The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 27, 2004, Page 7, Image 7
Pat McGee Band to bring new sound to Columbia
BY CARRIE GIVENS
THE GAMECOCK
The members of the Virginia
based Pat McGee Band are dedi
cated to making good music, and
their hard work and dedication,
has paid off in big ways.
The band plays an average of
250 shows a year on stages from
San Francisco to Toronto to
Hoboken, N.J. The band’s busy
tour schedule has taken them
more than a half-million miles
through 44 states.
Band members claim their
success is a direct consequence
of their work ethic.
Whatever the reason, aspiring
musicians could learn a thing or
two from the Pat McGee Band.
This Friday, the band will per
form at Headliners. Playing Tiger
Burn back in the fall, lead vocal
ist Pat McGee said that the band
has been “trying to get back to
Columbia for some time now to do
a real club show... I can’t wait.”
However, the band members
are not only dedicated to their mu
sic, but also to their many fans.
McGee claimed that is “Band Rule
101.”
“To me, if you have fans, treat
them like gold. Without them
you’re back in your basement," he
said.
McGee admitted that the band’s
varied influences show in live per
formances.
“You get all flavors in one night
of tunes,” he said.
Their upcoming CD, “Save Me,”
a follow-up to “Shine,” marks a
monumental moment for the
group. Not only is it their first al
bum under the Warner Bros,
record label, but it signifies the
band’s transition back to their
original rock roots.
McGee said “this is a real gui
tar driven record with a major em
phasis on songwriting.”
But the band hasn’t really
changed, it just has more of an
edge, he said. The album is “about
authenticity... we reached deep.”
The record features songs such
as “Beautiful Ways,” about a ro
mance based on lies, and “You and
I,” which details a man’s realiza
tion that he has lost the best thing
in his life.
Other songs on the album in
clude “Annabel,” “Shady” and
“MustHaveBeenLove.” Onesong,
“Don’t Give Up” was conceived dur
ing the middle of a show.
The band has been a growing
force on the music scene since its
introduction in the late ‘90s. But
the members’ musical careers
started long ago — all of them have
been playing and performing since
childhood.
According to McGee, the “band
started out of me turning a solo
acoustic bar guy gig into a full
band original-music college-tour
ing group.”
He added that it “took about a
year to get the first lineup that last
ed about four years, then we added
Brian Fechino and Todd Wright.
“Both (Fechino and Wright)
have brought the band sound to a
new level that is (what) we had
hoped to sound like after this
record was completed.”
He admitted that the band nev
er expected the success they have
now. We “just wanted to play frats
and have fun,” he said.
These days, McGee said he is
“still in awe that we can still do
this ... I hope we can keep on do
ing this for as long as the fans keep
listening.”
The band will play at 9 p.m.
Friday and, according to McGee,
promises to deliver an awesome
show that will “bridge the gap be
tween legitimate jam band and
pop rock band with songs that
make you go ‘hmm.’”
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
The Pat McGee Band will perform Friday at Headliner’s. It Is
touring in anticipation of Its upcoming album, “Save Me.”
Mary Magdalene rides new wave of interest into pop culture
BY MARK I. PINKSY
KRT CAMPUS
At least once a day, Frances
Garcia checks a Mary Magdalene
Web site, and most nights she
spends at least an hour reading
histories and commentaries about
Jesus’ devoted supporter.
Mary Magdalene "is part of my
life," said the University of Central
Florida student. "She is what in
spired me to know more about
Christianity."
Jesus’ devoted follower has
been inspiring a lot of enthusiasm
in recent years. Experts say a con
fluence of feminism, biblical re
search and pop culture has placed
Mary Magdalene in the front rank
of Jesus’ first followers, at least for
the moment.
"She’s one hot commodity right
now," said Marvin Meyer, profes
sor of religion at Chapman
University in Orange, Calif. "Mary
Magdalene is everywhere."
Mary Magdalene is the subject
of a boom in scholarly literature,
with at least six new books sug
gesting roles for her that range
from the 13th apostle to a goddess.
In 2003, the American Bible
Society in New York staged an ex
hibit of Mary Magdalene portraits.
This wave of academic interest
has been propelled into the main
stream by popular fiction. "Mary,
Called Magdalene," a historical nov
el by Margaret George, became a
best seller in 2002. The following
year, "The Da Vinci Code" burst
onto the scene. The fast-paced
thriller claims that Mary
Magdalene’s role as Jesus’ wife has
been systematically suppressed.
With 6 million copies in print
and a sale to Hollywood, "The Da
Vinci Code" has sparked numer
ous Web sites and women’s dis
cussion groups. Jesus’ devoted fol
lower also has landed on the cover
of both Time and Newsweek and
on several national television spe
cials. Mary Magdalene is featured
in the Mel Gibson film, "The
Passion of the Christ." All of this
attention points to a dramatic
reappraisal of the biblical figure,
who some charge has been
marginalized and airbrushed from
the story of early Christianity.
"Mary is very close to Jesus,
trusted by Jesus, was one of the dis
ciples," said Meyer, author of "The
Gospels of Mary: The Secret
Tradition of Mary Magdalene, the
Companion of Jesus." She was "not
only in the inner circle, but maybe
the most beloved of all the disciples
of Jesus." According to the four
Gospels of the New Testament,
Mary Magdalene witnessed Jesus’
crucifixion and his resurrection,
rallying the depressed and disbe
lieving male disciples.
For 1,500 years, Mary
Magdalene was portrayed in art
and theology as a prostitute whose
life was transformed by Jesus’ for
giveness. This was the result of an
erroneous sermon preached in 591
by Pope Gregory the Great. The
pontiff, misreading the Gospel of
Luke, confused Mary Magdalene
with another woman described as
"sinful." His finding was reversed
by the Vatican in 1969.
"That is a monumental step for
the Church to actually admit there
may have been a misinterpreta
tion," said the Rev. Charlie
Mitchell, pastor of St. Mary
Magdalen Catholic Church in
Altamonte Springs.
Mary Magdalene "is a woman
whose life has been completely dis
torted down through the ages —
for whatever reason," Mitchell
said.
Several authors of recent works
about Magdalene say they know
the reasons.
The second-century Gospel of
Mary Magdalene was found in the
late 19th century by archaeologists
but remained largely ignored and
untranslated for 50 years. It is the
only account named for a woman
and offers a different view of
Christianity — one that describes
an "interior spirituality," said
Karen L. King, author of "The
Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus
and the First Woman Apostle."
In the Mary Magdalene account,
"salvation is not something that
comes from an external savior,"
said King. "One has to seek salva
tion within." Thus, the Magdalene
Gospel depicts Jesus as a teacher
-rather than as a savior who dies to
atone for humanity’s sins.
Mary Magdalene’s account is
also the "strongest argument for
women’s leadership" in Christian
writings, said King.
"It lets us hear an alternative
voice," she said, in contrast with I
Corinthians and I Timothy, which
urge silence and submissiveness
of women.
Because Mary Magdalene may
have been a rival to the Apostle
Peter, other Gospel accounts with
favorable references to her may
have been excluded by the male
church leaders who compiled the
New Testament, according to King
and other scholars.
"Mary Magdalene was such an
important person in the Jesus
movement that the Gospels could
not ignore her," said Meyer of
Chapman University. "But the
Gogpel writers were on the side of
the 12 guys, the male disciples."
Lynn Picknett, a British schol
ar, thinks she knows why Jesus’
companion "has suddenly become
the flavor of the month" among
scholars and lay people.
"I think people are realizing
now that the Bible did not arrive
by e-mail from God, and that it’s
very much the work of manand
man with his own agenda," said
Picknett, author of "Mary
Magdalene: Christianity’s Hidden
Goddess."
There is more, of course, to
Mary Magdalene’s appeal.
"With Mary Magdalene there is
•something else going on cultural
ly," said Berger. "It has to do with
the veil over her relationship with
Jesus, a suggestion of romantic
love involved. Our culture is one
that cannot imagine life without
romance, love and sex."
'Yet, she said, there is "very slim
historical evidence" of Jesus and
Mary Magdalene having a roman
tic relationship.
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