By Katie Knowlton

Sherry Vine and her fabulous sparkly pink dress entertained to a full crowd at the Tabler Arts Center last Wednesday. The event, put on by the Stony Brook Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Alliance, was in celebration of Coming Out Day. An annual occurrence, Coming Out Day is a day of awareness for coming out and other LGBT related issues. Her mix of comedy and singing brought most of the audience to an uproarious laughter, even through the most dirty and vulgar parts of her act.

Sherry Vine, a drag queen from New York City who was recently featured on an episode of Project Runway, seemed a bit apprehensive about performing at a college, an environment quite different from her normal element, bars full of drunken queers. The apprehension wore away quickly though after several assurances from the crowd that they were there for the full Sherry Vine act, no matter how raunchy it would be.

And raunchy it was.

The beginning of her set was rather tame, with Sherry singing her own version of “When You’re Good to Mama” from the musical Chicago, making it ‘When You’re Good to Sherry,” which featured the phenomenal line, “When you’re stroking Sherry, Sherry’s stroking you.” This sort of frank reference to sexuality was to be a pillar of her act and became much more pronounced as the night went on. She promised, “Anything could happen tonight.”

All of the songs she sang were arrangements of existing songs. Most of them were simply new lyrics over the music of well known tunes. This turned the songs into odes to sexuality and slutiness. Her version of “Fergilicious” turned into a rap about how easy she was, same for her take on “4 Minutes” by Madonna and Justin Timberlake. She said it was about the perils of being a New York prostitute, but in the end it was about Sherry herself being the prostitute and only having “four minutes to make [the client] come.” The song also featured my favorite line from the evening, “Get it out/Get it up/Get it in my vagina.”

Raunchiness aside, Sherry showed that she had a strong voice and that her college years performing had paid off. She was extremely comfortable onstage. Between songs she did stand up and interacted heavily with the crowd. She flirted with several people, men and women. One man seemed rather uncomfortable about it and when he got up to leave, Sherry told him to look for her on Craigslist later. Most of the people she flirted with and talked to just went with the craziness that was happening, enjoying another aspect of her show.

Sherry was an outstanding performer who did not disappoint. Despite being out of her element on a college campus, she brought out her most racy material and was not afraid to interact with a crowd that skewed younger than her regulars.

By Yong Kim

In the world, there are two groups of people; one group wants to forget their past and history, and the other group does not. People cannot judge which group’s approach is the better one. However, I am sure that either group that chooses “forgetting” or “remembering” will someday regret it and want to change what they had chosen. Memories are crucially essential for living humans. If they cannot remember their past, they are not able to move on. Ironically, sometimes, if people keep their memory until tomorrow, they cannot move on. That is the dilemma and task that God gave people to conquer. The play, Eurydice talked about those two groups and their choices. To forget or not, that is the problem.

Eurydice, who seemed like a childish girl who did not understand the world well, was complaining about her boyfriend, Orpheus, who seemed only to think about music. Despite this, they profess to love each other very much. They decide to marry, which began this tragedy. Eurydice’s father, who was dead in the Underworld, was thinking of her and wrote a letter to Eurydice. However, an evil man who found the mail from Eurydice’s father lured Eurydice with the letter and led her to death.

Orpheus, who lost his wife, felt the saddest feeling that he had ever had. Orpheus called a telephone company and asked them to find her. He went to a rooftop and listened to the underground world. He composed the saddest song since the world had been created. He was madly in love with Eurydice, the girl who completed him. This is what happens when people fall in love. The person who falls in love thinks he or she is not mad, however, others think he or she is crazy. Orhpeus’s ardent wish for Eurydice was so strong. I understand how strong love is. There are many ways of falling, such as falling hair, falling flower, and falling in better. But the best kind of falling is falling in love.

Meanwhile, Eurydice went to the underworld and met her father. She had forgotten everything that she had when she was alive. She was not even able to recognize her father. Her father still loved her very much. He tried to tell her who and what she had been when she was in the living world. He gave her anything she wanted including a room. While he was making the room for her out of thread, I was so touched because it reminded me of how great a father’s love can be. He did everything that he could do and spent his time with her. When Orpheus found her, he sent her to a place where he could no longer speak with her. He merely pledged that their next meeting would be after she died.

The Lord of the Underworld decided to send Eurydice back to the living world with Orpheus who played the saddest song. However, there was a warning: “Do not look back until you reached the end of the Underworld.” However, Eurydice was unsure of her faith and missed her father, so she called out to Orpheus. Poor Orpheus who missed her so much, turned back and unconsciously saw her. Eurydice’s father knew what had happened and could not handle his sadness. He was determined to forget everything. Eurydice saw her father who had lost all memory of her. She then left her body to the Oblivion River as her father had done.

Here is the dilemma that most people keep asking: People only can see one step father from where they stand, they do not think of the second step. Because of Orpheus’ intense love for Eurydice, they were able to have a rare chance. However, because the woman was doubting, they lost the chance which they could never have again. At last, Eurydice’s father and Eurydice decided to forget everything, because that was the only way that they could live peacefully. Becoming silent was the only way. But is it true?

From the play, I found that nobody, including Eurydice, knows the formula of life. People should not be bound by their past. As I mentioned earlier, we could not say which choice is the better one. However, now I can say only one thing. We need to forget some things, but have to remember other things, such as love. This play raises a question. How many people are bound to their past or present? Eurydice’s and Orpheus’s tragedy happened because Eurydice was bound to the past by her father’s letter and time with him in the Underworld. However, she was tied to the living world also because Orpheus could not forget his love. Was silent to her father. Orpheus became mad. The Lord of the Underworld asked the couple to not lock their eyes on each other, but they forgot. They are both restricted by past and present. They should look to the bright future. Either groups “forgetting” and “memorizing” should know whatever they choose, they should not be restricted by their choice. Keep moving on is the best answer that I give you and make the dilemma make sense.

by Anthony Mumsco

As one can see from Reefer Madness, the propaganda movie from the 1930’s, to Weeds, the television show about a pot selling suburban mom today, the subject of marijuana in media has been around almost since the birth of the medium. Although it was once something as easy to procure in the markets as produce, the racist outlawing of weed during Prohibition caused the more conservative era to associate its use with criminals. As the people felt the government was doing more wrong than right, people began resist in a form of protest. Not all taboo was fair game. Murder was still off limits, however the more peaceful things flourished. The flower power movement of the 60’s and hippies are the images people usually think of when they think of smoking pot.

In the 70’s, two men came along, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, two “funny,” “free loving” guys who also liked to smoke pot. Their sense of humor based on pot and the hippie movement found audiences in different groups of fans. They are the pioneers of the “stoner humor” we see today in films such as Pineapple Express and Half-Baked. Throughout the 70’s and 80’s, they made a string of comedy albums and low-budget movies, which escalated their fame and wealth. After a feud in the late 80’s, they disbanded and went their separate ways. Cheech began appearing in more movies, sans the stoner persona, while Chong kept it and went on to such endeavors as a stint as the resident pothead Leo on “That 70’s Show”. In 2003, Chong was arrested for selling a bong that was found to be not used just for tobacco consumption. More than ten years after they split in June of 2008, Tommy Chong announced he would be reuniting with his old partner for a comedy tour.

Before Cheech and Chong started, we were treated to the comedy styling of Chong’s wife of 25 years, Shelby Chong. She started the night off simply with two words, “Fuck Bush,” before making way into stories about the imprisonment of her husband. Little anecdotes were thrown around, and the audience found out why exactly the two had been married for so many years. Not only did they share a love of pot, but they also shared a similar vocabulary. After her set she introduced the reason why we were all there tonight, throwing out some nicknames like “the Popes of Dope”.

Cheech took the stage first and Tommy came out soon after, clad in a button up shirt sporting the marijuana leaf as the repeated design. The show went on for a little over an hour, in which they performed jokes, songs and old-school Abbott and Costello-esque routines, including a man hitching a ride by dressing as a woman. Although, I don’t think Abbott and Costello would have joked about smoking a blunt that tasted like Preparation H and KY Jelly. They also lightly touched on politics. While they aren’t known for their political stances, the upcoming presidential race was not a topic, however, marijuana legalization was mentioned, a subject very near to their hearts. The sting of Chong’s nine months in prison for selling bongs (which is not illegal when used for tobacco consumption) was obviously the fodder for that. Applause was given to his idea for fixing the economy, the legalization of marijuana.

While the scenes changed, Tommy explained to the audience what has been going on since the split. In particular, while talking about getting back with his comedy partner, he said, “I’m just happy to have my Mexican back.” And by the response of the audience at Westbury Music Fair, an eclectic group of people ranging from a high school kid with his grandma to the man wearing a shirt with a light-up marijuana leaf, they were too. Or maybe it was just that they were a combination of drunk and stoned and needed to be loud.

By Kelly Yu

It started with a drum kit.  But before the arrival of the drum kit, the music scene at Stony Brook had long been deserted since acts such as Jimi Hendrix and The Who played on this campus.  Students on campus lacked an adequate musical outlet on campus for quite some time and the Open Mic Night, previously held at Kelly Quad, was disappointingly lackluster.  “The Open Mic Night’s are terrible, done poorly and there is not enough support,” said Junior Patrice Zapiti.

She and a friend did something about it.  Patrice and fellow junior student musician Carlos Parreno shared the same desire to build up the music scene on campus.  Both musicians agreed that there needed to be a catalyst to inspire the student body to create and express music.  What was needed was a decent practice room for students to play and drums.  “There’s a lot of false free time [on campus].  It gives people time to meet each other,” says Parreno.  They approached Norm Prusslin, one of the two faculty advisors for RockYoFaceCase.  “I was like, Norm, get me some drums.  Please.  And he was like, here’s $2,000.  And I was like, thanks,” said Parreno.  And a drum set they received.  This set lives in a dark practice room in the Tabler Arts Center and is open to public use by anyone.  The drum set was in place so that students could jam and create a complete band. Still, they both attended Open Mic Nights on campus and found a desperate need for an alternative outlet.  Patrice was able to move the event from Kelly Quad to the Tabler Arts Center, but this still wasn’t enough.

“Stony Brook needs a kick in the butt,” said Zapiti.  Parreno and Zapiti got together and proposed the concept of the ACH and SSO Council’s Battle of the Bands.  Zapiti found that the problem with bands on campus was that they could plan, but had no outlet.  If the bands were not given deadlines to follow, nothing was going to get done.  However, the success of the Battle of the Bands exceeded any of their expectations.  “It got people excited,” said Zapiti.  Parreno mentioned that their success was attributed to the fact that what people liked was they could see people they recognized on campus playing the guitar or singing with their band.  With their first event a huge success, the duo wanted an arena where bands can get better, get exposure, and make the Tabler Arts Center a consistent venue for bands to perform.  “We needed to put on shows!” explained Parreno.

What started with a drum kit evolved into putting on one big kick ass show and trying to make it into a consistent event.  Zapiti and Parreno came together again and thought of not a monthly Battle of the Bands, but a showcase where bands on and, possibly, off campus could show the student body what they could do. “What comes next sometimes is energy gets zapped” said Prusslin in reference to events on campus such as Battle of the Bands.  “The challenge is to find a mix and balance of excellent students to organize events.”  According Prusslin, what was needed to make RockYoFace a successful event was a great idea, logistical skills, and the administrative skills to pitch and follow through with the idea.  And that was exactly what Zapiti and Parreno had. They set up meetings with faculty and sent proposals about their idea.  With the initiative of the two, RockYoFace became a reality.

They have already received a lot of submissions, half from bands on campus and the other half from bands off campus.  Parreno and Zapiti hope to make RockYoFace a monthly event at the Black Box Theater at the Tabler Arts Center.  Their Facebook group, “RockYoFaceCase! - a monthly showcase series for local music,” has all the information for people looking to submit a music sample to play at the showcase or just information about when the event will be.  The band list for the first showcase will be released on October 15 on Facebook and the first RockYoFaceCase will be on October 22.  One can reach Carlos and Patrice at their gmail account, RockYoFaceCase@gmail.com.

It started with two people who had an idea and followed it through.  “There is a need for an event like this,” says Zapiti.  “If students want something to happen, they shouldn’t bitch about it.”  “Start a band,” implores Parreno, “that’s what we did.”  So tell all your friends, the Stony Brook music scene is rising from the dead and it’s going to rock yo’ face.

By Andrew Fraley

Semi-nude atop his rock-and-roll stallion, Of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes marshaled the audience into a frenetic frenzy of fanaticism. The psychedelic indie-pop supergroup played a rousing show on October 10 to accompany the October 21 release of their new studio album, Skeletal Lamping.

Formed in 1997 in Athens, Georgia, Of Montreal hit the scene with their debut album, Cherry Peel. Part of The Elephant Six—the indie rock collective responsible for some of the most innovative bands of the late 90s—the band has released nine albums since their inception eleven years ago. The group moved out of obscurity and into the mainstream in 2005 with their acclaimed album, The Sunlandic Twins. Their song, “Wraith Pinned To The Mist (And Other Games)” will forever be immortalized, for better or worse, as the Outback Steakhouse song. This indie faux pas aside, the band continued unfazed, releasing 2007’s Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? Widely regarded as one of the best albums of last year—certainly one of my favorites—Hissing Fauna was a brilliant concept album. The album chronicles the transformation of Barnes into his alter ego stage persona, Georgia Peach. The juxtaposition of dark, depressing lyrics with catchy pop melodies, along with its thematic, transformative progression, made the album a pinnacle of the band’s career. How would Skeletal Lamping stack up to such excellence?

Skeletal Lamping, ultimately, can’t really be compared to Hissing Fauna or Sunlandic Twins. The album is almost a complete departure from the established style of their previous two albums. While the previous two albums had a certain cohesion to them, Skeletal Lamping seems to bounce all over the place. It contains fifteen tracks, and many tracks contain multiple parts.  Styles ranging from 70s-style electro-funk to hyperbolic tweak give the album its disparate feel. Lamping gives the impression of a “fuck you” to their familiar structure. At first I didn’t like this album too much. As I’ve listened to it more, however, it’s started to grow on me. I still prefer Hissing Fauna and Twins; there is no “Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse” or “Wraith Pinned The Mist” to give Skeletal Lamping its stand-apart sense. It is definitely worth listening to, for its innovation and directional change.

The best thing about Of Montreal, however, will forever remain their live performances. They put on more than just rock shows; they put on vaudevillian theatrics. October 10 was no different. At the Roseland Ballroom in the heart of midtown Manhattan, Of Montreal came on after the opening band, Love Is All. The Swedish pop-indie punk band played on some very overloaded audio equipment. They were very shrill. The lead singer, Josephine Olausson, seemed an amalgamation of numerous female indie vocalists; she never seemed to exceed any one of them, though. She reminded me of Karen O’s goofy Swedish cousin. Their set was, for the most part, unremarkable (I can’t even remember the famous 80’s pop cover they played), but who ever comes to see the opening act? Of Montreal was the main attraction and they did not disappoint.

Entering the tiered stage—the two drum kits, the bassists, backing guitars and keyboards all played on elevated platforms—through a rotating screen in the middle, the band began their two-hour, unrelenting set. Accompanying the band was a troupe of dancers and stagehands to aid in Barnes’ theatrics. Dressing up as different characters, the stagehands, along with two projection screens, helped create a thematic presence that changed with the songs. Ranging from the bizarre—a Mayan statue theme for “She’s A Rejecter”—to the surreal—an anthropomorphic tiger in a white jacket getting beat up by masked stagehands—the atmosphere flowed energetically throughout the show. At one point, Barnes stripped dwon to his underwear and mounted an actual horse. Why it didn’t freak out at this loud rock concert, I’m not sure. It must have been sedated or something. Barnes would later dress up as a centaur. He was also carried out for the last song in a coffin filled with shaving cream. It was a totally insane, wacky and brilliant concert.

At the end of the concert, before the encore, the band had the audience do a chant about pizza. “The best so far has been in Asheville,” said one of the drummers. They never said if we were louder but I’d like to think we were.

By Steve McLinden

Someone once told me that once I reached drinking age, I’d be too cool for all-ages shows.  And while I appreciate the Minor Threat standpoint on all-inclusiveness, I’m a little too sore the morning after seeing Against Me! at Webster Hall on October 11 to be doing that too often.  Webster Hall, located just south of Union Square in Manhattan, is typically an 18+ venue, but either the band or the Bowery promoters realized that it might not be a sold-out show if they didn’t let the high school kids from Long Island in to “that punk rock show.”

My brother and I arrived early to make sure we saw Future Of The Left, of whom two-thirds come from McLusky, for those readers who haven’t kept up with the Welsh noise rock scene.  Future Of The Left played a thirty-five minute set with pounding drums and the shouting of their repetitive and none-too-meaningful lyrics like, “I don’t wanna wave wave wave wave, I don’t wanna wave at them.”  Bassist Kelson Mathias, who used to play in the short-lived Jarcrew, was highly energetic. He handled his four-stringer more like a guitar, and played the leading riffs on a few songs.  The Welsh boys really knew how to get a crowd into the show, making jokes through their heavy accents like, “Thanks to Against Me! and Ted Leo & The Pharmacists for having us here, great bands. Great bands but absolutely horrible people.” “Yeah, when ya fall asleep, Ted pours Sprite down your ass… but at least he lets it go flat first.”  While noise rock is not for everyone and vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Andy Falkous’ harsh voice can most easily be compared to that of Mark E. Smith, the crowd really enjoyed their opening performance.

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists may not have been listed as a headliner, but it’s safe to say that almost half of the crowd was there just to see them.  The Washington D.C. based band has developed a cult following for their mix of ’80s hardcore punk energy, traditional rock ‘n’ roll stylings, indie sensibilities, and power chords.  Ted complained a couple of times about how he was losing his voice, but it didn’t seem to affect his ability or intensity to belt out the lyrics – although, clocking in at just under an hour, I wonder if their set had to be cut short a bit.  For anyone else who saw TL/Rx open for Pearl Jam this year in those halfhearted half-hour warm-up sets (after which on one night at Madison Square Garden, an anonymous SMS critic texted to a novelty display board aside the stage, TED LEO = EPIC FAIL), this more recent performance was a lot more enjoyable, with a more active crowd singing along (which Ted appreciated) and clapping to every song.

Before Against Me! came out is when things started getting ugly.  Everyone wanted to get close to the stage, photographers who hadn’t anticipated the impending mayhem whined about protecting their cameras, and drunken kids blew cigarette smoke on everyone around them while the house lights were still up (where were the militant straight-edge kids when you need them?)  I noticed in looking around that, while all the staggering drunks wore their orange bracelets like a badge they’d earned, I only sported it because it was more convenient than having a magic marker X on each of my hands.

Upon entering the stage, Against Me! unfurled their gigantic panther banner; the cat is emblematic of their origins from Gainesville, Florida.  Over the past decade, the swamps of Gainesville have given rise to the folk-punk scene with the likes of Plan-It-X Records setting up base in the city, doing for folk-punk bands what Wasilla, Alaska did for meth.  Pretty early on after taking a stage-diver’s kick to the face, I realized that my glasses belonged in my pocket, but the crowd was extremely posi, not just helping up fallen kids in the moshing, but also keeping the floor clear for whoever had been so unfortunate as to lose their spectacles or their flip-flops.  (Please note, more secure footwear is recommended for shows like this. Also, just because it’s 2008 and you have an iPhone doesn’t mean you have to take pictures the whole time, or update your Twitter with the entire setlist.) I normally lament security ruining things, but the lack of a barricade or security that night meant stupid kids who were too drunk to stand for the night would crowd-surf to the front and stand on stage until a roadie finally made them stage-dive.

The set was heavily-based in material from their latest album, the major-label debut New Wave on Sire Records released last year.  When I saw AM! eleven months ago, it was even more biased towards the stuff that has a more rock feel than the grating folk-punk styles they came up on.  Last night, it seemed that most of the crowd either had come to terms with the new style and learned to love it, or they had only gotten into the band since they hit it big. “Stop!” sounded a hell of a lot better than I do playing it on Rock Band with my Xbox Live friends.  “Thrash Unreal” has been the single in heavy rotation for almost a year now, so that was an obvious choice for the last song of the main set. Quite a few songs from 2003’s As The Eternal Cowboy made the cut, including “T.S.R.”, a great live song in “Don’t Lose Touch”,  and one of my favorite coming-of-age songs “Sink, Florida, Sink.” Both times I’ve seen them, I was really impressed with how they make the more minimal songs that are heavier on folk than punk into pounding rock songs, and make the newer alternative rock kind of songs sound more high-energy punk, and string them together so seamlessly.  Some complain that the band’s set rarely goes much longer than sixty minutes, but they play fast, they don’t bullshit with anything more than “we’re Against Me! from Gainesville, Florida, thanks for coming,” and they play so damn well.

Before the encore began, Tom returned to the stage (still shirtless) to debut a song from his upcoming solo EP.  Unfortunately, this meant the end of the tradition of a crowd sing-along to “Baby, I’m an Anarchist!” with Tom.  Much more on the folk side than his material with the band, the song was entitled “Cowards Sing At Night” and with a chorus like, “Johnny, trudge back home to Vietnam,” it’s a pretty safe bet that this is an attack on John McCain.  Shortly thereafter, the rest of the band returned to the stage for a couple more songs.

During “The Ocean”, a couple of guys climbed to the stage and shared the microphones with the band.  At that point, chaos descended, about a hundred people including my brother and I climbed to the stage, where I elected to dance like an idiot and take pictures instead of partaking in the sing-along.  One of the most exciting things about all-ages shows, I say at the ripe old age of twenty-one, is that high-schoolers who can’t even drive yet have this bright-eyed yearning for freedom and an energy and the idea that they can overthrow their government that the sedentary and stoic pushing-thirty crowds at indie rock shows just don’t have.  Every once in a while, getting roughed up at a concert is worth it, and Against Me!’s intensity is something I could enjoy every time they come to town.  So remember, my fellow grown-ups: don’t let anyone ever tell you that you’re too cool for an all-ages show.