4B - Thursday, October 9, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom 4B - Thursday, October 9, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom TELEVISION From Page 2B Betty on "Ugly Betty" and Molly on "The Starter Wife" have their flaws but don't conform to others' expectations. Betty and Molly don't intentionally hurt others for personal and profes- sionalgains,evenifsomeoneelse has wronged them.Unlike Betty and Molly's good consciences, Blair Waldorf on "Gossip Girl" is the queen of mean. If someone dares to wrong her, they better be ready for the social sabotage Blair has planned for them. Watching Blair out her ex-best friend Serena's alleged drug problem in front of their whole school is like witnessing a train- wreck. Shows like "Gossip Girl" aren't going away anytime soon, and they shouldn't be cast off all together. People of all ages watch frivolous TV to escape from everyday life, and these shows aren't the only programs on that depict stereotypes or use sensationalism to attract view- ers.i In high school, the need to fit in causes adolescents to become impressionable. Consequently, these shows will most likely have more of an influence on a teenager than a mature and independentadult.Ifayounggirl watches "90210," she isn't auto- matically going to become the school's biggest gossip queen. But in recent years, adults have become increasingly concerned about how young women inter- act with one another and proj- ect themselves in society. TV shows aren't the only cause, but they can promote problematic behavior. COURTESY OF CHARLENE KAYE AND MY DEAR DISCO Ann Arbor artists Charlene Kaye (left) and My Dear Disco (right) will release new albums this weekend. ALBUM E SE PARTIES Local favorites usher in new albums with release parties at the Pig and Yellow Barn By PRAKASH VENKATRAMAN For the Daily A classically trained pianist-turned- songwriter, Charlene Kaye is an indie spirit headed for greatness. Her style is distinct and cannot be categorized. Kaye bleeds versatility. In her album ThingsI Will Need in the Past, her clas- sical training is evident in her ability to effortlessly blend genres using only a couple of keys or strums of the gui- tar. On "Magnolia Wine," she mixes classical staccato with a folk-inspired sound to produce a track that's both light and vibrant. Kaye's wordplay is pure poetry, and her alto voice hits every note on point. "Strike a Chord" is a perfect example of this; the melody and lyrical grace provided by Kaye's voice is morethan enough to keep ears glued to the record."Skin andBones"is definitely the favored track, featuring a guest appearance by Ann Arborite Darren Criss. The beginning has an earthy feel to it, and Criss's voice only adds to the song's smooth appeal. "(The album) blossomed from ques- tions regarding time and the nature of memory in general," Kaye said in a phone interview. "Hindsight is 20/20, and looking back you Charlene can perceive things K differently." Kaye's album Tomorrow, takes a personal 8 p.m. stance as well - it The Yellow Barn was inspired by a long-distance rela- My Dear tionship she'd been D.C in. Her music inves- Ds tigates relationships Saturday, and how humans 9 p.m. connect; in doing The Blind Pig so, it's soulful. In addition to classical music, Kaye names her primary influ- ences as Joni Mitchell, Fiona Apple and American pianist Burt Bachar- ach. Her album debuts Friday, Oct.10, at the Yellow Barn. Kaye is'nt the only new artist on the horizon. With only a year and a half's experience under their belt, My Dear Disco has been creating quite a stir among local music aficionados. Besides having a great name, MDD mixes lofty vocals with a synthesizer, guitar, saxophone and even bagpipes to produce an eclectic sound: soothing yet exciting, trippy yet mellow. They call it "Dancethink" (also the name of their album). In an interview with The Graphic, founding member Tyler Duncan described his group's music as "the type that's as good on the dance floor as it is in the headphones." "White Lies" is a catchy techno song with airy lyrics while "All I Do" and "The Way" are the closest My Dear Disco comes to pop songs. The tracks retain their indie roots through the lyrics and beat, but it's not difficult to imagine them playing on a top 10 countdown. My Dear Disco is being hailed as one of the best acts to come out of Ann Arbor, and considering their ensemble of award winning singers, composers and instrumentalists, it's not surpris- ing. Their album should be a surefire hit, especially since Grammy-nomi- nated sound engineer Mark Saunders is mixing it. The release party is this Saturday at the Blind Pig. Doors open at 9:30 p.m. CONCERTS From Page 1B between American promise and American real- ity." The crowd he was addressing was markedly different too, with the navy blue "African Ameri- cans for Obama" signs giving way to occasional flashes of their emerald green "Irish Americans for Obama" counterparts. A quick glance over the mass of people gathered on EMU's baseball field revealed an older group, full of families, war vets, retirees and fire fighters. Beyond the veneer of big-name artists and flashy stage shows, these concerts were essen- tially political rallies for awell-oiled Democratic machine. At the exits in Ypsilanti, fresh-faced college volunteers handed out little yellow slips of paper listing all the "correct" candidates for office. Beyond the baseball diamond, scores of scruffy opportunists competed with campaign representatives to sell Obama posters, T-shirts and other memorabilia. Even in the more festive confines of Cobo Arena, the politics were never far from center stage; an army of volunteers lined the walls, proudly wielding clipboards and voter registration forms. So was this a return to the '60s - that long- prophesized, much-heralded and eagerly-awaited comeback of the activist masses? The synchroni- zation of popular music and liberal activism into one great, youthful thrust at political change? No. And it shouldn't be. Woodstock may be an iconic moment in Ameri- can history, but the baby boomers who experi- enced it have idealized the movement itrepresents beyond all recognition. What we're left with is an exaggerated image of that age and generation - an image of extraordinarily involved students protesting to the tune of Jimi Hendrix - that's as misleading as it is fascinating. It's an ideal that the babyboomers' millennial children might find appealing, but couldn't live up to if they tried. And really, they have no reason to. As the protests to the Iraq war showed, the techniques thatonce defined American political activism no longer apply. In a way, then, these concerts for Obama point to what might come next. They were not sponta- neous gatherings of people with a common cause just trying to be heard. Nor did they come off as shallow, largely nonpartisan celebrity appeals to "Vote or Die." From top to bottom, they were events organized by a specific party and political candidatewithaveryspecificgoalinmind-toget votes. And the artists employed here were simply willing draws for a targeted constituency. It's why 6 6 " Barack Oama last Sunday ana onday. Jay-Z performed in a black metropolis while the Boss showed up in a whiter town. And.if Spring- steen's acoustic strumming harkened back to the days of Dylan, the Obama staffers spread among the crowd were a constant reminder that, for once, such idealism had a very practical backbone. Is this a winning formula? We'll know soon enough. Bruce Springsteen and Shawn Carter may have long since left our state, but the thou- sands of left-leaning voters they've helped regis- ter remain. And if these thousands of new voters translate to a blue state on Election Day, come 2012, we might see a few more free shows thrown our way. SIGHT From Page 3B months: This may sound like sensory overload, and for good reason. But it's not just atechnologi- caldisplay. Onthecontrary,those involved in the production are primarily musicians and want to create something as organic as it is abstract. The piece may be intermedia, but it features alllive, acoustic instruments such as piano, drums and guitars. The balancing act between traditional per- formance and technology is a near impossible feat. While the two crafts certainly comple- ment each other, theytend to be ideologically opposed. Technology is always in the midst of reinvention. The same cannot be said of art. The fundamentals of art - such as narra- tion, spacing and progression of time - have changed minimally in the last few hundred years, which is why Beethoven and Sopho- cles still hold precedence in our performance halls. While art upholds timelessness, tech- nologyupholds fast-paced change. Moorefield recognizes this paradigm, and wants to make sure art doesn't become stag- nant. "We are, as a society, valuing technology, the how, far more than the what, the con- tent," he said. And that's why Moorefield plans to manipulate technologyto propel fine arts into the new millennium. Moorefield has been working in multime- dia performance for the past few years, and he has been composing music for the past 25. After earning an M.F.A. and Ph.D. in composition from Princeton University, he released three full-length CDs, wrote a book about the artistic aspects of producing and toured with several bands as a percussion- ist. He has received Rockefeller Foundation and MacDowell composition residencies, as well as several grants, including one from the National Endowment of the Arts. Moorefield embarked upon his project "Five Ideas About the Relation of Sight and Sound" in late 2005, and started rehears- ing at the University about four months ago, acquiring the assistance of musicians and programmers Robert Alexander and Devin Kerr. He considers tonight's performance the premiere. The structure and technology of Moore- field's piece is certainly avant-garde, but the concept of visual music has a history reach- ing as far back as civilization itself. Ancient Greek, Chinese, Persian, Arabic and Indian texts mention empirical connections between sound and color. In 1704, synesthetics entered academia with Sir Isaac Newton's book "Opticks," in which he proposed a theoretical relationship between musical scales and the light spectrum. After Newton's publication, several inventors designed mechanical instru- ments displaying sound-color relationships, usually involving glass shields and hundreds of lamps. These creations reached a peak in 1893 with Alexander Wallace Rimington's famed color organ. Twenty-two years later, Changing the way you feel sound. Russian composer Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin used this design for the symphony Prometheus in Carnegie Hall. As the 20th-century progressed, visual compositions flourished. One of the more prominent inspirations for Moorefield dur- ing this era is Oscar Fischinger (1900-1967), responsible for Walt Disney's "Fantasia" - one of the first films to have a surround sound system built for it, custom-designed by Disney engineers. But that's only a small, pop-culture portion of what Fischinger contributed to the field. His lesser-known abstract works, such as "Motion Painting No. 1," correlate light and GOSSIP sound in more theoretically interesting ways. From Page 3B With technology moving ever faster today, Fischinger is, as Moorefield describes, "the pack in my car, I am a true Ameri- grandfather of what is now possible on any- can like Sarah, so we're (sic) good." body's laptop." Inother news, Jessica Alba Robert Alexander, a performer and pro- recently appeared in an ad for grammer in the piece, also recognizes how far "Declare Yourself.com" wear- we've come. ing a muzzle, the less than adroit "(In the early 1900s) people went to a the- metaphor being that not voting is atre and they were freaked out because they like giving up your voice. Seeing saw a train coming and thought, 'Oh my God, Alba gagged is a bit off-putting, but I'm going tobe hit by atrain!' and everyone I knew it wasn't a dream because ran out of the theatre," Alexander said. "And she didn't have furry handcuffs on. concerts, nowadays, you go and you expect On the complete opposite side of that there are going to be laser-lights going the hotness spectrum, "comedian" everywhere ... it seems that the trend is that Sandra Bernhard was recently the level of immersion is steadily increasing banned from a benefit dinner for as technology has progressed." jokingthat Palin would get "gang- The movement toward sensory immersion raped by my big black brothers." might be due to the allure of technology, the She also added that her Mexican excitement of live animation or nostalgia for brothers would steal the hubcaps our childhood days as synesthetes. Whatever off Palin's car and asked if there the reason, multimedia has consumed soci- were any other useless, tired ste- ety and will continue to do so to ever greater reotypes she had left out. extents. "Five Ideas About the Relation of Finally, a YouTube video packed Sight and Sound" is a performance embed- with the most random array of ded within our present sensational world, celebrities - since "I'm Fucking and perhaps paving our sensational future. Ben Affleck" at least - has Leo DiCaprio, Forest Whitaker and some "Entourage" guys sarcasti- cally telling the youth of America not to vote. Based on the idiocy mentioned in this column, it seems that a lot of celebrities might do well to heed their own advice and stay home November 4th. Schultz's Alba fantasy is nothing compared to his Spears fantasy. E-mail him at markthos@umich.edu. 0 0 Fent rtainmeni HATE SPENCER? LOVE HEIDI? WRITE ABOUT TELEVISION. E-mail mpass@umich.edu for an application.