the b-side

Thursday, October 12, 2006 - The Michigan Daily - 3B


All night long: Staying up when it counts

By Kimberly Chou
and Bernie Nguyen
Daily Arts Editors
It's October. Smells like Halloween
parties, turning leaves and - wait, wait
- midterm exams. Fuck. If you've been
sleepwalking through classes like we all
have, you'll probably need to pull an all-
nighter in the next week or so - that is, if
you haven't already.
If you have less than three hours (a com-
plete REM cycle) to spend sleeping, it's bet-
ter just to stay awake. Your system might
continue running on adrenaline rather than
submitting to the sluggish lethargy that often
follows an unsatisfying rest, bad sexual epi-
sode, etc.
We've all done it. But do it right, and it
works. You just have to get used to seeing
yourself in the mirror looking perpetually
surprised.
Steps can be alternated as desired. We
like to repeat step three, specifically the last
suggestion until ah oh whothefuckcares soo.
o tired ZZzzzz fdlfa NEED MOR PILLS
dinmmyg god 122$&;. we can't Type*%&
anhymore bhahll$&%)(999 ...
Step 1. Location is key. Sure, you can
start out at home or at a cafe, but don't expect
to get much work done when the nearness of
televised MLB playoffs and hookah smoke
are available temptations. Same thing goes
for pillows. Stay away from the pillows.
Step 2. Form a plan of attack. Don't try
to consume everything at once in a schizo-
phrenic burst. Make a schedule and stick
to it, so that you know what you need to
do when time starts to blur together. Try-
ing to absorb everything will just result in
zero retention. Start with the basics and
make sure to review them as the night
progresses. Also, osmosis doesn't work,
so napping on your books will only result
in an imprint of Bruce Bueno de Mesqui-
ta's "International Politics" across your
forehead.
Step 3. Pop the caffeine pills. Take
Vivarin or No-Doz as directed - neither
product crushes well, and anticipation of
their effects will only distract you. But if
you're going to be caffeinated, make sure
to use wisdom as to when you choose
your coffee fix. Too close to morning and
the comedown is going to be a real bitch.
Prescription aid is at your discretion, as is
anything harder than that - though dab-
bling with yay will bring you a little closer
to Michigan grad students, we hear.

Step 4. Eat somethmgta truclar titersals endorphins will keep you happy and make
throughout the night. St udies show that eat- it easier to re-focus. Not that we've tried it
ing an apple will gsve you the same energy as or anything.
a cup of coffee. Aliernte betwe.n the two,
and avoid grease, unless yosi ike the taste Step 6. If you absolutely cannot keep
of Pepto-Bismol. Warm water ,and heavy, your eyes open, set the alarm on your phone
simple carbohydrates sill make you sleepy. and take 20-minute naps. Twenty minutes
No turkey sandwiches on this menu. is enough for a bit of regeneration, but not

Step 5. Take breaks to relax. Read a iag-
azine article. Take n shower, iid turn the
water to cold in the list oiinte to close your
pores atnd seriously shock y au system into
consciousness. imHve sex. \We ar.is those

enough that you'll fall into a dead sleep. And
don't hit that snooze button. If it's a reflex,
fight it. Fight it.
STEVEN TAI/Daily
Step 7. Wake the hell up. Don't stay up all TOP LEFT: Step seven - what not to do.
night just to miss the exam because you fell TOP RIGHT: An all-nighter's worth of supplies.
asleep at your desk. BOTTOM RIGHT: Something you probably should have looked at already.

uite a
Spektacle:
Regina in
Detroit
By Abigail B. Colodner
Daily Arts Writer
The piano makes tight, repeated runs while
violins flutter - it's the
acoustic equivalent of but-
terflies in the stomach. At Regina
last they break into long, Spektor
climbing strokes as Regi- Friday at 7 p.m.
na Spektor's inimitable $13.50
voice travels one divinely
long and wide vibrato. AStt. Andrew's Hall
That's the moment that
makes "Us" the one song you've heard if
you've heard of Regina Spektor, who will play
at St. Andrew's Hall Friday at 7 p.m.
Spektor's songs are character sketches, per-
sonal confessions and fanciful vignettes, and
their one constant is her adaptive voice. She
croons, spits words out, uses her voice per-
cussively and sings with a vocal freedom that
allows her to be at once wild and disciplined.
Her voice is a dream, a highly unusual instru-
ment that will floor listeners.
Her new album, Begin to Hope, which was
released this summer, has more of a studio
feel than her quirky breakout record Suviet
Kitsch, but both freely experiment with song
styles. Spektor, who fled as a child from Sovi-
et Moscow to New York City with her fam-
ily, clearly draws on wide influences. She is
a classically trained pianist, and shades of
Randy Newman's sound comes out in her
piano-driven "Summer in the City," a self-

LIVE TV,
LIVE RADIO

"OK, OK, enough with The Ronettes jokes."
effacing ballad wit a buffer of humor, and
the deliberate w Ay SpekLor rolls through the
upper and lowersc regirs of her voice call
Joni Mitlhtell to ind.
Occasional ly she edges on gimmickry, but
she commits so fully to these explorations
that it feels sotcre. And wile she often rides
the line betwee infantile and incredible, it's
hard for audietces to boo her inspired bab-
bling even i they do tindesrstand it at first:
they're too bssy beingawsestrtck. On "Music
Box," a bonius traick ott dei o Hope, Spe-
ktor sings from th c spetive of a music
box who wishes she c)ild "sing another
melody comopletely" - Isis prticular music
box would rtier sing about soap bubbles,
and as she tries to override her programmed
song she finds herself choking and hopelessly

gulping words.
This summer at a record store in New York,
Spektor played a concert to support Begin to
Hope. The eminently calm and good-natured
crowd peered at Spektor from atop crates of
CD cases and through cracks in shelves. Sitting
at her piano, Spektor seemed overwhelmed by
the crowd's wholehearted attention. Through-
out the performance, Spektor shared knowing
glances with strangers in the crowd. At one
moment she had to look up and away because
she was smiling too much to sing.
The chance to see Spektor live at St.
Andrew's Hall is rare and shouldn't be passed
up. "Suppose I kept on singin' love songs / Just
to break my own fall?" she sing. There's little
danger of that, because those who hear her will
hold her up, too.

TV On the Radio frontman Tunde Adebimpe serenades
Detroit fans through the seductive scratch of an amplified
megaphone during the band's encore Tuesday night at St.
Andrew's Hall. The avante-garde indie favorites are currently
touring the nation in support of their critically acclaimed
release Return to Cookie Mountain. The album includes
current single "Wolf Like Me" and "Province," a track on
which TVOTR fan/rock legend David Bowie provides backing
vocals. At St. Andrew's, Grizzly Bear opened the night.


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