Buzz Magazine: Aug. 25, 2005

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PAUL SAYS MY ELBOWS ARE TOO LONG.

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ULTIMATE DIVE One Buzz writer’s experience pg. 6

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!"#$%&"'(

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TATTOO ON THE LOWER BACK? MIGHT AS WELL BE A BULLSEYE.

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PHONE: 217/337-8337 DEADLINE: 2 p.m. Tuesday for the next Thursday’s edition.

APARTMENTS

FIRST SNIFF This weekend marks the 30th annual Sweetcorn Festival in downtown Urbana. Perhaps I was a little harsh with my words recently about my hometown. But it’s an event like the Sweetcorn Festival that makes me remember just how and why Urbana will always be a better city than Champaign.And now that we have a new mayor and a new uber-liberal city council, despite our trash can problems, we just might qualify as being one of the greatest cities on Earth. I mean, come on! The Family Stone is playing the Sweetcorn Fest! You’ve gotta love that…

YOU

HAVE A MUSIC SCENE!

Looking around campus, it’s nice to see, for the first time in years, all the students back and getting into the swing of things. Perhaps it’s because I don’t live anywhere close to campus any longer, or maybe it’s just because I am three years removed from finals, but, welcome home or here students, new and old. For the third year in a row, I will now list for you the local bands that you absolutely must go see while in school down here: Bailey, The Beauty Shop, The Living Blue, The Invisible, Green Light Go, Relenter, Headlights, Terminus Victor, Triple Whip, The Chemicals, Shipwreck, Lorenzo Goetz, Tractor Kings, Pulsar47, Ambitious Pie Party, The Elanors, Angie Heaton, i:Scintilla, JigGsaw, Apollo Project,Theory of Everything, Mike Ingram, Darling Disarm, Beat Kitchen, Kate Hathaway, Greytones, Fireflies, Mad Science Fair, American Minor, Rob McColley, Emotional Rec Club, Delta Kings.

And there are so many more. So much so that my editor told me that I had to cut 50 of them due to space. But I should mention that this semester, you can also go see HUM, the most important band to ever come out of Champaign-Urbana.And yes, I am aware that REO Speedwagon is from here. In fact, and this is no lie, my father gave them their first show ever.True story.

LIKE TO GET DOWN…

INDEX

I should take the time to also acknowledge the fact that we have a badass DJ scene here too.

Personally, I don’t get it, the whole DJ thing.What on Earth compels someone to shake that ass? I do not have the answer. But I know that a lot of people like to do it. So, for those of you out there who dig on the DJ thing, I have only a couple recommendations: DJ Mertz and DJ J-Phlip (Thursdays at Soma), DJ Elise, DJ Bozak, DJ ZoZo and DJ Twinscin (Tuesdays at Highdive), DJ Resonate, DJ Limbs, DJ Lil’ Big Bass, DJ Nachos BellGrande, DJ Delayney (the ultimate).

And I know that there are so many more that my DJ friends are going to slaughter me about,but this was the best I could do damnit! Given the space I have…

Also, for those of you who have some knowledge of years past, rumor has it that d-Lo and Spinnerty will be in town in late September and will be tearing up Soma.True story.

SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION I learned the art of shameless self-promotion as a child. I saw a band play Seth Fein is from where the bassist decided to Urbana. It’s true – inundate everyone he saw at he is a promoter. the record store he worked at But at the end of with news about his band. So, the day, he just I find nothing wrong with it. really loves listenTo get to the point, my ing to music on buddy and I are putting on a vinyl and watching mu s i c f e s t iva l i n l a t e these towns grow.

September. It is called He can be reached at sethfein@ Pygmalion Music Festival. If hotmail.com you are so inclined, you can search online and find out more about it at www.pygmalionmusicfest.com.

After all, Buzz Magazine is a sponsor, so I guess that makes this type of promo okay.

In any event, I do hope that all of you new students and old students help support the music scene here.Without us, it is nothing. Go check out champaignofblogs.blogspot.com for updates about the scene. Greymatter tends to post great content.

True story.

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I N T R O | A R O U N D T O W N | L I S T E N , H E A R | M A I N E V E N T | A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T | T H E S I LV E R S C R E E N | T H E S T I N G E R | C L A S S I F I E D S

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Shameless self-promotion for Pygmalion Music Festival AND, IF YOU

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Unfurnished

The local music sniff

SETH FEIN • CONTRIBUTING WRITER

buzz weekly •

I TRIED TO SNIFF COKE ONCE, BUT THE ICE CUBES GOT STUCK UP MY NOSE.

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Eight to Nine Bedroom Fall, Campus, $2850 367-6626 Sabbatical house Available Jan. 1July 1, 2006. Four large bedrooms, Finished basement, fenced. Back yard, cable modem, 10 minutes from campus. Completely furnished. Located in Cherry Hills. $1850/mo.

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w i l l

a s t r o l o g y

drive to create. You've been spinning out little miracles and making everything fresh again and again and again. The astrological omens say you'll need to take a break soon. Do this under your own power, please, so that fate doesn't have to force you to do it.

LEO

(')* +&%,"-!%&./01

descendants will be able to read about your exploits and contributions, it could very well be because of events you set in motion during the next six weeks. The possibility that you will make a mark on eternity is as great as it has ever been.

SAGITTARIUS

(Nov. 22-Dec.21)

You wouldn't plant a rosebush in a spot where a geyser erupts periodically, would you? You wouldn't build a romantic hideaway on the bank of a river that floods every year, right?

So please say you won't be careless as you track down the best place to express your love and fertility in the future.

Swear to me that you'll research the possibilities with forethought and a passion for detail.

"Dear Dr. Brezsny: I was wondering if you had any information about Beyonders, people who were born under no star and who are therefore not ruled by the stars.

–Leo Goddess, a.k.a. Wannabe Beyonder" Dear Wannabe: It's impossible to be born under no star.

However, it's true that periodically we all go through periods when we're relatively free from the authority of the stars we were born under. During these times, we're less susceptible to the whims of fate and the demands of the past and the compulsions of karma. Our willpower has more breathing room.

It happens to be one of those phases for you Leos right now.

At least temporarily, you're like a Beyonder.

There's a three-mile stretch of Interstate 880 south of Oakland, California that I call the Singing Highway. For reasons I don't understand, it generates low humming melodies every time I drive over it, similar to the guttural chants of Tibetan monks. Sometimes I swear I can even hear lyrics. Today, for example, I was driving to the airport. My mind turned to you, my Sagittarian readers. Yours was the only horoscope I had left to write for this week, and to pass the time I thought I'd scavenge around for fresh intuitions. Just then I reached the Singing Highway, and I swear I began hearing the same lyric repeating over and over again: "a shortcut to the path with heart/ a shortcut to the path with heart/ a shortcut to the path with heart." Coincidence? I don't think so.

TAU RU S

VIRGO

CAPRICORN

ARIES

(March 21-April 19)

(April 20-May 20)

(May 21-June 20)

The average major league baseball game lasts nearly three hours, but the time when the ball is actually in play is only about 10 minutes. In other words, there's a lot of waiting around between brief flurries of activity. Sound familiar, Gemini? From what I can tell, your life recently has had a lot of prolonged stretches when nothing much of interest or importance has happened. I bet that will soon change, though.

According to my reading of the astrological omens, the action is about to heat up. Get ready to score in double figures.

CANCER

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

Writing in The New York Times, Nicholas Kristof reported that the media has been as guilty of ignoring the ongoing genocide in Darfur as the Bush administration has been. In June, he said, the main TV news programs collectively ran 55 times more stories about the Michael Jackson trial than they did about East Africa's crisis. CBS gave three minutes of coverage to Darfur in all of 2004, and NBC five minutes. As soon as you finish reading this horoscope, Virgo, I hope you will take aggressive action to avoid falling victim to equally misplaced priorities in your personal life. Don't you dare let trivial spectacles divert you from healing the sorest spot in your world.

About every 90 seconds, there's an earthquake somewhere on the planet. Most are very small and aren't felt by normal human beings. But I predict that in the coming days you may actually be aware of those subtle tremors arising from deep in the planet-just as I expect you'll be highly attuned to every little change in the weather and each minute shift in the emotional atmosphere of your immediate environments. In fact, Taurus, you may soon be more sensitive than you've been in years. You'll probably also be impressionable, perceptive, empathetic, and even psychic.

GEMINI

(July 23-Aug. 22)

LIBRA

(Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

This week's new word, class, is bravura. Derived from an old Italian word for "bold," it has two meanings: (1) skill and brilliance exhibited in a performance or task; (2) a display of incredible daring. In the coming week, I urge you to write I have bravura on your palm, on your mirror, and anywhere else your eyes frequently gaze upon. If you keep reminding yourself that you now have the capacity to pull off acts of bravura, you will in fact pull them off.

(June 21-July 22)

SCORPIO

After mating for the first and only time, a young queen ant burrows underground, where she lays about 20 eggs a day for 10 years. Sometimes you remind me of her, Cancerian--lately, for instance. You have been animated by an almost insatiable

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Of all the animals in the world, the fly is the most unloved.

It annoys us with its zigzag buzzing. When it lands in our food, we lose our appetite, knowing it carries residues of the disgusting things it has preyed on. But in the creation story of the Chelan Indians, the fly is given a heroic role to play because of its speed. In modern parlance, people say they'd like to be a fly on the wall in a place where an interesting conversation takes place. And the ancient Roman poet Virgil had a pet fly that saved him a fortune. When the fly died, he gave it a large funeral and declared its final resting place a cemetery, thereby avoiding a sizable land tax through a legal loophole. In the coming

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AQUARIUS

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PISCES

(Feb. 19-March 20)

According to my analysis of the astrological omens, Pisces, the week ahead will be overflowing with paradox. Lucky danger may be headed your way, or a risky opportunity that will feel like an ordeal even as it brings out the best in you. I also wouldn't be surprised if you had encounters with benevolent trouble, exacting love, and weighty silliness. To thrive in the midst of these rich anomalies, you should suspend any prejudices you might have against puzzling evidence. Don't just tolerate the contradictions--love them.

Homework: Imagine a moral code rooted in beauty, love, pleasure, and liberation instead of order, control, repression, and fear. Tell me about it at www.freewillastrology.com.

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Across 1 What some older golfers use as a scoring goal 4 Dessert at the drivethru 9 Do a Chicken Dance move 13 “Friends” costar 14 Polytheist of sorts 15 Got fired up 17 Show whose originial theme song was done by Bill Haley and His Comets 19 Campfire bit 20 “___, Sing America” (Langston Hughes poem) 21 Cartoon show whose theme song is done

by Les Claypool of Primus 23 Cell with an axon 26 Black Panther Party

co-founder Bobby 27 Beginnings 29 Type of popcorn 33 The Presidents of the United States of America sang its theme (with “The”) 36 News agcy.

38 Far less than quadri39 Linguist’s suffix 40 Show whose theme was written and performed by Quincy Jones 47 “Hey, watch where you’re going!” oaf 48 Feet-landing-first dives 51 Andorra neighbor 54 University in Philadelphia 55 With 61-across, show whose theme is sung

by They Might Be Giants

I N T R O | A R O U N D T O W N | L I S T E N , H E A R | M A I N E V E N T | A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T | T H E S I LV E R S C R E E N | T H E S T I N G E R | C L A S S I F I E D S

(Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

When rock star Courtney Love asked me for advice about her relationship with rock star Trent Reznor a few years ago, I told her the same thing I'll tell you now: Empty your brain of everything you think you know about the person who both excites you and drives you crazy. Drop all of your fantasies and projections and expectations. As soon as you do, you will clearly see that person is not a diabolical angel whose main task in life is to rouse your obsessive thoughts, but rather a flawed human being who has only a partial resemblance to what you imagine him or her to be. When you achieve that enlightened state, then and only then will there be even a shred of hope that you two

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59 End in ___ 60 Menage a ___ 61 See 55-across 64 Have a feeling 65 Sheltering sort 66 The Matterhorn, e.g.

67 Game with a “Livin’ Large” expansion, with “The” 68 Borden bovine 69 Learned and smart, in rebus puzzles Down 1 Like broken hearts 2 Popular facial hair 3 Bringing forth a statement 4 Bond, e.g.

5 Conned 6 “Jumpin’ Jack Flash, it’s ___...”

7 Knocks out cold 8 Come after 9 KISS member Ace

s o u n d s

10 Snail relatives 11 Jessica of “Fantastic Four” 12 Fair jury member 16 Dwight Gooden’s nickname 18 One who reads thoroughly 22 Have 24 Sugary suffix 25 Word in four state names 28 Gulf War missile 30 Tomorrow 31 ___ Lobos 32 She puts the “she” in “sheep” 34 Santa ___ winds 35 It comes in a small box 36 Kind of computer port 37 With 62-down, longbearded teacher in “Kill Bill: Vol. 2” 41 Extreme form of government 42 Takes the anti side 43 Flesh and blood 44 He gets a holiday in June 45 Title for the unknown 46 2,004 years ago 49 Actor John C. ___ of “The Aviator” 50 Doc’s mate 52 “___ One That I Want” (Margaret Cho album) 53 Nothing, in ancient Rome 55 Range components: abbr.

56 Bellicose god 57 “WKRP” alum Anderson 58 Beatty and Flanders, for two 62 See 37-down 63 Burning anger

3

buzz weekly •

WHY DO I HAVE TO BE IN CAMOUFLAGE? IS THE BIG BAD QUAIL GONNA GET ME?

BUZZ STAFF

It's unlikely that you or I or anyone we know will become famous enough to earn a mention in the historical records of the future. The odds are probably 10 million to 1. But if you do manage to make such a prominent name for yourself that our

.9% .9%

-

3 1 , 2 OO5

weeks, Capricorn, I predict you will find similar redemption in an influence you have always regarded as comparable to the fly's.

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Festival of the Arts • Katie Pyle Artist’s Corner with Holly Rushakoff (Th)ink • Keef Knight

15 15 | 16 - 17 |

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American Minor interview • Frank Krolicki Thee Shams review • Kyle Gorman Sound Ground #90 • Todd J. Hunter

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| 14 - 15 |

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Buzz magazine is a student-run publication of Illini

AROUND TOWN

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The Local Sniff • Seth Fein This Modern World • Tom Tomorrow Life in Hell • Matt Groening Slowpoke • Jen Sorensen First Things First • Michael Coulter

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TALK TO BUZZ

INTRO

| 18 | 18 18 | 19 - 20 |

THE SILVER SCREEN Red Eye review • Paul Prikazsky 40 Year Old Virgin review • David Just Valiant review • Syd Slobodnik Movie Time Listings

THE STINGER Free Will Astrology Jonesin’ Crosswords • Matt Gaffney

CLASSIFIEDS

3

EDITOR’S NOTE PAUL WAGNER • EDITOR IN CHIEF

It’s that time again. All of

the students have come back to campus. And I have to say it, having campus full again is sort of odd.This summer was damn near void of students. The bars were empty, there wasn’t nearly as much traffic, and gas was cheaper.

OK, maybe school has nothing to do with the gas prices, but I can certainly blame the lines and the traffic on school. Really, though, when I take a moment to think about it, I’m quite glad school is starting and students are back.

And not only for the freshmen girls. Oh no. Although that is a bonus, campus just felt too empty when it was, well, empty. The quad wasn’t full of people, the streets were always empty, and the bars were completely empty (which is only good because of the lack of lines).

My sister is an incoming freshamn this year (yes, I’m a ridiculously over-protective older brother), and last week I moved her into the dorms. It definitely brought back some memories.

I loved the dorms. Despite the cramped living space, I met all kinds of people in the dorms. All of my current roommates came from the dorms, and most of my other good friends and I met in the dorms as well.

Hell, I even miss the food I used to hate so

much. Dorm food is great. Just the other day I mooched lunch from a friend in the dorms, and it was delicious. Not only because it was free, but because I didn’t have to prepare it!

All I had to do was grab a tray and stuff myself with food. Classes are great places to meet people too, but it’s not quite as easy.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the privacy and freedom of non-dorm living, but having an entire floor of potential people to waste time with is an incredible prospect.

Apartment buildings, at least my apartment building, haven’t quite grasped the opendoor policy we had in the dorms. But maybe that’s just the air conditioning...

Regardless, it’s great to see campus full again. It just doesn’t feel the same without the bustling sidewalks, huge lines outside the bars, and massive groups of freshmen walking around without a clue as to where the hell they are (ahh freshmen).

So to students new and old, good luck with this semester, and the rest of your time here, for that matter. It goes by way too quickly, but damn, is it fun.

And go see a girls’ soccer game while you’re here.They rock, and my sister is on the team.Tell your friends. Hell, tell your friends to read the Buzz.

Also, if you missed us at Quad Day, Illini Media Company is having info nights on August 30 and 31 from 5-7. Go check ‘em out, come work with some cool people.

-Paul

Answers pg. 11

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!"#$%&'

THE PAINTING WAS A GIFT, AND I’M TAKING IT WITH ME.

first things first

Garage drinking practice

AU G . 25

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When I was a sophomore in

high school, I got my first letter for playing football. I point this out not to be a braggart, but simply to give you some insight on how poor our football team was.

Regardless, I got the letter on a Wednesday, had it sewn on my jacket on Thursday, and was wearing it by Friday. I have to say, I was pretty proud, or maybe just cocky. Sadly, while I was feeling all special, something bad happened. On that Friday night, since I was pretending I was a good football player, I also decided to pretend I was a good drinker. I was neither.

A few of my friends who were also sporting their new letters came over to our house that evening.We told my parents we would be in the garage playing poker, but I’m pretty sure they knew better. We were actually in the garage drinking as much of my dad’s beer as we could stomach. Dad would come out every hour or so, get a beer for himself, and just smile at us guys. My friends were staying overnight, so there was no driving, and I think Dad was aware that this was the time in our lives when

we were going to start drinking and thought it best if we had a few dry runs in the garage before we were thrown on the general public.

My friend Mark went in the house to pee about 10 p.m. and realized my Dad was asleep on the couch. So, Mark felt this was the perfect time to break out the bottle of peppermint schnapps he’d stolen from his father’s liquor cabinet. By that point, the beer was really taking hold and we were even more impressed with ourselves than we’d been at the beginning of the evening. We were very special and apparently very thirsty, so we began to guzzle the liquor from the bottle.

Actually, that isn’t all true. Most of the guys just put the bottle to their lips and pretended to take a drink. Mark and I stepped up to the plate and poured it down our throats like it was good for us, a minty little treat that tasted so good on the way down it never occurred to us that it would lose much of it’s allure on the way back up.The other guys fell asleep in the house, but we stayed in the garage until the bottle was finished.

Details are a little sketchy after that, but there was plenty of testimony and evidence for my trial the next morning. The main piece of evidence was my new lettermen’s jacket, which I evidently neglected to take off before I began vomiting onto my chest. There was also the

damning testimony of my poor mother who tried to clean my drunk ass up. She would fill the bathtub with me in it, wipe me off until I threw up in the water, drain the bathtub, fill it again, wipe me off ‌ well, you get the idea.

Mark couldn’t provide any eyewitness accounts to this, as he’d opted to vomit outside and quietly fall asleep in the backyard.

My other friends went home the next morning and Mark and I sat on the couch staring at our knees, fairly sure we would be drawn and quartered for our little experiment. Surprisingly, mom came in and announced we would be going to the movies that afternoon.

We were stunned as we were expecting a far worse punishment. On the way out the door, the picture came more into focus. We were handed our stinking, wretched, puke soaked lettermen’s jackets and informed that we would be wearing them for the rest of the day.

We couldn’t imagine actually wearing them for any period of time since each of us began dry heaving the moment we got one arm into a sleeve. Eventually, we were dressed and at the movies, swallowing hard for two hours, trying to push the sweet minty vomit back into our stomachs. I didn’t drink much hard liquor for the rest of high school.

•

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SYD SLOBODNIK • STAFF WRITER

The story may seem sort of strange and probably way too long since I’m just now getting to the point of the whole thing, but I’m sort of glad it happened. At the very least, I’m glad it happened at my house instead of in a parking lot somewhere. Particularly since I doubt a stranger would have continued to bath me after I tainted my bath water four or five times.

Anyway, what made me Michael Coulter think of this was an article is a videographI read last week about a group er, comedian of parents that are going to and sort of a great lengths to prevent their smart-ass. But high schoolers from drinking. we love him anyI know it’s something that’s sort way, and don’t of hard to advocate, drunken know why. teenagers, but if they’re gonna Probably because he’s so drink sometime, I think everydamn funny. one would be better served if they had a little practice at it in garages across the country rather than out in public. It’s a skill like anything else. Maybe it’s just me, but if I meet someone who’s stopped drinking, I can respect them for their decision, but if I meet someone who has never drank, I never really trust them.

buzz weekly •

YOU’RE CRAZY. I LIKE YOU, BUT YOU’RE CRAZY.

VALIANT

Similar to garage band practice, but different ... mostly because of the vomit MICHAEL COULTER • CONTRIBUTING WRITER

AU G . 25

It’s always quite interesting to see how the

major studios treat their late summer releases.

Many times they have no faith in the film’s potential and simply dump the film before a quicker DVD release. Other films, like Disney’s Valiant, are fascinating little films with simple pleasures that probably don’t have enough narrative potential, star power or stunning special effects to impress a wide audience seeking a last blast of summer entertainment before Labor Day. Disney, along with Vanguard Animation, co-produced Valiant and, with first time director Gary Chapman, create a pleasant little animated adventure which has enough to please an under12 crowd, but may perplex its youthful audiences with its many World War II references.

Valiant’s narrative by George Webster and Jordan Katz tells a rather standard tale of highflying wartime heroics of a special troupe of homing pigeons. A young, and just “a little too short� wood pigeon named Valiant, learns of the romantic heroism of many courageous war pigeons and enlists in the Royal Homing Pigeon Service, seemingly a branch of the Royal Air Force. After some rigorous training, Valiant and his handful of avian recruits are assigned to Major Gutsy’s “F Squad� and are sent behind enemy lines, across the English Channel, to retrieve secret plans from the French resistance to help the Allies’ plan for the D-Day invasion.

Older viewers, who are frequently recruited into taking young children to these animated features, will find some of Valiant’s parody of World War II RAF adventures tolerable. A newsreel takeoff called “Birds on the March� tells of the important contributions of the homeland’s feathered populace.Adults will also enjoy the talented voicework of the film’s

many amusing characters. Ewan McGregor adds just enough simple naivetÊ to the vocal qualities of Valiant.Tim Curry’s villain hawk, General Von Talon, is made out to be the perfect bird version of an evil Luftwaffe commander, from his black eye patch to his humming of Wagnerian opera. Rick Gervais, of TV’s The Office, Hugh Laurie, of PBS’s Jeeves VALIANT • BRIAN LONSDALE (VOICE) and Wooster, Jim Broadbent and John Hurt all provide amusing While not nearly as spectacular as Shrek or voices to various other friends of Valiant.

Chicken Run, the film’s computer animation is Children under ten or so will enjoy the still impressive in the climactic chase sequence simple, and never insulting or rude, light humor where Valiant breathlessly soars across the of the film. Pigeon characters with the names of English countryside trying to outsmart General Lofty and Tailfeather will amuse with their silli- Von Talon and save the day. ness. Also enjoyable is a captured pigeon named While Valiant may not be a late summer Mercury, voiced by John Cleese. While caged blockbuster, it may just actually be the ideal before a torture session he yells, “This canary film for young kids to drag their grandparents will never sing.� The biggest laughs from this to. Then they’ll be able to reminisce and tell grade school crowd come when a French their grandkids the tales of what many call Resistance mouse named Rollo, a noted sabo- America’s greatest generation. tage expert, dances around with lit matches.

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AU G . 25

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GOD ONLY KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED TO THE KITTEN YOU GOT FOR HER. 'CAUSE YOU KNOW SHE DIDN'T KEEP IT.

buzz weekly •

5

“There aren't evil guys and innocent guys.

It's just... It's just...

It's just a bunch of guys.”

Zero Effect

RED EYE action genre) were made on small budgets with little-known stars. The idea was to get them into the theater, make as much money as possible and pull them out before anyone had the chance to realize how bad they were.

Red Eye works essentially the same way. With its slim running time and relatively unknown cast, director Wes Craven has fashioned a modern day exploitation film that goes straight for the throat. The story moves at a breakneck speed and the thrills come in rapid succession. And for what it’s worth, it gets the job done.

Simplicity is a key element in a good exploitation film and it doesn’t get much simpler than Red Eye. Rachel McAdams is Lisa Reisart, a good-hearted Miami hotel desk clerk, taking the late flight, the eponymous Red Eye, back home after her grandmother’s funeral in Dallas.At the airport she runs into a nice guy with an ominous name, Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy).

They have a drink, a few laughs, and part their merry ways — seemingly walking out of each other’s lives.

But fate works in mysterious ways. Jackson and Lisa wind up as seatmates on the ride to Miami. But this is no coincidence. It turns out Jackson is part of a plot to assassinate a Homeland Security chief (Jack Scalia), staying at the Miami hotel where Lisa works. Jackson offers his hostage an ultimatum: either help him get the Homeland guy right where he wants, or her father (Brian Cox) gets the axe. Literally.

After the disgraceful excuse of a film that was Cursed, it looked like Wes Craven was done with horror for a while.

Though he first burst onto the scene with classics like Last

THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN DAVID JUST • STAFF WRITER

Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) wakes up every morning, and like

most people, heads straight for the bathroom. Unfortunately, Andy finds it incredibly difficult to go to the bathroom when he has a…well, let’s just say he doesn’t need Viagra. He then proceeds to do workouts with his thighmaster in the comfort of his living room, surrounded by action figures of Aquaman, G.I. Joe, Ironman, and Darth Vader which he has collected since he was a small boy.

After breakfast, Andy steps out of his house, tightens his bicycle helmet, tucks his pant legs into his socks, and heads off to work on his Schwinn.The stock boy at an electronics store,Andy has held the same job for countless years. His coworkers, even though they fear he’s a serial killer, invite him to their poker game in need of a fifth player. After the game, the guys ask Andy about his craziest sex story. Struggling to make something up, Andy remarks that he was once with a gorgeous woman who had breasts that felt like sandbags. This invariably leaves the guys around the table to conclude that Andy is either gay, or a virgin.

DREAMWORKS

During the 70’s, exploitation films (usually in the horror or

House on the Left and A Nightmare on Elm Street, he took a different avenue with the Scream series—the trilogy that virtually dissected the genre he helped create. And the Scream movies worked, not necessarily as horror films, but as nail-biting thrillers.

And Red Eye delivers the thrills. It’s really a simple game of cat and mouse, but the claustrophobic atmosphere and first-rate performances make it exciting from beginning to end.

The real show stopper is Rachel McAdams of Wedding Crashers and Mean Girls glory. She portrays Lisa as an intelligent and resilient heroine, and not as your typical Hollywood starlet who only runs around screaming. Her performance makes every scare more believable. After all, she’s a normal person in extraordinary circumstances and her actions convey all the RED EYE • CILLIAN MURPHY fear, tension and worry that would accompany ters and straightforward plot. More character involvement (the someone in her position.

Cillian Murphy isn’t too shabby either.After his breakthrough great Brian Cox is underused) and a few twists and turns could role as a guy running from zombies in 28 Days Later, he now have made the film more exciting.

In the end, Red Eye is still a B-movie. It’s an exploitation plays a cold-blooded, conniving professional who is fiercely determined to accomplish his task. Rippner is a monster that film that is based solely around thrills to arouse the audience’s doesn’t need a mask (he’s scary-looking as it is). Murphy plays interest. For an exciting ride, it’s worth it; an unforgettable him with such conviction and evil poise that just his presence in movie it’s not. Red Eye marks Craven’s return to the shorter, simpler films of his early career. Maybe if he had a hand in the film’s climax is chilling in itself.

Red Eye is a decent film.Though it’s being released in August, developing the script, the characters would have been more the abyss of summer movies, it’s an engrossing ride even if the captivating. In fact, it worked just as those in the 70’s did. It was writing isn’t up to par. Newbie writer Carl Ellsworth has crafted an exciting ride for 86 minutes, they took my money and I left an entertaining, paranoid thriller that works well with its light- already forgetting about it. ning pace, but fails to succeed with its poorly developed characWith Andy, as the title might lead you to conclude, the latter is the correct conclusion. For all of his life,Andy has gone without sex, and somehow managed to survive. His friends pledge to help him overcome his fears and doubts so that he may finally accomplish this feat.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a romantic comedy (which often veers into the horribly unromantic) directed by Judd Apatow. Apatow too, is a virginthis is his directorial debut. But, despite it being his first time, Apatow has crafted a smart, and often times hilarious movie which works on more levels than one.

The film manages to stay away nicely from being a one-joke feature, as so many other comedies often are. Carell makes establishing Andy as a pitiful, pathetic, almost tragic but enormously likable character look easy. He meets Trish (Catherine THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN • STEVE CARELL & LESLIE MANN Ultimately, The 40-Year-Old Virgin delivers something that Keener) at the electronics store and she promptly gives him her number.Trish opened her own store called “Sell it on eBay,” where everyone can appreciate and enjoy, virgins or not. The movie people bring in their products to be sold and she sells them through teaches us that there can be no progress without risk, and that online auctions. When a customer comes in to purchase an item, trying and trying again, is the only way to succeed. Cheesy? she refuses to sell it, stating that the goods can only be bought on Maybe. But it’s just so funny. eBay. Seems Andy is not the only one with a few quirks.

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AU G . 25

It is one thing to be in the

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• ARTS EDITOR Holly Rushakoff is the creator of the real life based comic, Girls’Eyes (www.girleyes.com), which runs weekly in The Hub. After graduating with her print-journalism degree from UIUC in 1998, Holly has flexed it at past local alternative weeklies. She was music editor/managing editor/copy editor/writer at The Octopus, and after getting her graphic design certificate in Ann Arbor, Mich., she worked as graphic designer/photographer at CUCityview. She also started Sound Ground at The Paper before handing that and her local music show hosting duties at WEFT 90.1 to Todd Hunter. Holly currently works at UIUC as a media/communications specialist for the college of LAS, and freelance designs (websites, ads, album covers, photographs, etc.). She’s also a founder of Euterpe Music Network, which strives to strengthen CU’s local music community and is currently booking monthly workshops. Holly plays bass in the rock band Triple Whip, which is in the process of recording its third album, Snake Creeps Down, due in October.

CONSTANCE BIETZEL

FALLING WITH THE PROS AT THE WORLD FREE FALL CONVENTION

PHOTOS COURTESY OF • DAVID SICHER

O

n Saturday, August 13, not quite two weeks ago, I jumped out of an airplane, 14,000 feet in the air, and fell to the earth at 120 miles per hour. I was one of more than 1,600 divers from all over the globe who made their way to Rantoul, Illinois to participate in the World Free Fall Convention.

I first heard about the World Free Fall Convention on the radio, then heard a friend talking about it at a party one night, a week before I jumped.

The next day, I decided to see what this was about. After Googling “+skydive +rantoul,” I was directed to the convention’s Web site, www.freefall.com. The front page was an advertisment for first-time divers to tandem jump at the convention.

Since it’s always a good idea to mix work and fun, I decided I wanted to do a jump. After talking with my editor, the publisher and a few people in between, I had a tandem jump set up at the WFFC. This is my story.

P

eople say skydiving is a ridiculous sport that’s only for crazies. As one of my good friends put it, “Why jump out of a perfectly good airplane?” But as someone who loves anything that makes my heart beat faster, it seemed right up my alley. I can’t imagine anything more thrilling than free falling through the troposphere, at twice the legal speed limit, falling faster and faster, watching the ground get closer until you pull a cord that employs a parachute to guide you safely to your feet.

And I was right.

Due to uncooperative weather, my first two visits to the WFFC were spent on land—dense clouds on Friday evening caused the Federal Aviation Administration to ground all flights. I came back Saturday morning at 9 a.m. (a testimony to how bad I wanted to do this), but was told the same thing. After hanging around for a few hours without break in the weather in sight, I headed back to Urbana, still a skydiving virgin.

Determined to eventually make it up in the air—the chance of crappy weather lasting all weekend wasn’t even a possibility in my mind—I kept calling the tandem booth to check the jumping status.

Sure enough, around 4:00 Saturday afternoon, I was told the grounding order had been lifted and tandem jumpers were going up.

Without delay, I was on my way back to Rantoul for a third time. Upon arrival, I found out I hadn’t been told the complete truth. The hold was expected to be lifted within the hour. Tired of driving up and down Route 45, and tired of seeing my gas gauge drop, I waited on-site for the official ok.

To pass the time, I watched the necessary video featuring Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top explaining the fine print of all the waivers I’d just signed. Ok, it wasn’t really Gibbons, but it looked like he could have been his brother. Basically, Mr. Top said, in the most professional way possible, “You are going to be jumping out of the sky and falling quickly to the earth. You might splatter into the ground. It’s a risk of the sport. Shit happens, and if it does, you, or your heirs, can’t sue anyone. At all.”

Completely aware of the risk I was taking, I waited for the sky to clear. Half an hour later, the FAA cleared the grounding hold. Afraid I was going to miss the window of good weather I’d waited so patiently for over the past 24 hours, I wanted to get up in the sky before flights were grounded again.

I was going to jump with Larry Lemaster, a diver from southern Ohio who quit his full time job to work at his own drop zone a few years ago. Larry has over 1,600 jumps to his credit, so I had no qualms about my safety.

15

Holly Rushakoff

seek her.

Ernest Hemingway • author

ERIN SCOTTBERG • AROUND TOWN EDITOR

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proximity of death, to know more or

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•

You’d think being strapped to someone’s crotch would be a little awkward, but Larry was nothing but professional. He explained everything he was doing, the purpose it served and how I could expect my gear to act in the air. For instance, any loose objects, including my pony-tailed hair, had to be secured or else they’d whip bruises onto my body during the free fall.

With everything tightened up, Larry explained the correct position for free fall: knees bent, legs back, head back, arch at the hips.

“And the most important thing,” he said, “smile.” I was paying an extra 79 bucks to have a photographer jump next to me and record the whole thing. Larry wanted to make sure I got some good shots.

Next, Larry, the photographer and I rode in the back of a pickup to the other side of the site where the planes take off. I was to be jumping out of “Otter,” a twin engine plane that holds around 24 passengers. On my plane were jumpers from as far away as Denmark, Sweden and South Africa.

The last, and only, time I was in a plane was over 12 years ago, so not only was this my first time diving, but it felt like my first time in an airplane. Once we reached a certain height, the door was opened to let some cool air into the cabin. As the entire Chanute Air Force Base slowly came into view below me, I felt like I was looking at a diorama an architect would

What is your target audience and how do you form your comic to reach those people?

Girls’ Eyes is like reading someone’s diary, since they’re true stories and it’s handwritten.

I think that the intimacy lends itself to a crossover to male readers too. But I’m concentrating on the special relationships women have with each other in terms of the kinds of topics and conversations we’ll open up to each other about. So there’s a certain female-to-female understanding and connection that I’m tapping into. I’m so happy that I’ve already received support from women of all ages. Beyond writing about my own experiences, I’ll capture moments that other girls have shared with me, whether they were hilarious or sad or poignant, in the same way you stop and take a photo of something because it strikes you and you don’t want to forget what you’ve witnessed.

mom.” My other favorite is Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” series, which I found out about by being a Tori Amos fan. My attraction to The Sandman is as much for Dave McKean’s compelling graphics as Neil Gaiman’s dark, intellectual wavelength. His writing is kind of like profound fortune cookies to the extreme. I got to meet Neil Gaiman at a book signing too. I’m no aficionado of comics, but I did grow up with the Archie books. And I also have some of the Mutts books because of their sweetness.

You've been involved in a variety of projects here in CU. What has been the most rewarding?

Hosting the live local music radio show,WEFT Sessions, was a privilege.

Hanging out in a small, informal space while the band performed—being that close to them and absorbing their music—was a special experience.

I’m an attentive listener and so it was a perfect performer-audience relationship. Sometimes music can feel so transcendent when you hear it and watch it, and I got a weekly dose for several years. I also learned how to fill in the gaps so there was no dead air. Sometimes that translates into my everyday conversational demeanor, and when I get that flow, I have to remember to pipe down so the other person has a chance to talk too. Also, playing bass in Triple Whip has allowed me to realize some more physically intense aspects of myself. My gosh, controlling this booming instrument in place of my own relatively soft voice is quite empowering.

What is your favorite book, favorite band?

It depends on the mood. A recent book purchase includes Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore in which he compares mythology, religion, and psychology. I also love magazines, especially ones I’ve never seen before— I just bought “The Comics Interpreter” and “Res” (because Miranda July, writer/actor/director of Me and You and Everyone We Know, was on the cover). I dig David Sedaris—his wit and deadpan deliveries. I love the dialogue and action-reactions on the Gilmore Girls. As for music, I appreciate a diverse collection, a good groove, and I’m a sucker for a pretty female voice. I like, and I need, everything from lounge (Hotel Costes) to jazz/big band (Dean Martin, Billie Holiday) to singer/songwriter (Tom Waits, Jenny Choi/Sanawon) to funk (Stevie Wonder, Prince) to atmospheric (Bjork, Michael Andrews) to rock (WPGU, KEXP), and a category let’s call you-better-watch-out (Lovecup, Eminem). And definitely lots of local bands, past and present.

What are your plans for the future?

build for a client, complete with tiny plastic shrubbery, meticulously painted roads, and toy airplanes.

It took a little under 20 minutes to get to 14,000 feet. Never before have I experienced as many emotions in such a short amount of time as I did on that flight.

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I have several goals. I want to get Girls’ Eyes into other alternative weeklies and women’s magazines. I’m working on a book of all the Girls’ Eyes I’ve created (since they’re not all on my website), fleshed out with backstories about the characters and/or the incidents captured. I also want to make my website more interactive. I recently wrote about my grandma, just remembering things about her. I would love to add a forum where other people could share stories of their grandmas, or whatever the topic is, and maybe pose questions to characters. Basically, that would enable the conversation to continue with the readers. This fall, I’m excited to host a couple workshops about comics at both state and national conventions for high school journalism students.

What comics/graphic novels have you been influenced by?

I love Lynda Barry, creator of “Ernie Pook’s Comeek” and the characters Marlys and Maybonne. She portrays adolescence in a candid, funny, vivid, somber, very real way. In high school, my creative writing teacher told us that she was speaking at a library, so I went with my mom. She wrote to my teacher: “Holly needs 10 points of extra credit. She is great. Also her s o u n d s

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If dogs could talk, it would take a lot of the fun out of owning one.

Andy Rooney

ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS Local artists with international flair KATIE PYLE

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rtists, shoppers, musicians and art lovers braved the heat last weekend for Champaign Park District’s second annual Downtown Festival of the Arts. The festival began Friday with a kickoff party that went late into the night and featured live music performances. While streets were closed for the kickoff, the festival itself took place in West Side Park. Branching out from the center fountain, artists’ booths covered the park while music from local bands drifted through the park on Saturday and Sunday. Whether one was looking for the perfect painting for the living room, or just simply looking, there was plenty to do for the whole family.

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An entire corner of the park was devoted while visiting his family, Grimaldi to children’s entertainment. Kids could “fell in love with the local art.” choose from a vast array of inflatable architecIn addition to framed paintings, ture to be climbed up, slid down, or bounced Grimaldi’s pieces included a painted upon. Also helping to make the event family berimbau, which is a traditional friendly were vendors selling snacks ranging wooden instrument of Brazil. from french fries to smoothies. The art, Grimaldi purchased the instrument though, was the center of the visitors’ attenin Brazil, and then painted it herself. tion. Kathleen Bailey, 9, and Melanie Bailey, Hanging above the artist's work 5, who were accompanied by their mother, was the Brazilian flag, with its motto Sara, found the fair to be very enjoyable, of “order and progress,” adding an although Melanie’s favorite mode of expresinternational feeling to the festival. sion, finger painting, was scarce at the fair.

Not all of the art shown had an Karen Fiorino, who visits about nine art artist standing by ready to talk. fairs a year, was one of the 53 artists showDrawn on one of West Side Park’s ing work at the Champaign Festival. Her sidewalks was an exuberant chalk pieces included hand-painted mugs and pathway leading up to the fair. bowls decorated with, among many other Along with a huge smiley face, things, charming little turtles. Fiorino has heart, and peace sign, a flowery vine been making Maiolica glazed red earthenled the way to the artists’ tents. ware for 8 years, though this is her first time Visitors to the festival were encourshowing in Champaign. aged to sign their name on the sideThis weekend’s fair was Thomas Dagley’s walk by a chalk-written invitation. second showing in Champaign. Dagley Other hands-on activities for visitors specializes in landscapes and still life photogincluded a tent devoted to coloring. raphy. All his pictures are relatively local, A very large coloring-book style featuring idealized Midwestern scenes, such as mural had been cut into a grid of corn fields, windmills, and streams. Dagley hundreds of eight inch squares to be got his start in the 1970’s with 35 mm film, colored by guests. Once a square A metal dog shows his catch.The piece, made by had been colored according to the but now works solely with digital cameras.

Melinda Trevino’s hand-painted silk Rachel and Alan Haynes of Stray Cat Art, was colors assigned, it was fixed to the scarves were uncommon pieces among the on display at the Downtown Festival of the Arts grid, and would eventually reassemGlasswork by Todd Manicki on display at the Downtown Festival blown glass, paintings, and pottery at the in Champaign. ble into the mural, colored in by of the Arts in Champaign. festival. Trevino explained,“I’m hundreds of visitors. Also available were fish-covered hats waitself-taught. I paint each scarf ing to be colored in. separately using bamboo brushVisual art wasn't the only art medium represented at the fair. es, dye, and wood blocks that A large music tent featured three bands each day, including Jazz I create. Designs on the scarves Mayhem and the Steve Adleman Quartet. Tables were set up included color patterns and around the stage where music fans sat together enjoying the show flowers,Trevino’s favorite flower and cold beer. Becky Arundale of Urbana felt the musicians of the to paint being the iris. Trevino Jazz Mayhem performance showed a pure love of making music. has been painting scarves for The head-bobbing and foot-tapping of the festival visitors around four years and sold 500 of her her proved that others loved the music too. buzz hand-painted scarves last year.

While many of the pieces Champaign Park District's second annual Downtown Festival of the shown at the fair drew on Arts succeeded in bringing regional artists and local art lovers togethlocal beauty for inspiration, er to appreciate, discuss and enjoy many different art forms.

Jennifer Grimaldi created her paintings working from photos she took while in Brazil.

Her husband is from Brazil and s o u n d s

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THINGS ARE COMING UP MILHOUSE!

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At first, I was ecstatic. I was finally in a plane on my way up, and the only way down was to jump out this hobbit-sized door in front of me.

Then I started thinking about the two jumpers that died at this year’s convention (neither were tandem jumpers), and although that didn’t scare me away, all of a sudden I found myself thinking that their last ride was probably really similar to this.

Then I looked at all the safety gear I was wearing, looked around at all the other people ready to do the same thing I was, probably for the umpteenth time, and the excitement came back.

Sure, I was nervous, but it was that “Holy shit, I’m about to jump out of an airplane, fall like a cannon ball then soar like a kite 14,000 feet back to the ground,” anticipation. I was thrilled.

The cabin of the Otter has three lights, one red, one yellow and

STAFF WRITER

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one green. As with traffic lights, red means stay in the cabin, yellow means get ready and green means go. As soon as the yellow light switched on, I sat on Larry’s lap, he attached me to his suit, we went over what I was to do one last time. When it was time to drop, Larry would yell “Ready!” and point forward, “Set!” while his arm was coming back, and “Jump!” as he pointed forward again.

With my toes even with the edge of the plane and Larry securely strapped to my back, there was a swarm of thoughts going through my mind as my gaze switched between the bright sky in front of me and the ground far, far below me.

“Do I look down? Make sure to keep my head back! Yes, look down!”

I saw Larry’s hand point forward for the first time. The wind was whipping around and the engines were so loud, I could bare-

ly hear anything. I was only wearing a tank top, and the cold started to make me uncomfortable.

Then I looked down. I totally forgot about the cold.

Larry’s hand shot forward a second time as I heard a barely audible “Jump!” in my right ear.

Next thing I knew, we were falling out of the plane with the cameraman right behind us. At first, the thought of a camera following a jumper so closely seemed ludicrous, but once I was actually falling, I realized how much control the jumper actually has. Within seconds, Larry taped my shoulder, which meant it’s ok to stop holding on and let my arms fly free.

The minute of free fall was the most intense 60 seconds of my life. All the worries that had hidden themselves in the back of my mind flew out after the first second. It was the epitome of a thrill ride.There’s no point in trying to describe it. I’ll just use the same clichés everyone else does. Just go do it.

The pressure of the air on my arms made it hard to move. The pressure in my head made my ear drums feel like they were going to blow. My body felt incapacitated in the same way it does on a carnival ride where they spin you round and round until centrifugal force sucks you to the wall. With effort, I was able to reach out and grab hands with the cameraman to spin around in the air.

When Larry pulled the parachute, it took a few moments for my brain to catch up with my body and realize we weren’t free falling anymore. The transition between free falling and gliding was the most electrifying part of the experience. Free falling was the most magnificently exhilarating thing I’ve ever felt. No joke.

The chute opens and it’s immediate serenity. Gliding was incredibly relaxing, almost whimsical.

Larry let me take the reigns and steer for a while—it was like

flying a huge stunt kite that’s attached to your back. Slipping through clouds was unreal. One second, it’s calm, cool air and the next, a dampness begins to cover your body. By the time you’re in the thick of it, it’s darker, visibility is hardly a foot and it feels like a warm, wet blanket cloaking your body. Then you exit out the bottom and it’s clear again.

Landing was a breeze—we came in on a 45 degree angle, yards above a skim pond set up for jumpers to create waves with their feet, and skidded to a stop. Another tandem master came out and helped me to my feet, asking,“Now do you see why we love this?” buzz

WFFC: The details

Skydivers

from all over the world called Rantoul home for the 10 days of the the World Free Fall Convention. So why Rantoul?

First off, there’s plenty of room and minimal air traffic, key factors in choosing a location for a gathering of more than 1,500 people.

The WFFC is divided into two sections. To get into the main area, you must pay a fee and register as a skydiver. You must have at least 50 jumps to your name. Here, divers can camp, stay in RV’s and hang out with people who share their hobby from all over the world.

The other section, the observation side, is free to anyone who just wants to kick back and watch people fall from the sky. Like any festival, there’s also entertainment, music, food and shopping on both sides.

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Everything at the WFFC is done with safety in mind. Before entering the convention, all skydiving equipment must pass a safety check. Skydiving does have its risks, which reared their evil face at this year’s convention when two skydivers were killed.

Although people weren’t saying much, one staff member at the gear safety checkpoint, Jodi Adams, 32, offered her insight: “A lot of people here have lost someone in the sport or have been injured themselves. We accept it. With this sport, you just don’t mess around. It’s a lot of fun, we can get crazy, but it’s always safety first.”

For Adams and her fiancé Jeff Lerette (whom she met skydiving), the best part of the convention was jumping with divers from all over the world. It might be out of the way to travel from South Africa, Finland or one of the many other countries represented at the festival, but for many, that’s the allure of it.

“You build up a friendship with people all over the world.You meet all sorts of people,” said St. Louis native and four-time WFFC diver Josh Koetting. Many divers are WFFC veterans and look forward to seeing their skydiving buddies they only run into in Rantoul.

For more information, visit: www.freefall.com

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AMERICAN MINOR GOES MAJOR: An interview with American Minor’s Josh Knox

FRANK KROLICKI

! STAFF WRITER

American Minor is holding a release party for their brand new CD on August 26 at the Canopy Club, with special guests Thee Shams and Lorenzo Goetz. Drummer Josh Knox was cool enough to answer some questions about life on a major label, playing live, the American Minor song catalog and more for Buzz in preparation for the event.

BUZZ: Why

did you guys originally come to Illinois? our lead singer, Robert, was accepted into the U of I Law School and his wife into the dance program. The band was starting to get a little more serious and there wasn’t too much going on in West Virginia, so we packed up and moved to Champaign to keep the band together. Rob ended up deferring his acceptance so we could focus on the band.

JOSH: Well,

BUZZ:You’re having release parties at both the Canopy Club and at the Monkey Bar in West Virginia, and you seem to be very true to both places. Do you notice any differences in the two audiences?

JOSH: Of course, West Virginia is consistently a bit rowdier than Champaign, although we’ve had some great ones here. Champaign shows seem to be filled with younger, more music-oriented people in general, whereas West Virginia shows are more of a blue-collar social event that consist equally of friends, family and music fans. Probably the biggest difference is the absence of PBR at West Virginia shows.That’s Budweiser country.

the band…Bud is the quintessential guitar player. Bruno and I are pretty much self-taught and come at things from our own perspectives. Gragg’s great with a melody and is really into the singer/songwriter aspect of things. Robert tends to draw inspiration from different places than the rest of us sometimes, as well as having a great talent for writing lyrics and melodies.

Somehow, it all seems to fit.We’re just 5 guys from West Virginia with different musical personalities that happen to compliment each other. It could be due to the fact that we’ve known each other and played together for so many years, or that we shared similar life experiences growing up.

BUZZ:

“Buffalo Creek” is one of the most lyrically interesting songs on the disc.What’s the story behind it?

JOSH: The song is about a flood that occurred in West Virginia due to negligent mining practices. On Feb. 26, 1972, a faulty dam built to contain coal wastewater ruptured, releasing millions of gallon of black water down the Buffalo Creek hollow in the form of a 20-foot wave. It was actually one of the worst industrial disasters in United States’ history.The coal companies all but erased this from state history, and it was essentially forgotten.We thought it’d be a great awareness piece. The vibe of the music seemed to fit the lyrical theme really well.

BUZZ:

Craziest tour story so far?

Probably the first tour with Bud. It was his 21st birthday.

He ditched his finals and we picked him up in West Virginia.The van broke down (in the ghetto) in Memphis on the way to Louisiana.We had to pay ultra-sketchy drug addicts to fix the van.

We missed the ‘money’ show in Louisiana that was going to finance the entire tour. We ended up sleeping on the beach in Buloxi, Mississippi and limping back home in the van.

JOSH:

BUZZ: There

are lots of songs in the American Minor canon that are not only unreleased, but have been abandoned at live shows.

Any plans to revisit them while either recording or touring?

JOSH: Sure.We would never rule anything out completely.We’re always into reworking old tunes.Anybody who has seen us over the past few years knows that. If something is so terrible that it couldn’t ever be played or used in the band in some way, we probably wouldn’t have ever finished writing it in the first place. It’s all fair game.You never know, we could pull something out when you least expect it. buzz American Minor will celebrate the release of their self-titled debut CD this Friday at the Canopy Club in Urbana. Your $7 cover will also get you Cincinnati blues band Thee Shams and local stalwarts Lorenzo Goetz.

BUZZ: What, if

anything, has changed since being signed to Jive?

Simply being paid to be a musician, just like someone’s paid to work in an office. I have to say, it’s great. We don’t have to work part-time jobs to get by. Besides that, not that much else has changed.We can afford to tour without having to crash on floors. We don’t have to sweat each month when bills are due. We got some sweet road cases for our gear. Jive did actually buy us a new transmission for the van once...and some haircuts.You can’t beat that shit.

JOSH:

In a way, American Minor music defies categorization.

Songs such as “Don’t Jump the Gun” or “Walk On” might be considered Southern rock, but at the same time are not confined to that label.What is it about the band that makes for that sound?

JOSH: I would give two reasons for that.The first being the wide variety of music that inspires us. Of course, you have the bands that have obviously influenced us…but there’s also some that you might not pick up on.You’ve got everything from stuff like the Staple Singers and Bill Withers, Albert King and the Temptations…You know, we all grew up with the backdrop of classic rock radio, but we didn’t really come back to that until a few years ago.We were kind of in denial. It’s not exactly cool to be into Bad Company when you’re 14, at least it wasn’t when I was.There were years filled with artists like Radiohead, Beck, Ryan Adams, Superdrag, Weezer and Wilco.

The second being the various styles of musicians within

PHOTO COURTESY OF AMERICN MINOR

BUZZ:

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Cut a rug in the Champaign County Nursing Home The waltz, the tango and the fox trot are forms of the dying art of ballroom dancing. But if you’re one of talented elite who can impress on the dance floor, the Champaign County Nursing Home invites you to strut your stuff. September 18-24 is National Ballroom Dancing Week and the nursing home is looking for dancers willing to perform one of these elegant dances for their residents. The only requirements are couples with a dance routine, your own music and the ability to dance for an audience.

Contact Kalah McGraw at kmcgraw@co.champaign.il.us or 384-3784 for more information or to sign up.

–Erin Scottberg Mixtape Mondays: DJ Elise, TBA [house] Boltini, 10pm, free Lectures, Meetings, Discussions Duncan Watts: Social Networks and Social Dynamics in a Small World [We've all heard of the small world phenomenon—the idea that each one of us can be connected to everyone else through only "six degrees of separation." But where did this idea come from? Is it true? And if it is, what implications does it have for the problems of society?]

Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center, 4pm, free

TUESDAY August 30 Live Music Bluegrass Jam [amateurs and professionals welcome] Verde Gallery, 7-9:30pm, free Open Jam/Open Mic hosted by Mike Ingram Canopy Club, 9pm, 21+/free, $2/under 21

The Crystal River Band Rose Bowl Tavern, 9pm, free Adam Wolfe's Acoustic Night with Jess Greenlee Tommy G's, 10pm, free Open Stage Espresso Royale Goodwin & Oregon, 8pm, free Larry Gates [acoustic] The White Horse Inn, 10pm, free DJ DJ Reaganomics [80’s requests] Cowboy Monkey, 10pm, free Subversion: DJ ZoZo, DJ Evily, DJ TwinScin [goth/industrial/electro] The Highdive, 10pm, $2 Tremblin BG Barfly, 10pm, free DJ JB [hip-hop music videos] Nargile, 9pm, free CFK [house] Chester Street, 10pm, TBA DJ Lil Big Bass [2 step, drum n bass] Boltini, 10:30pm, TBA

Karaoke "G" Force Karaoke Neil St. Pub, 8pm-12am, free Liquid Courage Karaoke Geo's , 9pm-1am, free Liquid Courage Karaoke and DJ Track's, 9pm-1am Fitness Belly Dance for Fitness The Fitness Center Champaign, 8pm, $7-$9 Kids Storytime Pages for All Ages, 7pm, free Support Groups Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance Heritage Room, Provena Hospital, 7pm, free

WEDNESDAY August 31 Live Music Apollo Poetics Nargile, 10pm, free Chambana Jackson’s Ribs-n-Tips, 8-10pm Ed O'Hare and Friends Rose Bowl Tavern, 9pm, free Blues Night: Kilborn Alley Tommy G's, 10pm, free Chambana Jackson's Ribs-N-Tips, 8-10pm Grand Buffet, DJ Jester 'The Filipino Fist', Triple Whip, Fireflies Canopy Club, 9pm, $5 DJ Chef Ra [roots, reggae] Barfly, 10pm, free Contact: DJ Raphael Kroshay, TBA [drum n bass] Nargile, 9pm, free DJ Missus Mike 'n Molly's, 10pm, TBA Karaoke Liquid Courage Karaoke Geovanti's, 10pm-2am, free Outlaw Karaoke The White Horse Inn, 10pm, free Dancing Tango Dancing Cowboy Monkey, 7:30pm, free Salsa Dancing [salsa/mambo/bachata] Cowboy Monkey, 10pm, free Kids Babies’ Lap Time [songs, stories and rhymes for the youngest patrons, birth-24 months, with an adult] Urbana Free Library, 10:30-11am, free

Wright Street

Neil Street Springfield Avenue

Green Street

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Possibilities [works by U of I Alum and local artist Sandra Ahten] Illini Union Art Gallery through September Artist reception September 1, 5:30-7:30pm Backstage Pass [a series of limited edition entertainment photos taken by Paul Idleman in Colorado between 1978 and 2000. Some of the biggest names in the biz are represented: Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Huey Lewis, Sam Kinison, John Hartford, Jay Leno, etc.]

Cinema Gallery through September 24 Living Language: Painting and Poetry Unite by Marie Mamaril [watercolor and acrylic on canvas] Pages for All Ages through September 14 Study of Landscapes and Study of Verbs [abstract paintings by Sven] Aroma Cafe through August 31 Study of Primary, Secondary and Tertiary [abstract works by Sven] Cafe Kopi through August 31 Andy Warhol: The Complete 1979 Diamond Dust Shadow Series, Editions I-V and The Shadow and Other SelfPortraits, 1977-1981 University Gallery in Normal, IL through October 2 Opening reception August 30, 5-7pm Exhibition tour led by director Barr y Blinderman September 7, 7pm Art With Intention Open Studio [Individually directed drop-in studio time allowing adults to explore their creative voices. Instructed by Sandra Ahten] Thursdays, 4-9pm. Visit www.spiritofsandra.com for details and location.

Aroma Cafe is looking for artists to exhibit their work. If you are interested in exhibiting your art, please contact Amanda Bickel, art coordinator at Aroma Cafe at art4aroma@yahoo.com.

Engineering

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Monday - $2 Domestic Beers Tuesday - $2 Rum & Coke Wednesday - $2.50 Screwdrivers Thursday - $2 Amaretto Stone Sours FREE POOL 8PM-9PM FEMALE DANCERS NIGHTLY OPEN Monday - Thursday 8pm-1am Friday-Saturday 8pm-2am Ladies & Couples Welcome Always Free Admission with our T-Shirt ATM $5.00 Admission/Ladies Free Accepted MUST BE 21

We're easy to find!

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Annual Parkland Art and Design Faculty Exhibition Parkland Art Gallery through September 22, 2005, Parkland Art Gallery Opening reception, August 25, 6-8pm, Gallery Lounge

Green Street Wright Street

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Art&T heater

Just a stone's throw away is ChampaignUrbana's landmark for the finest in nachos, fajitas, burgers, italian beef, BBQ ribs, steaks, salads, and sandwiches. Stop in for lunch or dinner from 11 am daily and help us celebrate our 16th year in business!

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TODD J. HUNTER • STAFF WRITER

Thee Shams Please Yourself

The secret is out: HUM, the

Fat Possum

BY KYLE GORMAN

biggest band from here in the past 20 years, will come out of retirement for a special show October 15. The quartet famous for “Stars” will headline the Budweiser True Music festival behind the Highdive in a giant tent with country rocker Shooter Jennings, (son of Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter). This is a free show, but the only way to get tickets is to win them through media and retail outlets. Although this is a 21 and over show, the regular age requirement is 18 in Urbana and 19 in Champaign.

“I’ll flip you over and make you late for work.”

So churrs Menthol, a Hum offshoot that evolved from Southern rock to new wave before new wave was back. Last here July 1, 2004 at the Highdive with Urge Overkill, Menthol is active again with a show October 22 at Cowboy Monkey and an EP with five unreleased songs. In the meantime, a sixth unreleased song,“Bavarian Girl,” is available for free at menthol-music.com. Menthol is vocalist-guitarist Balthazar De Ley, bassist Joel Spencer, and drummer Colin Koteles.

Lorenzo Goetz, WPGU-Buzz Best Rock Band and Best Overall Band 2005, is halfway through with its Heavy EP. In the tradition of Jay-Z, Lorenzo Goetz will employ a different producer for every track: Andy Lund and Anthony Gravino of Temple of Low Men, Brett Sanderson of Headlights, and the venerable Adam Schmitt.

Besides concert standout “Heavy,” songs will include a tooth-fairy-friendly new version of “Slumber Jaw” and “Wake Up.” Lorenzo Goetz and Thee Shams open Friday for the American Minor release party at the Canopy Club.

For anyone unaware, American Minor is a bluesrock quintet that relocated from Huntington, West Virginia, to Champaign three years ago and last year signed to Red Ink/Jive/Zomba. American Minor finally has a full-length record, produced by Brad Smith and Christopher Thorn of Blind Melon and mixed by Rob Schnapf and Doug Boehm. Adds American Minor, "Don't miss [it] because we've been working on a special treat for those who make it out.” Show time is 9 p.m., and cover is $7.

Tonight at the Courtyard, The Dudley Corporation visits from Ireland with Urbana quartet The Invisible—Drummer Kipp Wilfong is back!—and Radiohead-ish Decatur quintet The Infinity Room. For those who missed Megan Johns last week or Roger Cler the week before, they play again, together, at Arôma. Both these shows are free and start at 8 p.m.

At 9 p.m.,VM Underground Artist of the Month i:scintilla and Relenter perform for the first time since June 18. The event is termed Children of the Night and sponsored by Subversion. Cover is $3. For a double scoop of bluegrass, Cornmeal and Green Mountain Grass play at Cowboy Monkey. Show time is 10 p.m., and cover is $5.

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There’s nothing particularly surprising about Thee Shams, exactly: the topless girl on the cover may shock a few (not Walmart patrons, though – the record’s been banned from the puritanical retailer’s stores), particularly when combined with the album title’s instructions, but the Cincinnati-based band’s bluesy, psychedelic rock is nothing you can’t hear elsewhere. What’s surprising, though, is how many other influences you’ll hear. “Love Me All The Time” is a dramatic Bowie-esque ballad (think “Changes”).

Andrew Gabbard’s organ is reminiscent of the Zombies on some tracks, and “Come Down Again,” with a long vocal line, reminds one of what the San Francisco bands of the late ‘60s star ted off sounding like: blues

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708 S. Goodwin 18+ Urbana, IL 344≠ BAND BAND bands with bigger ideas and bolder leaders.

In other places, the bass bounces and drummer Keith Fox provides primitive drumming, bright harp, and lust for life.

By ignoring the shadow cast upon blues by the overtly-technical,Thee Shams use Britrock, folk, and psychedelic music to create a hipper sound. Thee Shams, like their label-mates The Black Keys, seem to appreciate that doing the blues right in a post-post-rock age requires less ingenuity and more showmanship, taste and restraint. By doing the right thing and doing it well, bands like Thee Shams are making it safe to listen to the blues once again.

Thee Shams will open for American Minor this Friday.

See the left page for details.

www .canop y club.com Every Sunday!

1≠ 2≠ 3≠ 4 Jukebox $1 Domestic Pints, $2 Import Pints, $3 Calls, $4 Domestic Pitchers Every Monday!

Love & Joy: Comedy & Live R & B!!

$2 Amarettos & $1.75 Budweiser drafts Every Tuesday!

OPEN M IC/JAM $2 Long Islands! $1 PBR Drafts!

Thursday, August 25 H E A D L I G H T S w. Via Audio & Shipwreck

Friday, Aug 26

American Minor cd release party w. Lorenzo Goetz, The Shams Wednesday, Aug 31

Grand Buffet w. DJ Jester & TRIPLE WHIP Thursday, Sept 1

Friday, Sept 2

with Rocco Deluca

Thursday, Sept 15

Tuesday, Sept 20

Tickets for advance shows on sale now at: The Canopy Club, Family Pride, and Bacca Cigar, or call 1≠ 800≠ 514≠ ETIX. Or print tickets at home on JayTV.com!

I N T R O | A R O U N D T O W N | L I S T E N , H E A R | M A I N E V E N T | A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T | T H E S I LV E R S C R E E N | T H E S T I N G E R | C L A S S I F I E D S

THURSDAY August 25 Live Music Shovelrack White Horse Inn, 10pm, free Caleb Rose Bowl Tavern, 9pm, free Will Rogers Band [country/southern rock covers/originals] Neil St. Pub, 10pm-2am, free Acoustic at Aroma: Megan Johns, Roger Cler [acoustic rock/pop] Aroma, 8pm, free The Dudley Corporation, The Invisible, The Infinity Room The Courtyard, 8pm, free Urbana Booking Showcase: Headlights, Via Audio, Shipwreck Canopy Club, 9pm, $5 Subversion presents Children of the Night: i:scintilla, Form30, Relenter, DJ ZoZo, DJ Evily [industrial, goth, electro] The Highdive, 9pm, $3 U of I Jazz Combo Iron Post, 9pm, TBA The Charles Walker Blues Band Tommy G's, 9pm, free Cornmeal, Green Mountain Grass Cowboy Monkey, 10pm, $5

Eclectic Theory Joe's Brewery,10pm-1am, free DJ Generic DJ Jackson's Ribs-N-Tips, 8pm, TBA DJ Bozak [broken beat, house, electro] Barfly, 10pm, free DJ Limbs [hip-hop, breaks, party jams] Boltini, 10:30pm, free Solace: DJ J-Phlip, DJ Mertz [deep house] Soma, 10pm, free Ladies Night featuring Luis Vasquez, DJ Res Tuly, DJ Black Ice [hip-hop, dance, reggae, reggaeton, salsa] Nargile, 9pm, Ladies free before 9, Men $5 Karaoke "G" Force Karaoke Pia's of Rantoul, 9pm-1am, free

Belly Dance for Fitness Gold’s Gym, Champaign, 7:30pm, $7-$9 Group Meditation Ananda Liina, 2308 N. High Cross Rd. Urbana, 5:30pm, free

Kids Funfare [stories, songs, puppets, and films for children and their caregivers] Urbana Free Library, 10:30-11am, free

Wine Tasting Krannert Uncorked Krannert Art Center Lobby 5pm, free

Live Music Country Connection Rose Bowl Tavern, 9pm, $1 Eclectic Theory The White Horse Inn, 10pm, free Will Rogers Band [country/southern rock covers/originals] Neil St. Pub, 10pm-2am, $3 Mark Smart [jazz loping] Mike n' Molly's, 5pm, $3 Fotamana The Iron Post, 5-7pm, TBA

Lectures, Meetings, Discussions Cosmopolitan Club Coffee Hour [Sample coffee, tea and homemade ethnic desserts from China. All are welcome] Cosmopolitan Club, 307 E. John St., 7:309:30pm, free

FRIDAY August 26

DJ DJ Elise [house, broken beat] Boltini, 6pm, free DJ Lil Big Bass [drum n bass, 2 step] Boltini, 10pm, free DJ Mighty Dog Jackson's Ribs-N-Tips, 9pm-2am, TBA

Dancing UIUC Swing Society McKinley Foundation 9:30pm-12am, free Health and Fitness Belly Dance for Fitness The Fitness Center Champaign, 8pm, $7-$9

This Friday and Saturday, The Urbana Sweetcorn Festival will take place in downtown Urbana on Main St. and Broadway Ave. This is the 30th year of the festival and it is the oldest street festival in Champaign County. Some highlights include the Book Market at the Square, which takes place on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the Arts Boulevard, which showcases works by local artists Events will take place Friday night from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. and all day Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. There will be free parking in Urbana near the festivities.

–Todd Swiss

11

DJ Bonsu, DJ Impact [hip-hop, Chicago deep house] Nargile, 9pm, free before 11pm, $5 after DJ Delayney [hip-hop, soul] Barfly, 10pm, free Circuit Pulse: DJ Randall Ellison [Hi-NRG, disco house, Eurodance music videos] Chester Street, 10pm, $3 DJ Bozak [broken beat, house, soul] Soma, 10pm, cover DJ Tim Williams [top 40/hiphop/house/dance] The Highdive, 10:30pm, $5

buzz pick

The Beauty Shop, Animate Objects, Jiggsaw

This past week new students have descended on campus en masse.

One of the many questions posed by new students is, of course, “What is there to do around here?” Illinites, a program of the Illini Union Board, attempts to give them an answer. This year, Illinites will feature a diverse showcase of some of best bands that call Champaign-Urbana home, starting with tomorrow night’s free show in The Courtyard (formerly called The Courtyard Café), at the center of the Illini Union.

Support Groups Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance Heritage Room, Provena Hospital, 7pm, free Karaoke Liquid Courage Karaoke The Brickhouse, 10pm-2am, TBA Karaoke American Legion post 71, 8pm-1am, TBA

Animate Objects

Special Events 30th Annual Urbana Sweetcorn Festival Downtown Urbana, Main Street and Broadway, 5pm-11pm

DJ Night of Elegance: DJ Asiatic, DJ Dice [R&B, hip-hop] Nargile, 10pm DJ Mighty Dog Jackson's Ribs-N-Tips, 9pm, TBA DJ Night Paulie's, 9pm, free DJ Resonate [hip-hop] Barfly, 10pm, free DJ Tim Williams [top 40/hiphop/house/dance] The Highdive, 10pm, $5 DJ Elise [house] Boltini, 10:30pm, free DJ White Horse Inn, 10pm, free "G" Force DJ The Brickhouse, 10pm-2am DJ Bozak [broken beat, house, soul] Soma, 10pm, cover

The Beauty Shop headlines the show with their brand of raw, alt-country. They recently returned from a five-date tour of the UK which left them across the pond a little longer than they originally intended due to the recent strike at Heathrow.

Animate Objects is a dynamic hip hop group that features MCs and DJs as well as live instrumentation. Winners of the Champaign-Urbana Local Music Awards for Best Hip Hop Group, their… well, animate shows are always crowd pleasers.

SATURDAY August 27 Live Music Country Connection Rose Bowl Tavern, 9pm, $1 Will Rogers Band [country/southern rock covers/originals] Neil St. Pub, 10pm-2am, $3 Music Among the Vines: Shadows of Doubt [60's and 70's rock] Alto Vineyards, 7:30-10:30pm, $3 The Brat Pack [80's covers] Fat City Saloon, 8pm, $5 Headphones [Pedro the Lion], Headlights, Casados The Courtyard, 9pm, free Candy Foster and Shades of Blue [rhythm and blues] Iron Post, 9pm, TBA Mad Science Fair, The Pomonas, Rob McColley Mike 'n Molly's, 10pm, $4 ESP [classic rock/new rock covers] Tommy G's, 10pm, cover Eclectic Theory Joe’s Brewery, 10pm-1am, free Reasonable Doubt [rock] TnT Tavern, 8:30-12:30pm, free Ben Bedford Embassy Tavern, 9:30pm-1am, TBA Delta Kings [rock and blues] D.R. Digger's, 9pm-1am, free

Friday, August 26 The Courtyard (formerly The Courtyard Café) 9pm-2am, free

Illinites presents:

Jiggsaw serves up a helping of solid indie/punk/art rock. Their mixture of up-tempo melodies with loud, crunchy riffs and vocal dynamics has been compared to everything from The Pixies to Franz Ferdinand.

The Beauty Shop

DJ Raphael [house, hip-hop, rock, dance] Cowboy Monkey, 9pm, free DJ Dance Party Canopy club, 10pm, TBA Karaoke Liquid Courage Karaoke Geo's, 9pm-1am, free Dancing Tango Dancing with DJ Joe Grohens Sidebar, 9pm, $7 Kids Storytime Pages for All Ages, 11am, free Special Events 30th Annual Urbana Sweetcorn Festival Downtown Urbana, Main Street and Broadway, 11am - 11pm

SUNDAY August 28 Live Music The Crystal River Band Rose Bowl Tavern, 9pm, free Young Kim Jazz Duo Iron Post, 6pm, TBA Brandon T. Washington Iron Post, 9pm, TBA Heavycore presents "Sunday Mass": Skeptik, Low Twelve, Seven Year Existence Tommy G's, 9:30pm, free Illinois NORML Benefit Show: Missing the Point, Animate Objects, Pulsar47 Cowboy Monkey, 10pm, $5

--Cassie Conner

Jon Meske [house] Boltini, 10:30pm, free

Open Mic Night hosted by Mike Ingram Cowboy Monkey, 10pm, free

Auditions Open Audition [Parkland Theatre’s "The Exonerated," by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen. Call 351-2529] Parkland Theatre, 1-4pm

DJ DJ Delayney [hip-hop/soul] Barfly, 10pm, free

MONDAY August 29 Live Music Love & Joy [comedy and live R&B] Canopy Club, 10pm, $3 Motown Mondays: As Is Nargile, 7pm, $5 Jazz Jam with ParaDocs Iron Post, 8-11pm, TBA Chris and Jim [cover band] White Horse Inn, 10pm, free Finga Lickin' The Office, 10:30pm, free Quad Remedy [classic rock] Tommy G’s, 10pm, free

pg.18

David Lynch !"#$%&'()%

The Prairie Dogs Tommy G's, 5-7pm, free Music Among the Vines: Javelinas [acoustic blues] Alto Vineyards, 6-9pm, $3 Old Crow Medicine Show The Highdive, doors at 7pm, show at 7:30pm, $15 The Mighty Pranksters Fat City Saloon, 8pm, TBA American Minor CD Release Show: American Minor, Thee Shams, Lorenzo Goetz Canopy Club, 9pm, $7 Illinites and Openingbands.com presents: The Beauty Shop, Animate Objects, Jiggsaw The Courtyard, 9pm, free Mary Muliken Iron Post, 9pm, TBA Quad Remedy [classic rock] The Phoenix, 9pm, free Kilborn Alley [blues] Cowboy Monkey, 10pm, $4 Albert Flasher Tommy G's, 10pm, cover

Puzzle

!"#$%&'"()*+"',+"-$.#"!" # $ !%/"!"()*+"',+"-$.#"&'()"*!+,0 1%#"!"#$%&'".+1((2"3%#+.4'1%#"',+"-$.#"&).$%2&/"5,+").$%2 6$7+4"-,+%"2$3"'.2"'$"8+.91():+"',+"&'()"*/";,+%").$%2 ,1<<+%4"-)',$3'"-$.#40 !+-(. /)%0./#"1.12&3+1*/

DJ DJ Wesjile [hip-hop] Barfly, 10pm, free

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO LIST A POSTING E-MAIL CALENDAR@READBUZZ.COM BY SUNDAY NIGHT. I N T R O | A R O U N D T O W N | L I S T E N , H E A R | M A I N E V E N T | A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T | W I N E & D I N E | T H E S I LV E R S C R E E N | C L A S S I F I E D S

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I N T R O | A R O U N D T O W N | L I S T E N , H E A R | M A I N E V E N T | A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T | W I N E & D I N E | T H E S I LV E R S C R E E N | C L A S S I F I E D S

THURSDAY August 25 Live Music Shovelrack White Horse Inn, 10pm, free Caleb Rose Bowl Tavern, 9pm, free Will Rogers Band [country/southern rock covers/originals] Neil St. Pub, 10pm-2am, free Acoustic at Aroma: Megan Johns, Roger Cler [acoustic rock/pop] Aroma, 8pm, free The Dudley Corporation, The Invisible, The Infinity Room The Courtyard, 8pm, free Urbana Booking Showcase: Headlights, Via Audio, Shipwreck Canopy Club, 9pm, $5 Subversion presents Children of the Night: i:scintilla, Form30, Relenter, DJ ZoZo, DJ Evily [industrial, goth, electro] The Highdive, 9pm, $3 U of I Jazz Combo Iron Post, 9pm, TBA The Charles Walker Blues Band Tommy G's, 9pm, free Cornmeal, Green Mountain Grass Cowboy Monkey, 10pm, $5

Eclectic Theory Joe's Brewery,10pm-1am, free DJ Generic DJ Jackson's Ribs-N-Tips, 8pm, TBA DJ Bozak [broken beat, house, electro] Barfly, 10pm, free DJ Limbs [hip-hop, breaks, party jams] Boltini, 10:30pm, free Solace: DJ J-Phlip, DJ Mertz [deep house] Soma, 10pm, free Ladies Night featuring Luis Vasquez, DJ Res Tuly, DJ Black Ice [hip-hop, dance, reggae, reggaeton, salsa] Nargile, 9pm, Ladies free before 9, Men $5 Karaoke "G" Force Karaoke Pia's of Rantoul, 9pm-1am, free

Belly Dance for Fitness Gold’s Gym, Champaign, 7:30pm, $7-$9 Group Meditation Ananda Liina, 2308 N. High Cross Rd. Urbana, 5:30pm, free

Kids Funfare [stories, songs, puppets, and films for children and their caregivers] Urbana Free Library, 10:30-11am, free

Wine Tasting Krannert Uncorked Krannert Art Center Lobby 5pm, free

Live Music Country Connection Rose Bowl Tavern, 9pm, $1 Eclectic Theory The White Horse Inn, 10pm, free Will Rogers Band [country/southern rock covers/originals] Neil St. Pub, 10pm-2am, $3 Mark Smart [jazz loping] Mike n' Molly's, 5pm, $3 Fotamana The Iron Post, 5-7pm, TBA

Lectures, Meetings, Discussions Cosmopolitan Club Coffee Hour [Sample coffee, tea and homemade ethnic desserts from China. All are welcome] Cosmopolitan Club, 307 E. John St., 7:309:30pm, free

FRIDAY August 26

DJ DJ Elise [house, broken beat] Boltini, 6pm, free DJ Lil Big Bass [drum n bass, 2 step] Boltini, 10pm, free DJ Mighty Dog Jackson's Ribs-N-Tips, 9pm-2am, TBA

Dancing UIUC Swing Society McKinley Foundation 9:30pm-12am, free Health and Fitness Belly Dance for Fitness The Fitness Center Champaign, 8pm, $7-$9

This Friday and Saturday, The Urbana Sweetcorn Festival will take place in downtown Urbana on Main St. and Broadway Ave. This is the 30th year of the festival and it is the oldest street festival in Champaign County. Some highlights include the Book Market at the Square, which takes place on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the Arts Boulevard, which showcases works by local artists Events will take place Friday night from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. and all day Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. There will be free parking in Urbana near the festivities.

–Todd Swiss

11

DJ Bonsu, DJ Impact [hip-hop, Chicago deep house] Nargile, 9pm, free before 11pm, $5 after DJ Delayney [hip-hop, soul] Barfly, 10pm, free Circuit Pulse: DJ Randall Ellison [Hi-NRG, disco house, Eurodance music videos] Chester Street, 10pm, $3 DJ Bozak [broken beat, house, soul] Soma, 10pm, cover DJ Tim Williams [top 40/hiphop/house/dance] The Highdive, 10:30pm, $5

buzz pick

The Beauty Shop, Animate Objects, Jiggsaw

This past week new students have descended on campus en masse.

One of the many questions posed by new students is, of course, “What is there to do around here?” Illinites, a program of the Illini Union Board, attempts to give them an answer. This year, Illinites will feature a diverse showcase of some of best bands that call Champaign-Urbana home, starting with tomorrow night’s free show in The Courtyard (formerly called The Courtyard Café), at the center of the Illini Union.

Support Groups Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance Heritage Room, Provena Hospital, 7pm, free Karaoke Liquid Courage Karaoke The Brickhouse, 10pm-2am, TBA Karaoke American Legion post 71, 8pm-1am, TBA

Animate Objects

Special Events 30th Annual Urbana Sweetcorn Festival Downtown Urbana, Main Street and Broadway, 5pm-11pm

DJ Night of Elegance: DJ Asiatic, DJ Dice [R&B, hip-hop] Nargile, 10pm DJ Mighty Dog Jackson's Ribs-N-Tips, 9pm, TBA DJ Night Paulie's, 9pm, free DJ Resonate [hip-hop] Barfly, 10pm, free DJ Tim Williams [top 40/hiphop/house/dance] The Highdive, 10pm, $5 DJ Elise [house] Boltini, 10:30pm, free DJ White Horse Inn, 10pm, free "G" Force DJ The Brickhouse, 10pm-2am DJ Bozak [broken beat, house, soul] Soma, 10pm, cover

The Beauty Shop headlines the show with their brand of raw, alt-country. They recently returned from a five-date tour of the UK which left them across the pond a little longer than they originally intended due to the recent strike at Heathrow.

Animate Objects is a dynamic hip hop group that features MCs and DJs as well as live instrumentation. Winners of the Champaign-Urbana Local Music Awards for Best Hip Hop Group, their… well, animate shows are always crowd pleasers.

SATURDAY August 27 Live Music Country Connection Rose Bowl Tavern, 9pm, $1 Will Rogers Band [country/southern rock covers/originals] Neil St. Pub, 10pm-2am, $3 Music Among the Vines: Shadows of Doubt [60's and 70's rock] Alto Vineyards, 7:30-10:30pm, $3 The Brat Pack [80's covers] Fat City Saloon, 8pm, $5 Headphones [Pedro the Lion], Headlights, Casados The Courtyard, 9pm, free Candy Foster and Shades of Blue [rhythm and blues] Iron Post, 9pm, TBA Mad Science Fair, The Pomonas, Rob McColley Mike 'n Molly's, 10pm, $4 ESP [classic rock/new rock covers] Tommy G's, 10pm, cover Eclectic Theory Joe’s Brewery, 10pm-1am, free Reasonable Doubt [rock] TnT Tavern, 8:30-12:30pm, free Ben Bedford Embassy Tavern, 9:30pm-1am, TBA Delta Kings [rock and blues] D.R. Digger's, 9pm-1am, free

Friday, August 26 The Courtyard (formerly The Courtyard Café) 9pm-2am, free

Illinites presents:

Jiggsaw serves up a helping of solid indie/punk/art rock. Their mixture of up-tempo melodies with loud, crunchy riffs and vocal dynamics has been compared to everything from The Pixies to Franz Ferdinand.

The Beauty Shop

DJ Raphael [house, hip-hop, rock, dance] Cowboy Monkey, 9pm, free DJ Dance Party Canopy club, 10pm, TBA Karaoke Liquid Courage Karaoke Geo's, 9pm-1am, free Dancing Tango Dancing with DJ Joe Grohens Sidebar, 9pm, $7 Kids Storytime Pages for All Ages, 11am, free Special Events 30th Annual Urbana Sweetcorn Festival Downtown Urbana, Main Street and Broadway, 11am - 11pm

SUNDAY August 28 Live Music The Crystal River Band Rose Bowl Tavern, 9pm, free Young Kim Jazz Duo Iron Post, 6pm, TBA Brandon T. Washington Iron Post, 9pm, TBA Heavycore presents "Sunday Mass": Skeptik, Low Twelve, Seven Year Existence Tommy G's, 9:30pm, free Illinois NORML Benefit Show: Missing the Point, Animate Objects, Pulsar47 Cowboy Monkey, 10pm, $5

--Cassie Conner

Jon Meske [house] Boltini, 10:30pm, free

Open Mic Night hosted by Mike Ingram Cowboy Monkey, 10pm, free

Auditions Open Audition [Parkland Theatre’s "The Exonerated," by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen. Call 351-2529] Parkland Theatre, 1-4pm

DJ DJ Delayney [hip-hop/soul] Barfly, 10pm, free

MONDAY August 29 Live Music Love & Joy [comedy and live R&B] Canopy Club, 10pm, $3 Motown Mondays: As Is Nargile, 7pm, $5 Jazz Jam with ParaDocs Iron Post, 8-11pm, TBA Chris and Jim [cover band] White Horse Inn, 10pm, free Finga Lickin' The Office, 10:30pm, free Quad Remedy [classic rock] Tommy G’s, 10pm, free

pg.18

David Lynch !"#$%&'()%

The Prairie Dogs Tommy G's, 5-7pm, free Music Among the Vines: Javelinas [acoustic blues] Alto Vineyards, 6-9pm, $3 Old Crow Medicine Show The Highdive, doors at 7pm, show at 7:30pm, $15 The Mighty Pranksters Fat City Saloon, 8pm, TBA American Minor CD Release Show: American Minor, Thee Shams, Lorenzo Goetz Canopy Club, 9pm, $7 Illinites and Openingbands.com presents: The Beauty Shop, Animate Objects, Jiggsaw The Courtyard, 9pm, free Mary Muliken Iron Post, 9pm, TBA Quad Remedy [classic rock] The Phoenix, 9pm, free Kilborn Alley [blues] Cowboy Monkey, 10pm, $4 Albert Flasher Tommy G's, 10pm, cover

Puzzle

!"#$%&'"()*+"',+"-$.#"!" # $ !%/"!"()*+"',+"-$.#"&'()"*!+,0 1%#"!"#$%&'".+1((2"3%#+.4'1%#"',+"-$.#"&).$%2&/"5,+").$%2 6$7+4"-,+%"2$3"'.2"'$"8+.91():+"',+"&'()"*/";,+%").$%2 ,1<<+%4"-)',$3'"-$.#40 !+-(. /)%0./#"1.12&3+1*/

DJ DJ Wesjile [hip-hop] Barfly, 10pm, free

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO LIST A POSTING E-MAIL CALENDAR@READBUZZ.COM BY SUNDAY NIGHT. I N T R O | A R O U N D T O W N | L I S T E N , H E A R | M A I N E V E N T | A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T | W I N E & D I N E | T H E S I LV E R S C R E E N | C L A S S I F I E D S

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12 • b u z z w e e k l y

#$%& '(%)*$+ ++ + + +!

Cut a rug in the Champaign County Nursing Home The waltz, the tango and the fox trot are forms of the dying art of ballroom dancing. But if you’re one of talented elite who can impress on the dance floor, the Champaign County Nursing Home invites you to strut your stuff. September 18-24 is National Ballroom Dancing Week and the nursing home is looking for dancers willing to perform one of these elegant dances for their residents. The only requirements are couples with a dance routine, your own music and the ability to dance for an audience.

Contact Kalah McGraw at kmcgraw@co.champaign.il.us or 384-3784 for more information or to sign up.

–Erin Scottberg Mixtape Mondays: DJ Elise, TBA [house] Boltini, 10pm, free Lectures, Meetings, Discussions Duncan Watts: Social Networks and Social Dynamics in a Small World [We've all heard of the small world phenomenon—the idea that each one of us can be connected to everyone else through only "six degrees of separation." But where did this idea come from? Is it true? And if it is, what implications does it have for the problems of society?]

Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center, 4pm, free

TUESDAY August 30 Live Music Bluegrass Jam [amateurs and professionals welcome] Verde Gallery, 7-9:30pm, free Open Jam/Open Mic hosted by Mike Ingram Canopy Club, 9pm, 21+/free, $2/under 21

The Crystal River Band Rose Bowl Tavern, 9pm, free Adam Wolfe's Acoustic Night with Jess Greenlee Tommy G's, 10pm, free Open Stage Espresso Royale Goodwin & Oregon, 8pm, free Larry Gates [acoustic] The White Horse Inn, 10pm, free DJ DJ Reaganomics [80’s requests] Cowboy Monkey, 10pm, free Subversion: DJ ZoZo, DJ Evily, DJ TwinScin [goth/industrial/electro] The Highdive, 10pm, $2 Tremblin BG Barfly, 10pm, free DJ JB [hip-hop music videos] Nargile, 9pm, free CFK [house] Chester Street, 10pm, TBA DJ Lil Big Bass [2 step, drum n bass] Boltini, 10:30pm, TBA

Karaoke "G" Force Karaoke Neil St. Pub, 8pm-12am, free Liquid Courage Karaoke Geo's , 9pm-1am, free Liquid Courage Karaoke and DJ Track's, 9pm-1am Fitness Belly Dance for Fitness The Fitness Center Champaign, 8pm, $7-$9 Kids Storytime Pages for All Ages, 7pm, free Support Groups Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance Heritage Room, Provena Hospital, 7pm, free

WEDNESDAY August 31 Live Music Apollo Poetics Nargile, 10pm, free Chambana Jackson’s Ribs-n-Tips, 8-10pm Ed O'Hare and Friends Rose Bowl Tavern, 9pm, free Blues Night: Kilborn Alley Tommy G's, 10pm, free Chambana Jackson's Ribs-N-Tips, 8-10pm Grand Buffet, DJ Jester 'The Filipino Fist', Triple Whip, Fireflies Canopy Club, 9pm, $5 DJ Chef Ra [roots, reggae] Barfly, 10pm, free Contact: DJ Raphael Kroshay, TBA [drum n bass] Nargile, 9pm, free DJ Missus Mike 'n Molly's, 10pm, TBA Karaoke Liquid Courage Karaoke Geovanti's, 10pm-2am, free Outlaw Karaoke The White Horse Inn, 10pm, free Dancing Tango Dancing Cowboy Monkey, 7:30pm, free Salsa Dancing [salsa/mambo/bachata] Cowboy Monkey, 10pm, free Kids Babies’ Lap Time [songs, stories and rhymes for the youngest patrons, birth-24 months, with an adult] Urbana Free Library, 10:30-11am, free

Wright Street

Neil Street Springfield Avenue

Green Street

Green Street

Green Street

Possibilities [works by U of I Alum and local artist Sandra Ahten] Illini Union Art Gallery through September Artist reception September 1, 5:30-7:30pm Backstage Pass [a series of limited edition entertainment photos taken by Paul Idleman in Colorado between 1978 and 2000. Some of the biggest names in the biz are represented: Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Huey Lewis, Sam Kinison, John Hartford, Jay Leno, etc.]

Cinema Gallery through September 24 Living Language: Painting and Poetry Unite by Marie Mamaril [watercolor and acrylic on canvas] Pages for All Ages through September 14 Study of Landscapes and Study of Verbs [abstract paintings by Sven] Aroma Cafe through August 31 Study of Primary, Secondary and Tertiary [abstract works by Sven] Cafe Kopi through August 31 Andy Warhol: The Complete 1979 Diamond Dust Shadow Series, Editions I-V and The Shadow and Other SelfPortraits, 1977-1981 University Gallery in Normal, IL through October 2 Opening reception August 30, 5-7pm Exhibition tour led by director Barr y Blinderman September 7, 7pm Art With Intention Open Studio [Individually directed drop-in studio time allowing adults to explore their creative voices. Instructed by Sandra Ahten] Thursdays, 4-9pm. Visit www.spiritofsandra.com for details and location.

Aroma Cafe is looking for artists to exhibit their work. If you are interested in exhibiting your art, please contact Amanda Bickel, art coordinator at Aroma Cafe at art4aroma@yahoo.com.

Engineering

Quad

Springfield Engineering

Quad

Main Quad

Silver Bullet Bar 1401 E. Washington, U. www.silverbulletbar.net 344-0937 BEST BAR IN CHAMPAIGN-URBANA BEST DJ’S AND MUSIC - BEST DRINK SPECIALS

Monday - $2 Domestic Beers Tuesday - $2 Rum & Coke Wednesday - $2.50 Screwdrivers Thursday - $2 Amaretto Stone Sours FREE POOL 8PM-9PM FEMALE DANCERS NIGHTLY OPEN Monday - Thursday 8pm-1am Friday-Saturday 8pm-2am Ladies & Couples Welcome Always Free Admission with our T-Shirt ATM $5.00 Admission/Ladies Free Accepted MUST BE 21

We're easy to find!

I N T R O | A R O U N D T O W N | L I S T E N , H E A R | M A I N E V E N T | A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T | T H E S I LV E R S C R E E N | T H E S T I N G E R | C L A S S I F I E D S

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sound ground #90

Annual Parkland Art and Design Faculty Exhibition Parkland Art Gallery through September 22, 2005, Parkland Art Gallery Opening reception, August 25, 6-8pm, Gallery Lounge

Green Street Wright Street

Neil Street

Green Street

Wright Street

Springfield Avenue

Neil Street

P Pickles

Springfield Avenue

3 1 , 2 OO5

Art&T heater

Just a stone's throw away is ChampaignUrbana's landmark for the finest in nachos, fajitas, burgers, italian beef, BBQ ribs, steaks, salads, and sandwiches. Stop in for lunch or dinner from 11 am daily and help us celebrate our 16th year in business!

Springfield

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TODD J. HUNTER • STAFF WRITER

Thee Shams Please Yourself

The secret is out: HUM, the

Fat Possum

BY KYLE GORMAN

biggest band from here in the past 20 years, will come out of retirement for a special show October 15. The quartet famous for “Stars” will headline the Budweiser True Music festival behind the Highdive in a giant tent with country rocker Shooter Jennings, (son of Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter). This is a free show, but the only way to get tickets is to win them through media and retail outlets. Although this is a 21 and over show, the regular age requirement is 18 in Urbana and 19 in Champaign.

“I’ll flip you over and make you late for work.”

So churrs Menthol, a Hum offshoot that evolved from Southern rock to new wave before new wave was back. Last here July 1, 2004 at the Highdive with Urge Overkill, Menthol is active again with a show October 22 at Cowboy Monkey and an EP with five unreleased songs. In the meantime, a sixth unreleased song,“Bavarian Girl,” is available for free at menthol-music.com. Menthol is vocalist-guitarist Balthazar De Ley, bassist Joel Spencer, and drummer Colin Koteles.

Lorenzo Goetz, WPGU-Buzz Best Rock Band and Best Overall Band 2005, is halfway through with its Heavy EP. In the tradition of Jay-Z, Lorenzo Goetz will employ a different producer for every track: Andy Lund and Anthony Gravino of Temple of Low Men, Brett Sanderson of Headlights, and the venerable Adam Schmitt.

Besides concert standout “Heavy,” songs will include a tooth-fairy-friendly new version of “Slumber Jaw” and “Wake Up.” Lorenzo Goetz and Thee Shams open Friday for the American Minor release party at the Canopy Club.

For anyone unaware, American Minor is a bluesrock quintet that relocated from Huntington, West Virginia, to Champaign three years ago and last year signed to Red Ink/Jive/Zomba. American Minor finally has a full-length record, produced by Brad Smith and Christopher Thorn of Blind Melon and mixed by Rob Schnapf and Doug Boehm. Adds American Minor, "Don't miss [it] because we've been working on a special treat for those who make it out.” Show time is 9 p.m., and cover is $7.

Tonight at the Courtyard, The Dudley Corporation visits from Ireland with Urbana quartet The Invisible—Drummer Kipp Wilfong is back!—and Radiohead-ish Decatur quintet The Infinity Room. For those who missed Megan Johns last week or Roger Cler the week before, they play again, together, at Arôma. Both these shows are free and start at 8 p.m.

At 9 p.m.,VM Underground Artist of the Month i:scintilla and Relenter perform for the first time since June 18. The event is termed Children of the Night and sponsored by Subversion. Cover is $3. For a double scoop of bluegrass, Cornmeal and Green Mountain Grass play at Cowboy Monkey. Show time is 10 p.m., and cover is $5.

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Todd J. Hunter hosts WEFT Sessions and Champaign Local 901, two hours of livr local music every Monday night at 10 p.m. on 90.1 FM. Send news to soundground@excite.com.

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There’s nothing particularly surprising about Thee Shams, exactly: the topless girl on the cover may shock a few (not Walmart patrons, though – the record’s been banned from the puritanical retailer’s stores), particularly when combined with the album title’s instructions, but the Cincinnati-based band’s bluesy, psychedelic rock is nothing you can’t hear elsewhere. What’s surprising, though, is how many other influences you’ll hear. “Love Me All The Time” is a dramatic Bowie-esque ballad (think “Changes”).

Andrew Gabbard’s organ is reminiscent of the Zombies on some tracks, and “Come Down Again,” with a long vocal line, reminds one of what the San Francisco bands of the late ‘60s star ted off sounding like: blues

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MY SPOON’S TOO BIG.

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708 S. Goodwin 18+ Urbana, IL 344≠ BAND BAND bands with bigger ideas and bolder leaders.

In other places, the bass bounces and drummer Keith Fox provides primitive drumming, bright harp, and lust for life.

By ignoring the shadow cast upon blues by the overtly-technical,Thee Shams use Britrock, folk, and psychedelic music to create a hipper sound. Thee Shams, like their label-mates The Black Keys, seem to appreciate that doing the blues right in a post-post-rock age requires less ingenuity and more showmanship, taste and restraint. By doing the right thing and doing it well, bands like Thee Shams are making it safe to listen to the blues once again.

Thee Shams will open for American Minor this Friday.

See the left page for details.

www .canop y club.com Every Sunday!

1≠ 2≠ 3≠ 4 Jukebox $1 Domestic Pints, $2 Import Pints, $3 Calls, $4 Domestic Pitchers Every Monday!

Love & Joy: Comedy & Live R & B!!

$2 Amarettos & $1.75 Budweiser drafts Every Tuesday!

OPEN M IC/JAM $2 Long Islands! $1 PBR Drafts!

Thursday, August 25 H E A D L I G H T S w. Via Audio & Shipwreck

Friday, Aug 26

American Minor cd release party w. Lorenzo Goetz, The Shams Wednesday, Aug 31

Grand Buffet w. DJ Jester & TRIPLE WHIP Thursday, Sept 1

Friday, Sept 2

with Rocco Deluca

Thursday, Sept 15

Tuesday, Sept 20

Tickets for advance shows on sale now at: The Canopy Club, Family Pride, and Bacca Cigar, or call 1≠ 800≠ 514≠ ETIX. Or print tickets at home on JayTV.com!

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LET’S FIGHT SOME FOO. GO SEE THE SHOW!

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AMERICAN MINOR GOES MAJOR: An interview with American Minor’s Josh Knox

FRANK KROLICKI

! STAFF WRITER

American Minor is holding a release party for their brand new CD on August 26 at the Canopy Club, with special guests Thee Shams and Lorenzo Goetz. Drummer Josh Knox was cool enough to answer some questions about life on a major label, playing live, the American Minor song catalog and more for Buzz in preparation for the event.

BUZZ: Why

did you guys originally come to Illinois? our lead singer, Robert, was accepted into the U of I Law School and his wife into the dance program. The band was starting to get a little more serious and there wasn’t too much going on in West Virginia, so we packed up and moved to Champaign to keep the band together. Rob ended up deferring his acceptance so we could focus on the band.

JOSH: Well,

BUZZ:You’re having release parties at both the Canopy Club and at the Monkey Bar in West Virginia, and you seem to be very true to both places. Do you notice any differences in the two audiences?

JOSH: Of course, West Virginia is consistently a bit rowdier than Champaign, although we’ve had some great ones here. Champaign shows seem to be filled with younger, more music-oriented people in general, whereas West Virginia shows are more of a blue-collar social event that consist equally of friends, family and music fans. Probably the biggest difference is the absence of PBR at West Virginia shows.That’s Budweiser country.

the band…Bud is the quintessential guitar player. Bruno and I are pretty much self-taught and come at things from our own perspectives. Gragg’s great with a melody and is really into the singer/songwriter aspect of things. Robert tends to draw inspiration from different places than the rest of us sometimes, as well as having a great talent for writing lyrics and melodies.

Somehow, it all seems to fit.We’re just 5 guys from West Virginia with different musical personalities that happen to compliment each other. It could be due to the fact that we’ve known each other and played together for so many years, or that we shared similar life experiences growing up.

BUZZ:

“Buffalo Creek” is one of the most lyrically interesting songs on the disc.What’s the story behind it?

JOSH: The song is about a flood that occurred in West Virginia due to negligent mining practices. On Feb. 26, 1972, a faulty dam built to contain coal wastewater ruptured, releasing millions of gallon of black water down the Buffalo Creek hollow in the form of a 20-foot wave. It was actually one of the worst industrial disasters in United States’ history.The coal companies all but erased this from state history, and it was essentially forgotten.We thought it’d be a great awareness piece. The vibe of the music seemed to fit the lyrical theme really well.

BUZZ:

Craziest tour story so far?

Probably the first tour with Bud. It was his 21st birthday.

He ditched his finals and we picked him up in West Virginia.The van broke down (in the ghetto) in Memphis on the way to Louisiana.We had to pay ultra-sketchy drug addicts to fix the van.

We missed the ‘money’ show in Louisiana that was going to finance the entire tour. We ended up sleeping on the beach in Buloxi, Mississippi and limping back home in the van.

JOSH:

BUZZ: There

are lots of songs in the American Minor canon that are not only unreleased, but have been abandoned at live shows.

Any plans to revisit them while either recording or touring?

JOSH: Sure.We would never rule anything out completely.We’re always into reworking old tunes.Anybody who has seen us over the past few years knows that. If something is so terrible that it couldn’t ever be played or used in the band in some way, we probably wouldn’t have ever finished writing it in the first place. It’s all fair game.You never know, we could pull something out when you least expect it. buzz American Minor will celebrate the release of their self-titled debut CD this Friday at the Canopy Club in Urbana. Your $7 cover will also get you Cincinnati blues band Thee Shams and local stalwarts Lorenzo Goetz.

BUZZ: What, if

anything, has changed since being signed to Jive?

Simply being paid to be a musician, just like someone’s paid to work in an office. I have to say, it’s great. We don’t have to work part-time jobs to get by. Besides that, not that much else has changed.We can afford to tour without having to crash on floors. We don’t have to sweat each month when bills are due. We got some sweet road cases for our gear. Jive did actually buy us a new transmission for the van once...and some haircuts.You can’t beat that shit.

JOSH:

In a way, American Minor music defies categorization.

Songs such as “Don’t Jump the Gun” or “Walk On” might be considered Southern rock, but at the same time are not confined to that label.What is it about the band that makes for that sound?

JOSH: I would give two reasons for that.The first being the wide variety of music that inspires us. Of course, you have the bands that have obviously influenced us…but there’s also some that you might not pick up on.You’ve got everything from stuff like the Staple Singers and Bill Withers, Albert King and the Temptations…You know, we all grew up with the backdrop of classic rock radio, but we didn’t really come back to that until a few years ago.We were kind of in denial. It’s not exactly cool to be into Bad Company when you’re 14, at least it wasn’t when I was.There were years filled with artists like Radiohead, Beck, Ryan Adams, Superdrag, Weezer and Wilco.

The second being the various styles of musicians within

PHOTO COURTESY OF AMERICN MINOR

BUZZ:

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If dogs could talk, it would take a lot of the fun out of owning one.

Andy Rooney

ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS Local artists with international flair KATIE PYLE

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rtists, shoppers, musicians and art lovers braved the heat last weekend for Champaign Park District’s second annual Downtown Festival of the Arts. The festival began Friday with a kickoff party that went late into the night and featured live music performances. While streets were closed for the kickoff, the festival itself took place in West Side Park. Branching out from the center fountain, artists’ booths covered the park while music from local bands drifted through the park on Saturday and Sunday. Whether one was looking for the perfect painting for the living room, or just simply looking, there was plenty to do for the whole family.

PHOTOS • DAVID SOLANA

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An entire corner of the park was devoted while visiting his family, Grimaldi to children’s entertainment. Kids could “fell in love with the local art.” choose from a vast array of inflatable architecIn addition to framed paintings, ture to be climbed up, slid down, or bounced Grimaldi’s pieces included a painted upon. Also helping to make the event family berimbau, which is a traditional friendly were vendors selling snacks ranging wooden instrument of Brazil. from french fries to smoothies. The art, Grimaldi purchased the instrument though, was the center of the visitors’ attenin Brazil, and then painted it herself. tion. Kathleen Bailey, 9, and Melanie Bailey, Hanging above the artist's work 5, who were accompanied by their mother, was the Brazilian flag, with its motto Sara, found the fair to be very enjoyable, of “order and progress,” adding an although Melanie’s favorite mode of expresinternational feeling to the festival. sion, finger painting, was scarce at the fair.

Not all of the art shown had an Karen Fiorino, who visits about nine art artist standing by ready to talk. fairs a year, was one of the 53 artists showDrawn on one of West Side Park’s ing work at the Champaign Festival. Her sidewalks was an exuberant chalk pieces included hand-painted mugs and pathway leading up to the fair. bowls decorated with, among many other Along with a huge smiley face, things, charming little turtles. Fiorino has heart, and peace sign, a flowery vine been making Maiolica glazed red earthenled the way to the artists’ tents. ware for 8 years, though this is her first time Visitors to the festival were encourshowing in Champaign. aged to sign their name on the sideThis weekend’s fair was Thomas Dagley’s walk by a chalk-written invitation. second showing in Champaign. Dagley Other hands-on activities for visitors specializes in landscapes and still life photogincluded a tent devoted to coloring. raphy. All his pictures are relatively local, A very large coloring-book style featuring idealized Midwestern scenes, such as mural had been cut into a grid of corn fields, windmills, and streams. Dagley hundreds of eight inch squares to be got his start in the 1970’s with 35 mm film, colored by guests. Once a square A metal dog shows his catch.The piece, made by had been colored according to the but now works solely with digital cameras.

Melinda Trevino’s hand-painted silk Rachel and Alan Haynes of Stray Cat Art, was colors assigned, it was fixed to the scarves were uncommon pieces among the on display at the Downtown Festival of the Arts grid, and would eventually reassemGlasswork by Todd Manicki on display at the Downtown Festival blown glass, paintings, and pottery at the in Champaign. ble into the mural, colored in by of the Arts in Champaign. festival. Trevino explained,“I’m hundreds of visitors. Also available were fish-covered hats waitself-taught. I paint each scarf ing to be colored in. separately using bamboo brushVisual art wasn't the only art medium represented at the fair. es, dye, and wood blocks that A large music tent featured three bands each day, including Jazz I create. Designs on the scarves Mayhem and the Steve Adleman Quartet. Tables were set up included color patterns and around the stage where music fans sat together enjoying the show flowers,Trevino’s favorite flower and cold beer. Becky Arundale of Urbana felt the musicians of the to paint being the iris. Trevino Jazz Mayhem performance showed a pure love of making music. has been painting scarves for The head-bobbing and foot-tapping of the festival visitors around four years and sold 500 of her her proved that others loved the music too. buzz hand-painted scarves last year.

While many of the pieces Champaign Park District's second annual Downtown Festival of the shown at the fair drew on Arts succeeded in bringing regional artists and local art lovers togethlocal beauty for inspiration, er to appreciate, discuss and enjoy many different art forms.

Jennifer Grimaldi created her paintings working from photos she took while in Brazil.

Her husband is from Brazil and s o u n d s

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At first, I was ecstatic. I was finally in a plane on my way up, and the only way down was to jump out this hobbit-sized door in front of me.

Then I started thinking about the two jumpers that died at this year’s convention (neither were tandem jumpers), and although that didn’t scare me away, all of a sudden I found myself thinking that their last ride was probably really similar to this.

Then I looked at all the safety gear I was wearing, looked around at all the other people ready to do the same thing I was, probably for the umpteenth time, and the excitement came back.

Sure, I was nervous, but it was that “Holy shit, I’m about to jump out of an airplane, fall like a cannon ball then soar like a kite 14,000 feet back to the ground,” anticipation. I was thrilled.

The cabin of the Otter has three lights, one red, one yellow and

STAFF WRITER

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one green. As with traffic lights, red means stay in the cabin, yellow means get ready and green means go. As soon as the yellow light switched on, I sat on Larry’s lap, he attached me to his suit, we went over what I was to do one last time. When it was time to drop, Larry would yell “Ready!” and point forward, “Set!” while his arm was coming back, and “Jump!” as he pointed forward again.

With my toes even with the edge of the plane and Larry securely strapped to my back, there was a swarm of thoughts going through my mind as my gaze switched between the bright sky in front of me and the ground far, far below me.

“Do I look down? Make sure to keep my head back! Yes, look down!”

I saw Larry’s hand point forward for the first time. The wind was whipping around and the engines were so loud, I could bare-

ly hear anything. I was only wearing a tank top, and the cold started to make me uncomfortable.

Then I looked down. I totally forgot about the cold.

Larry’s hand shot forward a second time as I heard a barely audible “Jump!” in my right ear.

Next thing I knew, we were falling out of the plane with the cameraman right behind us. At first, the thought of a camera following a jumper so closely seemed ludicrous, but once I was actually falling, I realized how much control the jumper actually has. Within seconds, Larry taped my shoulder, which meant it’s ok to stop holding on and let my arms fly free.

The minute of free fall was the most intense 60 seconds of my life. All the worries that had hidden themselves in the back of my mind flew out after the first second. It was the epitome of a thrill ride.There’s no point in trying to describe it. I’ll just use the same clichés everyone else does. Just go do it.

The pressure of the air on my arms made it hard to move. The pressure in my head made my ear drums feel like they were going to blow. My body felt incapacitated in the same way it does on a carnival ride where they spin you round and round until centrifugal force sucks you to the wall. With effort, I was able to reach out and grab hands with the cameraman to spin around in the air.

When Larry pulled the parachute, it took a few moments for my brain to catch up with my body and realize we weren’t free falling anymore. The transition between free falling and gliding was the most electrifying part of the experience. Free falling was the most magnificently exhilarating thing I’ve ever felt. No joke.

The chute opens and it’s immediate serenity. Gliding was incredibly relaxing, almost whimsical.

Larry let me take the reigns and steer for a while—it was like

flying a huge stunt kite that’s attached to your back. Slipping through clouds was unreal. One second, it’s calm, cool air and the next, a dampness begins to cover your body. By the time you’re in the thick of it, it’s darker, visibility is hardly a foot and it feels like a warm, wet blanket cloaking your body. Then you exit out the bottom and it’s clear again.

Landing was a breeze—we came in on a 45 degree angle, yards above a skim pond set up for jumpers to create waves with their feet, and skidded to a stop. Another tandem master came out and helped me to my feet, asking,“Now do you see why we love this?” buzz

WFFC: The details

Skydivers

from all over the world called Rantoul home for the 10 days of the the World Free Fall Convention. So why Rantoul?

First off, there’s plenty of room and minimal air traffic, key factors in choosing a location for a gathering of more than 1,500 people.

The WFFC is divided into two sections. To get into the main area, you must pay a fee and register as a skydiver. You must have at least 50 jumps to your name. Here, divers can camp, stay in RV’s and hang out with people who share their hobby from all over the world.

The other section, the observation side, is free to anyone who just wants to kick back and watch people fall from the sky. Like any festival, there’s also entertainment, music, food and shopping on both sides.

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Everything at the WFFC is done with safety in mind. Before entering the convention, all skydiving equipment must pass a safety check. Skydiving does have its risks, which reared their evil face at this year’s convention when two skydivers were killed.

Although people weren’t saying much, one staff member at the gear safety checkpoint, Jodi Adams, 32, offered her insight: “A lot of people here have lost someone in the sport or have been injured themselves. We accept it. With this sport, you just don’t mess around. It’s a lot of fun, we can get crazy, but it’s always safety first.”

For Adams and her fiancé Jeff Lerette (whom she met skydiving), the best part of the convention was jumping with divers from all over the world. It might be out of the way to travel from South Africa, Finland or one of the many other countries represented at the festival, but for many, that’s the allure of it.

“You build up a friendship with people all over the world.You meet all sorts of people,” said St. Louis native and four-time WFFC diver Josh Koetting. Many divers are WFFC veterans and look forward to seeing their skydiving buddies they only run into in Rantoul.

For more information, visit: www.freefall.com

I N T R O | A R O U N D T O W N | L I S T E N , H E A R | M A I N E V E N T | A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T | T H E S I LV E R S C R E E N | T H E S T I N G E R | C L A S S I F I E D S

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It is one thing to be in the

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• ARTS EDITOR Holly Rushakoff is the creator of the real life based comic, Girls’Eyes (www.girleyes.com), which runs weekly in The Hub. After graduating with her print-journalism degree from UIUC in 1998, Holly has flexed it at past local alternative weeklies. She was music editor/managing editor/copy editor/writer at The Octopus, and after getting her graphic design certificate in Ann Arbor, Mich., she worked as graphic designer/photographer at CUCityview. She also started Sound Ground at The Paper before handing that and her local music show hosting duties at WEFT 90.1 to Todd Hunter. Holly currently works at UIUC as a media/communications specialist for the college of LAS, and freelance designs (websites, ads, album covers, photographs, etc.). She’s also a founder of Euterpe Music Network, which strives to strengthen CU’s local music community and is currently booking monthly workshops. Holly plays bass in the rock band Triple Whip, which is in the process of recording its third album, Snake Creeps Down, due in October.

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FALLING WITH THE PROS AT THE WORLD FREE FALL CONVENTION

PHOTOS COURTESY OF • DAVID SICHER

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n Saturday, August 13, not quite two weeks ago, I jumped out of an airplane, 14,000 feet in the air, and fell to the earth at 120 miles per hour. I was one of more than 1,600 divers from all over the globe who made their way to Rantoul, Illinois to participate in the World Free Fall Convention.

I first heard about the World Free Fall Convention on the radio, then heard a friend talking about it at a party one night, a week before I jumped.

The next day, I decided to see what this was about. After Googling “+skydive +rantoul,” I was directed to the convention’s Web site, www.freefall.com. The front page was an advertisment for first-time divers to tandem jump at the convention.

Since it’s always a good idea to mix work and fun, I decided I wanted to do a jump. After talking with my editor, the publisher and a few people in between, I had a tandem jump set up at the WFFC. This is my story.

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eople say skydiving is a ridiculous sport that’s only for crazies. As one of my good friends put it, “Why jump out of a perfectly good airplane?” But as someone who loves anything that makes my heart beat faster, it seemed right up my alley. I can’t imagine anything more thrilling than free falling through the troposphere, at twice the legal speed limit, falling faster and faster, watching the ground get closer until you pull a cord that employs a parachute to guide you safely to your feet.

And I was right.

Due to uncooperative weather, my first two visits to the WFFC were spent on land—dense clouds on Friday evening caused the Federal Aviation Administration to ground all flights. I came back Saturday morning at 9 a.m. (a testimony to how bad I wanted to do this), but was told the same thing. After hanging around for a few hours without break in the weather in sight, I headed back to Urbana, still a skydiving virgin.

Determined to eventually make it up in the air—the chance of crappy weather lasting all weekend wasn’t even a possibility in my mind—I kept calling the tandem booth to check the jumping status.

Sure enough, around 4:00 Saturday afternoon, I was told the grounding order had been lifted and tandem jumpers were going up.

Without delay, I was on my way back to Rantoul for a third time. Upon arrival, I found out I hadn’t been told the complete truth. The hold was expected to be lifted within the hour. Tired of driving up and down Route 45, and tired of seeing my gas gauge drop, I waited on-site for the official ok.

To pass the time, I watched the necessary video featuring Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top explaining the fine print of all the waivers I’d just signed. Ok, it wasn’t really Gibbons, but it looked like he could have been his brother. Basically, Mr. Top said, in the most professional way possible, “You are going to be jumping out of the sky and falling quickly to the earth. You might splatter into the ground. It’s a risk of the sport. Shit happens, and if it does, you, or your heirs, can’t sue anyone. At all.”

Completely aware of the risk I was taking, I waited for the sky to clear. Half an hour later, the FAA cleared the grounding hold. Afraid I was going to miss the window of good weather I’d waited so patiently for over the past 24 hours, I wanted to get up in the sky before flights were grounded again.

I was going to jump with Larry Lemaster, a diver from southern Ohio who quit his full time job to work at his own drop zone a few years ago. Larry has over 1,600 jumps to his credit, so I had no qualms about my safety.

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Holly Rushakoff

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Ernest Hemingway • author

ERIN SCOTTBERG • AROUND TOWN EDITOR

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You’d think being strapped to someone’s crotch would be a little awkward, but Larry was nothing but professional. He explained everything he was doing, the purpose it served and how I could expect my gear to act in the air. For instance, any loose objects, including my pony-tailed hair, had to be secured or else they’d whip bruises onto my body during the free fall.

With everything tightened up, Larry explained the correct position for free fall: knees bent, legs back, head back, arch at the hips.

“And the most important thing,” he said, “smile.” I was paying an extra 79 bucks to have a photographer jump next to me and record the whole thing. Larry wanted to make sure I got some good shots.

Next, Larry, the photographer and I rode in the back of a pickup to the other side of the site where the planes take off. I was to be jumping out of “Otter,” a twin engine plane that holds around 24 passengers. On my plane were jumpers from as far away as Denmark, Sweden and South Africa.

The last, and only, time I was in a plane was over 12 years ago, so not only was this my first time diving, but it felt like my first time in an airplane. Once we reached a certain height, the door was opened to let some cool air into the cabin. As the entire Chanute Air Force Base slowly came into view below me, I felt like I was looking at a diorama an architect would

What is your target audience and how do you form your comic to reach those people?

Girls’ Eyes is like reading someone’s diary, since they’re true stories and it’s handwritten.

I think that the intimacy lends itself to a crossover to male readers too. But I’m concentrating on the special relationships women have with each other in terms of the kinds of topics and conversations we’ll open up to each other about. So there’s a certain female-to-female understanding and connection that I’m tapping into. I’m so happy that I’ve already received support from women of all ages. Beyond writing about my own experiences, I’ll capture moments that other girls have shared with me, whether they were hilarious or sad or poignant, in the same way you stop and take a photo of something because it strikes you and you don’t want to forget what you’ve witnessed.

mom.” My other favorite is Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” series, which I found out about by being a Tori Amos fan. My attraction to The Sandman is as much for Dave McKean’s compelling graphics as Neil Gaiman’s dark, intellectual wavelength. His writing is kind of like profound fortune cookies to the extreme. I got to meet Neil Gaiman at a book signing too. I’m no aficionado of comics, but I did grow up with the Archie books. And I also have some of the Mutts books because of their sweetness.

You've been involved in a variety of projects here in CU. What has been the most rewarding?

Hosting the live local music radio show,WEFT Sessions, was a privilege.

Hanging out in a small, informal space while the band performed—being that close to them and absorbing their music—was a special experience.

I’m an attentive listener and so it was a perfect performer-audience relationship. Sometimes music can feel so transcendent when you hear it and watch it, and I got a weekly dose for several years. I also learned how to fill in the gaps so there was no dead air. Sometimes that translates into my everyday conversational demeanor, and when I get that flow, I have to remember to pipe down so the other person has a chance to talk too. Also, playing bass in Triple Whip has allowed me to realize some more physically intense aspects of myself. My gosh, controlling this booming instrument in place of my own relatively soft voice is quite empowering.

What is your favorite book, favorite band?

It depends on the mood. A recent book purchase includes Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore in which he compares mythology, religion, and psychology. I also love magazines, especially ones I’ve never seen before— I just bought “The Comics Interpreter” and “Res” (because Miranda July, writer/actor/director of Me and You and Everyone We Know, was on the cover). I dig David Sedaris—his wit and deadpan deliveries. I love the dialogue and action-reactions on the Gilmore Girls. As for music, I appreciate a diverse collection, a good groove, and I’m a sucker for a pretty female voice. I like, and I need, everything from lounge (Hotel Costes) to jazz/big band (Dean Martin, Billie Holiday) to singer/songwriter (Tom Waits, Jenny Choi/Sanawon) to funk (Stevie Wonder, Prince) to atmospheric (Bjork, Michael Andrews) to rock (WPGU, KEXP), and a category let’s call you-better-watch-out (Lovecup, Eminem). And definitely lots of local bands, past and present.

What are your plans for the future?

build for a client, complete with tiny plastic shrubbery, meticulously painted roads, and toy airplanes.

It took a little under 20 minutes to get to 14,000 feet. Never before have I experienced as many emotions in such a short amount of time as I did on that flight.

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I have several goals. I want to get Girls’ Eyes into other alternative weeklies and women’s magazines. I’m working on a book of all the Girls’ Eyes I’ve created (since they’re not all on my website), fleshed out with backstories about the characters and/or the incidents captured. I also want to make my website more interactive. I recently wrote about my grandma, just remembering things about her. I would love to add a forum where other people could share stories of their grandmas, or whatever the topic is, and maybe pose questions to characters. Basically, that would enable the conversation to continue with the readers. This fall, I’m excited to host a couple workshops about comics at both state and national conventions for high school journalism students.

What comics/graphic novels have you been influenced by?

I love Lynda Barry, creator of “Ernie Pook’s Comeek” and the characters Marlys and Maybonne. She portrays adolescence in a candid, funny, vivid, somber, very real way. In high school, my creative writing teacher told us that she was speaking at a library, so I went with my mom. She wrote to my teacher: “Holly needs 10 points of extra credit. She is great. Also her s o u n d s

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GOD ONLY KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED TO THE KITTEN YOU GOT FOR HER. 'CAUSE YOU KNOW SHE DIDN'T KEEP IT.

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5

“There aren't evil guys and innocent guys.

It's just... It's just...

It's just a bunch of guys.”

Zero Effect

RED EYE action genre) were made on small budgets with little-known stars. The idea was to get them into the theater, make as much money as possible and pull them out before anyone had the chance to realize how bad they were.

Red Eye works essentially the same way. With its slim running time and relatively unknown cast, director Wes Craven has fashioned a modern day exploitation film that goes straight for the throat. The story moves at a breakneck speed and the thrills come in rapid succession. And for what it’s worth, it gets the job done.

Simplicity is a key element in a good exploitation film and it doesn’t get much simpler than Red Eye. Rachel McAdams is Lisa Reisart, a good-hearted Miami hotel desk clerk, taking the late flight, the eponymous Red Eye, back home after her grandmother’s funeral in Dallas.At the airport she runs into a nice guy with an ominous name, Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy).

They have a drink, a few laughs, and part their merry ways — seemingly walking out of each other’s lives.

But fate works in mysterious ways. Jackson and Lisa wind up as seatmates on the ride to Miami. But this is no coincidence. It turns out Jackson is part of a plot to assassinate a Homeland Security chief (Jack Scalia), staying at the Miami hotel where Lisa works. Jackson offers his hostage an ultimatum: either help him get the Homeland guy right where he wants, or her father (Brian Cox) gets the axe. Literally.

After the disgraceful excuse of a film that was Cursed, it looked like Wes Craven was done with horror for a while.

Though he first burst onto the scene with classics like Last

THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN DAVID JUST • STAFF WRITER

Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) wakes up every morning, and like

most people, heads straight for the bathroom. Unfortunately, Andy finds it incredibly difficult to go to the bathroom when he has a…well, let’s just say he doesn’t need Viagra. He then proceeds to do workouts with his thighmaster in the comfort of his living room, surrounded by action figures of Aquaman, G.I. Joe, Ironman, and Darth Vader which he has collected since he was a small boy.

After breakfast, Andy steps out of his house, tightens his bicycle helmet, tucks his pant legs into his socks, and heads off to work on his Schwinn.The stock boy at an electronics store,Andy has held the same job for countless years. His coworkers, even though they fear he’s a serial killer, invite him to their poker game in need of a fifth player. After the game, the guys ask Andy about his craziest sex story. Struggling to make something up, Andy remarks that he was once with a gorgeous woman who had breasts that felt like sandbags. This invariably leaves the guys around the table to conclude that Andy is either gay, or a virgin.

DREAMWORKS

During the 70’s, exploitation films (usually in the horror or

House on the Left and A Nightmare on Elm Street, he took a different avenue with the Scream series—the trilogy that virtually dissected the genre he helped create. And the Scream movies worked, not necessarily as horror films, but as nail-biting thrillers.

And Red Eye delivers the thrills. It’s really a simple game of cat and mouse, but the claustrophobic atmosphere and first-rate performances make it exciting from beginning to end.

The real show stopper is Rachel McAdams of Wedding Crashers and Mean Girls glory. She portrays Lisa as an intelligent and resilient heroine, and not as your typical Hollywood starlet who only runs around screaming. Her performance makes every scare more believable. After all, she’s a normal person in extraordinary circumstances and her actions convey all the RED EYE • CILLIAN MURPHY fear, tension and worry that would accompany ters and straightforward plot. More character involvement (the someone in her position.

Cillian Murphy isn’t too shabby either.After his breakthrough great Brian Cox is underused) and a few twists and turns could role as a guy running from zombies in 28 Days Later, he now have made the film more exciting.

In the end, Red Eye is still a B-movie. It’s an exploitation plays a cold-blooded, conniving professional who is fiercely determined to accomplish his task. Rippner is a monster that film that is based solely around thrills to arouse the audience’s doesn’t need a mask (he’s scary-looking as it is). Murphy plays interest. For an exciting ride, it’s worth it; an unforgettable him with such conviction and evil poise that just his presence in movie it’s not. Red Eye marks Craven’s return to the shorter, simpler films of his early career. Maybe if he had a hand in the film’s climax is chilling in itself.

Red Eye is a decent film.Though it’s being released in August, developing the script, the characters would have been more the abyss of summer movies, it’s an engrossing ride even if the captivating. In fact, it worked just as those in the 70’s did. It was writing isn’t up to par. Newbie writer Carl Ellsworth has crafted an exciting ride for 86 minutes, they took my money and I left an entertaining, paranoid thriller that works well with its light- already forgetting about it. ning pace, but fails to succeed with its poorly developed characWith Andy, as the title might lead you to conclude, the latter is the correct conclusion. For all of his life,Andy has gone without sex, and somehow managed to survive. His friends pledge to help him overcome his fears and doubts so that he may finally accomplish this feat.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a romantic comedy (which often veers into the horribly unromantic) directed by Judd Apatow. Apatow too, is a virginthis is his directorial debut. But, despite it being his first time, Apatow has crafted a smart, and often times hilarious movie which works on more levels than one.

The film manages to stay away nicely from being a one-joke feature, as so many other comedies often are. Carell makes establishing Andy as a pitiful, pathetic, almost tragic but enormously likable character look easy. He meets Trish (Catherine THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN • STEVE CARELL & LESLIE MANN Ultimately, The 40-Year-Old Virgin delivers something that Keener) at the electronics store and she promptly gives him her number.Trish opened her own store called “Sell it on eBay,” where everyone can appreciate and enjoy, virgins or not. The movie people bring in their products to be sold and she sells them through teaches us that there can be no progress without risk, and that online auctions. When a customer comes in to purchase an item, trying and trying again, is the only way to succeed. Cheesy? she refuses to sell it, stating that the goods can only be bought on Maybe. But it’s just so funny. eBay. Seems Andy is not the only one with a few quirks.

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!"#$%&'

THE PAINTING WAS A GIFT, AND Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;M TAKING IT WITH ME.

first things first

Garage drinking practice

AU G . 25

â&#x20AC;˘

3 1 , 2 OO5

When I was a sophomore in

high school, I got my first letter for playing football. I point this out not to be a braggart, but simply to give you some insight on how poor our football team was.

Regardless, I got the letter on a Wednesday, had it sewn on my jacket on Thursday, and was wearing it by Friday. I have to say, I was pretty proud, or maybe just cocky. Sadly, while I was feeling all special, something bad happened. On that Friday night, since I was pretending I was a good football player, I also decided to pretend I was a good drinker. I was neither.

A few of my friends who were also sporting their new letters came over to our house that evening.We told my parents we would be in the garage playing poker, but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m pretty sure they knew better. We were actually in the garage drinking as much of my dadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s beer as we could stomach. Dad would come out every hour or so, get a beer for himself, and just smile at us guys. My friends were staying overnight, so there was no driving, and I think Dad was aware that this was the time in our lives when

we were going to start drinking and thought it best if we had a few dry runs in the garage before we were thrown on the general public.

My friend Mark went in the house to pee about 10 p.m. and realized my Dad was asleep on the couch. So, Mark felt this was the perfect time to break out the bottle of peppermint schnapps heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d stolen from his fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s liquor cabinet. By that point, the beer was really taking hold and we were even more impressed with ourselves than weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d been at the beginning of the evening. We were very special and apparently very thirsty, so we began to guzzle the liquor from the bottle.

Actually, that isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t all true. Most of the guys just put the bottle to their lips and pretended to take a drink. Mark and I stepped up to the plate and poured it down our throats like it was good for us, a minty little treat that tasted so good on the way down it never occurred to us that it would lose much of itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s allure on the way back up.The other guys fell asleep in the house, but we stayed in the garage until the bottle was finished.

Details are a little sketchy after that, but there was plenty of testimony and evidence for my trial the next morning. The main piece of evidence was my new lettermenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s jacket, which I evidently neglected to take off before I began vomiting onto my chest. There was also the

damning testimony of my poor mother who tried to clean my drunk ass up. She would fill the bathtub with me in it, wipe me off until I threw up in the water, drain the bathtub, fill it again, wipe me off â&#x20AC;Ś well, you get the idea.

Mark couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t provide any eyewitness accounts to this, as heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d opted to vomit outside and quietly fall asleep in the backyard.

My other friends went home the next morning and Mark and I sat on the couch staring at our knees, fairly sure we would be drawn and quartered for our little experiment. Surprisingly, mom came in and announced we would be going to the movies that afternoon.

We were stunned as we were expecting a far worse punishment. On the way out the door, the picture came more into focus. We were handed our stinking, wretched, puke soaked lettermenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s jackets and informed that we would be wearing them for the rest of the day.

We couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t imagine actually wearing them for any period of time since each of us began dry heaving the moment we got one arm into a sleeve. Eventually, we were dressed and at the movies, swallowing hard for two hours, trying to push the sweet minty vomit back into our stomachs. I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t drink much hard liquor for the rest of high school.

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SYD SLOBODNIK â&#x20AC;˘ STAFF WRITER

The story may seem sort of strange and probably way too long since Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m just now getting to the point of the whole thing, but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sort of glad it happened. At the very least, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m glad it happened at my house instead of in a parking lot somewhere. Particularly since I doubt a stranger would have continued to bath me after I tainted my bath water four or five times.

Anyway, what made me Michael Coulter think of this was an article is a videographI read last week about a group er, comedian of parents that are going to and sort of a great lengths to prevent their smart-ass. But high schoolers from drinking. we love him anyI know itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sort way, and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t of hard to advocate, drunken know why. teenagers, but if theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re gonna Probably because heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so drink sometime, I think everydamn funny. one would be better served if they had a little practice at it in garages across the country rather than out in public. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a skill like anything else. Maybe itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just me, but if I meet someone whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stopped drinking, I can respect them for their decision, but if I meet someone who has never drank, I never really trust them.

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YOUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;RE CRAZY. I LIKE YOU, BUT YOUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;RE CRAZY.

VALIANT

Similar to garage band practice, but different ... mostly because of the vomit MICHAEL COULTER â&#x20AC;˘ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

AU G . 25

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always quite interesting to see how the

major studios treat their late summer releases.

Many times they have no faith in the filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s potential and simply dump the film before a quicker DVD release. Other films, like Disneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Valiant, are fascinating little films with simple pleasures that probably donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have enough narrative potential, star power or stunning special effects to impress a wide audience seeking a last blast of summer entertainment before Labor Day. Disney, along with Vanguard Animation, co-produced Valiant and, with first time director Gary Chapman, create a pleasant little animated adventure which has enough to please an under12 crowd, but may perplex its youthful audiences with its many World War II references.

Valiantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s narrative by George Webster and Jordan Katz tells a rather standard tale of highflying wartime heroics of a special troupe of homing pigeons. A young, and just â&#x20AC;&#x153;a little too shortâ&#x20AC;? wood pigeon named Valiant, learns of the romantic heroism of many courageous war pigeons and enlists in the Royal Homing Pigeon Service, seemingly a branch of the Royal Air Force. After some rigorous training, Valiant and his handful of avian recruits are assigned to Major Gutsyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;F Squadâ&#x20AC;? and are sent behind enemy lines, across the English Channel, to retrieve secret plans from the French resistance to help the Alliesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; plan for the D-Day invasion.

Older viewers, who are frequently recruited into taking young children to these animated features, will find some of Valiantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s parody of World War II RAF adventures tolerable. A newsreel takeoff called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Birds on the Marchâ&#x20AC;? tells of the important contributions of the homelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s feathered populace.Adults will also enjoy the talented voicework of the filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

many amusing characters. Ewan McGregor adds just enough simple naivetĂŠ to the vocal qualities of Valiant.Tim Curryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s villain hawk, General Von Talon, is made out to be the perfect bird version of an evil Luftwaffe commander, from his black eye patch to his humming of Wagnerian opera. Rick Gervais, of TVâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s The Office, Hugh Laurie, of PBSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jeeves VALIANT â&#x20AC;˘ BRIAN LONSDALE (VOICE) and Wooster, Jim Broadbent and John Hurt all provide amusing While not nearly as spectacular as Shrek or voices to various other friends of Valiant.

Chicken Run, the filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s computer animation is Children under ten or so will enjoy the still impressive in the climactic chase sequence simple, and never insulting or rude, light humor where Valiant breathlessly soars across the of the film. Pigeon characters with the names of English countryside trying to outsmart General Lofty and Tailfeather will amuse with their silli- Von Talon and save the day. ness. Also enjoyable is a captured pigeon named While Valiant may not be a late summer Mercury, voiced by John Cleese. While caged blockbuster, it may just actually be the ideal before a torture session he yells, â&#x20AC;&#x153;This canary film for young kids to drag their grandparents will never sing.â&#x20AC;? The biggest laughs from this to. Then theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be able to reminisce and tell grade school crowd come when a French their grandkids the tales of what many call Resistance mouse named Rollo, a noted sabo- Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatest generation. tage expert, dances around with lit matches.

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drive to create. You've been spinning out little miracles and making everything fresh again and again and again. The astrological omens say you'll need to take a break soon. Do this under your own power, please, so that fate doesn't have to force you to do it.

LEO

(')* +&%,"-!%&./01

descendants will be able to read about your exploits and contributions, it could very well be because of events you set in motion during the next six weeks. The possibility that you will make a mark on eternity is as great as it has ever been.

SAGITTARIUS

(Nov. 22-Dec.21)

You wouldn't plant a rosebush in a spot where a geyser erupts periodically, would you? You wouldn't build a romantic hideaway on the bank of a river that floods every year, right?

So please say you won't be careless as you track down the best place to express your love and fertility in the future.

Swear to me that you'll research the possibilities with forethought and a passion for detail.

"Dear Dr. Brezsny: I was wondering if you had any information about Beyonders, people who were born under no star and who are therefore not ruled by the stars.

–Leo Goddess, a.k.a. Wannabe Beyonder" Dear Wannabe: It's impossible to be born under no star.

However, it's true that periodically we all go through periods when we're relatively free from the authority of the stars we were born under. During these times, we're less susceptible to the whims of fate and the demands of the past and the compulsions of karma. Our willpower has more breathing room.

It happens to be one of those phases for you Leos right now.

At least temporarily, you're like a Beyonder.

There's a three-mile stretch of Interstate 880 south of Oakland, California that I call the Singing Highway. For reasons I don't understand, it generates low humming melodies every time I drive over it, similar to the guttural chants of Tibetan monks. Sometimes I swear I can even hear lyrics. Today, for example, I was driving to the airport. My mind turned to you, my Sagittarian readers. Yours was the only horoscope I had left to write for this week, and to pass the time I thought I'd scavenge around for fresh intuitions. Just then I reached the Singing Highway, and I swear I began hearing the same lyric repeating over and over again: "a shortcut to the path with heart/ a shortcut to the path with heart/ a shortcut to the path with heart." Coincidence? I don't think so.

TAU RU S

VIRGO

CAPRICORN

ARIES

(March 21-April 19)

(April 20-May 20)

(May 21-June 20)

The average major league baseball game lasts nearly three hours, but the time when the ball is actually in play is only about 10 minutes. In other words, there's a lot of waiting around between brief flurries of activity. Sound familiar, Gemini? From what I can tell, your life recently has had a lot of prolonged stretches when nothing much of interest or importance has happened. I bet that will soon change, though.

According to my reading of the astrological omens, the action is about to heat up. Get ready to score in double figures.

CANCER

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

Writing in The New York Times, Nicholas Kristof reported that the media has been as guilty of ignoring the ongoing genocide in Darfur as the Bush administration has been. In June, he said, the main TV news programs collectively ran 55 times more stories about the Michael Jackson trial than they did about East Africa's crisis. CBS gave three minutes of coverage to Darfur in all of 2004, and NBC five minutes. As soon as you finish reading this horoscope, Virgo, I hope you will take aggressive action to avoid falling victim to equally misplaced priorities in your personal life. Don't you dare let trivial spectacles divert you from healing the sorest spot in your world.

About every 90 seconds, there's an earthquake somewhere on the planet. Most are very small and aren't felt by normal human beings. But I predict that in the coming days you may actually be aware of those subtle tremors arising from deep in the planet-just as I expect you'll be highly attuned to every little change in the weather and each minute shift in the emotional atmosphere of your immediate environments. In fact, Taurus, you may soon be more sensitive than you've been in years. You'll probably also be impressionable, perceptive, empathetic, and even psychic.

GEMINI

(July 23-Aug. 22)

LIBRA

(Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

This week's new word, class, is bravura. Derived from an old Italian word for "bold," it has two meanings: (1) skill and brilliance exhibited in a performance or task; (2) a display of incredible daring. In the coming week, I urge you to write I have bravura on your palm, on your mirror, and anywhere else your eyes frequently gaze upon. If you keep reminding yourself that you now have the capacity to pull off acts of bravura, you will in fact pull them off.

(June 21-July 22)

SCORPIO

After mating for the first and only time, a young queen ant burrows underground, where she lays about 20 eggs a day for 10 years. Sometimes you remind me of her, Cancerian--lately, for instance. You have been animated by an almost insatiable

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Of all the animals in the world, the fly is the most unloved.

It annoys us with its zigzag buzzing. When it lands in our food, we lose our appetite, knowing it carries residues of the disgusting things it has preyed on. But in the creation story of the Chelan Indians, the fly is given a heroic role to play because of its speed. In modern parlance, people say they'd like to be a fly on the wall in a place where an interesting conversation takes place. And the ancient Roman poet Virgil had a pet fly that saved him a fortune. When the fly died, he gave it a large funeral and declared its final resting place a cemetery, thereby avoiding a sizable land tax through a legal loophole. In the coming

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AQUARIUS

Cover Design • Obumneme Asota Editor in chief • Paul Wagner Art Director • Claire Napier Copy Chief • Emily Wahlheim Music • Kyle Gorman Arts • Constance Beitzel Film • Andrew Vecelas Community • Erin Scottberg Calendar • Erin Scottberg Photography Editor • David Solana Designers • Brittany Bindrim, Nikita Sorokin, Obumneme Asota Calendar Coordinators • Cassie Conner, Todd Swiss Photography • Austin Happel Copy Editors • Sarah Goebel, Gary Peeples Staff Writers • Todd Swiss, Paul Prikazsky, Syd Slobodnik, Beth Dillman, Todd J. Hunter Contributing Writers • Michael Coulter, Seth Fein Production Manager • Meredith Niepert Sales Manager • Anna Rost Marketing/Distribution • Louis Reeves III Publisher • Mary Cory

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PISCES

(Feb. 19-March 20)

According to my analysis of the astrological omens, Pisces, the week ahead will be overflowing with paradox. Lucky danger may be headed your way, or a risky opportunity that will feel like an ordeal even as it brings out the best in you. I also wouldn't be surprised if you had encounters with benevolent trouble, exacting love, and weighty silliness. To thrive in the midst of these rich anomalies, you should suspend any prejudices you might have against puzzling evidence. Don't just tolerate the contradictions--love them.

Homework: Imagine a moral code rooted in beauty, love, pleasure, and liberation instead of order, control, repression, and fear. Tell me about it at www.freewillastrology.com.

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Across 1 What some older golfers use as a scoring goal 4 Dessert at the drivethru 9 Do a Chicken Dance move 13 “Friends” costar 14 Polytheist of sorts 15 Got fired up 17 Show whose originial theme song was done by Bill Haley and His Comets 19 Campfire bit 20 “___, Sing America” (Langston Hughes poem) 21 Cartoon show whose theme song is done

by Les Claypool of Primus 23 Cell with an axon 26 Black Panther Party

co-founder Bobby 27 Beginnings 29 Type of popcorn 33 The Presidents of the United States of America sang its theme (with “The”) 36 News agcy.

38 Far less than quadri39 Linguist’s suffix 40 Show whose theme was written and performed by Quincy Jones 47 “Hey, watch where you’re going!” oaf 48 Feet-landing-first dives 51 Andorra neighbor 54 University in Philadelphia 55 With 61-across, show whose theme is sung

by They Might Be Giants

I N T R O | A R O U N D T O W N | L I S T E N , H E A R | M A I N E V E N T | A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T | T H E S I LV E R S C R E E N | T H E S T I N G E R | C L A S S I F I E D S

(Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

When rock star Courtney Love asked me for advice about her relationship with rock star Trent Reznor a few years ago, I told her the same thing I'll tell you now: Empty your brain of everything you think you know about the person who both excites you and drives you crazy. Drop all of your fantasies and projections and expectations. As soon as you do, you will clearly see that person is not a diabolical angel whose main task in life is to rouse your obsessive thoughts, but rather a flawed human being who has only a partial resemblance to what you imagine him or her to be. When you achieve that enlightened state, then and only then will there be even a shred of hope that you two

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59 End in ___ 60 Menage a ___ 61 See 55-across 64 Have a feeling 65 Sheltering sort 66 The Matterhorn, e.g.

67 Game with a “Livin’ Large” expansion, with “The” 68 Borden bovine 69 Learned and smart, in rebus puzzles Down 1 Like broken hearts 2 Popular facial hair 3 Bringing forth a statement 4 Bond, e.g.

5 Conned 6 “Jumpin’ Jack Flash, it’s ___...”

7 Knocks out cold 8 Come after 9 KISS member Ace

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10 Snail relatives 11 Jessica of “Fantastic Four” 12 Fair jury member 16 Dwight Gooden’s nickname 18 One who reads thoroughly 22 Have 24 Sugary suffix 25 Word in four state names 28 Gulf War missile 30 Tomorrow 31 ___ Lobos 32 She puts the “she” in “sheep” 34 Santa ___ winds 35 It comes in a small box 36 Kind of computer port 37 With 62-down, longbearded teacher in “Kill Bill: Vol. 2” 41 Extreme form of government 42 Takes the anti side 43 Flesh and blood 44 He gets a holiday in June 45 Title for the unknown 46 2,004 years ago 49 Actor John C. ___ of “The Aviator” 50 Doc’s mate 52 “___ One That I Want” (Margaret Cho album) 53 Nothing, in ancient Rome 55 Range components: abbr.

56 Bellicose god 57 “WKRP” alum Anderson 58 Beatty and Flanders, for two 62 See 37-down 63 Burning anger

3

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WHY DO I HAVE TO BE IN CAMOUFLAGE? IS THE BIG BAD QUAIL GONNA GET ME?

BUZZ STAFF

It's unlikely that you or I or anyone we know will become famous enough to earn a mention in the historical records of the future. The odds are probably 10 million to 1. But if you do manage to make such a prominent name for yourself that our

.9% .9%

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3 1 , 2 OO5

weeks, Capricorn, I predict you will find similar redemption in an influence you have always regarded as comparable to the fly's.

Worden Martin Is Champaigní s #1 Subaru Dealer NEW 2OO5

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THE

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Festival of the Arts • Katie Pyle Artist’s Corner with Holly Rushakoff (Th)ink • Keef Knight

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We reserve the right to edit submissions. Buzz will not publish a letter without the verbal consent of the writer prior to publication date.

Buzz magazine is a student-run publication of Illini

AROUND TOWN

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The Local Sniff • Seth Fein This Modern World • Tom Tomorrow Life in Hell • Matt Groening Slowpoke • Jen Sorensen First Things First • Michael Coulter

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INTRO

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THE SILVER SCREEN Red Eye review • Paul Prikazsky 40 Year Old Virgin review • David Just Valiant review • Syd Slobodnik Movie Time Listings

THE STINGER Free Will Astrology Jonesin’ Crosswords • Matt Gaffney

CLASSIFIEDS

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EDITOR’S NOTE PAUL WAGNER • EDITOR IN CHIEF

It’s that time again. All of

the students have come back to campus. And I have to say it, having campus full again is sort of odd.This summer was damn near void of students. The bars were empty, there wasn’t nearly as much traffic, and gas was cheaper.

OK, maybe school has nothing to do with the gas prices, but I can certainly blame the lines and the traffic on school. Really, though, when I take a moment to think about it, I’m quite glad school is starting and students are back.

And not only for the freshmen girls. Oh no. Although that is a bonus, campus just felt too empty when it was, well, empty. The quad wasn’t full of people, the streets were always empty, and the bars were completely empty (which is only good because of the lack of lines).

My sister is an incoming freshamn this year (yes, I’m a ridiculously over-protective older brother), and last week I moved her into the dorms. It definitely brought back some memories.

I loved the dorms. Despite the cramped living space, I met all kinds of people in the dorms. All of my current roommates came from the dorms, and most of my other good friends and I met in the dorms as well.

Hell, I even miss the food I used to hate so

much. Dorm food is great. Just the other day I mooched lunch from a friend in the dorms, and it was delicious. Not only because it was free, but because I didn’t have to prepare it!

All I had to do was grab a tray and stuff myself with food. Classes are great places to meet people too, but it’s not quite as easy.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the privacy and freedom of non-dorm living, but having an entire floor of potential people to waste time with is an incredible prospect.

Apartment buildings, at least my apartment building, haven’t quite grasped the opendoor policy we had in the dorms. But maybe that’s just the air conditioning...

Regardless, it’s great to see campus full again. It just doesn’t feel the same without the bustling sidewalks, huge lines outside the bars, and massive groups of freshmen walking around without a clue as to where the hell they are (ahh freshmen).

So to students new and old, good luck with this semester, and the rest of your time here, for that matter. It goes by way too quickly, but damn, is it fun.

And go see a girls’ soccer game while you’re here.They rock, and my sister is on the team.Tell your friends. Hell, tell your friends to read the Buzz.

Also, if you missed us at Quad Day, Illini Media Company is having info nights on August 30 and 31 from 5-7. Go check ‘em out, come work with some cool people.

-Paul

Answers pg. 11

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AU G . 25

TATTOO ON THE LOWER BACK? MIGHT AS WELL BE A BULLSEYE.

the local sniff

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PHONE: 217/337-8337 DEADLINE: 2 p.m. Tuesday for the next Thursday’s edition.

APARTMENTS

FIRST SNIFF This weekend marks the 30th annual Sweetcorn Festival in downtown Urbana. Perhaps I was a little harsh with my words recently about my hometown. But it’s an event like the Sweetcorn Festival that makes me remember just how and why Urbana will always be a better city than Champaign.And now that we have a new mayor and a new uber-liberal city council, despite our trash can problems, we just might qualify as being one of the greatest cities on Earth. I mean, come on! The Family Stone is playing the Sweetcorn Fest! You’ve gotta love that…

YOU

HAVE A MUSIC SCENE!

Looking around campus, it’s nice to see, for the first time in years, all the students back and getting into the swing of things. Perhaps it’s because I don’t live anywhere close to campus any longer, or maybe it’s just because I am three years removed from finals, but, welcome home or here students, new and old. For the third year in a row, I will now list for you the local bands that you absolutely must go see while in school down here: Bailey, The Beauty Shop, The Living Blue, The Invisible, Green Light Go, Relenter, Headlights, Terminus Victor, Triple Whip, The Chemicals, Shipwreck, Lorenzo Goetz, Tractor Kings, Pulsar47, Ambitious Pie Party, The Elanors, Angie Heaton, i:Scintilla, JigGsaw, Apollo Project,Theory of Everything, Mike Ingram, Darling Disarm, Beat Kitchen, Kate Hathaway, Greytones, Fireflies, Mad Science Fair, American Minor, Rob McColley, Emotional Rec Club, Delta Kings.

And there are so many more. So much so that my editor told me that I had to cut 50 of them due to space. But I should mention that this semester, you can also go see HUM, the most important band to ever come out of Champaign-Urbana.And yes, I am aware that REO Speedwagon is from here. In fact, and this is no lie, my father gave them their first show ever.True story.

LIKE TO GET DOWN…

INDEX

I should take the time to also acknowledge the fact that we have a badass DJ scene here too.

Personally, I don’t get it, the whole DJ thing.What on Earth compels someone to shake that ass? I do not have the answer. But I know that a lot of people like to do it. So, for those of you out there who dig on the DJ thing, I have only a couple recommendations: DJ Mertz and DJ J-Phlip (Thursdays at Soma), DJ Elise, DJ Bozak, DJ ZoZo and DJ Twinscin (Tuesdays at Highdive), DJ Resonate, DJ Limbs, DJ Lil’ Big Bass, DJ Nachos BellGrande, DJ Delayney (the ultimate).

And I know that there are so many more that my DJ friends are going to slaughter me about,but this was the best I could do damnit! Given the space I have…

Also, for those of you who have some knowledge of years past, rumor has it that d-Lo and Spinnerty will be in town in late September and will be tearing up Soma.True story.

SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION I learned the art of shameless self-promotion as a child. I saw a band play Seth Fein is from where the bassist decided to Urbana. It’s true – inundate everyone he saw at he is a promoter. the record store he worked at But at the end of with news about his band. So, the day, he just I find nothing wrong with it. really loves listenTo get to the point, my ing to music on buddy and I are putting on a vinyl and watching mu s i c f e s t iva l i n l a t e these towns grow.

September. It is called He can be reached at sethfein@ Pygmalion Music Festival. If hotmail.com you are so inclined, you can search online and find out more about it at www.pygmalionmusicfest.com.

After all, Buzz Magazine is a sponsor, so I guess that makes this type of promo okay.

In any event, I do hope that all of you new students and old students help support the music scene here.Without us, it is nothing. Go check out champaignofblogs.blogspot.com for updates about the scene. Greymatter tends to post great content.

True story.

Employment Services Merchandise Transportation Apartments Other Housing/Rent Real Estate for Sale Things To Do Announcements Personals

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• PLEASE CHECK YOUR AD! Report errors immediately by calling 337-8337. We cannot be responsible for more than one day’s incorrect insertion if you do not notify us of the error by 2 pm on the day of the first insertion.

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Employment 000 HELP WANTED Full Time

HELP WANTED Part Time

Homework tutor needed for high school student in special education.

15hrs/ wk. in late afternoon or evenings. Must have car. Call 390-7887 or 359-9655.

Pia’s Sportsbar and Grill Bartenders/waits needed. Inquire at 1609 W. Springfield, Champaign.

PICKLES IS NOW HIRING PARTTIME SERVERS. APPLY IN PERSON, 505 S. NEIL, CHAMPAIGN.

HELP WANTED

Garage Sales 30 words in both Thursday’s buzz and Friday’s Daily Illini!! $10. If it rains, your next date is free.

Full/Part Time Come see what AGI has to offer: August 31st, 10am- 4pm FOLLETTS BOOK STORE 627 S. Wright Right near Campus!

Earn up to 9.50/hr!!

Need hours that work around your class schedule? We offer flexible schedules and shifts to college students! *Up to $800 per semester in college tuition money. *Great atmosphere *Close to campus. *Paid Vacations/ Holidays. *Health/ Life/ Dental/ 401 (k). *Incentives/ Raises/ bonuses. *Opportunity for holiday time off. 1-(888)-801-JOBS. employement@americallgroup.com Earn $5000 as an egg donor. Must be 20-29 and a non-smoker. Please call Alternative Reproductive Resources at 773-327-7315 or 847446-1001 to learn how you can help a family fulfill its dreams.

Illinois FOP Fundraising Center Perfect opportunity for Students and Individuals looking for FT/ PT Employment. Earn $9 hr (after paid training). Year Round 1-800-809-8775

HELP WANTED

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APARTMENTS

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1 bedroom lofts $497 2 bedrooms $545 3 bedrooms $650 4 bedrooms $1000 Campus, parking.

Fall 04, 367-6626

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GLASS FX 202 S. First, Champaign.

Transportation 300

Park-like Setting

laundry, pkg, W/A, $485/mo The Weiner Companies, Ltd

Available for Fall 407 E. University. Luxury one bedrooms, fully equipped- microwave, washer/dryer in-unit. Security building with elevator. Balconies, underground parking.

Hardwick Apartments 356-5272 621-1012 Available Now. 2 bedroom on campus. $550 per month. 367-6626.

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Large Deluxe, one bedroom sublease. 1032 Kerr Ave, Urbana. Furnished/ Unfurnished. $615 (negotiable). Priv. balcony, laundry, parking, pool, Rec/ Health center, carpet, quiet, dressing area w/ vanity basin $ mirror, modern kitchen.

709.828.2541.

Other Rentals 500

EXECUTIVE LOFT 201 S. Wright St., Champaign.

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Loft bedroom, security parking, balcony, A/C, laundry.

Hardwick Apartments 356-5272 621-1012

UNIQUE Available Fall. 1 bedroom loft apartment. Fully equipped. Balcony, parking. 409 W. Green. Call Hardwick Apartments, 356-5272 or 621-1012.

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304 & 306 E. Clark, C Castle Apartments 3 blocks to Engineering Quad. 3 BR $690, 4 BR $890. C/A, ceiling fan, dishwasher, washer/dryer in unit.

384-1099, castle_apartments@ameritech.net

Available today! 2 or 3 bedroom.

THE UNIVERSITY GROUP www.ugroup96.com 352-3182

EFFICIENCY/ STUDIO on South Busey, near Cafe Paradiso. $265 plus utilities or negotiable flat rate. Free parking, laundry, no pets. 12 month lease, references.

344-2775.

LANDO PLACE 707 South 6th, C. Large 1 BR. Includes water and trash removal. On-site Laundry. Secured Building. Local phone service and ethernet. Parking Available.

From $580/mo.

CAMPO RENTAL AGENCY 344-1927

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APARTMENTS

507 W. White, C. Contemporary 2 BR, now available.

In the heart of Old-town Champaign. $510/mo, 352-8540, 377-4677pm. www.faronproperties.com

Newly remodeled, 1 BR, Now available. $395/mo. Near dowtown Champaign. 352-8540. www.faronproperties.com

508 E. White

Action Ads • 20 words, run any 5 days (in buzz or The Daily Illini), $14 • 10 words, run any 5 days (in buzz or The Daily Illini), $7 • add a photo to an action ad, $10

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Apartments Furnished/Unfurnished

Merchandise 200

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2 p.m. Monday for the next Thursday’s edition.

I N T R O | A R O U N D T O W N | L I S T E N , H E A R | M A I N E V E N T | A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T | T H E S I LV E R S C R E E N | T H E S T I N G E R | C L A S S I F I E D S

430

1 bedroom in older home. $625/ mo.

Utilities included. 314 S. State St, Champaign. 369-7205

Shameless self-promotion for Pygmalion Music Festival AND, IF YOU

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Unfurnished

The local music sniff

SETH FEIN • CONTRIBUTING WRITER

buzz weekly •

I TRIED TO SNIFF COKE ONCE, BUT THE ICE CUBES GOT STUCK UP MY NOSE.

HOUSES

510

2 bedroom and 7 bedroom house on campus for Fall 2004. 367-6626.

316 S. State St., C 4/ 5 bedroom home, 2 baths, 2 full kitchens, laundry room. $1100/mo.

369-7205.

Eight to Nine Bedroom Fall, Campus, $2850 367-6626 Sabbatical house Available Jan. 1July 1, 2006. Four large bedrooms, Finished basement, fenced. Back yard, cable modem, 10 minutes from campus. Completely furnished. Located in Cherry Hills. $1850/mo.

355-6390.

ROOMS

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1 BR in 4 BR apartment. $350/mo, includes all utilities. 367-6626.

ROOM & BOARD

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Want community?

Vegetarian meals? Affordable private rooms? www.couch.coop

ROOMMATE WANTED 550 1 bedroom, near campus $300 per month 367-6626

RealEstateforSale 600 CONDOS/DUPLEXES

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Near Windsor and Prospect. Washer/dryer hookup, central air, gas heat, no pets. Available now 217369-0501

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PAUL SAYS MY ELBOWS ARE TOO LONG.

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ULTIMATE DIVE One Buzz writer’s experience pg. 6