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the Seahawk | LIFE | March 30, 2006
To leave or
not to leave
Wilmington in
the summertime
Ashley Norris
Staff Writer
Final exams are only a few sighs of relief
away and warmer weather is just around
the comer. The return of having to pay for
parking at Wrightsville Beach and tourists
returning to Wilmington are the first signs
that summer is almost here. UNCW is locat
ed in one of North Carolina’s best vacation
destinations and even if school is out, many
UNCW students are opting to spend the best
time of the year in Wilmington.
“I am staying down here to take summer
classes and to enjoy the beach” said sopho
more Tory Hastings. Wilmington offers the
optimal summer residence. The beach with
it’s opportunity for activities such as surfing
and for the more novice beach enthusiast
just tanning and hanging out with friends.
Wilmington’s bustling downtown district
provides shopping and clubs for guaranteed
entertainment during the day or at night.
Wilmington has several opportunites for
students seeking employment in die summer
months, from shopping centers to resteraunts
seeking eager employees in the the summer
season. The fluctuation of tourism in the
summer months can provide jobs for stu
dents who are seeking some extra cash.
Several students are not only planning on
earning extra money in the summer months,
but extra hours on their degree by enrolling
in the summer classes offered at UNCW.
Pre-registration for summer classes begins
April 5 on Seaweb.
A few students are returning home for the
summer or are unsure yet as to their summer
plans. Freshman Wes Rose said he would
enjoy calling Wilmington his home for the
summer. “I would love to stay here over the
summer, but it’s kind of hard to find a job
and an apartment right now,” he said. The
costs of residing in Wilmington are keeping
some students from living in Wilmington
over the summer as well. “Because of how
demanding the nursing program is, I have
to take several classes this summer and
work just to support myself,” said freshman
Rachel Livingston. “I’m going to be staying
back at home, because I know there won’t
be any way that 1 could manage to afford it
up here.”
Whether students are returning home for
the summer or staying in Wilmington, there
is one unifying thought shared by everyone;
Summer can’t come soon enough. Students
are weary from studying and ready for sun-
Duffy Jackson to headline UNCW Jazz Festival
Jazz Festival March 31 through April
1. This non-competitive festival pre
sented by the Department of Music Jazz
Programs is a 23rd annual event offer
ing workshops to North Carolina high
school ensembles, evening performances
by local jazz bands, master classes and
evening concerts by Jackson.
“Dufly epitomizes the spirit of our
jazz festival,” said Frank Bongiomo,
UNCW Department of Music chair and
coordinator of the event. “He not only
offers students access to a significant
artist in the music industry, but he offers
the entire community the opportunity to
witness the teaching and performance
style of a great jazz technician and enter
tainer.”
Jackson has completed “Duffy
Jackson’s French Connection,” a live
recording featuring famous French jazz
Courtesy UNCW Music Department
Duffy Jackson will be the featured musician dur
ing UNCW’s Guest Artist Jazz Festival March 31
through April 1. He has shared the stage with prac- musicians, and has continued to tour as
tically every great contemporary jazz musician. both a musician and teacher. He has
shared the stage with many great con-
Kai Oliver-Kurtin
Assistant Lifestyles Editor
Jazz great Duffy Jackson will be the fea
tured musician during UNCW’s Guest Artist
temporary jazz musicians including Duke
Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr.,
Lena Home, Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Eckstine
and Stan Getz. As a drummer, he has driven
such bands as Count Basie, Artie Shaw and
Lionel Hampton.
“Aside from working with many jazz leg
ends, Dufiy Jackson has earned the reputa
tion of being a legend and influential figure,”
music student Chase O’Neal said. “I’m eager
to see how he interprets the tunes we’ve been
working on, and what type of approach he
takes toward performing these charts. His
knowledge, experiences and ear for jazz are
something that we’re looking forward to wit
nessing and experiencing.”
The festival begins on Friday with clinics
for high school students from 12 to 5 p.m. and
an 8 p.m. concert featuring Jackson and the
UNCW Big Band. Saturday will continue
with more clinics from 12 to 5 p.m. and an
8 p.m. concert featuring the Dufiy Jackson
Combo. Registration is required for partici
pation in the clinics but the public is invited
to listen at no charge. Evening concert tick
ets will be sold in the Warwick Center one
hour prior to the event, are free for UNCW
students with valid I.D. and $5 for the gen
eral public. All events will take place in the
Warwick Center Ballroom.
For more information contact Courtney
Reilly at 962-7416 or reillyce@uncw.edu.
Destroyer's Rubies: Bejar's off-kilter pop returns
Doug Biggerstaff
Staff Writer
Most people seem to be preoccupied
with Dan Bejar’s affiliation with the New
Pomographers, but aside from the fact that
he penned the best song (“Jackie Dressed in
Cobras”) on 2005’s “Twin Cinema” his own
work is good. For a decade now, under the
name Destroyer, Bejar has released a slew
of imaginative rock records while somehow
managing to never repeat himself Beginning
with home-recorded lo-fi to powerful exces
sive rock to midi orchestrations. Destroyer has
covered a lot of ground, and produced some
amazing work in the process. This year’s
“Destroyer’s Rubies” is no different. You
can hear some elements from a great deal of
Bejar’s discography here, but he still manages
to push forward for some new sounds.
Bejar’s work is never consistent from record
to record, but the material within each record
is anything but inconsistent, and “Destroyer’s
Rubies” maintains that coherence with a solid
track listing of slightly off-kilter pop. For 10
tracks, Bejar takes listeners on a ride through
his interpretation of the world of rock and roll.
The album begins with the nearly 10-minute
“Rubies.” From the get-go Bejar’s unmistak
able voice is as apparent as ever as it strikes
through a wash of overdriven guitar strums,
setting the pace for a retum to guitar-driven
rock. The melodies here make use of some
odd phrasing but remain catchy nonetheless.
The track continues, like the remainder of
the record, making its way through different
movements, some being standard verses and
choruses while others are completely unrelat
ed. Bejar is not going to let his songs become
predictable or listeners become bored. This is
one of Bejar’s strongest points as a songwriter,
he has proven himself a writer of immaculate
pop tunes in his New Pomographers work, but
there are twists and turns all throughout this
record that keep the songs interesting and real
ly help them to stand out while still remaining
tme to the canon of popular music.
Sonically, the record is much like the
songwriting, complex and intriguing. In
keeping with consistency though, the record
typically makes use of acoustic based songs
covered over with a collage of electric guitars
and keyboards, all held together with a steady
drumming backbone. These elements may
typically drop out sporadically depending on
the movement, but they keep the record within
a single aesthetic. Guitarist Nicolas Bragg
colors all over these songs with fantastic
flying solos, even incorporating some sweet
whammy bar here and there. But even these
added flavors are used to ftirther the song,
sometimes popping up in repetition to play
along with the song as opposed to simply mn-
ning over top of everything.
Bejar’s voice is unmistakable, typically
drawing comparisons to Robyn Hitchcock
and David Bowie. His delivery here is quite
dramatic, not unlike the theatrical perfor
mances of his previous full-length, “Your
Blues”. The unique voice here is only
matched with equally unique and dense
lyrics. Typically written in the first person,
Bejar’s lyrics deal with themes not eas
ily deciphered. Using thick complex prose,
Bejar constructs his words like poetry, even
referencing the “wet, black bough” of the
metro station, which is just one of countless
references within his songs. It will take a
few listens or reads of the lyric sheet to get
just what he is trying to say. The truth is, the
lyrics here are anything but straightforward,
but the inventiveness expressed of them is
just one more dimension here that pushes
the songs ahead of the more traditional and
simplified pop music of Destroyer’s peers.
He has taken the standard pop structures
of our day, deconstructed them and rebuilt
them, creating new structures altogether, full
of unexpected twists and turns.
No two Destroyer records have ever fea
tured the same lineup, but now Bejar claims
to have a solid lineup that will remain from
now on. But while tlie “Rubies” lineup may
remain, there is no reason for us to stop
guessing in what unknown territories future.
Destroyer records will go.