FEB. 20, 2015
OVERTIME ON THE COURT
ON THE VERGE The Daily Eastern News' weekly arts and entertainment section
Siblings to pay tribute during 'Stagestruck' By Kalyn Hayslett Verge Reporter | @kalyn_hayslett Doudna Fine Arts Center’s Dvorak Hall will wreak lively sounds of the Eastern Symphony Orchestra along with vocalist Regina Rossi, pianist Jeffrey Brown and flutist Eric Luminais performing "Stagestruck" Sunday. The musical performance will begin at 4 p.m. under the direction of Dr. Richard Rossi who has been ESO’s director for approximately 14 years. Richard Rossi will be sharing the stage with his younger sister Regina Rossi performing “My Beloved” which is a rendition of a piece performed about 12 years ago at Eastern. Regina and Richard Rossi were accompanied by their father, Anthony F. Rossi, during their last performance of the song. Anthony Rossi graduated from Julliard with an opera concentration allowing him to perform in numerous Broadway performances, many times at Eastern. In December, Anthony F. Rossi passed away. Nestled in "Stagestruck" is a performance by two siblings paying tribute to their father with a song Anthony Rossi performed when meeting Richard and Regina’s mother. Regina Ross remembers her father's character and acknowledges the impact his skills had on both her career and life. “Our dad had this amazing ability, not just for us five kids, but for people he was in contact with as a choir director and professional musician, was to help you believe in yourself,” Regina said. “It was amazing how he could take your insecurities and turn them around and give you self-confidence.” Regina is a victim of nervousness before every performance, but she said her father's words of encouragement fill her lungs allowing her to project confidence and entertain the audience. "Stagestruck" will include a combination of several solo performances with pieces of fast and slow-paced music. “It was fun in last night’s rehearsal because right when Dr. Rossi said, 'Alright 'Girl in 14G,' everyone in the orchestra started saying 'yay!' They were excited to do the piece,” Regina said. One of Regina’s last pieces for the night is “Girl 14G” about a quiet girl moving to New York into an apartment in between loud neighbors who are aspiring singers,” Regina said. Eric Luminias, a senior music major, and winner of the 2015 Concertino Award has been a member of the ESO for four years. At first performing a solo was extremely nerve racking and intimidating for Regina Rossi but after getting over the initial shock, based on the song she prefers to perform in the front of the orchestra.
Panthers fall to Skyhawks in an overtime game Thursday.
On the Verge discuses local bands, Fifty Shades of Grey, and Oscar nominees.
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“Dr. Rossi puts the music in order so that they are contrasting so you don’t get two pieces that are slow and two fast together so the audience can get some differences between piece to piece,” Luminias said. In "Stagestruck," Luminias will perform a
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“TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID”
flute solo in front of the orchestra, which is a drastic difference from being a part of the major sound. “When you are a part of the orchestra it's sound all around you and you’ve been practicing for years so you know what to do, but
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Graduate student to tackle race theories
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when you are in front of it, suddenly it’s this huge beast behind you,” Luminias said. Kalyn Hayslett can be reached at 581-2812 or kehayslett@eiu.edu.
By Roberto Hodge Multicultural Editor |@BertoHodge
KE VIN HALL | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Jandi Warren, a senior early childhood education major, dances down the soul train line during the Soul Train event in the Martin Luther King Jr University Union Thursday in the Grand Ballroom. Warren came dressed in 70’s apparel.
Students take ride on ‘Soul Train’ By Darronté Matthews Staff Reporter | @DEN_News Eastern’s African American students and faculty gathered for a blast from the past on the “Soul Train” The African-American Heritage Month committee’s first “Soul Train: EIU Edition” took place Tuesday night in the Grand Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union as students and faculty celebrated four decades of African American music and culture. Students wore afros, overalls, backwards caps, exposed bra straps and spandex, while old videos of “Soul Train” broadcasted in the back-
ground as they paid homage to the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s and 2000s. Kendall Jackson, a senior family and consumer science major, said the event was a nonrestrictive event, where students could have fun and celebrate their heritage. “The thought process of this was to do something different and innovative but also staying true to the theme of the month, which was bring back,” Jackson said. “The African American music is just soulful and rejoicing.” There were people dressed up in the clothing of the “Soul Train” era decades. The popular decades people represented were the ‘70s and the ‘90s. People who represented the ‘70s said their
fascination of the era came from their parents. “I love ‘70s music, that’s when my mom came out of high school and I said ‘Hey, I want to get a taste of Soul Train since I wasn’t here yet,’” Jessica Wallace, a senior health studies major, said. The majority of the people who attended “Soul Train” represented the ‘90s. They partied in the mix of flashing cell phone lights snatching at the shadows. The event also allowed students to express their love for the past with imitating performances of celebrated artists, such as Chaka Khan from the ‘70s and Bell Biv Devoe and TLC from the ‘90s.
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CUPB to review reaccredidation report By Derrin Coad Staff Reporter | @DEN_News The Council on University Planning and Budgeting will review the NCA reaccreditation report, which was made available Feb. 9 and evaluates Eastern as a whole institution during its meeting Friday. The council members will also discuss the list of more than 200 possible revenuegenerating ideas they received at their last meeting. The proposals came from a report by the Education Advisory Board, which gathered ideas from other universities with the goal of helping universities address overall budgeting problems. The council, which is in charge of setting program priorities in the university budget and advising the president on matters about
the budget, created eight subcommittees to look over all of the proposals. David Emmerich, the chair of the council, said during the last meeting that the challenge of accepting the ideas from other universities in the report is that every university defines and completes tasks differently. During the meeting, Emmerich mentioned a report from 2013 about administrative-faculty rations, and how each university defines administrative positions differently. However, the administrative position definition will not be addressed this meeting. “As for the administrative positions, there is still more work to be done on that,” Emmerich said. “It will be an item in a future meeting.”
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed budget will not be address during Friday’s meeting. Emmerich said because it occurred after the agenda was set, it will not be a specific item on the agenda. “If it does get brought up, it would be through the president’s report or the business affairs report,” Emmerich said. “I do not know if that is in their plans, and I won’t speak for them in that capacity.” The council will meet at 2 p.m. in the 1895 Room in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. Luis Martinez contributed to this article. Derrin Coad can be reached at 581-2812. or at dkcoad@eiu.edu
An English graduate student will critically analyze and disseminate theories from Toni Morrison’s novel “A Mercy” for her colloquium at 3 p.m. Monday in Room 3732 of Coleman Hall. Terri Coleman, who is an avid fan of the author’s work, said Morrison’s novel is about a racial theory experiment where Morrison has characters who represent different ethnicities such as African-American, Caucasian and Native American. “A Mercy” is set in the late 1600s United States before the existence of race as social construct as is present today. The characters in the novel all range in identities from African-American to Native American. Morrison ambiguously describes some of the characters, which is how she makes it difficult to place any specific race on the characters, Coleman said. Coleman said she read comments from those who have reviewed or read Morrison’s novel. She said based upon the description for the character Sorrow, who is described as having “hair of wool,” some reviewers and critics have said Sorrow is African-American, while others viewed the character as biracial. This is a form of what is known as “resistance text.” Coleman said her presentation also tackles “resistance text,” which is a term coined by Doris Sommer in which anything written by minorities often explains a character’s race subtly. “There are ways for minority writers to keep majority audiences and readers in their place,” Coleman said. Because African-Americans usually straddle the lines of two cultures between African-American society and Caucasian society, many understand these theories of resistance text and “unmattering” race. “Unmattering” race is how racial minorities can be who they are without dealing with racism and dealing with others’ privileges. However, the challenge is how Caucasians can use the information and apply it to their lives, Coleman said. Coleman said by looking at multiple viewpoints—even if it may be uncomfortable or difficult to hear—those who are Caucasian could think about and understand how minorities are used in the media and look at it critically. “Are they writing in a way that reinforces racist structures and makes race matter in a problematic way?” Coleman said. Eastern’s English department is connecting the event with the National Council of Teachers of English’s National AfricanAmerican Read-In, which is an initiative to showcase literacy dealing with AfricanAmericans. Roberto Hodge can be reached at 581-2812 or rlhodge@eiu.edu.