12 April 6, 2000 ^^ ^ J]
Lisa McChristian
Editor in Chief
Here on Earth
A ripped off plot + horrific
acting + bad editing + directing by
a guy just begging to make a Life
time movie of the week = “Here on
Earth.”
“Here on Earth” struggles to
mix the teensplotation romance
flicks that have been so popular of
late, with genuine drama. The end
result is 96 minutes of blank looks,
posturing, and cheesy dialogue.
Rich boy Kelley (Chris
Klein) meets poor girl Sam (Leelee
Sobieski), who already has a boy
friend. Despite warnings from their
friends, parents and her significant
other, the two manage to get to
gether. Just when happiness looms
in the horizon, girl tells boy she’s
dying of cancer.
Sounds like a decent plot,
no? Well it was in the 1970 roman
tic drama “Love Story” starring
Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw.
Rich boy meets poor girl in col
lege. The boy risks disinheritance
and poverty to be with the love of
his life. When the two find out the
girl has cancer, the audience weeps
for the couple.
When Sam tells Kelley that
she has cancer, groans filled the
audience. “Oh god, what are they
going to do next” and “That’s it.
I’m asking for my money back”
were just a few comments over
heard in the theatre. Every scene
felt contrived and the phoned in
acting from Sobieski and Klein
didn’t help audience members feel
any sympathy or compassion for
the couple.
Jaspers
Located three minutes from
the Raleigh Sports Arena, Jaspers
provides fine cuisine at affordable
prices. Delectable Americana and
seafood meals make the 45-minute
drive worthwhile.
The expansive restaurant has
plenty of seating. The booths and
tables are arranged on levels
through the restaurant so patrons
can look into the glass-surrounded
kitchen. Jaspers has another level
away from the main restaurant that
leads to a sports bar.
The wait staff works in teams,
meaning you are served by a series
of waiters throughout the evening.
If waiter X is busy serving drinks to
another table, waiter Y is serving
you fresh baked bread with a sug
ary sweet butter. The tag-team
style service takes a huge chunk
out of wait time.
For light eaters I suggest the
creamy shrimp bisque with a gar
den salad. The bisque is great to
warm you up on a cold day and the
salad comes with ample fresh
greens and home-made dressings.
Those looking for something
more hearty should try the chicken
alfredo. The dish comes almost
overflowing with three types of
pasta noodles mixed with rich
cream sauce, spinach and juicy
chunks of chicken breast.
Underrated lyricist shows off his talent
Pat McGee Band at Ziggy's tonight
Samiha Khatina
A&E Editor
In light of last week’s article
on Vertical Horizon’s overnight
success, I find the need to advise
those who havenH already been
touched by the Pat McGee Band
fever to jump on the bandwagon
while they can,
theif sound has spoken, for
itself throu^ the college radio ck- ■
cuit, live festivals and many college
appearances. They have frequently
been compared to Dave Matthews
Band* and people from yirginia tell
all their friends that they have to
hear this band. Their dedication to
touring is jncomparable--this band
has put in an average of 250 shows
a year since they first formed in
1996.
If you are lucky enough to
have heard the legendary six-naem-
ber band at the Bayou in D.C, be-
fore it closed down in 199S, or
some Saturday night when they
packed the Birchmere in Alexan
dria, VA, count your blessings. It
won’t be long before you’ll be
fighting for the chance to see them
anywhere.
After releasing tllree inde
pendently produced albums, PMB
is jumping into mainstream
radioland with “Shine,” their first
major-label release, produced by
the famed former Talking Head,
Jerry Harrison, who has worked
with Live, the Verve Pipe and
Stroke 9.
It won’tbe longbeforesongs
from “Shine” will be as pervasive
as Vertical Horizon’s "Everything
You Want.”
A word to the wise: go see
PMB tonight at Ziggy’s. Experi
encing their overflowing, mellif
luous sound and their stage an-
ticsT—you won’t ever forget it.
Patrick Collins
The Pendulum
Chicago’s Common is often
considered one of rap’s most tal
ented but underrated lyricists-his
music and subject matter positive
and poetic.
His fourth album, “Like Wa
ter for Chocolate,” taken from the
novel and film of the same name, is
similarly introspective as his 1996
release, “One Day It’ll All Make
Sense,” but is more advanced in its
production and sequencing.
Even though the new album
will hardly mark his commercial
breakthrough, it marks his consis
tency as an artist.Varying in so
cially relevant lyrical material and
thick in soulful instrumentals and
traditional hip-hop production,
“Like Water for Chocolate” is a
nightmare for commercial radio that
profits from materialistic “jiggy”
singles, but is a haven for hip-hop
heads fed up with industry-made
rappers and just desperate for tal
ent.
The introduction, “Time
Travelin,”’ lays down Common’s
wandering mind as well as sets you
up for what to expect for the next
fifteen tracks—that being tight pro
duction from the Soulquarians, a
collective of D’Angelo, James
Poyser, Jay Dee for the Ummah,
and The Roots’ Questlove,
Tracks such as the
first single, “The Sixth
Sense,” the only song pro
duced by the omniscient
DJ Premier, says it all about
the innovation and lyrical
creativity that Common is
known for. Even deeper,
though, is Common’s sin
cere love affirmation on
“The Light,” where he
speaks on family, commit
ment and abstinence.
He also paints a vivid
visual on the ti-ack, “A Song
for Assata,” which demon
strates his storytelling abil
ity through a dedication to
former Black Panther Assata
Shakur, who currently lives in po
litical asylum in Cuba. “Assata”
shines Common as an introvert as
well as an extrovert for musical
revolution.
All in all, “Like Water for
Chocolate’ ’ can be considered a clas
sic, not in that it will own the charts
or that its tracks will be featured
twice an hour on the radio, but that
it is what music is supposed to be—
creative.
Neither East Coast nor West,
“Like Water For Chocolate” is far
Common's "Like Water for Chocolate"
from common. Instead it is an al
bum that hip-hop heads, soul lov
ers, as well as fans of live instru
mentation can appreciate and add to
their collection of projects to re
member.
As Common himself made
clear on his first single, “The revo
lution will not be televised—the
revolution is here,”
Chamberlain pleases fans with three area shows
Tom Mullen
The Pendulum
Indiana, nestled in the Mid
west, is known for Hoosier basket
ball and John Mellencamp, Cham
berlain knows a few things about
the life out in the Midwest, Their
melodies talk of loneliness, past
mistakes and promise for a new
beginning. This past weekend
Chamberlain took their passion on
the road and came out to play three
dates in North Carolina,
Keeping time on the melo
dies and guitar work is Adam
Rubanstien and with his twang and
prick and prodding at the guitar.
Passion is released through his fin
gers and through the body onto you:
the listener, A lot of hard work
came into play to get Chamberlain
tocometoNorthCarolina. Itseemed
they fell off the earth after their
release of “The Moon My Saddle”
in 1998, Only playing select dates
there was never a tour that seemed
to satisfy the kids. Having known
them as Split Lip in the earlier days
many people weren’t ready for their
latest album, A complete turnaround
(changed name to Chamberlain) and
re-evaluation by the band had them
turning farther inward and choos
ing to only play select Split Lip and
even older Chamberlain songs.
In each of the three shows,
first in Winston-Salem, then at a
house show in Greensboro and
Durham, Chamberlain were flaw
less in their attack on the crowd to
play the songs to know the story too
well. You were forced to sing along
as loud as you could and watch lead
photo courtesy of www,chamberlain1.com
singer David Moore swoon the
crowd with his lyrics. “I’m the one
who reached for love and missed,
so canyou come down tome? I’ll be
waiting with that same look on my
face.”
Elon Student Megan Jones
emailed Chamberlain’s booking
agent to try to get them to the area.
After two months of waiting and
getting all the kinks worked out,
they came. It seemed unbelievable
that her hard work and passion for
their music got a band to come.
It v^as a dream come true and
not only that but for many other
people in the area that wanted to see
them as well, Chamberlain is one of
those bands that people can relate to
as they sit at home on their stereo
crying about a past mistake or a life
that once was. Chamberlain was so
appreciative of
everything ev
eryone did for
them while
they were here.
For three days
kids gave them
their floor to
sleep on, food
to eat and
thanks for
playing this
area,
I really
wish more people had the drive like
Megan to get a band they like to this
area.
You have the chance to see
this deserving band one more time
in North Carolina at King’s Lounge
in Raleigh on April 7, Then they are
off, leaving their stories, memories
and laughs that many people will
remember for some time. Thanks
Chamberlain.
“If the slcy falls tonight, we’ll
all run outside and kick stars in the
streetlight.”