Dumb DMB and everything else to leave at home Getting ready for college i is a time we all remember pretty well. Even those of us here at Daily Arts { - who spend our time mired in Ayn Rand novels and scratching out post- high school poetry - fondly recall the summer between senior year and the shitload of film classes we spend the next four years skipping. I, for instance, recall the real- ization that I would not, in fact, be able to transport my entire record collection to my dorm room. As incoming college freshmen, you've no doubt seen several different lists of things you'll need to bring. You've gotten a head start on collecting enough gauze, Ghostwriter markers and scientific calculators to get you through the business school pre-requisites. All of this puts quite a strain on your young, incoming-freshman muscles. Fortunate- ly for you, Daily Arts is a section of the people, and we're all about hooking you up. Lessening your load. Lending a helping hand. We're the wind beneath your winged helmets. As such, we have compiled a list of the things you don't need to bring to school. That's right: the shit that you can just leave at home for your heathen sib- lings to pillage. You see, Daily Arts - the vigilant and unquestioned intellectu- al think tank of campus - sees a lot of mistakes. Fashions, music and movies that shouldn't happen. In addition, we're always getting letters like "Daily Arts, how can you help me look like Charlize F Theron?" or "Daily Arts, I'm fresh out of Radiohead-soundalikes." We feel your pain, and we're getting awfully tired of poor taste. You should avoid many, if not all, of the following things: We'll start with the obvious. You will not, under any circumstance, need your high school varsity jacket. Don't even bring it. Nobody cares if you were on the lacrosse team, and even fewer people care that you were captain. I mean, con- gratulations, but consider this whole she- bang a new beginning. On a similar note, when looking for a replacement for said jacket, it's important to avoid North Face fleeces. You'll be ostracized as the only one on campus wearing designer mountain-climbing gear. Tapered jeans and velour jumpsuits are also must-nots, and trucker hats are best left to truckers. Once you've got your wardrobe ironed out, you can move on to more subtle indicators of banality. By now, you've probably amassed some sort of DVD collection. What you must realize, however, is that in the dank recesses of dorm rooms, DVD collections become badges of honor and the quickest indica- tor of a person's taste. Therefore, it is absolutely imperative that you leave your Adam Sandler collection at home. "I only like his early stuff," you say, "Like 'Billy Madison.' "This isunac- ceptable. If you must get stoned and watch a terrible movie, please choose something with more artistic merit, like "Biodome" or "The Friday After Next' Personally, I've found that a dog-eared copy of the Die Hard trilogy is the best way to win friends. But I digress. CD collections are another litmus test of impeccable taste. Dave Matthews CDs are similar to North Face jackets: You don't want to be the only one. DMB clones are equally dangerous: John Mayer only draws embarrassing excuses - "My mom bought it"--and I hear that Howie Day sets off the fire alarms on North Campus. Your Lil John & the East Side Boyz side CD will also be use- less. As it turns out, Ann Arbor has its own "Kings of Crunk," who manifest themselves in a chorus of drunken denizens roaming the sidewalks scream- ing "Yeeeaaah" and "O-kay!" Trust me, you won't be able to tell the difference. Decorating is also tricky. Leave those black-light Cypress Hill posters at home: The thug-stoner niche in Ann Arbor is already filled. Scrap the Anarchy stick- ers for two reasons: First, you're a mere four years from being a slave of The Man anyway, and second, "I love my Co-op" stickers are infinitely more fash- ionable and basically serve the same purpose. Your acoustic guitar is dead weight as well: East Quad's hallways are booked through 2010. And so you ask the inevitable: Andrew, harbinger of cool, what should I bring to college? What movies should I watch? Which Stooges clone do I lis- ten to? And criminy, can we all look as good as you? And herein lies the prob- lem: Only 800 words into your educa- tion, and you're already dependent on me. Over the course of your collegiate lives, you'll find that I consistently dis- pense quality wisdom like a 1,000 knotted sages beaming their life-alter- ing truths through the new Twista sin- c"~~e Is tl Fall 2004 SECTION D NEW STUDENT EDITIONf The Hill is alive January 8, 2004 By Alexandra Jones Daily Staff Writer For a year and a half, Hill Auditorium was an eyesore and a headache for University students, faculty and administration. The beautiful red and tan mosaic that lies between the building and North University Avenue had been covered with tarps, bricks, chunks of insulation, dust and debris. A tall chain-link fence and contrac- tors' trailers surrounded the site. To make mat- ters worse, the University Musical Society had difficulty finding large venues for world- famous musicians. Academic ceremonies like convocation had to be held elsewhere. The School of Music's large ensembles were forced to relocate concerts to less-than-ideal settings such as the Michigan Theater. Hill Auditorium, dedicated on June 25, 1913, was in dire shape before the renovation. The brick pattern that lies in front of the building's stately white columns was faded and damaged. Aesthetically, Quinn Evans Architects repaired and reworked the brick mosaic, cleaned and replaced exterior doors, windows and lettering and repaired or replaced roof tiles. Band-O-Rama, an annual fundraising concert that features the University of Michigan Sym- phony Band, Concert Band and Marching Band, had to be eliminated in 2002 and 2003. Symphony Band concerts featuring the music of John Phillip Sousa and George Gershwin were held at the Michigan Theater to substitute for Band-O-Rama, and the Collage Concert was relocated to the Power Center. But the scheduling problems and ugly con- struction are finally gone. At 1 o'clock this afternoon, Hill Auditorium's status as a historic site will be reaffirmed by an unveiling ceremo- ny. "You've got a great hall that's large. It's half the size of Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Avery Fisher Hall (the former home of the New York Philharmonic)," said Fischer. There's no question that Hill is a hallowed site for the performing arts. Musicians, like vocalists Jessey Norman, Cecilia Bartolli and Enrico Caruso, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and bandleader and jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman have per- formed there. Leonard Bernstein conducted the See HILL, Page 9D Ornette Coleman jazzes up Hill March 22, 2004 By Andrew Horowitz Daily Staff Writer C Moments before the lights dimmed, a white, overweight sound man dressed in run- ning shorts and a T-shirt took the stage to make last-minute adjust- _ ments. Just as he was fin- ishing, someone asked, Ornette "Is that him? Is that Coleman Ornette Coleman?" Friday, March 19th While humorous and At Hill Auditorium very naive, this question is telling. While many who attended Friday night's sold-out concert at Hill Auditorium had heard Coleman, many came because they only had heard of Coleman. And while a name attracts, the whole scenario is too remi- niscent of a concert in New Jersey that paired pianist Herbie Hancock and saxophonist Wayne Shorter. After just minutes, the audi- ence was reduced by almost half. The fact is, no one anticipated hearing cerebral, complex interchange between two musicians with little showmanship. Given that Hancock and Short- er are no radicals, what would greet a musi- cian that decades ago challenged the very concept of music? Ornette Coleman took the stage to a stand- ing ovation, dressed in a powder-blue suit, looking like a leader ready to preach to his people. Within moments, Tony Falanga and Greg Cohen supplied frenetic bass while son Denardo Coleman pounded away on drums. With the air charged, Coleman entered on alto saxophone and played a floating melody that dripped in affecting harmony. The contrast between Coleman's fluid lines and the band's cacophonic spirit helped create the sound of the evening, a sound invented by Ornette. See COLEMAN, Page 9D Solo Ben Folds not so lonely April 5, 2004 By Scott Seala Daily Staff Writer CONCE RT REVIEw Since his days fronting Ben Folds Five, the North Carolina-born songwriter Ben Folds has built a live reputation for turn-on-a-dime spontaneity, improvising arrangements, setlists and even new songs to please a crowd. Ben Folds At their best, Folds's Saturday, April 3rd recent string of solo At Hill Auditorium piano tours have been orchestrated sing-alongs, calibrated to reward the militant sects of BFF loyalists who stuck by Folds as he embarked on his solo career. Admitting to being booked at more intimate venues "and gymnasiums," Folds might have felt slightly distant from the audience in the cavernous Hill Auditori- um on Saturday. Kicking off with "There's Always Some- one Cooler than You" from the Sunny 16 EP, Folds leapt from one end of his catalogue to another all night long, pulling out the pre- Five classic "Silver Street" and debuting almost a half-dozen new tracks. In his ongo- ing stage banter, Folds acknowledged he's unsure about exactly what shape his next record will take until tunes like the Elliott Smith tribute "Too Late" or the yet-unfin- ished "Breakup at the Food Court" find their feet in concert. Folds was slightly subdued because he was playing on an unfamiliar piano as See BEN FOLDS, Page 9D Top Left: JtF LMLENET/ually, Middle: Courtesy oR Knino, Bottom Left: SCUl TEILLA/Daily, ADove: SUUBHA OHI/Daily The newly renovated Hill auditorium played host to a number of events, including jazz legend Omette Coleman and Ben Folds. BOW TO TI)e klNG TRilOGy CONCLU)ES iN EpiC FASiON OBITUARIES January 6, 2004 By Ryan Lewis Daily StaffWriter The end has come. Peter Jackson's unenviable task of adapting J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" which began just a few years ago has now offi- cially concluded with the release of "The Return of the King." As sad as it is to know that no more are coming, this final chapter of the greatest fantasy epic in lit- erary history now provides the single most gratifying movie-going experience of our generation and makes Jackson's creation the finest trilogy in film history. From start to finish, from the largest landscape to the most minute detail, the end of Middle Earth's Third Age is craft- ed with perfect execution. "Return of the King" embodies the emotion of "The Fellowship of the Ring" with flaw- less perform- ances and dwarfs , the battle at Helm's Deep in "The Two Towers" with a massive attack on Minas Tirith, the last stronghold of men in the realm of Gondor. Even the lengthy, sentimental denouement is heart- felt and impressive, not to mention well deserved, considering it put more than 100 pages of Tolkien's writing into a mere 25 minutes of film. While it in many ways has the most significant departures from Tolkien, each transformation or omission is ultimately forgivable, even laudable, in light of the fantastic result. Still, Jackson's faithful- ness to the novel is on par with "The Godfather," and his visual poetry rivals even the most emotive scenes in any tear- jerker in sheer poignancy. "Return of the King" opens in the past when Gollum (Andy Serkis) was still Smeagol at the moment he comes upon the ring, or more exactly, when his broth- er, Deagol, finds the ring. After a star- tling montage of Smeagol's deterioration into the creature Gollum, the story con- tinues where "The Two Towers" conclud- ed. Smeagol has officially been taken over by his evil self-doppelganger and leads Sam (Sean Astin) and Frodo (Elijah Wood) into the depths of Mordor. Though Sam suspects Gollum's disposi- tion as a villain, Frodo refuses to go on without him. Outside the walls of Mor- dor, the rest of the fellow- ship braces the good men of Middle Earth See LOTR, Page 9D Courtesy of American Recordings Taking It to the man. JOHNNY CASH 1932-2003 One of the greatest voices in American music, singer/songwriter Johnny Cash, died in Nashville Sept. 12, 2003, at the age of 71. Battling pneumonia and stomach problems late in life, he ultimately died of complications from diabetes just four months after wife June Carter Cash passed away. He will be remembered for his gritty bari- tone, which created a modern white man's interpretation of gospel singing styles, transforming country and rock music over more than five decades. The Man in Black, as he was known, often called his voice "The Gift." By its presence, his work was suffused with honesty and world- weariness, telling both of everyman struggles and his own personal demons, including a long-fought amphetamine addiction. He wrote more than 1,500 songs, enjoyed great success in the '50s and '60s, when he had over 100 country hits, resurging in popularity more than once in later years. His most famous album, Folsom Prison Blues, documented his appeal as the quintessential outlaw poet in a live perform- ance at the prison. Hits included "I Walk the Line,' "Boy Named Sue" and "Ring of Fire." In the early 1960s he met a 19-year-old Bob Dylan who told Cash, "Man, you are truly beautiful," and thus began an important relationship. In later life he collaborated with Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings as wrote of him, "a walking contradiction, partly fiction." partly truth and - Steve Cotner RAY CHARLES 1930-2004 Legendary musician Ray Charles passed away in Bever- ly Hills, Calif., on June 10, 2004. He was 73. An accom- plished pianist and saxophonist, Charles fused blues, gospel, jazz and country and was integral in the develop- ment of soul music. Charles was born to a poverty-stricken family in Albany, Ga. During his youth, he experienced much hardship. When he was five, he witnessed the drowning death of his younger brother, George; he went blind from glaucoma at age seven, and he lost both of his parents by age 15. Charles overcame the adversity in grand fashion, playing piano at age three and learning to read and write music in Braille while at the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and Blind as a teenager. During his lifetime, he had 32 songs reach the charts, including three No. 1 hits ("Georgia,""Hit the Road Jack" and "I Can't Stop Loving You") and won 12 Grammy Awards, most of them during the 1960s. He performed well into his old age, making his last public appearance in April in Los Angeles, where his recording studios were designated as a historic monument. 1 1 ~ ...