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(05/02/18 5:05am)
By Heidi Cho
Arts & Entertainment Editor
The College’s Music Department celebrated its 100th anniversary over two days, Friday, April 27, and Saturday, April 28, with stunning performances. Students, faculty and alumni came together at the student showcase concert, reception and gala to show off their talent.
Professor Joshua Roach conducted the wind ensemble for the first segment of the student showcase concert and put together a repertoire that carried the audience through 100 years of music.
The concert began with pieces from the 1910s. “The Vanquished Army” started the audience off on a two-day journey with a cheery marching song inspired by World War I, according to Roach, who is also the wind ensemble and band conductor.
A later piece, “Music for Prague 1968” by Karel Husa is a regularly performed piece by the band, according to senior music education major Ryan Galik.
The piece was inspired by the dashes and dots of morse code used heavily during the Russian invasion of Prague. This staccato-like beat gave the piece an untraditional harmony emphasized by sounds similar to that of abandoned bells in the wind. Prague was a city known for its bells, according to Roach.
The music kept the audience in tight suspense. Husa replicated the inspiration of his song perfectly, and the wind ensemble performed the tension of Prague falling under the Russians and martial law perfectly with soft playing, tense silence and cacophonous eruptions of sound.
Michael Catherine Isnardi came to see their daughter, sophomore music education major Sophia Isnardi, play the flute. Michael Isnardi commented on how well the pieces represented musical styles over the years.
“It really gave homage to WWI,” Isnardi said. “All the instrumentalists and featured soloists are doing an absolute fabulous job.”
After an intermission, the TCNJ Collegium Musicum captivated the audience with a range of songs.
Junior English major Julien Blanchard was the self-described scat soloist for the most light-hearted piece of the night, “My Bonnie Lass She Smelleth” by P.D.Q. Bach.
Blanchard would close his eyes and keep vocalizing by himself, long after his fellow chorale members had stopped to stare at him until Blanchard caught on.
The vocalists would sing as if they were at at a formal ball, “She looketh like a jewel,” then switch into singing as if they were in a rowdy tavern, “and smelleth like a mule.”
The next piece took itself more seriously. “Past Life Melodies” was a departure into pure sound with only ethereal vocalizations that echoed throughout the theatre.
“It was pure music,” said Jason Lubrano (’04), an alumnus collaborative pianist at the College. Lubrano has accompanied several of the College’s Chorale’s renditions.
John P. Leonard, the director of choral activities, chose the repertoire that would best showcase the students’ talents and show off the chorale’s versatility.
“The vocal groups and group harmonies were very tight,” Isnardi said. “The dynamics were very expressive.”
Meaghanne McBride, a sophomore music major, enjoyed being an audience member that night.
“My brain is melting — in a good way,” McBride said about the energy and passion displayed at the student showcase concert.
Suzanne Pickman, the coordinator of vocal studies, toasted the music department at the reception in the Brower Student Center after Friday’s performance. Pickman has worked at the College for 34 years.
Pickman first raised her glass of champagne to the students “for confounding us, for giving us someone to teach.”
The next day, the Kendall Main Stage Theatre was almost completely packed for the final event, a gala.
Audience members stood as the chorus and orchestra finished off the two-day event with the College’s “Alma Mater” by Franklin Grapel.
Chris Cancglin was excited to be a part of the performance as a freshman music education major.
“Being able to perform with alumni … and over 150 people was like an astonishing experience,” Cancglin said. “It was an amazing getting to see alumni come back.”
Barbara Santoro, a member of the gala’s planning committee, hoped that the event would further connect the College’s undergraduates and alumni through the music department.
“It was not only exciting, it was beautifully done,” Santoro said.
Maurice Hall, the dean of the School of Arts and Communication, appreciated the performances as well.
“Thrilling, moving and really wonderful,” Hall said. “I look forward to a hundred more years of exactly this kind of virtuoso performance from the music department.”
(04/24/18 5:08am)
By Heidi Cho
Arts & Entertainment Editor
The Treblemakers, the College’s all female a capella group, scaled up Decker Hall for their first Spring 2018 Coffeehouse on April 17. People were welcome to come enjoy the refreshments and live performances by 13 students, the iTunes and the Treblemakers in the social space.
“We used to hide in the back but now, this year, we came out with a bang,” said Alyssa Fanelli, the music director of the Treblemakers and a junior secondary education math major.
She was part of a committee that included Emma Eisenbeil, a freshman English secondary education major and emcee for the coffeehouse, who was happy to see the event come together.
Part of the reason behind the event was to “highlight other performers and give them a chance to perform,” according to Eisenbeil.
Halle Luttrell, a freshman fine arts major, has been singing all her life and was glad for the chance to perform at an event with a “good setup and vibe” at the College.
“The last time I did this, my dress fell off so I hope it doesn’t go like that,” Luttrell said as she opened up her performance.
This time, Luttrell sang “Love Song” by Sara Bareilles at the coffeehouse without a hitch. Her practice showed as her voice carried through the whole room.
Hager Abuellsaad, a junior marketing major, only came to the event to support her friend Luttrell but was roped into singing herself.
Since singing was a hobby for her, Abuellsaad went into the spontaneous performance of “Medicine” by Queen with a “why not” attitude.
“It was really fun to watch everyone sing,” Abuellsaad said.
Throughout the event, Najalis Gual, a member of the Treblemakers and a freshman history and political science double major, helped work sound at the event.
Mia Ingui, a sophomore journalism and professional writing major, and Fanelli with a guitar performed “Stay” by Rihanna as a duet.
When Gual stepped up to hold the guitar chords for Fanelli, Ingui said, “Najalis holding the chords everybody!”
Audience members cheered for Gual, as well as some members from other a capella groups in the audience.
The Treblemakers invited other groups to perform and help support each other as part of an “a capella family,” as Fanelli said.
The iTunes came out in full force to the event to support the Treblemakers. They performed crowd pleasers like “Electric Lady” by Janelle Monae ft. Solange, “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey and “Drumming Song” by Florence + The Machine from their past performance, Blends with Benefits.
Asa Sams, a member of i-Tunes and a freshman secondary education and English dual major, first performed “Get You” by Daniel Caesar ft. Kali Uchis.
Sams then sang and rapped along to his next song, “Cocoa Butter Kisses” by Chance The Rapper ft. Vic Mensa and Twista. Sams made some audience members melt with his smooth voice.
Ryan Abramowitz, a member of the Trentones and a freshman history secondary education major, joked before singing “Feeling Good” by Michael Bublé on stage to lighten up the crowd.
“So a trentone and a treb walk into a bar—” Abramowitz began to the audience’s laughter.
Whenever his voice swelled during his performance, several audience members whooped and cheered in response.
To finish off the night, the Treblemakers performed “Honey, I’m Good.” by Andy Grammer and “Salute” by Little Mix.
Everyone on stage burst into laughter by the end of “Honey, I’m Good.” and was dancing together by the end of “Salute.”
Audience member Zack Johnson and sophomore history education major found the event well run as an “encouraging fan” of the Treblemakers.
“I loved hearing everyone,” Johnson said with a smile.
(04/17/18 8:07am)
By Heidi Cho
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Several student organizations came together under bright lights for the annual Mystique of the East performance. The stunning Harry Potter-themed cultural productions by more than 10 groups demonstrated that Hogwarts could have benefitted from a cultural experience or two.
The five emcees introduced the audience to the campus’s largest student run cultural show. Mystique Chair and junior mathematics major Christine Papas, TCNJ Asian American Association, Chinese Student Association, Korean Student Association, Japanese Student Association, TCNJ Barkada and TCNJ Taiko came together to put on a dazzling show.
Harry Potter, played by junior computer science major Emily Kazenmeyer, Ron Weasley, played by junior undesignated transitional student Miguel Gatpolintan and Hermione Granger played by junior interactive multimedia major Julie Huang were on a mission to stop Lord Voldemort’s curse on Hogwarts’ tuition rate.
Senior nursing major Nikki Huang played Professor Quirrell and voiced other characters like Cho Chang. Kamy Reyes, a senior communications studies major, acted as Draco Malfoy, a script writer and the publicist.
Draco’s first few entrances were accompanied by the intro of “Toxic” by Britney Spears. Reyes played the most meta character of the spoof and a comic relief character along with Ron.
Between performances, the seven horcruxes to defeat Lord Voldemort were found and helped transition between performances. The emcees were also script writers who helped tie the months of hard work together.
The show started with a Chinese yo-yo light show that entranced audience members. As the curtains lifted, the silhouetttes of seven yo-yoers were in the dark.
The stunning visual took the audience’s breath away when the team started to throw, spin and catch yo-yos midair to the theme of Harry Potter.
All four original Hogwarts houses were represented in the following Chinese martial arts performance. Four performers each wore one of the four respective Hogwarts house colors, and each exemplified a different martial art style that mirrored the animal mascots of the houses.
The show took a different route when guitarist Anil Salem played “Dawn,” an original piece that brings Celtic and Indian music together. It featured dulcitarring — an original technique that involves playing the harp guitar and hammered dulcimer at the same time.
The transitions between shows and groups were smooth. Students part of the larger tinikling and K-pop groups left, entered and switched places efficiently.
The timing of several dances matched the music. Performers pulled off splits, cartwheels and gravity-defying stunts.
The color scheme of the lighting was minimalistic and striking. It mostly kept to the bright traditional colors of Hogwarts.
There were traditional folk performances like the Binasuan dance performed by soloist Lana Holgado, a sophomore psychology major. At once, Holgado kept three cups with water balanced while rotating her arms as the music mimicked the tense nature of the dance.
Several performances incorporated a contemporary portion with pop music.
Some tinikling performers were in white tops and red skirts, a contrast to the jean shorts worn by others later.
The CSA Dragonflies used traditional ribbons for one part of their performance, as well as fans and parasols to dance along to Chinese music.
Singer Maria-Aliya Nasir, a freshman psychology major, brought “Ikaw (You),” an original Filipino music ballad, to life.
The original lyrics in Tagalog were translated into English on the projector behind Nasir, but her singing transcended meaning and evoked emotion from audience members that cheered out from the rafters.
Starting off the second act, the four-musician ensemble Miyazaki Medley did a tribute to renowned filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki and Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi.
The string instruments and piano came together to create a calming yet riveting piece, as clips from Studio Ghibli movies played.
The Barkada Dancers were greeted by a roar of applause, and continued to wow the audience with fancy footwork to hip-hop songs that made full use of the speakers’ bass.
The eight script writers could not find a way to smoothly transition into the Maglalatik dance performed by shirtless male dancers with coconut halves attached to their bodies.
The horcrux that segued between the two groups was a coconut — a sign of the coordinated handwork to come.
Audience members in the back waved their hands for the next act, Louis Kang, a senior interactive multimedia major who rapped along to Korean hip-hop.
Nearing the end of the night, TCNJ Taiko played an intense and loud arrangement of “Tatsumaki,” originally by Hiroshi Tanaka.
The drummers with serious expressions used the sides of the drums as well as the tops to finish off the show with a bang.
Emma Cheng, a sophomore interactive multimedia major and secretary for JSA, doubles as TCNJ Taiko’s secretary and publicist. Cheng was part of the Dragonflies and TCNJ Taiko.
“It was really fun feeling excited, hyped and nervous together with everyone,” Cheng said.
Freshman mathematics major Addy Wong is a member of AAA, KSA and JSA and performed as a Chinese yo-yoer and martial artist in the show. Wong was excited to be a part of the production.
“It was just fun to try something new and struggle with some friends along the way,” Wong said.
(04/17/18 7:46am)
By Heidi Cho
Arts & Entertainment Editor
CUB Alt’s show on Friday, April 13 saw some appropriately unlucky technical difficulties, but headlining band, The Obsessives, and openers Hunters Run and Tula Vera kept the crowd engaged with an eclectic mix of rock songs in the Brower Student Center Room 225.
The Obsessives, hailing from Philadelphia, had a retro vibe that the electronic keyboard and synthesizer amplified.
In two words, keyboardist Jackson Mansfield described their music as “Dance. World.”
Guitarist Ben Kaunitz added, “Indie dance world.”
The guitar added a high and bright element to the very laid-back and heavy pop accompaniment present throughout the entire set.
The members tried out new roles this set. Kaunitz has been a part of The Obsessives for six months, but has known the band members for years. Kaunitz and Mansfield respectively used to play the keyboard and guitar before this set.
Vocalist and songwriter Nick Bairatchnyi founded the band with Mansfield, who co-writes much of the band’s material with Bairatchnyi. Drummer Coby Haynes is new to the band.
The instrumentation varied, with the band including lesser-used percussive instruments like a rainstick.
Audience member Rachel Mihatov became a dedicated fan of The Obsessives in October.
“The lyrics are so beautiful,” Mihatov said, starstruck and struggling to find the right words. “They’re just regular people.”
Openers Hunters Run and Tula Vera got off to a late start, but rocked through the technical difficulties and hyped up the crowd.
Hunters Run, from Long Branch, New Jersey, showed off their versatility as the first band of the night.
According to bassist Sean Cuddy, a sophomore finance major, Hunters Run plays mostly rock music with ’90s alternative rock influences. The band has a six-song EP out on Spotify and is working on their debut album.
The set started off with “Getaway,” a fast-paced song, followed by “Shutter,” where drummer Tommy Allan shined.
Guitarists and co-vocalists Matt Smemkowski and Jon Messick sang and played together onstage as a dynamic duo.
Jared Boehlman, an audience member and a junior psychology major, enjoyed the “killer” set.
“They had a good sound. It was cool that they had two singers going on at the same time,” Boehlman said. “(Allan) was going way hard.”
The second opener, Tula Vera, from Montclair, New Jersey went just as hard. As soon as they started playing, people stood up and crowded the stage. Their energy was enough to fill the room twice over, and when they played together on beat, the speakers and stage shook.
Bassist Joe Jansen broke a string four songs into the set that pulled songs from their 2015 self-titled album. The previous bassist already left by the time the band paused to ask for another bass, so as Jansen put it, “yeah, I’ll figure it out.”
“Let’s give Joe a round of applause for figuring it out,” guitarist Dillan Drummond added as the audience cheered.
Drummond shredded it every time. The guitar was still a highlight even in songs without a prominent guitar part or solo.
Vocalist Claire Parcells played guitar for some songs, but her real instrument was her emotive voice, which tied the band’s punk metal energy together.
Parcells could sing as soft or loud as each song called for, her voice ranging from soft, lovely crooning to vicious rock ‘n roll screaming.
Her stage presence was gold, each emotion expressed in the song running clearly through her face. She made full use of the stage given to her, getting as close to the speakers, instruments and the audience as possible.
She headbanged with such an unexpected energy that caught the attention of audience member Elizabeth Nemec, a freshman biology major.
“The lead singer has an incredible voice,” Nemec said. “She had a great stage presence, and it was fun to watch her perform. Her energy made the whole act.”
Nemec enjoyed the harder-hitting set that included a song in drop D tuning, meaning “it’s really fucking heavy,” according to Drummond.
After “Human Progress,” the band played its final song, “Blue Skies,” which was McCaffrey’s favorite to play.
“It had good rhythm and a nice blues sound,” McCaffrey said.
(04/10/18 5:58am)
By Heidi Cho
Arts & Entertainment Editor
The College’s i-Tunes A Cappella invited three groups from other colleges to perform on Friday, April 6, for Blends with Benefits. Together the four groups covered songs and delivered performances of pitch-perfect proportions.
Spectators, friends and family members of the singers filled Mayo Concert Hall for an evening that had the audience and performers alike having fun. The high energy between the singers on stage carried through to the lively impromptu reception that followed.
The i-Tunes began the night full of powerful vocalists and emotionally charged performances with their rendition of “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon. The beatboxing provided a strong foundation for soloist Amanda DeStefano, a freshman English major, to set the tone for the night.
Destefano commanded the stage with a grin, even shimmying on the spot, as behind her, members of i-Tunes were grinning, tapping their feet and pointing finger guns at one another. It was an enthusiastic start for an equally energetic performance.
Next, 4GotteN Suitcase from Ramapo College invited the audience to clap along to their first cover, “House Party,” by Sam Hunt.
Soloist Jesse Hann stepped forward to sing first, followed by Kiara Liwag, whose high voice provided contrast to Hann’s deep tones.
The two soloists executed the polyphonic song with practiced ease, as the arrangement by Meghan Richline and vocal percussionist Jake Bookbinder captured the close atmosphere of a house party.
Next, “Go Down Smooth” by Lake Street Drive featured soloist Victoria Suarez with powerful vocals comparable to Adele’s. Suarez was more than capable of holding notes so long that some audience members whooped.
The soft background allowed the vocalist to shine throughout and carry the song to its end. The full accompaniment was well executed and as smooth as the title promised.
Afterward, “Lights” by Journey slowed down the tempo as soloist Morgan Graham took the audience down to “when the lights, go down, in the city.” Behind Graham, members of 4GotteN Suitcase swayed back and forth, adding a soothing visual element to the ballad.
The next rendition, “September,” by Earth, Wind and Fire had an upbeat vibe. The members providing the accompaniment had the shooby doo-wop sound popularized by ’50s girl groups downpat.
Soloists Meghan Richline and Lejla Hoxha’s voices complemented each other well until the song’s end.
Between each group, the i-Tunes performed a song that helped keep the energy going for the next group.
i-Tunes’ rendition of “Fire Rides” by MØ transcended function, as every member of the group played a role into making it a showstopper.
Although it began soft, the voice of soloist Mallory Ilves, the treasurer of i-Tunes and a junior special education and women’s, gender and sexuality double major, was soon joined by many others. Seamlessly, the symphony of instrumentation created by the group would pick up where Ives’s voice left off in a back-and-forth that swelled as the song went on.
Then, the group stopped the heavenly church choir-like accompaniment to sing with Ives.
Next, Drew University’s All of the Above performed “Work Song” by Hozier. Soloist Liam Ryan carried the piece with a deep, dulcet voice only elevated by the church choir-like background.
Soloist Grace Viveiros gave the next cover, “The Mother We Share,” by CHVRCHES a delicate and heartfelt quality. Between Viveiros and the accompaniment, the group successfully grounded a piece that heavily relies on synthesized noises.
Minor Problem, the next featured group from Villanova University, performed audience member Nick Borezina’s favorite song of the night — “Bad Together” by Dua Lipa.
“It sounded really good, the singing too – the soloist and everyone in the background,” Borezina said.
The audience cheered when soloist Jeffrey Lieto burst out and started rapping after fellow soloist Natalie Clendening’s high vocals.
The rapping and singing duo held the crowd in high spirits that continued into the i-Tunes’s rendition of “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey.
Soloist Ian Gray, a sophomore English and special education double major, replaced the electric guitar solo with fun vocalizations and a falsetto scream that could have made members of Metallica jealous.
Audience member Darshini Patel thought the song “got the crowd moving. (i-Tunes’s) energy as a group as a whole was really good.”
Members of i-Tunes even broke out into the Macarena, and the audience started clapping along — unprompted.
During the next crowd pleaser, “Drumming Song” by Florence + The Machine, the cheers of the audience upstaged the i-Tunes, who had to pause before continuing onto the finale.
Soloists Asa Sams, a freshman secondary education and English double major, and Lauren Agho, a senior psychology major and the president of i-Tunes, charged the crowd with “Electric Lady” by Janelle Monae ft. Solange.
Agho brought the house down with her powerful vocals, as Sams rapped his verse with enthusiasm and seamless execution.
Eunice Olugbile, a member of i-Tunes and a freshman communications studies major, enjoyed being a part of what she thought was the group’s best performance so far.
“‘Electric Lady’ had a really fun beat and doing the song was awesome,” Olugbile said.
Each group was on the same frequency, and it showed through in the way that they acted on stage.
“We are a family. We love having fun on stage,” said Adam Blais, a member of Minor Problem.
The year of planning behind the event came to fruition in a night enjoyed by many. As Agho put it, the event was “aca-mazing.”
(04/03/18 6:35am)
By Heidi Cho
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Artists from the College and Luis Munoz Rivera Community Middle School in Trenton, New Jersey teamed up to showcase their work to administrators, faculty members, friends and family members at the opening reception for the Student Art Gallery on March 28.
Student teacher and senior art education major Angela Rossi and cooperating teacher and alumnus Robert Esposito Jr. (’05) planned “The Value of Art,” the largest of the three exhibits, together after working with students at the Trenton middle school during the fall semester.
“The Value of Art” incorporates projects students created as part of various lessons that each focused on one specific art movement.
“Inspired by TCNJ’s commitment to community development and our positive relationship with Trenton, I wanted to give these students the opportunity to celebrate their artistic accomplishments in a professional setting while exposing them to a bright academic future,” Rossi said.
The work of over 90 different sixth, seventh and eighth graders were on display. More than 100 pieces were hung throughout the two rooms, as some students created multiple pieces, and they tried to include as many pieces as possible, according to Rossi.
Students were encouraged to personalize their pieces. Some incorporated existing characters into their work, like Bendy from the video game “Bendy and the Ink Machine,” Cyborg from the kids cartoon “Teen Titans” and Leela from “Futurama.”
“Seeing the deans interact with some of the students from Rivera at the reception and how excited they were to talk about their work with such a powerful figure from TCNJ made the months of planning and hours spent installing the work worth it,” Rossi said.
The second exhibit, “Amygdala,” was strung together with red frayed polyester yarn resembling the dendrites of nerves in the human brain. The artist, junior art education major Jake Irons, used various forms of media to explore memory and emotional processing — the primary functions of the amygdala, the part of the brain that processes emotional responses.
In a series of nine acrylic square paintings titled “Liminal,” the first painting depicts a person holding the beginning of the red polyester yarn that connects each of the paintings together.
Each painting represents a memory spanning a two-year period of the artist’s emotional journey. Some pieces are realistic and straightforward, such as scenes of a car’s headlights or ocean waves, while others played with a surreal afterimage effect in bright complementary color against a gray foreground of hands and background of a running sink.
Each painting corresponded to audio through a QR code. When scanned, the code plays “As Far as I Could Get,” by Florence + The Machine. The song began with a chill and tense bassline revived by contemplative lyrics. This along with the striking image of the red thread between the scissors’ blades that chillingly concluded the work.
Attendees parted black curtains to enter the exhibit “Sacred Spaces,” by junior art education major Alana Lant.
Reclaimed glass bottles and jars half-filled with tonic water were suspended from the ceiling, which created the impression that they were levitating in midair. The surrealist installation, titled “Past Life,” was elevated by the luminescent blue substance floating in each bottle. The exhibit mixes the old and new with the grimy aged bottles and the astral glow of the clean tonic water within them.
These containers offered the most light in a room with blinded windows and lights covered by black paper, with only a smattering of pinpricks. This exhibit is an antithesis to sacred spaces that are bathed in light and shun filth, much less put dirt at eye level.
On the back wall was one acrylic canvas painting titled “Smiling Kanyes,” which featured 10 depictions of a smiling Kanye West in various poses and color schemes. At the center of the painting was the most realistic image — West with his arms wide open, as if to embrace the viewer.
The painting brought another element of current pop culture, imposing the deep love West has for himself onto the viewer.
The gallery, despite lacking a common theme, still shared the spirit of creativity between all the students, exhibits and effort that went into organizing the event.
“It was an extremely rewarding experience to be able to put together the exhibition and then see the students’ and parents’ faces when they got to see their work on display,” Rossi said.
(03/27/18 5:14am)
This week, Arts & Entertainment Editor Heidi Cho highlights some of the best new albums that the College’s radio station, 91.3 FM WTSR, puts into its rotation.
Band: Good Field
Album: “Surface Tension”
Release Number: 3rd
Hailing From: Nashville, Tennessee
Genre: Warm Melodic Guitar Pop
Label: Self-released
The shoe gum pop band takes their sound to another level on their third full-length release. All the acoustic elements retain their integrity and get their own time in the spotlight. The album has a sound that is distinguishably more melodic than others in the band’s genre. The bassline while repetitive and grounding never brings down the upbeat piano and guitar riffs in “Endless Nights” and “Necessary Feeling.” The album was written when the band stayed in Texas. Inspired by the heat of the desert, this album can keep listeners warm and please a crowd.
Must Hear: “Endless Nights,” “Necessary Feeling” and “Surface Tension”
Band Name: Sufis
Album Name: “After Hours”
Release Number: 3rd
Hailing From: Australia, Globally
Genre: Laid Back Psychedelic Pop
Label: Burger Records
The writing duo Calvin Laporte and Even Smith makes the band’s third release, “After Hours,” a wonderfully psychedelic experience. An almost Jamaican and ska-like bounce replicated with synthetic-sounding instruments gives songs like “Till I Get Home” and “Mercy” an up tempo and sparkly sound. The repeated and simplistic lyrics sung in a breathy deep voice can lull listeners into the same lackadaisical mood as the singer. It reflects the same dreamy quality of music from the ’60s with 11 songs that manage to stay upbeat despite the lyrical content. This band brings the psych scene to the listener with the catchy album.
Must Hear: “Till I Get Home”
(03/20/18 6:25am)
By Heidi Cho
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Seattle-based rock band Great Grandpa created a party-like atmosphere with their set of indie songs for March 6’s CUB Alt concert in the Brower Student Center, which was opened by bands Harmony Woods and Petal.
This concert was Great Grandpa’s last hurrah on their tour before driving back to Seattle. Vocalist Alex Menne and guitarist and vocalist Patrick Goodwin settled to one side as guitarist Dylan Hanwright and bassist Carrie Miller took the other.
The drummer Cam LaFlam sat in front of a vibrant blue banner that read “Great Grandpa Plastic Cough” that had been hanging there the whole night. The entire band sported paper party hats, even the stuffed animals that sat on the speakers and hung around the mic stand.
Red balloons thrown into the crowd were kept afloat, bouncing from person to person, as Great Grandpa played songs off of its 2017 album “Plastic Cough.”
The set began with a rousing performance of the song “Teen Challenge.” The vocals skipped almost like a record with precision timing. The sound effects gave the band a jovial sound that filled the whole room and brought the crowd closer together.
Three songs in, the band invited the crowd to get close to the stage to grab some party favors including plastic toy dinosaurs and party hats to match those of the band. Crowd members donned their party hats and shook “shakers” shaped like miniature maracas to the beat.
Tracks like “All Things Must Behave/Eternal Friend” incorporated puns, catchy repetitive lyrics and the garage feel of grunge pop.
The band kept an ongoing commentary during the intermittent breaks. The casual banter offered a respite from the energizing and fun songs.
This was Miller’s last show, and Hanwright gave her a fond sendoff, phrasing her reason for departure — getting a nursing degree — the best way he knew how.
“Here at Great Grandpa, we value the collegiate,” Hanwright said. “(Carrie) is going to study how to make people feel better.”
Nearing the end of the show, the crowd was congratulated for keeping the balloons going and shaking the maracas on time with the beat surprisingly well.
Hanwright had the most fun playing the last song, “Favorite Show,” that kept the audience dancing to the very end.
“(It) has a really fun buildup and it’s the most energetic part of the set,” Hanwright said.
The stuffed monkey on the speaker crowd surfed through the palms of delicate handlers as the extended chorus and last stanza played out.
“(Great Grandpa) got the crowd into it,” Colin Lawn, a freshman marketing major and a CUB associate board member, said. “I have never listened to them before this, but I will definitely listen to them after this.”
Harmony Woods opened the show, an indie rock band fronted by lead singer and guitarist Sofia Verbilla, with support from a backup guitarist and bassist as well as co-manager Jeremy Berkin on drums.
“(Verbilla’s) only a freshman in college,” said Alex O’Connor, a junior communications studies major. “She’s becoming really big with her band.”
Harmony Woods’ setlist included two songs as a sneak peek of the band’s next album to be released in the future “if the gods allow,” according to Verbilla.
Verbilla’s lyrical quality shone in her opening track, “Vignette #1,” and all the others to follow. The songs took inspiration from some past and some imaginary relationships, according to Verbilla.
“The lyrics are a core part of the music,” said Lucia Gardiner, a freshman art education major. “The lyrics are sincere.”
Imagery was scattered throughout her songs, all to a homey and acoustic backdrop.
“I tried to make a home in you but the foundation was overlooked,” Verbilla sang in her third song, “Jenkintown-Wyncote.”
All of the material felt familiar. Part of the music’s allure came from relatable depictions of watching headlights through a window or feeling lethargic, unable to get out of a warm bed. It had audience members nodding along.
“I like the narrative lyrics,” said Sofia Hayda, a freshman urban education and English double major. “I’ll definitely look them up afterwards.”
Petal, the second opener, is the solo musical project of Kiley Lotz, who hails from Pennsylvania. Lotz stood on the stage alone accompanied only by three flowers adorning the strap on her electric guitar.
“There’s not a lot of queer women in (this) music scene,” O’Connor said. “It’s refreshing to see a powerful woman like her.”
Lotz sang songs like “Chandelier Thief” from her album “Shame” with a delicate and hypnotic quality offset by the rhythm of the guitar.
Lotz did her usual “ending spiel” before playing her last song, “Heaven,” which she had written when she was feeling depressed.
“If you feel lonely … if you’re struggling, you deserve love, and I care, and the world wouldn’t be better off without you,” Lotz said.
Despite the heavy tone of “Heaven,” Lotz ended her performance on a cheery note.
“Way to go queers!” Lotz said. “Way to go trans folks!”
Chris Ratanski, an executive board member of CUB and a junior chemistry major, found Lotz’s stage presence to be sweet and funny.
“I can tell she’s speaking from her heart,” Ratanski said.
Greg Ferretti, a 28-year-old Eatontown resident, is a long-time fan and drove to the College for the show.
“I love her, she just, her songwriting in general and just the way she conveys her emotions — I find it really moving,” Ferretti said.
(03/20/18 5:33am)
By Heidi Cho
Arts & Entertainment Editor
“Thoroughbreds” is an independent drama/thriller film released on March 9 to audiences across the U.S. The film is dedicated to the late Anton Yelchin, who portrayed the character Tim.
Amanda (Olivia Cooke) is a social outcast who cannot feel anything. Lily Reynolds (Anya Taylor-Joy) is Amanda’s best friend by default. Lily can feel emotions but lacks empathy. In a horrific and riveting tale, the two estranged teenagers from affluent suburban Connecticut plan to murder Mark, Lily’s rich step dad.
Mark financially supports Lily and her mother, but is emotionally neglectful. His presence is intimidating and his callous mannerisms make audience members wince.
Fueled by emotion, Lily makes a series of rash decisions that would put anyone with less money in jail. The audience watches as Lily’s morality and reservations break down, a process enabled by Amanda.
Together, Amanda and Lily are a perfectly deadly bomb and detonator. They play off of each other like two tennis players at Wimbledon. It’s hard to pull your eyes away from the pair as they tear through a fast-paced script that makes quips even faster.
As partners in crime, the two are the perfect good cop-bad cop to set up Tim, the local lowlife. Yelchin manages to portray the struggle of Tim in a way that elicits pity from the audience for the statutory rapist. The character has no money, unlike the teenage protagonists that blackmail him into murder. Even though Tim was underwritten, Yelchin turns his minimal screen time into a memorable final performance.
Despite Amanda’s characterization as a deadpan teenager without any remorse or hesitation in her actions, she irrationally keeps a picture of Lily and herself from when they were younger and still openly best friends. Even if it is feigned attachment, Amanda is a self-proclaimed excellent imitator who works off her keen observations of other people.
Lily holds no similar sentiment towards Amanda, who she uses to get what she wants. Once Lily knows Amanda is capable of carrying out murder, Lily reconnects with her not for sentimental reasons, but to ask her to kill Mark. Tim asks Lily repeatedly if she wants to be dragged down by Amanda, but as the story goes on, it seems obvious that Lily is the one set on digging someone's, if not her own, grave.
The cinematography heightens the suspense by partially obscuring the surrounding environment. Sometimes, the camera tracked someone closely down tight hallways and stairwells. At other times, the camera zooms in on emotional focal pieces, like an unconscious body or the sunglass-covered eyes of someone listening to a brutal recounting of murder.
Like pointillism, the film gives the audience more than enough dots to connect to see the bigger picture. Similar to impressionism, the film visually and audibly focuses on the emotional responses of characters to the unfolding events, rather than the plot points themselves.
The audience never gets a full sense of what is happening beyond the shot. The unapologetically ambivalent framing intentionally leaves elements like action or bloodshed out of frame, even if they are central to the scene.
Juxtaposition of color and humor kept the film visually and dynamically riveting. The humor was as misplaced as a whoopee cushion in a funeral home, but funny nonetheless.
Warm and cold colors signaled that there were opposing sides at play. When Tim wore red, Amanda wore blue while informing Tim how to murder Mark. When Amanda wore blue, Lily’s couch pillows were orange while Lily was conspiring against her.
The score only elevated the tense atmosphere. The soundtrack is ridden with broken and discordant strings, African percussion and noises perhaps made from a steel wire box or waterphone, instruments typical in horror movies. The indigenous throat singing helped keep the mood strung like a steel wire about to snap.
The sound design further unnerved audiences by making the mundane uncomfortable capturing everyday noises like chewing chips or crinkling bags and making them seem eerie and unnatural. The simple rowing of the ergometer machine — distorted and nightmarish — echoed through the entire house.
Unfortunately, whatever realism the film had left was broken at the climax. When planning the murder, the characters accounted for forensics and alibis, but when it counted most, all of that was thrown out. The murder would also have been a good point to release the mounting suspense, but the film does not allow the audience any catharsis.
The movie does a great job of unsettling audience members and keeping them guessing until the end. It lays bare the fact that every relationship is open to manipulation and everyone gets used by one another, and questions the usefulness of empathy for the rich and what meaning life holds at all.
(02/27/18 8:18am)
By Heidi Cho
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Saturday Night Live came early to the College on Friday, Feb. 23, when the College Union Board presented the Spring Comedy Show featuring SNL cast member Alex Moffat and former cast member Vanessa Bayer, with an opening set from writer Streeter Seidell in the Kendall Mainstage Theater.
Moffat began his act with an intense German accent, performing as a character Moffat called “Max Gremer.” Before the bit, which some students found hard to understand, dragged on too long, Moffat switched topics.
“Is the Git here, my favorite queen?” Moffat asked their crowd.
The comedians tailored their sets to what they learned about the College before the show began.
“Kianna wrote half of my set,” Moffat joked, pointing out a CUB staff member standing to the side of the auditorium.
The comedian shared a nugget of wisdom with the audience through an anecdote about his experience in New York City.
Once Moffat said “bless you” to a woman walking alone at night after she sneezed “a girthy slapper” right into his open mouth. The woman responded by clutching her purse to her chest, then ran away from him.
Moffat then asked the audience what they learned from that story, and the audience responded by saying “nothing.”
Moffat played himself off with a hilariously horrible rendition of “Piano Man” by Billy Joel to the captive audience.
“(Moffat) made it seem as though he could actually play and he had us all sing along to Piano Man,” said Amanda Mrotzek, a sophomore early childhood education and English double major.
Moffat hyped up Vanessa Bayer, the next act, as “a most amazing comedian” and also as what Bayer told him to say — “(his) best friend in the world.”
Awkward and genuine, Bayer often poked fun at herself in her routine.
Bayer acknowledged that while comedians usually made sex jokes, she thought she did not do a good job delivering them, but for the sake of an audience of college students, she would do an impression of herself making sex jokes.
After a solid 15 seconds of indiscernible murmuring, awkward shuffling and lack of eye contact, the audience could finally make out a few phrases between long pauses.
“Because his dick was so small … little league ... because he has a small dick,” Bayer mumbled.
Bayer ripped on the show “Friends” in one bit, and pointed out all the show’s obvious tropes, impersonated and exaggerated each character’s quirk and incorporated herself into a hypothetical episode as Ross’ new girlfriend for the bit.
After an episode’s worth of ups and downs, Bayer was left hungry and alone in the streets of the West Side by the end of the skit — all because she went out on a date with Ross.
“How many lives have to be ruined for Ross and Rachel to be together?” Bayer said.
For long-time SNL fans in the crowd, Bayer mentioned a throwback that made audience members hoot and holler.
Mrotzek was hoping that she would get to see Bayer do a Miley Cyrus impersonation in real life, and she was not disappointed.
“She is spot-on and even though she exaggerates the accent a little bit it just makes it that much funnier,” Mrotzek said.
Even though Bayer is no longer an SNL cast member, she is still active in the world of comedy. Bayer took advantage of the captive audience to show an episode of her comedy web series, Sound Advice, and closed off the show with a zinger.
“I watch (SNL) almost every week,” Mrotzek said. “So when I knew they were coming, I knew I had to buy tickets for it.”
Benjamin Zander, a senior communication studies and journalism and professional writing double major, enjoyed being an active audience member throughout the show.
Throughout the night, Zander was dubbed “Mr. New York,” “the coolest guy on campus” and “double thumbs-up” for his reaction to a question asked during the show.
The chemistry between the comedians and Zander enhanced the show for him.
“They were really good at one-on-one interaction,” Zander said. “It makes it a lot more special and memorable.
(02/20/18 8:01am)
By Heidi Cho
Arts & Entertainment Editor
V is not for Valentine. V is for vagina, violence and victory. V is for the play presented by Women In Learning and Leadership inspired by hundreds of interviews with women.
Kendall Hall Mainstage Theater hosted the College’s annual production of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” on Friday, Feb. 15.
“It’s all about breaking the silence,” said Samantha Franz, a director for the production and a junior communication studies and English double major.
The goal of many monologue events is to raise awareness for an issue — in this case, atrocities committed against women, according to Franz.
Franz hoped that “The Vagina Monologues” would spark conversation among audience members and encourage them to leave with a different perspective on feminism than when they entered the theater.
All proceeds from the event — from tickets to the chocolate vagina pops on sale at the show — were donated to WomanSpace, ProNica’s Acahault Women’s Clinic and the Frontline Resistors Fund.
In these ways, the play can help achieve the ultimate goal of the global V-Day movement: ending violence against women.
The monologues ranged from peppy, light and humorous to dark, serious and heart-breaking, leaving audience members reeling from the impassioned performances.
Nicole Zamlout, a freshman English major, made her performance upbeat. Zamlout told the audience “A Happy Fun Fact” — the clitoris has twice the number of nerves as the penis.
“Who needs a handgun when you have a semiautomatic?” Zamlout said with a smile.
Zamlout’s commentary rendered a round of applause, even a wolf whistle, as she left the stage.
Two acts later, Zamlout told the audience “A Not So Happy Fun Fact” — that more than 200 million girls and women have been subjected to female genital mutilation.
This, in contrast to her upbeat routine, left the audience silent.
As the play went on, performers sat down on the bleacher stands arranged in the back of the stage as they finished their acts. Even though most of the performances were solo acts, the group of onlookers gave a sense of solidarity and silent encouragement for acts that required emotional intensity and bravery.
One actress Sydney Blanchard, a freshman communication studies major, entered the stage decked in dominatrix black, portraying a female sex worker.
Blanchard made the most use of the stage, dropping down low one second and standing with her hands on her hips the next. She then began to act out the different kinds of moans her character has heard before, and the audience didn’t hold back their laughter, especially when she demonstrated the improvised “college moan.”
“I really should be studying,” Blanchard said. “I really should be studying. I’m going to miss meal equiv!”
The strong performances could be shocking and off-putting to the audience, but are necessary to illustrate what the danger that exists in the reality of women today.
“It was a heartfelt look at women and what they go through in our society,” said William Braberman, a junior physics major.
Fellow audience member Andrew Cenci, a sophomore elementary education and math double major, agreed.
“It was very powerful,” Cenci said. “It was very well performed. It left kind of a lasting impression to help stop violence against women.”
Kate Augustin, a sophomore elementary education and psychology double major, performed the piece that left the most impact on Cenci, “The Little Coochi Snorcher that Could.”
Augustin felt inspired to act in the annual production after she attended the monologues as an audience member during her freshman year.
“Just to know that this is what women have gone through and no one has stopped it, especially the violence to little girls, it (lit) a fire under me,” Augustin said.
Augustin felt satisfied to be a part of the production.
“It was such a learning and supportive experience,” Augustin said. “The directors are so kind-hearted, and they want you to succeed.”
It all clicked, when Franz, one of five directors of the play, watched from backstage as the door opened and all of the cast filed in on Thursday, Feb. 15, for dress rehearsal.
Franz’s voice swelled just thinking about the 500 hours she poured into the performance, along with all the work she and her peers have put into the production since auditions in November.
“I was sitting backstage the whole time going, ‘I hope they get it, I hope they get it,’ and they get it and it’s so good,” Franz said.
One monologue, titled “Six Year Old Girl,” was a back-and-forth between a six-year-old girl and an interviewer who asked the child to personify her vagina.
Both the interviewer and the little girl, portrayed by Gabbi Petrone, a freshman psychology major, asked and answered each question with perfect execution. Petrone accurately mimicked the confident, answers of the child without hesitation.
Alyssa Cosio, a sophomore communication studies major, took a moment to digest a question asked of her, “What would your vagina say?”
After a moment of thought, Cosio answered that her vagina would say, “Thank you. It feels good not to be alone.”
(02/20/18 2:02am)
By Heidi Cho
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Students enjoyed a night of laid-back beats and powerful vocals at the first Student Soloist Night of the semester, hosted by the College Union Board in the Traditions Lounge on Feb. 13.
The first performers were juniors Dylan Brigden, a psychology major, and Derek Arnheiter, an engineering major.
Arnheiter sat atop his cajón, a boxy percussion instrument, while Arnheiter played guitar and sang covers of “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People, “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers, “Location” by Khalid and “December” by Neck Deep.
Arnheiter’s foot tambourine came into play during “Mr. Brightside” and other songs, adding another level of depth to the instrumentation.
The percussion and guitar gave the songs an acoustic feel, even when the vocals picked up in volume and energy in the latter verses.
The two were incredibly synchronized, alternating seamlessly between guitar and percussion and showing off the six hours of practice they put into the ensemble.
Unlike the other performers, Brigden and Arnheiter played original songs like "Summer Fling" and "Otherside.”
The latter song was heavily influenced by reggae, a genre Brigden started listening to only over the past few years. Most of Bridgen’s repertoire was inspired by the music he listened to growing up — punk and ’90s alt rock bands like Nirvana and Sublime.
Lomonte performed next with her ukulele. It was the first time Lomonte had performed publicly.
“I was super nervous before performing, but afterwards, I felt really happy,” Lomonte said.
Lomonte started by covering two songs that naturally translated from one string instrument to another, “I’m Looking Through You” by The Beatles and “Brazil” by Declan McKenna.
“Brazil” was followed by “Sweater Weather,” where Lomonte went from strumming consistently in the previous songs to barely at all, an unexpected but welcome change.
Lomonte’s voice shone through most when performing “Cosmic Love” by Florence and the Machine, as her ukulele played second fiddle to her stunning voice.
Julia Nemec, a senior psychology major, was impressed by all of the performances, but especially with Lomonte’s.
“Her voice is beautiful and I thought her voice was very soulful,” Nemec said. “She sang from the heart.”
Tess Marsh, a senior psychology major, performed last. Without any accompanying instruments, Marsh stood in the center of stage, hands casually in her cardigan pockets, as she belted out “Praying” by Kesha without any introduction.
For her next song, “Valerie” by Amy Winehouse, Marsh invited the audience to sing along with her.
No one took her up on her offer, but Marsh’s powerful voice carried through the Traditions lounge just the same.
The upbeat tempo of “Valerie” contrasted the somber tone of Marsh’s next song, “Gravity” by Sara Bareilles.
As the song played out, Marsh jokingly told the audience, “You can be happy now.”
Marsh closed out the night by singing “At Last” by Etta James, a song Marsh said she sang frequently in high school.
Ki-Ana Rivera, a junior English and communication studies double major, commended the singing selections Marsh made.
“The songs she chose… had fond memories associated with it,” Rivera said. “She had an incredibly beautiful voice.”
Morgan Lubner, a junior English major and CUB Alt co-chair, looked forward to going to the event she helped organize.
“I’m excited to hear all of them because I never experienced any of them play before,” said Lubner.
Rivera finds that CUB Alt events like these bring students together through live musical performances.
“It’s close and intimate, and you get to meet students you otherwise wouldn’t have met,” Rivera said.
Student Soloist night united the audience through music, and exposed students to their peers’ talent that may have otherwise gone unnoticed.
(02/13/18 11:17am)
By Heidi Cho
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Students dressed in their Sunday best were serenaded by the Mixed Signals’ warm-up noises — a cross between yodelling and screaming — outside of the Library Auditorium on Sunday, Feb. 10, as the group prepared to present its “Fancy Date Night” show.
The comedians entered in pairs, sporting formal attire and laughing with one another.
Once everyone was on stage, Nolan Devoe, a senior communication studies major, announced the new members of the group, as well as older members of the group who will soon graduate as “Bignals.”
The group then jumped into its first improvisation scenario, in which the actors in the scene incorporated a key word that was provided by an audience member.
Logan Paul was the inspiration for the scene, which included a director and three actors playing as a protective mother, a lovestruck daughter and a reckless boy that is taking her to prom.
“Just because I smoke my weed with Juuls—” said Dylan Lembo, a freshman international studies major, in character as the obnoxious bad boy defending himself to his date’s mother.
Devoe played the director, and had the actors repeat the scene three times, changing it to reference Logan Paul more and more each time.
The first time, Lembo and the other performers could talk normally. The next, the three actors were all zombies acting out the scene. Lastly, the three actors could only communicate in trumpet noises, which produced fits of laughter from the audience.
The category for another scene’s conflict was first-world problems, and an audience suggested that there should be no Wi-Fi in the scene.
A couple played by Paul Chukrallah, a junior marketing major, and Stephanie Sonbati, a freshman English and journalism and professional writing double major, tried to post a selfie of themselves on Instagram.
Mixed Signals members from the seats onstage provided the error and retry sound effects when this phone failed to connect to her house’s Wi-Fi, because her dad changed the password on him.
“The last girl I dated gave me Wi-Fi the first night,” Chukrallah said to his girlfriend of four hours in the scene.
Coyly, Sonbati said that she knew how to reset the Wi-Fi by going to the modem in the kitchen.
After double-checking the girl was of age, the boyfriend agreed to “do it in the kitchen.”
When Chukrallah and Sonbati went to push the modem’s power button, Sonbati instructed, “Two fingers.”
Whenever a scene was losing steam, the Mixed Signals would introduce a new element, like sound effects or a fictitious loose emu, to the scenario from the sidelines.
For the game “World’s Worst,” Devoe pulled out a piece of loose-leaf paper with audience role suggestions for actors to impersonate.
Any actor could step forward and act out a few seconds of any scenario in the game.
The “World’s Worst” game is a favorite of Emily Litwin, a junior marketing major.
“They’re a really close knit group,” Litwin said.
In another game, actors would even “swipe” or change the scenario around on each other seamlessly, showing how well the members knew each other’s capabilities and strengths.
Sam Miller, a graduate student and English major, found the group’s chemistry to be one of the best parts of the show.
“They are always trying to learn and get funnier,” Miller said. “They have a good sense of what people can handle.”
Miller “loves the Sigs,” and attends many of their shows.
Another crowd-pleaser the group performed was a scene involving Charlie, an unseen character whose traits were developed by actors onstage as the scene progressed.
Charlie would then walk on stage, exhibiting all of the traits mentioned. To everyone’s amusement, Charlie was a lasagna lover, and an excessive fainter in the presence of a masked doctor.
The audience had a hilarious night out with the Mixed Signals. The group delivered crowd-pleasing pair scenarios and hilarious group scenes, and may have left some audience members hoping for a second date.
(02/06/18 3:35am)
By Heidi Cho
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Three tight-knit musicians turned a frigid evening into a heartwarming and breathtaking night at Bellows and Bows: A Potpourri of Chamber Works for Violin, Cello, and Accordion in the Mayo Concert Hall on Saturday, Feb. 3.
Robert Young McMahan is an accordionist and professor of music theory at the College.
McMahan is a long-time friend of cellist Cecylia Barczyk, and together with violinist Emmanuel Borowsky, Barczyk’s son, the trio performed harmoniously.
“Triologue” was the first piece of the night, in which all three musicians played together.
“It’s a combination of instruments you don’t get to hear a lot, especially in the classical world,” said Meaghanne McBride, a sophomore music major and a student of McMahan.
“Bambuco Almirante” is a Colombian folk dance made famous by the musical ensemble of two brothers known as Los Hermanos Martínez. Borowsky transcribed the piece originally intended for piano and two violins to fit one violin and cello.
The next piece, titled “Spanish Rhapsody, op. 9” was written to show off every possible trick a skilled violinist can produce with the instrument.
Borowsky is indeed an extraordinary violinist that made the instrument sing in a solo piece that exemplified the skills he has honed over a lifetime of practice.
Borowsky started studying violin when he was four years old. He represented North America at the World Child Prodigies Concert. Borowsky and Barczyk have played across the world, and applied their practice and worldliness to the concert.
“Prelude and Sarabande” provided a respite from the quick and lively tempos of the preceding pieces. McMahan introduced the piece as a “peaceful meditative moment in the program.”
As the only accordion solo of the concert, McMahan proved his skills as both an accomplished accordionist and composer.
McMahan’s wife, a classical pianist, baroque recorder player and West African percussionist, knows how much her husband has dedicated to his instrument.
“Bob (McMahan) is as committed to his instrument today as he was that day fifty years ago, when he walked so easily into my life and never left,” she said.
“Introduction and Allegro” was created by Mátyás Seiber, an established and accomplished Hungarian composer who wrote most of his pieces in the U.K.
“2 Chôros bis, W227” was originally intended to be an encore piece to be performed after a concert of pieces, all concieved by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Chôros is Brazilian street music, a type of music characterized by “definite and defiant rhythms,” or “spicy music,” as Borowsky called it.
Designed to pull passerbyers from the streets, the wily and unpredictable nature of the piece similarly had audience members on the edges of their seats.
“Dance Suite for Two” has traditional Scottish folk elements with a distinctly Irish essence, split into multiple parts. Charming and heartfelt, it was a breath of fresh air in the indoor concert hall.
By intermission, McBride found “Introduction and Allegro” to be her favorite piece.
“It was very lively. It was fun. It had a lot of character,” McBride said. “It was really great to see my professor performing.”
“Romp 5” premiered in New Jersey, meaning it was never publicly played before this concert. The piece was composed by McMahan as part of his “Romp” series named for the “rambunctious, somewhat tongue-in-cheek nature” that the pieces share, according to McMahan.
According to Robert Seltzer, a senior music major and former student of McMahan’s, “Romp 5” was a natural and powerful finale written by a professor who “knows so much about everything music.”
This was the first time Seltzer has heard McMahan play live in his time at the College.
“(Romp 5) was amazing, super, super jarring… it was powerful and emotional,” Seltzer said. “It did a good job blending all three instruments. It sounded so natural.”
The musicians received a standing ovation from the audience of students, both current and past.
“Playing for music for a pleasant audience is very rewarding,” Barczyk said. “(The audience) shared a lot of interest and understanding for music — it’s the best reward.”
(02/05/18 9:00pm)
By Heidi Cho
Arts & Entertainment Editor
I am running out of my dorm to make it to my 8 a.m. class. I am running on three hours of sleep because I had work the night before. I am running, and the camera pans out and I ask myself why I’m so overwhelmed, because I did everything right. I did everything my professors, my guidance counselors and my parents told me to do — get an education, get a job and get a life.
This time, I wondered, “what if?” — something my teachers taught me to never do. What if school started later? What if all my classes taught lifelong skills that could improve my quality of life? What if the education system worked better?
This might sound like I’m the kid in class who asks the teacher, “what do we need to bother learning this for?” But I wasn’t that kid in class. I kept my head down and did my work, and the teachers liked me well enough. But it doesn’t take a jerk to criticize a system that can be improved.
It’s obvious that the school system isn’t based on scientifically proven methods to learn and retain information that will help students live better lives. If it was, class would have started later years ago, when a 2015 study from University of Minnesota’s Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement found that high school students perform better academically when their school days begin as late as 8:55 a.m.
The same goes for college students. A 2017 study from the University of Nevada, Reno, proved that college students learn better in classes starting around noon and ending before evening.
Most schools still do start at 8 a.m. though, and our performance reflects this continuous sleep deprivation.
Recount how many times someone has fallen asleep in class unintentionally, or a friend snapping at you for a wayward comment and apologizing afterward because it wasn’t warranted. Maybe it was hard to remember information or focus during class.
Sleep deprivation can be the cause behind all of those scenarios, including higher risk of anxiety, depression and hypersexuality, according to Dr. James Maas’s research. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether the traits associated with “lazy” teenagers are related to the sleep loss accumulated over the years.
Maas, a psychologist and former professor at Cornell University, gave a speech on sleep deprivation in 1995 that is still discussed today, just like many other issues with education.
I would be rich if I had a penny for every time I heard someone criticize the public school system. It’s an equally troubling problem when people say they learned more at their job than in school, or that they never found a use for their education.
Some lessons can simply be outdated or not be practiced enough in real life to be useful. With modern technology, memorization is pointless unless you need to access that information in under the time it takes for a Google search. The practicality of what a student learns can vary from integral to obsolete.
It would be more relevant to learn practical life and career skills. In general, it would help to learn how to program, balance a check, do taxes or take out a mortgage. It is important to know basic first aid, the signs of a heart attack or medically accurate sex education. It would be great to know how government or our health care system works. It could help to learn how to actually communicate effectively.
School can help holistically improve lives. There have to be ways people can learn how to healthily cope with stress and deal with emotions instead of using drugs. It can help to learn about mental health or active listening in school, or even just how to ask for help when you need it.
Education is important, but there is so much to learn outside of pure theory and statistics that can help people be better citizens and have better relationships with one another. What you learn and how you learn it matters so much when people spend most of their youth in school.
There has to be a balance between learning theoretical information, and practicing it in real life. Maybe it would be easier to lead my life if school had taught me the skills needed for adulthood, higher education and my future career in the first place.
I don’t regret the education I have had so far, but I wonder where I would be now if I hadn’t been sabotaged since the beginning. Maybe I wouldn’t be running everywhere.
(01/30/18 5:53am)
By Heidi Cho
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Students, faculty and alumni came together on Saturday, Jan. 27, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the College’s music program with a spectacular saxophone summit hosted by the College’s Department of Music.
The Philadelphia Saxophone Quartet, which includes alumni John Bachalis (’68) and Drew Wierzbowski (’80) have rehearsed every week for the last 51 years, according to Bachalis, and it showed by the intricate and complex renditions performed.
“Try Harder” by Alun Cook allowed the quartet to replicate the precarious feeling of walking on a tightrope between the iron skeletons of skyscrapers and scaffolding.
The piece was composed during the Industrial Age and “dedicated to the people who make society run,” according to Bachalis.
“Orlando Gogni” by Alfredo Gobbi was arranged by David Cantoni. It was inspired by tango from Argentina, where Gobbi hails from.
Fantasia (on "Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair") by Jerry Nowak captured the aesthetic of city lights on a rainy day, or dim light reflecting off of dark hair. This slow piece was a reprieve from the fast and lively rhythms sandwiching it.
“Humoresque” by Jimmy Van Heusen was arranged by Lennie Niehaus. The piece was adapted by alumnus Fred Hess (’76).
This piece played with the audience as much as the performers played the piece. At times, it went back and forth between the soprano and alto saxophonists and the tenor and baritone saxophonists, other times the whole quartet played together. Light and spry, the piece lived up to its name.
Bachalis confirmed that it was as fun to listen to as it was to play. He described the piece as humorous, flirtatious and “coquettish, if a piece can be that.”
“The Girl with the Flaxen Hair” by Claude Debussy was a more mellow piece performed by a group of four alumni. Ron Pruitt, who graduated in 2015, performed on baritone saxophone.
Pruitt had studied this piece in the College’s studio. For Pruitt, the performance was a trip down memory lane to hear and perform not only this song, but others that night he had previously studied.
“Reflections for Saxophone Ensemble” was one of the three pieces Bachalis was commissioned to compose or arrange for the concert. Bachalis used what he learned in a seminar with Marion Evans, an arranger for Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, to write two pieces that he adapted for the saxophone.
Bachalis wrote the piece last December, attempting to capture the characteristics from college life to even “the development of a saxophone department,” he added with a knowing wink.
The last piece, “Autumn Leaves,” was a commission with a latin salsa at the finalé.
Laurence Seltzer was another proud parent and audience member that shared similar sentiments.
“I was very impressed. I loved it all,” Seltzer said.
Kyle O’Toole, a senior from north New Jersey, gave his perspective as a percussionist on what the performers did well.
“There was a big diversity in music genres (the performers) went through,” O’Toole said. “Seeing (the faculty and alumni) as a person and then as musician was amazing.”
O’Toole cited Kathleen Mitchell as one of the faculty members he met that made an impression on him.
Mitchell, the conductor for the last and largest group that performed, worked with students like O’Toole and also coordinated the event. Bachalis credited Mitchell as the person who brought it all together.
Mitchell said the event was a “labor of love,” and she was simply the facilitator.
Mitchell thanked the interim director of bands Joshua Roach, the event advertizer Al Brown, the dean and the assistant dean of the music department. She expressed gratitude for the band and the students, both current and alumni, who have put so much effort into the show.
Mitchell also thanked Lynn Dillon (’86) for the donation that helped make the event possible.
From a social media post to a group chat, the event came together over emails, messages and rough schedules.
All the effort from students, alumni and faculty of the music department culminated into an evening of intricate saxophone performances that could be enjoyed by all.
(01/23/18 12:56am)
By Heidi Cho
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Drop everything — it’s “The End of the F***ing World.”
This British dark comedy was released worldwide as a Netflix exclusive on Jan. 5. It was based on the American comic book, “The End of the F***ing World.”
Riffing on “Heathers: The Musical,” the show follows the burgeoning relationship between a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde — fictitious British teenagers James and Alyssa.
James is a self-declared psychopath. When he was young, he put his left hand into a deep fryer because he wanted to feel something. He remembers each of his 35 furry victims fondly, but hasn’t killed a human, yet.
Enter Alyssa, the embodiment of teen angst. She often calls people out on their lies and excuses, causing trouble simply for trouble’s sake.
When her stepfather makes advances on her and her mother turns a blind eye, Alyssa sees her life for what it is. She decides to run away from home with James, and so begins the “The End of the F***ing World.”
When James and Alyssa’s stories intertwine with the lives of the people they encounter along their journey, the horrific truth comes out.
A war veteran buys dogs to abuse them. A distinguished author and professor turns out to be a serial rapist that keeps detailed records of his incriminating acts.
These characters set up a gritty realism that takes a nosedive towards the end of the series. James’ character dramatically changes once he falls in love, which perpetuates the unrealistic and damaging notion that love can cure mental illness — even though mental illness can be as permanent as the disfiguration of James’s left hand. Despite this, the rest of the show compensates for this fallacy by being realistic in other ways.
While the show doesn’t shy away from showing how terrible the world can be, it isn’t devoid of kind characters. One strong suit of the show is how it juxtaposed opposites to make both sides stand out — one security guard lets Alyssa escape with stolen merchandise, after Alyssa helped a lost child find her dad at a store at the risk of being caught and sent to a juvenile hall.
The show tugs at your heart in between the dark humor featured in the cold opens. Usually an episode starts with a scene from that episode that makes light of a bad situation using overhead narration and dialogue. While the narration reveals the character’s inner thoughts, the dialogue or actions performed often go in completely unexpected and hilarious directions.
Frequently throughout the show, a character might think or feel one thing, but say, do or go along with something else entirely. At times, this can lead to moments like a make out session with one willing participant and the human equivalent of a dead fish as the other participant. At other times, the narration can make not just one, but two trips to the bathroom heartbreaking.
These two 17-year-olds get to see more of life in the span of this one road trip than some people do in their entire lives, but both of them learn they can’t run forever. The audience is encouraged to follow their trail of blood to its very end.
This show delivers in a way that can remind even the staunchest critics that they still have hearts. None of Chekov’s guns are left untouched by the end, and in a world full of sequels, trilogies and remakes, it’s refreshing to see something that’s wrapped up in one season with eight episodes. With each episode ending on an unexpected twist — and acting that feels more real than scripted — this show is easy to binge watch, but hard to forget.
(12/05/17 11:23am)
By Heidi Cho
Nation & World Editor
Student comedians made the audience chuckle with a wide variety of original satirical routines on Friday, Dec. 1, during CUB ALT’s Student Comedy Night in the Traditions lounge.
Sophomore English major Jack Sofka, the self-proclaimed “MC” of the event and CUB co-chair, began the event.
Emily McMahon, a sophomore psychology major, cracked one liners inspired by current events and nihilistic millennial humor.
Isabel Frade, a freshman computer science major, stuck to lighthearted humor.
Frade shared her plans to create artificial intelligence that would sarcastically answer stupid questions.
Once Sofka pointed out that two separate student comedians mentioned actor Tom Hanks in their stand-up, involving Hanks in the routines became a running gag throughout the show.
Jason Thorpe, a freshman history and secondary education dual major, described his act as born out of his own “weird-ass thoughts.”
Thorpe commented on how pandas are reluctant to mate.
“Aw there’s no love there,” Thorpe said, comparing a male and female panda showing no interest in each other to his parents’ relationship.
Sofka introduced the next comedian, which was a junior interdisciplinary business major, Sean Delanoy, as an old friend of his.
“As a small child, I would get concerned that all the instructions (to make mac and cheese) in languages I didn’t speak were secretly talking shit about English speakers,” Delanoy said. “Like in Spanish, it would go ‘look at these dumb Americans, don’t know how to make mac and cheese.’”
The Mixed Signals, the College’s student improvisation comedy group, performed after the stand-up routines.
“The Mixed Signals are always excellent,” Sofka said. “I’m always impressed by them.”
Using words from the audience as prompts, the Mixed Signals developed skits without any prior preparation.
In a hypothetical 7-Eleven, the character Charlie — a fictional 7-Eleven boss with a thick “Piratian” accent, an obsession with salami and little control over his arms — was created on the spot by two of the four Mixed Signals performers.
“The Mixed Signals skit about their friend Charlie in the 7-Eleven (was the funniest joke),” said Madeline Febinger, a sophomore computer science major.
The group took on various challenges — from working yet another Tom Hanks reference into a skit, to answering a peculiar question from the audience: “If oranges were red, would they still be oranges?”
“What. Do. You. Is. Maybe. But. A. Answer. Could. Be. Found,” the three comedians answered one word after each other, as they acted as a six-armed and three-headed omniscient demon, which the group dubbed “The Oracle.”
“It is clear!” announced Evan Noone, a Mixed Signals troupe member and junior technology education major pretending to be the demon’s summoner to the laughing audience.
The demon summoner zealously ran like a gremlin to and from each audience member that asked a question for his “demon.”
The members of Mixed Signals and the student comedians went to hilarious lengths to engage the audience and crack relatable jokes for the average college student. Students appreciated the break from finals that the last CUB ALT event provided.
(11/28/17 3:10am)
By Heidi Cho
Nation & World Editor
A U.S. military aircraft crashed in the Philippine Sea near Japan on Nov. 22. This is the fifth accident the Seventh Fleet of the U.S. Navy have experienced this year, according to NPR.
Eight of the 11 airmen aboard were safely rescued and now aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, CVN 76, in “good condition,” according to the U.S. Navy.
A U.S. military aircraft crashed in the Philippine Sea near Japan on Nov. 22 (envato elements).
Three airmen are still missing however, according to The New York Times.
Lt. Steven Combs, Matthew Chialastri, an aviation boatswain’s mate airman, and Bryan Grosso, an aviation ordnanceman airman apprentice, were lost in the crash, according to the official statement from the U.S. Seventh Fleet.
Together the USS Ronald Reagan and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force covered more than 1,000 square miles in search of the lost airmen, according to the U.S. Seventh Fleet.
“The thoughts and prayers of the entire team onboard Ronald Reagan go out to the families and friends of our fallen shipmates,” Capt. Michael Wosje, Commander, Carrier Air Wing Five, said, according to the official U.S. Seventh Fleet statement. “We are thankful for our professional search and rescue teams and their incredible bravery.”
Eight additional warships and aircraft joined the search, according to The Washington Post.
President Donald Trump was briefed on the situation at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida, where Trump celebrated Thanksgiving, according to The Guardian.
“The @USNavy is conducting search and rescue following aircraft crash. We are monitoring the situation. Prayers for all involved,” Trump tweeted on Nov. 22.
Search and rescue efforts ceased for the three airmen after two consecutive days on Friday, Nov. 25. Their families have been notified, according to U.S. Seventh Fleet.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of these sailors,” Vice Adm. Phil Sawyer, the commander of the Seventh Fleet, said in the fleet’s statement. “Their service and sacrifice will be lasting in Seventh Fleet and we will continue to stand the watch for them, as they did bravely for all of us.”
The C-2A Greyhound crashed en route to the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in a routine transport flight. The twin-engine aircraft is typically used to ferry personnel and cargo, according to The Guardian.
This is the first time a C-2A was involved in a fatal crash since 1973, according to The Washington Post.
The investigation is ongoing, according to The New York Times.
(11/14/17 3:33am)
By Heidi Cho
Nation & World Editor
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists leaked more than 13.4 million files on Sunday, Nov. 5, according to The New York Times.
The documents, nicknamed the “Paradise Papers,” revealed hidden tax practices and financial investments of many influential figures like Queen Elizabeth II and the main financial sponsor of Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, according to The Washington Post.
International companies like Apple and Nike were also dodging taxes by storing money in offshore funds, according to The Washington Post.
The leak also named U.S. universities, like Rutgers University and Princeton University, for having offshore accounts, according to NJ.com.
"This leak is important because it's the high end of town,” said Gerard Ryle, the director of the ICIJ, according to BBC. “People may have dismissed the Mossack Fonseca leaks as they were rogue players who would take any client. Most of the offshore world is not like that at all. Here you have the gold-plated company.”
Most of the financial dealings detailed in the Paradise Papers are legal, albeit through loopholes, The New York Times reported.
The information in the Paradise Papers mentions several countries including the U.S. and Russia, according to BBC.
The German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung first received the Paradise Papers, according to BBC.
Süddeutsche Zeitung called in the ICIJ, so that other media organizations part of the international nonprofit association could help go through and report all the stories the documents had to offer, according to Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Almost 100 media groups are investigating the papers as of Friday, Nov. 10, BBC reported.
The ICIJ is watching over the investigation of the information spread over dozens of different formats including emails, text documents and PDFs, Süddeutsche Zeitung reported.
Most of the documents came from the corporate services provider Estera and Appleby, an international law firm based in Bermuda that was hacked in October, The New York Times reported.
Appleby helps many companies and wealthy people make offshore bank accounts, according to BBC.
These companies and people could then avoid paying taxes in their home countries by keeping their money in tax paradises — countries with less regulation on tax for foreign companies — according to The New York Times.
Most of the locations mentioned in the data are tax paradises, hence the nickname, Paradise Papers, BBC reported.
Appleby concluded that “there is no evidence of any wrongdoing, either on the part of ourselves or our clients” after thorough and rigorous self investigation, according to The Guardian.
The Paradise Papers showed that Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has a financial stake in the shipping company, Navigator Holdings, according to NBC. The second largest client of Navigator is SIBUR, a Russian petrochemical company owned partially by Gennady Timchenko.
The U.S. Treasury Department considers Timchenko a member of the Russian leadership’s inner circle who is directly linked to Putin, according to NBC.
Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal felt utterly deceived by what the Paradise Papers revealed about Ross and other companies, NBC reported.
“Our committee was misled, the American people were misled by the concealment of those companies,” Blumenthal told NBC.