10 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, September 24, 2009 - 3B
The perfect evening
You know when you find some-
thing online that you absolutely
can't pass up?
Well, during my -
nightly Internet search
for "hockey moms"
and "private dinners,"'
I stumbled across a
whopper: a once in
a lifetime discovery
that I absolutely had to ZACH
have - "Private Din- SM Z
ner for Five with Sarah -
Palin."
After repeatedly rubbing my eyes
and looking at the computer screen in a
record-setting quintuple take, I find out
that the former governor, former Vice
Presidential candidate, former mayor and
former Miss Congeniality, is auctioning
off a quiet, cozy dinner for me and up to
four of my friends for charity on eBay.
Starting bid: a cool $25,000.
Dinner with Sarah Palin? How could I
resist? I immediately liquidated my sav-
ings, stocks and bonds, sold my car and
a kidney and did a few things I'm not too
proud of in the park, butI was ultimately
able to scrape together enough cash to
take the lead. Only a ten-hour plane ride,
two hours by light aircraft, three by snow
mobile, two more by dog sled and I'd be
in Wasilla, pallin' around with Sarah
Palin.
All that was left was the fine print.
First, the advertisement warned that
"a background check for all attendees is
mandatory." This was a given. This isn't
like buying a handgun; there's got tobe at
least some basic safety measures.
Second, "the dinner experience," as it's
called, will be at a site of the former gov-
ernor's choosing. That's well enough; my
Wasilla Zagats is decades out of date.
Other particulars: "... anyone under 16
years old must be accompanied by a par-
ent or legal guardian." Good thinking,
Governor. Who knows what might hap-
pen if you let these teens run wild with-
out any grown-up supervision?
"Winner ... (is) allowed to bring one
item of reasonable size" for the former
governor to autograph, but "The decision
to sign the item will ultimately be up to
Ms. Palin." Only a Beltway outsider who
doesn't play politics as usual would make
Is meeting
Sarah Palin for
dinner really
worth $63,500?
sure she gets final say in whether or not
she signs the "item of reasonable size" I'd
brought 3,500 miles.
In addition, "Dinner shall last no more
than four hours, but could be less, in the
sole discretion of Sarah Palin."
See SMILOVITZ, Page4B
Indie sensation by day, tag-team wrestlers by night.
Grizzly Bear snaps,
crackles and pops
Speaking with the
mastermind behind this
year's indie darling
By JOSH BAYER
Daily MusicEditor
For those of you who have been liv-
ing in a padlocked
Tupperware container
paperweighted down Grizzly Bear
by an ogre for the past At the
few weeks, Grizzly
Bear is playing at the Michigan
Michigan Theater this Saturday at 8p.m.
Saturday night and it Starting at $18
is going to be quite the
show.
Why? Because Grizzly Bear is the
indie-buzz band right now. With the
group's release of Veckatimest this past
May, which cracked the top 10 on the
U.S. Billboard Charts (no insignificant
feat for an experimental psych-folk out-
fit), the band has quickly reached the
forefront of the art-pop scene. Thanks
in no small part to Grizzly Bear's 2008
tour with Radiohead, rave reviews and
infectious single "Two Weeks" (the
catchiest thing to hit the waves in recent
memory), the little band from Brooklyn
has quickly developed into an almighty
indie presence.
Just three years ago, Grizzly Bear
became the paradigm for independent
music, recording the bulk of equally
phenomenal Yellow House in vocalist
Ed Droste's mother's house. The record
mirrored the quaintness of its makeshift
studio, lulling along majestically like an
enchanted pirate ship, quietly wowing
without ever grappling for attention.
Veckatimest builds on the cathedral-
like atmospherics of its predecessor,
dolloping clearer, poppier harmonies on
top of lush, sonically varied, quilt-like
arrangements. The band balances out
its exploratory side with a newfound
sense of immediacy and accessibility.
The result is pure ear candy, and it has
elevated Grizzly Bear's status in the
music world exponentially.
Chris Taylor is the mastermind
behind Grizzly Bear's bottomless sound.
In addition to being the band's bassist,
he has produced its last two albums.
Taylor also plays a central role in craft-
ing the band's eclectic, jazzy aesthetic,
often filling in on clarinet, flute and
saxophone. And if all that isn't enough,
he contributes on keys and electronics
as well. Simply put, the man is made of
music.
The Daily spoke with him on the
phone last week, and after talking to
him, one would be hard-pressed to
conjure the image of a hyper-talented
multi-instrumentalist. Taylor exudes
modesty.
When asked how he achieves such
an iconically rich bass sound on Griz-
zly Bear's albums, he responded, "uh,
I don't know, I didn't know it was that
unique. I just sort of go for what I like. I
really like Joy Division, y'know?"
He referred to his mid-'70s Rick-
enbacker bass and added, pleasantly
stumped, "I have sort of a special bass
head I guess, maybe that's part of it."
Belonging to a band with such a lofty
sound, Taylor certainly doesn't seem to
have overly lofty ambitions. In response
to what he would most want a fan to say
to him to consummate everything he's
trying to do with his music, he said:
"Sort of just saying 'thank you for mak-
ing music' ... for whatever personal rea-
son they have. If they appreciate the fact
that you did it, I think that that's a really
high compliment."
While the world may have found some-
thing extraterrestrial in Grizzly Bear's
practically tactile soundscapes, Taylor
just seems to be doing his thing. When
asked to use one word to describe his
music, he casually dropped "rock-pop."
As for the cereal that most accurately
embodies his band? "Rice Krispies."
He's a man of simple pleasures. When
asked what job he'd most like to have
if he weren't a musician, he responded
without hesitation: "Salt farmer."
"A salt farmer on the Mediterranean
or something ... I love salt, I love cooking
a lot. I'd make salt for people."
Moreover, he seemed happily oblivi-
ous to Veckatimest's mammoth 86 out of
100 on Metacritic (the Internet's leading
art criticism aggregator), a score denot-
ing universal acclaim.
"I didn't know about that ... oh, nice!
Cool," Taylor said. "Yeah, 1 don't really
follow that stuff. I don't really have time
for that. Does it faze me? I don't really
know. Can I check non-applicable?"
The guy's a diplomat too. He politely
declined to reveal of whom in the world
he's most jealous. And when probed to
divulge what he thinks is the most over-
rated album of all time, he plead the
fifth as well: "I don't really like the idea
that something is overrated," he said.
"I think it's cool that people have their
thing that they get into."
He elaborated: "I mean, y'know,
Josh Groban's Christmas album sold so
much ... I might not listen to his Christ-
mas album, but I know how many peo-
ple really probably really loved that.
Y'know? My mom would've loved that,
totally."
As far as touring with Radiohead,
he describes the band as "surprisingly
nice."
"They're totally friendly, down-to-
earth people. ... They're probably one of
the least snobby bands I've ever met ...
especially given how snobby they could
be. They really could be super, super
snobby and they're just not."
He goes on to describe any indie
kid's wet dream: "They would hang. We
bought this little hibachi barbecue grill,
and, uh, we would have barbecues. They
would have dinner with us and stuff. On
pavement."
Taylor's music tastes are as refined
and all-over-the-map as his own band's
music, but he loves Radiohead and Neil
Young.
Discussing his favorite concerts of
all-time, he talks about being 19 and
getting "stoned accidentally for the first
time" at a Radiohead show at The Gorge
in Seattle, his hometown.
"I sort of got like a contact high cause
so much weed was being smoked and I
didn't smoke weed ... oh man, that was
so great," lie said.
Taylor also highly recommends
Arthur Russell, an obscure avant-garde
cellist who factored in the origins of
'80s house music, giving a particular
shout-out to his compilation album Call-
ing Out of Context.
And he cites Abner Jay's True Story
of Abner Jay as his essential breakup
album.
But perhaps most importantly, 'Taylor
declares Zingerman's "the best deli he's
ever been to, hands-down." He's par-
ticularly fond of the pulled pork sand-
wich.
As simply as the Grizzly Bear bass-
ist likes to put things, the sound he
helps create isn't simple in the least.
And watching the band replicate this
baroque aesthetic live should be noth-
ing short of awe-inspiring.
Because, when it comes down to it,
Taylor's comparison of the band to Rice
Krispies couldn't be more spot-on. They
may not be showy, but put the band in
milk - or in an enclosed concert venue
- and they are sure to snap, crackle and
pop. Which is what they're bound to do
Saturday night at the Michigan Theater.
"Russia is this far from my house'
'The Offic' tale,
but not yet expired
By BRIGID KILCOIN N One especially egregious plot point
Daily Arts Writer came near the episode's end, where
--- Stanley (sitcom veteran Leslie David
"The Office" is a phenomenon celebrat- Baker) takes a golf club to the windows
ed by posters in college dorm rooms across of Michael's prized Chrysler Sebring con-
America. It also re-introduced "That's vertible after Michael reveals that Stanley
what she said!" to the cultural vernacular. has been involved in an affair. It seemed
But after six seasons, does "The Office" wildly out of character for Stanley, and
still live up to the hype? the scene is worlds away from the wincing
"The Office," an American adaption dynamic of the show's beginnings.
of a BBC comedy, chronicles the foibles The strength of "The Office" has
of Dunder Mifflin, a Pennsylvania paper always been its character-driven stories;
supplier. The show initially struggled with the humor is almost incidental, stemming
finding a solid footing on network televi- from the audience's involvement with the
sion - many critics cited the producers' people onscreen. This season's premiere
overzealous faithfulness to the original seems to realize this, setting up storylines
series as the reason for its sagging rat- that will prove important throughout
ings. The show became NBC's critical and
commercial darling only after new and
original plotlines supplemented creator
Ricky Gervais's story arc. Now in its sixth W hat once was
season, the show faces a similar dilemma
to the one it faced at its inception: "The painfully awkward
Office" needs to choose between tak-
ing risks or riding on its previously cre- is now just painfully
ated momentum. The new season opener
attempted the former, with mixed results. average.
The show began with a mildly amus-
ing cold open where Michael Scott (Steve
Carell, "The 40 Year Old Virgin") video-
tapes himself engaging in parkour, a sport the season - Pam's pregnancy, Stanley's
where participants travel through an affair with his former nurse and his wife's
urban obstacle course to get from point A resulting anger - while revealing glim-
to point B in an inventive manner (John mers of the razor-sharp humor that led to
Krasinski's character Jim snidely com- the show's initial popularity.
ments that Michael is performing parkour Jim and Pam's marriage and pregnancy
as long as "point A is delusion and point B appear to be the focal points of season six.
is the hospital"). The camera then switch- But, while it was enjoyable following the
es to a sit-down interview with Pam couple's relationship in the past, it'll be
(Jenna Fischer, "Walk Hard: The Dewey difficult for the show's writers to come
Cox Story") and Jim where they confess up with new and fresh comedic twists on
that she is pregnant. This awkward tran- the well-worn subjects of weddings and
sition was made worse by the continued childbirth.
use of slapstick-based, traditional sitcom Although EdlHelms's'("The Hangover")
humor, veering away from the excruciat- portrayal of obnoxious Cornell alum Andy
ingly uncomfortable funniness that char- steals the show, the character's presence
acterized the first two seasons. See THE OFFICE, Page 4B