THE SEAHAWK/
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Arsonists, Swollen Members and DJ Swamp play Fall Fest
Tara Dwney
The hip-hop sounds t)f Swollen Members, the
AiscmistsandDJ Swamp filled the Warwick Cen
ter Ballroom last night as part of the Fall Fest line
up.
This week the trio of bands will hit venues
from North Carolina to Massachusetts and back
to New York City. The Arsonists and Swollen
Members are both rising underground hip-hop
groups released by Battleaxe Recads. DJ Swamp
usually woks alone, but he has toured with Beck
for the past four years.
Swollen Members is on tour promoting their
new CD, Bad Dreams, whkih will be released Nov.
13. The CD offm a variety of hip-hop vibes. Some
songs have an edger gangster-rap style with pow
erful, in-your-face lyrics, while others boast a
bounce-with-it kind of groove that shows the
Screen Gems receives award
Katie Trapp
Screen Gems Studios was recently given the
G. Lynn Nisbet Award for Outstanding Tourism
Contributions. The award is given yearly by the
Travel Council of North Carolina to a business or
oiganization that has benefited or fsomoted tour
ism in North Carolina.
“Screen Gems has become involved in tour
ism and has brought national and international
recognition to this state,” said Connie Nelson,
publicist for the Cape Fear Coast Convention and
Visitors Bureau.
With television shows such as “Dawson’s
Creek” and numerous filins shot in Wilmington,
people from all over the country are exposed to
the North Carolina scenery.
“When North Carolina appears on the silver
screen, we are showcased in a way that our state’s
limited budget cannot afford,” said Judith Grizzel,
who i»esented the award to Screen Gems Studio
President Frank Capra, Jr. Grizzel is aboard mem
ber of the Travel Council of North CaroUna and
president of the Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Another benefit to having the laigest film pro
duction facility east of Hollywood is that film
makers come to this area and spend out-of-state
dollars on accommodations for themselves, ac
tors and crew.
“Screen Gems has wc«ked closely with Cape
Fear Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau,
UNCW, Cape Fear Community College and the
Town Council,” Nelson said. ‘They have cer
tainly impacted tourism on many levels.”
Capa said that this is a major award in North
Carolina and it was nice to be recognized through
the filmmaking and touts. “[The Travel Council
of NC] gave us a beautiful clock and a lovely din-
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band’s diverse nature.
“They are very cutting edge in ihe beats they
put together and the lyrics they use,” said Tracey
Henry, a pubUcist for the band.
Swollen Members’ latest single “Fuel In
jected,” ptxluced by Kemo, is a hard-hitting proc
lamation of their arrival onto the music scene and
illustrates their determination to stay afloat in the
music WMid. It’s a fiinky, beat-laden, bob-your-
head song that is a worthy representation of the
CD. They have also collaborated with numerous
hip h(^ artists.
“We’re both very passionate about what we
do and I think it shows through in our music,”
band member Prevail said.
The Arsonists are widely known for their cha
risma and elaborate stage shows. They have a cre
ative style that adds to their immense following.
The Arsonists have played at venues around the
worid with artists such as Public Enemy, the Roots
andHiaroaheMonch. Their debut album. As r/ie
World Bums, received critical acclaim and is in
stores now. The Arsonists are currendy working
on their second album.
DJ Swamp has just released his debut album
Never is Now. He recently finished touring with
Beck and is now out and about promoting his solo
r
Swollen Members played for Fall Fest.
album. He has recorded on studio tracks with
Beck, Kid Rock, Crystal Method, Hanson, The
Bloodhound Gang and the Dady Warhols. He
has also been featured on the “Grammy Awards,”
“American Music Awards,” “The Tonight Show,”
‘The Late Show” and ‘The Late Late Show.’'
Rolling Stone and Spin magazines have done fea
tures on his unique style and insane performances.
He’s been known to abuse his records in various
ways while performing.
The trio of groups performed last night in the
Warwick Center Ballroom at 8 p.m. For more
information about any of these bands, visit their
Web sites: www.hiphop-elements.com,
www.arsonists.net and www.Djswamp.com.
Frank Capra, Jr. receives the award.
ner that was very well attended,” he said.
The Award for Outstanding Tourism Contri
butions is named for Gilmore Lynn Nisbet, a North
Carolina journalist and chatter member of the
Travel Council of Nwth Carolina. He served as
its president fiom 1960 to 1961 and wrote a daily
column about his many miles of travel through
out the state in the Raleigh Bureau of the North
Carolina Association of Afternoon Dailies.
Businesses and organizations that have re
ceived this award in the past include The North
Carolina Azalea Festival, The State Magazine,
Southern Shows and Piedmont Airlines.
Tours of Screen Gems Studios are given ev
ery Saturday at noon. These tours begin at the
fiDnt entrance of the facility, which is located on
Nc*th 23'" Street Producticxi workers take visi
tors to two active “Dawson’s Creek” sets and other
sights of the studios.
Book Review; “Nightmare:
A Schizophrenia Native”
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Jessica Chaffin
_ Wendell Justin Williamson shot and killed two
people and injured 13 others. Williamson suffers
fiom a brain disorder called schizophrenia—of
ten called multiple personality disorder—and he
tells his true story in “Nightmare: A Schizophre
nia Native.”
Wendell Williamson’s gruesome and shock
ing autobiographical tale begins with Williamson’s
graduation from Chapel Hill with an honorary
degree in English. Wdliamson continues by de
picting himself as a typical young adult, with
friends and activities such as going to bars and
joining a band.
Williamson’s nightmare begins at a fraternity
party where his band is performing. As
Williamson strains to reach the high notes of each
song he begins to feel a great physical pressure in
the right side of his brain and diaphragm. “My
head was spinning and my ears were ringing. It
was hard to think,” Williamson said after finish
ing the concert Later that evening Williamson
begins to hear the thoughts of others. These delu
sions progressively worsen over the next few
years, finally leading Wdliamson to believe with
absolute certainty that he is telepadiic.
The intense account leads into Williamson’s
thoughts and later actions during his three years
enrolled in Chapel Hill’s law school. He heard
voices from a variety of people including Presi
dent Clinton, various war generals, Kurt Cobain
and John Lennon. WiUiamson’s experience of
hearing voices coupled with his paranoid delu
sion that the people around him were denying he
was a telepath eventually led to his attempt at mass
Initially placed in Nath Carolina’s Maximum-
Security Penitentiary until he was later found not
guilty by reason of insanity, Williamson is now a
patient at Dorothea Dix hospital in Raleigh.
Williamson’s disease has symptoms of hallu
cinations, difficulty with speech and delusions.
The Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health
states that almost 3 percent of the adult popula
tion suffer from mental illnesses such as schizo
phrenia. TheTreatmentAdvocacyCenterdaims
that 1.4 million Americans are not receiving ad
equate treatment for their mental illnesses.
Williamson went without treatment due to the
supposed negligence of his therapist at Chapel Hill,
who believed that his illness was due to brain dam
age resulting from drug use.
Williamson wrote “Nightmare: ASchizophre- ’
nia Native” in hopes of correcting the unfair im
age that he gained as a result of the media.
“Nightinare” grips the reader from the begin
ning. On one page the reader is led to believe that
Wendell is a normal college student somecme that
might be frln to hang out with on weekends. Then,
on the next page, there is a completely different
person who is thinking about committing suicide
because of the voices in his head.
“Nightmare” is emotionally stressing, but die
realities in Williamson’s book can be a great asset
in preventing fiirther tragic events. The book is
wcMth reading simply as a source of infomation.