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Trebloc
evolution
design changes as critiques come in PAGE 3
Open & schutt
ex-Soil & Water head denies budget woes
Meet President Garrett!
PAGE 4
Get to
a Trance
Sufi devotional music in Cornell concert PAGE 23
Godot
Arrives
Yiddish festival: plays and a film PAGE 25
Fa l l e n t m Ente r t a in side G Guide in by Christopher J. Harrington
rowing up with a chronic disease I often felt slightly alone, isolated, and strangely detached from other humans in a way that is hard to describe. Throughout high school and college it was particularly difficult. I can still remember the precise moment in time—walking through the streets with my headphones on, my Sony Walkman spinning a strange new album, feeling engaged and charged like never before—that those realities began to melt away. Sepultura’s Beneath the Remains and Fugazi’s Steady Diet of Nothing were the first real metal and hardcore albums that truly touched and changed me. They were undeniably different from one another, yet both showcased an intensity I had never experienced. I listened to those albums over and over, living with them by my side. Their aggression, pain and hope matched my feelings of isolation and confusion and helped me gain a confidence that burned deep within my heart. Music can have interstellar and profound effects on human beings—in particular heavy metal and hardcore,
which demand more of an intense listening some confused, isolationist anger, and [it] effort than other music. I grew up in a separated me from ‘normal’ kids. My first small town with little to no music scene, clenched fist was raised to the Sex Pistols, having to travel hundreds of miles to reach and [it] just got more white-knuckled and shows. Ithaca, while not a giant place by red as my musical tastes grew faster and any means, definitely has a music scene, and within this music scene there is a unique and developing metal and hardcore segment, infused with talented individuals from Binghamton and Syracuse, that is ripe for more exposure. The passion that it takes to play this form of music is immense, and this small city is lucky to have such devoted individuals. Andrew Hernandez, the drummer for the Earth Crisis in action (Photo Provided) Ithaca-based metal band Twin Lords, which is set to release their first fulllength album on the label Handshake Inc., heavier.” shared his story of finding such music. Dan Rivera, the bassist of Twin Lords, “Growing up with my mother raising me recalled his own transformation. “I was since my father abandoned us left me with especially a big rap fan and listened to a T
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Medial Limits performing (Photo provided)
lot of Run-D.M.C. and Fat Boys, but 1986 was the year that changed everything. I was introduced to Iron Maiden’s Somewhere in Time and Metallica’s Master of Puppets, which changed my life forever. The energy, power and emotional complexity which were expressed in these albums were unlike anything I’d ever heard before, and from that moment I was hooked.” Ithaca’s Avery Galek, guitarist and songwriter for the local progressive doom band Doubt, spoke of the varying dynamics of metal and hardcore. “It is a vessel often used to convey ideas that concern important social, political and societal issues. It has spawned so many different movements throughout history and has helped generations of people become more aware and proactive about things like animal rights, human rights, substance abuse and mental illness.” There is a deep fabric to this form of music, one that shapes individual and collective vision. This music has many layers that envelop a human’s whole
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