to put out soul-driv en songs — songs that maintain the power to sink in and simmer with in even the most jaded of listeners. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Edwin ftfcCain, another artist bruised by big ecord companies, has forged out on his own with "The Austin Sessions.” ’90s band creates worthy album despite poor sales BY MEG MOORE THE (IAMECOCK Seven Mary Three is one of those talented bands that the mu sic world forgot about, one of those ubiquitous '90s rock bands that had the potential for a prof itable career, yet instead was buried beneath the manufac tured acts that have followed. Its first commercial release “American Standard” was a Platinum-certified success, spawning the rock radio hits “Cumbersome” and “Water’s Edge.” Unfortunately, a combi nation of bad marketing and a changed mainstream music scene resulted in declining al bum sales and diminished atten tion for the band. Yet its fourth and latest al bum, “The Economy of Sound” — which has not sold as well as expected despite the promotion of the single “Wait” — proves the i band’s talent for song craft. But it is destined to become one of those unfortunately lost albums, unheard in the shuffle. “The Economy of Sound” ex pertly budgets the band’s assets, placing rock tracks such as “Faster” alongside softer songs like “Man In Control,” whose wistful lines swim: “Every car is a reminder that there’s some place else to go.” Although the songs on the band’s latest CD smooth over its Southern roots more than many previous tracks, Seven Mary Three maintains the earnest feel of its earlier releases on “The Economy of Sound.” Singer-song writer Jason Ross is a truly tal ented songsmith. and his ability to meld music and meaning is cer tainly manifested on the album. While the CD’s more subdued tracks are the most poetic, Ross’s lyrics also wind their way through the band’s heavier tunes. On the single “Wait,” Ross philosophizes that “Most of liv ing is done in the mind/ Only thoughts survive;” in “Breakdown” he warns, “You can bow to the prophet, you can make him an offer/ But you’re gonna reap what you sow.” Fusing literate lyrics with a solid rock sound, Orlando-based Seven Mary Three remains a stel lar band, shortchanged by the mu sic world. Despite its waning pop ularity, the band’s talent for mak ing good music has not deterio rated. “The Economy of Sound” allows listeners to revisit the once-engaging world of pop-rock — a world where bands were sea soned and not assembled, where song craft was paramount and where albums like “The Economy of Sound” would not have slipped into obscurity. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com BRIEFLY Marvel sues Sony over'Spider-Man’ LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Marvel comic-book company has sued Sony Pictures Entertainment over a “Spider Man” licensing dispute. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday under seal in Los Angeles Superior Court, ac cording to a statement from Marvel, which means its con tents are not accessible by the general public. Sony released the “Spider Man” film, which collected nearly $403 million at the do mestic box office to become last year’s highest-grossing movie. Whatever the nature of the disagreement, neither compa ny is willing to discuss the law suit, although Marvel said in its statement that the action was not expected to delay pro duction of the film’s sequel, set for release in May 2004. The Hives awarded music export prize STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (AP) — The Hives have been recog nized by the Swedish govern ment for their musical success around the world. They were awarded Sweden’s music export prize for 2002 at the Scandinavian coun try’s version of the Grammy Awards last week. Industry Minister Leif Pagrotsky cited the band for the “directness of their music, tremendous stylistic feeling and rock ’n’ roll attitude.” The five rockers from the small town of Fagersta, 90 miles northwest of Stockholm, reached Billboard’s Top 10 for modern rock tracks last year with “Hate to Say 1 Told You So.” Some say their international success has paved the way for a number of Swedish rock bands, including Grammy nominee the Soundtrack of Our Lives and girl group Sahara Hotnights. Pagrotsky established the award, a glass sculpture, in 1998. Previous winners in clude the Cardigans and Roxette.