The Daily Princetonian
Thursday December 4, 2014
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MAKING MUS IC This week, S treet explor es the stude nt music sc ene on
NOCLIP
MICHAEL ZHANG
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riginally based in manhattan Beach, Calif., a bustling beach city just outside of Los Angeles, Riley “noclip” Thomasson ’15 has spent his past three years at Princeton juggling electrical engineering and EDM. As a senior, Thomasson has begun to taste breakthrough success, with his most recent track “world-01” just released on Diplo’s Mad Decent label and EDM.com — a deal he struck by sending his music out to EDM outlets from the Terrace Club library on a whim. “world-01,” a chiptune track saturated with an auditory nostalgia, will transport any 20-something back to the childhood euphoria of playing video games. The happily retro vibe made with new synthesized sounds was born of Thomasson’s unrelenting creative process. A casual gamer ever since he was little, Thomasson has always approached producing music by capturing what he feels in the moment no matter what else is going on, even if that means putting schoolwork and sleep aside to have a latenight producing marathon. Thomasson has always been engaged with music — studying piano up until college, playing percussion in Mira Costa High School’s prestigious music program and taking music theory classes while there and also at the University. As for his musical influences, Thomasson has always loved the constantly evolving music scene happening just beneath mainstream music, whether it is alternative rock or EDM’s diverse offspring of subgenres. Perhaps a late start by today’s standards, Thomasson’s foray into EDM began in junior year of high school, when a friend of his showed him Excision’s “Wasted,” a prototypical dubstep track. Soon after, Thomasson started to produce his own works after concluding, as many aspiring producers do, that “somebody made
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this on a laptop; I can do this.” With that, “Synapsis” was born — the first of Thomasson’s many stage names. When he got to college, Thomasson continued to progress through genres, exploring house and downtempo through his first EP released independently under his new name “Rize.” The summer after freshman year, Thomasson gigged all over Southern California and released his second EP through Into the AM Records during sophomore year. Thomasson explained that his inspiration “comes in waves,” so after that busy summer, he decided to take a break from producing while waiting to discover his current muses. This transition was accompanied by most recent third name change to “noclip,” a common video game cheat that enables players to move through physical obstructions. Under his newest moniker, Thomasson has continued to explore electronic music, currently drawing inspiration from future bass as well as other innovative sounds from artists such as Porter Robinson, Mr. Carmack and Lindsay Lowend. As for his future plans, Thomasson already has a desk job awaiting him after graduation, but he said he is also open to whatever EDM has in store for him. When asked about EDM’s recent mainstream popularity, Thomasson replied with enthusiasm towards the broader implications for electronic music, saying “every week someone is putting out something new, and something that is evolving so fast. It is kind of a waste to just listen to the same thing over and over.” For now, this means we can look forward to hearing more fresh sounds out of Thomasson soon. In the meantime, though, you can check out some of his work on Soundcloud or catch Thomasson tearing it up live on campus, as he regularly performs at Terrace and other eating clubs.
BROWNI K
ovey Coles ’15 and Hawa Sako ’15 are a powerhouse duo of music production and composition. When Coles and Sako met four years ago at the end of their freshman years, they began collaborating with different beats and new sounds. Eventually, the pair formed their band, BROWNI. Before coming to Princeton, both Coles and Sako said they had expressed interest in music and songwriting. “Since high school, I’ve always wanted to be part of something really musical,” Sako explained. In addition to writing, Sako provides the lead vocals for the group. On the other hand, Coles, who creates the beats, did extensive work with production and songwriting in high school. However, he ceased dedicating as much time to making music after coming to Princeton. “I’m terrible at songwriting, and I have a lot of music without words. Meeting Hawa was a perfect connection of songwriting and music production,” Coles said. The band, which now has ten released songs on their SoundCloud, got off to a
Left to right: Riley Thomasson ’15 performing with Matt “Tenr” Goldsmith ’15.
VICTORIA SCOTT Contributor
casual start, releasing only one or two tracks at the end of each school year. “From freshman year to sophomore year we were kind of making music, but it was only once a year — at the end of the year when classes were done,” Coles explained. “So freshman year we made one song, then at the end of sophomore year we made another song. It was really informal, just for fun for a while.” In the fall of their junior year, the two became more serious about producing and performing, even presenting one of their songs for an in-class presentation. They explained that at that point they wanted to take their music to another level. Even though both Coles and Sako studied abroad during the spring semester, they corresponded using social media to continue collaborating and producing songs. “Even while we were abroad, I would make a music track without words or a melody and email it to her [Sako]. Or she would email me an a capella version of a song,” Coles said. This creative process — making
music separately and combining their efforts — has worked wonders for the group. Only recently have Coles and Sako begun sitting in the same room to create beats, melodies and lyrics. Since junior year, the band has produced more than eight eclectic songs and has had its debut performance at Colonial Club in early November. Coles and Sako recently dropped a new song, “Libertine,” and continue to release new work weekly on their recently implemented “New Single Sundays.” Looking toward the future, the group hopes to expand its number of followers through its Facebook group and SoundCloud page. After graduation, the duo hopes to continue collaborating and making music. “We could still collaborate, even after graduation. We’ve worked long distance over the summer and when we were studying abroad,” Sako said. “It also depends on this semester and how the rest of this year goes,” Coles added. “We are also going to try to make more music, have more performances and possibly reach out to record labels to release our songs.”
COUTESY OF BROWNI
ST. DANGER T
COUTESY OF RILEY THOMASSON ‘15
campus.
aking its name from an inside joke related to one of the band’s member’s roommates calling “San Pellegrino” (a type of soda) “San Peligro” (St. Danger in Spanish), St. Danger is a student band that will blow you away with their enthusiasm and musicality. Previously part of another student band named Moxie, the trio of Conor McGrory ’16, Doug Wallack ’16 and Kenny Hulpach ’16 define their sound as “classic rock meets indie rock.” Guitarist McGrory, bassist Wallack and drummer Hulpach have been playing together since freshman year and haven’t stopped making music since. They cite Dr. Dog, The Beatles, Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth as musical influences for St. Danger and its sound. The singing is a more collaborative effort that Wallack summed up as
JARRON MCALLISTER Intersections Editor
“there’s a bunch of singing that happens.” In addition to this, Wallack also said that, as a band, “we’re really trying to work on our harmonies.” McGrory noted that it has been a unique and helpful opportunity to grow with a fellow group of musicians. “You learn what the others need,” Hulpach added. St. Danger is constantly growing as a band and as a group of musicians, some of whom started playing their individual instruments after arriving on Princeton’s campus. Songwriting is a group effort for the band. Wallack and and McGrory tend to work through ideas for songs together, while Hulpach occasionally writes whole pieces alone. The band is starting slowly, with more casual performances on campus as they get a sense of their new sound
and direction. St. Danger performed an outdoor show under an arch during Princeton Arts Weekend in October. They stated that they plan to continue building their repertoire and put finishing touches on songs so that they are prepared to play more shows in 2015. St. Danger is interested in collaborating with other musicians and groups on campus, and the members are currently finding inspiration in various artists. Their list includes Wilco, Elliott Smith, Starfucker/STRFKR, and alt-J. “A lot of these artists write some great words,” McGrory added to explain what these artists have in common and how their work influences St. Danger. The band is working hard to write more songs and consolidate their sound. Watch out for these talented men next year and their indie-rockmeets-classic-rock vibe.
The Daily Princetonian
Thursday December 4, 2014
PSYCHOBABY KRISTEN COKE Staff Writer
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hen your band includes a c o n s e r v a t o r ytrained violinist on lead guitar, a lead vocalist with an obsession for Carole King and jazz and members who formerly belonged to soft indie and screamo groups, you can only imagine the musical mélange brought to the table but also the possible difficulties of coming together harmoniously. Psychobaby, however, tackles this head-on and utilizes its diversity to their advantage in creating a unique sound. “All of us are coming together from different musical backgrounds, and as a result, our sound synthesizes a lot of disparate influences,” lead vocalist and co-founder of the band Juliet Garrett ’15 said. Psychobaby is currently comprised of five University students — Garrett, Godfrey Furchtgott ’16 on guitar, Stanley Mathabane ’17
who plays the keyboard as well as other auxiliary instruments, Ashwin Prasanna ’18 on drums and Josh Leifer ’17 on bass. The band as well as the unorthodox group name were the brainchild of Garrett and Furchtgott a year and a half ago. “Juliet had a pretty large repertoire of songs she wrote herself between the ages of 15 and 18, and I wanted to play guitar in a band, which is something I hadn’t done up until that point, so it seemed like a natural fit,” Furchtgott said. The group classifies themselves as “indie rock pop” and incorporates synthesized electronic sounds into their music alongside its live instruments and vocals. Although the band describes its creative process as an expressive outlet that allows for freedom and collaboration among all of the members, they maintain that when it comes to actual performances, their joint focus is staying sincere in their music and appealing to their audience. “We are not a jam band. We focused mostly on crafting these
songs that are self-contained units — something you would listen to and enjoy,” Mathabane said. “There is an emphasis on playing live, and I think we are working on coming at the writing process with an ear towards the live show.” Just as varied and interesting as their musical stylings, the inspiration behind the lyrics for songs spring forth from a variety of different topics and emotions. “We each have different bags that we tend to write from — love, loss and I think Godfrey writes a lot about post-adolescent disaffected youth — growing up and finding your place in the world,” Garrett said. Psychobaby released its first extended play “Battlefield” in July and are hoping to soon begin work on a music video. They have plans for upcoming gigs on the Lower East Side in New York, N.Y., at Arlene’s Grocery and in Washington, D.C. at Black Cat in the spring. Despite being established for some time, the members explained that they still find themselves exploring their sound to look outside of their current “poppy sound with rock instrumentation.” “We aren’t totally there, but we are almost there,” Garrett said. “We’re looking at more synth stuff, more groove stuff. We are getting dirtier, and that’s exciting.”
COURTESY OF LOGAN ROTH ‘15
CACTUS KARMA EMILY TANG Contributor
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actus karma is a relatively young band that brings together student musicians from across the Princeton music scene. Their specialty as a group is a unique and original mix of R&B with some jazzy horns, hiphop and soul music, bringing a new sound to campus. Cactus Karma is a collaborative effort of students who also perform in various other groups on campus. Pianist Logan Roth ’15 and drummer Arjun Dube ’15 are also members of the band Honeyhead, vocalist Pam Soffer has performed on campus and released several solo tracks under the name Uma and alto saxophonist Divya Farias ’15 is also a member of longtime local band Sensemaya, a group whose membership changes fluidly as members graduate. Trumpeter Spencer Hadley ’17 is a student in the Princeton University Jazz Program, one of two such programs in the Ivy League,
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harlie baker ’17 and Lachlan Kermode ’17 became friends last year during rehearsals for Grind Arts Company’s “Sweeney Todd.” “When we had nothing to do, we would pass the time by singing random stuff together. But we didn’t form a band until this August, when Charlie invited me out to stay with his family in Montauk, which is a small beach town,” Kermode said. After coming in from the water one day, they pulled out their guitars and started jamming. The very first song they played togeth-
COURTESY OF BAKER & GOODS
SHEON HAN Contributor
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wo years ago, logan Roth ’15 struck out on finding “something to do” during the
summer. “So, being the sort of antsy dude that I am, I filled my time by working on a series of hip-hop beats,” Roth said. Roth then sent these beats over to Max Crawford ’15, whom he knew was a writer. “From there, he wrote some verses, and I called a bunch of great musician friends of mine together to play the beats with real instruments. Thus the band was born after our first jam,” Roth added. This was the origin of Gorilla Gorilla, a student band founded in 2012. The band included students from the classes of 2016, 2015 and 2014, all united in the pursuit of quirky, groovy and occasionally improvised music. Following the graduation of guitarist Molly Bolten ’14, the band has undergone a transformation and changed its name from Gorilla Gorilla to Honeyhead. Featuring Roth, Arjun Dube ’15, Max Crawford ’15 and Conor McGrory ’16, Honeyhead is more rock focused than the hip-hop leaning Gorilla Gorilla.
BAKER&GOODS er was the middle school-era classic “Thnks fr th Mmrs” by Fall Out Boy. “That’s when we realized that our voices sounded really good together,” Baker said. Both members write songs individually. “Generally, our songs are about girls. Keep it a nice, focused subject. We want to get into the complicated stuff like politics and religion, I swear, but you just can’t cover that business in three minutes,” Kermode said. Their next project may be a “concept album,” for which they have yet to decide the actual concept. Because the two spend most of their free time together, rehearsals are informal, except when a show is coming up. According to Kermode, “We just rehearse in my room in Witherspoon, usually pretty late at night when our schedules are both free. I think some of our neighbors get riled up sometimes.” Baker added, “We often hear banging on the floor and ceiling, but we like to think that it’s just people expressing their apprecia-
tion. Apparently, we have lots of fans. P-Safe likes our music so much that they often show up to our rehearsals!” When asked the meaning of the band name, they answered they were originally going to call themselves “Professor Jeff,” after their favorite English professor Jeff Nunokawa. “We decided against it so that Professor Nunokawa wouldn’t sue us,” Baker said. “But we were brainstorming names one day, and I said it would be funny to have a band called ‘Baker and the Goods’ at some point in my life.” Kermode liked the idea and suggested shortening it to “Baker & Goods,” which gives the sense that they are a duo. They have performed at the Murray-Dodge Café, the Nassau Literary Review launch party at Small World Coffee and Tower Club, where they opened for Caroline Reese and the Drifting Fifth on Princetoween. “Murray-Dodge Café has actually made us their official ‘Artist-in-Residence,’ which is pretty dope,” Baker said.
HONEYHEAD Honeyhead has performed at various venues and events in Princeton this fall including a show at Colonial Club with fellow Princeton duo BROWNI. Honeyhead has also graced the stage at Terrace, a hotspot for both established and up and coming musical talent. “Terrace is easily the best venue. The sound is good and the crowd always gets down with us.” Crawford said. “Ultimately, the crowd is what makes a good show, and Terrace brings the heat.” Crawford recalled a particularly memorable show at Terrace that lived up to the rowdy rock and roll standard. “I was dancing with an audience member during a song section in which I wasn’t singing, and we were getting a bit dirty,” Crawford said. “She pulled off my shirt and started to take off my pants. It was wild, but I had to stop her. Ultimately, the show is about the music and not spectacle, so if I was naked and performing it wouldn’t have been as effective — though it would have been very fun.”
Honeyhead’s creative process involves quite a bit of fun but also serious commitment to the craft. All of the band members contribute to songwriting. “We all write our songs,” Roth “They usually start as a groove on one instrument, and then we craft it into a whole structure and build parts off of that.” Honeyhead typically practices twice a week for two hours, but rehearsals run longer if they have the time and it is going well. Extra rehearsals are added the week before a gig. The group includes time for random jams to keep practices spontaneous, and particularly good jams are often developed into songs. Crawford noted that there is also plenty of joking and tomfoolery throughout rehearsals, which is an attitude and approach the band brings to both practice and performance. “We always try to have fun with our music,” Dube said. “It gets tough rehearsing in the weeks leading up to performances, but we always make sure to keep up the good vibes. If we’re having fun, the audience probably is too.”
and bassist Noah Fishman ’16 also plays in the Princeton University Orchestra. Cactus Karma brings these artists and their respective talents and styles together to bring a interesting hybrid sound to the Princeton scene. “It [the variety] is also fun for the audience,” Soffer said. “They can pick something they enjoy in the music, and vibe with that.” Formerly known as No Soap Radio, the group decided on the new name of Cactus Karma when they realized a New Jersey band had already claimed the title “No Soap Radio.” The band explained that the naming process was much like their song writing process — complicated, spontaneous and creative. “I’m excited about it [the name] — I think creating visual representations will be fun, and the sound of the name makes it really interesting,” Roth said. “We didn’t want something that was blunt.” The band formation was an organic process, as most of the members knew each other through various capacities outside of mu-
sic. They said they were all friends before they became “musician friends” but also that their friendships grew with the addition of music and the creation of the band. “Cactus Karma started when we began casually jamming together,” Roth said. “It was great and we were like, well, why not start a band? This iteration of the band happened after we did a gig with Pam — we thought that was awesome and we had a ton of fun, so why not play with her permanently?” Cactus Karma is currently completing a recording and plans to release the finished product later this winter. In the near future, the group also hopes to perform throughout the Princeton area. Cactus Karma is also looking into organizing an East Coast tour at the beginning of summer. “We play together as often as we can,” Hadley said. “This is something all of us want to do, and we all get along really well. Even if we never had any shows, we would still be really happy making music together.”
DEVON NAFTZGER
COURTESY OF INJEE UNSHIN ‘15
SHEON HAN
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LAVINIA LIANG Contributor
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hese days, devon naftzger ’16 is known for her outstanding viola skills in the Princeton University Orchestra and New York String Orchestra, but she didn’t always play the instrument. Naftzger entered the world of music on the violin. Four-year-old Naftzger saw a Christmas concert and immediately fell in love with strings. She asked for violin lessons from her mother, who promised she could take lessons once she turned five. Her mother assumed the obsession would just be a phase, but by her fifth birthday, Naftzger hadn’t forgotten. She took up the violin until high school, when she switched to viola. “It has all the same mechanisms and technique, once you learn to press harder on the C string,” Naftzger explained. The viola, unlike violin, has a more limited repertoire. The sparser corpus made it easier for Naftzger to “progress exponentially.” However, it wasn’t always easy to stay motivated. Devon confesses that she almost quit several times and owes much of her commitment to her mother, who would come up with various incentive structures. These included rewards and punishments, such as the threat of pay-
COURTESY OF DEVON NAFTZGER ‘16
ing for her own lessons. Naftzger played in her high school orchestra and also participated in other groups such as the Midwest Young Artists which met on Saturdays. Music opened numerous doors for her. With the Midwest Young Artists, she toured China and Korea, among other places. In 2012, she was selected as a prestigious YoungArts National Winner. She was the only violist chosen that year, giving her the opportunity to attend a week of classes and workshops with musical masters in Miami, Fla. More recently, Naftzger worked with world-renowned violinist Joshua Bell. As part of the YoungArts alumni network, she was contacted to participate in a follow-up to the 2007 Washington Post social experiment, during which the Grammy Award winning classical musician Bell played as a normal busker in a busy train station and was largely ignored. As part of the followup, Naftzger performed Bach and
Mendelssohn for a crowd of hundreds with Bell and eight other YoungArts students. This time, the audience knew about the performance — and each performer’s talent — beforehand, unlike the 2007 incognito study. What was it like to work with Bell? “Awesome,” Naftzger said, who added she has idolized the violinist since she was young. On campus, Naftzger still plays viola for the Princeton University Orchestra and is majoring in politics. She added she believes she made the right choice in attending a liberal arts school rather than a conservatory. Still, music will always be a big part of her life, she said of the skill that has surprised her with many transferable skills. “One thing which has always struck me is the idea of a universal language,” Naftzger said. “Even when I’ve played in Germany or China, I have always been able to communicate to the people I’m working with, even though I don’t speak their language.”
The Daily Princetonian
Thursday December 4, 2014
THE DARK WAWA RISES
FIT TIPS: winter workout motivation
HARRISON BLACKMAN
NICOLE BUNYAN
Senior Writer
Contributor
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tep off the Dinky into the new station, and you enter a world transformed. After putting us through the ad hoc efficiency of the temporary Dinky station, Princeton has declared: Welcome to the future. A soaring steel canopy over the Dinky station waiting room reaches for the heavens. Electronic signs announce the Dinky’s schedule. Adjacent to all this is the new Wawa, a black-onyx proposition with large windows that is part Wawa, part stealth fighter. One half expects Michael Caine’s character from “Interstellar” to step outside and announce that once he has solved the problem of gravity and that he has transformed the WaWa into the premier spaceship of our generation. My roommate said he thought the Wawa looked like a prison. I disagreed, saying that if the new Wawa looked like a prison, then it was the sexiest prison I had ever seen. Designed by Arizona-based architect Rick Joy, it seems that the Dinky station and Wawa are meant to make Princeton look high-tech and sophisticated, to complete a gradual progression of modernity that stretches from I.M. Pei’s polarizing Spelman complex, past New South’s small, boxy tower and stretching to the forthcoming Arts Complex. But let’s be real: all of these modern buildings have actually been leading up to the Wawa. Like life’s evolution from amphibian to reptile to mammal, the new Wawa is the apotheosis of Princeton’s modern architecture scene. One only has to enter Rick Joy’s new Wawa building to attain a sense of wonder that no other convenience store can muster. The old Wawa was homey in the sense of its storied past selling students
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BEN KOGER :: PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
coffee, hoagies and mixers late into the night. It was noble in that its façade resembled a minimalist evocation of the Alamo — squint a bit at its picture and you’ll know what I’m talking about. The new Wawa, however, is the future of convenience stores — fast, seductive and out-of-control. Let me explain. Enter the building and witness the homage to the past with the stained glass banner of the previous store, giving the new Wawa a sense of continuity, kind of like a tattoo you got at Reunions that you can’t remove. Above the cashier’s desk is a circular skylight with a continuous, feathered design that, while impressive, is certainly not something you will notice when on your two a.m. drunchies trip. Enter the bathroom’s frosted glass door and stare in awe at what seems a regal lavatory airlifted from a fine SoHo restaurant. The stalls have wood paneling. Wood paneling! Where am I, Campus Club’s second-floor spacious, individual stalls? Mirrors, tiling and fancy sinks complete the portrait of the heavenly
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restrooms. How is this a Wawa? The impressive bathroom distracts from the quiet distinctions of the interior Wawa. Make your hoagie orders digitally as always, and, in a particular, corporate vision of the future, purchase any Coca-Cola beverage your blood pressure desires with that fancy soda fountain. Emerging from the new Wawa unscathed, I was surprised at its incredible amenities, and the fact that so much has been invested in a convenience store. The University built the convenience store on a $330 million budget — admittedly some of that funding will build the accompanying Arts & Transit Complex, though in terms of priorities I’m sure the majority of the $330 million should have gone to Wawa. The gross domestic product of the island nation of Micronesia is $335 million. Better try to get ahead, Micronesia, while you still can! Is the new Wawa a good allocation of resources? Let me think about that while I order my hoagie, eat it with Sriracha sauce and use that gorgeous bathroom.
aybe it’s because there’s only true daylight between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., or maybe it’s because shorts and parkas don’t mix well, but one thing is for sure: Dillon Gymnasium and the towpath get much less crowded during the wintertime. As the weather gets colder, the words “workout,” “gym” and “exercise” seem to be used less and less frequently, and rarely with a cheery tone. I’ll admit, the thought of returning from a run with a pounding headache from the cold, fingers so frozen that your iPhone doesn’t even respond and sweat-icicles hanging from your face doesn’t compete so well with your warm, comfortable bed. Times like these tend to squelch motivation to exercise and tempt us to stay in bed and watch Netflix, deeming the late thirsty-Thursday night walk from the Street to the Wa as the weekly workout. (This habit also makes it much less likely to make it to the gym the next day.) If you find yourself drawn to hibernation during the winter months instead of to the gym, you
could benefit from the following tips to keep (or get) you on track. • Go to an exercise class! Dillon offers many group exercise classes ranging from yoga, to indoor cycling, to strength training. The energy of group exercise is unparalleled, and I am a firm believer that there is a type of class for everyone. My personal favorite? Spinning! If you’re looking for a calorie-torching, lowimpact workout, this 45-minute class is the way to go. I’ve been spinning for about eight years now, and can whole-heartedly say it has dramatically improved my fitness and lifestyle. • Make it a date. No, I’m not suggesting you ask that cute guy or girl to spot you as you squat (that may well be one of the more awkward things you could do, now that I think about it), but ask friends who are also interested in keeping up their fitness to be your gym buddies. You’ll (hopefully) feel much more compelled to actually make it to the gym if you know you have someone waiting on you. Not enough motivation? Put something on the line! Dinner, coffee for
COURTESY OF PRINCETONCONVERSATIONS.WORDPRESS.COM
a month or laundry (yuck) all make great stakes for bets. • Lay out your clothes the night before. For me, this is crucial if I want to ensure that my morning workout happens. Completing this small task means I have one fewer excuse to not go work out and I don’t have to suffer the guilt of putting the clothes back in the drawer. • Sign up for a challenging event. That 10K or half-marathon in March isn’t going to run itself! Sign up for an event challenging enough that you can’t just “wing it.” Better yet, write out a training plan so that you can perform your best on race day! • Play intramurals! Every semester, I sign up for many intramural sports and do my best to attend every game. I genuinely love playing the goofy yet competitive games (ever heard of inner-tube water polo or wallyball?), and always finish the IM season with a couple of new friends. Check out the CampusRec website for a full list. Some of the sports offered include badminton, soccer (indoor and outdoor), basketball and volleyball. • Try squash! Deemed the “healthiest sport” by Forbes magazine, squash boasts — points to you if you understand that pun! — a multitude of benefits, and it’s no coincidence so many people pick it up in college. In the enclosed court, you and a partner can hit the ball as hard as your heart desires and run yourselves to exhaustion in relatively short amounts of time. Plus, Dillon has several courts available for student use and even sells affordable rackets.
The Daily Princetonian
Thursday December 4, 2014
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Leads stand out in Princeton Chinese Theater’s ‘Mr. Mule’ OLIVER SUN Senior Writer
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hat are the consequences when corruption runs so deeply in a society that it infiltrates even the purest of hearts and causes the downfall of even the brightest ideals? “Mr. Mule,” a play about a small village’s struggle with corruption during the regime of the Kuomintang in early 20th century China, explores just that. Written by Shen Zhou and Lu Liu and directed by Qin Xia ’16 and Eddie Chen ’16, “Mr. Mule” delivers a scathing satire on the lengths that people will take to justify their own corrupt decisions. The play follows the plight of a small school in pursuit of extra funds. To increase their government grant, the principal and his staff decide to fabricate the existence of a fifth school employee, the so-called Mr. Mule (inspired by an actual town mule). Naturally, complications arise, and the school administrators are forced to present a real human teacher when the government commissioner comes to town. What follows is an Eliza Doolittle-like transformation of the town blacksmith and a ploy that quickly begins to snowball and spiral out of control. Klaus Cao ’18, the blacksmith-turnedfake-English-teacher, provides a powerful performance as a naïve and innocent villager caught up in scandal over
his head. Cao’s body language is intentional throughout the performance as he clearly conveys his character’s metamorphosis through his posture, gestures and accents. His speech work, transitioning from a distinctly country lilt to the more urban and mainstream accent of the Chinese cultured and elite characters, is also impressive and complements his body language choices. There is something of a meta-instance here, as an actor plays a character who is pretending to be someone else. However, Cao makes it work well by clearly acting out the differences between the blacksmith and Mr. Mule. Julie Chen ’17, who plays the principal’s daughter, Jia Jia, also gives a notable performance. Throughout the play, she is the only character who remains idealistic and uncorrupted. Jia Jia is also the only character who cared for the real mule in the village by feeding him and looking after him. Chen delivers a moving monologue about compassion, and the moment is heartfelt as Chen effectively channels the emotion of the character and moment. This play also includes musical elements. Claire Hu, who plays the school’s female teacher, Yiman Zhang, performs her singing part with aplomb. The accompanying instrumentals were also
impressive. Throughout the play, the use of traditional Chinese instruments and melodies further enhances the setting by aurally transporting the audience to this small village in the early 20th century. However, at other times, audio elements did not work as well. For instance, during some parts at the beginning of the play, percussion was used to provide emphasis during cer-
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ‘Mr. Mule’ Pros: Strong cast, apt musical
elements.
Cons: Satire’s humor does not
show, costuming anachronisms.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: tain moments of the conversation. The resulting sounds seemed random and did not enhance the play’s dialogue. The original “Mr. Mule” was intended to have some comedic elements, and Princeton Chinese Theatre’s production attempts to maintain some of them. Unfortunately, some of the attempts
at humor fall flat. One example was in the play’s opening scene, when the school meeting escalates into a shouting match. Although the yelling is supposed to be humorous, it comes across as excessively loud and does not communicate the comedic value. There are also some inaccuracies in costuming that detract from the production. The commissioner is intended to be a caricature of a corrupt government official, as portrayed by his extravagant uniform and his avarice for funding. However, his uniform presents several anachronistic incongruities. The cap badge he wears is actually the emblem of the People’s Republic of China, when it should be the white star on a blue background of the Kuomintang. Additionally, his sidearm is a 19th century Colt revolver — an extremely unlikely weapon of choice for a 20th century Chinese government official. The performance would have been enhanced by a better sense of time. Overall, Princeton Chinese Theatre delivers a decent performance. “Mr. Mule” explores the painful questions of whether practical needs in hard times can ever justify outright corruption. While it features solid performances from the leading characters, its flat comedic scenes and prop inconsistencies hold the play back.
BODYHYPE PRESENTS
‘DISTORTION’
STREET’S
TOP TEN
1 3 5 7 9
Future USG Campaign Platforms
Sweet potato curly fries.
2 4 6 8 10
One Nobel laureate per student. Leveling Princeton: no more hill.
Squirrel curriculum. Crushed ICE instead of cubes.
Complimentary eyebrow threading in Frist MPR. Shawon statue in stone.
Obamacare. Build-A-Bear Workshop in U-Store.
One-week winter recess.
CAMPUS PICKS
BodyHype Dance Company debuts in the Berlind Theatre this Thursday and Friday with their fall show, ‘Distortion.’
LECTURE HEEMS: RACE, HIPHOP, ACTIVISM
Photos by KATHERINE TOBEASON
McCormick 106 Friday, 5:30 p.m.
Contributing Photographer
“It’s your boy Kreayshawn dressed as a bear!” Das Racist’s Heems, also known as Himanshu Suri, will spit verses about social and political activism as well as his career. Sponsored by the Princeton Asian American Students Association, the talk will touch on Heems’ start in the financial sector, his time as a member of the Brooklyn-based hip-hop group Das Racist and his current activist work. Heems is currently fighting gerrymandering in Queens, New York and helping immigrants navigate the political process. Don’t miss this opportunity!
FILM: GRIZZLY MAN Robertson Bowl 1 Thursday, 9 p.m.
What happens when a man spends 13 summers with grizzly bears in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve and leaves behind 100 hours of footage after his death? In “Grizzly Man,” German director Werner Herzog weaves together a documentary about the life, passion for grizzly bears and tragic death of Timothy Treadwell. Join Outdoor Action as they offer a screening of this award-winning documentary.
DANCE PUB’s Winter Solstice BERLIND THEATRE SUNDAY, 4:30 P.M. FRIST FILM/PERFORMANCE THEATRE TUESDAY, 7 P.M. NEXT THURSDAY, 7 P.M. AND 9 P.M.
HEADLINERS AND HEADSHAKERS contributions to feminism on ‘Prince’ website this week DAILY PRINCETONIAN COMMENTERS
“Thank God, not for their ousting of course, but bringing back some humor and personality into the culture of the University. Well done my boys!” “The real crime is the damage it has surely done to the two Tiger Inn officers whom the TI board ‘fired’ and whose names the NY Times unconscionably published.”
“This chick must be a huge bitch.”
in the video “Do you REALLY think the ‘male’ nsent’ to gave (and continued to give) his ‘co her attacks on his person?” “WHETHER OR NOT YOU AGREE WITH THE EVENT ITSELF, I THINK WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT THE DAILY PRINCE IS A DYING INSTITUTION.”
ive “This article is just part of the greater destruct trend that thinks intellectual liberality means ” protecting everyone from any sort of offense.
Madison Square Garden a bit too far for you to get your winter ballet fix? No worries — you can catch your favorite holiday ballet pieces with Princeton University Ballet. Celebrate the Winter Solstice a week early this year with PUB’s winter show! Featuring excerpts from the beloved holiday classic “The Nutcracker” as well as studentchoreographed numbers, the show and its fiery dancers are sure to melt even the iciest of hearts. Let PUB’s jetés and pirouettes spirit you away into an elegant winter wonderland before you head home for the holidays.
DANCE BodyHype presents ‘Distortion’ Berlind Theatre Thursday and Friday, 7 p.m and 10 p.m
Thanksgiving break felt too short, and now you cannot help but struggle to kick it into gear for the last few weeks of class. Words on the pages are just endless squiggles, and numbers float off the page and into thin air. Don’t worry if you think you are going crazy; you’re not the only one whose world is distorted. This weekend BodyHype presents “Distortion,” its first show of the year. Debuting in the lovely Berlind Theatre, the company is sure to deliver a mindbending performance.