The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 02, 2005, Page 5, Image 5
Friday, Sept. 2,2005 _ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Page 5
Pirate Fest! 2 s eclectic blend
returns to New Brookland
with local, national bands
Ulomque Cumn
FOR THE GAMECOCK
One of Columbia’s most
requested concerts is back for a
second year. Pirate Fest! 2
promises to be an event for
anyone interested in indie rock,
hardcore, metalcore, emo and
ska should not miss.
Organizer Sean Rayford
promises “the local bands that
play in this club are the best
local bands in Columbia.” The
bands at Pirate Fest!, Saturday
at New Brookland Tavern, are
no exception to this statement.
Rayford said the inspiration
behind Pirate Fest! is Krazy
Fest, a music festival put on by
Initial Records that took place
in Louisville, Ky., for six years.
Krazy Fest is what Rayford
calls “the best weekend of my
life.”
Both events are about
uniting the music community
for a good time, Rayford said.
Pirate Fest! started as a
fundraiser to help Rayford, a
freelance writer, get a new
laptop after his was stolen on a
trip to New York last year. The
event is named Pirate Fest!
because pirates are often
stereotyped as thieves.
Doors open at 2 p.m.
Performances will begin shortly
after with Motion Picture
Demise. The last band,
KOUFAX, will take the stage
around 11:20 p.m. Sets
tentatively range from 20 to 30
minutes. Many of the bands
have been touring the
Southeast and United States for
the past few months to
promote their niusic.
The bands were chosen
Photo special to THE GAMECOCK
Then Came the Dawn will perform at Pirate Fest! on Saturday.
because they either were
Rayfords friends or he heard
them play at New Brookland
Tavern and asked them if they
would be interested in playing.
Performances will, for a few
bands, be endings while for
others chances at a new
beginning.
Saturday nights performance
will be the last stop on
KOUFAX’s 2005 month-long
Hard Times tour, which began
Aug. 4, 2005, in Denver. Their
music has been praised by
music critics for such
publications as Spin, Teen
People and Philadelphia
Weekly.
Formed during winter 2002
PIRDTC • 6
TO FOUNDER,
A FINAL SHOW
AFTER 4 YEARS
OF WINGING IT
USC graduate Ben Compton to trade
improv troupe Toast for AmeriCorps
Alexis Arnone
THE MIX EDITOR
USC’s Scriptless
Productions improv troupe,
Toast, says farewell tonight to
its last founding member, as
Ben Compton, a recent USC
graduate with a degree in
English, leaves the ensemble.
“I kind of regret leaving
now,” Compton said. “We’re
poised to do a lot of great
shows this semester, but I
think that things have been set
in motion that will sustain us
for many years to come.”
Compton will be joining
AmeriCorps for 10 months,
followed by joining fellow
alumni in a professional
extension of Toast in Chicago.
Toast has been around for
six seasons, and Compton has
been a director of the group,
along with fellow alums
Andrew DeWitt and Grant
McFadden, for the past four
years. They took Toast from
anonymity into selling out
shows around Columbia.
loast will continue this
season under the direction of
George Pate, a third-year
English student.
The ensemble performed at
Columbia bars and theaters
this summer. Finally back on its
home turf of USC, the group is
getting pumped for its show
tonight-and its new season.
Toast holds a close
connection to local Trustus
Theatre’s Armed Chair
production company. Armed
Chair is comprised of USC
students, recent graduates and
Nate Herring, a fourth-year
psychology student at
Wheaton College in
Massachusetts. Herring comes
down for performances during
his winter and summer breaks.
The groups have worked
together for the past two
years, bringing Columbia an
array of events from Caged
Improv Matches to classes for
local high schools and even
performing at the Vista’s
“Rock the Vote” event this
past election season.
Events for this year, with
Toast and Armed Chair
collaborating in a new series,
“Loaded Late Nights,” are
promised by Compton to be a
“late-night series that would
make the Roman gods of old
wet themselves with
excitement.”
In 2003, Toast performed a
series of sketches and short
' form improv shows titled,
“Toast and Jam,” the
inspiration for which came
from sci-fi movies and
characters they were familiar
with. For the 2005 season, the
group came out with “Tea Pot
Dome,” a long-form improv
style, according to a news
release.
“We have a self-imposed
mandate that says we have to
create a new type of show every
season,” Pate said in the release.
Compton said he’s excited
about his last show.
“The show is going to be
great. Everyone should come
out, if for no other reason
than to just stare at me one
more time. I wasn’t actually
going to do this show, but I
thought it would be nice.
Plus, I’m the type of person
who just wants attention.”
Thinking of joining in on
the world of improv? Toast
will be holding auditions at 7
p.m. Wednesday in the
Booker T. Washington
auditorium, located off Wheat
Street across from the Blatt
P.E. Center.
"We want everyone to
come out,” Compton said.
“Most people don’t know
they’re capable of doing
something so intimidating,
but they might be surprised.”
Tonight’s show will be held
at 8 p.m. in Benson Theatre
on South Bull St. Doors open
at 7:45 p.m. Tickets are $2 at
the door.
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecockfeatures@givm.sc. edu
MOVIE REVIEW
‘Virgin scores with meaningful message, not misogyny
“The 40-year-old Virgin”
Steve Carrel I
★ ★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆
Leslie Dennis
FOR THE GAMECOCK
After a summer of mostly
disappointing movies, “The 40
Year-Old Virgin” comes at the
tail end of the season and
triumphs as one of the best
comedies (tied with “ 1 he
Wedding Crashers”) of the year.
Comedy has become a tricky
genre in modern film because
of the impulse to go with either
an overload of crude bathroom
humor or the popular-yet
standard romantic comedy.
However, “Virgin” effectively
blends sexual humor and
emotional sensitivity.
Steve Carrell (a “Daily
Show” alumnus and now star of
NBC’s “The Office”) plays 40
year-old virgin Andy Stitzer
who works at an electronics
store, collects action figures and
rides a bike. One night, David
(Paul Rudd), Jay (Romany
Malco) and Cal (Seth Rogen),
who work with Andy but have
never really gotten to know
him, need an extra player for
their poker game and ask Andy
to join them.
While having a conversation
about sex during the game, the
guys realize Andy is a virgin and
decide to do something about
his problem. Each guy gives
Andy his own type of sexual
advice, whether it is to sow as
many of his seeds as possible,
hook up with a drunk girl or
sleep with someone he doesn’t
like because his first time won’t
be good any way.
Despite his friends’ relentless
prodding, Andy asserts he
doesn’t want to take advantage
of any woman and that he will
have sex when he is ready.
In Andy’s quest, he
encounters a variety of women,
including a drunk girl who
keeps a breathalyzer in her car,
a bookstore employee whose
sexual interests overpower most
guys’ and an overzealous boss
who hints at her willingness to
bed Andy.
But one day at work Andy
meets Trish (Catherine Keener),
a woman who sells items on
eBay and has three children and
one grandchild, and he manages
to inadvertently get her number.
Eventually Andy and .Trish
begin dating and, to Andy’s
relief, forgo a physical
relationship to get to know each
other.
Although the movie centers
on Andy, the supporting
characters are well-defined and
drawn out with quirks and
problems. Jay seems to be a
commitment-phobe and
cannot shake his two-timing
ways. David continues to
obsess over an old girlfriend
who broke up with him two
years ago. Cal goes through life
living from one moment to the
next.
The friendship between
Andy, Cal, David and Jay
develops with such ease that the
men act as if they had been
friends since childhood. As
much as “Virgin” is about
Andy’s attempt to lose his
virginity, the friendship
between these guys also plays a
vital role in the story and
enhances the film by adding the
right amount of emotion
without becoming overly
sentimental.
“Virgin” could have easily
fallen into the rut of crude
humor about sexual behaviors
and depravity, but instead
mixes humor with a multi
faceted story of maturity,
friendship and love. Even Andy
could have fallen prey to the
cliche of a naive virgin who is
simply the butt of jokes.
But Carrell perfectly plays
Andy with the right
combination of innocence and
intelligence that allows the
viewer to relate to Andy. Rudd
gives the strongest supporting
performance by balancing his
character’s desperateness with a
touch of humanity and humor
that makes David’s likeable.
Once again; Rudd proves his
abilities as not only a comedic
sidekick, but a well-rounded
actor.
With an amazing cast and an
original story, “Virgin” is a
smart film that sidesteps cliches
and confirms that good
comedy still exists.
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc. edu
www. dailygamecock. com