Diverse City - The Brandeis Hoot - 2-13-09

Vo l u m e I I I , N u m b e r X V I I I

Celebrating The Precious Human Tapestry

F e b r ua ry 1 3 , 2 0 0 9

To sleep, perchance to dream

A vision of Herman Hesse’s “Siddhartha” on the Brandeis stage

BY SAM NEGIN Special to Diverse City

Have you ever had a dream that shook you to the core and changed the way you look at the world? In “Siddhartha: a Jungian Fantasy in Three Acts with Prelude,” Eric Hill’s adaptation of Herman Hesse’s 1922 novel currently at Brandeis Theater Company’s Laurie Theater in a production running through February 15th, this is exactly what happens.

The play begins with a lecture given by the character of Herman Hesse (Andrew Michael Neiman) about the nature of dreams and their manifestations in reality.

Through an explanation of the theories of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, Hesse reveals the nature of the story he will be recounting over the course of the evening.

We will learn the story of Siddhartha (Levi Rion Ben-Israel), an Indian man from the 6th century BCE in search of the meaning of life, whose life runs parallel to Hesse’s own. Born into a wealthy family, Siddhartha (and, by extension, Hesse) chooses to leave behind all that he has known to search for this meaning, and goes through periods of serenity, reflection, lust over the upper class Kamala (McCaela Donovan), selfhatred, and spirituality before ultimately discovering the inner peace he had been searching for all along.

A premise like this, with two parallel stories about self-discovery, is exactly the kind of thing that, while it has the feel of something I’ve seen a million times, always interests me, and this tale didn’t fail in that regard. The telling of that tale, however,

did. Never having read the Hesse novel, it is unclear to me if the fault lies with Hesse himself, Hill for his adaptation, or, in some fashion, both, but the passages of exposition of Hesse’s narration seemed to drag on without any sense of discovery or enlightenment. While his monologues seemed necessary to the structure of the piece, I kept wanting to get back into the scenes of the story itself, letting the tale unfold and speak for itself rather than having that intertwine with Hesse’s expository thoughts.

This is not to say, however, that the production is altogether problematic. The show is carried by a fine set of actors (most in the Brandeis MFA program or professional), lead by the incomparable Levi Ben-Israel and Andrew Michael Neiman in the two main roles. These two actors were particularly well matched not only to their parts but also to each other as the parallel souls the story has them become.

Also of particular note was Equiano Mosieri as Vasudeva, the guardian of the river, who helps and protects Siddhartha on his journey. His strong presence was tempered by a subtle calm in his voice and mannerisms, something very welcome in this visually stunning and active production.

Hsiang-Lin Lee has designed the most lush, beautifully detailed, complex costumes I have seen on any Brandeis stage, having even outdone her previous work on Brandeis Theater Company’s “The Orphan of Zhao.” Chesapeake Westeveer’s scenic design served the production well due to its simplicity in relation to its com-

position of shapes, colors, and textures. Dave Wilson’s sound design and music was effective and moving, quickly bringing the audience into the world of the play.

The weak link of the design team on this show was Jake Bray, whose lighting design added little illumination to the mysteries of the show’s story. While the lighting design did its job highlighting the various sections of the stage, it did not add anything special to the show the way the sets and costumes did.

All in all, this is a show about the magic of self-discovery and the meaning of life, and the journey one man takes in search of them. In realizing this sweeping vision, the show sometimes greatly succeeds and, at others, greatly falters.

But, then again, couldn’t that be the point? Isn’t life just a series of success and failure, all adding up to our own, personal discoveries?

“Siddhartha,” by Herman Hesse, adapta-

tion by Eric Hill; directed by Richard Corley; sets by Chesapeake Westeveer; costumes by Hsiang-Lin Lee; lights by Jake Bray; music and sound by Dave Wilson; stage management by Susanna Quaintance; produced by the Brandeis Theater Company at the Laurie Theater, 415 South Street, Waltham MA 02453; (781) 736-3400. Through February 15th. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Arts resources at Brandeis: Use them or lose them

BY MAXWELL PRICE Editor

Amidst all the insanity and media frenzy over the Rose Art Museum debacle, there was one simple moment that came to eclipse all the others in my mind. I was walking to class when I heard a senior outside of Usdan discussing the controversy.

“I don’t know,” she began, “I guess it makes the university look bad.” I perked up my ears to hear what my peer would conclude about the importance of the Rose as part of Brandeis’ artistic legacy, its purported educational mission, or its attractiveness to incoming students (not to mention the fine arts program itself). Instead, she only tossed out a flippant, “But it doesn’t really affect me. I mean, I’ve never actually been there.” As outraged as I was by President Reinharz’s initial disclosure of the decision, the student’s statement irked me even more.

So this is a sermon to all you people who never went to the Rose Art Museum, who have never attended a play on campus,

IN THIS ISSUE:

PHOTO BY Amira Mintz-Morgenthau/The Hoot

who have never even heard of the Lydian String Quartet, and who didn’t realize the annual Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts existed. It’s time to wake up,

Beirut releases two new EPs Voices, page 9

folks, because it’s a dog eat dog world out there, and arts programs are easy prey. It’s easy enough for belt-tightening institutions of higher learning to scale back on

Chili Pepper releases solo record End Note, page 11

arts resources without handing them the rationale of underutilization. Put another way, it is much easier to say that the arts lie outside a university’s “core teaching and research mission” when students aren’t taking advantage of those educational tools to the best of their abilities.

The tension between art and society’s emphasis on “useful, practical” skills has been a dominant theme in my life. I attended public arts magnet schools for middle and high school in which every day was prophesied to be our last. A totalitarian superintendent made it his primary goal to “even the playing field,” which for him meant siphoning money from our arts programs to ailing schools who weren’t performing up to par on standardized tests. Our mission of excellence in arts and academics became clouded when our high school became dependent on funding from AP scores. The threat of budget trimming perpetually hung over our heads. At the same time, my father was running a not for profit theater that was experiencing simiSee ROSE p. 11

DID YOU KNOW? The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia, a specialized form of the term triskaidekaphobia, or phobia of the number thirteen.

February 13, 2009

Diverse City 9

VOICES ICC Corner

Brandeis celebrates Asian/ Pacific heritage The Brandeis Asian American Student Association, also known as BAASA, originated in 1971 in the midst of the Vietnam War. With anti-Asian sentiment brewing, it was created to prevent racism against Asians and to serve as an outlet for Asian Americans to become politically active in their communities. BAASA's mission today has changed and progressed into exploring the Asian and American cultural differences and how both can coexist as one culture.

Through campus wide events and social activism, BAASA hopes to spread awareness of this unique cultural mix.

In less than three weeks, BAASA will be holding the opening ceremonies for its biggest event of the year, APAHM. APAHM stands for the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, which celebrates the contributions Asian Americans have made to America. APAHM was officially enacted on Oct. 28, 1992. Its purpose is to appreciate the achievements and strides the Asian/ Pacific American community has made.

Normally, it takes place during the month of May, recognizing the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants to America on May 7, 1843, and also the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869, a project manned by mainly Chinese immigrants. However, it is celebrated at Brandeis during the month of March to prevent it from interruption by school release dates.

APHAM has been celebrated at Brandeis See ICC Corner p. 11

Inside the actor’s studio: typecasting PHOTO COURTESY of Arielle Kaplan

BY ARIELLE KAPLAN Staff

Columbia in “Rocky Horror,” Roberta in “Quickies,” Mallory/Avril in “City of Angels,” Louise in “Gypsy”… it seems that if you need someone to be onstage in little to very little clothing, I’m the girl to cast.

Typecasting is often one of the more trying parts of being an actor—being pigeonholed into a certain “type” of role and then being the first person people think of when searching for an actor to fill it.

At rehearsal last night, when I was talking with a friend about this idea, as in my current show, I again lost my shirt. “You do seem to get a lot of those parts,” she said.

She then went on to describe her “type” at Brandeis—the jovial, not-taken-seriously best friend roles. As I looked around the room, I realized most of us were cast in

type: Another friend of mine is currently playing a 12-year-old and last semester was a little girl. A guy in the cast is the dark, brooding character, which he’s perfected in the last year. I could cast an entire show from amongst my friends: the dashing male hero, the innocent ingénue, the femme fatale, the clown, the mother, the geriatric—we’re all really stock characters.

I’m not saying that type is a bad thing.

But after a while, it begins to get a little old.

Some actors try to “break type,” by changing something about themselves physically or vocally. My personal attempt to break out of the type of “dark lead” is why I’m currently a blonde.

But especially in a small community like Brandeis, you’ll still find yourself nudged towards the same roles. Again, not a bad thing. The theatrical world here is a microcosm of what we’ll find when we graduate

to the bigger stages in New York, Boston, Chicago. Don’t believe me? Take Johnny Depp. He’s always the slightly off, quirky antihero. Nicole Kidman? Beautiful, fragile, and somewhat tragic roles.

The thing that bothers me about it here is that once you play enough parts in a certain type, some people begin to believe that you are that character in life. Here’s a secret: we’re not. In reality, I’m not a huge fan of taking my clothes off. For one thing, it’s often very cold onstage! In all seriousness, I’m not really that comfortable doing it. But it’s a job, and I’m an actor, so I do what needs to get done.

Another positive about type is that if a performer keeps getting cast in the same roles, they’ve got to be doing something right. And that’s gratifying. So the next time you see a show, look at the actors and ask yourself, “Have I seen them do this before?” The answers might surprise you.

Beirut in Mexico, or Holland

BY DANIELLE GEWURZ Editor

Under the name Beirut, Zach Condon has explored cultures far flung from his upbringing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but with two recently released EPs, “March of the Zapotec/Holland,” he’s continued the trend of borrowing from other cultures while simultaneously moving a lot closer to home.

When Condon released his first album under the name Beirut, 2006’s “Gulag Orkestar” the moniker was just as out of place then as it is now, but for different reasons. Condon’s debut was all brass, Eastern-European polkas and Balkan influence creating heavy sonic textures behind Condon’s incredible, and incredibly versatile, voice, recalling Morrissey in tone and expansiveness.

His second album, “The Flying Club

Cup,” took on a patina of French influence in both song titles and mood but maintained the heavier instrumentation style of the debut. Somehow, Beirut fit both approaches into a broader style, proving that it was not so much the recreation of other genres as Condon’s own talent and voice that fuelled both albums.

With the “March of the Zapotec/Holland” EP set, Condon takes on two new palettes to work with, and manages to paint sounds that are new and somehow wholly familiar for Beirut. He moves away from both the ethnic sounds of “Gulag Orkestar” and the stately, regal composure of “Flying Club Cup” to a sound that is far more relaxed, and feels much less labored over.

The “March of the Zapotec” EP was recorded in Oaxaca, Mexico, with contributions from a Mexican band, The Jimenez Band. The influence is clear, but the EP doesn’t sound like a recreation of Spanish or Mexican music.

The brassy sound of the record echoes the influences of “Gulag Orkestar,” but in an entirely different context. The songs are long, instrumental pieces, very rhythmic in nature, not light but not so heavy as to drag.

It sounds just like a Beirut album would if it were to be backed by Mexican instrumentation. There’s not necessarily a lot of sonic evolution here, but it’s good to hear Condon get out of his gypsy-sound rut, and the record sounds as though he had far more fun with it. The tracks are thick (to be expected when a 17-piece band contributes), but he lets “The Shrew,” the closing song of “Zapotec,” breathe far more, removing much of the heavy hand while retaining the same atmosphere. It’s an approach I hope he continues to use;

it’s a nice contrast and one that serves him quite well as a vocalist.

The “Holland” EP was originally intended to be credited to Realpeople, an old alias of Condon’s used for his lo-fi bedroom electronic work pre-Beirut. Though the recordings are new, the use of Realpeople is in part due to the fact that many of the songs were first written several years ago.

“Holland” is an electronica-influenced EP that sounds like Condon recorded a new Beirut album, without his trumpet and his session players, and decided to perform the same arrangements with synthesizers instead.

It’s a neat trick, and one that, just like the Mexican influences of “Zapotec,” lets Condon move forward in composition while retaining an overriding artistic purpose. “Holland” is far more than a novelty one-off; like “Zapotec,” it’s pretty good, though not great, on its own merits.

The electronic stylings provide a bed for Condon to perform over, but hardly distract from Condon’s voice. The effect is subtle but turns out well, especially in “My Night With the Prostitute From Marseilles.” At the EP’s close, though, the idea still doesn’t seem fully fleshed out—I guess that’s why it’s an EP. Though Condon knows his way around a synthesizer, there’s nothing especially new or interesting, though it is pretty catchy.

The double-EP release is album length, sure, but it’s not an album, and certainly doesn’t satisfy like one. Nonetheless, Beirut’s release is enjoyable, fun, and worth a few listens. However, ultimately, it’s a bit too insubstantial to hold attention for too long, despite interesting concepts. Here’s hoping for a proper album this year to fulfill this promise.

10 Diverse City

February 13, 2009

CHORUS

A swastika in Portland

BY Mimi Cooper and Avram Mlotek Special to Diverse City

On Jan. 30, a dozen people attacked the Tiferet Israel synagogue in Venezuela, throwing Torah scrolls, damaging others, and leaving graffiti on the walls. The synagogue security guards were held at gunpoint. The synagogue was left with messages of “Jews get out” and “out, death to all” on its walls.

On the very same day, a swastika was discovered along with graffiti at Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh, Portland, Maine’s oldest orthodox synagogue. Only a weekend before that, a group of students from the Brandeis’Orthodox Organization spent a retreat in Portland at that very synagogue.

We were among the group of thirty-eight students who attended. Together with Jewish college students from the Maine area along with Portland natives, we celebrated the Sabbath together, singing, sharing words of Torah, enjoying each other’s company in a most welcoming community.

We can’t help but wonder what the correlation between these two events might be, if any. The atmosphere in Venezuela seems ripe for Anti-Semitism. Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, flaunts his friendship with the infamous Iranian president, who has expressed his desire to see Israel wiped off the face of the earth. This president who denounced the anti-Semitic attack on Jan. 30 is the same person who only a few years earlier gave a speech in which he said, “Some minorities, descendants of the same ones who crucified Christ...took all the world’s wealth for themselves.” To be blunt, in Venezuela, where the leadership is so radical, it seems all the more likely for there to be an Anti-Semitic attack such as the one Tiferet Israel experienced last week.

What then is a rational conclusion for the attack on Shaarey Tphiloh in Portland, Maine? We would like to be able to answer that question, but how can we ever explain the fact that an act of Anti-Semitism took place in an American city where we had felt so comfortable and welcome? Surely the blame can’t be deflected onto the environment set forth by the state of Maine’s political leadership. Portland Jews, like any other religious group, enjoy the same liberties and freedoms accorded to all religious groups in the United States.

Chavez inevitably adds to a culture of hate with his political affiliations, actions and statements. However, each of us adds to a culture of hate when we keep silent when such events occur.

The very next day after the attack in Maine, Akiva Hertzfeld, the vibrant and young rabbi of Portland’s Shaarey Tephiloh synagogue, held a morning meeting, where he invited all members of the community to discuss the community’s response to the recent attack. He broke the silence and the Portland community stood with him. We can’t afford to live in deluded worlds that understand anti-Semitism as an unfortunate reality of the past; it is present, with perpetrators expressing the old hatred in new and old ways. It takes zero tolerance for hate crime offenders coupled with rallies against hate crimes such as the one experienced in Portland to confront these acts.

During Shabbat afternoon when we were at the synagogue, Rabbi Hertzfeld told us that Portland had once been considered

the Vilna of Maine. We thought about that, and what an interesting comparison that was to make. Portland, with its charming streets, beautiful port, friendly fisherman, and nautical culture did not seem anything like the Lithuanian city that had once been the bastion of Jewish learning and culture in Europe. Vilna was a place filled

with thousands of Jews devoted to Torah, Judaism, and Judaic culture. Portland was beautiful, but the Vilna of Maine?

As Shabbat went on, we began to realize that although we were not in Vilna, Lithuania, we were in a unique and special community. Perhaps some of the Jewish melodies that we sang were some of the same ones that Jews from an earlier time sang in Vilna. The prayers that we said on Friday night and Shabbat day were the same ones said in the synagogues in Vilna. And the warmth of the community, the joy and beauty of Shabbat, and the remembrance and appreciation of the past and present in that synagogue in Portland made us think that this Shabbat experience

shared some similarities with what Jews had experienced in Vilna each week.

However, there is another aspect of Vilna that always stands out in our minds: the rampant anti-Semitism that the Jews suffered. The fact that we could understand why Portland was once considered the Vilna of Maine speaks of the incredibly uplifting and unique Shabbat that we experienced there. However, the cowardly act of anti-Semitism that was perpetrated in Portland last weekend, the likes of which one would only expect to read about in European history or Hamas textbooks, forces us to re-think the phrase, “The Vilna of Maine.” We don’t want the comparison to extend that far.

Anti-Semitism exists in Portland, Maine, in a town only two hours away from our Brandeis campus, and anti-Semitism exists in Caracas, Venezuela, albeit with different political environments and backgrounds. Both these synagogues were the oldest of their kind, both open their doors daily for prayer and serve as a place of gathering for their communities. Both were targeted because they were Jewish institutions.

A contingent of Brandeis students will be heading back to the Shaarey Tphiloh synagogue in Portland for a second weekend to express our solidarity with the community that hosted us so graciously. Again, we will pray loudly, sing until late at night, share words of Torah, and enjoy each other’s company. If these are our ideals, let us share them: No house of worship should have to face the degradation these pioneering synagogues faced. No Jew should ever have to see a swastika sprayed on her or his synagogue.

Ask the Queer Resource Center!

Do you have questions about gender, sexuality, diversity, or acceptance?

Would you like anonymous advice from friendly peer counselors?

Check out the Queer Resource Center, the educational branch of Triskelion, the Brandeis LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual/ally) group. We provide free, confidential peer counseling to people of all identities in Shapiro Campus Center room 328, Mondays through Fridays from 1 to 5 p.m.

Now you can have your questions answered anonymously in print! Submit a question to “Ask the QRC” at qrc@brandeis.edu. Put “Hoot” in the subject line, and you’ll see your question addressed anonymously in next week’s paper!

Dear QRC,

Dear Ally,

I’ve had the same roommate for the past 2 ½ semesters, and we’re getting along great. She’s one of my closest friends. Just last week, she came out to me as lesbian. I am totally a GLBT ally, and I have a lot of gay friends, and she knows this, which is probably why she felt so comfortable coming out to me. But I feel kind of weird living with her. I mean, I know she probably isn’t attracted to me or anything, but I just don’t feel okay changing in front of her or sleeping in my underwear. Is it okay that I want to be more modest now? Should I tell her that I want to be more private now? I want to keep our relationship strong, and I don’t want her to think I’m not accepting.

It sounds like you need to seriously reevaluate where you stand. This isn’t to say that just because you’re uncomfortable, you’re automatically a bigot, but these feelings you have are sincere, come from very real sources, and definitely need to be processed and dealt with in a healthy way. However unlikely, it’s possible that you are not as open in some ways as you would like to believe. The best route to go is to have a genuine, serious conversation with your roommate and make her understand where you are and where you’re coming from. Clearing the air is the healthiest way to start. Once you’ve initiated the conversation, maybe the two of you can work out what exactly is making you uncomfortable and what the both of you can do to preserve your friendship without making

Sincerely, Unsure Ally

either person feel uncomfortable or put upon. If you’d like to role play the scenario beforehand or have some more specific questions that come up after you talk, the QRC is open for just these situations! You can find us in Shapiro 328, 1-5, Monday through Friday.

Love, The QRC Dear QRC, A lot of my friends are straight, but when they get drunk at parties, they like to kiss people of the same sex. No one’s feelings seem to be hurt, but the next day they laugh about it. Is this okay?

Sincerely, Paranoid Party-goer

Dear Paranoid Party-goer, What a sticky question! There appear to be at least two layers – the first is whether or not it’s ok to behave sexually in a way outside how one normally defines oneself, and this is fine.

Sexuality (straightness included) is for many people a fluid and changing thing, and it’s almost always much more complicated that being just ‘gay’ or ‘straight.’

As long as no one gets hurt, there is nothing inherently wrong with pushing one’s own boundaries, or transgressing them entirely.

That brings up your second layer: kissing ethics. You mention that no one’s feelings seem

to be hurt, and if this is the case, then there probably isn’t anything wrong with the kissing. It’s important to stress, though, that this is a judgment call that can vary greatly from situation to situation depending on the context as well as the people involved. Again, as long as no one gets hurt, there’s nothing to worry about. Someone in your group may be worried about saying this is offensive for fear of what others will assume about that person’s sexuality.

College is a great time to explore sexuality, but looking at why your friends need to joke about these experiences may be good idea.

Love, The QRC

February 13, 2009

Diverse City 11

END-NOTE Chili Peppers’ guitarist shreds into new territory

BY ADAM HUGHES Special to Diverse City

John Frusciante has always seemed badly out-of-place in the Red Hot Chili Peppers. As the band’s guitarist and backup vocalist, he is responsible for a string of increasingly generic and commericalized albums, yet he has a deep love of experimental music..

His bandmates have a reputation as attention-grabbing superstars, yet he maintains a reserved, quiet public person. Still, he has

played with the band since 1988 with only one short hiatus, and he seems very content to remain with them.

It seems that Frusciante has found a very comfortable place in his musical life. He tours the globe playing simple, fun music with his closest friends and racks in the Grammy Awards and the millions of dollars.

Meanwhile, he satisfies his more diverse interests with his prolific yet low-key solo career.

Frusciante has released five

albums, one EP, and one soundtrack since 2004, and his sixth, “The Empyrean,” landed in stores on January 20th.

It’s a shame “The Empyrean” has recieved so little attention from alternative audiences (it has peaked at only 190 so far on the Billboard 200). The music shows a solid songwriter with a genuine creative vision and the chops to back it up. It could be best described as a kind of psychedelic grunge, combining lush synthesizer athmospheres and strong melodies with occasional rawness and power. Unfortunately, the audiences it might appeal to don’t really bother with Frusciante due to his Chili Pepper connection, and it’s a little out there for the band’s typical fans. Still, there’s plenty of material to appeal to both groups and bring in some others as well.

At least, if they can get past the first track. A nine minute guitar solo based on a slow, shuffling rhythm, “Before the Beginning” is a bold statement that Frusciante is letting commercial aspirations be damned. I’ve never considered him among the top league of guitarists, and his playing on this album isn’t up to the same fingerflashing level that he reached on the Chili Peppers’ recent Stadium Arcadium, to say nothing of his superb guest stops on the Mars Volta’s highly technical albums.

Consequently, I feel that the song could be a couple minutes shorter. Still, John is forgiven, because the slow, unobtrusive build up is

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and third. “Song to the Siren” is a cover of a Tim Buckley song, and though I’m not familiar with the original, the melody is captivating and made even more haunting by several layers of spacy synthesizers.

Yet, even it is topped by “Unreachable,” which goes through several great melodies and multiple crescendos before closing with a bubbly solo growing into one of best guitar passages on the album.

“The Empyrean” definitely has its drawbacks. The aforementioned descents to self-indulgence are one. The overpowering atmospheres begin to feel a little uniform by the end. And the lyrics are mediocre at best.

Apparently, the entire work is a concept album, dealing with spiritual rebirth, unity with the creative force, internal heaven, and other themes already covered by myriad deeper thinkers. If you’re interested, you can read several barely coherent explanations on John’s website that say things like, “We’ve traced the cause of matter to something that required the preexistence of time, the principles of motion, space and many other things.”

Overall, however, “The Empyrean” is a very satisfying work, and it’s inspired me to take a closer look at the rest of John Frusciante’s solo career.

If you don’t mind a little outside-the-box music, you’ll definitely find some considerable rewards.

Use Brandeis art resources

-Showtimes-

Title Rating

quite gripping, ultimately keeping my attention fairly well.

Overambitious song-lengths are the album’s greatest curse.

The trouble is that Frusciante brings a solid five minutes of ideas to every song; he just makes some of them last eight. Thus, “Dark/Light” and “Central” both end with several minutes of repitition of the same theme, breaking the flow of the album. At least “Central” has an energetic climax and some quality guitar work; all “Dark/Light” has going for it is a couple of slow, meandering themes toward the beginning.

Yet these flaws are small beside a string of powerful, melodic rockers with complex, string- and synth- dominated arrangements, each contributing its own qualities. “God” is particularly grungy.

“Heaven” has a pretty melody as etheral as the name would suggest.

“One More of Me” features a shockingly rich lower vocal register, in contrast to Frusciante’s typically nasal mid-range. John seems insecure about his vocal abilities, coating much of his singing in echo and double-tracking.

Despite this, he is very effective in a suprisingly wide range of tones.

Most spectacular is his gorgeous falsetto, familiar in so many Chili Pepper hits and showcased on relatively straightforward “Enough of Me” — straightforward, that is, until an atonal guitar solo from the Smiths’ Johnny Marr interrupts its flow.

My favorite songs are the second

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lar cutbacks from the state government. Such theaters struggle to survive even in supportive environments, so the idea of sustaining quality theatrical productions without adequate government funding (you can thank Dubbya’s brother, Jeb Bush, for that) was daunting to say the least.

But my school survived, and so did the theater.

Neither would have been around long, however, if it weren’t for the generous support of the community.

to show how much we value our arts programs at Brandeis. March to the Laurie Theater to see the gorgeous, thought-provoking Siddhartha! Storm the Dreizer Gallery to view the new undergraduate art exhibition! Stage a sit-in of Slosberg where new student compositions will be performed!

At this moment of transition, it’s time to turn the tide back towards the “arts” in liberal arts. And it starts when you show that you care.

Japanese Student Association, Korean Student Association, Mixed Heritage Club, South Asian Student Association, and South East Asia Club.

BAASA will hold opening ceremonies on Mar 2nd with skits of the upcoming club events and guest speaker, writer/producer, and political activist, Curtis Chin. Come join us afterwards for events such as the Japanese Student

Association's “Iron Chef Competition”, or the Brandeis Chinese Cultural Connection's “Bubble Tea Night” throughout APAHM. On Mar 21, one of Brandeis' own fashion shows, SKIN, will exhibit some eye-opening styles from Asian and Asian American designers.

Make sure to join us in March to be a part of one of the biggest cultural events this year!

Celebrating Asian/ Pacific Heritage ICC Corner (from p. 9)

Coming Soon SUGAR on 4/10 EVERY LITTLE STEP on 5/8

The same lesson is true of Brandeis. I’m not saying that the administration initially decided to close the Rose because students didn’t appreciate it enough. Yet I do believe that if students had shown as much interest in the art during all the months and years preceding the decision as they did postmortem in protests, the Board of Trustees might have expressed a little more hesitation.

So here’s an idea. Let’s launch a demonstration

since BAASA first introduced it in the spring of 2004. This year's theme for BAASA will be Made in America: Asian American Contributions to America with a multitude of events.

Throughout the month, there will be a fashion show, performances, guest speakers, and the following clubs: the Brandeis Chinese Cultural Connection,