THROUGH THE HEADPHONES: DJ Alfredo boasts diverse cultural background Friday, October 31, 2008

By: WHITNEY KESSLER

Posted: 10/10/08

Many people have heard of Ibiza – the infamous island off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean bliss that houses thousands of people who just wanna dance throughout a crazy, hot summer of wild antics.

However DJ Alfredo, who earned his status as “The Father of Balearic Beat” on the island, is less well known.

The midnight-spinner is actually from Argentina, where he goes by Alfredo Joaquin Fiorito. Alfredo immigrated to Spain at the age of 23 to flee the military government in place at the time. In an article with Resident Advisor entitled, “Alfredo Loves Ibiza,” the time was called the “Dirty War.”

“Alfredo, a learned man who had studied business, philosophy and medicine, fled the repressive regime to join like-minded people in Spain,” the article reads.DJ Alfredo pursued a myriad of careers in Ibiza from fashion to candles to bars until he befriended a club owner and learned to DJ.

He worked a few clubs on the island ending up at Amnesia where his big break occurred.

In an interview called “The Birth of Rave” with Guardian News and Media Limited from the UK, Alfredo said he fell into the job as a DJ by luck and chance.

He also said in the RA interview it took up to four months of playing to no one to get a full crowd inside. He said this was one of his proudest moments on the island.

Combining what he learned with the new Chicago house sound, DJ Alfredo internationalized a sound alongside other DJs such as Paul Oakenfold.

“In England at that time, clubs only played one type of music, and London was full of attitude,” Oakenfold said in the interview with Guardian. “But at Amnesia you had 7,000 people dancing to Cyndi Lauper”

And it was this mixture of music that blew Ibiza into the attraction it became for UK vacationers and other Europeans alike. In 1988, DJ Alfredo was named Artistic Director of Amnesia and the “DJ of the Decade” award from DJ Magazine.

He cited Herbie Hancock and Pink Floyd as part of the early collection he spun at Amnesia.

With albums such as “Sound of the Underground Ibiza” and “Space Ibiza Dance,” DJ Alfredo remains a huge influence on the island’s and dance music’s scene.

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© Copyright 2008 The Red and Black

Modern Skirts play, make a comeback Friday, October 31, 2008

By: WHITNEY KESSLER

Posted: 10/3/08

They’re back and the skirt is new.

Coming from the basement of the Athens music scene, the Modern Skirts made its music known in 2005 when its first album, “Catalogue of Generous Men” was produced. However, the guys are three years older and three years…wiser?

“The past three years have enabled us to learn to embrace our imperfections and let them color our music. I’m a big fan of imperfections,” said lead singer and main lyric writer, Jay Gulley.

However, Phillip Brantley said the band still is moving in the direction they saw unfolding from the beginning.

“We’re all three and four years older than when we put the first record out. Those are some pretty pivotal years,” Brantley said. “We’re striving for the same goal. It has been kind of a slow maturation of relationships for us all.”

During the first year of its formation, the Modern Skirts had become an apartment-hold name in town. Phillip Brantley said you could even call their reception lucky.

“I feel like it was easier for us than a lot of bands,” Brantley said. “We really saturated the town. We’d play almost every other weekend.”

Manager Troy Aubrey of Nomad Artists said he noticed the band immediately after hearing them play at Speakeasy and didn’t hesitate to introduce himself.

“I approached them, gave them my card and told them I’d love to book them for AthFest,” Aubrey said. “I put them on an outdoor stage that year.”

Having played in AthFest, at the 40 Watt several times over and on fraternity lawns, Gulley said at first the crowds were friends and acquaintances. Now the band has been featured on NPR and in Paste magazine. The members’ response – excited.

“I still am wondering if this could be something big,” Gulley said. “We want it to happen so badly. Music is all I really want to do with my time.”

Brantley shared Gulley’s sentiments.

“So many people have a different perspective of what it means to be in a band. All we want out of it is that it would be a self-sustaining career,” Brantley said. “We’ve had this really nice growth, and opportunities just keep presenting themselves.”

And now it has its new record in hand. Partly produced by Mike Mills of R.E.M. as well as David Lowery of Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker, “All of Us In Our Night” will be showcased tonight at the 40 Watt.

The guys produced six of the tracks alone, creating a post on their path of maturation through a transformed sound.

“To me, it is completely different than the first record,” Brantley said. “The song writing is more abstract; it has more of a free willing nature to the songs. There is still all the catchy melodies, but structurally it is a big step ahead for us.”

Gulley said he agreed that the album was a departure from the first as the band’s comfort level within the studio and the music has changed.

“My favorite song on the new album is track three, ‘Chokehold.’ I like it because it was kind of birthed last minute in New Orleans, and I didn’t know it would come out as well as it did. It is also very different than something we would have been able to write three years ago, complex in its simplicity,” Gulley said.

“Motorcade,” a song on “All of Us In Our Night,” was paid special attention by Mike Mills, building a relationship that also granted the guys room on tour with R.E.M. in the U.K. The band rose to the challenge, Gulley said, and found the experience a liberating confirmation.

“The European crowds responded to us well – people who knew nothing about us and to who we had everything to prove,” he said. “The challenge was fun, and I think we held up pretty well.”

Brantley said Mills and R.E.M. were encouraging them throughout their time together overseas, which was a strong validation for them.

“We were treated like kings,” he said. “We were easily the underdog or the least established, but we really stepped up and did well.”

With its official album release set for January, the band’s gigs will be the only place to snag a copy until then, Brantley said. He said the guys are ready and eager to see where the record takes them.

“It is exciting to have this thing that you put so much into and you believe in, and to get it out to people,” he said.

He said the music is more electronic, but that “pop” will never be a bad word to their members. The lyrics are not personal and the subject matter spans the spectrum.

“As far as the songwriting, we were really unafraid to say weird things and to do weird things on the record. We’ve kept our pop sensibilities, but it doesn’t necessarily sound like anything a band who did Catalogue would write,” Brantley said.

“Most of the songs don’t really do what you would expect. Things are sort of dropped in here and there. If this record was a book and all the songs were chapters, they would all be from different books.”

As far as the future goes, Brantley said they are in talks with some good people in good directions, but they left out much of the specifics as they are trying to make the best choice for the band.

“There are options that are open right now that we are being very trepid about,” he said. “It is sort of a matter of, you only want to make a decision that is going to be 100 percent forward and progressive.”

Aubrey said the album has been much anticipated and they’re excited about the outlets they are pursuing in promotion of it.

“We’ve got some national publicity going on in January when it comes out. We are working on building up press and radio, and that takes time,” he said. “We are pretty pumped about this record and where it can take the band. What level that will be, we don’t really know.”

Gulley said he hopes the album takes them where they can be fully devoted to producing music.

“I don’t know what to expect in this next year. Hopefully, the album will pull us up on top of the stage that we have been at the foot of for a few years,” Gulley said. “I am proud of it and I think people will like it.”

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© Copyright 2008 The Red and Black

AMERICAN DREAM: Albanian immigrant finds joy at Bolton Thursday, October 30, 2008

By: WHITNEY KESSLER

Posted: 9/24/08

Donika Harallambi won an immigration lottery ticket and moved to the United States. She knew no one except the small congregation of a church in Talladega, Ala.

She hadn’t learned English because only the city children were taught languages beyond their native tongue.

However, the young mother of two took the risk with her husband at her side in order to live the American dream.

Sitting across the table in Bolton Dining Commons where she works, Harallambi fought back tears as she described the communist effects on her small village in Albania.

“There was no freedom. In communism, everything was limited,” she said. “If you cried, they put your momma and daddy to jail.”

Although her stories are heartbreaking in many ways, Harallambi said Albania is still home and a place she misses.

“Albania is on the Mediterranean and it is very, very beautiful,” she said. “I lived on a farm and the ocean was close. I love the water.”

Growing up in rural Albania, Harallambi said her friend jokingly encouraged her to play the lottery one time, but she expected nothing to come of it.

“My friend said, ‘Donika, you lose nothing to play. Just do it,’” she said. “I wasn’t prepared to move from Albania, but I won.”

In 1995, she said everything changed when the prize of immigration was given to her and her family.

“Even when the postman came to my house, and he had a big white envelope, I didn’t believe it,” she said. “I said, ‘Wow! This happened to me.’”

After moving to the States, the Harallambi family was given assistance from the sister church that Donika was connected with from the Albanian capital. She said she credits the members of the church in Talladega for being her first impression of how wonderful the United States can be.

“The church helped me out. They helped me to find a job and a house, to start speaking English,” she said. “After that, I have Albanian family that has come, and what the church did for me, I do for them.”

She said the circumstances of the past have affected the way she lives now. Her value of education and employment stem from the knowledge she has of difficulties many Americans have never known.

“You have freedom and you can go to school and you will have a good job and be educated,” she said. “People here, they have problems, like I have, everyone has, but if you have jobs and you eat and you have a house, you are fine.”

She said her life here is better than ever. Growing up on a farm made her a big advocate for the outdoors which she said is the reason she loves Georgia.

“I spent 33 years on a farm and the ocean was close,” she said. “Here, I have lots of flowers and trees and a garden.”

America, to her, is a symbol of what you can do, she said, instead of the way communism presented life, as what you cannot do.

“I am so happy all the time,” she said. “I compare my life to before – for example, I wanted do something and I can’t. I wanted to go to school, but I can’t.”

Harallambi said she taught herself English because she had to take care of her kids and work two jobs when they first moved to the States. Her daughter, who was 13 when they moved, became the family translator upon their arrival.

Harallambi said she started with children’s books, magazines and newspapers. After she was able to get through a book of 3,000 study words, she began to speak. Now she is studying Spanish in her spare time just for the love of learning.

“We moved on purpose because we wanted better for our kids,” she said. “I told my children, ‘Here is a great place to go where you can get a better education, a better life.’”

Both of her children have utilized the University. Her daughter graduated in 2006 with degrees in French and health promotion. Her son is finishing his degree in computer management systems and business. She said most of her reasoning for leaving Albania was for them.

Her love for education brought her to Bolton, she said. For the past 10 years, she has spent day after day working for the University food services. Her work with students has affected many around her, said Bolton Dinings Commons Manager Wayne Fair.

“She’s been here longer than I have, but I’ve always known her to be the most friendly and attentive to the students,” Fair said. “She is fulfilling the American dream and she’s very proud to be here.”

He said Harallambi always has a smile and is one of the best workers he has had. Selected as Employee of the Year, he said she is genuine and is doing her part to show how much people of our world have in common.

“If you are like her, you’re willing to make the effort and work hard and instill that in your children, you’ve planted a seed.”

Nowadays, he said, University graduates aren’t ending up at a job in Marietta working for the rest of their lives; you may be in Saudi Arabia. There are more things in common than there are differences and the staff looks at that as part of their responsibility, he said.

“I look at our cashiers as our ambassadors,” he said. “They are not only there to take in the money and run the cash register. We are an extension of these kids’ families.”

Donika said she agreed with Fair.

“I try to give everybody a good day and to feel like they’re at home,” she said. She said being there to greet the students gives her the chance to befriend them and be a friendly, familiar face.

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© Copyright 2008 The Red and Black

THROUGH THE HEADPHONES: Songwriter uses beliefs for musical inspiration Thursday, October 30, 2008

By: WHITNEY KESSLER

Posted: 9/12/08

Editor’s Note: This is the third of a weekly series in which The Red & Black will research biographical information about artists and bands that you want to know more about. This week’s idea was submitted by junior John Cable, a history major from Thomasville. Submit requests to wkessler@randb.com.

“Are faith and Rock & Roll incompatible? Nothing appears to be less true.”

This summation was written by a reporter for a Belgian magazine who interviewed singer/songwriter David Eugene Edwards of 16 Horsepower and Woven Hand.

Considered one of the out-of-the-box Christians in rock music, Edwards is signed to Sounds Familyre, the same label as Sufjan Stevens. Musically likeminded, the two musicians serve a niche audience that enjoys both instrumental experimentation and intertwining lyrics.

Tony DuShane, a radio host on San Francisco’s Pirate Cat Radio 87.9 FM, wrote on his Web site that Edwards is first and foremost an artist and musician. He also said Edwards’ interview revealed that he is in no way a part of the “cheesy” Christian rock around today.

Paste Magazine likened Edwards to Johnny Cash. In that article, writer Matt Fink stated that the two men are kindred spirits in their faith and music.

“As with Cash, Edwards uses his personal frailties and deep Christian faith to make unsettling comments on the human condition that are designed for a purpose startlingly out of step with the majority of contemporary entertainment: Edwards aims to make his listener uncomfortable,” Fink writes.

Edwards’ grandfather was a preacher with the Wesleyan Church of Nazarene. Because Edwards came from a strong religious background, he was influenced by hymns and gospel.

As the lead of 16 Horsepower from Denver, Colo., Edwards has released six albums with the group. They played the Fillmore in Los Angeles as well as many other sites including overseas venues. But after eight years of playing on several albums and in several cities, the band took a break.

“The L.A. Times” gave 16 Horsepower a strong preview in 2000 when they wrote:

“16 Horsepower’s gripping, atmospheric style has been described as ‘roots-gloom,’ ‘American Gothic’ and ’spooky campfire.’ Whatever the band is doing, it’s not a take on post-grunge alternative music. The sound is a mix of rustic blues wailings, old-time country and modern-rock dramaticism.”

Edwards continued writing in Denver during the band’s recess. He pooled people in the area and before long had created the group Woven Hand in 2001.

Like Sufjan Stevens, Edwards uses Christian imagery in several of his songs alongside a gravelly voice and driving guitar rhythm.

Edwards has spent the majority of his time as a touring artist in Europe where he said audiences were immediately responding to Woven Hand’s music. He also said on 87.9 FM that he has thought about moving overseas to encourage the following that is there, but that he has his family to think of.

Oh yeah – family. Edwards is married and has two kids. It is safe to say Edwards will continue making music with a following that ranges from Detroit to Darmstadt.

“I feel the responsibility to speak truth, and speak it in love, even though sometimes it’s scary,” he said in his interview with Paste Magazine. “To evil, truth is harsh. To self, to be selfless is harsh. It’s unnatural and it’s distasteful. Otherwise, it would be easy. But it’s not.”

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© Copyright 2008 The Red and Black

THROUGH THE HEADPHONES: Washington musician produces art, books Monday, October 27, 2008

By: WHITNEY KESSLER

Posted: 9/5/08

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a weekly series in which The Red & Black will research biographical information about artists and bands that you want to know more about. This week’s idea was submitted by junior Adam Dugan, an environmental design major from Fayetteville. Submit requests to wkessler@randb.com.

A man of many mediums, Phil Elverum finds himself painting, singing, playing instruments, recording music and writing books at the mere age of 30 years old.

Originally from Washington state, the musician has played with more than 20 different artists and bands including the well-known experimental band Explosions in the Sky.

In the early ’90s at the age of 14, Elverum worked at a record store in Anacortes, Wash., where he easily slipped into the town’s music scene.

The segue from listener to maker came in the form of a band named D+. Owner of the record store, Bret Lunsford of Beat Happening, aided Elverum in his education of recording music. He actually got his start with a few cassette tape recordings in the back room of the store which Lunsford released on his small scale label, KNW-YR-OWN.

Elverum moved to Olympia, Wash. for college, but dropped out soon after. He took to music with a passionate obsession for broken, 16-track recordings and began the sounds of the Microphones. He then received the help of Calvin Johnson of K Records who alongside Dub Narcotic studios and Elsinor Records put out Elverum’s first full-length solo album “Don’t Wake Me Up.”

In an interview with The Olympian, he said, “The Microphones stuff was just late-night recording experiments. I was figuring out how to use (recording equipment). It wasn’t even like I had real songs, just weird experiments with noise.”

He toured with K Record’s Mirah and played with Old Time Relijun while beginning the recordings of his third album, “It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water.”

Elverum also found the time to paint and create the majority of album art for the Microphones.

The albums kept coming throughout the beginning of the 2000s including the renowned “The Glow pt. 2.” The Olympian reporter Ross Raihala also wrote that Phil Elverum was a name to remember in spring of 2002.

After the release of “Mount Eerie,” which carried a theme of death, some say the album symbolically killed the Microphones. Subsequently, Elverum went on a hiatus to Norway for a winter.

Returning to the U.S., Elverum started to produce music under the alias of Mount Eerie and also began P.W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd. The company sells records by the Microphones and Mount Eerie. As it explains on the Web site, P.W Elverum & Sun, Ltd., also sells “vinyls, plastics, songbooks, dry goods, wholesalers and manufacturers of fine things.”

The site also includes a facetious description of the history, which one can only assume reveals a bit of Elverum’s sense of humor. It tells the story of a sunglasses company’s owner who runs for the border and runs into Elverum along the way. This meeting combusts into the manipulation of the company into an auditory project where “the freshly christened P.W. Elverum & Sun became the primary outlet for its owner’s deeply troubled worldview.”

Another hint to his personality comes at the disclaimer found on the company Web site:

“P.s.- Mount Eerie/Phil Elverum/the Microphones/PhilElvrum/ElverumandSun/etc. does not exist on ‘my space a place for friends.’ Do not correspond with impostors and think it’s me. It’s not. I’m me.”

Elverum published several recordings as Mount Eerie instead of the Microphones. The switch threw fans off, but made more sense as Elverum was quoted saying that it was time for something new.

Then, Elverum published a collection of photos that was inspiration for many of his musical endeavors and included a 10-inch record titled “Mount Eerie pts. 6 & 7.” The record is considered the follow-up or bookend to the last Microphones album.

Elverum is still producing and writing in Anacortes. He will have another book and album out this year chronicling his experience in Norway during the 2002-03 winter.

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© Copyright 2008 The Red and Black

Kayaking the Broad: Up the creek with a paddle but without the water Monday, October 27, 2008

By: WHITNEY KESSLER

Posted: 9/4/08

The need to abandon the city for a serene outdoor activity is oh-so-cliche. Returning to nature and doing “your part” to help the environment during Georgia’s water crisis is too.

However, the two or three hours it took to ride the 6-mile stretch of the Broad River with a guide from Broad River Outpost revealed much of the water culture’s truths:

Water really can be scarce and many can be affected. Being socially and environmentally cautious can pay off.

The Broad River Outpost office is saturated with character that drips from every freshly dunked life vest. From the faint smell of burning wood to the wild muscadine grapes on the side of the trail, this is the water culture of Georgia.

Spenser Simrill, a professor of creative writing and American literature at the University, has been working at BRO for the past four summers. He said there has never been a worse time to go down the river, but there also has never been a better time.

“It is more important to experience nature in times like these because you realize that things are fragile,” Simrill said.

In talking about the drought, he said he has been taking shorter showers, washing his car less and turning the faucet off when brushing his teeth as a way to be more environmentally conscious.

Phrases such as “Stash Your Trash,” “If you’re with me, you won’t get stuck” and “Just throw the apple in the woods, the squirrels like to eat ‘em” abound in the area of the cabin that houses all of the kayaking/canoeing equipment.

“You have to kind of be a jack-of-all-trades around here,” said one of Simrill’s co-workers, Augie Parrinello, as he gestured toward the small building.

A senior geology major at the University, Parrinello said he thinks the average person assumes environmentalism is a return to primitive ways of life.

“Society at this point in time is canceling out the natural order of the earth,” he said. “There is more abundance in working with the earth. If you get rid of the basic operating system of the planet, this isn’t gonna work out, ya know?”

Simrill and Parrinello said they viewed the drought as a natural process. Although it has been a topic of interest for a couple of years, Parrinello said it isn’t necessarily a question of natural or unnatural phenomenon.

“It’s a political thing,” he said. “When they’re under the gun, they’re freaking out, but when it rains, it becomes a non-issue. We should always be aware of it.”

With normal levels being between 30 and 45 inches deep, the river now runs within the normal range.

Before the rain of the past week, it was as low as 15 inches, Parrinello said.

The shallowest parts of the river being near the banks, Parrinello stopped several times to grab scattered trash between the turtles and bowing branches.

“The goal is to get people to have fun,” he said. “But overall, I try not to be so near-sighted – I try to look into the future.”

Both BRO employees said they find the water to be a haven for people of all types.

Simrill said teaching for him is a complete mental exercise, but it is good to spend time physically challenging himself also.

“One of the cool things about Athens is that we are a small city and we’ve got the vibrant music scene, and of course, football,” Simrill said. “But around [Athens] it is very rural. With all of the noise, it is nice to have that solitude.”

Alexia Ward, a graduate student at the University, and Mica Doctoroff, visiting from Atlanta, said they decided to come out to the river because people told them it was the thing to do. The two newbies were headed down the river for the first time.

They said the drought hadn’t affected them as much personally since they felt they were already environmentally conscious.

“Socially we’ve become a lot more responsible in ways that I didn’t think Georgia could,” Ward said. “It’s pretty awesome to see businessmen letting their yellow mellow.”

She said she doesn’t agree the drought is a natural thing as it has caused more than four years of tight supply and dangerous consequences for smaller towns in the state.

“People take water for granted,” Doctoroff said. “[The drought] makes people value nature more.”

The shimmering mica from rock degradation seeps between your toes as you sink into the mud and the heron fly close to the banks on either side.

Each paddle stroke is deliberate, wading through shallow areas of no more than a foot at times.

“There’s no way that you can look at that river and not realize that something is wrong,” Simrill said. “There is the concern that if it gets worse it could have a more permanent effect, but droughts are natural.”

Whatever the case, the water culture that invades Broad River Outpost with an average of 250 boats per day is holding steady to the pastime that makes the city glitter less and helping the environment mean more than a little tree-hugging.

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© Copyright 2008 The Red and Black

THROUGH THE HEADPHONES: Artist draws musical inspiration from outdoors Monday, October 27, 2008

By: WHITNEY KESSLER

Posted: 8/29/08

Like many folk artists, Justin Vernon writes with a casual sense of non-urgency minus the sometimes emotive lyrics. According to the story, Vernon widdled himself into a cabin for a winter somewhere in rural Wisconsin for a time of peace and quiet. There he wrote and recorded the songs that make up the debut album, titled “For Emma, Forever Ago,” for his band Bon Iver.

The man behind the guitar is a native of Eau Claire, Wisc. He grew up in the woods where hunting was one of his pastimes. He said in an interview with Stereogum that hunting is more of an earthy tradition for his family rather than a sport. Vernon said they killed the deer in order to eat.

“That’s what it’s mostly about: being outside in the quiet, and catching your meat is the only true and honest way there is.”

He said two deer kept him going while he spent time in the cabin during the recording of his album. Chopping wood and butchering meat often paints him as a picturesque outdoorsman.

He also spent endless hours mixing music for other musicians. The Daredevil Christopher Wright, The Shouting Matches and various other bands from the Eau Claire area and elsewhere were on his list of projects. He said in the interview with Stereogum that he wouldn’t consider himself an engineer, but enjoys learning from each record he puts down.

Vernon has taken a few dips into other musical ventures such as the experimental folk quartet DeYarmond Edison. However, he left Raleigh, N.C. and returned to Wisconsin after DeYarmond Edison called it quits in 2006.

Once back in Wisconsin he needed a place to live. Vernon said in an interview with B-Sides of RFT Music that he didn’t want to live with his parents and didn’t have a place in Eau Claire. The cabin was the best option for time to rethink things.

“It’s not like when I was up there I was, like, this simple-minded Zen person or something. When I really noticed myself feeling better and more on top of things was after I left and I realized how clear my head was,” he said.

Steven Hyden writes that Vernon had personal falling outs with both his band and girlfriend before heading to his father’s cabin for some solitude. Throw in a little mono and you’ve got the perfect case of singer-songwriter loneliness that produced a sound that has been applauded by Paste, Pitchfork and Stylus.

Indie rock label Jagjaguwar picked up the album that Vernon previously put out in various forms on his own in 2007. The label re-released “For Emma, Forever Ago” officially in February.

The tenor croons his tunes in a breathy fashion causing reviews to call the sound “haunting” and “ghostly.” Vernon has said in interviews that he was influenced by black singers, but could never get the sound to resonate. The high notes he hits are where his voice fits comfortably.

A seemingly humble dude, Vernon said in his A.V. Club interview, “I never had an opportunity to give it my own spin. People were spinning it already. In a lot of ways, I’m still in spin mode. Whatever it is people say the record is, I believe them.”

He said to Stereogum that he is building a studio by himself near the cabin where he hid out for that three to four month period of introspection. Vernon said he hopes friends will be able to crash there and he will get some recording done as well.

All of this from a guy who claims Indigo Girls “Fugitive” as his favorite song ever and 1979’s “Days of Heaven” as his new favorite film.

Vernon is currently living in Eau Claire, writing new songs and living up his new found fame.

Editor’s Note: This is the first of a weekly series in which The Red & Black will research biographical information about artists and bands that you want to know more about. Submit requests to wkessler@randb.com.

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© Copyright 2008 The Red and Black

Radiohead model inspires magazine Monday, October 27, 2008

By: WHITNEY KESSLER

Posted: 11/2/07

It all started Oct. 10, the day Radiohead released its newest album.

The band’s witty vend of “In Rainbows”, its seventh full-length, made Paste Magazine employees, who were already discussing alternative business strategies, wonder.

Would fans of the publication show them the love if they offered “name your price” subscriptions?

Tim Regan-Porter, a University alumnus and the president and publisher of the magazine, said his five-year-old company felt up to the challenge.

“It is certainly risky because we don’t have the brand of Radiohead, although we have a good brand and a growing one,” Regan-Porter said.

The Decatur-based publication is an entertainment magazine that features music, books, games and other forms of recreational culture-consumption.

He said in the end the pros outweighed the cons.

“We could issue this out there and just hear crickets, but we didn’t think that would happen,” he said. “It’s been much more successful, and a much higher response, than we would’ve expected.”

The purchasing of the one-year subscription at the buyer’s chosen price began Monday and will continue for two weeks.

Paste set a minimum amount of $1 for the subscription but is stressing that payment should be based on what the individual believes the publication is worth, according to its Web site.

Subscribing to a newer magazine can cost a pretty penny, which Regan-Porter said was one motivation Paste had for this endeavor.

“Even at $20, we would get college students that would say they would buy it on the news stand but don’t have 20 bucks to buy a subscription,” he said.

Regan-Porter said most of the magazine’s subscribers are of an older audience while those that buy news stand issues are younger.

The hope was that those interested in subscribing would do so at their own price, and then would be hooked, he said.

“We were talking about it, and the lights went off that this would be a great way for us to get feedback,” Regan-Porter said. “We thought, ‘People would talk about this.’”

Those at Paste also have promised that subscribers that pay more than the regular price of $19.95 will be recognized by name in the eleventh issue.

He said new subscribers and old readers will benefit from the cheap subscription price, and Paste also will likely gain long-term benefits from the addition to its already loyal readers.

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© Copyright 2008 The Red and Black

Web site offers everyday tips to aid environment Monday, October 27, 2008

By: WHITNEY KESSLER

Posted: 4/23/07

With a last name like Brain, it makes sense Marshall Brain would create a web site called HowStuffWorks.com, and he would know a lot about Earth Day.

Brain, the founder of HowStuffWorks.com, fell into the business of writing and researching, and that work has flourished into a full-blown organization that works hard to bring facts to the public.

He said Earth Day is just one issue among many that he feels is worth the time of the Web site and of society.

“I am really interested in environmental issues. I’m just fascinated by the things that are going on and what we can do about them,” Brain said.

He said with a staff on board of around 100 people, the web site receives over eight million visitors a month. When he decided to publish a full article on Earth Day, he said he knew millions of people would probably read it and hopefully take action to help.

“We’re sort of following the mindset of the ‘every little bit helps,’” Brain said. “People have been talking about this stuff for about a decade, but it’s just now starting to stick in everyone’s minds.”

Brain said making a difference comes down to the individual making a choice. He said if everyone started buying more energy efficient products and stopped doing simple things that hurt the earth, then big changes would occur.

“You can make yourself aware, and then you can make yourself aware of the solutions,” he said. “If enough of us do it, it sends a signal to companies like the auto industry and they make changes.”

Technological advances in the auto industry is one of the energy endeavors of which Brain can’t get enough. He said the amount of change that would take place if cars were all hybrid or pluggable would be phenomenal. Other easy fixes are simply a matter of personal responsibility, he said.

“It’s all based on each one of us making these buying decisions,” Brain said. “The mental shift will lead you to do more. What you have to realize is that there are millions of other people doing their part as well.”

The site is full of facts about the environment, the Earth and issues at hand.

Brain said some of the ideas are just stuff no one has considered doing, and some of it is being faced with the question of, “Can I give that up?”

“One idea is if we took a 100-by-100-mile piece of Texas and covered it in solar cells, we could produce all of the electricity that the U.S. needs,” Brain said. “That is a big thing, but some of the stuff is just really simple.”

Jessica Hoehn, a senior from Niagara Falls, N.Y., and the chief officer of Students for Environmental Awareness, said she agrees with many of the things people can do are simple and easy. She said most people are just stuck in a routine that keeps them from noticing the possibilities.

“This is the environment we live in every day. If we don’t do something, then who else will?” said Hoehn.

Hoehn said she first became interested in helping out when she came to the University after visiting a friend in California. She she was inspired to take action and educate others about things she had learned.

“Students don’t think about everything they’re doing,” she said. “It is an individual thing, but if you want a big change, everyone has to work together.”

One of the main focuses in SEA is to bring the groups on campus and in Athens together on issues so that more can be done. A big issue they fought for in the past is bio-diesel, which she said was a long and hard fight.

“Our group worked intently on that project and now the buses use mostly bio-diesel fuel,” Hoehn said. “We worked with students in the Atlanta area to get a large enough petition and lobby going. Those students went to the capitol and talked to our representatives with our support.”

Hoehn said five of the easiest things students can do are recycling things like cell phones and computers, buying and using energy efficient appliances, turning lights off and using energy-efficient light bulbs and switching to bio-diesel fuel.

“People know this stuff, but they don’t think about it everyday,” she said. “Have fun with it. It isn’t hard to make a difference.”

HowStuffWorks.com’s 10 Ways You Can Help The Earth

1. Pay attention to how you use water. The little things can make a big difference. Every time you turn off the water while you’re brushing your teeth, you’re doing something good. Try drinking tap water instead of bottled water so you aren’t wasting all that packaging as well. Wash your hands in cold water when you can.

2. Leave your car at home. Combine your errands – hit the post office, grocery store and shoe repair place in one trip. It will save you gas and time.

3. Walk or ride your bike to work, school and anywhere you can. You can reduce greenhouse gases while burning some calories and improving your health. If you can’t walk or bike, use mass transit or carpool. Every car not on the road makes a difference.

4. Recycle. You can help reduce pollution just by putting that soda can in a different bin. If you’re trying to choose between two products, pick the one with the least packaging. If an office building of 7,000 workers recycled all of its office paper waste for a year, it would be the equivalent of taking almost 400 cars off the road (Source: EPA).

5. Compost. Think about how much trash you make in a year. Reducing the amount of solid waste you produce in a year means taking up less space in landfills, so your tax dollars can work somewhere else. Plus, compost makes a great natural fertilizer.

6. Change your light bulbs. Compact flourescent light bulbs last 10 times longer than a standard bulb and use at least two-thirds less energy. If you’re shopping for new appliances or even home electronics, look for ENERGY STAR products, which have met EPA and U.S. Department of Energy guidelines for energy efficiency.

7. Make your home more energy efficient (and save money). Clean your air filters so your system doesn’t have to work overtime. Get a programmable thermostat so you aren’t wasting energy when you aren’t home. When you go to bed, reduce the thermostat setting – you won’t miss those extra degrees of heat or air conditioning while you’re asleep.

8. Maintain your car. Underinflated tires decrease fuel economy by up to three percent and lead to increased pollution and higher greenhouse gas emissions.

9. Drive smarter. Slow down – driving 60 miles per hour instead of 70 mph on the highway will save you up to four miles per gallon. Accelerating and braking too hard can actually reduce your fuel economy, so take it easy on the brakes and gas pedal.

10. Turn off lights when you’re not in the room and unplug appliances when you’re not using them. It only takes a second to be environmentally conscious.

-Source: www.howstuffworks.com

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© Copyright 2008 The Red and Black

Local artists wax Grammatica: Bands voice opinions on nominated bands, antiquated award Monday, October 27, 2008

By: WHITNEY KESSLER

Posted: 2/8/07

The Grammy Awards may not go to the artists the local bands are pulling for due to the lack of attention they are giving the “mainstream” tunes, but music is as alive and kicking in Athens as it should be.

“Good music makes me feel like composing and performing,” said local musician Claire Campbell. She’s better known as one half of the sisterly duo that belongs to the band Hope for agoldensummer.

ALLISON WEISS MAKES HER PICKS

Pick for Record of the Year: Gnarls Barkley
Quote: “These guys put together something really innovative and should be rewarded for that originality. The production of this song took a lot of creativity.”

Pick for Best New Artist:
Imogen Heap
Quote: “She’s got something to offer that’s a lot more original than most mainstream female singer/songwriters,” Weiss said. “Her voice and musical arrangements are both very different, interesting and beautiful.”

Final Word:
“As a musician, it’s important to know what’s going on in the mainstream so you can decide whether you want to follow that or come up with your own thing,” Weiss said. “Plus, mainstream music is there for a reason. If it’s awesome to somebody, it could be awesome to me. I’ll give anything a chance.”

THE 49TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS

When: 8 p.m. Sunday
Where: CBS
More Information: www.grammy.com

Mainstream music is usually not chock full of talent, Campbell said. She said she believes the Grammy’s are more of a sales push than a display of actual ability.

“On rare occasions it actually merits remark,” she said. “Most of these people probably didn’t even write these songs, and I can guarantee you that if the Grammys were based on artistic merit and not on album sales and modern technology, then either the Dixie Chicks would take all or people I know would have been nominated.”

JoJo Glidewell of the Modern Skirts said he also thought music in the limelight was without much of the creativity found in the local music scene. He said the other members in his band try to listen to all different types of music but inevitably end up steering clear of the MTV hits.

“Much of it, in my opinion, is thoughtless and derivative and utter garbage,” he said. “Occasionally, there is a band that does something interesting or really substantial, but that’s typically the exception rather than the rule.”

Record of the Year

For the locals, Gnarls Barkley took the cake in racking up most of their votes on Record of the Year. The award is given to the single or track deemed most worthy from an artist’s album.

With the song, “Crazy,” the anomaly of Gnarls Barkley’s music attracted much attention from the musicians interviewed.

Allison Weiss, a local singer/songwriter, said, “These guys put together something really innovative and should be rewarded for that originality. The production of this song took a lot of creativity.”

The other nominees – James Blunt, Mary J. Blige, Dixie Chicks and Corinne Bailey Rae – were barely noticeable to Weiss and the other artists.

“I’m going to take this opportunity to say that James Blunt is probably one of those most annoying singer/songwriters I’ve ever listened to,” Weiss said. “If he wins anything this year, I’ll be thoroughly disappointed in the future of mainstream music.”

Best New Artist

The Best New Artist nominees are Imogen Heap, James Blunt, Chris Brown, Corinne Bailey Rae and Carrie Underwood.

Weiss and Campbell said the award should go to Imogen Heap. They agreed that she was original and interesting, if only because of her name.

“She’s got something to offer that’s a lot more original than most mainstream female singer/songwriters,” Weiss said. “Her voice and musical arrangements are both very different, interesting and beautiful.”

Campbell said it probably doesn’t take more than liking someone’s name or recognizing someone from an annoying song to pick the winners. She said she didn’t knowing most of the nominees or their music besides Imogen Heap.

“I like her name, so, um, let’s vote for her since that is probably about how much thought is put into these nominations anyway,” Campbell said.

Song of the Year

The category for Song of the Year is given to the songwriter of a single or track from an artist’s album.

The nominees are “Be Without You” (Mary J. Blige), “Jesus, Take the Wheel” (Carrie Underwood), “Not Ready to Make Nice” (Dixie Chicks), “Put Your Records On” (Corinne Bailey Rae) and “You’re Beautiful” (James Blunt).

Campbell said Carrie Underwood should win for her song’s ability to accomplish what country artists are fated to do – whine.

“Country seems to be the only genre where you are expected to make music that uses every possible trick to wrench every last tear from the listener’s bloodshot eyes while he is driving his big rig home at 3 a.m., hopped up on cocaine and QT big gulp,” she said.

Local music rocks

Payton Bradford, drummer from Ice Cream Socialists, disagreed on every category in saying that all of the awards should be given to local or less mainstream bands. He said he didn’t believe the nominees were worthy of the awards they would be given, with the exception of Gnarls Barkley.

Naming artists such as The Decemberists, the Drive-By Truckers and The Hold Steady, Bradford said some bands rocked in 2006.

“The Decemberists’ record is great – better than anything they’ve ever recorded,” he said.

“The Walkmen made their best album as well, which is fantastic garage-y songwriting. The Wood Brothers’ record is the most original blend of folk, jazz, blues and bluegrass that I’ve heard in a while,” he said.

The other bands mentioned many local artists that they believed were making a difference in music locally such as Of Montreal, Venice is Sinking and Anna Kramer.

Dangermouse from Gnarls Barkley, hailing from Athens, can be proud of his friends back home who support his nomination, beyond the other artists involved in the Grammys.

“As a musician, it’s important to know what’s going on in the mainstream so you can decide whether you want to follow that or come up with your own thing,” Weiss said.

“Plus, mainstream music is there for a reason. If it’s awesome to somebody, it could be awesome to me. I’ll give anything a chance,” she said.

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© Copyright 2008 The Red and Black