Feist: A Gem among Rocks and Stones
I think I speak for most people when I say, “It’s comforting to see that not every pretty voice that makes it to stardom, lets their rising popularity intrude on their talent and lifestyle.” In a world that demands entertainment 24/7, it’s no wonder that popular music artists end up in “rehab”, burnt-out from the tempting lifestyle popularity offers. And then there are musicians like Feist. She’s that pretty voice on the Verizon Chocolate commercial, the new iPod Nano commercial, and that person on the radio counting 1 through 10 (with the exception of 7 and 8 ) in her single “1 2 3 4″. I guess you could say she is still capable of making those popular mistakes, since she has only in the past few months begun to gain popularity. I think we can have confidence in this one though. She’s been playing music professionally for a little under a decade now, and it’s clear in her lyrics that she is interested in singing about the more positive things in life, like love and relationships; rather then sex, drugs and debauchery.

Anyway, she performed here two weeks ago for a crowd of about 800 (1600=sold out). Every person I have talked to since then about the concert has given me positive feedback on the show. I loved it, I thought her voice was great, her band was cool, and everybody there looked like they were having a great time. So the question I have been struggling with since then has been, “Where was Messiah?”

The responses I received were: “never heard of her,” “the posters don’t explain her music,” “I had other obligations,” etc. I am not satisfied with these answers and I think it goes much deeper then the response “never heard of her”. I think the attendance of the concerts by Messiah students depends extensively upon the genre of music being performed. While there is a population of students here at Messiah that will show up to most any of SAB’s concerts regardless of the genre, they are few in number. I can understand a person’s preference towards a certain genre of music, but does that mean that all other music is bad? Of course not, but it does have an effect on whether we decide to spend $5-10 to experience it in a concert. If understanding how to live in community is something you are serious about leaving here with, I would encourage you to not let your personal preference get in the way of experiencing culture for all that it is.

Last night I went over to Dickinson College with some members of my Concert Committee to see Talib Kweli. Talib is a rap artist. Except he’s more then most rap artists you will hear on the radio. A way of describing him that most people at Messiah could understand is, he raps about things similar to what U2 sings about. I started listening to rap music more intentionally this past summer because I realized how un-diverse my music library was. Among the artists I listened to were the Roots, Common, Lupe Fiasco, and Talib Kweli. It’s hard for me and I am sure many for many others to understand where these artists are coming from when they use words that most people would find unacceptable and vulgar. I found myself asking, “Is this good music?” I don’t think it’s bad music, but I find it very hard to reconcile such vulgar lyrics that are degrading to peoples’ races and sex. These elements are present in a lot of today’s rap music, which is not to say that it’s not present in a lot of rock music today, but to say, “what then are we left to sample of rap music that is popular, attainable, and not offensive?” Thus the predicament that Messiah’s Student Activities Board is left with.

mewithoutYou is playing in Brubaker Auditorium this Friday, October 5th. Do yourself a favor and buy a ticket. SAB doesn’t book their concerts blindly, we book bands that we believe are significant, relevant, and appreciated by a population of students on campus. Our hope is that the rest of Messiah attends our events and recognizes this too.

Sincerely,
John Eskate your SAB Concert Executive

While the rest of SAB (and all the other cool kids) went to Broadway today, I took the opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep and also see what’s probably the best movie I’ve seen in 2007 so far: “Eastern Promises,” the new film from one of my favorite directors, David Cronenberg.

Cronenberg is certainly a love/hate director, specifically because of the way he deals with sexuality, violence and subtext. “Eastern Promises” might just be his most accesible film to date, despite it’s intense violence (it’s sporadic though) and disturbing sexual content. It plays more like a low-key Russian “Godfather” then anything else.

Naomi Watts is fine as our entrance into the strange world of the Russian mob in London. It’s a pretty uninteresting role for the most part, as she tries to search for the relatives of a dead Russian teenager and the late mother’s newborn child. She takes the Russian diary to a fancy Russian restaurant, giving the book to the owner to translate, who’s ties to the dead mother are a lot more sinister then we’d like to believe.

Of course, that all sounds rather simple, no? But this is Cronenberg, and nothing is ever simple. Enter Viggo Mortensen as Nikolai, a Russian driver for the always excellent Vincent Cassel. Nikolai has aspirations of his own, and soon gets tied up with Watts over the course of the story.

To say more about the plot is to ruin the sheer fun the movie has in twisting and turning this way and that; giving us new ideas about characters we once hated, or once loved. As I said before, Cassel does his usual excellent work here, but the star of this movie is undoubtedly Mortensen. It’s his best performance by far, Oscar-worthy in every way. It’s a new career-high work for the actor, who’s performance is of such an alarming quality as to almost over-power the entire film. When he’s not on screen, the movie suffers as a result. But thankfully for us, he’s on screen for almost every scene.

And naturally, he’ll most be remembered for the scene where he fights two assassins fully naked in a steam room. Yes, King Aragorn goes full frontal, but it’s not gratuituous or even inappropriate in the least. Cronenber understands the nature of violence and sexuality more so than any other filmmaker working right now. By stripping Viggo of all his clothes, every punch and slash becomes that much more cringe-worthy and painful. The two assassins are clothed in black leather, while Viggo’s black tattoo’s (telling his life story), soon become covered in red blood. It’s the greatest fight scene in recent memory; it’s incredibly emotional, gripping, horrific and appropriate.

I’d love to bring this movie to campus for the spring, but I don’t think I’ll be doing so. I can see and understand why people would be offended by this movie’s content (besides the bath-fight, there are two absolutely gnarly throat cuttings, and a horrific sexual scene with a prostitute), and the last thing I want to do is offend people in our film selection. But I do strongly urge you to check “Eastern Promises” out on your own when you get the chance. It’s what we all want in movies: it’s a great story told brilliantly. It’s beautiful acted, with superb directing and great tech work (specifically the editing and the gorgeous Russian black and red art direction). It earns it’s R-rating - it’s a movie for adults, and it treats it’s audience with the respect we hopefully deserve.

Since I love ranking movies, here’s how I think it ranks in the Cronenberg filmography (from what I’ve seen):

1. The Fly (****)
2. Videodrome (****)
3. Eastern Promises (****)
4. A History of Violence (****)
5. Naked Lunch (*** and a half)
6. Crash (***)
7. Spider (** and a half)
8. Scanners (** and a half)
9. eXistenZ (**)

Jenna (an Oscar worthy Keri Russell) sums up her life in her pies, giving them titles that leave nothing to the imagination, such as “I-Don’t-Want-Earl’s-Baby Pie,” “I-Hate-My-Husband Pie” or my favorite, “Pregnant-Miserable-Self-Pitying-Loser Pie”. As you might be able to guess just by the names of the pies, Waitress is the story of Jenna, a waitress and brilliant pie-creator, dealing with an unexpected pregnancy courtesy of her abusive, horrible husband Earl (Jeremy Sisto). Seems the baby ruins all her chances of getting away from Earl, and to say Jenna is a little resentful of it is an understatement. Add in the handsome Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillon) she has a crush on, and you have the perfect recipe for a trite melodrama.
So what then makes Waitress anything but a trite melodrama? The answer is simple: Adrienne Shelly. The young star of cultish indie films such as I’ll Take You There and Factotum serves as writer, director and co-star here, and her talents have truly come into their own. The screenplay is filled with real, lovably unique characters, such as Shelly’s own waitress looking for love by 5-minute blind dates and the great Andy Griffith as the grouchy diner owner fascinated with Jenna. The movie is neither too bland and mainstream or too obnoxiously independent and quirky. Instead, Shelly does what everyone should do: she tells her story as simply as it needs to be told, on her own terms. Her directing is never overly flashy, and the few times Shelly tries something a little different, it serves Jenna’s story and strengthens the film.
Near the heart of the film is, as the trailers would tell you, the blossoming romance between Jenna and Dr. Pomatter. The fact that this is an adulterous affair might strike a wrong chord in some viewers, and that’s understandable. However, I’d ask that you don’t judge the movie for the acts of the characters. None of the characters in Waitress are perfect people, and the film never passes judgment on any of their wrong-doings or mistakes. It just presents them honestly, and really, isn’t that exactly what art should do?
At its core, “Waitress” is about Jenna’s pregnancy and lack of desire to have a child. She even semi-jokes at one point about whether she might be able to sell it. Shelly explains “I was about eight months pregnant (while writing Waitress), and I was really scared about the idea of having a baby. I couldn’t imagine how my life was going to be, that it would change so drastically that I wasn’t even going to recognize myself anymore. I was terrified and I really had never seen that reflected in anything, not in a book or in a movie.”
The movie feels like a love letter to Shelly’s child, and it’s this genuineness that allows the movie to pass unscathed through its pseudo-fantasy climax. There’s nothing wrong with a little magic, as long as it’s real and true. Waitress is both of those things and more.

Next week: THE NAMESAKE!

Hey kids! The ticket office now has tickets on sale for our fall trip to Broadway! This semester’s shows are:

Les Miserables
Grease
Mary Poppins

for Saturday, September 22nd

The cost is $75 with Messiah student ID/$85 non-student. This includes the round trip bus ride and show ticket!

There are also bus only tickets available for $25.

This is a FANTASTIC opportunity!! Grab your friends and head to NYC for a day!!

Thanks to everyone who came out to see Earl Greyhound on Tuesday! B-sides will be taking a break this Wednesday due to the Kite Runner program. In the meantime, here is a smattering of photos from Wednesday:

Also, the SAB website has been updated!!! Go take a look: messiah.edu/org/sab