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The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

President of preservation group heeds call of the wild

By Mark Pietrowski | March 1, 2005

Courtney Nash is a real wild one. Nash, a senior communication major, has been president of NIU’s Committee for the Preservation of Wildlife for three semesters. The role involves relentless letter writing to state representatives, usually before a...

Bowling for Perfection

By Rachel Gorr | February 28, 2005

Tina Fey. David Duchovny. Dido. MVP Baseball. Seth Cohen. Stuffed pizza. Eric Helser, a sophomore computer science major. What do they have in common? As Ron Burgundy would proudly proclaim, "Perfection!" The 300 game is the ultimate dream of bowlers....

Students share their celeb ‘look-alike’ sides

By Greg Feltes | February 25, 2005

Has anyone ever told you that you look like someone famous? With the Oscars upon us, Sweeps polled students to see which celebrities they thought they most looked like. Some of the time, the resemblance were less than striking. Jaime Garcia senior economics...

Comic books a draw for college students

By Rachel Gorr | February 24, 2005

What comes to your mind when you think about comic books? Coke-bottle glasses? Mint condition issues in Mylar baggies? Many people automatically think of popular "Simpsons" character Comic Book Guy, but not all comic aficionados are 400 pounds and masters...

Flip your lid for Lil Flip

By Lindsey Rosati | February 24, 2005

If you want to see Lil Flip and the way he balls, Friday night is your chance.

The Houston-based rapper is scheduled to perform at 7 p.m. Friday at the Music Building’s Concert Hall. Doors open at 6 p.m.

A Dollar Production is presenting Lil Flip, with special guest 2 $ense, who has been featured on BET’s "Uncut."

Tickets were $15 for students and $20 for general public in advance, or $25 at the door. Only at-the-door tickets remain.

Tickets originally were on sale at the CAB box office. However, an acountancy error caused all advanced sales to be put on hold.

Tim Blickhan, assistant director and coordinator of graduate studies, handles the booking for Concert Hall. Blickhan confirmed the hall has been rented Friday evening by NIU’s Black Studies Program, which aided in bringing Lil Flip to DeKalb.

Lil Flip, who started off underground in Houston, was part of the late DJ Screw’s rhyme team, The Screwed Up Click. His first indie debut, "The Leprechaun," moved 100,000 records. Lil Flip’s first major label debut, "Undaground Legend," went platinum.

His third installment, "U Gotta Feel Me," has produced hits such as "Sunshine," which has had heavy rotation on MTV, and "Game Over."

Neva Dinova: The Hate Yourself Change

By Derek Wright | February 24, 2005

Track the extensive vocal lineage of Jeff Buckley and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, and the bastard descendant of the two would be Neva Dinova’s Jake Bellows.

Buckley’s influence is prominent in artists such as Jimmy Gnecco of Ours, while Kent’s Joakim Berg and Muse’s Matthew Bellemy have mastered Yorke impressions.

Yet Bellows is the first to strike a perfect balance between Buckley’s intensely cathartic, bittersweet howl and Yorke’s detached, atmospherically brooding voice.

And his Nebraskan quintet compliments this concurrence flawlessly on the band’s sophomore album.

With lush choruses and paroxysmal guitars during "Ahh," the acoustic folk ditty "Yellow Datsun" which fills its gaps with aquatic sound effects, and the upbeat "She Can’t Change" with guitars that would make Johnny Marr smile, Neva Dinova masks its morose undertones just enough to stay appealing.

Even the uber-depressing "I’ve Got A Feeling," with repetitive lyrics "The world’s a sh---y place/ I can’t wait to die," somehow doesn’t seem that bad once Bellows laughs "Just kidding world/ You know I love you."

But his apparent depression would make his ancestors proud.

DeKalb Rock Town

By Collin Quick | February 24, 2005

Otto’s Niteclub, 118 E. Lincoln Highway, will be hopping this weekend with two high-energy bands headlining in the main room.

Duo Local H will headline on Saturday night in support of their latest release, "Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles?"

Local H is no stranger to DeKalb. The band usually stops by Otto’s about once a semester.

"Local H has this following from Chicago that followed into the suburbs," said Jeremy Eisenberg, Otto’s general manager. "I’ve always thought that the best Local H shows were the ones performed here."

Short and Sweet and Bear Claw will open the show, which starts at 10 p.m. Tickets cost $10 and are still available.

"The show will sell out for sure toward the middle of the night," Eisenberg said.

However, one night of rock just won’t satisfy the downtown music establishment.

Chicago punk band Lucky Boys Confusion will headline Sunday night at a special 18-and-older show. The band will be supporting its latest release, "Commitment," a mixture of punk rock and funk.

"Very few national acts come through DeKalb that fans under 21 are able to attend," Eisenberg said. "Many people are fans of the band, so we are expecting a good turnout."

The last time Lucky Boys Confusion played in DeKalb, the band headlined in Molly’s parking lot underneath a large tent.

Bands Triptil, Starter Kit, Uphill Ski Team and Deconstructing Jim will open the show starting at 6:30 p.m. Tickets cost $10 and are still available.

Tickets for both shows can be purchased through Otto’s Web site at www.ottosdekalb.com or can be picked up at Record Rev, 817 W. Lincoln Highway.

LCD Soundsystem: LCD Soundsystem

By Kelly Johnson | February 24, 2005

James Murphy steps out of the shadows on his self-titled debut "LCD Soundsystem."

Having gained underground notoriety as half of the production team DFA (The Neptunes of the indie scene) and an anxious buzz through vinyl-only singles, the album has underground hipsters staying awake at night dreaming of new mix-tape possibilities.

In actuality, the album has a lot of mix-tape qualities to it. Murphy dabbles into a little bit of each genre, ranging from techno and punk to funk and rock.

The album kicks off with the funky "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House," complete with a trademark distorted bass lick driving the beat. Murphy’s vocal style is perfect for the light-hearted party track, featuring his characteristic added syllable after each word.

The new songs will surprise those already familiar with Soundsystem’s singles. Murphy makes no apologies for wearing his diverse influences on his sleeve, and at times this sacrifices the album’s overall cohesiveness.

"Too Much Love" worships at the altar of "Remain in Light"-era Talking Heads, while "Never As Tired As When I’m Waking Up" capitalizes on the classic sound from John Lennon and the Beatles. "Tribulations" loops an exact bass-line from "No. 13 Baby" by the Pixies.

Not to say this is a bad thing - Murphy has obviously done his homework. Each song is a fitting homage to his heroes. However, he only has a handful of stylistic tricks that can hide his influences, and songs like "On Repeat" and "Daft Punk" are left in the outskirts as ultimately forgettable.

The album does include a second disc compiling his previous vinyl-only singles that could have been substituted into a number of slots on disc one.

With as much hype as has been built for this release due to masterful singles, Murphy hits his dance floor stride only in a select number of spots.

Pre-write your life away

By Brayton Cameron | February 24, 2005

Every English class I remember being in - which includes the four times I dropped 104 on the first day - loved prewriting.

That seemed to be the most important part of the curriculum. I can recall lesson upon lesson teaching us what free-writing, clustering and brainstorming are all about.

Does the English department get funding from some private organization of prewriting-philes? Do they have a pact with the dark forces of prewriting and offer tribute to them in order to keep power? The answer to both of these questions is, "well, maybe."

It would appear that rather than teaching students how to write in classes, they have instead taught us the art of rewriting. Certainly our pre and rewriting processes would work a great deal better if we had some concept of how to write in the first place. Instead we are taught to pre-write first to conjure up ideas, like we were to harness the infernal power of the demon of prewriting: "Oh, dark lord of clustering give me the strength to write this paper, accept my ritual."

The manner I learned how to write was not directly from my education. Certainly, I have been taught to read by this glorious exploration of the language I was born into. However, I had to learn how to write from reading. Once the rudimentary elements of reading were figured out, I was pushed off into the world and told to prewrite as if it would save me from the wrath of angry English teachers.

Why is it that all of the English teachers I have ever had seemed to be so angry? A theory I have is that they, long before I did, realized their subject of expertise was useless. I am not claiming that no one speaks, reads or writes in English - that would be ridiculous.

However, I am making a claim similar to John Locke. Words are symbols, they change and are altered by each individual that experiences those symbols. The rules of grammar and writing change as a language "evolves," and it is pointless to keep track of them.

I am reminded of the rule of the split infinitive. The reason splitting infinitives is frowned upon is because some guy said so.

In the end, our rules of English are based on nothing more than a series of "some guy said so" statements. The manner we use to communicate has been chosen arbitrarily and then ignored, only to be reformatted by the Modern Language Association every year to the dismay of anyone who reads or writes in English. These MLA rules are then ignored by MLA as an attempt to, once again, figure out what English is.

I say give it up. If anything this article is a call for lingual anarchy. I’ve even adapted a war cry for us, "No Gods, No Masters, No Prewriting, Against all Authority, Lingual Anarchy."

Views expressed in this weekly humor column do not necessarily reflect the Northern Star or its staff. If you have comments or a question, send them to [email protected].

WE gets confused with a Lucky Boy

By Collin Quick | February 24, 2005

Pop punk rockers Lucky Boys Confusion will pull into town Sunday night and headline the main room at Otto’s, 118 E. Lincoln Highway. Guitarist and vocalist Adam Krier recently talked to the Weekender twice, because of technical difficulties, and let us know what the band was currently up to.

Weekender: Where are you and what can you see?

Adam Krier: I’m in a luxurious apartment with really nice hardwood floors above a bar in Naperville in the downtown area. Everything in this room was made before 1985 with the exception of my DVD player and my CD player. There’s an old piano in the corner that needs to be tuned, so I should probably call a piano tuner about that.

WE: How’s the new album coming along?

AK: Well, we got off the "Suburban Cursed" tour last November and we basically took December off to relax. Starting in January and over the past six weeks, [lead singer] Stubhy and myself have been getting together a couple times a week to write and then the entire band, all five of us, get together about three or four times a week to work on new songs and put some new stuff together. We are trying to get enough stuff together so we can get three new tunes and demo those and begin to search for a new producer and a new record company.

WE: What’s up with the record company?

AK: We are no longer with our former label, Elektra Records, even though our last two tours have been the most successful tours that we ever did. When it comes time to put out a new record, we are going to need someone to help us with distribution and advertising and so on.

WE: Who is your favorite band to tour with?

AK: It’s hard to pick a favorite. You are on tour for so long and out on the road for four, five, and sometimes eight weeks at a time and you’re with about 20 people, who are from three or four different bands. You really get to know these people and you’re constantly around them and it’s kind of like a group of pirates going from town to town or something crazy like that and it’s a great experience and one of the best parts of being in a band.

WE: So what makes you "boys" so "lucky"?

AK: Ah, the name. We started back in 1997 and I was still in high school and I had just met Stubhy and he was the one who came up with the name. We were from Downers Grove and Lisle and we were supposed to be living in these great cities. Naperville was rated the No. 1 town in the country to raise children and we looked around and saw that our friends were going to jail and dropping out of school and overdosing, so the name just came from a real-life experience.

WE: Care to share a good printable road story?

AK: Well, we like to have fun with our hotel rooms. We turn them into waterparks, bars and grills; we tear off the head boards from the bed and joust with them and set off fireworks. We are in so many hotel rooms on tour that we are forced to get creative after a while. One time, I jumped out of a second story hotel room window and Stubhy thought it looked cool so he jumped out as well, but he ended up busting his ankle and spent the last two months of tour on crutches. He was a crippled rocker.

WE: What are you listening to right now?

AK: Razorlight, the Libertines, Bloc Party, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists as well as some older stuff. Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, the Dead Boys, Generation X and stuff like that.

WE: Why should students come out and see you Sunday night?

AK: Well, there’s nothing else to do on a Sunday night in DeKalb, right?

Plain White T’s: All That We Needed

By Collin Quick | February 24, 2005

Chicago punk rock has always been a bit angry. With Alkaline Trio and the Tossers taking the most mundane of topics and throwing four power chords behind them, the product resulted in bitter, upbeat music.

These days, Fall Out Boy and Lucky Boys Confusion are making catchy punk music to satisfy the new wave of the angry youth.

So newcomers Plain White T’s should be no exception, right? Wrong.

While juxtaposing both happy and sad lyrics about losing a former flame over continuous 4/4 beats, the group showcases its ability to not try anything new.

The 13 songs are too simple. As soon as lead singer Tom Higgenson’s vocals end, the songs end. The band seems almost afraid to experiment and extend the song 30 seconds longer without vocals, attributes that would possibly increase the punk sound of the album.

And what’s a punk record without an acoustic-based track? The band tries to showcase its, ahem, softer side with "Hey There Delilah," a song that just oozes out sappiness in Higgenson’s vocals.

It sounds like the Plain White T’s need to add some color to its wardrobe.

The Pages of Purgatory

By Richard Pulfer | February 24, 2005

The year is 1942. A young war veteran named Michael Satariano has returned to his home of DeKalb after receiving the Medal of Honor in the Philippines.

Racked with guilt and remorse, Satariano finds it difficult to adjust to life in peace time. So when G-Man Elliot "Untouchable" Ness comes calling for Satariano, Michael doesn’t hesitate to rekindle his old war with the mob.

With the help of Ness, Satariano infiltrates a criminal organization headed by Al Capone and Frank Nitti. Experienced, connected, armed and dangerous, Michael sets out to avenge the death of his father at the hands of a mob assassin 10 years ago. In doing so, Michael begins his long road to Purgatory.

"The Road to Purgatory" is Max Allan Collins’ prose sequel to his graphic novel "The Road to Perdition," which was adapted into a film of the same name with Tom Hanks in the lead role.

The main character, Michael Satariano, is really Michael Sullivan Jr., who traveled with his gangster father through the Depression era Midwest in "Road to Perdition."

Collins’ novels are historical fiction, weaving Sullivan’s journey around historical figures such as Elliot Ness and Al Capone into non-fictional locales in DeKalb and Chicago.

The novel follows Michael from the jungles of the Philippines and through the urban jungle of gangland Chicago, but Michael begins his journey into Capone’s criminal empire in the idyllic town of DeKalb.

DeKalb contrasts the innocence of Michael’s childhood with the violence of his past. Although writer Collins grew up in Iowa, he has fond memories of the DeKalb area.

"My aunt and uncle live in Sycamore, and I was a visitor there and in DeKalb countless times, including high school," Collins said. "So it was a small idyllic town in the Chicago area with which I was familiar - I could call upon my memories, not just research."

Although DeKalb’s role in the book is small compared to the ominous setting of Capone’s Chicago, the themes presented by DeKalb remain a crucial part of Michael’s character. One character connected to the themes of DeKalb is Patsy Ann O’Hara, Sullivan’s high school girlfriend, who is studying to be a teacher at DeKalb’s Northern State Teacher’s College, the school which would one day come to be known as Northern Illinois University. O’Hara and DeKalb embody the innocence that complicates Sullivan’s mission of vengeance in Chicago.

For information on DeKalb, Collins contacted his cousin, Kris Povlsen, who is DeKalb’s 2nd Ward Alderman. Povlsen put Collins in contact with local historian Stephen J. Bigolin.

"My area of expertise is the old buildings and landmarks of DeKalb," said Bigolin. "Max called me one evening and we spoke at great length. He wanted to use some landmarks as references for his novels. I recall sending some postcards of old buildings in DeKalb to use as the references."

Landmarks such as the Egyptian Theatre and the bandshell provide the setting for the pivotal scenes that shape Michael’s journey from the cornfields of DeKalb to the Chicago underworld.

"The Road to Purgatory" is the middle installment in Collins’ trilogy of the American Dream. He has already begun writing the final installment, "The Road to Paradise," and he has also published several graphic novels that tie into "The Road to Perdition" on various points of the Sullivan family’s journey.

Although DeKalb will not be a location in the "The Road to Paradise," Collins did confirm the town is mentioned prominently throughout the narration. Having written most of the locales involved in his trilogy from childhood memory, Collins has similar advice for aspiring writers. He also believes college is a good source of writing experience.

"Write now, while you’re in an academic setting and can get some credit for it," Collins said. "Also, write from your experience, and don’t be seduced by either literary pretension or commercial notions."

"The Road to Purgatory" is available in bookstores now, and "The Road to Paradise" is tentatively scheduled for a November release.