The Wake

“[We have funerals] not because it matters to the dead, but because it matters to the living.” – Thomas Lynch

When Levi Hendricks tells people he wants to be a mortician, he usually gets one of two reactions. Younger people generally find his choice of career morbid. Older people often launch off on a description of a wonderful funeral director who helped them, or someone they know, through a difficult time.

The mortuary science junior attributes the difference in reaction to the extent of the person’s experience with death. Younger people only see the dark side of the career — embalming, cremation, …

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Conor Oberst, known best for his work with Bright Eyes and currently touring with the Mystic Valley Band, is doing a free solo performance at the Loring Pasta Bar in Dinkytown today at 2:30 PM. He is playing in support of the organization Obama Campaign For Change, and tickets are available to anyone who volunteers for at least two “Get Out The Vote” shifts before the upcoming election. Sign up for shifts here and get your tickets to this intimate …

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I knew The Wake knew how to party. In celebration of this fine magazine’s 7th year, a bash was thrown at the Acadia last Friday, featuring a wide range of musical acts, including Military Special, MC Harv, Lucy Michelle, Words, and Zombie Season. Each act was sonically different than the rest, and this made for a really interesting night.

The turnout was impressive, and it was great to see a real open and perceptive audience. The show felt very close-knit in the confined space of the Acadia, and this made for intimate performances from the …

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The other day I was doing laundry at Comstock Hall—the usual: late on a Monday night, with five-or-so loads to process. Now I know it’s my own fault for 1) saving this particular chore for weeks and weeks (until I run out of towels and/or underwear), and 2) generating so much laundry in the first place (if only I could confine it to just one outfit a day, every day: think of what a tremendous savings that would be…) But no, sadly, I am a fashionista, one who is not yet able to part with a clear distinction between evening …

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Be sure to come out to the Acadia Cafe this Friday to celebrate The Wake’s 7th year! The corner pub will be host to a variety of great local acts from 5 PM to bar close, and it’s free! That should leave you with plenty of money to buy some beer from the Acadia’s impressive selection!

U of M student group Voices Merging kick off the event at 5, and the well-rounded night continues with music from morbid pop band …

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I was walking through the living room the other day and my roommates were flipping through the channels. A show came up, and I was forced to stop, sit down, and watch for approximately 10 minutes. What caused this change of planned activities was what was on TV. It was a new reality show on MTV. Now, my abhorrence of MTV and reality television in general would normally cause me to avoid this situation. However, this show was so ridiculous that I had to sit down for fear of passing out. Paris Hilton’s My New BFF. REALLY? The premise of …

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One of the most common questions I hear when I talk about zines is “what the fuck are zines?’’ They’re not necessarily books, comics, magazines or pamphlets, but they draw influence from those already defined forms of print media and expand upon them. Zines are small, usually independently produced publications held together by staples, glue and devotion. Unlike contract authors, who have their titles sitting on the shelves of Borders thanks to the sales and marketing divisions of their publishing companies, zine artists draw heavily from the Do-It-Yourself mentality of punks and take on the roles of author, editor, producer, …

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Fall is a beautiful time of year. School has started, the leaves are changing colors, and the weather has cooled off just enough to break out your favorite sweater. It is the perfect time of year for a bicycle ride! Too often, we fall into the groove of riding our bikes only as a means of getting to and from the places we need to go. However, it’s nice to get out there on a bike and cycle just for the pleasure of cycling! We have compiled a section of trails that will allow you to do just that. We …

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This morning, as the blood poured down the shower drain and I scraped the decaying skin from my face, I stopped to recollect my experiences at last night’s Zombie Pub Crawl:

At 4:00 I began to apply my zombie makeup. The Zombie Pub Crawl web page had some simple makeup tips using random foodstuffs, the likes of which were utilized in many low-budget zombie films. Oatmeal, gelatin, corn syrup, red food coloring and eyeshadow were applied liberally to my undead face and body. …

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“We think we’re in the present, but we aren’t. The present we know is only a movie of the past.” — Ken Kesey Only three weeks after the chaotic RNC in St. Paul, the Hollywood production “Battle in Seattle,” narrating the 1999 WTO protests, came blockbusting into Minneapolis at the Uptown. In the aftermath of severe police intervention in the anti-war activities in St. Paul, the film’s dramatic representation of similar events drew on our own memory to make a powerful statement on oppositional politics and globalization. While filmmaker Stuart Townsend concludes the film by proclaiming the WTO protests a …

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Starting on Friday, Oct. 10th and continuing through Thursday,
Oct. 23rd, the Oak Street Cinema and the Film Society are presenting a retrospective of six of Jean-Luc Godard’s seminal 1960s French New Wave films in commemoration of the release of “Breathless”, his first feature film. Godard, a groundbreaking director and leader of the New Wave film
movement in France, directed 18 feature films and at least 11 short films throughout the 1960s. Filled with beautiful women and equally beautiful cinematography, Godard’s films are as complex as they are enjoyable, providing their viewers with ample food for thought. And, as I discovered when …

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On a chilly Oct. 3, I filed into Chicago’s historic music venue, The Vic, to hear Clarence Greenwood,
a.k.a. Citizen Cope, play his first national solo acoustic tour.

A plethora of sounds ranging from blues and folk to reggae and hip-hop can all be found in Cope’s
music. His funk, style and simplistic beats can be rooted back to the genre of “Go-Go,” Washington
D.C.’s original music scene that emerged in the 1970s led by famous funk and groove master Chuck
Brown.

The concert was an all-around humbling musical experience, which showcased the raw vocal and instrumental talent of Cope. “Bullet …

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In a local scene as diverse and talented as that of the Twin Cities, Marvelle somehow manages to stand out among the rest. The rock band “with indie and classical sprinkled on top” consists of John Holm on violin, Derek Winter on bass, Brian Herb on drums, and Linnea Maas doing live painting. The band configuration itself sets Marvelle apart from other local musicians. While they sound heavy, with thundering bass lines bellowing beneath haunting violin riffs, they retain the composure of classical music, and produce a full sound despite stripped-down instrumentation. Holm and Winter alternate singing on songs, each …

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