The Guilfordian
September 5, 1997
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The Dots
and I
BY PAIGE MCRAE
Staff Writer
Together since 1981, the Leg
endary Pink Dots have had a pro
digious musical output in their
years together. Originally an East
London-based band, they relocated
to the Netherlands in 1985 after
response to their album "The
Tower" wasn't as good as hoped.
However other albums such as
"Princess Coldheart", "Crushed
Velvet Apocalypse" and the newly
released "Chemical Playschool"
won them a loyal fan base.
On Friday August 29,1 was for
tunate enough to see the Dots at
Charlotte's Tremont Music Hall and
even noticed a hearse in the park
ing lot. After a long line and inter
minable opening act, they finally
took the stage.
The relatively inconspicu
ously dressed lead singer Edward
Ka-spel conducted himself with the
sort of lazy majesty that comes with
being the British lead singer of a
long surviving band. The more
flamboyant saxophonist, decked
out in an exotic print robe and hat,
came out into the audience. The
keyboardist peered out into the
audience through long black bangs.
The music seemed to dwell in
a shadowy limboland that slightly
resembled the darker aspects of
Pink Floyd. The lyrics were often
disturbed interior monologues.
Some lines were delivered in an
urgent, impassioned tones, such as
"Take me as I am/ Take us as we
are / Take things as they come."
As the set progressed, they
audience's enthusiasm increased
and when it was done, they cheered
for an encore. The band obliged
and a single bass note sounded for
a good while after they departed.
Features
Root Beer Diaries
BY CATIE BRALY
Features Columnist
Welcome to Guilford. I feel
like I have heard .those words
enough in the past few weeks that
I have a few of those greetings to
share with you.
I am the new columnist for the
features section (pause for ap
plause.) I will be coming to you
once a week with some sort of rant
coming from the pit of my mind
(again, hold for applause.) Thank
you for making me feel so wel
come.
I feel somewhat sage-like
when it comes to this whole "liv-
ing away from
home" thing
(yes, I am part of
that 28% or so
who came here
straight from
boarding school
hell.) I walled
through the
halls of my dorm
during the days
of Chaos, and
watched all of
the first-year
students desper
ately attempting
to settle into their dorm rooms, ar
ranging and rearranging their
rooms trying to recreate that fa
miliarity of home.
So, with that in mind, please
allow me to share with you a story
that I heard while watching a cin
ematographic masterpiece...well,
actually it was in a Sylvester
Stallone movie, and it was a com
plete disgrace to the film industry,
but the story does have some truth
to it.
If you can make it through the
triteness, I think you could learn a
lot.
Once upon a time, there was
(j
Catie relaxes on a Beemer.
a little mouse who was stranded
in a snowy meadow, freezing to
death. The poor little mouse was
alone, and the snow was so thick
and deep that he had no clue how
to get back to his burrow. .
Suddenly, a cow who was wan
dering through the pasture
pooped on the little field mouse.
At first the mouse was disgusted
with his surroundings. But then,
he noticed how warm the doo was,
and how he was suddenly feeling
so much better. His heart rate be
gan to speed up, and he began re
gaining his strength.
Overhead, there was an eagle
circling the pas
ture. She spotted
the little field
mouse in the pas
ture, wiggling
around in the
pile of doo. So,
she swoops
down, picks the
little field mouse
out of the pile of
doo and ate him.
The moral of
the story? Not
everyone who
poops on you is
your enemy, and
not everyone who gets you out of
poop is your friend.
Make money for talking on the
phone!
Come to the Loyalty Fund Phonathon
training session in Boren Lounge on
Sunday, Sept. 7, at 3:00. There will be
free refreshments, and you will be paid for
training!
The Phonathon operates from Sunday
through Thursday evenings from 6 until 9
and lasts about 3 weeks.
For more information, call Leslie Daisy at
x 2325 or drop by Hendricks Hall.
Printed
Matter
BY ANDY LIGUORI
Staff Writer
In choosing to review James
Morrow's seminal work Only Begot
ten Daughter, I might have bitten
off more than I can chew, in that
Morrow's work leaves so very little
to criticize that it might be easier
just to write "READ THIS BOOK!" a
hundred times down the page.
Only Begotten Daughter is the
story of Julie Katz, Jesus' half-sis
ter (on God's side). Brought into
the world via the union of her
father's donation at a sperm bank
and a holy ovum (hardly a
storybook catechism), she spends
her life striving to reconcile her di
vinity with the rest of her life.
Murray Katz, her father, persuades
her to keep her divinity under
wraps in the interest of having a
normal existence. However, it soon
becomes clear that the new Mes
siah must live up to her heritage
at some point, and finally Julie uses
her power to defeat an ultra-con
servative religious cult's attempt to
destroy Atlantic City.
Julie's life then becomes a
battle with the world, the Devil,
and, at times, herself.
Characterization, an element
usually sorely lacking in fantasy
novels, is utilized to great effect in
Only Begotten Daughter. Morrow
actually seems to like all of his
characters (including Satan) which
helps elicit an empathic response
from the reader; I actually felt sad
when Murray Katz died.
Morrow's writing style, which
frequently invokes comparisions to
those of Tom Robbins and Kurt
Vonnegut, is a pleasure to read.
Morrow possesses the uncanny
ability to know exactly when the
story might get bogged down, and
accordingly speeds up the pace of
those sections of the novel.
Throughout the novel, most things
are handled lightly with a distinct
comic tone. However, Morrow's ir
reverence might be a problem for
those readers who refuse to put
their doctrinal belief aside, as Mor
row frequently uses it as the tar
get of satirical barrages.
Only Begotten Daughter, win
ner of the 1991 World Fantasy
Award, is an impressive tour de
force of fantasy, or any other genre
for that matter.
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