Northern Star

O’ is for ombudsman

By Sarah Rejnert | September 3, 2002

OK, hot shot - explain what NIU’s ombudsman does. Five-four-three-two-one. Too late. Many NIU students probably have seen brochures advertising the Office of the Ombudsman and probably have heard that title tossed around a few times, but does anyone...

Law school admissions soar

By Linda Luk | September 3, 2002

The saying is, when the economy goes south, admissions for professional schools goes north, said Judith Malen, director of admissions and financial aid at NIU’s College of Law. This certainly may be the case for the college as the number of students...

Women’s soccer splits opening weekend

By Brian Kelley | September 3, 2002

After starting the season off with an impressive 2-1 victory Friday over host Wright State, the NIU women’s soccer team struggled Monday, leaving them 1-1 after the opening weekend. The Huskie freshmen made an impact right from the start as Christie...

Racial tensions cancel comic act routines

By Jenan Diab | August 29, 2002

Columnist, comedian and former NIU student, Ray Hanania, was told he couldn’t perform his regular comedy routine at Zanie’s, a comedy club in Chicago, because he was Palestinian. Last Tuesday, Hanania was scheduled to open for comedian Jackie Mason,...

What’s next for Convo Center?

By Lisa Weber | August 29, 2002

Bill Cosby's grand opening event at the NIU Convocation Center generated a huge turnout. But what about future performances? The list of events for the upcoming school year is far from complete, said Joe Coots, the Center's marketing manager. Coots believes...

Sonic Youth

By P.J. Osborne | August 29, 2002

When adding an avant-garde musician and producer (Jim O'Rourke) to a quartet of lower east side bohemians (Sonic Youth), one hardly would think the forthcoming release would be a hybrid of commercial pop (or "classic rock" to quote the band) and minimal experimentation.

Named for the street outside their recording studio near Ground Zero, "Murray Street" (DGC) is the second in a trilogy celebrating the band's home base, New York City, and the first to feature O'Rourke as a full-time member.

"Rain On Tin" showcases the band's trademark feverish, angular guitar passages along with drummer Steve Shelley's thunderous tom-tom rolls, which climactically build like a thunderstorm, eventually yielding to a light drizzle before halting in the dark of night.

The album's zenith of experimentation can be found on "Radical Adults Lick Godhead Style," a song of expansive soundscapes, stream-of-conscious lyrics and a brief, explosive cameo from the sax duo Don Dietrich and Jim Sauter, a.k.a. Borbetomagus, that echoes the free jazz stylings of Ornette Coleman's work in the mid-1960s.

The rough-around-the-edges and concise "Plastic Sun" is bassist and guitarist Kim Gordon's first vocal on the album and, musically, the song recalls the ax -annihilation indicative of the early '80s New Wave scene (from which the band was born). Gordon's moody, gritty vocal ("I hate you and your bitchy friends") takes aim at the narcissistic, midriff-baring young ladies of today.

Initially intended as a solo acoustic offering from Moore, the songs collectively display a cohesiveness that past Sonic Youth albums have lacked. In truth, "Murray Street" is the band's best and most accessible, upbeat release since 1988's dissonant landmark "Daydream Nation."

Now in their third decade performing together, the "radical adults" of Sonic Youth prove it is possible to age gracefully in music and continue to stay a step ahead of the pack.HHH1/2

NIU welcomes center

By Marisa Knudsen | August 29, 2002

A new building is being added to NIU’s campus. The Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault will move from its current location in the Psychology/Computer Science building into a separate facility west of the Convocation Center. The...

Saved By the Bell: The good years

By Casey Toner | August 29, 2002

In fall 1989, Zach and the "Saved By The Bell" gang stormed the early morning NBC line-up with plot lines so formulaic and convoluted they shamed "Boston Public" and rationalized every dumb "Friends" episode. And we loved it. Viewers found wackiness abounded...

WeekENDER unlocks DeKalb fun

By Melanie M. Schroeder | August 29, 2002

As a transfer student almost two years ago, it was a bit of a culture shock to find myself in DeKalb. Back home in Rockford, living in a basement apartment smack in the middle of downtown, I was surrounded by art galleries, hole-in-the-wall clubs and...

Local band woos with variety style

By Mike Larmon | August 29, 2002

Sunday night, I was fortunate enough to catch a short but sweet set from local band Melany Ether at The House, 263 E. Lincoln Highway. When I asked guitarist/singer Jason Jensen and bass player Brandon Welch how they would describe their music, they were...

Decorating in a stylish snap

By Kasmirah Joyner | August 29, 2002

This has been a stressful week. First, move-in day, then classes start,and you haven't even started unpacking. Am I right? Well, I'm sure that if unpacking is a distant thought, then so is decorating. Please don't fret. I have creative, yet inexpensive,...

Snapshot of a real creepy guy

By Marcus Leshock | August 29, 2002

"One Hour Photo" (Fox Searchlight, R) is a film about a sad man trapped in a lonely world of photo finishing and fluorescent lighting. The man finds refuge in a world where people only photograph their happy moments, the moments they want to remember....

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