The Wake

Question: How does one obtain the dream of becoming a celebrated band? Answer: hard work, dedication, and a love for the music. Cowboy Curtis, a home grown Minneapolis band, has done all of this and more to establish themselves as a fixture in the local music scene. By following the forming of their band, getting gigs, creating great music and putting out the coveted CD, the ambiguity of making music is revealed. Forming a Band: Cowboy Curtis’s birth took place after Neal Perbix (vocals, guitar) started playing with Jake Hanson (vocals, guitar and keyboards) in high school. Submerged in their parents’ basement, the two started creating music. Neal also played drums, but his older brother, Nate, soon took over the rhythms after his return from college at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. The band …

Read more →

The letters FCC got an entirely different meaning on March 10th, as the Fuck Clear Channel Tour came to Minneapolis. Headlining the tour was rapper Sage Francis.Mac Lethal and Grand Buffet opened for Francis. Mac Lethal, out first, rapped about issues concerning ex-girlfriends and child abuse. His style was similar to that of Francis. Even his delivery seemed to be in the same vein as the headliner. Grand Buffet followed Mac Lethal. They entertained along with “DJ CD Player,” as they called their Walkman, which spewed out the wacky beats that appeared to be their trademark. Francis took the stage donned in black, thick-rimmed glasses and a tuxedo that looked to be two sizes too small. He grabbed the microphone, obviously uncomfortable, and started his set. One thing was missing from the show, however: DJ. …

Read more →

I Spit on Your Grave (more accurately portrayed by its original title, Day of the Woman) has been one of the most controversial films in history. Siskel and Ebert did all in their power to have this 1978 film pulled from theaters. In England, among other countries, it was illegal at one point to own a copy of this film. People were actually jailed for this infraction. The film is still banned in Australia.Why does so much controversy surround I Spit on Your Grave? The reason is because the film succeeds. It set out to show the absolute horror and ugliness of rape, to show how it can destroy a person (or at least as well as film can portray it). Director Meir Zarchi wished to accomplish this feat after he and a friend found …

Read more →

I can’t sing, dance or act.Scratch that. Physically, I can do all three. I sing along to the radio when I’m driving. I do a little tap dance in the kitchen when I think my roommates aren’t looking. And we’ve all pretended we’re the next Gwyneth Paltrow or Tom Cruise.But anything beyond that and I’m out of my league.So what possessed me to audition for the “Rocky Horror Show”? I didn’t kid myself - I knew I wouldn’t get a role. I did it out of moral support more than anything else. One of my roommates, Michaela, wanted to audition and was too nervous to go alone. After two weeks of coaxing and pleading, I reluctantly agreed to audition with her.Then there was the matter of preparing. Michaela had been through this before, but I …

Read more →

During the past year, I have come across a lot of great unsigned metal bands. So, I am going to expose you to the cream of the unsigned metal crop in a variety of sub-genres. From the Faeroe Islands comes T_r. On their 2003 release, Eric the Red, T_r impressed me. They are an interesting combination of power metal, progressive metal, and Nordic folk music. The music is usually fast, aggressive, but also quite upbeat. The vocals (Heri Joensen) are clean, and are most certainly of the Scandinavian folk variety with a touch of Blind Guardian’s Hansi Kursch. Though their appeal to the metal community will lie more in their power metal songs, with hints of folk, my favorite by the band is “Regin Smi_ur,” which is an all-out bombastic folk track with electric …

Read more →

Two turntables and a microphone – the staple tools for hip hop artists. Yet, these simple tools are what were turning people off to hip hop, along with its lack of highlighting both live individual and collective talents of a band. Hip hop came down to prerecorded beats, sung over by an emcee.Recently, hip hop has resurfaced and its popularity is partially due to acts that defy the norms of typical hip hop such as The Roots and local cult-hero turned idol Atmosphere.Part of the culminating show on Feb. 28 for the Minnesota Programs and Activities Council’s Hip Hop Week, The Roots and Atmosphere joined together to make the jam-packed Northrop Auditorium bounce.“It’s good to see hip hop associated with the positive as opposed to the negative,” said The Roots guitarist Kirk Douglas in an …

Read more →

Woulda, coulda, shoulda.The 76th Academy Awards, otherwise knows as the 2004 “Lord of the Rings” love fest, could have been so much more. But rather than match the surprises and ingenuity of the nominations, which made headlines in themselves, the Academy’s final decisions seemed far more traditionalist than revolutionary, bestowing the statues on the big blockbusters and the big studios that one has come to cynically expect.There were indeed surprises in the audience. Keisha Castle-Hughes, nominated for best actress in “Whale Rider,” was the youngest nominee ever in the category. Djimon Hounsou and Shohreh Aghdashloo, from “In America” and “House of Sand of Fog,” were surprise nominees for supporting performances. The Brazilian film “City of God,” which was locked out of the foreign film nominations last year, came back with four surprise nominations this …

Read more →

Breast-bearing singers and zealous right wingers: that’s what this year’s Oscars are made of. Or at least, that’s what I thought — until I actually watched the prestigious award show a few Sundays back. Here’s how it all went down: we were blind-drunk, off Mescal. We’d started drinking sometime in the middle of Billy Crystal’s epic, revivalist introduction; neither of us remembers exactly. But the truth is this: that my partner-in-cinematic crime, Dr. Lane, and I were readily enjoying what we were seeing on our 8″ Sony portable television. Somehow, we’d managed to unwittingly engage the Spanish translator on the television. “Hola, bienvenidos!,” it would say; followed in split-second delay by: “Welcome to the fabulous Oscars!” I probably lost something in the translation. Regardless, this multi-lingual broadcasting was truly captivating. This may have been the …

Read more →

On Oscar Sunday, I had the unique pleasure of attending the oldest and largest Oscar party outside of California, Hollywood 2004, at the Historic State Theater in Minneapolis. The event is a benefit for the Minnesota AIDS Project.Initially, I have to admit to a level of shock at entering the big event, because the glitz and glamour was definitely present in high volume. There were loads of people with too much time and money. I even remember overhearing one woman speaking of $3,800 as “nothing.” There were young men in underwear, holding wooden swords and painted gold, in the likeness of Oscar. One of these young men was a University of Minnesota student named Nick. There were two rather grotesque drag queens with moustaches. I am pretty sure this may be the only event I …

Read more →

It’s about half way through the semester. I have done nothing that could really qualify as paying work in weeks. All my Christmas-gift money from Grandma and the parents is long gone, and I can see the pot at the end of the student loan rainbow. It’s empty.I know it would be foolish to spend money designated for rent and car payments on a night out. And my friends, being nearly penniless like myself, cannot subsidize a meal for us either. Well, not meals where a professionally trained chef prepares dishes that come out of the kitchen with immaculate presentations served by wait staff in modified tuxedo outfits.We could, however, each afford to pitch in about four bucks, make a trip to the grocery store and try our hand behind the stove. The meal we …

Read more →

It’s an exhibit that almost never was. As a part of an international exchange between galleries, the Nash was scheduled to put on a photography exhibit from Iran titled Persian Silver. However, considering the security involved bringing in anything from the Middle East, the photographs were held up in customs en route to the gallery, delaying the show. It seemed as though the walls at the newly relocated Nash gallery might remain bare, but a few phone calls from Senator Mark Dayton managed to free the artwork and get it moving towards its moment in the spotlight.According to Nicholas Shank, publicist for the Nash Gallery, the show is a “milestone exhibit.” While Iranian artwork has gotten some exposure in Europe, that region of the world has been left virtually ignored by the United States. This …

Read more →

As an integral part of our community, theater is known for going to limitless heights to keep every type of audience on the edge of their seat. The Xperimental Theatre, located in the basement of The Rarig Center at the University of Minnesota, is by no means an exception to this standard. The X, as it is fondly referred to as, is a place for students from any and every department to satisfy all of their creative desires. Students submit their theatrical visions to the X Board, an elected group of students that creates an impressive line up for the year to come. To the student wary about entering the theater scene whether on or off stage, House/Stage Management Supervisor Amanda Zercher encourages participation by all: the X “gives students experience and a place to …

Read more →

Students studying mainly on the St. Paul campus are not, in many ways, typical college students. Many of them spend time in barns and with sewing machines, rather than books and computers. But they, like all students, need to eat.Strangely enough, while leaving my comfort zone in Minneapolis and visiting the foreign land that is St. Paul, I had one of my most unusual dining experiences ever.My lunch at Muffeletta Café was pleasant, but unremarkable. The Muffeletta sandwich ($7.95), where the restaurant takes its namesake, was phenomenal. A signature of New Orleans, the Muffeletta contains layers of genoa salami, capicolla ham and provolone, topped with a cold marinated olive salad on a focaccia bread. The Grilled Eggplant Sandwich ($7.25) had many tasty ingredients - fontina cheese-stuffed eggplant slices, red peppers and tomatoes – but was …

Read more →

I always knew Naomi Watts was talented, but I never could have imagined she’d be this good. We saw her in David Lynch’s 2002 psychological thriller Mulholland Drive, where she played the role of a woman fascinated by Hollywood glamour and stardom, mystified in a neurotic dream. Then, in Gore Verbinski’s 2003 horror flick The Ring, Watts again took on an artistic role as a reporter tangled up in the eerie mystery of a VHS tape.In 21 Grams, Watts looks like a young Nicole Kidman and has definitely solidified her abilities in becoming an extremely talented actress, which is obvious with the recognition she has received for the film, being nominated for Best Actress in this month’s Academy Awards.On the same note, the film itself should have been nominated for Best Picture. The storyline is …

Read more →

“The Hills Have Eyes” is the second film directed by horror legend Wes Craven. Although it has become a cult classic, I do not see how this film is not recognized for its brilliance beyond the cult horror audience.The Carter family is on their way to California. They stop at a gas station and are told not to proceed on the highway they intended to use. It is a bomb range and “strange things” have been happening there. Of course, the family’s patriarch ignores the warning. To reward his idiocy, fate takes a turn and Big Bob (Russ Grieve) manages to incapacitate their vehicle. The family is stranded. What they do not know is that there are other people around.The Carters split up and look for supplies and try to find help. One of the …

Read more →