The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 21, 2005, Page 7, Image 7
THEY SAID IT
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n very attractive name.
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Monday, March 21, 2005 Rosemary and Lowry’s Seasoning Salt.
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Symposium to cover entire ‘Spectrum’
By CARRIE GIVENS
ASSISTANT MIX EDITOR
Starting Wednesday night for a
two-night run, Spectrum
- Symposium will be focusing on
“America’s Role in Today’s Global
Society.”
Sponsored by Carolina
Productions, the concept of the
Spectrum series is to sponsor a
multi-day event during which
topics of national and
international interest are discussed
among the Carolina community.
The Spectrum Symposium was
planned by a steering committee of
USC students, faculty and staff
members.
Member of the Spectrum
Symposium board and third-year
political science student Sijott Sowell
said Carolina Productions saw a
need for an annual distinguished
lecture series separate from the
normal speakers and programs.
“We also wanted to create
student-sponsored events with
collaboration between students
and faculty — to create a program
that would provide a means of
open discussion for the Carolina
community,” Sowsdl said.
Although this is the first
Spectrum Symposium, the series is
slated to occur each spring semester.
For guidance on planning, the
Spectrum committee researched
similar events such as Vanderbilt
University’s IMPACT Symposium.
Sowell said Vanderbilt’s
“discussions are more politically
focused, whereas, we want to look at
a topic from many different angles.”
Sowell also said the events are
“covering the entire ‘Spectrum’ of
our campus from business to
medicine to politics to religion.”
This year’s festivities will include
a speech by former Secretary of
Defense William Cohen on
Wednesday night and a USC
faculty member roundtable on
Thursday night. Once named by
Time magazine as one of America’s
200 Future Leaders and by the U.S.
Junior Chamber of Commerce as
one of the Ten Outstanding Young
Men of America, Cohen has had an
important role in shaping
American government and policy.
Sowell says that the Spectrum
committee looked for a speaker
who would “provide the Carolina
community with insight and
knowledge.”
In addition to being chairman for
both the Armed Services
Committee’s Seapower and Force
Projection Subcommittee and the
Government Oversight Committee,
he was crucial in redefining
Medicare and
health care reform
in the 1990s. After
being involved in
economic and
security issues for
years, Cohen
retired in 1996 to
launch the William r/-.UCK|
S. Cohen Institute COHEN
for International
Business at the University of Maine.
Cohen’s retirement was brief.
He was named Secretary of
Defense for President Clinton in
1997. During his tenure, Cohen
revamped the American military
by improving pay and benefits and
by forming strong relationships
with other countries to face the
challenges of the post-Cold War
era. He also was responsible for
the air warfare campaign in Bosnia
and Kosovo and additional
military operations on every
continent.
Sowell encourages all to attend
the Spectrum events.
“Part of coming to college is
about experiencing new things and
gaining a grasp of the world in
which we live,” he said.
Sowell adds that it is important
to “understand where America
currently stands on the world stage.”
Both events will feature a
question-and-answer session to
allow audience members to
interact with former Secretary
Cohen and the faculty member
roundtable.
“Even if you do not agree with
Cohen’s politics or the views of the
faculty members participating in
the roundtable ... it is important to
listen to their arguments and seek
to understand their points,” Sowell
said.
Keynote speaker William
Cohen will take the stage at 7 p.m.
Wednesday at the Koger Center.
The faculty roundtable will begin
at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Russell
House Theater. All events are free
to USC students, faculty and staff
members. Admission is $5 at the
door for the general public.
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu
NICK ESARES/THE GAMECOCK
Second-year Spanish student Charity Wilson decorates the walls of her dorm room with vinyl records and other memorabilia from musical references from the popular cartoon “Family Guy.”
Vinyl collecting takes a different twist with
themes inspired by “Family Guy” references
By JULIA SELLERS
THE GAMECOCK
To pay homage to her favorite
television show, Charity Wilson, a
second-year Spanish student,
collects all musical references from
, the television show “Family Guy.”
An adult cartoon originally
aired on the Fox network, “Family
Guy” has taken on new life since
its cancellation, through DVD
sales and reruns on The Cartoon
Network’s nightly “Adult Swim.”
In the program, the Griffin
family usually makes references to
songs either by singing them,
sometimes in a Broadway montage,
or by quoting lyrics of a song.
“Their music is really just pop
culture and real ’80s. Anything from
White Snake to Huey Lewis to Milli
Vanilli (might be quoted). It is just
really hilarious,” Wilson said.
“A lot of my friends collect vinyl,
and I thought it was cool. And I
wanted to be different,” Wilson
said. “I realized after watching
‘Family Guy’ for days on end they
have a lot of funny references, so I
was like, ‘I will just collect the vinyl
they have [made references to] and
put it on my wall.’”
Because references range from a
specific song or just a general
band, Wilson has a system to her
collection.
“In some cases they [“Family
Guy” characters] reference songs.
If it is that, then I have to find that
vinyl with that song on it. And
then sometimes they just reference
an artist, like they referenced
Simon and Garfunkel. In that case
I choose a greatest hits album, dr I
pick an album based on whether I
like the cover or not.”
Sometimes finding from whom
the reference comes means work
for Wilson.
“It is really hard sometimes to
find out who the artist is because
sometimes it is a random lyric from
a song. I have to go hunt on the
Internet for 30 minutes.
Sometimes there are so many
covers, and I have to figure out who
the original artist is,” Wilson said.
Wilson said vinyl was the easiest
and cheapest way to collect and
find the references.
“I get most of my vinyl from
Manifest. I’m not going to spend
$10 to get a pristine copy. If I can
get it for 99 cents, I’m going to
buy it. I really don’t want to spend
anymore than $4,” Wilson said.
Because some of the references
might be hard to find, such as
“Fiddler on the Roof,” Wilson has
not limited herself to how many she
can buy a week. Sometimes Wilson
even forgoes buying a new CD if
she finds albums for her collection.
“I know it is going to be really
expensive to find Kiss’ “Rock and
Roll;” it is Peter’s (the main
character) favorite band,” Wilson
said “I’m sure a lot of people
would hold on to that.”
So far, Wilson has found
around 31 references to music
from “Family Guy” as she watches
the reruns on TV or DVD.
“When I thought about doing
it, I tried to remember as many
references as possible. But then I
started writing down the references
as I watched the shows. I usually
watch four a night,” Wilson said.
Because she just began her
collection, Wilson has fewer than
10 vinyls so far.
Once Wilson expands her
collection, she plans on displaying
them in her dorm room.
♦ Please see VINYL, page 8
CD REVIEW
‘Picaresque' reaches new heights for Portland band
"Picaresque”
The Decemberists
★★ ★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆
By PATRICK AUGUSTINE
THE GAMECOCK
“Picaresque: adjective. Of or
relating to rogues or rascals; also,
of, relating to, suggesting, or being
a type of fiction dealing with the
episodic adventures of a usually
roguish protagonist.”
The album title of The
Decemberists third full-length
album title gives listeners a clue as
to the subject matter that the
Portland, Ore.-based five-piece
chamber indie-pop group explores
during the 11 tracks that
encompass its most ambitious
work to date. Ranging from
narratives about the passion
between international spies to
seafarers swallowed by whales,
“Picaresque” manages both high
arrangement afforded by having an
upright bass, accordion, piano and
theremin in addition to the usual
rock complement of guitars and
drums, and simple, stripped-down
melodies that allow frontman
Colin Meioy’s literate writing to
shine through. On the bombastic
end of the spectrum is the full
sounding track ‘Espionage’, which
features a swell from simple voice
and guitar to a crescendo of
strings, plus the band’s
unobtrusive rythmn section, that
remains largely out of the way but
important to the album’s mood.
In much the same way that
Meioy’s lyrics evoke the best of
western fiction and the sepia-toned
world that yellowed book pages
connote, The Decemberists’
history is a chronology of the
Northwest’s evolution as the
epicenter of American indie-rock.
First signed to Portland-based
Hush Records, which has nurtured
other notable underground bands
such as Kind of Like Spitting, the
band made the jump to Olympia,
Wash.’s Kill Rock Stars label in
2002 for the re- release of
“Castaways and Cutouts” before
putting out a second full-length
entitled “Her Majesty The
Decemberists” in 2003. Never
resting on its laurels, the band saw
the release in 2004 of “The Tain
EP,” which was based on an 8th
century epic Irish poem, and had
musical nods to epic ’70s bands
like Deep Purple.
While these previous efforts
have showcased Meloy’s promise,
culled from his degree in creative
writing, “Picaresque” is in many
ways the most complete and even
work the band has produced to
date. Recorded in' a converted
church with the help of Death
Cab for Cutie guitarist and
producer Chris Walla, whom the
band worked with on “The Tain,”
the album moves with each
literary flourish to the
denouement of each mini-story of
love, loss and death as the band
gives decibel weight to the song’s
intended emotion.
Meloy avoids the affliction of
his musical compatriots and
expresses emotion through the
stories he tells instead of culling
material from thinly veiled
personal experiences. While it is
hard to pin down the influences
that might immediately pop out of
another band’s sound, Meloy
admits freely in news releases that
the tapes of ’80s college rock music
his uncle sent him and his parent’s
reasonable listening habits played
into his tastes for the more literate,
if not less approachable, side of
music.
Although Meloy may have
missed his calling to teach as a
English professor, fans of Dickens
or Melville will appreciate the way
that “Picaresque” unfolds during
repeated close listening, with
previously unheard swells, accents
and layers of detail making their
presence known. Equal parts folk,
orchestra and lush pop, The
Decemberists’ newest effort will
ensnare anyone with a pair of
headphones and the willingness to
be led into a world that is both
apart from our own and at the same
time a product of a culture at war.
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu