Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, January 21,2004 * 7 0 “I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my Pnntaptlk ®e*ms of music.” , '-'UIILCHA.US ^ ALBERT EINSTEIN Story ideas? Questions? Comments? physicist E-mail us at gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu v BY CHARLES TOMLINSON THE GAMECOCK The imminent closing of Manifest Discs & Tapes is a dis appointing loss for USC students and Columbia. But imagine how surprising it must have been for the employees of the five-store chain, some of whom are USC stu dents. Three weeks ago, Manifest em ployee and fifth-year print jour nalism student Quinn Steinbrecher found out about Manifest’s fate. “I really had no idea,” he said. “Just one day at work, the manager came up to me and said, ‘We’re closing all the stores.’ And he seemed pretty sur prised at it as well.” David Adedokun, a sixth-year public relations student who has worked at Manifest only three weeks, said he found out shortly after he’d finished his first week on the job. In a few months, the 19-year-old chain will close its five stores and sell its Charleston location. Even with the upswing of legal music downloading and the closing of the Manifest in Florence last year, no one seemed to foresee the entire chain’s closing for good. Even though several used CD stores are much closer to the USC campus than Manifest, in the Boozer Shopping Center on Broad River Road, the store has en deared itself to students because it “just has a much larger selec tion —far superior," Steinbrecher said. He also said it was the main place he bought music even before he worked there. "I tried to consciously buy from Manifest because I knew that was a place where they needed loyal ty, whereas Best Buy or Circuit City, they don’t necessarily need loyalty because they don’t rely to tally on music sales for their rev enue,” he said. Adedokun worked at the Sounds Familiar on Harbison Boulevard until its closing, and he said he went to work at Manifest because he enjoyed learning about music in an environment with “fellow audiophiles.” “Everybody there, they’re into their own tastes, and they like what they like, but they’re sort of open-minded about everything else,” Adedokun said. He said Manifest’s appeal is twofold — because of its “deep se lection” of used CDs and hard-to find titles as well as in-store band performances. 9 “It’s such a big place that if you want the new Jennifer Lopez album, they’ll have it,” but that music fans can also find scarce import singles there, he said. Manifest’s stores have also played host to performances by such bands as Spacehog, Badly Drawn Boy and Jump, Little Children. “Manifest is the only shop in town that did that kind of thing with any regularity,” Adedokun said. Steinbrecher and Adedokun both said Manifest’s closing will make music shopping in Columbia much more difficult. “It makes it a lot more difficult to get plugged into the local music scene,” Steinbrecher said, because Manifest carried CDs by local Adedokun said, “The stuff that I want, I’ll still be able to get, I feel like; I’ll just have to be a little more creative about it.” He said Sounds Familiar will still carry a great deal of the al bums he would want. Scratch ‘n’ Spin Records, on 12th Street in West Columbia, opened in September, as well. Adedokun also said mail order is always an option, although it takes patience to wait a week or two for the CD to arrive. Both Adedokun and Steinbrecher said they aren’t yet The closing of a popular local music store comes as a surprise, marks end of an era sure where they’ll work next. The closing of Manifest could signal a decline in Columbia’s mu sic retail, but Adedokun thinks it will carry some positive effects. “I’m pretty positive this is sort of going to motivate people to re ally want to do something,” he said. He said he thinks a new com munity-supporting music store will open because Manifest held “too big a piece of the pie” not to be replaced. “There’s more to being a music fan than going to where the CDs are cheapest or whatever,” Adedokun said. “If you want your friendly neighborhood record store around, you’ve got to do something to support it.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu Paris Hilton stars In the Fox TV show, “The Simple Life,” with friend Nicole Ritchie, daughter of singer Lionel Ritchie. When the rich fall to reality BY CARRIE GIVENS THE I1AMEC0CK Paris Hilton, Nicole Ritchie, Ally Hilfiger, Jaime Gleicher — their last names epitomize what it • means to be in the money. These girls have multiple houses at then disposal, designer names on ev erything they own and unlimited credit. They have trust funds and have attended only the best, most exclusive schools. And now the girls have become stars, riding the latest wave of re ality television. Hilton and Ritchie are no longer flaunting their Louis Vuitton bags and Chanel dresses. Instead, they have been trans planted to the Leding family farm in Altus, Ark. They have been forced to live “The Simple Life.” Hilfiger and Gleicher, stars of “Rich Girls,” have it easier than their counterparts on “The Simple Life.” A camera crew follows the girls as they vacation in London, shop for prom dresses, and debate the plight of Ethiopian children at Ally’s retreat in the British West Indies. Both shows have become popu lar despite their shallow premis es. According to first-year politi cal science student Field Cantey, the shows are an “exercise in van ity.” First-year biology student Brandon Sousa adds, “There is ♦ RICH, SEE PAGE 8 Getting back in the USC groove Students try to readjust to life at college after winter break BY CRYSTAL SHELLEY THE GAMECOCK As last semester came to a close, students stressed, filled with anxiety over upcoming ex ams and anticipating the com ing holidays. Campus seemed to turn into a ghost town for the next month as students enjoyed taking time off from the pres sures and obligations of college life. . However, after a month of free dom, the student citizens of the USC community have returned. The ghost town is once again booming, alive with a new semester. For some, the break just didn’t seem long enough. Others quick ly became bored back home, rest less to return to their classes and friends at USC. Many seem to have had mixed feelings about coming back to school and start ing a new semester. Marie Russ, a second-year English student, said, “I loved be ing at home and spending time with my family and friends, but I was also ready to get back with my friends and life here in Columbia.” Some students, however, be came anxious to again escape their parents’ rule and regain the freedom that they have en joyed while living independent ly. Brian Wasko, a second-year sports and entertainment man agement student said that he likes being back at school and be ing on his own. “I don’t have to run my plans by anyone here and I can do more things on a whim if I want to without am explana tion,” he said. Besides readjusting to new classes, many students must also get readjusted to living in a resi dence hall after becoming com fortable back in their homes over the break. Morgan Harris, a first year public relations student stat ed that she got used to “having mom doing stuff” while being at home. Now students must get back into the game of doing laun dry and waking up to an alarm clock (or in some cases multiple alarm clocks) rather than the sound of mom’s voice. After spending a carefree month sleeping in and doing nothing productive during then waking hours, students must now get back into a regular sleeping routine and deal with the demands of classes and pro fessors. “I am ready to get back into a regular sleeping schedule” said Matthew Spires, a second-year business student. For most of us, the adjustments to campus life don’t take longer than a mere week—especially for upperclassmen who have made these changes many times before. Amy Craig, a first-year sports and ♦ SCHOOL, SEE PAGE 8 USC grad reflects on time in Peace Corps The following personal ac count is from USC alumna Karen Palmigiano, who cur rently serves as a member of the Peace Corps in Tanzania. Hoping to raise support for a work-related project, she con tacted The Gamecock, intent on sharing her experiences in Africa. Living and working with students at a secondary school along the Tanzanian coast, Palmigiano aims to take a group of girls she has been working with on an ultimate adventure — a climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro. BY KAREN PALMIGIANO THE GAMECOCK Wasichana Wanaweza. This is a Swahili phrase for "Girls, they are able,” which has been the theme for my Peace Corps experience in Tanzania. After graduating from USC in 2002 with a degree in marine sci ence, I, decided it was time to challenge myself. I had spent the past 16 years in school, working and volunteering when I could. Although at the time that hour a week or those two months during summer break seemed like a lot, it was now time to step it up. Could I serve 27 months in a foreign coun try without my family or the basic amenities and still be able to make a difference? As I enter my last year of service I like to think it is possible. Over the past 17 months I have lived at a coed, sec ondary boarding school where I have been teaching biology in a small be,ach town, Mtwara, on the coast of Tanzania. Along with teach ing full time I have started and maintained both a girls’ empowerment group and a health club. I also co-chaired a girls’ empowerment confer ♦ PEACE CORPS, SEE PAGE 8 __r Ul-WJLL _ _______ <lj*bl l/J I ^ I PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Former USC student Karen Palmigiano Is living In Africa working with the Peace Corps to help the people of Tanzania.