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% 6 THE GAMECOCK • Wednesday June 15, 2005 jT-pi -m M-J-TT THEY SAID IT I 1 |J |\ /■ I “You shall know the truth, 1 J W I I /A and the truth shall make you mad.” -L -L -L4 A. T _1_ 1 A A_ _ ALDOus huxley 1 the art bar's iPop! show allows DJ'ing with iPods by PATRICK AUGUSTINE THE GAMECOCK Living in Columbia, you get used to being a few years behind the trends that sweep bigger cities up North or out West before filtering down to the sleepy South. However, Apple’s iPod has permeated tech-sawy America’s consciousness so thoroughly that the device’s trademark white earbuds are a recognizable commodity among those in the know even in South Carolina’s capital city. In the same way Sonys Walkman revolutionized the Way people interact with their music away from car stereos and home hi-fi sets, the iPod has made it easier than ever to carry an entire collection of digital music in your back pocket. This, in turn, has paved the way for enterprising music lovers to share more of the tunes they loved with others — a fad called “iPod jacking” found users of the ubiquitous player plugging into another’s device to sample whatever they might be playing, revealing something about the owner’s personality and perhaps introducing the listener to something new. Apple has sold nearly 15 million of the little white and silver digital music players and made enough of an impact on popular culture that Forbes magazine recently called it “a true cultural and social pnenomenon uecaube oi me product’s influence on people’s behavior and even on business through the countless accessories the iPod has spawned. It’s no small wonder then that having thousands of songs at your fingertips (an estimated 5000 can fit on the 20 gigabyte model) would mean iPod owners would eventually get together to play music for one another. New York DJs realized that instead of lugging around heavy and cumbersome crates of records, they could simply take an iPod or laptop and run it through a digital mixer, letting them carry a broader selection of music with less hassle. Some venues in the Big Apple and similarly progressive cities let patrons bring in their own iPods to take turns playing the music. Whil/» C'nlnmkio rprfainlv I some of the cultural variety found in bigger towns, the presence of USC means there is a constant influx of new ideas from all over the nation and the world rotating in and out of our city. Combine the forward-thinking sensibilities of a university town with USC’s own source for independent music, WUSC, and you have a critical mass for musical experimentation. Former WUSC Public Affairs ♦ I POP!, page 8 Music Midtown rocks, rivals Bonnaroo for top summer smorgasbord By chas McCarthy THE GAMECOCK Jack White couldn’t have said it any better when he chanted “In the red / In the red / In the rain / In the rain” as a light mist fell from a burnt Midtown sky on a muggy, overcast night in Atlanta. This past Friday, a mythological brother sister duo from Detroit managed to stand taller than the skyscraping behemoths surrounding them in Georgia’s king city. *-r'l svrt • r> *11 i lie w line ouipca «iic, iiiueeu, rock ’n’ roll giants, and their minimalist brand of blues-rock packed enough energy and emotion to account for the most engaging performance of Atlanta’s three-day Music Midtown festival. As for the rest of the weekend’s events, it could be an understatement to say that Midtown packs just as much bang for the buck than the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, which took place the same weekend in Manchester, Tenn. Sure, Bonnaroo may have boasted more headlining names (among them Modest Mouse, Dave Matthews Band, Jack Johnson and The Allman Brothers Band), but at half the price ($75 compared to at least $150) and touting a similarly formidable lineup, including Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, The Pixies, Common, Interpol and the aforementioned White Stripes, Midtown was as versatile and just as large of a draw, if not larger, than its Tennessean contemporary. /\na me perrormanccs were second-to-none. Friday night’s events culminated with sets by Lou Reed and the Counting Crows on the classic rock stage and Interpol and the White Stripes on the new rock stage. The only drawback, as is with any festival, is fans must ♦ MIDTOWN, page 7 MOVIE REVIEW Pitt, Jolie bring heat to screen “MR. AND MRS. SMITH” Directed by Doug Liman ★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆ By LESLIE DENNIS FOR THE GAMECOCK Are Angelina and Brad together? Did Angelina break up Brad’s marriage to Jennifer? By now people are either tired of hearing about the questionable status of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt or cannot get enough of the juicy gossip surrounding the relationship. Whatever the view, the publicity swirling around the two superstars forced the movie “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” in the news months before the movie was released. ♦ SMITH,’ page.7 SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Jolie and Pitt play married assassins, Jane and John Smith.