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(05/27/04 4:00am)
His ill-fated romance with Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman may be behind one of his latest tracks, but inspiration seems to be one thing rocker Lenny Kravitz is sorely missing. After a lengthy hiatus (read: three years), Kravitz's retro, gravelly sound resurfaces with Baptism, his seventh solo effort. \nIt's the same old Kravitz, minus any real improvement -- which isn't a completely bad thing. The catchy guitar hooks are still there, to be sure, as evidenced by the radio-friendly "Where Are We Runnin'?," and Kravitz, ever the lovesick puppy, continues to draw much of his lyrics from breakups and heartache (see Lisa Bonet and the Mama Said album, circa 1991). \nYet somehow, after decades of heavy rotation, Kravitz's signature copycat style has lost its luster. Since his greatest hits compilation in 2000, his innovation has faded significantly, and has been met with palpable apathy in critical circles. "Runnin'" is strangely reminiscent of the riffs featured in "Are You Gonna Go My Way," and "Flash" similarly fails to impress, with its recycled bass lines and whiny vocal tracks. On his Web site, Kravitz claims he's "come full circle" since his 1989 debut, Let Love Rule, by returning to the same basics that set his career in motion. But maybe that's not such a positive thing. It's not that the music itself -- or even the lyrics -- are bad at all; in fact, Kravitz has long since established himself as an artistic and creative force musically. But his music needs to catch up to his changing appearance. I miss the dreadlocks, Lenny -- and the music that went with them.
(05/27/04 4:00am)
Despite a seeming barrage of lawsuits aimed to curb illegal filesharing, use of such engines as KaZaA, Morpheus and LimeWire are nevertheless on the rise, and high-profile old stalwarts like Metallica have upped the ante with their anti-MP3 rhetoric. But for some bands, like San Francisco's acoustic independent group Ten Mile Tide, the Internet isn't the demon it's portrayed as by large musical conglomerates.\nWith nearly nine million KaZaA downloads since its inception, numerous bands have benefitted. Ten Mile Tide has staged its first major nationwide tour, which will span 11 weeks and pull out all the stops, hitting major cities across the country. The band uses the peer-to-peer network, enormously popular among college students, to make its tunes available for free download -- and therefore at little risk to the individuals sharing the tracks -- thus eliminating the need for a major recording contract, and thus, corporate oversight. \nThey've made their stance on the issue well-known, from interviews on CNN and with large metropolitan newspapers to posting releases on their fan-driven Web site, www.tenmiletide.com. And they're quick to attribute their success -- tremendous by an independent artist's standards -- to the visibility gained by Internet exposure.\n"The whole culture of music is based around sharing music you like with people you connect with," Ten Mile Tide guitarist Jason Munning says. "Whether it's through making mixes, swapping tapes, burning CDs, borrowing records or trading MP3s, sharing is an integral part of music." \nIt's a philosophy to which Bloomington old-school favorite Rich Hardesty subscribes as well. Hardesty's a reputed advocate of filesharing (what IU freshman hasn't rocked out to his "Never Wanna Fucking See You Again" while mixing margaritas in the old dorm room blender?) and posts up-and-coming tunes on his public site, www.richhardesty.com. \nAnd for college rock collective O.A.R., who headlined a Little 500 concert this year and was recently signed with Lava Records, filesharing provided more than one way to get heard. \nSaxophonist Jerry DePizzo says online sharing boosted the band's popularity in more ways than one, while allowing it to grow creatively before radio airplay was an option. \n"Filesharing was a way for us to get our music out there," DePizzo says. "We embrace it, but we want people to go buy our CD, come to our shows and if they want, tape the live shows and share them with their friends. As long as people aren't gaining a personal profit from it, then it's okay."\nYet for some local musicians, KaZaA isn't the cash cow it's made out to be. \n"Getting your music heard by a great number of people takes either a lot of luck (radio play, major label promo, etc.) or, more likely, years of hard work and performances all over the country," Bloomington musician Brian Winterman of Brian Winterman and the Delusion Train says. "KaZaA doesn't help get music 'out there' any more than Joe Blow's Web page on model cars makes model cars the latest craze. I could put my entire album on KaZaA, but who in Tucson or Boston is going to look for it? I've never played there, and I'm certainly not on the radio there. And what if I was known via radio or performance in those locations? What if people there wanted to hear my stuff? If anyone is going to offer them free samples, I want it to be me."\nAnd while myriad record labels and companies voice opposition to sharing music online, whether through extensive propaganda schemes or hard-hitting Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) lawsuits, several independent labels have stepped out in support of entities like KaZaA, Morpheus and Napster. \nRich Egan, president and co-owner of Vagrant Records, told the New York Times in September that his label "simply wouldn't exist" without the necessary evils of filesharing. Much like the emerging artists of today, Egan needed a vehicle to get his music heard. Though skeptical at first of filesharing's inherent benefits, he tried the software -- and loved it. \n"Our music, by and large, when kids listen to it, they share it with their friends," Egan told the Times. "Then they go buy the record; they take ownership of it."\nIt's a statement that seems to ring true on major college campuses, where an Ethernet cord is all students need to access major directories. For senior Paul LeVasseur, filesharing seems synonymous with college life. LeVasseur, who first became exposed to independent artists via the Internet while a freshman living in McNutt Center, says the impact file sharing has had on emerging artists is immeasurable. \n"Using the Internet as a medium allows their music to have significant exposure, which would not have been possible otherwise," LeVasseur says. "The majority of bands surveyed have commented that spreading their music via the Internet was key to their initial success."\nJunior Jim Hoff agrees. \n"File sharing gives them (independent artists) another avenue to get their music out to the people," Hoff, who uses his roommate's computer to download music, says. Hoff's roommate, Christian Jansen, played in the now-defunct Bloomington band Summerset, frequenting coffeehouses and headlining a few nights at Uncle Fester's House of Blooze, and Hoff says Jansen "must have approved of filesharing -- he had about 5,000 songs on his computer." \nAs prevalent as that approval seems to be, however, filesharing isn't for everyone. Major labels, facing a marked decline in record sales, preempting mass layoffs at music distributors nationwide, claim the popularity of filesharing sounds the death knell for large music conglomerates across the U.S. For some independent songwriters, like Nashville, Tenn.-based Carrie Johnson, engines like KaZaA and LimeWire thwart the possibility that their melodies will get picked up by major labels. \n"Filesharing just lessens the probability that we'll (songwriters) get our music heard by the right people," Johnson says. "If it's out there on the Internet without a copyright -- or even with a copyright -- that won't stop someone else from appropriating it for their own use."\nYet to Munning, the actions taken by the RIAA in its latest slew of anti-downloading lawsuits, aimed primarily at college students and specifically directed at more than a few IU undergraduates, constitutes unethical conduct at its most blatant.\n"The real ethical violation is the RIAA's new scare tactic of suing individual college students for disproportionate sums of money just to make a gruesome example of their control over the music industry," Munning says.
(05/26/04 10:26pm)
Despite a seeming barrage of lawsuits aimed to curb illegal filesharing, use of such engines as KaZaA, Morpheus and LimeWire are nevertheless on the rise, and high-profile old stalwarts like Metallica have upped the ante with their anti-MP3 rhetoric. But for some bands, like San Francisco's acoustic independent group Ten Mile Tide, the Internet isn't the demon it's portrayed as by large musical conglomerates.\nWith nearly nine million KaZaA downloads since its inception, numerous bands have benefitted. Ten Mile Tide has staged its first major nationwide tour, which will span 11 weeks and pull out all the stops, hitting major cities across the country. The band uses the peer-to-peer network, enormously popular among college students, to make its tunes available for free download -- and therefore at little risk to the individuals sharing the tracks -- thus eliminating the need for a major recording contract, and thus, corporate oversight. \nThey've made their stance on the issue well-known, from interviews on CNN and with large metropolitan newspapers to posting releases on their fan-driven Web site, www.tenmiletide.com. And they're quick to attribute their success -- tremendous by an independent artist's standards -- to the visibility gained by Internet exposure.\n"The whole culture of music is based around sharing music you like with people you connect with," Ten Mile Tide guitarist Jason Munning says. "Whether it's through making mixes, swapping tapes, burning CDs, borrowing records or trading MP3s, sharing is an integral part of music." \nIt's a philosophy to which Bloomington old-school favorite Rich Hardesty subscribes as well. Hardesty's a reputed advocate of filesharing (what IU freshman hasn't rocked out to his "Never Wanna Fucking See You Again" while mixing margaritas in the old dorm room blender?) and posts up-and-coming tunes on his public site, www.richhardesty.com. \nAnd for college rock collective O.A.R., who headlined a Little 500 concert this year and was recently signed with Lava Records, filesharing provided more than one way to get heard. \nSaxophonist Jerry DePizzo says online sharing boosted the band's popularity in more ways than one, while allowing it to grow creatively before radio airplay was an option. \n"Filesharing was a way for us to get our music out there," DePizzo says. "We embrace it, but we want people to go buy our CD, come to our shows and if they want, tape the live shows and share them with their friends. As long as people aren't gaining a personal profit from it, then it's okay."\nYet for some local musicians, KaZaA isn't the cash cow it's made out to be. \n"Getting your music heard by a great number of people takes either a lot of luck (radio play, major label promo, etc.) or, more likely, years of hard work and performances all over the country," Bloomington musician Brian Winterman of Brian Winterman and the Delusion Train says. "KaZaA doesn't help get music 'out there' any more than Joe Blow's Web page on model cars makes model cars the latest craze. I could put my entire album on KaZaA, but who in Tucson or Boston is going to look for it? I've never played there, and I'm certainly not on the radio there. And what if I was known via radio or performance in those locations? What if people there wanted to hear my stuff? If anyone is going to offer them free samples, I want it to be me."\nAnd while myriad record labels and companies voice opposition to sharing music online, whether through extensive propaganda schemes or hard-hitting Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) lawsuits, several independent labels have stepped out in support of entities like KaZaA, Morpheus and Napster. \nRich Egan, president and co-owner of Vagrant Records, told the New York Times in September that his label "simply wouldn't exist" without the necessary evils of filesharing. Much like the emerging artists of today, Egan needed a vehicle to get his music heard. Though skeptical at first of filesharing's inherent benefits, he tried the software -- and loved it. \n"Our music, by and large, when kids listen to it, they share it with their friends," Egan told the Times. "Then they go buy the record; they take ownership of it."\nIt's a statement that seems to ring true on major college campuses, where an Ethernet cord is all students need to access major directories. For senior Paul LeVasseur, filesharing seems synonymous with college life. LeVasseur, who first became exposed to independent artists via the Internet while a freshman living in McNutt Center, says the impact file sharing has had on emerging artists is immeasurable. \n"Using the Internet as a medium allows their music to have significant exposure, which would not have been possible otherwise," LeVasseur says. "The majority of bands surveyed have commented that spreading their music via the Internet was key to their initial success."\nJunior Jim Hoff agrees. \n"File sharing gives them (independent artists) another avenue to get their music out to the people," Hoff, who uses his roommate's computer to download music, says. Hoff's roommate, Christian Jansen, played in the now-defunct Bloomington band Summerset, frequenting coffeehouses and headlining a few nights at Uncle Fester's House of Blooze, and Hoff says Jansen "must have approved of filesharing -- he had about 5,000 songs on his computer." \nAs prevalent as that approval seems to be, however, filesharing isn't for everyone. Major labels, facing a marked decline in record sales, preempting mass layoffs at music distributors nationwide, claim the popularity of filesharing sounds the death knell for large music conglomerates across the U.S. For some independent songwriters, like Nashville, Tenn.-based Carrie Johnson, engines like KaZaA and LimeWire thwart the possibility that their melodies will get picked up by major labels. \n"Filesharing just lessens the probability that we'll (songwriters) get our music heard by the right people," Johnson says. "If it's out there on the Internet without a copyright -- or even with a copyright -- that won't stop someone else from appropriating it for their own use."\nYet to Munning, the actions taken by the RIAA in its latest slew of anti-downloading lawsuits, aimed primarily at college students and specifically directed at more than a few IU undergraduates, constitutes unethical conduct at its most blatant.\n"The real ethical violation is the RIAA's new scare tactic of suing individual college students for disproportionate sums of money just to make a gruesome example of their control over the music industry," Munning says.
(05/26/04 10:00pm)
His ill-fated romance with Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman may be behind one of his latest tracks, but inspiration seems to be one thing rocker Lenny Kravitz is sorely missing. After a lengthy hiatus (read: three years), Kravitz's retro, gravelly sound resurfaces with Baptism, his seventh solo effort. \nIt's the same old Kravitz, minus any real improvement -- which isn't a completely bad thing. The catchy guitar hooks are still there, to be sure, as evidenced by the radio-friendly "Where Are We Runnin'?," and Kravitz, ever the lovesick puppy, continues to draw much of his lyrics from breakups and heartache (see Lisa Bonet and the Mama Said album, circa 1991). \nYet somehow, after decades of heavy rotation, Kravitz's signature copycat style has lost its luster. Since his greatest hits compilation in 2000, his innovation has faded significantly, and has been met with palpable apathy in critical circles. "Runnin'" is strangely reminiscent of the riffs featured in "Are You Gonna Go My Way," and "Flash" similarly fails to impress, with its recycled bass lines and whiny vocal tracks. On his Web site, Kravitz claims he's "come full circle" since his 1989 debut, Let Love Rule, by returning to the same basics that set his career in motion. But maybe that's not such a positive thing. It's not that the music itself -- or even the lyrics -- are bad at all; in fact, Kravitz has long since established himself as an artistic and creative force musically. But his music needs to catch up to his changing appearance. I miss the dreadlocks, Lenny -- and the music that went with them.
(05/24/04 7:21pm)
He's been insulted by a South African jazz songstress who, visiting Bloomington for a brief tour, was shocked he didn't know the tune of Hoagy Carmichael's 1937 classic, "Stardust." He's been booted out of provincial German streets, where he played original and world music on a well-traversed corner. Cranky pastry chefs convinced construction men working nearby to take to their jackhammers to drown him out, so Steve Sobiech relocated, setting up shop on a neighboring thoroughfare. \nThe Bedford native, described by friends as a "master instrumentalist," seems to perpetually shun taking the conventional road when it comes to his craft. He's undaunted by those who don't appreciate his painstaking dedication to acoustic, classical and jazz guitar, as well as to the decidedly unconventional Chapman Stick®, a 12-stringed instrument that is tapped, not plucked. \nHe's a regular fixture at Bloomington's Encore Café, and started his local gigs at the East Side Border's bookshop. Last year, he headlined a concert at the John Waldron Arts Center, one of his most prominent Bloomington performances yet. But Sobiech, who began playing solo after several attempts to play in rock bands and collectives, isn't after the limelight. His 11-month-old daughter, Helen, has been known to finger his Chapman strings when he logs practice time at home, and he's an avid student of world music, taking lessons from Brazilian masters locally and squeezing in lessons with IU alums. \n"I've got enough credits to major in music, but I don't have an official degree," Sobiech, speaking in a telephone interview from his Bloomington home, says. His baby daughter babbles in the background. "I didn't want one, and I didn't need one. I wanted to play."\nBrian Winterman, a friend of Sobiech's who plays in his own band, Brian Winterman and the Delusion Train, says Sobiech continually aspires to grow as a musician, which "doesn't always mean expanding your fanbase or selling more CDs."\n"I'm positive that Steve always strives to become a better player, and because he is dedicated, he does," Winterman, whose latest project will debut in mid-July, says. "Therein lies the reward."\nCertainly, Sobiech is a pioneer on his instrument of choice, the Chapman Stick®. It's an eight-, 10- or 12-stringed instrument that very much resembles an elongated guitar neck, only without the curved body of the instrument. The Stick doesn't resonate like a typical guitar would. \n"You can do anything you want with it," Sobiech, who had envisioned inventing an instrument of this kind while living in Texas before learning one actually existed, says. "Generally, it's about tapping strings. They're low tension and allow fast action … I've heard people describe them as having the sound of a bass and one or two guitars playing at the same time."\nCreated by guitarist Emmett Chapman, who says he invented the technique before conceptualizing the instrument itself, the Chapman Stick® blends the style and sound of guitar, piano, bass and drums, according to Chapman's company Web site, www.stick.com. Stick enthusiasts can peruse articles on the instrument, check out featured artists and browse assorted Stick products online. \nSobiech bought his first Chapman Stick® from a music shop in College Station, Tx., and started seriously performing with it four or five years ago. He uses it to play the blend of world, African, Brazilian and classical-jazz fusions that so characterize his style, and he peppers his shows with commentary he describes as "goofy" -- stories of places he's frequented and people he's seen. \nHe'll often describe the tale of a "mountain of a man" he and some college buddies at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied for a short while, would often stumble upon. They'd glimpse the man playing for hours, toting only a battery-powered, hand-held amp and strumming a battered guitar on the corners of Commonwealth and Massachusetts Avenues, playing "distorted noise." \nBut one morning, as he and his friends were leaving their usual breakfast spot, they caught the mystery musician as he left a rundown tenement building. Sobiech worked up the courage to say hello, and the giant responded.\n"It's a beautiful day to play," he said, eyes turned skyward. It stuck with Sobiech, who instantly understood why the guitarist would stand, hour after hour, with little regard to how the notes he emitted sounded to the passing ear. \n"He just loved playing, and that's all that mattered," Sobiech says. "He was having fun, and that's kind of like I am. I have to be happy to play"
(05/20/04 4:00am)
He's been insulted by a South African jazz songstress who, visiting Bloomington for a brief tour, was shocked he didn't know the tune of Hoagy Carmichael's 1937 classic, "Stardust." He's been booted out of provincial German streets, where he played original and world music on a well-traversed corner. Cranky pastry chefs convinced construction men working nearby to take to their jackhammers to drown him out, so Steve Sobiech relocated, setting up shop on a neighboring thoroughfare. \nThe Bedford native, described by friends as a "master instrumentalist," seems to perpetually shun taking the conventional road when it comes to his craft. He's undaunted by those who don't appreciate his painstaking dedication to acoustic, classical and jazz guitar, as well as to the decidedly unconventional Chapman Stick®, a 12-stringed instrument that is tapped, not plucked. \nHe's a regular fixture at Bloomington's Encore Café, and started his local gigs at the East Side Border's bookshop. Last year, he headlined a concert at the John Waldron Arts Center, one of his most prominent Bloomington performances yet. But Sobiech, who began playing solo after several attempts to play in rock bands and collectives, isn't after the limelight. His 11-month-old daughter, Helen, has been known to finger his Chapman strings when he logs practice time at home, and he's an avid student of world music, taking lessons from Brazilian masters locally and squeezing in lessons with IU alums. \n"I've got enough credits to major in music, but I don't have an official degree," Sobiech, speaking in a telephone interview from his Bloomington home, says. His baby daughter babbles in the background. "I didn't want one, and I didn't need one. I wanted to play."\nBrian Winterman, a friend of Sobiech's who plays in his own band, Brian Winterman and the Delusion Train, says Sobiech continually aspires to grow as a musician, which "doesn't always mean expanding your fanbase or selling more CDs."\n"I'm positive that Steve always strives to become a better player, and because he is dedicated, he does," Winterman, whose latest project will debut in mid-July, says. "Therein lies the reward."\nCertainly, Sobiech is a pioneer on his instrument of choice, the Chapman Stick®. It's an eight-, 10- or 12-stringed instrument that very much resembles an elongated guitar neck, only without the curved body of the instrument. The Stick doesn't resonate like a typical guitar would. \n"You can do anything you want with it," Sobiech, who had envisioned inventing an instrument of this kind while living in Texas before learning one actually existed, says. "Generally, it's about tapping strings. They're low tension and allow fast action … I've heard people describe them as having the sound of a bass and one or two guitars playing at the same time."\nCreated by guitarist Emmett Chapman, who says he invented the technique before conceptualizing the instrument itself, the Chapman Stick® blends the style and sound of guitar, piano, bass and drums, according to Chapman's company Web site, www.stick.com. Stick enthusiasts can peruse articles on the instrument, check out featured artists and browse assorted Stick products online. \nSobiech bought his first Chapman Stick® from a music shop in College Station, Tx., and started seriously performing with it four or five years ago. He uses it to play the blend of world, African, Brazilian and classical-jazz fusions that so characterize his style, and he peppers his shows with commentary he describes as "goofy" -- stories of places he's frequented and people he's seen. \nHe'll often describe the tale of a "mountain of a man" he and some college buddies at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied for a short while, would often stumble upon. They'd glimpse the man playing for hours, toting only a battery-powered, hand-held amp and strumming a battered guitar on the corners of Commonwealth and Massachusetts Avenues, playing "distorted noise." \nBut one morning, as he and his friends were leaving their usual breakfast spot, they caught the mystery musician as he left a rundown tenement building. Sobiech worked up the courage to say hello, and the giant responded.\n"It's a beautiful day to play," he said, eyes turned skyward. It stuck with Sobiech, who instantly understood why the guitarist would stand, hour after hour, with little regard to how the notes he emitted sounded to the passing ear. \n"He just loved playing, and that's all that mattered," Sobiech says. "He was having fun, and that's kind of like I am. I have to be happy to play"
(05/20/04 2:19am)
A local independent school kicked off a national campaign drive Tuesday geared toward raising over $6 million. Over half of that money will be devoted to the restoration and maintenance of Harmony School's historic Elm Heights facilities, while $2.5 million will be devoted to scholarship interests. \nCrews will break ground at Elm Heights June 1 and expect work to be completed in September 2005, said Thomas Zoss, director of institutional advancement for the Harmony Education Center. Founded in 1974, the Harmony School found its first homes in local churches and began renting space in the Elm Heights building, previously used as a public school, in 1983. In 1985, it acquired the property outright and completed an initial renovation in 1986. \nThe first stage of construction will focus on exterior renovations, including sewer and drainage reconstruction and making the facility handicap accessible. The second stage, slated for summer 2005, will involve interior renovations, decoration and wiring, said Barb Bonchek, building director. \nThe campaign's scholarship initiative, driven by $2.5 million in matching funds from the Josephine Bay Paul and C. Michael Paul Foundation, will facilitate further expansion of Harmony's commitment to collaborative learning among teachers, parents and students alike. Harmony will raise the first $5 million and additional local donors have pledged close to $1 million in other matching funds.\n"We are so pleased and proud of the initial commitment we have received from national and local friends of Harmony," HEC executive director Steve Bonchek said. "These matching funds will help other donors leverage their support to help meet our funding goals."\nDeemed essential to finance Harmony's "leap into the future" by Bonchek, the campaign includes several segments intended to address the needs of both the school and the HEC's various arms throughout the community, including Rhino's All Ages Music Club and the National School Reform Faculty. The latter, housed in Bloomington since 2000, directs the work of 27 centers nationwide dedicated to guiding school reform efforts in the United States. HEC also encompasses the work of the Institute for Research, which conducts inquiries into service learning and the experiences of people working and studying at Harmony, as well as the ways in which Harmony catalyzes change in public schools.\nJesse Goodman, who founded the HEC with Steve Bonchek and Daniel Baron, works primarily with the Institute of Research to support scholarship on the activities of Harmony School, as well as the broad domain of democratically-minded and progressive education. He says while the Institute will not receive any of the campaign drives funding per se, he feels the initiative will do much to further the school's mission of providing community-minded education. \n"Harmony differs primarily as concerns the intellectual and social context within which education takes place at the school," said Goodman, a professor in the School of Education for over 20 years. "In particular, while most conventional schools are influenced a great deal by politicians and what business leaders say, Harmony is really much more rooted in intellectual tradition and wanting students to come to understand themselves and their own talents, and how to build on those talents to be a viable member of the community."\nThe school has completed several such funding drives over its decades-long history. An endowment for the school was established at the Brown County Community Foundation in 1993, followed by a $100,000 campaign in 1999. Those funds were matched by a $225,000 Lilly Endowment and were followed by a $2.5 million grant in 2003 from the Paul Foundation of New York City. \nThe campaign will be led by Carl Cook, vice president of Bloomington's Cook Group; Frederick Bay, director of the Josephine Bay Paul and C. Michael Paul Foundation; and honorary chair and IU president emeritus John W. Ryan.\n-- Contact city & state editor Holly Johnson at hljohnso@indiana.edu .
(05/20/04 2:17am)
A judge assigned to a felony battery case involving a Monroe County jailer has recused himself, forwarding the case to a Greene County superior court magistrate.\nMonroe Circuit Judge David Welch received the case on his docket last week after Special Prosecutor Barry Brown filed formal charges against jailer David Shaw, who used a Taser gun to shock and subdue 47-year-old James Borden as he was processed into jail last November. Borden, who was handcuffed during processing, died shortly after.\nJudge Marc Kellams found probable cause for the arrest of Shaw in a hearing May 12. Shaw now faces two class C felonies: battery while armed with a deadly weapon and battery causing serious bodily injury. He was released from the Monroe County Jail on his own recognizance after being booked, according to a probable-cause affidavit. \nWelch, citing a conflict of interest, sent paperwork this week to Greene Superior Judge J. David Holt requesting he appoint a special judge to oversee the case. \nA clerk in Holt's office said Wednesday the judge received paperwork from Welch, but has not taken any further action. \nKatherine Liell, Shaw's attorney, said Welch's recusal came as no surprise. \n"I'm sure it has to do with the fact that Monroe County employees were involved, and in some respects judges have control over the jail and jail conditions," Liell said. "I think it's more to avoid any appearance of impropriety."\nLiell said while she would have had no problem with the case being tried in Monroe County, noting that Welch is a "very fair judge who would have given Mr. Shaw a fair trial," she doesn't believe a change will affect her client's defense. \nAn initial hearing will be set once a special judge is appointed to the case, Liell said. After a special judge qualifies, an omnibus date will be set four to six weeks after the initial hearing. Liell will have 20 days before that date to file a motion to dismiss charges, which she anticipates doing. \nIn Kellams' opinion, he noted that Tasers such as the one Shaw used to subdue Borden are "defined by statute as a deadly weapon, because in the manner it is used, or may be used, or is intended to be used, is readily capable of causing serious bodily harm."\nBut Liell said Shaw didn't know the Taser, which packs 50,000 volts of electricity in each shock, was classified as a deadly weapon. Officers used the device six times on Borden, who Shaw said was "uncooperative" during booking, though the number of shocks recorded on the device was 11. \n"He was never told in training that it was a deadly weapon," Liell said. "He was told it was the equivalent of pepper spray."\nThis discrepancy calls the constitutionality of the statute into question, Liell said.\n"For a criminal statute to be constitutional, it has to give persons of ordinary intelligence notice of what conduct they engage in that could cross the line into criminal behavior," Liell said. \nShe also noted that the definition of a Taser requires the use of a projectile attachment. The Taser Shaw used did not have the attached projectile, Liell said. \nYet Kellams said in his opinion that it was "clear that (Shaw's) actions were inappropriate and not in line with the training he received for the use of Tasers."\nShaw will continue to work at the jail through the case, but no longer directly with inmates.\n-- Contact city & state editor Holly Johnson at hljohnso@indiana.edu.
(05/17/04 2:21am)
Elephants.\nThat's the term longtime arts lover Hillard Trubitt uses to refer to the aging segment of Bloomingtonians supportive of a local, non-University affiliated classical music scene. \nThey're retired IU professors, philanthropists with large pockets willing to quietly encourage, both practically and fiscally, a volunteer regiment of Bloomington musicians. They've been the lifeblood, it seems, for the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, which for more than three decades, has filled local auditoriums with a shimmering flute descant or the richly-colored stroke of a cellist's bow. Yet these elephants are getting older, Trubitt, treasurer of the BSO board, says. They're not being replaced with younger enthusiasts. And for the BSO, this lack of community support -- whether individual or corporate, in the form of volunteers or sponsors -- could sound the death knell for the volunteer symphony. \nOperating on a budget of about $85,000, the BSO survives by relying on volunteer manpower and corporate and individual donations. Yet over the past decade, as the economy has slumped substantially and corporate sponsors have turned their attention elsewhere, the BSO has struggled to stay afloat. \n"When I was first associated with the orchestra, it was voluntary in the strictest sense of the word," Trubitt said, noting that the orchestra's total yearly expenses, which usually didn't exceed $300, were "quietly taken care of" by well-to-do members interested in subsidizing BSO activity. "That was a third of a century ago though, and over the years we got bigger and had to do more to stir community interest."\nThat commitment requires a certain degree of organization and regularity of operations, however, and the Symphony began to face new costs. The local school auditoriums they'd played in previous years began to confront additional overhead costs as well, and the orchestra started paying to use the facilities. Community sponsors began looking elsewhere for means to advertise and market their services -- Trubitt specifically noted one area bank, which pulled its arts funding from the BSO to devote toward the more highly-visible promotion of IU basketball games -- and local music festivals, and organizations increasingly competed with the BSO for local sponsors. \nConsequently, the BSO volunteer corps fell on hard times. \n"We had (a lot of) corporate funding, but as part of economic cutbacks, we don't have that anymore," Trubitt said. "Bloomington is a lovely community, but there are an infinite number of classical music groups that are competing for money. There's an intense concentration of musical activities here, and we are but one."\nIt's a labor of love, Trubitt says, but one he's not likely to give up quickly. The BSO board of directors will meet regularly over the next few months to determine the appropriate avenues the BSO should pursue, and the orchestra has applied for an Arts Commission grant to cover the costs of community outreach and instrument recovery programs. \nThe latter program, conceived three years ago and intended to provide low-income students with the means to pursue music -- often a costly extracurricular reserved for middle- to upper-class families who can afford instruction and upkeep -- provides refurbished instruments more than 30 students in south-central Indiana. Yet as the BSO faces increasing budget strictures, that program has been threatened as well.\n"It's difficult to put a number on (how much the program costs)," Trubitt said. "In the past we would have been able to take care of these costs out of pocket but at some point, someone has to get a bill for this."\nThese are problems unique to the community orchestra and foreign to such nationally-reputed performing arts groups as the IU School of Music, but the financial problems regional symphonies face continue to compound across the country. \nFor example, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported in February that the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra's deficit caused substantial changes in both staff positions and programming, including the position of Director of Education. Alfred Savia, music director for the EPO, said those changes will save the orchestra more than $18,000. \nThe EPO budget is currently $1.9 million, according to the EPO Web site. \nAnd Margaret Hagerman, former Director of Operations for the Evansville Philharmonic, said the issue is both timely and relevant to the future of regional symphonies. \n"If you interviewed 100 people they would all have different opinions about this subject which in itself makes it compelling information," Hagerman said. \nYet large-scale orchestras in major metropolitan areas, while indeed confronted with budget shortfalls, face financial problems very different from those of community symphonies. The Indianapolis Symphony remains one of 18 orchestras across the country that boasts a year-round musicians contract. Susan Prenatt, the ISO's vice president and chief financial officer, told the Indianapolis Star earlier this year that several ISO musicians make more than $70,000 a year. The ISO budget for the 2004-05 season stands at $24 million. \nYet according to trade magazine Andante, the ISO has faced considerable financial problems in recent years. Decreased endowment levels, coupled by a nationwide economic slump in arts funding, led the orchestra to post a $428,000 deficit for the 2002-03 season, nearly twice the amount of the previous year, and provisions to decrease that deficit have been worked into the musicians' contract for the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. \nTrubitt is careful to draw a distinction between a symphony like Indianapolis' and that of Bloomington, however. He recognizes that it's often easy to draw such comparisons, which he deems "ridiculous."\n"The state of the ISO and the fate of the BSO are completely different," Trubitt said. "It's the old story of the mouse versus the elephant. Our musicians are completely non-paid."\nThe ISO, for example, recently received a $106 million endowment, and relies largely on major Indianapolis-area corporate sponsors and subscribers. A city like Bloomington -- with an orchestra that plays in local school performance halls, rather than expansive music centers like Indianapolis's Hilbert Circle Theater -- can hardly expect to compete with the financial resources of the ISO, Trubitt said. \nA fundraiser last Friday at the Unitarian Universalist Church on the IU campus provided a bit of support for the BSO budget, though inclement weather tempered the turnout Trubitt and BSO board members, including BSO business manager Cindy DeFries, had been hoping for. Yet the BSO will continue to press on, Trubitt said.\n"I used to laughingly refer to us as the world's largest Tuesday night string quartet...and we'll continue to be that. We just need to grow a new audience," he said. "Whatever it takes to make it, we're interested. We need to find those younger elephants."\n--Contact City/State editor Holly Johnson at hljohnso@indiana.edu
(05/17/04 2:19am)
The IU Police Department arrested a School of Music janitor early Friday morning, ending a months-long investigation into a series of music school thefts.\nKaylif Marvin Bradlee Bennett, 27, was discovered by IUPD security officer Chris Shipman at approximately 1:52 a.m., after Shipman noticed several unsecured doors at the Musical Arts Center. Bennett, a resident of Bloomington, was found hiding in a basement storage room behind a floor cleaner, IUPD Lt. Jerry Minger said.\nAs recently as last semester, police believed Bennett was only a witness to the music school thefts. In October 2003, he fabricated a story to police claiming he was the victim of an assault, ostensibly by the would-be burglar at Merrill Hall. \nYet Shipman's discovery of the IU custodian, who had worked for the University since July, led police to consider him more closely as a possible suspect. During his interview with IUPD authorities, he admitted to thefts in both the School of Music and Ballantine Hall, and shortly thereafter agreed to return several items, leading to the resolution of at least six related theft cases, Minger said. \nBennett was most notably responsible for the theft of a $25,000 violin last fall. He also admitted to the theft of a Canon digital camera worth $500, a $1,795 speakers and wiring system and a laptop and projector worth more than $3,500. \nIUPD responded to the security breaches in early October by placing additional guards around the School of Music complex, which borders Jordan Avenue in the heart of campus.\nThe IDS reported in October that School of Music officials sent an e-mail warning students of the security infraction after a set of master keys to the music buildings went missing. En route to the Monroe County Jail, where he was held Saturday on preliminary charges of theft, Minger said Bennett unsuccessfully attempted to hide that master key ring under the squad car's seats. \nThe IUPD nabbed former School of Music student Carl St. Jacques with the theft of a hand-held computer, as well as four other minor thefts, at the school in March. St. Jacques, who was intimately involved with efforts in the Bloomington community to promote arts education and classical music in low-income children, was charged with larceny. So far, the two cases are unrelated.\nMinger said Bennett had "no legitimate reason" for being in the MAC at that hour, as he had been relieved of his duties there and had been transferred to another building. \nBennett faces a Class D felony, which carries a potential sentence of over one year, according to the Indiana Trial Courts' description of caseloads and case types. Bond was set at $25,000 surety or $50,250 cash. \n-- Contact staff writer Holly Johnson at hljohnso@indiana.edu.
(04/29/04 5:35am)
Just two days after his high school commencement, Rhett Gonterman joined the United States Marine Corps Reserve as a freshly minted graduate. His duties with the Reserve -- ranging from missions with Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, most recently -- afforded him the opportunity to travel the globe for a whirlwind ten months. \nYet it's a choice he made voluntarily. That is what he feels distinguishes a ready and willing soldier. It's not forcing young, unenthusiastic college students to don Army uniforms unwillingly. But that's exactly what a Nebraska senator and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee proposed earlier this month. \nSen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., floated the idea of introducing mandatory military conscription earlier this month in a committee hearing about post-reconstruction Iraq. \n"Why shouldn't we ask all of our citizens to bear some responsibility and pay some price?" Hagel said in the hearing, according to The Associated Press. \nHagel made that statement less than a week following Pentagon authorization to extend the missions of 20,000 U.S. troops to Iraq. But a recent posting on the Department of Defense Web site refutes the claim the Bush administration will actually call for a draft. \n"Selective Service is not getting ready to conduct a draft for the U.S. Armed Forces -- either with a special skills or regular draft," the notice reads. "Rather, the agency remains prepared to manage a draft if and when the president and the Congress so direct."\nGonterman believes such mandatory service would undermine the integrity of the armed forces. \n"There might be a small amount of concern that certain individuals who are forced to serve for their country wouldn't perform as well as those who joined on their own," he said. \nSenior Derek Molter, a former intern for Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., advocates mandatory public service, but hasn't thrown his support behind Hagel's initiative.\n"If the decision was taken out of my hands and if I was drafted I would gladly serve," he said. "But it seems to me that in the heat of battle it is much safer to have one's back covered by a soldier who wants to be there rather than by one who is forced to be there."\nJude Melville, a former Air Force captain who performed tours in Afghanistan and Pakistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, thinks the chances of Hagel's proposal garnering much more than speculation are "extremely slim," for reasons owing largely to the changing complexion of military operations. \n"The military is no longer simply about numbers of bodies being thrown at each other," Melville said. \nBut Melville doesn't count out the idea of the military seeking new recruits through more traditional means.\n"It's possible (the military) will significantly step up recruitment efforts -- and, just as importantly, restructure retention efforts."\nAndy Fisher, press secretary for Lugar's Washington offices, said Lugar "does not feel that draft reinstatement is necessary." Lugar currently serves as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and also served in the U.S. Navy from 1957 to 1960. \nThat's a sentiment that seems to be shared among many Congressional leaders. Mike DuBois, legislative assistant in charge of military issues for Sen. Kit Bond R-Mo., said Bond is also opposed to reinstating conscription. \n"Since military conscription ended more than 30 years ago, voluntary armed services have successfully fulfilled the military needs of the United States," DuBois said. \nArmy ROTC Major Heath Dunbar, who preferred to be quoted as speaking from a personal, not Army, perspective, said the cost of a draft would likely outweigh the benefits. \n"As a commander, I always found that it was challenging enough to manage the troops within my unit, and they were all volunteers," Dunbar said. "Each was still an individual with all of the personality traits, family concerns and other issues that we all have."\nStill, morale issues may not always win out against the numbers game. In a January 2004 PBS documentary, "Growing the Military," claimed current troop levels are a third less than the U.S. had enlisted in the 1991 Persian Gulf crisis, and U.S. Army Lt. Gen. John Vines told PBS correspondents the Army's resources were "stretched extraordinarily thin."\nBut for seasoned serviceman Melville, reinstating conscription would require a collective, nationwide effort. \n"If we've decided as a nation to institute a draft, then that means hopefully we've had a national dialogue (and) we've decided the fight is worth it," Melville said. "There's no doubt in my mind what team I'm on."\n-- Contact senior writer Holly Johnson at hljohnso@indiana.edu.
(04/15/04 11:00pm)
OK, so I wouldn't classify myself as a complete Phishhead.\nI mean, I could definitely get down with some "Bouncing Around the Room," and what college student hasn't heard the jam band's take on Snoop? I'd known some guys who were Phish roadies during high school, but I didn't think much of it when they offered me their bootlegs. \nBut I found myself, strangely, liking guitarist Trey Anastasio's latest instrumental offering, Seis de Mayo. The collection, gleaned mostly from songs Anastasio recorded with Phish and later remastered, is noticeably infused with remnants of classical Frank Zappa and features Anastasio's 10-piece band (which you dedicated Phishies will remember from last year's Bonnaroo Festival). \nOf particular interest is "All Things Reconsidered," a delicate fugue fans will remember from the 1993 Phish album, Rift. The beautiful combination of strings in a loosely built quartet conjures up Barber's "Adagio" in a way most haunting works can't -- and it works. \nThe 12-minute "Guyute," however, is the album's true masterpiece, performed by the Seattlemusic Orchestra. It blends perfectly with the flow of the album, and crescendos into a beautiful closing section in a way no Phish song could ever achieve. \nSo in short, if you're a diehard Phishhead with no interest in classical jibe, run, don't walk, away from this CD. But if you're open to a new, strangely beautiful experience, dive in. Trey won't hurt you.
(04/15/04 10:43pm)
I'll preface my comments with this qualifying statement: almost immediately upon settling in my comfy seat at Showplace Cinemas in Evansville this Easter, I wanted to leave. \nI'd liked "The Whole Nine Yards" all right, I suppose -- I laughed sporadically at Matthew Perry's slapstick genius (said emphatically and with sarcasm, of course), and wondered why in the hell we had to see Amanda Peet's breasts. \nThe original hardly warranted a sequel, and what followed, the cleverly-dubbed "The Whole Ten Yards," equally fails to impress. The story follows Lazlo Gogolak, played by Kevin Pollack, in his quest for revenge following the murder of his son, Janni (also played by Pollack in the original). He kidnaps Perry's character's wife, Cynthia (Natasha Henstridge), believing Perry can lead him to Mob hitman Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski (Bruce Willis). Hilarity ensues. \nThere are a few funny moments, but sadly, none spring to mind. The plot, incohesive and predictable, fails to deliver any real sort of resolution, save for a few laughs at the expense of luckless dentist Oz (Perry). It's a shame, really: Peet, Willis and Perry are all funny people, but seem to make odd decisions in accepting film roles. To top it off, this gem's rated PG-13, which means no frontal Peet nudity for you voyeurs out there. \nWait till this one comes out on DVD -- it'll make a nice coaster.
(04/15/04 7:08pm)
With acts ranging from the traditional jazz combo to punk-infused rock to a one-man electronic extraordinaire, this year's Live from Bloomington commingles all the right elements, promising to shake up the local live music scene. And it's anything but formulaic. \nConcertgoers can expect the antics of bassist Nick Wyatt of The Swell, who's been known to stuff cucumbers in his tight leather pants to elicit crowd (read: female) response. Audiences can sit back and groove to The Saxaphone Cartel sextet (which actually includes clarinets and flutes), or they can move to the beats of Optimus Rob, the mastermind behind local production label Attention Kid Deficit, who claims his perfect concert would feature Jim Morrison on vocals, Herbie Hancock on keys and, of course, himself behind the turntable. \nThe original concept -- spawned by former Union Board Concerts Director Brad Wilhelm (now owner of Rhino's All Ages Music Club, one of LFB's annual venues) -- was geared toward raising dollars for famine relief. Wilhelm presented the notion to the UB budgetary affairs committee, and upon gaining unanimous approval from board members, LFB was born. \nNearly 20 years later, Wilhelm's still part of the ad-hoc committee consisting of the year's LFB director, three assistant directors and representatives from the School of Music and the Department of Recording Arts. This committee is charged with selecting 16 to 18 finalists from the pool of approximately 80 entrants. And current UB Concerts Director Mark Hajduk says the inimitability of sound -- rather than sound quality -- helps an entry place high. \n"We like to choose a few songs from different genres," he says. "We try not to look for sound quality as much because the demos submitted are usually not high quality."\nLast year's selection of local favorite Three Minute Mile exhibits that commitment. The band formed specifically to enter the competition and recorded its submission in a member's dorm room.\n"Had we judged the song for its sound qualities, they may not have been so successful locally," Hajduk says. "The diversity really encompasses a lot because different genres require different instrumental arrangements, technical skill levels and overall song composition."\nFinalist and self-described "dancepunk" band Well Fed -- whose members claim they all use "equally cheesy and unhelpful" adjectives to depict their style -- has its roots deep in the Indianapolis hip-hop scene. When juniors drummer Eli Duke, bassist Keith Starling and crooner Drew Lazzara came together as high school sophomores in Krew Train, it was actually more of a joke, but eventually the group "evolved into something so much grander," Lazzara says. \n"We quickly honed our lyrical steez and became utterly un-fuck-wit-able," he says, noting that their guitarist, Kris Huntley, spent the Krew Train years grounded to his room and playing an old acoustic guitar strung with shoelaces. When sporadically allowed freedom from that domestic prison, Huntley would join Duke and Lazzara in experimenting with a hard-edged punk band, Code Yellow. And once the guys moved to Bloomington and experimented with several other guitarists, they realized they had to have Huntley. \n"It just didn't work like it did with Kris," Lazzara says. "So that summer we formed Well Fed and recorded our first album. We are all fantastic friends, so the band dynamic is tremendous.… We crank out songs quickly because we can avoid the bullshit of hurting people's feelings."\nAnd for the rappers-turned-punksters from Nap-town, Live from Bloomington provides a valuable inroad to the local music scene, which Lazzara deems "a bit clique-ish and exclusive."\n"We have too much pop influence to reach the real hardcore punk scene, we don't jam enough for the bar crowds and we don't do covers," he says. "People who take a chance on us usually like what they hear, but it's tough getting the college crowd to take that chance, particularly when alcohol is not involved…. But if it were up to us, it would be, dammit."\nThat isn't to say the Bloomington scene isn't penetrable; original rock band The Swell -- who abhor playing covers -- has found its niche in the local market, playing venues like the Bluebird Nightclub, the occasional gig at Uncle Fester's House of Blooze and charity events or fraternity parties. \n"We fit nicely in Bloomington, or so it seems, because we are one of the few all-original bands doing well in this town oversaturated with cover bands," Swell guitarist and lead vocalist John West says. "Our sound is accessible enough for fans of more mainstream music, yet raw and rockin' enough for those with more eccentric tastes."\nA typical Swell show, he claims, boasts a mixture of indie rockers, frat boys and hippies, "which makes us happy."\n"We like to bridge that gap, as rock music and partying often do," he says. "Our live show is really our forte. People often say they are amazed at the amount of sound and energy this trio can put out."\nThey submitted an older song West wrote and recorded the second week the band rehearsed together, and while it's certainly not representative of the band's ever-evolving sound, West says the band is pleased it's included. \n"We are honored to be on a project that represents Bloomington, our home, as well as being in a charity situation," West says. "We are thankful to have been chosen."\nVocalist Andrew Bean from rock foursome Emerson Rose -- often deemed a mix of Led Zeppelin and Skid Row by concertgoers -- echoed West's sentiments. Emerson Rose is entering its second year on the Bloomington music scene, but the group's members have been performing together for an aggregate 11-plus years. \n"We don't really fit into a scene anywhere, which is what I think we have in our favor," Bean says. "I have to commend the LFB staff for bringing together diverse groups because many times we have been snubbed for playing music that is not seemingly 'up to date' or not responsive to the latest trends"
(04/15/04 4:00am)
With acts ranging from the traditional jazz combo to punk-infused rock to a one-man electronic extraordinaire, this year's Live from Bloomington commingles all the right elements, promising to shake up the local live music scene. And it's anything but formulaic. \nConcertgoers can expect the antics of bassist Nick Wyatt of The Swell, who's been known to stuff cucumbers in his tight leather pants to elicit crowd (read: female) response. Audiences can sit back and groove to The Saxaphone Cartel sextet (which actually includes clarinets and flutes), or they can move to the beats of Optimus Rob, the mastermind behind local production label Attention Kid Deficit, who claims his perfect concert would feature Jim Morrison on vocals, Herbie Hancock on keys and, of course, himself behind the turntable. \nThe original concept -- spawned by former Union Board Concerts Director Brad Wilhelm (now owner of Rhino's All Ages Music Club, one of LFB's annual venues) -- was geared toward raising dollars for famine relief. Wilhelm presented the notion to the UB budgetary affairs committee, and upon gaining unanimous approval from board members, LFB was born. \nNearly 20 years later, Wilhelm's still part of the ad-hoc committee consisting of the year's LFB director, three assistant directors and representatives from the School of Music and the Department of Recording Arts. This committee is charged with selecting 16 to 18 finalists from the pool of approximately 80 entrants. And current UB Concerts Director Mark Hajduk says the inimitability of sound -- rather than sound quality -- helps an entry place high. \n"We like to choose a few songs from different genres," he says. "We try not to look for sound quality as much because the demos submitted are usually not high quality."\nLast year's selection of local favorite Three Minute Mile exhibits that commitment. The band formed specifically to enter the competition and recorded its submission in a member's dorm room.\n"Had we judged the song for its sound qualities, they may not have been so successful locally," Hajduk says. "The diversity really encompasses a lot because different genres require different instrumental arrangements, technical skill levels and overall song composition."\nFinalist and self-described "dancepunk" band Well Fed -- whose members claim they all use "equally cheesy and unhelpful" adjectives to depict their style -- has its roots deep in the Indianapolis hip-hop scene. When juniors drummer Eli Duke, bassist Keith Starling and crooner Drew Lazzara came together as high school sophomores in Krew Train, it was actually more of a joke, but eventually the group "evolved into something so much grander," Lazzara says. \n"We quickly honed our lyrical steez and became utterly un-fuck-wit-able," he says, noting that their guitarist, Kris Huntley, spent the Krew Train years grounded to his room and playing an old acoustic guitar strung with shoelaces. When sporadically allowed freedom from that domestic prison, Huntley would join Duke and Lazzara in experimenting with a hard-edged punk band, Code Yellow. And once the guys moved to Bloomington and experimented with several other guitarists, they realized they had to have Huntley. \n"It just didn't work like it did with Kris," Lazzara says. "So that summer we formed Well Fed and recorded our first album. We are all fantastic friends, so the band dynamic is tremendous.… We crank out songs quickly because we can avoid the bullshit of hurting people's feelings."\nAnd for the rappers-turned-punksters from Nap-town, Live from Bloomington provides a valuable inroad to the local music scene, which Lazzara deems "a bit clique-ish and exclusive."\n"We have too much pop influence to reach the real hardcore punk scene, we don't jam enough for the bar crowds and we don't do covers," he says. "People who take a chance on us usually like what they hear, but it's tough getting the college crowd to take that chance, particularly when alcohol is not involved…. But if it were up to us, it would be, dammit."\nThat isn't to say the Bloomington scene isn't penetrable; original rock band The Swell -- who abhor playing covers -- has found its niche in the local market, playing venues like the Bluebird Nightclub, the occasional gig at Uncle Fester's House of Blooze and charity events or fraternity parties. \n"We fit nicely in Bloomington, or so it seems, because we are one of the few all-original bands doing well in this town oversaturated with cover bands," Swell guitarist and lead vocalist John West says. "Our sound is accessible enough for fans of more mainstream music, yet raw and rockin' enough for those with more eccentric tastes."\nA typical Swell show, he claims, boasts a mixture of indie rockers, frat boys and hippies, "which makes us happy."\n"We like to bridge that gap, as rock music and partying often do," he says. "Our live show is really our forte. People often say they are amazed at the amount of sound and energy this trio can put out."\nThey submitted an older song West wrote and recorded the second week the band rehearsed together, and while it's certainly not representative of the band's ever-evolving sound, West says the band is pleased it's included. \n"We are honored to be on a project that represents Bloomington, our home, as well as being in a charity situation," West says. "We are thankful to have been chosen."\nVocalist Andrew Bean from rock foursome Emerson Rose -- often deemed a mix of Led Zeppelin and Skid Row by concertgoers -- echoed West's sentiments. Emerson Rose is entering its second year on the Bloomington music scene, but the group's members have been performing together for an aggregate 11-plus years. \n"We don't really fit into a scene anywhere, which is what I think we have in our favor," Bean says. "I have to commend the LFB staff for bringing together diverse groups because many times we have been snubbed for playing music that is not seemingly 'up to date' or not responsive to the latest trends"
(04/15/04 4:00am)
I'll preface my comments with this qualifying statement: almost immediately upon settling in my comfy seat at Showplace Cinemas in Evansville this Easter, I wanted to leave. \nI'd liked "The Whole Nine Yards" all right, I suppose -- I laughed sporadically at Matthew Perry's slapstick genius (said emphatically and with sarcasm, of course), and wondered why in the hell we had to see Amanda Peet's breasts. \nThe original hardly warranted a sequel, and what followed, the cleverly-dubbed "The Whole Ten Yards," equally fails to impress. The story follows Lazlo Gogolak, played by Kevin Pollack, in his quest for revenge following the murder of his son, Janni (also played by Pollack in the original). He kidnaps Perry's character's wife, Cynthia (Natasha Henstridge), believing Perry can lead him to Mob hitman Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski (Bruce Willis). Hilarity ensues. \nThere are a few funny moments, but sadly, none spring to mind. The plot, incohesive and predictable, fails to deliver any real sort of resolution, save for a few laughs at the expense of luckless dentist Oz (Perry). It's a shame, really: Peet, Willis and Perry are all funny people, but seem to make odd decisions in accepting film roles. To top it off, this gem's rated PG-13, which means no frontal Peet nudity for you voyeurs out there. \nWait till this one comes out on DVD -- it'll make a nice coaster.
(04/15/04 4:00am)
OK, so I wouldn't classify myself as a complete Phishhead.\nI mean, I could definitely get down with some "Bouncing Around the Room," and what college student hasn't heard the jam band's take on Snoop? I'd known some guys who were Phish roadies during high school, but I didn't think much of it when they offered me their bootlegs. \nBut I found myself, strangely, liking guitarist Trey Anastasio's latest instrumental offering, Seis de Mayo. The collection, gleaned mostly from songs Anastasio recorded with Phish and later remastered, is noticeably infused with remnants of classical Frank Zappa and features Anastasio's 10-piece band (which you dedicated Phishies will remember from last year's Bonnaroo Festival). \nOf particular interest is "All Things Reconsidered," a delicate fugue fans will remember from the 1993 Phish album, Rift. The beautiful combination of strings in a loosely built quartet conjures up Barber's "Adagio" in a way most haunting works can't -- and it works. \nThe 12-minute "Guyute," however, is the album's true masterpiece, performed by the Seattlemusic Orchestra. It blends perfectly with the flow of the album, and crescendos into a beautiful closing section in a way no Phish song could ever achieve. \nSo in short, if you're a diehard Phishhead with no interest in classical jibe, run, don't walk, away from this CD. But if you're open to a new, strangely beautiful experience, dive in. Trey won't hurt you.
(04/08/04 6:06am)
One week after the Federal Highway Administration approved a new-terrain corridor for Interstate 69, debate continues to swirl around the controversial route, which would extend the national superhighway mere miles from Bloomington's downtown. \nThe approved route, 3-C, would utilize existing State Road 37, which would run from Indianapolis through Bloomington, and south toward Bedford, bank southwest, and lay more than 100 miles of new asphalt between Washington and Evansville. The Indiana Department of Transportation estimates the 142-mile project will take 14 years to complete.\nBut Bloomington City Council At-Large representative Andy Ruff thinks the money just isn't there. \n"I don't believe it's going to get built," Ruff, also a steering committee member of Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads, said. "It's just a political project. Politicians will keep it going so they can keep political exchanges of campaign contributions, promises, support and backscratching going by saying OK, we're still saying we can get this thing done."\nRuff further alleged the FHWA decision "meant nothing."\n"The highway administration lets states make these sorts of decisions," he said. "Rarely does FHWA not accept this kind of decision by states. The reason is because it's the state's money. It isn't federal money. If we were truly using scarce federal money, why would the government allow some twerp like (INDOT Commissioner) Brian Nichols -- this lawyer, this young punk bureaucrat political wannabe -- make a decision about the investment of billions of truly federal money?" \nYet INDOT officials say 80 percent of construction costs will be absorbed by the federal government. The remaining 20 percent will be culled from revenues from the Indiana gas tax -- not from state coffers, according to INDOT director of communications Tony Felts. \n"We've been very clear about the funding mechanism for this project," Felts said. "It does not require money from the state's general fund. It will be 80 percent funded by the federal government. Indiana's share -- 20 percent will be paid for by revenues generated from the gas tax. These are monies earmarked specifically for transportation projects."\nFurthermore, Felts said the project accounts for a mere 5 percent of the $33 billion INDOT plans to direct toward highway infrastructure costs over the next 20 years. \n"The Federal Highway Administration has recognized this long-term spending plan as reasonable," Felts said. "The project must be looked at in terms of long term benefits, not solely in terms of costs."\nIn a letter dated Jan. 30 to I-69 Project Manager Michael Grovak of Evansville-based firm Lochmueller and Associates, Indiana Senate Finance Chairman Lawrence Borst also alleged "no serious consideration for an alternate route" was made by either Grovak's firm or INDOT. Furthermore, he claims the new terrain corridor will inflict considerable damage to Indianapolis' Perry Township, which he represents. The township lies just south of I-465, and Borst says the northern terminus of the proposed routing bisects a highly-populated sector of Marion County and "eliminates cross-township traffic" in his district. \nNicole Di Camillo, campaign coordinator for the Indiana Public Interest Research Group initiative opposing I-69, said INPIRG has been working with CARR, as well as the Hoosier Environmental Council and the Association of Monroe County Taxpayers, to ensure I-69 doesn't come through Bloomington. \n"I feel that other than a few, wealthy business people who stand to profit from the development (of the fast-food restaurants and hotels that would be built up around the highway) most citizens of Bloomington are opposed to an I-69 route through Bloomington," she said. "Most people, especially those directly affected by the route, feel that it will bring no benefits to Bloomington -- just traffic, congestion, destroyed homes and land, and lack of funds for other highway projects."\nBut INDOT points to the economic advantages the new routes would facilitate, specifically citing greater accessibility to Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center, as well as to Evansville and Washington, both of which lack major corridors to and from Bloomington and Indianapolis. The mayors of both Evansville and Washington have indicated their support for the approved route.\n"The highway will serve as an economic development engine for all of Southwest Indiana, generating $3.5 billion in additional personal income growth," Felts said. \nEconomic issues notwithstanding, Ruff, whose experience as a vociferous opponent to the new terrain route predates his role as city councilman -- said other major detrimental side effects are sure to emerge should I-69 run through Bloomington city limits. \n"Bloomington's competitive advantage, in terms of attracting investment and population, is due to the unique character of our community that makes us different from Muncie or Marion or Anderson," Ruff said. "It's our setting -- it's our attractive relatively high-quality natural environment. We have a distinctive community character and atmosphere."\nI-69, he alleges, would taint that, making Bloomington succumb to what he deems the "generica" of industrialized sprawl. \nThe highway would be "bringing all the things that degrade our most valuable most critical assets economically" by generating air, water and noise pollution and forcing Bloomington to assume the role of "bedroom city" to nearby Indianapolis. \nFelts said INDOT will work with local communities to assess the project's impact there as part of the "tier 2" planning process. Context-sensitive design techniques such as sound barriers and adding vegetation to affected areas will also be implemented to minimize impact. \nFelts said tier 2 divides the corridor into six sections, each represented by a local project office.\n"Now it's important for individual communities along the route to work with the local project offices to determine the exact route that best meets the needs of each individual community," Felts said. \nYet Bloomington mayor Mark Kruzan believes the environmental impact of construction, as well as the impact on homes and businesses in the new highway's path, will be "tremendous." He believes the current discussion should focus on what construction will affect -- specifically, frontage roads and overpasses, highway cuts, pedestrian and bicyclist accommodation and improvements to infrastructure. \n"I've opposed the 3-C route," Kruzan said. "I sincerely believe taxpayers should be concerned that what was once billed as an $800 million project now has a $2 billion price tag before construction has even started. The loss of land owned by existing businesses or by families for generations is an even higher price to pay." \n-- Contact senior writer Holly Johnson at hljohnso@indiana.edu.
(04/08/04 4:21am)
It's 3:46 a.m. on a chilly Saturday in early April, and the crowd outside Bloomington's newest nightspot has snaked out of the double plate-glass doors and spilled onto Walnut Street, where stragglers from 21-and-over joints are munching Taco Bell gorditas and attempting to hitch rides home. The beats thumping inside Club Cream, the brainchild of Indiana University junior Carl Franklin, lures an inebriated few across Seventh Street and into the 18-and-up club, where the gossip of gaggles of girls clustered around carpeted stairwells lined with white lights commingle with the guttural grunts of bouncers -- "You're in, man. Go on upstairs."\nFranklin, a native of East Chicago, Ind., noticed the downtown property was vacant in January, after the now-defunct After Hours topless club went under. He says he was interested in figuring out what else the Bloomington bar scene needed.\n"I sat down with some close friends and was trying to see if we could make something happen here," Franklin says. "I was thinking we could bring something the town might be missing, and at the same time I'm thinking what could I get by having a part in this."\nIt didn't take long for Franklin and his buddies to figure that out. Though now 21, Franklin remembers having "nothing at all to do" on weekends as an underage student, and the entrepreneurs settled on an 18-and-older club to cater to the younger student set. \n"We figured that was the smartest thing to do -- even a lot of the athletes aren't 21," he says, noting IU basketball player Bracey Wright frequents the club since its opening. "They can't go to the bars, but they've been here every night."\nThe underage crowd flocks to Club Cream's 18-and-older dance floor (21-and-olders have to keep drinks in a special downstairs section of the venue) so much that this weekend alone packed in more than 700 bodies each night. It's a diverse crowd, composed of all shapes, sizes and ethnicities, and three DJs spin tracks on an elevated platform in a darkened corner. Even though the downstairs bar closes at 2:30 a.m., the floor above keeps pumping until 5 a.m.\nThe club's music, which is non-conventional bar fare indeed, drew Butler University student Laura Hacker to Club Cream last Saturday. She's a friend of a friend of Franklin's, and says she thinks the club has definite potential.\n"I really do like the stuff they're playing -- you don't usually hear it at a bar," Hacker says of the club's mix of cutting-edge and up-and-coming hip-hop. "And it could be so much better if people just start turning out downstairs. It's a good place to be."\nAnd for senior Bryan Chatfield, Club Cream offers IU's African-American population a chance to fraternize in a club setting atypical of Bloomington's traditional bar scene.\n"It's good to have a club where blacks can get together," Chatfield says, though Franklin is quick to note Club Cream packs in diverse crowds representative of IU's student population. "African-Americans don't really have that opportunity or many clubs like this in the area. I really enjoy being out here."\nFranklin's dedication to the project is evident in his aggressive marketing of the venue, which busses on-campus students in from residence halls on weekends and advertises itself to Greek houses as an ideal third-party vendor. He's also sunk considerable cash into the endeavor, along with business partner and junior Ryan Bell -- a figure he estimates totals around $10,000.\n"We sat down and took our money we had saved up between us and put it into the club," Franklin says. "We paid the first month's deposit, planned our grand opening and went all out."\nThe first night brought B97's Pam Thrash to the DJ booth, and Franklin and his cohorts handed long-stemmed red roses to the ladies, all of whom entered for free of course. \n"We let that be our best commercial, how we treated our customers that first night," Franklin says. "Since then, the response has been great. It's a diverse crowd -- you won't believe it."\nFranklin and Bell's team is currently working on bringing Petey Pablo to the club for the Little 500 celebratory weekend, and their promotion team is working double overtime to ensure the plans come off without a hitch. \nAnd somewhere in the midst of all this, Franklin and Bell -- as well as most of their young staff -- are students. Franklin's typical day consists of attending class from 8 a.m. to noon before heading to the club to clean up from the previous night. He checks his e-mails and returns phone calls from a small office upstairs, checks the club's post office box and pays the bills. He might run home for a quick bite, but once the evening rolls around, he's at Cream until the wee hours. \n"I do what I gotta do," he says. "It's like a family atmosphere. It's not as large as we want it to be yet as far as financial gain, but it's a close atmosphere and we all are working to make it better"
(04/08/04 4:00am)
The members of Hoobastank have been plenty busy promoting a new album and playing college campuses as part of MTV's Campus Invasion tour, (though the closest they come to Indiana University will be at rival Purdue University on April 18) but they were able to take a few minutes in Chicago to answer questions about the band's direction. The alterna-grunge foursome made a quick stop in the Windy City before winding down the east coast to hit Florida this week. \nThis tour is decidedly different from their stint fronting for Linkin Park last year, in which the band was allotted a mere 20-minute interval to warm up the crowd. This time, they're the ones packing the hall for 75-minute sets, culling hits from their self-titled debut album (which went platinum within weeks), and their 2004 release, The Reason.\nThe latest album's a bit more mellow than Hoobastank's previous offerings, but bassist Markku Lappalainen says the change wasn't conscious.\n"We thought our new single ("The Reason") was the best song to put out, regardless of how heavy or soft," he says. "We definitely had softer songs on the first album, and it's not like this is the first ballad we've ever written. We just like the song a lot." \nThey're also part of the Rock the Vote campaign, and volunteers will be on hand to register America's youth to take part in the upcoming presidential election. \n"This band usually isn't the one to stand on the soapbox and preach anything, but that's something, obviously, that our country is founded on," vocalist Doug Robb says. "Anybody who's complaining about the lot we're in right now, unless they put their two cents in, really has no right to speak about it."\nThey also spoke out about music piracy on the Internet, punctuating their disapproval with boos and grunts. \n"It hurts everyone in the long run," drummer Chris Hesse says. "It hurts the mom-and-pop record stores, the people at the record companies as well as future bands who want to get signed. People downloading music for a band with only marginal success don't realize the likelihood for (that band) getting another chance gets smaller and smaller. Instead of supporting that band's record, illegal downloading makes it look like no one is interested."\nThe band's doing their part to give back to industry hopefuls, however, teaming with credit giant MasterCard to promote a marketing project which affords college students and recent grads interested in breaking into the entertainment industry the chance to direct a video for the band's latest single.\n"A lot of things do get handed to us over the course of touring, but not everything -- at least to us -- is as interesting and cool as this was," Robb says. "It keeps the fans involved creatively with us; we're sort of a fans' band. It's a win-win thing, you know?"\nThey'll be looking for creative people with ideas and the charismatic confidence to speak up and be heard. And they "can't be lazy," Hesse says. \n"We want somebody who really wants to do this as a career, not just someone who wants to take pictures of the band," Hesse says. \nRobb says the work which goes into making videos is important because they ultimately represent the music.\n"They see videography as a creative art," Robb says. "It's an aspect of music that visually illustrates portions of songs that may go uncolored by mere onstage performing."\nLappalainen agrees.\n"It's amazing to see what happens by putting visual and musical aspects together," Lappalainen says. "It's really cool and people hopefully enjoy it."\nAnd despite their success, the men of Hoobastank claim they're just another "cheesy band" from California. \n"We're going to call ourselves cheesy before some pompous critic does," Robb says. "Honestly, I wouldn't say we're a critically-acclaimed band. We have great fans, and we're more of a people's band. We're not reinventing rock 'n' roll, and that's what a lot of critics are looking for ... We don't put on an image -- there's not a lot of leather pants and underwear and socks and stuff. We're not cool, we don't do coke and we're just four very normal guys with great backgrounds, good families and nothing to bitch about. That's what makes us different"
