The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 02, 2004, Page 5, Image 5
THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, April 2, 2004 5
> / ✓ ‘ :
“Reality is merely an illusion,
albeit a very persistentope.”
Contact. Us albert EINSTEIN
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? physicist ^
E-mail us at gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu
i*1
PHOTO BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK
Nathaniel Gregg Jr., a correctional officer, auditions for “Big Brother" Tuesday afternoon at Carolina Wings & Rib House in The Vista. About 100 people auditioned for the reality show.
Area residents vie for reality check
during “Big Brother” auditions
BY CAITLIN COKER
the gamecock
Third-year math stu
dent Zack Nichols has
many dreams and a
few plans. One of those
dreams is to be on a reality televi
sion program.
“Well, life just isn’t extreme
enough anymore,” Nichols said.
want my own cheap shot at
Mme, fortune and being invited
onto late-night talk shows.”
For Columbia residents, this
far-off dream could become a re
ality — open auditions to be a
contestant on the hit reality TV
show “Big Brother” were held
Tuesday at Carolina Wings & Rib
House in The Vista. Local CBS af
filiate WLTX-TV held the casting
call from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., and
about 100 people came for their
chance.
Ever since pioneering shows
such as “Survivor” and “The
Real World” began airing, reali
ty TV has become increasingly
popular. Many strangers like to
watch other strangers in com
promising positions, regardless
of whether contestants are sur
viving daring feats or surviving
smelly housemates. Some people
also like to see strangers get mar
ried, be it to fathers, real mil
lionaires, fake millionaires or
other strangers.
“Reality television has
changed the face of TV,” said
WLTX president Rich O’Dell. “It
has boosted ratings for CBS, es
pecially in the youth demograph
ic. People are curious and even a
little voyeuristic, so it makes for
good TV.”
The premise of “Big Brother”
is 12 strangers have to live to
gether for 100 days without being
voted out of the house. The last
person left walks away' with
$500,000.
Every movement the contes
tants make is captured by cameras
planted all over the house.
Television viewers can partake in
the melodrama that occurs when
different people have to share the
same space.
The show was so popular the
first season that CBS made anoth
er one. And another one. Now, it
is preparing for its fifth season of
the show.
CBS affiliates all over the coun
try are searching for everyday
people to be in the next season of
“Big Brother.” WLTX-TV enthu
siastically accepted the offer to
help in this quest.
“It’s fun to do this for
Columbia,” O’Dell said. “A steady
stream of people have come out to
day, and we would love to have
someone from South Carolina on
these shows.”
Indeed, South Carolina resi
dents traveled from all over the
state for the chance to be on “Big
Brother.” Reality-star wannabes
of all different ages turned out for
the call, from 21-year-olds to a 52
year-old.
Todd “Topaz” Montgomery, a
33-year-old retired bartender, was
one of the first to audition. He
seems like a natural pick for a re
ality TV show contestant —
friendly and charming, in mod
ern dress and a cowboy hat. His
natural charisma and his hidden
yet-accessible conniving nature
are what he claims will be his
main asset on the show.
“My experiences with working
in retail have given me great peo
ple skills — in getting along and
getting what I want,” Montgomery
said.
O’Dell also thinks personality
is a prerequisite for “Big Brother”
contestants.
“They should have a really
good personality,” O’Dell said.
"Able to have fun, and maybe even
a little conniving.”
Montana Grieco, 24, has never
had a roommate in her life, nor
has she actually watched an
episode of “Big Brother,” but she
dreams of flying to Los Angeles
and returning with half a million
dollars. Plus, she said, she “wants
to date a TV producer.”
“I think it would be a great ex
perience to live with 11 other peo
ple from different parts of the
country with different back
grounds and viewpoints,” Grieco
said. Another perk of the show for
Grieco would be being under
surveillance at all times.
“I like cameras, and I like talk
ing,” she said.
Grieco believes being on a TV
show like “Big Brother” requires
“a unique personality, so that peo
ple will want to watch them. A cer
tain spark.”
Tuesday’s “Big Brother” audi
tions also required prospective
contestants to present two pic
tures of themselves and two pho
tocopied forms of ID — four
things that Zack Nichols did not
have with him. Saddened that he
had lost so early in the game,
Nichols waved good-bye to his
high-hat dreams, but still believes
he would have been well-quali
fied.
“All I have ever seen on reality
TV shows is two people in a hot
tub, and I want to be one or both
of these people,” Nichols said. “I
mean, I have a lifetime experience
of living in houses and doing
stuff.”
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu
Medley of musicians
•to play for Music Crawl
BY MEG MOORE
THE GAMECOCK '
Consider it a publicity stunt of
sorts — or more appropriately, a
“fan-raiser” for the local music
scene. The fifth annual Free
Times Music Crawl takes place
this weekend, gathering 35 area
bands for one rocking evening of
guitars and bar-crawling.
The fun starts at 4:30 p.m.
Saturday at one of the Midlands’
most-frequented live music
venues, New Brookland Tavern.
Five other area clubs will be
cranking out the tunes later in
the evening for a multi-stage,
multi-style, citywide shindig.
£/ rom the hip-hop rhythms of
rJej a Voodoo to the rock hard
sounds of Throttlerod, an assort
ment of groups with regional ties
will be giving music fans a rea
son to rock out.
Several genres will be spot
lighted on different stages. Art
Bar will be playing host to the art
punk, heavy metal crowd while
New Brookland and Jillian’s will
take on the tamer alt-rock and
pop-punk contingent. Indie-rock
ers Bolt and the Weezer-influ
enced Mean Wiener wilhbe split
ting the bill with local hip-hop
and R&B acts at Headliners.
Flying Saucer will tfeep fans in
touch with their roots by pre
senting a country-tinged lineup.
Wristbands give attendees en
trance to all venues for a mere $5.
New Brookland and Sundance
will admit all ages during the
event. The rest of the clubs will
be 18 and up.
Come out and join the party.
2004 Free Times
Music Crawl
NEW BR00KLAND TAVERN
Chasing August
4:30-5 p.m.
The Scrabbles
5:15 p.m.
Pop 39
6 p.m.
F-13
6:45 p.m.
Bums Out Bright
7:30 p.m.
Vinyl are My Pants
8:15 p.m.
Curse Go Back
9:15 p.m.
Gods of Mars
10:15 p.m.
Donbravado
11:15 p.m.
Danielle Howie
12:15 a.m.
ART BAR
Mandible
7:45 p.m.
Something About Vampires &
Sluts
8:40 p.m.
From Safety to Where
9:35 p.m.
Rockefeller Horsecollar
10:30 p.m.
Throttlerod
11:25 p.m.
FLYING SAUCER
Park at Senate Street
Rat Out Strangers
8 p.m.
Phil Yates
9 p.m.
Petrillo Relents
10 p.m.
Black Bottom Biscuits
11 p.m.
Willie Heath Neal
Midnight
♦ MUSIC CRAWL, SEE PAGE 6
CD. Review
‘Bobo ’ works as one-time treat
BY STEVEN VAN HAREN
THE GAMECOCK
The men of Aerosmith are al
ready cemented into the
American rock ’n’ roll pantheon,
and they can do anything they
want with their 30-year invest
ment paying the bills. “Honkin’ on
Bobo,” an album of old blues stan
dards, is their post-middle-age ex
periment in thoughtless fun.
While these chiseled dinosaurs
still smolder with talent and pas
sion, the experiment lumbers at
times like a Frankenstein built
solely for their amusement.
“Road Runner,” the stunning
ly refreshing liftoff track, finds ev
ery member of the group inter
jecting quick solos like hothead
ed teenagers in their first band.
It’s obvious the boys are having
fun past 50, especially when right
hand man and Riffmaster General
Joe Perry sings lead vocals on the
otherwise boring “Stop Messin’
Around” and the hurdy-gurdy
tinged “Back Back Train.”
Perry’s smooth vocals provide
temporary relief from those of lead
wailer Steven Tyler, who’s gained
a wise-beyond-his-years control
over his acrobatic singing. Tyler’s
harmonica, rarely heard on an
Aerosmith album, covers the 12
tracks like a clean, blue flame.
Perry and guitarist Brad
Whitford spew slide licks and so
los on even ground, with nary a
mention of who’s playing lead and
who’s playing rhythm. Both men
stand at attention on the moody
“I’m Re^dy,” and while Perry’s
licks are easily recognizable, a
feeling of two
guitars-work
ing-as-one dom
inates the al
bum.
When the
‘Smiths break
out of the 12-bar
blues frame,
the results are
pleasantly
unique. This al
bum’s survival
relies almost
completely on
bells and whis
tles, like the
stuttering bass
line in “Baby,
Please Don’t
Go” and the
one-time-onlv
descending riff in the middle of
“You Gotta Move.”
These blues gems pop with su
per-sharp production courtesy of
Jack Douglas, the wizard behind
such classic Aerosmith albums as
“Toys in the Attic” and “Rocks.”
Blend this old-school ethic with
the 21st-century scratch from
their 2001 album “Just Push Play,”
and you’ll get a good idea of the
sound on “Bobo.”
Unfortunately, the polished
modernity of the tracks squeezes
almost every drop of soul out of
the recordings. Need proof that
modern blues
can still work?
Listen to
“Texas Flood.”
Need proof that
an album of
covers by a
well-estab
lished band can
at least reach
broader than
one genre?
Listen to
Metallica’s
“Garage, Inc.”
These are just
two examples of
artists that did
their own ver
sions of“Bobo”
much better.
Aerosmith
certainly lends itself to the mem
ory of being a teenage blues band;
in fact, “Never Loved A Girl”
shows exactly where the soulful
anguish of 1993’s “Crazy” and
“Cryin”’ came from. It’s almost
impossible not to feel your blood
♦ AEROSMITH, SEE PAGE 6
“HONKIN’ ON BOBO"
Aerosmith
★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆