The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 31, 2003, Page 6, Image 6
g THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, March 31, 2003
THEY SAID IT
PONTAPT TT^ J-S. MILL: “War is an ugly thing, but not the
U1 > lx Vvx 1 U O ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that
E-mail us at gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com nothing is worth war is much worse.
BY MEG MOORE
THE GAMECOCK
»
Summer — that venerable sea
son of surf, sand and big-screen
blockbusters — never fails to bring
a slew of high-budget action flicks
and well-marketed sequels to the
nation’s theaters. Studios bank on
having big summer successes, air
ing trailers far in advance and plas
tering theater walls with posters
and signs. Summer 2003 promises
to deliver a bevy of probable block
busters, from prequels to sequels,
and everything in between.
The season’s most awaited re
leases begin hitting theaters in
May, just as America’s school-aged
children — and die-hard moviego
ers — are set free for the summer.
Notably, Jim Carrey is back
with a new comedy, “Bruce
Almighty,” in which his prayers
are answered, for better or worse.
Tired of Bruce’s incessant com
plaining, God, played by Morgan
Freeman, grants him divine pow
ers and gives him one day in
which to improve the world — but
if Bruce fails, God will whisk
mankind back into the Dark Ages.
May also means “The Matrix”
series'will be back on the big
screen with its second installment
“The Matrix: Reloaded.”
Hollywood’s current “it” gir
Renee Zellweger also returns t<
theaters, starring as feminist writ
er Barbara Novak in “Down Wit!
Love.”
June offers moviegoers a selec
tion of summer sequels, from th
animated “Rugrats Go Wild” t
the street-racing screenplay “
Fast 2 Furious.” Charlie’s Angel
are also returning and bringin
Bernie Mac with them ii
“Charlie’s Angels 2: Full Throttle.
The much-hyped comic-spawnei
film “The Hulk” should prove t
, be a standout June release. As for
“Dumb and Dumberer: When
l Harry Met Lloyd”: What it lacks
) in intellect, it will likely make up
for in ticket sales.
i In terms of sequels and pre
quels, “Terminator” fans can ex
pect the series’ third installment,
> “Terminator 3: Rise of the
) Machines,” to storm theaters in
! July.
5 A big month for summer block
l busters, July signals the return of
1 two top female leads: Reese
’ Witherspoon wields her law-mind
1 ed charm once more in “Legally
) Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde,”
and Angelina Jolie re-emerges in
“Lara Croft and the Cradle of Life:
Tomb Raider 2,” reprising her ti
tle role. The hit “Spy Kids” series
also returns with the trilogy-com
pleting “Spy Kids 3-D: Game
Over.” In a radically different vein,
an “Exorcist” prequel, “Exorcist:
The Beginning,” will possess
movie screens nationwide in July.
While an “Exorcist” prequel
could possibly be revealing, the
August release “Freddy Vs.
Jason” will undoubtedly contain
more gore than quotable lines.
August also puts Samuel L.
Jackson and Colin Farrell in the
line of fire in “S.W.A.T.” Brittany
Murphy returns as well, starring
as a New York socialite in
“Uptown Girls.”
“The Highwaymen,” which
chronicles the travels of a man
bent on tracking down his wife’s
killer, also opens in August, as
well as the book-based drama
“Matchstick Men,” which stars
the seasoned Nicholas Cage.
All in all, summer 2003 is shap
ing up to be another hackneyed
yet exciting season at the cinema.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecockmixeditor@notmail.com
- SHOW REVIEW
7 Mary 3 storms Senate Park
7 MARY 3
Senate Park
BY MEG MOORE
THE GAMECOCK
Florida-spawned rock band 7
Mary 3 has had trouble staying
afloat in the mainstream market
these past few years. While its de
but album, “American Standard,”
sold more than a million copies
in just seven months, subsequent
releases have failed to make sig
nificant waves in the music
world. Sure, the band continued
to tour, maintained its loyal fan
base, and even put out three
more engaging albums, but suc
cess is never so simple.
Although the band’s popular
ity has waned, its explosive show
at Senate Park on Friday
evening proved the group’s
sound is as solid as ever.
Columbia’s Tokyo Joe opened
the show, playing several origi
nal songs as well as rollicking
through covers of the Beatles’
“Come Together” and Elton
John’s “Tiny Dancer.”
Clearly, however, most fans
had shown up to see the night’s
headliner — and to sing along in
full force. 7 Mary 3 is in the midst
of a small tour through the
Southeast, playing a few live
dates before heading back into
the studio this summer.
Columbia was the third stop on
the band’s seven-venue trek,
which will end April 9 with an
acoustic show in Orlando.
With four major-label LPs’
worth of material to work with,
7 Mary 3 had a multitude of tunes
it could have included in its
lengthy set; judging from the
crowd’s enthusiastic response,
the band made some wise song
choices. Promoting a four-track
sampler of its latest material, the
band included a few new num
bers amidst its “greatest hits
(and ones that should’ve been)”
set.
First and foremost, however,
Friday’s collection of fans clam
ored for the band’s tried-and-true
favorites — and 7 Mary 3 did not
disappoint.
Stomping through a survey of
its past releases, the band in
cluded obvious hits such as
“Cumbersome,” “Water’s Edge”
and the more recent “Wait.” It
also turned the crowd into a cho
PHOTO BY ADAM PATTERSON/THE GAMECOCK
Jason Ross, front man of 7 Mary 3, plays the guitar and sings
during the band’s performance Friday night at Senate Park.
rus on favorites from its first al
bum including “Roderigo,” “My
My” and lead singer Jason Ross’s
acoustic performance of “Lame.”
From the band’s sophomore ef
fort, “Rock Crown,” it included,
among others, a standout rendi
tion of the achingly delicate
“Lucky.”
7 Mary 3’s third release,
“Orange Ave.” — the name pays
homage to a club-cluttered street
in downtown Orlando — was rep
resented Friday evening by
tracks such as the up-tempo
“Eleanor,” “Peel” and “Over My
Shoulder.” Balancing out the
eclectic mix, the band also tore
through rock tracks from its 2001
release “The Economy of Sound,”
including “Sleepwalking,” “First
Time Believers” and the set-clos
er “Breakdown.”
An enthused crowd brought
the band back for a two-song en
core, and it played through the
first track on its sampler,
“Without You Feels,” and ended
with “Honey of Generation” off
“Rock Crown.”
Entertaining a crowd full of
fervent fans, 7 Mary 3 took
Senate Park by storm, rocking
and romping through a solid col
lection of songs.
The show not only solidified
the fact that the band has a stel
lar backlog of Southern-tinged
tunes, but showcased a seasoned
group that still knows how to
rock hard, write well and keep
the crowd calling for more.
Comments on tfiis story?E-mail
gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com
BOOK REVIEW
Dawes captures Jamaican spirit
“A PLACE TO HIDE”
Kwame Dawes
★★★★ out of
BY BRIAN RAY
THE GAMECOCK
Writing a novel requires some
thing similar to a degree in liter
ary rocket science. But a collec
tion of short stories is hundreds
of times more complicated.
Even though Kwame Dawes, a
USC English professor, hasn’t giv
en us a novel yet, his stories whet
our tongues, and some of the
longer ones approach novel
length.
The longest one sprawls com
fortably over 50-some-odd pages.
These stories range widely in
theme, characterization and tone,
but Dawes’ devotion to capturing
a sense of the Jamaican spirit
gives the collection a sense of co
hesion.
Whether male or female, like
able or frustrating, hopeless or
not, the characters all share the
desire to fill an almost indefinable
void in their lives.
The first story is relatively
characteristic of the rest. The
characters’ depression is proba
bly why Dawes, a member of the
literary group Split P Soup, chose
the title “A Place to Hide.”
Poor, big-nosed Sarah’s need
for companionship and faith after
her father’s death is reminiscent
of most of the characters’ strug
gles. They all want that sense of
eternal, internal peace.
The lake scene in which Sarah
tries to reenact her baptism serves
as a fantastic ending, preparing us
for more bizarre stories such as
“Marley’s Ghost.”
This penultimate story, a jum
ble of a day in the life of the death
ridden Joseph and Bob Marley,
the savior of reggae, comes close
to pandemonium. For 50 pages,
Joseph wanders through his filthy
apartment, throwing together
dreams from his life and that of
the late singer, wondering where
his woman Rhea has gone and
why she has abandoned him in his
sickness.
Many of this story’s strengths
lie in its weaknesses. The reader
will either love the way Dawes
infiltrates Joseph’s demented
psyche or throw the book down
in a fit of frustration halfway
through. It’s easy to get lost in the
chunks of crazy prose, and Dawes
purposefully clouds the narrative
so that the reader knows very lit
tle. In fact, Dawes warns the read
er in the opening that “he sleeps
and dreams and becomes. This
much we know.” But the reader
♦ DAWES, SEE PAGE 7
CD REVIEW
UK band explores boundaries
“THE CORAL”
The Coral
★★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆
BY JOSH WATSON
THE GAMECOCK
The Coral’s self-titled debut al
bum captures a sound that fuses
the horns of a soul revue with a
simplistic lyrical prowess that
sporadically hints of both Elvis
Costello and Nick Cave,.
Unlike most of its contempo
raries, this UK sextet revisits the
British Invasion after nearly four
decades, offering 11 brief gems ca
pable of entirely entrancing the
listener.
The Coral is comprised of
young men who on occasion have
been described as troubadours,
each bringing their sundry influ
ences to the band’s sound. The
opening tune “Spanish Main” ig
nites this album with its unfor
gettable guitars and electric-or
gan, evoking fragments of the late
’60s Beach Boys.
“Dreaming of You,” the next
track on the album, serves as a
flawless testament to this band’s
brand of melodically driven hyp
nosis. The lyrics weave their way
into this song and beautifully sus
tain it.
This band appears to encom
pass a great deal of what sur
rounds it, considering the scope
of its music as infinite. The rhyth
mically electric tune “Waiting for
the Heartaches” sounds like a
Motown song, but seethes with a
dark-toned organ riff.
As the album quickly winds to
its finish, “Calendars and Clocks”
surfaces as a song that examines
time and speaks of abandoning
the past: “Resent your past, repent
at last. We are only lines on a
map.” It might be difficult to re
gard a band of teenagers as vi
sionaries, but if this CD indicates
the direction today’s music might
take, the mainstream depression
of unadventurous bands is per
haps nearing its end.
It is impossible to guess from
which tuneful cliff this band will
leap next, but after experiencing
a handful of these two-minute
songs, it is certain the band will
engage its next endeavor with
equal fervency. Its mood-melding
music deserves praise for existing
uniquely separate from most al
bums belonging to The Coral’s
Jess-venturesome contemporaries.
Comments on this story? E-mail j
gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com