12
ENTERTAINMENT
The Clarion
Grooves left in Brevard music scene
“In the future, we have to be
the type of band to be acknowl
edged and break common ground,
manifesting into the best band we
can be.” - Phillip Whack
In the past three years, Groove
Element has become a popular
tradition at Brevard College. Their
concerts attract all audiences and
they always become major social
events for the students. I was lucky
enough to talk with them the night
before their big show in Dunham
Auditorium on Friday, January 28.
The band is composed of a
variety of personalities playing an
eccentric assortment of instruments.
Whack plays the saxophone, James
“Bull” Canty play the trumpet,
Jamie Warren plays the trombone.
Derrick Sandlin is the lead bassist.
Bill Altman plays the guitar, Greg
Milton is on the keyboard and
Eddie Anderson is the drummer.
All seven of the band members
are music majors, and they range in
age from 19-23. The band began
three years ago when Whack,
Canty, Anderson and Sandlin
decided to start an instrumental
group named Spasmatic Funk. A
major inspiration for them was the
funk band Tower of Power. Now
Groove Element combines jazz,
R&B, funk and soul, even though
this genre of music is not particu
larly popular around here. They
wanted to do something unique and
different that everyone would like.
The name eventually changed
to Groove Element by a mutual
decision of the band. In 1997, the
band appeared for the first time in
Brevard’s Annual Spring Fest.
They have continued to perform in
this concert every year since. After
college. Groove Element plans to
keep the band together.
For their concert, the band
BY LILY
SCARPINITO
opened up with an explosive
rendition of James Brown’s I Feel
Good, and they followed it up later
in the concert with a funky remake
of Brick House. Everyone was up
and dancing...the band refused to
perform otherwise! The original
pieces that they performed make it
hard to believe they are a college
band as opposed to a professional
jazz ensemble. Overall, Groove
Element is a very promising band
with remarkable talent.
If you attended the concert,
you probably saw not only Groove
Element, but also Confusion
Therapy. Not only did they get the
audience pumped, but they also put
■
Photo by Lindi Logman.
Phillip Whack and Jamie Warren put an ear to James “Bull” Canty of Groove Elements.
on a remarkable show of their own.
They started with an old school
demo with covers from Guns and
Roses, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, The
Grateful Dead, Phish and even Will
Smith. Confusion Therapy had the
whole audience singing Another
Brick in the Wall (part two). Para
dise City and Sweet Emotion.
Later on in the show, they
played Fire on the Mountain and
Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It. Guest vocalist
Sandie Carr, saxophone player and
vocalist Danielle Walker, lead
guitarist Phil Crew, bassist Chris
Whitmire, drummer John Creason,
and trombone player and vocalist
Chris Walters are the members of
Confusion Therapy. They can be
seen on most Saturday nights at
Serendipity’s.
Billy Crystal praises pig at Harvard Univ.
BY JOYCE K. MCINTYRE
Harvard Crimson (Harvard U.)
(U-WIRE) CAMBRIDGE,
Mass. — Billy Crystal won’t be
cracking jokes as host of the Acad
emy Awards show until next month,
but the actor had to deliver an
Oscar-worthy performance Thurs
day night to earn his pudding pot at
Harvard’s Hasty Pudding’s Man of
the Year award ceremony.
Crystal burst into the theater to
a standing ovation and the Pudding
orchestra’s strains of “It Had to Be
You.”
But before he could get his
pudding pot. Crystal had to lasso a
blond “cow” with prominent udders
onto the ground and portray how
Robert De Niro might help a cow
give birth.
Daniel A. Bress’Ol, co-pro
ducer of the Hasty Pudding’s 152nd
drag burlesque extravaganza. The
Jewel of Denial, donned a white lab
coat and stethoscope on stage to
dish Crystal some “Hasty Pudding
therapy.”
Crystal perched on a folding
chair and answered yes and no
questions that poked fun of his own
movies—including City Slickers
and When Harry Met Sally.
But the roast ultimately cast
the spot light on Crystal’s talents as
a comedian—perfect timing and
dead-on impersonations—and
Crystal brought down the house.
With the melody of Green
Acres playing in the background.
Crystal assumed the voice of his
infamous Saturday Night Live
character,
Fernando and told a caged pig
“you look disgusting. .
your head looks like
Jay Leno’s.”
When Bruce M.
Haggerty’00, co
producer of Jewel,
snapped his fingers out
of sync with a drum
roll. Crystal shared
some of his experience
as six- time Oscar host
extraordinare. The duo
practiced delivering
the punch line snap in
time with a drum roll,
with Haggerty mimick
ing
Crystal’s profes-
the top of
sional style. Crystal finally got his
hands on his brass pudding pot
after he donned a plastic bra and
purple hat with silver antennas.
“I actually look like Monica
Lewinsky,” Crystal quipped, after
delivering a breathy version of
“Happy Birthday, Mr. President,” to
the audience.
Crystal said he did not mind
wearing the raunchy attire.
“This is how I started, so it’s
no big deal to get into this stuff,” he
said. “I’m so glad to be the guy
holding the pot and not getting
arrested for it.”
Crystal said he saw pictures
from previous years’ Man of the
Year ceremonies and wanted to be
part of the action too.
“I always thought, ‘Why not
me?’ he said. “Now it’s me, and it
feels great.”
Set to host the Oscars at the
end of March, Crystal said he is
already starting to work on his
routine for the show.
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