University of South Carolina Libraries
Chronicles CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 more of a white liberal audience, and I guess black liberals are to tally down with it. But generally speaking, what I’ve found from ex perience is that black audiences are conservative. But I’ve found that it’s been harder to get the ‘K Chronicles’ in black newspapers than it is in alternative weeklies.... “It’s such a stupid and absurd thing. If something is funny or something resonates with people, it’s not necessarily a black and white thing, although the issues I 9 talk about are black and white.... And people have written to me, readers — only 53-year-old white men — and they say, ‘I’m a 53-year old white man’ — only 53-year-old white men feel the need to describe their race and age — ‘and, believe it or not, I can relate to so many things in your comic. Isn’t that in credible? Me? A white man!’ “My reply to them is: ‘Ninety nine percent of the movies out there, films, and television shows, are done by 53-year-old white men. So why is it so far-fetched that you would relate to and en joy my work?,’ ” Ill I nb rHLL, QWIIIL v»i uutu IO WERE OFFENDED WHEN THE GAMECOCK PRINTED A “K m CHRONICLES" STRIP THEY THOUGHT WAS RACIST. DO YOU THINK PEOPLE DON’T CATCH THE SARCASM SOMETIMES? “It was a very sarcastic strip about the idea of black privilege and how white people have said to me, ‘You know, I wish I was black, you people get all these ben efits.’ And it was the absurd no tion that black people get all these privileges, and white people don’t realize all the privileges they get in this society.” HAS THERE BEEN ANY SIMILAR BACKLASH YOU’VE PERSONALLY EXPERIENCED? “Well, early on after Sept. 11, when I questioned the reactions of our government and the fact that, as diverse as New York is, there were no black or brown folk * in the police and fire departments, I got a lot of hate mail.... “I did one when Clinton was president and signed this thing to make companies hire disabled peo ple ... and this white man was screaming, ‘Quotas!’ and, ‘I wish! was handicapped sometimes; they get all the good parking spaces. A lot of them get to sit down all the time.’... A disabled advocate was totally getting all over me (about the comic)... saying, ‘Angry white men like you, blah blah blah.’... She didn’t get the sarcasm.... But I ex pect that to happen. I expect every one not to get it. It’s interesting.” WHAT IS THE OBSESSION WITH SHEEP ABOUT? % “I guess I’ve had a profound connection with sheep ever since I was young laddie. They’re al ways the easiest animal to draw when you draw a farm.... When I visited Stonehenge, I frolicked amongst the sheep and had a deep connection with them. There’s so many things you can do with them: They provide warmth for you with their wool, you can eat them, and some even say could have sex with them. Not that I condone that behavior, but I’ve heard that you could.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockm ixeditor@hotma il.com < GREAT CARS! GREAT RATES! In the event you need a car for any reason, rent a car from Thrifty- Thrifty Car Rental offers late model, low mileage, clean cars with unparalleled customer service! • Student Cash Rentals (with I.D.) • Weekend Specials • Locals Appreciation Rates • Wide variety of dean, late model vehicles • Unlimited mileage in SC and bordering states • Spoil Utilities and 15 Passenger Vans available • Largest Minivan seledlon available in Columbia • Must book with this location ONLY • • Bank check cards (debit cards) accepted at time of rental • Credit card not required ^^fyfcar Rental 1502 Charleston Hwy West Columbia, SC 29169 Sun - Fri 8:00am - 6:00pm Sat 8:00am - 5:00pm 4(803) 939-^036 tncytre about our local Corporate Rental Program Hootie’s success remains caught in ‘Rear View ’ “HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH” Hootie and the Blowfish ★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆ BY MEG MOORE THE GAMECOCK It was the sort of success that every upstart artist hopes for; the sort of debut that newly signed bands can barely fathom much less actualize. An unassuming bar band from South Carolina, Hootie and the tsiownsn went from club scene favorites to radio dar lings with the release of their major label de but, “Cracked Rear View.” And the group has spent the ensuing nine years producing music in the shadow of that hit-laden re lease. While “Cracked Rear View” spawned radio hits including “Let Her Cry,” “Hold My Hand” and “Only Wanna Be With You,” the band’s subsequent releases made a comparatively minor, if even visible, dent in the mass music market. Back with their fourth album — excluding 2000’s enjoyable, if overiooKea, cover-song compilation “Scattered, Smothered, and Covered” — Hootie and the Blowfish are again attempt ing to appeal to America’s radio listeners. The question remains, is America still interested in listen ing? The group’s self-titled fourth album captures the same pop sol idarity that has fueled its previ A The comparison can’t be avoidfed, but this album doesn’t reach the bar set by the band’s debut. ous releases, mixing varying 1 amounts of twang and soul in t with the mainstream. The album starts out with a i seemingly standard pop-rock an- i them, yet various changes in me- i ter give the song a jostled feel. i The second track also tinkers ] with and stretches the usual i Hootie sound: the R&B influence that often flickers through their ] music is set ablaze, fueling “Little < Brother” with grit-and, in the world of pop-rock records, origi nality. . < Arguably, the album’s most ra- 1 dio-worthy track is “I’ll Come 1 Runnin’” — a cohesive, catchy- < tune that is sentimental without i being overwrought. It most com- - pletely captures the innate mix of ( sunny pop and pain that habitu- 6 illy surfaces in Hootie-honed mu le. The group’s latest album night not go hurtling through iny musical barriers, but it’s a lolid effort from a band that has lever strayed from its decided y middle-of-the-road senti nents. There’s no avoiding the com >arison — this album isn’t an ither “Cracked Rear View”—but t evidences that, just as there are ndie bands who refuse to “sell >ut,” there are pop-rock bands vho recognize that their ability o craft a catchy hook need not be ompromised for the sake of crit cal acclaim. ''omments on this story?E-mail amecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Bob CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 opinions, obsessed with technol ogy and solutions, hugely self-de feating. Stumpy is my practical, shooting-ideas-down side, I guess, and Freddie is my irre pressible, good-hearted kind ness.” WHAT’S UP WITH KOFI AND YOU? AND ROBOTS, TOO? “I did a strip back in the sec ond book that featured Kofi as a one-off gag, but it turned out once I drew him a couple of times, I discovered he was kind of fun to draw. Plus, he provided an easy way to comment on all the frac tious silliness of ipternational politics, so he just sort of took off. Plus, I did the idea of claiming a real person and making them over into a superhero figure. As for the robots, I’m a child of “Star Wars,” so robots have always been my North Star, my guide way.” THOUGH COMICS LIKE “ATLAS SHRUGGED 2” AND “GOIN’ AFTER THE CREATIONISTS” CRIT ICIZE IDEAS, YOU AVOID THE EX PLICITLY POLITICAL - WHY? “I try not to get too overtly, ripped-from-today’s-headlines political, just because I don’t want to date the comics too much. Plus, every time I do get political, people complain about it. But I’ve been doing a fair bit of overtly political stuff, partic ularly lately.” JUST WHAPS SO COOL ABOUT QUANTUM THEORY? “Well, I guess it’s the fact that, on the fundamental level, reality doesn’t really exist. We can make measurements, and our mea surements will agree, but there’s nothing ‘underneath’ the mea surements. Until you measure, there really is not one thing or the other there.” WHAT FIRST GOT YOU INTER ESTED IN APOSTROPHES? “I’ve always been a good speller and punctuator and gram marer, and I had a job for a few years as a proofreader, so that hardened my unforgiving atti tude.” WHAT EXACTLY ARE BOB’S LEAFY-ROOTY THINGS? “Biologically speaking, Bob’s rooty-leafy things are just that. Partly roots, partly leaves ... they’re like the bottom part of a dandelion. Those are leaves, right? With a little root thrown in.” DO YOU PLAN TO MUSCLE YOUR BOOKS INTO GENERAL SALE? “Syndication would be great, though it looks like I’m going to have to syndicate myself. As for general sale, I’m doing my damn dest to get this next book into comic stores. Let’s all hope I suc ceed brilliantly.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Buttercup CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 years, and other times I think I’ll get sick of it after another two. I don’t ever intend to stop drawing and writing.... ” DO YOU BREAK EVEN ON THE COMIC STRIPS OR FIND YOUR SELF PAYING OUT OF POCKET? “Most months ‘Buttercup Festival’ makes a small profit, but I never get the chance to do anything with it because it’s al I-: most always reinvested in the comic — buying more shirts that I won’t be able to sell out of for a few months, for instance. So overall, the comic seems to break even.” HAVE YOU EVER DREAMED ABOUT ANY OF YOUR CHARAC TERS? “I’ve never dreamt about that little guy, thankfully. I don’t know what we’d talk about if we were to meet. Probably one of us would get bored and wander away.” For an extensive archive of -1 comics and Garbauskas’ other creative projects, visit www.buttercupfestival.com, and make sure you’re not drink ing anything when the comics flash up. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@Jiotmail.com I-: _Directions; Just across the Gervais St. Bridge - Left at Second IMi_, ---l-1 www.dailygamecock.com ■ ktween yrn and yarn »C3«nutate! Close to campus Hamilton Mill Apartments 100 Bryton Trace Call today 803-772-9409 ?$fees starting at $199, ♦ >• — As an engineer in the U.S. Air Force, , there’s no telling what you’ll work on. (Seriously, we can’t tell you.) United States Air Force applied technology is years ahead of what you'll touch in the private sector, and as a new engineer you’ll likely be involved at the ground level of new and sometimes classified developments. You'll begin leading and managing within this highly respected group from day one. Find out what's waiting behind the scenes for you in the Air Force today. To request more information, call 1-800-423-USAF or log on to airforce.com. U.S.AIR FORCE CROSS INTO THE B.LUE