Newspapers / North Carolina Wesleyan University … / Nov. 2, 1990, edition 1 / Page 3
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NOVEMBER 2,1990 — THE DECREE — PAGE 3 Album evokes past when Kiss was good By MARK BRETT Remember Kiss? Not those pink-faced human pretenders who have been using the name for the past few years but the real Kiss? The Kiss of the ‘70s? Knights in Satan’s Service? The band that you thought was the coolest thing on two legs when you were a kid, and that you still hold an inexpli cably deep-felt, nostalgic liking for, no matter how much you hate to admit it? Not the men who invented idiotic rock and roll, but the men who perfected it? You know. Kiss. Well, Gene and the boys may have lost whatever tiny shred of credibility they had left and be come total media whores, but with the release of “Hard to Believe,” a collection of Kiss covers by a bunch of barely-known punk bands, we can at least remember the days of yore with a smile. The album opens with Bullet LaVolta’s rendition of “Detroit Rock City.” They grab this song by the testicles and don't let go, delivering a rough, mean, hard- edged variation capable of leaving a trail of smoking speakers in its wake and getting the album off to a galloping good start. Next is Smelly Tongue’s “Parasite,” played to the hilt in Not enough students show proper support for programs by PVA (Continued from Page 2) visual arts seem to come out short. The program itself is growing rapidly; there are more students involved now than at any other time in the past three years and yet the department is still very Hnan- cially restricted. The majority of students do not give physical support to the pro gram. Attendance of our students is usually smaller than the atten dance of people from the Rocky Mount community. Yet many of these events are presented by and for the students. Everyone at Wesleyan needs to take a long look at where our priorities lie. They should be with a strong liberal arts education, and part of this is the visual and per forming arts. We have come a long way as a college in the past few years, but we must not rest on our accomplishments. We must always strive to be the best in whatever we do. The student Government Association Review ludicrous parody of the Kiss style. It comes complete with the chorus of asinine backing vocals and hokey rhythms that made Kiss famous, played with enough ex aggeration to make you realize the inherent stupidity of it all. “Snowblind” by Skin Yard is next. This one grinds away with howling vocals, gyrating guitar work,andconstantcymbal-riding. Quite a nasty little number, and quite a change from the original. Side One ends with three basic fun-punk variations on the origi nal songs. First is the HeUmenn’s “Deuce,” played faster,louder,and with more throat-ripping screams than Kiss would have ever even considered. “Deuce” is followed by All’s “Christine 16,” a fairly straight cover that is mainly memorable because it doesn ’ t take itself very seriously. Last is “Dr. Love” by Hullabaloo, a wild romp that opens with a screeching voice that sounds like nothing so much as a Muppet being tortured in the depths of Hell. Side Two begins with the Melvins’ rendition of “God of Thunder,” possibly the most pompous piece of musical garbage Kiss ever produced. The Melvins playitponderous and ultra-serious, delivering the idiotic lyrics in a chorus of studio-deepened voices that sound like what Norse Gods would probably sound like if they did, indeed, sound anything like that. This one also includes the last word in drum solos, a wonderful musical statement that builds to a fever pitch until the drummer seems to lose interest, slowing and Campus commitment was heady experience (Continued from P^e 2) tecting themselves. But the radi cal idea behind many movements of the ‘60s was thatthey demanded a public emphasis not only on political and economic questions but also on the quality of the hu man and natural environments. They asked for an education which not only prepared citizens for a job market but also for a market of ideals and ideas. Being on a university or college campus during this time of change was a heady experience — an experience that has not been re peated. ending with a whimpering, indif ferent final thud. This strong track is followed by my favorite cover on the album, Coffin Break’s rockabilly version of “Beth.” I’ve always found the sincere piano-baUad seriousness of the original laughable (or is that sickening?) because of the insipid lyrics. Coffin Break, however, has finally put the song in its proper niche: short, sweet, and as bubble gum as it can possibly be. The remainder of the album is filled with solid punk variations that mercilessly lampoon the Kiss style. The Chemical People do “Rip It Out” fast and dirty. King Snake Roost gives “I Want You” a distinctly bluesy flavor. Nirvana turns “Do You I^ve Me?” into a pathetic, confused, spoiled plea for romance. The Hard-Ons perform a wonderfully hokey “Lick It Up.” And finally we are treated to an uncredited, one-veise reprise of “Beth” that sticks close to the original with the exception of a teary, boozed-up vocal delivery that lets you know the show is over. “Hard to Believe” is a solid compilation that showcases some talented young bands. In every case, they beat Kiss at their own game, making mean songs meaner and making Kiss look pretty flaccid at every turn. But they also succeed in appealing somehow to that tiny, deranged part of us that still thinks that Kiss was the coolest band in the universe. And who knows? Maybe they were. Collaboration very useful By DR. MARGEE MORRISON “I need to go over my paper with someone.” This is a familiar statement to a writing teacher and tutor like me. But it’s not just students who need to collaborate with someone on a paper or on finding solutions to match problems. Even I, an old- time writer and teacher of writing, collaborate with my peers—and, in fact, will seek the help of a colleague this week on a paper I will be giving at a conference in Little Rock, Aik., next weekend. This points up the importance of collaboration for almost ev eryone who is interested in learn ing, not just for those who want to review flie so-called “basics.” Because each of us is enclosed within our own language-con stricted domain (which Nietzsche calleda“prisonhouse,” John Barth a “funhouse”), we each need to play out our ideas on others in order to test those ideas. We need to seeifourideaswoik and whether they communicate to others. We also need to push those ideas in new directions by having others challenge them, add to them, or help us modify them. When weputour heads together with our friends to decide on dating rules or on positions to take on political issues that touch us per sonally, like whether or not Con gress should levy a tax on the gasoline we need to drive to work or school, we are collaborating; i.e., we are working jointly on an intellectual project, dl or most of whose angles no one person can possibly see from his/her single perspective and single context In other words, on complex projects — and writing a paper and reading most texts exemplify such complex projects — we of- tenneedmore than ourown, single. close interpretation to “see” or understand what is happening. That is why discussion of in terpretations, collaboration, plays such an important part in devel oping understanding and, thus, learning: we interpret things as we are, not as things are. We can never get beyond that we, and we can change that we in large part only by receiving “feedback” from others. My math, statistics, chemistry, and biology tutors have taught me that the same is often true when a studentis trying to learn how todo complex math or physics prob lems, how to apply chemical for mulas, or how to figure out the interaction intricacies of biologi cal or physiological systems. They tell me that students of ten come to them suspecting that they know the procedure for finding a solution to the problem in linear algebra or calculus, for example, butthe studentmay want to be sure — that is, the student may want the tutor to reassure him/her that the procedures he/ she is using does indeed work in all cases. This, too, exemplifies effective collaboration. Another student may not un derstand a classroom teacher’s explanations of how to apply chemical formulas or do physics or statistical problems (and this happens often, especially when a student must miss classes because of illness). After one collaborative session with a trained tutor, the student may be completely caught up with the class. Sometimes, too, students simply leam complex procedures or problem-solving techniques more easily in one-on- one collaboration with peer tutors because the peer tutors may have more time than the teachers do to talk about particulars and the tu tors may seem less threatening to the students than their teacher- authorities sometimes do. As all that I have been saying here points to, the tutors in the Wesleyan Learning Resources Center (LRC) strongly encourage the playful, intellectual tuggings and pullings that occur in col laboration of all sorts and that tend to make learning pleasurable, not dour, stale, and dull. The tutors also know that they almost always leam at least as much from each tutoring session as the students who come to discuss writing, reading, or math problems. I shall conclude with two postscripts. P.S. One: Most of the tutors in the LRC have told me that they and the students they tutor don’t like the high schoolish name “Learning Resources Center.” We have also heard some students complain about our rather unstunning, play-doughish decor. For these reasons, and because the laughter often issuing from our door sometimes sounds like the laughter of the sort that issues from bedlam, we sometimes call 236 Braswell “Margee’s Mad house,” and we welcome sugges tions for indecorous, madhouse art for the walls, floors, ceiling, and glassed-in pilot’s box, where Margee works most of the time. P.S. Two: Those who want to join this wonderfid bedlam can become tutors. I am now in the process of recruiting {wospective tutors for “Peer Tutor Training” during the spring 1991 semester. If the invitation to join this amicable bedlam of sorts (however professional our demeanor is, too) appeals to you, please come by 236 Braswell for an aj^lication and information about the training course. We encourage students of all disciplines to join us—to leam by teaching how to leam.
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