Spoon takes the best and leaves the restDespite O.C. appearance, they have chops p. 9

Coachella, Bonnaroo and many more

A preview of summer music festivals p. 11

"The Leaf," thought to be the first photo ever and taken by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1839 is now thought to be one of the oldest photographic images in existence, dating to the 1790s.

V O L . I I , N O. X V I C E L E B R A T I N G T H E P R E C I O U S H U M A N TA P E S T R Y 1 8 A P R I L , 2 0 0 8

IN THIS EDITION: DID YOU KNOW?

Culture X wows audiences despite changesNew Spingold venue presents challenges outweighed by great performances

Improvisational music remains one of the most exhilarating forms of performing art. Artists who can tame its fickle muse have the power to manifest the flotsam of a group’s collective unconscious, ex-ploding traditional notions of cre-ative conception. When they fail, however, the results sound more like a bad acid trip. When I went to see the Brandeis Improv Collec-tive on Monday night in Slosberg, I came with the skeptical expecta-tion of experiencing the latter, and I can’t say that certain moments didn’t validate my presumption. Nevertheless, several transcendent breakthroughs by the final ensem-ble reestablished my faith in the sacred art of the jam.

The director of the collective, Tom Hall, introduced the en-sembles, interjecting little bits of musical and philosophical wisdom between the performances. “The improv class is based on the as-

sumption that…all humans are improvisers through their very na-ture,” he mused. “Whether you’re cooking or driving a car or playing music, improvising is part of what we do naturally as people.” Three ensembles of different instrumen-tations and musical styles tested this assumption that improvisation is a natural human impulse, alternating between painfully stilted construc-tions and whimsically spontaneous creations.

The first ensemble, comprised of a guitarist, bassist, pianist, and drummer set the tone for the first half of the show, which was dominated by meditative, minor key atmospherics. Despite being

introduced they were introduced as a “groove-based ensemble,” I never quite bought into the idea that their lugubrious reflections fit the descriptor.

While the drummer displayed a knack for slicing through the thick layer of crepuscular haze with tight high-hat rhythms, he couldn’t quite compensate for a lack of overall structure. The pianist, on the other hand, tended to contribute to the ensemble’s murky ambience, though at his best he called to mind the stark beauty and warmth of Norweigan jazz pianist Tord Gustavsen. The weakest link of the quartet proved to be the guitarist, who wielded a repertoire of motifs smaller than his selec-tion of effects pedals (which says as much about his cornucopia of reverb settings as it does about his limited musical palette). His unin-spired three-note riffs make Joey Santiago sound positively baroque by comparison.

The second ensemble adapted

the elegiac strain of the first group to the context of a duet featur-ing piano and stand-up bass. The

brooding romantic tone called to mind Beethoven, one motif bear-ing an eerie resemblance to the “Moonlight Sonata.” The pianist’s use of pedal point phrases and de-scending chord progressions made the jams sound like they were constantly spiraling into oblivion. Unfortunately, if the duo seemed to turn around in circles, the cen-trifugal force often wasn’t strong enough to hold them together.

After the lukewarm success of

the first two groups, the final en-semble—featuring piano, bass, drums, guitar, and two saxes—stole the show. Bursting at the seams with creative energy, they were by turns raucous, jazzy, vocif-erous and just plain weird. Bypass-ing genre constraints, they found no problem inserting squalls of avante garde between passages of impressionistic jazz.

The backbone of the group was a muscular rhythm section in which drums interlocked alternatively with rollicking piano chords, skit-tering bass lines, and even dexter-ous sax riffs. The final jam of the night was a high point, especially when the guitarist pounded out a ricocheting chord progression that sounded so unmelodic and club-footed that it actually passed itself off as a killer hook. The funny part is that the group didn’t even have to reject the acid trip paradigm to achieve success; they did just as well by embrace its mind-bending majesty.

Improv Collective performs annual show Hit-or-miss show rewards patient listeners with eclectic jams

BY MAXWELL PRICEDeputy Editor

Three ensembles of different instrumentations and musical styles alternated between painfully stilted constructions and whimsically spontaneous creations.

Several transcendent break-throughs by the final ensem-ble reestablished my faith in the sacred art of the jam.

This year, Culture X was includ-ed as part of the Leonard Bern-stein Festival of the Creative Arts. Needless to say, Culture X is the largest and one of the best shows held on campus. This year’s show was no different, with more than the usual handful of outstand-ing acts. Another more noticeable change, however: Spingold as the venue.

The latter proved to be very in-teresting. Performers and choreog-raphers, having been accustomed to Levin Ballroom for sev-eral semesters now, were forced to adapt to a new environment. Not only were they facing a larger stage but also a cramped and confusing (to newcom-ers) backstage.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. One would assume that the performers were allowed to practice on this some-what foreign stage. Nevertheless, most performances first graced the stage the night prior to Culture X

during runthroughs.What should be noted was the

foresight of the Culture X coor-dinators. Those observing Shab-bat were placed in the second act with the obvious purpose of per-forming later in the evening. The second act was also allowed to per-form first during Friday evening’s runthrough. Another issue with the new venue involved ticketing. The Spingold Theater Center is exactly that, a theater. Thus, it was not surprising that tickets were re-quired to be picked up prior to the show for admittance.

However, unlike events and shows in Levin, where performers are allowed in regardless and may watch the show wherever they very well please, tickets were required in

order for proper seating. Those performers unable to get tick-ets to their own show were not allowed in, without exception.

But that’s not to say that sev-eral performers didn’t sneak in behind the stage curtains or climb up to the lighting area for optimal and hassle-free view-ing. These trivialities certainly put a damper on what is usually a laid-back and comfortable ex-perience for a performer.

Regardless, Culture X deliv-ered in every other way, show-casing the extraordinary talents of Brandeis students. Aside from the usual dance routines, seemingly ubiquitous with shows like this, Culture X of-fered something more.

Student Union Treasurer Choon Woo Ha ’08 and South Asian Students Association Co-president Richa Sahay ’09 belted out two dynamic duets that were well received from audience. Ada-gio dancers accompanied this act during a rendition of “You Raise Me Up.”

Another noteworthy perfor-

mance was without a doubt was Mochila. This new performance group combined traditional Ara-bic rhythms with jazz instruments. The successful result could easily be interpreted by viewing the silent crowd holding on to every passing beat followed by the well-deserved applause.

The night proved to be, once again, a tremendous success, de-spite the various obstacles faced by coordinators and performers alike. Showcasing the best Brandeis has to offer, Culture X will surely be around for a long time to come.

THE X FACTOR: Students use Culture X to showcase their performance talents.

BY STEPHEN SUKUMARANEditor

This new performance group combined traditional Arabic rhythms with jazz instruments.

PHOTO BY Napoleon Lherisson/The Hoot

You know those bands whose mainstream popularity is helped greatly by its music's appearance on a television show or movie? Like The Shins and Garden State or Kimya Dawson and Juno. Well, Spoon is one of those bands and its breakthrough was thanks to The O.C.

After relatively rough begin-nings, Texan indie rock band Spoon was probably pretty thank-ful when The O.C. picked up its single "The Way We Get By." In 1995, the band signed with Mata-dor Records, and within the year, released its first full-length LP, Telephono, which was met with mixed reviews. What was noticed though was that the album was the beginning of Spoon developing its own fresh sound.

Less than a year later, Spoon re-leased its second EP, Soft Effects, which was suc-cessful enough that the band was soon signed to Elektra Records in 1998.

This was their first major label deal and that May, Spoon released A Series of Sneaks.

Unfortunately the album did not live up to Elektra's sales expecta-tions and the band was dropped

within four months of the re-lease.

The man re-sponsible for sign-ing Spoon in the first place, Ronn Laffitte, was also fired. Spoon was furious and re-corded two songs

in response: "The Agony of Laf-fitte" and "Laffitte Don't Fail Me Now" which questioned the label's ethics and empty promises.

In 2000, the band was signed with Merge Records and released the EP Love Ways. In 2001, the band released its third LP, Girls Can Tell which was more success-ful than its previous LPs com-bined. A year later, the band re-leased Kill the Moonlight, which

April 18, 2008 Diverse City 9

Established 2006"Celebrating the precious human tapestry"

FOUNDED BYEsther Joo, Stephen Sukumaran and Rishun Fukazawa

Stephen Sukumaran Deputy Editor

Sydney Reuben Editor

VOICES

BY SYDNEY REUBENEditor

The opinions, columns, cartoons and advertisements printed in Diverse City do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editorial staff.We are open to considering sub-

missions from members of the Brandeis community relating to cultural events. Telephone: (781) 736-4755.E-mail: DC.90907@Gmail.com

The O.C. launches Texas band's careerSpoon's rocky road to fame

ADVERTISEMENT

Max Price Deputy Editor

SPOON: A band from Texas got its start on Fox's teen drama The O.C.

See SPOON p. 10

Couture meets the mass market

SPLURGE VS. SAVE: Jovovich-Hawk's Cristina smock dress (left) retails for $540, while the stretch lace dress (right) that they released under the Target's GO International label sold for around $40.

Think of it as the fashion world’s way of “slumming it.” More and more high-end fashion designers are putting to their thousand-dollar designs on hold to design for the masses.

For instance, this month, Brit-ish textile designer Celia Birtwell released a line of flowy blouses and dresses exclusively in Ex-press stores, and this is a woman who has designed for The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Jimi Hen-drix, no less!

However, it seems that a small bump in price is unavoidable no matter the retailer. Celia Birtwell’s line at Express, ranging between $79 and $128, is slightly more ex-pensive than the store’s regular fare.

While Birtwell’s designs may have spearheaded the London boho trend in the 1960s, she is by no means the first designer to bro-

ker a deal with a mass retail chain. Isaac Mizrahi, who became a fash-ion designer-cum-celebrity with the 1995 documentary Unzipped, led the way in 2003, teaming with Target to design a collection of women’s sportswear and acces-sories. His collection for Target quickly become a staple of the chain and even overshadowed the simultaneous release of his couture collection at Bergdorf Goodman.

Reassured by Mizrahi’s success with Target, a slew of designers followed, including legendary Cha-nel designer Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Roberto Cavalli (all for H&M), and Vera Wang (for Kohl’s). Even Gap, a brand noto-rious for its cookie-cutter style, is bringing in fresh blood in the form of 3.1 Philip Lim, among others, to revamp the classic white button down shirt.

However these designers were sure to perfect this transition in ways that Mizrahi did not. Sure, one way in which designers keep their work in high demand is by creating attractive, stylish clothes. However, high prices, and thus limiting their consumer base to a certain social status surely plays a part too in creating a desirable im-age for their brand.

What Mizrahi failed to do was ensure that “mass produced” did not turn into “commonplace.” His

BY SRI KUEHNLENZEditor

See DESIGNERS p. 10

However, high prices and thus limiting their consumer base to a certain social status surely plays a part too in cre-ating a desireable image for their brand.

RIGHT PHOTO COURTESY OF Target.com

What was noticed though was that the album was the beginning of Spoon developing its own fresh sound.

The Constantines are one hell of a band. Three albums into their career, they have won over a devoted cult following and critical acclaim.

2001’s self-titled debut was a blazing set of post-punk and Fu-gazi-inspired songs, both revolu-tionary and sentimental. Beneath the fire-branding tracks, Constan-tines contained some small-scale gems. The scary crawl of “Hya-cinth Blues” or the sleepy ballad, “St. You,” were signs of what was to come. 2003’s Shine a Light was even better, showcasing a band that had refined its sound and could produce some remarkably memorable songs.

Tournament of Hearts, the band's 2005 follow-up, found the Constantines lowering some of the fiery fist pumpers and adopting a sound more inspired by Bruce Springsteen. Tournament of Hearts was a brilliant album, and “Soon Enough” was a golden little song that found the Constantines at the height of their game. But carrying the torch of both Fugazi and Springsteen is a tough thing, and Tournament of Hearts con-tained a couple of songs that fell flat.

Kensington Heights is the first Constantines release on the Arts & Crafts label. The band has moved from Seattle’s SubPop to a label more close to home and released an album titled after the Toronto neighborhood where they record-ed it.

And what you’ll find on Kensing-ton Heights is not another trans-formation as seen in the previous three albums, but a consolidation of all the great things this band can do. The album has intricate, aggressive rockers like “Hard Feelings,” along with moody, Afghan Whigs-style tracks like “Trans Canada.”

However, there are two real stand-out tracks on this al-bum. The lumbering “Million Star Hotel” is a blast of rock and roll power, containing mammoth riffs played out both subtly and at full bombast. It’s compelling stuff.

The other track is “Time Can Be Overcome.” A slow-burning ballad, the song takes some coun-try, some Crazy Horse, and some Springsteen into a combustible and compelling mix.

Throughout the album, the band plays in lockstep with each other. Bryan Webb is a tremendous sing-

er, lacing his gruff howl with some serious literacy (not to mention pa-thos). Dallas Wehrle continues to play bass like a madman, adding a sort of chugging drama to tracks

like “Trans C a n a d a .” Webb and g u i t a r -ist Steve Lambke are both excel-lent musi-cians, and they lend

atmosphere and punch to nearly every song.

As usual the Constantines man-age to sound like an incredibly smart bunch of normal guys, which is much of their appeal. Where on past albums weak tracks would pop up here and there, nearly every track on Kensington Heights is ex-cellent, rewarding the listener with the most consistent, dramatic, and excellent album the Constantines have released over their already ex-cellent career.

10 Diverse City April 18, 2008

CHORUS

Life

The pillars of the world are crumbling,Falling into the darker ocean as they left the darkness of earthLight, white, blindingly beautiful lightThe kind that is pure and unkind in its harsh illumination of realityDarkness seeps in uninvited, obscuring the light,Whose bright life brings truth to our eyes.What have we done?!The darkness creeps closer, the light is hidden.We will search but we will not find.Where is the light? Why did it go?It went beyond our reach because we lost faith and lost ourselves to the darkness.

BY ANASTASIA RAVENStaff

POETRY

ADVERTISEMENT

Showtimes for Embassy Cinema16 Pine Street, Waltham, MA

Telephone: (781) 891-0911

Fri. Sat. /Sun. Mon.-Thurs.

Smart People (1:30) (1:30) (2:30)(R, 104 min.) (4:10) 4:10 (5:10) 7:20 7:20 8:00 9:30 9:30

21 (1:00) (1:00) (2:00) (PG-13, 133 min.) 3:40 3:40 4:40 6:50 6:50 7:30 9:30 9:30 In Bruges (1:20) (1:20) (2:50)(R, 111 min.) (4:00) 4:00 (5:30) 7:10 7:10 8:20 9:25 9:25

My Blueberry Nights (1:40) (1:40) (2:40)(PG-13, 100 min.) (4:20) 4:20 (5:20) 7:30 7:30 8:10 9:35 9:35

The Visitor 1:10 (1:10) (2:10)(PG-13, 113 min.) 3:50 3:50 4:50 7:00 7:00 7:40 9:25 9:25

The Band's Visit (1:50) (1:50) (2:50)(PG-13, 99 min.) (4:30) 4:30 (5:30) 7:35 7:35 8:20 9:35 9:35

designs are available in almost every one of the 1,500 Target stores in the United States.

So without high prices, how did these designers manage to maintain an air of exclusivity around their designs? It seems that limited editions and geog-raphy are the two greatest tools at a designer’s disposal.

When Stella McCartney launched her collection for H&M in 2005, the collection was available in only 400 of the over 1,500 H&M stores world-wide. Viktor & Rolf took this to an even greater extent limiting the release of their line to 250 H&M stores. Both designers’ col-lections were in stores for only one season.

Even Target’s GO International label uses the “limited-time only” strategy to induce customers to buy

and give the brand an air of rarity and inimitability. The label brings in international designers to create a collection, which will be available in Target stores for approximately two to three months. Past design-ers have included Jovovich-Hawk,

Proenza Schouler and Alice Temper-ley.

However, it seems that all good things, limited-edi-tion collections in-cluded, must come to an end. Mizrahi recently announced that he will be tak-ing over as creative director of the Liz Claiborne brand, effectively ending his contract with Target.

Watching Mizra-hi as he tries to dis-associate himself

from the common consumer brand will no doubt answer the question of whether there is life for design-ers after the mass market.

HIGH-END MEETS LOW COST: Italian designer Roberto Cavalli is happy to show off his connection with H&M.

High-end threads for lessDESIGNERS (from p. 9)

CONSTANTINES: Post-punk quintet melds influences from Fugazi to Springsteen.

The Constantines return BY MIKE RIGA

Staff

Post-punks reach new level on Kensington Heights

Kensington Heights is not another transformation as seen in the previous three albums but a consolidation of all the great things this band can do.

contained The O.C. famed "The Way We Get By." By the time their next album, Gimme Fiction, was released in 2005, the band was be-coming more famous; the album debuted at number 44 on the Bill-board 200.

Britt Daniel, the band's singer/guitarist collaborated with Brian Reitzell to compose and arrange the soundtrack for the 2006 film, Stranger than Fiction. A year later, the band released its most recent album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, which debuted at number 10 on the Bill-board 200.

Many people give bands grief for "going mainstream." I dis-agree. I think that Spoon was a great band before The O.C. and continued to be a great band after they became better known.

I personally was very happy when I started hearing Spoon's music on the radio, because it's a great feeling when your band be-gins to be appreciated by a wider

audience. Even though I was not an O.C. fan in any capacity, I was still glad to know that they were smart enough to feature Spoon music.

I am also a big fan of the band's most recent release, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. "The Underdog," "Don't You Evah," "Rhythm and Soul," and the iTunes bonus track "Deep Clean" are all winners in my book. The whole album is a good lis-ten, but those four especially get me going. Some of Spoon's stuff can sound repetitive, but I like that they have such a distinctive sound.

I would suggest giving Spoon a listen. If you like more main-stream music, then check out "The Way We Get By" or "I Turn My Camera On." If you're into other great tracks then definitely check out "Rhythm and Soul." It's a great band and I think that they can offer a little something for ev-eryone.

SPOON (from p. 9)

And what you'll find on Kensington Heights is a consoldiation of all the great things this band can do.

Spoon brings out the best

April 18, 2008 Diverse City 11

END-NOTE

Want to report on the newest music, movies and entertainment?

Looking to explore issues related to diversity and culture?

Interested in creative writing?

Come and write for Diverse City!!

E-mail DC.90907@gmail.com

On April 16, 2008 Kanye West began his Glow in the Dark Tour 2008. It featured performances from N.E.R.D., Rihanna, and Lupe Fiasco among others and in-cluded stops in California, Seattle, New York and, of course, Kanye’s hometown of Chicago. As we all know, Kanye likes everything he does to be over-the-top. The Glow

in the Dark concert involves ev-erything from anime-styled mu-sic videos to creatures from none other than the Jim Henson Com-pany. All the tracks off of Gradu-ation have been re-orchestrated by Kanye himself.

The set was created in collabo-ration with Daft Punk (infamous for their pyramid and also the co-producers of the hit single “Stron-ger”), among others, and will fea-ture holographic images shot by acclaimed music video producer Hype Williams. To reiterate: this show is going to be huge!

The concert will apparently fol-low the science fiction type of sto-ryline alluded to in the video for "Stronger" (one of Kanye’s outfits

for the concert has him looking like Luke Skywalker, but much more fly, of course).The stage isn’t actually a stage, but looks more like a planetary landscape. Attendees of Glow in the Dark should be ready to be dazzled, shocked, and a bit blinded by the immense light show that is bound to accompany West’s al-ready attention-grabbing perfor-mance style.

For sneak previews and snap-shots of the Glow in the Dark Tour set and music you can check Kanye’s blog at kanyeuniversec-ity.com/blog. For a list of dates and locations of the tour go to the MTV website and click on the News section.

For music fans, perhaps the first glimpses of the upcoming summer festival season can be seen in In-dio, CA, where the Coachella Val-ley Music and Arts Festival will oc-cur a week from today.

Here, fans will brave 100-degree temperatures and see a slew of bands that are all over the map. Jack Johnson, Prince, Portishead, Roger Waters, The Breeders, The Verve, Kraftwerk and Death Cab for Cutie are only a few of the diverse names schedule to play the venue. Coachella is only the first in a slew of exciting sum-mer lineups for 2008. This year’s lineups will include the return of several big names, and also a laun-dry list of up and comers.

For those who want to make a road trip south during mid- June, Bonnaroo is the name of the game. This year’s three-day mega- festival in Tennessee will be a bit rock heavy with Pearl Jam and Me-tallica as the two big name head-liners, while other heralded acts like M.I.A., Vampire Weekend, and Battles will perform. Old vets also will not go unrepresented, as Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, Phil Lesh of Phish, B.B. King, and Wil-lie Nelson will be in attendance.

And for those who think of the Midwest as flyover country, reconsider after looking at some of the bands coming to Chicago this summer for Lollapalooza and the Pitchfork Music Festival. Lol-lapalooza headliners include alt-rock heroes Radiohead, rap-rock political activists Rage Against the Machine, industrial legends Nine Inch Nails, and other hot names like Kanye West, Bloc Party, and Gnarls Barkley.

Pitchfork’s yearly festival will include Public Enemy, who will be performing their epic It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back in full. Other indie favorites

Dinosaur Jr., Animal Collective, and Vampire Weekend will also be performing.

For those out on the east coast this summer, there are two festivals cerainly worth checking out, these being the Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore and the All Points West Festival in Jersey City. Stone Temple

Pilots will make their return with lead singer Scott Weiland following his departure from supergroup Vel-vet Revolver, and consistent rock acts the Foo Fighters and Nine Inch

Nails will also bring the noise.There are also different varia-

tions of Virgin’s Festival in Calgary and Toronto, with Britrock legends Oasis and the Flaming Lips as a

few names included in those line-ups.

Finally, for those who are stay-ing in Boston or are living in New York, it might be worth the trip out to Jersey City to All Points West this August. The three day festival will have Radiohead as its headliner for two of the days, and Jack Johnson on the third. Each day’s lineup is quite diverse with acts ranging from dance (CSS, The Go! Team) to rock bands with ma-jor cult followings (Animal Collec-tive, New Pornographers, Kings of Leon, Grizzly Bear, Metric, Mates of State) to talented singer-song-writers (Andrew Bird, Sia, Nicole Atkins).

The diversity of these festivals is something to be commended, and I have only mentioned a few of the bigger names on each bill. It seems that this year’s festivals will truly offer something for everyone.

THE FIRST OF THE SUMMER: The crowd at last year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. 2007's Festival drew nearly 100,000 attendees.

BY ANDY MEYERSEditor

Music's everywhereA preview of this summer's music festivals

A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE: A flyer from Bonnaroo 2007 shows the large selection of talent, these outdoor music fests draw.

Each day's lineup is quite diverse with acts ranging from dance to rock bands with major cult followings to talented singer-song-writers.

See Kanye glow

BY JUSTIN PIERRE-LOUISStaff

Attendees of Glow in the Dark should be ready to be dazzled, shocked and a bit blinded by the immense light show that is bound to accompany West's already attention-grabbing performance style.

Kanye begins Glow in the Dark Tour