FEATURES
11
WWW.GUILFORDIAN.COM
Dan Katzman/Guilfordian
By Tim May
Staff Writer
On Oct. 27, the crowd in Dana Auditorium
received a kick in the face from the swing-jazz
revival band the Squirrel Nut Zippers.’
"I can't wait to see this band!" said Kathy
Andrews, a 24-year old UNCG graduate. "I saw
them in 2000 and they were phenomenal. I'll be
surprised if they disappoint."
Andrews' predictions were accurate. At
9:13 p.m. the eight members of the Squirrel
Nut Zippers shuffled onto the stage of Dana
Auditorium and were met by a roar of clapping
and cheering from the audience.
Katharine Whalen, the group's only female,
dressed in a lavish, multi-colored, 1920s-style
gown that she frequently swung with her hands
to tease the audience. Next to her stood the gui
tarist, "Jimbo" Mathus, who sported a cowboy
hat and a long yellow cord connecting his guitar
to his amplifier. The rest of the band wore fancy
suits, ready to perform tiieir swing-jazz classics.
The band started off with fast-paced songs
like "Good Enough for Granddad," which con
sisted of elaborate drum fills, intricate violin
and horns, and twangy vocals from the singer,
Jimbo. The audience began to nod their heads
and tap their chests but remained glued to their
chairs.
While the Squirrel Nut Zippers play a style of
old swing music, the age group in the audience
was stunning. Besides a handful of Guilford
and UNCG students, the crowd seemed to all
be over 40. This contributed to the stiff audience
throughout the show.
"I ffiought the band was really professional
and put on a really good show," said senior Joe
Gillette. "But the show was hampered by the
lack of enthusiasm in the audience."
Wfith the exception of a couple in their mid-
20's dancing in the balcony, the crowd remained
seated throughout the entire show. Even a
"How's everybody doin' tonight?" gesture from
Jimbo was responded to with a whknper.
However, tire band consistently wowed the
audience with their secret weapon: the horn
sectiort During songs like "Prince Nez," instru
ments such as the bar^o and clarinet were
shoved into the background due to near-deaf
ening trumpets and saxophones that sounded like
sirens.
The pinnacle of the Squirrel Nut Zippers' set
was their surprising transition from an ambient
song to "HeU," their notorious and fan-favorite
anthem. The crowd erupted immediately as the
stage lights turned blood red and the stick key-
bo^s kicked in.
Featuring beUs, violin, horns, and thunderous
drums, "Hell" revived the audience's energy, even
though they were still seated. For the first time, the
crowd stomped their feet and yelled back the lyrics
to the band excitedly.
The crowd followed up with this enthusiasm as
Dana Auditorium shook with pleas of "ZIPPERS!"
for the band to come back onkage for an encore.
When the band reappeared, they performed an
acoustic number entitled "You, You, You." The
audience swayed back and forth in their seats,
showing their satisfaction with finger snaps.
The ^uirrel Nut Zippers may not have roused
the crowd with dandng and singing as much as
they had hoped, but they supplied enough energy
to make sure that even a seat^ audience was still
rocking out.
Laughter highlights Homecoming weekend
By Landry Haarmann
Staff Writer
On Saturday night Guilford
students, alumni, and commu
nity monbers gathered in Dana
Auditorium for the same reascm:
to laugh.
The laughter's source was the
famous Chicago-based Second Qty
comedy troupe. The troupe has a
notable list of alumni, including
Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Steve
Catrell and presidential hopeful (in
South Carolina, anyway) Stephen
Colbert.
Present troupe members include
Tim Baltz, Rebecca Hanson,
Brendan Jennings, Dana Querdoti,
Mary Sohn and Mark Raterman.
The six comedians, dressed in black
suits, skirts and dress pants broke
out on stage and began performing
immediately, seamlessly moving
into wry 60 second skits that ended
with strong, witty and slightly
twisted one-tiners.
"Tm worried 'cause you're a
paranoid schizophrenic," said one
comedian to the other woman on
stage, who expressed concern that
everyone w^ after her in the open
ing skit. After the "schizophr^c"
and the woman left the stage, the
"concerned fiiend" talked into a
microphOTie attached to her shirt.
"OK, she's left the building," they
said.
Sophomore Kate Harrington
found the troupe's brand of com
edy to her taste. "It was absurdist
humor," Harrington said. "That
made the acts awkward, but very
funny."
One of the more awkward and
absurd routines was a wordless skit
about a couple dancing together
while taking a shower and going
through their normal bathing rou
tine. The bathing, hair washing, and
loofah-ing was disrupted when the
significant others attempted to make
otherwise mundane t^ks, such as
shaving the armpit, into something
sexy only to fail when they found
these actions disconcerting rather
than seductive. The actors' body
language and the actions had the
aufflence in stitches.
The troupe's improve was also
met with audience enthusiasm.
Ellen Koehler, a triad resident, liked
tire improvisational skits best. "I'm
always really impressed when peo
ple can do improve well, it just
seems tike such a difficult sldll,"
she said.
The troupe's skilk really shone
during their improv. They fluidly
moved through scenes without
stumbling lines, going blank or
laughing at their own jokes, and
even acted through small technical
difficulties.
One of the more impressive
aspects of their improvisation was
how well they could weave togeth
er a crazy, yet somehow coherent
plot tine as they went along. One
of improvised skits started with a
ventriloquist's dummy, went to a
couple breaking up in the middle,
and then brought it back to the
dummy at the very end.
What was the central theme
tying all this together? An oak tree
that created the dummy was the
same tree that the dendrophitiac
boyfriend preferred over the girl
friend he broke up with.
The improvisation opened up
the show beyond the boundaries of
a normal skit by bringing audience
membere into it. Audience mem
bers gave the troupe suggestions
about the scene's setting or action.
Audience sugg^ons even added
to the diow. How many people
think to base a skit aroimd the idea
contributed by one audience mem
ber: a potato gun?
Like all good o)medians, the
troupe did have something to say
through their comedy. Some of the
sketches were politically charged,
either satirizing politics or dir^y
dismissing aspe^ of the present
political sphere.
The group sang against anti-gay
marriage laws. Tire song disman
tled arguments against gay mar
riage, arguing that it's ridiculous
that in Kentucky it's legal for a
heterosexual to marry their 16 year
old, mentally handicapped third
cousin, but same-sex partners can
not.
Sophomore Ashley Mailtiard felt
that the troupe's comedy was a
good medium for getting across
a serious point, sa)ting, "comedy
makes it easier to understand a
message; it allows you to let your
political frustrations out."
A trip to the trough
J & S Cafeteria
601 Milner Drive
$$ out of $$$$ *:
By Ian Michie
Staff Writer
You can take the boy out of Forsyth
County, but you can't take Forsyth
County out of the boy. Folks, sometimes
I tike to belly-up to the country feed-
trough, so when I happened upon J & S
Cafeteria I realized it had been a while
since I had tempted fate, or congestive
heart failure, and treated myself to the
delights of Southern-country cooking.
Be forewarned. Southerners eat some
pretty strange things, and I'm no excep
tion. Since the time we could himt critters
down with a musket we've been bread
ing and frying anything that moves. We
wax philosophical about the benefits
of a good batch of collard-greens, and
the winner of the church-league bake
off enjoys a celebrity-status of Britney
Spearian proportions.
J & S does all of the standard Southern
fare: fried-chicken, baked ham, chicken
livers, braised cabbage, macaroni-and-
cheese casserole (made with eggs, not just
cheese sauce), and of course, pinto beans.
For those with less fondness for food fla
vored with pork fat, there are items such
as veal-parmesan and an intriguing thing
called Chicken San Francisco.
A salad bar offers no new surprises,
but all of the items are fresh and plenti
ful. A vegetarian can find many items to
choose tom here, just avert your eyes
while walking through the entr^ sec
tion; all that cooked-dead-animal can
bring on cartiogenic shock if seen in one
place.
I felt adventurous so I diose the
Piedmont Triad's answer to fois gras
- chicken livers and gravy. This is defi
nitely an acquired taste, and I'll spare
the reader of any lengthy description of
why they wctb good, just know that by
Southern standards fhey rated pretty
high.
Hie pintos were fine as well, but the
even flavoring and consistency made
me suspicious that they might be tom
a can. The macaroni and cheese was
disappointing for lack of flavor, but the
finale, a huge wedge of chocolate pie,
was as inviting as a day at Lowes Motor
Speedway. For all its simplicity (choco
late pudding and cool whip in a pre
made pie shell), this type of pie is still one
of my childhood-favorites.
To get the full package you must select
sweet-tea to drink. Finely someone's
gotten the sugar-content right in their tea.
There was just enough sweetness, and
the bouquet and body was reminiscent
of oak and tobacco, with just a hint of
hickory. The finish was exquisite. Yep, we
take tea that seriously.
As for the atmosphere, it may seem a
bit like a grandparent's convention. Just
remember, with age comes wisdom.
For $10 I didn't have to worry about
eating for the rest of the day, although
that doesn't mean I didn't. J & S satisfied
my home-cooking craving, and now it's
tom the tough to the treadmill to see if I
can coimter-act the damage.